Mike Houge

Quick peek:

 
Another busy week here on the acreage and at work. We've been tearing up flower beds and landscaping in prep for rural water that's finally coming to our acreage. It's hard to rip up work that you thought would be permanent but I guess it'll be worth it to have good water.

 
What you see here is a quick peek into what's blooming on our acreage right now.The iris's are just about done but in their place will be blazing star and a few others.

 
That's it for this week, thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

A work in progress:

 
Photography for most people I know is a constant work in progress. You have to continually be trying something new and pushing your abilities or you get left in the dust by the multitudes if new photographers. I know what I want my work to represent but I don't always get the result I envision, so as my title states "it's a work in progress". The above image was taken on one of my few free moments this week and as mother nature wasn't giving me a calm moment , I decided to take advantage of the wind she was giving me.

 
Thanks to my friend Dan Ruf, I was directed to this new little spot in Spirit Lake that has a great selection of wild flowers. Needless to say I had a lot of fun on a hot humid afternoon in between rain drops- thanks Dan.

 
That's about it for this week, hope you're finding ways to stay cool. Have a great week and thanks for stopping by.

 

 

Happy little flowers

 
It's been a very busy summer for the Houge family and I haven't had as much time for photography as I would like. We did get up north last week and I wanted to share with you what was blooming. The above little beauties are called bunch-berries, they love the shady forrest floors.

 
This pretty group of wild flowers consist of columbine and ox-eye daisy's and I found these along a small creek next to a graveled back road. Helps to keep your eyes open as you never know what will be waiting around the next bend.

 
This year the lupines were really enjoying the rains- I don't ever remember seeing them so thick (it's the purple blur on the left side). I want to thank you for stopping by and I hope you've found time to enjoy the little patches of color mother nature has provided along the road ways and in peoples yards. Have a great week.

Prairie flowers and more:

 
The prairies are in bloom and it's been a lot of fun watching mother nature work its miracles. I have four to five favorite areas I check on through-out the week, plus the few beds we have here at home and they all seem to be doing well this year.

 

Another thing that they have in common are the ticks , gnats and mosquitoes. Every year they are a problem but it seems this year everyone is commenting on them. Usually when a prairie is burned in the spring the ticks seem to be less bothersome but not this year. The other evening I pulled off a total of five ticks- then I spent the rest of the evening itching.

 
For those of you with flower interests, the above flower ia a gray headed cone flower, the middle flower is a black eyed susan and the top flower is a mystery to me. If anyone knows its name- I would appreciate a heads up.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great week.