Prairie Changes

On my morning walk with Boomer, I found this feather trapped in a sunflower along our lane.  David leaves the sunflowers for the birds when he mows. 

As we walked along, I noticed how the prairie is changing.  Golden asters still line our lane,

but the autumn blooming rabbitbrush is making its presence known.

The grasses have dried out and developed seedheads.

The yuccas have seedpods.

Can Fall be fall be far off?

In the afternoon, I found this handsome spider on our horse trailer.  I think it's a black and yellow garden spider, but it's a little odd to find one here.  Like the name implies, they usually like gardens, not horse trailers on the high prairies.