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Prairie Chicken Pete rose early well before sun rise, Thinkin’ here’s the day that I’ll be wed.I’ll win my prairie prize.

When travelin’ down our back roads, there’s a gesture that we make:When we meet another driver, we give “the country wave.”We raise a hand up off the wheel and give a nod or smile,Acknowledge that we see them and greet ‘em country style.It’s usually a neighbor, but it doesn’t matter who.We always wave at strangers, ‘cause they are people, too.To pass another person but look straight ahead and stareJust seems so unfriendly – like you didn’t even care.But when we travel to the city, we teach our kids that here,If you wave at other drivers, they’ll just think you’re weird.So we pass by other people and pretend there’s no one there,Act like we’re so busy, we don’t have time to care.

Annie Wilson, author of the “Songs of the Flint Hills” column, has completed a major songwriting and recording project with her band Tallgrass Express.

I was walking down the side way of the Flint Hills Scenic Byway,When a pickup stopped and asked me: Are you lost or going my way?Well geography’s my passion.

It’s hard enough to say it –Impossible to spell.But once your pasture has it,You’ll think you’ve gone to hell.The cattle they don’t like it.You’ll wonder what you’re gonna do.You’ll wish you never got those Sericea Lespedeza blues.They brought it in from Asia.They thought it was the best.But now it’s a disaster – A giant eco-mess.They started an invasionIt seems we never will undo.We’ve got the lousy noxiousSericea Lespedeza blues.When I found it in my pasture,My heart went through the floor.I knew if I had one plant,I’d have a hundred more.It’s crowding out my grasses,I don’t know what I’m gonna do.I wish I never got theseSericea Lespedeza blues.Burning in the fall,Spot-spraying every plant,Grazing goats and sheep – Might give us a chance.The bugs don’t even like it; it’s resistant to diseases, too.It’s really hard to fight those Sericea Lespedeza blues.We maybe think we’ve killed one,But it makes a million seeds.So next year we may findAn even bigger patch of weeds.The cattle never graze it; it’s even drought-resistant, too.It’s really tough to have these Sericea Lespedeza blues.You can’t try to ignore itOr just leave it alone,Or in a few short years Your pasture’s overgrown.You have to hunt and stop it.If not, it’s certain you will lose.You’ll wish you never heard those Sericea Lespedeza blues.Maybe someday we will learn To leave Mother Earth alone.Keep out exotic species; just let the natives grow.The kind of help we give her,Poor Mother Nature cannot use.I hope someday we kick these Sericea Lespedeza blues.Hear this song for free at tallgrassexpress.com/sericea-lespedeza-blues

I’m feelin’ awful rough todayembarrassed and ashamed.

I first met my darling at the Diamond Creek Dance, And I trembled the first time that he held my hand.

This two-lane highway takes meinto far-off hills of blue, Inside a dreamy landscape full of distant views.

Friday Jan.

Friday, Dec.