Welcome rains and plentiful sunshine combined this week to transform the countryside around Canadian, yielding a wondrous roadside display of wildflowers, best viewed along US 60 towards Glazier.

This Sand Lily (Mentzelia decapetala) was just one of many that posed for us in a field of sunflowers Monday evening about the time the sun started melting in the west.

PHOTO BY LAURIE EZZELL BROWN | THE RECORD

Without community comment, the annual hearing for the adoption of the district’s budget and tax rate for the new fiscal year is usually a routine matter. Not so this go-round on Sept. 6.

After rehashing the budget that shows an $802,384 net operating loss, two Hemphill County Hospital board members balked. Revenue for the FY 2022-23 budget is $24,461,525 (including tax revenues), with $25,263,909 in operating expenses.

For over six decades, Dick Wilberforce has photographed nature and wildlife, and has focused his lens on every living thing, from bobwhite quail and bighorn sheep to bobcats, grey foxes, and the elusive lesser prairie-chicken. He has published a series of books featuring his photographic art.

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY: This 18 to 20-inch prairie rattler was spotted lurking under a lawn mower in an alley about halfway up Willard Street, between Willard and Main, last week. It was described as a young rattler, with only one button...but still plenty lethal.

Prairie rattlesnakes are venomous pit vipers native to western North America. Where there is one, there will be more. Please be on the alert.