Monday Morning Ramble

Before noon, the sun was scorching. Today is supposed to be the hottest day of the year for us. They are forecasting 106 F (41C) today with a heat index nearing 115. The heat is wearing on folks around here. Shorter tempers, a constant feeling of being too tired to do much and conversations that all start the same way...."I am so sick of summer !" I noticed lately that even the little birds look worn and tired. The cardinals at my feeder have poor plumage and remind me of the drawings of beggars in story books from long ago. Most of them have their beaks open a bit and their wings held out from their sides, trying to stay cooler. I don't normally feed the birds in summer, but this year, food seems to be slim pickings for them so I want to help out a bit. However, yesterday there arrived a huge flock of grackles, not a favorite bird to have around. They are noisy, messy and just a nuisance all around. My solution for shoo-ing them away.....get out my handy crow caller and squawk at them. Did the job so well, and at the same time, called to my buddies the local crows and they arrived to help. The crows, which I dearly grew to love due to a personal relationship with one baby crow named "Nevermore" that I raised from the time he looked like a round soft black rotten tomato with a big beak stuck on it.

I just simply admire the intelligence of Crows and how cleaver they are. I feed them and they in return amuse me by the hour. Occasionally they have a go at teasing me or try to tell me something I just frankly don't understand. One fall morning one young crow called to me as if in distress so I went to the edge of the woods to get a closer look, there he sat on a low limb, cawing at me, I kept getting closer and closer to him, and finally right level with him he caw-ed some more at me and looked me in the eye and flew off, as if he just wanted to have a little chat with me, up close and personal.

Nature is so full of wonder !

It's laundry day and I have no doubt at all that my solar clothes dryer will be working at top efficiency today. No doubt faster than any mechanical clothes dryer. When I was out hanging up the clothes I noticed so many leaves blowing in the breeze, yellow and dry. This heat has caused them to fall off early, leaving bare branches much too early. I wonder what the winter will bring this year. The grass under my feet crunches with much the same sound as when you stick your hand into a bag of potato chips. Its not a good sound for grass to make and it certainly feels uncomfortable to walk barefooted on. It pokes you, each blade like a tiny hot iron. I am ready for fall. Anxious for the need of a sweater and thoughts of a fire burning brightly in the stove. Full of readiness for pumpkins and the colors of autumn.

This feels like its been a very long summer and I am so ready for it to be over !

With that said, I still love this simple life of mine that requires me to be outside each and every day in the heat of the summer, in the glory of the spring and fall and in the dead of the winter. For each and every season has reminders that we are the children of a wonderful Creator that gives us beauty all the year through and I am ever thankful for our window air conditioners that keep our house cool enough for us, and that allows me to sit and drink hot tea and eat toast for breakfast without even thinking about how hot it is at that very moment right outside my window.