Getting Ready to Spring into Summer

 

by Pa Rock

Farmer in Very Late Spring

Today marks the final day of spring in 2022, and tomorrow summer will be upon us.  I don't know what to expect, if anything, with the official calendrical arrival of summer, because we have been suffering from a cruel heatwave for the past two weeks.  Certainly the heat of summer could not be any more wretched than the heat of late spring has already been.  Or could it?  (The mind boggles, and then sizzles!)

I thought that today, as the seasons prepare to change, would be a good time to provide an update on life at Rock's Roost.

It has been a sad morning at The Roost.  The baby guineas which hatched out on Tuesday, June 7th (two weeks ago tomorrow), originally numbered fifteen, but quickly dropped to just five hearty survivors.  Last night they were all present and accounted for, but this morning I was greeted by the three adults and only two chicks - which are called "keets."  There must have been some type of catastrophe during the night and now the last two little ones are staying almost glued to their mother.  They are getting bigger, so there is a possibility that these last two can reach maturity.  The three adults are all doing yeeomem's work in trying to watch out for the youth, but there are just too many predators and other risks in rural settings.

The cat is fine.  He sleeps all day and hunts all night, and then shows up in the morning for breakfast - the only meal of the day that he does not have to come up with on his own.  Rosie is doing well, although she obviously misses Riley, her friend and fellow house dog who passed away a couple of weeks ago due to complications from old age.  We all miss Riley.

I mowed about three hours yesterday - Father's Day - and three hours the day before, and now the yard looks wonderful!  I have been carrying water to the outdoor flowers twice a day, and to the young trees, rosebushes, and sweet potatoes once every two days.  My son has a garden of his own out by the chicken coop that he works in every day - and it looks amazing!

There was a large bullfrog (about the size of Battleship Johnson's fist) sitting by the edge of the pond as I was mowing yesterday.  I had to make two close passes with the mower, and he never budged - as if he knew the pond was his.  He was still wet from having recently climbed out of the water, and his bright green skin was almost iridescent under the hot sun.  I wish him a cool and relaxing summer and many tadpoles to carry on his legacy.

Have you ever watched a robin take a bath?  I took down all of the bird feeders that were hanging just outside of the front window and replaced them with hanging plants for the warm months, but I retained a nice deep birdbath at the old feeder area - and the robins love it.   Robins bathe vigorously, beak to feet, and sling water everywhere!  They truly enjoy their bath time, and are almost cartoonish in the way they raise their wings and scrub.  Watching robins splash and frolic in the water is a lot more fun than mowing - that's for darned sure!

And unless it rains - and none is in the forecast - I may not be mowing again for a long, damned time - but I will be carrying water to the plants.  Gilda Radner said it best - "It's always something."

Stay inside next to the air conditioner as much as you can until this god-awful heat breaks, and if you must go outside, be smart:  use sunscreen, wear a hat, and hydrate!  Fall will be here eventually!