Summer Happened While I was Gone

 

by Pa Rock

Observer of Nature

Summer happened while I was on my road trip through the great American West.   When I left southern Missouri on Tuesday, June 17th, the Ozarks were still experiencing the lingering rains that had been fairly constant throughout the spring, but on that Friday, June 20th, the season officially changed to summer, and right on cue, things began to dry out and heat up.   I was on the road sixteen days and did not encounter any rain at all.  Last year on a very similar trip at exactly the same time of year, I drove through several massive rainstorms.

The Ozarks apparently did have some rain while I was away this year, but that seems to be over.  I arrived home just before noon yesterday to clear blue skies, and today is also bright and cloudless.  Alexa tells me there is a chance of thunderstorms next  Wednesday - but just a chance.    Now that's the kind of summer I am used to!

I had carefully picked off every deadhead from the many rose bushes on the farm just before leaving on the trip, and I came home to find them all in full bloom, so I am once again picking off deadheads!   The outdoor potted flowers all needed a drink yesterday as well, and I carried water to them just before dark.  I have a hanging basket with a small fern beneath the front porch overhang that my son had forgotten to water, so I made sure to get it.  Before I left I had discovered a small, neat, vacant bird nest in the fern, but it looked to have been abandoned,  Yesterday when I began sloshing water around the nest, two very tiny baby birds with their eyes still tightly shut, popped their heads up.  The babies' beaks were open wide and they were undoubtedly thinking (hoping) Mama was home.  I quickly cleared the area so Mama could come home!

Those baby birds were as special as anything I encountered on my 4,500 mile trip through our country's wide open West - including the Space Needle.

The world is a wondrous place for those who take the time to enjoy it.  This holiday weekend would be a great time to start!

Have a bang-up time this Fourth of July, and stop to smell the roses while you are at it, or at least pick off a few deadheads!