I started writing this last Friday morning at our kitchen table. I was supposed to substitute teach at De Soto Middle School, but for the second day in a row the Closed Crawl running across the bottom of the TV screen changed that. They had to close due to over 10 inches of rain and all the flooding and mudslides in our area. I saw pictures of JC Gillespie Memorial Field aka The Pit on Facebook this morning. It is very sad. It will take a lot of time and money to repair that damage. More importantly, I hope the people in Cottonwood Court and Victory are able to get their lives back in order soon.
Ellen found that our ridge road and trail crossings appear to be holding up - so far. I haven’t been in our woods, but I see that near one of our neighbors on one hillside there are at least five huge old oak trees on their sides, broken off at their bases. My uneducated guess would be that they were probably suffering from oak wilt that was exacerbated by all the rain and wind. There is a lot of firewood there, but it seems such a shame to lose such great old trees.
Fall color should start to be evident soon. I observed mostly yellows, greens, and browns on the hillsides in our coulee, but there are some reds provided by sumac and such along the road and in some yards in town, the maples are working overtime to make a show of it. I wonder how the record rains will affect the intensity. The US National Arboretum web site says, “Temperature, sunlight, and soil moisture greatly influence the quality of the fall foliage display . . . A growing season with ample moisture that is followed by a rather dry, cool, sunny autumn that is marked by warm days and cool but frostless nights provides the best weather conditions for development of the brightest fall colors. Lack of wind and rain in the autumn prolongs the display; wind or heavy rain may cause the leaves to be lost before they develop their full color potential.” So, if the storms continue or we get an early frost, the fall color display may be short, but we sure have had ample moisture and warmer days. Now if we can only score some “dry, cool, sunny” conditions.
I am itching to get out in a tree stand this week as the forecast is for cooler, dryer weather. The gnats and mosquitoes are pretty bad yet. I have observed some scrapes along several tree lines and Ellen saw one in a food plot, so regardless of the weather, life goes on in the whitetail world.
The rainy time has been good for indoor maintenance. I lubed up our lawn tractor and changed the oil. I started hauling old boards up to the burn pile on Saturday, and I have a trailer load of old fencing, electric baseboard heaters, pipes, and even film can racks to haul to large item at the dump day this weekend. The film racks come from the old days at WKBT when they started switching over to videotape and film went the way of the buffalo. I grabbed a bunch of them to put down in our hay barn for support under the hay bails, and as support for the rodents who were able to live under them I guess. Anyway, I finally got my shop TV antennae adjusted so I have like 13 channels off the air up there too, and I spent some quality time listening to Larry Meiller on NPR and Bill Michaels and Don Labatard on sports radio. I researched and doctored up my Fantasy Football team, but still lost this last week. I posted a water tank on Craigslist and sold it the first day, so I made some extra cash, and I spent some quality time on the porch with Ellen, Scout, and several good books. So the rainy weather is good for something I guess.
Until next time, get out - The Pirate varsity football squad spent time this last week shoveling and carrying mud from homes in Victory. “Many hands make light work,” is a phrase my father-in-law used to use often. Anyway, Prairie View Elementary Teacher Ev Wick, has been the Pirates Head Football Coach for fourteen seasons. Weather has played havoc upon the PIT three times during his tenure as coach. Maybe we need a coach with better luck? Just kidding Ev old buddy; keep those boys winning to help lift everyone’s spirits. Go Pirates! Enjoy.
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