It’s amazing how fast summer goes.
In the news business we used to joke summer was over after the 4th of July. It was barely a joke.
Sure enough, I’m just about caught up on work I put off until after the 4th of July tractor ride and the county fair is starting. It will be quickly followed by the state fair.
Then school starts. I haven’t had kids in school for more than 10 years, and that still signals the change of seasons. I can almost hear the football announcer and marching band now.
Once again summer’s gone all too fast, but then again, folks around here spent most of June praying for rain. Apparently it worked. It’s been coming an inch or more at a time about every other day for the past week or so. Just what the corn needs. They say if you listen close late at night you can hear it grow.
Yep. Heat and rain. That’s what makes us corn country. The other night we had a heat index of 91 degrees at 9:45 p.m. This week another heat wave is gearing up with mid- to high-90s. That should make something grow.
I subscribed to a local CSA this year. Twenty weeks of fresh garden produce delivered to my door. This week is week #10. Half way through the garden season and I’ve yet to yield anything of consequence beyond radishes and a few onions out of mine. Bring on the tomatoes and peppers.
The roadside sweet corn hawkers are out in full force. I found out 3 p.m. is too late in the day for the famed Iowa delicacy. We are corn fed here. And I have the elastic-waist summer pants to prove it.
I do still have sandals that haven’t left their box in the closet, but even though convention frowns on white pants and shoes after Labor Day, we’re still far from needing socks. Or even long pants for that matter.
Still the hazy, crazy, lazy days of summer are ticking by.
Good Lord, I haven’t even put in any serious deck time yet. If anyone out there has a deck – and the appropriate libations to go with it – I’m available over the next six weeks.