Autum preparations

There are wasps or hornets flitting about in the wind, looking for...? This is about the time of year when hornets(?) begin building a nest up in the rafters of the deck and near the peak of the roof. In a couple of weeks I’ll give the nests a shot of hornet / wasp killer. I’m thinking about cleaning off the gutters (they’re filled with a sponge-like material) but they’ll just recollect a layer of leaves and twigs before spring. Maybe if prime weather conditions occur at the same time my energy peaks I’ll get to it. It’s also the time of year when mice start looking for winter quarters. The traps in the garage caught one the other day. That means it’s time to put fresh mouse repellent in the tractor dashboard.

putting up winter’s hay

Photo by J. Harrington

The grass needs to be cut at least once more and maybe twice. I’m hoping the weather cooperates and we can torch the brush pile as an autumnal equinox bonfire. We’ve not seen any hummingbirds for a couple of days now, They may well be gone for the season. The township road crew recently installed a compacted sand and gravel wear edge on the chipsealed road and, in the process, mowed all the asters along the east edge of the roadway. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that the asters regrow next spring and bloom again next autumn.

It’s a little early for pumpkin sales but I’m shopping for some this week to help decorate for a party next weekend. That provides a wonderful excuse to climb into the Jeep and wander our local roads Tuesday or Wednesday. We’re seeing flocks and families of Canada geese and sandhill cranes crossing skies morning and evening on feeding flights. It’s too early for them to be migrating yet.

Neither corn nor soy bean fields are in full harvest mode yet in our area, although more and more large combines and other farm machines are clogging up roads and creating traffic hazards. It’s challenging enough coping with them on township and county roads, but encountering them on a two lane state highway where the speed limit is 60 mph and they're driving about 20 mph is just not right.

In Harvest

By Sophie Jewett

Mown meadows skirt the standing wheat;

I linger, for the hay is sweet,

New-cut and curing in the sun.

Like furrows, straight, the windrows run,

Fallen, gallant ranks that tossed and bent

When, yesterday, the west wind went

A-rioting through grass and grain.

To-day no least breath stirs the plain;

Only the hot air, quivering, yields

Illusive motion to the fields

Where not the slenderest tassel swings.

Across the wheat flash sky-blue wings;

A goldfinch dangles from a tall,

Full-flowered yellow mullein; all

The world seems turning blue and gold.

Unstartled, since, even from of old,

Beauty has brought keen sense of her,

I feel the withering grasses stir;

Along the edges of the wheat,

I hear the rustle of her feet:

And yet I know the whole sea lies,

And half the earth, between our eyes.

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