Enjoy turtle crossing season

An unexpected touch of autumn has arrived, or, perhaps, spring’s cooler temperatures have returned briefly. It’s a treat, but disconcerting to be enjoying mid-60’s plus a breeze. Summer returns tomorrow and hangs around for awhile. The brief duration of our cool spell will minimize the likelihood I’ll be overcome by a wave of ambition. Warmer temperatures enhance my justification for conserving my energy.

Perhaps it was just coincidence, or maybe insects anticipated the cooler interlude, because last night I caught and transported a cricket from the downstairs floor and this morning did the same with not one, not two, but three smallish spiders in the kitchen sink. Each was scooped into a clear plastic cup and deposited outside. (I don’t do that with ants or ticks, however.) Crickets are supposed to bring good luck and I hope spiders will spin webs that will capture mosquitos and deer flies.

slow down (for turtles)

Photo by J. Harrington

The lack of rain means the grass hasn’t been growing which means I haven’t been mowing. Maybe I’ll get around to doing something more than watering plants this week, maybe not. It’s really nice to not have a home owners’ association or city code fussing about the condition of our “lawn.” My ambition seems to be inversely proportional to my age. If I’m going to work up the energy to do much of anything, it’s going to be to go fishing.

There’s a number of stories in today’s Star Tribune about labor shortages, population growth, decline and shifts, vacant offices in the suburbs. I remember the days when Minnesota had an office of state planning that could provide a coherent overview of trends and discontinuities. Of course, I also remember when Minnesota was more liberal and forward-looking than it is these days. I’m still very disappointed that the DFL didn’t restore the citizen board to the Pollution Control Agency nor did our outdated mining laws get a hearing. Furthermore, the state seems committed to the increasingly misguided concept of perpetual growth. I wonder of any of our environmental organizations will take a lead in getting the state, or some large cities, to take a hard look at Doughnut Economics or something like the Donella Meadows’ Vermont New Economy program. Speaking as a recovering planner, I long ago learned that “more of the same never solved a problem.”

This Morning I Could Do/A Thousand Things

By Robert Hedin

I could fix the leaky pipe

Under the sink, or wander over

And bother Jerry who’s lost

In the bog of his crankcase.

I could drive the half-mile down

To the local mall and browse

Through the bright stables

Of mowers, or maybe catch

The power-walkers puffing away

On their last laps. I could clean

The garage, weed the garden,

Or get out the shears and

Prune the rose bushes back.

Yes, a thousand things

This beautiful April morning. 

But I’ve decided to just lie

Here in this old hammock,

Rocking like a lazy metronome,

And wait for the day lilies

To open. The sun is barely

Over the trees, and already

The sprinklers are out,

Raining their immaculate

Bands of light over the lawns.

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