Thunderstorm

                                             Photo by Steve Apps

It was a rumble, almost not perceptible.  But I knew what it was because the dark clouds on the horizon gave it away, as did the flash of lightning that cuts across the “black as night” clouds.  A thunderstorm coming my way.  Coming to freshen the soil with much-needed rain.  Coming to remind me that nature still has massive power of its own, beyond anything any of us humans can mess with.  As some have tried.

I am not fearful of thunderstorms, as many are.  I know not to sit under a tall tree when a thunderstorm is on its way. I have seen what a lightning strike can do to a tall tree, sometimes ripping it apart from top to bottom. I know why lightning rods are important on barn roofs.

 Growing up in the sand country of central Wisconsin, and continuing to own a farm there, I know what dry weather is like.  I know what happens when it doesn’t rain for days. When the grass turns brown, the corn leaves roll, and every living creature waits.  Waits for rain. And I continue to celebrate and enjoy watching a thunderstorm boiling up in the west, with zagged bolts of lightning slices across a menacing sky.  I enjoy the noise and the fireworks, for I know that rain is on its way.   Much needed rain.

After the storm clouds move off to the east, and the blast of thunder becomes a low rumble, I go outside and smell the freshness of the land once more washed with rain.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: For those of us close to the land, thunderstorms mean rain.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

To purchase Jerry’s books, including, Never Curse the Rain, go to your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books, including my new ones, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

 

First Color of Spring

 

I saw a little yellow crocus, peaking above the clutter of brown leaves the other day. Oh, how I look for a little color on these dreary days of late winter and the first days of spring, when everything is tired and too often a dirty brown.  

All things that grow appear ready to welcome spring but they wait for warmer temperatures.  The little crocus is an exception.  It doesn’t wait, apparently can’t wait to show off its beautiful yellow in contrast to all the brown around it. How I welcome it.  Sometimes it doesn’t even wait for the snow to melt, but is a splash of yellow with white all around it.

            At home on the farm, when I was a kid, the dandelions were the first color to appear after a long winter.  The snow always melted first on the south side of our farmhouse, and it was here that the dandelions appeared.  Today, these first colors of spring, are often despised, dug up, chemically destroyed—an enemy plant.  As little kids, we sometimes picked them and brought them into the house and put them in a little jar for the family to enjoy.  

            Soon more color appeared, apple blossoms ad wild cherry blossoms. A bit later lilacs appeared—we had a row of them growing along the south side of our one-room country school one-acre plot.  And then the wild violets, a hillside of them grew on a sunny opening in the woodlot to the north of the farmstead.  Little bouquets of beautiful violets, a Mother’s Day present from her boys.

            Nothing more welcome than the first color of spring.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Look for the first color of spring and take time to enjoy it.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

To purchase Jerry’s books, go to your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books, including my new ones, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

 

The Sandhill Cranes Are Back

 

A pair of Sandhill Cranes at Roshara.  Photo by Steve Apps.

The Sandhill Cranes are back.  We’ve had a pair of them nesting at our pond for many years—they uncannily return to nearly the same spot each year.  They spend their winters in Florida and generally return in March, sometimes even before the snow has completely melted.  I remember one year, when there was still snow on the ground, watching a Sandhill Crane standing in the snow, and lifting one leg and then the other.  Even Sandhills experience cold feet.

These are magnificent birds, living sometimes as many or 25 to 30 years, with the same mate.  Their feathers are various shades of gray to brown.  Their foreheads and crown are covered with reddish skin. They stand four to five feet and have a wingspread as much as six feet.  The female generally lays two eggs, which both the male and female tend during the 29–32-day incubation period.

I so enjoy their primitive call, as they often fly over while we are working in our garden.  Until I did a little research, I didn’t know that the Sandhill Cranes we see today have relatives that trace back ten million years.

At one time, the Sandhills Cranes were endangered, but no more.  Their population has been on the increase—and they do cause some crop damage as they will eat everything including prowling for a meal in corn and grain fields. They also eat small animals, insects and even worms.  Not fussy eaters, these Sandhills.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: When the Sandhill Cranes return, we know that spring cannot be far behind.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

To purchase Jerry’s books, go to your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books, including my new ones, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.

Watching and Listening to the Snow Melt

 

I was talking to a fellow old-timer the other day and I asked him what he was doing.  His answer: “I’m watching the snow melt.” I had to fess up that I’d been doing that as well.

As a kid, I always looked forward to the first snow in fall, and I was just as excited to see the snowmelt, even though it meant a lot of spring work was just on the horizon. Beyond watching the snow melt, I liked to listen to it melt.  A 20-acre field east of the farmstead on the home farm had a rather steep hill with a gulley.  Over the years, dad filled the gulley with stones that he picked from the field. The most beautiful sound was that of meltwater gurgling over the stones as the snow melted. I would often walk out there to hear what I called “Nature’s music.”

Each spring as the snow melted, it created a little stream of meltwater that ran between the house and the barn.  One year, Dad made a little waterwheel out of a cedar shingle. He placed it on the meltwater stream.  In the morning, the little waterwheel didn’t move.  By mid-afternoon on a warm, sunny day, the little waterwheel would turn rapidly, making a “flip, flip” sound that I remember so well to this day. We knew that when the waterwheel stropped turning for good, that spring work was just around the corner.

Oh, the smells, sights and sounds of spring.  Nature in all its glory.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: What fun it is to both watch and listen to the snow melt.

 

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

To purchase Jerry’s books, go to your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books, including my new ones, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.