Fawns and Moms – Photo: L. Weikel

Evening Stroll

It sure was hot today. While I spent the majority of the day sitting outside on our porch writing on my laptop, I nevertheless found the heat oppressive. And I have to admit, as the day wore on and the heat seemed only to bake itself in, I despaired of managing even an evening stroll.

At one point, Karl came outside, either awed or disgusted by the fact that I was (in his opinion) torturing myself by working on the porch, to give me an update on the projected hourly temperatures for the rest of the day and evening. Upon the completion of his recitation, I just looked at him. “Your point?” I asked when he didn’t seem to get the intent behind my baleful stare.

“Guess we’re not going to walk again today,” he stated. “I don’t know how you can even stand sitting out here. It’s barely going to cool down at all – unless we wait to walk around midnight.”

I snorted at that. While I might be game for a midnight walk, we both knew he’d be fast asleep long before that witching hour.

It’s All Relative

A few hours later, I was putting two containers of freshly made potato salad and a big bowl of watermelon salad into the refrigerator, the vast majority of my meal preparation for the week completed. While it was admittedly hot work, Karl’s earlier provision of a weather advisory had tipped me off that the next several days look pretty uniformly oppressive.

I wanted both salads to chill in the refrigerator a while, so I lobbied for at least a quick stop sign for Sheila’s constitutional. (Karl will do almost anything for his little girl.) The sun was setting and even though the temperature hadn’t dropped dramatically, it did feel like a walk might be bearable now that the sun was no longer boring down on us.

A quick trip to the stop sign with Sheila not only yielded results for her, but also confirmed for us that it’s all relative: the setting of the sun actually made an evening stroll enticing, despite the fact that the actual air temperature was only about ten degrees lower than it was all afternoon.

So we managed to get a two mile walk-around under our belts (after taking Sheila back to the house). Wow, did we need it; the weather the prior two days had been either too oppressive or too wet to walk. A third day of no walking would’ve been ugly.

A Lovely Calm

Not only did we see two does and two fawns romping in a field, we were also treated to an evening without crackles and booms. Instead, we heard crickets and a catbird chattering its song, a breeze (albeit a warm one) shushing leaves high in the treetops.

I can’t say I’m not still waiting for that other shoe to drop. But for an hour or so this evening, peace and calm were the order of the day. May it extend into the week for all of us.

(T-509)