Round of a Country Year by David Kline

Author:David Kline
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Memoir
Publisher: Counterpoint
Published: 2017-07-11T04:00:00+00:00

In June, as many as a dozen species may burst their buds

on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries;

no man can ignore all of them.

—Aldo Leopold

June 21—Sixty-eight degrees. The summer solstice was at 12:38 p.m. Now officially summer begins. I’m somewhat saddened to see the sun turn back for its six-month journey to the winter solstice on December 21. To me, as a farmer, summer is June, July, and August, with September, October, and November being fall. Winter then is December, January, and February, and spring March, April, and May.

Today was also Father’s Day. Elsie, and most of the children, gave me nice cards saying that I passed the grade as a dad. Elsie added that I was “such an interesting guy to live with.” “Interesting” is sure better than “exasperating,” which I must be at times. At least, as we often remind each other, our marriage hasn’t been dull. Thanks, Elsie.

David’s family here in the evening. We sat around the outdoor fire pit and ate s’mores. I never really cared for the graham cracker/chocolate/marshmallow treat because it was too sweet. But now that they replaced the graham crackers with Ritz crackers, it’s a different game and we all love the “new” s’mores.

June 22—At 8:30 I went with the four-horse team—Chip, Mark, Ike, and Blake—to mow Roman’s twelve-acre field (R3) by the schoolhouse. Since this was a fast day for me, I kept mowing right over dinnertime. The field is nice, with a mixture of legumes and grasses. The clovers, both red and white, were in almost full bloom, with many butterflies visiting the flowers; mostly red admirals, sulfurs, and a few fritillaries. But not a single monarch. I haven’t seen any monarchs since the one on the thirteenth. This year there is an abundance of common milkweed. In other words, the food source is here if the monarchs would come.

At 2:30 I was down to the last two rounds of the mowing when I ran out of fuel. The Deutz diesel stops before it’s completely empty. Seth, with the pony and cart, had brought me water only fifteen minutes before, and we both had looked into the fuel tank and thought there was enough to finish the field. I took the rig home, refueled, and Ann finished mowing then. That was because at 3:00 p.m. on Mondays, Roland picks me up and we get groceries, which I carry into his house, and then I take out the rubbish for pickup tomorrow.

While walking to the mailbox this afternoon, I met a small snapping turtle (about the size of a flattened tennis ball), so I called to Claire and Laurel, who were nearby, to come see the turtle. Carefully picking up the little snapper by its shell, I got a mixing bowl and we put the turtle in it. While I cautioned the girls to be careful because the turtle could already deliver a nasty bite, they proudly showed their prize to the rest of the family.

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