July in October

It’s hot here in Michigan- too hot. I like my seasons the way they are supposed to be, not summer in October. 90 plus degrees and humid is just awful. My poor sheep were getting their winter coats and are miserable. It is supposed to storm tonight and get cooler- I hope so. I don’t want winter yet but gee, fall would be nice. And we really need rain. All of my houseplants are still outside, I put them on the porch for 2 days in mid September but they have been outside since. That is a new record. I am picking ripe tomatoes and peppers, that’s got to be a record too.

I had to go into town this morning and I took the back road. There is a little color in the trees and all the fields are being harvested- dry weather is good for that. In town I came behind an Amish buggy going to the stock yards, it’s market day. I felt sorry for the poor sweaty horse and I wondered if the Amish family inside the buggy were regretting not having a faster ride, one that would at least give you a little wind as it went down the road. Their life seems hard, but sometimes I wish my life was more like theirs. An Amish boy from nearby was injured by a piece of horse drawn harvesting equipment last week. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital and then air lifted to Children’s Hospital in Detroit. How quickly his life changed, not only the severe injury but an onslaught of technology. I wonder how his poor parents get to visit him. Maybe one flew down with him.

I had to drive about 150 miles through mid Michigan Friday for a meeting. It was a pretty day and the county car I was using was air conditioned so the ride wasn’t bad. They are harvesting sugar beets all through this area and I saw numerous semi-loads of the big, ugly, lumpy beets on the road. I passed by several towns where they were cooking sugar- it’s amazing how something so sweet and tasty can smell so bad in the making. I passed through the Isabella Indian reservation, where the Soaring Eagle casino is located. The casino is very modern and nice looking as are several big hotels nearby- but the area surrounding them- where I was passing through- looked very poor. I have no interest in casino gambling and can’t imagine sitting inside on a nice day feeding my money to a machine.

Granny’s advice today is make something sweet out of something ugly. This hot humid weather means I don’t have to run the furnace or feed hay.