A blog about nothing

I didn’t write a “blog about nothing” in June….actually, I didn’t really write a blog about anything in June…so on this Independence Day I’m declaring the freedom to post two blogs about nothing in July.  Deal with it.

**I've spent the holiday weekend at my parents' farm, the place I still call home.  I write this in the screen porch that sits on the east side of the house.  The picture above is my view.  The dappled morning sun filters through the silver poplar (below) that has had a love/hate relationship with my parents since we moved here almost 30 years ago (Mom loves it, Dad hates it).  The only sounds are bird song and breeze...and my parents arguing over the #$@# silver poplar.  Oh, and the sound of a sapsucker that constantly hammers on a fencepost at the edge of the yard.  Not sure about the mental capacity of that bird - he's been shot at several times (sapsuckers are tree killers, despite what naturalists and the MN DNR will try to tell you) and he's been getting no benefit from rapping on that post...but he pounds on it all day long.  Apparently insanity is not exclusively human.

**My trail cameras went up yesterday, finally.  Usually I put them up around Father's Day but just didn't get to it until now this year.  I started using a trail camera about eight years ago and have slowly added more; my fifth camera arrived on my doorstep a couple of weeks ago.  I put two out yesterday and will put up one more after I finish writing this - they won't all go out until October.  The cameras have become a great summer hobby for my dad and I, allowing us to get a good idea of the deer population on the property while also giving us the chance to see all the bucks we won't shoot in November.  "White Legs" was our favorite deer - we had hundreds of pictures of him over three different years as he matured from a six point to a big eight point, but we never saw him with our eyes.  On the other hand, we had two pictures of a really big ten point last year that I saw, my dad saw, and our hunting partner shot.  Some deer live smarter than others...and longer.

**Early July on the farm is wildflower time.  Oxeye daisies, birdsfoot trefoil, alsike clover, and black eyed Susans are all in full bloom right now (and many others, but those are the varieties I can name). Yes, much of what's blooming is considered a weed, but it's hard to look the beauty around here and think of a weed patch.  I've occasionally wondered how we (society) would be able to return to a calendar system after the world ends (I did say "occasionally"...I'm not as nutty as the sapsucker); how would we ever figure out dates and such if we went through a long stretch without watches and calendars.  Nature would have to be our guide - the spring and fall equinoxes, the blooming of flowers, the ripening of berries - these events would become our calendars.  I've tried to get my daughters to start noticing these events much sooner than I ever did; looking at our possible choices for the next president makes me wonder about the end of the world a lot more than I ever have.

**Speaking of berries, the strawberry patch in the garden is pumping out oodles of fat, juicy berries.  My girls and I picked six gallons of strawberries on Saturday, and we will raid the patch one more time today before we leave.  I've found a few wild strawberries, too, though I haven't put in a lot of effort to find those despite their fantastic flavor.  I picked a handful of wild blueberries yesterday, but the bulk of that crop won't be ready for a few weeks.  Deer season is my favorite, berry season isn't far behind.

That's enough nothingness for now - time to get the girls out of bed and get out into this glorious 4th of July day. I wish you all the freedom to enjoy this day in whatever way you find enjoyable...but I really wish everyone could be in my spot right now at this sanctuary of nature, this Fortress of Solitude.  Of course, if you all were here that would ruin the solitude, so never mind.  Enjoy your day, and thanks for reading my nothingness.