Outdoors

Memorial Day is cloudy and cool, with a bit of wind out of the north. People on the boardwalk along Main Street in Evergreen watch as a motorcycle tools by every few minutes. Sometimes the bike is accompanied by others; sometimes it’s alone; sometimes it’s playing music through a speaker; sometimes it’s moving to the tune of its own melodious engine.

This scene is a staple of summer weekends. And with summer fast approaching, more motorcyclists will frequent Jefferson County’s canyon roads to enjoy the mountain scenery.

(Reprinted from June 12, 2013)

As the song says, “June is bustin’ out all over,” and as usual, it is a glorious month. I believe it to be the most beautiful month of the year.

 After the fickle weather of April and May when we begin to think summer will never come, June arrives in all her glory. Overnight, everything is green. Nothing can equal the lush growth of June.

(Reprinted from May 30, 2012)

The little brown house wren has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. They always nested in a box in our yard on the farm where I grew up, and they were common nesting birds in most every yard in the village.

(Reprinted from May 6, 2009)

The big snow has come and gone. It was not quite as much as we had a few years ago, but it was more than we needed at one time. I measured 3½ feet at our house, but it was so warm that much of it melted as it fell, and it weighed so much that it compacted what had already fallen. So, measurements were less than accurate. I decided that the actual depth didn’t much matter. After you pass 2 feet of wet heavy snow, most of the roads are closed and the damage to power lines has been done.