August Ambiance

Having lived in Iowa my entire life, seeing vast acres of corn and bean fields became commonplace even as a child. As a city boy I was used to driving around the crops to get to other places, but now that we moved to the country we live in the crops. We are surrounded by a swaying wall of corn on all sides of our property, a living seven foot high privacy fence. We can only see from ground level the tree tops of our two neighbors a quarter mile away to the east and west. Living on two acres in the middle of a vast cornfield tends to turn the eyes up or down. Up, one studies and admires the clouds and the big blue sky they float through, and down are the wildflowers, flowering weeds, dragonflies, butterflies and toads. To find them all in one spot we walk out to the ten foot wide ditch that separates our front yard from the gravel road. We decided not to mow the ditch to see what would come up, which most of our neighbors do as well. There are a wide variety of grasses, flowers and weeds that I have not taken the time to try to identify yet but we do recognize Daylillies, Queen Anne’s lace, milkweed and lilac scattered throughout. The toads are most vociferous after a rain and if water is left in the ditch. They vary in color from browns to greens, but always with some bumps and intricate patterns on their skin. They seem unconcerned when picked up, and many times will not even hop away when set back down. The rabbits have multiplied as usual, which keeps the two dogs busy chasing them back into the corn when they see them. Come dusk the lighting bugs begin flying and blinking by the thousands, making for a wonderful glowing show while the robins chirp and chatter as they sing down the sun.