The fireflies are almost all gone by now, replaced by the grasshoppers, which are about full-grown and hopping around everywhere. This has also been a bounty year for dragonflies around the acreage.

Some soybean crops around us have started to turn yellow-gold, while other patches are still green, making for a beautiful mosaic stretching into the distance. Our vegetable garden has been so-so again this year, producing a few zucchinis early and some cherry tomatoes later in the season. No green peppers.

I wrote recently about our dog Steve acquiring a taste for baby bunnies. Last week he expanded his diet even further by eating a baby bird whole that had fallen to the ground. My son and I were working out back when we both heard loud and excited baby bird chirps. We looked around and spotted Steve under a pine tree, his mouth to the ground. The chirps grew fainter then stopped when he began chewing something. Up went his head, followed by a big gulp. If he is going for a trifecta I can only guess what the next baby animal would be.