Thursday, March 28, 2024

Summer’s winding down rapidly

Squeezing all of the chores we’ve put off earlier in the summer ‘til now is becoming monumental undertaking. Staining the deck, replacing the weather stripping on the bottom of the garage door, replacing chipped strips on each side of the garage door, pruning the dead branches on a bush just outside the living room window and other tasks have become a procrastinator’s nightmare.

I was reminded of this when I noticed the electronic calendar on South Mantorville Avenue said the last day for use of the Kasson Aquatic Center will be August 26, at 8 p.m. That’s just 13 days from now!

Do you realize that we’re only a few weeks away from Labor Day and then, the unofficial end of summer?

I had intended to canoe down the Zumbro – didn’t find a 13-foot Grumman. Fishing on area streams was also on the docket as summer arrived – never happened. I had intended to play a round of golf on at least one of the area’s beautiful courses. Nope, haven’t even pulled the clubs out of the corner in the garage.

We all have good intentions to get out and enjoy the warm summer days that are all too short-lived in our neck of the woods.

In fact, I stopped into Hardware Hank last Friday to check on fertilizing the grass yet this summer. I was on the receiving end of a bit of education from one of the guys who informed me that I’d better wait and make my next application this fall. (It was a nice way of informing me that I had missed my mid-summer fertilizing.)

As I look back, I realize most of the county’s activities that are traditional highlights of the summer were cancelled because of COVID-19. There was no Festival in the Park for Kasson folks, Mantorville cancelled Stagecoach Days and the Marigold Festival, Dodge County Fair was cancelled (some 4-H projects were exhibited), and a host of other county festivities fell victim to the pandemic of 2020.

The old adage: if corn is knee-high by July Fourth, it’ll be a good crop. This year corn shot up over seven feet by the Fourth and just kept growing. When tall corn is the highlight of the summer we know that the lockdown is having a negative impact on our psyche.

Well, with September just over the horizon, it’s time to think about bird hunting – pheasant, fall turkey and grouse hunting in Grand Rapids with my nephew, Erik. Some of my fondest memories were tromping though the woods stalking grouse.

With summer fading in our rearview mirror, the colors of maples, birch and aspen will ease our anxiety over the cold winter mouths ahead.

 

 

 

 

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Dodge County Independent

Dodge County Independent
Dodge County ADvantage
301 S. Mantorville Ave.
Plaza 57 • Suite 200
Kasson, MN 55944

Dodge County Printing
301 S. Mantorville Ave.
Plaza 57 • Suite 200
Kasson, MN 55944

507-634-7503
 
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