{"id":100364,"date":"2017-09-19T12:57:45","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T17:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/?p=100364"},"modified":"2017-09-19T12:57:45","modified_gmt":"2017-09-19T17:57:45","slug":"weeds-by-randy-krzmarzick-fall-days-hold-a-tinge-of-sadness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/weeds-by-randy-krzmarzick-fall-days-hold-a-tinge-of-sadness\/","title":{"rendered":"Weeds by Randy Krzmarzick: Fall days hold a tinge of sadness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The barn swallows who spend summers on our farm are gathering on the overhead wire. \u00a0One day soon they will be gone, leaving us for some unknown warmer place.<\/span><\/p>\n

They are only here about four months of the year. \u00a0They live intense little lives during that time, eating heartily, mating, building nests, and hatching out two or three broods. \u00a0On summer evenings they dart above the yard, twisting and diving and turning midflight. \u00a0This gymnastic aerial show goes on nightly. <\/span><\/p>\n

Anybody who eats mosquitos is a friend of mine, and I go out of my way to offer homes to them. \u00a0There are a couple outbuildings they nest in and I make sure there is a door or window open each May when they arrive. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In last year\u2019s June storm, the yard light pole that held our last overhead electric line blew down. \u00a0It made sense to bury that like all the others have been. \u00a0I sheepishly asked electrician Bill Walters if it would be stupid of me to put the dead wire back up on the new pole for the barn swallows. \u00a0He didn\u2019t exactly answer my question. \u00a0(Thanks Bill!) \u00a0But he said he had done that for other similarly impractical customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Barn swallows gathering is but one sign of the shifting season. \u00a0A couple days of low clouds and northwest wind last week put a coda on summer if there were doubts. \u00a0We will have sunny days and warm days, but things are different. \u00a0Day length falls below twelve hours as dark becomes the rule. \u00a0Persephone returns in tears to the Underworld if you remember your mythology.<\/span><\/p>\n

I feel a little sad this time of year. \u00a0I\u2019m not sure why. \u00a0Fall is an appealing time of year on the northern prairie, so why the melancholy? \u00a0I\u2019ll miss the summer birds. \u00a0I think of them as \u201cthe swallows.\u201d \u00a0I looked it up recently; they typically live four years. \u00a0\u201cThe swallows\u201d that have been here each of my 61 summers are in fact many generations. \u00a0Likely some of those on the wire won\u2019t return next May.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was talking to a friend about this slight sadness. \u00a0We agreed that we carry residual feelings from our youth that equate this time of year with going back to school. \u00a0School meant the end of carefree living and the ramping up of responsibilities. \u00a0You went from a schedule that is loose to one that is ordered to the minute. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I have memory of going barefoot all summer and feeling discomfort having to put on shoes for school. \u00a0I must have worn shoes doing chores or going to church. \u00a0But in my mind I am barefoot for those three months. \u00a0I know I stepped on a few nails. \u00a0I remember getting a tetanus shot and thinking it was grossly unfair to inflict pain to treat something that was painful.<\/span><\/p>\n

My brother Dean was blind, and the end of summer meant he would return to the Faribault Braille School. \u00a0Fall meant my partner in play would not be around, and that was sad. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fall meant the end of playing baseball, a glorious game played with friends on brilliant summer nights. \u00a0That was replaced by football, a drudgery at best and a source of aches and pain at worst. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a scene at the end of the movie Bull Durham that sticks in my mind. \u00a0Susan Sarandon (Annie Savoy) is walking in a driving cold, autumn rain on a wet, dirt road. \u00a0That alternates to shots of the ballfield where the season\u2019s last game has been cancelled by raindrops splashing off the tarp. \u00a0The scene is mournfully sad; it is as if spring is an eternity away. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fall is the end of the growing season. \u00a0As a farmer, your work all season aims toward harvest. \u00a0It is exciting and challenging. \u00a0But when harvest is complete, it is months before the return of green to the fields. \u00a0Years ago, I was writing about fall work on the farm, and noted that a farmer had about forty harvests. \u00a0Now that I am nearly to that number, I hope I severely underestimated when I wrote that as a silly thirtysomething.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking of forty years, it was forty years ago that I went to a show at the Caboose Bar in Minneapolis. \u00a0A friend had suggested we go see Jerry Jeff Walker and the Lost Gonzo Band. \u00a0Walker is a country\/folk\/cowboy singer from Texas. \u00a0It turned out to be one of those Funnest Nights of My Life that happens when you least expect it. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen Jerry Jeff a few times since. \u00a0Most recently was July at the Minnesota Zoo. \u00a0The amphitheater there is a wonderful setting for a concert. \u00a0It was likely Walker\u2019s last time in Minnesota. \u00a0His voice is still strong, but he sat on a stool the whole night in a nod to his 75 years of sometimes rough living.<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker was reflective as he worked his way through songs, many written about experiences he\u2019s had along the way. \u00a0He mentioned early visits to Minnesota, referring to that night at the Caboose as a \u201clife-altering experience.\u201d \u00a0That was met with cheers from a few dozen of us who had shared that. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jerry Jeff talked about being a young man traveling in the South with not much more than his guitar, playing where he could for a few dollars. \u00a0Someone asked him what he did. \u00a0When informed that he travelled around playing music, Jerry Jeff was told, \u201cWell, you can\u2019t do that forever.\u201d \u00a0After a pause, the crowd laughed and applauded at the realization that, in fact, that is what exactly he had done.<\/span><\/p>\n

At one point the singer referring to those younger years said, \u201cLooking back, things are a whole lot clearer now than they were back then when I looked ahead.\u201d \u00a0I suppose that is self-evident, but the line has stuck with me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Poets have long used the seasons as a metaphor for life. \u00a0Spring brings birth and growth, and is like our childhood. \u00a0Summer is a time of maturing, as our middle years are. \u00a0Then fall is the season of decline. \u00a0Well, let\u2019s just stop this poetic exercise right there.<\/span><\/p>\n

The harvest looks to be an abundant one. \u00a0Already tomatoes and cucumbers fill the kitchen counter. \u00a0Pumpkins and squash are ripening on giant vines. \u00a0Farmers are hopeful about the corn and soybeans.<\/span><\/p>\n

I will enjoy many of these fall days. \u00a0That tinge of sadness will fade in the busyness. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The barn swallows who spend summers on our farm are gathering on the overhead wire. \u00a0One day soon they will be gone, leaving us for some unknown warmer place. They are only here about four months of the year. \u00a0They live intense little lives during that time, eating heartily, mating, building nests, and hatching out …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weeds-by-randy-krzmarzick"],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-22 20:33:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100365,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100364\/revisions\/100365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}