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| Twelve-spotted Skimmer |
DOLDRUMS
It is no secret that I enjoy August just about the same
as January. Hot, humid and boring is about the same as cold, snowy and boring.
When July turns into August we have pretty much figured out what the gardens
production for the season will be. It may be good, bad or just plain out ugly;
there isn’t much we can control by this point. There is one bright point
though; mine probably cannot be as bad as it was last year. I cannot even look
forward to fall color around here this year. There isn’t much left around these
parts except for yellow poplars and they are already brown from the bumper crop
of yellow poplar weevils.
Long, long ago this was my month for dying and waxing
traps, shooting the bow and preparing for hunting and trapping seasons. If you
asked me 30 years ago if I thought I was still going to be doing all of those
things in thirty years; the answer would have been yes. Times change and we
change (some of us anyway) I haven’t even held a bow in my hand in about twenty
five years. I cringe at the thought of sending a piece of fur to China. I no
longer hunt for sport or as a recreation. I have Thanksgiving and Christmas
turkeys in the freezer. I need 2 deer in the freezer; 3 make it better with
less rationing. I really do not start thinking about deer hunting until the
week before opening day of gun season; no need to. I do not use all of the
gadgets and gimmicks; so there is nothing to buy. I loaded enough ammo last
winter to get me through several seasons. Yep, I have nothing to prepare for.
I’ve been preparing for winter since April. .Beans and tomatoes that is all
that is left to do until I’m cutting up venison.
I can feel it running through your mind right now; he is
depressed. Nope, just realistic. I can always find something interesting to do
to fight the doldrums. There is always something to see and discover, Last
August, I finally opened my eyes to the wonderful world of dragonflies and
damselflies. Sadly; I had never paid much attention to them before. Yeah, like
you I noticed the big ones and the small ones and thought that was it. I was
sadly mistaken and the variety is amazing. There are 336 species in the East.
One hundred forty four species are known to WV and One hundred thirty-three of
those species have been documented in the state since 1995. That is a bunch of
colorful critters to go out and look for. The big ones are fairly easy to
identify. Some are like a fine hair with wings and a challenge they are.
I have come to the realization that there is plenty of
stuff out there to observe and learn, Between the birds, butterflies and
dragonflies I will have plenty to hunt until after the first good freeze;
anyway. I’m never bored. I just don’t do the stuff I used to do. I changed
because I want to be out there hunting every day and I do. No doldrums, here.
Too much to see.
This is my article for the August 2015 issue of Two-lane Livin. Note that a few words were changed from the printed published version. It was nobody's fault that one sentence didn't make any sense.The article was printed just as I sent it but sometimes in cyber-world things just get jumbled.
(c) High Virginia Outdoors Photo (c) 2015 High Virginia Images ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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