Summer Heat

Sweat dripping from my brow this morning as I was weeding in the flower beds. As much as I do not like weeding, it does remind me of time with my sweet mama. Oh, how I miss her! She loved geraniums and petunias on her back porch but the shade garden was a favorite spot. It was filled with a variety of hostas, lamb’s ear, lily of the valley, and many others. I don’t know how mama kept up on all the weeding and home management as well as helping daddy on the farm with mowing and chores. I now understand why she was always tired but tried to give us her best, even at the end of the day.

The summer heat reminds me of the days we spend baling hay. All my cousins would come over and my grandpa and we would beg for who got to ride the wagon. My daddy usually drove the tractor and we were to catch the bales coming out of the baler and then the boys would stack them. Once we filled the wagon to almost toppling over, we would head back to the barn to offload into the loft. We were blessed to have a hay elevator which made the job just a little easier for the one on the ground. But the real sweaty job was stacking in the heat of the hay loft. I”ll never forget that narrow ladder that was tucked tight against the wall, and you would have to practically jump over the open hole at the top so as not to fall back through. But once the work was done for the day, mom would have homemade potato salad and corn on the cob, sandwiches, and lemonade for all us workers. The best part of baling hay was the family around the table what had worked together to make things happen.

Riding bikes was another pastime in the summer, usually before we would head to grandma’s around the bend to hit the pool. But often we had to work before we could play. Grandpa and Grandma had a massive garden, so there was always weeding to be done but also peas to shell. My cousin and I were like “water dogs”; we couldn’t get enough of the pool so we did what we had to  do to enjoy the pool. But, we had to make sure not to splash grandma or get her hair wet before church. If we were good, Grandma would send us down to the deep freezer in the basement to get her homemade zucchini bread…it was the best reward!