Flocking crows just one sign winter is coming

By the time you read this it will be September. I don’t know where August went. The days went by just like white pickets in a fence at 70 miles an hour as they used to say. Summer is done and winter is coming.

I know winter is coming because it is trying to be dark at 9 p.m. I hate that, fumbling around in the dark. No lights seem to be bright enough.

I just know winter is coming. There is a chill in the air at night. That is a reminder from the Big Guy that winter is coming. Some people got damaging frost on their crops.

I know winter is coming. The crows are flocking up. They are cawing and squawking and making a big fuss. They are running around looking for trouble. If they find an owl they torment it all day but they are not that smart because at night the owl can see but the crows not as good. The owl takes revenge in the night and a few crows meet their end. Do the crows learn anything? Nope. The next day there they are, back at it again tormenting the owl. They have developed a real hate, hate relationship.

I know winter is coming. There are some trees and crops turning yellow. I am not looking forward to winter, but I know it’s coming. I like it when things are green. I find it depressing to see all the leaves turn yellow and fall off. The countryside gets very bleak looking. I don’t like it.

On the farming front, barley or oats seeded early are getting swathed or are very close to it. Some people are starting straight cutting their wheat that has been desiccated. The pea crops are being harvested. Any barley seeded early is now swathed. With the weather we have had with the rain and a touch of frost all the crops are going to be ready at once. People are now starting to swath their canola crops.

One year when I had only two swathers and we farmed many less acres than we did at one time, the canola suddenly was ready at once and when you touched it with the swather it would shell. We changed to swathing the wheat in the daytime and would swath the canola at night. We swathed the entire canola crop and I never saw the canola in the daylight. We got the job done but it was very tiring.

There is a tropical storm coming through the Caribbean called Erika. It has caused damage and flooding and will strike the Florida coast in two or three days. We sometimes get the tail end of these storms and can really put a stop to harvest. If it follows the coast it will soak the Maritimes and leave us alone. If it comes inland, we will get wet. Rubber boot and coffee time.

On the home front the crew decided the work in the elevator was too high and scary, so we agreed to have them go home. The project can wait for another day.

In political news, the Mike Duffy trial has taken a break, but the reporters are still trying to get members of Stephan Harpers staff to admit that Harper knew about the $90,000 cheque from Nigel Wright to repay Duffy’s housing allowance. I am not sure where the crime is here but one question needs to be asked, “Who is paying for Mike Duffy’s lawyer?” Duffy has a history of not paying for anything and the lawyer has been on the case for a month or more. Somebody is paying. Who is it?

Looking at the polls, on the Internet for the upcoming election, it looks like a tight three-way race, but if I look at a graph based on regions, things aren’t looking so good for the Conservatives. In the Maritimes, the Liberals appear to be ahead, in Quebec the NDP are ahead, then the Liberals and third is the Conservatives. In Ontario the Liberals have a slight lead. In the Prairies, the Conservatives have the lead. In British Columbia, the Liberals have the lead. This is just a survey and individual ridings will be different, but the overall trend is not favourable to the Conservatives. John Diefenbaker has a saying “polls are just for dogs.” We will see Oct. 19.

Question needing answers for the election: why is the gasoline at the pumps so high when crude oil is $40 a barrel or less?

Joke of the week: A lawyer dies and goes up to the Pearly Gates. The lawyer is upset and says he is too young. He is only 52. “No,” said St. Peter. “You are 87.” “How did you get that,” asked the lawyer. “We added up your time sheets,” said St. Peter.