The summer is flying by isn't it? And the season is beautiful. Our yard is overflowing with life. There is a family of killdeer that are nesting in my driveway, and they squeak and squeal all day long. Or at least whenever anyone close enough to make them nervous. I am not sure where their nest is or how it could have survived so long with all of the coming and going in our driveway, but they have been around for weeks now. A groundhog has taken up residence far back in the yard and runs into the weeds every time we pull into the driveway and a resident squirrel leaves us little presents of walnut shells on the railing of our porch each morning. One time I awoke to the sound of his chewing and spotted him in action. And now there are baby bunnies who have begun to nibble on my garden again, not to mention the host of robins and sparrows, and even a few cardinals that have made this yard their home.
I wrote the above about a week ago. Since then I will describe the great Killdeer adventure, after which, it seems that they have taken up their residence somewhere else. On Monday night I decided to try to find their nest and somehow mark it off and protect it from all of the vans and trucks that come through our driveway. A landscaping company rents the large barn below us and there have been painters working on the outside of our house. I went out after work with binoculars, a towel to sit on, and a book to read while I waited, and saw five birds on the driveway, all at one time. As I walked closer and chose my little outpost from which to watch, all disappeared but one. This one bird stood still and quiet for a long time, stepping here and there, until it finally sat down like it was nesting. Another bird came and stood near it squawking and squawking. I waited for a while longer, and Bekah called saying she was in Hershey, so I invited her to come help. Her arrival stirred up the killdeer, and taking advantage of them being away from the prospective nest sight, Bekah and I lugged a card table down to the driveway and carefully began to look. The Killdeer had disappeared and were quiet, and I should have known then that they threw me off. There was no nest. Nothing. The other thing that was happening that evening is that the wheat field across the road from us was being harvested. I saw them one more time scavenging in the field that night and have seen and heard nothing of them since. It makes me think I may not have been as helpful as I hoped, but the positive side is that maybe they had already had a successful clutch of little Killdeer chicks, hence the five birds, and it was just time to move on.
Tonight I can hear the drums from the Lower Dauphin marching band, and today has been cool and clear, so I can almost imagine that fall will come again. It is one of those wistful, melancholy nights. In a good way.
I have caught myself watching TV more lately, have been trying to decide whether or not to finally get a cell phone (vote on this in the comments!) and at the same time, I have been noticing the outdoors, and have had a lot of things come up that I want to take time to pray for. So before I go in to start another installment of yet another viewing of a certain British period mini-series (Middlemarch. Actually NOT Pride and Prejudice. I know that is what you were thinking) I will finally post this post and spend some more time enjoying the evening, the pinkish sky, the drums, the cool air, and try to concentrate long enough to lift up some people who need God to work in their lives. Because there are a lot of them, and I am one too.
