Swan Song

The evidence is all around us: the warm days of Summer are coming to an end.  The days are shorter, and cooler in the mornings and evenings. Mid-afternoon temperatures may soar into the 80's or even low 90s, but those temperatures are fleeting. By sundown, the air feels cool and, sometimes, the night breezes are downright cold!

Tuesday's balmy breeze turned into a raging gale. When the September wind velocity nearly equals the speed limit, we know that Fall, with its blustery breezes, is just around the corner.

I thought twice about opening my car door to step outside
 into the bone-chilling gale so I could snap this picture.

The corn fields are beginning to take on a golden sheen. It won't be long before the area farmers start their corn harvest.

The south side of Scotts Bluff National Monument provides
a beautiful backdrop for this cornfield.

But here in the Nebraska panhandle, I've noticed that most farmers complete their harvests alphabetically, first the beans and beets, then the corn.

Bean harvest--mostly pinto beans and navy beans--is in full swing this week.

This sugar beet field is just about ready for harvest.

Farmers can collectively breathe a little sigh of relief because irrigation is done for another year. Irrigation ditches are empty, or nearly so, and the center pivots stand at attention, guarding the ripening crops, waiting until next year to spray their welcome water on newly planted corn. 

This center pivot frames the Monument, and the corn beneath it, quite nicely.

A field full of corn, waiting patiently for harvest,
while a center pivot waits stoically for next year.

Silos stand tall, waiting to be filled with this year's corn crop.

Almost ready.

Aging sunflowers sag on their stalks, ready to give up their
seed-filled heads to become bird seed or cooking oil.

Even the trees are looking tired, with green leaves faded to dull khaki, and a few golden-tipped leaves starting to broadcast the season's imminent change.

 

The open fields are starting to dress in their fall colors as Summer's greens and tans are changing, almost overnight, to the reds and golds of Autumn.

I love to see the contrasting colors proclaiming that Autumn is nearly here.

Fall arrives in layers of color; green, tan, red, then more green, and gold,
frosted with a brilliant, blue sky and a few marshmallow clouds.

Summer is singing her swan song, while Autumn waits in the wings, ready to sing its own song of celebration: "I'm here!"

And here at home, Levi stepped over a few leaves that seem to be getting a head start into Fall. 

There is a time for everything, 

 and a season for every activity under the heavens. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1