The First Month of the Season

The first month of the season has nearly run its course. What little green was left on the prairie vanished weeks ago, hiding out of sight over the creek banks. The rest of the country is the color of straw.

The recent rains won’t make much difference except to turn dust to mud.

Stock ponds that were brim-full in mid-summer shrunk to half their size by the first of September as hot winds blew and the ground cracked.

Where there was good soil the grass grew waist high, but on the hard pan, only cactus thrived, covering the ground so thickly in places the dogs couldn’t dodge it.

Not surprisingly...