As I traveled to my sister’s in Indiana, I had a portable tape recorder with me. When something caught my eye, I made note of it. The drive was interesting.

In Northeastern Illinois, the geese are starting to gather…..communing at the edges of ponds, and foraging in the newly harvested fields. A bit of color has begun to show in the trees, especially the maples. The aspens are turning to gold, and leaves have begun to drop. Fall seems early this year, but maybe I’m just dragging my heels, wanting the pleasant weather to stay longer.
In the Jugtown Road area they were already harvesting, as well as much of Indiana. I’d guess that half the harvest was done the last weekend of September, in north central Indiana. The corn must have been planted really early this year. I saw red Case combines scouring the fields, and trucks waiting at the edge of the field for them to disgourge their loads.
Newly created, almost man-sized round bales of hay line the sides of fields. I can remember the smaller rectangular bales that they made when I was a kid. That reminds me…..I need to get a bale of straw and make a scare crow!
One of the towns had a billboard reminding the residents that September is National Library Card Sign Up Month. I didn’t know that. I asked about it at my library this week, and one of the clerks nodded, and said that they didn’t have a campaign to advertise it this year. I wonder if they feel they have enough patrons already!
The New Hope Bible Church had a sign outside announcing that they were approaching their 40 days of purpose. That gives you a lot to ponder. I wish I had stopped to ask about it.
Little birds, sparrows, I think, are gathering on the phone wires. They’re sitting there chatting about how the day has gone, and where they found particularly good seed. “Are you about ready to go south?” “No….it’s still warm here and there’s plenty of food.”
Did you know that migrating birds start their migration in response to the angle of the sun? I thought perhaps availability of food, and temperature might be factors, but it seems the sun works as a clock for them. “Okay, Maude….today’s the day! The sun is going south and we should, too!” I’ll be sorry to see our egrets go, and the gray heron.
Normally this time of the year, as you travel through Illinois and Indiana, you see hopper cars sitting on railroad sidings, waiting to transport the harvest. On this trip, where I expected to see hundreds of cars, I remember seeing FOUR! I wonder what the rail system is doing with all the cars? What will the graneries do when the harvest comes in and there is no way to move it out? Last year, one of the co-ops had piled the corn high on the ground and then covered it with a huge tarp. We’re not talking about a little pile, but one that was immense! A lot of the crop has to be lost that way.