Well, it's getting to be that time of year again. The days are going to start getting shorter and the nights will start getting colder.

It is a time when I often wonder why I didn't fish more, go camping or play golf. I also typically start being concerned about not getting enough work done while the weather was warm. Not that it isn't warm now, mind you. It has been so hot lately, even at night, that most attempts at breathing are nearly stifled without the assistance of motor-driven air.

I can see fall around the corner. Already, my weeds are nearing maturity in the garden and have started spreading their wonderful little seeds everywhere. At least I know I will have some of those next year.

The parsnips, carrots and few remaining beets are nearly buried by weeds. The tomatoes, corn and potatoes are fairing much better. I don't even know if I am going to be able to find my onions this year. The tops all died and the weeds took over.

I am thinking about mowing the whole mess. I got kind of discouraged when the drought really took hold and pretty much gave up on any serious gardening effort. Then again, maybe I didn't really do all that well after the May catastrophe hit. After that, I just watched it all wither away, slowly succumbing to the grip of the drought.

It was one of those years that the corn never really reached its full potential, the potatoes died early after being frosted late and the other plants grew slowly. Like I said, if it didn't freeze to death early, it burnt up later.

I pulled a carrot out of the ground, well actually I broke the earth, hard as a clay pot, with a shovel and pried it out. It was almost hot to the touch, practically cooked in the ground. I don't see how anything is alive as dry as it has been so far. As a further symptom of the bigger problem, the cucumbers are as bitter as quinine and are seemingly poisonous to the tongue. I have one hive of bees near the garden, which help with pollinating. The cucumbers are plentiful, they're just not edible for humans. The bugs still seem to like them fine. I say let them have at it.

However, it is hard to complain when you still have tomatoes and things left from last year's bountiful harvest. That's the way things go sometimes. One year you have it good, the next year you don't have it so good. Just take the good with the bad and average it all out and I figure we've all done fine.

There are definitely more things to be thankful for than there are to be complaining about. I appreciate the fact that I live in a country where any grocery store has as much food as some small countries.

As an added bonus, I live in a county that has stocked trout streams with plenty of fish for anyone who wants to go through the effort to catch them.

That's another thing I haven't done in a while. I just don't like to trout fish with all the ponds dried up like they are. The fish are so spooky they run if you get within 25 feet of them, the water is so shallow and thin that they are lucky to have their backs covered. I went out to the creek the other day to wet a line and figured out that there are more rocks than water.

Something has to give soon.

In watching the weather forecast last night, I see it might rain this week. However, it is only a slim chance of 'scattered storms,' whatever that may mean.

I guess we are going to have to cut down the corn and plant us a cactus or three. I hear Mexicans eat those things if you fry them up and take off the stickers. It couldn't be all that bad, I usually like Mexican food.

Put a little hot sauce on your food and it all tastes about the same, I figure. I think I still have a bottle of Hotter than Heck in the refrigerator that I could break out in a pinch. You can also make tequila from a cactus, but I don't think I want any of that mess. I always called it to-kill-ya. All of that liquor stuff will kill you, one way or the other.

Maybe I am over-reacting and all this doom-saying desert talk is just fluff, but I figure I will go ahead and be checking my seed catalogues anyhow. You never know what desert plants they might slip in there for next year.

Get more tongue in cheek commentary this week's issue of the Alleghany News!

Email: allnews@ls.net