The first day of summer was Monday, and that means the days are now starting to get shorter. I know you didn’t want to hear that, so let’s put that thought on the back burner for a few months.
I suppose it might be age, but summers seem so busy nowadays. So, for this column I am going to write about the things I enjoy most about the summer months.
Morning coffee on the front porch tops the list. It’s so quiet, other than the birds chirping. Once in a while the train sounds its horn at 6 a.m. to let everyone know it’s time to get up.
In my neck of the woods nearly every morning I can hear a rooster pheasant crowing off to the northwest. From time to time a rooster chicken chimes in as well.
It doesn’t take too many mornings out on the front porch before I have the neighborhood morning routine down. The vehicle comings and goings are like clockwork.
As many of my neighbors know, I enjoy mowing my lawn. Some might say it’s an obsession. To give you an idea how much I enjoy mowing, as of this column I have mowed my lawn 25 times this spring/summer. Before you write this off as some sort of OCD, let me explain my mowing behavior.
We all know people who go for a walk almost every day. By and large, those walkers take the same route every day, thus covering the same ground and distance every day. Nobody considers that crazy. In fact, we give them kudos for living a healthy lifestyle.
I like to think I am doing the same thing; it’s just that I have a mower in front of me while I am on my walk. When you think about it, it’s kind of the two birds with one stone thing.
My new toy for the summer has been my new smoker.
Talk about summer relaxation at its best. There is something about the smell of a smoking brisket that says summer like nothing else.
So far the Petersons’ smoker has been stoked up to smoke ribs, chickens, pork shoulder, brisket and — believe it or not — meatloaf.
The meatloaf was really good, but the brisket was my favorite.
So, to sum it up, a perfect summer day for me would go something like this: Start the morning on the front porch with a cup of coffee while the smell of the brisket on the smoker drifts by. Then before it gets to hot out, fire up the mower for a nice morning walk.
Even though the days are getting shorter, there is plenty of time to enjoy your summer.
So do whatever it is that makes your summer day perfect.