Our three-day run of 90s isn’t a preview of summer’s dog days — relative humidity is very low, around 20% to 25%, so the heat isn’t as oppressive as what’ll come later. Yesterday’s 94°F was fairly comfortable, in fact, considering it still was 94°F.
What’s really remarkable is the difference between highs and lows. The swing from Friday afternoon to Saturday morning was 34°F. Yesterday into today would bring a difference of 30°F. And according to the forecast, today (Sunday) we’ll top-out at 91°F before careening to a low of 44°F at sunup tomorrow — a plunge of 47°F.
That’s just nuts.
I did no work yesterday. It felt like I’d hit a sort of wall, one that no internal pep-talk could dismantle. In light of how productive I’ve been lately, I didn’t fret about that.
Smudge and I did go to town (Yellville).
In the expected places, whitetail grazed.
We saw nine in all, six of which are captured in today’s header image.
With our errands completed, I pointed the Silverado toward home. That’s when it struck me that it’s been forever since I was anywhere but Yellville, Flippin or The Mountain — many months, in fact.
Part of that’s because everything I need is close by. Some of it can be chalked up to tight finances. A lot of it reflects my relentless pursuit of simplicity.
Yesterday morning, I decided to pop up out of my self-imposed rut. It’d require a seven-mile detour.
I passed my usual turnoff for the county road and followed the state highway to a “census-designated place” known as Ralph. There I turned right, continuing until I reached a low-water crossing.
In front of me was the first Ozarks wonder I was shown when I came here five years ago — Gray Spring.
“The Bubbler,” as many of the locals call it, is low but still flowing strong. No one else was around, which was a bit unusual.
I filled my Nalgene bottle and enjoyed the sound of rushing water.
Smudge and I played awhile in the creek downstream from the spring. Then I loaded Miss Muddy Paws back in the truck and we returned to The Mountain.
Making the spontaneous choice visit to Gray Spring yesterday was the best thing I’ve done in ages.
Now here’s today’s installment of, “What do you see?”
Look in the lower right-hand corner of the image:
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable