Hinds County News May 2016

Hinds County News May 2016

The last day of March I began my first journey back Mississippi, since selling my home, a year and a half ago, my wonderful home of thirty years, to come back to Nebraska, where I was born and raised, to be near family in my old age.  It was hard leaving Mississippi when I left the first time…it wasn’t any easier leaving this time. I will be back!!!

I began the trip at first light, I leisurely motored along back roads, all the way…nearly a 1000 miles.  What a lovely drive it was, the morning I left Holdrege there were only miniscule hints that Spring might be coming soon to Nebraska.  I took highway 183 South through Kansas and Oklahoma, then Highway 70 across southern Oklahoma and Arkansas, that is where spring took on color, Wisteria climbing in trees that had not yet leafed out turning them purple…. The dogwood trees tucked in to the edges of the woods were in full flower. Oh!! My favorite the azaleas they were spectacular!

By the time I cross over the Mississippi River at Greenville, into the Mississippi delta, it was full blown Spring.  The trees were all leafed out, well that is not entirely true, there is always one exception…. the pecan trees.  Bless’m they are the first to drop their leaves in the Fall and last to acquire them in the Spring.

I was in hopes that by the time I returned to Holdrege it would be Spring, was not to be… the trees did not yet have their leaves, but thrilled to see the ornamental cherries, and pears were in full flower….as were the dandelions, my yard was a carpet of yellow, rather happy looking…I love the color yellow.

 Recently I was among a group discussing the dandelion, one meek little voice spoke up to say, “leave them for the bees” I must say that was not the prevailing attitude of the gathered.

Folks up here look down their noses at dandelions, my lawn in Mississippi if it was green I mowed it and called it lawn!  Now the poison ivy, that was crawling in the grass and up the pecan trees, I, on occasion, tried to kill it…but on after while I gave up that notion…. telling myself it was okay because, some summers it was so hot and dry that the leaves would just turn brown and plummet to the ground without ever turning color, those years’ poison ivy gave us our prettiest fall color.   I got to say in the fall, poison ivy is spectacular…brilliant reds and oranges!

Back to the dandelion saga, my yard was the only one on the block covered by the happy yellow flowers and they did not go unnoticed.  I do not know that I ever intentionally set out to kill a dandelion…Oh whacked them with the weed eater…that does not kill them, if anything whacking invigorates them. 

With sadness in my heart, I set out to deliberately kill the dandelions…went to the hardware store and bought a sack of happy yellow flower eradicator… that was a week ago, so far they do not seem to be at all daunted by my efforts, they are still looking up and smiling at me. I must confess, I am somewhat relieved.

Hey I got to go

Love to all