“The vast space of the sky overhead so clear, and the buzzard up there sailing his slow whirl in majestic spirals and discs”*

by chuckofish

We enjoyed another beautiful summer day yesterday with low humidity and a high of 81 degrees. Zut alors! Practically unheard of for our part of flyover country in July!

I ran errands and busied myself getting ready for the 4th of July. By then it will have warmed up considerably and will do doubt be raining. But c’est la vie.

I thought this video about vultures was great. They are indeed one of God’s ugliest creations, but also one of the most amazing. (There is a lesson there.) We see them frequently around here, sailing their slow majestic spirals, but I have never seen one up close (except at the zoo). Once when crossing the Missouri River we saw a tree filled with them on the riverside.

Never stoops the soaring vulture
On his quarry in the desert,
On the sick or wounded bison,
But another vulture, watching
From his high aerial look-out
Sees the downward plunge, and follows;
And a third pursues the second,
Coming from invisible ether,
First a speck, and then a vulture ,
Till the air is dark with pinions.

–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from “Hiawatha”

Sometimes vultures make for a scene of horror, such as in the movie The Four Feathers (1939). And sometimes they save the day as in the book The Searchers by Alan LeMay.

Meanwhile, Idabelle learns how to water the porch…

…and the Hibiscus is ready to pop!

Enjoy the day!

*Walt Whitman, from “A July Afternoon by the Pond”