Backroads of Morrow County Update: Adages April 13, 2014

Took an early morning cruise on the backroads. "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." I am doing my best to debunk that old adage. Yet, "early to rise" does allow you to enjoy the beauty of the morning. The dew and the sun give a sheen to the green fields. The birds are all busy. Red-winged blackbirds have set up their sentry posts all along the backroads. If you drive slowly with your windows down, you get a serenade--I love their trill, their babbling brook melody. Sporadic pairs of mourning doves balance--it always looks like a precarious existence to me--on the man-made limbs as well. What did they ever do before telephone wires? A hawk sat on a fence post mouse or vole hunting I imagine. My presence was irrelevant to his life. And I'm fairly certain I saw some barn swallows skimming over the swamp waters. In anti-thesis, the barn with the population of cats was especially busy this morning as well. Lots of sunning going on--my kind of exercise. Sitting, taking in nature's glory. Or walking, of course.
I was surprised to find a small portion of road under water. We've had a ton of rain, but I didn't think it was flood worthy. Not much on the trees yet; the maples are budding, plump and red. I wonder how many leaves are on a tree? The willows are yellow green. No flowering trees yet, at least out here. Most of the fields are plowed--furrow after furrow stretching off to the horizon. And this time of year, there is a horizon. You can see, it seems, to the skyline. Homes and old red barns on the far side of some fields are readily visible this time of year--in a couple of months they will go into hiding behind the rows of corn. I enjoy the expansiveness of the view--idyllic country. I'm always tempted at times as I creep up a little rise in the road to just stop for an hour or so and try to capture the silence and serenity. If only I could paint!
The backroads are an expanse of pot holes. The driving precarious--if I was in a hurry. But I'm not. "Slow and steady wins the race." I don't know who I was racing, but no one passed me. Maybe that old adage is true. For old men and turtles.