Wavin' wheat!

I saw my neighbors out cutting wheat yesterday afternoon. That's a good thing! Unfortunately, the thunderstorms rolled in before they could finish this particular field. And this morning, things are wet again.
This is an old photo of my grandfather and some of his cousins. Grandpa is the handsome guy, second from the left.

That spouse o' mine and I went on an early morning bike ride today. We started at 6:30 to beat the heat, and it was really, really nice out! There are some inherent qualities of summer cycling that are not overly-enjoyable (besides sweat trickles). As the temperatures rise, so does the strength of the eau de roadkill. Those twigs in the road are sometimes not twigs. Snakes snake across the roads, especially, it seems, in the morning hours. With all the rain we've been having, there's a lot of standing water on the roadsides. It's starting to get really smelly. And our evening rides are fraught with flying bugs.

The upside to this peripatetic pedaling is that I notice the things I don't observe when I'm in my car. I could have sworn that the neighbor's corn grew half a foot from yesterday. There was a really pretty snake in the road, and now I am going to have to look him up to see what he was. (note: Common King Snake) I pay much more attention to cloud movement, not unlike one does when mountain climbing - but while I am watching the clouds, I can let a vivid imagination roam about birds and planes and hurricanes.

And this morning's Cycling Song of Choice (because I sing, too, to keep up my cadence...) contained the lines:
...flowers on the prairie where the June bugs zoom,
Plenty of air and plenty of room,
Plenty of room to swing a rope!
Plenty of heart and plenty of hope.
OKLAHOMA, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain,
And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain..."

I just love that song!