Summer

I know the calendar says that summer has not started yet but from the way it looks and feels outside I think it's arrived already.

Sunshine, hot, green, sultry, crows hollering, rabbits hopping around, new born calves bellowing, hydrangeas blooming, fish jumping, gardens growing, people wiping sweat off their faces. Now what does that tell you?

What else would you expect out of a Tennessee summer?

The band is getting ready to go into our heavy touring season when we bring out the stage fans and sunglasses and making sure there's plenty of water iced down, and that's got to mean it's summer time.

Dean took the Twin Pines Rambler (that's the name of my bus) to the shop today to make sure all the air conditioners are working good and Hazel has turned the ceiling fans on in the house, must be summer time.

The bullfrogs at the big pond at the bottom of the hill are singing the bass parts to the symphony the katydids and the other night critters are performing and last night a whippoorwill joined in, sure sounded like a summer evening.

I'm wearing shorts and tee shirts and going on the back porch with just my socks on, and Brud's dog is hanging out in my garage to get out of the sun and we're needing rain and the mosquitos are out and the little yellow finches are back in the yard.

People are planning vacations, they're advertising the wonders of Branson, Missouri, baseball is on TV every night, the big yellow school buses are getting ready to go into moth balls for a couple of months, fresh vegetables are starting to show up.

Kids are slurping Icees, the lights at the softball fields are coming on, barbeque grills are smoking, the roads are full of long distance bicycles, bass rigs headed for the lake, convertible tops are coming down and night crawlers are selling like hot cakes.

Water parks are gearing up, golf courses are filling up, there's a run on hot dogs and ice cream companies are licking their chops.

The countryside is filled with the rumble of tractors pulling bush hogs and the city streets are inundated with the sound of lawn mowers.

Out in Colorado, the Bar D Chuck Wagon is getting ready to put the steaks on the grill and the Bar D Wranglers are getting ready to take the stage for their forty-somethingth straight year.

Up in Alaska the salmon will be making their way up the Kenai River full of roe and fight for somebody lucky enough to tie into a big un.

It's time for bikinis and sunscreen, watermelon and fireworks and bare chested good ol' boys sitting in the bleachers at a NASCAR race.

I don't care what the calendar says y'all, it's summertime.

Enjoy it.

And let's remember to pray for our troops, the temperature in Iraq can get up to 128 degrees in the summer time.

What do you think?

God bless America

Charlie Daniels