Elvis Has Left the Prairie

Across the Fence #514

Back when Elvis was alive and performing, people would give him standing ovations at the end of his performance, clap and shout for more after he had exited the stage. Soon the announcer would say, “Elvis has left the building!” He was gone, but people wanted more. They weren’t ready for the show to end. 

It’s like that with the end of summer. This week the orioles, hummingbirds, and many other birds left our back yard. The redwing blackbirds left a couple weeks ago. Just like the end of an Elvis performance, I’m not ready for them to exit the prairie. Hopefully, just like a bunch of Elvis impersonators, they’ll all reappear next spring.

The birds left just in time, before the cold, rainy weather moved in. Maybe they knew it was coming and the time had come to bid their summer home goodbye and head for warmer climates. I’ve seen many large flocks of birds this week, including flocks of geese snaking their way across the sky, constantly breaking and remaking their V formation as new geese take the lead. It’s mid-September and the temperature was 33 degrees at our place this morning. At least it was 33 above zero. We’ve seen it 30 below during the dark days of winter, here on the howling prairie. 

No shorts or t-shirt on my walk this morning. It was cold! In January this will feel like a heat wave, but not today. There should be a law against it being this cold, this early in September. Maybe we could petition our congress and senate to pass a law. But I fear hell would freeze over before they did anything about it. Seems to me all they do anymore is spend their time raising money for the next election. So, unless you plan to head south with the birds, I think you better start shopping for long underwear.

This morning the first thing I noticed on my walk, besides the cold, was how quiet it was. For the first time in a month the fields weren’t alive with the sound of crickets and grasshoppers. I was wondering if Elvis had left the fields too. Every day I had been serenaded by a continuous chorus as they hopped and flew in every direction as I walked through the fields, along fencelines, and even on the country roads. They were everywhere. Then overnight the fields had gone silent. I stopped and listened for their chirping. There was only silence. It hadn’t been cold enough to kill them so they must have all been hunkered down together, trying to keep warm, and it was too cold to chirp. I missed their sound. 

I even have a “cricket chirping” ring tone on my iPhone. The problem is, for the past month or more, I’ll hear a chirping sound that sounds just like my phone is ringing. I’ve been fooled several times. Before finishing my walk today, the sun came out and soon the fields around me came alive again. The chirping was back. Elvis had returned for an encore.

If you have never experienced the countryside being alive with sound, I’d encourage you to get out in the country, away from traffic noise. If you’re in a car, and able to walk around, park it, get out, and walk for a while. Let the grasshoppers and crickets serenade you. In the evening the crickets really come alive, and if you’re near water, the frog chorus joins in. If you’re not able to walk, find a safe place to park, roll down the windows, and sit and listen for a while. Do it before the first killing frost arrives when the fields will go silent and not come alive again until next summer. Don’t wait until Elvis has left the prairie for good.

Fall is like that, one departure after the other; birds, butterflies, crickets, grasshoppers, other insects, and eventually the human snow birds, until only those who are hardy enough to withstand the coming winter are left. 

Another large, black cloud of birds rose out of the corn field behind our house today. Hundreds of birds riding the air currents as one, rising and falling, changing directions, but always in unison and never colliding with each other. Unfortunately many of them will perish during their journey when they collide with guy wires from towers while flying at night.  

Soon the cornfields they departed from will disappear too as huge harvesting equipment will strip them clean in a fraction of the time it took our fathers to harvest the corn for silage, and later to strip the ears from the stalks and haul them to the corn crib. Now there are few silos left and corn cribs are as scarce as hen’s teeth. The harvest has definitely changed.

What would my parents and Elvis think if they could see all the changes that have taken place since they left the building for the last time? What further changes will we see before we take our final curtain call? The changing of the seasons is one thing I think we can count on; the heat and bugs of summer, the beauty of fall colors, the cold, white blanket of winter, and knowing new life will emerge again in the spring. Unlike Elvis, every season returns for an encore. 

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