When summer's end is nighing

Goodbye, July. 
Goodbye, summer. 

The heat might hang on through Thanksgiving, but once the kids go back to school, summer feels over to me. 
That’s always how I tell, no matter what the calendar says.

School starts way too early now. 
It used to begin after Labor Day, but they say all the schools have air-conditioning now, so they don’t wait anymore.

Some of the country kids in this area board the bus at 6:30 a.m. and don’t get home until almost 5 p.m.
The buses aren’t air‑conditioned. 
Officials seem to forget about country kids.

Cowboy and I went to town to grab Badger’s antibiotic and came right back home.
 I stayed inside with her the rest of the day, behind tinted windows with the air conditioner running. 
She’s still wobbly and had a few dizzy spells that really scared me.

“I feel funny!” she yelled at one point.
I told her to pull herself together.
If she faints here, I can’t grab her.
She nearly knocked me down at the hospital.
She grabbed the gate between the hall and the living room, took a shaky breath, and made her way to the kitchen.

I don’t know what Cowboy got into today besides going to work. 
He always has to get the eggs. 
His birds have to be fed and watered, and the eggs collected, sun, rain, snow, or tornado. 
Chickens have to be taken care of. 

There’s nothing else to say about the day.

Tomorrow we’re planning to get to town for groceries, and Badger’s coming along because she needs a few things we can’t get for her. 
She’s picky. 
Saturday she’ll get that nose ring taken out and see if the hole will close. 
We’re hoping it does. 
Cowboy will be at church Sunday, and Badger and I will rest before her ER follow‑up on Monday.

She’s stretched out on the couch in the living room now. 
It’s getting close to midnight, so I’m going to wrap things up and head to bed.