Late Summer in Kellogg

It didn't take long late this afternoon for the temperature to begin to drop and dewy air to move in with the sun starting to set.

I kept waiting for the kids in the neighborhood who have only a few precious days until school begins again to take advantage of these shorter days to congregate and start playing hide-and-seek or to enjoy the how much easier it is to run in the cool evening and get a game of "Red Rover, Red Rover" going.

It's not how kids play, though.

I thought about the last days of summer while out in Silver Valley Girl's backyard a couple of hours ago, watching Snug nose through high grass along the back fence and, without warning or cause, bolt from the east to the west end of her generous yard.

The late afternoon light is growing softer. Yesterday I saw how this light muted the tan wheat fields on the Idaho Palouse which, earlier in the day, had looked like upright suns glowing at mid-morning.

I felt the old excitement of late summer. I loved playing golf on evenings like this. The Pinehurst golf course was nearly empty. Play was so leisurely time seemed to stand still. Following the parabola of a well-struck four wood, I loved the long shadow of the ball in flight and the evening light made the fairways look more like sea green water than close clipped grass.

I loved that football season was approaching and that the Vandals would soon begin their march through the Big Sky conference. Montana. Idaho State. Weber State. Montana State. Boise State. Northern Arizona. I sat in the living room with Dad while we watched national broadcasts of teams far away, like Alabama or Arkansas or Georgia play early season games outside their conferences with UCLA or Michigan or Penn State. Dad kept a radio at his side, loud enough so that I could hear Bob Curtis describe the play by play. The Vandal fight song became as familiar to me as God Bless America.

Later in the fall, Bob Curtis' voice became inseparable from the smell of leaves burning. Later in the fall, Bob Curtis' voice competed with the television broadcast of the World Series. Later in the fall, the golf clubs went into storage and easy light of late afternoon gave way to early darkness. Later in the fall, basketball season began, but at home the focus was on the great conference games across the nation: Nebraska and Oklahoma in the Big Eight; Texas and Arkansas in the Southwest Conference; Ohio State and Michigan in the Big Ten.

Later in the fall, the relaxing temperatures of the late summer gave way to rain and cold.

The Idaho Vandals usually came up short.

For a flashback packed moment, though, the pleasure of the radio and the hope of the Vandals beating the Grizzlies and the stealthy fun of hiding in the shadows of Mr. Anderson's bushes, playing hide and seek, and the smell of burning leaves was back.

But, Snug was ready to come back in the house.

He needed to eat.