If I didn’t know any better and if heat was an indicator, I’d have to think that we’re in the middle of summer.

However, according to the calendar, that’s not the case. Because my brain seems to be fried these scorching days, I find myself daydreaming (when I should be doing paperwork)and that has led to thoughts of summer sights and sounds that are starting to fade, signs that it is indeed almost autumn.

There are lots of sights and sounds during summer that I often take for granted and which are now or soon will be fading away. Some of them include:

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• The whizzing sounds of hummingbirds as they fly around their nectar feeder and the front window of the house where they try to reach the red blossoms of the geranium plants growing in inside pots.

• Laughter, yelling and other delightful sounds coming from neighborhood children as they play outdoors in early evening, now being cut short by the start of school and earlier nightfall.

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• Sounds of grasshoppers flying up in front of me as I walk down the path to the corral.

• The sounds of lawnmowers and weed eaters as people take care of their lawns.

• Robins chirping (for lack of a better word) as they hop around on a freshly-watered lawn or garden, hunting for worms or perhaps even a drink of water.

• Sounds of sprinklers running on lawns.

• Cows far off on summer pasture, calling up their calves at evening’s end.

• The bawling of a bull in the distance.

• The sounds of four-wheelers and other off-road vehicles as people work and play.

• The sight of vegetable and flowering plants that are looking as though they’re tuckered out.

• Buzzing sounds of bees as they fly around flowers.

• Tractors running in nearby fields as farmers and ranchers complete their summer work.

• The sight of large round bales, rectangular bales and small bales lying on harvested fields.

• The sight of all kinds of bales in stacks at neighboring ranches, all ready for winter.

• The sounds of ice cubes “clinking” against one another in a glass of iced tea.

• The sounds of swimmers diving into a swimming pool.

• The sounds made by a boat on a lake.

• Thunder in the distance.

• Rainfall on a metal roof.

• The sight of lightning in the distance, lighting up the night sky.

Autumn is my favorite season, but there are many sights and sounds of summer that I will miss a lot.