With the startling news that Morel Mushrooms were already up in the area (a neighbor down the road found 49 this morning), we set out expectantly on a mushroom expedition. This is way early for Morels, but spring has come several weeks early this year.

And we found some interesting items, just no mushrooms. I like to think of the hollow as nearly pristine, but there are certainly signs of humans here and there. Today I found an object in the woods that the veteran mechanic that was mushroom hunting with me identified as the coil for an old one-cylinder engine, probably dating from the 1920s. It was up a distance on the side of the hill. Someone must have thrown it for it to get there.

We also stumbled upon the first two terrapins, or box turtles, I’ve seen out this year. One was still muddy from digging itself out of its winter burrow.

Photograph courtesy of Lori Davis of Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

This 30+ year old tire is usually the reliable sort…

Woke up to a little bit of snow on the ground this morning – first of the season. Not enough to worry about except for where it melted, refroze and caused traffic accidents on area roads. Ice is ice and causes more problems in the Ozarks than snow normally does.

When I attended college in the Arkansas River Valley just south of the Ozark hills, it taught me how one’s view of weather is so relative. Russellville, Arkansas has a much milder winter than we do here in the north Arkansas Ozarks. Before attending college, I had just moved back from Schwaebisch Gmuend, Germany so the mild winters seemed even milder still. But one day while crossing the Arkansas Tech University campus in the spitting snow, I heard a Texan say, “When I moved to ATU, I didn’t know I was moving to the Arctic.” I had an uncle from Mississippi that said north Arkansas was the coldest place on earth. And so it goes. Retirees from Omaha, Nebraska laugh at our snowfalls, while denizens of Sault Ste Marie winter in Nebraska for the pleasant weather. Sault Ste Marie can receive 17 feet of snow in a single winter.

Today while stretching my legs, I ended up at this bluff down the hollow. Like the other bluffs that edge the hollow, there is a small spring at the base of it, the very water that carved out the rocks.

Below is an aerial photograph of the hollow. It will give you an idea of where this small bluff is located in relation to our house and barn. Also note how this bluff is almost invisible when seen from above.

The dogs found this little skull. I think it is a possum as it has the canine and the four molars on the lower jaw. Not sure what else it could be. The size is about right. Possums (or Didelphis virginiana for all you Latin speakers) are interesting creatures.

I once walked into a muffler shop and heard a man say, “I’ve eaten groundhog, but I’ve never tasted possum.” That statement doesn’t seem so out of place in the rural Ozarks, but might be surprising to hear in some places. Do people talk about such things in muffler shops in Boston? I don’t know for sure.

Up in a Siberian Elm in the hollow there is a large mushroom growing. The cap is about a foot wide. The Siberian Elm (Granny called it a Chinese Elm) is a native tree of Siberia and China that is not near as handsome a tree as the American Elm, but is resistant to Dutch Elm Disease. Photographs are courtesy of Mary J Weems.

 The view from the ridge above the hollow looking eastward. Photograph courtesy of Mary J Weems.

The Ozark Hills always get hot in the summertime, but this year has been extra special in that category. Some years are nearly famous for how hot they were – the Dust Bowl years, 1954 and 1980 stand out. The nearest weather station operated for the National Weather Service is in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The two hottest days on record there occurred in July, 1954 (the 14^th and the 18^th) when the mercury climbed to a respectable 111 degrees Fahrenheit (that is 44 degrees Celsius for you progressive types).

A few days ago, on August 3^rd, the temperature reached 111 degrees Fahrenheit in the hollow, tying the record for Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

3 Responses to Ozark Heat

1. Nadine Young says:

    

   August 9, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    

   A friend just loaned me “Murder in the Ozarks”, as she and I both grew up in the Ark. Ozarks in the 1940s/50s.     I’m only 3 chapters into the book…quite often I break out into laughter.  My husband does not understand.   He’s a KS farmboy and does not understand the culture of those Ark. hills back 50 years ago.     Great read!

    

    

2. katy english says:

    

   September 11, 2011 at 4:33 pm

    

   Yes, I’ve known a friend from the Ark for many years, and she has read the book, and says she loves how actual all it tells the readers is. No doubt this is wonderful literature! I recommend it strongly!

    

    

3. Online Furniture Stores Burbank says:

    

   September 13, 2011 at 2:20 pm

    

   Interesting – has the rest of this summer been close to that heat too, or was that day one that stood out? We’ve been having some heat over here in Los Angeles, but nothing to that extent!!

   ~Kayla