A cup of hot tea beside me as I sit and stare out the window at the soon-to-come-down hummingbird feeders. Guess they've (they being all species of local hummingbirds) all migrated south. See you next April, little friends. I would go ahead and take down the feeders, but the weather is still, for the moment, on the warmish side. And what if a stray hummingbird wanders through between now and Saturday (when I will, for sure, put them away for the winter)? On Saturday it will be too cold for the despised red wasps to make pigs of themselves on the feeders. Hope they (they being red wasps) freeze to death. Dreadful creatures! Red wasps, giant, ultra-huge red wasps are flying in swarms around the outside of the house, or at least it seems like it. Two of them made their way into the house. I haven't got a real good aim, but I plugged them with some don't-fool-with-me Hot Shot. Best purchase I ever made.


What I need to be doing is vacuuming. I mean, I've been given the gift of a free afternoon to prepare for weekend company. So what am I doing here? I'm procrastinating, that's what. Or maybe I'm just gearing up to get into that cleaning zone. Once I get started, I won't stop until I'm done. My cousins (from Orlando) are coming over on Saturday. First we are hiking to Whitaker Point, a gorgeous place. One of the most photographed places in Arkansas.

This is what the drive to the top of the mountain looks like in the fall, with roads so narrow that someone has to pull over to let another car pass.

This is the destination, Whitaker Point, locally known as Hawksbill Crag. If you are very daring, like we are, you can walk out to the very end of the Hawks Bill and have one of your friends take a picture. It's really not as scary to walk out on as you might think. It's actually very wide and solid.

To the north the sky is really dark. All the signs point to severe thunderstorms. The weather man says that between now and Friday night we have a 100 percent chance of rain, (no duh!) by Saturday the day will be rain free, sunny and a bit chilly-er with a high of 55. Right now it's 77 degrees, so that will be quite a change. Bet on top of the mountain, it will be more like 45 degrees I can't remember if we will be in the Ozark National Forest or in the Buffalo River National Park, but either way we shouldn't encounter hunters. But I think to be on the safe side, Dwain and I should advise everyone to wear bright neon-like colors. I'd hate for someone to mistake us for bears or turkeys.

Back to the migrating hummingbirds. I just saw a bright green one land in our peach tree.