A wild ride with Mother Nature
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- July 1, 2025
- 564
It appears to me that seasons in Ohio and Mother Nature don’t get along too well. One winter, it was icy cold for months, but surprisingly, we didn’t have a lot of snow. We had icy roads and walks, but not our usual amount of snowfall — very odd.
Then, just as spring was due to arrive, we had a big snowstorm. The road and walks had to be plowed and shoveled. But the very next day, it got a little bit warmer, and all those piles of snow began to melt, and in two days, all the snow was gone.
Then when spring actually arrived, the trees began to leaf, the bulbs sent up leaves and flower buds began to open on my azalea bush. But that night the temps dropped too close to freezing for that poor blooming bush to survive. The buds were dead, and then the whole bush died. I could not believe I had lost a blooming azalea. As a result of my sorrow at losing that beautiful bush, I might have said a few bad words about Mother Nature. That was a mistake.
Following that cold snap, the temperatures began to warm up, and it got warmer and warmer and warmer. Soon it was downright hot. The air-conditioning came on and ran all day and all night for two days. Then one night a storm arrived with roaring thunder and flashing lightning all over town.
The next morning a tree near us had been zapped by lightning, and it had fallen across the road. We couldn’t get out of our neighborhood for two days. When the tree was removed, I made a sincere promise never to speak ill of Mother Nature again. And I haven’t, at least not out loud.
This past winter was very cold, but we didn’t have a lot of snow. Spring gave early hints of arrival, but winter seemed reluctant to depart. It took until the last of May before spring could get a good grip on Ohio.
This year spring arrived with a lot of cloudy and rainy days. The grass liked that weather, and so did all the trees, bushes and plants. In no time at all, the trees were covered with leaves, the bushes had their flowers bursting out and the gardens were covered in sprouts.
So far it seems to be a good year. A bush we thought was dying perked up and came back to life. When that happened, I remembered to say out loud, “Thank you, Mother Nature!” I sure learned my lesson.
Laura Moore can be emailed at lehmoore1@gmail.com.