By A. Ray Lee

Columnist

The unseasonable weather we are experiencing has added fuel to the fire for the climate folks who are predicting a dire future, if there is a future, for planet earth. It is true the past months have brought swings in temperature and rain. The extreme heat and extended dry period late last summer and fall, combined with record-breaking cold in December, has had its effect on buildings and plants.

Although my house is built upon a strong foundation, cracks have appeared in its walls and closet doors are dragging, caused by unstable soil shifting as it dried. With the extensive recent rains, the doors now swing more freely but subtle cracks remain in the walls. It is my hope that as moisture seeps back around the foundational concrete the problem will lessen.

The heat and drought of late summer robbed me of a pecan crop. Winter has had its effect upon shrubbery and plants. Many suffered damage and lost their leaves early causing me to wonder if they will retain life until spring. A recent examination reveals that some have died under the record freeze of December but others show latent signs of life.

An aging lilac bush has succumbed, while dogwoods have lost their buds and one shows no evidence of life. A number of young tulip tree sprouts that I had carefully watered through summer and fall in anticipation of transplanting to selected spots in the spring have perished, but some of them seem to have survived. I lost a prized azalea but three others, having shed all of their leaves, are showing a green tint under their bark. I’m not sure yet if the cherished wild honeysuckle bushes which I have carefully tended for years will survive. If they do not I will miss their brilliant blooms and fragrant sweet aroma.

Even as I write these words another crippling winter storm is making its way across the mid-west relentlessly headed for the coast. At this time we do not know what effect it may have in our area. It makes some wonder if the seasons will continue to cycle with each having its own characteristics.

Will there be a spring this year? Remember the old adage: “You can’t fool Mother Nature.” Right on schedule in late January, buttercups arose through the dead grasses and scattered leaves. Today they are in full bloom and gently sway in the breeze adding color to a brown landscape. The warmth of the sun after the extended period of rain has renewed the winter grass. Dried leaves will soon be replaced as life-giving sap begins to flow again.

I encourage those who fear that soon there will be an unending season of disaster that will eventually destroy all life and leave our planet an uninhabitable rock, to check with the divine creator who gave a promise to Noah after the flood. “Seed time and harvest, cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

The author of the book of Ecclesiastes, recorded many centuries after the flood, echoes the promise given to Noah. “To everything there is a season.” Spring will come.