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We have a flock of crows that awakens with the first hint of light. These days, that’s about 4:30 am. They start to squawk and caw and they seem to get louder and more numerous daily.

Those of you who sleep in (past 6:00 am) often miss the most beautiful part of the day. Not only do you miss Mother Nature’s alarm clocks, like the crows’ cawing, but you also miss the spectacular sunrises.

It’s Saturday morning and the horizontal view to the east was absolutely gorgeous about 5:00. The clouds, approaching from the west, gradually overwhelmed the spears of light. But, until they did, it was beautiful.

Our crows voices were late today. It was after 6:00 when I first heard them. They seemed agitated. I looked out to see them swooping and diving. As I watched one of them, apparently on some kind of aviary Kamikaze mission, I saw the agitator.

A fox calmly pranced from between my wood pile and the shed in the corner of the yard. She (I presume) cut through the corner of the yard, ducked under the fence and headed southeast. The crows weren’t upset with the fox. Rather, they were upset that she had helped herself to their breakfast.

The visitor carried the carcass of a small rabbit, or maybe a squirrel, in her jaws. She seemed unconcerned about the big, black birds’ menacing attacks. She seemed to be smiling, almost mocking, the flock above her.

As she disappeared through the long grass in the distance, I was reminded of some other recent natural events I’ve witnessed. A couple of weeks ago, on a warm morning, perhaps one of the first days in our string of 16 consecutive 80 degree days, I looked out at the garden.

Leaning over the same fence that the canine breakfast thief ducked under, was a young deer. The yearling was eyeing my wife’s budding flowers. I have been married long enough to know my duty. I sprung from my chair, ran out the door and scared the deer away from the flowers. My socks were wet, but the young deer was gone.

Speaking of wet....that was quite drenching we got last Monday evening (June 5). It started slowly, then a heavy shower sent everyone scurrying inside. I began to think that our parched grass and garden were just being teased. The rain stopped and the skies lightened.

A few minutes later I went out and cleaned out the gutters. Before I finished, the rain started again. A few minutes later, as I watched the storm warnings on TV, a bright flash of light and intense accompanying clap of thunder shook the house and interrupted the flow of electrons to our house.

The thunder seemed to shake the water from the clouds. Soon, the gutters (the same gutters I’d just cleaned out) were clogged again, wholly unable to handle the two-plus inches of water that ended our mini-drought.

Tuesday morning, as soon as our resident crows woke me, I went out for a walk, searching for evidence of the all-too-close lightning strike. The evidence was plain. A cottonwood tree, the tallest in the area, was the victim. A sixty-foot scar, six or eight inches wide, extended from the top to the base of the old tree. Strips of bark and chunks of wood were strewn about, some stuck in the soil like javelins.

The debris covered a semicircular space with a 100 foot radius. Nature is powerful....and loud.

Last fall I was driving south on C.R. 14 and saw three large dogs jumping, in unison. Upon closer inspection, the trio of canine synchronized leapers were on a trampoline.

The sugar substitute Xylatol can be deadly to dogs. The number of dogs that have died from ingesting Xylatol has doubled in the last year. Chewing gum is the culprit.

An estimated 60 million people tune in to watch the Super Bowl. By contrast, the month-long World Cup will attract almost 30,000,000,000 (30 billion) viewers worldwide. The soccer spectacular draws 500 times as many viewers as the NFL Championship.

Obviously, advertisers are interested in getting their products in front of all those eyes and ears. The four companies that will invest the most money on World Cup telecasts are Coke, Pepsi, Adidas and Nike. Perhaps some wise reader will provide the link to connect the four.

I wrote in last week’s column about the chance for Swiss tennis superstar Roger Federer to be the first player since Rod Laver (1969) to hold all of the “Big Four” titles. Sunday, June 11, Federer met his nemesis, Rafael Nadal for the French open title.

Both players wore blue Nike shirts and white headbands. Beyond that, the two had little in common. Nadal, the Majorcan defending champion wore a sleeveless “wifebeater” and white, calf-length sweat pants. He jumped, jiggled and paced like the energizer bunny on speed.

Fededer wore conservative tennis attire; a collared shirt and standard length tennis shorts. He looked as if he would have been comfortable in a three-piece business suit as he stood, with hands in pockets, during the introductions.

Before the match, Federer was 44-0 against the rest of the world in 2006. Against Nadal, he was 0-3.

Make it 0-4....No Grand Slam this year.

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