Most of our limited forays outside the house usually include wildlife watching at some of our favorite places – Glen O. Jones Lake, Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge and Mermet Lake. This year we’ve expanded our horizons a bit, venturing more often into the wilds of Alexander and Union counties.

An interesting fact I’ve gleaned through all this – red-headed woodpeckers seemingly love city parks in Southern Illinois.

On a number of occasions we’ve gotten take out from restaurants and found a shady picnic table at the local city park to dine. About a dozen woodpeckers kept us company at Benton City Park. We saw about a half-dozen at Ray Fosse Park in Marion and a couple at Veteran’s Park in Marion.

Sure, you expect to see robins, sparrows and cardinals, but the red-headed woodpeckers were a real treat.

I’ve mentioned this in a previous column, but I’ve also adopted a new attitude towards yard work. I used to look forward to the steamy hot dog-days of July and August. The dirt-baking weather that would turn your grass into tinder.

It seems there were some summers where the lawn mower never got out of the garage from Fourth of July until Labor Day. And, that was fine with me – more time for golf and fishing.

Now, I’ve got the old man thing – I like the way my lawn looks.