So long, Summer!

This is it.
The last day of summer '23.
Shortly before 2am in the US Midwest the sun's path will reach the equator in the earth's annual orbit and fall will begin in the northern hemisphere, while spring begins in the southern hemisphere.

sigh

In order to offset the end of summer blues, I am working on building a flower bed for next spring/summer. It started out as a large flower bed across the front of the property (96' x 4') to a large flower bed with a picket fence running through the length of it, to a much larger flower bed (96' x 10') with a side panel of fencing at each end, and now is expected to be somewhere in between. (104' x 6' with additional 4' x 4' squares at each end for a corner turn for the fence)
Rain last night will mean no work this morning. I might get some work done this afternoon if it dries up enough. I really am looking forward to seeing it filled with flowers next year. I believe it will be well worth the work I'm putting into it.

I put my bird feeders out about a week ago. Today is the first time I've seen the birds eating from them. 
There are still a few hummingbirds at the hummingbird feeder, but far fewer than there have been and I haven't seen a ruby red throat for a couple of days. I wonder if they sense the season change from the temperature or more from the fewer hours of daylight. I would tend to believe it's the latter since that part is always consistent. 

On the subject of feeding birds, I'm thinking about feeding crows. I've been reading about crows and am pretty impressed with their abilities. There are many mornings when I see a few of them searching for food in the back yard or field and think it would be cool to get to know them. It seems that a regular time and place for feeding them is best and dry pet food or fresh nuts are good choices. Once they've found the feeding place and are used to the time, I may sit close by and eventually get to where I can hand feed them.
Just a thought for now. I'll let you know if that changes.

John