The intoxicating scents of summer are upon us

You can tell summer is almost here in Grangeville because every day lately there have been piles of horse biscuits in the middle of several residential streets.

If you followed those piles of horse biscuits, you’d end up at the Border Days Rodeo arena at the north end of town. Every summer about this time, horses start migrating to the rodeo grounds first thing in the morning to begin practicing for the big show, which is held over the Fourth of July weekend and in which horses are the big stars. They’re very excited, which is why they drop their biscuits in the street.

Grangeville, normally, is a tidy town, and people, generally, are encouraged to pick up after their dogs who do their business in the streets or on somebody else’s lawn.

But folks just look the other way when it comes to horse biscuits lying in the road getting smashed by drivers passing by. That scent — horse biscuits baking on hot pavement — is the smell of summer, and everybody is happy about that.

There are other smells that tell us winter is over and we can look forward to a few months of glorious weather in which we can relax, play outside and soak in the ultraviolet rays, hopefully not at harmful levels.

I was walking on a forest track a week ago and was overwhelmed by the redolence of pine trees and wildflowers and honey — I’m sure I smelled a beehive out there somewhere.

I can never get enough of those beautiful perfumes even though, sadly, they trigger my allergies like nobody’s business. Once on a hike I spotted a clump of tiny white flowers that had the most arresting bouquet I’d ever smelled. I bent down and deeply inhaled as much of it as I could and, in the process, vacuumed a bug into my nostril. Since then I’ve been content to breathe in these lovely fragrances from a distance.

One of my favorite smells of summer is the mouthwatering aroma of hamburgers frying on a hot griddle in the Lions Club burger booth during the Border Days celebration. There are lots of places that boast of serving the area’s best burgers. But I’ve found you just can’t top a burger fried in hot grease and plopped on a white bread bun, lathered in mustard and ketchup and pickles, that comes from a cramped and busy Lions Club burger booth.

These cherished fragrances — burgers, pine trees and horse biscuits — that remind us of summer are the mementoes we will carry with us the rest of our lives.

Hedberg may be contacted at kathyhedberg@gmail.com or (208) 983-2326.