August mornings are deceptive.

Even in this dreadful heat wave, as the sun rises a surprising coolness hangs in the air, quickly giving way to the scorching heat.

That heat brings the remaining, stubborn hummingbirds, ready to renew their daily territorial fight around the feeder.

A black-and-yellow butterfly the size of a small man’s fist wrestles the sustaining nectar out of a zinnia that in turn is gulping the last of a morning watering.

A mallard hen, her wings clipped, quacks on the pond, hoping against hope to see a drake on the horizon, much like a captain’s wife on one of those New England widow’s walks.

Bluegill thrash about as food is tossed their way in the daily competition to get it before the catfish do, and before one of the larger bass had bream for breakfast. 

By 8 a.m., the awakening is over, we feel like we’re shrouded in Saranwrap, and all but the flowers find a shady place to wait out another broiler.

Perhaps moisture that will bring a heat-breaking afternoon thunderstorm is already building into a dark cloud in the Gulf of Mexico not that far away.

If good fortune holds, that’s all that will build over the water despite pessimistic messages from the weather gurus.

It’s August, and in this part of the world we know what that can bring.

As noted at the outset, August can be deceptive.

Jim Butler, a Bolton High School alumnus, was an acclaimed writer and editor at the Alexandria Town Talk for 36 years, the last 23 (1977-2003) as editor-in-chief. He led Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina for the Gulfport (Miss.) Sun-Herald in 2005. Butler returned home to Cenla a few years ago, and shares his talents and insight with Rapides Parish Journal readers.