KOSCIUSKO — As I write this article it is raining cats and dogs. 

It is rather soothing to the soul to hear the rainfall on this tin roof of this one hundred year old house. 

I hope you deer hunters have got your food plots planted, as you can't beat this slow farmers rain to make it grow.

I've had mine planted awhile but I did add a few seeds to some bare spots just before this good rain. 

With all this in mind, I got to thinking about the changing times and about the things that never change. 

Everywhere I go there seems to be concern about the changing state of affairs. 

The conversations appear to be full of fear and despair.  I reckon this being an election year has a lot to do with it. 

But things do appear to be bleak and we really shouldn't focus on the negatives. 

I told myself years ago when I began writing that I would try not to get into politics. 

Of course that is what the election polls are for. 

But we are freeborn Americans and should be able to voice our opinions on things we feel strongly about. 

Again, I am not going to get into specifics but I hope you can read between the lines.

I do believe in the power of positive thinking and prayer. 

I further believe we are a nation of people who believe in the Declaration of Independence and what our forefathers founded this nation on.  

I also believe what the Good Book says;"if we humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways, He will again hear our prayers.” 

Oh well, I dove a little deeper than I intended to but I am serious about prayer and voting - take neither lightly. 

Anyway, back to change and the things that never change. 

The first police department I worked for had a poster in the break room that forever sticks out in my mind. 

It was a cartoon of a boy sitting under a tree with the appearance around his head that he was dizzy. 

The caption read, "Every time I get used to change, it all changes.” Don't we all feel like that boy in the cartoon sometimes?

Some things never change, like the coming of a new season. 

They may be a little late or a little harsher sometimes but they do come every year. 

After every storm, sooner or later the sun will shine. 

We need to remember that when the storms of life come our way.

Just this past weekend the signs of fall were all around me. 

I picked pumpkins from my garden and I gave some away while placing a few around the house for decoration. 

I always grow an early crop of corn in my garden and generally have it picked and put up before the fourth of July. 

I can't stand to see that ground dormant after the corn comes in so pumpkins are a good late crop. 

With the coming of grandchildren it always seems the right thing to do. 

Yes, like the seasons, they always come - some years a bumper crop, some years slim pickins'. 

My wife bought several pounds of green peanuts and I boiled them in a big black cast iron kettle. 

We had friends and relatives over for dinner. 

Jason, my son, brought over deer tenderloin roll-ups and I cooked smoked sausage, deer burger and some corn on the cob. 

My granddaughter ate so many of the boiled peanuts I thought she was going to pop. 

Of course she wasn't the only one. 

Out of the many pounds I boiled, only a few remain. 

I reckon what I am trying to say is that people of the south have been boiling peanuts for years. 

That is something that has not changed, maybe diminished somewhat, but the traditions go forth.

Yes many things go forth every year unchanged and some things do change for better or worse. 

Back to the old porch, the namesake of these stories. 

I was sitting out there, as I do as often as possible, and I was watching these lizards. 

Some of them are skinks and some are geckos. 

I don't know if these are the proper scientific names for these creatures but that is what I call them. 

Many of you that read my articles regularly know that I detest snakes and won't tolerate them anywhere close to my house. 

I know there are those that like king snakes and rat or chicken snakes around but I don't. 

I will not kill a king snake as they are supposed to kill poisonous snakes, but I still don't want them near my living quarters. 

For some reason these lizards do not bother me. 

I know they catch a lot of bugs and I have actually watched them do so. 

Anyway, at the beginning of spring there seemed to be several large ones. 

Some seemed to be in pairs and they were chasing each other. 

As a result, we now have several baby ones running around the ole porch. 

One in particular I've been watching, at least I think it is the same one. 

He is a gecko about the size of a little finger, actually a lot skinnier. He hangs around a certain flowerpot with a pumpkin in it and jumps to a nearby bush. 

I have watched him catch tiny bugs and he is so skinny and small he is almost transparent. 

He always seems to show himself when I am sitting in the ole' rocking chair. 

The other day as I watched him, I could see him breathe. 

How tiny his lungs must be, I thought, not to mention his other internal organs, when it occurred to me right then and there that if God can look after such a tiny creature as that, how much more would He look after us. 

Yes, some things change, but thank God that some don't.

On the Porch with Dirk is a recurring article written by Dirk Thayer, an avid outdoorsman and storyteller.