The August Battle is upon us. The battle to squeeze in what remains on our summer to-do list. The battle to make sure we don’t miss-spend a single weekend. The battle to position our attitudes just right as to finish off the season strong. (Is the summer two-thirds over, or does it have one-third left?) By summer’s end, I generally end up with many unchecked activities on my list. I start the season with great optimism, and for the first half of summer I maintain a blistering pace of activity. Every weekend is packed – in a good way. But then comes that first lazy weekend in mid-July, then another, and pretty soon my list is getting away from me. But of course the lesson here is – that’s OK. Good, in fact. And come August, the local event calendar tends to thin out just a bit, which quite frankly is great news. That leaves us all the more time to lie in that hammock, enjoy that front porch, or fire up that grill. Because a proper summer is a delicately programmed thing – not too busy, not too lazy. With that in mind, I for one will be waging my own August Battle this month as I walk the remaining tight rope of summer. That is, I’ll get to that soon enough. Right after I get some yard work done.