It scared me a bit when stepping outside this morning and finding it in the low 40s with it being only the 7th of September. At least it warmed up nicely after the sun climbed high in the sky. It’s amazing how the seasons can so quickly change to where it’s almost as if there’s an invisible switch that gets flipped. Even when driving out of town today, I noticed how the soybean fields have nearly overnight started turning yellow.
Now is the time when we begin internalizing over what’s the most important to be done before our first hard frost arrives. Of course there’s the yard and garden clean-up from summer’s growth, the storing away of lawn and deck furniture, along with all the other spring/summer associated items which are no longer fit this season.
There’ll be short vacations being taken to the more forested areas of our State and surrounding as the leaves start turning. I like seeing fall colors, but not to the point where days would be spent following their turnings. There are a number of people I know who consider Fall their favorite season of the year, but mine has always been Summer. Yes, there’s the heat, humidity, and the battalions of flying/biting insects to endure, but when stepping back and looking at the whole picture, there’s no better season.
While driving around town just these past weeks, I’ve been noticing some pretty sickly oak trees. I’m wondering if the oak blight is still taking its toll on our oldies. I was in a grove of ancient oaks today and said to those walking with me, “If only these granddaddies could speak, they’d have us all captivated for hours.” That particular grove looked to be one of the most un-touched by civilization I’ve walked in a very long time. Of course I did notice some nasty European Buckthorns growing under their canopies. It would be great if our general public would become more aggressive in helping to eradicate them once and for all along with a few other invasive plants growing in North Iowa.
Another by-product of a 3 day holiday is the more quick arrival of the following weekend. I nearly forgot to get my public open houses for Saturday posted online before their deadline. Today was supposed to be Wednesday. Right? In spite it being a short week, there’s been quite a bit of activity on my listings. Perhaps there’s a primeval “knowing” that’s been triggered in the minds of wanna-be home owners that they’d best get themselves looking and purchasing so to be in before the arrival of our annual “Ice Age”.
The most important reminder I want to mention to everyone, is that we’re now approaching our autumnal equinox, and visibility for drivers in the early morning and evening is going to be more limited due to the sun shining in our eyes whenever driving due east in the morning or due west in the evening. Thanks to our fore-fathers laying out our roads and streets on near compass-perfect grids, we must be all the more watchful in and around the 22nd of September. I’m already getting a taste of that full blinding sun in the morning. Be more watchful and stay safe.
