The weather here has certainly been odd this fall. We have yet to have a hard freeze. Most of the corn is already in the cribs and silos and it has yet to freeze. Many years the question is when the snows will come, but this year it is when will the freeze arrive.

The average date of first frost here abouts is Oct. 10. So far it looks like we may even make it into November before it freezes here. Odd.

I can still tell that it is fall in spite of the late season warmth. The angle of the sun has increased to the extend that what I call the “reflective” season is upon us. Everything in the midday sun has a white-ish sheen that makes some things darn near impossible. Finding errant golf balls for instance – not that I would ever know about that. {*grin*}

Another hint of fall is how fast it is getting dark. I dread the beginning of daylight savings time as it exacerbates the effect. It is already getting dark around 5pm, a world of difference from the 9pm or later in the heady days of summer. I hate the days of December when it is dark by 3:30pm. (Assisted a bit by the infamous “fall back” time change.)

Well, I should get prepared. I am serving as the moderator of a panel/discussion/forum tomorrow from 10am to 4pm. The Northeast Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition is hosting to let people get answers to their disability questions. That’s what I get for being a staunch supporter when I was mayor. {*grin*}

Lest I forget, mom’s birthday is tomorrow. Since I know she reads here (and thinks I forgot):

Tonight I have but one simple question. Why am I dressed like this and where am I?

P.S. Remember that I warned you long ago of my propensity for loud Hawaiian shirts and farmer tans. So no complaints about the shirt!

P.P.S. The location is in Colorado.

The weather here abouts has started turning odd as fall gets ready to set in. Saturday it reached a high in the 50s and was down right chilly Saturday night. Then today it reached the mid-80s and tomorrow it is predicted to hit the upper 90s or lower 100s – depending on when the thunderstorms roll in. Pretty much typical weather for this time of year around here. The problem is that one day it will be nice and warm and then by that evening it will have fallen to the 20s and that will be it for growing things. Thats life.

Right now we still have some cantaloupe ripening in the garden and a whole lot of honey dew melons. It is becoming questionable if they will beat the reaper and ripen before the frost. The rest of the peppers and egg plants and tomatoes are just about done. The second planting of turnips and radishes are coming up – and since they like the cool ground they will probably be fine. The beans and cucumbers and zucchinis are all but finished. The last of the acorn squash are still on the vine and the hard shelled squash are mostly done. The onions have been pulled and cured and stored. In other words, the garden is starting to wind down. That means it is time to start thinking of next year. {*grin*}


Maybe I need to think about growing all the ingredients to one of these:

What do you think?

I was hit over the head with a clear case of serendipity on Saturday evening. I was sitting at my computer, contemplating what to fix for supper when my phone rang. The conversation that followed had certain Kafkaesque properties.

Me: Hello.

Mom: What time are you coming over for supper? It’s getting late.

Me: I didn’t know I was coming over for supper.

Mom: Oh, well maybe we didn’t actually discuss supper. It was when we talked about you coming over to do some gardening today.

Me: Well, I didn’t come over this morning because of the rain last night. But what is this about supper?

Mom: I thought we’d agreed that you were coming over for supper tonight.

Me: I don’t remember that discussion, but I was just sitting here contemplating what to fix for supper when you called.

Mom: Well, you’d better get over here. I have the zucchini patties almost done and the steak ready to toss in the iron skillet.

Me: Okay, I’ll be right over.

Do you ever have the solution to your quandaries appear out of the blue like that?  Isn’t it neat when it does? (Thanks, mom!)

Time to get back to comforting Molly. The thunder and lightning has had her spending all afternoon and evening glued to me. The earlier lightning storm was strong enough to blow out the local cell towers. It only took them a couple of hours to get cell service back up and running. (One of the advantages of fiber optics to the door is that lightning is not a problem. So I could surf and email the whole time.) Now it is just putting up with the continuous warnings for the severe thunder storms and the tornado warnings blaring over all the TV programs. Makes TV seem really boring and pointless. Maybe it is time to go watch TV online. {*grin*}

Today I played the starring role as the detective in the infamous case of the missing sock and pot-holder. I like to think of it as “The Mystery of the Hungry Dryer.”

The case began when I washed some socks and a pair of BBQ sauce soaked pot-holders and other laundry late last night. Just before I headed off to bed, I transferred the load from the washer to the dryer and left it to do its job while I slumbered.

Today was busy, so it was after 5pm when I got around to emptying the dryer. As I took the laundry out to put it all away, it became evident that there were only 5 socks and one pot-holder. But, I had put two pot-holders and matched pairs of socks into the wash. Where had the missing items gone? I first checked to make sure that none of the missing items was stuck to other items from the dryer. With the winds over the last few days, static cling has been outrageous. That was followed by a complete “stand on the head and stare” inspection of the dryer interior. Still no pot-holder and friend.

Desperately, I opened the washer and stared with trepidation at the empty interior. No sign of the missing items. At this point I was beginning to doubt my sanity; where could the sock and pot-holder have run off to? I even got a screwdriver and probed under the agitator on the off chance they had somehow hidden there. I even journeyed to the kitchen and looked in the pot-holder drawer to make sure that the missing pot-holder was not there.

At this point, I was convinced the dryer had gone cannibal on me, eating it’s fill of socks and pot-holders with complete impunity. I repeated the search steps once more, but still no joy.

Finally, I got a flashlight and began looking around and behind the washer and dryer. After all, I was sure that the missing pot-holder and sock had been put in the washer, so there were very few places they could have disappeared. I found old fabric softener sheets. I found dust bunnies. And then I found the missing sock and pot-holder.