One day this week – 80 degrees and humid….the next 65?
According to the calendar, it is here. The first day of fall, the “Autumnal Equinox,” arrived yesterday, Thursday, September 22nd.
To celebrate, I am enjoying (not really) my first cold of the season, complete with stuffy head and sinuses and a slight fever most afternoons over the past few days.
I believe it all started with fall allergies complicated by the excessive humidity we have had around the area over the past few weeks – and the extremely warm temperatures, which now finally seem to be dropping a bit.
The National Weather Service out of Grand Rapids says a cold front moving in this week should bring less humidity…at least when it isn’t storming. They are predicting that for the beginning of next week too. It would be nice to have the humidity back down from the “jungle atmosphere” we’ve had for so long around mid-Michigan.
The thermometer may not really be showing it yet, but you can tell fall is here.
Isn’t it interesting that fall always seems to arrive right when the calendar says it will? Spring, however never arrives in March, sometimes not even in April in this part of Michigan. Those three and a half actual months of summer seem much too short to me, although with all of the allergies, excessive heat and humidity, I have to say I’m actually looking forward to winter this year.
The signs of fall are all around. The trees are beginning to show some color here and there. I think the fall color will hit its peak for this area in three or four weeks. There seems to be lots of red leaves around, and I noticed some pretty splashes of color on my way to town earlier this week. Add to that the fall wildflowers you see along the roads and the fields of wild mustard, or goldenrod we saw everywhere on our way north recently.
We made a trip up to the camper a couple of weeks ago and saw some splashes of color between Roscommon and Houghton Lake on M18. I think we will be “battening down the hatches” for winter before long at the camper, but am hoping for two or three more weekends spent in the Fifth Wheel before the snow flies again.
We are also planning on taking a color tour sometime in October. Jack and I heard that the colors are absolutely awesome along the lakeshore north of Petoskey. We haven’t been up there when the colors are blooming before so I think that will be a fun trip. They call it the “tunnel of trees.”
Around here, our crew of hummingbirds seem to be gone again. For a while we were filling the feeder daily and had a regular squadron of 8 to 12 around the feeder, dive bombing each other!
We noticed just one last Sunday, but I think most ot the others have already left for their long trip south.
The other “regulars” are still hanging around looking for handouts. Come to think of it I think those feeders are empty – again.
The birds have their own way of communicating the fact of empty feeders. They fly at the windows, light on the steps and buzz us when we venture outside. Somehow they get the message across and as soon as Jack fills the containers up again, there’s a flurry of activity as they empty them. A day or two later the whole scenario starts all over again.
It’s time for us to get the seasonal stuff done. This week Jack’s big project was cleaning out the garage. He did and now I can actually get my car in there. I also have a couple of bins of clothes for cooler weather to sort out and a ton of summer stuff to put away.
With fall here, we will have to hurry to finish up our summer projects. One big one, painting the garage is now done thanks to Jack’s buddy Kenny.
Guess it is time to start on the winter list of inside projects we have talking about. There’s just a few these days here in the new place – our “big camper,” as we call it.
We have been hoping to add a porch and entry, but that is waiting for the lumber costs to come down again.
Maybe next spring…
