A Sunny Afternoon

After a couple of chilly days, fall-summer is back. By that I mean we’ve got bright sunshine which feels like summer when you are standing in the sun. But the summer humidity is essentially gone and it isn’t as hot as the middle of summer.

A challenge on a day like this is when to shut off the heat in the morning. We have to run it overnight because things do cool off enough that it becomes uncomfortable. On days like this, the house is going to heat up a couple of degrees and the goal is to stay under the AC temp because somehow it just feels wrong to have to run both the heat and the AC on the same day.

I did get to bring the shorts back out and we just got back from a little walk. I wore a light jacket just because it is October after all but it really wasn’t necessary. I’ve noticed that most of the trees in these parts turn yellow. There are a few orange ones but only a vine and some of the more ornamental type trees turn red. So the little woods we walk through is bathed in yellow.

The squirrels were out in full force finding the acorns and walnuts and whatever else can be stored away for the cold that is coming. We hear them rustling through the leaves and you see them running across the path – sometimes carrying a big nut. No rest for them this time of year. Lots to do to be ready for the winter.

The turtles were enjoying the sun as well. We don’t know when they will dive under and disappear for the winter so we enjoy them while we can. There is one log that provides a way to get out of the water but it can be unstable and works best for the smaller turtles. So we sometimes see one trying to get out and tumbling back into the water as the log shifts. Usually, they give it a couple of tries before giving up.

The crickets are still out and this seems to be their time of year so the grasses are alive with noise. Soon they will go silent and once the leaves are down, the woods will go mostly quiet.

There were several people out enjoying the day as well. When you live in the northern climes and get to almost mid October, the number of remaining days like this is limited. So it becomes important to at least get out and walk in the fall sun while the air is still warm and the breeze is still pleasant. Once they start talking “wind chill”, the breeze becomes an enemy.

In fact, the weather forecast says this warm spell will last until Wednesday but there will be rain in advance of the next front bringing colder air. So you enjoy it while you can.