31 October 2015 - The End of Fall

It is Halloween today and I'm afraid that we are coming to the end of a beautiful fall. This October is now officially the hottest on record. Even today, the grass is lush and green, most of the trees are still green with the leaves just starting to turn yellow, the flowers in my pots are blooming madly, as are the roses. Even the tomatoes are still ripening on the vine. 

I feel like I am being shoved face first through the door into the next season. I am hanging on hard to the door jams, because I don't want to go. 

The time change tomorrow will make it dark an hour earlier. I feel like running into the night and hollering some Dylan Thomas:

  "Do not go gentle into that good night,
   Old age should burn and rage at close of day; 
   Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

So dramatic. But this year something has changed and I want fall to linger. I want the leaves to slowly change and fall, not get ripped off the trees by wind, rain and snow. I do not want to be flung into winter. 

But according to the forecasters, today is the end of fall as we have known it. Tomorrow the rain starts, followed by a week of possible snow. It does not seem possible. I have been running around like a crazy person. There is an awful lot to do in a short time:

• Turn off the outdoor water and drain the lines. 
• Drain hoses and put them away.
• Gather up the outdoor furniture and get it under shelter. 
• Roll up the hammock, bring the umbrellas in. 
• Move all the flower pots onto the porch so they can be enjoyed as long as possible. 
• Do some caulking
• Drain the fountain pool and remove the pump
• Hook up the extension cords for the heated birdbaths
• Mulch the tender plants for the winter
• Clean up the vegetable garden and pick the rest of the tomatoes and chard
• Mow, again.
• Get the indoor plants that have summered outside ready to come back in. 
• I always like to get all the windows washed before everything is buttoned up for winter. This may wait for the next nice day. Please...let there be one. 

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. October has been so gorgeous for so long I haven't been able to bring myself to even start thinking about this until today. 

I had to make a run to the hardware store. Driving home I noticed two of my neighbors busily working on hanging Christmas lights and putting roping up. Really? On October 31? Most people around here do that on Thanksgiving weekend. 

I started this day with plans to work in the shop, but the weather report made me reevaluate that idea. So far I have everything done on my list except the windows, the vegetable garden clean up and I didn't quite get all the mowing done. Although I did have help. My brother came and helped me drain the pipes and pull the pump. This was followed by dinner and another game of Scrabble in our continuing competition. 

 Not a bad day's work.