Autumn Is Really Here

I know that the calendar says fall is here.  I never quite believe that until my cottonwood starts giving me presents.  Yellow leaves.  Single yellow leaves.  Twigs with yellow leaves.  That’s when fall is really here!

“My bunnies” are causing my backyard grass to degrade.  I’ve counted and seem to have at least five.  This past week, two were chasing each other around the yard.

Do bunnies have a “season?”  Am I going to have baby bunnies in my yard before long?  There is a part of me that would like to provide some bunny food for them, when their natural food disappears with the frost.  Yet, there is another part of me that says, the rats are gone.  Why would I want to invited them back into my yard?  The answer is – I don’t want rats, again.

Then, there are the owls and the hawks that I will probably have to deal with in the later fall.  In the past, they have left me presents on the back stoop.  Not fun to walk out to the yard and find a bunny tail, there.  Of course, there are also the squirrels.  And, the foxes have a place in the neighborhood, as well.  Did you know that foxes can climb up onto a six-foot fence and leap to the rooftop of an adjacent garage?  I remember the time when Larry went into the backyard and, there in the center of the yard, was a hole.  A relatively deep hole.  Larry thought that it was a fox’s attempt to create a den.  So, he filled it in.  The next day, the hole was back.  This went on for about a week, when I’m guessing that the foxes gave up.

The Japanese beetles have disappeared.  Into the ground to lay eggs, I understand.  In my yard, the yard man has taken care of that with an insect spray all over the yard.  I think that has helped during the past two years; I have only used two beetle traps, rather than the customary seven or so.  People say to me, by having the beetle traps hanging in my yard, I’m just inviting beetles from other yards to join the ones in my yard.  I don’t really care where the beetles come from.  When they get into the traps, they cannot get out.  They die.  They don’t reproduce for the coming year.  So, I’ll continue to use the traps.  I even buy the ones for next year, so that I’ll be ready when they show themselves.

The best part of fall for me is that winter is close behind.  I love using my wood stove.  I don’t mind bringing in the wood and taking out the ashes.  It is time to cover the wood piles with tarps so I don’t have to shake off the snow during the winter.

I only wish that I could do what Larry and the dogs did – sit on the couch, next to the wood stove and read.  But, there is to be no couch-sitting for me – forever!  After treatment for a compression fracture (two, actually), I asked the orthopedic surgeon when I would be able to enjoy sitting on a couch, again.  His response was, “I don’t like couches.”  So, that was the end of ever sitting on a couch.  It would be hard chairs for me for the rest of my life.  And, he was right.  If I try to sit on a couch for any span of time, I pay for it later with lower back pain and inability to walk standing up straight.

It’s already snowing in our high country.  We all have to do those things that prepare us for winter hassles.  And, there will be plenty.  This is the time to get the yard, the house, and the car ready for winter weather, but we still have time on our side.

Be Safe and Be Well

The Cranky Crone

Thoughtful comments are appreciated.