The Drear and the Darkness

The last couple of days have been dull and dreary with clouds and occasional skiffs of snow, highs in the low 40s and lows in the teens. Typical fall weather for around here. Because it has been staying above freezing for the daylight hours, the snow is now mostly gone and we are back to the dull drear of fall in the period once the leaves have fallen. There is still a hint of green in the grass and the sagebrush is turning brown, but that too will soon fade. Somewhat like this:

(Picture from UC Collection)

L went skiing for her inaugural run of the year yesterday. That means she was both happy and stiff and sore last night when I talked to her. (Ibuprofen was invented for aging baby boomers. {*grin*}) The interesting point was that it was blowing and snowing up there - pretty much the standard weather in the mountains from now until spring. Right now, it is both colder and snowier in the mountains than out here on the plains. L proclaims that it is now winter in the mountains in spite of what the calendar says. At least it can look pretty:

(The glow of Breckenridge in winter.)

Which brings me to one of the things I dislike about this season - the decreasing amount of daylight and advancing time of darkness as we approach the winter solstice on December 21. Sunset is already at 4:35pm and will get progressively earlier as time rolls on. I really dislike the coming weeks when it is dark by 3:30 - it is depressing. It is even worse in the mountains where the valley walls cut the sunlight off even earlier. I often wonder how people who live at far northern (or southern for that matter) latitudes handle it. Days with no hours of sunlight seem like they would be really hard to endure. On the other hand, the shortening days seem to be ideal weather for soup. {*grin*}

Time to get on with real work.

Hip Hip Hooray for Fall

It was close to 80 degrees this weekend. Truly unseasonable weather for this region. L loved it since the ski areas in her neck of the woods are already open or will open this week. Coming home to nice warm temps in the upper 70's is a bit like taking a tropical island trip in the deepest darkest days of winter - something to be enjoyed and treasured.

With the oddity of our balmy October and November, a major topic of discussion has been "when will fall really arrive?" Last year we had several snow falls in October and a full on blizzard in late October. This year? Not! No snow and no temperatures conducive to snow. Even some debate with myself as to whether I was wise to have shut off the water to the sprinkler system a few weeks ago to avoid freezing pipes.

But this morning! Ah this morning. What did I find when I let Molly out for her morning frolic? This:

Fall has well and truly arrived at long last. Nothing whispers fall better than a soggy, just below freezing, huge flake, dump of wet and wild snow.  I love this kind of weather!

The sky is grey and filled with white flakes, the trees and wires are coated in a rime of lovely white, but it is still warm enough that the streets and sidewalks are mostly clear. In fact, I took these pictures moseying around outside in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

Hip Hip Hooray for Fall!

The Wind ...

True fall has finally blown in. Yesterday, as L left for the mountains, it was turning cool and windy. In the mountains, it was snowing and blowing, which made the ski areas happy, but which didn't overjoy L. {*grin*} Reports are that it continued snowing this morning in the mountains.

In any case, it finally (barely) frosted here last night. I see some blackened leaves on the lilac bush which is a pretty good indicator that it dropped below 32. I haven't gotten over to the garden to see if the few remaining zucchini plants have turned black or not. (Zucchini are very sensitive to freezing. About the only thing known to man that stops a zucchini in its tracks.) Ye olde lilac as a two toned shivering bush:

Today the wind is howling outside like a banshee and the temperature is not going to reach much above 50. The wind is running a steady 25-35 mph with gusts above 50 mph. What more could one ask for to herald the arrival of true fall weather? After all, nothing says fall like cold and bluster. The forecast is for a hard freeze tonight, dropping into the 20s. Of course, in the tradition of this oddly long mild year, the temperatures are headed for the 70s later in the week.

Tonight I need to attend the city council meeting since the second reading and public hearing on the master contract to build the new humane society facility is on the docket. At long last, after more than 6 months of delay, we may finally be on the way to getting the building started. So I'd better get back to work.

Glorious Fall

Today was beautiful as Molly the dog and I took our walk. The sky was just starting to get that dark and stormy look that precedes winter weather and the trees were still green gold. Probably the very last time this year that this will be the case!

Not only that, but for much of our time walking we had the entire park all to ourselves.  Seems that there just weren't many people out walking just after 5pm.

As you can see, the path in front of us had no one in sight. It was just us and the grass and the trees.

After a bit (I'm guessing about 5:45 or so) there started to be a few more people and dogs out and about. The next door neighbors and their daughter came and did a mile with their two little dogs. Several other people were walking around as well. Just a nice evening in the community.

The net result was an appropriately pleased Molly.

Still OK

Just to let those who are concerned know, the tooth still doesn't hurt. (Hooray!)

Last night I had a training class for the tools involved in teaching an eCollege course. I can remember when the online education tools were primitive and the course content less than appealing. Now the online and in seat experiences are getting closer and closer.  I suspect that with time the differences may be entirely in the feedback mechanisms between student and teacher and the preferred learning method of the student. It will be interesting!

Today was what I hope was the last lawn mowing of the season. There may yet be one more mowing to go through. It hasn't yet frozen really hard and the parts of the lawn that haven't frozen are still exhibiting some growth. The leaves are turning and falling, the nights are crisp. It is the glorious season of fall. Time to go enjoy the sunset.

Meandering ruminations

While I pondered weak and weary ...

My apologies to Poe, but those words really sum up what the day has been like here today. It poured rain off and on last night and today has been wet and drizzly all day. What more could you ask for to herald the arrival of fall. Nothing like a wet, drizzly, overcast, cool day to bring home the arrival of that precursor to winter.

One thing that really irks me about this weather is that the paper delivery guy always throws the paper down on the front sidewalk where all the water flows. Thus, even though he bags the papers, the plastic bag just fills with water and the result is a soggy mess.  His predecessor was wonderful - he always put the papers on the front porch.  Not so with the new guy. You can tell when the old guy subs for the new guy because all of a sudden the paper starts appearing on the front porch. I guess I shouldn't complain - at least the paper gets here. Does your delivery person do any better?

It occurs to me that perhaps I should ask a different question first: do you even subscribe to papers in the physical form? I find that I use both online and paper versions. The preferred form  depends on why I read that particular paper and how often I read it.  I find that online versions of papers work OK except for crosswords and comics. Crosswords because I am not a fan of the electronic entry forms I have used. It is more acceptable to me to print the puzzle and then fill it in with pen. Then I don't to have to be tied to a computer to fill it in. Crossword puzzling is a time as available thing for me and the opportunities tend to be hit and miss, with more misses if I have do it on the computer. I like my comics in print because I tend to be a clipper. I like to cut out and pin on my bulletin board any comic which strikes my fancy. It just isn't the same to me when printed on the laser and then clipped and pinned.

In any case, it was late this afternoon before the papers got dry enough to get to my beloved crossword puzzles. I always try to do the New York Times crossword every day. I then do others if the opportunity presents itself. I find that the NYT crossword is always interesting and I like the ebb and flow in difficulty that matches the week. Monday is usually trivial and then it gets harder and harder, culminating in the Saturday beast. But then Sunday comes and the puzzle can be easy or hard, but always fun.  You can probably tell I'm an addict.

Well, I'm off to my now dry NYT crossword!

Soup Weather

It has definitely turned fallish (nice non-word, blogger's spell checker thought I might mean fullish or foolish), cool and misty. What I call soup weather.

Last night when Molly and I were out for our walk, it was misting, the wind was blowing and the temperature was already down in the 40s. It may have actually frozen last night, I haven't checked yet. In any case, it is the start of ideal weather for simmering a pot of soup. Not only do you get the joy of eating a warm and flavorful meal in the end, but since the house is closed up, you get the wonderful aroma of simmering soup throughout.

Given the weather, there was really was no choice but to start soaking the soup beans last night. Then I got up early this morning in time to chop the onions and veggies, wash the beans, and start the soup simmering. Even as I write, the soup is simmering away and the aroma is permeating the house. Ahhhhhhh.

I have a supper date tonight (Hi Mom!), so this soup is going to be lunch. I can't wait!