The Changing Seasons

It's hard for me to believe that it's almost October. We're nearly 10 months into the year and I'm left to wonder, where did it all go?! Another fact that blows my mind; we are experiencing a day with high temperatures near 80 degrees and yet in just a couple of weeks, we could be witnessing our first flakes of snow of the season. Things can change in such a big hurry when it comes to the weather around here especially at this time of the year. All the more reasons to get out and enjoy today's weather as much as we can. You know, the fall season is all about change. We are making the transition from warm into cold; the leaves begin falling off the trees, vegetation dies after a killing frost, animals being gathering food for the long winter ahead and begin hibernating and us humans prepare to survive the winter by gathering firewood, protecting our homes, and putting items away which we cannot enjoy in the snow and cold. Here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, we're left to endure sometimes five to six straight months of cold weather. The snow may only stick around for four or five of those months, but they often stay cold and it's hard to stay outdoors for very long. But for those that live here year round, you gotta love an area that truly experiences all four seasons.

It's actually quite amazing how fast the leaves change once they start turning. Probably two to three weeks ago, most of the leaves were green. Now, we're 50% of the way before the leaves are truly at peak. We're basically right on schedule as far as when leaves are typically their best for leaf peeping around here; usually the first week of October. But one thing is for certain; they do not stay pretty for long. All it takes is one good wind storm for a majority of them to be knocked down. Where I grew up, our entire house is surrounded by maple trees. So each fall, after all of the leaves had fallen, we begun the task of cleaning up all of the leaves and disposing them into a nearby wooded lot. For many, many years, our family only resorted to raking them into piles and hauling them away with a tarp. Recently my dad purchased a leaf blower, so that makes a big dent into our hauling away of the leaves. But you can get all areas of the lawn without using a rake, so it's not like we completely eliminated that lawn tool. What I'd really like for my dad to get is one of those leaf collection machines that you can tow behind a riding lawn mower. I bet that would work really slick for our lawn and at least we could rake the leaves that collect near the decks and along the house in the lawn and have the machine pick them up. The only problem is; we don't have an operable riding lawn mower! Well ... hopefully soon we'll have one.

Another nice thing that has come into prominence within the last ten to 15 years is the use of large, plastic garbage bags that come decorated for Halloween. They come in black, green, orange and even white and have pumpkin, witch, ghost, and other goulish faces on them and really help to decorate the yard for Halloween. We have so many leaves that collect in our yard that during some years, we'd have as many as eight of these plastic bags full of leaves within the front yard. It turned out to be a great way to collect the leaves and once Halloween was over, we just emptied the contents into the woods and tried salvaging the bags for next year. That couldn't always be accomplished because after all, the bags are only made of thin plastic. We'd often get thin twigs to poke out of the bags which would tear them up. If we got more than three years out of those bags; that was fairly decent. We certainly don't have nearly as many Halloween leaf bags out in the yard anymore. I'm not around as often at home anymore and it seems to be more of a burden than something fun for my dad. But he'll get at least three of them filled up, anyways.

The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler. Before long, we'll be stuck in a winter-type pattern and won't see warmer temperatures until at least March. You know, as much as a lot of people who live in the U.P. dislike the thought of another winter beginning to creep in, I must say I'm not nearly as bummed out about it like I have been in the past. There were times before when I'd often get depressed about the thought of experiencing another U.P. winter. Hey, maybe I'm getting used to it. Afterall, I have lived here for 26 years; I should be used to it by now. The one thing I don't look forward to is driving in snow storms to get around. That reminds me; I need to get new tires put on my car before it gets too late in the year. There's another sign of the impending winter; getting a person's car ready for the harsh elements. It's one of a many things a person has to to when you're living in the Great White North (no, not Alaska - the Great White North of the continuous 48-states that is the U.P.).