Will let you know in a few weeks. Today's high is 93 by ole Fahrenheit. Fall generally comes in October round these parts.

Spent the morning down at the state park, swimming laps and then taking the boat out. Lots more sailboats out today, or the ratio of sailboats to power boats is up.

Now it's channel surfin' to find an SEC game for Dad to watch. He won't watch any other kind. Seems he don't think much of outland football.

I've been watchin' the grass turn green today! The rains have finally let up some and there is actually a little sun, and it is humid, very humid. Other than that just the usual kind of day, laundry and moving some furniture around.
I baked a pie yesterday......thanks to Mrs Smith! LOL! Cherry as that is dad's favorite.
Wondering how all in the path of Ike are doing. Hope all are okay.

For anyone who likes the color yellow, the time is now. Bladder peas by the roadside, too many species of sunflowers (helianthus) to count, not sure just how many kinds we do have but the maximillians are trying to put the others to shame with their displays of what, 30, 50 open flowers on a single plant. The annual sunflowers are still blooming but beginning to look a bit tired. What we called gum or rosin weed, I don't know the species name is also in full bloom. Its the one where we used to break the stems when we were kids and come back the next day to gather the resinous gum that had exuded. Made good chewing gum if a bit turpentine tasting but if you didn't have a nickle for a package of Wrigleys juicy fruit it worked. The helianthus tuberosa or Jerusalem artichoke is blooming on it's 10 foot stalks, fortunately I managed to kill the ones I planted years ago in our garden. Yes, they are edible and many people enjoy them but I don't have any tolerance for the inulin sugar in them and if I eat even one it is as if I had eaten about a bushel of almost done beans. Enough gas to power a small city. Now they are growing wild down by our Red Willow Creek, they are native there and let the many animals that eat them with relish do so without any interference from me.

Also don't know how many species of goldenrod (solidago) are native here but more than a few, some barely 6 inches tall with others waist high or higher. There is a huge clump along with some native asters that is putting on quite a show by the creek.

Some of the native sumacs are showing red in their leaves, being native they know what is coming soon and are getting ready for winter.

In a few weeks this will all be another memory and everything will be brown and sere. Natures wheel, just keeps turning.

93 degr. and humid and not a drop of rain in sight. The latest weather report has rain going north of KY, following the Ohio and a slim chance of rain for us. My fall garden don't exist, no sense to run up a hugh water bill when it is cheaper to buy what I need. I am still picking up a trash can full of branch ends a week as they drop off from the cycada invasion earlier.
Well, I better get going and lug my watering cans.

taking a break because Ed caused a break.... in the kitchen plumbing! He was under the house trying connect the last pipe from the bathtub drain to the main plumbing, when WHAM, it fell down and took the kitchen sink drain plumbing along with it. While the bathtub is now connected up top (don't know, but I think it is down on the bottom), the kitchen sink is too critical to leave undone, so a trip to the hardware store.

Other than, we've hit the big birthday time of year, Sept-Dec. I always know it's autumn when the boys' bithdays rolls around. Today we went to an ice skating party for a good friend of LF's and in a couple of weeks, it'll be time to reciprocate. Oktoberfest is being advertised, along with the Greek festival and beer abounds. I love the wild-hair gardens I see as I drive around this time of year, and I am really looking forward to watching the leaves change and fall off instead of shrivel up and die. I think they will this time, fingers crossed!

Sorry to hear you won't be around here Michael, but I understand.

suzy,
Thanks for your concern.
We're fine.
LOTS of tropical winds Friday.

Have you heard from your family yet?
Pray all is well.

No Wanda we haven't and our calls are not going through. This happens after each big storm as they always lose their power and communications. We don't panic anymore .

Suzy, the cousins in Katy checked in today.
They have power now, no damage to their house and no trees down. Others in their neighborhood have downed fences and trees.

Houston cousin hasn't checked in yet but I'm assuming it is because there is no power and cell phone towers have been damaged.

We're supposed to have some winds from Ike and a little rain but that's all.

Next week we are supposed to have temps at night in high 50s and during the day 70s.
The local nurseries have started selling mums so fall is
going to settle in here soon.
Our weather usually stays warm up to november before we need to drag out sweaters and such.

I read all the posts about your fall harvests and your home grown goodies and I turn green with envy. And that's about the only thing green around here. We have not seen rain since April, we won't see any until late Oct-early Nov, and my garden is cooked like the proverbial egg on a sidewalk. The natives are just surviving (lavender, rosemary, lemon verbena), and I took a wild chance and potted a ginger root, and it's happy. Water is scarce here, and those few who are choosing to act responsibly have been watering very sparingly. We often using the water from the air conditioner to keep things alive till the rains come. Although the evenings are finally getting below 85 degrees, the days are still way up there. Of all the things I miss most about the States, the trees turning in the fall is at the top of the list. The lemon tree won't fruit for some reason, and with lemons at $3/lb, we do nearly without until the seasons change. The good news is that the pomegranates will be ripe very soon, and I have a favorite tree that is on public land that is usually full - if I get to it first! Our wildflower time is in March, so I wait & yearn. The garden could use a raking and general cleanup, and as soon as it cools off a bit, I'll spend some lovely time just digging around and planning what I want to plant, but this year will be modest (read:cheap).I get to go to Chicago in late Nov/early Dec for ten whole days, so I'll have missed the colors and be just in time for the sleet, but even Chicago sleet sounds like home to me! Batya

Batya, you never know...sometimes late November in Chicago is crisp and delicious (even if no longer so colorful). On the other hand, yards full of lemon and pomegranate trees sound kind of delightful. This past weekend, though, it was just plain wet here--my rain gauge swallowed more than eight inches in a 48-hour period, and it overflowed at some point, so we probably got more. It was no Ike, but there was lots of flooding, and the news is full of pictures of people canoing through their yards, and people who live near rivers have gotten seriously nailed. I spent my Saturday morning trying to stay ahead of the water that was streaming into the basement from cracks in the floor, but we eventually did get ahead of it. Today is cool, crisp and clear--it's time to make tomato sauce from what I assume to be the last harvest.

Just as Batya, my rainy season starts in October or so and it ends in April, everything is brown and everything is dusty.
Yesterday I picked all the remaining tomatoes, some are still more green than red, but they will ripen in a dark cupboard.
I use buckets in the sink and the shower to catch enough water to do the container plants, deer made a feast of the petunias which were one of the spots of lavish bloom - oh well, we will have early morning light frosts soon,and they would be gone, anyway.
I stacked the fire-wood, makes me feel happy, I am going to be warm in winter.
As long as it is so dry, I use the furnace, if needed, too dangerous to take a chance on a stray spark. The chimney has a spark arrester and there is lots of clearance around the house, but even so, better be safe.
The goats are feisty, but need a lot of feed, their pasture is pretty much gone.
The cats are suddenly eating like mad, it's a sign of fall.
They sometimes stalk the wild turkeys - apparantly have high hopes LOL. Joann told her cat Oreo that, should she catch one, Joann will even cook it for her.
There may be some early showers toward the end of the week, I best go out now and put the tarps on the wood-bin.

Hmmm, the early morning temperatures have dropped into the 60's for the first time since last spring.

Fall might just be more that a rumour now, for these parts.
Pumpkins are already showing up at the local markets.

One of the benefits of Ike was that he brought in cool, dry air & since Sunday we've had lows in the 50's & highs in 7e0's. After our typical Texas summer, this is WONDERFUL! Every year it's a treat to switch off the A/C & open up the windows & get some air into this house that has been hermetically sealed up since about the middle of May.

I know we'll have some more warm days & will go through a period of turning the A/C back on & then back off, but we now know that fall is definitely coming. What a relief!

Glad you are getting the much needed relief of cool air and some days without AC. Here too it is only in the 70's and you can bet windows are open.

Even though this summer wasn't as bad as some we've had, I STILL whined about the heat thru June, July, and August--even the first part of September. Finally, though, our nights are cooling off, down into the low 50s, and the last few days have been wonderful--low humidity, lots of sunshine, and pleasant temps. This is my kind of weather--at least until we get some snow!

mwheel, go wash your mouth out with soap! You said the *S* word!!!!!!!!!
Have to agree about the temps, they have been just perfect! You can "smell" fall in the air, the shadows play off the flowers differently, yep fall in coming but summer is still hanging in there!

Well, summer can hang in there another five or six months, and I'd be happy. It's almost eighty here, and for the sun hanging lower on the horizon, she's still got some intensity to it. The nights have been chilly, but then again, they hve been all summer anyway. We had a couple of nights in July in the forties. That's bizarre.

O.K., O.K., it doesn't actually have to s - - -, as long as it's cold enough for the ski resort to make the *white stuff*--and I don't mean soap bubbles! :>)

What ski resort do you go to? I know they can make the white stuff............and that would be fine if they could just keep it there!LOL!!!!!

You mean that last s---storm was produced by a ski resort?? I thought there was some kind of law about keeping your s--- on your own property. Fence laws and s--- laws, like leash laws, should be observed.

I wonder what ski resort is near Gandle?

Yep, that "S" was produced by the greatest ski resort of all time, the one that is up above us and I think HE must get a kick out of seeing us sliding around on the roads, scraping the stuff off our vehicles and freezing our tootsies off in the process! LOL!

Living in the Mid-Atlantic--WV's Eastern Panhandle--maybe it was a stretch to write "ski resort", but it does have skiing, snowboarding, and tubing. The place is White Tail, just over the PA line from MD and about 30 minutes away from me in WV. It's just enough farther north and higher in elevation that when it gets really cold, s - - - can be made. At night, it's neat to get on I-81 in WV and see the lighted slopes in PA. I confess that I use the tubing runs; that way, if I fall, I'm pretty close to the ground. :>) It's still fun.

I don't ski, but I do like to the resorts once in a while just for the atmosphere. Hidden Valley & Seven Springs are within an hour to an hour and a half from me. I also like to go to Oglebay in the fall but that won't happen this year.