I recently talked to some friends who live in central New Brunswick in Canada. They were neighbors when we had our cattle farm in the same area in seventies.
Last week they scrapped frost off their windshields at least three times.
I am glad it was them instead of me. I am not sure that I have time for a serious winter at this stage in my life.
Winter takes time and planning. In Tay Creek where we had our farm, you had to be especially careful to pick up your tools in the fall.
The reason was that snow could blanket the ground at any time after the first of October. It was not that unusual for it to come in November and the ground stay covered until late April. You could spend a lot of time digging around in the snow for a chain that you thought you left in a certain spot.
Given that history, it was with great pleasure that I snapped the knockout rose picture in the post this morning as I walked back from the mailbox. Our temperature are still mostly in the eighties so shorts and sandals are still our uniform.
My second crop of tomatoes planted on August 22 have a few serious tomatoes on them already. I am curious how long they will produce. Yet I am not concerned about it since fall brings so many other pleasures.
Sunday we went for a wonderful beach walk at Atlantic Beach. The water has actually warmed a little from earlier in the month. I am pleased with that since one of things I enjoy most is wading along the shore.
Saturday was as much or more fun. We went for a boat ride in the morning and hit the beaches in the afternoon.
It is not that cannot go for a boat ride or walk the beaches in Canada in September. It is that blue jeans are going to your uniform on the beach and boating is going to be pretty nippy.
We have just come through our humid August so having slightly cooler temperatures is a real treat here, but the best of fall is still around the corner for us. Soon we should get some decent fishing weather, and all of our fall festivals are on tap.
About the only thing I miss is the certainty of cool almost cold weather for Thanksgiving. There is just something wrong about a hot Thanksgiving. Usually we get that cool weather, but we can be warm even later into the year.
Of course all things are relative. We enjoyed living in Canada and thought fall with its changing colors was a wonderful time especially since the black flies disappeared. The weather was great for working. My Canadian friends said September has been their nicest month this year since it rained most of the summer.
Like many others I would not mind if the rain slacked off for October. We had 8.3 inches on Labor Day and last night we had 2.4 inches. I know we have had some additional rain during the month.
Still I am not going to complain about my Southern fall, I could be feeling around in a snowbank looking for tools.
