September Morning Still Can Make Me Feel That Way

Ahhhh…September 1^st.

While technically it’s the end of summer today is the day I don’t feel guilty putting up autumn decorations and lighting the pumpkin spice candles. Normally I like to stick with the calendar, dragging out holiday gear early grates on my nerves (I’m talking to you Costco, with your Christmas decorations already on sale), but bringing out the fall decorations on September 1^st is an allowable exception in my rule book. 

Fall is my favorite time of year. 

Growing up autumn meant hunting season, distant friends and family visiting, late nights telling stories around the fire, feasts of delicious foods, and the smell of freshly sharpened pencils. It meant riding into the high country to bring the cattle herd from the summer pasture-hours leisurely climbing up and down steep trails while watching the panorama of the Hell’s Canyon unfold before us; seeing the fat and shiny cows with their yearling calves bucking and playing, chipmunks and timber tigers scampering everywhere, the bugle of elk through the early morning mists and the smell of wood smoke drifting on the breeze. 

Today it means the return of the school bus (and Munchkin's first day of preschool), squirrels growing fat on stolen sunflower seeds, and trips to the U-Pick farm for apples and pumpkins. It means our annual trip to the coast for crabs (which, due to Tadpole’s eminent arrival, has been canceled this year), ordering cords of wood, and jealously thinking of Grandma’s spacious root cellar and pantry while I shove garden goodies into any free corner.

According to the Farmer's Almanac it is going to be an early and cold winter so we have started prepping early. The flower beds have been mulched and I'm starting to watch the nurseries for sales on fruit trees and spring bulbs. We've also put up two cords of wood and plan to get two more, just in case. We'll be checking the windows and doors for drafts, getting the chimney swept, looking for water leaks, adding more insulation, and finishing the bathroom remodel-and all hopefully before Tadpole makes her grand appearance. Its going to be a busy month!

(Internet bacon strips to any who can guess the song and artist of the Post Title. Yeah, I'm dating myself.)