Monday - September 22, 2005
Autumn
I’m starting to feel
a little guilty. Catherine’s off hiking Mount Whitney in a snow storm and
I’m home with the cat, baking brownies and drinking beer. I decided it’s
time for a change so this morning I got out the weed whipper and started
clearing the hiking trail that I cut last year. It’s not much of a trail but
if I walk slowly, I can stretch my walk out to 20 minutes without having to
repeat myself. When I cut the trail I had lofty ambitions of running it
everyday though that ended when I started the new house construction.
Construction is done so I’m looking at resuming some sort of walking/jogging
exercise regime.
The trail runs along a section of King Creek and goes up a hill to the upper
east border of our property. At the top I placed a park bench where I have a
nice view to the west and I can almost see the Pacific Ocean.
I’m not much at plant identification though I have learned to recognize
Poison Oak. Interestingly, Poison Oak is one of the few plants in our area
that display beautiful fall colors. The sycamore leaves don’t change color
as much as they just seem to fade away and most of the oaks in our area are
evergreen. That leaves the Poison Oak with the responsibility of getting me
into the spirit of autumn.
I can also notice the change of season in the morning. We’ve had some nights
get down into the 30’s and I’ve even turned the heat on a couple of times.
By far, the most dramatic weather events we get at this time of year are the
Santa Anna winds. They normally start in October and at the location of our
new house, winds can reach 80 mph. Several of our neighbors have had windows
blow in so I’ve arranged to have hurricane shutters put on our north facing
windows.
Wind, fire and flood are our biggest concerns out here. In a month or two
I’ll start describing our flood prevention measures.
Tis the season to be itchy
