Signs That It Isn't Fall Anymore

 I found out in the past week that fall headed into winter sooner than I planned. There have been lots of signs that it was coming - the last of the leaves fell from the maple trees this week. All the other trees are bare, except for the ironwood in the front yard. Maybe they're like oak trees and hold their leaves all winter, dropping them in the spring to suppress competitive growth from understory plants.

Male goldfinches have molted to their drab winter coats and the juncos seem to have settled in. I packed away the garden tools and got the snow shovels ready.

There's ice on the ponds - a smooth, solid surface, but not thick enough to walk on yet. Unless you look at my rain barrel. I went to empty it yesterday and there had to be at least ten inches or more of water inside that is frozen solid. Note to self: Always drain the rain barrel by the beginning of November unless you want a very small ice skating rink.

Then I thought I should put out some of the Christmas decorations. We usually decorate one of the big flowerpots with spruce tips and red osier dogwood branches. It's simple - just push the ends of the branches into the soil. And it might be that easy if only the soil wasn't frozen solid. It took four kettles of boiling water to soften the dirt enough to be able to shove the spruce and dogwood deep enough for them to stay put. Note to self: Decorate the pots by the beginning of November.

Tomorrow is the first of December: the beginning of meteorological winter. Yah - it will really be winter. But I already guessed that given the ice and frozen pot.

Another World

I'm in Reno, Nevada, for a few days for a conference. (And no, I'm not the gambling type so the casinos don't really appeal to me. They are noisy and smoking. Ugh.) The view flying in revealed a landscape so different from what I'm used to in Minnesota. Now granted, everything was snow-covered as I left yesterday - just a light coating. But here, the land is stark. Very little green and very few trees. But there are the mountains - lots of mountains. So different - so bare and brown - but still fascinating.