The signs are there – winter’s coming
A beautiful Indian summer almost has us believing that winter isn’t really coming this year. But traveling through my Hayden neighborhood I see that most people are too wise to be tricked into a sense of false security by the balmy, sweet weather.
Nature is putting on her annual fall fashion show. Winter nutrients are being applied to lawns, and gardens are being layered with mulch. My neighbor has been mulching her flowerbeds all summer with the clippings from her lawn. She says she won’t have to dig up her dahlia bulbs again this year. In the freezing Northwest winters dahlia bulbs are supposed to be dug up and stored for spring planting. Apparently, the thick blanket of grass clippings insulates the bulbs sufficiently from the cold. Dahlias are my favorite fall flowers. They are so perfect looking that I usually have to convince people that they aren’t silk or plastic. But I’m getting tired of digging the bulbs up. Maybe I will try the grass mulch next year.
Today as I travel around town, I see people who remember the ice storm of 1996. Their storm windows are set out along with their pumpkins, bales of straw, corn stalks and sets of snow tires. An occasional garage sale attempts to make room for storage of patio furniture and barbecues.
Another sure sign of the coming winter is new phone books being delivered. My son decided to earn a few extra dollars doing this and I spent last week driving him up, down and around Hayden Lake and Coeur d’Alene. The red, orange and yellow fall leaves are gorgeous. And the Halloween decorations make the setting look like a picture from Better Homes and Gardens.
In Spirit Lake a couple of weeks ago I saw people launching their boats and enjoying the last few days of the summer season. A father was fishing with his wife and young son, and the boy kept trying to cast his hook and bobber but couldn’t quite figure out the trick to releasing his line. His mother showed him over and over again. He never did get the knack of it. His bobber kept smacking the water right in front of him. His father finally moved to safety on the pier to see if he could catch a fish there.
Thinking about the things that need to be done to prepare for the change of the seasons and seeing other people busy with their preparations, I think there isn’t a lot of time left to get ready for winter. My problem is that I’m worn out from traveling and family events this summer and I just don’t have the energy to even want to go out and dig dahlia bulbs, to say nothing of putting out bales of straw or pumpkins. Maybe I just need to give in and enjoy a lazy Indian summer day.
Traditionally, it seems, the weather doesn’t really change until around Halloween. And then, despite my best preparations every year, the weather snaps and becomes bitterly cold. Maybe living in California for more than 20 years spoiled me or lulled me out of the pattern of preparing for the change of the seasons. I don’t know which. But today as the brightly colored fall leaves parade past my window I am content to sit and enjoy the warmth of the sun.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, or even an old farmer to know that winter is just around the corner. Recently I have felt the air take on a bit of a chill as the days shorten, watched the leaves change into a rainbow of beautiful colors, and here I am again, digging up dahlia bulbs.