You know, it's around this time of year that I start singing my favorite Christmas song, "Let It Snow." It's the one that opens with the line, "Oh, the weather outside is frightful." (Apologies for giving you ear-worm for the rest of the day.) Old Blue-Eyes had no idea the song would work not just in winter, but also in these long, drawn-out end-of-summer days, which is where we find ourselves right now. It's frightful out there, no?
And let's not even talk about the next line regarding how delightful the fire is. The fires are not delightful. But you know what is? The fact that autumn is on its way!
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| Late summer gives way to... |
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| Early fall. |
In an effort to give summer the bum's rush out the door, I've been doing a little decorating for fall, even if it's a bit early. Since I don't need ANY new furniture (A fact that Big Ag points out several times a week) I've instead gotten into doing little tablescapes. And this week, autumn fell hard and fast around the interior of our home here, as we hit triple digits and the smoke rolled in outside from the fires down south.
In the midst of it, I've also started sun-drying tomatoes, which is something I thought I'd have to give up once I left California. But with the hot weather following me, turns out I'm in possession of a good skill set for the New Normal of climate change, as are most California-born, current Oregonians.
I've also been making soap, and still have a big wave of tomato canning coming, which will hit in another month or so. One thing I love about Oregon is that by the time it's cool enough to fire up the canner, the weather is cooler.
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| Last year's tomatoes coated with ash, under a firey sky. |
Last year I did all this in the middle of a terrible fire season, with no kitchen, and dealing with contractors coming in and out of the house in the midst of a major pandemic. So almost anything will be an improvement over that. Just like Ginger Rodgers having to dance the same dances Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels; that's me with homesteading this summer. I've done all this stuff backwards in heels and can now just move forward, doing the same thing but in a MUCH easier way. I have a kitchen, I'm vaccinated and there are no fires near us. Much better.
We also had some bark blown in to finish our raised bed area and keep the weeds away. That's another lesson learned: save your money and pay someone else to move the 11 yards of whatever instead of breaking your own back as well as your wheelbarrow and doing it yourself. Sure you lose bragging rights, but you can also skip the post-event visit to the chiropractor.They were done in about 45 minutes and it all looks fantastic.
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| Before |
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| After! |
I think I'll continue to add a little autumn around the house here and there until most of the decor finds it's way from their storage containers in the garage into the house. In these troubling times, if rushing the season a bit helps your mood, I'd say go for it. I'm still working on talking the trees into turning, but so far I've only convinced a couple.
Hope everyone's late summer is seasonally warm (not hot) and enjoyable. I have a feeling true autumn and winter will bring with it the Lambda COVID variant, which is vaccine-resistant, so get out and see people while you can.
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| This white birch tree is convinced it's autumn |
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| The box elder, older and wiser, knows better. |
hmmm.where to start - well the white birch thinking its' autumn kind of got me all jazzed up. Yeah I'm so ready for autumn. We hit the 90's again today. But the week before was pretty nice in the 80's and I got out a lot walking shorelines. Your garden looks nice. I only tend to about five potted plants and they look a little over watered. oh well ... You do things I would never in my life even think i could do or ..would do. Sun dried tomatoes for one thing. wow. I just thought they came from a jar magically somehow. I read about the Dixie fire and others and it's just so sad so many people losing their homes. We have been lucky here. A few fires down at the bottom of the mountain that most that i've read their comments at FB believe it's the homeless encampment. So hang in there fall is coming...!
ReplyDeleteSo there's a homeless encampment at the bottom of your mountain? Oh no! That's a huge fire hazard. In Paso Robles when we lived there, the homeless encampments in the Salinas riverbed started several brush fires that endangered and even burned up homes nearby. Wish I knew what the answer was to that problem, it's happening everywhere now I guess. And like me, I'm guessing you're really tired of the 90s at this point. The 80's is still warm but much more manageable, especially for a nice walk along some cool water! Enjoy it!
Deleteoh so tired of the heat but it has been more cooler and cooler at night until a few days ago but now were heading down in temps. I actually saw some Dogwoods having just the slightest color change on their leaves- .. We will see fall colors before they do in the valleys. Hope the heat isn't as bad and I have no idea about what fires are still going except I know Lake Tahoe is having quite a bad time . yes the homeless encampments and the county doesn't do a damn thing. It really is obvious that a lot of the small fires at the base of the mountains are from them.
DeleteSo awful, the fires, the destruction of forests, homes of people and wild ones. Thus far we've been spared the worst of the heat and smoke, and no fires here (yet?). One week this last June was miserable but nothing at all like last summer and fall, which was unreal -- and when Cal Poly hit 120F, amidst days of 110F, 115F.
ReplyDelete120 has got to be a new record. Can't even imagine how you'd deal with that, because I'm guessing the beach must have been in the 90s at least! Hope we're all over the worst of it, and praying for all those in the line of the fires. Seems to get worse every summer now. Other than that, hope you are well despite all the troubles!
ReplyDeleteIt was a record, and not just here -- it was the hottest temp ever recorded that close to the coast in North *and* South America. Our house was 95-100 on and off during the summer -- no A/C in our old 1932 bungalow and smoke was untenable, so all windows closed.
ReplyDeleteThanks, we're good so far, knock on wood. Hope you are too, and here's hoping for lightning-free early rains for all the west.
Agreed! We are already seeing a big cool off here, hope it spreads south and we get an early autumn. Many homes up here have no a/c too; I have a feeling there will be a huge effort to add a/c units to all sorts of places over the next couple of years. Even as far north as Seattle; they saw 100+ days too!
DeleteOMG your temps..ugh. (christina)
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