fall is here..

[majorcatfish]

since the weather has been dramatically cooling off, which don't get me wrong we are loving it. the a/c is barely running. those darn stink bugs are all over the sliding glass door wanting in, so far have removed 5 today from inside.

how are you doing with them so far..?

 

[Nyboy]

Haven't seen any yet, stink bugs are not to much of problem here YET. Fall color is going to be big disappointment this year, leaves are going from green to brown.

 

[Smart Red]

I am in no hurry for fall. . .
but all the signs are here. The weather is changing, the plants are changing, the animals are showing signs of the approaching change.

 

[Carol Dee]

Farmers have the seed corn out and starting the soybeans. The ditches are full of fall flowers, asters, golden rod, pampus grass and cattails. Garden is drying up.

 

[Nyboy]

Can't wait always felt there was magic in fall.

 

[baymule]

I love fall, winter and spring. Summer is for hay and gardens and high A/C bills. LOL

 

[so lucky]

I always used to get very restless in the fall. If ever there was a time that I would just "up and leave" it would be in the fall. There was a time in my life that doing just that was a real possibility, but not any more. The absence of hormones (and the accompanying angst) is kinda nice, actually.

 

[journey11]

I've been seeing them outside all summer and now I'm seeing them on the porch already. Seems too soon! I hope this doesn't mean we're going to be inundated with them.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

I always used to get very restless in the fall. If ever there was a time that I would just "up and leave" it would be in the fall. There was a time in my life that doing just that was a real possibility, but not any more. The absence of hormones (and the accompanying angst) is kinda nice, actually.

Me too. In fact, I've seriously considered a month-long trip by myself in October. Kind of like an Australian "Walk About". But there is so much work to be done around here at this time of year. The tractors and combines are humming night and day. The grain trucks look like a wagon train through town most days now. The dust and runny noses are visible everywhere. Things will slow down in November and December though. That's the time when implement maintenance begins. Fixing broken parts, sharpening blades, replacing worn bearings, engine rebuilding, painting rusty surfaces, and getting ready for spring planting.

 

[digitS']

In the North, we often hear how sub-zero weather will suppress the bug population. "Not like the South."

Nonsense, there is more to it than that. Yes, I clearly remember discovering that cockroaches are outdoor bugs in Tampa. The critter picked up my foot as I sat on a park bench ... seems that I was keeping him from a piece of popcorn .

Okay, a mild winter here, 2014 -'15. I thought that the leafhoppers/spittle bugs would be making a mess of everything, starting with the acres of alfalfa around the big veggie garden. Nope. Oh, they were around but not like some years.

Not one leaf miner have I come across in either the spinach or beets. Indoors, and most every year, the dang fruit flies move in with the ripe melons. I had plenty of ripe melons but only a few fruit flies.

The locust tree borers have been everywhere and I worry about our drought-stressed trees and what future seasons will show. But, simple answers are often not the right ones, like subzero would have killed them ...

I'm reminded of what an entomologist from outside the US once told me: all tree deaths were being blamed on gypsy moths when there were multiple causes. He noted that the bandwagon to aerial spray them came just as DDT was banned. The government bought up much of the remaining stocks and sprayed it over many square miles of forests.

Simple answers lead off into tangled paths, at times.

Steve