Fall Has Arrived . . . For the Moment

Ahh, fall has come to West Texas, at least for a day or two. This morning, it is in the low 50s. With the lively breeze, it probably feels like 45 or so out there. There is a light mist, so the sidewalks are wet.

Hopefully, I'll get out later in the day and take a good walk. Now that the nights and early mornings are chilly, I'll shift my walk routine to later in the morning or mid-afternoon. I rather like walking in mid-afternoon instead of early morning. I enjoy getting a slow start to the day. When I walk early, I jump out of bed and hit the road first thing. When I postpone the walk, I'm able to enjoy my coffee, read the paper, and start the day slowly. I like that.

I really enjoy driving the short 2 miles or so to our state park for afternoon walks. Life is slow at San Angelo State Park. We can walk along the park roads out there with very little automobile traffic. If we are really lucky, we can even see some good wildlife, anything from squirrels and deer to fox and bison.

Speaking of wildlife, I sat on our patio last night about 7:30. It starts getting dark about then. I had not been sitting long when 5 deer came trotting along the road across from me. I doubt they even saw me. Just to our south is a vacant area leading to undeveloped land owned by our subdivision. Deer like to browse there among the mesquites and tall grass. Sometimes they come down the street, as this group did, to a small draw behind our community center. A few moments later, another group of 4 deer browsed along the edge of the mesquites along the undeveloped land. A single deer followed behind them, and 4 more followed along a few minutes later. And our turkeys are back. I don't know where they go during the warm months, but now that cooler temperatures have returned, so have the turkeys.

We got our flu shots yesterday. If you haven't done so, I hope you do soon.