Great Autumn Weather

This has truly been a great autumn. I can't remember one I've enjoyed more.

The temperature has been just about ideal. Nights often dip down into the 30's, but they usually only get to the upper 40's or lower 50's. The highs each day are usually in the 70's. We've even set several records this fall for high temperatures, and we may do that again today as the high is expected to inch above 80. We've been able to walk at all times of the day, and we've sat outside at all times.

One of the things we've enjoyed most is sitting out just past dark and watching the deer parade. We do this almost every night. You can almost set your watch by the deer. We normally try to get outside about 15 or 30 minutes after dark. The deer slowly start emerging from the brush and high grass to the south and walking north along the street or through our yard, often stopping to graze a bit. They then head off into a draw across the street and disappear.

We've really been surprised at the inability of the deer to detect us. We have sat in our chairs on our patio with the deer not more than 10 or 15 feet from us. They seem to sense we are there. The other night, one doe in particular strained her neck and twisted it about trying to get a better look. She appeared to look straight at us, but we remained motionless. Eventually, she resumed grazing. One night, our 8 point buck stood just out of Donna's reach and never saw her. You would think they could smell us at least, but they don't. If we remain perfectly still, they never know we are there.

My only regret about the weather this fall is that we just haven't had much rain. We are a few inches below our average rainfall amount now, and we will undoubtedly finish the year in a deficit. Perhaps next year will be better, but I'm afraid we are entering another drought cycle. And since we had some pretty good rain in the spring, there was a lot of plant growth in the rural areas. Now, with the lack of rain, that growth has turned into tinder, so we could see some wild fires in the coming spring and summer. Gosh, I hope not.