The Southwest has its change of seasons, too.
The last rain of monsoon season has the rain barrels full and overflowing.
Our trees may not burst with fall colors but they do have their own way of announcing the new season. For example, mesquite trees burst with pods and drop them all over the place. It wouldn’t be fall without something to rake, right?
Our tasks and routines change.
The scorching heat of summer is overtaken by brisk air and cool breezes. Even though we know it will happen — it does every year –we’re still surprised the day that summer (who always overstays her welcome in Arizona!) is ushered out without so much as a fare-thee-well.
Shoppers enter stores and breathlessly report the obvious. “Wow, it’s really cool today!” People respond with smiles and their own surprise. “Yeah, I know! I had to put on a sweatshirt this morning!”
Imagine that!
Shadows lengthen as summer turns to fall and beyond.
Summer is gone; fall is here!
The brisk air gives us energy with an awakened ambition to Get Things Done. We rake up the mesquite pods. We fuss around the house exterior and yard. Few of us have much grass. Our lawn mowers rumble over dirt, kicking up dust.
Mostly we get out our string trimmers.
Prickly weeds stick up from dirt-patch “lawns” like stubborn cowlicks on a perennially bad hair day. Like bees we zigzag from weed to weed, whacking them down. Soon we’re putting the weed-whacker away, confident that the job is done for a while.
Out along the highway . . . .
Sunflowers huddle together, three to six feet tall, lean and lanky. Self-conscious teenagers they are, bobbing among their friends, peeking with silly grins. They laugh at the hilarity of cars and trucks whizzing by.
The perfect days of fall are blissful. I eat all my meals on the porch.
All too soon winter butts in, uninvited.
Nothing like a hard freeze watch to slap us high-desert folk to attention. We’re so dang smug and complacent about our mild climate, you know.
Reading the stern announcement online (” . . . with temperatures as low as 26 degrees possible . . . .”), my internal whine-machine protests.
Hey, it’s still October! It’s too soon!
Followed by . . .
Hand-painted quail, $4 from the thrift shop
Gee, I should wrap the pipes!
This house has spigots on each of its four corners. The insulation foam and tape is torn and peeling. Fortunately, I anticipated this and have the necessary supplies on hand. I get right on that task.
Let’s see, what else . . . .
I take cuttings from the lantana and Mexican petunia plants which, by the way, are in full flush of bloom.
I have collected a variety of vases from the thrift store to be ready for this day.
A kitchen window with cuttings all lined up is a cheery reminder that spring follows winter.
I make sure all the bird feeders are filled to the top and the bird bath has fresh water.
These succulents are ready to be repotted.
Recently I repotted cacti and succulents, giving each their own pot.
Remember those little plants on the dining room windowsill that I showed you a while back? They’re all grown up now; some even have babies of their own.
Maybe someday I’ll plant a succulent garden outside . . . on the south side of the house where it’s warmest in winter.
Probably succulents in the ground will need cover during frosts to prevent scarring and I don’t know if I want to set myself up for that.
A desert garden!
I do plan to make a garden of cacti and other desert plants on the south side. During summer it gets so hot in that area that a desert garden seems the best plan. It will be fun creating it.
I’ve already picked up several books about gardening with desert plants (from the thrift store, of course!) and have a few cacti started in pots (see the little agave in next pic).
I carry several plants in pots inside.
The rest I load into the Gorilla cart and, like a nanny with her precious charges in tow, lead them into the house.
A Gorilla cart is the next best thing to having an on-site helper.
I park the cart in the utility/laundry room just inside the back door.
I can’t keep doing this all winter. Well, just for tonight. They haven’t had time to toughen up in their new pots.
Can you believe I planted two lantana plants only a week ago? Wal-mart was selling them so I figured I could do that. They’ve been happy in the flower bed in the side yard.
I cover them with overturned flower pots and hope for the best.
This morning . . . .
Well, everyone survives the night. The boys and I enjoyed having a heater on in the bedroom. I don’t think we had a hard freeze, but it was our coldest night so far.
Reggie and Roger shorten their usual, morning patrol. . . a quick lift of the back leg and a hurried, team-check of the yard’s perimeter. They always include a few sniffs of the front gate where the neighbor’s skinny cat sneaks in and out at night.
That done, they race past me through the open front door on a dash to the blankets.
Morning nap comes early today!
This old metal tea pot makes a precious flower pot.
I neglect to bring in from the porch the potted, pink geranium and the scraggly plant (in the photo) whose name escapes me at the moment.
They survive, only losing a few blossoms.
It’s cold today, this last day of October, in the sixties, but the sky is cloudless and blue, and the sun is shining!
No trick-or-treaters prowl our neighborhood. Good thing because I have no candy in the house.
Well, lookee at all I’ve written on this here blog!
“What are you dreaming about, Roger?”
For weeks I haven’t been able to come up with a post about “rvsue and her canine crew” and here I am rambling on and on.
I want to show you two major house repair and improvement projects recently completed. That will have to wait until another post.
I hope you are enjoying the change of seasons wherever you are!
rvsue
NOTE TO BLOGORINOS:
On behalf of Chuck and all those who knew and loved Geri, thank you for your words of sympathy and encouragement. I was going to write a tribute to Geri’s sweet spirit until I realized her spirit is already here in this blog, in her many friendly comments and in the posts about days we shared. I’m glad I recorded those times. — Sue
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THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG!
Did you know . . . .?
RVSue and her canine crew is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
In other words, when you enter Amazon from a link posted here, any order you place within 24 hours earns a fee for this blog. — Sue
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RECOMMENDATION FOR A PRODUCT FROM AMAZON
Little by little I intend to build a collection of quality tools for home and yard. After much research online at the Amazon site, I decide on the Bully brand of tools.
Their tools are high quality, heavier and sturdier. Bully owners say one can expect the tools to last a lifetime. An important feature for me is they are “100% made in America.”
Recently I ordered this bow rake:
Bully Tools 92309 12-Gauge 16-Inch Bow Rake with Fiberglass Handle and 16 Steel Tines, 58-Inch
Here’s one type of leaf rake Bully sells:
Bully Tools 92312 Leaf and Thatching Rake with Fiberglass Handle and 24 Spring Steel Tines
The customer reviews are outstanding for Bully lawn and garden tools. Now that I have used my new rake several times, I can see why. — Sue
The crew warm up in the sunshine on the south side of the house.
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Shop Amazon – Deals & Bargains
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