Welcome, October!

October is full of color

Photo by J. Harrington

On this first day of the month, it's raining. This may be the last month of the year in which most precipitation will fall as rain. We've already had our first frost and freeze. This is also the month in which our leaf color will peak.

October includes Indigenous Peoples' Day

Photo by J. Harrington

In October we celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day on Monday, the 8th (an appropriate day to visit the American Indian Cultural Corridor on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis). Halloween this year is on Wednesday, the 31st. In between, although we wouldn't call it a celebration, is when the second half of local property tax payments are due, on Monday the 15th. Some of us may celebrate Samhain in combination with Halloween or instead of the Christianized version of the feast. We may consider having a celebratory bonfire on the 31st if the temperatures remain warm enough that the garden hose doesn't freeze. Hard to put out embers with a hose full of ice.

The last day of October is Halloween (Samhain)

Photo by J. Harrington

Our newly paved road is creating some interesting runoff patterns. It's not yet clear if the crews are coming back to smooth out the small berms they left that keeps runoff from reaching the ditches. If they don't, we suspect the local farmers will solve any problems with the back blades on their tractors. If they do take care of the road shoulders, we'll be impressed with their thoroughness. As we feared, local traffic does seem to have picked up speed now that the country gravel road has been citified with asphalt.

We hope each of you gets joy from whatever you choose to celebrate this month, and have the cash on hand to take care of those property taxes. We'll be watching to see if the great migration of waterfowl occurs late(r) this month or holds off until November. Back in the days we were more active waterfowlers, we always felt a little foolish wearing florescent orange to the blind when hunting ducks and geese in November. But that's an exploration for next month, maybe.

October

By Robert Frost

O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

Tomorrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow.

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know.

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away.

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—

For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

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