Autumnal Equinox
Well, sometime this past Saturday we closed the door on summer. The Autumnal Equinox, the day between Summer and Winter when both day and night are the same length has passed by now. What that means to all of us on this side of the equator is that there’s going to be more dark than light on a daily basis now until the first day of spring. For people who crave light and heat, that’s not a good thing.
Given the climate and weather patterns this past week you’d be hard pressed to know that the Autumnal Equinox had happened. It was cloudy, chilly at best and mostly rainy for the last 7 days. It pretty much felt all week that Summertime was already long gone. Last year we had an extension on warm weather, but this year it seems the bill has come due for last year’s extra days of warmth. That’s not to say that there isn’t a possibility for a couple warm days yet. We’re usually good for several days of Indian summer in October and if they come during a weekend that’s great, but after the next 4 or 5 weeks is over and the fall foliage is gone it’s pretty much time to pull the batteries out of the hot rod and bike and retreat to the den to hibernate as much as humanly possible.
We’d made a plan early in the week that we were all going up to the campsite for the weekend, weather be damned and so after work Friday afternoon I loaded up the van with supplies, grabbed Bailey and Mercury and headed for Meadowview trail. I got up there about 6:00pm, opened up camp and made dinner. Good ole fashioned beans and weenies with a couple slices of bread. I took the dogs for a walk after eating and by the time we got back to camp it was pretty much dark. I got a good sized fire going and for the next couple hours stayed close to the flames and the heat while I listened to tunes on the cassette player. It was midnight thereabouts when I finally gave in and headed for the camper and my pillow.
Given the climate and weather patterns this past week you’d be hard pressed to know that the Autumnal Equinox had happened. It was cloudy, chilly at best and mostly rainy for the last 7 days. It pretty much felt all week that Summertime was already long gone. Last year we had an extension on warm weather, but this year it seems the bill has come due for last year’s extra days of warmth. That’s not to say that there isn’t a possibility for a couple warm days yet. We’re usually good for several days of Indian summer in October and if they come during a weekend that’s great, but after the next 4 or 5 weeks is over and the fall foliage is gone it’s pretty much time to pull the batteries out of the hot rod and bike and retreat to the den to hibernate as much as humanly possible.
We’d made a plan early in the week that we were all going up to the campsite for the weekend, weather be damned and so after work Friday afternoon I loaded up the van with supplies, grabbed Bailey and Mercury and headed for Meadowview trail. I got up there about 6:00pm, opened up camp and made dinner. Good ole fashioned beans and weenies with a couple slices of bread. I took the dogs for a walk after eating and by the time we got back to camp it was pretty much dark. I got a good sized fire going and for the next couple hours stayed close to the flames and the heat while I listened to tunes on the cassette player. It was midnight thereabouts when I finally gave in and headed for the camper and my pillow.
Wanda and Chris arrived in camp first thing Saturday morning. I made breakfast for us and then took a couple of the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood. After we got back from the hike it was time to get some site work done. For the rest of the morning and the first part of the afternoon I piddled around…..finished putting the shelves up in the shed, got the walkway to the outhouse setup like I wanted it and did some general raking and cleaning of areas that I wanted to mow eventually.
When the morning had arrived the weather had looked promising, with some sunshine poking out between the clouds but as the day went on it would spit rain for a bit and then stop, start again and stop until by mid-afternoon it started to rain lightly but steady. So at that point we decided to go into Custer and hit the grocery store for some for dinner. By the time we got back from Bonser’s Market it had stopped again for the most part so I putzed around some more while Wanda made dinner. Just about the time we were finishing up with our meal it started to rain again and this time it came down hard and kept coming down. Because of the weather it got dark earlier and quicker than it would’ve otherwise so with no light left to work by we pulled out the laptop and spent the remainder of the day watching movies. By the end of the second flick it was getting on to Midnight so I turned off the lights and called it a day.
Sunday morning came, wet and gray. We decided at that point that we’d make breakfast and then pack up camp and head for home. It didn’t look like I was going to be able to get much done on day two either and a hot shower and a nap sounded appealing so after homemade turnovers we picked up, packed up and said goodbye to Meadowview trail for a couple weeks.
We pulled into the driveway right about noon. I unloaded all the weekend stuff and then plopped down on the couch and dozed off for awhile. I regained consciousness later to find that the clouds had disappeared and the sun was shining. It just figures I guess. It’s been a pretty crummy month for weather and according to Mr. weatherman it isn’t likely it’s going to get better anytime soon.
With the late afternoon sun shining I decided to break out the ’56 for the first time this month and cruise down to Jeannie’s for their final cruise-in night of the year. I loaded up Bailey and we headed down for a bit of late season socializing and a cheeseburger. There was a fairly good turnout of cars for a clear and chilly evening and the couple hours we were there went by quickly. Once the numbers for the 50/50 drawing had been pulled and with the sun already having set in the Western sky, we headed back to town.
I realized after we got home and sat down that I hadn't taken a single picture all weekend. Between walking dogs and avoiding raindrops I never shot any frames at the campsite and then because I was more talkative than usual at Jeannie’s I never got any car shots either. A lack of pics to share is pretty much a symptom of the blahs that come and go once the warm weather goes away. It’s just hard to get or keep moving, even when doing things I enjoy.
There's a couple other things that have happened this week that need to be addressed at some point but I'm just not up to it at the moment. It's time to call it a day and get some rest.
TC
When the morning had arrived the weather had looked promising, with some sunshine poking out between the clouds but as the day went on it would spit rain for a bit and then stop, start again and stop until by mid-afternoon it started to rain lightly but steady. So at that point we decided to go into Custer and hit the grocery store for some for dinner. By the time we got back from Bonser’s Market it had stopped again for the most part so I putzed around some more while Wanda made dinner. Just about the time we were finishing up with our meal it started to rain again and this time it came down hard and kept coming down. Because of the weather it got dark earlier and quicker than it would’ve otherwise so with no light left to work by we pulled out the laptop and spent the remainder of the day watching movies. By the end of the second flick it was getting on to Midnight so I turned off the lights and called it a day.
Sunday morning came, wet and gray. We decided at that point that we’d make breakfast and then pack up camp and head for home. It didn’t look like I was going to be able to get much done on day two either and a hot shower and a nap sounded appealing so after homemade turnovers we picked up, packed up and said goodbye to Meadowview trail for a couple weeks.
We pulled into the driveway right about noon. I unloaded all the weekend stuff and then plopped down on the couch and dozed off for awhile. I regained consciousness later to find that the clouds had disappeared and the sun was shining. It just figures I guess. It’s been a pretty crummy month for weather and according to Mr. weatherman it isn’t likely it’s going to get better anytime soon.
With the late afternoon sun shining I decided to break out the ’56 for the first time this month and cruise down to Jeannie’s for their final cruise-in night of the year. I loaded up Bailey and we headed down for a bit of late season socializing and a cheeseburger. There was a fairly good turnout of cars for a clear and chilly evening and the couple hours we were there went by quickly. Once the numbers for the 50/50 drawing had been pulled and with the sun already having set in the Western sky, we headed back to town.
I realized after we got home and sat down that I hadn't taken a single picture all weekend. Between walking dogs and avoiding raindrops I never shot any frames at the campsite and then because I was more talkative than usual at Jeannie’s I never got any car shots either. A lack of pics to share is pretty much a symptom of the blahs that come and go once the warm weather goes away. It’s just hard to get or keep moving, even when doing things I enjoy.
There's a couple other things that have happened this week that need to be addressed at some point but I'm just not up to it at the moment. It's time to call it a day and get some rest.
TC
posted by Tom Eckels at 11:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home