The Fogs of Autumn

Cold air + warm ground = fog. Our mornings are now often tinged with thick fog, sometimes cutting visibility to less than a few yards.

The weather is cooling at a rapid pace on the prairie. Fall often comes to us as if a definite line in the sand (of which we have plenty) has been drawn. As in— 9/22: autumn officially begins. 9/23: blizzard arrives) I'm hoping for nothing so dramatic but it wouldn't be unusual.

I still have tomatoes and peppers in the garden and must endure the ordeal of vine-ripened tomatoes sliced and drenched in balsamic vinegar, slathered in sweet vidalia onion salad dressing, sprinkled with parmesan cheese and coarse ground pepper. Up to twice a day I suffer this abomination. O, the horror!

Last night I went to town for a meeting and when I left to come home I found that it had rained all during the meeting. The normal hour's drive home became two hours, with white knuckles throughout. We have a kind of mud here that makes traction almost impossible, even for a heavy 4WD vehicle like mine. There were places on the ride where stopping or losing momentum would have meant an overnight stay.

But I made it, much to the delight of the dogs not to mention my own. We are entering the season of being sure of the status of your supplies and vittles. Access to the outside won't be assured for quite a while now.