Fall Has Arrived In NE PA

[JohnyMac]

Well now, the tree's are starting to change at the redoubt in NE PA. It started with the maples and aspens and I would guesstimate we are at 10% changed at this point.

Temperatures are in the low 40's when we get up in the morning and in the mid-sixties in the cabin. Currently, I turn on the back-up propane furnace for 30 minutes just to take the chill off. If I don's MrsMac walks around with a winter coat on 

Put all the summer furniture away and will setup the firewood racks today on our deck. Tomorrow, I will be filling them. All told I have put away 6-cords of firewood this year. Let's hope it is enough. If not I have a few down trees I could process in a pinch. We will see.

The wooly caterpillars are abundant this year. I have not seen so many for maybe 20-years or more. Don't know what that means if anything. NOAA and the Farmers Almanac predict cooler than normal and more precipitation than normal due in part to a weak La Nina. Looking at past years, we received 2-3" of snow in 2016 on Halloween. Then it seemed to snow 1-2" almost everyday till Lakes Erie & Ontario and the finger lakes froze over. We will see. 

Took the old smoke poles (Black powder flint lock rifles) out of the safe last week. Going to make sure that the POI is still true. Had a tough time buying black powder locally so I had to order online and it wa$n't cheap. Since I haven't used my BP rifles in probably 10+ years for deer hunting, I need to work up a new load. Powder amount, patch size & lube, and then ball size. BP PA. deer & bear season is the fourth week of October. Then deer again for 4-weeks after Christmas. My goal this year is to get a deer in October vs. when the temps are in the teens and there are several feet of snow on the ground.

My MAG, usually puts aside a date for a group cider pressing. We did it again this year, however, we had a late frost in the spring and it killed most of the blossoms in NE PA and the southern tier of NY. We are scrambling for apples this year for that event. I suspect we will have to buy drops for the cider if we can't find them. It's always something.

With all that, what are you doing to prepare for the coming fall/winter season? How is fall coming to your part of paradise? Any special events that you are looking forward too?

 
 

[Hope]

Welcome Fall!! We look forward to football games this time of year, my husband is a football coach. He spends a lot of time planning for an Appalachia Service Project this time of year, he will be the group leader, taking 100 students plus faculty, traveling 6 hours to help build ramps for houses and other home projects.

We just sold our 250 gallon water tank and replaced it with 3 smaller tanks that each hold 125 gallons.

Our garden is still producing so we are still dehydrating and canning to preserve the food.

We get together with friends for an annual apple cider pressing. We also enjoy taking the top off of the Jeep Wrangler and taking scenic drives to admire the colorful leaves. I've been collecting black walnuts to use for tinctures and salves.

[Jackalope]

     Fall is arriving here in middle Tennessee.  We?ve had some nights when the temperature dropped to the upper 40?s.  Days have been in the upper 80?s, but that?s supposed to change this week so temperatures should drop to the mid to lower 70?s.  However, with the temperature changes we typically get thunderstorms and tornadoes.  We?re having a thunderstorm as I type this message, and we had a four hour thunderstorm yesterday.

     I?ve been seeing less deer, so I?m guessing they too are getting ready for the change.

     Our local amateur radio club had a chili cookoff this past weekend, another sign of Fall.  We?re scrambling to do some outside work before it gets much cooler.  I?m hoping the leaves fall soon so I can get some wire antennas in the trees.

[JohnyMac]

Some good stuff folks. Thx for sharing. 

[Searchboss]

I'm late to the party here... Our weather here in Middle Georgia is cooling off some, but it is still in the mid 80's most days with lows around 50+ at this point. The leaves are starting to wilt or change colors a bit, depending on the type of tree. Our MAG has a campout scheduled for this coming weekend and the weather looks like it will cooperate so it should be fun. It will be nice to have some cool weather for a while.

[JohnyMac]

Thx Searchboss. 

[Searchboss]

I am a bit behind in reading the forum this week. Georgia weather is such that if you don?t like what you get one day, just wait a day or so, and you will get something different. The one thing I dislike about the weather here, besides it being HOT ? of the year, is that we seldom have a true winter. By this, I mean that it seldom gets below freezing for more than a few days at a time. You never know from day to day if you will need a light jacket or a heavy coat. The temps can be in the 60?s one day and dip to the 20?s or lower the next, but only for a few days. As an example, several years ago, I was out sunbathing on a New Year?s day in 70 degree weather, and the following year I spent that day helping a friend repair/replace plumbing under his house in 30 degree weather because it had frozen and split the night before when it got down to 18 degrees overnight. Sorry about that. RANT OFF!

As an update, our recent Fall camping trip was a success! I go camping because I enjoy it, even though it is a lot of work. We wilderness camp in a large tent with a couple of canopies. My wife won?t enjoy going unless she can have many of the conveniences of home with her. Don?t get me wrong, she is quite capable of camping under a tarp and digging a cat-hole if necessary, she just doesn?t want to do that unless there are no better choices. So, I have devised ways to accommodate her wishes. The result is that we both enjoy the trip. As you probably expected, she is one of only a few females who typically go camping regularly. Such is society today.

The camping trips allow/force me to keep my gear in good condition and ready for immediate use, if needed. Over the years, I have learned about and accumulated what is needed and added what is wanted to make these trips pleasant. We now have everything needed to easily survive a power outage, short-term (week-long) water outage, etc., at home, simply because we already have the gear and skills due to our camping trips. From what I can tell, most people today don?t.

Without getting into semantics, I will say that we had more people from our MAG go camping with us than ever before. It was mostly a social affair, but everyone learned something new and we all had a good time. Having written that, I have to tell you that these were less than 10% of the MAG members. I suspect that these numbers are typical of any group.

While I really don?t like the cold, I am looking forward to some nice cool temperatures.

[Sir John Honeybucket]

Right now in coastal Virginia, a moderate, cyclonic low pressure system is clawing it's way up the NC coast and pulling a bunch of wet air in from the north Atlantic into our ware.  Temps 40-60s, heavy haze and drizzling rain. Nothing significant to report ( NSTR )

- SJH

[Jackalope]

And it was in the upper 70?s and sunny today on the Cumberland Plateau in middle Tennessee, as it has been for the last 10 days.  Though, it was in the upper 40?s during the night.  It?s supposed to be like this until next Saturday, when we get our next chance of rain.  We?re back into drought conditions, which usually happens during the fall.  I?m taking advantage of the warm weather, and finishing up outdoor projects.

[Hope]

I?m visiting family in the Deep South and I would say ?Fall has Arrived? because everywhere I go, the talk is college football.

[JohnyMac]

@ Searchboss: Thanks for sharing.

It was PA QSO Party weekend up at the grounds we use for such contests. MrsMac and I set up our Kodiak 12 x 12 base camp lodge tent with wood stove and enclosed porch Thursday. Friday we moved in for the weekend with our Dutch Shepherd Dorothy (AKA W3OOF).

Set up a NVIS antenna I built and wrote about years ago. If anybody is interested it is over in Americanpartican.org archives. Used my Palstar AT2K manual tuner and my Yaesu DX10 transceiver. All worked as expected.

Beautiful fall weekend till Saturday early evening when the western tail end of a Nor'easter hit us hard with rain. The club has a 10 x 20' pop up tent so we got that up pretty quickly. Rained off & on all night and was amazed how many people hung out under that tent swapping stories till 2300E hrs. Of course in our tent we had the wood stove pinking away.

All day Saturday we had club members and MAG members swing buy the event camp. We served dinner at 1700E hrs. of hamburgers and kielbasa for our protein and every one brought a dish to pass. All n' all I think our club event coordinator said we had 28 people stop by throughout Saturday. The town police had to stop by and catch up on the gossip with the group, however, I think they just come by for the dozens of donuts we always seem to have.

I had two friends from northwest NJ bring a camper for the weekend. I am a member of their MAG too and hadn't made it down to NJ since the beginning of the summer. They were amazed by the fellowship, the good natured hijinks, and the quantity of folks walking around with open carry. The first time the town police swung by the NJ boy's started to tell everybody to put a cover on because a squad car was coming up the driveway to the fair grounds. They were looked at like they had lost their minds as it was just the local police. Those boys just shook their heads commenting on how PA is so different than NJ.

Sunday brought sunshine which was a blessing as it allowed our tent to dry out before we packed it up early afternoon. We were home - about a 45-minute drive to the redoubt - by 1700E hrs. I had the truck unloaded and things mostly put away by 1830E hrs.

@Jackalope: Our drought has officially ended and my well is starting to fill back up. Boy O' boy it was low during this years drought. Can't wait till you get a wire in the air at the new house.

@Hope:  "Fall has Arrived, because everywhere I go, the talk is college football." I read this and I broke out laughing. I hear ya' for sure. The deep south lives and breaths college football.

Thanks to all for sharing your fall with the group. Early Black powder deer & bear season opens this weekend. Wish me luck.