Fall is Here by Pepper Phillips

Want to do something smaller and cheaper than a pumpkin? Try a Satsuma. These beauties came from our own trees.

I love the fall. I miss the different colored leaves however. I remember growing up in Maryland, and the gorgeous fall display of fallen leaves. I think that Maple trees had the best ones. They would range from yellow, to orange to red, all from the same tree.

There are certain days when the weather is dry and the leaves are super crunchy when you walk through them.

Here in the deep South, you might get one day when you have those dry leaves. Soon, the pecans will start to fall from the trees. You will be sitting outside and hear a nut drop to the ground. I finally figured the easiest way to harvest pecans is to rake under the tree, then sit down on a boat cushion and move the leaves to get to the nuts hiding underneath. The standing and bending over to pick up each one doesn’t work for me anymore!

The summer garden is gone. We don’t have a winter garden, due to the fact that hunting season starts next month.

The alligator season is already finished, as the hubby filled out his five tags. (You have to have a special tag to kill an alligator.) This year I accused him of feeding the gators as they managed to steal the bait several times before they were ‘hooked’. And no. The hubby does not wrestle alligators. Only nutcases would do that, and with a small gator at that. What do we do with the alligators? There is a woman who buys them for the skin and meat. You are paid by the foot. The bigger the gator, the more you get.

All the church and school fairs have begun or will be held next month. These are big fund raisers and I’ll deal with one next month. It’s amazing what a concentrated effort on the part of volunteers can accomplish when they choose to work together for a common purpose.

Until next time, enjoy the life in your ‘small town’ whether it is a neighborhood or a real town.

Pepper Phillips