Fall! It’s finally arrived in central Texas. We may not have beautiful leaf color but we have a cool, brisk wind blowing, and that makes me happy! The dry, cracked ground, the crunchy grass, the stifling heat of summer, 2016 is history and I am so happy to see it gone!
Another thing I love about fall and winter – the shorter days. I feel so productive when I’m up and working for a couple of hours before daylight and being able to come in at dusk, shower and still have a couple of hours of knitting, reading, visiting time before we have to go to bed. I understand why some people don’t like it and there was a time when I didn’t like it. Leaving home before daylight to go to work, arriving home after dark in the evening, seeing the school bus picking up in the dark and letting the off when the sun was beginning to set – that doesn’t seem good to me. When we lived in Kentucky, we were right close to the Eastern time zone but we were in the Central zone. When it was 5 p.m. (or a.m.) it was 6 in the Eastern zone so being completely dark at 5:00 wasn’t good for us but not so bad for those a few miles to our east. Even here in Texas, at this time of year, when I go to Missouri, I’m leaving in the dark because it gets light later here, and then I’m arriving in the dark in MO because it gets dark earlier there, since they’re east. Coming home is so much easier because it gets daylight earlier there and dark later here. I don’t like driving in the dark, especially since this area, as well as Chad’s area, have lots of deer on the roads.
Anyway, I love the shorter days. Rita, on the other hand, does not see any reason why she should be up before daylight.
Rita
We take her out when we get up, I feed them both and she is back in her bed, sleeping like a rock, before the last bite of food has gone down.
It’s nice for her to be able to sleep peacefully, without worrying about coyotes or whatever else she had to worry about while living in the woods. It’s been almost exactly two years since she arrived. It was while I was in Missouri in October, 2014 that Vince caught her in the trap. She was an outside dog for a few weeks before we let her in the house. We mostly kept her outside for fear of how Speck would react to her. When we let her in and saw her horrible bathroom manners, for a while, she’d probably rather be out in the woods dodging coyotes than living in the house with me. She’s come a long way! She never has an accident in the house. We were gone almost 12 hours a few days ago. We left puppy pads down in several spots and no one used them. They both “held it”. I’m so proud of Rita’s good inside manners but it was touch and go for a while.
She’s turned into a great inside house pet.
Joyce says
I agree with Rita! I see no reason to be up before daylight…too bad I don’t have that option. 🙂
pattilynn9 says
I agree. We “usually” get up around 5 in the morning, so Summer days seem endless! Sometimes it not quite dark at night and we’re ready for bed. Tired. Today, we’re enjoying the nip in the air. Very invigorating! To me, fall is waaay to short. All to soon it’s winter, altho we don’t usually have Hard Winters here.
Eileen says
What a sweet girl!
Rebecca in SoCal says
Your Kentucky experience relates to life in San Diego. There is no need for the sun to be up before 5 a.m.! And as I’m a night owl, it’s even harder for me. (I know…first world problems) But seriously, we are actually directly south of the next time zone!