Question of the Day: Sunday, October 23

[gilmargl]

Hallo everybody!

Days are getting shorter, the taller trees are already bare, the sky is grey, next week we will lose an hour (at least in Europe) and it will be wintertime again.
Let's try to think positive and enjoy the few remaining golden days of 2022!

Whereas some of you are looking forward to Halloween, some of us will be glad when it's over and no damage has been done to house or property. Some of us hate the dark evenings and others find them comforting and even romantic.

For me, the pleasant things will be:
Collecting and drying autumn leaves of different shapes and colours, to give to a woman I visit in a care-home. She may simply sort them out according to colour, size, or shape; perhaps we will make a collage or a birthday card for one of her grandchildren. She is suffering from dementia so it will depend on her mood and inclination. But she's always willing to do something.

I also want to do some walking along the river as I love the freshness of the autumn air, the clearness of the water and the sound of the weir.
I will put out a few ceramic pumpkins and lights for Halloween and leave them on display until the local St Martin procession (sometime early November).


But I'm not looking forward to making the outside area around my house winterproof when there are only a limited number of daylight hours in which to do all my driving and commitments away from home. I worry about the 2 senior ferals' ability to survive another winter - I'm responsible for the evening feeding schedule (also only in daylight hours). Their houses have been re-insulated, and we are all hoping for a mild winter.

What are your hopes and fears for the remaining October days? If you live on the other side of the world, you can tell us what you will be glad to see the back of now that summer is on its way.

 

[Mia6]

I hope it doesn't rain anymore and the low humidity and sun stick around

 

[GranolaLouise]

The Fall is my favorite time of year. Remember that tv commercial "eat a Snickers Bar?" and the person's personality changes? That's me. I am miserable in the heat and live all year for the cooler days of Fall. The 2nd week of Oct I come alive..just like the snickers bar commercial. It is a physical thing..the sweating stops, the lethargy..and I can breath again. Then there are the BEAUTIFUL days of snow in New England. I was born for the North Pole or the Tundra, I guess!
So..I look forward to the lovely gowned trees of New England , the Snow and reading Robert Frost during Oct and Nov!!!!.

 

[game misconduct]

i am hoping for a cold winter full of rain. nothing better than having a cat to share your blankets and couch on cold winter days to be all warm and cozy together

 

[Margot Lane]

Agreed. Rain is where it’s at but I like being out in it, looking at mushrooms & celebrating happy trees.

 

[susanm9006]

Here, it is always trying to beat the weather. Leaves are just beginning to fall in earnest and will continue to mid November or later. Sometimes the snow holds off, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s warm enough to mow and mulch the leaves and sometimes its so cold the mower won’t run or too wet. If you can’t mow and need to bag them then you have to deal yard waste pickup cutoff date of November 8-15. Often that means bags of soggy leaves piled up until Springtime or you spend the winter thinking of the mess you need to cleanup in the spring.

And a new stressor for me if wondering how many more falls I will have the energy and strength to do it all.

 

[strider rose]

well im worried about what our winter will be like ...it gets very cold here

 

[margecat]

The Fall is my favorite time of year. Remember that tv commercial "eat a Snickers Bar?" and the person's personality changes? That's me. I am miserable in the heat and live all year for the cooler days of Fall. The 2nd week of Oct I come alive..just like the snickers bar commercial. It is a physical thing..the sweating stops, the lethargy..and I can breath again. Then there are the BEAUTIFUL days of snow in New England. I was born for the North Pole or the Tundra, I guess!
So..I look forward to the lovely gowned trees of New England , the Snow and reading Robert Frost during Oct and Nov!!!!.

You're my kind of people!

 

[artiemom]

Not looking forward to snow, and very cold weather. The early autumn is pretty with all the colors of leaves, but then it becomes cold and grey.
I am not a winter person. I wish the temperature would not get any lower. This is about it for me. A nice light jacket, long sleeves.

When we change the clocks, the days will be so long.. too long, and getting dark so early. It will seem as if we get up, get dressed, and then we have to change into sleepwear. The days are too short and the nights are too long.

Winter: snow, ice, cold, Nor'Easters... not for me. Boots, gloves, hats, cleaning snow off cars, having to warm up cars, scrape frost/ice... nope.. dislike winter.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

I hope it doesn't get warmer. I'm fine with it staying in the 50s or 60s, but if it goes any higher I'll be miserable. I want to carve pumpkins this year too so I'm hoping the squirrels don't eat them like they did last year.

 

[verna davies]

I'm looking forward to drawing the curtains at 4pm and snuggling on the sofa with a good book. I'm also hoping we have some snow this year, we rarely get any and if we do its gone in no time. I love looking out at the mountains turning white and the snow coming down, of course thats providing I'm indoors in the warm.

 

[lizzie]

I have a couple of hopes.Hubby's having surgery Friday and I'm hoping (and praying)all goes well and this is the last one,and we are so very dry as so many are this year,so I'm hoping we get some much needed rain.

 

[rubysmama]

I truly hate the cold and the dark, and snow, and pretty much everything about winter.
So even as the days are getting shorter and colder, I'm thinking "one day closer to spring".

 

[iPappy]

Today was beautiful, 80 degrees, sunshine, low humidity. The rest of the month/into November on the long range outlook looks cooler but similar.
But I can't resist a day at home when it's crappy, cold, windy, and it's throwing rain/snow at my windows and my pets and I are inside. I get bit by the cooking bug on days like that and cook me and them special meals, and then read and doze and just enjoy being warm and cozy. So I guess my preference is cooler/cold, but I'm enjoying the nice days because they aren't 100+ degrees.
My fears for the rest of fall/winter are subzero temperatures. I worry about the barn cats, I worry about wildlife, I worry about my Mom trudging around in 8 inches of snow, and I really worry about our electric/gas bill because heating costs at work get very high. There have been discussions about just shutting it down for a month or two during the worst of the worst of winter, if gas and electricity prices keep going up, which we do not want to do. We will get through this year, see how it goes, and make our 2023/2024 decisions from there.

 

[Winchester]

I'm not going to complain about rain; we went for two months with barely a drop. We already turned the heat on in the house and I have got the flannels and the electric blanket on the bed and we already started turning the blanket on.

Since we didn't get much in the way of rain over the summer, I'm hoping for snow and lots of it to build back our water table. Nope, I don't like the snow, nor do I like the cold, but we desperately need the snow.

We're both retired, so if the weather gets bad, we can huddle in the house with the girls. No reason to drive anywhere.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I’m hoping for some mild fall days and above freezing nights. We have work scheduled to be done on our house (and some in progress) so we need good weather.

The colors so far are stellar this year so I’d love time to take them in.

 

[vansX2]

October is turning out to be a unusual month. The month starting with above average temperatures. Then a pretty much dry month with a early freeze. Now heavy rains for the next few days. I hope that November is calmer, no snow and average or above temperatures.