October 8: Statistics, bits of color

My preoccupation with weather/climate continues! It was announced that with the temperature reaching 90 degrees F today, the City has now tied the record for the most 90+ days in one year, 115 days. Since the forecast is for tomorrow's temperature to reach or exceed 90, I reckon this year will break the record. Ninety degrees isn't that hot, but it isn't cool, either, and in spring and fall it's sometimes unseasonable.

Regardless, we are seeing a few more bits of color around campus!

October 9: Creek

On my way to the farm today, I stopped for a few minutes at a little state highway rest area. It's just a bit of space cleared between the road and the edge of the woods, with a picnic table and a poorly maintained outhouse. The charm is that it's along a lovely little creek and it's not "groomed" in any way. If a tree falls across the creek, as happened last year in a tornado, it stays there as a natural footbridge until the fungus and rot eventually eat it away. The ground is covered with moss in the spring, and when the weather is damp, there are a few trees with lush beards of resurrection fern.



Today when I approached the water, finger-sized gray-green fish flicked away into the shadows on the other side of the creek. One of the little moving creatures flapped backwards over toward a big stone, so that was a crawdad. A larger version of the photo is here. Can you see him?