Fall, Fast and Furious

   Last week on September 22nd, the autumn equinox, when the length of time for day and night are equal, began. As each day passes from now until late December the nights will be getting longer and the days shorter in the northern hemisphere. Temperatures will cool, go from crisp to brisk, and towards the end of fall they can get down right cold.
   Signs of the closing season are all around us. We see machines in the fields harvesting corn and silage. I didn't know the production of silage for some farmers is an essential part of their ag business until a friend explained it to me. I assumed silage was made from left-over cornstalks after the corn was picked, as a secondary source of winter feed for their livestock.
   Fields of soybeans are turning a soft yellow as the beans ripen. Much of the tobacco crop has been cut and taken to the barns for curing. Home gardens are getting sparse and cool weather crops like tender cabbage and turnips are showing up in wayside markets.
   Autumn colors are bold and vivid giving a last hurrah before growing plants retreat before the nipping winds of winter. We drink in the sights of glowing pumpkins, mounds of mums, the sparkling yellows of weeds growing beside the roads. Our eyes feast on the deep wine-red of ironweed mixed among clumps of goldenrod.
   This year the leaves of some trees, like the maple in our side yard are dropping their leaves before they've had a chance to turn. By the time the first day of fall arrived they were ankle deep along the path to the tool shed.
   Spiders have decorated the hill sides along Highways 880 and 127 with trap cups that glow in the sun as the early morning fogs burn off. Finding a place to secure their nests to lay their eggs for the next generation.
   Wooly worms and other insects are rolling and twisting a shelter among the falling leaves to emerge next spring as an entirely different creature.
   Flocks of birds are seen overhead heading south, gleaming in the harvested fields, or resting before moving on along the power lines. The coats of wild, domestic, and pets who live indoors have begun to thicken for their protection against the coming winter.
   Fall festivals are in full swing. It's hard to pick and choose among the variety that surrounds us. In our part of the world, a small one, chiefly devoted to books, is at Knifley, KY, out 76 in Adair County. The Janice Holt Giles Festival is held each year on the first Saturday of October with lots of fun, music, and story telling for everyone in the hallow where the writer's historic log home was moved when Green River Lake was impounded. Their country ham biscuits can't be beat. The drive out there is great for a fall tour of South Central Kentucky.
   Boats with their bright covers are being removed from the lake to storage, but I'm sure we'll have many more good weather boating days.
   Maybe this year, we'll have that marvelous special season, Indian Summer, when after a hard freeze kills the mosquitos and the world turns warm again to glow with the richness of living.
Nash Black, author of Forged Blade.