Fall is here!!!

I love the fall. It is my favorite time of year with the exception of a really cold Christmas Eve. And it's not just because of the changing colors, the fun pumpkin patches and festivals, and the cool air.

It's the fact that there is no more sweating.

I am a sweater. I have no control over it. I tend to have mildly high blood pressure, and I lean on the padded side most of the time, so my intense discomfort is springing from my face like a water fountain. And I have some anxiety related issues about it. So whenever I start sweating in a social situation, I feel like I am becoming obviously uncomfortable, so I sweat more because I'm self conscious about the sweating in the first place. It's a conundrum.

And summer time does not help this situation in any way at all. See the evidence....

And these are some really a mild cases, because that's all I'm willing to disclose in photographic evidence for all to see.

(the photographic evidence also shows that I wear pink sleeveless dresses more often than I thought. Not the best choice with my propensity to turn pink paired with my matronly upper arms....)

So, although I am ready for a warm spring time every year after a season of bitter cold, I am generally done with it after maybe 3 or 4 weeks. Then it needs to be cold again.

And, of course, I also love fall because of the changing colors, the fun pumpkin patches and festivals, and the cool air. But mostly the cool air thing because of the no more sweating thing.

And for my next topic of the day, another reason to love the autumn is that our yard can look like this in the fall...

But right now it looks like this.....

(sorry about the poor quality - this was taken with my phone)

And this is a good thing! You see, the massive yard debris pile is gone. About three weeks ago, my mother graciously came up here so that she could work on (and supervise some day laborers) a major yard clean up and clean out while we were at work. And the hugest pile of debris in the free world created from the yard project was piled out front where the dead grass is.

Before I explain further, the clean up and clean out is awesome. I can see some possibilities for the back yard now that so much overgrowth has been removed, and I love it so much. But the gigantic shadow of the debris pile has been looming for weeks bringing more hassle than celebration.

The city claimed our pile was too big and that we had pieces within it that were longer than 6 feet. So Joe got busy with a chainsaw and broke it down as much as he could. The city came, removed a layer of it, which revealed a whole new level of extra long bamboo pieces, and they quit. After which they claim to have worked for over 45 minutes taking pictures of our offending bamboo so they could prove why they couldn't finish the removal. Joe got busy with the chainsaw another time and called the city back. We were told that we'd have to wait for the regular yard debris pick up day since they had already made the special trip to our house with a truck and everything, and we totally effed up by not paying attention to their rules. It seems we're criminals or enemy #1 for causing such a brou-ha-ha with leaves and branches. Leaves and branches. We sound absolutely menacing.

Oh yeah - and on the normal pick up day, no attempt to remove the pile was made. None. And no explanation given. Just a very loud silence. By this time we totally get it, city people. We suck.

Finally, one of Joe's students came by one afternoon and broke down the piles and made them more evened out and accessible for pick up. Then, the dude with the city who seemed hella put out with us went on vacation.

And, voila!! After three weeks and a whole heapa trouble, the pile is gone. Now it's time to mow the yard and water the hell out of it so maybe we can have some gorgeous fall pictures in the front yard. Like this...

I'm ready to get in the kitchen and make some orange food and a hot drink. It's time to get some fresh yellow mums for the front step and pick some perfect pumpkins.
So, let's get to pumpkin patching....

Happy fall, y'all!

BTW - all of these pictures are old, except for the shot of the house that I took with my phone. Just in case you were thinking Jacks looks a little small.....