It is really Fall

The weather has finally changed and it is fall. We have had a couple of brief freezes and the leaves are turning. We had a wind advisory in the middle of the week and it seems like the leaves are falling very fast.

Here is the front steps before we cleaned them off. They had almost disappeared under the leaves.

This is the corner of our yard covered with leaves. They were in the road as well as covering what little lawn we have left from the drought. We have been under a complete outdoor watering ban for a couple of months so what little lawn we had is pretty much dead.

This is the end of the driveway looking toward the back yard. We do have a lot of trees don't we?

This is the backyard. We do not have any grassy area in the yard, just our own little forest. We are on a corner lot and have one house behind us. During the summer we can't see the house but once winter comes we can see it, especially at night with the lights on.

With all the trees, you might think our front yard would have trees but the fact is, we only have one tree in the front yard. A few years ago, this was a 80 foot Oak that was beautiful. One summer night a few years ago, we came home from being out of town for a few days and found bark all over the sidewalk. Once the light came up the next day, we could see where the tree had been hit by lightening and split down the center.

We had to have it removed and discovered that carpenter ants had eaten most of the inside of the tree. What a mess that was.

We now have a maple tree - it was about 10 feet tall when we planted it and is now 15-20 feet tall. It is growing but will take longer than we will live here before it rivals the Oak.

Two years ago, another tree in the side yard was hit by lightning and it also split and the top of the tree ended up in the road. It can be exciting living here in the south.