Bringing in the hay

Mt. Airy Rd., Monaghan Township, York County, Pennsylvania

On a grey and chill morning, some 12 hours before a day-long rain, a local farmer readies a load of hay to get it to the barn ahead of the storm. I hope I won’t have to light my fireplace this weekend, but I won’t be surprised if I succumb to the dampness and do it anyway. Early October is rather soon in this area to be thinking about using heat. 

In winter, I keep the cabin cool by most people’s standards. I am happy if I wake in the morning and the temperature isn’t below 60.  Partly I just don’t like the expense associated with heating in the winter, but almost as important, I am not comfortable with huge temperature changes going from the inside to the outside or vice versa.  I don’t cool the cabin very much in the summer for the same reasons.  But the dampness can get to me, just as humidity can in the summer.

So, while I will resist if possible, I may also give in—even if the leaves are still on the trees, and many of them are still green.

Don't wait!

Along N. Wharf Rd., Monaghan Twp., York County PA

May is a lovely time of year for an evening walk. I have nothing against walking in other months of the year, though some of them present difficulties for those of us who aren’t retired or independently wealthy.

Walking in winter’s darkness can have its charms, though that can pall before the light returns to the evenings. A little bit of nighttime walking is fine, but I find six months o f it not nearly as interesting or enjoyable. A winter’s walk in daylight is still restricted to weekends for me, and those are busy enough that a daylight walk feels hurried, crunched in between this errand or that one.

In July and August, morning walks are preferable as the day’s heat takes all night to dissipate. An evening walk then can sometimes be hotter than one in the middle of the afternoon. Summer’s heat is hardly conducive to an enjoyable foray. And there are the ever-present evening storms to contend with, too.

But May is one of those months where daylight stretches on for hours and the temperature is pleasant and even a bit cool as dusk approaches. What could be finer? I think it’s the best month for walking. October has its charms and the temperature is usually fine, but the evenings are already growing quite short. No, May is the best month for an evening walk. The day’s work is done, the dinnertime chores are done, and daylight still beckons me outside. It’s enough to make me wish for May to last for months. Hurry! Don’t tarry or you’ll miss the best walking time of the year. We’re already halfway through the month. Don’t waste another day of it.

A tree tunnel

It’s another hazy, summer day at Roundtop, though not as uncomfortable as the haze might suggest. The days of 95+ degree weather are gone, at least for now. Haze, humidity and 85 degrees feels a lot more comfortable. The evenings are enjoyable again, too, and the idea of an evening walk no longer sounds like a death march.

I’d like to think that the time of 95 degree days are gone for another year, but it’s far too early to make so bold a statement. I can hope that’s the case and it’s not an impossible dream, but given climate change and the fact that it’s only early August, it’s too soon to do much more than hope.

My photo today is of a tree tunnel along Siddonsburg Rd. in Monaghan Township, York County. The township road crew recently had to trim the lower branches of the trees to keep them from hitting taller vehicles, and the result is a pretty neat, little green tree tunnel. Most places would probably just remove the trees, but here we just trim them up into tunnels.

A morning in March

Old Dorsey Lane, Monaghan  Township, York County, Pennsylvania

Gradually, I am growing accustomed to this past weekend’s time change, but I still dread and dislike the “spring forward” part of it. Gaining an extra hour in the fall is fine, though. Best of all would be never to have to do one or the other again, though I suspect that is unlikely. Still, the number of countries that now does not do daylight savings time is growing and is now up to 70, a bit more than a third of all countries.

At Roundtop, the weather this week is more like May than March, a good 20 degrees above normal. I am already seeing (and smelling) stink bugs (ugh!). The first mustard sallow moths, three of them to be precise, appeared on my cabin wall last night. For the record, the moths first appeared last year on March 18.

New plant growth is still missing from the mountain, which leads me to wonder if plants are smarter than insects. The season could still dish up some unhappy weather surprises, though it won’t this week. Maybe the plants suspect something is afoot and are staying hidden until that unknown something passes.