The Summer Heat Wave Has Broken

I do believe cooler weather is finally here, and it is time to plan a few days camping. Unfortunately October is booked here at work, so I will have to wait till November. November can be a tricky month. I have seen the temperature drop from the 60's F to the 20's overnight. I remember it being close to 80F degrees on Thanksgiving day, and then getting hit with a snow storm while on a local river the next day. I will miss the shorts and sandals, but I welcome the cooler westher. It has been a long hot summer.

How about you all?

 

Ye, is beginning to rain a lot too. Better be prepared with some nice coating before venturing outdoors, and a tarp. When the rain start falling, the first order of business is often to get the tarp in place. I usually tie a rope around a tree near the camping site. A good knot to use is a bowline knot. I try to Keep the tarp high enough to allow good light in. I use a forked stick, or a "chuck-it" ball-thrower it may come in handy, to coax that rope higher up the tree.

 

I use the bowline for the majority of knots I tie. I think the other knot is a truckers hitch knot. It it used to pull the main line tight. I do need to get a good tarp. Wow they expensive to.

 

It has been a hot summer here, too, and I have stayed inside during the heat of the day except for spend time outside swimming in our back yard smal swimming pool. It has definitely been a help in keeping cool, and we were able to use it right up until the end of September, and then it was just too chilly in the water, even with the bubble-top to help keep the water warmer.
Even though it is colder now, it has barely rained here. The Jerusalem artichokes are blooming like crazy, bu already the bottom leaves are withering. This sunflower relative produces edible tubers, and by the end of October I should be able to dig some of them up and see how they taste. Last year was the first year for them, so we didn't dig up any tubers; but they should be a good renewable source of food as well as pretty flowers and a nice green hedge.
The tubers can be eaten fresh or cooked, and are very healthy, and can be used as a low-glycemic replacement for potatoes, and since they are perennial, once they are started, they come back each year.

 

In these parts we should've had a few frosts by now, but the summer heat is still hanging on. It's supposed to be close to 80F and lows in the 60's at night all week. Normally the leaves should be past their peak color. We went bicycle riding this morning on what used to be the Tweetsie Railroad. . As you can tell from the pictures the leaves have very little color yet.