First snow in town . . .

One of my friends [Hi, Christine!] always laughed at me becuase I always talked about the weather when she asked what was going on with me.  She seemed to think it odd that the weather mattered.  But then, she was living in New York City, and not being affected by it much.  I was living in Tucson, and always planning my outdoors activities to avoid the 100+ degree heat in the summer.

Even while I was living in Tokyo I watched the weather, though - in those those narrow slits of sky between the tall buildings!​

​Now that I am in Colorado, I get big doses of sky - over the plains to the east as I drive down to Boulder on the Foothills highway, or over the mountains here at home.

And I watch the weather more than ever, because in addition to my regular hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park and surrounding areas, I now have crops to tend - my tiny herb and tomato garden.​

Temps dropped fast yesterday, and the weather report was calling for frost overnight, so I went out after work and brought in all the tomatoes and a clipped a lot of herbs.  I wish the tomatoes could have had another week or so, but I think most of them will ripen on the window sill:

Hopefully, mature enough to ripen on the window sill.​

Like this.​

​We had another spectacular sunset, after which the temperatures continued to drop, and when I climbed into bed, I could here snowflakes hitting the skylights like tiny footfalls.

​We woke up to about half an inch of snow:

​A dusting of snow over the town of Lyons, CO.

Harvest Moon setting over Long's Peak

The so-called "Harvest Moon" is the full moon closest to the Autumn equinox - one of two times during the year during which the plane of the earth's orbit is not tilted in relation to the Sun, and day and night are of approximately equal length [the word "equinox" means "equal night" in Latin].

All full moons rise at around sunset, and set at around sunrise, because a full moon occurs when the sun is on the other side of Earth from the moon.

So, last night the moon rose at 6:20 PM and the Sun set 25 minutes later.  And this morning, sunrise officially occurred at 6:57 AM and the Moon set at 7:31.  Of course, with all the mountains around here, I don't see the sun or the moon come up until well after the official times.  And they both drop below the mountains to the west of me well before the official times as well.

What was special about this morning, though, is that the moon set right over Mount Meeker and Long's Peak, the two high mountains on my western horizon - the summit of Long's Peak at 14,259 feet [4,346 m] being the highest point in Rocky Mountain National Park.

It wasn't the most spectacular sunrise, with cloud cover to the east of me keeping the sun from lighting up the clouds as sometimes happens.  But still, it was a beautiful sight, with a dusting of snow on the mountains, the red rock cliffs, and the aspens golden down in town.

6:47 AM: The Harvest Moon slides down and right [North] towards the summits of Mt. Meeker and Long's Peak, over the town of Lyons, Colorado.

6:53 AM: Last glimpse of the Harvest Moon before it is hidden behind a cloud bank hovering over Mt. Meeker and Long's Peak.  Official moonset didn't occur until 40 minutes later at 7:31 AM.

First snow on the mountain

Down here at 5400 ft MSL, it has rained a bit, but up there above 10,000 feet - snow.​

This morning at 6:39 AM:​

And this evening at 8:15 PM:​

Epic skies

​Unbelievable.

The time-lapse sequence below goes from about 5 pm until almost 8:30 pm.​

Herbs

According to the National Resources Conservation Service of the USDA, the first freeze ought to be hitting this area near the end of this month.  That doesn't give my tomatoes, which endured two vicious attacks by ravenous deer, much time.

​First tomatoes, and only a few weeks left before first frost.  From left to right, hyssop [outside the dish], then rosemary, curry above the tomatoes, purple basil below the tomatoes, and another variety of hyssop.

​Deer netting around my herb patch.  Tough enough, and hard for the deer to see.

But, I harvested my first two yesterday, and it looks like from here until that cold weather arrives, I will have a steady crop ripening on my three plants.

The deer were just being opportunistic herbivores, and I have learned pretty well what they like and don't like around the yard.  But when they cropped three of my tomato plans almost to the ground, and pull the fourth out entirely, I upped my game.

I replaced the five-foot high mesh fencing with deer netting - black plastic mesh that they can't really see very well, and is quite tough - strung between and over seven-foot metal poles.

I tied the netting together at the top, and weighted down the bottom with rocks.  Since then, not a nibble.  Hell, I can hardly get in there.

Herbs, too

I am also starting to bring in cuttings of the herbs I've been growing: sage, rosemary, mint, thyme, tarragon, dill, hyssop, and basil.

I planted some small hyssop plants as ornamentals out front.  They took off, and several weeks later when I was out there weeding, I was knocked out - in a good way - by the amazing smell - like freshly-made root beer.

Dill is still my favorite, though - I put the stuff in everything.  Have to plant more of it next Spring!

Counter-clockwise from 6 o'clock: dill, hyssop, stevia, thyme, dill on the stick, sage, and mint.  In the dish from left to right: rosemary, curry, tomatoes, and purple basil, and a second variety of hyssop.