Wx: Autumn's around the corner

A nippy 37°F. when I got up this morning at 4:30. A hard freeze won't be far away now - both Western and Northern Maine have had them. Almost lit a stove -- it was down around sixty inside, but seeing as I run around in shorts and a T-shirt in sixty degree weather, I thought better of it. And $3.79 for a gallon of kerosene had something to do with it, too. (I admit to wearing a fleece sweater as I sit here, however -- not generating too much heat reading blogs).

Geese are all pretty much gone from the lake now. It's quieter, too. Songbirds aren't mating, so their calls a few and far between. Crows are active as are the Herring Gulls that fly in late every evening to float out in the middle of the lake in relative safety from predators ... Saw the nesting pair of loons with their sole surviving youngster. S/he has fully fledged now, and sports a "mature" juvenile fletch with almost all of the flight feathers full grown. Won't be long now before they head South, or at least out to the offshore islands.

Any bets on the first white stuff? I have a feeling it'll be early this year. October 12th or so. Just a gut feeling (and I have a gut, let me tell you). I'll let you know when it happens.