From The Heights. #5

Good morning and Happy Autumn! Yes, I know, it is not officially fall yet, but up here in the north fall happens when it happens. It does not look at the calendar first. Usually fall begins the latter half of August, like it did this year. But I have been too busy with other things to really talk about it. So many trees have already lost their leaves, others are starting to change color and some are still nice and green.

It usually requires a good frost to get all the trees changing color at the same time, something we have not had yet. Frost that is. I am sitting here with my coffee, watching out the window. There has been flocks of pigeons flying around, and some gulls, plus one raven. Yesterday was a nice sunny day and there was quite a bit of bird activity behind our apartment building.

Mica, the red squirrel, the day before I moved.

There is a grassy area with some nice trees back there, plus some benches and picnic tables. There were chickadees, warblers, robins, a blue jay and some starlings. The warblers and robins were flocking and undoubtedly on their way south. Unfortunately there was a group of people in the area which made it unsafe to spend time out there.

It is cloudy today, and cool, but it is supposed to clear by noon. If it does I will go out for walk around the neighborhood this afternoon. I am spending too much time indoors right now. It is good, and healthy, to spend time outdoors every day if possible. Just going for a short walk, or sitting in a park if you have one available, is good to do.

A baby purple finch 2 days before I moved.

It really does help clear our brain so we can focus better on our daily lives and work. It also helps to reduce stress and anxiety. I have always been a firm believer that people should spend more time outdoors than we do. And health studies have shown that to be true too.

Yesterday they were here to test all the smoke alarms in the apartments, plus check the fire alarm which is an incredibly loud whistle and a flashing light. Everything was working fine anyway. Now this morning they are back and replacing the smoke alarms.

A baby goldfinch, also 2 days before I moved.

So why bother checking them yesterday when they knew they would be replaced today? Apparently they will be back later today to check for bugs. Nice thought. There are some things about living in an apartment building that I do not like. Oh well. More on that another time. It is a beautiful day and it’s time for more coffee. I hope you have a wonderful day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2023 Steve McLeod.