Well, it happened. Fall fell back to Standard Time, and winter has already encroached on our November here in the Inland Northwest. There is a light fog in the air, and the temperature is above freezing, so the snow probably won't stick. This was more than a light dusting, though.
The trees above are largely pine and fir, but you may notice a couple tall scraggly trees with yellowish needles. Those are larch, also known as tamarack, a deciduous conifer. The needles turn color in fall and coat the ground, buildings, and car windshields where they get stuck under wiper blades and leave streaks.
Looking up at this stand of trees, you can see the yellow tint to the needles more clearly. If you are unfamiliar with local trees, you could perhaps be forgiven for mistaking the seasonal change as some arboreal malady. Not so. In fact, some clever foresters for a timber company replanted a hillside with a secret smiley face in Oregon using larch seedlings so it would appear every autumn. I bet no one every told you the timber industry can be both sustainable and whimsical!
I really hate the time change. As I type this, my internal clock has all alarms going off. Despite the grayness and cloud cover, it is screaming, "YOU ARE LATE FOR WORK!!! Twelve o'clock? Nah, it's 1:00 PM internally regardless." That also means it will be pitch black outside when I head home. Yuck! Why do we keep tolerating this twice-a-year mandatory society-wide jet lag nonsense?
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