September 3, 2013 - 1st Day of Fall

Forget the Autumnal Equinox of September 22, 2013.  This morning, September 3, I walked outside and felt a difference in the energy surrounding me.  The energy I felt yesterday was subdued, nothing out of the ordinary.  This morning it was entirely different.  The energy I felt was stronger and chocked full of excitement.  You could describe it as an "expectation" type of energy, a feeling that something was going to happen.  What that "something" could possibly be I don't know but I definitely felt it.  I believe, based on the insects that showed up early this year and a new one I've never seen before, the sun's rays feeling hotter this year than last, shrubs and trees now beginning to show brittle brown leaves, that the weather is indeed acting a little strange.  We had plenty of rain in July which is very unusual but now we are in the first throes of a drought.  Things are just not acting nor feeling normal.  Okay, I know, "what is normal?"  -- You know, the good old standbys--temps that stay within the range for your area; rain when it is supposed to fall; no insane weather mood swings  from one extreme to the other; insects that normally show up in the fall but don't stay around all year.  We've got crickets that started showing up in April and haven't left yet.  Hummers started showing up in April (normally, it's May or June).  Be prepared for a very cold, wet and very harsh and unforgiving winter.  I can't tell you how I know this (even before the Almanac published the very same thing) but I promise you I did not consult this well-known guide beforehand.  I just had a feeling.