FALLING LEAVES 2026 WEEK 4: This week strikes home as the true beginning of autumn/winter. Temperatures have dropped from highs in the low 70's to mid 50's/low 60's; lows now into the mid-to-high 30's, and winds are now primarily from the north-northwest with gusts into the high teens.

First up is a picture of the trees along the south face of our house. Last week it was all green, this week, not so much....

Suddenly there's lots of brownish yellow, and plenty of leaves have already fallen just this week. Last week you could see a couple of hundred feet or so downslope; this week, all the way to the bottom.

Now back to the usuals: pond and fire pit.

Neither of those views have changed that much. The trees are noticeably thinner, but not by that much, and the grass seems more brown, but that could simply be because of the additional leaf droppage.

Along the road, there are more leaves (I don't blow them off) and finally some reds among the smaller trees/bushes along the road. I will note that the bush in the foreground has turned mostly yellow -- last week it still had a lot of brown, but those leaves are now gone.

Finally, the bush alongside the carport has gone full yellow. The ones behind it are still green, but they are mostly protected from the wind. That 'wind sock' is actually a hanging banner more or less in front of the yellow bush -- it was windy (30 mph gusts) when I took the picture.

Until next week, then....

THERE'S HOPE YET: America’s expanding gun culture.

RULES FOR THEE... Lawlessness is the Democrats’ most coherent and consistent policy pitch.

IMPRIMIS: The rise of Democratic Socialism.

RANDOM THOUGHT: 'Democratic Socialism' is an oxymoron.

"I WILL NOT BE SILENCED." Omar responds after feds descend on her DC home amid immigration fraud investigation.

Fine. Speak as loudly as you want ... from your home in Somalia.

HOW CALIFORNIA PLANS TO SOAK THE RICH even if they leave the state.

For Democrats, it's always about greed and control. Always.

SMUGNORANCE: October 7 and the transition from wokeism to savage culture.

Linked from Instapundit.

ABSOLUTELY: Make soup kitchens great again.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY [R-LA] ON FOX NEWS' SUNDAY BRIEFING:

I'm not a racist; I'm not a Democrat.
Go vote. If dead people can do it, so can you.
I have the right to remain silent but God didn't give me the ability.

The man is brilliant, alway delivering important thoughts with humor.

THE POLITICAL DIVIDE that matters almost as much as ideology.

'DEMOCRATIC' SOCIALISTS: Government gets to decide what you need for a 'dignified life'.

SUNDAY SMILES: why I'm switching back to Kentucky bourbon.

Parts for stills are cheaper....

Go see the rest. You'll have to scroll down a bit to get to the cartoons.

THE LESSONS AND LIES of the gross Cornell scandal.

Judgement is so ... intolerant.

ANTI-GUN STATES adopt the [Democrats'] Jim Crow playbook.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Why is Mark Carney preparing for an American invasion?

Because he ran out of crayons?

FALLING LEAVES 2026 WEEK 3 -- post hurricane edition: Isaias came, and left, and nobody noticed. Well, except for the rain and a few broken branches in the road....

Here are pictures of the road to our house, taken from the north and south respectively. The house is barely visible in the background of each. Leaves are piled up on each side of the road, although the winds mostly swept the gravel free of leaves. I doubt there will be much color this year since the deciduous trees are mostly already bare.

Now for to the usuals; pond and fire pit:

The weather has been warmer than usual for this time of year so growth has slowed, but not quite stopped. Most notably the elephant ears have begun to wilt and the grass is now mostly dormant.

Along the fence the flowers are mostly struggling, but some of the roses are still hanging in there.

Finally, two pictures I don't usually post -- those on the south side of the house where the ridge is very steep. The deciduous trees high on the ridge line have already lost their leaves, but looking closer up and down the slope it's still very green and full. By the time midwinter arrives, the green will be gone and the ridge along the other side of the creek will be easily visible.

Until next week, then....

WELL, HURRICANE ISAIAS CAME ASHORE ... and it rained.

I see on the 'news' this morning the doomsayers casting a wide net looking for homes crushed by falling trees, flooded roads, abandoned cars, etc.The best they've found so far is roughly 400,000 power outages over 3 states. Hell, in my little neck of the woods in north Georgia our little electric utility is reporting nearly 3,000 outages among 60,000 users; nearly 5%. Um, 400,000 is what percentage of the affected users in 3 states?

The doomsayers lost again; it's time to quit listening and just look out the window...

RED SKY AT NIGHT, sailors' delight.

Posted tonight at our home in north Georgia as hurricane Isaias nears Pensacola FL coast.
Not looking bad here....

VETERAN PILOT STARTLES LEFTIST INTERVIEWER with the truth about the Dubai hijacking.