There is something about fall that I just love and this year it seems Texas is going to have a real fall. A real Texas fall but fall all the same. Where the days are warm and the nights are cool. Ok, where the days can still be hot but the wind has cooled making the 90℉ degrees feel much, much cooler.

With all the recent rains, the grass is green, the sand has settled, and everything is vibrant in color and calm temperament. Plants are happy and growing. Chickens are happy scratching bugs and insects. Residents are happy as cooler nights means open air sleeping. Yeah.

It would have been a great year to have a fall garden. Not complaining as I am getting a Dwelling instead but jesh the garden would have flourished. Flourished! Instead I am relegated to four buckets. Three with cantaloupe the Kid planted from seeds he saved out of a store bought cantaloupe. He literally ate the cantaloupe and spit the seeds in the bucket and ta-da, a fully productive specimen. The luck this kid has with deeds. The other bucket is has newly transplanted green onion stubs. I read online many varieties of herbs can be grown and regrown again from the original set. Green onions are said to be able to grow in straight water. Every time over the last month when a bundle of green onions have been purchased the last four inches have been transplanted into this bucket. A little rain here and there and the onions are rooting and the baby lope is growing. So far so good.

In fact, this has been a very wet late summer/early fall season. The storms are quick but intense and every single available bucket is used for water collection. If water runs off the object and can be collected, it is.

The Rainstream has four buckets, one at each drain point. The buckets are then dumped into the 55 gallon drum on the deck. Even if it was raining, the buckets were dumped. Water is precious.

Over the years when there have been heavy storms where the water takes days to drain, there have been fish and crabs swimming behind the boxes. These past few rains have been intense but not heavily flood worthy causing all the grasses to become water saturated. Saturated to a point where crawdads are now living in the yard! Apparently crawdads are not photo seekers.

It has rained every week at least once. On the last weekend of the month it rained off and on all day Saturday and Sunday. This was the first time since installing the driveway onto the concrete pad that there was enough rain to test the drainage. Work just like the Planner said it would. As the storms cleared the region, they left producing the most beautiful rainbow!

Too bad the Planner did not have the same luck in the Dwelling. Hatch front doors are not water tight. Heck, they are not even water repellant. Come Monday, the mess was cleaned up, and all available fans were dispatched.

Monday also brought out all the wildlife again. The murdering cat was constantly being watched as she loves snakes. Fortunately, she likes to play with her found friends directly in front of the boxes showing off her skills before eating them. This time she found both a snake and a frog. The frog escaped, the snake was removed into a tree on the neighbors yard. To sulk, she stalked this poor dragonfly, which she doesn’t even like. Brat cat.

During the mess clean up I wanted to record how much rain was received over the weekend. Less than a 100th of an inch. What! Saddened by this discovery the Planner climbed the ladder to view the weather station to discover a Brazilian Pepper Tree seed was stuck in the funnel. I am sure it was the little mockingbird who sits on the station who lost his dinner. This tiny little seed was the perfect size to completely clog the funnel.

Taking advantage of the cooler weather and the shifting sun, the Planner helped me move all my various potted plants where they would be safe in the winter. Look at this beautiful little purple flowered plant the Sailor gave to me last year as just one single stem! While this plant is heat tolerant with low water needs, it flourishes like everything else when it does get extra water. It should not be blooming in fall as it is a native summer plant.

Next he helped me transplant my mint and bougainvillea into upcycled littler buckets my neighbor, The Catters, gave me. When transplanting the mint, I discovered an offshoot hidden under all the dead, cramped leaves. It was salvaged as mint is a hardy plant and smell wonderful. The Kid came by and decorated the buckets with shells he collected at Great Grandma’s house.

After showing The Catters my kitty litter bucket garden, they decided to gift me with another native they had at home. A Pride of Barbados which is heat tolerant, low water, fabulously orange and red flowering bush growing four feet in diameter and over six feet in height that attracts birds, butterflies, and humming birds. Using water collected from the 55 gallon drum means I have enough water to keep this transplant moist while it resituates itself in our dirt.

Fall, what a wonderful time of the year!