Frost arrives on schedule to nip flowers

Published 9:58 am Thursday, October 22, 2015

Nearly on schedule, frost nipped us over the weekend several mornings.

If Oct. 15 is the danger date, the first frost was only a couple days late at my house. Some of the flowers were burned. Pigweed in the pasture turned brown. I won’t have to worry about that until next summer. And leaves continued to put on their autumn colors.

Daylight hours are growing shorter by the day. Football games require coats. And we fired up the furnace for the first time on Saturday. Except for the pigweed, I’m missing summer already. The 10 days of rain recently helped jump-start my lawn. A timely reseeding managed to use the rain to help the grass recover from the hot summer. Meanwhile, squirrels have moved closer to gather the nuts on the oak and hickory trees. I have a quarrel with the squirrels. The trees seem heavily loaded with nuts. That means the squirrels will make themselves at home.

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By the time this week’s newspaper is printed, maybe we’ll know the answer to the “pressing” question of whether he will or won’t. Joe Biden. Will the vice president run for the top job? The reluctant candidate is supposed to make up his mind this week.

If not, Hillary Clinton waltzes to the Democratic nomination … unless the FBI investigation into her email scandal results in indictments. The rest of the Democratic field is weak. Only Biden can offer a reasonable challenge, and he has been side lined by the death of his son. Biden, a nice guy even if he does occasionally stick his foot in his mouth, will attack Mrs. Clinton with kindness.

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In addition to the frost, this is also the season for dead deer carcasses lying along the roadsides. I spotted three in a two-mile stretch over the weekend. Here’s wishing the local deer hunters much success in thinning the deer population.

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It’s the West Forsyth High football team’s chance on Friday to slow the emerging Reagan High juggernaut.

Reagan is undefeated in Central Piedmont Conference play this season. Davie County fell 45-29. North Davidson lost 40-6. Mt. Tabor was close but lost 35-31. Reagan’s only losses have been to Greensboro Page by 56-50 and East Forsyth 45-35. Reagan High was everybody’s whipping boy for the early years after it opened. No more. The school’s teams have learned to win … and like it. With the regular season in its final weeks, the Titans will now have the chance to claim the conference championship if it can hurdle the upstarts from Pfafftown.

Both teams are undefeated in conference play. The outcome should decide the CPC title.

— Dwight Sparks