The Trout Whisperer: Enjoy fall before winter comes

During October, in a short blaze of glory, our eyes will dine on the colored leaves then our rivers will brew falling leaf soup. We go from a visual feast to famine and it’s no optical illusion. You can see October, you can smell October, and, if its cold enough, you’ll be back to crock pots of beef stew and taste an Octoberfest brew.

Snow is on the radar screen. House flies are on the closed window screens. Salmon along the North Shore are ripe for early morning pickings. Wood chickens, or ruffed grouse, will be out in force picking grit early mornings and especially on late sunny afternoons with snow-shoed feet.

Deer coats have changed color in less then 20 days with guard hairs growing in. Muskrat houses will rise in no time overnight from cattail stands. Paper wasps nests not seen all summer become instantly visible with the dramatic leaf off fall conditions.

October shows Aquarius in the night’s sky. Aquarius means water bearer, and we can get it in several sleety forms this month. Pegasus, another starry apparition this month, is the winged horse of Greek mythology, and, like our snowbird friends, if it knows what’s good for it, Bootes the herdsman, just off the horizon will “herd” it out of town.

For those of us brazen enough to over winter we load the larder. Canning, pickling and preserving any form of fruit, fauna or vegetable we can get our hands on. By filling your bird feeders now, you may get a flash of color later on into the winter.

From the four-in-the-morning grey haired, ancient, joke cracking, worm salesman I keep learning new tricks from at the Holiday gas station who I love dearly. To the guys who towed my truck out of every roadside ditch I wandered into this year, we have been battening down the home fire hatches. Storm windows to window kits have been installed and don’t forget if you have external dogs, make sure to winterize the kennel as well.

Before everything is frozen, you can be one of the chosen, who chose to hang Christmas lights now, rather than face windchill later. Drain your garden hoses, lawn mowers and don’t forget your leaf gutters and summer downspouts. Get your pumpkins ready. Stash your squash. Find your mittens and dig out a shovel. Father time is hinting that old man winter is just around the upcoming ice block.

And, finally, if there are any flower bulbs you didn’t dig, remember, when it comes to woodland dining, the only difference between a mouse and deer: Deer have antlers.

Tags: two harbors, trout whisperer, northland, outdoors