Fall Fatigue

Ask anyone who lives in the upper Midwest, and they will tell you that this has been a very strange fall season.  We had temperatures in the 90's in September, balmy 70's last week, and a sudden cold snap -- but more seasonable temperatures -- this week.

Even Mother Nature is confused.  The trees did not turn the vivid golds and reds that we usually see in the fall.  Instead, we see more muted oranges, rusts, and browns this year.  The trees also are not dropping their leaves at the usual rates.  While our cottonwood tree, thankfully, has shed most of its foliage, most of the maple trees in the neighborhood are still fully in bloom.  They should be bare by now.  Our new little maple in front has not lost a leaf yet, and our Japanese lilac also retains all of its still-green foliage. Strangely, the first major blizzard of the year hit the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Upper Michigan yesterday.  Stephanie, in Rochester, MN, said they received their earliest snowfall on record, getting 2" of wet snow.

We had hoped since we are returning late to Florida that we would be able to get all of the fall clean-up finished and not have to pay someone to do a "final raking" of the yard before winter.  Since the birch trees in the back are just starting to drop their yellow leaves, we may have to pay yet this year.

In an attempt to get as much to the curb as possible, Rick and I worked all morning doing what we could to clean up the yard.  He used the leaf blower while I handled a rake.  Once we got all of the leaves to the front curb for pick-up next week, I took the lawn mower with a bagger and cut the whole lawn one last time.  I was surprised how long the grass still was in the front.  The backyard cutting was good just to pick up the remnants of the leaves that we were not able to capture on our raking spree.

Our raking and mowing efforts clearly define the boundaries of our yard.
Note, however, the leaves ready to blow back onto our property from the
neighbors' yards.

The result is a beautifully raked and mowed yard that, sadly, will not stay clean for long since our new neighbors to the north do not seem to understand the use of a lawn mower or a rake.  If the wind blows in the wrong direction, their mess will be in our yard.  Perhaps it is time to build that fence after all...

As we worked this morning, however, I became aware of two things.  First, I am getting older, so each year the yard seems to be larger than last year.  I can still handle it, but keeping it neat takes more effort than doing so has done in the past.

But that is OK, because the other thing I became aware of was how blessed we are to have a home and a yard in which to work.  So many people this year, due to hurricanes or fires, have no homes left.  Their yards are either mud pits as a result of flooding or are charred wastelands as the wildfires that consumed their homes also ravaged the yards.  At least I have green grass that needs cutting and standing trees that have golden leaves falling to the ground.  So I will not complain of the weather or of the work.  Instead, I will count my blessings and be thankful for everything I have.

Why?

I just don't understand.  We awoke this morning to learn that a lone gunman last night had killed 58 people and wounded over 500 by opening fire with semi-automatic weapons on a concert crowd in Los Vegas.   Then he turned the gun on himself and fired.

Mass casualties. The worst massacre in US history.  Not terrorist related. Just terrible, senseless death and destruction. But why?  To what end did killing and wounding all of those innocent strangers have?  Did he promote a cause? Was he angry at someone?  Why take out frustration and anger on those who had nothing to do with the causes and reasons for such hatred and anger? His actions destroyed lives and families, yet changed nothing.

The gunman was 64 years old with no history of mental illness.  The concert-goers were country western music fans, mostly between the ages of 10 and 35.  The worlds of the gunman and the concert-goes probably never crossed, yet we know that with his arsenal and his choice of hotel rooms from which he acted that he had planned this horrific crime in detail.

His family is stunned.  His brother says that he never has seen his brother even draw a weapon, and certainly not shoot one on a regular basis.  Yet the gunman was well-armed with several semi-automatic rifles and mountains of ammunition.  How has our country become so lax that we allow someone to accumulate such a store of weapons regardless of his mental or emotional state? Why is there no limit on what a person can buy within a certain period of time?  Why are there no checks on who can own weapons in this country? And why is there no registry on who does and does not own such weapons.

When our Constitution was written, it gave people the right to bear arms.  At the time, in the late 18th century, bearing arms had a very practical reason: to feed one's family.  With no handy-dandy corner grocery store with a well-stocked meat counter, going to out kill a deer, pheasant, turkey, buffalo, or bear was a way to survive.  Yet those hunters of yesteryear would never have dreamed of using a semi-automatic weapon to bag their prey; doing so would have destroyed the very meat they were trying to harvest.  People had the right to bear arms to feed themselves and to defend themselves against wild animals that may have freely roamed near their homesteads.

And I believe that people still should have the right to own a weapon with which they can hunt game, be that birds, bear, deer, or other animals they would choose to put on the dinner table.  I understand the reasoning behind keeping herd size in check, and I find nothing wrong with the sportsman who wants to hunt.

However, I see no sense in allowing anyone the right to own -- and to use -- semi-automatic weapons outside the realm of the military.  No-one needs a semi-automatic rifle at home.  No one needs a weapon that, through instructions readily available on the Internet, can be turned into a fully automatic weapon.  Law enforcement agencies decry the law that allows these weapons in the hands of the general public, and I see no reason why anyone would need one.  If you want to shoot targets, do so with a weapon that fires single shots and actually shows what skill you have. If you want to hunt, do so with a single-shot rifle specially suited with ammunition for the type of animal you seek. Semi-automatic weapons have no business in the sports field since their only purpose is that of mass destruction.

Had the gunman not had semi-automatic fire power, hundreds of people would not have been injured, and I would venture to guess that the death toll would be much less.  Allowing people these weapons makes no sense to me.  Nor does shooting randomly into a crowd of innocent strangers.  Their deaths serve no purpose and, sadly, probably will not cause any changes.

Perhaps the only good that could possibly come out of this tragedy is if enough people actually become enraged enough to contact their Legislators and to demand that the laws be changed to protect the innocent.  We need stronger gun laws that allow the sports hunter the right to bear arms while keeping weapons of mass killing off the streets and out of the hands of those who are not mentally or emotionally able to know right from wrong.

Yet I fear that nothing will be done.  We have the power to change what is wrong, yet no one will do so.  And that, I do not understand.