There were reports of inclement weather headed our way this evening, but no one said anything about fog. I was supposed to go out to Hopper Canyon today, but stopping atop Hopper Peak on my way there, I could barely see five feet ahead of me. I had forgotten, too, what it was like to be so cold that your hands stopped working. The reminder was brutal. I waited several hours to see if the fog would clear. It didn't. I radioed Geoff and he called me back to the house: there was no point putting off the inevitable any longer. I was not going to see that chick today.
Back at the house, Geoff had started raking leaves--a fire hazard--from the front yard. Trying to salvage the rest of my day and prove myself useful, I too picked up a rake. Don't laugh, but I'd never raked before. It was actually pretty fun. Ryan, back from a.m. obs, joined in as we carted wheelbarrow-loads of leaves, hitched to the back of an ATV, down to the big leaf pile some distance from the house.
What a quintessentially Fall day, us raking in the chill October air. The only thing missing was some hot apple cider.
