Then came October full of merry glee:
For, yet his noule was totty of the must,
Which he was treading in the wine-fats see,
And of the ioyous oyle, whose gentle gust
Made him so frollick and so full of lust:
Vpon a dreadfull Scorpion he did ride,
The same which by Dianaes doom vniust
Slew great Orion: and eeke by his side
He had his ploughing share, and coulter ready tyde.

We are in the maddening time of the year when the outside looks like fall but feels like summer. The leaves are changing, there’s been frost in the morning but we’re still getting into the 80s during the day. I’ll rue these words come February, but I need autumn and winter to step on it.

Speaking of dreadfull Scorpions and the like, I noticed on Seek that Joro spiders have a couple of spots in Tennessee now, near Chattanooga and in a few other locations well to the west and east of here. This does not please me. I had been hearing about them from my folks in Atlanta for a while and got a chance to see them up close when I was down there a couple of weeks ago. I’m a live-and-let-live sort of person as regards spiders and whatnot, but these things are gross, and their webs are disgusting. I have not spotted any in our yard yet, but it’s only a matter of time.