Turn over a new page on your calendar — it’s now October. Normally this is great month to view the fall colors around here, but I’m not so sure this year — we’re still in the midst of a fairly prolonged drought.
While we’re on the subject of leaves, the main reason leaves change color isn’t the chilly weather, and maybe even not so much the rain. The main reason for the color change is light — or really the lack of it. The kind of technical definition is that the green color of leaves disappears when photosynthesis (from sunlight) slows down and the chlorophyl breaks down. The leaves on trees with a lot of direct sunlight should turn red — other trees usually turn yellow, orange or brown.
The full Moon this month is called the Hunter’s Moon and it arrives on October 28. The Hunter’s Moon is a bit like the the Harvest Moon in that it’s tied to the autumnal equinox.
Over the years a lot of pretty significant events and milestones have taken place in the month of October….
The famous Nixon-Kennedy debate occurred in October
The Panama Canal was completed in October and the Hoover Dam started producing electricity
The Mickey Mouse Club began (on ABC)
The Ford Model T was introduced to the public
Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis? Happened in October
Mensa was created and the first broadcast of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson — both in October
Walt Disney World in Florida opened, Concord made its final commercial flight and work began on Mount Rushmore — all in October.
So let’s see what this October can add to this list — hopefully, something good.
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