A New Year

A red letter day! I’m now 66 years old and I have passed through the dreaded age of 65. I suppose it wasn’t that bad of a year, but…in the back of my mind was the thought that all of my close male relatives have died at the age of 65. My great grandfather, grandfather and my own father. OK, it’s over now and time for me to set some new record; 95 would be nice.

With a new month comes a change in the seasons. The leaves are beginning to fall throughout the park now and by the end of the month, the temperatures will be down into the 70’ and 80’s once again.

And it’s harvest time for the big crop in this part of the valley; almonds. My daughter told me that they are already shaking the trees in her neighborhood for the early season variety. In another week or two we will see the same thing here. And once they start shaking, the dust and the mosquitoes are everywhere!

After the almonds are harvested and sometime near the end of the month, it will be time for the walnuts to hit the ground as well. Olives will be the last major crop to harvest and that will be near the end of the year; if they can find the labor to do it. Farm labor is in short supply this year and labor intensive crops, like olives, feel the pinch. And weeding is something that isn’t happening either. They grow sunflowers for oil around here and the weeds are sometimes taller than the crop!