Autumn has reached Middle Age Plus

November can be a depressing month. It often means that the wonderful autumn days are nearly gone. With the new rules in effect, it now means that daylight-saving time is over and it will be dark just as soon as most office workers start home. The weather usually begins to get cold. Planning trips is iffy because there just might be some ice or snow. Outdoor activities are not predictable so not many are planned. And to top it all off, this year November will signal political candidates that they only have one more year for campaigning so they may increase the volume of their ads.

But there are many good things about November. The first is that we go back to "God's time" which means that it won't be pitch black when the kids get on the school bus in the mornings. Sure it gets dark quicker at night but that gives the cook more time to fix a pot of potato soup.

Then just to get us all cheered up when November begins, almost every store in town puts on some kind of a seasonal promotion. The store windows get decorated, things we don't need are displayed in such a way that we can't resist them. Even the prices are made to look attractive.

Churches and not-for profit organizations have bazaars, bake sales, holiday auctions, and money raising luncheons and dinners.

There are hundreds of attractive ways to gain weight and spend money.

Preparations for Christmas seem to overshadow November's two serious holidays -- Veterans Day, which we Middle Age Plus people still call Armistice Day, creates a holiday for some office workers and gives businesses opportunities to offer another sale to their customers; and Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving gives school children and many workers a four-day holiday and a chance to gather together for a festive meal with the family. The fact that most of the family time is spent watching a series of football games can lessen the meaning of the day. But it does not change the fact that we have come, been fed, and seen each other face to face before all faces turned to the TV.

Then to increase the meaning of the season of thankfulness we can make plans for the big shopping binge the next day.

What more could we need? (We can increase our thoughts of gratitude by volunteering to ring bells for the Salvation Army Christmas kettles for an hour or more.)

November brings the return of the winter birds that amuse us at the bird feeder. The brightly colored ladderback woodpeckers and their smaller cousins spend most of the winter with us after their arrival in November.

And of course the cardinals bring a spot of red into the drab shrubbery as they spend time with us.

Even though the pecans were hard hit this year, our oak trees have produced sufficient acorns to keep our squirrel friends busy burying nuts all over our lawn. So during the dreary or chilly November days we can watch our squirrel family show off their acrobatics on the trees and while they are trying to eat from the bird feeder.

Not too many TV shows are into re-runs yet during November, so those longer evenings at home can be spent watching and evaluating the new crop of shows.

After you have decided that none of them really are interesting, you can always settle down with a crossword puzzle in the Nevada Daily Mail --after you have read my column, of course.