Indian Autumn
When I think of Indian Summer I think of the days in mid-October when the weather goes all the way up to the 60’s or 70’s for a few days and we all remember the warmth of summer to carry us through the impending long dreary days of winter that lay before us. Those rare sunny days have a combination of falling leaves and warmth that certainly confuse the local flora and make us think that the frost might not find its way onto the pumpkin this year. But of course, the Indian Summer days are fleeting and before we know it we are right back in the groove of watching the thermometer slide its way down to and below the freezing point as the seasons turn through fall and decidedly into winter. These are days of football and all the other back-to-school phenomenon that remind us that there is still much to do before the holidays. I have never been through an Escondido autumn before since this was a time of year when I would generally frequent Homeward Bound in Ithaca as part of the collegiate homecoming spirit to see the turning colors and see the Cornell campus in the light that most resembles my memories of the place when I first encountered it fifty years ago.
Given that I am told that November marks the beginning of the “rainy season” here in San Diego, I have not been surprised to see the temperatures come off their late summer highs in the 90’s and trend down as low as the daytime 50’s for a few days (granted the 60’s are still more the norm). We even had a few days of strong rains a week ago and the freakish hail storm that reminded me that even ice formation is a rare possibility if the forces of nature collide just right. I thought that meant that winter season had begun, but then slowly over the past week, it has gotten warm again. In fact, today it touched 90 degrees even though the bulk of the day was in the pleasant and more-or-less perfect low-80’s. That leaves me no choice but to put a name to this phenomenon. I choose to call it Indian Autumn. I know that it is no longer politically correct to say anything other than Native American, but I grew up with the Lone Ranger and Tonto, so I feel like I’m allowed a few respectful Indian references. As I learned during my recent first bouts with the California Mission visits, it was only two hundred years ago that this area was abounding in Native American tribes of all sorts. That makes me imagine that these people who lived in the natural world undoubtedly had an expression for this type of meteorological event and it was probably something akin to my term of Indian Autumn.
When I think of autumn I mostly think about college and football games (since it may be one of the few times I actually care enough to watch an entire football game, not being a follower of pro sports like every other red-blooded American male that exists). I had a friend, Bob Wolfert, who was so caught up with the whole collegiate football game thing that he insisted on joining the Cornell Big Red marching band. I’m sure he applied first to be a Big Red Bear mascot, but those spots probably go very fast, so he went for a band spot. Only thing was, he didn’t play a musical instrument. Not deterred, he picked up a glockenspiel and spent a few nights learning how to read music and voila! He joined the band as a glockenspiel player of great enthusiasm. He spent the next four years living off that experience with a t-shirt that simply declared on the back, “GLOCK” to establish his bonafides as a member of the marching band. It all helped me understand that Don McLean line from American Pie that said “the marching band refused to yield!”
Speaking of marching bands, one of the quirks of our local is that in this crisp clear air I can hear the afternoon practice of the Escondido High School marching band preparing for their next Friday Night Lights performance. They will be boosting the Cougars, presumably over the San Marcos Knights, the Vista Panthers or the Valley Center Jaguars. This all makes a big cat suspicious person like me a bit more worried about what I may find one night on my patio. It’s fun listening to Billy Joel and John Philip Sousa playing in the distance as I imagine being back on campus and wondering whether it will be cold or warm tomorrow.
Today I got to spend time with some of the crew that is planning out the rebuilding and repair of my deck. The first guys to drive up the driveway in their pickup truck said they were house movers. I told them we were not moving anywhere so they must be mistaken. They then corrected themselves and explained that they actually move houses as in jack them up and move them around. They were meeting the demolition and structural guys here to review the project of shoring up the deck for the repair work that was needed so I wouldn’t keep falling through my deck. These two guys had come straight off an album cover of ZZ-Top with their two-foot-long white beards topped off with red caps that did not say MAGA, but I suspect might have if they had grabbed another of their lids. The demo and structural guy was more mainstream and since they were subcontractors to his contractor status, I was OK with the program. Just my luck, but hat was also when the insurance adjuster structural engineer showed up.
I am not certain my deck will be covered, but since I use Chubb and they are famous for justifying their exorbitant premiums by being very easy-going on claims, I figure I have a shot. This was water damage after all and the fall-through did occur right after a heavy two-day rain and hail event. I figure if they have a claims coordinator, a desk-adjuster, a field-adjuster and now a structural engineer down from Orange County all involved, it would be silly to just say I’m not covered. As I watch the number of people who are going to be involved in the repair project, I am beginning to hope that Chubb thinks I’m too good a customer to risk losing and just approves the claim. In the past when they do that, I know they don’t cut corners, so I suspect I will get a better-than-new deck out of the whole program. I am not letting the coverage issue shade my judgement on how to repair this. It will be done right no matter what, but I will be much happier if I have help footing the bill.
Before we head into the ravages of winter (I can hardly imagine days in the 50’s anymore) I want to use my brief Indian Autumn to not only bask in the sun’s rays, but also to finish restoring my damaged deck so I can go out and use the big old fire pit I bought and have been waiting for chilly nights to spark to life. Maybe if this all works out I’ll have to go find a football game to watch on TV (God knows I want no part of stadium life anymore) just to see the marching bank strut its stuff for the crowd. It will all make me think about the Native Americans and Thanksgiving and all that Indian Autumn stuff that rattles around in my brain.