Category: Life on the Farm

Today, September 1, is the first day of meteorological fall.

Over the past few years, I’ve noted new weather terms.

—Derecho
—Atmospheric river
—Firenado

And each of the seasons preceded by the word “meteorological”.

Maybe this concept has been around for a long time and I just didn’t notice. Entirely possible. I suspect that since the expansion into 24-hour news and weather; we get a lot more data and information than we used to when Walter Cronkite was telling us what we needed to know in half an hour. The news and weather forecasters have to fill up all that time with something.

All conjecturing aside, I delved into just exactly what this specific weather term means.

It turns out to be very simple.

The actual dates of the four seasons can vary by a day or so. Spring may arrive on March 20 or 21. Fall this year shows up on September 22 at 1:19 PM, Central Daylight Time, in the Northern Hemisphere. The precise moment the center of the sun will cross the equatorial line in its trek from north to south. On one of the two equinoxes each year, we will have roughly the same amount of daylight and dark.

For those who track and monitor weather, this shift of date presents a problem. One year, people could attribute a temperature to summer, and the next year, they could credit the same date to the fall records.

Enter the meteorological seasons.

The system divides the year into equal quarters for record keeping.

December – February is meteorological winter
March – May is meteorological spring
June – August is meteor0logical summer
September – November is meteorological fall

There you have it.

Happy Meteorological Fall!

The post office is still delivering loads of mail each and every day. Fewer personal cards and letters after the proliferation of email, but still plenty of stuff. 

Ads for house washing. 

New carpets. 

A sale announcement for windows and / or siding. 

Then there are the smaller-ticket items. Each week we receive a set of coupons. Local stores, national chains, things I don’t want or need.

Random letters from credit unions.

Wait, what?

A  year ago, I saw a return address from an affiliated credit union*. The kind where you have to be in a certain group of people to join. Like the Plumbers Union or whatever. I wasn’t a member of this particular group, so I just pitched the letter.

A few weeks later, another one arrived. This time I opened it. The letter honestly looked fairly official. I think I’m onto how email scams work, but this was a hard copy letter, so I carefully read and reread.

It was asking me to set up direct deposit of my paycheck so I could take full advantage of the checking account I had opened. 

To be safe, I didn’t call any phone numbers in the letter. I Googled the credit union and called its main customer service number. 

It had happened again.

Two years earlier, I was the victim of identity theft. Someone stole my information, opened a credit union credit card and took off with around $10k. It took me a few months to figure out what happened and, gratefully, after a police report and a few phone calls, the account was closed without me having to pay.

Even though I did not lose any money out of pocket, my credit rating took a hit. Now I watch that religiously for any new lines of credit. 

But a checking account?

It was clear the crooks planned to trick me into having automatic funds deposited so they could go on a shopping spree. No way was I moving any money into an account I didn’t originate!

When I called, the credit union* advised the account had already been marked as fraudulent. I wish I knew how they figured that out without my input, but I’m thankful. 

Now I have everything locked down as much as possible. I unsubscribe and delete emails and texts that I am not 100% positive about. 

I open every bit of mail and look through it.

Open your junk mail, folks. 

*I purposely did not name the specific credit union because you know….fraud.