The Popcorn Stand: Nice time of year

I would say my favorite time of year is sometime right around late September to early October, all though that favorite time of year can run right up until Thanksgiving as far as how long fall lasts is concerned.

I really loved that time of year in my former stomping ground , Carson City, Nev., near Lake Tahoe and that’s really the best time of the year to visit that area. Most years in that area the falls are quite mild and really nice.

I would always look forward to that time of year because it was then I could head up to Spooner Lake just below Lake Tahoe at least once a week when I had a day off. I would take my dog — or there were times my two dogs — up to the trail that goes around Spooner Lake.

I’ts a real moderate hike around the lake that’s about a mile. My dogs — when they were allowed to go with me around the lake with a leash — loved it. And I loved it, too.

I would get up there with my dogs at about 10 a.m. which was just the right time. There was still a crisp chill in the air, but not too cold. And while I’m sure certainly nothing like what’s on the East Coast, the fall colors around the lake were really beautiful.

My late morning moderate hike around Spooner Lake with my dogs every week in which I enjoyed the clean, crisp chill in the air and the fall colors — there was nothing like it. And I could generally do this hike every week right up until about Thanksgiving or so before the snow came.

But this time of year is pretty special too in Porterville and I definitely prefer this area to Carson City in February. Yes there has been a drought but I’m sure if I was up in Carson City this year I would be pretty tired of the snow by now, suffering from “White Out.”

When I lived in Carson City I would always come down to visit this area about this time of year to get out of the snow. The weather here in February can generally be nice and the weather is pretty nice right now.

I’ve seen some posts on the interwebs from people already asking about the best places in the Porterville area to go hiking and to see some wildflowers that are already blooming. When there hasn’t been a drought the Porterville area has begun to be an excellent place for that right about this time of year and this is one of those years.

I have to admit like others posting their messages on the interwebs, I too, have been thinking what a nice time of year it is right now in this area, which got me to thinking about those wonderful hikes I used to take around Spooner Lake.

But at this time of year, right now, I can assure you the grass is definitely greener in this area than it is in Carson City.

I finally mowed my lawn on Super Bowl Sunday and it was about two weeks overdue. I can tell you when I lived in Carson City I never had to worry about mowing the lawn in February. I didn’t have to worry about mowing the lawn until March — or April — or May.

So while I really enjoyed the late Septembers to late Octobers and even into mid-novembers in Carson City, I really enough the early Februarys to late Marches even to the mid-aprils here.

I don’t want to get into the whole climate change thing but there’s no denying these seasons we used to enjoy have been disappearing. We no longer had fall and spring. It seemed summer would last all the way up to Thanksgiving and December and then it would just be winter until the summer came again.

So it’s nice to have seasons return for at least one year. It’s nice to experience this time of year that I remembered.

This is a nice time of year.