We’ve still got a good 3-4 weeks left before the traditional 2nd week in October even when the heat gods flip the temperature switch off until next April and the Valley of the Sun goes into “Arizona winter” mode, but the signs are all around us that the seasons are changing. We’ve actually got a non-monsoon related storm approaching from the southwest that could dump anywhere between 1-2″ on us between now and Wednesday.

But the signs are everywhere as well. Like the voice message from the tree people calling to schedule the fall feeding of the queen palms. And driving through Scottsdale today I saw a couple of golf courses teeming with mowers cutting the summer Bermuda grass down to the nubs in preparation for winter rye grass seeding. That’s something that’s on the agenda for our yards in the next couple of weeks, and I’ve already cut back on the watering in preparation for that.

Of course, the ultimate sign that the seasons are changing is the replacement of summer flowers with fall flowers in the pots that sit on either side of our driveway. The task itself isn’t all that hard: I simply pull out the fake hydrangeas and replace then with fake orange and white flowers which look really nice and fall-like.