Treating Fall Fever

Fall is in the air when juicy watermelons give way to crunchy apples, cool mornings and evenings replace hot days, gold, red and pumpkin colors return, and homemade soups and bread are sought out.  Get ready for the season with these tips and tricks.

• Home Care & Maintenance:
  
  • Check and replace your air filter.
  • Replace batteries in flashlights in the house and your car.
  • Check smoke alarm batteries.
  • Adjust outdoor timers, it is getting dark earlier.
  • Pick up fire or chop firewood (if you have a fireplace that is).
• Computer Maintenance:
  
  • Backup your system.
• Indoor Decor:
  
  • Add a centerpiece of cattails and sunflowers to your table.
  • Place sunflowers or chrysanthemums in a brass or pumpkin colored vase.  As the season progresses use dried flowers.
  • Add gold, burnt orange, sage, chocolate brown and red colors with slipcovers and throw pillows.
  • Add colorful candles and brass accents.
  • Drape a woolen or velvet throw covered in autumn leaves across the arm of your sofa.
  • Place a bowl of apples on the table and a bowl of assorted nuts with nut crackers on the side table.
  • For table linens and placemats choose a heavy material.
  • Don't forget some fall-colored dish towels too.
  • Put out some apple and spice potpourri.
  • Replace lighter drapery with heavier ones.
  • Replace seasonal art and prints.  Create and area in your home with such seasonal finds and swap out each season.
  • Put out seasonal coasters.
• Making an Entrance:
  
  • Place potted chrysanthemums in all one color for a dramatic statement.
  • Put mini scarecrows and crows in the plants.
  • Place gourds and mini pumpkins in a basket or mini wheelbarrow on the porch.
  • Create a wreath with sunflowers and fake apples.
• In the Garden:
  
  • Start to cut back on your watering of shrubs and trees to get them ready for them winter.
  • Mulch the ground around shrubs.
  • Deadhead your flowers to make the most of the last blooms.
  • Remove fading annuals and replace with hardy biannuals.
  • When it begins to turn cold prune back plants that need it.
  • Look in the garden center for autumn herbs (chives, parsley, garlic chives, cilantro and dill to name a few). You will be able to find some great new flavors for your food and smells for the garden. Pick a nice selection and plant them all in one huge pot and place in a sunny location near your door so you can reach them quickly.
  • Water gardens: being your fall feeding program for fish, thin out water plants.
  • Remove dead leaves as need arises.
  • In cold regions get ready to move plants that need it indoors by early-mid November.  Take proper care of roses.
  • This is the time to plant fruit trees and shrubs and prune existing ones.
• Car Care:
  
  • Replace windshield wipers.
  • Consider having a rain-repellent glass treatment applied to your windshield by an automotive service place.
  • Every 3,000 miles you should: change your oil, clean your fuel injectors; have your belts, hoses and fluids checked.
  • Rotate your tires and have an wheel alignment done.
• Pet Care:
  
  • Take care to ensure your pet does not get a hold of turkey bones.  Don't give your pets treats from the Thanksgiving table.
  • Hurricane season is upon us, make sure you have food, water and any medication they need that will last for a week.
  • Be sure your pet does not get into the Halloween candy, chocolate can be deadly to animals.
  • Keep up flea and tick medication while it is hot.
• Personal Care:
  
  • Give yourself a long overdue facial, manicure and pedicure.
  • Give your hair a deep conditioning treatment.

Crafts & Activities:

• Go to an orchard or farm and pick seasonal fruits and vegetables.
• Bake apple pie and learn about apples.
• Make a collage of autumn leaves.
• Take a walk in the woods and collect pine cones, moss, evergreens, nuts, pods and fill a big basket or bowl for a centerpiece.
• Mini pumpkins make great containers for little votive candles and dried flowers.
• Mini pumpkins can also be roasted whole and used as a fun serving dish. Punch each pumpkin with a fork. Bake in the middle of oven at 350F for about an hour. Hollow it out and fill with cooked rice or soup.
• Get a new fall desktop image.

Holidays: Moon Festival, Oktoberfest, Rosh Hashanah, Festival de la Primavera, Canadian Thanksgiving, Columbus Day, Diwali, Ramadan, Halloween, Samhain, Dias de los Muertos, Guy Fawkes Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, US.