<p>My internal body clock is set for early morning wakeups. Time zones don’t matter. With or without an alarm, I’m up and moving before the sun crests the horizon.</p><p>For me, it’s not a problem. I love getting up at the crack of dawn and walking the dogs in the still of daybreak.</p><p>Living in suburban Houston, I didn’t worry about walking in the dark. Streetlights lit my way.</p><p>Now that I live in the forest in a state that supports a <em>night sky</em> (meaning streetlights are limited and rare), walking in the dark is a different story. Too many critters like the twilight hours for their prowling.</p><p>So before I leave the house, I check on <a href="http://www.weather.com/" target="_blank">weather.com</a> for local sunrise time and start walking about ten minutes before or just as the sky begins to lighten.</p><p>On a recent walk, I spotted sure signs that summer is ending and fall is in the air.</p><p><a href="https://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/fall-shadows.jpg"><img class="alignleft wp-image-5046 size-medium" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/fall-shadows.jpg?w=225" alt="fall shadows" width="225" height="300" /></a>First, shadows are changing. You can see what I mean in this photo.</p><p>Another clue—temperatures are dropping. This morning it was 42 degrees. The scent of wood burning in fireplaces hovered around some cabins.</p><p>For those of you facing triple digit highs, I’m sure that sounds heavenly. Truthfully, it was chilly. I was thankful for my gloves and hooded jacket.</p><p>Another hint is our shrinking population. South Fork is a summer tourist town. Our numbers swell from three hundred year round to 3,000-4,000 during May, June, July and August. RV parks are emptying. Shutters cover windows of summer cabins. The exodus has begun. Summer folk are heading home.</p><p>The absolute confirmation that winter is heading our way is found in the Aspens along our walking route.</p><p><a href="https://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/aspen-w-gold-1.jpg"><img class="alignleft wp-image-5047 size-medium" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/aspen-w-gold-1.jpg?w=225" alt="Aspen w gold.1" width="225" height="300" /></a><a href="https://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/aspen-w-gold-2.jpg"><br /> </a><a href="https://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/aspen-w-gold-2.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-5048 size-medium" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/aspen-w-gold-2.jpg?w=225" alt="aspen w gold.2" width="225" height="300" /></a></p><p>Yep. That’s yellow among the green. The Aspens are turning.</p><p>Fall is on the way, which means wildlife is on the move scavenging for food.</p><p>Bears have started their annual bulk up for hibernation and need 12,000 calories a day. That means lots of overturned trash and destroyed barbeque grills. Time to seriously heed the signs posted all along our walk.</p><p><a href="https://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/feeding-signs1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-5053 size-full" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/feeding-signs1.jpg" alt="feeding signs" width="480" height="640" /></a></p>