Fall (also called Autumn) arrives today and the air is already cooling.

Rain is also falling (again) an almost-daily trend during Spring and one that appears to remain with us in the fall.

I had a rare, but welcome, chance to photograph high school football last Friday night, thanks to a review of results of tests on my heart and its new pacemaker, which cleared the way for me to return to shooting photos for The Floyd Press and go back into the fitness center to build up my strength for walking and doing other things.

Rain, however, is a serious impediment for an aging man with rapidly spreading arthritis that hamper movements. “If I had known I would live this long, I would have taken better care of myself,” legendary journalist H.L. Mencken wrote. The quote was also “borrowed” by baseball slugger Mickey Mantle.

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter,” Mark Twain once said. So did pitcher Satchel Paige.

Mencken also noted: “As democracy is perfected, the office of the president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

Oh hell. Mencken predicted that a moron like Donald Trump, who is also a convicted felon, court-certified sexual predator and outright criminal, would become president and go about destroying democracy and the America we once knew.

My improving health has also brought a return to covering Circuit Court for the paper. A lot of people seem to break the laws of our land, especially who who make, use and sell illegal drugs like crystal meth. Domestic abuse is up. So are the existence of those who indulge in child sexual abuse and child porn.

So much to write about when it comes to covering news locally and nationally. A gallon of regular gas has topped $4 a gallon in Floyd County, part of rampant inflation driven by the chaos in Washington, DC, and an illegal, unconstitutional war against Iran launched, without consulting with or obtaining permission of Congress by an 80-year-old insane president.

With diesel fuel now topping $6 a gallon, along with other factors, gas will continue to escalate at grocery stores.

With winter coming in December and El Nino threatening freezing weather and deep snowfalls, the problems show a Mother Nature out of control.

So much for a welcome to Fall.