Fall is coming, but don’t forget Labor Day
School is back! And just like that, we head into fall looking forward to all the great things that come with the change of seasons — cooler days, shorter days, color changes, crunchy leaves, pumpkin spice everything — but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself and the calendar !
Let’s get ready for the last big hooray, Labor Day and the start of the football season! We’re a week away from Labor Day, so start your preparation now. What plans are you going to make?
If it’s an end-of-season cookout, get ready for indoors and outdoors. Outside, make sure you’ve cleared any mosquito breeding puddles to keep the area pest-free.
If you still have the potential for these bloodsuckers, consider using outdoor fans to blow them out of the area. Mosquitoes are clumsy fliers and have a hard time in breezes or light winds.
When serving canned beverages, insist consumers cover the holes to prevent yellow jackets from sneaking into the can. You may still need to set yellow vest traps a day or two before the barbecue and lure them to the traps outside of your picnic area.
If it rains and you move this event inside, you can use all the reusable plates, cups and drinkware and eliminate the worries of mosquitoes or yellow jackets! A fan is still a good idea to keep the air moving and may not need to lower the temperature of the air conditioner.
I know if we do events outside I will use paper plates; I usually lose a utensil or two, so the inner lining saves me having to dig my cutlery out of the bins!
Start planning the end of the summer farmers’ market run now! There should still be corn, tomatoes, squash, okra, and melons. And that’s a good way to start any meal.
And now to the sporting events. High school football is on. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the other football (we call it soccer) that’s also a big sporting event here in the Carolinas and is getting even more attention now that Charlotte FC is across the river !
High school football is held throughout the week, see website for dates. Cross-country skiing, volleyball and tennis are also available for your cheering pleasure; Visit the website of your favorite local school and support our local athletes.
Who knows, maybe in a few years we’ll see some of them play for the Panthers or FC. And what about college football?
Our weekend can be filled with sport. Did I mention our very own Honey Hunters will be playing through most of September? Check out the information on the website and if you haven’t had a chance to see some great baseball in the cooler evening temperatures this summer, it’s not too late to catch a baseball game!
With all these armchair sports options, remember that most of your beverage containers should be recycled!
Gastonia has two recycling centers, Farmers Market and Duke Street, open Monday through Saturday from 7:30am to 5:30pm for all your recycling items.
Please no plastic bags, flushing cans and bottles and recycling is free. The other district locations are open for the same recycling on Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and any additional kitchen waste could be free with the same amount of recycled materials. Get ready for fall, it’s coming!
Nan Kirlin is the recycling coordinator for Gaston County.