A change in the weather for sure!

The air changed this weekend. Saturday morning we were greeted with heavy showers as the first cold front of the season plowed away the moist summer air. By noon the skies had cleared and there was a sharp northwest breeze. This dry air is marked by very blue skies dotted with white puffy clouds, what I refer to as Chamber of Commerce weather, perfect for any outdoor activity. Luckily I had the day off and did not have to dodge the morning lightning or find places out of the wind in the afternoon.
As the summer winds down our hummingbird feeders are very busy with the high pitched chirps of hummingbirds fueling up for the migration that is only a week or two away. This week the stripers and an occasional bluefish were gathered along the edge of the large mudflat outside of Thomaston Harbor giving me a great opportunity to see the large numbers of shorebirds also staging for their fall migration that will start very soon.
My schedule this coming week is very nearly full with folks getting their vacations in before Labor day marks the end of the summer vacation season.  A big difference for me this summer has been a drop in the number of canoe trips I have guided, the freshwater focus seems to have shifted to family fishing trips and I do several each week. I have noticed swings like this in past seasons and always do considerable head scratching trying to figure out what it means or if I should be doing something differently. Of course next season will be different and the usual pattern has the number of canoe trips bouncing back or even recovering a little. The interesting thing to me though is all of the marketing data and polling information from a variety of sources both national and local would have one believe that the canoe trips focused as they are nature exploration would be the biggest seller. That has never been the case in twenty years. I wonder what I am missing as I explain those trips to potential customers in my brochure and on the web page.