Summer is drawing to a close and fall is on deck. And if you are a true Minnesotan, you have to love this time of the year. Friday night football, cool crisp air and sounds of Cardinal marching band practice in the morning hours before school is what this time of year is all about.They say spring is the time of year for new beginnings. I think that holds true for the fall as well. A new school year begins, and for some it’s the start of kindergarten or middle school or high school while others move off to college for the first time.It’s the time of year when golf clubs are replaced by shotguns. Even for the snowbirds among us, they’re having thoughts of a nice warm winter down south somewhere. While we’re on the subject of snowbirds, we’ll be starting a new snowbird policy for delivery of the Star Herald to winter addresses. As our snowbirds already know, getting the Star Herald delivered to winter addresses in a timely manner is frustrating at best. This year we’ll offer three options: oWe can continue to take our chances with the status quo as to when the postal service will deliver the paper. oWe can suspend subscriptions while snowbirds are gone, and extend those months onto yearly subscriptions.oWe can send the Star Herald via first class mail each week (as opposed to the usual second class). The additional postage and handling for that service will be an extra $1.50 per week so you snowbirds can continue to enjoy the Star Herald in a more timely fashion while you’re enjoying the nice weather. Of course, there is always the option of visiting our Web site, www.star-herald.com for an at-a-glance version of the weekly Star Herald.Now, back to the fall. Have you ever noticed that bratwurst on the grill tastes better this time of the year? Fresh, homegrown apples replace springtime strawberries, and summer tomatoes get the nudge from acorn squash. Sweatshirts replace t-shirts and jeans replace shorts.So, get outside and enjoy the day, because we hearty Minnesotans don’t look at the fall as the end of summer but as the prelude to winter.