Is this what they mean by "going to the dark side"?

I like to think of myself as "unique".  My daughters very kindly refer to me as "quirky".  Some others just think I'm weird. 

Why do I bring this up now?  Because this morning as I was giving Jax, our SuperDog, his first walk of the day, I realized that dawn is now coming noticeably later, and I like it. 

Autumn is my favorite season for a variety of reasons, one of which being the days are becoming shorter by about a minute a day.  Yea!  I also like a few rainy days now and then, which are more likely in autumn than in summer.  And of course, autumn also = the start of football season.  Ha!  Take that hot, sweaty, sticky summer!

I've become a fairly successful minimalist....except for my collection of coats and jackets.  I LOVE coats and jackets.  I have light windbreakers, a GoreTex rain jacket, a heeeeeavy LL Bean arctic parka, and a jacket for pretty much everything else in between.  This time of year I'm always optimistic it will be a cold enough winter to wear some of them.

Unique, quirky, or weird....I'll answer to any of them.  Just don't call me Shirley.  :)

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You've heard the old saying, "Make hay while the sun shines"?  That's pretty much my work ethic.  I feel like if it's still daylight, I should be working or doing one chore or another.  When evening comes, it's time to put my tools down, metaphorically, and relax.  These days I don't have the energy I once did, so relaxing while the sun is still high sorta bothers me.  The earlier it gets dark, the less guilty I feel.

Can you imagine how rested people must have been 150 years ago?  When the sun went down there was little else to do but go to bed and sleep, or maybe make more little farm workers.  Candlelight barely illuminated the space you were sitting in.  Later, coal oil or whale oil lanterns offered a chance to see better later into the night, but those fuels were expensive.  

The big breakthrough came with successful oil drilling and refining in the late 1850's.  Back then the refined petroleum product of choice was not gasoline or diesel (there were virtually no internal combustion engines back then), but kerosene.  Kerosene was a much more affordable fuel, and burned much brighter, too.  That gave John D. Rockefeller the light he needed to count his money late into the night.  Thomas Edison's electric lighting was just the icing on the cake of illumination progress.

I think today we have it just about right:  It gets dark early enough to allow for some rest time before bed, yet a flip of a switch gives us enough light to write unique / quirky / weird blog posts. :)

S

Calendars lie

Calendars lie.  At least those in Texas do.  From childhood stories up through Saturday Evening Post covers (anyone reading this old enough to remember the Saturday Evening Post?) to today's NFL halftime beer commercials, we're taught fall means sweaters, fires in the fireplace complete with smoldering marshmallows and Smores, colorful foliage, and lots of leaves that need raking.  

And it's fall now, right?  It arrived September 20-something-or-other as I recall, same as it does every year.  Except we here in Texas usually have none of those things yet.  Sweaters are still safely tucked away in storage boxes, the fireplace is still dark and cold,  marshmallows and Smores ingredients are still on the store shelves, and leaves are still green and holding on tightly.  

Damn!

But....and here comes the good part....this year so far seems to be different.  Dallas on the first day of fall saw rain and a cool front move through.  For the past week the high temps have been in the 80's, and yesterday round two came through.  More rain, more cool, enough that I had to dig around and find a sweater in order to sit outside yesterday evening.  Pinch me!

The cherry on top of this autumn Sunday (sundae....get it?) morning was the flock of geese that greeted me as I walked out onto my terrace this morning.  While directionally challenged (they were heading west), they still maintained their perfect V-formation and were happily honking the whole way.  

As I'm now on the third floor they were right at eye level and so close I think I could  have reached out and touched them. Or more accurately, reached out and had them viciously attack me for such an aggressive move.  (Mean little bastards they are!)

All this leads me to mentally ratchet up my expectations for a REAL winter, complete with snow and....oh, what the hell....smoldering marshmallows on sticks and Smores.

Fingers crossed.  :)

S

Tell me again why I should be sad about summer's passing?

Well, here it is the first day of September, the first day of the month many people equate with fall.  In many places trees are turning vibrant colors, a few leaves will already be falling (is that where the term "fall" comes from?), and being outside actually becomes pleasant again.

But I'm in Texas, and to a Texan September just means more of the same.  Today's high temperature is forecast to be 103.  I've been reading blogs and Facebook posts where the authors are lamenting the passing of summer.  I say "bring it".  Good riddance.  I long to be able to go outside for a few hours and NOT come back dripping wet, sticky, and smelly.

I always get a chuckle watching TV commercials during football games this time of year where the Budweiser  Clydesdale's are pulling their wagon through scenery that looks something like this:

*Sigh*

It will be at least another 6 weeks, maybe longer, before I'll see anything like that around here.  When it finally does find us it will be intense, but brief.  One morning we'll just wake up to find one giant leaf dump, and that's it.  Hello winter.

But even that isn't so bad, at least here in Texas.  Jeans and a light jacket will usually suffice.  Shovel snow?  I've heard Yankees complain of it, but never understood the point of shoveling the meager 4" of snow that might collect on my sidewalk after the "epic storm" our weatherguessers had been warning us about for a week finally arrives.  And besides, in 3 days it will be back in the 60's (70's?) and the snow will take care of itself.  Shovel snow?  Pfffftttttt.

But all that is months away.  On this September 1st I'll just spend my time mostly indoors, the air conditioning running full blast, sipping my iced beverage, dreading my trips outside with the dog, wondering why he can't just "hold it" until fall.  :)

Stay cool friends.

S

Good things happen to those who wait (like I have a choice)

Oh, those crazy Japanese!  They're a fun-loving bunch.  This morning's news showed this office clown dressed up in a dinosaur costume terrorizing his cubicle-mates, especially this poor guy just arriving for work: 

Funny, but seems staged to me.  

Try that here in Texas and you'd probably get popped by a dozen concealed-carry Glocks.

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It's about this time every year that the optimist in me comes out.  I'm sure to the horror of all of you Yankees, I LOVE snow and hold out hope every late-summer that the upcoming winter will be at least a little white in Dallas.  

Why is this on my mind today?  Because today the weatherguessers predict we'll break the all-time record high temperature for this date....103.  UGH!

But before we get to winter we're blessed with about 6-weeks of the most perfect autumn weather you can imagine.  The perfect fall day for me?  After a Saturday doing fun stuff out and about, I retire to my den to watch a big rivalry college football game on TV.  

I'm sitting in my comfy chair with an ample supply of cold brew and football food (nachos works for me), the window beside me open, the evening temps in the 60's with a gentle rain shower in progress.  Clean-smelling fresh air...cool...football...it doesn't get any better!

God Bless America!

But before I can enjoy any of that I have to endure today.  Have I mentioned patience is NOT one of my virtues?

Stay cool everyone.

S

All smiles today.... :)

I saw online an excerpt from The New Farmer's Almanac, specifically the upcoming winter and spring/summer weather forecasts.  Here's what it said about my area:

"The 2013 Almanac says that temperatures will be much colder this winter from the East Coast westward to a line from the Dakatos to Texas."  (Me)

"Snowfall will be above normal near the Great Salt Lake and in the areas from El Paso to Detroit to Virginia Beach."  (Me)

"Summer temperatures will be hotter that normal along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the Ohio Valley, but cooler than normal elsewhere."  (Me)

"Expect fewer tornadoes than in the past couple of years."

While any of us with a Oujia Board could make a similar forecast, somehow The New Farmer's Almanac people actually have a pretty good record doing this. 

I know most of you in the colder/snowier areas are cringing reading this, but for this Texas boy, snow is something rare and pretty and to be enjoyed.  Plus a decent winter kills bugs.  Bring it!

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Boy, that was quick:  The new iPhone 5 goes on sale this Friday, and already people are camping out at Apple stores to be first in line to get one.  So if they skipped work to camp out, how can they afford one?

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A decision I can live with:  Bro and I met Friday with a developer who would like for us to build (over a few years time) a number of medical re-hab centers.  It would involve us signing notes for about $8M each (gulp!), and lots of travel.  They would be all over Texas, and as bro does most of the office admin and I do operations, I would be the one to do most of the travel.  Like 5-days-a-week year 'round.

And the margins are tight, and there's a lot that can go wrong, too.  A few miscalculations and we might be working for nothing.

Nope, I've already resigned as president of our little family business (although I still own half the company), and right now we owe no one.  At my comfortable age, it's time to scale back, not gear up.  We're going to pass.

Another Monday.  Hold on, everyone.

S

Winter arrives this evening at 6....

....and will be gone by noon tomorrow. I'm not joking.  That's likely to be all the winter we have this year in Dallas.  By tonight it will begin to rain, sleet, and snow.  No accumulation is expected, however, as the temp overnight isn't expected to drop below freezing.  High tomorrow, 47.  Mid 60's by Wednesday.  Now my concern is if it's this warm during the "winter", how hot is it going to be during the "summer"?

Here's my plan:  Y'all stop driving.  Ride bikes or skateboards instead.  And start giving all the cows Bean-O.  Between you people driving and the cows farting you're screwing up the atmosphere.  Is a couple inches of snow and maybe a few pitiful snowmen too much to ask for?  I WANT MY WINTER BACK, DAMMIT!

S

Cold...wet...busy...I'm tired just thinking about it

K took the dog out early this morning for her normal dootie call and returned to tell me there was a light dusting of snow on everything.  I looked out the window to see....nothing. It must be a VERY light dusting.  Wonder if this will bring out "Team Coverage" from all the TV channels?  Haha!


Unfortunately I won't be able to enjoy it as I have to be at work early.  Seems everyone and their uncle will be on my jobsite today.  I tried to space things out but was told I'd better take 'em when I can get 'em, so they're all showing up today.  I'll deal with it.  That's why I make the big bucks...er...am lucky to have a job.


And to top off this splendid day, tonight K and I are going to the Performing Arts Center to watch grandson Parker's 2-year-old kindergarten class perform their Christmas concert.  Really?  2-year-olds?  I'm betting  the curtain will go up and 20 little kiddlette's will see all those big, scary grown ups in the audience staring at them, and they'll run off crying their eyes out.  I just can't imagine what they can do/sing that would justify a 40-minute commute, but, such is the burden of being a grandpa.  Sing on, kids.  :)


S

So this one moron says to another moron....

...."hey Aoki, watch this"....then everything went black.  

It seems that yesterday a group of friends in their exotic cars were cruising down a freeway in Japan (at a reported 90+ mph) when one decided to change lanes, lost control, and started a chain-reaction wreck.  All total, 14 cars were involved, including 8 Ferrari's, 1 Lamborghini, and 2 Mercedes.  Fortunately no one was seriously hurt.  Talk about having a bad day!  The only one who had a worse day was probably their insurance agent.  I wonder if they all went out for lunch afterwards?

It's a cold, wet day in Dallas.  Lots of rain, 36 degrees, and just one county to our west...snow.  The Old Farmers Almanac has predicted a warmer, dryer winter than normal for north Texas, but I'm hoping they're wrong.  I'm one of those weirdo's who actually likes snow.   Texas snow.  You know, the kind that falls 5 or 6 inches deep, looks pretty for a couple of days, spawns more than a few snowmen, then melts.  Not sure what it's like to have snow fall 3 or 4 or more FEET deep and last for 5 months.  I guess if I ever make it to Colorado I'll find out.


Y'all have a good Monday, and drive carefully.


S

Do I dare hope?

This is getting serious.  I'm talking about our drought.  There was a big meeting in Austin recently attended by planners where they were told our drought will most likely extend well into next year.  The consensus was that we would have a warmer and dryer winter than normal.  I hate, hate, hate hearing this as I'm like a little kid who looks forward every fall to the possibility that we'll soon have some cold and snow.  


By December I'm ready.  Chili makin's are in the pantry, I've got my assortment of winter coats all ready and lined up, and the same for my shoes/boots.  By January, if things are still whiteless, I start getting nervous.  By February if we haven't had any snow I start to get down.  We've most probably missed it.  Understand I'm not talking about snow that can be measured in feet, but just 6 inches or so.  Just enough to miss a day or two of school work, make some poor dwarf snowman, maybe throw a snowball or two.


Right now I'm pinning my hopes on the Farmers Almanac which predicts a warmer but wetter winter than normal.  I wonder who's more accurate, a group of highly trained meteorologists or some fuzzy little creature's nose twitch that the Farmers Almanac folks swear by?  


S

Just looking back at some old photos...

I was browsing through some of my old photos this afternoon and several brought back some great memories:

Isn't this a great looking 1920's era storybook cottage?  This was taken in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California when we were there for our wedding back in 2006.  I love quaint old homes like this, and some day before I retire I want to build one.  The hard part won't be the actual construction, but dealing with the Planning and Zoning bureaucrats and Home Owners Association Nazi's beforehand.

I like to look at this one every year about this time to remind myself what it's like to walk around our neighborhood without sweating.  I know you Yankee-types think I'm crazy, but it was just a couple of inches of snow and the temps were only in the upper 20's, and doggone it, it felt so good to come home after a brisk walk without being drenched in sweat.  Oh well...such is this Texans fate.

Finally....my bride, all dolled up for my daughter's wedding.  Isn't she beautiful?  I truly have some wonderful women in my life. :)  


I've bored you enough.  Time to cruise into the evening.  G'nite all.


S