Autumn Can Wait

It's been a warm-ish fall here. Naturally, all last week the kids were subject to my repeated chant, "We will NOT turn on the AC in October." I mean, this is just ridiculous - fallen leaves are covering the sidewalks, yards are dotted with scarecrows and pumpkins, store shelves are laden with bags full of candy. This is not the time for AC - it's the time for digging out last year's sweaters and checking to see if we still own socks and wondering where the heavy down comforters are.

Someone forgot to notify Mother Nature, though, and it's been hot and yes, even a little humid. Nothing we couldn't handle, though. Certainly not enough to break down and turn on that AC. Because we do not use the AC in October.

And then, Sunday happened. It kept trying to rain, but didn't really. Temps weren't even that high - mid-70's, maybe? I ran around the house like a maniac in the morning, because a friend from out of town was planning to drop by around 9:30. Considering that most Sunday mornings I lie around for 2 hours and try to decide if I'm going to yoga class, I was pretty darn impressed with all I had accomplished: showering, neatening the house, vacuuming, laying out some nice food to nosh on:

Martha Stewart wishes she were me

But by 9:00, I was dripping sweat. I stepped outside for a few minutes to look for something in the backyard and noted it was, well, a little steamy. I stepped back inside and noted same.

Wait, did I say a little steamy? People, it was humid. Not garden-variety humid, but STANDING AT THE GATES OF HELL humid. And, unlike the dearly departed Tom Petty, when I am standing at the gates of Hell?

I back down.

"Close the windows!" I yelled to whichever children were in earshot. "It's time for AC!" I swear, it was like preparing for a submarine dive. All over the house I could hear my suffering crew springing into action, slamming down one window sash and running to the next one. AOOGHA! AOOGHA!

Those hatches were battened down in about 2 minutes flat, folks. My kids are well trained. Also? They were hot. Pleased with their teamwork, I flipped the blessed switch which would bring us life and we all collapsed on the couches and took deep gulps of dehumidified air. Gosh, I love modernity.

And yeah, Larry's been out of town. Otherwise, that AC would have been running a full 24 hours earlier. Because, unlike moi, he's not mired in ideological beliefs about what autumn should be like. That man's a realist, he is...