Cool It

Inspirational song: Twist and Shout (The Beatles)

All of this hanging out in the mountains, in the brisk air at 10,000 feet, with the aspen trees in their resplendent golden glory, where it is necessary to wear the thickest of hoodies in the afternoon, and wear a knit poncho like a blanket on the ride home in the dark... All of this has spoiled me. Down in the I-25 corridor, I still have a mid-century modern home made of heat-trapping brick, with no central air conditioning. I'm also a cheapskate who refuses to plug the portable a/c unit back into the window during the daytime. That doesn't mean I'm above complaining heartily about the end of summer heat wave. I'm. So. Over. It.

I was lying here waiting for the window fan I am willing to run from sundown to coffee time to cool off my bedroom when I decided to watch the local news (a habit I fell out of in the last year and a half). The anchor on channel 9 said something about 9 being their favorite number, but this 9 days in a row with the temperatures over 90 degrees was record-setting in a bad way. (Tied the highest number of 90+ days in September, and the record for the latest/longest string of 90s in the year.) Again, over it. Completely.

Okay, I know the largest percentage of my readership is either still in Oklahoma or is Oklahoma-adjacent, and they are thinking that I'm awfully whiny about temps they see as late as Thanksgiving sometimes. But y'all, this is why I moved to Colorado! Low humidity, fewer days of dancing-on-the-surface-of-the-sun heat. It's why it's worth it to pay the high cost of real estate to live here. (It's certainly not to consume the state herb, which does poorly by me so I avoid it.)

The weather is supposed to break tomorrow or the next day. It will be back in the 80s for a while, which is still too much for me to be outside, but not so oppressive that it makes the inside of my house unlivable. Then, sometime next week, it will happen. Seasonable temperatures. I want it so much I could cry. Highs in the low 70s, and sometimes not even cracking that mark. Is that so much to ask? And after that, I'll be ready to start the countdown to The Day. The greatest day of the year is coming. I'll be watching and waiting, ready to celebrate. You'll know which day when it happens. I promise, I won't be able to shut up about it.