Raining Leaves and Frostbite

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the brisk mornings, the almost warm afternoons, and the cold evenings. I love the smell of the cold. I love the colors of the leaves. I love cider and snuggling under blankets. I love flannel pants and slippers. I love having the excuse of it being cold outside to drink coffee all day long!

This morning when I left the house, it was around 28 degrees. It was cold and frosty. When I shut the door, my attention was drawn away from heading to the car by a sound I don't think I've really ever heard, or at least noticed. Our house tucks up against some woods. In the spring and summer that is bad news. It makes a nice haven for the mosquitoes, which are insufferable. Over the last few weeks, they have turned beautiful golds, browns, and reds. it is great. But, this morning, the leaves were raining down. The cold frost had encouraged the leaves over night to give up their lofty place and come to earth. In the process of their descent, they were bumping into everything and creating quite a noise. It was not deafening, but it was certainly noticeable enough to capture my sleepy, un-coffee'd attention.

While fall and the cold brings me much joy and peace, it does however cause much trouble inside. When the weather turns cold, most run to the thermostat and crank on the heat--one of my friends mentioned today that his house was a balmy 72 degrees today (to his defense, his mother was staying with him for a few days). That's not our house. My wife, otherwise known as the heat miser, always makes an attempt to not turn the heat on before November 1st. We have a few friends who also try to do this--in an attempt to save some heating dollars for later on in the year when it's actually really cold here in MI. One of their rules is that they don't turn their heat on till the shampoo freezes. I secretly think my wife waits as long as she can because she hates the smell of the furnace running the first few times as it burns off all the dust and junk from sitting idle for months.

Sometimes October treats us well, sometimes not. This has been a not year. This morning when I got up it was 52 degrees in the house. Its a great sleeping temperature. You put on the flannel pants, a sweatshirt, and dive under a load of covers, one hopefully being a granny quilt. Its great! However, as I sit here at the dining room table blogging and working, I can't feel the tip of my nose and my legs have that hot but cold feeling. You know, the feeling you have when you come in out of the cold and you just barely start to warm up. I think my hot tea even has ice in it now. You can feel the cold in the air. Its just not right.

They are calling for highs in the 40s by the end of the week. I don't think we're going to make it till November 1st.