The End and the Beginning

That's what this weekend signifies. The end of summer as we know it, and the beginning of life by rules again. For some, that doesn't mean much change, but for others it's like night and day.

Obviously, the biggest change comes with everyone related to children's school year. The obvious would be the teachers (Hi Rhon!) and the students themselves. The ripple effect reaches out quite a ways though. Another related item would be the affect that school starting has on transportation, now that the school zones are back into full use and the big, yellow buses are everywhere you look. Lastly, the parents. For some, it's a sigh of relief--The stay-at-home moms or dads finally get their house back during the day. For the ones that all work, it means having to once again learn how to re-learn wakeup times, juggle meals and travel times, make sure that the kids leave with their school supplies and homework, and a multitude of other possible scenarios.

For me, it doesn't mean much change. Sure, there are the transportation issues I mentioned already, but Labor Day weekend to me means the beginning of the end of being nude without regard to temperature. I've already found myself putting on my light flannel robe while I'm having coffee twice this week (draped loosely and not fastened though). Sigh. My apartment has a nice woodstove in the corner of the living room, and I fully intend on taking advantage of it when I can. I have a pretty much unlimited supply of specialty thick oak pallets at work that only need to be sawn into manageable sizes and I'm all set. They will be some nice firewood. All in the name of nudism, right?

It also means that everyone needs to make sure they have their antifreeze up to snuff and they have a good (buy a new one NOW) ice scraper in their vehicle.

Hunt around in those closets for the winter clothes and bedding too while you're at it. Being a fairly lean household, I don't have to worry about rotating things like that--I just go over to the other closet and grab. That's one of the advantages of not having to share space.

Yep, this weekend will be everyone's "last gasp" at freedom as a family unit. I would place a guess that probably 50% of the people that are doing their travel/camping this weekend are not doing it because they want to, but rather, because they feel they have to. Lemmings, cows in line to be milked--Pick your metaphor. The first 3-day weekend of the year that signifies the beginning of summer (Memorial Day obviously) sees people in pretty good moods. This one, however, many times has families bitching & complaining, tempers short, and moods more somber.

Yesterday was my first paycheck that had my raise on it. That extra $50 a week never looked better than it did yesterday. Not that I needed the money, rather, it signified the end of one of those workdays that I like to lovingly call "The Workday from Hell." Nothing went right yesterday. I seriously felt like crying out of frustration at one point... 50 year-old man or not.

I went home and grabbed two beers out of the fridge and headed over to Teresa and Sarah's house. I had a child support check for T and a couple audio CD's I recorded for Sarah. I figured that for me to be in the right mood (remember my day?) I had to make sure I could sit and have a beer or two whether they were home or not. And it worked out perfectly. Nobody was home so I sat in one of the Adirondack chairs that I lovingly created a number of years ago and enjoyed a beer in the comfort of the shaded deck. I went around to the front porch after I opened the second beer and sat on the front steps for a change of scenery. The nice church lady from across the street came over and was talking to me for a little bit, but for some reason she started slowly but surely going very "churchy" on me. Let me tell you, that is one thing I don't like. I couldn't very well say anything to upset her now could I? Fortunately, Sarah showed up right then--Dropped off by the mother of one of her friends she had been visiting all day. Thank you, thank you... After we walked around back then Teresa drove up too. I cleaned the filter on Sarah's swimming pool, and fixed a few bad connections on their TV/video cabling in the living room.

When got home, the first thing I did (as usual) was strip. I no sooner made it upstairs and turned the computer on when there was a knock on the door. Damn--Hurry and put my shorts on and answer the door. It was my good friend Greg. We had a good visit, and he didn't end up leaving until 10 o'clock. At that point I still hadn't eaten a single crumb of anything since 12 noon, so I made a piece of toast and had a small glass of milk and went to bed.

It's looking like a hell of a nice morning. Damn the clothes--I'll worry about dressing later.