It was blazing hot yesterday but today (YAY!) it is cool and rainy. Don't ya just love Mother (I can't make up my mind) Nature's inability to decide what our weather should be on any given day? Who am I kidding? It's more like any given hour around here.
I do love cool, rainy mornings. I was surprised to see the postings on social media about hail the east side of town experienced. Living south of southwestern Oklahoma's idea of a mountain, we seem to get shortchanged on the rain. It tends to split and go north and south of us. I don't know what we did to make her mad at us, but I wish she'd get over it. Some people blame it on the army base located at the base of the 'mountain.' I wouldn't go that far but it is a little weird.
Today it seems appropriate that “Rainy Days and Mondays” by the Carpenters keeps looping through my head. Unfortunately, it's been so long since I've heard it on the radio that only those four words are looping. It's enough to drive me batty. (I know that's probably redundant. Give me a break.)
Anyway, to make this day even better, the busy birthday season kicked off yesterday with a vengeance. One can tell by the daily visits from our poor mailman it's going to be a loooong month. He's probably wondering what in the world is going on here in the Harris household. Is there a shopaholic living there? No, just a Nana trying to keep up with all the gifts I have to buy for the myriad family members who decided that stretching their birthdays out over the year would be too much trouble although with the number of family members we have, it probably wouldn't make much of a difference.
The birthday year starts off slowly enough with only three in January, a couple in February, a few in March, etc., until May when it starts to snowball. We have no less than nine between the middle of June and the middle of July! It's enough to fry Nana's charge card. I'm afraid to look at my credit card bill for this month. There's just not enough wine to take the fear away even if I'm allowed to drink it, which I'm not sure I am right now. Note to self: ask (beg) the doctor this week about having a glass (or two or ten) of wine before I open the credit card bills. On top of the birthday gifts I also ordered a present for our granddaughter whose bridal shower is July 2.
I may be forced to plop a big bow on the top of the box and call it good. It's large, heavy and I'm afraid it'll take two or three rolls of paper to wrap that giant box. Have you seen the price of wrapping paper recently? I had to restock my paper supply for our great-grandson's party yesterday and boy, was I shocked. I don't know why I was with the price of EVERYTHING skyrocketing like it is, but I was. I guess it's either the optimist in me or my ostrich like ability to ignore what I don't want to acknowledge. Or both.
Our son and daughterin- law purchased a nice above-ground swimming pool last year, which is such a blessing. It came in handy keeping half a dozen rambunctious boys occupied for a few hours in the heat. The downside was keeping them fed. I don't know what it is about water that makes one so hungry. I spent most of the day indoors, where it was nice and cool, watching them through the window. I never cared for the heat and the older I get, with my treatment, the less I tolerate it.
That's one reason I was pleasantly surprised to hear the thunder as I was waking up this morning. I love waking to a nice rain since I don't have to go out in it unless I want to. Of course, I also enjoy going to bed with the rain, sitting around all morning and afternoon listening to it rain, you get the picture. Ah, the joys of retirement.
Now here's the downside: Humidity. Why are nice light rains that clear the air and make everything seem so clean and refreshed ruined with the humidity? I dislike humidity more than heat. Mother Nature loathes letting us enjoy the rain, I guess.
So here's to Rainy Days, Mondays and endless birthday parties beside the pool. Throw in the occasional nice slow steady rain and it doesn't get much better than that for an air conditioning loving couch potato like me.