Mouse: (strolls into Blog singing:)
“Slow down, you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last.
Just kicking down the cobble stones.
Looking for fun and feelin’ groovy.”
Ahhhh! What glorious weather! Temps in the low 80s and nothing but sunshine. Palm trees swaying in the breeze, and just the first hint of leaves changing on the regular trees.
Grumpy: Bah, humbug! You’re just trying to make me grumpy. Well. I’ve got news for you Ms. Mouse. You’re too late!
Mouse: Ya know how folks who live in snowy areas can’t wait until spring and they throw open windows and go outside to do anything and everything, whatever it is, just to be outside again? Well, that’s how us desert dwellers feel about fall. Throw open the windows, have dinner on the patio, do long-neglected yard work. Hey, even wash the dust off the cars! It’s all good.
Grumpy: Dust on cars? Try scraping 18 inches of snow off your car! They say it’s good cardio exercise. Then they say old folk (like me, which also makes me grumpy) shouldn’t do it. I say where’s all this global warming when you really need it?
Mouse: Right now a beautiful light breeze is blowing through the patio door, and the neighbor’s critters (they have goats and chickens, but that’s another long story) are making a fuss, but who cares when the sun is shining and all is right (well, except for what happened on election day… sigh) with the world.
Grumpy: Now you’re just piling on. First with the weather and now with the politics. Who knew a little mouse could be so mean to an old man! (That’s me playing the “ageism” card, as if you didn’t know.)
Mouse: Hmm… I wonder if your attitude is getting to me, Grumpy. Seems like for every silver lining, I’m also seeing the dark clouds (by the way, none of those clouds is in the sky right now and just the fact that I can see that… well, that’s reason to hope).
Grumpy: My attitude? You’re the one came in singing and carrying on about your lovely weather! I wouldn’t get too cocky basking in all that sunshine. Remember that November brings the snowbirds to your fine desert climes, and you’re going to have to put up with them ’til March or April.
Mouse: Ya know what they say: “So many snowbirds, so little freezer space.” At least that’s what I’ve heard, anyway.
Grumpy: But now that you bring up the fall/winter weather, isn’t it about time for the climate change ostriches to start squawking about the snow and cold proving that 97% of climate scientists are lying to us but the ones paid by the oil and coal industries have God on their side? (I better be careful. I almost broke out singing a Bob Dylan classic. Nobody wants to hear me do Dylan!)
By the way, any idea who the head of the science and environment committees in Congress are going to be now that the Teapublicans have control? Go ahead give me the bad news, although I know I am going to regret asking!
Mouse: Bad news? I don’t have time for bad news with the bright sunshine calling me outside. *sigh* OK, maybe next time we talk. Reality has a terrible way of intruding on even the nicest days. And I’ll expect to hear some Dylan to help make reality palatable.
Grumpy: OK, Mouse. I guess it is time to pull the old reliable Wikipedia down off the shelf and do some research on these Teapublicans who will be defining the agenda in Congress for at least the next two years. Since you are “busy” with outside work (do margaritas in a chaise by the pool count as busy?) then I’ll dust off my copy and get back to ya. Make sure to put on sunblock when you go out. Better yet, have Mr. Mouse do it for you!
