Happy Labor Day And Good Bye Summer

Wow, it seems like just yesterday (well, it was Friday actually) that I was lamenting the start of the Labor Day Weekend, which signifies the end of summer. Now the holiday weekend is almost over and there are just a few un-official hours left in summer 2007. Tomorrow kids will go back to school and all of us adults will go back to work as if nothing happened. The only way you'd know it had been a holiday is the fact that everyone's level of grumpiness will be slightly more elevated than usual. At least the week will be one day shorter.

It’s now time to put away the Beach Boys and Jimmy Buffett. Time to stow away that old hammock, provided you had the time to get it out at all this year (or were able to understand the directions for hanging the darn thing) and you should probably go ahead and deflate the alligator raft in the pool. We can however look forward to cooler weather (in some parts of the country), the leaves changing color (again, in some parts of the country because here in So Cal the seasons are marked by only two leaf colors -- green and dead), the sun setting sooner, the start of a new TV season (Yes! New episodes of The Office and 30 Rock) and the coming of the stretch run for both baseball and NASCAR.

Believe it or not, I have already seen both pumpkin and pecan pie in the store. The next thing you know, Target will be getting rid of their back-to-school items and replacing them with Halloween decor and costumes. I'm sure Starbucks will be featuring their Pumpkin Latte soon. Although if you allow places like Wal-Mart and Target to mark the seasons, you'd always been two months ahead of the calendar. I just know my crazy neighbor down the street will be stringing up Christmas lights within the next few weeks. Yep, summer 2007 ain't long for the world my friends. The only good thing about this is that I only have to wait one more month for eggnog to start showing up on store shelves. Don't believe me? Well, let's put it this way, I have not lost a bet yet in 7 years that I would be drinking eggnog before Halloween. I crave the stuff and actually find myself in withdrawals by March of each year. But that's not what this post is about...

To celebrate summer’s end, I was planning on grilling up some steak and corn tonight but it’s at least 106 degrees out and I’m afraid the copious amounts of sweat pouring off my head might extinguish the hot coals. Not to mention sweat may not be the best marinade, but that's all really too disgusting to ponder...sorry. I don’t think we had a Labor Day parade in town today, which is a good thing because no one likes getting stuck in hot asphalt. All in all I allowed summer to pass pretty quietly this year, with the exception of my air conditioning unit which has been the only thing running non-stop all weekend. Getting that bill should a lot of fun and a great way to start the fall season.

So I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend and a nice summer. I hope you got to do everything you planned and travel to wherever you wanted. We’ll all wake up tomorrow and just like that summer will be over. Don’t worry though; Memorial Day will be here before you know it. OK, you're right, I made that up just to make you feel better...

*****Q & A Tuesday is tomorrow and I can't provide the A's if I don't have any Q's. So, if there is anything you want to ask me, anything I can help you with, or if you seek solutions to any of life's problems and mysteries, feel free to ask away!! Seriously, it's the Monday of a 3-day weekend. What else do you have to do today, right??*****