It got up to about eighty today. That’s a credible early to mid September number. In the sun it was down right warm. but slide over into the shade and the warmth does not follow. What is that? Dry air? No real fat on the warmth? The last two nights it has fallen into the forties.

It was a similar kind of day yesterday. I decided to do a little ( It turned into a lot ) field trimming out in the woods where there are four distinct, more or less, clearings that used to be mowed as lawn until the ground became just too littered with emerging roots to keep a mower in good repair – so I use a big trimmer with heavy string on it that cuts a 22″ swarth on almost any kind of ground, through almost any kind of grass or weed. But it is not self propelled. There is a message there.

In the beginning, since it was cooler I did not feel the heat but with the effort of going up and down my skin began to collect the moisture that was in the air. I thought, as I got done, that I would sit on the back porch a bit and cool off and enjoy the flitting about of the finches at the feeders there. I quickly cooled off as the breeze coming around the corner of the house did not let up, and I actually became chilled. September. I took a hot shower and fantasized about a cool drink and that welcomed transition into the evening hours.

This afternoon I decided to go out and collect the daily mail. I had on a sensible combination of gym shorts, a sleeveless “T” and sandals. As I passed an open kitchen window and felt the breeze coming in I decided to throw on a corduroy shirt that was hanging on a peg.

Slipping from one zone into another this time of year is a study in thermo-consciousness. It’s cool here but warm there. I keep thinking about long pants, and for me, that is a major concession.

So I walked out to the mailbox and most of the way I am in shadow so my corduroy shirt felt good. But as I reached the mailbox on the sunny side of the road the heat was beaming down energetically. There was a bit of a breeze so the warmth of the sun was tempered by a southwesterly wind. As I turned around to walk up the incline into the yard, pondering the package from my health insurance company, I turned downwind and the relative breeze dropped to zero while the sun kept bearing down on my back with unexpected force. Cool one way and hot the other. September.

At least it’s not January. There’s never any doubt about January. It will be long pants going and coming.