indian summer

From Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:

Main Entry: Indian summer
Function: noun
Date: 1778
1 : a period of warm or mild weather in late autumn or early winter
2 : a happy or flourishing period occurring toward the end of something

We've been experiencing something none other than Indian summer. For the past few days, the weather has been exceptionally beautiful. In fact, it's been better than it was the entire summer. Warm (60's!). Sunny. Gentle breezes. Absolute knock-your-socks-off gorgeous. Believe it or not, it was even great over the weekend, a rare treat.

I made my annual trek to the dermatologist today, a two-hour drive from the office. Didn't matter, though; I could feel the warmth hitting me through the window. I got home just before dark and enjoyed a walk with the dogs without a coat!

We've only had two snow falls, so far. One early (mid-October) that didn't accumulate. And another small storm with a rain/snow mix one day last week. No accumulation here, but they got 5-6" inches further south. We were lucky. Keep your fingers crossed that this luck holds!

My, what big eyes you have!

It felt cold on my walk tonight with the dogs. Not as cold as last weekend, when I needed my winter coat, but colder than this past weekend, when it was in the 50's. As I have mentioned, we've been walking in the dark for several weeks.

Tonight, I spied a pair of eyes watching us from a stand of trees at the edge of our yard. They reflected a greenish yellow glow. Near the ground and close together. Occasional blinks. A cat? That's my best guess. They didn't follow us, but watched intently as we turned and moved away. Maybe a fox, but the dogs didn't act alarmed or hurried, which Ruby does when the coyote yips get too close.

MIA

Our neighbor is MIA.  The super-psycho neighbor.  The one who exhibits all of the erratic behaviors like mowing the lawn after dark, and cooking on the grill in the middle of the night, and returning stuff to the general store (everything there is $5 or less), and only interacting with every other soul on earth using a raised voice.  We've seen and heard lots of strange things over there.  Missing.  Gone from home for over 3 weeks.  We've debated the possibilities:

• moved (nope, saw no moving trucks and the child has been back every weekend with someone else to pick stuff up)
• just picked up and left, abandoning home and child (?)
• arrested (nope, nothing in police beat)
• hospitalized (?)
• vacationing (but for over three weeks with their child left here? who could afford to do that and wouldn't take their child?)
• participating in a reality show (?)
• rehab (all the erratic behavior might explain a need for that)
• maybe they've decided to become seasonal residents (why not?  we have other neighbors who are seasonal, but wouldn't they take the child?)

One of our other neighbors knows the scoop, but isn't talking because no one is supposed to know they're gone.  Huh.  If that's really what they wanted (for no one to know they're gone), they probably should have had someone stay at the house, turning the lights on, opening the garage doors, driving the child to school every day, etc.  It's weird.  And I sound like my mom.

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