The End of the Summer

Sweet irony has struck again. How many times have you heard of Labor Day referred to as the "unofficial" end to summer? I know I'm sick of hearing it, because it means that my favorite part of the year is over.

Labor Day, while nice in the fact that it is part of a long weekend (4 days, in my case this year), but it also means several issues arise that I don't like: school is back in, people and businesses close their pools, winter clothing goes on sale, and you see the first Christmas items also go on sale.

So you have no idea how happy it made me when Labor Day, the day after, and today have all topped out over 90 degrees here in Louisville...among the 3 hottest days of the year, after summer had unofficially ended. I love the heat, and laugh at those idiots who closed their pools on Monday. All the while, I had my pool open and ready to use in the backyard. It doesn't matter that my pool is made of plastic and rubber, is only 3 feet deep and has a diameter of 10 feet. It also doesn't matter that it is currently filled with leaves because the portable filter it came with sucks. And it doesn't matter that it needs new water. What matters is the fact that, if I choose, I have the option to jump in my pool at any time...and it's AFTER Labor Day. I intend to keep this pool set up as long as the temperatures are regularly in the 70's, which could mean November in this part of the country. I will swim at the latest possible date...and laugh at all those people who closed their pools up just because the "Unofficial" end to summer came a bit too early.

On another note, I hate that Christmas supplies are already on sale. There's nothing more annoying than going to a store and seeing reindeers and Santa Clause set up next to skeletons and pumpkins. Can we at least get past the first week of the NFL before we start thinking about our Holiday shopping?

The only good thing to come out of the end of summer is the start of pumpkin season. I personally can eat anything pumpkin: pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin ice cream (Starlight Frozen Custard in Louisville has a killer pumpkin concrete), pumpkin beer...basically anything in that flavor and I'm all over it. This pumpkin obsession rose to new highs last year, as I ingested at least one pumpkin flavored item on a nearly daily basis...and consumed roughly 8 pumpkin pies through the entire holiday season. This year stands to top that bit of craziness...mainly because I am now running quite a bit more and I have a much larger appetite than I had at this time last year.