GOOD OL' UPSTATE NEW YORK

November's upon us--Halloween an increasingly distant memory (it's safe to assume that our morbidly obese generation has already depleted its candy stash by now and is now eagerly salivating over thoughts of Thanksgiving's feast and the promise of holiday treats)--and here in Upstate New York, Rochester to be exact, the region is making it a point that the reasonable comforts of Fall are coming to an abrupt end.

My normal nesting-place when the evening is upon us and it comes time to relax and soak in some prime-time television is on my couch (big surprise there, I know) and the proximity of this couch, and (by association, myself) to the living room window can only be measured in a matter of simple inches. This måeans that the sights and sounds of what occurs outside my apartment are more noticable for me than the actual television (which, standing at the opposite side of the room, can be measured in a matter of feet and is really only on for the sake of background noise and the occasional glimpse of Vanna White as she marches her ancient-yet-still-eerily-sexy self to-and-fro across the WoF board or a visual confirmation of the posted clue on Jeopardy to clarify any suspicions before I rattle off what is little more than an educated guess (curse you, Alex Trebek). So Mother Nature, for the sake of pointing out her firm hold on my life, likes to make little shows for me to crane my neck to take in (I consider the resulting neck-strain as the sadistic, old hag's punchline). Tonight, more than most nights lately, I've been shown a rather random and chaotic show:

The late afternoon (somewhere in the area of 4:30-5:30 PM) started off, while not sunny, relatively pleasant. It was somewhat cloudy, but not to the point of being anything but being a comfortably-lit afternoon. And then...

As the evening arrived, I noticed--not without a substantial amount of surprise--that there was a great deal of moisture on my rooftop outside of my hallway window (though I'd heard or seen no rainfall). Soon after this discovery, Mother Nature, rather than confirming the discovery with further rainfall, decided that some strong thunderstorms were overdue (but didn't want to splurge for the lightning, I guess). So I got a nice li'l roaring soundtrack for about half-an-hour, but then...

7:00 PM rolls around and suddenly a dry thunder seemed so--I don't know--ten minutes ago. So Mother Nature, never one to be pegged as predictable, barrels through my expectations and drop kicks our town in the teeth with some concussive rainfall and, 'cuz I guess later is better than never, some insanely bright lightning.

All of this was--for me, at least--incredibly inconvenient, as the resulting weather service warning that appeared on the screen hid the category for Wheel of Fortune and gave my fiancee the edge (I think she and Mother Nature are in league against me @_@).

And now, a mere half-hour later, complete, stark, and utter silence.

So here it is, what I'm sure the old bird is waiting for:

OH HEED ME NOW, MOTHER NATURE, I BOW BEFORE YOU AND SUCCUMB TO YOUR INFLUENCES AND POWERS OVER US, YOUR HUMBLE SERVANTS! PLEASE GRACE US WITH A BOUNTIFUL HARVEST!!