Today is the first day of fall, that is as of 10:49 AM this morning…

“Technically speaking, the first day of fall is known as the autumnal equinox, and it did arrive today, Saturday, Sept. 22, at 10:49 a.m. EDT (14:49 Universal Time). In the Northern Hemisphere, the sun rises later and the nights come sooner. In the Southern Hemisphere, spring begins. On the equinox, the day and night are of approximately equal length.” Not verbatim, but pretty close, thanks to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/21/first-day-of-fall-autumnal-equinox-2012-when-is-september-22_n_1904053.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003 The weather changes here in the South East of America are infinitesimal; actually nothing has changed at all. Although, while watching a New York station over the last couple of days I did notice they had a chill in the air; since jackets and sweaters were worn outside of their studio. Unless you've lived here, in Southwest Florida it might surprise you that our weather changes very little year-round. Except if you count our dry season and our rainy season. Our mean temperature for the year I do believe it's in the mid-70s, while during the rainy season causes higher humidity and of course that would mean the dry season would have lower humidity, duh. Each of those last about six months. We just had a healthy roar of thunder pass above our home. A gentle rain has been falling for the last hour or so. We have access to the site called weather underground and its radar shows us what direction and the intensity of the rain that is coming towards us or overhead and vaguely one can tell if it is long lived or we are in for short periods of drizzle. Moving on… Slight interruption, our adorable noble canine, Skipper was doing his Bichon blitz routine; the thing I told you about, where he runs around in circles, very large circles inside or out and looks a little bit like a greyhound chasing a rabbit around the track, but he's not chasing anything. It's unique to the breed, he is eight and a half years old almost and we first found out that this is common in his breed way back in 2005 while on a trip to our Panhandle. When in Oceanside, Florida, we met another couple that also had a Bichon Frise and we compared notes and oddly enough theirs also did what our little darling does. Sometimes it's frightening, since he's been known to bounce off of walls, yes literally, but with the additional couch in the Sunroom he seems to run atop this couch to the living room sofa and back again a few times, until he runs out of steam or will ask him loudly to stop! I can say it's a good thing the one in the Sunroom has a pub-back styling to it and the one in the living room also has a substantial back as well, for this child would be flung from window to window, since they both sit in front of windows. What a horrible thought. No one understands why this happens; only that it does. Since then we've met many others who also have Skipper type dogs and all say theirs do it too and no one knows why. Perhaps it has to do with the history of the breed. The background of the breed is quite interesting they have been around since: “The "Tenerife", or "Bichon", had success in France during the Renaissance under Francis I (1515–1547), but its popularity skyrocketed in the court of Henry III (1574–1589). The breed also enjoyed considerable success in Spain as a favorite of the Infantas, and painters of the Spanish school often included them in their works. For example, the famous artist, Francisco de Goya, included a Bichon in several of his works. Interest in the breed was renewed during the rule of Napoleon III, but then waned until the late 19th century when it became the "common dog", running the streets, accompanying the organ grinders of Barbary, leading the blind and doing tricks in circuses and fairs. On 5 March 1933, the official standard of the breed was adopted by the Société Centrale Canine, the national kennel club for France. “The Bichon was brought to the United States in 1955, and was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1973. The first US-born Bichon litter was whelped in 1956. In 1959 and 1960, two breeders in different parts of the USA acquired Bichons, which provided the origins for the breed's development in the USA.” Thanks to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bichon_%C3%A0_poil_fris%C3%A9 It was easier than trying to go into the details all by myself; I know does this make me a cheater? All this talk of cheaters in the campaign, in case you're wondering am talking about Romney calling China a cheater. How can they be a cheater? We owe them a fortune in loans from the previous administration borrowing when we ran out of money; I think, but I could be wrong, I have been wrong before. My husband and I have been wondering why Romney of all people would be saying that; since according to many sources... didn't he outsource many jobs from our country to theirs? It's only something I thought I heard, but I could be wrong, I have been wrong before… The facts are being checked almost as quickly as the accusations occur, thankfully, whew, I'm sure glad it's not my job to check them. Why, you ask? I know you didn't, since I can't hear you, but if you had… It's because they're coming out in such rapid fire, too many too soon. If it wasn't for the fact that I do enjoy watching TV and do use my telephone and this computer I would stop, just not to be annoyed by all the access they all seem to have. I do know it works both ways, we have access to them and they have access to us. What happened to privacy? I'm not running for political office, how do they know my phone number or how do they know my e-mail address or how come they can come over my airwaves? Kidding, of course, all that is accessible by anyone who has the ability to look it up, but aren't we all truly open books without secrets to hide from our government? This is America and we are free and hide nothing if we are honest decent human beings. Sadly, with the advent of the downturn in the economy many I believe might have secrets that they keep to themselves or their immediate friends and family, but not me! On that nothing to think about, allow me to be the first to wish all of you a very happy first day of fall and a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!