Thursday, July 17, 2014

cold snaps are fine by me

 It seems like most of North America is experiencing a 'cold snap' right now, based on my ultra-scientific research (social media and a news headline I saw (but did not read the article)). Unlike cold snaps in the middle of winter, a mid-July cold snap is pretty extremely awesome. For us in Georgia it means that we get a few delightful days of highs in the mid-80s (instead of mid-to-upper-90s) with humidity around 50% (instead of 381294340392929%). It's blissful. I almost want to say tell me where it's like this all summer long, I'm moving there...but I'm guessing that if it's this mild in the summer there, the winters would be long and terrible and I would quickly come to regret my choice. I'll just stay put and enjoy this cold snap while it lasts.


After dinner we took a bike ride. Sometimes living in the sticks is annoying (like when you need an ingredient for something and don't want to drive 15 miles to get it), but when it's a lovely summer evening and you want to ride your bike without fear of getting smooshed by an 18-wheeler...it's perfect. We're surrounded by miles and miles of untrafficky and scenic roads. If only they were flat...then it'd be perfect. As it is is, they're hilly enough to be quite a decent workout.

Somehow it took me until last night to realize that with the way I strap my phone onto my handlebars, I CAN TAKE A SELFIE WHILE RIDING. I know. Revolutionary. I can't believe I've wasted so many bike rides by not properly documenting the bottom of my chin. As an added bonus, the bike selfies are even worse than normal selfies because you have the regular graininess of the front-facing camera PLUS the added obstacle of the phone being inside a clear plastic case thingy that straps it to the bike...resulting in a picture so blurry it's almost like an Impressionist painting or something. Fabulous, isn't it? Also, please try to imagine the intensity of Matt's eye rolling when he discovered me taking selfies while riding a bike. To my credit, I only did it while we were like...in deserted neighborhoods, barely moving. I'm not that reckless...

Speaking of neighborhoods- in one of them near our house, I discovered next-door-neighbor houses for sale. Isn't that awesome? It brought back a dozen memories of people I swore I was going to grow up and be next-door-neighbors with. But then it turns out to be not so easy to make your "let's be next-door-neighbors forever!" dreams come true because next-door-neighbor houses just aren't always on the market at the same time...and not to mention, what're the odds your best friend is also house-hunting at the same time and that the house next to you is going to meet all the needs her family has? Yeah. Slim. But just in case any of you are looking to move and you have hand-picked your future next-door-neighbor...if you don't mind living in the sticks, I have just the house(s) for you.

Not to end on a downer, but I really do need to report that the bike ride wasn't all fun and selfies. Right as we were finishing and putting our bikes back into the garage, I felt something sting my sweaty back (that was clothed in a sweaty t-shirt, mind you). I reached my hand up the back of my shirt and didn't feel anything, so I decided it must have been my imagination. Then I felt it again, higher. I reached in again and discovered a freaking FIRE ANT chomping its way up my back!! How?! Why?! What on earth. Stupid bugs. So now I have a trail of fire ant bites (and if you've never experienced the joy of fire ants, trust me when I say they are a whole different ballgame from regular ant bites) up my spine. Wildlife is way overrated.

16 comments:

  1. Ok. I really need to move to Athens. Bearable winters, miles and mikes of scenic roads and your amazing restaurants!

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  2. Enjoy your cold snap! We have weather like that all summer although right now the 'cold snap' has me seriously tempted to turn on the heat and the only thing keeping me from it is "WHO TURNS ON THE HEAT IN JULY?!?!??!?" Our low last night was 7C (44F). That's way too cold.

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  3. I am LOVING this weather. Loving it. But I do agree if this was our normal summers, our winters would probably be pretty awful.

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  4. I LOVE this weather - seriously if every summer could be like this! Sorry about the fire ants :( I've never gotten them before and I hope not to!!

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  5. I love this weather! I'm wearing a sweatshirt right now.....how awesome is that! Funny to think about picking your next door neighbors. When I was in about 2nd or 3rd grade, there was a house for sale in our neighborhood that my friend and I were going to buy. We even went there to make a list of things that they needed to fix before we would buy it. And the coolest part was there was a little balcony off the master that looked over the living room. It was the perfect Rapunzel or Juliet house and it was going to be ours.

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  6. This weather is incredible. I think this should be the weekend to work in the yard, but I'm seriously considering doing NOTHING but relaxing (until the rain starts).

    We have fire ants at the house... NOT COOL! I've been bitten just about every time I've gone out to work in the yard (i.e. rescue bushes/water flowers). Yet another reason I should probably skip the yard work!

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  7. Athens sounds like such a sweet place to live! Except for the fire ants, of course. Little demons from hell!! Hope the bites fade quickly!

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  8. I have been loving this weather, too--so nice to sleep with the windows open in July! It's a shame you weren't able to capture Matt's eye roll as well, but I am very impressed with your ability to bike and take selfies at the same time. Pretty sure if I tried that I'd be off in a ditch somewhere.

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  9. I think it would be pretty awesome living next to you, not to mention I could brush up on my grammar skills! haha I'm pretty sure I'll be in Texas for a while but I am a fellow 'live in the sticks' type neighbor if there is such a thing.

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  10. Death to fire ants! Nasty little creatures. Maybe the cold will kill them off? A girl can hope, right?

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  11. Well...Oregon summers are usually mid-80s with no humidity, and our winters aren't very long or super cold. So I guess the signs are saying to move here! And we don't have fire ants. I don't know if I've ever even seen one before? Maybe once in California.

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  12. those pesky fire ants!!! I stepped in pile of them a few weeks ago - that is NOT fun!

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  13. Stupid fire ants! I had one bite me on my breast area, as I was going to bed. I blamed it on my dog for bringing it inside the house. Ugh!

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  14. Boo for fire ant bites but yay for amazing weather!! You can pass some of that nice weather on to Houston right about now. . . :)

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  15. You are correct. Chicago has gorgeous summers (that yes, sometimes get much too hot - but only for a little bit!) but the worst damn winters in the world. Good pizza, though.
    We'd be happy to have you as a snowbird!

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  16. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!
    Hope the fire ant bites are healing.

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