End Of Days 2

I know, I know. It's getting warmer. Global warming. Lalala. El Nino. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

I listen. I care. I do my best to leave a light footprint and all that. It's in my nature, having been raised in the Jimmy Carter era.

They say that it only becomes real when it hits home, when it affects YOU.

For the last 3 weeks or so, it has been above freezing, here in the once-frozen tundra. I wear mud boots rather than snow boots when we go for our daily tromps. The snow is long gone. There is warmth to the sun when it shines. It has rained AT NIGHT.

Dreading the worst and knowing that, despite the weather, we are in January, not late March, and therefore should expect a few more months of hard, cold weather, I got down and looked at the plants in the garden. Yup. The shrubs, like the above viburnum, have ruddy, swellings of new leaves. Here, we have the base of a columbine with not just green hints, but an actual leaf. Finally, here, we have bulbs coming up. Under the lilacs, which are budding, too. Can't blame them. It was in the 50s and sunny, yesterday. I was out in a T-shirt.

Supposed to be in the mid-upper 30s for the next week, at least.

This is not what has me getting my affairs in order, though. Nope. This is just some sort of climate swing, whether it is due to the misdeeds of man or just Ma Nature having a good laugh at us, I couldn't say for sure. One year, or one decade, in the grand scheme of things is too short a time in the whole cosmic scheme to tell.

{Break to sing Monty Python's "The Galaxy Song"}

Nope. What really has me getting my affairs in order and tossing a loaf of bread to a leper is what happened yesterday.

Colin came home from school and, after finishing his homework, asked if he could play on the computer a bit.

"Sure", I said. Why not. There's about an hour before dinner. He's done great. He then goes to his room to get something and comes back and says, "Mom. My room's a mess. I should clean it up before I play." And he proceeded to do so.

I fainted dead away.

The world is coming to an end. Consider yourselves warned.