Happy Longerdays!

[serious crayons]

I think offices are having a difficult time getting people to come into the office to work now, especially since everyone found out just how much of their jobs can be done at home.

True. At least in the case of my company, which is right in downtown Minneapolis, some suspect they were feeling pressure to return to the office from downtown businesses -- the places people go for lunch or to pick up a few things -- maybe through the Downtown Business Council. Many downtown places closed during COVID including, sadly, my favorite sushi-bowl place.

I've been going in most Tuesdays. The lunch places I frequent always have long lines because I think Tuesday is the most popular day to go in. There are a couple of other sushi-bowl places, but their lines tend to be long and I don't like them as well as the old place.

[serious crayons]

If you refuse to observe the Labor Day weekend as the end of summer, does that mean that summer never ends? At least until September 21?

A while back, I heard that meteorologists think of summer as June, July and August. September, October and November are fall; December, January and February are winter; March, April and May are spring. I guess I'd rather coordinate with the equinoxes and solstices, as we do, but their way is how a lot of people treat the seasons anyway. Schools get out in early June and starts in early September. Those of us in snowy climates start shoveling and keep doing so through about February. In temperate climates, trees start budding and plants start growing back as early as March.

[Jeff Wrangler]

A while back, I heard that meteorologists think of summer as June, July and August. September, October and November are fall; December, January and February are winter; March, April and May are spring. I guess I'd rather coordinate with the equinoxes and solstices, as we do, but their way is how a lot of people treat the seasons anyway. Schools get out in early June and starts in early September. Those of us in snowy climates start shoveling and keep doing so through about February. In temperate climates, trees start budding and plants start growing back as early as March.

I've heard that about the "meteorological seasons" before. By now it shouldn't shock me, but it still does, when I hear about schools starting in August, before Labor Day. In all my growing up years, I never had any school open before Labor Day until I got to college. I think schools opening after Labor Day must have been much more common at one time. That even figures in dialog in one of my favorite movies, Auntie Mame (with Rosalind Russell, not to be confused with Mame, the musical, with Lucille Ball). Auntie Mame is reminded that school starts the day after Labor Day.

But it's funny, I was thinking just recently that when I was a kid, summer vacation wasn't as long as I seemed to think it was. I'm sure we were still in school for Flag Day, which is June 14, or the middle of that month, and we went back to school the day after Labor Day. so that makes a vaction of--what?--about ten weeks?

[Front-Ranger]

A while back, I heard that meteorologists think of summer as June, July and August. September, October and November are fall; December, January and February are winter; March, April and May are spring.

But that makes spring and fall be as long as summer and winter, when in fact, they are shorter, aren't they? It's an artificial construct, anyway, because here we have a day of summer followed by a day of winter in the spring.

Schools get out in early June and starts in early September. Those of us in snowy climates start shoveling and keep doing so through about February. In temperate climates, trees start budding and plants start growing back as early as March.

Here, schools start in early August. It's something the teachers' union pushed through so all could have two-three weeks off during the holidays.

[Jeff Wrangler]

But that makes spring and fall be as long as summer and winter, when in fact, they are shorter, aren't they?

I'd say not. There are three months from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox, three months from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice, three months from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox, and three months from the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice.

[CellarDweller]

If you refuse to observe the Labor Day weekend as the end of summer, does that mean that summer never ends? At least until September 21?

I stay in summer mode until the Autumnal Equinox.   I've always heard of Labor Day referred to as the "unofficial" end of summer.

[serious crayons]

I stay in summer mode until the Autumnal Equinox.   I've always heard of Labor Day referred to as the "unofficial" end of summer.

Here, it does feel like someone flips a switch after Labor Day. Almost immediately the days are noticeably shorter and high temps are lower. I realize the transition is at least theoretically more gradual than that. But next week we have a couple of days with highs in the mid-60s. Brrrrr ....

[CellarDweller]

Here, it does feel like someone flips a switch after Labor Day. Almost immediately the days are noticeably shorter and high temps are lower. I realize the transition is at least theoretically more gradual than that. But next week we have a couple of days with highs in the mid-60s. Brrrrr ....

sounds like heaven to me!

[Jeff Wrangler]

I seem not to be adapting well to the shortening of days. Once it's dark, I keep feeling that it should be about an hour later than it actually is. Right now I feel like it should be 10:20 p.m., but it's only 9:20 p.m.

[Front-Ranger]

I went out at about 5:30 pm and started pruning my cherry tree. Many suckers have come up from the ground so, in no time at all, I had a pile of trimmings higher than me. I also cut down a stand of Northern oat grass that had grown so tall that I couldn't even see my pond. What good is a pond that you can't even see? It was a relief when night fell and I could go in. Whew!