Autumn in Las Vegas

All of a sudden, the weather here has changed. It's like somebody flipped a switch; what was blazing hot by day and toasty at night has now become absolutely gorgeous by day and pants-weather at night. We had four or five days of very strong west winds coming in over the mountains, but those have now, for the most part, died away, and what's left is perfect weather.

The effect on the people here is a lot like what happens in Minnesota sometime late in March or in early April, when the weather has moderated and you see people poking their heads out of their winter holes to go roller-blading and getting back into being outside. The same thing's happening here: all those Porsche roadsters and 6 Series coupes are driving around topless; people are eating outside on the patios of restaurants; you see people going for runs in the afternoon.

The thing that's kind of funny about it is that it's not actually all that cool; our daily highs have been in the mid-80s. But when you go from highs in the high 100s to the 80s in less than a week, it feels downright chilly. I'll admit that I'm a part of it too. When The Madame and I walked over to the brewery last weekend to celebrate the new union of Mr. and Mrs. Muffin (congratulations, by the way), I wore jeans and didn't once regret it. I guess it's official: I'm local now.