What an delightful but odd country I live in. At least, my neck of the woods is odd when it comes to the weather. We've had some very hot days this summer - far too hot for me. I don't do well with the heat. I used to love it when I was younger, but the older I get, and the worse the fibromyalgia gets, the less tolerance I have for hot weather.
However, it's been a fairly decent summer from my point of view, as we've also had more rain than usual, which has brought some cooler spells to keep things bearable. We've had some wonderful thunderstorms. I love them, but my youngest dog doesn't share my enthusiasm. There's nothing like being woken up at some ungodly hour of the morning, feeling four little paws crawling over my head, pulling my hair out by the roots, as the little one tries to get as far away from the window - you know, the window that the big bangs are coming from! - as she can yet still stay close to me. I can get her settled a bit, but there's no chance of going back to sleep, because the bed is shaking so badly from her trembling that it feels as if I'm in a minor earthquake. One morning the shaking bed woke me up - she hadn't even started crawling over my head yet! I do feel sorry for the poor wee girl, but I can't help but be amused. 
She's always been afraid of loud noises. I remember when a friend of mine bought my dogs toys for Christmas one year. She got the eldest a squeaky hamburger - a very LOUD squeaky hamburger. Lady (the eldest) loved it - still does, as a matter of fact. Misty (the youngest) was so terrified of it that she would race frantically from the room as soon as Lady started playing with it. Misty would run to the kitchen, to the far wall - the furthest point in the house that she could get from the Hamburger From Hell. She would suck herself up against the wall as if she were hoping to osmose herself through it! I took pity on her and didn't leave the Hamburger From Hell out all the time. I would give it to Lady to play with occasionally, and Misty finally got to the point where she could stay in the same room with it - although she still doesn't like it. But Lady is like a wee puppy again when she gets hold of that thing - she loves it so much that I refuse to not let her play with it now and then.
But I digress. The weather has been quite toasty for the last few days, so I was delighted to wake up to heavy cloud cover and rain this morning. It rained all day, and it was such a nice break from the heat. There was no thunder though, which was very good as far as Misty is concerned! However, tonight it's actually cold - almost cold enough to turn the furnace on. I refuse to turn the furnace on in July though! (I may have to soon, as I heard we might get snow. THAT can take a hike, as far as I'm concerned!) I usually refuse to close my windows too - even if I'm shivering! It's far too cold tonight to have them open, so I bowed to my sensible brain cells and kept the windows closed.
The odd bit about the weather here is how we can go from very hot temperatures to weather that's suited for late autumn/early winter in the space of a day. Heck, around here we can go to those extremes within the same day! I recall one day, many years ago, when we had a temperature drop of about 20 degrees celcius in the space of four hours. Of course no one had dressed for it, since even the weathermen weren't prepared for that little gem. It was amusing to watch the entire downtown working population go from being nice and warm in the morning to racing frantically for their various parking lots by lunch time.
The cold temperatures were made even colder with the windchill, which is especially bad in our downtown core. The wind whips around all the highrises, so even the slightest breeze ends up being a bit of a gale there. Word to the wise - don't EVER go downtown here wearing a knee-length or shorter full skirt, especially if you have your arms full of papers and stuff from work that you're carting around. Trust me on this. Been there, done that, gave a good majority of the downtown workers a free rush hour show! If you don't have an ankle-length skirt - or at least a tight-fitting skirt - then wear pants in the downtown area!
I see I've digressed again. Who, me? Digress? I would never do that, would I? 
I really don't have anything else to add, though. I was sitting here shivering, refusing to turn the furnace on, and decided to ramble a bit about our wacky weather. I did break down and make a lovely warm cup of tea, so at least the steam has thawed my nose out. I'm quite cozy, sitting here sipping my tea, looking out at the storm clouds, and nattering to my friends on the Hill. It's a lovely way to spend a stormy evening! I am in no way complaining about the cold either. I'd far rather have this weather than the heat, and I am hoping for more of this tomorrow!
Take care, everyone! Have a safe, cozy, and peaceful night!
