Fall or Winter?

We have had a pretty uneventful weekend here, which allowed me to get caught up on many of the things I have been meaning to do for weeks now. It was great to pick up Matt from the airport on Friday after his technologically challenged week. I wasn't sure how I was going to know when to leave the 45 minute parking area to pick him up, (we cheat and do our pick-ups at the departures place because arrivals is always a zoo) but I figured the worst thing that could happen was that I would circle the airport a few times until he showed up at our designated spot.
Our plan ended up being that Matt would call me from a pay phone, with the instructions for me not to answer so that he got his money back. :) I know, we are cheaters of the system, but it worked without a hitch! We had a nice evening in, since we were both exhausted from the week. I mustered up enough energy to make a steak dinner though, and then ended up having to clean up too because I was in trouble for watching the season premier of Grey's Anatomy without Matt. I couldn't help it...it was just taunting me to watch it on the DVR! So while Matt watched, I cleaned up and made brownies as a peace offering. :)
Saturday wasn't as relaxing as I would have hoped. Matt had to work and I am babysitting some image transfers at work, so I ended up going in for a while too. But before that I went running and took the dogs to the dog park so that they would be good for me at work (I usually bring them with me when I go in on the weekends.) It turns out that the dog park wasn't really necessary. While Pongo mildly enjoyed it as he usually does, Perdi was tired and lagging behind the whole time. She was so tired that she could barely make the jump back up into the Highlander when we were done. She slept the whole time we were at work too, which was when I knew something is definitely off with her. Usually, the dog park wakes her up and makes her hyper.
Question: Can dogs get colds? Can they get H1N1? Perdi has continued to sleep the ENTIRE weekend and she has major drainage from her nose. She also won't eat. This time, I am not making the mistake of going to the emergency vet. (It's not an emergency if she's just sweet and snuggly, right?) I figure we will just ride this one out and call the vet tomorrow if it's really necessary. I swear, our dogs see their doctor more than Matt and I do!
I have spent a good chunk of last night and tonight catching up on school work. I am really enjoying Penn State's program. It's paced much better and the materials are certainly way more relevant to my job. I can't fathom what kind of state of mind I would be in right now if I had continued with my Aeronautical Engineering class at Purdue.
Now, I will explain why I titled this post the way I did. This afternoon, I spent a delightful two hours raking up leaves in our front yard. It was a great afternoon to do it...the leaves were slightly damp but not soaked. (They were heavy enough that they were easy to grab without them flying all over the place.)
The funny thing was that it was pretty cold out and it was snowing off and on the entire time, which made me wonder if it is really fall or if we have moved straight into winter? We have already had a couple decent snows over the past two weeks. It just seems like it went from being in the 70's and 80's straight into the 40's and 50's. It's like we skipped a major interval in there!
Well anyway, the small-ish tree in our front yard somehow manages to produce an exorbinant amount of leaves and I filled 10 of those huge paper lawn and refuse bags, as well as one large rubbermaid trash barrell. At the end, I was starting to wonder if 10 bags were going to be enough or if I would have to run back to Home Depot for more. As soon as I was done raking, I went inside and took a shower to warm back up. I don't think I was in there for more than 20 minutes, but when I got out, i happened to notice that our skylight was covered in a layer of snow and it hadn't been before. (None of the previous snow sessions had really stuck.) Sure enough, I looked out the window and everything had been transformed into a winter wonderland in 30 minutes! I finished raking just in time, apparently. I took the opportunity to take a little nap on the couch under a pile of blankets with my sick little puppy.
All in all, I'd call it a productive weekend! I can't believe tomorrow is Monday already...