The wind is blowing like a spooky scene in a movie outside my window. What’s left of the leaves on the trees really have no chance at this point. It’s autumn and it’s acting like it, regardless of the fact that I was getting comfortable with weather in the upper 60s.

I’m not sure if it’s the wind or the rain or the cold that’s stirring things up, but I feel like the universe is out to annoy me.

I mean, I woke up this morning to the rain beating on the roof of this house and the wind whipping its hardest against the siding. It felt like it might shape up to be a nice day to stay home under the blankets, only, some people have to work.

And I am some people.

So I drug my weary body out of bed only to discover Husband milling around the house with a headlamp strapped to his forhead. Thinking this was a sweet ploy not to wake me in the dark of the early morning hours, I pulled my robe around me tight and flipped on the light switch.

And got nothing.

The same result with the faucet.

No power.

No water.

No lights, no coffee, no heat, no coffee, no shower, no coffee.

No coffee.

Well, I had to get to town so I came up with a reason this situation was a good thing. If I couldn’t take a shower, at least it was dark enough in the house so that I couldn’t see my hair sticking up or if my socks matched. At least I would have an excuse for looking disheveled. So I loaded myself and my empty thermos into the car and made my way to town, put on a little makeup in the visor mirror of my car when I arrived and, well, it all went down hill from there.

And I blame the wind.

I blame the wind for the fact that not even a ponytail can contain this wild hair. And for the hole in my sock that my big toe’s been poking through all day.

I blame the wind for my attention defect disorder while trying to meet a deadline.

I blame the wind for the long lines at the postoffice, the grocery store, the gas station and at the stoplight in town. I mean, it could be the damn apocalypse.

I blame the wind for blowing the door open to the house while I was gone and bringing with it a nice collection of leaves I’ll be cleaning out of this place until next fall.

I blame the wind for the fact that the dogs ran away. Again.

And while I’m at it, I blame the wind for compelling this ridiculously playful kitten to take painful swipes at my fingers as they move across the keyboard before she decides to climb up the back of my sweater to perch on my shoulder and put her butt in my face.

And it’s the wind’s fault that I have no idea what to make for supper, which is even a bigger problem because I skipped lunch. That was the wind’s fault too. And so is the lack of wine in the house and the fact that the lights in the bathroom didn’t come on with the rest of them when the power returned.

I blame the wind for the cow poop in the yard and the fact that we might never get around to finishing this house.

I blame the wind for the moldy cheese in my fridge, my laundry pile-up situation, the lack of cell-phone service in this house, my missing motivation to run a marathon, lift a weight, climb a hill or do any related form of exercise , the weird mole on my neck, my shattered dreams of becoming a professional figures skater, my sub-par culinary skills and my unruly eyebrows.

I blame the wind.

I blame the wind.

I blame the wind.

And I feel better.