Random thoughts while cleaning the bathroom: •• Faithful readers know how much I love West Texas weather — and by “love” I mean “endure” — so I shouldn’t have been surprised when autumn arrived in full force Wednesday. Autumn officially started a few days ago, but most years in this area, you’d never notice. Cooler weather, one of autumn’s trademarks, is usually just a rumor here, unless you think the temperature dropping from 95 to 90 qualifies as “cooler.” Seriously, autumn is my favorite season, mainly because it offers relief from the oven-like summers around here. The trouble with autumn in West Texas is that it’s usually non-existent except for a couple of weekends in November. The rest of the time, it’s either summer hot or winter cold around here. That’s probably the reason so many Texans are “either-or” people — you know, as in you’re either for us or against us. Our weather is that way, so why should we be any different? I’ve long wanted to take a trip up to New England this time of year just to see all the tree leaves change color. I’m told by some of my Yankee friends that it really is a wondrous sight. Around here, though, the leaves usually don’t change color until they’ve fallen off the trees and been laying on the ground for a week or two. Not quite as picturesque. Long story short: Autumn is nothing but one big disappointment for me. So, imagine my surprise Wednesday when I woke up to discover that temperatures had dived into the low 50s. For a second, I thought either the weather app on my phone was on the fritz or that I had accidentally slept through the rest of September and most of October. But it was no joke. Here it was, still in late September and it was definitely sweater weather. Pardon the quick aside, but I’m sure my Yankee friends will have a good chortle over my describing 50-ish temperatures as cold. Considering that I laugh at them for almost everything else connected with living in the frozen north, I guess I can let them have a little fun. Back to Wednesday. The weather was darned near perfect, except for the cold rain. Far be it from a native West Texan like me to gripe about rain, but I’d rather raindrops didn’t feel like icicles when they’re hitting me. Other than that, though, it was nice. It felt nice wearing my coat, like reacquainting myself with an old friend. The cool air was bracing. The world was a wonderful place. I was reminded of something my grandfather said. He remarked he always preferred cold weather to hot because you can always put on enough clothes to get warm, but you can’t always take off enough clothes — legally, at least — to stay cool. Maybe that’s why I like autumn so much. During the summer, we are slaves to the elements. Once temperatures rise beyond a certain point, you can be cool or you can be outside, but you can’t be both. In autumn, however, you can once again exert some degree of control over those matters. Temperatures in the 50s or 40s? No problem. Just slap on a coat and a hat and you’re ready to go. Of course, Wednesday was likely a mirage. A quick look at the weather forecast showed me that temperatures are expected to climb up to the high 80s by the end of the week. The coat will go back into the closet and I will switch off the heater and switch on the air conditioner once again. Ah, autumn in West Texas — I’ll see you next month. Steve Reagan is a staff writer at the Snyder Daily News. Comments about his column may be emailed to news@snyderdailynews.com.