Delirious Assumptions

In just one day I went from being in 29 degree weather to 84 degree weather. A few days ago I was wearing wool socks, heavy sweaters, a wool coat, gloves and a scarf. Today I am back to wearing a tank top and flip flops. I am also back to doing laundry in our semi-automatic washing machine (stick hose into left basin, fill with water, detergent and clothes-- wash for 15 minutes; transfer clothes to right basin for a 5 minute spin; transfer clothes back to left basin, fill with water again and let rinse for another 15 minutes; put clothes back on the right for a last spin and then take them all outside to hang dry). As I was hanging out my morning wash, warm breeze caressing my face and lifting up strands of my hair, I marveled at how just days ago I was standing in a little bit of snow; a biting wind stinging my face and threatening to blow off my knit cap. In less than 24 hours I went from icy Colorado back to the sultry Dominican Republic. I thank God for all the hours spent on airplanes and in airports, where the 'weather' is controlled and is kind of an 'anti-climate' that helped me transition back to my tropical world.
It is surreal being back here though, I have to admit. Last night as I was attempting to fall asleep (jet lag still in operation), I laid in bed semi-listening to a neighbor's party going on. Usually, typical Dominican Merengue and Bachata music are blasting during such events, but this time, for some reason, it was all Mexican Mariachi music, which was making the Dominicans hoot and holler much louder than normal. They were having their own cross-cultural experience. Anyway, like at most parties, certain people get really drunk and then get really loud and then start wandering the street being really loud and drunk in front of your house. Our two dobermans were very thankful to have something to incessantly bark at. This also was hindering my ability to drift off into no man's land. In my mind, I kept yelling at the dogs to be quiet, cuz, you know, it would have taken too much effort to get up and actually yell at them through the window. Plus, I didn't want said drunk guys to know a woman was home alone. Anyway, after a bit, the drunks got just as annoyed as I did and I heard two very loud bangs. Someone shot my dogs! I thought. My heart started pounding. I laid very still in bed. I prayed, too, not knowing what else to do at that point. After about 7 minutes or so of no dog barking and total silence outside, I crept out of bed to peek out the window to see if I had two dead dobermans laying on the driveway. Instead, I saw two quiet dobermans standing by the gate doing nothing. Weird. What were those loud bangs? Since I didn't want to walk outside in my pj's in the middle of the night to investigate, I made an assumption that the drunk guys decided to throw some fruit or heavy sticks at our dogs that hit the side of the house, making such a loud noise. This is what neighborhood kids do to our dogs during the day. I finally fell asleep.
This morning, after hanging out the first load of laundry, I walked around the house looking for evidence. You know what I found? Exploded balloons!! The guys probably tried throwing balloons at our dogs or something and our fierce dobermans ripped into them with their ferocious teeth causing majorly loud poppage. I guess balloons popping in the middle of the night can sound like gun shots. Or maybe I was just delirious.