My mornings generally begin one of two ways.  The first is rolling over in my bed to be greeted in the face by my dog.  She will come right to the edge of the bed and lick my face.  This tells me that she is extremely happy over the possibility that I am awake and what may come next.  The other way, is that I roll over in my bed and open my eyes to see my dog begin to prance about and let out a thunderous bark.  This tells me of her intentions of seriously heeding the call of nature.  This particular morning was filled to the brim with very serious intentions…

It should also be mentioned that I am NOT a morning person.  Say good morning to me and you're suddenly playing a type of lottery in which the grand prize is a punch to your noggin.  Compounding matters, I live in Denver, which may be in theory, the brightest place in the known universe.  My theory is this: on average, the Earth is approximately 92,955,887.6 miles away from the sun.  Since Denver is literally a mile high in elevation, it means that we are one mile closer to the sun, thus…making it the brightest place in the known universe.  Some argue against this theory by stating that I am not a morning person, thus the sun in the morning only appears to be brighter and more annoying.  I counter with the notion that argument is invalid due to the fact that the people stating the argument are probably morning people.  People who should be publicly flogged and imprisoned.  Anyway…

Not twenty feet from my door, Nyx, my dog, and I run into three elderly people all looking towards the West.  As we get close, we are bombarded with a round of cheery "good mornings."  Great.  Then came this "Have you seen the UFO yet?"

For the record, I have now been awake for about four minutes.  Within that time frame, I do not usually scan the skies for UFO's.  It usually takes me six minutes…

I think I kind of sighed and turned my head to the West.  There was indeed something in the sky off in the distance.  A large, dark roundish object just kind of hovering.  I turned my head back towards the three people and asked "You mean the black hot-air balloon?"

I was met with their agreed analysis that it was much too round.  I countered that it seems to be tapered at the bottom.  Also the "hovering" suggests a hot-air balloon as well.  They were still not convinced.

Then I said "It's Labor Day weekend.  Probably a promotional thing.  If we were closer, we'd probably see some writing on it promoting something."

This…struck a chord with them.  I found that odd.  Argue the shape or flight pattern and it gets you no where.  Mention the possibility of a promotional stunt, and decade upon decade of being bombarded by commercialism tells them that what they are seeing in not of a paranormal nature, but that of a typical stunt seen around holidays.  Funny how your background can alter your perception of events, isn't it?  Perhaps speaking in terms of the shape an air-born craft or suggested flight patterns didn't coincide with what they knew.  But all three instantly related to crazy stunts seen throughout the years in order to draw customers, especially places that sell either cars or mattresses.

As Nyx and I left the group, we were once again bombarded, but this time with a chorus of "have a good morning."  I sighed and nodded.  I hate mornings…

I wish I lived a bit higher than sea level. I can't get a signal out from here…

Great story. Also, older people's vision ain't what it used to be, many long years ago, so they may have only seen a blur.