A Spring-like Pattern

 That is what they say, and it stays dry, dry, dry. Pray for rain! Where is Uri Geller when we need him? Wind is down, too. 

I can deal with that. I can be content with that. 

Yesterday Was Weird

 Started off with heavy fog and light rain, transitioned to mild wind and sunshine and warming then up came the HOWLING WIND, with gusts in town up to hurricane force, massive amounts of blowing dust, and sustained winds of 45 to 55 mph. That crap continued from about 4 PM to 2AM this morning. I got through it OK and didn't even get noticeable dust in the house. But it was an annoying example of the brainless PU, that idiot machine, grinding away, subject to the laws of physics. And we are not done with the wind yet, although it should not be as bad as it was yesterday. Today it might be more normal crap. I have not checked the news yet, so I wonder how it was farther west of here. Probably much worse. Anyone who tells you that the universe is hospitable to life is a moron, and a fool. 

Those who believe in intelligent design are living proof that there is no such thing. An intelligently designed universe would not be plagued with half-wits. 

Today Will Be Weird

 I've just got that feeling. 

Yesterday Was A Little Like Winter

 Could have been worse I guess. It wasn't a once in a billion years unprecedented generational apocalyptic bomb cyclone unlike anything that will ever be seen again in the entire history of planet earth. No, it was not one of those. We get those several times a year but not this time. By Sunday we might hit eighty degrees F but winds will be bad. Winds will be bad every day for at least a week. This part of Texas is a shithole, elevated to about 3000 feet above sea level, mashed flat and scoured by wind. Very flat and very featureless but a shithole nevertheless. Disregard the elevation. A shithole is a shithole. And Lubbock is right in the middle of that windswept void. Not much you can grow here except cotton, and even that is becoming a difficult crop due to the lack of rain. Dryland cotton is just about impossible anymore. And irrigation is using up irreplaceable ground water, water from an aquifer that won't recharge in a thousand years. I remember when there were fields of sunflowers! I remember when farmers around here even planted corn! I remember when the average annual rainfall was eighteen inches!! Wow! 

Cold This Morning

 It might be very nice Sunday if the wind isn't strong enough to put more crap in the air. No such luck, probably. The howling wind speaks to the vacancy of this area. The emptiness and desolation, with a drought on top of that, makes for a bleak landscape. But it could always be worse. And that's not a very good thought, is it? If it COULD be worse, it probably WILL be worse. 

It's kind of cold this morning, since another little front blew through. It's still winter, obviously. Someday it might rain! Someday. 

REALLY Dusty Yesterday!

 But I'd rather have a brown-out than a white-out, and it was not cold. Limited visibility and a lot of hazardous crap blowing around. Almost had a wreck swerving to avoid what looked to be one of those plastic utility boxes blowing across the street right in front of me. It must have been sitting in an alley waiting for installation and the wind got it. Yesterday began windy and it stayed that way until well after sunset. Today it won't be so bad. 

A lot of flimsy fences got knocked over and that means escaped pets. My fence has 8 foot steel uprights with 2 feet anchored in concrete with a concrete skirt all around the perimeter. That's what it takes to deal with this kind of wind. Expensive? You bet. Cedar planks six inches wide and an inch thick fastened to cedar 2 by 4 horizontals with treated decking screws. Someday I really ought to consider ribbon wire as an adornment for this structure.