Windy? Blowing Dust?

 It might be windy and dusty later but right now it is cloudy and calm. Whatever happens, it isn't at all cold and won't be. I got a lot of work done outside yesterday, an important first step. 

The Holidays Over At Last

 For 2022 the holidays are finally over, that end-of-year clot. I won't have to deal with that for a while. But that big wheel keeps on turning, doesn't it. Round and round we go, and so on. VERY mild weather today! Feels great. Work done outside yesterday, but I'm far from finished with that. 

What can you do, eh?

New Year's Eve

 Big event for drunks, unfortunately. I wouldn't be out tonight for any reason. Drunk drivers. Nice weather though. 

In the last few days there have been a lot of multiple car pile-ups. Getting ready for crash and bash night? An early onset of celebration frenzy? Count me out. 

January Winds

 In January the winds really start to kick up and the month has sometimes been notable for dust storms, one after another, the sky turning brown. If not, then January tends to be brutally cold with one ice storm after another. Name your poison. I guess I'd rather have dirt and high wind to deal with than ice. It's a climate of extremes around here. I've lived in Lubbock more or less continuously since 1967. I think I've seen it all, including an F5 tornado that tore the heck out of the area I lived in at that time. For several years after that, tornado watches, alerts, and warnings were common. Now, not so common. We were in the heart of "Tornado Alley". Tornado Alley seems to be a thing of the past. The climate has definitely changed! And it is still changing. 

There used to be huge fields of sunflowers around Lubbock, mixed with the cotton fields. Nobody tries to grow sunflowers now, and I think the change in rainfall patterns must account for that. Annual rainfall is way down, with drought the norm. Cotton does not even do well now. In fact, I remember corn fields, years ago! There's not much you can grow when you've got little to no soil moisture. I think, in terms of survival, Lubbock and the surrounding towns have dismal prospects. We are becoming more and more dependent on a supply of ground water that is NOT renewable-- a finite resource. Nobody likes to talk about that, or think about that. But that is the reality. 

No DUST!

 It was windy yesterday but also mostly cloudy and I never noticed any dust in the air. It looks to be a very nice weekend coming up. I plan to do some work outdoors. There are things I need to do in one of the gardens. 

The only dumb thing left this year is New Year's. And the next really stupid holiday will be far enough in the future to forget about. With any luck at all it'll be rained out.