Cool Morning

 The weather people talk about "rain". I've seen nothing but light mist at brief intervals. It seems that we only have rain when conditions favor severe storms with damaging hail and damaging winds. Otherwise, forget it. Is it only distorted memory, or is life in Lubbock becoming crappier and crappier? I do remember times when it was possible to have fields of sunflowers, and even corn growing on the outskirts of town. That was about 40 years ago. In fact, I remember when every year we would have a virtual plague of crickets. I remember when you could drive out into the county at night and hear croaking frogs! Things have changed, and not in a good way. Now we have a plague of human beings, turning open land into residential areas where people water lawns and fill swimming pools, with water that can't be replenished, no matter how much it might rain. 

Cold Morning

 I thought we were finished with cold mornings. Not. Back on heat rather than AC. I think a few years ago we actually got significant snow in late April. But it isn't freezing. And the overnight showers were a no show. Rain? Not bloody likely. Uri Geller is still alive and has a following. What a shame that he's alive and the Amazing Randi is dead. I'd swap all the spoon benders in the world for an Amazing Randi. For that matter I'd sacrifice every Evangelical yahoo on the planet to save the life of one hooded cobra. There's nothing wrong with MY priorities. 

Rain? Rain?

 Can it rain? Will it rain? Could it rain? It's going to be kind of cool going into May. That's unusual. Has Uri Geller come back from... was he dead or alive? I ought to use google to try to find out whether he's still bending spoons, still an Israeli secret weapon. Still praying for piss, or rain, or something along those lines. Not much peace in Israel lately, as clashes heat up along religious fault lines. Interesting! But perhaps the piss situation is good, even if peace is elusive. Little Israel seemed to have started well, idealistic and socialist, back in the day. And now what do you have? A mess. Hopes and dreams dashed.  Where is Uri Geller? I don't think I could care less. Just another side show.

Cool, Windy, Dry

 Cool and clear and a bit windy, probably dust in the air later because, dry as it is around here, it does not take much of a wind to raise the dust. This is a good environment  in which to feel "otherworldly". I enjoy that, myself-- a kind of abstraction from ordinary life, as though one floats above it, viewing events and people and one's surroundings with ironic distance. But that only works until there is some disturbance, some problem, and then you are back in the muck, fighting to restore order and equilibrium. So that one can disconnect again. The older I get, the more I like to be remote. Aloof. Focused on my own little world, with little to no interest in anything outside my own little world. Ah. Some would say, that's not healthy! I'll be the judge of that. If it makes me happy, it is good. 

Ahhhhhh!

Hot, Windy, Dusty

 Kind of another bleak day yesterday, with plenty of wind and dust in the air. And now it turns cooler. April in Lubbock is not a pleasant season. Does Lubbock and the surrounding area ever have a pleasant season? Not really. Most of the time it's pretty grim. 

And with the average annual rainfall on a steady decline, I expect it to become grimmer and grittier every year. The small towns around here will bite the bullet first. Most of them are astoundingly dilapidated. You have to wonder how they go on. Their economies are frequently tied to cotton/farming and ginning. And the lack of rainfall is hurting agriculture. Rural life in this part of Texas might well be on a death spiral. You look at some of these towns, and the decline is very evident.