You Can't Judge a Book By it Cover

This spring, I signed up for a class at the Lubbock Lake Landmark http://www.depts.ttu.edu/museumttu/lll/.  The second session was about preserving your keepsakes. I almost did not attend. I am not a scrapbook person, and I do not keep a lot of stuff from when I travel.

And, I am now a board member for a local non-profit charitable organization.   The monthly board meeting conflicted with the class I paid for. I was torn. I was assured it would be acceptable to miss a board meeting.

I went to the class. It was very interesting.  The discussion included the elements that destroy or deteriorate keepsakes and mementos, and how to preserve these things. It included what kinds of things are available to preserve keepsakes. 

I am not a keepsake preserver. But the information in this class was really interesting. 

Time Zone and Sunset

I live in the Central Time Zone, some 60 miles (about an hour drive) from the Mountain Time Zone.  One of the things that really amazed me when I moved to Texas in 1977 was the length of the days.  

As has happened before, I was watching a sporting event in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  Fort Worth is about 300 miles to the east of Lubbock; Dallas, another 30 miles east.   As I was watching the television broadcast, I was struck by the fact that it was dark in the Fort Worth area about 8 PM, but we still had daylight, not even dusk, in Lubbock.

This is phenomenal to me....

A Wind Advisory

We are in, and have been consistently in, a hazardous weather situation:  the South Plains are dry, and the winds are strong. Any small spark can ignite a fire and send it whipping along the plains.

We are blessed. I remember some years ago, when I spent time out in the country, seeing grass fires blowing through the fields.  It was eerie: it looked like the flames were about 18 inches or so above the ground, and everything just burned in its path. There is nothing on the plains to stop these flames. I do not know how firefighters combat these grass fires. It would be phenomenal! And dangerous.

If you live on the South Plains, be careful about flames and fire: including cigarette butts, cooking fires, and hot equipment.

Weather Phenomenon

Unusual weather phenomenon in West Texas is not really that rare.  Dirty rain is not unusual.  On Dec. 31, 2010, I went shopping in the morning, and was in the store for about an hour. When I came out, there was evidence of slight precipitation. It was obvious, looking at my vehicle, that there had been some "dirty rain."  This means when the precipitation came down, it brought down with it dirt particles in the air.

Later that day, actually that night, we actually had "mud rain."  I think it was a combination of light rain and blowing dust, but it sure dirtied a lot of property.

Last night, we had ice and snow. Strong winds with zero plus or minus temperatures and wind chills.  Today, there were snow drifts around.  And many of these were covered with blowing dust or sand. I have lived in West Texas for almost 34 years, and this is the first time that I have seen dust brown snow drifts.

Does it surprise me.  No.  Just West Texas weather.

Raking Leaves

I grew up in New England, and raking leaves was done in October, generally done by Halloween or early November, as we could expect snow to bury the leaves by then.  Now, living in West Texas, I do not rake leaves until November, December, or even as late as January (around New Years Day.)

I have already raked leaves twice this year before this week, because I get tired of looking at them. But, this week, with most of the area trees bare of leaves (except the neighbor's live oak) I raked again.  Raking in West Texas is a little frustrating for me.  There are areas of the yard where mounds of leaves have collected, so it is easy to gather those leaves.  The frustrating part is on the yard where the leaves are sparse.  Sometimes, the leaves are so brittle, that raking basically just breaks the leaves into smaller pieces.  I do the best I can, but the smaller bits are hard to scrape up... I tell myself it is okay, because small bits of leaves are good mulch, good fertilizer... Even so, as I have raked the leaves, the yard does look neater...

I Really Like Texas

I really like Texas...There are a lot of things I like about Texas.

Traveling down the road, you may get a "Hi Howdy" wave from a complete stranger... I love it!

Early voting is easy... Just show up at an early voting place in your county.  It is great.

Restrooms are not all that hard to find.  So many convenience stores, truck stops, and fast food places have public restrooms.  You can also stop in libraries, county courthouses, municiple buildings, if you have to... Many roadside rest stops have restrooms or portapotties. 

There is WiFI at some rest areas.

Rest areas that have picnic tables have shelters that reflect the culture of the area:  teepees, longhorns for example... Hmmm.

Stores stay open late.  After 10 PM.  Even in small  towns...

Remember to Vote Early

Remember to vote early.  In the State of Texas, in 2010 voting early is easy. http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/pamphlets/earlyvote.shtml  It is so amazingly easy, voting early in Texas includes "curbside voting."  Wow!

Voting early in Texas is not related to absentee balloting, which is still a part of the voting early option. Voting early may involve someone who is going to be absent during election time, someone who is elderly, disabled, in the Armed Services, or otherwise confined but eligible to vote.

There are lots of options, exceptions and aids to allow for voting.  Isn't this wonderful! 

What are the advantages of voting early: 

Many sights have early and late hours, including weekend hours, so voting can be accomplished around work/school schedules.

Many voting early sights are convenient: where you shop, go to school, go to church, or conduct government business.

County wide voting early means you can find a voting sight convenient for you, the voter, not necessarily the designated sight for your precinct, which, because of voting times on election day, may not actually be convenient for the voter.

If the voter will be otherwise unavailable on election day, voting early allows this civic duty to be accomplished.

Early voting, by reporting interest, can influence people to turn out.



However, voting early can be problematic:

Early voting requires the voter to make a decision before all the campaign information is in... Sometimes, there are last minute campaign activities that can reverse voters' decisions.

Early voting, by reporting interest and numbers, make voters assume that their one vote will not count nor influence an election.

Voting was not always an option for all the citizens of this country.  http://www.crmvet.org/info/votehist.htm

Texas has it's own timeline regarding voting:
http://www.google.com/search?q=The+history+of+voting+in+Texas&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADBF#q=The+history+of+voting+in+Texas&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&rlz=1I7ADBF&prmd=iv&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=q0bGTNL0LIG8lQfGhYWaAg&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11&ved=0CEwQ5wIwCg&fp=966e4c99a803535a

The point is, voting access has changed, and citizens are encouraged to get out and vote!

My How the Sky Changes

Monday, October 18, the weather was a little unusual…We were supposed to have a record high in the high 80s but that did not happen. The clouds came in during the afternoon. It was not cool, but it was not hot, either. Then, a storm cell moved in. In the distance to the west, it was possible to see the down drafts, some areas of virga, but the down pouring of the rain. The winds shifted and changed rapidly from dead calm to rapidly swirling. But, the winds were not strong. And it rained.

As the one did on the 17th, this storm had a well defined front. It was larger and darker than the storm on the 17th. Dark enough to seem like night. But as I drove north, I drove out of the storm into bright sunlight. There was a beautiful, broad double rainbow to the east, framed against the very dark clouds. Within a couple of hours, the storm had dissipated, and the sky was dusky but not cloudy…


What weather we have in Texas!

Tax Free Weekend

I do not know when it started, nor where it started, but the State of Texas has adopted the practice of having a tax-free weekend in August to help families prepare for school. Clothing, shoes, and backpack items less than $100 dollars are exempt from state and local use tax.

Additionally, the State of Texas has recently included school supplies under $100, purchased by individuals (not businesses, unless they have an exempt certificate) in the tax free status.

This can be quite a savings, of usually about $8 on the hundred, for families with many children, or even one child.

Because it is difficult to screen for use, many non-students benefit from this weekend.  Whether or not that is right, it happens. 

This was tax free weekend in Texas.  I was shopping late Saturday afternoon, and it was sort of crazy in the store:  lots of crying children, people stopping in the middle of the aisle without regard for the fact they were blocking traffic on either side of them, full parking lots, scarce shopping carts, and security being extra careful... Normally, the cashiers do not bag things like multipaks of soda, but today they did.  It made sense:  bagged items were cashed out and payed for, but non-bagged items were suspect.  Entering and leaving the store, the "greeter" was stopping and watching people with non-bagged items, checking everything very carefully... The increased traffic in stores makes security more difficult, and shoplifting easier...

Antiquing

I was honored to be invited to participate in an antiquing trip today... We went to Dougherty, Texas http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/DD/hld34.html and visited with acquaintances of people I know who have an antique shop.   After that, we went to their home, where we saw more of their collectibles.  After that, we went to lunch in the small town near by, Roaring Springs http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/RR/hlr26.html.  It was an interesting, fun down home experience.

A Book or a Movie?

I spent Sunday evening reading a book:  Boderline by Nevada Barr http://www.nevadabarr.com/bkm04_thirteen_and_a_half.htm a best selling mystery writer who writes stories about a forest ranger, Anna Pigeon.  The stories are set in National Parks and are all mystery stories with lots of interesting information about the national parks, their animal, plant and geological formation inhabitants...

This story is set in the Big Bend National Park, about a river raft trip down the Rio Grande.  I was in that part of the world in 1996, briefly touring, and remember much of the scenery in my mind's eye.  It was fabulous, wonderful, delightful, dessicated. 

I do not think it is my memory of the area that affected me as much as the powerful emotional descriptions in the book, but today, at work, I could not decide if I had read about this story, or seen a movie about it... The images were that powerful, that emotionally evocative that it felt like much more than a reading experience....

I have not yet finished the book... I will read some tonight, but it has been a full evening, and I still have chores to do before I read.  I am anticipating the experience.

Having said that, I will encourage  you to read the Nevada Barr Anna Pigeon stories..

I Love Nights Like This In Texas

It was very hot today. So, why am I surprised? It is June in West Texas, and it is supposed to be hot today. And everyday for a while...

After the tasks of the day, I settled in my back yard, to relax... It was hot.. but even before the sun set, the breeze was strong enough to cool the air. I could open the windows, and air out the house. I changed from T-shirt and shorts to sweat pants and long-sleeved turtle neck...The thermometer says 75 degrees, but it is amazing how much the breeze impacts that. We do not talk about "wind chill" in the middle of the summer, but there, you have it...