The Wind

This has been a particularly windy spring. I think I have said that before. It was windy again today.  Living in town, sometimes it is difficult to estimate just how hard the wind is blowing, and if you do not pay attention to what the mph means in terms of its effect on  you, the impact of the wind can be surprising.

The horizon profile and footprint of Lubbock has an interesting influence on the wind. Central Lubbock is surrounded by a Loop.  Inside the Loop, the impact of the wind is largely mitigated. Depending where you are, and the direction from which the wind is blowing, the impact can be tremendous. This is especially noticeable when the dust is barely blowing outside the Loop.  Inside the Loop, the dust may be barely noticeable on the horizon, but not in town.

In the winter, for houses who have pipes on the north side of the house, the pipes are more apt to freeze, than if the pipes are on the south side of the house.  My house faces north, so a north wind is not felt too badly in the back yard.  Because of fences, trees, and my neighbor's houses, a south or westerly wind is very noticeable in the trees, but not too bad in my yard.  I do feel the east wind, though.

My front porch is enclosed on 3 sides, open to the north. It gets no sun, so is cooler than the sunny air sometimes. But unless the wind is from the north, it is stiflingly warm in the summer, especially at night, when the concrete and brick have been absorbing heat all day.

Throughout town, inside and outside the Loop, large buildings have the same mitigating effect on the wind.  It is amazing.

The building I work in is in the middle of large cotton fields. We are outside the Loop. The parking lot is very large, and the walk to the building in the wind can be bitter.  Especially because the parking lot is open to the north.   As people on the South Plains like to say, there is nothing but barbed wire between us and the North Pole.  That factor often induces me to wear a much warmer coat in the mornings than I might otherwise choose.

So, we live with the wind. It influences many choices in our lives. A friend and I went out to see if it was too windy to go kayaking today.  The lake we use in town is a "run off lake."  The playas and canyon lakes catch a lot of run off water.  That means garden chemicals, street chemicals and trash accumulate in the lakes.  We do not mind kayaking on top of the water, but do we do not want to be swamped with waves on windy days.  It is less pleasant to kayak in the wind. If the water were clean, I would not mind getting wet on really warm days. But not with that water.

Change of Habits

I am a creature of habit.  One is that I tend to plan a kayak ride for later in the day.  I think this is because during the week, I go kayaking after work.  There has not been too much kayaking this year: the wind has been too strong, and the dust makes being outside uncomfortable.  But, I have had the chance to go.

I was thinking about kayaking later today.  But, I heard the weather report, and it send windy later today, with possible gusts up to 40 mph.  I decided to get out there and get it done.  I am glad I leave the kayak loaded for the most part during the summer.  It makes getting out to the lake quicker, one less thing to do to get there.  

I had a great ride around the lake.  Yesterday, I saw a sailboater loading up to go.  I would have enjoyed watching him on the water. Later in the day, I saw a fisherman launch a 2 person sit-on-top kayak.  Today, there was a john boat out, and the occupant was obviously fishing.  It is nice to get out.

I also enjoyed the birdwatching both days.  Some different birds, some the same.  And of course, the turtles were sunning.

I am glad I am flexible enough to change my habits.

Spontaneity

I am not a very spontaneous person.  I tend to be goal oriented, and frame my days with mental, written, and/or typed lists of what I expect to accomplish. 

I go to work with an idea of the minimum or maximum tasks I want to accomplish.

I plan my weeknights and weekends in generally the same way.  I have grown to hate house work, and that is how I motivate myself to do it:  it becomes an item on my list that needs to get checked off... It might be that I notice something needs doing, and it gets assigned a day to do it... I hate housework.

So, my recent trip, while not unplanned, did contain some spontaneous doings:  I had planned to go to Taos, I did not plan to go to the Pueblo.  I went to an arts and crafts fair I did not plan to attend.

And, I took a route that I did not even consider, at one point.  

Today was a beautiful day.  I knew I wanted to get groceries, watch the Texas Tech football game, and watch the Yankee game.   I figured between these activities, I would spend sometime outside, puttering, reading or what have you... Well, it was so beautiful, I decided to go kayaking, although I had mentally thought I was past the last kayaking outing of the fall... It felt good to be spontaneous...

Spectator Sports Heaven

It is the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, and it is a beautiful day...
I was able to go out kayaking and birdwatching this morning, and came home feeling energized:  I cooked lunch, and will be working off and on with the computer, and sitting outside, watching TV sports.  What a schedule:

Baseball: Red Sox vs. Chicago at Fenway at 1230 http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/scoreboard/index.jsp ... Football: Texas Tech http://www.texastech.com/sports/m-footbl/text-m-footbl-body.html vs. SMU at Lubbock at 1430, and NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing at Atlanta at 1830 tonight http://www.nascar.com/.  I can watch sports all day!  I will, but will also do other chores: cook dinner, laundry, read.  Unfortunately, the Red Sox game did not end before the Tech game began, but I can easily flip back and forth between both games.

Because the Yankees are contending for post season play, I believe I will see lots of baseball in the next few weeks. 

I will add, for a Bible Belt community, it might be seen as odd endorsing a non-religious, commercial event. Well, lots of sporting events occur on Sunday, in Lubbock. But for TV rights involving football, Bible Belt Christians can grants LOTS of dispensations.

Swish, Swish

I have an 8 foot, 25 pound Pelican Burst sit upon kayak.  When I purchased it, I owned a Ford F-150 pickup truck with a shell over the bed, and could load and lock it into the bed area.

When I went looking for a new vehicle, one of my requirements was to purchase a vehicle that would allow me to load, store and transport the kayak, locking it in the vehicle.  The Saturn Vue I purchased allows just that.

It is the peak of kayak season in Lubbock:  I have no interest in doing white water kayaking (if I did, I would have purchased a sit in instead of a sit upon kayak.)  I like lake, pond and slow river kayaking.  The first year we purchased the kayaks, April was unseasonably hot and we were out frequently in April... This year, it was May before it was warm enough to get in the water, by my standards.  The month of July was so filled with storms or the promise of storms, that I did little kayaking.

Yesterday, a friend and I went to Lake Allen Henry http://www.lakealanhenry.com/  to kayak.  We had a good day.  I got lost, but my friend saved us from being lost.  And midday, the clouds gathered.  I was very concerned about the rapidity with which the clouds gathered, and I do not  like being on the lake with storm clouds around.  We saw rain and heard thunder.  Graciously, my friend conceded to my weather concerns, and we did not kayak any more.  We might have been safe, but I sure hate to take a chance.

When we loaded the boats into the back of my friend's pickup, we acknowledged they had taken on water.  The kayaks are self bailing, but do gather water, and have drain plug to relieve them.  Since the kayak did not feel very heavy, I thought the water it held was minimal.

This morning, when I drove to work, I had the disconcerting experience of hearing that water slosh around in the kayak. I swished forward when I braked, it swished backward when I accelerated.  I drove to work, and to and from a meeting, and then home.  I went to a social event tonight, and decided enough was enough, and emptied the kayak on my lawn.  If there were 2 cups of water that came out of the kayak, that was a lot.  But, it does not take much water to swish around in the kayak while driving....

Kayaking vs. the weather

A friend and I had talked about going kayaking tonight.  I checked The Weather Channel on line http://www.weather.com/ mid-afternoon, and there was no mention of storms in the area.  I could see the clouds building to the west, from our office area, and when I walked out from work, I knew there were storms in the area, The Weather Channel not withstanding...

When I called my friend, she was of a like mind that it would not be safe to kayak given the storms in the area.  The air has cooled, I have heard thunder and sometimes see lightning.  No rain (we could use the rain. ) Although the air has cooled, it is not cool enough to open the house to the outside air... But the lightning has become more frequent....

We made the right choice.  No kayaking tonight.

Kayaking tonight

I had talked to a friend last night about going kayaking.  We have tentative plans for the weekend. As I left work tonight, I realized how wonderful the weather was, and it would be possible to get out to kayak. 

I went home and took care of the cats.  They wanted to stay in the garage, but I wanted to get moving.  So, the girls went back into the house.  Unhappily.

I went out to Lake 6.  I am appalled at how out of shape I am.. I found myself  breathing hard as I paddled west.   I rested as needed, and was able to make the bridge... As I paddled east, I had a problem with my right shoulder. I wanted to do the complete circuit, but decided with the pain in my shoulder, it might be best to take it easy.

Since my friend and I have tentative plans to kayak this Saturday, I hope my shoulder does not give in...