The Dust Bowl

Saturday was fucking cold again. We woke up and the sun had gone hiding behind the damn clouds. Boooooooo. Baby shower day. I had to run to the Post Office to ship off a eBay sale and a run to Target for a gift bag. Very last minute and all on me.

The party was for Noah, Nadia and Baby Niles. The turn out was really great. Hell, I helped serve the food and we damn near ran out. To say it was a little unstructured would be putting it lightly. The important thing was that the parents of the upcoming baby had fun and I could see that they did. That is key. I’m petty sure everyone had fun. Shame it had to be a bit of a chilly day since we had a lake house rented out. Damn the luck.

After the shower fun we got home and saw Teegan off to his Junior Prom. The guy looked sharp in his suit. I was proud of him. My mother let him borrow her car so he could pick up his date with some real style.I could tell he was a little nervous but I recall my first prom. What a time that was. After he was off Yvette and I decided to go get a cocktail and a little snack. I knew she needed to relax after the baby shower. That night I cooked for us and it turned out to be a nice relaxing evening. Saturday was nice once the work was over with.

Sunday we took on the damn time change and it was kicking us all in the teeth. Even Alaya seemed thrown by it. I got up and made us a breakfast pizza. Chorizo and potato. I was very happy to hear from lola that this pizza was my best one yet. I might not agree with that assessment but I was very happy to hear it from her being she is a picky eater. It was a safe bet that she would enjoy it considering it’s all her favorite burrito fixings.

I can’t credit this picture but it gives me an idea of what I was having. My pizza was destroyed before I could take a picture.

Mickey 17. I’ve liked the films by Bong Joon Ho. Parasite won him a best Oscar but Snowpiercer and Okja were the two movies that have made him a must see director. Okja had me questioning myself ever eating meat again. Such a powerful film and I get a little teared up just thinking about it. This film was more in line with those, being that it was also si-fi. Robert Pattinson is an actor who went from joke to exciting in a matter of just a few movies. Let’s just say he did well here. He plays an expendable. A man whose job it is to die and be reprinted. I really don’t want to say much about the film because it’s one which the less said, the better.

Walking out of the movie at 6 o’clock I was fulling expecting dusk to be upon us but it was not. Damn the time change. I was assaulted by bright skies and blinded. It will once again take me a long while to get in the groove of this new time. I ran out to my mom to drop off her car and get a ride back home before settling into the Sunday evening weekly shoes. It is kind of nice watching something that you cannot binge.

Monday was a Monday X 10. The time change would have been bad enough but thanks to my damn dog Owen we were woken up around 4 to him raiding the pantry. Somehow the doors didn’t close and he helped himself to 2 bags of chips, marshmallows, baby food and a box of banana pudding mix. The powder combined with his drool made a past that had to be scrubbed off the floor. I was on my hands and knees cleaning up a mess in the wee hours of the day. I suppose it was better than coming into a surprise when I was in the motions getting ready for work, I was so pissed at that dog. to add to my fury, the bastardized had the nerve to start howling after I let him outside forcing my to let him back into the house.

The day was just a slog. When the work day was finally over I realized how I like this time once I get used to it. You still have a good portion of the ay ahead of you and don’t feel as rushed to get things done before settling into the evening. So I was grilling burgers that night and the first thing I did after work was season the ground beef. After that we took the little girl up to the band practice field to play. She really likes the turf that they laid. I have to admit, so did I. It is so soft. I could easily take a nap in the shade on a nice day. I ran some more errands before settling home and grilling the burgers. Noah and Nadia came over for Yvette’s shrimp po boys. I must admit that they are damn good, it’s just way too much bread for this diabetic. I made myself a burger salad and the house was full of laughter. I will say that Monday ended a hell of a lot better than it began. Happy Monday!

The week just kind of lumbered on. My boss was away on a whiskey trip in Arizona so it was relatively quiet in the office. The weather was beautiful, if a little windy. Damn the wind. Regardless of that factor, I did spend as much time outside as I could. I think I finally started to get my groove back come Wednesday. Not 100%, but still a heck of a lot better than I was Monday. The campus was gearing up for some Spring break. Good lord, this time of year just brings back memories of the year 2000 when we were all sent home for the pandemic. Crazy that we are 5 years removed from that. The world literally changed and my life changed. It as a major turning point, for better or worse. How time does fly.

It that time of year where it goes from cold to hot real fast. Thursday was beautiful. No wind. Yvette and I took a nice walk on campus with the little girl. it was a lot of fun and we might have selfishly gone too far because the baby got a little tired of the stroller on the way back and wanted to be carried. Next time make it a half trip down our mall. Oh well. It was fun. She never cried and she had fun as well. It was decided that on nice night we need to start going on walks with the baby girl.

Let’s talk about the wind. It’s that time of year, March. It is expected to be windy but GOOD LORD has it been bad this year. We have had 2 days where the weather channel was forecasting hurricane force winds in west Texas. We had 3 major dust storms. I mean dense brown fog like storms where the visibility was nil. A lot of the dirt stems from the lack of rain. Everything is so damn dry. I remember this weather from my Lubbock days and how the first time a haboob blew through I was in disgusted awe. I didn’t want it to travel back to my home town and this week that’s exactly what it felt like. Damn the wind, seriously. I have not been able to breathe right for almost 2 months and every time I start to get better some shit like this blows in. The joy. But my lord, the havoc this storm brought upon Texas. Live lost and so much property damage. To see the wreckage left behind on the highways was just devastating. In don’t really know what kind of preventative measures could be made other than just closing down the highways in advance but no one really knew just how bad it was going to get. 100mph gust in Texas.

Our little town was once known as the “Wool Capital of the World” so we have a thing for sheep. Businesses around town can pay to have a sheep processed and painted by an artist and have displayed in front of their establishments. I thought it would be fun to seek out all the sheep, if possible. I like art and this will be a new hobby. Kind of like finding all the Korink seeds in Zelda. Anyhow, when I have the time I plan to find them scattered around the town and photo them. Expect to see some sheep in my galleries for a while to come. I know that there are at least 100 of these little guys scattered throughout our town. The first one was easy, it being on the campus which I work. I hope you enjoy my efforts as much as I.