A Quick Follow-Up on My Last Post

Well, I imagine the people who are from here can tell that I'm not.  I have been standing around out in the rain all day.  I suppose I still think if I don't go out in it I'll miss it entirely, so I try to enjoy it while I can, like a good desert dweller would.  It has been raining for hours now, and I, well, I've been outside standing in it..... for hours.  lol  Maybe I'll adjust.  Then again, maybe I just like the rain.

I said I'd post a few pictures, so I'm going to.  I didn't get a decent enough one of the pecan grove, so I'll wait until I do to post that.  I will take better ones later on.  My phone doesn't take the best pictures in the world, so use your imagination.  :)

This is the front yard.  I can't identify all the trees out there yet, but there are some elm trees in the mix.   There are some beautiful vines going up the trunks of some of them.  There are reportedly some copperheads in this little stand, so I'm going to wait to venture in until I have a taller pair of shoes.  :)

It's pretty hard to tell in this picture, but it's raining... HARD!

This is the Azle water tower just beside the Wal-Mart.  There was a storm coming in.  :)

This next one is looking down the driveway from my house.  There's actually another house over there, but the trees are so dense you can barely tell.  

This is the Texas State Flag.  It's a lot bigger than it looks in this picture.  I'm telling you, there's a Texas flag or a Texas Star on purt'near everything in Texas!  Houses, stores, roofs, benches, tree trunks, public property, private property, easy to see, hard to spot.... everywhere!

I can't get a picture of how this place smells or I'd share it with you.  It's remarkable!  For a while I thought someone nearby was doing laundry every morning and had some wonderful brand of dryer sheet in their dryer.   Eventually I figured out it just smells like that around here.  The rain smells good here, too, like I remember from when I was a kid. It's all loam-y and earth-y and rich.  Today, because of the rain, it's been cool enough most of the day that I could have the windows open, and I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be able to smell this beautiful smell all over my whole world.  I think the worst part of the year here is over.  I certainly hope that's true.  Either way, fall will be knocking on the door soon, and I'm really looking forward to the season where I can have my house opened more often.

That's it today, no music, no fanfare.  I have to head into town for a bit and then cook and study and whatnot, so I'm out.  See you soon.  

Hello From Texas!!

Well, it's been a while since I have posted anything here.  It's not because I didn't want to, but I've been unable to.  I haven't had decent internet since we left Kingman.  Yesterday we got our new internet service, so we're up and running and joining the rest of civilized society again.

Yes, that's what I said; we left Kingman!  All these many years I dreamed of moving and we now live in Texas!  I suppose I could have been writing some entries in the interim so that I could be ready to post a few now that I am settling in, but instead I've been sitting around a lot, being lazy and doing very little.

I can't take too long to write today.  Even though we just got internet, we also just started our new homeschool year, so we're very busy working out scheduling and ordering our time.  In a couple of weeks when things settle down to more of a routine I should be able to write a decent update and maybe throw in a few pictures of the new area.

For now, just let me say we love it here.  It's hot.  Hotter than I had expected, and much hotter than I'd hoped, but not hotter than I was used to, so the adjustment was immediate.   Everyone said we'd hate the humidity, but we really don't.   Hot is hot, wet or dry, pick your poison.  I used to jokingly say that the humidity was to keep the dirt on the ground where it belongs, and I was absolutely right about that.  That's a real blessing.  The kids and I were laughing at a sign in a road construction zone that said to drive slowly to keep the dust down.  These people don't know what dust is!  It's been dry here for quite some time according to the locals, right up until this week, so if they were ever going to be dusty they had their chance. I just didn't see it.  I suppose it's a relative thing.

The nights are warmer and stickier here.   I will miss that about the desert.  In northern Arizona, when the sun goes down the temperatures go down with it, and generally you can sit outside and enjoy it in all but the very hottest weeks of the year.  I can sit outside here at night, but it stays warm.  My grandma used to call it "close".  I know what she meant.

In the day time during the hot weather, the truth is I spend most of my time inside, and I think the air conditioner does a better job of cooling the house here in the humid conditions than the evaporative cooler did back in Arizona in dry conditions.  Over all,  I'd say I'm more comfortable.  If what I hear is right, the hot season here is shorter, so I should be able to spend more time outside soon.  That will be wonderful!

I prefer the way my skin and my hair feels in the humidity.  My cracked heels and fingertips healed up inside of two weeks, and they were in pretty bad shape.  I prefer the way my eyes roll, and the fact that I can blow my nose and it will actually take care of the problem.  I LOVE that as I walk I can touch something with my hand and not blow the tips of my fingers open as static electricity causes sparks to arc from my flesh to what ever object I'm reaching towards.  Maybe someday I'll get out of the habit of feeling like I have to touch everything with my elbow first.

I prefer the way the landscape looks, and that requires the moisture.  Humidity is more than a fair price to pay for the blessings it brings.  I'm certainly going to write a whole 'nuther post about the surroundings here and the beautiful landscape, but for now let me just say it's green.  Maybe it's not as green as Tennessee or Pennsylvania, but having come from Arizona's Mohave Desert it looks mighty green to me, and I enjoy, nay, cherish every green leaf and blade of it.

To add to that, this week we're getting rain.  I think it's typical that in July and early August things are pretty dry in these parts, and that it begins to ease up about this time of year.  I can tell you for sure that the beautiful, thick, heavy, gray clouds we are getting now are the most beautiful things in all the land!  That, hand in hand with the greenery, and I am in awe.  I have waited so, so long!  That's probably a good part of the reason I haven't accomplished a lot lately.  I literally sit and stare at the beautiful scenery!  Sitting at my kitchen table I can look out into the grove and watch the clouds through the breaks in the dense branches.  Cicadas and all the other annoying little critters are music to my ears right now!  I  can hardly wait until the weather starts to cool off a bit so I can get out and enjoy it up close and personal.

I can barely stand the wait for the changes of the seasons!  Fall is coming and I'm so excited! It's my favorite season of the year!  For many years I've been saying, "Before this fall comes I'll be someplace where I can see the seasons changes."  Mayhap this is that year!

So, the next chapter is being written.  I'm excited.  What a great story!!