The title alone should give you an indication that this post is going to be a little longer than my others. I thought about breaking it into 2 posts, but felt like it should all stay together since it all happened within a few days. This is my story, and I am sticking to it. You can watch the movie of it on YouTube. My channel is Crazy M.A.D Red.
https://youtube.com/@jill-e6q?si=hsaJP2F-HL9DWnxQ
Urban Legends
Urban legend talks about how horrible the weather in Texas is. It’s bi-polar in every sense of the word. One day it is 90 degrees, the next day it is snowing. You can hear the stories about it in songs, television, and the world wide web.
People have been talking about the weather in Texas since the settler days. But unless you experience it for yourself, it is hard to believe. It is like hearing about the Northern Lights. It’s just something you have to see to believe.
This time of year is especially unique. We are transitioning from winter, to spring, and summer. This is where Mother Nature gets really ugly. She likes to throw curve balls at the residents here. In March, you may have to put the heater on at night, and the air conditioner in the day.
And let’s not even get into the wardrobe. You wake up freezing and think you need a sweater, only to burn up in the afternoon. This can go the complete opposite direction also. You may wake up thinking it is a beautiful mild morning so you wear a t-shirt, only to find out that by noon the temperature has dropped 30 degrees and you forgot your jacket.
Every time it warms us a little, someone always has to say, “Well I think we made it past winter!” My reply is the same every time, “I wouldn’t say that until we get past Easter.” My brother was born at the first of April in a major snow storm. THAT, my dear readers, is Texas weather.
Also, whoever decided to dub Chicago as the windy city had never been to Texas. Texas wind is just brutal in every sense of the word. When I was young, I only remember it being really bad during our Winter to Summer (there really is no Spring here) transition. Now, it seems like it is all the time. And if you have never been to the panhandle of Texas, it is flat.
Flat as in at night, you can see the lights of the closest city 36 miles away. Flat as in absolutely no hills. There is a little bit of a canyon close to my home and hometown, but it is only maybe about 4 miles wide. You go down, drive a little bit, and you are back on top. And from the other side of that canyon, you can still see that city’s lights at night.
Each town has at least 8 miles in between it. And those 8 miles is nothing but cropland. Most of that cropland is non-irrigated. Even if it is irrigated, we have so little rain here, that even when we get a lot of rain, it does not keep down the dirt when the wind blows.
Round 1
This year has been no exception to this. Last week, we had 3 days of below freezing weather. No rain or snow. Just freezing weather and wind. I have well water at my house, and luckily the well is in the barn. The wind, though blew out the window to the barn where the pump for the well it. I need to replace but I just haven’t yet. But with that cold weather coming, I knew I had to do something.
So I hung a tarp over that window and put a heat lamp on in there. I hate heat lamps. They are very, very dangerous, but since there are no animals in there to knock it down (unless a rat or mouse gets in there) I will use it in there.
Everyday, Stormy’s boyfriend would go out and break water for the animals. I don’t usually break water. That sounds horrible but I have done it for a long time and there is one thing I have discovered. When you break water, it exposes a bigger area of water under the ice to the cold. That in turn freezes, causing the ice to get thicker. After doing this a couple of times, you now have the biggest most solid ice cube you have ever seen.
So instead, I let them lick their way through. I know, I know, it sounds cruel, but they have a better chance of getting a drink than if the whole thing is ice. That is my science theory for now. I won’t give you any more of my 2 cents on science, at least not maybe not in this post.
Now that all the animals water is completely frozen solid, they are dying of thirst. Guess what you have to do then? Carry water out to them. They have to have a drink. If you watch my YouTube channel you will see the distance from the house to the cows. Need I remind you I am an old woman. Carrying water that far is rough on this old body.
They have lots of different things you can put in the water tanks to keep them from freezing. These are wonderful tools and gadgets that I would love nothing more than to be able to use them. There is just one problem. You have to plug them all in. I only have so many plug ins in the barn, and do you know how many extension cords it would take to get them to all the places.
But if you have animals, and would like to know what to use, here are some links to some great products, and the ones I would buy if I were able to use them.
You can search livestock water heater and find a slew of them. I have tried all other sorts of tricks, like putting milk jugs with salt water in there. Didn’t work. Putting balls in there. It didn’t work. Of course there is a good chance of operator error on those.
Round 2
It was three days of this before it finally warm enough for all the water for the animals to defrost and the hoses to defrost so we could get the animals fresh water. It was beautiful outside, and if you were in the sun it was cozy. In the shade, though, it was still pretty cool. In the mid 60’s. Mother Nature decided to give the animals a little break before throwing another ball at us.
This time in the form of 40 mile per hour wind, with gusts up to 55. But by golly it was not freezing. This was on Thursday, March 6. The reason I know this is because that is when I decided to turn on the video and start recording. It was cold, but not freezing. Highs in the low 50s. Believe it or not we are use to those kind of winds. They are the type of wind we see year round.
The 30-40 mile per hour wind is the wind that is just annoying to no end. They can do damage, and they are loud. They give you hair that Texas famous lift to it. This is why women in Texas have big hair. They have to put a lot of hair spray in it to sustain the wind. Except me…I am not one of those women as you have been able to tell.
It blew like this until Friday night, and the wind decided to die down a little. Unfortunately, though, Mother Nature, that bitch, decided to mess with us again and toss in snow on March 8. It started out raining, then sleeting, then the biggest most beautiful snow flakes began coming down.
They had said we would probably get snow, but it would not be measurable and it would not stick. Now I love the snow. I don’t mind the cold at all if we are going to get snow. Not only is it beautiful, but any type of moisture in West Texas is welcomed. I said I would not give you any more science lessons, but I do have to point out that even if we get 3 inches of snow, that is really not much moisture at all. It is only about 1/3 inch of rain.
I was in my bedroom and could hear what sounded like pissed off chickens. They are about a 100 yards from my bedroom in the back. I did not let them out because of the snow. So if I could hear them in my room, they were very loud
I went out to check on them, and they were all good. I don’t know what they were bitching about. I was going to let them out, but they said, “Nope, not today Momma.” I gathered their eggs, and shut them back up.
It continued to snow the entire day. When I went to bed around 9 it was still snowing. It was a nice day just staying inside watching it all come down. We usually only get a couple of snows a year, if that, and I enjoy it when it does.
We had a nice cover on the ground when we got up Sunday morning. But by the afternoon it all melted away. It was not very warm, but it was warm enough to melt it off. Then Monday comes, March 8, and the temperature is back up to 80 degrees.
That wicked woman, you know who I am talking about, thought she would fool all of us again into thinking we were done with winter. However, remember I told you what I always say? Not until Easter. I do love warm weather more than anything. I can go out and enjoy some animal therapy, mess around in the barn, do yard work.
I would rather be outside than anywhere else. Having Lupus does put a damper on that, but I don’t let it. I have told lots of people, I would rather live in a tent than anything else (EXCEPT for in the freezing cold weather). Nothing is more peaceful than sleeping outside, in a tent when it is 60 degrees outside. Even 40 degrees is good in a tent. Snuggle up in your sleeping bag. I really need to go camping y’all!!!!!
Round 3
OH, but the weather saga is not over yet. Friday, March 14. The week has not been too bad. Thursday, March 13 was beautiful, but there were warnings of what was to come. The national weather service was calling it a catastrophic event. When I left work, I knew I had to get to it.
Thursday, I got home, and Stormy and I began working. I just had a new roof put on my barn, but I did not let them take the old metal (remember I am a hoarder) because I have another barn thing behind that one that needs a roof. But I did not get enough in the claim to cover that one. So with all that metal, I am going to put it on the old barn in the back.
The thing with all this is when they took that metal off, they just laid it in the middle of the yard. That would have been fine if we didn’t have this huge event coming. Stormy and I carried part of it into the barn. Some of the other was over to the side where I figured it the wind blew one direction, the silo and little shed would keep it from blowing. Y’all these are long pieces of metal. I think they told me 34 foot. We got 6 pieces in the barn and I called it good.
I have knick knacks all in the front. I put all those up. In the barn with the feed, we had been being lazy and not throwing away the bags. Well, we just saw our first snake of the year, and all those bags are the perfect place for the rattle bugs. So I picked all those up and threw them away. Stormy put one of the dogs water troughs in the garage and got it ready to lock them in there.
Stormy and Arnie (Stormy’s boyfriend) helped me tried to get the big barn door closed. That was a no go. We could not get it to budge, so if it wasn’t nasty enough in there before, it definitely will be now.
I am sure you are wondering what in the world this catastrophic event could actually be if we are out putting things up. Sustained 80 mile per hour winds. To put that into prospective, that is hurricane force winds. These winds were to start the next morning and last all day long.
Electric companies were talking about rolling outages and put our town on the map for that, and that the outages could last 48 hours. That is fine, except that means no water for us with a well.
And with those kinds of wind, you can’t exactly cook outside. But the water thing bothers me more than not having lights.
I had my doubts because they never get it right. Everyone was talking about how bad it was supposed to get but I really did not think it would get that windy. Of course, one thing the weatherman never misses is the wind. They always get that one right.
And it hit. It hit like a 18 wheeler coming in at 80 miles per hour slamming into a brick wall. Y’all, it ripped the yield sign off the pole in front of the house. They cancelled schools in the area, for fear of losing electricity more than anything I think.
We went into work, and were doing good but lost internet. Parts of town did lose power, but we didn’t at our office. The internet did not come back up so we closed early. My best friend works with me, and lives in a town 9 miles away. She called and there were several major wrecks that had stopped traffic. They were closing down highways because there was no visibility.
Outside of Canyon, TX (close to Amarillo) there was a 50 car pile up. 18 Wheelers were being blown over. NOW, why would you even get out in this shit if you know it is going to be that bad? And why wouldn’t you slow down?
If there is no visibility, I was taught to put on your flashers, slow down and get off at the next stop. My life and being with my family is more precious than anywhere I would need to be.
Final Thoughts
Needless to say, I got the day off. We all survived. I had a tree fall with the goats, and another limb feel beside the house. There are limbs everywhere. I need to have a chainsaw party. Anyone who is interested send me a message. I have 2 extra chainsaws, and I will feed you.
In my video, I say this very often, but I don’t think I mentioned it in here. I absolutely despise West Texas Wind. I love where I live, but I absolutely hate the wind. I am so tired of wind, and cats.
On a side note, my lupus and fibromyalgia hate it too. These weather changes are kicking my tail. I am just about ready to throat punch Mother Nature. That’s all.