40mph constant wind with areas of blowing dirt.

THAT was the weather forecast for today... oh, and gusts of up to 50 mph, but I must say the 40 mph constant is pretty brutal in itself, AND if "areas" means the entire city of Lubbock and surrounding communities, then they hit that one right on the nose. The sky has been brown since 9am this morning! Oh, West Texas, why? What is the reason for the wind (and blowing dirt), and where the hell does it come from? 

In mid March, back before the wind started to blow, my eldest cousin and I went out on a photo journey searching for the ghost town of Estacado, Texas. In 1886 Estacado was the county seat of Crosby County (which neighbors Lubbock Co.) and the town flourished, by 1890 the population was reported at 200! In 1891 Estacado lost the title of county seat and after the grasshopper invasion and drought in 1892 it all but finished the dwindling community off... damn those grasshoppers. Read more about the town HERE.

I will also take a moment to tell you about my cousin, Cobey. Cobey is 4 years older than me and when I was growing up I thought he was the coolest! He introduced me to scary movies, Stephen King's Cat's Eye and Mervyn LeRoy's adaptation of William March's novel The Bad Seed... and on top of that he had a dark room in his bathroom! My love of photography stems directly from him, thanks Cobey. Oh and btw... He is also a graphic designer ( I am a copier ).

These are a couple of my images from our explorations. See the whole gallery HEREThe above house we found in Crosby Co. As the wind would blow the old house seamed to inhale and exhale... the white door on the left would open and shut as if to let you know it was still breathing. 

ps. Just a little hint on my big announcement: In August the bobos, K and I will be moving over 1,600 miles from our little home in Lubbock.

hold on to your skirts ladies... its a red flag day!

For those not familiar with the terminology, I think a "red flag warning"  technically has something to do with fire danger BUT, in Lubbock it means the wind is going to "blow like hell" YEA! (total sarcasm if you could not tell from the tone of the type HA!) I know the wind blows in other areas of the country but here in Lubbock along with the wind comes the blowing dirt. Beautiful! Nothing better than 50-mile-per-hour-blowing-dirt! Im sure that this is a factor in my already cantankerous mood today. 

On Tuesday K and I joined some friends on campus to hear Sarah Vowell speak. For those not familiar with Ms. Vowell she is an author, journalist, humorist, and historian that I am familiar with thru her regular contributions to a most awesome NPR show called "This American Life"  (VERY worth checking out btw). She's incredibly interesting, and as smart as she is witty. It was  a cool experience seeing someone in person after already being familiar with their voice. After her almost hour-and-a-half talk, she raised the house lights and opened up the forum for Q&A. The man sitting next to me (of whom I did not know) raised his hand and asked "How do you COPE with New York City?" Being that she is from Muskogee Oklahoma, and now residing in The Big Apple, I am guessing that he was trying to strike some, "hey were the same people being from Texas/Oklahoma area," chord, and already knew how she was going to answer the question totally annoyed with "rude Yankees," and the hustle and bustle of the city and cabs and people and bla, bla, bla. I find it interesting and semi-annoying when people in a public forum ask dumb questions in which they are looking for a specific answer. Ms. Vowell, in return, went on to talk about how she likes the buzz of the city, and how overall, people are generally kind and courteous of others. Seeing, by the look on the questioner's face that this was OBVIOUSLY NOT the answer that he was looking for, she looked directly at him and stated, "how do YOU COPE with this WIND!" 

Good call Sarah Vowell... good call.

(above is K on the left watching Sarah on the right, possibly not the best image captured with the iphone)