One might imagine that there are a lot of places that some folks might find boring. We would seriously doubt that Texas would be listed among those. Though there are many diverse aspects of Texas such as geography, landscape, history, sports, hunting & fishing, traveling, etc. to keep one’s attention honed, the weather alone would be sometimes sufficient in keeping us occupied.

We hear of lots of folks that are still in the process of repairing pipes, pumps, and plugging leaks resulting from the hard freeze experienced about 3 weeks back. Folks seem to forget what happens to all that stuff when temperatures dip down into the teens for a few days in a row, as well as some folks registering a low of around 9 degrees. We even heard of some near mishaps with folks out chopping or busting ice on the water holes so the livestock could drink. Anyone that has ever had to tend to those type chores can share some amusing , as well as some fairly scary, tales tending to breaking the ice.

Our fair Valley of the Pecan has been enjoying some pretty comfortable afternoons this past week or so with a welcome break from the extremely frigid days. I’ll admit that the wind took the shine off some of the warmer days, but one must remember that windmills need to turn some every now & then. Most folks we talk to are ready for some warmer weather, but we need to remember that February is still listed as one of the winter months. Fact is, reading some of Jerry Lackey’s comments from "Windmill Country" in the big paper earlier in the week warns us of some more cold weather in the coming month. He relies a lot upon the long-range forecasting of Sr. Meteorologist, Joe Bastardi, AccuWeather.com, for a good bit of his weather forecasting. Lackey states that Bastardi even warns that this Feb. might rank up there, or down there, with some of the most severe Feburary freezes of the past 15 years, or maybe even matching the frigid Feb. of 1958.

Though we had just moved to Town, in from Algerita, that summer prior, I do recall of boot skating on some of the tanks as Daddy went around busting the ice so the cattle could drink. Though I was all of a hefty 108 lbs. that year, I still didn’t crack the ice. Hopefully, it won’t be that bad this next month, as some folks are already starting to complain of their natural gas bill being a bit higher. Personally, I really don’t mind so much, as turning up the thermostat is still a lot easier than chopping & carrying in stove wood.

Son, Will was in this past weekend visiting with Grandparents, over at Daddy’s & with Nana out at Sloan, taking time to usher out the last weekend of Duck season. He had pretty good luck getting his limit the last day, while bagging only 1 the day prior. I wasn’t able to help with the harvest as I’d not been over to pick up my Federal Duck Stamp, but did help him a bit with dressing a few. He did treat Daddy & yrs. truly to a very delicious Duck Sauce Piquant, Sat. evening, sided by a spicy Dirty Rice dish an some Andouille sausage. Lady Z even treated her Cajun background with a bowl, commenting on how tasty is was, albeit a bit spicey. Will even sent a small bowl over for Patty Sue to try, knowing full well that Jarvis would not let her have it all.

The Mayor & yrs. truly took time to visit during a little football over the weekend and guess we still have a game or two to go somewhere out around———————Harkeyville!!!!!!!!!!!!