How I went from long johns to shorts and back to thermals in 24 hours.

I never relied on the morning news when I lived in Las Vegas like I do now that we moved to Texas. When we made our move, it was a toss-up between Houston and Dallas and I think we made the right move. Houston is heavy with rains from the Gulf of Mexico and an occasional hurricane breezing by. Dallas, it’s usually just tornadoes and hail. From the beginning I started to notice that it was important to check the traffic so that we could get to our job interviews on time. Everyone here in the DFW drives to work and there is no such thing as traffic is heavier in one direction. Traffic is heavier in EVERY direction. I had never lived anywhere that had so many different outlying areas that it was a MUST to check traffic first. Before I made the move to stay at home I used to have a 90 minute commute- one way. I was studying for an HR certification at that time so I made the most of the car ride and eventually passed the exam. After a while, that drive just proved more to me that it wasn’t worth wasting my life on the highways no matter how entertaining books on tape can be.

Morning traffic reports go hand in hand with the Weather. Again, if you want to be prepared here in North Texas you have to check out what the local weather guys have confirmed in their crystal ball. It’s safer to have an umbrella in the car at all times. Humidity- I had only experienced it once on a business trip when I flew to Kansas City. Yuck and more yuck. Rain out of nowhere? That’s Texas throughout the summer. It could rain for 20 minutes in a monsoon to rival the Philippines and then the sun comes out to scorch the rest of the day. And it goes on day after day after day. Last year was the weirdest weather transition that we had ever experienced, and I guess that it was weird for Texans too because they created a meme to commemorate it. It all started on Christmas Eve. That day in 2015 it was clear and nearing 64 degrees. Christmas day it was slightly overcast and got as high at 80 degrees and then that night there was torrential downpour and a tornado. It was the weirdest and saddest holiday weekend in a long time. It was confusing.

When you have animals depending on you to keep them safe, you must stay on top of temperatures because they don’t live indoors with you to take advantage of the central heating. This last week has been fluctuating between 35-65 degrees. Completely psychotic weather. Fog in the morning and mist all day. We needed to make sure that all of our pipes and spigots were protected yesterday when the sun was out. We made it home in time from the feed store to spread some pine shavings, secure tarps and make sure the water was in a good place to minimize the freezing. In 40 minutes, it went from 64 degrees Fahrenheit down to 34.  This morning when we woke up it was 12 degrees with a feels like temperature of -1. The ladies were brought out this afternoon and all appears well. I made them a suet cake treat for their run made from coconut oil, a smidgen of bacon grease, sunflower seeds, oatmeal and cracked corn. They loved it!

We have two more days of below freezing weather and I feel so bad for my husband as 80 percent of his work is done outside. I think the worst part isn’t so much the freezing cold but the piercing winds that slice through all your layers of clothing to sting your bones. I’m not used to this weather. I’ll stay inside and wait for Spring to return.