Time Changes, Not The Wind

Since the time change, I have done the reverse of what is probably considered normal getting-used-to-time-change behavior. Instead of waking up when my body says it is 6:00 AM, which is now 7:00 AM, I’m waking up at 3:00 AM, the old 2:00 AM. So, instead of “losing” an hour, I seem to be losing four hours and it’s not like I’m going to bed any earlier. No, siree, 10:00 PM sharp it is for me, even though that used to be 9:00 PM. I'm so confused, it's no wonder my internal clock is off kilter. Or is it because two of my cats have started coming to bed to join me about that time and, instead of being content to snuggle down and go to sleep, they begin grooming each other and start on me for good measure.


The other morning, I woke up to a howling wind. No, that’s not quite accurate. The howling wind woke me up. No, that’s not right either. I woke up to the sound of a creaking, cracking ceiling above my head and thinking that Chicken Little was indeed right. It sounded like the shingles were being ripped from the roof and were crashing against the sides of the house like an old fashioned rug beater. It even sounded as if the bricks of the house were moving and groaning. It’s three damn o’clock in the morning and, even though it’s still dark, I know there is dirt blowing outside. I would say that this kind of wind normally doesn’t hit us until spring, which happily is not that far away, but that would be a lie. Here, we get wind in all of our five seasons: fall, winter, spring, summer and hell.


Just the night before, we got the wind to beat all winds. I got an alert on my phone that a haboob was to be on top of us around 8:30. (Tee hee to you, all my male friends with 15 year old boy brains .)


ha·boob
həˈbo͞ob/
noun
1. a violent and oppressive wind blowing in summer, esp. in Sudan, bringing sand from the desert. (And sometimes Texas!)


Since the haboob hit after 8:30 and it was already dark, I didn't get any pictures. The picture below is one I took during a haboobian episode one day last summer around 5:30 PM CDT.

Yes, that is a street light peeking from behind the tree, not the sun. I wish I could say that this is not a common occurrence. But in all honesty, I cannot. This past week, every day has brought high winds and blowing dirt. Yesterday, I had to get fuel for my car and had to stand in an L stance to keep from being blown down.

We are in such drought here that I wonder if we'll ever get over it. As I get older, I understand much better the meaning of the phrase "Greener Pastures".  

~MfT