Hail to Texas!

I have missed Midwestern storms! Missed the big thunder, the pouring rain, the excitement of tornados (when they are close enough to threaten but far enough away that they don't live up to the potential), the dramatic weather bulletins . . . It's glorious!

Growing up on the farm, inclement weather meant everyone gathered at Grandpa Evan's and Grandma Johnnie's and fun was had! If we were snowed in, there was a big pot of chili (before we lost the electricity), sleeping in sleeping bags in the living room, missing school, playing games, etc. The town grandparents--Grandpa Keith and Grandma Wanda--would bring groceries to the end of the road where it met the highway and we would snowmobile the half-mile to get them. Fun!

If there was a tornado warning or bad winds, then we'd run up to the "big house" (not a jail, just what we called my grandparents' home!) and try to guess when to quick run to the basement! The power would often go out and the air was electric with excitement (and electricity from the lightning, too!)! Danger approached!

My aunt Julie had duly filled me up with horror stories for every situation. For the tornado, it was that a piece of straw had been wind-driven through a man's heart. To this day, when there are high winds I try to make sure that there isn't any loose straw around!

Oh, all the impending disaster!

Anyway, one day last week I was aware, sort of, that it was kind of dark outside, but it wasn't until I received an e-mail from my mom (in Iowa) that said she hoped that I (in Texas) was watching the weather and that I had a plan.

A plan? I suddenly realized that I didn't even have a basement, let alone a plan! For some reason, even though they live in a state with a healthy tornado season, Texans don't build every house with a basement. Like, ours doesn't have a basement. We do have a garden tub which is quite deep; however, it shares a wall with a huge picture window.

We have beautiful vaulted ceilings. We have a house FULL of gorgeous floor-to-ceiling windows. We have new carpet.

Yes, we have no basement. (Sung to the tune of Yes, We Have No Bananas!)

Thankfully, it only hailed. We do have a garage.




No plan yet, though.

An Open Letter to Al Gore

Dear Mr. Gore:

While I am glad that you didn't win the election a few years ago, or at least you didn't win the court battle, I have not had anything against you personally. I think it is admirable that you and Tipper have been married so long and clearly are good friends. You have raised a family of adults who contribute to society in a positive manner.

And while I haven't watched your global warming movie, I think it is very likely that there is something to what you are saying . . . I mean, God created this planet as a dynamic system and I am sure that when we look back on this time in 100 years, we will see some sort of pattern.

However.

The few months prior to our moving from Seattle, Washington, the weather went from ghastly to downright nasty, freezing, and freaky. After we left, it only got worse.

I didn't let it get me down, though. We were moving to Texas and even without global warming, we were going to be warmer and enjoying copious amounts of sunshine.

However.

In the two months we have been here, I think we have seen eight days of sun. The rest of the time has been COLD, RAINY, DARKLY OVERCAST, and generally miserable, with temperatures topping out in the 30s.

(Not to mention that poor Upstate New York is digging out of an additional five feet of snow after the eight they received last week.) (And also your unfortunate timing last year in keeping a public speaking engagement on global warmining on the coldest day of the year. But I digress.)

Al, what I am about to show you is forecast again FOR THIS WEEK.

So what I wrote to ask, Al, is this: Can we have some of that global warming you've been traveling all over the world speaking and making movies about?

Yours very sincerely,

Kirsten M. Christianson

Why I Love Texas (so far)

1. Dickey's BBQ! Pulled pork. Lean smoked Ham. Fried okra. Pecan pie. Need I say more!


2. Genuinely friendly people! Our neighbors brought over homemade chocolate chip cookies!


3. Huge house with fenced backyard and two-car garage--and we can still eat and put a little in savings, too. Seattle is so yesterday.


4. SuperTarget, Home Depot, Best Buy, and two grocery stores are within five minutes in every direction. (Well, maybe 10 minutes.)


5. Chick-Fil-A (I'm having some waffle fries for you, Shannon!)


6. BIG sky!


7. We're in the Central Time Zone so I can watch Dave Letterman and still get a decent night's sleep! (And now that we have Tivo, it just got easier!)


8. The Southern Drawl . . . it's music to my ears!


9. God isn't a dirty word.


10. There are more churches than cows here . . .

Surely I will find a church that loves people and has a minister who preaches soul-inspiring, intellectually challenging, well-organized sermons--Yea!

I also hear that it gets hot down here (repeated conversation: "We just moved here." "How do you like it?" "We like it a lot!" "Wait til the summer."). However, since we moved here in mid-December, we have had two ice storms and seven days of sun. In between it has been cold, cloudy and often rainy.

Maybe Seattle isn't as yesterday as I had hoped . . .