Tales of the Tumbling Tumbleweed(s)

     Any "City Slickers" fans out there? Remember the 1991 western comedy starring Billy Crystal and Jack Palance? Remember? Palance did the one arm push-ups at that year's Academy Awards? There was a song he sang during that movie called "The Tumbling Tumbleweeds.''
    Ole Jack's gone now, but he would've had a lot....a whole lot to sing about today in West Texas. The wind started to blow and then.... Katy bar the door!

     We knew we were in for one of those West Texas days when the breeze started up before 8:00 this morning. The tops of trees began swaying back and forth before it was time to go to work, and that's usually a bad sign in these parts. And sure enough... We went from 'it's gonna be a blustery day to a full blown (pardon the pun) duster buster' out here in Snyder, America.

Hello New Mexico!

     By 3:00 this afternoon, the sky began to take on a color like khaki pants. Around these parts the wind howls so much that we even joke about it. We say things like: "Here's comes New Mexico" or "Looks like Lubbock's blowin' in." Sometimes, we keep it closer to home and blame our dirty sky on Lamesa only 60-miles down the state highway.
     But all kidding aside, a sky that's more brown or red than blue means a big wind's coming. The unusual color you see in the left photo is plain ole west Texas dirt bearing down on us. The best thing to do, if you can, is stay indoors and be thankful you didn't dust your home. It's a well known fact out here that all that dirt somehow/some way goes through windows.

Tumbleweed(s) Station/WRP @ 3:15ish

      I can't explain it, but we've had an unusual amount of tumbleweeds this year. And when the wind blows like it's blowing today, those thorny thistles roll and roll until something blocks their way.
     The picture to the right is the breezeway at the ranch between our kitchen and pavilion. I took the photo only minutes after the wind started. Use that red door in the background as a point of reference.

       I took the photo on the left about 15-minutes later. There's that red door. The wind had just started howling. Teresa and I knew it was only a matter of minutes until this breezeway became 'tumbleweed(s) station. 

     Then it was only a few minutes later until the breezeway really started to get crowded with the dry, prickly tumbleweeds. The weeds are half way up that red door.

   The breezeway will likely fill up even more with the dry, prickly tumbleweeds before the winds stops sometime tomorrow.

     Suffice it to say, I'm not looking forward to clearing our main walkway between the kitchen and pavilion. And, I'm really not excited about clearing the pictured fence that's apparently the ultimate tumbleweed(s) catch-all.

Tumbleweed(s) Catch-All/Windmill Ranch Preserve, 2018

     Just another day in paradise.

Bill Robertson