September - South Texas Chronicle.....
12 September 09We’ve had three days of light rain adding up to maybe a half inch. Nothing to bust the drought, but enough that the toad, Mr. Bojangles, came out of hiding and did a happy dance across the patio while I was standing there. Yes, he did. And the grass in the park is green for the first time this Summer and everyone gets a lift this week after months of record breaking temperatures.
The drought is another matter. Talk now from farmers is there will be no cotton crop next year either. They can’t plant anything because the ground is so dry – we are now 16 inches below normal. Of course the rest of nature carries on and the hummingbirds are back in full strength. We have three or four camped out at our feeder in the back yard. Zoom, zoom. They are a much better program to watch than most cable shows. Hopefully lots of folks will have feeders out to replenish their strength before they continue their journey south – the drought has diminished greatly the amount of food sources in this area.
I scouted out another little town last weekend when I found Alice, Texas. Population: 13,650. It’s about 50 miles south and west from our house down two lane “ain’t nobody around” farm roads. It’s just heaven to roll down the windows, set the cruise on any speed you want (50 mph is my cruising speed), and just float down the road with nobody in sight. At first there were no fences as miles and miles of empty cotton fields surrounded the roadway. Twenty miles later cattle ranches took over the prairie as trees and fences cut up the open land into homesteads. A bigger change was seeing the oil wells appearing like huge insects out in the pastures. Lots of oil wells and tanks continued to be part of the landscape all the way into town. And that is the big business of Alice: supplying the oil fields. The town itself is of two pieces. The old downtown is still operational and just about every storefront has a little business in it. A few miles away is the new town with Wallyworld, hotels, and the corporate eateries. Stuff in the old town is way old and very poor. But of course there is a very nice section of town to live in – what money can buy here would blow your mind. There is even a small country club with a golf course. So, it’s a town where a few people made a lot of money, and where most people made little. And it’s spread out. That’s another thing about Texas towns: they’ve got lots of land to build anything they want and then abandon it and go build somewhere else. The number of abandoned buildings in all these small towns is mind blowing, there are so many. So, I just got a taste of Alice and want to take Leslie with me when I go back the next time. She was up in Austin helping our grand daughter last weekend – all is well there – Ellen is in school and making great progress. Leslie has lost 30 pounds and is a mere shadow of her former self. We both are using our membership to the gym. She’s a Cancer and gets in the pool and swims. Since I’m an earth sign I like the treadmill and weights, but also jump in the pool – earth and water do get along, you know.
NEWSFLASH: it has been raining all night and the rain is still coming down as we make coffee this morning, Sept 10. The radar shows red blobs of rain coming right at us. Kingsville got 5.6 inches of rain in two hours and those storms are only 40 miles south of us and moving our way. The entire gulf is filled with moisture and the prediction is for rain for the rest of the week. Thank you, Lord. Dance, Mr. Bojangles, dance.
Thanks for sharing another fantastic journey. And, thanks for taking good care of yourselves. (Both the Inner/Outer)
— PeaceBEE Sep 12, 08:12 AM #Lance,
Wow, we are getting flooding up here in the Austin area. Who woulda thunk it?
Also, I grew up in Alice, and it’s interesting the way different people see the same thing. My daddy worked in the oilfields out of Alice, and I absolutely despised the place! I have been back there a few times since I was kid, and could not get out of there fast enough. That part of Texas is still pretty rugged in places though, and my best memories are of the wildness of it all, and how incredibly flat it was. I spent many a day exploring in the sagebrush and mesquite looking for critters. In those days horned toad lizards were every where and I could always find the coolest bugs to observe, and rattlesnakes were under every rock. I kind of liked that…
— Darlene Sep 12, 09:42 AM #yeah, Alice is quiet…
we drove through today again…it’s old and sad…
I understand why you feel the way you do…
— Lance Ferguson Sep 13, 07:33 PM #Thank you for another great story of small town Texas. I grew up in Forsan. Now I’m in metropolitan San Francisco and have to imagine thunderstorms just to get to sleep!
— Pam O Sep 15, 04:14 PM #Thank you for heartwarming homesickness!!
Pam O Novato, CA
Thanks to Hurricane Linda, we actually had rain, thunder & lightning in the valley east of San Francisco, on the 12th & 13th. I hope Pam got some of that.
— Gloria Sep 16, 12:51 AM #Thanks for your great stories, Lance.
Gloria
Dublin, CA
Another eloquent story by the master of THE WORD.
— jim wyatt Sep 17, 07:37 PM #Love your tails of travel….and now you have our hummingbirds again for a while. They love stopping by to say hello from Indiana.
— Shara Sep 19, 10:48 AM #you are right, Shara, as I just saw one ruby throated beauty go by with Indiana plates…
they are marvellous to watch…
— Lance Ferguson Sep 19, 07:34 PM #Lance that little town of Alice TX sounds amazing. Do you ever take photos out there? As a photographer I’d love to see some shots from your travels.
— Russ Rosener Sep 21, 10:03 AM #Love your stories Lance, keep ‘em comin’
— Laurie Poel Sep 24, 10:38 AM #BTW, I can’t open my October Skywatch, is it ready?
Laurie P Hemet CA
oops, I figured it out, lesson to self, don’t email before am tea!
— Laurie P Sep 24, 10:43 AM #nope, no photos…I keep
thinking I should…
but I’ve got enough on my plate right now…
— Lance Ferguson Sep 24, 11:37 AM #Russ – good idea! I’ll see if I can’t find the camera next time we go for a drive.
— Leslie McLaurin Sep 25, 06:09 AM #