Texline Texas....

I just returned to Monument from a visit to my hometown, Dallas ,Texas . I decided to drive to Amarillo, Tx. and then catch a Southwest Airlines flight to Big D and rent a car there....saves about 12 hours of driving roundtrip and at current gas prices, maintenence costs etc it's probably no more expensive than driving the entire way.

Anyway, the cities I traveled through on the route to Amarillo included the city of Texline, Tx. which is on the border of Texas and New Mexico at the top of the Texas panhandle. As I was entering the city limits of Texline, my car was assailed by a giant tumbleweed bounding across the highway....get the picture! This is out in the middle of nowhere and trees are hard to come by.

I felt a real sense of "give up" in this town and several others I passed through in this drought and fire plagued area of the country. Nothing like the devastation in the Gulf region of the U.S., but store after store was boarded up and closed. I even saw some stores with product still in them...all closed down....

A few miles further into the Panhandle I noticed old oil gathering pumps churning away...some with new parts on them to pull the last few barrels of $60 oil out of the ground so it can be refined into that $2.50 gas I had to buy along the way. In case you haven't noticed, now that the "Spring Break" season is in full swing there seems to be a new "shortage" of some sort out there.....hmmm....

Great Monumental Blizzard of 2006 brewing?

NOAA has declared Monument Colorado as the Bulls Eye of a strong spring snow storm that's brewing over southern Colorado as I write this today. Actually, the sun was shining earlier today while the snow came in droves! We are supposed to receive maybe 12" or more of snow tonight. That would certainly rival last year's storm I named "The Great Palmer Divide Blizzard of 2005" with nearly 15" of the white stuff in about 12 hours, as the 4-5 readers of this blog may recall.
Update: 2 pm MST....Coming down at a strong pace with Thunder! I've only seen "Thunder Snow" one other time back when I lived in Barrington , IL outside Chicago....very strange!

We are better prepared for this storm....bought a couple of 4 wheel drive vehicles, have plenty of provisions on hand, have a flat driveway now and a next door neighbor with a big-ass snowblower....Yeah, we are ready ......bring it on!

Hibernating this winter....

I've been in blogger hibernation this winter and really busy with a new job and all. I'm traveling a lot more than I've had to do for the last 15 years or so and it's taking some getting used to:
First: I don't like to practically undress at security lines at airports...shoes especially
Second: I don't like to sit next to loud mouthed drunks or crying babies on planes
Third: I don't like walking for miles in airports like Denver, Chicago, Salt Lake or Colorado Springs...who designed those airports anyway? ....they certainly didn't take the lead from DFW in Dallas, where you are not more than 50 yards from transportation or bags.
and Last: I have to pack in one of those "rolling" bags that are designed to go on the plane, but never are accepted, so I check them and get to iron every wrinkled shirt and suit when I get there.
YUCK! I think I'll start requiring anyone who wants to visit with me to come to Monument...that will go over like a lead balloon with my boss....oh well, "would you like something to drink and a 'snack' Mr. Scott".......sure, gimmie two packages of peanuts please with my coke.