A real Texas Thunderstorm

     This puppy didn't even get started until after Midnight. I'm located about a mile from the water of the Gulf, and had been hearing about the possibility of "Severe" Thunderstorms all day.  Must have been around 11:45 or so when I stepped out my front door.  Somewhere's after Colbert and the beginning of Meyer's. The thing about down here in Texas is that when something like this is about to happen, seems the air gets heavier.  And there was definitely something like that happenning here.  I looked up at the Moon and noticed the clouds were moving quite fast although from where I was standing, I felt only a slight breeze.     
   
         Meyer's was a rerun so I decided to turn in.  But just as I was about to turn off the lights, I decided to check the Weather app on my phone.  Talk about an Oh shit moment.  As soon as the radar pic came up, it became very obvious this was a huge storm carrying a lot of water. The images, which tend to be mostly Yellow with a Red core signifying the heavier rainfall, a smaller patch usually much smaller than the Yellow surrounding it.  In this instance it was just the opposite.  The Storm was huge and consisted of almost all Red.  From what I could deduce looking at the small screen, the monster seemed to be moving from West to East, leaving the possibility that it might not hit until morning, if at all.  It was at least a hundred miles away at that time.

      I was hoping I might sleep through it, which seems to be a recipe how people die sometimes, but seein's Lisa wasn't here at the moment, I decided I'd just as soon take my chances and sleep.

      And that did not work out well at all.  People who have never been in the South.  Never been to Texas in the Spring.  Never witnessed a thunderstorm here have no idea.  It's like no place I've ever been during a storm before.  I awoke about a half hour after going to bed with a dry mouth thanks to the Benadryl I'd just had. I got up to get  a drink of water and then I heard the far off sound of Thunder.  

       That Thundering seemed to travel a mile a minute as each subsequent sound became louder.  And I'd give it no more than ten minutes and it was upon me, everybody around me.  First the far off flash of lightning that seemed to be getting brighter with each boom until both were occurring continuously.  As if someone outside were bangng one of those loud gongs and running an arc welder simutaneously.  No, I'm lying.  Compound that by a hundred and then throw a semi load of small ice balls in.  Along with a wind that went from a breeze to about sixty miles per hour.  Think of that scene in War of the Worlds, the explosive flashing reflected through the window.  

   The lights tended to blink some after the loudest booms and I decided to turn on the television while also checking the weather app.  Both indicated we were receiving our second Tornado warning of the night.  That's one of those minutes where you're glad your wife is out of harms way, visiting our daughter in Nevada, but at the same time thinking it really does suck to be alone right now.   

      So for the next half hour or so I watched the warnings scroll along the bottom of the screen telling me to take shelter in a substantial structure.  I looked around, hell the 5th wheel was more substantial than the one we were in last year. 

    Then the scrolling words across the bottom of the screen said, "if you are in an RV or mobile home, leave now and seek shelter".  I sat back in my chair, listened to the hammering hail on the roof and decided that particular action was not likely to occur either.

     After about a half hour or so of sitting being pleasantly  surprised that my buttocks contained muscles that I could squeeze whenever I wanted, the words at the bottom of my tv screen said, "Storm is weakening, go to bed"  or thats what I thought I read in my Benedryl and Wine slightly affected mind.  So I did, and just as I remember drifting off to sleep, I heard in the distance, booming, not in the direction the sound had gone, but where it came from.  And then I just dropped off to sleep.

    So, it had a statistically significant happy ending anyhow.  Because there really isn't all that good a chance I'd find myself in the center of an F one through three Tornado, spinning wildly. Which from my childhood, would likely prompt me to start saying stupid and ridiculous words just to hear what they sounded like while one was spinning, oh yeah wildly.

      Anyway, two Tornado's did strike within twenty miles from here, relieving a couple of houses of their just rebuilt Harvey roofs, as the news put it.

       And I was asked again why I moved to Texas, because today was gorgeous, and the after storm nighttime sounds of the bullfrogs and Cicada's is really the stuff of movies. 

     But damn those Tornado's.

Gangster's Perdition, it's baaaaaaack

This  book, Gangster's Perdition is a work that I am proud of but not necessarily one I'd read as a bedtime story.  This is the finished and oh so different version that I outlined in this blog over two years ago.  My first book and would love feedback on.

I created the book cover myself.  The scurrious looking individual is my son Dan.  Who graciously allowed me to use some of his art in the creation of this cover.

Friday nights, alright

    I abandoned this blog over a year ago and only recently picked up on it again.  At one time I'd inserted a number of nice touches such as a photo slideshow.  But that is a thing of the past, the Host programs have since moved on.
     Neverthless..... one needs to soldier on.

    So Lisa has left me to batch for a few weeks while she makes her annual pilgramidge.  She's currently in Boise.  She's always done this, but it used to be called different names.  National Lampoon Vacation comes to mind.  It's probably good for both of us.  I could see her visibly restless for quite some time.  She needs family time, Sister time, most importantly Grandbaby time.   So, like men all over the world, I probably should watch myself a little more closely.   Funny but true.  Guys with too much time on their hands tend to get a little funny like that.

      My Uncle Carl, my Mother's last sibling died.  I'm still processing that.  So's my Mom. She's Heartbroken.  So's Loris, married since 1961.  We've spent alot of time these last five years in Austin.  What we expected back then was a brief tour of Texas, a brief stopover at relatives and then on to Florida, our original objective.  Yeah, that was over five years ago.  We have yet to go South of Corpus Christi.

       Carl was a Man's Man.  Owned his first Airplane at 16.  Surreptitiosly, well likely not, took me up in one when I couldn't have been more than four.  How do I know that? Well before I ever took my first real airplane ride I retained a fuzzy memory, including a Red Airplane, which happened to be one of Carl's.  If it honestly did not happen, please don't tell me.  It's such a great memory.

      At the Funeral, we told Loris we'd be back in a few months.  She joked that she must still be in the family.  Duh.  I know in many cases this is a real fear.  My Dad automatically assumed he was out after my folks split in 1992.  Which was a shame.  He enjoyed spending time in Blackfoot.   So when Carl and Kenny showed up on his doorstep for a visit he was surprised as anyone.  His exile was self imposed and its a shame because everybody is now gone.  We'll be swinging by Austin for quite some time.  But we'll miss Carl.  I'm not even going to go over the litany of his accomplishments.  That was well covered during the Funeral.  But to the last, even though he'd look at you and you knew in your heart he had no idea who you were, he held on to that sweet personality that I remembered when I visited Carl and Loris with Grandma in Sacramento, California nearly fifty years ago.

      I maintained contact with my Ex's family for many years.  On her death, my main concern was my son.  I've been disassociated I suppose from them because I rejected a plan that I don't think was in anyway in his best interests at the time.   But I ensured he followed through with the proper handling of her remains.  That he got the certificates ordered,  collected the things of importance which he might hand down to his children, if he ever has any.  Collected up her Cat which he has to this day, and has had since she was a kitten.  When he got back to Twin Falls, Danny set up a memorial that I video'd.  They have little to complain about.  

      An Ex who dies is more mourned for the pain it causes the children you both had.  It's too bad things worked out that way, but it is what it is.

      The thing is, Funerals tend to be awesome family get together's.  Carl's was no different. I suspect he'd be fine with that. And it's been an exceptional pleasure meeting relatives that I haven't seen for generations.

     Housekeeping.  Watching an old Concert of Highwaymen, "Willie and Waylon and the boys".  I wathed the harp player as if he were under a microscope.  And each note he played, (I have no idea how good he was, only the pieces he was playing.)  And I'd have no difficulty replicating each and every one of them.. What that guy has that I don't?  Music is hardwired from an early age.  Myself at 63 trying to rewire my brain is a bit pathetic.  But damn it is one of the funnest things I've done for awhile.  As well as enjoying the old stuff, Big Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Sonny Terry,  Charlie Musselwhite.  It's a new world

     Speaking of, they say one of the things a man should do in his life is build a house, write a book, do things like keep Bees etc. Does making your own Beer count? Anyway, I'm on the cusp of actually finishing one.  I've been working on it two years.  Damn, it's fiction, it's weird and dystopian but every time I get away from it, go back and review, I amaze myself.  I'm a rotten writer, but damn I'm proud of this.  Anyway I suspect I'll get it on Amazon in a week or two. Whoever said write a thousand words a day is full of crap. You'll just wind up going back and dumping most of it.  It's a process. 

      And that's all that is on my mind this lonely Friday night, 15th day of March, 2018. 
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