Oh, Texas...

 

I've lived in Texas for over 22 years now, and I'm still learning new things.  Which was to be expected in the beginning - after all, they say Texas is "like a whole other country" - and they're right about that.  I had to get used to the idea that when a Texan talked about their "tank" they were referring to what the rest of us call a pond, and that a "bar ditch" wasn't necessarily outside of a bar, but in fact is a grassy dip on the side of the road built for drainage.  They are not made for parking, but at times you will see a random vehicle parked at an odd angle in a bar ditch - although I've never done it, people seem to run off the road and into the bar ditch fairly often around here.  And don't get me started about the time someone gave us directions and told us to take the access road...you do not want to know how long it took us to figure out that it was the road that runs parallel to the highway and not, in fact, a road named Access.

I said all that to say (which is a phrase I first heard in Texas) that I heard a new one this week.  We have new next-door neighbors, and in chatting with them, they told me about their (grown) children, saying their son went to school for (whatever, I can't remember) but is a "landman" and that their daughter went to school for (whatever, I can't remember) but she's a "landman" as well.  No idea what that meant.  I asked them if they were retired or still working, and they said they both were "landmen" - and I couldn't hold in my ignorance any longer and had to ask.  Apparently a landman is someone who works for the oil/gas industry and helps to get the mineral/oil rights on land before drilling can happen.  All these years living in oilfield-dense Texas, and I'd never heard of that term.

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Another Texas phenomenon is how rapidly our temperatures can change.  I'd never heard of the term "blue norther" until I moved to Texas, but the first time I experienced one turned me into someone who checks the hourly weather forecast every morning.  A blue norther is when the weather turns cold in a very short amount of time.  It's also something that can make you feel like a bad mother when you send your little kindergartener off to school wearing a weather-appropriate outfit of shorts and a t-shirt, and then the blue norther happens and that child is shivering and covered in goosebumps when you pick him up in the afternoon.

Gullywasher in progress...

Last week, Jeff and I wanted to get a run in before the (predicted) rain began.  At 5:15 am, it was a balmy 65 degrees, and we were running in short-sleeved tops.  We were nearing the one mile mark when the rain started (which was sooner than what the hourly forecast said, darn it); I didn't want to get caught in a gully washer (another Texas weather experience - an intense period of rain that can flood not only gullies, but bar ditches as well) so we headed home.  We finished the run at 1.5 miles, and were lightly soaked from the rain.  I jumped in the shower to warm up, and could hear the rain pouring down outside - it did, indeed, turn into a real gully washer.  And about 30 minutes later, the rain eased up but it got cold - I checked the temperature, and it had dropped to 38 degrees!  I think I got Texas bingo with that gully washer/blue norther combination.

One thing is for sure - even after all this time, Texas sure keeps me guessing.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.