TEXAS WINTER FROM HELL

A Winter Visit To TEXAS in February;  what a great idea.   So, what could possibly go wrong?

Transcript

TEXAS WINTER FROM HELL                  

By James R. von Feldt

All rights reserved  

B- Btry 1, 194 FA

Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan

 HOOOOOHAWW Brett

Is that the way you greet each other in the army now?

Several years ago, my grandson was in Iraq - back when things were really hot.  Three trucks he was riding in got blown up.  I think I remember that right.  He was a gunner in some kind of military vehicle.  Some buddies were hurt bad.  He was lucky.  He only had knee injuries that required operations before he left the service; however, it all worked out.  Stem Cell therapy got him back to walking normally.  His brother went to Afghanistan – where you are, I guess.  He doesn’t talk about it much.

That was years ago and now you are there.  How is it going?  Is it cold there?  Are you having winter when we do?  We’ve had a normal winter here; rain, snow, ice, cold, and overcast a lot.  I sure would like to see more sunshine.  Heard from your mom that you are going to Germany after this tour is over.

Your dad went with Rodney to find a replacement for his old car.  It finally bit the dirt after 200,000 miles.  It gave him a lot of miles for a $500.00 car.  They looked at a well-used Ford, Cadillac, and Buick before picking one.  Rodney said he liked the Ford best but with the seat all the way back his knees still hit the steering wheel.  Guess you got problems when you are as tall as he is.

 Did you know the Gas & Grill is open now?  They closed it because of the virus and “distancing”.  Jeremy sold it last January.  It has new owners now but Gregg and Marcy are running it again.  Bob still comes in to do the cleaning at night and Emily drives over from Milton to help.  

We were about eight months without a place to meet in town.  The good news was that no one in our town or the towns around us reported having the virus.  But, nonetheless, it was miserable sitting at home with nowhere to go.  It was during that time, around the first of February, my sister called and once again invited me to come down to Texas for “Texas Winter” as she put it.  She used to come here for Christmas but finally, a couple of years ago, told me it was just too far to travel in the winter and too cold when she got here.   When she was here, she spent most of the time sitting close to the woodstove to keep warm.  She had been inviting me to come down to Texas but I never found time to do it.   

The neighbor's Gene and Nadine have a camper they pull behind his truck and they go to Texas every winter but they don’t have chickens or animals in the back yard to take care of.  We call them “Snow Birds”.  They laugh about it, show us pictures and tell us of the warm winds and sunny days they experience in Texas.  They go all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico and Gene goes fishing sometimes.  They leave in November and come back in March.

Well, this year I surprised my sister and said I was coming down.  It was early February and I had to make some preparations.  Russel’s boys Alex and William had helped me take care of the chickens, feed Mandy my dog and Maggie the cat until I get back.  I knew they would do a good job.  They also knew what to check in the house while we were away.  As you know, it is cold here all winter and gets below zero regularly in February so you have to keep an eye on everything.  

I called my sister on Thursday afternoon.  She said that it had been a lovely eighty-five degrees that day in Texas and that I couldn’t be coming at a better time.  It was to be thirteen degrees that night at our house.  So, I started packing; light weight clothes, a light jacket - enough clothes for a week or so’s stay.   For the occasion, I threw in a medium weight jacket just because I figured we would go out to eat a time or two.    

I stopped in Kansas City to visit Cecil.  She’s up there up in years now living with her daughter.  She taught bible lessons in church.  I don’t know if you were in her class or not but she’s the one that made the meringue pie you loved at our get-to-gethers. 

The trip took two long days.  As I went south from Kansas City on I35 I could feel it was warming up.  Keith Emmit over at the Sales Barn loaned me his GPS.  It ushered me right through the big cities; no problems.  I was relieved.  

I stayed in Oklahoma City the first night and made it to my sister’s house late afternoon the second day.  She lives in a small community about thirty miles north of Austin and a little east of the famous I35 throughway.  

As soon as I hit Texas, I noticed a little more traffic.  It wasn’t congested, probably because of the “stay-at-home” conditions of the virus.  There was a lot of road construction going on.  I wasn’t prepared at all for what I saw as I approached Fort Worth:  I’ve seen bridges before in big cities; St. Louis, Chicago, Washington D.C., but nothing like these.  

There is a lot of construction going on north of Fort Worth.  Seems like they are going to widen  I-35 all the way to Denton.  Then as you get to Fort Worth you see these strange things – looks like roads just going up into the sky.  What you usually see is a clover leaf: not around Fort Worth.  There were more exit bridges than I could count going every which way; most of them climbing higher over the last one until it’s just a maze of bridges in the sky.  It was hard to keep my eye on the road.

I continued on south and were getting closer to my sister’s as we went through Waco.  The construction area is wicked there: I-35 goes right through the middle of town 

It was still light when I pulled into my sister’s driveway.  I was tired but happy to be there and noted that it was warm.  I got a good night’s sleep.

The next day, Monday, the 8th of February was beautiful; sunny, light clouds, soft breeze from the south and a high temperature of seventy-six; seventy-six degrees, I couldn’t believe it.  It was great.  I couldn’t let such a beautiful day go to waste so we were off to see the big city of Austin Texas.

The first thing I noticed was the magnitude of new construction completed and more in progress; new houses in progress everywhere, new schools, roads, strip malls.  I hadn’t seen the likes since 1955 after the World War in Europe.  Also, I noticed that a lot of the cars going down the road with us had license tags from other states.  “They are moving in”, my sister exclaimed.

Well, we were back on I-35 going south towards Austin and ran into another cluster of flying bridges.  The occasion was a major highway was going east and west.  The exits took you right into the air; amazing.  We continued south on 35 right through the downtown part of Austin on a double-decker highway: two parts of the highway going the same direction, one on top of the other.  

We got off the highway and drove around town a bit looking at the tall buildings just like you would think tourists would.  We had lunch at a nice delicatessen then took a walk through the state capital building.  After that, we drove around the hill country as they call the western part of Austin.  Like I said before, it was a beautiful 76-degree winter day in Texas and we were enjoying it to its hilt.

We got home tired and ready to go to bed. The TV was on before we went to bed and the news was on.  They were talking about a big storm but we didn’t pay much attention.  The excitement of the day was the topic of our conversations.

Next morning my sister had slight coughing and runny nose; symptoms of the virus.  I was alarmed but not overly so as she said she felt good.  We stayed at home and talked about family things, ate big meals, and just caught up with the things you talk about when you visit.  

The top temperature that day was forty-six degrees, considerably cooler than the day before – a fall day back home.  I didn’t think much of it as I was concentrating on my sister and her coughs.  That afternoon she had a virtual meeting with her Dr. on her cell phone.   He told her to monitor the symptoms and if they got bad to go to the emergency room of a hospital nearby.  We started wearing masks and washing our hands diligently.  

About midnight my sister started coughing and could not stop.  I took her to the emergency room of the nearby hospital.  They were busy but they took her in.  I had to sit in the car outside and wait for news.  It was cold in the car.  At about two AM I got a call on the cell phone that said my sister would be there for a while and for me to go home.  The temperature gauge in the car showed that it was thirty-seven degrees outside.  It was getting cold.  That would be high for the day.

                The next morning, it's Thursday now, I was making breakfast – you know eggs, bacon, hash browns, the works when I got a call from the hospital.  My sister was ready to come home.  She was not serious enough to keep but she did test positive for the virus.  

                It was definitely cold when I got in the car to go.  I mentioned this fact to my sister on the ride home but got the response “This never happens, it will be back to normal tomorrow”.   I just shrugged and rolled my eyes.  

We wore masks now all the time.  My sister was tired.  She didn’t get much sleep at the hospital but was not coughing as before.  She said that there were a lot of people coming in that were in bad shape.  When the doctors got to her, they thought she had bronchitis but after getting the positive results of the virus test, they concluded she had the virus.  

They gave her shots and told her she could go home and get some sleep.  She went to bed and I just sat around the house.  I didn’t know how to run the TV so I just read magazines.   

Friday it was cold again.  The warm weather my sister said was normal had disappeared.  My sister was feeling better.  She was up and around some of the time and the coughs were only occasional now.  However, we continued wearing the masks.  I asked her if she ever saw snow in Texas.  Her answer was emphatic:  “ No it never snows in Texas”.  That was the end of that conversation.

However, we discussed the cool weather for a while and turned on the TV for news.  Outside it was looking like the area was heading for a cold front moving through with rain.  This time the TV weatherman announced cold, rain, ice, and possible snow.

The first thing I did was check out my sister’s refrigerator and pantry.  She had not purchased much more than bread and milk at the Central Market store when we were there.  It looked like we were going to need some basics.  

“Let’s go to the store”, I announced with enthusiasm.  I wanted to get out and see the sights cold or no cold.  She didn’t feel like going so she gave me directions.

When I got to the store the shelves were empty.  I had never seen anything like this before.  I didn’t get much in the way of groceries: two boxes of PopTarts.  On the way home I saw a small emergency clinic so I stopped and went in.  They gave me a virus test and I waited until they had the results; I was negative.   That was a relief.

Dinner was light: canned soup.  

The storm hit hard that night.  It was as the TV weatherman said it would be: a bad winter storm that lasted almost a week.

  This one had rain, six inches of snow, and ice which caused a huge pile-up on I-35 in Fort Worth.  It was followed by several days of freezing weather which caused the electricity to go out in suburbs all around the area.  And because many people down here used heat pumps to heat with, the demand for electricity soared off the chart.  That in turn caused outages as the electrical system was not able to keep up.  

Blackouts, brownouts, and roving On-Off electrical service was the order for the next few days.  Some homes froze up, the water ceased to flow as water needs electricity to pump.  Water pipes broke. People were cold and hungry.  I was cold and hungry.  I couldn’t get warm even wrapped in blankets.

We took in a neighbor whose house froze up.  Thankfully, she brought some groceries with her.  We were fortunate enough to have a dribble of water all the time so the toilets worked.  Electricity worked some of the time so the house did not totally freeze up but got down to the low forties.  The gas fireplace added a precious bit of heat to the house and we huddled around it.  I used it to make oatmeal more times than I’d like to think about.  

Back home, which is two days’ drive North, to Texan’s, everybody is prepared for winter storms that could stay for perhaps weeks.  They were staying warm even in much colder temperatures.

Thursday night it was thirty-four degrees - it was warming up.  I decided to go home.  So, Friday morning I was up and packed.

The trip back to Oklahoma was easy – hardly any traffic.  I was up early and on the road the next morning and in my own bed that night.  My own, warm bed.

It’s always good to get home – to sleep in your own bed no matter where you have been but this time it was truly delicious.

In our town, the day usually starts at five-thirty AM but I slept in till six-thirty.  Then I was ready to meet the day’s challenges.

First get dressed warmly.  It’s going to be cold today then down to the thermostat.  I raised the temperature to eighty-five.  That would take the chill off.

Next, start the woodstove with the kindlin and put in a few logs to warm up the house.  The wood fireplace gives off enough heat to heat the entire house even when it is below zero for several days.  I have more than a year’s supply of wood in the woodshed.

Once that task was done I put the coffee on and got dressed to go outside to feed the animals.

Mandy, my great Pyrenees dog was delighted to see me -- and the dog food.  She jumped and frolicked in the snow.  I got water in the water bucket from the house and made my way back to the chicken house through about a foot of snow and drift or two higher than that.  Everything was fine in the chicken house.  I changed out the drinking water and re-positioned the heating lamp above the watering pan.  
  
  The chicken feed is in the barn part of the chicken shed.  I got a bucket of feed that would last two days and put that in the feeder.  I also brought in some blocks of hay for the floor.  The chickens like to scratch in the hay and eat a bit of it.  It also makes the floor insulated so their feet won't freeze when it gets below zero for a while.

By the time I came back to the house, Mandy was already back in her dog house burrowing down in the hay.  Once on the back porch, I opened the cat food sack and filled Maggie the cat’s food bowl.  She peaked her head out to see what was going on then disappeared into Maggie's Cathouse.

I was sitting in front of the woodstove soaking in the rays and sipping coffee when footsteps came up on the front porch.  Brayden, Isaiah, and Alex were out shoveling driveways this morning.  They told me the school bus was not running this morning as the roads are not cleaned yet so they have time on their hands.  I made some hot cocoa and they warmed up before attacking my driveway.

That day about noon I called my sister to tell her I got back OK.  She swore that what I experienced was not a Texas winter and in fact right then, at that very time it was seventy-six degrees.  She invited me to visit next winter.   I said I’d think about it.

 Well, that’s it for now from where the corn grows tall and pigs fly.

Take care.  All my love,   

Grampa Jim