Snow days

Living in Texas, snow days are relatively rare. The Panhandle sees ice and snow a little more regularly than the DFW area. Austin and Central Texas hardly ever get to experience anything more inspiring than a light flurry. Houston falls in that category, as well. That is why when we get winter weather in the Lone Star State, it’s like the scene of Bambi on Ice. We are not people that prepare for water in a solid-state.

Winter tires are not sold here. A major city might just maybe have a single snowplow. We don’t store up salt for roads, and I know no one who wraps their pipes. We are not prepared for the cold because it seldom visits in a meaningful way.

The end result of this is that people watching go from “amusing” to “frightening/insane/awesome” pretty quickly. A trip to get gas, get groceries or get the mails can become a “classic fail video” in a heartbeat as long as you have your phone out.

I try to avoid the stupid because I’m older, have a few surgeries in my medical history, and don’t like drama. Instead, I’ve been at home watching over the kids, taking care of family, and finishing chapters 18 and 19 of the newest book. I still have no title, but I’m feeling good about my self-imposed May deadline for a release date.

Additionally, I want to thank everyone that has read my books. If you went that extra mile and left a review on Amazon or Goodreads, please know that helps me more than I can express. Ratings help promote my viability in the eyes of the all-mighty algorithms that populate search engines. Eventually, I hope to get relevant enough to get canceled for being me. It’s a small aspiration, but then that’s when you know you’ve made it.

Finally, in light of Texas’ winter weather being in the news, I leave you with this. It’s a collection of people documenting this moment for us.

Stay warm, stay safe, and I’ll keep writing.