Round two getting underway tonight in San Antonio: what to expect in the last debate before early voting between Ted Cruz and Beto O’rourke. Also, the policy of family separations at the border was a bust, but now the Washington Post reports it may be making a comeback. We’ll hear the how and why. And Texas is a leader in wind energy, but is the push for wind turbines about to run out of air? We’ll hear why some are worried. Also, what some have called a declaration of a new cold war. Why you might have missed it and why the Chinese certainly did not. All those stories and a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard:
Wind
Windmills: A Memory of Spring
When I was fifteen, weighed down by concerns about high school – algebra tests, term papers, girls – there was no better spot in the world to silence the mind than on top of a 35 foot windmill at my uncle’s farm. In the spring, it was heaven up there on that platform. To the north I could see hundreds of black angus cattle dotting the new grass of irrigated pastures, a scene fitting for Van Gogh’s brush. To the south, way south, there were citrus orchards. The southern breeze blew in the sweet smell of orange blossoms. In the brushlands of south Texas, that was the second harbinger of spring.
The first I could see to the west, the new sheen of emerald green covering miles of mesquite. The huisache trees, too, were adding their bright golds to the mix.
Just a few days before it had been a bleak, brown landscape, but overnight, nature turned on her lights and from the platform high above it all, as birds sang with greater enthusiasm, and butterflies fluttered among the bluebonnets far below, I could witness the world being born again.
And the windmill turned and squeaked. I think a windmill squeaking may be the only squeaking in life that is comforting. It’s soothing somehow, perhaps because it is the sound of life itself being pumped from the ground.
We used to keep metal coffee cups on hooks down by the water tank so we could get a fresh drink of water, delivered pure and cold from deep in the earth, whenever we wanted.
I think photographs of windmills are the pictures Texans seem to love most of all. There is something romantic about them. The giant turbines are not loved like windmills, perhaps because they are so enormous they overpower rather than blend with the landscape.
And windmills stand alone, never in groups of twenty of forty. Windmills seem independent and solitary, historically symbolic of the Texas character. They have a unique place in our heritage. They transformed much of the land from arid to vibrant.
This reminds me of a poem by the great cowboy poet, Mike Moutoux. He makes this point about windmills far better than I can.
A FITTING MONUMENT
by Mike Moutoux
In the dry land stands the monument of a dreamer
It is a testament to hope; to years of yearning
Standing tall above the grasses, rocks and scrub oak
Below a cloudless sky and sun so brightly burning
No babbling brooks cross here, just silent sand arroyos
Few linger here at all; fewer still would stake a claim
Only fools and dreamers could love this barren land
It does not suffer fools; dreamers love it just the same
‘Twas the Homestead Act that brought him here to dream and sweat
It was the solitude and grass that it made it feel right
But there were months when precious rains were non-existent
Each cloudless day brought another worried weary night
All that changed when the Aermotor windmill was delivered
The well was dug, the tower raised; each rod and gear in place
The wind blew as always, but now it turned a shiny fan
And both the cowman’s heart and dreams begin to race
The cowman would talk about that day for years to come
How the blades spun, the rods creaked, how he paced and paced
And then water, precious water, poured from pipe to trough
Giving hope a thing a man could actually taste
Within weeks trails appeared around the water trough
As thirsty critters, one by one, found the water there of course
Not just cows, but the antelope, fox and deer drank there
The tower, a beacon, led them to their water source
The story of the dreamer is old but not forgotten
The tower still stands although its working years are spent
A testament to one man’s hope and all those years of yearning
For a dreamer and cowman, a most fitting monument.
For more of Mike Moutoux’s work, go to www.mikemoutoux.com
Wind
Alternative energy sources were the inspiration of this poem. Along with what you might call alternative alternative energy sources.
Texas Standard: May 18, 2017
Special prosecutor. While the country is abuzz over an investigation in Washington a case involving a lawmaker in Texas is also moving forward, we’ll explore. Plus there are still almost two weeks left in the Texas Legislative Session but talks of the double-S word: “Special Session”, are looking serious. We’ll tell you why. And one big issue before lawmakers has been changes to the Texas Foster Care System. Where those proposals stand now, it’s part of our ongoing exploration of the system’s challenges. Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: May 17, 2017
What did he know and when did he know it? That’s so 1973. Today’s question: did president Trump attempt to obstruct justice? We’ll explore. Also: it’s been two years since the biker shootout in Waco, more than a hundred 70 arrested and charged, but not a single opening argument yet. What’s the explanation? We’ll take a look. And a laptop ban said to be in the works for travelers coming to the US from Europe. Does a laptop ban make sense? Also teen pregnancies hit a record low nationwide, but not here. Why Texas is bucking the trend. Also police chiefs claim there’s less crime in so-called sanctuary cities. But is that a fact? All those stories and much more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Weather is Never Normal
When Admiral Perry arrived at the North Pole, according to legend, he said, “Must be a cold day in Amarillo!” He was referring of course to the old Texas saying that there is nothing between Amarillo and the North Pole but a barbed wire fence.
Amarillo and the Panhandle are not just famous for arctic fronts and blue northers. They are well known for wind in general. Chicago is not really the king of windy cities; Amarillo is. The Weather Channel says that Amarillo is the windiest city in America. In fact four of the top ten windiest cities in America are in Texas – Amarillo, Lubbock, Abilene and Corpus Christi. It’s tempting to add Austin for other reasons. Windy weather is why Texas is by far number one in wind energy, producing more than twice as much as number two, Iowa.
Another common saying in Texas is this: “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute.” We are a region that can have the heater on in the morning and the air conditioner on at noon, only to turn the heater back on at night. In weather, we are bi-polar. I like the post floating around the net these days that goes like this: “Mother Nature says: You can’t squeeze all the weather in the world into one week. Texas says: Hold my beer and watch this.”
And then, it’s not uncommon to see signs in Texas during the summer that say: “Satan called. He wants his weather back.”
Here’s another Texas expression I love: “It’s hotter than a fur coat in Marfa.” See if you can’t work that one into conversation someday soon.
Despite the persistence of the claim that you can fry an egg on the sidewalk, it is never actually hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. It does get hot enough to bake cookies on the dash. I’d much rather have dashboard cookies than sidewalk eggs, anyway.
My brother Redneck Dave used to be annoyed that Freer often reported the highest summertime temperature in the state. He said “I know for a fact that they keep their town thermometer in an oil field pipe yard. That ain’t right.” He seemed to think they were unfairly winning a weather Emmy of some sort – best performance in heat.
Much of Texas is known for being dry. Dry as a bone, they often say. A West Texas rancher once told me, “God ain’t much of a rainer out here, but he was mighty generous with the stars.”
And they have sandstorms in West Texas so intense that they leave sand drifts behind. In some years they have to shovel snow in the winter and sand in the summer. I bet sometimes they get to do this on the same day.
Farmers I knew as a kid would say that south Texas was so hot and dry that the “trees were whistling for the dogs.” Gotta love farmers. Humor as dry as the land.
Eventually droughts are broken and the rain comes. Then we have “gully washers and toad stranglers.” Or old timers say, “It’s raining so hard the animals are startin’ to pair up.” The great meteorologist Isaac Cline got it right when he said: “Texas is a land of eternal drought interrupted occasionally by Biblical floods.”
Houston is not known so much for rain or drought, but for humidity. It is a giant sauna much of the year. I doubt Houston would be the economic powerhouse it is if it weren’t for air-conditioning. In 1900, there were less than 50,000 Houstonians. Won’t be too long before there will be 7 million people in the greater Houston area. What happened in the last century? The invention and perfection of air-conditioning. Coincidence? I think not.
Somewhere in Houston they should have a big statue of Willis Carrier, 100 feet tall, right off the Gulf Freeway. Willis would reside comfortably inside a huge glass display case, which would be air-conditioned, of course.
In Texas we define ideal weather as Chamber of Commerce weather. It may not be unique to Texas, but it is a common expression here. But honestly that weather is rare. Most of the time I visit a Texas town for the first time people tell me, “the weather isn’t usually like this.” But from my experience it is. Texas weather is never actually normal.
Texas Standard: February 10, 2017
A proposal to fix the state’s broken foster care system that could get more adults involved in the temporary care for kids in need. We’ll hear why the idea is personal for one Texas lawmaker. Plus gas prices could go up a lot under a proposal from a Texan in Washington. Not so good for drivers but how about the oil and gas industry? We’ll explore. And love thy neighbor. How a fire at an Islamic Community Center in Central Texas actually sparked new friendships. Plus how a song about a little boy in South Texas connects two generations of a legendary music family. And a reminder to never to read the comments from the Typewriter Rodeo. That and more on this Friday edition of the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: August 30, 2016
First it was federal prisons. Now, what could be a sea change in how the US handles families crossing the border. Also can Texas hold it’s liquor laws? A sobering challenge from the nation’s biggest brick and mortar retailer, and billions of dollars in the balance. Plus in advance of a major storm expected on the gulf, the state’s insurer of last resort finds itself in the eye of a storm over rate hikes…or more precisely, a lack thereof. And the winds of change for Corpus Christi? How a longtime staple of the economy could get blown away by a wind farm. Plus what college credit has to do with the compass…and a whole lot more. Today on the Texas Standard: