It's dry heat ...

Brian Williams and NBC news broadcast from El Paso-Juarez last Wednesday night. Blogging about the trip, Williams referenced working in the the 100 degree sun and expressed his growing exasperation every time someone told him: But it's dry heat. I'm with him. It may be dry heat - but it's still HEAT!

Yes, I've been more miserable in the heat and humidity of the midwest. I still say it's hot here.
I know it's hot when the low temperature for the day in El Paso is higher than the high for the day in Wisconsin.
I know it's hot when the five-day forecast says the high's at the end of the week will be only 95 because of a cooling trend coming through.
I know it's hot when yard work or exercise has to be completed before 9 am - and that's stretching it.
I know it's dry - but it's still hot!

Officially a Texan

In the mail this week came a little booklet called "How to apply to be a Texan." I've rented a house, obtained gas, electric, water, cable and phone service, opened a bank account, and started a new job but until I complete all the steps required by the Texas Department of Safety, I'm not officially a Texan. The first step is insurance coverage, which in a nice bit of timing, was due for renewal shortly after I moved here. Then comes something called a state inspection. Assuming the vehicle passes, you take the certificate and title and proof of insurance to a title office - along with a passle of money. To complete the process, one has to go to another office, taking all the papers you've accumulated so far, plus Social Security card, and passport or birth certificate, to get a Texas drivers license.
Heading the warnings not to carry one's SS card around, I'd very carefully put it someplace safe months ago. Yeah, some place so safe that I couldn't find it. So after an afternoon of sorting through file boxes of "important" papers - and throwing away many which were no longer in that category - I finally found my card - yep, in the place where it should have been, where I thought I put it and already had looked several times. AARRGGHH! Friday afternoon I appeared with all the right papers, endured the 90 minutes of waiting by working on my Spanish vocabulary, posed for my glamour-not shot, signed my name, pressed each thumb on the appropriate scanner, wrote another check and walked out with my temporary card. Now, I'm officially a Texan.
Not that I'm any where close to being a REAL Texan. My guess is I could spend the rest of my life here and never achieve that status. I've been here long enough to figure that would require far more than three pieces of paper and payment of a few fees.

Climate Change

Last March, I was struggling to decide whether to renew the lease on my apartment in Wisconsin for another six months or to give the required 60-day notice vacate at the end of the May. On the 30th, the call came that I was the choice of a church search committee to serve as interim pastor. Two weeks later, I was in El Paso for interviews, signed the lease on a house I found through the web, and three weeks after that, I arrived in Texas.
Whew! What a quick change! What a climate change!

A visitor from Europe who had no idea what Wisconsin was like asked me to describe the place I had most recently called home. "Just think of the opposite of here," I explained. That was all I need to say.
From the predominance of one feature of climate/culture to the abundance of its contrasting elements, here's some of my observations of opposites or difference between eastern Wisconsin and west Texas :)

Rural / urban
green / brown
evergreens / cactus
wetlands / desert
grass / gravel
trees / rocks
wind chill factor / heat index
wild turkeys / hummingbirds
sandhill cranes / doves
deer on the highways/ traffic jams on the freeway
Brats / burritos
Southwest / Upper Midwest
storm windows & doors / barred windows & doors
unlocked / double locked
polka / mariachi
cheese / chilis
beer / tequilla
space heaters / Swamp coolers
ice fishing / ???
Greenbay Packers/high school football
fleece and flannel / sunscreen and sunhats
Canadian border / Mexican border
Dairy cattle / pecan groves
Opening Days deer season and fishing season / Cinco de Mayo and Day of the Dead