Blizzard! Really?

Now here's something one doesn't typically see in the local weather forecast: "blizzard" intoned in serious tone and aspect by local forecasters. The following is derived from the NWS Web site.

Issued by The National Weather Service
Lubbock, TX

Sun, Feb 24, 2013, 11:00 PM CST

Local Radar Map

Updated Feb 25, 2013, 12:05am CST

Weather in Motion®   |   Enlarge Map

... BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST MONDAY...

* TIMING... SNOW ACROSS THE FAR NORTHWEST SOUTH PLAINS AND EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN TEXAS PANHANDLE TONIGHT... WILL SPREAD EAST THROUGH MOST OF THE DAY TOMORROW. SNOW SHOULD END ACROSS THE EASTERN ROLLING PLAINS AND EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS PANHANDLE TOMORROW EVENING.

* SNOW TOTALS... THREE TO SIX INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS.

Lubbock is not known for deep snowfalls or, for that matter, winter storm warnings. In the 18 years I've lived here, I can count on one hand the number of times we've had memorable snowfall events - precisely 2.

And both of those storms were 1-day affairs; a quick dumping of 6-to-13 inches of snow, then a rapid return of sunlight that melted the snow within a couple of hours, leaving the roads nearly dry and free of the white blanket before sunset.

So believe me when I tell you that for Lubbockites to hear the word "blizzard" in their weather forecast is reason for consternation, nervous jokes, apprehensive musings and, of course, high hopes for every grammar school kid in the city.

I'm beginning to understand the reason that South Plains folk spent long hours discussing weather back in the 1930s, '40s and '50s. It was the uniting influence for every soul who has dwelled on the empty, wind-swept lands.

Plus, the economic engine that still drives the region is cotton and other types of agriculture, so weather is a determining factor for family life, in practical and esoteric terms.

Outside, pebbles of frozen precipitation are coating the ground and streets at the moment.I wonder if actual snow will tumble from the heavens?

Like most men/boys, I dream of dancing and falling freely into deep piles of soft, fluffy snow - though it's highly unlikely that we'll get that kind of precipitation. More likely we'll be coated in ice and freezing rain, as is typical of the region, particularly of late.

Yawn.

Monday is upon me, and work looms large even as the clock ticks toward 2 a.m. I've learned to get by on four hours or less of sleep, though some days are better than others when it comes to attentiveness and focus.

I count my blessings if I'm able to get to sleep by 4 a.m., but whether I do or don't, the alarm goes off at 7 a.m., regardless.

If we do, in fact, experience a blizzard with 6-inch snowfall, I expect (read, "hope") that the university and, thus, my department, will halt activity today in the name of safety, which will be a welcome respite from what I anticipate will be a thoroughly unpleasant Monday - for reasons that shall remain confidential here.

So "come on winter storm. Show me what you've got! Please, let's see some 'real' snow blanket the South Plains, along with blizzard conditions, and even dangerously cold wind chill levels!"

Thus and so, goodnight.

GOP hitched its wagon to a falling star

If one thing is true in this world, it's that the chickens come home to roost. Another simple truth is, you reap what you sow, and it appears that the Grand Old Republican Party is reaping its just rewards for being two-faced, shallow, simplistic, overly impulsive, and phony. In short, the GOP is in disarray because it hitched its wagon, its hopes for future election wins, to a group of WASPs who want to turn back the clock and pretend it's 1950. 
The so-called Conservative Party is at odds with the grassroots Tea Party because, in fact, the Tea Party is living in a fantasy world where Jesus is king, government is soiled linen, and bootstrap mentality - in both inferences, the whip your behind meaning and the "pull-up by" meaning - is noxious to the majority of Americans who have IQs above 65.
So now, having dropped their drawers for this minority grassroots bunch of fantasists who want to tear down the wall between church and state and institute the same religiously-associated government enjoyed so much by our bretheren in the Middle East - ever heard of Sharia (sp?) law - so now the GOP is trying to quietly slink out the back window while the Tea Party makes breakfast.
Sorry folks. When you join a group for any reason other than genuine, you're bound to get things out of joint and twisted. The Republican Party is not the Tea Party, nor was it ever (I don't know where the chant "We want our country back" came from, but I've often wondered, "What country is that?"
I live in America, where an egalitarian republic is the reigning form of government, and where democracy dictates that majority rules, but the minority has a voice. Amen.
The GOP lost track of the majority will, and has gone so far down that foggy Tea Party road that it's hard-pressed to regain a footing in political reality, not to mention everyday reality for most of us. 
C'est la vie!