I’ve thought about what I’ll write today, but then it started snowing and my brain sort of froze.
Yes, it’s currently snowing in the desert. Here we say that the month of May is so named because it may snow, it may rain, it may be hot, it may be windy … So far we’ve had everything on that list except the heat. Don’t worry, next Sunday it’s predicted to be sunny and 85 degrees.
Personally I’m blaming Heather for the change in weather – just this week I caught her pulling out her summer clothes. I try to keep the weather calm by never washing my car, so far that’s not been working.
Whenever there is wind here in the “Greater Reno-Carson City-Miden Area” the locals often remind each other what Mark Twain once wrote on the subject:
“It was two o’clock, now, and according to custom the daily “Washoe Zephyr” set in… a Washoe wind is by no means a trifling matter. It blows flimsy houses down, lifts shingle roofs occasionally, rolls up tin ones like sheet music, now and then blows a stage-coach over and spills the passengers; and tradition says the reason there are so many bald people there is, that the wind blows the hair off their heads while they are looking skyward after their hats.”
Personally I think Mr. Twain understated the case. I’ve often wondered how much unsecured lawn furniture gets blown over the Virginia Mountain Range and ends up in Fallon.
It’s also Mother’s Day. Not the best weather for it. The local National Weather Service office did officially apologize to all mothers on their Facebook page and promised to have better weather next year. It wasn’t too long after that post that the California Highway Patrol announced on their FB page that there are now chain controls over I-80 and the first weather related accident should happen before sunset.
On the Mother’s Day front, I managed to have my card presented to Heather before breakfast and I’ve ranked the kids based on the order in which they called their Mother today (just because they’re all over 40 is no reason to not call them “kids”). Turns out the one on vacation in Florida was the first. I was going to discount this slightly because of the three hour time difference, but because the next child to call was six hours later, our current number one child is the FL vacationer.
I did read a Mother’s Day poetry book today. Just last month Robert Okaji over at robertokaji.com announced his chapbook was on sale, so I bought a copy. The title is My Mother’s Ghost Scrubs the Floor at 2 a.m. I waited till Mother’s Day to read it. It’s good, go buy a copy.
Yesterday when it was just windy and not snowing, Heather and I went to a book launch event for Michael P. Branch and his new book, On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World’s Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer. We bought a copy and got it signed. It’s nice to be able to attend events like this again. This is a book you’ll want to buy. It’s a great combination of humor and serious and helps support one of our Nevada writers.
Before it started snowing I was thinking of rewriting one of my past posts, “How to Get Me to Read and Like Your Blog” Okay, I wrote that one in 2015, but after seven years, I think it could do with an update. I just reread that post and yup, it could use an update. I think I’d revise it to make one major point: If I can’t figure out what you are saying within 15 seconds, I’m out. I generally rank blogs I’m thinking of following on this scale:
- Wow, love it! Follow, like and comment.
- Maybe, I’ll follow for awhile.
- Good but I don’t follow women’s fashion blogs.
- No, I’m not buying whatever you’re selling.
- OMG, I hope no one ever finds out that I clicked on that link.
Now that I’m older, it does take a lot more to get my attention. I mean, I’m starting to see the calendar pages fly by faster and faster so you’ve got to do something to really get me to click a link. Except for poetry, woodworking and kitty pictures blogs – I just click on those without thinking.
It has stopped snowing for the moment and my brain isn’t feeling as frozen. Sadly, it’s also time to go make our Sunday pizza so I have to stop writing now. Hopefully next week I’ll still remember what I was going to write about this week.
Andrew's View of the Week 
Like the criteria. I’ve never actually thought about or wrote mine down. I think I will now. For me, it’s gotta be personal and gotta have meat.
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We should think about it.
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The best bloggers create entertaining posts out of whatever’s on their minds, as if just-type-and-don’t-think. Reminds me of the shortlist of actors where I declare, “I’ll watch anything he/she is in”. Note to self: blog more about poetry, woodworking, and cats…
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Most of the time, my thoughts are just dull – until I try to write them down. I find it best to not think while writing – I get better posts that way.
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It’s funny how fast the days roll by, isn’t it? And they roll faster as we get older. We’ve been getting a lot of wind lately, annoying windy days. Anyway, our adult kids live across the country, so we all Zoomed for about 2 hours in the evening with good conversation and lots of laughs. The icing on the cake for a great Mother’s Day. The benefits of technology. And I appreciate you following my blog after all these years! 🙂
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The days go by too fast and I like reading your blog.
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🙂
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Thanks for the plug, Andrew. Much appreciated!
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I love reading your poetry!
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I am now walking on air!
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My condolences on your suffering with the four-letter ‘s’-word. That’s revolting! Our weather has been unseasonably cold, too. We’re still getting frost every night; but at least we only get an occasional spate of ice pellets, not actual snow. (I probably shouldn’t jinx it by saying that.)
Now I’m off to check out your book recommendations – thanks for those! 🙂
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I think you’ll really like the Jackalope book and sadly, looks like some of our roses aren’t happy about the snow.
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Yep0–agree with the 15 second rule (or shorter). I’ll add one: If it’s about politics, I’m out!
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There are times I’ll just look at the site title or link text and say, “Nope, not even going there.” I also tend to avoid blogs on relationships, motivational coaching, business, making money on YouTube, and broccoli.
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Hehee–broccoli… Hmmm… What’s wrong with broccoli that a little cheese won’t fix.
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I have the, “I hate broccoli gene.” There’s a whole blog post there to explain why cheese won’t drown that taste out … 😉
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Similar weather here in Denver, though not nearly enough moisture. We need about a year of nonstop rain.
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At least a year of rain, more likely and it doesn’t look like we’ll get that any time soon.
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After reading your blog rating scale, I’m honored you still read mine. 😉 Over here on the eastern side of the U.S.A., we’re having the same kind of weather you are. May be cold, may be warm, may blow shingles off your roof, may have sunshine, may have TWO SOLID DAYS OF RAIN…can you tell that one really irritated me?
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You’ll always be on my list. We could use two days of rain here, but instead we get a few hours of snow and high winds … sigh…
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Our son is so lucky to be an only, no competition on Mother’s Day. He gets extra points anyway because he’d already called, then later helped his 5-year-old daughter call so she could tell about her exciting activities (first time on a little soccer team), and wish me a happy Mother’s Day.
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Wonderful call!
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Happy new week. The days do just fly by too quickly. I try not to mention that in every post that I write. But they do. There are always far more planned projects than any one human can ever accomplish in several lifetimes that are swimming around in my head. And they accumulate much quicker than I can implement them. It sticks me sometimes. Paralyzes me, actually. But if I just do ‘something’ (anything!) to move the pile, it can help set things in motion.
It is hard having our kids far from us on these types of holidays. I spent much of the day feeding on my memories of my ‘kids’. That was pleasant. Hearing from them was wonderful, too. Seeing them happy and healthy and productive is a nice thing. The best gift ever.
We just put our shovel away yesterday from the front porch. That means we will probably get snow this week. We shall see . . .
Have a great week ahead. 😀
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When I retired, we moved just a mile from one of the daughters, but one is still far away. It’s good to know they are here.
and now it looks like it will be hot next weekend – go figure.
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Nevada, Reno, Carson City…you’re living in the middle of Bonanza! Next time you see Ben Cartwright, tell him his English fans still watch the occasional episode.
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I am living in it. The Ponderosa is just a short drive from here and I often hike in country you’ve seen on the show.
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