Boston to Bridgeport: Texas Weather

Hi everyone! :)

I originally planned on writing this last night during a crazy thunderstorm we were having, but I went out to dinner instead. So now I'm writing this while there is some very strong gusts of wind rushing past. Still out of the ordinary, so there you go.

Texas has some of the most ridiculous weather I have ever experienced. Being from Massachusetts and going to college in Maine has given me quite the understanding of cold and snowy, but what I realized once down here, is that I never had to work outside in it. Sure, I walked to class in a blizzard or in negative degrees, but I was really never outside for a long period of time. Or if I was for a lab or something, I was adequately prepared to spend such time. Here in Bridgeport, it got cold. It may not have been as cold as Massachusetts or Maine, etc. but for Texas, it was COLD. Frozen water buckets, snow/hail, frozen water hoses, frozen pipes...you get it. Since I was from New England, everyone said to me, "Aren't you used to the cold?" Yes. But not being outside consistently in it and performing tasks that require my hands to be frozen even with the layers of gloves I had.

Now the cold lasted awhile, and it seemed reluctant to let go. There seemed to be a stretch of warm weather when it even hit the 80s! But literally the next day it was down in the high 20s. I was not impressed. I had gotten a sunburn the day before, and now was dealing with cold. My body was very confused.

Fast forward a few weeks, and it has been consistently in the 80s, which I have gotten used to in a way. This was mostly the weather I experience in the summers of Massachusetts. Humid grossness. Doing chores and working outside in the humidity is a whole different kind of torture than the cold bitterness. I have to make sure my sunblock isn't wearing off, or else my skin will be hurting later on and other stuff like that. If it happens to be a clean day, you have to be careful of cleaning up the bones because if you're wearing shorts, cuts and scrapes from bone can happen quite easily. I speak from experience. I was lifting a body into the gator and got a pretty bad scratch on my calf from some jagged ribs. Hydrogen Peroxide has basically been my friend lately.

*Quick side-note: at my last job working in a scenic shop in UMaine's theatre building, I was pretty well known for being accident prone so that when anyone saw me holding my hand and walking to the sink determinately, no one asked what happened anymore. I had probably just scraped some skin off, gotten a metal splinter, or that one time a screw gun bit went through my hand. Good times. Anyway, back to hydrogen peroxide, anytime I get a scrape, cut, anything that my skin gets ripped open in a way, I'm pouring that stuff on. Last clean day I tore a chunk of skin from my thumb knuckle when one of the pins that go through an enclosure door was stuck and finally slid through, and caught my thumb. Wasn't a big deal except that the pin was quite rusty, so I wanted that safe from infection.

Wearing shorts can be a hazard, sun-wise, and protection from bones and other icky-stuff-wise. But if you're working out in high 80 degrees, pants are really not an option. Butchering in the heat is also a time-sensitive activity. I haven't gotten to experience true Texas heat yet, but I heard from Rachel that you could be butchering, and have meat essentially go bad right as you're cutting. The heat makes the meat rancid if left out too long, so I am sure I'll experience it soon.

Okay, that's enough about Texas temperature. Now, onto storms. Yikes. Thunderstorms out here are nuts. Last night I was about to start evening waters and I heard thunder rumble off in the distance. As I begin watering, the thunder continues, slowly getting closer. I get the uppers done, and then the wind rolls in. It's the kind of wind that you can just tell is the foreshadowing to a storm. It got dark as the thunder got closer, and lighting strikes were visible. Thankfully, Derek helped me finish the lowers to get done quicker. It was starting to rain by the time I made it inside, and then I was invited to dinner. So all in all, it was fine :D A week or two ago, there were tornado warnings in our area which was a little terrifying since I had never had a tornado warning before...it just sounded like really intense wind outside, I didn't know any better. Something I realized is that the thunder hits first, then lightning, then rain. Back home, sometimes it rains first, then the thunderstorm rolls in. I kind of like this way better because it's like a warning. Pretty much saying, get what you're doing finished quickly, or you're gonna get wet.

As quickly as they can come in, the storms can exit just as quickly. The last storm lasted about an hour or so. It's really intense for a little while, and then it's over. It's exciting, but it's also scary to think about the animals. They all have their houses which is good, but if we have animals to butcher, it gets stressful.

Okay. So this was word heavy...so here are some recent pictures! :)