Younger son James is on his way to Wisconsin and college. Assuming Texas is as sad as his mother about it, it has some odd ways of showing it.
Some time Wednesday or Thursday an armadillo, the quintessential Texas critter, crawled into the bushes and undergrowth outside the front door, and died. By Thursday night it had made its presence known.
James mowed the lawn in one last show of good deeds before he left, but in order to survive that section of the yard the ‘dillo influenced, he had to find and dispose of the corpse. A dead armadillo (wounded by an auto?) isn’t the same as a horse’s head in your bed, but it makes you wonder.
Then, James and his mother drove out Saturday morning, just after the first arms of Hurricane Ike reached our area. They drove in rain all day, but most of the rain was from a Pacific tropical depression. They had left Ike behind, they hoped.
This morning they awoke in St. Louis to discover Ike had caught up with them. For most of their drive to Appleton, Wisconsin, they’ll have Hurricane Ike cleaning the windshield for them.
James is the only native-born Texan in the family. What is Texas trying to say?
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
Art, the only salvation you and I have on this is that neither you nor I is a meteorologist. Law of nature ::shudder:: — I hope not.
There was this time I drove from Tucson to Provo in a blinding snowstorm from Flagstaff on north, snowpacked roads, at excessive speed, for Thanksgiving dinner. I got a ticket on the way back for expired inspection sticker. There’s probably still a bench warrant out for me in Aurora, Utah.
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Hi Ed,
What a way to send James off.
FYI, with one exception, every trip I’ve made to oldest daughter’s digs in Wooster has been made in rain, driving rain, severe thunderstorms, snow, or blowing snow. It may be a law of nature, this weather and college trip thing ….
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You mean sort of an “Amityville Horror” voice, “Get out now!” statement?
Yeah, I thought of that. But then, I also think of the cats bringing dead mice and rats to us as gifts. Maybe Texas is a big cat, and it left the armadillo as a gift . . .
Coincidence, of course. Or, how superstitious are you?
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“Get out while you still can,” ?
Sorry, but you did rather invite cynicism.
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