i was surprised to hear my friends call the town of meadow, texas, "medda" as it would also sound if it were "meta" texas. it's as tiny as towns get, and way out there on the plain, but only twenty minutes or so from here. big bluegrass there on the second saturday, and i'm dying to go, but don't know if i'll make it. i'm definitely going to try calling it "medda" though. has a ring to it.

then, saw a t-shirt for the "dirt city hooligans," which, as far as i can tell, is some kind of soccer team. but "dirt city" is also, definitely, this one. we call ourselves "hub city" in more formal situations, but i guess it's accurate to say we are both "hub city" and "dirt city."

the wind blows steadily, hard, mostly out of the south, warm and dry. finally a storm came through today and dropped a few hard drops here and there. on the way back from the grocery store, the first few drops were hitting the grocery parking lot as we were loading groceries. three blocks to the east, nothing. about twelve blocks to the south, flooding. when i got home, it was back to a few drops here and there again. some parts of town definitely got more than others. they call that 20% chance of rain - about 20% of us get pretty drenched. the others are dry.

nevertheless the steady dry wind hasn't been all bad, except that it made it a little hard to grow stuff, and in fact i was a little unmotivated to do that anyway. i put a trumpet vine into the ground, and i watered my greenthread, if in fact that's what it is, and i also watered this fine little patch of grass that's holding out behind the trampoline. i like that little patch of grass because it reminds me of old times, days when you had to mow constantly or the green would bust out and turn into a prairie grassland. out here, you practically get to know little clumps of grass, genuine or crabgrass, and like them because they have the capability of holding onto some dirt. i water, and it holds the dust down a little. a little, but not much.

it was buddy field day at the school today, a time to celebrate buddy holly, but also for everyone to let off steam at the end of the year. each kid had a 'buddy' and played a variety of games. it was time for me to make puns about 'some-buddy,' 'every-buddy,' etc. you'd think the kids would be a little worn out after a day of that. they are not worn out.

after the storm, though there might be more of it, things are drying out and getting back to normal. though it's already hot here, nights are always nice - temperate, not too many bugs, a few stars. often i go walking, and, when i do, i go barefoot. this leaves me with all kinds of sore muscles, but i like it - not only is it realigning me, i feel, but it feels good when i do it. kind of hurts, later, when i'm sore in all kinds of joints i didn't know i had. my foot alone has places that get swollen from the pressure, and it hurts the following day. slowly though, i'm getting used to it.

the tornadoes, as far as i can tell, have moved over by dallas, and up what they call the i-35 corridor. those guys get the tornadoes. we just get this steady, 20-30 mile wind, all spring, with blue skies, and every once in a while with enough kick in it to give you dust in your teeth.

time to get down to medda.