Sometime in the dark morning, I woke to the rumble of thunder and the drumming of rain on our metal roof. I drifted back to sleep in the middle of a prayer, but rose at 5 am to make a pot of coffee and check the weather forecast on the kitchen television, fingers crossed.
Damn. Huge yellow and red bands rolled across Texas on the small screen...temperatures in the thirties today and tonight...wind gusts near 40 mph...
I crawled back in bed and reset my alarm.
Normally I love snuggling in bed on Saturday mornings, listening to the rain falling outside. But we were planning a camping trip this weekend...a backpacking primitive camping trip to Enchanted Rock. A last hurrah for the kids' Spring Break.
Earlier this week, when we planned the trip, the weather forecasters told us there was a slight chance of scattered showers, mostly north and east of Austin with highs today in the 50s with a drop into the 30s during the night. We could handle that.
But then, each day the chance of rain grew. We stayed optimistic, stubbornly clinging to the image of sunshine-filled days and star-filled nights in the Hill Country.
Well, Winter (that big bully) has succeeded in popping our rosy bubble. We've decided to cancel, well, postpone, the camping trip until later this spring, when we're sure Winter isn't still lurking around the corner, ready to pounce out and ruin our plans again. Tom and Daniel have had their share of freezing on camping trips in their Boy Scout days and my decades-old memories of shivering the nights away at the chemical plant are still too fresh.
Tom has a fire going in the wood-burning stove, I've done some laundry, and we've already traveled with Rick Steves to Barcelona. I'll run into town later, maybe take the kids to see Alice In Wonderland. And then there are always my to-do lists and a puppy to look forward to. It will still be a great weekend.
But dang you, Winter. Enough's enough! Go away!
Winter either bites with its teeth or lashes with its tail. ~Proverb
