Today was the first day the trees at my campus started blooming as Spring comes to Texas. Unfortunately, the polar vortex came roaring back to grip the area in one last freezing spell as we began to open our windows and air the house out. Brrr, 32 degrees?
Most of my family lives in regions where this sight won't be available until late April and it inspired me to think about what Spring actually means both at home and here in Texas.
In Indiana, Spring would usually arrive in a rainy fashion during the middle to late part of March with some nice days in the 50's that for us would feel like it was time to go to the beach. I can remember taking off the jacket and tying it around my waist on the bus home and meeting up with friends to play until the sun went down.
In Texas, Spring normally starts kicking in by the end of February with trees blooming and grass growing, I usually start working in the garden like I did last weekend spading the dirt and preparing the seed bed for the tomatoes I try to grow every year. The smell of the dirt always brings the nostalgia on as I reflect back on Indiana in the Spring.
In Indiana, we start getting the musty smell of freshly overturned dirt and diesel fumes the beginning of April. I would be shaken out of bed on Saturday mornings to feed the cattle and start cultivating the earth as we prepared for planting. The gardens would start showing with some Crocus blooms and the daffodils would start popping through followed by the tulips. It is a good time to learn to appreciate the earth and understand what Mother Nature intended when Spring comes upon us.
Texas is a little different. The tulips and daffodils are up and blooming in March. I still smell the dirt being tilled but these days it is the start of road construction rather than planting. (I will never get my car clean.) Spring brings out another interesting phenomenon as well. We are heading into the weeks of the Houston Livestock and Rodeo show. Dust off your cowboy boots and iron your wranglers. It is time to go rodeoing!
Back home we are registering for our 4-H projects and thinking about escaping to Florida for Spring Break. Here the Rodeo gets underway with a massive BBQ cook off that pits championship cooking teams against each other for bragging rights for the year. Corporate sponsored, the teams have been competing for years if not for generations and they take the competition very seriously. All-evening parties with live music and all the food and booze you can drink in the tents to start the month off right. The catch? You have to be invited to a tent. Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars is not unusual for these cookers and they have to reward their sponsors with good eats and better music so they get the chance to return and cook again next year. The rodeo doesn't actually start until the next week but what a way to pre-party.
About the end of April and beginning of May the sun really gets to shining in Indiana and we start preparing for our states big event. The 500 (Indianapolis 500 for those not from Indiana) celebrates all month long with races and soirees. A claim to fame for sure. I will never forget the events of my first trip to see the 500. You can't beat the thumping in your chest as those mighty engines roar by. It makes you want to hollar "POWER, POWER" like an evil madman.
Houston spends three weeks in March with all of the girls dressing in their best cowgirl outfits turning the head of every red blooded American male. We attend a host of rodeo events and concerts at Reliant arena, livestock shows in the Reliant Convention Center, the carnival, and the Hideout. The Hideout is a fantastic tent with up and coming country music guests entertaining the biggest country bar you could imagine. Indiana people should liken this to the State Fair only instead of in August move it to March and require everyone to wear a cowboy hat.
What can I say after the Rodeo ends? That is pretty much Spring for Houston. The sun stays out longer and the days get hotter until by the time the gardens are in full bloom in June in Indiana Houstonians are retreating into the air conditioning to hide from the 100 degree heat, Pick your poison folks. Heat that will fry eggs on your car or 4 seasons where you may have to wait for Spring to peep its head out. Either way both provide rewarding opportunities for the patient person.
Most of my family lives in regions where this sight won't be available until late April and it inspired me to think about what Spring actually means both at home and here in Texas.
In Indiana, Spring would usually arrive in a rainy fashion during the middle to late part of March with some nice days in the 50's that for us would feel like it was time to go to the beach. I can remember taking off the jacket and tying it around my waist on the bus home and meeting up with friends to play until the sun went down.
In Texas, Spring normally starts kicking in by the end of February with trees blooming and grass growing, I usually start working in the garden like I did last weekend spading the dirt and preparing the seed bed for the tomatoes I try to grow every year. The smell of the dirt always brings the nostalgia on as I reflect back on Indiana in the Spring.
In Indiana, we start getting the musty smell of freshly overturned dirt and diesel fumes the beginning of April. I would be shaken out of bed on Saturday mornings to feed the cattle and start cultivating the earth as we prepared for planting. The gardens would start showing with some Crocus blooms and the daffodils would start popping through followed by the tulips. It is a good time to learn to appreciate the earth and understand what Mother Nature intended when Spring comes upon us.
Texas is a little different. The tulips and daffodils are up and blooming in March. I still smell the dirt being tilled but these days it is the start of road construction rather than planting. (I will never get my car clean.) Spring brings out another interesting phenomenon as well. We are heading into the weeks of the Houston Livestock and Rodeo show. Dust off your cowboy boots and iron your wranglers. It is time to go rodeoing!
Back home we are registering for our 4-H projects and thinking about escaping to Florida for Spring Break. Here the Rodeo gets underway with a massive BBQ cook off that pits championship cooking teams against each other for bragging rights for the year. Corporate sponsored, the teams have been competing for years if not for generations and they take the competition very seriously. All-evening parties with live music and all the food and booze you can drink in the tents to start the month off right. The catch? You have to be invited to a tent. Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars is not unusual for these cookers and they have to reward their sponsors with good eats and better music so they get the chance to return and cook again next year. The rodeo doesn't actually start until the next week but what a way to pre-party.
About the end of April and beginning of May the sun really gets to shining in Indiana and we start preparing for our states big event. The 500 (Indianapolis 500 for those not from Indiana) celebrates all month long with races and soirees. A claim to fame for sure. I will never forget the events of my first trip to see the 500. You can't beat the thumping in your chest as those mighty engines roar by. It makes you want to hollar "POWER, POWER" like an evil madman.
Houston spends three weeks in March with all of the girls dressing in their best cowgirl outfits turning the head of every red blooded American male. We attend a host of rodeo events and concerts at Reliant arena, livestock shows in the Reliant Convention Center, the carnival, and the Hideout. The Hideout is a fantastic tent with up and coming country music guests entertaining the biggest country bar you could imagine. Indiana people should liken this to the State Fair only instead of in August move it to March and require everyone to wear a cowboy hat.
What can I say after the Rodeo ends? That is pretty much Spring for Houston. The sun stays out longer and the days get hotter until by the time the gardens are in full bloom in June in Indiana Houstonians are retreating into the air conditioning to hide from the 100 degree heat, Pick your poison folks. Heat that will fry eggs on your car or 4 seasons where you may have to wait for Spring to peep its head out. Either way both provide rewarding opportunities for the patient person.