Visitors

Some visitors from the east made their way to Lubbock despite the curve balls Mother Nature kept throwing in their way.

Nearly a foot of snow in Dallas prevented my mom and dad from getting here on Thursday, as it was originally planned. But, thanks to good customer service from Southwest Airlines, they arrived safely on Friday.

The weather wasn't the only curve ball thrown during their visit. We had planned to head up to the Palo Duro Canyon on Saturday to enjoy the first nice (and semi warm) day in a long while. However, a slightly flooded garage due to a busted hot water heater changed our plans.

While this may have seemed like a big bummer, it couldn't have happened at a better time. The world's handiest man happened to be staying in our house. So, while Dad and Byron installed a completely new water heater setup (including new pipes and ventilation), Mom (the world's handiest interior decorator) and I made a couple of trips to Hobby Lobby and to DSW.

Since our original trip into the West Texas wilderness was cancelled, we decided to head to Rotan to show Dad around Byron's home place.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't nearly as pleasant as it had been the previous day. The wind was howling and the temperature had dropped. But, that didn't keep us from journeying into the mesquites and salt cedars of the Double Mountain region.

After seeing a sizeable muledeer the previous weekend, I was hoping to show them some evidence of the crazy amount of wildlife that roam this area - mainly to keep them from thinking I was telling tale tales.

We did scare up a group of about 8-10 feral hogs that were resting in standing water. They were as surprised to see us as we were to see them, because we were within about 20 yards of them when we they darted away. As luck would have it, we never have a rifle when we see hogs that close.

We took a look at the images the game camera had captured, then hiked up to a taller point overlooking the Brazos River.

With cold ears and thirsty mouths, we eventually wandered back to the truck.

It was a rare occasion to see widespread mud and standing water in Rotan.

The weekend was also special for another reason - not because it was silly Valentines Day. It was a year from the Friday the 13th of last year when Byron proposed to me in San Antonio.

Time flies when you're having fun.