Lubbock or Leave It

If you haven't heard the reference song for today's blog posting, check out the Dixie Chicks' latest CD, Taking the Long Way. In the song, Natalie talks about the Chicks' chilly reception in her hometown of Lubbock, and compares it to the way Buddy Holly, also a Lubbock native, was received during his lifetime. Lyrics, which pertain a lot to Lubbock, including Loop 289 and ALL the HUGE churches, are here. I really didn't like this song until I saw the Chicks do it live when they were in MSP last summer, and it's a pretty great song for a live show. The live show heightened my appreciation for it, and especially since I was in the town from which it derives its name, I had it running through my head the entire time I was in Lubbock.

Before I left Dallas on Wednesday, however, I knew I had to get to the Saltgrass for supper again. I had some really nice guy take a picture of me at the entrance. I would have taken some pictures inside, because it's decorated to the hilt, but I would have felt dumb since the place was packed to the gills. Even for single seating I had to wait almost fifteen minutes for a table, and I went around 7:30-8, figuring I'd try to miss the rush.

Anyway, had a great steak and a super-fun drink called a Texas Swirl, made with grenadine, lemon slush and Midori layered in stripes, so it looks like a Mexican flag. Why then, they call it a Texas Swirl, I haven't the slightest idea. But it's good. As Borat would say, "Yeah, high five - I likey." :) To give you an idea of the ambiance of the place, I took this picture of a plaque on the outside of the building, as you walk into the doors.

So it was up at the butt-crack of dawn on Thursday to fly to Lubbock. The Dixie Chicks song alludes to this, but Lubbock is in the middle of nowhere, and their airport is called the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport. The irony of this is apparent when you fly in - I took a couple of pictures from the air to show - they weren't kidding about the wide open spaces. The circles are pivots for the irrigation systems, which help supply water for the main crop in the Lubbock environs - cotton. The bols haven't formed yet, but I guess it's something to see when they do - millions of little white dots all over the fields.

Windrowed clouds. They reminded me of a freshly chisel-plowed field, and they were in perfectly straight rows. It was crazy.

When I finally hit the ground, I grabbed my luggage and found a cab (finding a cab at an airport like Lubbock is about like finding a cab at the Rice Lake Regional Air Center - it just doesn't happen), and was hurtling toward Lubbock town proper. However, as the cabby was rounding the curve out of the airport drive, I caught a glimpse of something running across the dry, red dirt along the road. "Oh my gosh," I yelled, catching myself a little by surprise, "was that a prairie dog?" The cabby started laughing and assured me that yes, I had spotted one of the Lubbock area's biggest celebrities, the Black-Tailed Prairie Dog. These little buggers are the 5th most popular tourist attraction in the Lubbock area, and they have their own colony, maintained by the taxpaying citizens of Lubbock via the Lubbock Parks and Recreation Department. Not necessarily the most politically correct thing to do, as Lubbock has been the epicenter of one of the biggest disputes regarding the rodent pests since people first started settling in the area. Quite a big stir for such a little varmint.

Anyway, the first sign of family Rodentia should have been my first hint that Lubbock is a little...out of the ordinary. My next hint came at our Lubbock office. As I walked into the office building, which is shared with a bunch of other companies, I was met by a very nice gentleman who happened to look like he just walked out of The Magnificent Seven. That was, apart from his belt buckle. I was lucky I was wearing my ever-ubiquitous tortoiseshell sunglasses, otherwise I would have been blinded. I swear on a stack of bibles, the thing could have doubled as a solar panel. It was huge and shiny, and, unfortunately, I found myself staring at the guy's waistline with my mouth gaping open, until I realized how potentially awkward that could be. I think I turned about fifteen shades of red, said "Thank you" in a VERY small voice as he held the door, and ran into the building, dragging my luggage behind me. Yeah, embarrassing. But in my defense, it WAS the most ginormous belt buckle I'd ever seen in my life. He probably had to slaughter a small herd of longhorns just to pay for the thing!

Anyway, I composed myself and walked into the Lubbock office suite. Lubbock is the headquarters for our outside plant and engineering staffs, so what this means is that at lunch I found myself eating deli sandwiches in the break room with a bunch of crazy draftsmen, watching one guy shoot those fancy frilled toothpicks through a straw into the tile on the dropped ceiling. I haven't laughed so much in a while, and all the guys were great. There were a couple of jokes about me being from the "other" Dallas office, and when I told them Big D, WI, is difficult to find on a map, they shot back that they could probably locate it right down to cable maps and DSAs (that's digital serving areas, to all you non-telcom folks). They at one point started to sing the Spiderman theme song, with the very confusing and somewhat troublesome substitution of "Spiderpig," and I decided it was time to get while the getting was good.

Thursday found us doing our 2nd training session on the new CPNI rules, and that went really well. Like with any presentation, once you do it the first time, any subsequent times are smoother and easier since you know some of the questions that will inevitably arise and can address them up front, plus you can add clarifications where needed to avoid confusion. Chances are I'll be back in Texas in the near future repeating this training, since the FCC rules go into effect in December, and telcos are eager to get their practices and methodologies established before the Commission has a chance to start doling out more violations fines, which have been ranging into the 6 digits as of late.


Thursday afternoon found me again at Lubbock International, waiting for my flight. Ever flight I've ever had in, to or from Texas has been late, and this evenings was no exception. The Houston area was experiencing some bad weather, so that held all the commuter flights on Southwest up, meaning I got out of Lubbock almost an hour late. I wasn't in any hurry, since my flight back to MSP doesn't leave until tomorrow (Friday) morning, but it's irritating nonetheless. Especially in Lubbock, since the airport's pretty boring.

Sat in "first class" on my Southwest flight back to Dallas this evening. Those of you who have ever flown Southwest will understand this joke, but for those of you who haven't yet experienced the joy, here's how stuff works on SW. My boss, in her infinite wisdom, once told me that boarding for SW flights is like a cattle call. And she was right. There is no real seating/boarding pattern on SW - you are assigned an A, B, or C designation at the time of check-in (which is why one should ALWAYS do online, 24-hr in advance checkin with SW), with all passengers in the A group boarding first, followed by B, and so on. However, there may be more than half the passengers in the A group, so jockeying for position is big. Because, unlike every other airline on the face of the earth, SW does not assign seats. So the early bird DOES get the worm here. And, since yours truly is meaner than most people, I managed to sit in the very first row, right next to the window, because SW also does not believe in seating classifications. They are very egalitarian in that regard. But if you are a late-add, it means you get stuck between Big Bertha and Bigger Al in the last row, with a 30 minute connection at Dallas Love. I think I'm going to submit a new marketing slogan for SW on their website, "Southwest - the Great Equalizer." Catchy, no?

But as my flight leaves earlyish tomorrow morning, and I'll have to plan extra travel time to accommodate the crazies on LBJ during DFW rush hour, I'll leave you for the evening. Check up throughout the weekend - more landscaping and much more fun-ness is coming your way! With love from the Big D, Musings.

Y'all ready for this?! AKA "Shockin' y'all!"

So, it's been a while. And, as fate would have it, I find myself blogging from Dallas, TX again. Just not at the airport this time - rather, right next to the LBJ Freeway in a hotel room, complete with noisy drunks running through the hallways. Did I mention I'm starting this blog posting on a Monday night? Do these people not have to work tomorrow morning?!

Whatever. Speaking of LBJ, I told you I would post the picture I took from our Dallas office overlooking the LBJ Freeway (BONUS POINTS for those of you who actually know what LBJ stands for...), so here it is. Fabulous, huh? Or not...

Since I last posted, SO MUCH has happened. It's been a veritable cascade of fun-ness! First and foremost I got to visit the long-lost Tennessee relations. Let me clarify the long-lost - it was ME who was long-lost, not them. They've been in the same place forever, it's just that I took a long time getting back. You know, like 10 years. Honestly. I was 16 the last time I saw those folks - do you know how much STUFF happens to a person between the ages of 16 and 26? Sit back and think about it for a while. It will astound you!

But the trip to TN, though LONG overdue, was well worth wait. The weather was wonderful, the days were full of fun stuff to do, and - oh, yeah - the people weren't half bad either! :) I got to go to a couple of antique stores in Goodletsville, got the grand tour of the drastically different White House proper, listened to great music, oohed and aahed over a spectacular fireworks show, snooped around in the relatives' houses (thanks for the tours, y'all!), took a couple dips in the pool, went golfing in Kentucky, and cheered loud - and probably fairly annoyingly - at my cousin's baseball games (x3!) It was a busy couple of days, but it was absolutely awesome to see everyone again, and I SWEAR it will not be 10 more years until I return!

My cousin, R3 or R4, batting. There are four boys, all with names starting with R, and the youngest two are twins. Can't ever remember which is older (and I think I've asked about 20 times) - sorry guys! If you follow the yellow top line of the fence across from left to right, you'll see the blur of the baseball as it came in, about 7/8ths of the way across.

Little Sister and the other half of R3/R4. Can't you tell they're both intent on watching the game?!

After getting back from TN, it was just as busy at home. Before I even returned to PF, I had a message on my VM asking if I could help organize the Variety Show for the annual Prairie Farm Dairy Days. And because I have nothing better to do, of course I volunteered. For those of you who remember "back in the day" when Conway and Loretta brought down the house (or at least Neumann Auditorium) during Homecoming at Wartburg College, you will be happy to know that Loretta is still performing, garnering rave reviews at each subsequent appearance. Except this time, it wasn't "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man," but rather a song normally performed by a "friend" or Loretta's - Juice Newton's Angel of the Morning.

Ms. Loretta, getting her groove on. Notice the awesome picture taking abilities of B - I didn't marry him because of his skill with a camera...

Yours truly, expressing my happieness on finally having the Variety Show behind me!

All in all, the variety show was a train wreck with a Hee Haw theme. Some of the acts were good, but others not so much, lead in part by a poor girl of about 6 who did a piano solo of the children's song E-I-E-I-O.

ALL THE VERSES.

Ad nauseam.

It was pitiful, especially considering the audience started clapping before she was done, wishfully thinking they had reached the end of a particularly painful auditory assault. She, however, was completely oblivious, hesitantly plunking away until she reached the end. Oh well, for all I know, she may turn out to be the next Van Cliburn.

Dairy Days was the weekend of the 13-15, but earlier that week the oats were ready for swathing and shocking. If you are unfamiliar with the way in which grains used to be gathered, let me enlighten y'all. When grains mature today, they are typically run through a swather, which produces windrows which are in turn run through a combine. However, in the days before combines and everything, more steps were needed to process, dry, separate, and bale grains and grain by-products. Stands of grain were processed using a grain binder (or just binder), and unusual looking contraption that used a sickle bar (similar to a long rod with multiple pairs of scissors attached) to cut grain stalks, which were laid - always grain-head side up - on a conveyor. These stalks were then sent through the conveyor system, which processed the loose grain into small bundles, tied with baling twine. The bundles are then set up into little piles, called shocks. The shocks consist of 7 bundles: a pair in the middle, a pair on the right, a pair on the left, and one bundle spread over the top. The bundles are arranged so that each is standing upright, with the grain heads tilted toward the middle, forming a sort of tunneled pyramid under the bundles. Seasoned shockers will tell you the two signs of a strong shock are a formation tight enough to support the weight of a person sitting on top, and a tunnel wide enough for a small dog to run through. After the grain has dried, the bundles are fed into a threshing machine. This machine separates the grain heads and stalks from the kernels. Kernels are kept in a hopper on the thresher, while chaff (the heads and stalks) are blown out the side or top. Once enough chaff accumulates, the extra materials is baled into bedding for animals, so that no part of the grain is wasted.

Since you're all experts now, here are a couple of picts of PF family and friends binding and shocking. Threshing happens in late August/early September . My family holds an annual event called the Turtle Creek Thresherman's, with the centerpiece of the festivities being my late grandfather's early 1900s threshing machine, usually Labor Day Weekend. This year the date is Saturday, September 1st. Typically the day is marked by antique machinery, antique people, and antique jokes. But, truthfully, much fun is had by all, and there's always something to see, someone to talk to, and pie to eat.

Cousin Goober running the binder (funky looking thing running behind the tractor) while our friend/neighbor Leon keeps it between the lines. Goob tries to gather 7 bundles on the binder before releasing them

My Da, gathering bundles

Bother #2 sets an end pair in a shock

Leon, taking a coffee break, letting B run the binder tractor.

Grandma N, bringing refreshments to the field. Lemonade and fresh (read: still melting chocolate chips) chocolate chip cookies! Grandma's cookies are so famous, they were even mentioned on Moose Country (check out the May 2007 posting entitled Holy Cow - the World's Longest Blog for more on how much of an honor it is to be mentioned on Jay Moore's morning show).

Leon, Bother #1, Grandma, Me, and Bother #2, with a shock in the front.

Who's that stud shocking bundles? Oh, wait, it's B! He's spreading the stalks on the 7th bundle to cover the six bundles underneath from excess moisture.

Three stages, right to left - standing grain, piles of bundles, and finished stocks.

Goob, say hi! B and Bother #2 in the background.

The newest member of the family, Cheeseman, shocks his first bundles. Doesn't he look like he's having the time of his life? I don't know - sure beats making cottage cheese...

Then on Monday it was back to Dallas for a presentation on CPNI (customer proprietary network information) and the new rules the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has implemented regarding that information's use and protection. Yeah, if you're not in the industry, it's a complete snoozer of a topic, but within the industry, as I found out during today's (Tuesday's) session, it certainly is the source of a lot of strong feelings.

Also, regarding the telecommunciations industry, as couple of the TN relatives were looking for the National and State Do Not Call list numbers, to help block telemarketer calls on their home lines. The National number is 888-382-1222 or click here to register via Internet. You can do this for residential or personal wireless phones. As far as the Tennessee state list, the number to call is 877-872-7030, or register online here. Again residential land lines or personal wireless phones. It doesn't hurt anything to register in more than one spot, but just remember different states have different rules regarding length of registration, so your number may be on your state list for a longer or shorter time than on the national. When you register, the site or phone number should tell you the length of time for which your registration is valid.

Business aside, tomorrow (Wednesday) I head to Lubbock, where I'll get to meet my colleagues in that office for the first time, and then I give the presentation to another group of clients on Thursday. After that, home and more landscaping await. I'll be sure to post the before and afters. It should be quite the project.