Texas, your wind is howlin' for me.

#nofilter here. That is a true representation of an "Amarillo sky."

The last two weeks have been a total whirlwind of activity for me - hence why I haven't had the chance to blog about any of it yet. And by whirlwind, I mean it has been very windy around here.

Growing up in South Dakota, I always thought I knew what wind was. Up there, we remark on the days when the wind does not blow, instead of the "windy" days. Living in Michigan taught me the wind doesn't blow all the time everywhere. Michiganders go crazy when there is 20-mile-per-hour wind - "Holy cow! Have you been outside today?! It is sooooo windy!" My response was to raise my eyebrows, smile, nod, and think 'These people would never survive the Dakotas.'

And then I moved to the Texas Panhandle. Um, wow. My definition of windy was not even close to correct. I haven't even been here a full two weeks yet, and I've had not one but two emergency dust storm warnings from my phone. Royce just responds to my wind comments with a "Welcome to the Panhandle!" Thanks dear. It sure is a good thing I love him.

Yes, it is ridiculously windy, but I think what really makes it terrible is the dust and tumbleweeds. It's real Old West type stuff: tumbleweeds rolling across roads and dust clouds blocking out the sun. Just cue some theme music from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and we'd have a great movie!

Despite the full-body exfoliation I would get from the flying particles of dirt, horses like to eat so I bravely faced the dust storm head on. Now I understand the purpose of bandannas and wild rags. I'm still getting dirt out of my nose and ears.

A wind storm like that one does provide the perfect opportunity to rid any fences of tumbleweeds. Just expect them to come back when the wind switches to the opposite direction, and you should probably hold on to the fence for safety. Tall people and wind gusts of 65-miles-per-hour aren't really a good mix. Actually, I don't even think short people and gusts of that speed are a good mix. Just stay inside if you can. It is probably safer that way.