Both Sweet Baboo and I spent our formative years in Texas; I was born here and moved away for a while until I was in middle school. He was raised here pretty much most of his life and then moved to New Mexico when he was 18. He loves the hill country. I'm pretty much happy in most places, although I have some caveats about south Texas.
Pros.
- I do love this house. It's a well-built single level Texas ranch house with limestone facing, sitting towards the front of 15 acres of land. The land has mesquite, prickly pear, and mule dear on it.
- Sweet Baboo looks awfully at home on the tractor.
- If I were to show up and say, "hey, anybody need a seasoned math teacher?" that they'd fall all over me and worship me AND I'd get a signing bonus, usually money paid in the first and fifth months of the first year of teaching, anywhere from 1 to 2 thou each payment.
- It's mostly flat here so I could commute by bike just about anywhere
- Other than the 3 months in which I would dedicate my life to indoor air conditioners, I could train year round, because the winters are so mild.
- DirecTV and cable Internet are available here. That's a plus. I don't mind country life as long as I have those things and am on a well-established UPS route.
- Have you ever seen Texas Bluebonnets in bloom? IN fact, most mornings, this whole area looks like a Thomas Kincaid painting.
- There is no shortage of available running and triathlon events in this part of Texas.
- It's awfully humid here. I hate humidity. I went for an easy 3-4 mile run this morning and came back just dripping. I just love the crisp, arid mornings in New Mexico.
- 17 - count them - 17 dogs chased me. Not sure the country life is for me.
- Lots of rain.
- Not sure how a severely-left-leaning vegan liberal hippie type like me would be looked upon here. Most Texans are rather live-and-let live, except for the rare types that keep large amounts of dogs, and, uh, let them run with impunity...
- Did I mention how much I hate humidity? It makes your skin look great, all dewy and stuff, but your hair looks like your some sort of heroin addict. Lots of women here cut their hair SHORT. I could see doing that. MAYBE I could get used to the humidity. I must say that after my run and a good shower, I felt GREAT. Given my ashtma and such it might even be better for me than dry air.
- I am allergic to most things green, and it's very green here . I haven't had any problems yet, though, and it's spring here.
- Actually, there's an asequia in the front that usually runs pretty fast in the growing season. It could sort of function as a slightly muddy "endless pool".
- Unfortunately, I do not like Thomas Kincaid. I think his stuff is kind of schmaltzy. I'm not of the "country decor" type. I'm of the insane, eclectic with mexican, retro overtones.
So that's it, that's my current dillemma. I suppose I don't have to make decisions now; I just hve to decide on it some time in the future.
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