The coastal areas will receive a foot of rain and this will translate to heavy snow up in the high country. Some areas that were devastated by wild fires in Northern California will get a bit of moisture, but you don’t want too much precipitation in those areas that have lost all their vegetation. It is worth your effort to keep an eye on the weather these days, especially with the on-going trend of increasing extremes. Here at the crossroads of the Upper Middle Rio Grande, the geography only maximizes the extremes. We sit but 200 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and the prevailing southeast breezes usually keep us well stocked with moisture. The storm systems that move in from the west bring winds and turbulence that flow over the tops of the Sierra Madres in the Big Bend, so they arrive in our little corner of Texas in a supercharged mode. Bottom line, pay attention to your favorite weather site, the radar images will usually give you a head’s up on what’s in store well before an alert is issued and especially when one is not…the NWS focus has to be on San Antonio, not out here in the sparsely populated sticks!   

As we move on to the national scene, we have siempre lo mismo and it ain’t showing any signs of improvement. Most of the news media is focused on reinforcing their point of view or disclaiming anything contrary, the actual news is but a side issue. Former President Bush put it well this week with his assessment that our country is awash with bigotry, bullying and a nationalism that is being distorted into nativism. Sadly, it seems to be infecting many countries around the world as well and little or no effort is being made to turn this trend around. One could even postulate that bigotry, bullying and so forth have become fashionable. A short trip around the popular media sites and magazines will bear this out. One of the chief topics continues to be professional athletes peacefully protesting during the National Anthem and some who frown on this tactic interject bigotry and a severe penalty for those who dare to protest in this manner. While I may personally disagree with their specific tactics, I must defend to the death their right to do so in a peaceful manner. Another huge issue grabbing the headlines and the subsequent discourse is sexual harassment of females by rich and powerful men. It has been around since men and women began walking on this earth, but it is likely that it has reached an epidemic level today, infecting every facet of society without regard to any political leaning. This week’s issue of “The Week” magazine features a caricature of three of the most powerful men in our country at this moment, all recently branded with this behavior. It will be telling in the months ahead just what their fates turn out to be for this gross and frequently criminal misbehavior. Will our society focus on resolving meaningful issues such as these or will it continue to ignore or even condone behavior that will ultimately rip apart the very fabric of our society?