Here's our weather forecast for today:

Critical to extreme fire conditions from 10 am this morning to
6 PM this afternoon... ... Red flag warning remains in effect from 10 am this morning to
6 PM CST this afternoon... West winds 30 to 40 mph becoming northwest 20 to 30 mph late in the afternoon....Wind gusts to 50 mph can be expected...

The wind hit about an hour ago.  The dust is flying.  I pretend it is all dirt when I am trying to work outside and it is in your mouth and eyes and making your face feel like you just did a face mask and forgot to wash it off.   I see a 30 ft piece of tin that had a 100 lb tub of goat molasses on it now plastered against the fence.  No I won't go out and try to "fix" it.  I wonder what else will be re-arranged by night.

This morning I let Mocah, nurse on Baby  (the cow that just calved).  She didn't really have a lot and I wanted her pretty well cleaned out so I can start milking her.   I love having gentle milk cows that don't care who is nursing.  I also love having calves that aren't picky.  She wasn't sure about it and started on the teat that isn't working.  I moved her to another teat and she went to town.  Didn't take her long to empty Baby out.

I am excitedly looking fwd to Retreat this weekend.  I have started packing.  I don't have a lot to pack, but instead of putting away clothes and getting them out they are going in the bag.  I had my "ea" cup out, but it looks a lot like a coffee cup for the Tea Party.   Then a child came along and washed it and put it away.  I didn't want to pack it until I had clothes to pack around it.  

I noticed something this morning as I made my circle.  On days when it is warm and sunny I drive really slow.  On days it is cold and/or yucky I drive really fast, making it feel that much colder.   Last night I could have walked as fast as I was driving.  It was wonderful out!   This morning wasn't really cold, but to cool to be comfortable to me so I sped up and got it done. 

While live was going on around here the sky has turned from bright sunny to RED.  That means that my friends around Midland, Lamesa have it MUCH worse than we do.  I know I lived there once.  If we are this red it is like fog, I have saw it where visibility is less than 50 ft and it is nothing but blowing sand/dirt.  My mom use to talk about hanging wet sheets over the windows to try and breath during dust storms.  I am thankful for our windows that filter out so much dirt. 

Here are some pictures of today's weather.  Remember their isn't a cloud in the sky.  These were taken about 12:30. 

These are 5 ft long wind chimes, so they are heavy.  Look at how not straight they are with the wind.