Princess Annie Shoveling Snow On Christmas Eve After A Blizzard Blankets Wink

Princess Annie
 Trying To Clear A Path In Snowbound Wink

A blizzard of snow has descended upon West Texas and the Realm of Wink.

Throughout the day, the Queen of Wink has been documenting the ongoing snowstorm that has blanketed her realm in a thick coat of frozen white stuff.

Things have gotten so snowbound that the Queen of Wink had no one else beside Princess Annie to assign snow shoveling duty to.

North Central Texas is seeing nothing like the Wink Blizzard blowing in on us, so far, this Christmas Eve.

A cold rain dripped here in the noon time frame, which discouraged me from going on my daily, doctor prescribed, walk. I was in no mood to walk under a bumbershoot in an icy rain.

So, instead I went to the Beach Street Super Wal-Mart to play Dodge Humans With A Grocery Cart.

The Beach Street Super Wal-Mart does not attract as many super-sized humans to dodge as my neighborhood Eastchase Super Wal-Mart, where I regularly experience aisles blocked by plus-sized humans riding the electric carts that Wal-Mart provides for those unable to walk. Or unwilling.

Well. It is time for my annual Christmas Eve party to begin. I'll talk to you in the morning, late, because I'll likely be sleeping in past the arrival of the Christmas morning sun.

The Shadow Of The Fosdic Lake Thin Man On An Oakland Lake Park Ledge Thinking About Wink & Roy Orbison

The Shadow of the Thin Man was not on the Tandy Hills today. Instead the Shadow went walking around Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park in Fort Worth in Texas.

I was sitting on the Fosdic Lake Pavilion's rock ledge when I looked down and saw my shadow. So, I stood on the ledge and took a picture. It made for a very different Shadow of the Thin Man picture than those that happen on the Tandy Hills.

Last night I got email from a New York based rock critic who is busy writing an article for Billboard magazine about Roy Orbison.

The hunt for Roy Orbison info led the New York based rock critic to my bloggings about Wink. It sounded like he did not make it all the way to the bloggings about Wink's Roy Orbison Festival. I told him that the Queen of Wink was his go to girl for info about Wink and Roy Orbison, saying I'd forward his query to the Queen of Wink today. And then I forgot. I'll take care of that as soon as I am done with this blogging.

Change of subject back to Fosdic Lake.

It is always a harbinger of the upcoming arrival of spring, and its wildflowers, when I see the first of a special delicate very bright yellow flower.

I would have picked a bouquet of those yellow beauties except for the disturbing fact that they don't really have a very pleasant fragrance.

I don't remember if I've mentioned it before, but I'm from the Pacific Northwest, Western Washington to be precise. The Skagit Valley of Western Washington to be even more precise.

Up in the mountains in Washington you will see wildflowers. But not so much in the lowlands. In the lowlands you see a lot of flowers though. Fields of tulips, flags, irises and bright yellow daffodils of the same type bright yellow as the Fosdic Lake yellow wildflowers.

A HOT High Of 105 Sunday In My Zone Of North Texas

As you can see, it is 102 at a little after 5 this Sunday afternoon. The Heat Index is 108. We have chilled down from today's high of 105.

I've been doing some virtual roadtripping today. I did not feel like baking so I have stayed inside, except for this morning's long swim.

I virtually drove out to check out Pine Springs and Guadalupe Mountains National Park way out in far West Texas. Guadalupe Peak is the tallest mountain in Texas.

Next I went to Pecos. I wanted to checked out the place that grows the famous Pecos cantaloupes.

It is a short distance to Wink from Pecos. It crossed my mind to see if I could fit in a virtual visit with the Queen of Wink, but my cell phone had gone dead.

So, I continued on to Poteet. Poteet is about 30 miles south of San Antonio. Poteet is the Strawberry Capital of Texas. I have never had a Poteet Strawberry. I read somewhere that Poteet commits the sacrilege of importing strawberries from California due to running low on the local fruit during the humongous Poteet Strawberry Festival.

Rick Wants To Know About A Wink Texas Roy Orbison Sign

It really is with some slight reluctance and a little trepidation that I bring up a Wink, Texas potential controversy.

It seems just about any Wink related subject can erupt into controversy, spinning off in the oddest directions.

The worst case being the brouhaha that erupted over a totally innocent question about the Wink Sinkhole. Eventually that brouhaha led to the entity known as Fubbolu making clear what a twisted, demented, hypocritically strange nutcase she is.

I don't know if today's blogging about a Wink subject is brouhaha worthy. I suspect not.

A guy calling himself "rickvandiver" commented on a posting from way back in June of 2009 about Wink's Roy Orbison Festival.

"rickvandiver" commented, "How can Wink have a sign that says original homesite of Roy Orbison when he was born just south of Vernon in the Greyback community?"

Now, I think I do not need to go to Wink's go to source for all matters pertaining to Wink, that being the Queen of Wink, to answer this question.

Wink is not claiming that Roy Orbison was born in Wink. Wink is correctly claiming that Roy Orbison lived in Wink. And so the Winkites have erected a primitive sign at the location of the Orbison homesite.

I think it may be the use of the "original" word that is a bit confusing.

The Wikipedia blurb about Roy Orbison and his stay in Wink and his eventual departure from the town is a bit amusing. But I don't know if ardent Winkites will find it so.

From Wikipedia...

"Roy Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas, the middle son of Orbie Lee Orbison, an oil well driller and car mechanic, and Nadine Shultz, a nurse. Both were unemployed during the Great Depression, so the family moved to Fort Worth for several years to find work, until a polio scare prompted them to return to Vernon. To find work again, the family then moved to the town of Wink in West Texas. Orbison would later describe the major components of life in Wink as "Football, oil fields, oil, grease and sand", and in later years expressed relief that he was able to leave the desolate town."

I think I've heard Wink native, Gar the Texan, describe Wink in a similar manner, that he was relieved to leave the desolate town.

I really don't see how modern day Wink is all that desolate. Kermit is close by. Odessa and Midland are a short drive from Wink. In Roy Orbison's day there was nothing to combat the desolation, like TV, the Internet or cell phones. So it really was desolate, in Roy's day, I suppose.

I really don't get what Gar the Texan was complaining about, regarding Wink being desolate, since much of the Wink desolation had ended by the time Gar the Texan became a practicing Winkite.

The 21st Annual City Of Wink Texas Roy Orbison Festival

You are looking at my windshield, last June, heading towards Wink, across the flatlands of West Texas, with my windshield getting slapped with Roy Orbison memorabilia.

For you non-music history aficionados out there, Wink was the hometown of rock and roll legend Roy Orbison, he of "Pretty Woman" fame.

This year the City of Wink Texas presents the 21st Annual Roy Orbison Festival.

I know no details of this year's Roy Orbison Festival, except for the fact that it is taking place June 18. And that music and a car show is involved. Last year the festival was a 2 day affair.

The only lodging available, in Wink, is at The Queen's Palace. Unfortunately, all rooms are already booked. The nearest other lodging is in Kermit, about 7 miles northeast of Wink.

I believe term limit rules prohibit the Queen of Wink from being named Pretty Woman in the Roy Orbison Pretty Woman contest. But, I am not certain of this.

Meanwhile, the 4th of July will soon be here. For purely non-altruistic reasons I made a webpage this morning of my Texas Top 10 Fourth of July Events.

I did not put the Wink Fireworks Show on the list. It was a close call.

The Blue Sky Of Texas & More Lunacy Courtesy Of The Twin Peaks of Texas, Wink

You're looking at my very blue view, in a picture taken earlier this morning.

The current forecast is for 3 days in a row getting into the 60 degree zone, starting tomorrow. I'm thinking 60 will feel HOT after this Arctic deep freeze we've been suffering from here in North Texas.

I am computer bound til later this afternoon. I don't like it when that happens.

I've decided the Wink/Kermit area is the Twin Peaks of Texas. An awful lot of lunacy seems to happen in those parts, way out of proportion to the population, like it's got 18 loonies per 100 people where the national norm is 1.2 loonies per 100 and the Texas norm is 3.4 loonies per 100.

A couple days ago I blogged about the Wink Sinkholes. In that blogging I wondered where the water came from that made lakes out of the sinkholes, it being in the desert of West Texas.

Well, that simple question turned all sorts of weird, started by Garth the Texan, with an ill-considered comment that seemed to suggest the sinkhole water came from the Cenozoic Pecos Alluvium Aquifer.

Somehow that simple comment had others chiming in, including the Queen of Wink, whom Garth thought was being mean to him, which led him to be mean to the Queen, which then led to someone saying really mean things to the Queen and this morning has Elsie suggesting that King Durango has a nice ring to it.

It's all very perplexing.

The Loony Lunar Landscape Of Wink Texas & The Wink Sinkholes

The moonscape you are looking at, in the picture, is a satellite look at the infamous Wink Sinkholes, #'s 1 and 2.

Wink Sinkhole #1 is the smaller of the holes. It's the dark spot in the middle about a third of the way down the picture. On Wink Sinkhole #1's upper right is a big Tank Farm.

If you click to view the enlarged image you'll see lots of what look like the results of a massive bombing campaign and the resulting bomb craters.

A maze of what looks like trails, which are likely dirt roads, run all over the landscape. I don't know if one can drive around on this puzzling maze.

I suppose I should ask the Queen of Wink, what with her being the go to source for all matters pertaining to Wink.

Wink Sinkhole #2 is the big dark dot at the bottom middle of the picture. The bigger of the two sinkholes does not appear to be near any tank farms.

I found a good picture of Wink Sinkhole #2. This sinkhole is no dainty, little hole in the ground. It's huge. As in about 1000 feet in diameter with vertical cliffs rising about 60 feet from the water, covering around 18 acres

Wink Sinkhole #2 first sank in 2004. It continues to grow, with the no trespass chain link fence needing to be re-located as the sinkhole grows ever bigger and ever closer to Wink. The information one finds about the Wink Sinkholes all included the same message, as in "WARNING! This is NOT a tourist attraction."

Where does the water come from that looks so inviting in the sinkholes, I can't help but wonder, with the sinkholes being located in the parched West Texas desert? Maybe the Queen of Wink can enlighten us.

The History Of The Queen Of Wink's Texas Domain

You are looking at the building where the Winkler County Justice of the Peace dispenses justice, in Wink, Texas.

Wink lost the "ler" part of the county name when the town of Winkler asked the state of Texas for a post office. The town was told there was already a Winkler in Texas. And so Wink was born. That was in 1927.

1927 was also the year the first public school opened in Wink, one short year after the town sprung up in the West Texas desert after oil was discovered in the Hendrick Oilfield.

Before Wink was 1 year old the town had grown to a population of almost 4,000. By 1929 estimates range as high as 25,000 Winkites.

The Wink oil boom and population explosion brought problems to the new town. Lawlessness in the form of bootlegging, prostitution and gambling were big business in Wink. Organized crime took over the town, including the city government.

Wink was sort of a Fort Worth of its day.

In 1928 a District Judge ruled that the Wink incorporation election was void. The city government was then re-organized and made sort of legitimate, with the first city building opening in December of 1928. It was a jail.

In 1929 the Texas-New Mexico Railroad laid tracks from Wink Junction to Wink, connecting the town to New Mexico.

In 1933 Wink finally managed to get itself legally incorporated. During the Great Depression the Wink oil boom declined, along with the population. Many Wink businesses closed.

Wink's population continued to decline through the 1940s, shrinking to around 1,500, with 40 businesses still operating.

During the 1950's Wink's population remained stable at around 1,500. In 1958 Wink lost its railroad connection to the outside world.

In the 1960s Wink's population rose a bit, to a high of 1,800, but then declined to a new low of less than 1,200 Winkites.

In July of 1960 Wink received an urban renewal grant from the federal government of over 1 million dollars. The money went to paving roads.

In the 1970s and 80s Wink's population continued to decline. By the end of the 1980s the number of businesses operating in Wink had dropped to 5.

The 2000 census counted 919 people in Wink.

Wink is often the hottest location in Texas. At times Wink is the hottest location in the United States.

Wink is also known for its sinkholes. There are some who believe Wink is slowly sinking.

Famous Winkites include Roy Orbison (Wink has a Roy Orbison Festival & Museum). Other well known Winkites are the Queen of Wink and Gar the Texan.

The Queen Of Wink Suffering From Serious Virus

Those of you who are fans of the Queen of Wink may be wondering why she is seeming to be a more quiet Queen of late.

Well, her computer has malfunctioned. She believes she was attacked by a malicious Trojan Virus of some sort. This has rendered it impossible to start her computer, even in Safe Mode.

I've had computers go into malfunction mode on me. It's not a good time.

I don't know if you know this already, but the Queen of Wink graduated from Wink High School, that's in Wink, Texas, way out in West Texas, with the 2nd highest grade point average in her class of, I think, 9.

The only person in her class with a higher GPA was Gar the Texan, a fact about which he remains very proud of to this day.

Well, Gar the Texan is some sort of Idiot Savant when it comes to computers. On his business card it says something like "From the Age of 11, I have had an Innate Ability to Understand Computers and Make Them Do What I Want."

Gar the Texan's innate computer ability is so strong I don't think he even went to college, I think he went right into designing software. He gets flown all over the world to fix computers due to his innate ability to make them do what he wants them to do.

So, I'm thinking, if Gar the Texan has any decency left in him he'll call the Queen of Wink and walk her through getting her computer back working. Better yet, drive out to Wink and fix it.

The Wild Women Of Fort Worth Are Prairie Bound This Morning

In less than an hour dozens of Wild Women will be traipsing over the Tandy Hills in Fort Worth. A few Manly Men will be joining the Wild Women.

Yesterday the Queen of Wink and Princess Annie packed an overnight bag and left Wink, destination undisclosed.

I suspect Wink's Royalty will be among the Wild Women on the Fort Worth prairie this morning.

It is currently barely above freezing out there, at 35 degrees. It was 30 when I went in the pool at 7:30. And the hot tub at 7:31. So we are warming up fast to the predicted high of 52.

My window of time is narrowing down when I have to decide if I'm joining the Wild Women. Or not. It is less than a half hour til the traipsing begins. Way earlier than my usual traipsing time. And with me being the creature of habit that I am, this time shift is real difficult for me. That and it's cold out there. I don't handle cold very well.

Thinking About Sun Lakes While Freezing In Texas

No. That is not me enjoying a sunny day in Texas. It may be a sunny day today in my Fort Worth zone of Texas, but it is in the 30s.

That is me enjoying a warm August day in Eastern Washington at a place called Sun Lakes.

I probably frequented Sun Lakes more than any other location in Washington, in my post-teen years. When me and my siblings were kids Sun Lakes was also one of our favorite places to go.

As the sun set on Sun Lakes, after a hot day, a phenomenon called a Zephyr would occur. Incredible gusts of wind could wreak havoc.

My mom and dad now live in Sun Lake. Minus the 's.' Sun Lake, Arizona. Sun Lake does not sound right

The Queen of Wink reported in from her West Texas location that her school called a Snow Day, so it was home early for the Queen of Wink.

That is not Wink snow in the picture. That is Sun Lakes in winter. I went to college a few miles south of Sun Lakes in the town of Ellensburg. Some friends were visiting, for the weekend, so we decided to see what Sun Lakes looks like in winter, not expecting to find it frozen over.

Real Estate Mogul & Environmental Benefactor Princess Annie of Wink

That is Princess Annie of Wink, daughter of Queen Jammin, at her Lemonade Stand, where she sold Lemonade to her Wink subjects, contributing to Princess Annie's fund raising efforts that she has used to build a Wink real estate empire.

Princess Annie has purchased tracts of Wink land and is restoring them to their natural state. It is a big project, believed to the biggest project of its kind being undertaken by any of the world's princesses.

And for certain the biggest such project of any Texas princess.

Princess Annie is also working with the civilian rulers of her Wink Kingdom to properly landscape the lot on which Roy Orbison's house used to sit.

In addition to Princess Annie's Texas land restoration efforts, she also goes to school full time and takes care of several dogs and cats.

Despite being busy with her many projects, Princess Annie finds the time to have fun, like catching fish at Balmorhea Lake. And later this month Princess Annie is going to New York to inspect the fall foliage from a zipline high above the East Texas trees.

Princess Annie has accomplished so much. And she's not even a teenager yet.

A Sunflower Blooms In Texas On A Sunny September Day With Tootsie Tonasket

I was aerobic exercise free for days in a row, til today. Part of the problem was weather related.

Another part was I was obsessed with changing code on pretty much every web page of my durangotexas.com domain, plus altering many of the webpages, changing them all to white, like this blog, no borders, the look of all matching my Eyes on Texas website, getting rid of a lot of color.

When I started spewing out webpages, on which to add Google ads, I made up some about Washington. I don't know what I was thinking regarding the color, I think, maybe I was going for a Washington foggy dawn. I thought it'd be more bother to fix than it was. I am happy with it now.

I went swimming this morning. The water is getting colder. Today there was a slight adjustment time getting used to the temperature that had me thinking how was it that I managed to be getting in the water all last winter?

The Tandy Hills Natural Hiking Area was all dried out from the rain of yesterday, or was it the day before? I saw a flock of sunflowers, I think that is what they are, looking sunny on this sunny day.

While I hiked I talked to Tootsie Tonasket. She is always quite funny describing the hell she is living. I tell you she should write plotlines for soap operas. Tootsie is one of my assistants when it comes to Internet related dilemmas. So, as I walked I talked Tootsie through checking on something for me on her remote computer. Tootsie, if you are reading this, it worked. Thanks.

Tootsie Tonasket is one of those insecure sorts who sort of lacks confidence. But she is quite bright and writes quite well. And she talks without ever saying 'uh' or 'um.' I do not like listening to uhers or ummers. Why is the spell check not flagging uhers or ummers? Those can not possibly be words.

I learned today that the Queen of Wink's cute little daughter, Annie, was inspired by the Tandy Hills prairie being preserved here in Fort Worth, so she took what amounts to being a small fortune in little girl dollars and spent $1,200 buying up empty lots in the Wink zone of West Texas for around $25 per lot.

At $25 per lot, I think I'm gonna move to Wink and pitch a tent. I need a new place to live. Wink seems like it'd be a nice town. I wonder if they have both a Costco and a Sam's Club?

Dangling Shoes, Possums, Catfish Killing Watersnakes & A Queenly Mystery Stalker In Texas

On the way to Village Creek Natural Historic Area I saw a pair of shoes dangling from a wire, way up high. How did they get there? Why did they get there? Very perplexing.

There were a lot of people at Village Creek today. When I pulled into the parking lot I saw a guy releasing a small possum. I have seen a lot of possums released at this park over the years. Makes me think a lot more have been let go than the ones I've managed to see. Possums are kind of cute. Sort of like armadillos without a shell.

There were a couple guys acting a bit odd by the first dam/bridge creek crossing. I asked what they were looking at. I was told they had been watching a watersnake catch a catfish. I saw nothing. Later I came upon them again at the other dam/bridge creek crossing. Due to the drought Village Creek is not running much water. One of the guys climbed into one of the culverts through which the creek flows under the dam/bridge. The other guy was at the other end of the culvert. I asked what they were looking at now. I was told a big turtle had gone into the culvert.

The location of the big turtle is where I had my one and only combo encounter with a water moccasin and a garfish. No way would I go in one of those culverts.

My day started off fine with the usual morning swim, then I dealt with the Dallas Farmers Market for a bit.

By mid-morning I had heard from my snitches, telling me that the Queen of Wink had blogged about me again. I find this terribly unsettling. I can not read her blog due to the Wink Queen used her extremely highly evolved computer skills to somehow cause my browser to freeze up if I try to look at her blog. Apparently, once she successfully blocked me, she began blogging about me. Like I said, very unsettling.

Apparently the Queen of Wink believes me to be a big mystery that she has been unable to solve, despite diligent effort. And so she says she is coming to Fort Worth, next month, to solve the mystery. Forewarned, I have tightened security and am employing defensive measures that should allow me to keep my privacy unbreeched. I hope.

The Queen of Wink Texas

That is Queen Jammin sitting on her throne outside her palace in Wink, Texas. I do not know why she is sitting on her throne without wearing her tiara. The tiara lack seems like some sort of breech of protocol, to me.

And I won't even comment on the fact that I've never seen a Queen in short shorts before.

Then again, the municipality of Wink, over which Queen Jammin rules, is in Free Texas, far removed from the fascist area of Texas, where Queens must cover their legs or risk being de-throned.

Queen Jammin frequently drives around the greater Wink metropolitan area without wearing her seatbelt, waving at the local law enforcement officer as she drives slowly by.

The Queen of Wink and her Entourage will be making a visit to Dallas in August. I do not know if this is an official visit or what the purpose is. Security is quite tight. I hope she has the good sense not to take her Royal Entourage to Fort Worth.

Speaking of fascist Texas, well, more specifically, fascist Fort Worth. Overnight I learned of a new victim. I will call her Martha. Martha had had a hard long day. She was heading home, eager to get there. So Martha inched a mile over the speed limit. Martha was pulled over by one of the Fort Worth Gestapo. The Gestapo agent saw that Martha's driver's license indicated she needed to be wearing eye glasses. The Gestapo agent did not accept the fact that Martha now wears contacts. Then Martha was unable to locate her insurance papers.

So, the Fort Worth Gestapo agent issued good, upstanding citizen, Martha, a ticket that listed her speeding violation, her lack of glasses violation and her lack of insurance documentation violation.

This past weekend Martha served 8 hours in a Fort Worth Driver's Re-Education Internment Camp. I do not know if this run-in with the Fort Worth Gestapo is causing Martha to consider moving to Free Texas or not. Or if she is ready to join the Free Fort Worth Underground.

Texas Tarantula Terror With Hot Hiking & Texas License Plates

Like I said would happen, in a blogging earlier today, about 1` this afternoon, when it was only 102, I went to the Tandy Hills Natural Area. There was no breeze today. But as long as I keep moving the heat isn't too hot. But, if you stop walking for just the time it takes to take a picture, well, suddenly it goes to drenched in sweat mode.

I tried to take a picture of one of the remaining wildflowers, but every attempt turned out blurry. Why? I do not know. It perplexes me. I think it may be a heat related malady.

When I got back here I was mortified to learn that out in West Texas, in the metropolis of Wink, Jammin Mole had been Terrorized this morning by a Giant Tarantula. Homeland security eventually subdued the beast.

Back in my Tarantula free world, I hope, this morning I made a different sort of webpage on my Eyes on Texas website, one where I'm trying to be helpful. That often is not the case. This past week I've gotten 5 or 6 people asking me questions about Texas Personalized License Plates, and the "It's a Whole Other Country" one in particular.

Why do people think I'm the go to guy with such a question? The questions about rattlesnake skins and rattles, I sort of understand, due to the webpages about the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup. Or questions about next month's Parker County Peach Festival, those I understand. I understand why I'm getting the question, I mean, I don't understand why they think I'd have the answer.

As for Texas License Plates, I have no idea where these questions are coming from or what on my website would make anyone think I know anything about the subject. But helping people solve their problems is what I'm all about, so now I have the answers to the vexing Texas License Plate Questions.

Abrupt change of subject, returning to Jammin Mole and Wink. Earlier today I was surprised by an invitation from Jammin. Inviting myself, Gar the Texan and Mister Twister to Wink. This is what Ms. Mole had to say (she is commenting on a comment by Mister Twister regarding Wink in previous blogging you can read here)...

"Twister, if in fact you were expressing apathy for Wink, I'd leave it alone, BUT I'm sensing that you're actually expressing a sorta disdain for the place, making a prejudgment without having seen Wink in person. So, here it is...I'm cordially inviting you, Durango and Gar to come down to Wink in October for the Halloween Carnival and Spook House. It's only a seven hour drive and between the three of you, ya'll should be able to handle 2.5 hours of driving time each. If you like, I can even get you an Orbison T-shirt, but you'll have to supply your own shades."

Now, it's time for lunch.

Wink Delivers A Texas Christmas In June

Christmas was pretty bleak this year in Texas, not that I'm complaining. When it comes to Christmas, I'm pretty much Jewish. I've never been a fan of the holiday. Am always glad when it's over. I don't send anyone a Christmas card. I may get a card or two. I don't buy anyone a Christmas gift or mail anyone anything. I don't think anyone mailed me anything this past Christmas. I may be remembering wrong.

So, imagine my surprise upon going to the Post Office today and opening the P.O. Box to find a note telling me a box too big to stick in the box was awaiting me at the service counter.

There was no line, I walked up and handed the nice Post Office Mail Lady the note and she soon came back with a BIG BOX. The return address on the BIG BOX was Wink, Texas. Wink is the West Texas where Jammin Mole resides and Gar the Texan used to reside til he was asked to leave town. I think there were issues with his mullet style hair, what we in the Pacific Northwest call a Pocatello Doo, due to people in that isolated Idaho town having a fondness for the mullet style.

Anyway, I digress. So, I hauled the BIG BOX to my vehicle, got back here and with great struggle, in the 100 degree heat, managed to get it inside to air-conditioned comfort. I was so thrilled at the unexpected surprise BIG BOX that I decided I had to photo document this rare moment. The first picture, above, is the BIG BOX.

I studied the intricate wrapping and taping on the BIG BOX a long time to figure how best to open it. Eventually I decided on a course of action involving a knife. Soon after that I was lifting a variety of objects out of the BIG BOX. I arranged some of the objects to facilitate a photo.

In the BIG BOX there was a real cool Roy Orbison t-shirt, from last weekend's Roy Orbison Festival. There was a book. A cool little cowboys card. And I don't mean Dallas Cowboys, I mean little boy cowboys. And then there was a bird house in the BIG BOX. With the shape of Texas carved on one side. And a business card so I can arrange to have the Roy Orbison Museum opened for me next time I'm in Wink.

The above is on the bottom of the bird house, confirming that the BIG BOX came from Jammin Mole. I was pretty much 100% certain of that, but this confirmed it.

The Roy Orbison t-shirt was an X-Large. I was afraid it wouldn't fit. But as you can see, it fits. It's also really really long. Like a night shirt. If I was a pajama user this might be a nice substitute on a cold night. That's the Wink Birdhouse that I'm holding.

So, I've really been having myself one HOT BIG DAY in Texas. Up before 3 in the morning, swimming in the dark, virtually going to New Braunfels and the Schlitterbaun, hiking at the HOT Tandy Hills and getting a Christmas present in June from Wink.

I am so looking forward to tomorrow. I'll be looking at Austin. And hopefully wide awake sometime closer to the crack of dawn. See you then, or maybe sooner.

Rain Falls On Wink's Roy Orbison Festival

We are on the road to Wink in the picture above. Today is Day Two of Wink's Roy Orbison Festival.

My on the ground corespondent in Wink, Jammin Mole, reports this morning that Roy Orbison is crying on his festival in the form of continuing rain.

Jammin Mole did not say how the rain has affected the festival. Or who won Friday night's Pretty Woman Contest. I am fairly certain that Jammin Mole won, but that she too modest to be the one to report that news.

Earlier in the month Jammin Mole reported that a big storm had passed through Wink on the morning of June 10. By 6 pm, that same day, that same storm thundered through North Texas, dropping a lot of rain, knocking out a lot of power and blowing a lot of wind, some in tornado form. I don't know if today's Wink storm is heading this way.

Roy Orbison Festival This Weekend In Wink

My West Texas Corespondent, Jammin Mole, has told me that this coming weekend, June 19 & 20, the 20th Annual Roy Orbison Festival is coming to Wink.

The festival will feature a California Rockabilly Boogie group called Truly Lover Trio.

On Friday the Pretty Woman Contest takes place. I'm pretty sure Jammin Mole will be the winner of that contest.

On Saturday the festivities start off at 9 am with a parade, likely featuring the winner of the Pretty Woman Contest. There will also be an antique car show and flea market.

Then, Saturday evening, Wink's main drag gets closed to traffic for a street dance and concert.

Big crowds are expected for the Roy Orbison Festival. There is plenty of parking. Please be careful when driving in the Wink vicinity. Sinkholes are known to suddenly appear. If Wink's infamous ghosts worry you, you needn't be concerned. The Wink ghosts are all friendly.

Wink Texas Ghosts, Sinkholes & Roy Orbison

My West Texas Eyes On Texas corespondent, Jammin Mole, has been sending me pictures from West Texas for my humongous Regions of Texas Project that has been tormenting me for a year.

Actually, it has been tormenting me for a bit less than a year. A year ago this coming July 20 I flew up to Tacoma for what turned into a torturous lost month. Prior to leaving I'd built the website framework for my Regions of Texas Project. I brought the reference materials north with me and my intention was to make 5 to 10 webpages a day.

By the time I escaped Tacoma I'd been so traumatized that I'd totally forgotten about my Regions of Texas Project. When I got back here I was more interested in regaining my sanity than working on that website project. And so it remained way in the back of my mind for months and months.

And then last week I was looking at my Google webstats and I saw that the few pages of that project that I had gotten done were doing real well. I had not noticed. I have an awful lot of webpages to try and keep track of. That and I forget things.

So, I'm currently in what's called Big Bend Country. That is where Wink is. Wink is both famous and infamous. Wink is a very little town, it's seen better days. Wink was Roy Orbison's hometown. There is a little Roy Orbison Museum in Wink that you can visit by appointment.

Wink needs to have someone make the town a statue of Roy Orbison, similar to what Lubbock has done for Buddy Holly. And maybe someone could make better signage for the Roy Orbison Museum and for the sign that says "The Original Home Site of Roy Orbison."

Wink is also known for its Sinkholes. There are two of them. The first Sinkhole sank on June 3, 1980. Then, almost 22 years later, to the day, an even bigger Sinkhole sank. And now there is a sagging in the ground, near Wink, that geologists say will become Wink Sinkhole #3.

My West Texas Wink Corespondent tells me that locals travel about Wink in pairs. One car following another with about a 100 foot gap. If the ground sinks underneath car #1, car #2 is supposed to get help, and vice versa if car #1 sees car #2 disappear in the rear view mirror.

That is Wink Sinkhole #2 in the Sinkhole picture.

Little Wink is also famous for being really HOT. As in Wink is often the HOTTEST spot in Texas and the entire country.

Wink is also known for its ghosts. There are several Wink ghost stories. The Wink ghosts are nationally known. By those who pay attention to such things.

So, for a little town of less than 1000 people, Wink has a lot going on. Ghosts, Roy Orbison, record breaking temperatures. And giant Sinkholes.