Now six months into the move without even starting to build the new house the differences seem much more significant. We are probably a year away from moving into the new house and probably 3 months from breaking ground. It feels like we are dead in the water. It’s not true, of course, but there aren’t any milestones to mark our progress. Settling in for the long haul, maintaining the excitement takes real effort as we slog forward. It’s down to the details and details suck.
Take the weather as an example. I’d followed Texas weather for over a year from the old California homestead. I knew that Texas Hill Country didn’t come close to my perfect climate (Sunset Magazine 24- coastal California). Unfortunately I could no longer afford to live there in the style I preferred and was unwilling to deal with SoCal traffic and congestion. For our new home, I lowered my expectations. Living in Northern California for 15 years had hardened me to cooler and more extreme weather gut even if I could like NorCal weather, it was obvious that the California lifestyle was doomed. It was time to get out. I wanted to avoid serious freezes and snow so my goal was something similar to Sacramento. Anecdotally Hill Country Texas seemed to match. Similar range of temperatures. I figured it would be no big adjustment. I figured wrong.
So far Texas seems colder- both in actual temperatures and duration. This is no scientific conclusion, just my subjective opinion. I think the climate in Texas is harsher than California but it’s not just numbers. It is just different in ways not reflected by temperature alone. Much of California is influenced by the ocean with the biggest impact being that nights are generally cool- or at least cooler. This is true even so far inland as the foothills beyond Sacramento.
Despite a long coastline, Texas is not so much affected. While we are not much farther from the Gulf of Mexico in Texas than we were from the Pacific in California, here in the Hill Country the ocean influence is much less. The gulf of Mexico is south of us. We don’t have the prevailing Westerlies to bring the moderating ocean air on a regular basis. We don’t have any barriers to keep cold weather from Canada away. Therefore the cold fronts from Canada roll right in over the Midwest prairies with freezing temperatures. At least we are far enough south that the temperatures don’t stay cold long. So we will get a week with 80 degree daytime temperatures followed by a week with freezing nights. It is very unsettling.
Also weather here is volatile. Nothing last for long. Any strong weather pattern whether it is cold fronts from Canada, moisture from the Gulf and even the occasional Pacific storm can affect us and then transition to something completely different. We are far enough inland to avoid tropical storms at their maximum strength. Last year’s Hurricane in Houston petered out before reaching Hill Country providing only moderate rain. I suppose that is a good thing but of I have a choice between Canadian cold fronts and ocean storms, I will pass on Canada. Still, even in February, it never gets much below freezing and doesn’t stay there when it does. Tropical foliage is dead by November and the grass is brown. It makes an interesting contrast with the California foothills where the grass is brown in the Summer and green in the Winter.
We arrived in Texas in July facing what, even Texans, call extreme weather. It was hot. Again it wasn’t really hotter than Sacramento but, unlike California, it was hot 24/7. No Delta breezes for night relief. I actually considered the warmer evenings welcome, remembering how in California a pleasant evening on the patio would turn chill and force a move indoors. Long term I may feel different.
Texans, learning that we were transplanted Californians would commiserate about enduring the brutal summer heat. It didn’t work with me. California has plenty of summer heat. I told them if they thought Texas was bad, they should go to Sacramento. It usually shut them up. Looking back I suspect that Texans don’t so much dislike Texas weather as they dislike non-Texans moving in. I think they go out of their way to encourage visitors to go back where they came from and the Summer heat is a perfect tool. Texans don’t seem to mind putting down their state when they talk to outsiders.
They talk about how bad the weather is ( wink, wink) with a conspiratorial smile to any other Texans in the vicinity. We Texans can handle the heat. Lessor mortals can not. They make it very clear that there is a difference between native Texans and other people. I have never lived anyplace with higher value for being a native born resident than Texas. It sure wasn’t true in California. Native Californians were the descendants of Oakies, Beaners and Chinks, Nothing classy about that. Heck, in California, the only natives I knew were my sons – poor souls.
I haven’t yet experienced an entire year of Texas weather. Natives talk about the Spring and the wildflowers. I will wait and see. I just hope that Texas has a normal length Spring. It will be a pleasant change from Sacramento where you have 4 days of pleasant weather in between the summer blowtorch and the Winter rain and chill.
