Pre Ides Of March Wichita Falls Windy Dust Storm

That which you see above is the view from one of my kitchen windows, looking south, with nary a cloud in the sky. The reason the cloud-less sky is not blue is because predicted strong winds have blown clouds of dust skyward.

You can see the windy Ides of March forecast below.

Wind gusts of 71 mph? Isn't that bordering on hurricane strength? With the super strong wind, along with way too much dust, methinks I shall not be doing my regular daily outdoor nature communing today. 

Unless I do my nature communing at Walmart, which seems unlikely at this particular point in time.

Suddenly, as I look out my computer room window, the dusty sky has taken on a light reddish color.

I battened down all my hatches, this morning, upon learning of the incoming big blow. But, so far the big blow is coming from the south, and so my patio furniture is in no danger of getting zapped.

I just realized, today is March 14. Isn't the Ides of March, March 15? This morning, I saw someone on Facebook opine something along the line of hoping a modern-day Brutus gets inspired to create a modern-day Ides of March.

Googling, I see I was right, tomorrow is the Ides of March...

The "Ides of March" refers to March 15th, a date infamous for the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, a moment immortalized by Shakespeare's play, "Julius Caesar," and the phrase "Beware the Ides of March".

The Ides of March (tomorrow) in Wichita Falls is also predicted to be windy and dusty...

Stuck In My First Arizona Haboob Dust Storm With Miss Daisy & Jeremy

Miss Daisy and I were about to head north to Mesa to go to the Superstition Ranch Farmers Market when the phone went into Emergency Alert Warning mode, warning us of an impending dust storm, from which we were advised to seek shelter.

And get off the road if driving.

Incoming Haboob.

Last night, around ten, the phone made the same warning, multiple times. We noticed nothing, til this morning when the morning sun revealed an outer world covered with a coating of dust.

And this morning when I went pooling I learned some emergency warning went off at 3 in the morning which had the pool maintenance people busy dealing with clogging filters.

Now this most recent Emergency Alert Warning has been extended another 25 minutes.

I stepped outside a few minutes ago to photo document the incoming wall of dust, which is what you are seeing.

Nephew Jeremy just arrived, chased by the dust storm, says lots of lightning is on the way. It's getting real dark. Brother Jake just texted that power is out in Scottsdale.

The dust has arrived. Must hit the publish button and batten the hatches...

Sunday Afternoon Viewing Beautiful Dusty Downtown Fort Worth From On Top Of Mount Tandy

Downtown Fort Worth With A Dust Cover

From my abode none of my viewing portals afford me a very good panoramic distant view.

CatsPaw the Skywatcher warned me of an incoming Dust Storm earlier this afternoon.

By late afternoon I decided to go see if I could see some dust.

When I reached the point where I had a view of the sky I saw nothing that said Dust Storm to me.

So, I decided to drive to the top of my local hill for a better view. From the top of the hill, turning right on to Bridge Street, I could see that the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth was looking a bit stricken.

I continued on to the top of Mount Tandy, which is where I took the Dust Storm hazy picture of the aforementioned stunning skyline.

By the time I got back to my computer, CatsPaw the Skywatcher was telling me that the dust cloud was supposed to pass to the northwest of Fort Worth. The sky looked dusty any direction I looked.

I decided, since I was already on Mount Tandy, and since I really do not get enough exercise, to take a quick  trip down Mount Tandy's northside, then take the Tandy Highway to the south trail which ascends to the top of Mount Tandy.

Part way down Mount Tandy's northside I was startled by something I have only rarely seen on the Tandy Hills. As in a really good-looking young lady. The last time I was in this location, with a young lady, was with the Queen of Wink, when were making our escape from the Manly Men Wild Women Hike a couple years ago.

I could tell I startled the good-looking young lady. She stopped and was reining in her two dogs. I let out one of my ultra friendly totally Texasified  howdies to put the young lady at ease. I then asked if the dogs were as dangerous as they looked. She told me they were sweet dogs.

The dogs then proceeded to run to me and lick me. I do not like being licked by strange dogs.

What happened next appalled me.

When the young lady passed me she took off running, not jogging, not walking at a fast pace, but running, up what may be the steepest hill on the Tandy Hills. I had to help the Queen of Wink up this hill when the steepness caused her a mild case of the vapors.

So, seeing this example of extreme fitness in action it made me feel like a fat slug as I waddled the rest of the way back to my vehicular transport.

I probably should shut my windows due to all this dust. But it feels good having the windows open. So, open they shall remain, dust be damned.