A Late Friday Afternoon Texas Thunderstorm Rumbled In After I Got Back From Wimberley

This afternoon I took a virtual trip down to Texas Hill Country, to Wimberley.

Soon after I was done with my Wimberley trip the sky began to darken. Soon after the sky darkened I started to hear thunder rumbling in the distance.

You are looking at the view from my patio soon before that dark cloud started sending down an awful lot of water, along with some lightning bolts.

Upside of this latest storm, it dropped the temperature from the 90s down to the 70s. So, off with the A/C, open with the windows.

The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Watch for my zone of North Texas. I don't think it rained enough to do any flash flooding, at least in my location.

Oh oh, I thought the storming was over, but a big boom just rattled my cage. I saw no flash, but the strike had to be close to rattle my cage that much.

I've heard from the Queen of Wink. She'd gone missing. Again. Due to both technical electronic issues and due to going undercover, once more, in her ongoing San Antonio Top Secret Operation.

Time Heals All Wounds & Wounds All Heels

I Googled "time heals all wounds" to find a webpage saying something like "Time Heals All Wounds Except Fatal Ones & Amputations."

Except for fatal wounds, which I have yet to suffer, I have found that time does heal all wounds.

And time really does wound all heels. That karma thing.

If you've never found yourself dealing with a heel in the form of a sociopath, consider yourself lucky.

A sociopath is very confusing. Part of being a sociopath is they learn so many strategies to cover their pathology. Til you figure out what you are dealing with, the confusion can leave the victim very unsettled.

And then comes a moment when there is total clarity and no confusion. At that moment the wound is healed. That is a good moment.

Totally switching subjects from sociopaths and their pathological lying ways, I got some surprising news, a few minutes ago. Without saying too much, suffice to say, someone in Washington is having a baby, who I did not expect to be in that condition.

And.

It's twins! Yikes!

I think I just heard thunder boom. A few minutes ago the National Weather Service put North Texas under a Flash Flood Alert through Thursday.

Ceasing All Aerobic Activity While I Watch For A Texas Flash Flood

I am about 6 hours into my National Weather Service advised order to watch for flash flooding.

You are looking at the view I'm looking at to watch for flash floods, out my computer room window.

So far I have seen about 20 minutes of rain, about 2 hours ago.

I have seen no flooding. I am supposed to keep watching for flash floods until Thursday evening, if I remember my instructions correctly.

I am currently consuming iced coffee to try to perk up my flood watch abilities.

Events conspired to keep me from any hiking type aerobic endorphin releasing activity today, including a swimming pool that got its weekly shock treatment, late yesterday, and so was not safe to use this morning.

Consequently, due to the absence of over stimulating my blood flow and getting dosed with endorphins, I am being a bit groggy and grumpy. Not exactly unusual for me.

The Roy Orbison Festival takes place June 18. The Palace is the only lodging facility in Wink. I can't make up my mind whether I should book a room at The Palace, or not. That is planning way too far ahead for my norm.

The latest therapeutic opinion from my therapist, Dr. L.C., was that I was a mess. Is this type diagnosis the sort of thing a doctor gets un-doctored over? It perplexes me.

Another HOT Fort Worth Day With Flash Floods Heading Our Way From The Gulf

It's another HOT day in the Fort.

We may get a bit of a cool down tomorrow. The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Alert, starting tomorrow morning, through Thursday evening, due to a big mass of wet tropical air heading our way from the oil-slick laden Gulf of Mexico.

I am currently surrounded by a big renovation project that turned noisy this afternoon with pneumatic hammers banging wood and circular saws sawing.

About 3, this afternoon, I needed a dose of quiet, so I went to Miss Puerto Rico's to hang out on her balcony for a nice view north. And hopefully to catch a cooling breeze.

Tootsie Tonasket called today, while I was unable to answer my phone, due to being in the midst of the Tandy Hills. So, I called Tootsie back, while I was overheating on Miss Puerto Rico's balcony, where I was unable to catch a cooling breeze.

Tootsie wanted to know if I knew any good motels in Wenatchee and Richland.

I have not been to Wenatchee since 2001. I don't remember the last time I've been in Richland. So, I was of no use to Tootsie regarding her motel search.

One of my daily corespondents corresponded this morning about going to that game played professionally, by grown men, in which they hit a ball, with a stick, while others try to catch the ball and throw it. My corespondent has put me on a do-not-identify-her-by-name moratorium. I think it has something to do with being undercover and the CIA. But I'm not sure.

Just as I was typing the above paragraph, the corespondent referenced in that paragraph emailed, saying the moratorium is no longer in effect. Something to do with it being too damn HOT for a moratorium. Or something like that.

I just got a comment from the Queen of Wink about her stirring performance in Hair in New Orleans. I fear a new moratorium may be in the works.

Flash Flood Watches & Levee Inspections In Fort Worth Texas

WeatherBug went off with a chirping warning from the National Weather Service about a Flash Flood Watch in effect til Saturday, just as I was reading an incoming email from Elsie Hotpepper, telling me about something flood related.

As in the Army Corps of Engineers is going to be inspecting the 27 miles of levees along the Trinity River that make up the Fort Worth Floodway. Recently Dallas got a failing grade from the inspectors.

Due to levee failures, like what happened in New Orleans, due to Hurricane Katrina, and levee failures elsewhere, tougher standards have been enacted with Congress telling the Corps to check out 14,000 miles of levees across America via the National Levee Safety Program.

The Dallas levee system is going to cost about $150 million to fix.

Fort Worth's massive Trinity River Levees were built following the flood of 1949 which covered much of Fort Worth with way too much water.

Water District officials claim the Fort Worth levees are in good shape. But, we've all learned, of late, how much stock to put in the Water District's veracity.

One aspect of the slow going Trinity River Vision Boondoggle is a flood control bypass channel. This bypass channel will somehow allow the removal of the massive Trinity River levees on the section of the Trinity River that flows by downtown Fort Worth.

That area has not flooded since the massive levees were built, decades ago. It seems counter-intuitive to remove them. But, what do I know?

Well, I do know that it is coming up on noon, this Friday in May in Fort Worth, Texas. The skies are currently darkening. I suspect soon some of that material that causes flash floods will be falling from the sky.