A Break From The Great Texas Drought Of 2011 With A Wet Rainy Sunday Drive To A Leaking Sam's Club

You are looking through my windshield at my neighborhood Sam's Club, seeing something I have not seen in awhile.

That something is the windshield wiper wiping rain off the windshield.

I don't know at what time in the middle of the night I realized water was blowing in through my open window, so I don't know how long it has been raining.

What I do know is it almost an hour after noon and it is still raining.

But, the sky does appear to be brightening. The drips seem to be greatly lessening. I suspect the rain will soon come to a halt and the Great Texas Drought of 2011 can re-commence.

In Sam's Club today I saw more buckets catching more leaks than I have ever seen in a store before. Buckets were all over the store.

And many leaks did not have buckets catching the drips.

I suspect because of the long HOT summer, with day after day baking the Sam's Club roof, that havoc has been wreaked on the roof's  dozens of skylights and flashings that are supposed to waterproof those holes in the roof.

I imagine Monday is going to be a very busy day for roofers in North Texas.

A few paragraphs back I said it was almost an hour past noon. I got interrupted. It is now 3 hours past noon. My mom called at about the hour past noon mark. And then lunch intervened.

And, now that it is past 3 on this Sunday afternoon, the rain has finally stopped falling at my location on this formerly parched part of the planet. The sun has not broken through the cloud cover. By morning I think sunniness will have returned.

Wicked Fort Worth Downpour Aborts Autumn Equinox Sunset Gateway Park Bike Ride

As I drove towards Gateway Park, tonight, I saw a couple somewhat menacing clouds which had wet stuff falling from them, but not making it anywhere near the ground. The trails of evaporating rain drops was clearly seen against the clear blue sky over downtown Fort Worth.

I got to Gateway Park, got my bike out, started loading it up. And then I felt a sprinkle. And then the wind picked up, very strongly. And then a downpour started pouring down with big plops of wetness. I quickly loaded the bike back up.

I sat and watched the downpour for a couple minutes and then decided to bail. I was barely out of Gateway Park, heading east on Randol Mill Road when dryness returned.

So, I decided to go biking at Quanah Parker Park. As I drove in to Quanah Parker Park I could see the sky had cleared over Gateway Park. Nothing looked too malignant skyward above Quanah Parker Park.

Yet, I had barely parked and it happened again. Apparently the Gateway Park Storm was heading east and I was back in it.

I took the picture you see above, out of my windshield, looking west, from the Quanah Parker Park Parking Lot. You can see the size of the rain plops. And you can sort of tell it is being windy.

So, I bailed on Quanah Parker Park. The rain poured all the way back here. I waited a couple minutes for it to let up a bit before I made my fast dash for this interior space. And now the sky is back clear and all is calm, just a short time later.

Above you can see the rainbow that shot out of my chimney shortly after the rain stopped. As you can see, the rainbow did not make it all the way to a pot of gold on the ground. It just sort of dissipates in the sky, just like those rain entrails I saw coming out of clouds on my way to Gateway Park.

So, I did not get my sunset bike ride. But, I did get to have fun in one of the stranger storms I've enjoyed in Texas.

A Rainy Texas Saturday Night Saloon Hopping With Elsie Hotpepper

I bailed on my plan for an early Saturday evening swimming in the rain episode, due to, well, it was raining too hard.

You are looking east on Bridge Street, coming up on 6pm, in the rainy picture. When I got to my destination and exited my vehicle, I quickly found myself wicking moisture up the legs of my way too baggy cargo pants.

I should have been wearing cargo shorts, not pants, but it was looking like a stereotypical northwest rainy day out there, with this seeming to require long pants. I'd forgotten, though it is raining, it is not cold, with long pants being totally inappropriate.

I'm back in a dry location, now, and am now worrying how long this WET nightmare is going to continue. This type weather inappropriateness wreaks havoc with my lifestyle.

I was almost 100% certain I was going to hear from Elsie Hotpepper today, asking me to go bar, I mean, saloon hopping with her tonight. The night is young, maybe I will yet hear from Elsie.

In the meantime, it's Saturday night and I'm being a happy boy. I feel like I Exorcised some Demons this week. Exorcising Demons is a good thing. Even if you aren't Catholic.

A Rainy Saturday In Texas With Possible Flash Floods & Thunder

The National Weather Service issued a Flood Alert yesterday, lasting, I think, until Sunday. I had not heard any rain falling, so I was a little surprised, when the sun got around to lighting up the place, to see that it was very wet outside.

This turn of events wreaks havoc with my today plan to go Wildflower hunting on the Tandy Hills to find exotic types to try and stump Texas Wildflower Champion Identifier, Sarah R.

Currently, at 11 in the morning, a slight amount of wet stuff is dripping out there. Maybe I can go to Veterans Park in Arlington and find some exotic Wildflowers on the way to ALDI Food Market in Pantego. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

There appears to be a bolt of lightning coming out of the cloud in the prediction picture for today. I did not realize we'd been forecast for some dire weather. But it is that time of year, thunder and tornadoes are to be expected.

Yesterday's day, that started out at around 2:30, turned out to be one of the busiest, most over the top productive days I've had in a long time. I broke my record for most bloggings. 8, yesterday, on my various blogs. I updated multiple pages on my Eyes on Texas website. Dealt with some longtime toxicity, that had long vexed me. That felt, well, cathartic. Went swimming in the morning and evening, with a good hike on the Tandy Hills in between.

And then by the end of the day I slept real nicely, unlike the night before, as in I slept in til past 7 this morning. This is borderline unprecedented.

Worn Out At 5 In The Afternoon By Dreary Fort Worth Rain & Last Night's Mattress Flouncing.

It is a bit past 5.

I've had me a day. My eyes are bleary and I'm feeling a bit light-headed. I had a bad bout of insomnia last night. I think I'm operating on about 2 hours sleep.

Gave up trying to sleep and got up around 6. Did my regular routine. Pool cool, hot tub hot.

North to Grapevine at noon, rain started on the way back here.

You can see the dreary rain through my windshield, around 4 this afternoon, with my windshield wiper slapping time on the lower right corner.

The current bout of extreme wetness is scheduled to end sometime tomorrow.

Where was I going during this slick rainstorm? The drugstore, for some drugs, sleeping pills. I'm going to knock myself out, tonight, rather than have a repeat of last night's exercise in mattress flouncing.

Mattress flouncing? Excuse me. I'm tired. But that made sense to me when I thought it. Not so much when I typed it. Too tired to change it.