A Freezing Fort Worth Slippery Rain Walk On The Last Day Of February

Sometime after noon on this last Saturday of February I left my abode not knowing if I would be able to successfully traverse the field of ice that carpets the ground between my exit and my mailbox.

I soon found that my intended route to the mailbox was not a good idea, slick as it was with a thick coating of ice.

I then found a more circuitous route, over the snow covered lawn, that eventually got me to what turned out to be an empty mailbox.

I then decided to amp up my adventure level and slide my way up the hill to Albertsons.

En route to Albertsons I watched multiple instances of vehicles unable to get sufficient traction to move.

I forgot to mention, upon entering the outer world I quickly discovered that which was not seen by me via looking out my windows, that being that the predicted freezing rain was falling on top of the snow, thus greatly adding to the slipperiness.

Due to that falling freezing rain, when  I decided to try and capture on video some of the vehicular sliding action I had to find cover from the freezing rain first, under a tree. You can see the resulting video below, of the aforementioned wheels slipping, along with sleepy sounding commentary.

In addition to wheels slipping and sleepy commentary, in the video you will also see my boots crunching through the snow on my way back from Albertsons, with a panoramic view of my neighborhood Winter Wonderland...

Birds Flying North For The Winter With Incoming Freezing Rain In Fort Worth

I do not know if it is another sign of Mother Nature running amok, or what, but this morning, while I was doing my usual pool/hot tub routine, I saw 4 large herds of birds flying in formation overhead.

Three of the four formations were flying north, while the fourth confused formation was flying west.

In the Fall it is quite common to see large formations of birds of all sizes flying south, to the birding zone of South Texas or into Mexico.

I do not recollect seeing big formations of birds flying north this early. Something seems amiss.

Did the birds miss the news that Winter is not over? And that the forecast for Friday is snow, again, in North Texas. What are all these birds going to do as they fly over Oklahoma or Kansas and realize this is way too cold? Do they make a U-Turn and head back to South Texas?

I just went to get the Fort Worth forecast, for any of you birds reading this, and I see our Friday forecast has been changed from snow to freezing rain & freezing drizzle. I'm not sure what the difference is. I am not a big fan of freezing rain or drizzle. I prefer my rain to be thawed and lukewarm.

Mom & Dad Are Here In Texas

I've had me a day. First off, we had that freezing rain thing, which went on way longer than it was supposed to. The roads never seemed slippery, but there was a lot of icicle action. And falling cold wet stuff.

I had told my Mom, 2 days ago, that Monday would be bad here. That's okay, she told me, we'll get there Tuesday.

About 11 this morning my Mom called. And said they were passing Abilene.

What? I was appalled. They were a bit over 2 hours from here. Heading into ice. I told them to call when they reached Fort Worth and I'd guide them in.

Three hours went by. The ice continued to fall. So, I called. My Mom answered. She told me they were in Arlington. What? Why didn't you call? I told them to get off at the first exit they came to in Arlington and I'd come find them. I asked, do you see the Fielder exit? Cooper? Collins? Then I heard my Dad say they were not in Arlington.

My Dad then told my Mom they were in Fort Worth. That they were going through a big freeway exchange. I ask if they've gone by downtown Fort Worth. My Dad says, yes. I then tell them to continue on til they get to the Bridge Street exit, get off the freeway there, take a left and then a right to Home Depot and I'd find them.

I hurry to Home Depot. My phone rings. It's my Dad. He tells me they got off at Ridgmar like they were supposed to, but can find no Home Depot. Ridgmar? You are in west Fort Worth? That freeway exchange you went through was the 820/30 exchange? You haven't gone by downtown Fort Worth yet?

When I figured out where they were I told Dad to get back on the freeway and continue east. I told them I'd head west and then come up behind them. So, I drove west to the Beach Street exit, got off, then back on the freeway on-ramp, heading east and waited for a white van from Arizona.

About 5 minutes later, another call, they think they are lost. Right then I see them, tell them a dark gray car will come up behind them, pass, honk and for them to follow. I then led them to the Studio Plus place I'd gotten for them earlier. Checking in went well.

After visiting for awhile I decided it was time to go. But first we had to unload all their stuff. It was a pouring cold rain. They had a trunk load of stuff to give me. That's a picture of some of it above. I have enough citrus to open a fruit stand. A bag of huge lemons, a couple types of oranges and a big box of grapefruit.

In addition to the citrus, in that same picture, you'll see a big ham and a big bag of my Mom's homemade jerky. It's good stuff.

And my one longtime reader may remember last summer my Mom and Dad making oodles of raspberry jam, while they were interred as day laborers at my little sister's. It was scandalous, at the time, that I did not want to take any jam back on the plane with me. Well, I have had me delivered a supply of jam in a variety of berries. I did not hear raspberry mentioned. Boysenberry, marionberry, blackberry and strawberry, but no raspberry. I guess I am destined to never taste of those raspberries I sacrificed so much for, last summer, helping to fill the almost insatiable need for more raspberries.

I'm going to go get the Parental Units in the morning and have fun with them til they are worn out. I don't know how long that will take. I may get worn out first.