Swimming In The Rain Chilled To 74 Degrees In Formerly HOT Texas

When I woke up this 2nd Saturday, 13th Day of August I heard an unfamiliar sound. I thought something had gone wrong with the fountain by the pool and it was spewing way more water than it should be spewing.

I looked out my primary viewing window and what do I see?

Rain hitting the window.

I stepped outside on to my patio prison cell to retrieve my swimming suit and take a picture of the falling drops. My limited photographic skills sort of captured the falling rain.

I must say, a warm summer rain falling on my parched skin was very refreshing.

Apparently the rain started falling around 6 this morning, accompanied, in some locations, by lightning and thunder.

I have my windows open for the first time in a long time. It is only 74.9 degrees out there right now. That is over 6 degrees cooler than I usually have my A/C set to.

I think I will go swimming in the rain now. Have not done that in a long long time.

It Has Been A Rainy Tuesday In Fort Worth With More Water On The Way

Rain dripped from above until after noon today. I don't think we've seen the last of the wet stuff. The forecast is for more wetness for the next 5 days.

Around 3 this afternoon I needed to escape from rubbing my fingertips sore on a keyboard.

So, I hiked over to Miss Puerto Rico's balcony to enjoy the slightly cool breeze and the view of the retreating storm.

Having said that. I just walked outside for a second. Wet stuff is falling again. Though not in copious amounts.

Texas in summer, in the past 2 days, has become like a Washington winter. Except warmer. But the rain seems way too familiar. Except here, in Texas, the rain falls with extreme prejudice in a volume I never saw in Washington.

Well, there was the Thanksgiving Flood in the 1990s. I remember 5 inches of rain falling within a couple hours in a Texas-style downpour. This wreaked all sorts of havoc of the flooding sort. Not flash floods. More massive than that.

In Texas you don't have snowmelt due to rising temperatures sending massive amounts of water into the rivers, because Texas removed its mountains years ago. I think around the time Texas removed its Native Americans. Mountains and Indians went to Oklahoma. I may be misinformed about this.

I remember during the Thanksgiving Flood staying up late sandbagging the dike in downtown Mount Vernon, to save the downtown. The crest of the flood was expected to breech the sandbags. A HUGE crowd gathered to wait for the crest.

Suddenly the river dropped a couple feet. It was a major what the hell moment. Within an hour it was known that a dike further down river had failed, flooding what is known as Fir Island. The release of pressure saved downtown Mount Vernon.

Massive efforts were made to repair the dike breech following the Thanksgiving Flood. And then 2 weeks later it happened again.

I sort of miss this type of weather drama. But, actually, Texas weather drama outdoes Washington weather drama, for the most part. The snow can get a bit more wicked there, it can get colder, Pacific typhoons can be a bit breezy, a Washington HEAT WAVE is a torture Texans can not imagine.

Because few people in Washington have air conditioning. Due to not needing it, except for a couple days a decade.

It has been a good last Tuesday of June 2010. Up late the night before, up before dawn's crack, learned that the Queen of Wink is okay, and hopefully safely back in Wink. And I went swimming in the rain this morning. Does not get much better than that.

My drippy forecast below....

A Gray Drippy Sunday In Texas Swimming In The Rain & Recovering From The Ozzie Rabbit Lodge

You're looking at the drippy view from my patio, this gray Sunday morning in Texas. Cloudy days are in our forecast here, until next Saturday, that being the day of the 2010 Tandy Hills Prairie Fest, when blue sky is currently predicted to return.

This morning I made my way through the standing water to the water standing in my pool. I like swimming in the rain. I thought yesterday seemed like being back in a northwest rain. This morning was even more so.

Usually the drops of rain here are Texas-sized, as in big balls of rain. The rain this morning is puny little pinprick northwest style raindrops, like drizzle on steroids. I rather liked it, somewhat due to the fact that this morning there was a rare temperature convergence, as in the temperature of the raindrops, the air and the swimming pool all felt the same.

I needed a refreshing pool dip this morning. I was out late last night and up late this morning. I never heard from Elsie Hotpepper til this morning, well, actually she emailed me last night, but I never read it til this morning. Miss PR filled in for Elsie with her own saloon hopping proposal.

Eventually the hopping landed us in Handley at the Ozzie Rabbit Lodge. Ozzie Rabbit was Lee Harvey Oswald's nickname when he was in the Marines. Yes, I know it seems, maybe, a bit distasteful to name a saloon after the guy who assassinated JFK. But it really isn't. The Ozzie Rabbit Lodge is quite tasteful.

Lee Harvey Oswald is buried near the Ozzie Rabbit Lodge, in Rose Hill Memorial Burial Park.

Inside the Ozzie Rabbit Lodge it is sort of like a memorial to JFK and the assassination. I've blogged about the Ozzie Rabbit Lodge, previously, in great detail.

My favorite cousin, Linda, Facebook friended me this morning. I have no idea how cousin Linda could have found me on Facebook. This is not the first time I've wondered about such a thing. At one point, Facebook put my ex-wife on its list of "Friend Suggestions." How could that connection possibly have been made? It's very perplexing and borderline troubling.

Friday Fort Worth Moved To The Coast With Horizontal Drizzle

I don't remember when I've been more ready for the end of winter. I think this is the most miserable winter I've ever been through.

Or maybe the previous Texas winters spoiled me and my memory of Washington winters has faded.

My therapist, Dr. L.C., told me, this morning, that I needed to take my daily therapeutic walk early, due to incoming rain. Once again, I erred by not listening to my therapist's advice.

When I left my abode I did not realize the precipitation had begun. Usually I hear it hitting my windows. But at noon the wet stuff was in the form of a strong drizzle, being blown semi-horizontal. It seems as if Fort Worth has been moved to the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

So, I bailed on my planned excursion and instead went over to Miss Puerto Rico's to take a drizzly picture from her balcony. As usual, my photo skills do not do justice to the horizontal drizzle.

On the semi-bright side, if there possibly is one, the 5 day forecast does not foresee a return to freezing.

Monday Morning Raining Texas Blues With The Scrabble Queen Hot In Kauai & Gar The Texan's Psychiatric Woes

That is my Monday morning 9am view this dark winter day in Texas. Rain is predicted to fall all day long. Snow is predicted to arrive, again, on Thursday.

This is the coldest, wettest winter in all the years of my exile in Texas. Meanwhile up north, in my previous place of residence, they are experiencing the warmest winter in recorded history.

The Pacific Northwest winter heat wave may wreak havoc with next week's Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Meanwhile, the Scrabble Queen of Washington is temporarily the Scrabble Queen of Hawaii and is tormenting me with reports of it being too HOT to sit outside. Too HOT in Kauai. Where it rarely gets into the 90s, where it is usually a nice balmy 80 something. And the Scrabble Queen is too HOT.

I can not remember the last time I was too HOT.

And then I have Gar the Texan lamenting that his life full of woe got its start at the now nationally notorious Kermit Hospital. Reading Gar the Texan's blog this morning I learned he's spent decades in psychiatric therapy trying get Kermit out of his head.

I actually watched the entire first half of Super Bowl XLIV yesterday, without getting bored. I think it had something to do with the HD quality of the video rendering watching more watchable. The Who halftime show was good, too. But, I grew bored at some point in the 3rd quarter and ended my active Super Bowl viewing for the year.

Lame commercials this year, for the most part. The Simpsons Coke one was amusing, though. And a few others. My blogging about the Super Bowl, right before it started, turned out to be a bit bizarre, with convoluted errors and an ironic use of the word "who."

In about 3 hours I will start going stir crazy. Maybe the rain will let up before crazy sets in.