Anonymous Wants To Know If I Dislike Texas Weather So Much Why Don't I Go Back To Washington?

Last night another storm blew through this part of the planet that I once again slept through.

As you can see, in the picture, this morning is looking a bit stormy, as well.

The weather predictors are predicting more rain and electrical action today.

This morning when the sun came up the wind was blustering so hard it had knocked my swimming suit to ground level. I don't recollect that happening before.

Yesterday, somewhere among the many locations I was reading about the latest Texas Judge Scandal I read one comment that said something like, "God must really love stupid people, because he made so many of them. Like that judge in Texas."

Speaking of stupid people.

Yesterday when I saw that the temperature in Fort Worth and Phoenix were both 95, but with the Real Feel Temperature in Phoenix being higher than Fort Worth, despite Fort Worth's humidity being 9 times higher, I blogged about it, including the temperature at that point in time at my old home zone in Mount Vernon, Washington and the fact that humidity was even higher in Mount Vernon.

I then got the following comment from someone calling him or herself Anonymous...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Taking The Temperature In Fort Worth, Phoenix & Mount Vernon": 

If you dislike TX and the weather so much, why don't you go back to Washington? So much criticism from a tourist begins to just sound whiny. 

Whiny? I would not say that I am impervious to whining, but I detected no trace of whining in the post about yesterday's relative temperatures. I certainly said nothing that indicated I wanted to go back to Washington due to the weather being better than Texas.

The fact is I prefer Texas weather to Washington weather, except for the months of July and August, when Western Washington's weather is often perfect.

If I moved back to Washington it'd be because I miss the scenery, saltwater, mountains, skiing, fresh seafood, fresh for the picking fruits and vegetables, better outdoor recreational opportunities, better parks, multiple National Parks, Canada being nearby, Oregon being nearby, the highly educated people, the liberal politics, the activism, the libraries and the coffee.

But, since I like whining so much, Texas is a Mother Lode of whining material, compared to virtually Mother Lode-free Washington, where I don't remember whining about much of anything, except maybe the rain.

Walking Under The Quanah Parker Park Pecan Pondering Breaking Bad Mad Men & Rolling Eyes

The Leafless Quanah Parker Park Pecan

It seems like just a few days ago I took a picture of the Quanah Parker Park Historically Heritaged Pecan Tree in all its full leaf glory.

And now, just a short time later, a little bit of freezing has pretty much de-nuded the Parker Pecan of its leaves.

Judging by the number of cars in the Quanah Parker Park Parking lot today one might come to the conclusion that all the Quanah Parker Park improvements are drawing in more people.

I had multiple human encounters today on the Quanah Parker Park Paved Trail. The norm is zero human encounters.

Even though it was somewhere in the mid 40s, when I went walking, I overheated in just a t-shirt and long pants. Now, late on Saturday afternoon, coming up on 5, it is 3 degrees shy of 60 in the outer world at my location.

Speaking of the temperature, just minutes ago I learned from a prince of a person calling himself Anonymous that my weather reports cause this particular Anonymous person's eyes to roll. I am impressed, impressed I tell you, that the power of the words that make up my weather reports are such that they can cause someone's eyes to roll.

This is what Anonymous said.......

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "On Top Chef Texas This Week We Learned That Tim Love Owns Fort Worth & Loves Tequila": 

You watch terrible tv (really, ever heard of Breaking Bad or Mad Men), the weather reports are eye rolling and could skip all the family/friends stuff....BUT when you turn your attention to other topics like J.D or the Love Shack--scathingly funny. May you survive the holidays to amuse me further. 

I have no idea how Anonymous knows what all I watch on TV. I don't care for Breaking Bad or Mad Men. I won't watch anything on AMC. I also thought The Sopranos was totally overhyped back when it repeatedly won Emmy awards for HBO.

As for me being scathingly funny. I find my weather reports to be scathingly funny. And my family/friends stuff to be intensely fascinating. The J.D./Trinity River Vision Boondoggle stuff I just find really sort of sad. And like shooting fish in a barrel.

It is not just people in Texas who read my Texas weather reports. People shivering up north read my weather reports of it being yet one more sunny Saturday in Texas, heated to almost 60, in the middle of December.

Changing the subject from my favorite one to Town Talk.

Town Talk was super busy today. I suppose due to it being the last Saturday it will be open before Christmas. I'm assuming Town Talk is closed next Saturday, what with it being Christmas Eve.

I had an incident in Town Talk today involving broccoli, the details of which we need not discuss, lest I cause some inadvertent eye rolling.

The Bluest Skies I've Ever Seen Looking Out My Fort Worth Window

We have had, yet again, a return to blue sky here in my zone of North Texas called Fort Worth.

All winter long, for the most part, when I'd check the temperature here in the morning and then go up to Washington, via the Seattle P-I, more often than not there would be at least a 20 degree difference, with it being warmer in the Pacific Northwest than Texas.

The past few days the temperature difference has reversed back to the norm, as in this morning, when I first checked the temperature here, it was 53, while it was freezing, at 31, in Seattle.

Today it is scheduled to get to 75 here. Yesterday rain kept me from my usual aerobic escape. Today I plan to go to Veterans Park in Arlington and then to Chinatown.

I am still being perplexed by mysterious weight gain. This morning I hit a new high of 210. I am now closing in on my all time high of 217, reached in February of 2004 during a 10 day stay in Tacoma which including a 10 hours layover in Phoenix, getting drug McDonald's for All You Can Eat, then to a Happy Hour with way too many appetizers and then on to an In & Out Burger joint where I had 2 In & Out burgers. By the time I got on the plane I felt was going to pop open.

This morning WeatherBug started chirping with a National Weather Service warning that there is a potential for wildfires. Huh? It rained a lot yesterday, downpouring at times.

The picture on the right is the same view as this morning's, looking out from my patio balcony. Only yesterday's view was looking through a very heavy downpour.

I must maximize my enjoyment of today's blue sky and balmy temperature. Tomorrow we return to rain and thunderstorms.

Texas Turns Arctic While The Northwest Turns Tropical

That is a Dallas school kid on a sled on a hill in Highland Park by Turtle Creek, sledding during a rare snow day caused by the record breaking over a foot of snow we had fall on us here, in North Texas.

This has been the harshest winter since I've been in Texas. My memory of winter in Washington has faded, but I really don't remember this harsh a winter in Washington.

Almost every day this winter when I first log in to read the local papers, online, I make note of that morning's low temperature. Practically every day this winter I'd see the local temperature and then go to the Seattle P-I and see it 20 to 30 degrees warmer.

This is not normal.

Yesterday I was talking to a Western Washingtonian, based in the balmy Skagit Valley, telling me about the record breaking HOT winter and the resulting early blooming of things that are not supposed to bloom in winter.

However, right at this very moment, coming up on 10am, I am reading 43 here in Fort Worth. I just checked on Seattle and it is also 43. A rare instance of being equally cold this winter.

The bizarre weather was brought to mind by a letter to the editor in today's Dallas Morning News. The letter was from Harold Whittington from Garland, Texas.

Below is what Harold had to say...

Normally, I don't get into the Winter Olympics, but I really did this year, watching every night. I even watched curling and ice dancing -- in front of other people.

After the final ceremonies, I tried to determine why I had this newfound interest in an event that I had largely ignored over the years. I could come to only one conclusion -- it was the weather.

It's hard to get jazzed up about the frigid Winter Olympics when you just finished washing your car in 70-plus-degree weather wearing jeans, a T-shirt and flip-flops. The transition is just too much.

This year, however, it was different. Our weather on some days didn't look too much different than the weather at the Winter Olympics. The fantasy was complete!

The Sun Has Returned To Texas, But Not To Napoleon

That's my computer room view, this Sunday afternoon coming up on 4.

After what has seemed like weeks of gloom and doom in the form of gray sky, cold air. And rain. The gray is gone, the sky is clear and we hit 65 today.

I see swimming in my future, in the morning, as my SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) symptoms begin to slowly evaporate.

With temperatures in the 70s my favorite trails should dry out fairly quickly. We got none of that catastrophic type flooding, this bad weather bout, that can close parks and trails for long periods.

During lunch I watched Napoleon's disastrous invasion of the Russian Empire that ended quite badly with his troops freezing in the horrendous Winter of 1812, made extra cold, we know now, due to several volcanoes spewing enough ash to block enough sun to cause global cooling.

So, I guess it could be a lot worse and I probably should count my blessings and whine less about a couple gray days and a little rain blotting the usually clear Texas sky.

Rain Rain Rain in Tacoma

Yesterday started out fine, here in Tacoma. Around 2 in the afternoon I was at Point Defiance and I saw part of The Mountain, as in Mount Rainier, out, as in the bottom half was not covered by clouds.

By early evening rain began to fall. It does not often rain in the Puget Sound region in summer. This was like the type rain that bedevils the northwest during the other 3 seasons, particularly winter.

And now, this morning, it is still raining, raining hard. Dark, cold, gloomy and wet. Sort of like a weather metaphor for how I am feeling about just about every aspect of my existence.

In the photo you are looking at my yoga and grocery shopping partner, Kristin, and the 2 poodles in our care, Max & Blue. It's so gloomy here, even using the flash could not get the photo any brighter.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, the skies are clear, it is 86 at 7 am, heading towards a high of 102. Yesterday got to 106. Here, in Tacoma, I think it got to 66, yesterday. Brrrrr. My sister found a knitted ski type cap for me to wear, at all times, to help keep me warmer. I am so grateful. It's the small things that matter when you battle the elements in a difficult climate.

Raining, Cold & Gray Tacoma July Day

I tell non-Washingtonians, who think it rains all the time here, that they are wrong. that summers are usually quite nice.

The last summer I was here for a month, July/August 2004, I saw no rain, I saw few clouds, I saw The Mountain out pretty much every day. I was not cold once I got past the first few days of getting used to it being in the 70s.

I'd settle for the 70s right about now. I'd been staying in the basement here. or what I call The Arctic. Last night I moved to the upper loft, what I call The Tropics. My sister thinks it is too hot to live up here. However, the temperature has yet to get as high as I keep my A/C in Texas. Right now the thermometer on the A/C unit, in here, says it is 68. At 2 pm. While I see you in Fort Worth are at 96 heading to a high of 102.

We got in the low 50s overnight here. And this morning, to add wet to cold, it started raining. It's been raining ever since. Rain here does not fall like Texas rain. Texas rain comes in downpours and gets its wet business over quickly, sometimes dumping 5 inches in a half hour. In Washington the rain falls in slow motion. It can take 5 hours to dump half an inch.

So, I am quickly developing a case of Seasonally Affected Disorder. As you can see in the photo, this weather disorder has piled on top of all the other things bothering me and has me being a depressed, bed-ridden nutcase, trying to stay warm in my new little army cot that I fell out of twice last night. But slept remarkably well in. It was the tropics, afterall.

Mom and dad have gone til tomorrow. Or so we've been led to believe. Tonight we are making homemade pizza and BBQing steak. Rain permitting. I'm hoping between the pizza oven and the BBQ, I will at some point today feel some heat. I guess I could go take a hot shower. But that is sort of counter-productive, when you're done you have to step back out into the icy icy air.

This is the first time I've ever been back up here when I've thought to myself the following stunning thought. I miss Texas.