Another Morning In The Deep Freeze In Texas Thinking Of Going To The Bahamas To Learn How To Spell Better & Arctic

You are looking out my portal on the world at what 16 degrees looks like on the second Wednesday of the second month of 2011.

I do not believe we have been covered with ice, overnight, like what happened last week. There appears to be a very light dusting of a white substance.

I can hear vehicles rolling on the road.

This morning I read that that well known Weather Wuss who calls himself Gar the Texan can not take this worst Texas winter weather he's ever shivered through anymore. So, he is going to the Bahamas.

While Gar the Texan is in the Bahamas I hope he has time to figure out how to enable the spell checker on the program he uses to write his blog. If he does this he may learn there are more c's in Arctic than he, apparently, currently thinks is the case.

Something hard and frozen is being blown against my window, sporadically. Currently, as you can see below, the wind is making it feel like -6 degrees out there.

I Wandered Around A Windy Fosdic Lake Today Wondering Why Fort Worth Is Not The Most Romantic Valentines Day City In America

I made it to Oakland Lake Park today for a very windy walk around Fosdic Lake.

The wind was blowing from the south. Which seemed odd since we are scheduled to get some very cold air later today from the north.

Right now it is 53 with the wind gusting in the 20 plus mph zone.

The current plan is for tomorrow to get to a low of 6, with a strong wind making it feel way below sub-zero.

With snow.

Will this be a blizzard? I've only experienced one blizzard. In October, back in the 1990s, in a log cabin on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

I am stocked up on vittles. I've got 10 sticks of firewood in case the power goes out again. I've got several containers filled with water in case the water disappears again.

On a totally different note, did you get the news that El Paso is the 5th Most Romantic City in America? And even weirder, that Tacoma is the #1 Most Romantic City in America. The Most Romantic City in America List is a Valentines Day thing.

Why is Fort Worth not on this list? We are very romantic in this town.

The Freezing Dawn Of The Second Tuesday Of The Second Month Of 2011 In Texas

The second Tuesday of the second month of 2011 has dawned with a clear blue sky with the sun heating the air to the freezing point of 32 degrees.

Tonight we are scheduled to get quite a bit colder, along with the reappearance of freezing rain followed by snow.

The National Weather Service's predicted low for tomorrow has now been lowered to 6 degrees.

I don't know if the Texas power plants that malfunctioned during last week's Big Chill have been made immune from whatever malfunctioned them. I'm guessing we have the possibility of Rolling Blackouts to look forward to again.

Super Bowl fallout continues to be amusing. Hapless Jerry Jones continues to seem to take the brunt of the blame, though a lot of the problems don't seem to be his fault. Blame seems more appropriate to be pointed towards the NFL for snafus like selling tickets to seats that did not exist.

But, this morning I learned of a new Super Bowl woe that Jerry Jones does sort of own. Apparently the roof of the new Cowboys Stadium had leaks. I don't know if it was dripping caused by condensation due to the Big Chill. Or actually water infiltrated from the outside.

Speaking of the outside. I have a strong inkling that I will not be going there tomorrow. So, I need to get in some salubrious endorphin producing aerobic activity today. What that will be I currently have no idea.

Below is the forecast for the next 3 days for the frigid part of the world I am currently living in...

Getting Some Endorphins At The Village Creek Bayou With Egrets & A New Incoming Arctic Blast Freezing Texas

You are looking at the clouds in the blue sky, being reflected in the Village Creek Bayou, today around noon.

Due to our recent multiple instances of unpleasantness, I thought I'd see more people today, walking the trails of Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historic Area, out enjoying the semi-pleasant weather.

I did see more than the norm, though, including one odd couple who were walking with what appeared to be cross country ski poles. They were stabbing the poles into the trail like they thought they were skiing.

This morning I was suffering a sad case of BLAH. This worried my therapist, Dr. L.C., who asked me, quite concerned, if I was okay.

I am now.

Okay, I mean.

The walking did me good. I have been having a weather related severe downturn in my usual endorphin producing activity. Combine that with the BIG pizza I ate during the Super Bowl and I had a recipe for feeling today like a BLAH Bloated Boy.

An Egret in the Village Creek Bayou let me get real close while taking pictures of him, or her, today.

Previous encounters with Village Creek Bayou Egrets have had them spooked just at the sound of the camera turning on.

The camera makes a bird chirping noise.

I wondered if this particular Egret was ailing, maybe it caught cold during the recent cold. Or maybe it is a smart bird and figured out the humans are not a danger.

If it is cold that has the Egret under the weather, he, she or it should get ready for some more, if the forecast is to believed, and I suspect it should.

We are back freezing tonight, down to 12 on Wednesday. With snow.

Meanwhile, while I suffer with Arctic frigidity, the Scrabble Queen of Washington is currently the Scrabble Queen of Hawaii, sending me daily updates of her current tropical paradise. And continuing to beat me at Scrabble via the i-Pad she got for Christmas.

WFAA Channel 8's Dale Hansen Reports Super Bowl Was A Disorganized Mess

Yesterday while watching the Super Bowl and the pre-Super Bowl on TV I was getting the impression that after a week of nothing but problems that in the end the actual game day was a success.

As is my norm, my impression was inaccurate.

The worst of the problems that I've heard of, so far, is that around 1,250 people who had tickets were stopped by the NFL from sitting in the seats they had paid for.

The NFL supposedly claimed the seats were not safe. But no one has been able to get an answer as to why they were unsafe. Or how it was that tickets were sold to seats that had not been verified as seatable.

The NFL claims that 850 of the seatless fans were moved to comparable or better seats. Some seatless fans were moved outside the stadium. Others were allowed to wander the concourse watching the game on TVs. Those for whom a seat was not found will, supposedly, receive a refund of $2,400, three times the value of their $800 ticket.

I read a comment on Bud Kennedy's Facebook entry about Dale Hansen's Super Bowl report that said...

"Personal opinions aside, Dale's not saying anything that isn't being said nationally. Let's face it, Fort Worth was the lone bright spot of this thing. Be proud.........if you're from Fort Worth."

Okay, I am currently sitting in Fort Worth. I was in Fort Worth during the Super Bowl. I am totally not getting how it was that Fort Worth was the bright spot in this debacle.

As for what Dale Hansen had to say about this particular Super Bowl and why he thought it was a disorganized mess, watch the video below....

A Case Of The Monday Morning Texas Blues And A Missing Sedro-Woolley Gas Pump

I was up way before the sun, this day after the Super Bowl, first Monday of the second month of 2011.

But, I was not in the mood to blog about anything.

I'm suffering a big, bad case of BLAH.

As you can via the view through the bars of my prison cell patio my case of BLAH is not due to a lack of blue sky.

I think I may be feeling BLAH due to having too much pizza during the Super Bowl.

I managed to watch almost all of the Super Bowl, except for a blogging break after the halftime show.

Til I read about the stadium malfunctions, this morning, I was thinking after a week of woes the actual event went off well. I'll blog about the stadium malfunctions in a subsequent blogging.

A couple days ago Betty Jo Bouvier, she being the Wild Woman of Woolley, suffered the same fate as I did when someone stole my bike from my van. Only in Betty Jo's case it was not a stolen bike from her van, but a stolen antique Chevron Gas Pump from her yard.

Betty Jo asked me to blog about the heist of the Gas Pump on my Washington Blog in case anyone in the Washington zone has seen a Gas Pump show up recently. And so I blogged about "The Case of the Missing Sedro-Woolley Gas Pump."

Cowboys Stadium & The Black Eyed Peas Put On The Best Super Bowl Halftime Show Ever In My Ever So Humble Opinion

The screencap is from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, right after the Super Bowl halftime show.

Green Bay is currently ahead.

But.

I am thinking who is even further ahead is Arlington. And Dallas. And Fort Worth. And North Texas.

Because.

After a Super Bowl Week of Weather Misery it appears to me that this zone I am living in is putting on one very impressive Super Bowl.

I now understand that much of what was put up around Cowboys Stadium was actually a well-designed television studio.

But where this went over the top, into impressive zone, was the Halftime Show.

Best ever. In my humble opinion.

And even more impressive. To me. Is this seemed to out-do any Olympics Opening Ceremony Show I've watched. Like that Canadian lame production for the most recent Winter Olympics.

And it was so American. By that I mean, so free-spirited. Right before the Super Bowl started tossing footballs there was a slickly produced reading of the Declaration of Independence. I was starting to think I was watching a propaganda production of the United States Government.

I figured there would be an Air Force fly-by after the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. So, as Christine Aquilera warbled the National Anthem I fired up my camera in anticipation of taking a picture of the Air Force fly-by.

Well, on the TV screen we saw the fly-by, below blue sky, while I looked at a cloudy sky. I thought I may have heard jets.

But.

I think that Air Force fly-by at the end of the National Anthem was totally faked. As in filmed before the event.

I am so disillusioned. But that will not stop me from still thinking this is being one well done Super Bowl.

With a Super great Super Bowl Halftime Show.

I guess I will leave blogging world now and go watch some more boring football.

But, before I subject myself to that, I have to say, the commercials this year have been pretty good.

And now. More football...

I Talked To My Sister In Washington While The Super Bowl Pre-Game Show Answered Some Super Bowl Mysteries

I was heading west on a countrified section of Randol Mill Road on my way back from Hurst when the bright blue sky and snow-free road looked as if it would make a good photo. I do not know how I managed to zoom in on my hand on the wheel. Or that I had the camera on the wrong setting.

This makes 2 days in a row where I've had a camera malfunction. Yesterday's was the battery going dead when I was down taking pictures at the Cowboys Stadium.

Speaking of which. I watched some of the Super Bowl Pre-Game Show. I now know what the big temporary buildings at the west end zone are. A red carpet deal with people screaming on either side of the carpet. I saw Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston get the screams. I  assume the red carpet leads into the stadium. Or it may lead to another one of the temporary buildings, where I saw Maroon Five on a stage singing to a large group.

Who were the people listening to Maroon Five and watching the people walk the red carpet? Ticketholders? Arlington residents invited as a thank you for hosting the monster deal in their town and helping build the stadium? The people who's homes and apartments were taken to build the stadium?

The east end zone, where the Party Pass People get to stand outside the stadium during the Super Bowl, was also shown. Already with a lot of people standing. Also screaming when the camera panned them. TV made it look like quite a raucous scene, with a lot of people outside the stadium, about 5 miles to the east of where I am sitting right now. The screaming sounds are not making it through my windows.

The Super Bowl thing makes for a long day for those attending. It's about 2 hours til the actual game and already people are there screaming.

On the way to Hurst I returned a call to Elsie Hotpepper who was all in a tizzy due to a cat getting loose. Elsie is not going to the Super Bowl.

On my way back here from Hurst I took the scenic, non-freeway route of Precinct Line Road to Randol Mill.

I called my sister who lives in Kent on her cell phone. No answer. So, I called her house on Lake Cushman, where she often goes on weekends. Lake Cushman in on the Olympic Peninsula. My sister answered that phone. I asked what time the Super Bowl Party was and what I needed to bring.

When I lived in Washington I would rotate Super Bowl Parties, one year at my house, next year at my sister's.

My sister told me I lived right by the Super Bowl, why would I want to go to her party? Right when she said that I saw planes with banners circling the stadium. Told my sister that and that the stadium would soon come into view. And it did.

Soon after the stadium came into view my sister told me they'd arrived at the location of their Super Bowl Party. A friend's place on the way back from Lake Cushman.

I said good-bye. Hung up. And was perplexed about a minute later when I realized I'd called the Lake Cushman number. It is a land line. How could my sister arrive at her friend's house when she was talking to me on the Lake Cushman land line?

It is very perplexing. I've come to the conclusion my sister used this as an excuse to get me off the phone. I shall make inquiries and get to the bottom of this.

In the meantime, I've got a pizza to shove in the oven in a couple hours for my raucous Super Bowl Party. With Pomegranate Juice.

I Predict Super Bowl Week In The 817 Will End With A Massive Traffic Jam

I was not able to get this week's FW Weekly til the Big Thaw occurred on Saturday. I suspect that was true for a lot of FW Weekly readers.

Judging by the cover it appears this week's FW Weekly focuses on the Super Bowl. I did not get around to reading it til this morning, to find, in this case, judging by the cover is a correct judgement.

Much of what is inside the cover of FW Weekly was rendered a bit ironic due to how Super Bowl week actually played out.

Like an article titled "From Sundance to the World" with a Fort Worth Star-Telegram level of almost breathless puffery, all atwitter that the world was coming to downtown Fort Worth courtesy of ESPN, saying ESPN reaches about 100 million U.S. households with ESPN International reaching 53 million more in 59 other countries.

I think more properly stated ESPN is a channel on various cable networks, with those cable networks reaching a total of 153 million households worldwide.

FW Weekly can't really be thinking that downtown Fort Worth has been seen this week in 153 million houses worldwide. If that did happen the world was not seeing the type images that makes a Chamber of Commerce happy.

After going down to check out the Super Bowl zone again, yesterday, along with thousands of others finally able to escape the Big Freeze and its Big Snow, and thinking about what I saw, I think we may be seeing one more weather related debacle today.

Yesterday the traffic coming from the east on I-30 was jammed up trying to get off the freeway to get to the Ballpark/Stadium area. This was around 3 in the afternoon.

Traffic was backed up all around the stadium area. On the south side of the stadium I saw the longest line of taxis I've ever seen. All stuck in the traffic jam.

I read today that a lot of Pittsburgh Steeler fans fly in to the Super Bowl city any time the Steelers are in the Super Bowl. Even if they don't have a ticket. I talked to several of those yesterday. The Steeler fans were easy to spot, many with cheese on their head.

I do not believe an event has taken place in Cowboys Stadium where the ticket holders get shuffled through a long security tent to get into the stadium.

I believe this will be the largest crowd to have attended an event in the stadium.

What I think may happen today is, just like yesterday, there will be a lot of formerly snowbound locals who decide to try to check out the Super Bowl. There will be no places for them to park, unless they want to pay an exorbitant fee. You'll have all the game goers arriving, by taxi or whatever means. I assume the Arlington trolley buses will be in the mix.

What I saw yesterday was a situation where traffic was not moving well. I think it will be much worse today.

So, that is my prediction for the day. The Final Debacle of Super Bowl Week and Super Bowl XLV will be a monster traffic jam with game goers not able to get into the stadium before the game starts.

Keep in mind, if you find this prediction unsettling, I am usually wrong whenever I predict anything.

Snow Is Forecast For The Super Bowl With A New Arctic Blast Heading To North Texas On Tuesday

It is first Sunday of the 2nd month of 2011. It is also the first day of February that has started above freezing.

The Super Bowl starts up in around 9 hours and 32 minutes. The Dallas Morning News conveniently has a Super Bowl Countdown Clock on their home page.

I've not seen a Super Bowl Countdown Clock on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's home page. But, unlike the Dallas paper the Star-Telegram's home page is pretty much all about the Super Bowl.

As you can see via the view from my patio viewing platform, most of the snow and ice has melted.

However, snow is in the forecast for today. I really don't see that happening.

But, the National Weather Service has issued one of its SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENTS. And in that statement we learn that another Arctic cold front will be arriving in North Texas on Tuesday, putting us back in the Deep Freeze and bringing with it more sleet and snow. The SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT is below, all in capitals, which I've mentioned before is Internet-speak for shouting. The National Weather Service should no better than to shout.

...WINTRY PRECIPITATION LIKELY WEDNESDAY...

A STRONG ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH NORTH TEXAS TUESDAY NIGHT...BRINGING A GOOD CHANCE OF WINTRY PRECIPITATION LATE TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

AN UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES ON TUESDAY AND MOVE EAST ACROSS OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS ON WEDNESDAY. WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION WILL AFFECT MUCH OF NORTH TEXAS TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY. THE PRECIPITATION WILL START AS RAIN OR FREEZING RAIN...AND MAY TRANSITION TO SLEET AND SNOW. SURFACE TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BE BELOW FREEZING DURING MUCH OF THE PRECIPITATION EVENT...WHICH WOULD RESULT IN ACCUMULATIONS OF ICE AND SNOW.

THIS SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS TO TRAVEL. IF YOU ARE PLANNING TRAVEL ACROSS NORTH TEXAS OR SURROUNDING AREAS ON WEDNESDAY...CHECK THE LATEST FORECASTS BEFORE DEPARTING.