The Dawn Of The 4th Of July In Texas

It is the 4th of July with me feeling rebellious. So, I am breaking free of my usual habit of taking a picture from one of my viewing portals on the world.

What you are looking at in the picture is a very tall Uncle Sam walking in the 4th of July Parade in Granbury, Texas.

The 2011 version of the Granbury 4th of July Parade will get underway in a few hours. I do not believe I will be in attendance.

Later today, after the sun sets, fireworks will be lighting up the sky all over the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. I do not know if I will be viewing any of these explosions.

The temperature prediction for today has been revised slightly downward, with the predicted high for today now being only 100 degrees. With the humidity making it feel like 106. A possible late afternoon thunderstorm has been added to the schedule.

A good thunderstorm with a lot of lightning would seem to be an excellent companion piece to a fireworks show.

Currently the sky is void of clouds. Perfect conditions for going swimming, which I think I will do right now.

Stalking Yucca Plants On The HOT Tandy Hills

I think the plant with two stalks growing out of it is a yucca plant. I see a lot of this plant on the Tandy Hills.

A couple years ago I read that yucca was very nutritious. Rich in iron, if I remember right, and other minerals.

I bought yucca roots a couple times at my favorite Asian grocery store in Arlington's Chinatown.

I think yucca is an acquired taste that I was unable to acquire.

If that is yucca growing on the Tandy Hills I don't know if it is the edible sort. I do know that it'd be really bad behavior to dig up some Tandy Hills yucca roots.

The drought seems to be affecting some of the Tandy Hills prairie greenery. I saw some major wilting going on today.

I also did some major wilting on the Tandy Hills today. Very humid. Right now it is 99 degrees with the humidity making it feel like 110. That is HOT.

Tomorrow, for the 4th of July, the current prediction is for the real temperature to hit 103, with the HEAT INDEX reaching 108. That is also HOT.

The Great Texas Mosquito Festival In Clute

This morning I mentioned that I had suffered my first mosquito bite since being exiled in Texas.

Miss GG then commented regarding me getting bit, saying, "I know you don't like to hear this, but it's just more proof you're a Texan. Also, you said 'skeeter' the other day. Maybe that's WA speak, but I doubt it."

Actually skeeter is WA speak for mosquito. It must be a universal nickname.

Mosquito seems to be the theme of the day, today.

This morning I got an invite to The Great Texas Mosquito Festival. This festival takes place in the Brazosport Area, in the town of Clute, down in the Texas Gulf Coast Region.

The Great Texas Mosquito Festival has taken place annually for 3 decades on the last Thursday, Friday and Saturday of July. Which makes this year's Great Texas Mosquito Festival happening on July 28, 29 and 30 at Clute's Municipal Park.

The Great Texas Mosquito Festival has a carnival, games, contests, races, tours and Live Entertainment Nightly on stage. For the athletically inclined, there is a “Mosquito Chase” 5K Run and 600 meter Kids run on Saturday. Also on Saturday there are tournaments featuring double horseshoe pitching and double washer pitching. If you can cook then you must enter the BBQ Cookoff and Grill Master Competition. For the more mature (60+) there is BINGO and for the little ones, there are haystack dives, Skeeter Beaters Baby Crawling, O’You Beautiful Doll, Petting Zoo, Kid’s Fishing, Monster Water Balls, Carnival, and more. There are food and arts and craft vendors. Then for some extra fun enter the Mosquito Calling or Mosquito Legs Contest.

The Great Texas Mosquito Festival website has an informative press release with an imaginative tale of how a mosquito named Willie Man-Chew began The Great Texas Mosquito Festival.

From his vantage point high atop a moss-hung oak, Willie Man-Chew rested from his long search for a perfect home and surveyed the scene below. Here, in the early summer of 1981, the sight and sounds that greeted him were a delight to his senses. There were healthy, tanned humans playing ball, swimming in an Olympic-sized swimming pool, enjoying state of-the-art playground equipment, laughing and having fun. Willie’s discerning eye noted the lush greenery surrounding the homes and schools in the neighborhood. Springing, as he does from the finest bloodlines in southern Brazoria County, he realized that he had, at last, found the land of his dreams.

Willie quickly marshaled a group of humans as his official goodwill ambassadors and began preparations for the first of the annual festivals that honor him and his fellow mosquitoes the last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of July each year. These ambassadors, whom Willie affectionately and jokingly calls his “Swat Team” present three fun filled days of special events, games, food, carnival rides, and contests, craft booths, cookoffs and much, much more.  Ya’ll come down to Clute, Texas and join us just for the fun of it!

I guess The Great Texas Mosquito Festival sort of sounds fun. I don't know if it sounds fun enough to drive all the way to a location 55 mile southeast of Houston.

The 3rd Morning Of July In Texas Attacked By A Mosquito

The 3rd morning of July has dawned with a clear blue sky, devoid of any clouds, as you can clearly see, looking skyward through the bars of my patio prison cell.

I was attacked and stung by a mosquito yesterday. I believe this is the first time I have been attacked by a mosquito since I have been in Texas.

In Washington during the summer months a summer never passed without multiple mosquito attacks. And usually several deer fly bites suffered whilst hiking in the Cascade Mountains.

I do not know if I have contracted that West or East or whatever it is Nile Disease from yesterday's mosquito bite. I do know I am having strange muscle pains this morning. But no detectable fever. So far.

I think I'll go swimming now and try to forget about all my aches and pains.

Thinking About Riding A Texas Longhorn In Granbury & Arlington's 4th Of July Parades

A few 4th of Julys ago I drove down to one of my favorite Texas small towns to view the Granbury 4th of July Parade.

Granbury puts on very good festivals. And parades. General Granbury's Birthday is another fun Granbury event.

The Granbury 4th of July Parade may be the most fun 4th of July Parade I have watched.

With Arlington's 4th of July Parade a close second. Arlington's is about 2 hours long. And it was very HOT the year I watched it.

Granbury's 4th of July Parade does not last as long as Arlington's. And the year I watched it it was cloudy, thus not so HOT. And the Granbury 4th of July Parade had one entry that blasted air-conditioned cold air at the parade watchers which was very refreshing.

I make way too many webpages. And then way too often I forget I made the webpage. For instance, I had my information researcher looking for info about Texas 4th of July Events. Totally forgetting I'd at some point in the past made a web page about Texas 4th of July Events.

I did turn the info my information researcher found about D/FW Metroplex 4th of July Events into a blog post.

I have no idea what I am going to do on the 4th of July this year. Maybe I should fire off some firecrackers with Elsie Hotpepper.

A Rogue Downpour With Hail Gets Me Unexpectedly Wet In My Zone Of Texas

Rain was not in the forecast for my zone of North Texas for this first Saturday of July.

I was sitting here minding my computer business, the view out my computer room window was bright, the sky blue, with a cloud or two.

And then, suddenly, with the sky still bright, hail started hitting my window in copious amounts.

The hail was soon followed with rain mixed in, which then went into downpour mode, as you can see in the picture.

And now, 10 minutes later, only a few stray drops are now falling and the sky is back being bright blue again.

I am seeing no rainbow from my location. But, I have a very limited view.

I think the quirky weather may be my favorite thing about Texas.

A Saturday HOT Hunt For The Trees Of Life & Prairie Notes On The Tandy Hills

An occasional cloud came between me and the sun today on the Tandy Hills, providing a short cooling respite from the glaring rays of the noon sun.

Yesterday I mentioned Don Young's Prairie Notes and the roadrunner he caught in his birdbath.

Yesterday I did not realize that Don Young's Prairie Notes are now memorialized for posterity on the Friend of Tandy Hills Natural Area website.

On the FOTHNA website you will find the latest Prairie Notes, with the latest currently being Trees of Life - Prairie Notes: #55.

I do not know what camera Don Young uses to take his photos. What I do know is he sure takes better photos than I do.

It is currently only 94 degrees at almost 2 in the afternoon. I don't think we are going to hit the predicted 100 degree mark today.

The Second Day Of July In Texas Thinking About Next Saturday's Parker County Peach Festival

The Saturday morning sky shines bright, semi-deep in the Heart of Texas, on this, the second day of July.

Currently we are being chilled to a relatively cold 79 degrees, heading, supposedly, to an eventual high of 101 today, with the humidity making it feel like 107.

Parker County peaches are currently in ripe mode. This means the Parker County Peach Festival is next Saturday, July 9, from 8am til 5pm.

The Parker County Peach Festival takes place in the county seat of Parker County, Weatherford.

The Parker County Peach Festival is a one-day event. A HUGE one-day event. A very well-done HUGE one-day event. With all sorts of peach products, like peach juleps, peach cobbler, peach ice cream and just plain peaches available for your eating pleasure.

The first time I went to the Parker County Peach Festival I was a bit disapointed in the quality of the peaches. As in the peach flavor was a bit lacking. That was an off year for the Parker County peaches.

On my second visit the Parker County peaches were as good as the peaches I was used to in Washington.

I do not know if I will make it to the 2011 Parker County Peach Festival. I do know I am going to go swimming in about 5 minutes.

I Saw No Thirsty Roadrunners Running On The Tandy Hills Today

This morning it seemed the water in the swimming pool and the air were just about the same temperature.

With a few more 100 degree or more days the water in the pool is not going to be all that refreshing.

We are now at the point in the HOT time of the year where cold Texas tap water is not all that cold.

Today I again decided to do something different and went hiking on the hills of the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area around noon.

I saw no thirsty roadrunners.

The Tandy Steambath/Sauna was the HOTTEST so far this year.

When I returned to air-conditioned interior comfort I found the HEAT effects continuing with non-stop leaking through my skin's thousands of leak portals. To try and stop the leaking I tried a shower of that previously mentioned not so cold Texas tap water.

The semi-cold water was able to stop my leaking skin portals from continuing to leak.

It is starting to become a regular Friday afternoon thing, where I get a message from Elsie Hotpepper telling me she is once more in need of clothes. I suppose I shall go see if I can help Elsie get dressed. Again.

Don Young's Prairie Notes #55 With The Tandy Hills Roadrunner

Every month Fort Worth's Watchdog, Don Young, sends out his Prairie Notes.

Since this is July 1, Prairie Notes #55 has arrived.

I webpaged Don Young's Prairie Notes a couple times, due to me thinking the notes were too good not to share. Then it occurred me that I was sort of plagiarizing Don Young's good material without permission, so I stopped that bad boy behavior.

I did not realize til I right now, when I Googled "Don Young's Prairie Notes," that my webpaging of the notes Googles #1, along with a lot of blog posts where apparently I've mentioned Don Young's Prairie Notes, like this current blogging.

The coolest thing in Don Young's latest Prairie Notes is the picture he took of the Tandy Hills Roadrunner. The TH Roadrunner left the Tandy Hills Natural Area, crossed View Street, then ran onto Don Young's yard and hopped up on a birdbath to get a drink of water.

Currently, the Texas drought has rendered water very scarce on the Tandy Hills. Near as I can tell nothing remains of the two rains of June.

I'll carry an extra bottle of water with me on the Tandy Hills today in case I come across the Tandy Hills Roadrunner and it needs a drink.