We Are Going To Have Ourselves A Very HOT Second Saturday Of July In Texas Today

I was up late last night, which has me up after the sun this 2nd Saturday of July. July 9, to precisely identify the date.

Looking skyward through the bars of my patio prison cell you can see it is yet one more blue morning in Texas.

In a little over a half hour the 2011 iteration of the Parker County Peach Festival will be underway. I do not believe I will be having myself any Parker County peaches today.

Every year since I've been putting Google ads on my websites and blogs the week leading up to the Parker County Peach Festival has been the biggest week, Google AdSense wise.

This is a bit of a mystery due to the fact that I can run a specific channel on a specific webpage, giving me the AdSense data for that page. The specific Parker County Peach Festival page does not account for the jump in ad revenue. For example, yesterday the Parker County Peach Festival only made $5.89, while the total for the day, of my websites and blogs, was $92.94.

It's very perplexing.

I choose not to think about it and go swimming instead.

But, before I do that I must mention that yesterday the temperature forecast high for today was 99. Overnight this has changed to today's scheduled high being 106. With a Heat Index real feel of 107. This is going to make for a HOT Parker County Peach Festival. Likely straining the ability of the misters to cool the festival goers.

My Thermometer Tells Me We Have Hit 105 This Friday At My Location In Texas

Well, as you see, via my computer temperature monitoring device at a half hour before 5, we have reached the highest temperature so far this year.

105.

But feeling like only 102. Due to the Wind Chill Factor, I guess, canceling the humidity, due to 9 mph winds.

I have noticed the A/C seems to be running almost non-stop. My power bill was only $66 last month. I suspect this month's bill will be higher.

Currently, at my former location in Mount Vernon, Washington, it is 63 degrees, with a passing shower or two.

On July 20 of 2008 I flew to Seattle from Love Field in Dallas. When I left it was over 100 here, when I arrived in Seattle it was in the 50s.

I've mentioned before that I shivered until I returned to Texas. Actually, for more reasons than just the temperature.

Seeing Hello Kitty On The HOT Tandy Hills While Elsie Hotpepper Refuses To Get Parker County Peach Festival Peaches

A new art installation appeared on the Tandy Hills today.

A cursory forensic exam indicates this is Japanese Guerrilla Art. That conclusion was arrived at due to the fact that the item you see hanging from the tree limb is a deflated Japanese Hello Kitty balloon.

Maybe it floated in the atmosphere all the way from Japan, an airborne version of the Japanese floating fish balls that wash up on the Pacific coast.

Today the Tandy Hill hiking was almost too HOT.

This is perplexing me. In summers past I easily managed hiking the hills when it was well over 100. I think the current problem may be due to the humidity. I may have to seek an alternative form of aerobic stimulation until this humidity problem goes away.

As you can see, currently we are being heated to 102 with the Heat Index making it really feel like 113.

I was thinking that Elsie Hotpepper was going to the Parker County Peach Festival with me after I blogged that I was seeking someone to take me to the peaches.

But.

Elsie Hotpepper has informed me that on Saturday she is going to emulate Bruno Mars' Lazy song and lay about all day, poolside, soaking up the sun. And, if I know my Hotpepper, which I do, consuming copious amounts of adult beverages.

Ending this blogging on a pleasant note, tomorrow the forecast is for a high of 99 for the Parker County Peach Festival, a temperature greatly preferable to something over 100.

Who Wants To Go To The Parker County Peach Festival With Me Tomorrow For Alligator On A Stick & Peach Julep?

Who wants to go to the Parker County Peach Festival with me tomorrow?

The Parker County Peach Festival surrounds Weatherford's Parker County Courthouse Square starting Saturday, July 9 at 8:00am, til 5:00pm.

Admission is $5, with kids 12 and under getting in for free.

There is free parking from the Ninth Grade Center (1007 S. Main St.) Exit 408, Weatherford College (225 College Park Dr) Exit 409, and the First Monday Grounds (100 Block Santa Fe) Exit 409. Free Shuttle services to the Peach Festival are available from the parking locations. There is free handicap parking and a handicap shuttle from Weatherford Ninth Grade Center.

You can find directions to Weatherford, the Peach Festival and the parking lots, and a map, by going here.

In addition to the more than 200 arts and crafts vendors, the Parker County Peach Festival has many food vendors.

The last time I went to the Parker County Peach Festival the food items that stick in my memory, besides all the various peach products, were menu items like frog leg poboys, shrimp stew, alligator on a stick, roasted coon, monkey rice, bear meat pies, catfish poboys, Tennessee pork sandwich and giant smoked turkey legs.

You will find plenty of Parker County peaches, in many forms, including fresh peaches, plus peaches that have been turned into ice cream, pie, cobbler, juleps, smoothies and other peachy goodies.

Any outdoor Texas summer festival can be a bit of a HOT experience. At the Parker County Peach Festival you will find some relief from the sun via storefront awnings.

I remember escaping the heat for awhile by going into a museum where quilts were on display. The quilts ended up being very interesting.

You will also find several walk-through cooling misters throughout the festival grounds. Walking through a mister is very refreshing. Those are festival goers you see getting misted in the picture.

There are also tented areas you can secure a seat under to listen to music acts. There are several music/performance stages at the Parker County Peach Festival, with entertainment going non-stop all day.

I have greatly enjoyed both times I've gone to the Parker County Peach Festival.

The most recent time I tried to go to the Parker County Peach Festival was on a Sunday. I did not realize, at that point in time, that the Peach Festival was a one day only event. It is such a HUGE event that it did not occur to me that it would not be running all weekend long, starting on Thursday or Friday and running through Sunday.

But, it is Saturday only. And only til 5:00pm. Putting on such a HUGE event seems like an awful lot of effort to have it run for only 9 hours on one day.

So. Who wants to drive me to Weatherford tomorrow for alligator on a stick and a peach julep?

Day 8 Of July Thinking About Kava Kava Tea & The Dangers Inherent In Being A Texas Rangers Baseball Fan

The second Friday of July, Day 8, has dawned with the hottest morning so far in 2011, at 83 degrees.

In the view from my patio prison cell you are looking at a jar of Kava Kava Sun Tea busy brewing naturally.

Kava Kava is an intoxicating beverage drinking habit I picked up the last time I was in Samoa. Or was it Fiji?

The predicted heat level for today has been revised upward. We are now scheduled to get to 105 with a real feel Heat Index of 108.

I have never been much of a baseball fan, but I've never thought being that type fan was any sort of fatal pursuit. Yet at last night's Texas Ranger's game at the Ballpark in Arlington a Brownwood firefighter named Shannon Stone fell over a railing, head first, when he tried to catch a ball thrown at him by Texas Ranger, Josh Hamilton. Mr. Stone died of head injuries.

Almost exactly a year ago, on July 6, 2010, another firefighter, this one named Tyler Morris, from Lake Cities, fell while trying to catch a foul ball. This fall was not fatal.

Methinks the Ballpark in Arlington needs to work on the safety of their safety rails. Or ban fans from trying to catch balls. And ban players from throwing balls at fans. And maybe seat firefighters at least 3 rows back from the nearest railing.

It is time to go swimming now before it gets any hotter.

Elsie Hotpepper Bails On Hopping The Tandy Hills While Carlotta Camano Flips Out

I got to the Tandy Hills HOT Meatgrinder a few minutes after 4.

Do the hills look HOT in the picture?

I'd barely parked when my phone rang and I saw it was incoming from that chronic excuse maker, Elsie Hotpepper.

Like I said earlier, I was expecting Elsie to do some Hot Hill Hopping with me today as part of her ongoing effort to get herself in better shape as she prepares to leave her Roaring 20's and enter the Great Depression of the 30s.

Elsie called to say she was not going to make it to the hills, due to an accident. What a shock. Elsie claimed that when she backed up to leave her location she allegedly backed into a pole which allegedly knocked off her rear view mirror, which allegedly rendered Elsie unable to do any hiking.

I need photo evidence of Elsie's alleged accident. And an explanation as to why Elsie Hotpepper requires a rear view mirror in order to hike hills.

Despite being 100 degrees the Tandy Hills felt less HOT than it did 2 days ago when it was only 94. This was because the day after day HIGH HEAT has caused the humidity to drop. Which creates a more desert-like environment which is much more pleasant than the hot wet blanket affect caused by high humidity.

This fact is born out by the current temperature reading of 102 at 5:36 pm. With humidity at only 20% the real feel Heat Index is the same as the real temperature.

Tomorrow, Friday, we are currently scheduled for a real temperature of 103, with a real feel Heat Index of 108. Is high humidity returning? Blowing in from the Gulf?

Well, enough of the weather in Texas for now. I must go talk to Carlotta Camano about her flipping out issues.

Hot Hill Hopping With Elsie Hotpepper On The Sultry Tandy Hills

It is almost 4 in the afternoon of the first Thursday of July. As you can see it is currently 100 degrees with a real feel of 105.

There is not much of a refreshing breeze blowing.

So, I think it is an excellent time of the day, with perfect conditions, to go do some HOT hill hiking on the Tandy Hills.

Due to the sobering fact that Elsie Hotpepper is rapidly approaching the significant birthday where one leaves their Roaring 20s behind and enters the Depressing 30s, Elsie has decided to start taking better care of herself.

So, Elsie Hotpepper is going to go do some HOT hill hopping with me today. I think it may be too soon after giving up her multiple vices for Elsie to try something this strenuous. Time will tell.

I have been sworn to a no Elsie pictures pledge, so don't go expecting to be seeing some Ultra Hot Hotpepper Hill pics later today. I never risk raising the ire of Elsie Hotpepper, so there will be no shutterbugging aimed in the Hotpepper's direction.

I need to get out of here. I have a meeting on the hills in about 20 minutes. I can not be late.

The Phoenix Dust Storm Reminder Of The Black Sunday Dust Storm Of 1935 Terrorizing Texas & The Southwest

Yesterday a couple times I mentioned the humongous Phoenix Valley of the Sun Dust Storm that wreaked havoc in Arizona on Tuesday.

Stenotrophomonas then commented, saying, "Reminds me of the appropriately named Perryton in 1935."

When I saw photos and video of the Phoenix Dust Storm it reminded me of photos I'd seen of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

I did not know, til Stenotrophomonas pointed me to Perryton, that Texas had been hit bad by the notorious Dust Storms of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

I recollect watching a documentary on the History Channel about the Dust Bowl with a lot of focus on what is known as Black Sunday. The photo above is of the Dust Storm of Black Sunday hitting Perryton.

Perryton is in the Texas Panhandle, northeast of Amarillo about 8 miles south of the border with Oklahoma. By March 24 of 1935 Southeastern Colorado and Western Kansas had suffered 12 days in a row of dust storms. Then at the end of the month the biggest dust storm yet blew across the plains, taking with it half the Kansas wheat crop, a quarter of the Oklahoma wheat and all the wheat in Nebraska, over 5 million acres ruined. There was a short period of calm, and then 2 weeks later, on April 12, Black Sunday struck with the biggest Dust Storm to strike the Dust Bowl.

News articles of the era reporting Black Sunday are interesting....

From the Liberal News, Liberal, Kansas, April 15, 1935

STORM CLIMAX

Southwest was Plunged into Inky Blackness Yesterday with Only Few Minutes Warning

BROUGHT TERROR

Some People Thought the End of the World was at Hand when Every Trace of Daylight was Obliterated at 4:00 p.m.

A people who during the past two weeks thought they had experienced the worst that could come in the form of dirt storms, looked on in awe and many of them in terror yesterday afternoon when...a great black bank rolled in out of the northeast and in a twinkling when it struck Liberal plunged everything into inky blackness, worse than that on any midnight, when there is at least some starlight and outlines of objects can be seen.

When the storm struck it was impossible to see one's hand before his face even two inches away. And it was several minutes before any trace of daylight whatsoever returned.

The day up to that time had been one of the few pleasant ones of the past several weeks. There had been no clouds in the sky. The temperature was unusually high and the day was one inviting people into the out of doors after day after day of dust.

Consequently many were caught out in the storm which came so suddenly that few realized it was even on the way until it was right upon them....

From the Ochiltree County Herald, Perryton, Texas, April 18, 1935

Black Blizzard Breaks All Records

Visibility Goes to Zero; Many Are Caught On Highways and on Picnic Parties

Was Worst in History

Worst Duster in History Followed Ideal Spring Day; Hit Here About Five o'clock

The worst dust storm in the memory of the oldest inhabitants of this section of the country hit Perryton at five o'clock Sunday afternoon, catching hundreds of people away from their homes, at the theatre, on the highways, or on picnic parties. The storm came up suddenly, following a perfect spring day.

In just a few minutes after the first bank appeared in the north, the fury of the black blizzard was upon us, turning the bright sunshine of a perfect day into the murky inkiness of the blackest night. Many hurried to storm cellars, remembering the cyclone of July, two years ago, which followed a similar duster.

Without question, this storm put the finishing touch of destruction to what faint hopes this area had for a wheat crop. Business houses and homes were literally filled with the fine dirt and silt driven in by this fifty mile an hour gale.

The storm started in the Dakotas and carried through with diminishing fury into Old Mexico. Borger reported the storm struck there at 6:15 p.m.; Amarillo at 7:20 p.m.; Boise City, Oklahoma, at 5:35 p.m.; and Dalhart at 5:15 p.m.

From the Amarillo Daily News, April 15, 1935

‘WORST’ DUSTER WHIPS ACROSS PANHANDLE

FARMERS PRAY FOR RAIN BUT WIND ANSWERS

NORTHER STRIKES SUNDAY TO BLOT OUT SUN, TURN DAY INTO NIGHT

SETS RECORD PACE

KANSAS GOVERNOR SAYS SOIL UNDAMAGED; STORM HITS SOUTH TEXAS

North winds whipped dust of the drought area to a new fury Sunday and old timers said the storm was the worst they'd seen. Farmers prayed through dust filmed lips for rain. A black duster—sun blotting cloud banks—raced over Southwest Kansas, the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, and foggy haze spread about other parts of the southwest. Easter services at Lindsborg, Kansas, opening with a chorus singing "The Messiah" were carried on in dust-laden air.

Makes Record Trip

The black duster made the 105 miles from Boise City, Okla., to Amarillo, Texas, in 1 hour 45 minutes. Hundreds of Sunday motorists lured to the highways by 90 degrees temperatures and crystal clear skies were caught by the storm. Farmers and agricultural officials of the dust area, Southwest Kansas, Southeast Colorado, Northeastern New Mexico and the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, reported the soil was not damaged and that crops could still be made this season if it would rain. Governor Alf M. Landon of Kansas pointed out top soil ranges from 10 to 30 feet deep at many points in the area.

STORM TURNS CITY INTO TOTAL DARKNESS

Blotting out every speck of light, the worst duststorm in the history of the Panhandle covered the entire region early last night. The billowing black cloud struck Amarillo at 7:20 o'clock and visibility was zero for 12 minutes.

Gradually it cleared and Weatherman H. T. Collman said the storm would be over by morning. The black, ominous cloud rolled over the Panhandle from the north, an awe-inspiring spectacle.

Into Central Texas

The storm continued southward and had moved into Wichita Falls by 9:45 o'clock, the Associated Press reported. A large area west and southwest of Temple was reported feeling effects of the duster, which moved onward into South Texas.

Warning of the terrible storm reached Amarillo about 45 minutes before it struck. It came from a woman in Stinnett. The woman called Sheriff Bill Adams. He did not learn her name. "I feel that you people of Amarillo should know of the terrible duststorm which has struck here and probably will hit Amarillo," the woman said, "I am sitting in my room and I cannot see the telephone."

8,000 Feet High

A gentle, north breeze preceded 8,000-feet-high clouds of dust. As the midnight fog arrived, the streets were practically deserted. However, hundreds of people stood before their homes to watch the magnificent sight.

Darkness settled swiftly after the city had been enveloped in the stinking, stinging dust, carried by a 50-mile-an-hour wind. Despite closed windows and doors, the silt crept into buildings to deposit a dingy, gray film. Within two hours the dust was a quarter of an inch in thickness in homes and stores.

Reports from the north at 10:30 o'clock last night by the Santa Fe dispatcher said that the moon could be seen at Woodward, Okla., showing that the storm was clearing rapidly.

Forecast Cloudy

The weather forecast for today was partly cloudy and colder. The storm struck just before early twilight. All traffic was blocked and taxi companies reported that it was difficult to make calls for nearly 45 minutes. Street signal lights were invisible a few paces away. Lights in 10 and 12 story buildings could not be seen.

John L. McCarty, editor of the Dalhart Texan, of Dalhart, the center of the drought-stricken area of the Panhandle, called a few minutes before the storm arrived in Amarillo. The storm struck Dalhart about 85 minutes before it hit Amarillo and the city remained in total darkness for more than that length of time, he said.

Couldn't See Light

"I went outside the house during the storm and could not see a lighted window of the house three feet away." Mr. McCarty said. Borger, Perryton and other cities on the North Plains reported similar conditions, proving that the storm was becoming less vicious the farther south it moved.

Damage to the wheat crop, already half ruined by drought and wind, could not be learned last night, but several grainmen believed that the dust would cover even more of the crops.

The storm started yesterday when a high pressure area moved out of the Dakotas toward Wyoming, according to Mr. Collman. Most of the dust was from western Kansas and Oklahoma, he said.

A linotype operator, forced to stick to his post in a dusty shop appeared with a narrow strip of shoe shining cloth, lined with sheepskin, tied close to his nostrils. When dampened, he said, it made breathing normal.

A Santa Fe freight train, scheduled to depart from the South Plains about 8 o'clock, was held up nearly an hour waiting for the dust to subside. With improved visibility by 11 o'clock it was reported making good time, aided by a strong "tailwind."

A Blue First Thursday Of July In Texas

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the world it appears the 7th day of July has dawned with a very blue tint.

I did no swimming or hill hiking or other aerobic endorphin stimulating activity yesterday. The withdrawal misery was almost unbearable.

This morning my swimming pool is back in full function mode.

However, due to a doctor appointment in Hurst, there will be no noontime hill hiking today.

It is 79 degrees in the outer world, now that the sun has arrived to begin its daily heating duties. Today the sun is scheduled to heat the zone of Texas that I inhabit to 102 degrees, with the Heat Index making it feel like 104.

Yesterday the prediction was for a high likelihood of a thunderstorm, or two. But no thunder rumbled. Today there is no prediction of a thunderstorm, so I likely will be hearing thunder today.

The heat has become HOT enough that I am now having the A/C cycle on and off all night long. I resist reaching that point til I can bear it no longer.

It is now that time of the morning for me to seek soothing waters to get myself some aerobic stimulation and hopefully some endorphin induced relief.

New Blue & Max Poodle Pictures Of Ruby Jean, David Jay & Theo John

This afternoon my poodle nephews, Blue & Max, sent me a new photo of my only niece, Ruby Jean, and my two youngest nephews, David Jay and Theo John. David is the redhead in the middle, with Ruby on the left and Theo on the right.

Ruby and Theo are twins.

My sister in Phoenix tells me that David is extremely fun to play with. He goes to a Montessori school, and though he is barely 2 years old he can read at an 8th grade level and has a memory that you don't want to mess with. As in if he gets you to sing songs with him you better get the words right.

My mom told me that my sister is taking David with her to a conference in Denver, and then on to Phoenix to see his grandma and grandpa. I hope this is a sand storm free visit.

I do not know why Ruby and Theo are not going along to Denver and Phoenix. I do know that Ruby and Theo's grandma and grandpa are planning on heading to Tacoma sometime soon to meet them for the first time.

There is a chance I may go along to Tacoma, about the same chance I have of winning the lottery or going inner tubing in the Trinity River.