Tropical Storm Lee's Friday Pop Up In The Gulf Of Mexico Is Bringing No Rain To Texas

My attention this Friday afternoon was diverted from monitoring the temperature to hunting for the missing Elsie Hotpepper.

So, it came as a shock to me to do my late afternoon news check to discover that today a bad tropical storm suddenly appeared in the Gulf of Mexico.

This new bad tropical storm is named Lee.

Tropical Storm Lee is currently about 200 miles southeast of Cameron, Louisiana, heading northwest at a very slow 2 mph. The center of Lee is expected to hit Louisiana over the weekend.

The governors of Louisiana and Mississippi declared states of emergency in coastal counties. New Orleans is, again, under a declared state of emergency.

Tropical storm warnings were issued from Mississippi to Texas, with flash flood warnings along the Alabama coast and into the Florida panhandle.

Will Tropical Storm Lee bring some wetness to Texas?

Well, not according to the following paragraph....

The water-logged storm is tantalizingly close to Texas but still too far away to alleviate the state's worst drought since the 1950s. If the center moves mostly into Louisiana, as expected, winds on its west side will blow from land to open water and reduce the chance of rain in Texas, National Weather Service meteorologist Dennis Cavanaugh in Fort Worth said. The hot, dry winds could spur fire danger across the state.

Great. We get no wet from Tropical Storm Lee, but we do get more wildfire potential.

On The Tandy Hills While Texas Withers Among Other Things

It is in the 3 in the afternoon time frame and we have not yet gone over 100 in my zone of North Texas.

It was 92 when I hit the Tandy Hills around noon. Today a good wind made clear what had been missing that had rendered the hills too hot at noon.

In the picture you can see a line of trees with dead leaves on the ridge at the top of the hill.

If water ever again falls in these parched parts it will interesting to watch how the Tandy Hills comes back from its, hopefully, near death experience.

I saw no wildlife today on the hills, including no sighting of the Tandy Hills Roadrunner.

Speaking of the Tandy Hills Roadrunner, I got an email a short time ago from the Roadrunner Whisperer, Don Young, with a link to an interesting article in Mother Jones titled "As Texas Withers, Gas Industry Guzzles."

In the Mother Jones article the part of Texas withering while the gas industry guzzles is Fort Worth. The Roadrunner Whisperer helped guide Mother Jones through the Fort Worth Morass.

Changing the subject from Fort Worth Morasses to other morasses.

I think I may have inadvertently sparked a budding romance between CatsPaw and Gar the Nerd, formerly known as Gar the Texan. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Feeling Guilty About Possibly Causing Gar The Texas Nerd Avoidable Misery

I was reading Gar the Nerd's latest Readerless Rambling about his many wives, which caused me to ponder how some little thing can lead to unanticipated results.

Before I get to unanticipated results I must ask how can Gar the Nerd's Ramblings be Readerless if I read them? That's at least one person reading, which renders the Ramblings not Readerless.

Done with the digressing.

So, a decade ago, give or take a year or two, when I first met Gar the Nerd, in person, he still went by the nickname Gar the Texan. Gar the Texan was the first person I'd ever met, in person, who had one of those infamous mullet hair-dos that went out of style sometime in the 1980s.

In the Pacific Northwest a Gar-like mullet was/is called a Pocatello-Doo. I assume because the population of Pocatello, Idaho had/has an unseemly number of mulletheads.

I don't quite remember how I brought the subject up, but I somehow verbalized my opinion to Gar the Texan regarding his embarrassing mullethead.

Soon after that Gar the Texan got a haircut more suited for the current century.

Soon after that Gar the Texan got a raise and a promotion and started being sent to Europe over and over again.

Eventually Gar the Texan met his most recent foreign wife. Now ex-wife. A German who I assume must have been extremely desperate for a Green Card.

At one point in time Gar the Texan told me he owed me big time for convincing him to lose the embarrassing mop. His boss had told him he would not have been sent overseas if he still looked like a clueless hick. His now ex-wife told Gar the Texan she would not have spoken to him if he still had the mullet.

So, that is what got me pondering. Like I said, at one point in time Gar the Texan told me he owed me big time for wising him up about his locks. Had I not done so his now ex-wife would never have talked to him, let alone marry him. Thus saving Gar the Texan from a lot of aggravation.

I guess losing the mullet did result in a lot of trips to Europe for Gar the Texan, which, I guess, is a good thing. Had his boss felt brave enough to send Gar the Texan to Europe whilst looking like a clueless hick, maybe Gar the Texan might have met a German girl who liked mulletheads, with that girl being his latest foreign wife, with that marriage working out and Gar the Texan living happily ever after with the final wife of his life.

So, now I'm feeling a bit guilty that I may have ruined Gar the Texan's life by convincing him to lose the mullet.

I sort of feel bad about this.

Heading To Texas Dinosaur Country For The Labor Day Weekend Glen Rose Neo-Relix Film Festival Viewing Of Up A Creek

The Layla Caraway/Bob Lukemon/TRIP documentary Up A Creek is one of the featured documentaries at the Glen Rose Neo-Relix Film Festival this Labor Day Weekend.

Up A Creek will be aired twice during the Neo-Relix Film Festival, Saturday, September 3 at 2 pm, then again on Sunday, September 4 at noon.

You can find more information at the Trinity River Improvement Project (TRIP) website, where you can also watch Up A Creek.

Or you can also watch Up A Creek, in 4 parts, on this very blog.

Now that Up A Creek has entered the Film Festival circuit I assume it is only a matter of time before it gets an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short.

When that happens I am scheduled to be Ms. Caraway's escort to the Oscars.

The 2nd Day Of September Dawns Semi-Chilly In Formerly HOT North Texas

The sun had not yet arrived on the 2nd morning of September when I looked out my primary viewing portal on the world.

The tardy sun has now arrived. It appears that it is yet one more clear sky morning in my zone of North Texas.

Currently the outer world is cooled just slightly warmer than my inner world, with the degrees currently being 82 in outer world, 80 in inner world.

Again the weather predictors are predicting that today will not be heated to 100 or higher, but will only reach a relatively chilly 99. The weather predictors were wrong about their chilly prediction for yesterday. I hope the weather predictors are not wrong about today.

I'm in the mood to be back wearing long sleeves and long pants.

Long sleeves and long pants would be a necessity if I were at my old home location of Mount Vernon, Washington where it is currently barely over halfway to 100 at 53.6.

I do not know how I managed living in that frigid climate up north.

I think I will go swimming now and ponder how it was that I managed to live in that frigid climate up north.

Don Young's Tandy Hills Roadrunner Summer's Prairie Notes

One of the best things about the start of a new month is the email arrival of Don Young's Prairie Notes.

September's Prairie Notes #57: Summer of My Roadrunner, arrived right before noon today.

This is one of the best Prairie Notes yet. Largely due to all the photos of Don Young's new good friend, the Tandy Hills Roadrunner.

Prairie Notes #57: Summer of My Roadrunner is available for your reading pleasure on the Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area website.

My New Chesapeake Neighbor's Tower Is Already Towering Over My Neighborhood

Driving through the Albertsons parking lot, on my way back to my abode, after walking with the Fosdic Lake ducks and turtles, I was surprised to see the drilling tower for my new Chesapeake Energy neighbor has already been erected.

On August 6 the hearing took place where apparently Chesapeake Energy was given the go ahead for this particular hole poke into the Barnett Shale.

Site preparation was underway before August 6 and seemed to go into overdrive after that date.

If one got a permit to build a house on a chunk of property one could not get construction underway at warp speed like this operation.

It is sort of impressive.

If one was building a house, at each stage of the construction you have to pass an inspection.

Does the City of Fort Worth send out some type of inspector to make sure Chesapeake Energy and the other drillers are kosher with their drill pad site building?

I suspect not.

And that seems really wrong.

A few weeks ago I realized I never hear from Chesapeake Energy shills anymore whenever I mention Chesapeake Energy on my blog. It used to be that within a very short time of mentioning Chesapeake Energy I'd see Oklahoma City, Chesapeake's corporate headquarters town, light up on my blog FeedJit stats.

That no longer happens.

Today I realized why I don't hear from Chesapeake's propaganda shills anymore.

Chesapeake Energy won the war.

The resistance failed.

There no longer is any need for Chesapeake to spew propaganda via shills.

In the post-war period Chesapeake Energy can put a gas drilling site pad pretty much anywhere they want. Next door to an apartment complex, across the street from a grocery story and restaurant, next to a busy freeway. Pretty much anywhere.

No Fosdic Lake Fish Seem To Be Dying From Too Much Heat And Too Little Oxygen

I opted for walking around Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park in the late afternoon today, rather than hike the hills of Tandy, because I did not realize it was so windy or that the temperature, though HOT, was rendered pleasant by the wind.

The Fosdic Fosducks seemed to be enjoying the breeze and were in floating flotilla mode today, rather than hovering under shoreline shade.

The Fosdic Turtles also seemed to be enjoying being out on their logs. Of late I had been concerned as to where all the Fosdic turtles had gone. But today I saw at least a dozen.

What perplexed me today about Fosdic Lake was wondering why I saw no dead fish. No water is flowing into Fosdic Lake. The lake is evaporating. The lake's oxygen level must be plummeting.

Over 140,000 fish have died in Lake Grapevine. With the explanation for this being that that big lake's oxygen level it too low for fish to survive. And that this low oxygen level was caused by too much HEAT.

That same HEAT heats up Fosdic Lake and all the other lakes in the Prairies & Lakes Region of Texas.

So, why no dead Fosdic Fish?

It is very perplexing. Methinks there is something fishy about the Lake Grapevine dead fish. And the explanation as to what has caused their demise.

My Temperature Sources Misled Me Because It Is Still HOT

I've been looking forward to this first day of September Thursday for 7 days, give or take a day or two, when the temperature forecast for this day was to be the first under 100 degrees after many many days of being way too HOT. 

Supposedly today an upper level low was supposed to arrive to replace the upper level high that has been keeping North Texas way too HOT and DRY for way too long.

And now that the promised cold Thursday has arrived, so has yet one more day heated to over 100, as you can see via looking at both my unreliable temperature sources. One of them has it being 102 today, followed by two more 100 degree days. My Weather Underground unreliable temperature source is saying it will be 99 for the high tomorrow, the same forecast the Weather Underground had for today, yesterday.

Both of my temperature sources have the high at 95 on Sunday, both with a 20% chance of precipitation, with the Weather Underground mixing lightning into the rain.

Changing the subject, briefly, from the all-important temperature, to something else. This morning I had a doctor's appointment in Hurst which kept me from doing any hill hiking or other similar aerobically stimulating activity in the noon time frame. I assumed I would be going on a late afternoon vigorous jaunt somewhere, with cool temperatures and a wind.

However.

It is HOTTER than I was led to believe it would be. And not very windy.

I likely will venture outdoors, anyway, braving the HEAT and get me some salubrious stimulating. Doctor's orders.

The First Day Of September With Fish Dying In Lake Grapevine While I Swim

The sun has now arrived to light up the place, but I was up well before that golden orb in the sky on this first day of September.

The outer world in my location is currently chilled to 83.2 degrees, heading to a high today of under 100 degrees, hopefully.

Regarding the heat wave, odd news in the past 24 hours regarding over 124,000 dead fish in Lake Grapevine.

The fish supposedly died due to the HEAT depleting the level of oxygen in the lake.

Which had me wondering what makes Lake Grapevine different than any of the other many lakes in the Dallas/Fort Worth area? Why are there no reports of dead fish in Lake Joe Pool? Lake Arlington? Benbrook Lake? Lake Eagle Mountain? Lewisville Lake? Lake Worth?

Yesterday, when I was watching snakes and turtles in the shallow little pond in Veterans Park, I also watched a lot of little fish swimming around.

Are the fish dying in newly dangerous Lake Texoma, which has been closed to swimming due toxic algae by the Army Corps of Engineers?

Speaking of swimming, methinks I shall go take my first morning swim of September. I am hoping by the end of the month I will be typing it was only 48 degrees this morning and I am still swimming.