Columbus Day Texas Thunderstorms On The Menu Today

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the world at some lingering dampness from Sunday's rare deluge on this 2nd Monday of October, day 11.

An inch and a half of rain was measured yesterday at the official rain measuring station at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

I would have thought that the rain and wind would have scrubbed the air clear of allergy triggers. But, something in the air got my eyes itching, nasal system dripping and clogged off, with intermittent sneeze impulses in the middle of the night.

I took an antihistamine and sprayed a lot of nasal spray. Eventually the allergic episode abated and I successfully passed out for the remainder of the night.

I'm not going swimming this morning. Yesterday's swimming in the rain was quite pleasant, but I don't have time to do that this morning. That and my arms are aching sore. Real sore.

Basically I'm a mess.

My mom called yesterday afternoon. This was not a gas related call. Mom wanted me to read an obituary whilst mom and dad listened. That was sort of strange.

It is only 59 degrees, currently. Apparently possible thunderstorms remain a possibility. With today's predicted high being a relatively chilly 78. Brrrrr.

Today is Columbus Day. The day we celebrate a European invading the Americas and beginning the process of stealing the native's lands, murdering thousands upon thousands of the original Americans, before the takeover was pretty much complete, in 1890, with the Wounded Knee Massacre.

A Break From The Great Texas Drought Of 2011 With A Wet Rainy Sunday Drive To A Leaking Sam's Club

You are looking through my windshield at my neighborhood Sam's Club, seeing something I have not seen in awhile.

That something is the windshield wiper wiping rain off the windshield.

I don't know at what time in the middle of the night I realized water was blowing in through my open window, so I don't know how long it has been raining.

What I do know is it almost an hour after noon and it is still raining.

But, the sky does appear to be brightening. The drips seem to be greatly lessening. I suspect the rain will soon come to a halt and the Great Texas Drought of 2011 can re-commence.

In Sam's Club today I saw more buckets catching more leaks than I have ever seen in a store before. Buckets were all over the store.

And many leaks did not have buckets catching the drips.

I suspect because of the long HOT summer, with day after day baking the Sam's Club roof, that havoc has been wreaked on the roof's  dozens of skylights and flashings that are supposed to waterproof those holes in the roof.

I imagine Monday is going to be a very busy day for roofers in North Texas.

A few paragraphs back I said it was almost an hour past noon. I got interrupted. It is now 3 hours past noon. My mom called at about the hour past noon mark. And then lunch intervened.

And, now that it is past 3 on this Sunday afternoon, the rain has finally stopped falling at my location on this formerly parched part of the planet. The sun has not broken through the cloud cover. By morning I think sunniness will have returned.

Rain Is Falling On The Great Texas Drought Of 2011 In This Parched Part Of The Planet

Looking at the patio pool view this 2nd Sunday of October you can see this is not one more sunny Sunday in Texas.

What you can not see in the picture is it is RAINING!

At some point in the middle of the night I had to shut my bedroom window due to incoming rain.

And the incoming rain continues.

I do not know if I want to go swimming in the rain this morning. It has been awhile since I've done that.

I do know there will be no Tandy Hills hiking today. And probably not tomorrow either.

Cloudy Breezy Perfect Saturday Hiking On The Tandy Hills Today With Drought Resistant Wildflowers

Best day of Saturday hiking on the Tandy Hills in months, today. Stormy clouds blocked the sun. Strong gusts of wind blowing natural air-conditioning.

I believe I was the only human on the hills today whilst I was there.

The only wildlife of the animal sort I saw today was the Tandy Hills Roadrunner running across the Tandy Highway. The Roadrunner was gone in a flash, so there was no photo opportunity.

The last time I was on the Tandy Hills I came upon a sunny yellow wildflower growing out of the dried rocky dirt.

Today I covered a lot more territory than my previous Tandy visit. I saw the purple sticks you see at the top sprouting in multiple locations.

And I came upon a couple locations where a large flock of the sunny yellow wildflowers were somehow managing to bloom during the Great Texas Drought of 2011.

The Galtex's this morning suggested since it was Saturday I should go to Town Talk. And so I did.

Town Talkers were scooping up blackberries today. Tiny containers for, if I remember right, 2 for $1.50. Or you could buy a whole case.

The majority of my time on the planet was spent living in a location where blackberries grew wild, free for the picking. Which makes the idea of paying 75 cents for a little container of blackberries seem bizarre to me.

On the drive back to my abode a few drops of rain hit my windshield. I thought a downpour might be incoming. But, that did not happen. Not yet, anyway.

Swimming In The Wind On The 2nd Saturday Of October Listening For Thunder

The 2nd Saturday of October has dawned with a stormy looking sky after a windy night.

Thunderstorms are on the schedule for the next 3 days. I won't be shocked if the Thunderstorms do not show up.

This morning I have decided to be a man of few words.

I'm going swimming in the wind now.

Drinking Bad Coffee Under A Stormy Sky With The Indian Ghosts At Village Creek

In the picture you are looking south from the viewing platform overlooking the Village Creek Bayou in Arlington.

As you can see, in the noon time frame, walking among the ghosts and under the oak trees of Village Creek was a bit on the dark and stormy side of a usually bright, sunny day.

Last week I mentioned that water was again flowing through Village Creek, despite the ongoing Great Texas Drought of 2011.

The water began flowing through Village Creek at the same time that 3 water pipelines, courtesy of Chesapeake Energy, ran along the road that leads to Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

I speculated that the reason water was flowing through Village Creek was because Chesapeake Energy needed it so they could do some fracking.

Well, more circumstantial evidence disappeared today. As in the 3 water pipelines are now gone. And water is no longer flowing through Village Creek.

Coincidence? I think not.

Changing the subject from possible coincidences to coffee.

I have never mastered the art of making good tasting coffee. I gave up years ago. I may have mentioned previously that the best coffee I've ever had was had at the WinStar Casino's buffet, in the year of 2004, when I met fellow former Washingtonian, Mrs. McP, for lunch and coffee.

Over the years I've tried grinding coffee beans with no noticeable improvement. I do not recollect doing so ever since I moved to Texas, along with my coffee grinder, which was one of the few kitchen things I did not give my nephew upon moving.

Well. At Town Talk on Wednesday they had bags of coffee beans. From Safeway. They don't have Safeways in Texas. I believe here Safeway is called Tom Thumb. I don't ever go in to a Tom Thumb, so I've no idea if Tom Thumb sells stuff with the Safeway Select brand on the label.

So, I've no idea where Town Talk's Safeway Select coffee came from.

And if you think where this is leading is me saying that I finally made a good cup of coffee, well, you would be wrong. I'm drinking it right now, the first batched brewed with the Town Talk beans.

It's worse than my usual coffee.

The 7th Morning of October Dawns Cloudy

When I stepped outside to retrieve my swimsuit this 7th morning of October I felt what seemed to be some precipitation, possibly in light mist form. I think this was some sort of delusion triggered by what looked to be a stormy sky.

The current rain prediction is for a 50% chance of wet stuff hitting the ground on this parched part of the planet, on Sunday.

Apparently there is a massive wet system to the west of us, moving in this direction.

I got a call yesterday from someone from Washington, driving in Utah, in storm mode, with heavy rain blowing horizontal with snow and ice mixed in.

Seems like only yesterday, well, actually, it was last week, I think, we were experiencing 100 degree days. And now I'm getting reports of snow.

I think I will go swimming now before it gets any later or colder or wetter.

October 12 Trinity River Vision Open Discussion With J.D. Granger Minus City Of Fort Worth TRV Director

Thumbing through this week's Fort Worth Weekly this afternoon I came upon an ad that reminded me I am currently scheduled to go to Fort Worth's Botanic Garden next Wednesday.

A few minutes after seeing the ad in FW Weekly I got a call telling me that the City of Fort Worth has decided it can not participate in this public forum.

This would seem to be a City of Fort Worth attitude holdover from the repressive, non-communicative, un-open, un-democratic, Moncrief crony capitalist regime.

If I am understanding correctly, the City of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Director, Mark Rauscher, was forbidden from participating, once the horror that this would be an open discussion forum, with various views presented, was realized.

Because, as we all know, participating in an open public forum, by Fort Worth City Officials, is not the Fort Worth Way.

However, J.D. Granger is going to be there, presenting his vision of the Trinity River Vision.

For me, I am long over due for a drastic change of mind. I fully expect to listen to J.D. Granger explain his vision of the Trinity River Vision with the result being me jumping off the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle and on to the Trinity River Vision Bandwagon.

I previously listened to J.D. Granger give a presentation in Arlington. He was so persuasive he made me a believer in Magic Trees.

A Sunny Yellow Wildflower Sprouts Today In Drought Stricken Texas On The Dry Tandy Hills

Today, in the noon time frame, was my first time back to the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area since Saturday.  

Clouds, a semi-cool temperature and a breeze made for some pleasant hill hiking.

I do not believe any significant precipitation has precipitated on to the Tandy Hills to account for the sprouting out of some colorful wildflowers since my Saturday visit.

Wildflowers like the sunny yellow flower you see in the picture.  I only saw one of these, in one location, at the north side of Mount Tandy, southeast of Dry Tandy Falls.

Stalks with purple flowers are now sprouting all over the Tandy Hills.

Swimming this morning was pleasantly cold. But apparently it did not aerobicize me to a level sufficient to release pain reducing, mood elevating endorphins.

I think, post hiking, that I'm feeling less pain and my mood may be slightly elevated above its pre-hiking doldrums.

It may be the endorphins speaking, but I think I want to move to Florida.

But, before I do that, I need to have lunch, which is now available. This I know because the lunch buzzer is buzzing.

The Dallas Cowboys Really Are America's Favorite Football Team While The Seattle Seahawks Are Among America's Least Favorite

I admit I am not much of a football fan. Actually I am not even remotely a football fan. I have never understood what people find entertaining about sitting and passively watching endless permutations of the same behavior.

So, when I moved to Texas and started to hear the Dallas Cowboys over and over again referred to as "America's Team" I figured it was just more Texas hyperbole.

At one point in time, years ago, I  added a page about this subject to my Eyes on Texas website, titled "Dallas Cowboys: America's Team?"

This morning I was looking for an "America's Team" image and was surprised to see the webpage I made years ago Googled in the 2nd spot, right after Wikipedia's article about "America's Team."

I was looking for an "America's Team" image because I'd just read an article in the Seattle P-I which made me want to blog about this subject.

According to the Harris polling people and an interactive poll they conduct, yearly, the Dallas Cowboys are America's favorite football team. A position the Dallas Cowboys have held for 5 years in a row.

The top five favorite football teams are....

1. Dallas
2. Pittsburgh
3. Green Bay
4. New England
5. Chicago

The professional football team in the town in which the Seattle P-I is published, the Seattle Seahawks, ranks really low in terms of America's favoritude, at a lowly 27th place.

America's least favorite professional football team is the Jacksonville Jaguars.

I've never heard of this lowly Jaguar team. All I know about Jacksonville is I think the town is in Florida.

The Seattle P-I made what seemed to me a slightly lame explanation as to why the Seattle Seahawks are at such a lowly 27th place ranking in such a serious matter. Apparently fewer people on the West Coast follow football than people who live in the East, the Midwest and the South.

In 2006 the Seattle Seahawks reached their most favored position ever in the Harris poll, coming in as the 12th most favorite the year they lost the Super Bowl to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

That particular Super Bowl is probably the only football game I have watched, start to finish, in this century. It was painful viewing.