I Think I Am Ready For A Major Texas Ice Storm To Blow Into Town

This morning on Facebook I found a fresh update from my favorite Texas weather guru, John Basham, which raises the possibility that we may be heading into an epic New Year's Eve, New Year's Day apocalyptic weather event of the Ice Storm sort.

Ice Storms are my least favorite Texas weather event.

If an Ice Storm blows in in a couple days, I am ready for it. I am stocked with vittles. I am walking distance from my New Year's Eve Party location. My Coleman stove and lantern are fully fueled. Firewood is ready to be burned should the fireplace be needed for heat if the power goes out.

WINTER WEATHER FORECAST - MON DEC 29 2014 850AM - TEXAS & SOUTHERN PLAINS - We have issued our graphical forecast for Tuesday from 6am through 10pm. Additional winter weather across an increased area possible through Saturday morning. Wednesday Texas will see a bit of a break from the wintry precipitation (at least that's the way it looks now) BUT THURSDAY could be a real problem with the potential for a major ice storm across a large swath of Texas and potentially millions of people. We will update the Thursday forecast this afternoon with some newer data in hopes that we will see continued computer model agreement beyond 60 hours. Everyone is advised to prepare for this potential Major Winter Weather event. While there is still a GREAT DEGREE of uncertainty about the potential impacts of this event. If trends continue then there could easily be widespread power interruptions and travel issues. More information to follow soon. THIS IS NOT AN NWS PRODUCT.

Today I Learned I Live In The Football Capital Of The World: Tarrant County

This morning via my local purveyor of ridiculous propaganda, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I learned that Tarrant County is the Football capital of the world.

For you reading this who know little about Texas, Tarrant County is where the Texas towns of Fort Worth and Arlington are located.

The Dallas Cowboys play football in a monster stadium in Arlington, while Fort Worth has a college called Texas Christian University where football is played.

Apparently both Tarrant County football teams are doing well this year, hence the Star-Telegram propaganda that has Tarrant County being the Football capital of the world.

This seems to me to be an interesting variant of the Star-Telegram's patented Green With Envy verbiage. You know, where some perfectly ordinary thing in Fort Worth or Tarrant County is making the rest of the world green with envy.

Regarding Tarrant County being the Football capital of the world, I doubt most of the world has any awareness of Tarrant County. I doubt most of America has any awareness of Tarrant County. Maybe most of Texas has some awareness of Tarrant County.

As for having two football teams having a good season making Tarrant County the Football capital of the world, or America, or Texas, well, that is obviously a ridiculous thing to be suggesting.

The Star-Telegram article says nothing in the NFL or college football compares to the shock value of the Dallas Cowboys or TCU Horned Frogs.

Really? I live within short driving distance of both and have experienced absolutely no sense of being shocked.

I can think of another county, King County, that county being the location of the current Super Bowl champion. And the University of Washington Huskies. Apparently part of the Tarrant Football capital claim has to do with TCU playing in a bowl game this year. I think TCU has previously played in one other bowl game, that being the Rose one. And lost. Meanwhile, the Huskies in King County have played in multiple bowl games, including that Rose one. And won it. More than once.

UPDATE: The Fort Worth CD has informed me that TCU has won a Rose Bowl. Somehow this momentous event escaped being recorded by my memory. Was there no city wide celebration?

But, I highly doubt anyone in King  County, let alone any of the King County legitimate newspapers of record, of which there are several, would ever make the silly claim that King County was the Football capital of the world. Or ever claim anything in King County was causing other locations to be Green With Envy, because such bragging is just, well, embarrassing.

Particularly when the bragging is grounded in delusional hyperbole.

Anyway, the article in Sunday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, about Tarrant County being the Football capital of the world, part of which I have copied below for your giggling bemusement, was written by Randy Galloway, titled, you might guess...

Tarrant County: Football capital of the world

Our local football blessings have runneth over this season, and without being provincial about it, I come to you today with a no-doubt, no-argument, official proclamation involving the truth and nothing but:

Tarrant County is the shock-value-of-a-positive-kind gridiron capital of the free world, plus those Commie nations, and the sand lizard empires, too.

Tarrant County is home to the Dallas Cowboys.

Tarrant County is home to TCU.

Don’t waste your time thinking about it, Florida. Nor you, California. Ohio, you make me laugh.

From coast to coast, all states are holding a big bag of nothing compared with our two Tarrant County trump cards.

Think about it.

Nothing compares to the shock value of the Cowboys in the NFL.

Nothing compares to the shock value of TCU in college football.

Argument closed. We Win. We Win.

And now we also see.

See what happens next for the Cowboys and for TCU. Actually, the next part is the best part.

Coming right up for the Cowboys is identifying the first-round playoff opponent, which happens Sunday. The odds figure it on being Detroit visiting Arlington in a week, but hold all wagers until it’s official.

After careful study back in early September, which included consultation with witch doctors and barstool experts, I had the Cowboys winning six games this season. I thought I was being overly optimistic.

With the regular season closing Sunday in Washington, the Cowboys could double my win total prediction. Over the last 50-something years, I’ve definitely been wrong many times about this franchise, but mainly wrong the other way.

I’ve never been this wrong this way. The shock-value-of-a-positive-kind of way.

Coinciding with the Cowboys’ sky-rise came TCU in the college world. A 5-4 conference record would have been a great season for the Frogs. But 8-1, Big 12 co-champs and a sudden national power?

Nobody, including Gary Patterson, was reading that kind of radar screen in early September.

And the “next” thing for the Frogs?

OK, maybe you heard, the College Football Playoff committee did a last-second dump job on TCU and suddenly the Frogs were out of the final four.

So what’s the next best thing that could have happened for TCU?

A bowl game against a certain kind of opponent, that’s what. That opponent had to be from, yes, the SEC West, a division, not a conference, that is the best in all of college football.

With personal great glee, all of the above will fall into place at Atlanta, at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, better known as New Year’s Eve morning.

The Frogs vs. Ole Miss.

Fort Worth's #1 Photo Propagandist Is Not Now Falsely Advertising Seattle

I saw that which you see here this morning on Facebook, via Tacoma's Queen V.

I saw this photo and thought to myself, oh no, Fort Worth's #1 photo propagandist, Brian Luenser, has taken his special brand of colorful Chamber of Commerce worthy photography to Seattle.

But, that turned out not to be the case. This photo was taken by Kevin Russell of KR Backwoods Photography.

What I am curious about, regarding this photo, is how does one manage to take a photo of Seattle's Pike Place Market without a single human to be seen?

In this location we are looking directly at the famous location where the salmon fly. Usually this is human and auto gridlock at this location.

Looking at the KR Backwoods Photography portfolio had me wondering what photographic wonders might result if Brian Luenser ever took his camera to an area of the country, or world, which is actually scenically blessed, and which did not require special lightning and the cover of darkness to cover up that which is not too pretty in the bright light of day....

Will The Iceman Cometh To D/FW This Last Saturday Of 2014?

I checked in on Facebook this morning to find that which you see here, a chilly, icy, possibly snowy, forecast from my favorite Texas weather guru, John Basham......

WINTER WEATHER UPDATE: 100 AM SAT DEC 27 2014 - TEXAS - As I mentioned in earlier forecasts a strong cold-front is currently pushing South across Texas. At 100 AM a pre-frontal wind shift was along and Northwest of a line from Gainesville to Abilene to San Angelo to Del Rio. Winds behind this line were from the North with much lower surface moisture. While the pre-frontal wind shift was located along this line the cold air-mass associated with the front was along and Northwest of a Childress to Lubbock to just North of Midland-Odessa. This cold air-mass has temperatures in the 20's and 30's with a large area of snow and some some snow/rain mix across the Southern Texas panhandle and far Northern Permian Basin. Radar returns suggest much of the precipitation is not yet making it to the ground. While the upper level disturbance that is causing this precipitation will continue through tomorrow morning it will also cause areas of light rain to develop over the Eastern 2/3 of Texas. Much of this will be very light rain through early morning especially along the I-35 corridor. This same area will see areas of dense fog develop through early morning with some areas seeing reduced visibility below 1/8 mile, or the technical term "Pea Soup". The interesting part of the forecast comes Saturday afternoon and evening when a second upper level disturbance rotates into Texas at or very near the same time the sub-freezing surface air sinks across a much larger part of Texas including the D/FW metroplex. That's when an area a larger area of precipitation including rain, snow, and sleet could very well develop Southwest of the DFW metro and then increase in area and amount. Experimental forecast models are now even showing some accumulations of up to a tenth (very small amount) of an inch of snow across Northwestern Wise, Palo Pinto, Jack, Montague, and Cooke Counties in North Central Texas by as early as 2pm Saturday Afternoon. If this early model data trending continues, then my earlier forecast of snow Northwest of a line from Sherman to D/FW Airport to Stephenville should still hold true. The real question (especially across the western metroplex) is how early in the day we will drop below freezing at the surface and how long after that point precipitation will continue. Right now my "gut feel" and truly nothing more...(sorry, wish there was some science on that) says over-running moisture will keep precipitation falling for some time after sub-freezing temperatures set in and perhaps even a while after sunset. If this turns out to be true, then we would see a good chance of some accumulations of wintry precipitation across the Western parts of the metroplex and perhaps more. The greatest snowfall accumulations in Texas on Saturday will be from Lubbock South to just North of Midland/Odessa. This area of the far Southern Panhandle and Northern Permian Basin should see totals from 2 to 6 inches. I will continue to update the forecast as new data come in, or my gut feeling takes a turn that requires Pepto. THIS IS NOT AN NWS FORECAST.

Watercolored Snowflakes Fall On Oregon's Cannon Beach While No Snow Falls In Texas

Currently there are 364 shopping days til Christmas.

Which means I should have plenty of time to get the Christmas shopping I do, done in time for December 25, 2015.

The watercolor painting you are looking at here was sent to me by my cousin Scott.

Cousin Scott lives on the beach in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

I do not know if cousin Scott painted this watercolor he sent me for Christmas, or not.

I suspect not.

I do not remember when last I was in Cannon Beach. I know I was slightly north of Cannon Beach, in Seaside, a couple months before I moved to Texas. I recollect a pleasant night of listening to the roar of Pacific waves and playing with seals in the Seaside Aquarium the next morning.

The watercolor painting of Cannon Beach appears to be depicting big snowflakes falling. I do not know how often that happens. I suspect not too frequently.

On this day after Christmas at my currently location, nowhere near being deep in the heart of Texas, no snow will be falling, due to the temperature currently being 60, heading to a predicted high of 67. With clouds and a little drippage.

I was going to go on a bike ride today, what with these balmy temperatures, but the lack of sun and that aforementioned drippage has discouraged  me......

The Fosdick Lake Turkey Has Survived Another Christmas While My Mom Speeds Sledding

An hour before noon this Christmas Day of 2014 I left turkey roasting in the oven to roll my wheels to Oakland Lake Park to walk around the Fort Worth inland sea known as Fosdick Lake.

I have never seen as many birds, in as many varieties, as that which I saw today flocking on Fosdick Lake.

Including a big flock of seagulls.

What business do seagulls have being 100s of miles from the nearest sea?

The most surprising bird I saw today was the big turkey you see above. The big turkey seemed to lord it over the flock of odd ducks surrounding the big turkey. The odd ducks looked like the result of an illicit assignation between a seagull and a duck, with the seagull part manifesting itself in white seagull type heads, with below the neck looking duck-like.

My phone alerted me in the middle of the night, advising me to beware of strong winds on Christmas.

Why my phone feels I need this type advising in the middle of the night, I do not know.

The wind was a bit of a nuisance today.

The wind was so strong that during a couple gusts I had to hold on to my hat, lest it go airborne. At one point I sat at a picnic table to reply to an incoming text message. To do so I took off my sunglasses. A gust of wind soon sent my sunglasses flying off the picnic table, along with my walking stick.

Well, the turkey in the oven turned out well. I am now over turkey, except for leftovers, til next Thanksgiving.

Just got an email, sent from Arizona, from Cousin Jones. I have no cousins in Arizona, that I know of. Nephews, siblings, parental units and two in-laws, but no cousins that I know of. The email had a link to one of those JibJab cartoon things. This one had my mom sledding at high speed, along with at least two of my sisters. Maybe three.

How did they convince my mom to get on a sled? Very perplexing.....

Spencer Jack's Christmas Letter To Santa

This morning in my email inbox I found photos of Spencer Jack's letters to Santa in which Spencer thanks Santa for putting him on the Santa "nice" list.

The first photo documented Spencer Jack's letter to Santa and the cookies and milk Spencer left out for the hard working old guy.

The second photo documented Santa's reply to Spencer.

Very thoughtful of Santa, I think, that he would take time out of his busy schedule to write Spencer Jack a personal note.

A short while ago Spencer Jack's dad, my favorite nephew Jason, texted me with photos attached.

The attached photos documented what was in Christmas presents for me in Texas, sent to Mount Vernon, in Washington.

Soon thereafter a video arrived from Spencer and his dad, documenting the opening of the Christmas presents that were sent to Washington, whilst I am stuck in Texas.

The video of Spencer Jack opening my Christmas presents is below, following the photo of Santa's reply to Spencer Jack's letter to Santa.

The below video was taken before the sun arrived in Washington this morning, hence the slightly dark nature of that which you see....

Merry Christmas To Aunt Arlene Who Says Jake & I Don't Know Who The Santa Is

I think I've already made mention of the fact that I don't mail anyone a Christmas Card.

However, every December I do mail one Christmas letter, to my Aunt Arlene, who lives in Othello, Washington.

My Christmas letter to Aunt Arlene is always written after I get that year's Aunt Arlene Christmas Card in which there is usually a letter with questions requiring answers,  hence my Christmas letter reply to Aunt Arlene.

Throughout the year I sometimes get letters from Aunt Arlene which also generate replies. Those Aunt Arlene letters have often been prompted by Aunt Arlene being appalled about something she read about which took place in Texas.

Things such as Rick Perry being the governor of this formerly fine state and his embarrassing antics.

I thought I'd hear from Aunt Arlene during the recent Texas election debacle which saw Rick Perry replaced by someone who seems as if he could be even worse, Greg Abbott.

Well, tonight I checked in on my mailbox to find this year's Christmas Card from Aunt Arlene.

It is now too close to Christmas to get a Christmas letter back to Aunt Arlene. That and this year's Aunt Arlene Christmas Card did not include a letter with questions in need of answering.

I believe Aunt Arlene is Christmasing on the Oregon coast, at Cannon Beach, at my favorite cousin Scott's beach cabin. I am hoping cousin Scott reads this and is able to relay to his mama, Aunt Arlene, my hope that Aunt Arlene has herself a Very Merry Christmas.

I almost forgot to mention. On the envelope of Aunt Arlene's Christmas Card I did not notice, til well after its opening, that which you see scanned above.

A drawing of Santa looking at two sleeping little boys, with Aunt Arlene writing "You and Jake Don't know who the Santa is!"

This is true. We don't know who the Santa is.

I just realized, unless I explain, most of you would not know who Jake is.

Jake is my little brother. Jake is also my grand nephew, Spencer Jack's, grandpa, which would also make Jake Spencer Jack's dad's dad, Jason.....

Oh No Snow In The Forecast For North Texas

This is not the first time since I've been spending Christmas in Texas that I've seen a potential White Christmas in the forecast.

Twice, or maybe thrice, a White Christmas has happened since I have been in Texas.

I only recollect one White Christmas during all my years of living in the relatively mild climate of Western Washington.

Before I moved to Texas I did not realize it even ever froze here, let alone freeze with these things I'd never experienced before called Ice Storms.

Anyway, moments ago I checked in on Facebook to find the premiere weather forecaster of North Texas, John Basham, mentioning the cold "S" word.

That is a screencap of said mention you see here, with the text of the cold "S" word warning copied below....

WEATHER UPDATE: 200PM WED DEC 23 2014 - NORTH TEXAS / OKLAHOMA / ARKANSAS / NW LOUISIANA - THIS IS AN NWS FORECAST. I wanted to pass along the NDFD (National Digital Forecast Database) forecast for midnight tonight (Tuesday) into early Wednesday. This NDFD is a composite image of all of the different local National Weather Service Office's individual forecasts (often VERY different from each other). This IS showing a rain snow mix changing to snow around midnight as close as Northeast Collin County in the D/FW metroplex. I personally think we will see snow a little farther South and West overnight until about 6am Wednesday across portions of the DFW metro as well... BUT, THAT IS NOT IN THIS FORECAST. THIS IS A VIEW OF WHAT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE THINKS WILL BE HAPPENING AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. Later this afternoon I will issue a more detailed holiday forecast (perhaps including some interesting New Year's weather) if time permits. Merry Christmas and enjoy the NWS Official Forecast.

Christmas Made In Washington Has Made It To Texas Two Days In A Row

As you can see, gray clouds have returned to my location on the planet. This morning those gray clouds were leaking at a level which caused me to decide my regular morning hot tubbing was not a good idea.

In the picture you are standing on my neighborhood Albertsons parking lot, looking north across one of  my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Industrial Wastelands at some blue sky in the distance.

Since the clouds seem to be moving south I am assuming that blue sky will eventually arrive at my location.

Just as I was about to open the door to exit my abode a loud knock startled me. I opened the door to see a big man dressed in brown. After determining I was the correct person to whom to deliver the package which the big man in brown was holding, I signed an electronic tablet device, after which the big man in brown handed me that which you see below.

Two years ago the United States Postal Service could not manage to successfully deliver a single package to my abode or mailbox. Last year the USPS delivered three Christmas packages right to my door.

This year the USPS has delivered three Christmas packages right to my door, and left one Christmas package in the lock box by my mailbox. And now today's Christmas package delivery from UPS makes five successful Christmas package deliveries.

I do not know what accounts for the vastly improved Christmas package delivery service.

I have no idea what is in today's Christmas package. As you can see it is something from Made in Washington, apparently Artisan something with a truly local flavor, according to what I can read on the box.

Yesterday's Christmas package delivery also contained something made in Washington, but not from a Made in Washington Store.

Yesterday's made in Washington product was four big jars of homemade jam. one each of peach, raspberry, strawberry and blackberry.

It is well known that I am partial to all things blackberry. Blackberries grow wild and free for the picking in the valley in which I used to live in Washington.

Raspberries and strawberries are cultivated in that same valley, in copious amounts. I do not know if peaches are now grown in the Skagit Valley. I suspect not. The peaches for the jam likely came from Eastern Washington.

I suspect French toast with homemade Washington jam is on the menu for breakfast on the morning of Christmas Eve.

I shall resist the temptation to open any of the wrapped items that were in any of the other Christmas packages, or the Made in Washington box, until Christmas.

Or Christmas Eve.

The four jam jars revealed themselves, with no further unwrapping, when I opened the box which contained them, hence their pre-Christmas consumption potential.

I am a stickler for following a strict protocols when it comes to opening Christmas presents.....