No Texas Clouds Booming In My Zone Of Texas Last Night

Yesterday's predicted Two Inch Hail and Tornado Spewing Thunderstorm did not make it to my location.

Instead it was a very quiet night here in my zone of North Texas.

While I was watching American Idol last night there were none of the annoying "important" weather interruptions by hyper-excitable local weathermen. Instead a nice little message was placed in the upper left corner saying this, that or the other place was having some storm action.

I suspect if I'd been watching something on ABC, instead of the #1 show in TV, I would have seen Pete Delkus doing all sorts of drama queening over a slightly rotating cell somewhere in North Texas that had a remote chance of turning into a tornado. Or producing hail.

I just Googled "Pete Delkus" to make sure I had the name spelled right and was surprised to see this very blog come up. I really do not have a very good memory. It was less than a year ago I mentioned Pete Delkus in a blogging, in March of 2009, title "The Texas Clouds Are Booming & Pete Delkus Is Twittering."

Anyway, that's my morning view in the above picture. A nice blue sky.

Stayed in the pool at least twice as long as any previous time this new year. I'd never thought to take the temperature of the pool water before, but did this morning. Took the hot tub thermometer and stuck it in the pool.

54 degrees.

That fits with my operating belief that the pool water temperature pretty much is an average of the air temperature over a 24 hour period. Which means it will be even warmer tomorrow.

I'm off on a photo assignment this morning. With no danger of running into Gestapo Goons.

Waiting In Line At The Fort Worth Public Library

I needed to return books and get some fresh reading material. I'm a reading machine. It's appalling.

The Fort Worth East Regional Library is a short distance from my abode.

Very convenient.

I've liked going to the library since I was a very little kid. I grew up a block away from the Burlington City Library. I was very young when I got addicted to reading kid's books about the Wild West. This gave me a very distorted view of what happened at Little Big Horn that was not fixed til a long time later when I read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.

I digress.

Today when the library came in to view I saw the parking lot was almost full. The Fort Worth Library is very well-used. But the public is very ill-served by the Fort Worth Library, well, more by the City of Fort Worth, which has cut back on library hours and days open.

To my way of thinking cutting back on library hours is one of the last places you want to be cutting back. If you saw all the kids I saw in the library today, after hours, on a school day, you might come to the same conclusion.

Why has none of that HUGE Barnett Shale windfall that fell on the City of Fort Worth been spread on the library? Maybe Fort Worth's saint of a mayor, Mike Moncrief, could donate the more than $600,000 he makes a year from the gas drillers operating in the town in which he is not supposed to do business with anyone where he has a Conflict of Interest, to the Fort Worth Public Library. If Moncrief did this I promise I'll never mention his criminal behavior and need to be jailed and fined, again.

Since the library cutbacks, another thing is bugging me. The Fort Worth Library is the only library I've ever been in where I get stuck waiting in a long line to check out books. This problem has only arisen, near as I've noticed, during the Library Cutback era.

Now, I have seen with my own eyes that there are libraries in Texas that are very efficient and ultra-modern. For instance, the City of Grapevine Public Library has a self-checkout method. This seemed like a very good idea. I have seen libraries on the West Coast with this checkout method. I was pleased and surprised to see this efficiency had migrated to Texas.

But, unfortunately, not to Fort Worth.

First National Weather Service Tornado Alert For North Texas Of The New Year

My mom called me while I was on the way to the library to tell me she'd mailed me something to my P.O. Box. She also told me they'd had a good rainstorm in Phoenix with a much bigger one on its way, which my baby brother had driven through on his way back to Phoenix from San Diego.

I told mom all I've got happening, here, is some big drops hitting the windshield.

And then I got back here to find WeatherBug chirping with the National Weather Service's first Tornado Alert of the new year for North Texas. It sounds like this might be a BIG one. Hail 2 inches in diameter, Thunderstorm wind gusts to 70 mph. Heavy duty Lightning. And I suppose a chance of flash flooding.

I should alert the Haltom City creek monitor about fresh incoming, but I don't want to alarm her. She's had a rough enough week already.

Below is the National Weather Service Tornado Alert for North Texas....

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 10:00PM CST
Sel2
spc Ww 202157

Urgent - Immediate Broadcast Requested
Tornado Watch Number 2
Nws Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
355 PM CST Wed Jan 20 2010

The Nws Storm Prediction Center Has Issued A Tornado Watch For Portions Of Extreme Southwest Arkansas South Central And Southeast Oklahoma North Central And Northeast Texas

Effective This Wednesday Afternoon And Evening From 355 PM Until 1000 PM CST.

Tornadoes, Hail To 2 Inches In Diameter, Thunderstorm Wind Gusts To 70 Mph, And Dangerous Lightning Are Possible In These Areas.

The Tornado Watch Area Is Approximately Along And 80 Statute Miles North And South Of A Line From 40 Miles West Northwest Of Fort Worth Texas To 10 Miles South Of Texarkana Arkansas. For A Complete Depiction Of The Watch See The Associated Watch Outline Update

Remember, A Tornado Watch Means Conditions Are Favorable For Tornadoes And Severe Thunderstorms In And Close To The Watch Area. Persons In These Areas Should Be On The Lookout For Threatening Weather Conditions And Listen For Later Statements And Possible Warnings.

Discussion, Thunderstorms Are Expected To Develop And Intensify Across Part Of North Central TX/South Central OK Along Warm Front In Response To Increasing Dynamic Forcing For Ascent Associated With Strong Upper Trough Approaching From The West. Relatively Steep Lapse Rates Above Moist Pbl Are Contributing To Unstable Environment With Mlcape Of 1000-1500 J/Kg. Effective Bulk Shear Currently In The 35-45 Kt Range Is Supportive Of Supercell Development, And Low Lcl Heights And Sufficient Low Level Shear/Srh Will Enhance Threat For A Few Tornadoes With Discrete Cells That Form.

Aviation, Tornadoes And A Few Severe Thunderstorms With Hail Surface And Aloft To 2 Inches. Extreme Turbulence And Surface Wind Gusts To 60 Knots. A Few Cumulonimbi With Maximum Tops To 450. Mean Storm Motion Vector 25035.

An Arlington Barnett Shale Gas Drilling Operation Disappears While A Nice Lady Breathes A Sigh Of Relief

A few days ago I blogged about a message I got from Lynda, regarding her nice mom's ongoing woes that she attributed to a Barnett Shale natural gas drilling operation, a short stone's throw from her apartment balcony.

When I first talked to Lynda's nice mom it was the noise that vexed her.

And then Lynda sent me the new message telling me about chemical odors that had been wafting into her breathing space, making her mom miserable.

Yesterday Lynda sent me a new message, with good news...

Durango,

Lynda, the nice lady's daughter again...I didn't know if you heard, but the day after you posted this, the gas drilling rig was taken down...I don't know exactly what happened, but it is gone!!

Thank you for all you do.

Lynda

I don't know what the current status of this particular gas drilling operation is. Shut down?

When I first blogged about this gas drilling operation I said I was appalled at how close the drilling tower was to the apartment complex. One of the tenants told me that the rig was 40 yards from the residences. That is 120 feet. Not the 800 feet I thought was the necessary distance.

I think I said something about Arlington having a history of abusing its citizens in their homes.

Did someone go check out this drilling operation and realize it was way too close to where people are living? And order it halted?

Did someone, somewhere, in an official capacity, actually do the right thing for once regarding gas driller bad behavior?

Or is Lynda's nice mom just experiencing a lull, to be followed by water delivery and fraccing?

On a different, yet somewhat related note. Yesterday I saw that there was no White Darth Vader Truck guarding the Beach Street/Gateway Park Express Energy water removal operation.

Did someone, somewhere, in an official capacity, order Express Energy to stay off the paved public Trinity Trails? And to quit trying to intimate citizens walking on the public trail, taking pictures? Did someone alarm the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the damage being done by Express Energy Services to the Trinity River levee? Did someone from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality tell Express Energy to knock it off? Were the Express Energy White Darth Vader Trucks visited by the Fort Worth Police regarding their lawbreaking?

Or was the White Darth Vader Truck, and its goons, just taking a break when I drove by yesterday?

I'm afraid the last possibility is the most likely one, seeings how I don't think anything has happened that has lifted the protective bubble that protects Fort Worth and its surrounding area from being subject to the laws, ethics and sense of right and wrong that guides the rest of America.

A Foggy Fort Worth Wednesday

That is the foggy Fort Worth morning view from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony.

Miss Puerto Rico should now be off the island and waiting in Miami to get on a plane back to Texas. Unless complications have arisen due to the ongoing Haiti Crisis.

I am happy to have my cat caring duties over with.

It was 65 at midnight, 50 something when I went swimming this morning. The balmy temperatures have warmed up the water noticeably. Right now it is already 64, supposedly heading to a high of 75.

It is Wednesday, so I am heading north to Southlake in an hour, or so. I hope I don't have a tire go flat on me.

Taylor Pugh Is Back In Mesquite School With New Hair-Do

Four year old Taylor Pugh was finally allowed back in his Mesquite Floyd Elementary School classroom, after the Mesquite Independent School District Thought & Hair Police approved of Taylor's Princess Leia, from Star Wars, French Braided new hair-do.

Taylor's mom and dad are continuing with their quest to move Mesquite to the Land of the Free, and into the current century, via appealing the district's decision to the State Commissioner of Education.

Surely the Taylor's have lived in Texas long enough to know that the Texas State Commissioner of Education is not all that concerned with education, but likely will be quite concerned about the need to follow orders, I mean rules, without questioning them.

The Mesquite School District's Superintendent, Linda Henrie, actually said that, "Taylor could return to class, with braids, as long as they were close to the head and didn't end in a ponytail or bun. Otherwise, he would have been moved to the school office area or the in-school suspension classroom."

I don't know if the Mesquite Superintendent is aware that her school district is an International Laughingstock. Taylor's case is now a cause on Facebook, drawing 100s of supporters. Taylor's case has generated thousands of blog comments, with the majority in support of Taylor and appalled at the ridiculousness running rampant in Mesquite.

There is at least one petition getting signatures in support of Taylor. I do not know, exactly, what the petitioners are petitioning for. A public vote, in Mesquite, on school policy? A recall of the school board and superintendent?

A protest march is being organized in Austin to pressure the Commissioner of Education to grant the Taylor's a fair hair hearing.

Again, how can people be so naive. You are in Texas. How many "fair" hearings have you ever heard about taking place here?

Logging The Tandy Hills In Fort Worth For The Brush Bash

I did not make it to the Tandy Hills today til late in the afternoon. A flat tire around noon caused me a bit of unwanted adventure, none of which I photo documented, due to my camera not being present.

On the way to the Tandy Hills I had to go to my bank. There's one of those on Beach Street that is on my route, if I take the freeway.

That also let me see the Beach Street/Gateway Park Express Energy water sucking operation. At 4 in the afternoon I did not see a White Darth Vader Truck, with goons, guarding the site. Maybe they finished with their water removal for the day.

Or maybe they got arrested for damaging the Trinity River levee and for driving on the Trinity Trail. Yeah, I'm sure that's why the White Darth Vader Truck was gone. The goons are in jail.

On the Tandy Hills I saw that a lot more logging had taken place, since yesterday, in preparation for Saturday's Brush Bash. Some of the logs looked like they'd make good firewood. I wonder if those are mesquite logs? That'd make a good smelling fire. I have a fireplace that I never use.

We did not get to the predicted 72 today, only to 71. Tomorrow's predicted high is 75. These balmy temperatures have warmed up my pool. I lasted about 10 minutes this morning before I'd had enough.

I got an interesting tidbit of information this afternoon. I'll blog about it tomorrow when I'm back in top operating mode. Right now I'm tired.