More Snow On Day 4 Of Being Snowbound In Texas

Around 11 the snow stopped falling. While it was falling I was out in it. That is one of my motorized vehicular devices you see covered with a thick white substance.

The white substance was very powdery, so I easily removed it.

Walking in the 6 inches of snow was a lot easier than dealing with walking on ice. But, I had an incident or two where I nearly slipped into falling mode.

I took several pictures to take you on a virtual tour of my latest Texas Snow Day.

Looking out at the pool it is hard to believe I used to swim in that thing. It looks very cold currently.

The icicle I showed you yesterday now is surrounded by a ring of snow.

Above I'm up by Albertsons, looking down on Boca Raton Boulevard. The van on the right is stuck.

To the left of the view of the stuck van is a couple rows of parked, snow-covered cars. I don't know if they are stuck.

That is the Super Bowl Buffet on the right, with a truck and a car going slow on the Loop 820 Interstate. It does not appear that the Super Bowl Buffet is open today.

On the south side of the Super Bowl Buffet looking across the parking lot at Albertsons, which is open.

Currently it is 22 degrees out there. I think that's the warmest it has been for days. The sun seems to be trying to break through the clouds. Some sun might help warm things up a bit. And cause melting, which will then freeze again into a slippery, icy mess.

It is days like this that cause me to miss the temperature, moderate, easy going weather of Western Washington.

I called my mom this morning while I was out playing in the snow. Mom politely listened to me whine about the weather and then told me it was me who chose to move to this place. Phoenix froze last night, down to 26, according to my mom.

Miss Puerto Rico just called to tell me she is out of essential groceries. I told her I'd go on an emergency essentials hunt at Albertsons this afternoon.

Weather Alert With Snow Falling Again In North Texas 2 Days Before The Super Snow Bowl

I was hoping today, the 4th day of the 2nd month of 2011 would bring some relief from the ice and snow and cold.

Maybe as this Friday progresses we will get above freezing. But right now, coming up on 8 in the morning, it is 19 degrees with some form of frozen precipitation falling.

The frozen precipitation is being like icy droplets of fog. Not snow. But, snow did fall overnight, coating every surface once more in white.

Early this morning the National Weather Service had this to say...

"A localized band of heavy snow has developed over the eastern parts of the DFW metroplex with snowfall totals reaching 4-5 inches over Dallas. Snowfall through the next few hours is expected to be light to occasionally moderate, but additional totals of 1 to 2 inches are possible."

Below are some blurbs from the Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram about our latest day of  freezing in North Texas...

Great. According to the above forecast by 6pm today we  are still well below freezing. Which I guess means the roads will remain nothing I want to be out driving on. I should have stocked up on more food when I saw so many people doing so on Monday when I was in Wal-Mart. Apparently the longtime locals knew more than I did.

I wonder how many decades it will be before the NFL decides to play another Super Bowl in Arlington? I suspect that may never happen until all sorts of new facilities are built around Cowboys Stadium so that all the Super Bowl activity can take place in one location, rather than spread out over a very large area.

ESPN probably will never return to downtown Fort Worth. Such a sad turn of events. Large crowds were expected, instead the opposite has happened, with that reality captured by a picture and a sentence in this morning's Star-Telegram, with the caption under the picture of a single person standing on an empty parking saying, "A lone fan wandered through the winter wonderland that was Sundance Square as snow fell early Friday."

Still Icebound In Texas & Now Thinking Of Going Swimming With The Icicles

A long long time ago I used to be able to go swimming in what is now my ice pond. The fountain that spouts water into the pool has caused really big icicles to form.

I am really hoping that the icicles begin to melt tomorrow.

Right now it is the hottest it has been here in days. 19 degrees.

Snow is predicted to be possible from now until tomorrow.

Up in my old hometown in Washington, right now, it is 48 degrees. The Scrabble Queen of Washington is escaping those frigid Washington temperatures tomorrow by going to Hawaii.

Meanwhile down in Port Aransas, on the semi-tropical Texas Gulf Coast, Alma has had to give up her regular flip flops and put on real shoes due to it being 40 degrees in Port Aransas. Houston is scheduled to possibly get some snow. I have not heard if the snow is predicted to make it all the way to Alma.

Back here in the D/FW Metroplex the usually hot Elsie Hotpepper turns into Elsie Coolbean in this icy misery.  I've heard from Elsie erratically ever since we went into the DEEP FREEZE. Usually I have heard from Elsie Hotpepper several times by this time in the day. I hope she did not try and do some saloon hopping in these dire conditions and suffer some icy woe.

Al Gore has been in the news explaining how the worst winter weather in decades is just one more sign of Global Warming. I think I actually voted for him.

Rush Limbaugh Weighs In On The Texas Super Bowl Week Ice Storm, Rolling Blackouts & Getting Power From Mexico

I listen to Rush Limbaugh for a few minutes every once in awhile while I do yoga. Getting aggravated listening to someone be aggravating is entertaining at times. And might be salubrious for ones blood pressure.

Somehow I often manage to be listening to Rush Limbaugh during one of his episodes when he says something that catches flak. And due to having heard what he actually said I find myself on Limbaugh's side, as I hear how badly out of whack the flak is from what he actually said.

Anyway, I just heard Rush do a little rant about our current frozen situation in Texas. According to Limbaugh, Mexico is helping Texas out of its power problem by sending electricity to Texas.

I did not know the Texas grid is connected to Mexico.

Rush also mentioned the havoc the Ice Storm and freezing temperatures have wreaked on Super Bowl week, mentioning, in particular, the pathetic ESPN scene in downtown Fort Worth where broadcasters broadcast to an empty Sundance Square parking lot while enveloped in the vapor caused by their hot air meeting the frozen air.

Limbaugh also said that nothing like getting power from Mexico ever happened back when J.R. Ewing was running Dallas.

Typing this is not as amusing as it was hearing it.

I've still got him on and he's now taking a phone call from someone in Dallas who is telling Rush how bad the ice situation is here, with freezing pipes breaking, closing down power plants. The caller is now telling Rush that Texas drivers don't know how to drive on ice.

Rush is now defending the Texas drivers, saying no one can drive on solid ice.

Next caller is complaining about the Rolling Blackouts being due to no new power plants having been built in Texas in years.

Rush is continuing to speak well of Texas, most prosperous state in the Union, having to get power from Mexico. And how this must be embarrassing to a lot of Texans.

I'm a transplant. I'm not finding it all that embarrassing to get some electricity from Mexico.

Okay, I've reached my Rush Limbaugh limit for the day.

According To Dolores The Super Bowl Will Be Played In Cowboys Stadium In Arlington

The weather info and countdown to the Super Bowl is a screencap from this morning's Dallas Morning News.

Note that the countdown is titled Super Bowl XLV - Arlington, TX.

Meanwhile, over in Fort Worth, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, there was an amusing letter to the editor this morning, written by a resident of Arlington who feels Arlington's honor is somehow being besmirched by the media and Jerry Jones.

Below is that letter, complete with the Star-Telegram's title for the letter...

Arlington's honor

Why is it so difficult for the media as well as Jerry Jones to acknowledge the fact that Cowboys Stadium is indeed in Arlington, where, I might add, the Super Bowl will be played? We, as residents of Arlington, voted to raise our sales tax to help pay for the stadium. Give us the courtesy of recognizing the city as the host of the Super Bowl. Our mayor, Dr. Robert Cluck, worked very hard to secure the honor of the stadium being built in Arlington. Please, give credit where credit is due.

-- Dolores Bielby, Arlington

I Am Still Freezing In Texas With No Rolling Blackout So Far Today

It was nice to wake up this morning to not find that another Rolling Blackout had rolled in.

It is still well below freezing on this dawn of the third day of the second month of 2011.

I read this morning that the Rolling Blackouts were caused by the freezing temperatures knocking out some key pieces of equipment at many of the Texas generating facilities.

I was hoping to drive up to Hurst today.

To see if this was possible I went on a test drive yesterday around 5.

I failed the test drive, so I won't be going up to Hurst today.

I had visually checked the road in my immediate vicinity and it seemed fairly clear of ice. I was not too long on the road when I discovered the clear road, in my immediate vicinity, was an anomaly. I was not long into driving north on Bridgewood Street, heading to Randol Mill, when the road became ice covered. Bridgewood, on its way to Randol Mill, goes down what amounts to being a steep hill in these parts.

I crawled down the steep hill at a speed my speedometer was not able to register. Eventually, before it got dark, I made it back here.

I am really really ready for the Texas Temperature Pendulum to swing back into the 70s or 80s. And stay there.

I Slipped & Slided My Way To The Super Bowl Buffet & Found It Closed

That almost looks like a mountain range in the background rising above my neighborhood Super Bowl Buffet.

But, there are no mountain ranges within 100s of miles of the location of my neighborhood Super Bowl Buffet.

In the picture, I am standing in front of Albertsons, looking northeast, across an iced over parking lot, with trucks sliding around helter skelter.

It appeared that the Super Bowl Buffet is not open today. No big surprise, all things considered. But it is sort of ironic that the Super Bowl Buffet is closed on Super Bowl week, with the Super Bowl being played just a few miles to the east in Arlington's Jerry Jones Palace, also known as the Temple of Greed and sometimes referred to as the Dallas Cowboy Stadium.

I wish the Super Bowl Buffet was open today. Now that I've established that I can bi-pedal my way to it, via simulated cross country skiing, I'm in the mood for some good Chinese food.

I probably have ingredients in my refrigerator with which I could simulate a good imitation of Chinese food. But it would not be all that good. And it sure would be no buffet. With shrimp. Come to think of it, I do have shrimp in the freezer.

I've got a few hours of power before the next Rolling Blackouts roll in. I am prepared for it now. Sort of.