Category Archives: Texana

Going batty

Posted on July 9, 2007 | Comments Off on Going batty

Austin’s famous colony of Mexican freetail bats–under the Congress Avenue bridge–is just the start of insect-reducing operations in Texas. A bigger and more useful bunch from 12 major caves scattered across the Winter Garden of South Texas fill the sky to such an extent each night that they appear as storm clouds on weather radar, according to a new study by the National Science Foundation.

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Posted in Science/Engineering, Texana

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Turk’s Cap

Posted on July 7, 2007 | Comments Off on Turk’s Cap

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This favorite of the Texas native ornamental shrubs can be found all over Austin. Buy a house and it comes free with your yard. Or you could spend every spring finding the fuzzy leaves and pulling them up. But then you’d miss the funny, red flowers some 19th century settler apparently thought looked like a fez. Hummingbirds and butterflies love them.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana

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Fourth from the left

Posted on July 6, 2007 | Comments Off on Fourth from the left

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The family sloop. So near and yet so far. Beyond reach for the moment, with Lake Travis apparently peaked at 701.2 feet msl. That’s 20 feet above normal, sort of normal. Full, anyway, although it’s normally lower than 681 this time of year. The radar is mercifully clear and the lake is actually falling a tiny bit, now at 700.97, though it looks like another week, maybe two, before I can get back to work on the cabin. Probably be full of mildew by then, and I’ll have to start over. It’s the outboard I worry about most. Not good for it to sit out there without being run every few days.

UPDATE  Fresh Bilge reminds me, via this link, how easy we have it compared to Lake Texoma. 

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Posted in Sailing, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Drought will return

Posted on July 6, 2007 | Comments Off on Drought will return

After 44 days and nights of almost constant rain, it’s wise to remember that Noah’s Ark this ain’t:

"We need to keep in mind that these rains will stop, the earth will get parched and cracked, the grasses will wither, all will return to what it was last year. Drought and flood are a cycle. If we don’t bank the water we’re getting now, we won’t have any to withdraw in the next drought."

Indeed, LCRA meterologist Bob Rose predicts a drier, if not quite dry, week ahead.

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Posted in Texana, Weather/Climate

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Austin advises Iraq

Posted on July 5, 2007 | Comments Off on Austin advises Iraq

“’They (the Iraqis) have their own system and we are working within that system with Austin leveraging their experience and processes. There are things inherent in government concepts that just work,’ he said, explaining that there are models in place within the realm of civics that are essential to the running of any government."

I’m not sure I’d call Austin’s a city government that works, much less a model, considering its perpetual problems: the police periodically shooting minorities to death, the uneven, pot-holed roads that never seem to be repaired, the two months it took us to get a replacement garbage can, despite repeated pleas, and the interminable council meetings due to all the protests of this or that. Doesn’t Iraq have enough problems already?

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Posted in Iraq, Texana, The War

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Canoe exit

Posted on July 5, 2007 | Comments Off on Canoe exit

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The reflections in the water in the foreground make this a little artsy. The point of it is the way the dock extension at Anderson Mill marina leads into the water, with a canoe strategically placed presumably to help one get to shore. It’s probably worse than this by now, Lake Travis having risen about 3 more feet since July 1 with two more to go according to the latest LCRA forecast. More rain forecast today. It might be Monday before we see the sun again.

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Posted in Sailing, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Up she rises

Posted on July 4, 2007 | Comments Off on Up she rises

Lake Travis, still taking in water from the rains in the western Hill Country, isn’t satisifed with 700 feet above msl:

"LCRA now forecasts that Lake Travis will peak between 701 and 702 feet msl based on rain that has already fallen. However, more rain is expected today throughout the region. Be advised: If there is much additional rain, at a time when the lakes and river are already full, more floodgates may be opened with little or no notice."

Radar’s almost clear at this hour, but that’s expected to change by dawn. Wait and see.

UPDATE By late Wednesday, the forecast was 703 feet msl. Not much on radar, except some really powerful storms around Bay City, southwest of Galveston. 

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Posted in Texana, Weather/Climate

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