Category Archives: Texana

Flood gates to open

Posted on June 18, 2007 | Comments Off on Flood gates to open

The rains ended yesterday, but the runoff is still flowing and Lake Travis is now at 682.14, about a foot higher than it was Friday. So LCRA is making plans:

"At 4 p.m. today, LCRA plans to fully open one floodgate at Buchanan Dam and to increase releases from Mansfield Dam from about 5,000 cfs with two hydro units to about 7,500 cfs with three hydro units. Inks Lake will rise to about two feet above its spillway. Tomorrow morning at about 8 a.m., LCRA plans to open one floodgate at Mansfield Dam for a total release of about 12,000 to 13,000 cfs."

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Posted in Sailing, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Travis still rising

Posted on June 17, 2007 | Comments Off on Travis still rising

LCRA says the weekend’s rain is expected to end tonight, but Lake Travis is still taking in runoff from storms in the watershed, including one area that got almost six inches overnight, and the lake is expected to be about 683 feet above mean sea level by next weekend. That would be about 18 inches above where it is now, which might put the rest of the parking lot at Anderson Mill marina underwater. With the sloop’s rerigging scheduled for Monday, the 25th, I’ll have to hope the water isn’t full of debris and boating banned by then. It should take me about thirty minutes to motor to Yacht Harbor Marina for the work, unless there’s logs and other big stuff to dodge.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Sailing, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Home leave

Posted on June 17, 2007 | Comments Off on Home leave

Teflon Don is blogging his home leave. He seems to have arrived, but mentions this stop in Dallas:

"After another long stretch in the plane, we landed in Dallas. The people in Dallas are great–my first glimpse of America included a fire truck spraying an arc of water over the plane to welcome us home. Inside, the terminal was almost bare, but there was a still a small crowd that went to the airport at 6 a.m. to greet us."

Some veterans groups, particularly Vietnam veterans, organize these welcomes. Glad to see they’re still doing them at DFW. I guess the firetrucks were organized by the airport. "No one was rude," he writes, as if he expected some might be.

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Posted in Iraq, Texana, The War, Troops

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Lakes filling

Posted on June 16, 2007 | Comments Off on Lakes filling

LCRA site shows Lake Travis has risen about 12 inches since last night’s rain, as flow rates rise in the Llano and Pedernales rivers. Indeed:

"Inflows from overnight rains are slowly filling the Highland Lakes. Flood operations are not anticipated at this time. However the chances of flood operations this weekend have become more likely as the lakes fill."

They’ll start later this afternoon with hydrogeneration at Mansfield Dam, and likely stick with that if the predicted more rain in the watershed doesn’t start driving the level up too fast. Opening flood gates always seems to be the last resort, given it’s a reservoir, and opening too many can flood people living along Lake Austin farther downstream. Those folks are sure to be watching LCRA’s balancing act.

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Posted in Sailing, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Life and death on the southern border

Posted on June 13, 2007 | Comments Off on Life and death on the southern border

When you don’t have a real border, because you don’t have enough people to enforce it, and won’t build a fence to help them, you get fearful citizens, arming themselves a hundred miles from the Rio Grande:

"If it was the immigrants of old there’d be no fear; you’d live and let live. If they wanted to improve their lives that’s fine. Before, the travelers came alone or with one or two of their family, and they were humble, polite. Now they come in packs. They’re desperate, bold. A lot of them are pretty well dressed, and everyone seems to want to go to Houston. It’s a completely different element."

From The Immigrant Graveyards of South Texas, a long read but an uncommonly good one from the Texas Observer. Via AlterNet

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Posted in South of the Border, Texana

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Great Blue Heron

Posted on June 13, 2007 | Comments Off on Great Blue Heron

GreatBlue.JPG

You might have trouble imagining a sparrow to be the descendent of a dinosaur. But it’s easy with these birds, pterodactyl-like as they are, especially in flight. This one was fishing on Lake Travis. 

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Posted in Texana

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They gasped

Posted on June 10, 2007 | Comments Off on They gasped

Gasped, I tell you, when President B. failed to address the Pope as "your holiness." Then, to show that he had no shame, whatsoever, he crossed "his legs ‘Texan style.’" I’m still working out that one. Apparently only the South African Press Association has a clue as to what it means.

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Posted in Scribbles, Texana

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