Category Archives: Texana

Stiles

Posted on June 9, 2007 | Comments Off on Stiles

Fence+Ladder+Stile.jpg

I borrowed this from Texas Chef, who seems to have got it off this Wikipedia entry about Wales. He wonders if anyone in Texas still builds these things, called stiles. I remember seeing one–a bit shorter than this one–near a rest stop on US 290 West, east of Fredericksburg. Or maybe it was Texas 71, west of Bastrop (which, BTW, is celebrating it’s 175th anniversary this weekend), but I think it was on 290. Looked pretty ingenious to me. Doesn’t defeat the fence because it’s too narrow for the animal (theoretically, anyway) to get over it.

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Posted in Scribbles, Texana

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Of buffalo

Posted on June 8, 2007 | Comments Off on Of buffalo

JD Allen in Brazoria has another interesting riff, this one on buffalos and Hollywood, with bulls and cows mixed in and around there. This is the sort of buffalo I was preoccupied with earlier, an IED hunter, in a link to something Teflon Don was describing. But JD’s is the more elemental, mythic American Great Plains animal you have heard of. Speedy devil.

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Posted in Iraq, Texana, Troops

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D-Day + 1

Posted on June 7, 2007 | Comments Off on D-Day + 1

I let the anniversary pass, so I could include both relatives, both from Dallas, who went ashore on Omaha Beach on the first and second days. One, a great uncle who landed on the first day as a Navy communications officer, died a few years ago. The other, his nephew who was an Army officer in the signal corps who came in on the second day, is in his eighties. I like Belmont Club’s take:

"Sixty three years after D-Day the ghostly 8th Airforce bomber fields are silent, unvisited by men now too old to make the pilgrimage. Across the green counties, ‘Muhammad is now second only to Jack as the most popular name for baby boys in Britain and is likely to rise to No 1 by next year’…"

Changes, indeed. My great uncle’s nephew went back to Omaha in 1999. I turn the little bottle of sand he gave me in my hand. It looks like ordinary beach sand. But it isn’t.

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Posted in Scribbles, Texana

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Goodbye to storms

Posted on June 4, 2007 | Comments Off on Goodbye to storms

More clusters of severe thunderstorms moving in from the northwest, just like last evening. Bob Rose says we might as well enjoy the thunder and lightning, as these cells may be the last we see or a while:

"This may be the beginning of our typical summer weather pattern. If today’s long-range solutions are correct, today’s storm activity could be the last of the spring-like storms our region will see this month."

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Goodbye to dry

Posted on June 3, 2007 | Comments Off on Goodbye to dry

droughtmonitor.jpg

This, compared with this from last December, shows how our south central part of Texas (and the  rest of the state) has come out of a big drought in the past six months. In the last two hours, we added another inch or so of rain as some big storms swept through from the northwest. Lowered the temperature about 20 degrees, into the upper 60s. Some urban and small stream flooding, and enough lightning to leave about 7,000 people without power. We weren’t affected. Mr. B. got a little excited by a few close lightning strikes, however. Lot of hail reported. Probably see the damage from that tomorrow.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Nice wet May

Posted on June 1, 2007 | Comments Off on Nice wet May

About 7 inches of rain fell at the airport and another 7 inches at Camp Mabry last month (the official Austin raincounter sites of the National Weather Service), about 2 inches more than normal for a May, which is usually wet. Seablogger says the rains have already come to droughty Florida, although TS Barry isn’t due ashore (near Tampa) before tomorrow morning. Its huge circulation is well ahead of its core. Two named storms already this year. Makes you wonder if it really will be as rough as forecast, or a bust like last year. Texans often are in the embarrassing position of having to wish for rain from tropical storms or hurricanes (knowing someone on the coast will have to get blasted first) but not this year. We’re flush with wet. Probably a tipoff that we’re headed for more. Feast or famine is the weather rule in Texas.

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Posted in Texana, Weather/Climate

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From dry to wet

Posted on May 28, 2007 | Comments Off on From dry to wet

LakeTravisRise.JPG

Lower Colorado River Authority graph shows how far and how fast Lake Travis has risen since last Tuesday, thanks to the weekend storms in the watershed. The lake is now forecast to hit 684 feet above mean sea level by Thursday, without any more rain. That would be a rise of 11 feet. I didn’t bother to visit the marina this morning, figuring the parking lot would be under water. Certainly is now. Ah, well, I have other chores including a backyard to mow when the wet grass dries out by tomorrow.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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