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Adios ice

Posted on January 19, 2007 | Comments Off on Adios ice

The live oak branches that were embracing the roof have shed their ice and risen five feet off the shingles. Yippee. Things are getting back to normal at the rancho, with the temperature rising through 40 degrees this morning. Mr. B. is back to school and Mom back to work, and I have the laundry to do before I can get back to working on something I want to do. Going to be busy at the nurseries in another month or so, replacing some of the ornamentals killed by the ice. One cactus I have yet to identify was weighed down by ice and then broke off in the middle. But most of the perennials will come back from the roots. Not sure about the antique roses. They were weakened by the deer eating all their leaves before the fence was fixed, then the ice storm hit and their bare branches were encased in ice. Wait and see.

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It’s Snowing!

Posted on January 16, 2007 | Comments Off on It’s Snowing!

So said Mr. Boy with a whoop. Sure enough, the white stuff is coming down in moderate-sized flakes. A rare occurance in Central Texas. Remains to be seen if it will accumulate enough to make a snowball, much less a snowman. Hasn’t been enough for a snowman since Valentine’s Day, 2004, another cause for whooping and hollering.

UPDATE  Snow briefly got heavy, with big flakes exploding into powder when they hit tree branches, but stopped after about an hour. Mr. B. out making snowballs. Brought in a chunk of ice to put in the freezer as a souvenir.  

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Ice storm looming

Posted on January 14, 2007 | Comments Off on Ice storm looming

Another warning email from Troy Kimmel, who teaches meteorology at the University of Texas. The temperature is dropping through 33 degrees in our neck of the woods and rain is moving into the Austin area.

"Radar indicates that precipitation covers much of the Hill Country and will move northeastward to overspread the IH-35 corridor counties of Williamson, Travis, and Hays Counties shortly."

I hope to be able to post a few more times before bedtime. Don’t expect any power failures before morning, if then. Could be we’ll get lucky and avoid them. Mr. Boy went to bed excited about possible snow, but that rare occurance isn’t expected until tomorrow night at the earliest.

UPDATE  At 11:40 p.m., Troy is tracking thunderstorms over Mason county, southwest of Austin. If they move in here, we could have more flooding before dawn and they might as the rain generally is moving northeast. Interesting times. 

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French car insurance rises

Posted on January 2, 2007 | Comments Off on French car insurance rises

Mexico may be suffering murders and kidnappings in its drug wars, but only the French are losing scores of cars to torchings:

"VANDALS set fire to about 400 cars overnight and police said they arrested more than 250 people, as violence marred France’s New Year celebrations."

At least they’ve got a handle on fireworks and firecrackers. They’re banned. 

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Metric measures

Posted on January 2, 2007 | Comments Off on Metric measures

Texas, as far as I know, has managed to avoid this so far: the imposition of the metric system in Florida health care without regard for patients discovered by the seablogger at Fresh Bilge:

"In Florida clinics I’ve visited recently, weight was measured in kilograms, temperature in celsius. The staff couldn’t even provide translation, and the only vital sign I understood was blood pressure."

He sees it as a manifestion of pushy, European-style globalism. Also unAmerican, if you ask me.

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Three Kings

Posted on December 26, 2006 | Comments Off on Three Kings

Three wounded soldiers: First Lieutenant Ross Stadklev, Private First Class Stephen Hopkins and Specialist Bruce Dunlap whose stories and photos are moving reminders of what’s going on over there while we gorge and otherwise chill. All three will be receiving voice-activated laptops from Valour-IT, but their Walter Reed addresses are included in the piece where you can send a card or a letter.

Via, who else, Black Five 

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March to Mecca

Posted on December 18, 2006 | Comments Off on March to Mecca

It’s nice to see the Left figure out that the Islamists, not Bush, are the oppressors. But their idea of a Valentine’s Day March to Mecca for gay rights is typically lunatic. I hope this is satire:

"The March to Mecca will snake through the sandy, sunny valley of Abraham, and it is urged that you pack sunblock and plenty of bottled water. ‘Don’t forget to blog!’ adds co-sponsor Arianna Huffington. After the march, Rep Barney Frank of the U.S. House of Representatives will host a special VIP rave on the Queen Boat, a floating disco on the Nile. Hugh Jackman will perform hits from ‘The Boy From Oz.’"

Infidels are forbidden to enter the Muslim holy city, an instructive measure of Islam’s intolerance. The Saudis enforce the rule. They may put up with the quaint little Western demo, if the marchers halt when they are ordered to, or they may just machingun a few of them to underscore the point. Either way, this could be a lot more instructive than waving signs about Bushitler.

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