Tag Archives: Texas

Dust storms

Posted on February 24, 2007 | Comments Off on Dust storms

It’s just windy in Central Texas today, with what trees were still clinging to brown leaves losing them over the Rancho. But there are wildfire warnings out because the humidity’s low and the vegetation is dry, and a fire seems to have hit Fort Hood. But it’s worse elsewhere in the state.

"The winds kicked up the dust across North Texas, turning skies brown and cutting visibility to less than a mile in some places. The dust storm extended from Lubbock to North Texas."

Mr. B.’s grandmother called to wish him Happy Birthday, and then told of the dust storm in Fort Worth, so it’s at least that far south of Lubbock. Then a friend told us of some brush fires along Interstate 35 near Buda, south of Austin.

UPDATE  Cool North Texas dust storm slideshow, via LCRA’s Bob Rose. 

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Posted in Weather/Climate

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Looking for a flood

Posted on February 22, 2007 | Comments Off on Looking for a flood

Area meteorologists aren’t enthusiastic about the prospects of a rainy spring, as El Nino bows out and La Nina walks downstage. Bob Rose certainly sees no more than light showers late tomorrow:

"While this is typically a fairly dry time of the year, the overall pattern seems to have shifted back toward dry after a period of rain in January.  With most storm systems being too weak or tracking too far to the north, I’m not confident we’ll see a wet period return anytime soon."

So, even though the marina wants a new annual contract, the boat remains practically inaccessible on vanishing Lake Travis. That’s Texas, long periods of drought broken by intense flooding. I’m ready.

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Posted in Weather/Climate

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The Muckdogs

Posted on February 17, 2007 | Comments Off on The Muckdogs

Mr. B. got his baseball team assignment via email this morning: the Muckdogs. Strange name. A farm club in upstate New York for the St. Louis Cardinals, actually. So why for Little League in Texas? Beats me. Worse thing is he/we don’t know any of the other boys on the team. But he’s happy."I always wanted to be a Muckdog," he said. "They’re the best." Just shows how much I know.

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Posted in Mr. Boy

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The girl from Mexia

Posted on February 12, 2007 | Comments Off on The girl from Mexia

I wasn’t going to write about the late Anna Nicole Smith, or Vickie, as some of her friends called her. But she was a Texas girl, and so maybe it’s fitting. She liked to be compared to Marilyn Monroe, but, as others have pointed out, Marilyn was smarter and more talented, and she also had an affair with a former president. No, not Clinton. Another Democrat. JudyAnn, of Just Muttering, concluded from watching the talking heads discuss ANS that she "entrusted her business as well as herself to people with the trustworthiness of tumbleweeds." Even one of her former high school teachers doesn’t like to analyze her, except to indicate (via his brother) that people in Mexia (muh-HAY-ah), a little country town northeast of Waco, are kind of ashamed of her. Oh, I don’t know. She wasn’t any trashier than the rest of the mindless celebs of American pop culture. Maybe she was even a little bit classier, if only because, being from a small place like Mexia, where she had worked at a local carryout joint, she probably knew all along what people really thought of her. Hopefully the daughter she left behind, over whom several claiming-to-be fathers are squabbling in hopes of getting some of the money ANS fought so long for from her deceased 89-year-old Houston husband, will be able to grow up with some semblance of a normal life. Hopefully.

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Posted in Scribbles

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A hard row to hoe

Posted on February 7, 2007 | Comments Off on A hard row to hoe

I used to work with Mike Cox when he was a police reporter years ago, before he became semi-famous as the state police spokesman during the Branch Davidians’ standoff in the 1990s. He’s written a bunch of Texana books since then, and he’s still a good writer. This column of his on Texas cotton farming is a reminder of that, and of a life that once defined the youth of many but, blessedly, is now pretty much gone. As they used to say: "Kids that don’t learn to pick cotton never amount to anything."

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Posted in Texana

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Deep in the heart

Posted on December 19, 2006 | Comments Off on Deep in the heart

Strategy Page reports on a potentially disturbing development:

"The heavy equipment for the troops at Ft Hood moves by rail to Houston and Beaumont, where they are loaded on ships for movement overseas. The tracks cross numerous little gullies and creeks. For the most part the viaducts across these obstacles are made of creosote-treated wood. And there’s absolutely no security. In one night a half dozen guys with some trucks and matches could do enough damage to hold up the movement, of half a dozen brigades (III Corps), for weeks."

Let’s hope someone is doing something about this. Alerting the sheriffs in the affected counties would be a good start. 

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Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops

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Happy campers

Posted on November 17, 2006 | Comments Off on Happy campers

We’re making our last checks and pulling together things we still need, like C batteries for the flashlights and paper plates and cups. ‘Cause we’re off about noon tomorrow for the Tiger Cub’s first camping trip, an overnighter at McKinney Falls state park, 744 acres on Onion Creek southeast of Austin. Must not forget to charge up the camp light so Mom can read Mr. B’s nightly story to him. Tent erecting has been practiced, so no likely glitches there, but I’m still not sure about the self-inflating air matresses. Never heard of them, and I find some get lousy reviews on the Web. We shall see.

UPDATE  Mom tested the air matress. It inflated easily and she thought it was comfortable–in the family room. No telling if it will be thick enough when filled to work well on hard ground.  

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly

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