As My Grandfather Would Say: " It's a Million Dollar Rain Event."

 The rains have arrived. The thunder is here. It's going to be a day inside as the chances of severe storms are running about an hour ahead of the forecast. Hail, wind, squall line, and with any springtime storm in Texas, the possibility of a spin-up is always a chance in an isolated super cell.

"Severe thunderstorms producing damaging winds, very large hail, and a few tornadoes are expected over much of north-central Texas this afternoon and evening including the Dallas-Fort Worth Metro Area." is the headlines on the National Weather Service web page out of the Ft.Worth Office. So, with that, it does appear that it will be Monday before the sun shines again! 

It looks very well like a Domestic type day of doing the laundry, ordering in the groceries watching movies, listening to Classical Music. I know we all need those kinds of days now and then, but it really puts a dent in my walking and step count for the month. And I was doing so well, thus far. In fact, my monthly total up to sitting down here at the desk is at 118,548 steps for April; a caloric burn of 4656.1 calories, 50.51 miles and a total of 22.18 hours of walking at an average of 2.3 miles per hour. 

Somehow, some of the Earth Day images did get published and hopefully, more will get done before the end of the week with the weather not the best for being outside. So, already today, my seasonal change is published on the blog with only minor changes to color backgrounds---maybe. The change this year is a major change ( for the better I do believe ) that will shock a few of my die heart readers.

Change is good, buds! I even considered that some might have a minor problem of learning how to navigate the new layout. It isn't that difficult. Watch your cursor and when it gives you the hand, go ahead and click it on to see for yourself what it does. There is no big black hole that you will fall into if you click on something here. If so, I already would be unable to be writing this. It only took me a couple of times before I got back to where I was. Confidence was high as I did not waste time to back up the old layout. 

It had been around longer than it should have been, but with the hospital trips etc.,etc. it was on of those items that had to wait a bit longer than I like. Plus, I lost a whole day on Monday when AT&T lost service to my area. At first they said 6-8 hours to repair, then I got a text that they had "worked that AT&T magic" and got things working after I had left the house and was in transit for the day. 

The orange pilings are for the 4th level of  elevation so imagine the growth rate to cover an entire piling in a decade or so.

Barefoot and homeless under the High 5. The encampment was large and there were open fires burning in pots for what ever reason. That was a surprising thing to see for being under a bridge. In as much as I would have to consider that to be a hazard in so many ways. Just imagine driving and have drafts pulling dense smoke up along the sides of the roadway at the high 5's altitude above grade level if that pot were to ignite the cardboard, blankets and plastic items. This view was on the far side of Cottonwood Creek that merges with White Rock Creek up stream from White Rock Lake in a few miles. The City is trying to clean up the encampments at the Forest Lane Dart Train Station that is the trail head to the Cottonwood Trail that I walked to this point. Beyond is Mid Park  Exit where I caught the bus back to the rail station after having a burger and shake at In and Out, at the Coit and West Bound Service Road of I-635 LBJ at the heart of the Dallas High 5. All that clean up did was to move people farther north to the High 5 area.