It's Been 80's and 90's for a couple of weeks. The trees have all popped right on time

 North Texas usually sees (this year was no exception) greens and flowers on the trees by March 1. Living in the Great Lakes, you could always expect it on Income Tax Day, April 15 (depending on how it fell on the calendar). Having said that, the shutter has been clicking on the cameras with walking tours of trails, lake shores, river banks, and gardens. Yesterday, I had only a t-shirt on with a light wind breaker. By mid afternoon, the light wind breaker was in my camera cart. 

Today, it's a rain day and we always need rain in North Texas. The lakes have been near conservation levels but evaporation does take its toll, too. The landscape guys have been cutting the grass since mid January. My lawn looks like it's ready to bale hay and it was just cut within the last 10 days. 

My step meter has been active, too: 6,381; 8,638; 6,557;5,887; 487 on Election day - early voted and had to do laundry ; 9,732 yesterday. Today is a rain day and it will be less than 600 most likely. But, with the rain comes a cold front passage, yet by Monday, it will be sunny and 71. The bigger question is what with these 80 and 90 degree days so early, will be in store for May and June this year? 

I have been a bit behind on changing up the web page for spring. but, at least I got a good start today. I haven't been to the St. Patrick's Day parade in the past two years. That is coming up next weekend but I do need to check for any updates. Then, the big thing is hotel rooms are booked to the max for the total eclipse that is coming in early April. I am very interested in that in that my grandmother told me about the time when she was a kid and it got dark in the early afternoon so much in fact, the chickens all went to roost. The path for the event this time follows the same path that it did when my grandmother was a teenager. I need to get a pair of glasses so that I can actually watch it without eye damage. I would pass rather than have eye damage but I do want to see what she saw all those many years ago. 

Mom taught me about weather. She was deathly afraid of tornadoes. Outside of that, she was like an iron gate of strength. But, I lived through three tornadoes--- one in chidhood, one in my late teens and one in adult life, however, I was in Hurricane David in 1979 when it hit the coastal estuary confluence of the Waccamaw River, the Pee Dee River, the Black River, and the Sampit River in Georgetown County, better known as Wineah Bay South Carolina. Never saw rain fall horizontal until that storm. Went to Winn Dixie and stocked up on food then filled the bathtub with water (after cleaning it first). The next morning as the storm pulled out, all the flooding from the 12 inch or so of rain was all gone. I've seen more damage from tornadoes than from what David served up. Of course, I'm thankful because my wife and our three kids were there with me. From our porch we could see the Coast Guard Station that was on the Intercoastal Waterway. We were in a good spot for help had it been needed.