Water, Water, Everywhere!

Just west of the Kayak Boat Ramp

Toni Morrison once said, " All water has perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was."

Well, that helps to explain some of the millions of gallons that is every where in North and Central Texas right now.

After the Doctor today, it was only sprinkling and I drove from the Doctors to the Lake. Sadly, two big and mammoth trees have been lost. The ground is just saturated and the weight of the trees shifty the pivot point enough to bring the trees down under their own weight. What a loss. Both were in areas that have a fair amount of traffic with people walking their dogs and picnic tabling just west of the Kayak rentals boat ramp and the other is just across from the new boat shelter that has just been built and where photographers watch Owls and Red Sholder hawks. In fact, the Red Shoulder was sitting on a light pole on Mockingbird as I came down and he was a bit restless. After seeing where the tree stood and where it fell, it was clear that it might have been a nesting tree this past season.

And, the link that we are only one person away from knowing everyone was kind of driven home while talking with my Doctor. He had gone on vacation to India to see his mother and father and had stopped in Istambul,Turkey on the way back to the states and was there just a day or two after the Washington Post reporter went missing. Never in a million years had I ever imagined that someone I knew would have been in Turkey at that time where a journalist of reknown status would go missing. It just points out how small the world has become as it grows even smaller today.

It's like I would never have imagined in fourth grade when Mrs. Ray had our class pick a spot in the world where we would like to visit someday. I had picked Rio. Just over three decades ago, I'm on a flight climbing out of Rio over the bay. I'm looking down at the beautiful site when it all comes back into memory that I had picked Rio for that class project.  Here I was looking down at the very place that I had walked, dined, and absorbed the culture for a while. Where would I want to go now, I had been to the place of my dreams.  That's an awful experience to have experienced. Awful in a good way. So many people have dreams that are never fulfilled. Actually, I had never expected for me to have fulfilled mine either. Fate deals hands that are random but also  a part of a master scheme of life, I believe.

Along Buckner on the street side and just west of the Big Thicket Building on the park side.

If this had happened with someone sitting at the table, it would have been severe. This goes the the trunk seen at the top.

 

Water,Water,Every Where

One might be hard pressed to find a canoe for sale. Just kidding, of course, but the 11th straight day of some measurable rain has fallen and the sun is almost just a faint memory. Tomorrow, the sun was to be out all day. That has now changed and we might see the sun  briefly Sunday and Monday, but come Tuesday, new ten day forecast advertises rain again.

The National Weather Service publishes for the landmark airports in the Metroplex, rain totals for the official gauge at DFW International. It also list Love Field, which is up stream from me. The total rain gauge amounts reported each 6-hour period since February 20th thru 11:53 A.M. today (24th) is officially 8.36 inches. Needless-to-say, we are OUT of the drought conditions that had returned from a year ago.

Yesterday, was my first day out in nearly a week. Cabin fever was pretty bad. With errands building up, it was time to get out for a bit. Knowing that I could get down Garland Road to the dam at the lake without hitting any areas that traditionally flood; looking at my list of errands was enough to set out for gas and the grocery store and stay dry. The bank and the pharmacy can wait until Monday and that is not carved in stone for need purpose.

Here are some of the images of the spillway flow.

From the upper spillway below the dam looking downstream to the tidal pool and the second spillway that turns left. There are two flows on either side of the island that forms the tidal pool. The flow that you see here is of the left flow right at the second spillways beginning.

The USGS official water level that is automated and located here as part of the reporting of the flow rate in the Trinity River Watershed on their website. There is another gauge that picks up where this one tops out. It is mounted on the side of the spillway. Both are satellite transmittable.

This is below the spillway that flows below the dam looking back up toward the dam and  into the tidal pool. It then is turning a sharp left into the lower spillway before discharging directly back into White Rock Creek, that flows into the Trinity, a few miles farther south of here.

This is the second spillway (the lower one) that steps down into White Rock Creek again. You can see the water forming downward and upward patterns that are a result of the steps under the water. This is about 20 feet deep where the white caps are forming. Also, keeping in mind that any water that is running off between the Red River and here is flowing into the Trinity through these creeks into the lake. So, the levels today are certainly higher than what you see here from yesterday. In fact, until today, I have never seen on my Yahoo home page a solid block in red that said, FLOOD WARNING. TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION until today. 

In spite of all this, there are trees that have open buds and I have seen one white flowering tree in full bloom already. I'll do an additional post with an image of rain drops on a tree with open buds that I shot on the walk up to the observation deck above the dam. I also found a dangerous "Widow Maker" and reported it to the Park Maintenance Office.Any wind could snap the rotten wood from the top of the "Y" that caught the branch and cause it to fall onto the trail. The size and the weight of the branch would be enough to cause a death if it fell directly on someone. The park guys are great about removing things like that. Last fall, I reported on in the parking lot above where the Kayak Rental is located and they removed it with an hour. The city doesn't want any law suits but these guys also know that most people walk around and never look above their heads at what might be a future Widow Maker. 

University of Central Oklahoma Women's Rowing Images

Currently, the images have rotated to page 3 row 8 and continue throughout the 48-hour cycle to rotate downward until they fall off into archives.

For Live News Feed Images click on anywhere within the black box with the word ALAMY. After new window opens, click anywhere within the black A box again. When the page opens to the search bar, click on all images, and scroll down to the bottom to Live Images and click that on.

 For our stock images at Alamy, click on the link: Images by dallaspaparazzo  in the search box. Getting there is the same as above except you do not click on live images, you click on the line that says Images by dallaspaparazzo

Turn the Soil, Water and Spring! But Wait!

 The Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes proclaims that there is a time and a season for everything under  heaven. It's a verse that I learned in early childhood. Each year about this time, I begin to look for the time when life springs forth for another year after a deep winter's sleep. This year, the sleep was a little colder and a little deeper than in the past 40 years. The yippee-dippy weather man said tonight that we would freeze again for the 51st time this season. It will warm up into the mid 70s and then we become cold again where the weatherman will have to count the freezes again. Our typical last freeze here in Dallas is 13th of March. It's like cheering on the ponies at the races....and here they come down the stretch.. Spring is pulling away from the pack......and it's Spring by a length!!

After checking on Fred at the bank today.....

 ( He's the surviving Beta fish. The three previous were Jack and Jill  who died. Then came Fred and his partner. One Monday morning about two months ago, Fred's partner was stung by a big spider and did not survive. Now, the bankers cover Fred's tank at night. It's the only bank that I can remember where a fish was the topic of discussion with almost every transaction. Fred and his partner were a gift from a customer after Jack and Jill departed )

......I set out to check on the progress of spring.  In less than a mile, I found Spring. However, tonight we are going to have a hard freeze again. The good thing is that the winds will be light but moving air, thank goodness.

First: turn a little soil.

Next: Spinkle with a little water

Voila! Spring!

Celebrating the First Day of Summer

Enjoying the hunt

Anchoring

Somethings and summer just go together like milk and oreos. Other things are just aligned with the forces of nature that draw sportsmen like metal to a magnet. Either way, when you mix both summer and fishing, you get something like this.

I called out to the gentlemen and ask if I could take a couple of pictures. He replied that I could.Then, I ask the second most important question: Are they biting? and he replied this time with: "NO" That doesn't take away from the sport at all. Everyone knows that fishing takes a lot of patience.

Paddlesurf

                                                                                                                                                                      It's always a gift to get a 60-plus degree day in                              

A super nice paddle board he sells at their shop

I watched him put this in the water and it was one of the most easy I have ever witnessed.

Off from the ramp and headed toward the dam. I saw him from the road down at the dam later enjoying his paddle surf

Mid January. With plenty of blue sky early on, before the high cloudiness rolls in toward sunset, it didn't take much to get me motivated to get out and walk. Deciding where to go was the next problem as Dr. Oz was at Cowboy's Stadium giving free physicals to over 1500, the annual Stockyard Rodeo  Exhibit will be filling the stockyards in Ft. Worth with a million visitor, Founder's Plaza at DFW had aviation geek weekend going on at Texas Trail and Airport West so the magic rabbit in the hat is always White Rock Lake. With all the good weather, there would be people all over the lake and that means finding something unusual and not normally found. Well, as the luck of the  draw happens.......White Rock was a winner again.

This gentleman is a partner in a paddle board shop and had with him one of the new stand up paddle boards. The shop has some unique activities planned for a bit later on this spring. It  sounded awesome. His shop: RIOSUP. They offer: Core Fitness Training and also have boards/gear/Eco tours.


  

Paddle Boarding on a Fall Afternoon

A paddle boarder works his forward stride.

Now, the glide from the stride!

A paddle boarder gets in a good workout on the lake between the dam and the water pump station at White Rock. The pump station building--a historic landmark--is getting a face lift thanks to the city of Dallas and the water district. The trail across the top of the dam and the front of the water pump station are currently closed,although the risk-takers continue to make tracks.