Update,Currently and Finally

UPDATE:  The Solar Impulse flew an unexpected leg of its flight because of the weather conditions. After taking off from St. Louis' Lambert Field, it was scheduled to fly on to Dulles International in the Virginia countryside outside Washington,D.C. Instead, it landed in Cincinnati, Ohio for 16 hours and is en route to Dulles at this writing. There was a pilot change made also. It appears someone needed to eat a big steak on the ground in that 16-hours,too! Go to their website to find out who had the steak. https://www.solarimpulse.com. From Washington, they will make the last leg on to New York JFK before packing up and heading home to Switzerland. It was an adventure to meet Bertrand and Andre while they were at D.F.W.International.

CURRENTLY: I am doing some research on the difference between a muskrat and a nutria. Some seem to think what I have been seeing is a nutria. Others, agree, that I have seen a muskrat. Either way, whether it's a nutria or a muskrat, I've always called them muskrats. So, the only way to settle this in my mind is to research it completely and then report the findings. Stay tuned. The picture is of the beast in question. Some,most likely, will just call it a big rat. Again, stay tuned.

FINALLY: The picture of the three men has a rather interesting story that goes along. When it is hot, my appetite drops off drastically. Lunch is usually something very light and ever since I was a kid, I enjoyed sitting at a picnic table overlooking water. My errands usually end up either at Bachman Lake or White Rock Lake during the summer. If it's Bachman, then it's Whataburger. If it's White Rock, it's either Chili's to Go or McDonald's ( I know-there is a big difference in those two!)This past week, it was McDonald's. While sitting at the picnic table, I could see three men in a canoe and they were having one rough time paddling. The canoe was going one side and then the other and they were loosing ground for any forward motion rapidly.

Next, I noticed that not any of the three men were wearing a life vest or jacket. That is always a concern in any water activity. For nearly an hour, these guys were struggling. Then, as if by a guiding hand, they managed to get near enough the shore that one of the men got out. Shortly, there were two in the canoe and they were heading toward where I was sitting. There was a boat dock less than 100 yards away.

As it turns out, originally, three miles down the lake toward the dam, they had found the canoe sitting at a boat dock. On one of the seats under a rock, was a napkin that read: FREE CANOE. The guys said that they couldn't resist a ride on a hot afternoon. They climbed in and with only sticks of limbs that had washed up around the dock, they used those for paddles.

When, I had seen them near the shoreline, they had, indeed, let out one of the others who had realized how unsafe it was and decided to walk around the cove to the boat dock where he would rejoin the others. One of the guys had been to the Ukraine and Turkey and was sporting a shirt from Australia.

I did submit the images to a Live News Feed and they were posted later that evening.

The Adventurers at White Rock Lake

Some say,Muskrat.Some say, Nutria. Time to do some research.

 

Unofficially Love Field Hit 100 Today

A Red-Winged Black Bird on the fly

Just working the reed shoots

It has been one of those odd things that makes little or no sense, but the Weather Service has one official reporting station for both Dallas and Ft. Worth. It's rather frustrating to have it pour down rain near Love Field  and not rain a drop  at DFW. Frustrating to learn the official rain for the day is zero because Love doesn't count and DFW got nothing,not a single drop.

So, today, it was 100 at Love and only 97 at DFW. The official high for Dallas today,therefore,was 97 and not 100 degrees. So,it was 100 in Dallas but not officially the first 100-degree day of the season. What is even more frustrating is that on the Weather Service web site, they list hour by hour the temps and rain and all that stuff for Love on one page and for DFW and other airports in the area, on another page,but officially, for the two major cities in the Metroplex, its DFW or nothing that counts.It's been that way for years and the weather men must have some kind of fun with keeping statistics that are official but count as unofficial but can be official if what they are officially recording  happens at DFW International. Kind of makes the head spin doesn't it?

That's why I perked up when I saw a Game Warden sitting at a picnic table writting a ticket for one of the fishermen not having a license.That was unusual, but times are tuff for revenue! Or,seeing a second  Dallas Morning News photographer. It seems they use the lake like I do. When nothing else is happening, there is always something unusual at the lake. Boats,be they rowing or sail;bicycles,unicycles;roller-bladers,skate boarders;paddle boarders;cute and unusual dogs,bobcats,coyotes,bald eagles,snakes,monk parots,pelicans,egrets,blue herons,woodpeckers. There is always something out of the ordinary somewhere around the lake.

Even that brings slim pickings some days but one finds some spectacular things like this red-winged blackbird on the fly and two ducks that know that a camera is focused on them. Maybe these two ducks know it was 100 degrees today, even if the 100 degrees at Love Field didn't count as the first 100-degree day of the year,officially.



 

Just Gone Fishin', Maybe

Just Gone Fishin'

Time changes how we look at something.

We have all seen the signs, Just Gone Fishin'. I remember a friend of my dad that finally started dating after his wife had passed away from cancer. She worked in a hospital and everyone in town kidded her about dating with a sign on their cars that said the familiar saying. I was just 7 or 8 at the time but I still remember how funny it was then.

But what do you do when you find the fishing place and it looks like no one is home?  Just Gone Fishin' or just playing hookie!

A White Rock Sail

The lazy afternoons of summer have already set in for the season with the needle on the temperature gauge headed to just shy of the 100 * F mark. Actually, I was hoping that this would be the relief year since we have had three hard summers of drought and high heat.

A trip to the White Rock to eat lunch under a shade tree and enjoy the wild life also found a couple of mariners putting up the sail for an afternoon on the lake.

A Good Ruben at the Farmer's Market

The Sales Demo Lady

The Shop Owner

The lines inside were long,long and more long.

There were no parking spots inside shed 1 or 3.

Once in a great while, my taste buds call out for a good tasting and the good quality of a superb Ruben sandwich. The best that I have found in Dallas comes from a vendor in shed 2. While there, but not before the Ruben had totally been consumed,  I notice a large increase of vendors that were not there the last time I enjoyed a Ruben sandwich here. After saying hello to the owner of the Chicago Sausage Company and who made my first Ruben to perfection, I wander down the isles. I found two women wearing  that perfect color of red gourmet chef's hat. This was a picture waiting to happen and there I was with a camera. I ask if I could take their picture and both of them were so nice to allow me a picture of each of them.

 The shop sells gourmet vinegars,balsamic and others, as well as a variety of olive oils. Take a trip to the Dallas Farmer's Market and drop by and get a good Ruben then go see the gals with that perfect red colored gourmet hat and pick up some gourmet balsamic vinegar.

Did you know that a tablespoon of balsamic in pasta cuts the bad things in pasta down by 30%? I found that out a couple of months ago and have been using balsamic in my pasta ever since. It's even better than before.

Here are the two nice women in the red gourmet chef's hats and a couple of images from the outside crowds that had filled the parking spots outside shed no.1; the spots inside shed no. 2 and no.3. Today I saw more people at the Farmer's Market than I have ever seen there before in the twelve  years that I have shopped there.

Thank You Veterans

Harley sits in a Military Jeep truck looking in the mirror

Dallas County Sheriff's Possi

Helicopter display from Viet Nam at the Memorial Day Dallas Exhibit

A father and son member of Keys Battery Unit

The 73rd Annual MEMORIAL DAY DALLAS Ceremony sponsored by the Greater Dallas Veterans Council started out on the cool and cloudy side of the weather but  did improve before the event concluded. Actually, it was a relief from the hot and humid conditions of past years.

The event is always interesting because of the guest,speakers and people attending. This year, a horse -drawn carriage complete with flag-draped casket was part of a parade from the Abbey to the Field of Honor. The Dallas Sheriff's Possi participated with their beautiful horses and leather saddles. A bag piper and a Revolutionary soldier in full dress uniform marched. The Keys Battery also participated with the very loud cannons that fired during the program. A release of red,white and blue balloons just before the beginning of the program  held a surprise as the winds changed and the balloons got caught in a tree, then were blown out and skyward in a rapid-moving low level jet. I never heard one balloon pop, however.

The display field was filled with helicopters from the Viet Nam era. There was a display of artifacts from Viet Nam,Korea,WWI,WWII and Desert Storm. One table was filled with re-enactment artifacts used during the Civil War. Here are a few of the unusuals.

SolarImpulse

Andre Borschberg

A full wing width view of SolarImpulse.This is the second engine on the left wing

The temporary hanger for the SolarImpulse airplane.

Bertrand Piccard

The fact that the experimental aircraft, powered by solar cells on its wings and tail, has flown from San Francisco (Moffet Field,Mountain View,California) to Phoenix and then set a long distance record for a solar-powered aircraft by flying from Phoenix to Dallas is amazing of and within itself.

Even more amazing is that the technology developed and displayed by this amazing flying machine isn't totally about an airplane. It's about the multi-uses the technology makes available from houses to all kinds of energy-efficient sources to power motors,drives,machines and things that have not even been conceived.

It takes visionaries to lead the way and pioneers to carry out those visions.Two such men that I only knew by what I had read about until Friday jelled when I stood only a couple of feet from Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard. Piccard had piloted the craft from Moffett to Sky Harbor,Phoenix and Andre Borschberg had set the new long-distance record by flying the longest leg of over  800 miles from Sky Harbor to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport early Thursday morning.

They were not the first-two pioneers that I have know. In 1976, Karl Thomas was unsuccessful in piloting a hot air balloon from Maine to Europe, dropping into the North Atlantic and being picked up by a Russian trawler a few days later. Karl was not only a visionary and pioneer, he was ex centric and fully brilliant.

So, to stand in the presence of two great men with visions and pioneering spirit was once again an amazing moment. Good Luck to the entire project of Solarimpulse and the staff that makes the machine as an organization work.