Blue Bell Is Back

Many years ago I tasted ice cream from the Franklin Dairy Stores.  Their brand was my favorite for many years. Then, I went East and tasted ice cream from the Friendly's chain in Boston . They had a double chocolate that was like fire works to the palate. When they expanded West, it caused me to defect from Franklin's and eating Friendly's for many more years became normal.  Then Braum's  became the taste bud's choice in Texas. My first trip to Braum's this year was in early March. Double dip of chocolate in a waffle cone was the standard fare. But the take- home choice was found at Kroger's. Their Death by Chocolate would jump into my cart every time I pushed the cart down the freezer section isle. So when the scandal at Blue Bell turned Texans upside down not knowing what they were going to do with no Blue Bell during the summer there was a report about what made ice cream really good in the first place. At Walmart, their SAM'S label sold at Walmart is made with all the natural ingrediants and I discovered it tasted just like the old Franklin's Ice Cream and Friendly's. Rich, creamy, and just plain old-fashioned to the 'T'.

When I finished shooting fall scenes that some of my web designers like to use when they do web pages, I headed to Kroger's to get a couple of fill-in items. As I went past the freezer's,  people were lined up putting Blue Bell in their carts--and then going back to get a second half-gallon and some ever got three!! All I could do was to chuckle. I'm so ice-creamed out right now!

While people were having Blue Bell withdrawals this summer, I was content with Braum's and Kroger's Select Death by Chocolate or Sam's French Vanilla (which to me taste just like taking the crank off the cylinder and pulling out the blades so you could scoop that first big spoonful of home made ice cream.

Here's a few shots from this afternoon.

While this is most likely one of the old buzzards at the lake, it has some tell-tale signs of being a juvenile bald eagle with the white feathers beginning to show on the head, the wings and tail.

seed pods and leaves changing made for a nice contrast

That look of leather on this solo leaf  is just plain pretty.

07Nov2015: edit to correct a typo and misspell.

Happy Halloween Y'ALL

BOO!

First Soggy Month Since May

Well, as so many know, it rained again. The official total at DFW International for a 24-hour period from 06:53 on October 30 to 06:53 on October 31 (today) was 2.24 inches of rain. Add that to the 7.67 total fell just a few days ago and the soggy total tallies up to 9.91 inches.

Needless to say, Dallas only received a little less than half the amount of  the near 20-inch totals Austin area received. That's why their Round Rock is round--all that water keeps swirling around grinding that old rock down and down until it's round. Of course, that's why Austin is weird and keeps getting more weird.

Rain, glorious rain.

Leave It To A Retired Fireman

There are a lot of pecan trees in Dallas City Parks. Irving has their share of them too! In fact, it's hard not to find a pecan tree on public property in Texas, let alone private land. The point being, yesterday a retired fireman with his dog, allowed me to take a picture of a very neat gadget he was using to pick up pecans.

Over the years about this time you can see people with bags stooping over and picking up pecans. Back breaking work, no? Well, this contraption saves all that and is actually a neat invention.  Keep in mind that I only discovered this invention yesterday, today I saw two more people picking up pecans with home made gadgets. Until yesterday, seeing people use tools to pick up pecans had never been witnessed before.  One was as simple as a Campbell soup can on the end of a broom stick. Of course, you never see things like that until you discover something neat. Then you find out that there are all kinds of home-made contraptions. Some, of equal ability. Some,not so equal.

The way it works: You roll it across the ground. The wires seperate when they hit a pecan shell. The pecan drops into the wire and then returns back in its normal shape. To emply, seperate two wires with your fingers and shake into the bucket. Dang. Why didn't think of that?

What separates this neat invention from the others home-made or not, is the fact that you net only pecans. No leaves, no sticks, no rocks, The fireman had a 5-gallon painter's can nearly half full when he showed me how the contraption worked.

North Texas Begins To See Fall Colors-- Only On A Faster Track Now.

Fall colors have started to appear in North Texas as they usually do around the first of November. It seems that this year,  however, they are on a fast track to change rather than the slow change usually seen.

Final Totals from Rain Event

With the last reporting of .03 inches of rainfall at the 06:53 reporting by the National Weather Service at Dallas/Ft.Worth International Airport, the keeper of the official rain gage for the Metroplex, here is a breakdown by the 6-hour reporting totals.:

October 22 18:53-------------0.39-inches
October 23 00:53-------------2.18-inches
October 23 06.53-------------0.33-inches
October 23 12:53-------------1.70-inches
October 23 18:53-------------0.16-inches
October 24 00:53-------------1.46-inches
October 24 06:53-------------1.33-inches
October 24 12:53-------------0.09-inches
October 25 06:63-------------0.03-inches

Total rainfall 10-22-to 25
06:53 reporting hour is         7.67-inches

NB-- notice that there is no reported rain fall at the October 24 at 18:53 or at 00:53 on the 25th. No rain fell at those reported hours but fell after the 00:53 hours reporting. That is the marked decline of the storms  rain fall as the cold front moved across and the moisture from Tropical Depression Patricia was pushed farther south toward the Gulf and the Houston area.

October is traditionally the wettest month in the Metroplex. Up until this time we had no rain but a recorded trace for October. The past three days was everything it had been hyped to be as you can see from the totals.

Double that and then some just south of us  and totals were showing up as 17.67-inches in Corsicana, Texas. The rushing waters washed a BNSF train of gondola cars right off the tracks and put it on its side.

No rain is forecast until this coming week-end. Oh! Boy!

The Rain Is Winding Down

As of 06:53 reporting at DFW International (the official weather reporting station for the Dallas/Ft.Worth Metroplex) 7.55 inches of rain has fallen. There is another 0.09 of an inch not included in this update, but will be included in the final total.

On a side note-- Tug boater Mike should be in the air heading to Toronto and then on to home base Halifax, NS. at this writing. At least we gave you some transition weather between Texas heat and your winter season already underway for your return home.