66 Hours Below Freezing and Counting

One of several  of these fountains look much like this one. It's been below freezing the past 66 hours (and counting).It has not been this cold in Dallas since 1979! Tonight's low will be 19-degrees F.

The second and third tiers were just as frozen as the top.

Ever heard of "BIKING"?That's when you wake up in the morning and look out at your front yard and discover three or four dozen of these "park anywhere" bike rentals have been parked in your lawn by your prankster friends!

Last Remote Post #5:

I didn't win the Lotto or the Mega Lotto

I did plant three trees in large porch pots that cut the afternoon heat down from 130 degrees F to 105 degrees F during the afternoon summer sun  beating down on my porch. This tree was someone doing much the same thing as I did but on a much more massive scale of operations.

T

I took more pictures this year than in the past 10 years. The total images published with agents and distributors is at 6,566 images. I didn't win the race with a friend of mine what published more. However, my goal was to publish 1250 images this year and I did accomplish that goal. The indexing is also done, but for security reasons cannot say what that's about. So as the two on this fun ride fly and reach for the sky, the year slipped by almost as fast as they were having fun.

So, to our readers, while being  in a focus to set new records this year, we also published more post this year than  in the past few years, passing the old record of 126 post. If you, our readers, found one thing to chuckle about, or learned something about urban photography, then we have fulfilled a part of our mission statement which is dedicated to my son, my mother and my maternal grandmother. Without them as three corner post in my life, this blog, the urban photography and archives would not have been possible. 2017 was a great year in many aspects. It is to be hoped that all of you have a very good, safe and happy 2018.

Remote Publish No. 4: Wishes

Wishing all our readers the quiet peace of this season.

Remote Publish #3: The Point---Up and Down

Sometimes, Solutions To A Problem Come From Above.

Not always can one shot tell the whole story. In this case, the DFW Sectionals pinpoint towers like this and list the height, which is more or less controlled by the FAA. See the ladder. It goes all the way to the top to change the bulb and is listed on the charts as 1029. That's a lot of steps on that ladder!

The bases of these twin radio towers are upside down pyramids.

Remote Publish #2: Just Birds---The Feathered Kind

Black ring bill seagull

Double crested cormorants

Cormorants have no oil in their wing feathers so that they can dive. They need to dry the feathers afterwards.

Publish Via Remote: TEXrail Cars Are Here

Basically, I'm a geek when it comes to trains and planes. Put me at a rail station or an air field and I can zone in happiness all day long. Put me in an area where rail and planes mix and I am in geek heaven. Like the friendly Welcome! at Walgreen's, I got my Welcome! with a view of the new TEXrail cars built by Stadler of Switzerland. It is Stadler's first American order for a model outside the GTW product line. The cars are being built in Salt Lake City under the Buy American Agreement.

The 27-mile commuter rail owned by "the T" in Ft. Worth, will service Tarrant County and Terminal B at DFW. DART, the Dallas light rail, has been arriving at Terminal A for three years already. Unlike light rail, the Stadler cars are DMU's or Diesel Multiple Units and will be WI-FI ready when they begin service sometime in November, 2018. They are standard guage at 4 feet 8 and one-half inches or 1435 mm metric. They also have crash bumpers for better safety in event they are in a crash.

The video presentation on the TEXrail site explains how the two muni-operated systems will interchange with each other allowing passengers from Ft. Worth to ride the DART light rail to downtown Dallas. With so much international traffic at DFW and more to come, the customers are used to having rail service to the central business districts. With DFW being a joint venture between the two cities already, the separate rail systems  bring a unity of rail transport to the Metroplex. The Cotton Belt that DART will bring by 2022 will connect the northern sections of Dallas and Tarrant Counties from Plano to Ft. Worth. Least we forget the TRE that runs from the T&P in Ft. Worth to Dallas' Union Station many times a day and the A-Train from Frankfort Station on DARTS Green line to Denton, is also part of that same unified rail commuter system.

The rail road is very much a part of history in this part of Texas. It is only natural to have a lot of support for the railroads. With the future construction of the Bullet Train from Houston to Dallas/Ft. Worth growing closer and closer, the further transportation of  riders on a modern rail system coupled with a wold-class international airport, brings even more reasons to live in this great part of the US as yet another link is under construction. These cars are part of that link known as the TEXrail.Welcome,Aboard!!

DMU's

Service November,2018

New Platforms at Grapevine Station for TEXrail. The Vintage Railroad Train in Grapevine, is also running special trips for the holidays

Simple Walks

Trying to get out and get nice walks in has been less than easy for me of late. It seems things are out of sync and even the camera has been showing me that my lens need to be tightened up again. If it isn't one thing, then it's another. We all know how that goes. But, I need the walks for the exercise. They do make a difference.

Still, I have managed to cover four separate trails that I don't get a chance to walk that often. So, I made a point to cover that ground and even get in another one of those that I seem to only do once or twice a year. Mostly, because they are just birds, wild life, flora and landscape. But, when things are happening, that can even tire you out. On one trail, I ran across a guy getting his golf swing warmed up. He had plates on his car from Central Michigan. That's a Mac Team! He knew it was cold up there that day and so did I. Here we are 1200 miles south and we both know how cold it is in different parts of the state on the same day. The odd things like that I have always found to be interesting even though it is not as uncommon as one would think.

As I made my way down the trail,  quickly, I noticed a major landscape change taking place as new high tension towers and old towers were coming down, going up and the tall prairie grass had been beaten down to bare ground. A tree had been splintered and will probably die this winter. The damage was just two much. Then, I start to observe the wildlife and birds. These little creatures have territories and watch over them day and night. It is amazing how nature takes care of her own and provide solutions to any kind of natural or man-made destruction in the wild. One little meadowlark was excited and at one point it was almost like he was trying to show me what was going on around his home. There was a handrail over a culvert crossing where water was flowing downstream . It looked to be a natural spring but so many of those have been covered up it is difficult at best to know if this one was one, or not.  The little meadowlark flew up on the hand rail and was chirping and turning its head toward me then chirping again as it looked away. It was somewhat comical and somewhat bothersome not knowing what the little fellow wanted or needed. He was trying so hard to express his upset mood. A couple of bikers that had ridden past were coming back after about 10-15 minutes. I ask one if the trail was closed ahead and he said that it was. The construction crew road in to were we were was keeping two guys busy with cherry pickers and more work was going on beyond our point. That fact was confirmed by both the bicyclist.

Old square base towers were coming down in three sections.

The new towers are less invasive---imagine that!

My liitle meadow lark was upset and seemed to be trying to relay that frustration.