The Lines Were Long On Day One!

Well, the first day of early voting  on Monday, wasn't a day to vote for me. I went over the lunch hour to vote and was met with lines out the door. The lady in the car next to where I parked said that the wait time was about 35 minutes. I said that I came at noon thinking everyone would be out to lunch. She said that she had thought the same thing.

I went on my route to try to get some good shots with the sun out and blue sky. About three-thirty I returned, but the lines were even longer. On the evening news, the topic was how the polls all over the city were lines out the door. So, its going to be interesting to see who gets tossed out from being an incumbent. I have a feeling that a lot of incumbents are going to get tossed on their ears in these mid-terms. Plus, the number of signs out in front along the sidewalk were triple to what had been there during  previous elections and primaries.  Actually, I'm glad to see people doing that and not being an old stick in the mud by not turning out to vote. The last election, some two-thirds of Texans didn't vote according to some reports being aired. True, it was an off year, but still, that is a lot of hand-sitting there, bud! Politics in Texas is different. I'll give them that, but those days are falling by the way side as a whole new generation of hi-tech, social media, Whole Foods, gluten free, i-phone, app happy kiddos are showing up at the polls. Ride 'em cowboys!! Politics are tossed them riders left and right now.

Return to Native Grasses Is So Nice

A look at another world.

Simply Put: Delightful!!!

Pelicans out for their afternoon thermal riding.

After the first cup of coffee this morning, I looked out onto the porch thermometer and saw that blue sky and sunshine and it was in short order that I had put myself together, grabbed my auto coffee cup, filled it with fresh brewed and out the door I went. It  was just past 9 o'clock. It was perfect! The air was a bit chilly until the car warmed up. Unlike yesterday when I dressed with the wrong layers and got to hot as the outside air warmed I made sure that didn't happen today by changing the layering of cloths so that I could eliminate layers as it warmed. By 1 p.m. I was down to just a T-shirt and jeans. It was a total delight as I shot butterflies and pelicans fishing, riding the thermals and those graceful landings. I even got a Great Blue Heron and an Egret. But, most of all, I was able to walk some distance and not have any problems.

It was 3 o'clock before I headed in and wasn't so sure that I was even ready then to be inside for the rest of the day, but I did manage better than I thought.

Yesterday, there was the third wave of migrating Turkey Vultures--Buzzards-- migrating overhead in large numbers. The Buzzards of Hinckley Township, Ohio was among some of those most likely. Hinckley, North Texas might has sighted your migrating Buzzards. It's rather interesting watching waves of 70-80 buzzards riding the thermals overhead. My question is how do 70-80 buzzards find enough road kill to feed them during their migration? Maybe that is why they ride the thermals during migration. They might be looking for something to eat.

Tomorrow is the opening of early voting and I'll be glad to go vote and put that to rest.

Fishing at the Spillway

A migrating Monarch is on a very high nectar bloom. 

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.

 

Since Posting The Beto vs. Cruz Eureka Point

Here is a sign that I didn't have to hesitate one bit to answer, "YES!".

In fact, just today: from Linda Koop to Ana-Marie Ramos. 

And from Governor Abbott to Lupe Valdez

Angry Clouds Greeting The Day

When I was making coffee this morning, I do my usual and head to the porch to see what the day is going to be like--hot---cold---wet---dry---windy--- cloudy---sunshine. Making a point to the fact that weather does play a very strong part in emotional stability. I made that point from years of calling my customers from coast to coast. Almost every conversation came back to what's the weather like there? Or, something to that likeness.

If I was calling, say Florida, and they had just had a hurricane (like the awful one named Michael) I  would call another customer, in say Maryland. You soon learn just how much your world is different from someone else. You also learn that people react to weather in different ways, but they react none-the-less. So, my old habit of starting my day by looking out to see the 'real time' weather and not something coming from the TV, is partly habit and partly a genuine interest in how weather can be a very big emotional load on someone else. Knowing that in business brakes barriers. Knowing that today also plays a big role in pictures. Editorial images will also go as a "new" around the world. Weather is such a major part of our world. 

Just as soon as I saw the sky, I ran back inside and grabbed the camera. These types of clouds sell very

Angry Looking Clouds from a Eastern Pacific former Hurricane.

Former Hurricane Sergio, now Tropical Storm Sergio centered over the Baja of California already sending his flow of moisture to North Texas. We are forecast to  have 4-inches of rain plus over the next 5 days. AARGH!!!

Warm air flowing over the top of cold air--or is it the other way around?

well to graphic artist and copy layout. Because they are  relatively rare, when that cold air gets overridden by warm moist air, the effect is spectacular. The mix was just right. They don't last long either so time is of the essence.

Just as soon as I shot the most interesting ones--I loaded them up on the computer to see what I actually had. As I had that first cup of coffee and was going through my images, it hit me that the day was going to be more wet than dry and that I had better get moving before the downpours came.

As I headed inbound after this mornings shoot, I stopped at K-Rogers to get some of the fresh rolls. They do bake them in store but the dough is frozen and shaped so they come out in that big roll that I cut down the center and toast. When I got home, I started a whole chicken in water. Forty minutes to cook in a rolling boil of salt, pepper, onion and a little poultry seasoning. I usually cook mine about 50-55 minutes and then pull the chicken out and put it on a cooked sheet where I de-bone the chicken, and set the skin aside.  The dumpling I cheap a little. Walmart Neighborhood Markets have frozen dumplings in strips and I cut the strips into thirds and put the chicken meat and dumplings back into the water and let it simmer for another 45 minutes with a can of  cream of chicken soup.  All I'm going to say here is that yes, I went back for seconds and it was so really good. I'll have it tomorrow again and then freeze the balance for quick meals later on. The bones and skin I will cook off tomorrow and make chicken noodle soup. The high after this second cold front is not getting out of the mid 40s. I stopped at ACE hardware on the way to the doctors,Wednesday to get furnace filters and I'm sure that I will probably have to turn the furnace on earlier than last year, I didn't turn it on until the 27th of October when it hit 36 degrees. Nine degrees or less is getting pretty close to that, but its about a week to 10 days early this year. In 2016, it was well into December before I turned on the furnace.

I'll make my batch of chili sometime around Thanksgiving where I can use up the turkey in the chili. I always tried to alternate the ham and turkey. If I had ham this year on Thanksgiving, I had turkey on Christmas and vise verse. Then, I discovered the whole turkey breast frozen thing and started buying two at the same time and be done with the main course for the holiday. Hotdog would sit on the bistro chair and watch me cook. She loved being in the kitchen and I miss her so now. I had her for 13 years.

The Battle Between Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke

Anytime a race tends to get close, especially a heated one, all the negative articles begin to come out. You can't count on polls because they are so factorial, they can be twisted to what ever outcome one wants. But--- I read one today and I thank Will Weissert for writing the article.

It got me to thinking. And when I go down that lane, look out. It's like a double dare. After reading the well written article and weighing the facts, it became clear  at once--I call that Eureka Points.
So, in my Eureka Point, four things stood out. Teddy Cruz is a Harvard Lawyer. Beto O'Rourke is a 1.) Furniture Store Owner;2.) a real estate investment tycoon and 3.) wealthier than Teddy Cruz.

Teddy went to Harvard and Princeton then worked as a law clerk for a Supreme Court Justice. Beto worked as a nanny and proof reader for a New York publisher, leaving that to go to Columbia on student loans and getting a degree in English literature.

Teddy's wealth is pegged at $3.9 million and Beto's wealth is pegged at $9.0 million.

In comparison: Teddy, Manipulates (what lawyers do with their knowledge of the law) and Legislates. Beto, Educates and Legislates.  The choice then becomes---do I want a manipulator who legislates or an Educator that legislates?  Somehow---I've always favored informing people through education rather than manipulating people with that attorney know how syndrome.

I choose Beto over Cruz. Party didn't matter. But, what really mattered was that Teddy was a taker and Beto was giver.

As a side bar, in my travels I have seen Beto yard signs 8-1 over Cruz. It's only been in the past two weeks that the increase of Teddy signs have been noticeable.  To me, that's a sign that Teddy's backers are  getting a bit worried and that Beto might sweep the election. Both have raised about $23m each and won't have to spend their money for the election battle.

The polls tonight were just as I had mentioned. They show Teddy up 9% over Beto with 4% undecided and a margin error of better than 2%. In short, one could make the point that the election is in fact, a neck to neck race.

Beto will work harder for me than Teddy and I have to go with Beto.

That's my choice and  why I'm voting for Beto. Amazingly, the young voters have also picked up on this fact and they say that they are going to turn out like crazy. I hope that they do. Voting is still the one thing that we can do under our Democracy. You don't need social media to tell you how to vote. Figuring things out can best be done individually but applied reasoning and good ole gut feelings will get the job done! 

Educates and Legislates--English literature degree from Columbia

Manipulator and legislates--will not give a direct answer because he is a  Harvard lawyer.

Sidebar #2: For those that think that I might be playing a race thing--- I'm also voting for Lupe Valdez. We need Lupe as our Governor as much as we need Beto in the Senate. If you liked Ann Richardson when she was  governor, you are going to love Lupe as Governor. 

Raining Cats and Dogs Again.

Rain being trapped in a gossomer web looks like ice

Crow in a Halloween Tree. Gloom, Gray and Ghostly

Texas is a crazy place for weather. Right over Dallas is the "mixing bowl" of cold air, warm humid air, Gulf moisture, Jet Streams, High Pressure Systems and just about anything else that can be blended for some mixture that we call weather. Hail. Tornadoes. Flash Floods. Ice storms. Snow. Tropical Systems. Eastern Pacific Hurricanes that come in over the Baja of California into the desert southwest and get picked up by the jet streams. Speaking of things that get picked up....a few years back, a run of tornadoes danced just south and east of the Metroplex and picked up semi trailers and were floating them around the funnel like they were little toys. To see the video of that was just wild.
But, in the scheme of things it all fits together and trying to figure it all out waste so much time of our short time on Earth. The lesson then, must be: Don't worry about the things you cannot control. Worry, after all,is interest paid twice. The animal kingdom knows this. We are the ones who have a difficult time figuring it out early in life. 

In the winter of my life, I don't want to spend all my time inside so I make a point to get out of the house by noon for three or four hours very day. Today was no exception even though it as raining like crazy. I'm a patient driver and try to stay safe. The second worse thing to being inside the house would be to be in the hospital.. I drive my 18-mile route which is like the spoke of a wheel. It's 18 miles up one side and 18 miles back the other side. 36 miles is about the same as one gallon of gas.

When chasing birds, I always go back to where I saw the bird last. It seems that they are more creatures of habit than us humans. I saw one guy doing at least 80 down a stretch of road. It was an accident prime for pileup and I saw a few of those while I was out. I'm thinking already, gee, this could turn into more of a Live News Feed kind of day than chasing beautiful hawks, eagles, ospreys, or Great Blue Herons. Egrets are every where. It's the elusive Great Blue that  can smell a camera a mile away. That's the challenge. I've been more lucky of late but then, the dang bird, like crows, knows me with their keen recognition ability. I talk to the animals too. It's amazing how they can sense the tone of a voice if it is friendly or a threat. The squirrels now come and pose when they see me parked. That's how I got the shot of the Chick-filet-A squirrel fabricating that cup for his nest.

 The one thing that I have trouble adjusting to in Dallas is the way the streets drain. The curb lane is always blocked with water. Sometimes, for nearly a half a mile before a drain to taking the run off. I'm not used to slanted roads like that. I much prefer the high crown that drains to both sides of the roadway and work much more efficiently at draining runoff away from the curbs than making one side of the road a lake.

I saw one young guy walking get drenched by this car that came barreling down the curb lane sending a spray of water a good 6 or 7 feet high and  drenched this young guy from head to toe. The guy that was responsible didn't even slow down. He just kept going like nothing had happened. I felt sorry for the guy that was walking. He looked like he might have been trying to go to work or to a bus stop.

Then, I started to see telephone poles lined with birds just sitting on the wire not moving an feather. It's rather comical how they line up row after row. There is one like pole at an intersection and the birds have been on that pole every day this week. Just sitting there. Rain, heats or what ever. It must be a daily afternoon ritual. The pelicans take their bath every day about the same time after they come in from riding the thermals. So you see, humans, we are not far removed from that point of God's creation. We think we have it all figured out. We do have the ability of speech, although animals have their own form of speech. We can reason. I've seen lesser animals reason almost as well if not completely better than us humans at times. Even the turtle came up at the dock a few days ago and begged for some bread. He's learned that humans toss bread to the birds so now, the turtles are begging like the birds. Got that image published. It's a learning experience for all ages to see an image of that turtle begging for a hand out. Have not seen the sea gulls yet this season. With the Gulf being churned up with storms, the picks are better there than here, I'd say. We will see later if they eventually show up en mass like years past.

Anyhow. The lake was beginning to flood when I ended the trip and started to head for Aldi's to fill in milk, eggs and bread. They had whole chickens for just over $3.00. Kroger's had wanted nearly $6.00 for the same whole chicken. To me, a chicken is a chicken is a chicken. I put it in a kettle and boil it for 40 minutes until the meat falls off the bone and then I make my dumplings and drop them in with seasoning and yum, yum yum. I'll get about three meals out of that. It's going down into the 40s next week so between chicken and dumplings and home made chili, that's when I don't mind staying in the house. Yet, I do supplement my income with picture sales and you got to shoot the pictures before they can be sold and converted into income. Someone ask me once why I did this? I tried to explain what I just explained here and they couldn't get it. Then, I said, " You create the beast you got to feed it." They understood that instantly. Now, when someone ask a similar question, I give them that answer and not once has anyone ask me, "What do you mean?" They all get that. Strange to me why such phrases stick to the wall where others fall off, but hey, we are humans. Some birds know to get in out of the rain and hang out on bridges under the over hangs. while others are out and about doing the bug and grub thing in the grass. Then, there are those like I saw today sitting on a wire in the midst of a downpour  seeming to be just find with the rain for what ever reason. Life is strange in that way. It's another reason why we should never judge. Even when we think we have sufficient reasoning. Enough rambling. There is a point to this.Some will get it. Others will not. Some will snuff it off  with no thought. Those---I will pray extra hard for tonight.

I'm parked watching the trash flow in to White Rock Creek from this branch of the Trinity Watershed that will hit the lake around the bend, flow over the dam and spillways and then hit the Trinity Rive for it's final trip into the Gulf of Mexico. I'm wondering why people don't use trash containers? Oh, yeah, they are just humans! They have more important things to tend to than waste workout time to walk over to a trash container.