Woke Up to Thunder as if it were a Battlefield.

 I've never really complained about weather in days gone by. I read the daily discussions from the National Weather Service. I don't pick favorites on the local TV stations weather crews. Basically, that is because I have the same info tools that the local weather men do, plus, I have observed weather from my grandfathers storm cellar from a very young age. Mom, (God rest her soul) was a weather anxiety mother.) She had lived through tornadoes that put a 2x4 through the wall of a house where all of us were gathered during a violent thunderstorm and tornado out break. She would wake up my father and we would all get dressed and head out to my grandfather's farm. It was only a short distance from the edge of town and we were pretty safe being ahead of the storms. He had built a recessed cellar, constructed the walls with rail road ties and mounded the dirt about 10 feet high. Of course, the sod grew and mound because a green bump at the side of his farm. The cellar was big enough to fit my grandmother, grandfather, my uncle,his wife and there two kids along with mom and dad and me. My two brothers were yet to be born in those days. Once in a while, there might be an extra visitor show up if the storms got really bad and in that area, they did most often.

But, when I went to bed last night, there was a 20 % chance of rain.  The reason I was even the remotely concerned with those odds was because I had an appointment with the eye doctor for today.With me still rehabilitating my leg, I do not walk as fast. A run is totally out of the question. But, like I said, with those odd, I felt pretty good. Even if they did roll in early with the sunrise, they would be out of the Metroplex by the time I had to negotiate the bus and rail rides to the eye doctor.  

As luck would have it. That first jolt of thunder in the distance had me paying attention to what might be going on. It didn't look bad on the radar. There were strong cells off to the northwest and they were moving in this direction as they were falling apart.Well, the same reason I got fooled and the local weather men and ladies did as well, is that a few more elements were added to the dynamics of the cells.No one could have forecast that fact with 100% accuracy that it would come right over my house, but it did. Murphy's Law, of course. Long story short, I mad the trip dry, except that darn ice cub that slid out of my cup at Chipotle didn't hit the floor, of the tabletop I looked for it but never found it. Then, at the eye doctors I reached into my shirt pocket to get a piece of paper. It was wet. Guess I know now where that darn ice cube ended up.My shirt had a wet spot on the corner of the pocket about the size of my hand. Could not miss it in the mirror.

As I left the eye doctors and walked across the crosswalks to the bus stop it started to sprinkle again.This wasn't good. I had no rain gear with me. In fact, I had been out on the porch and  locked the front door before unlocking the gate, when I decided that the rain was in deed over and back tracked to the tune of re-unlocking the door to put my rain gear back in the house. At that bus top, when I boarded the bus, it was coming down pretty good because the bus driver had his wipers on at a pretty good speed. It rained until I got to the rail station. Long story shorter, I made it home with dry cloths, although, that silly ice cube actually for told of the coming showers. Imagine that! Checkout my Accurate Forecast Humor Graph on my webpage.Then, you can relate totally to why weather is a learned response. We've all heard the old adages about, "

Red at night,sailors delight. Red in the morning, Sailor take warning." Or this one. "When clouds are high and thin, a weather system is moving in." The accurate weather forecast graph is even better yet.

 

Accurate Weather Forecasting

Stone is wet means it rained or is raining.

Stone is dry means it is not raining.

Stone casting shadow onto ground means it is sunny.

Stone white on top means it is snowing or has snowed.

Stone cannot be seen means it is foggy.

Stone swinging in its sling  means it is windy.

Stone jumping up and down in its sling means there is an earthquake.

Stone gone from sling means a tornado has already got the stone and you are next in its path!

 

First Day of Summer

 meteorological summer  of June, July, and August; that is.  The natural rotation of Earth around the sun forms the basis for the astronomical calendar, in which we define seasons with two solstices and two equinoxes  Astronomical seasons will vary between 89 and 93 day because it takes the Earth 365.24 days to travel around the sun. It's just easier to remember even months rather than by fractions of a month. 

Toll rates are going up the first of July on North Texas Toll Roads by a  penny per mile. 

It rained 19 out of 31 days last month in North Texas. It has kept the temps down by about 14 degrees on average from our normal high for this time of year. Out normal high is 89°. 

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 Now, since covid-19 hit, my younger brother has been owed a lunch in our rotation of who pays for that lunch for nearly a year and a half. So Saturday he came over to pick me up and we went out of lunch together. Since it was that amount of time that had gone under the bridge, several new places had started up. So we ended up at Dog Haus Bier Garten. If you think the place is a hot dog joint you would be very much wrong with that impression. The place was a constant line to order and had it not been raining a bit, we would have gone out on the patio for a table, but reached the conclusion more because of the wind more than the rain, we returned inside for a table. The number holder for us was 74 while the table next to us that got their order when we sat down was number 30. The wait was not that bad and when the food came, it wasn't even a thought anymore. Other than while eating, there was a guy walking past us with a table holder number of 28. That means there had been almost 100-people order since the people that were next to us had placed their order.

The menu boards at most restaurants are usually full of selections. Imagine having 4 full menu boards to select from. Selections are determined by the type of meat; beef, pork, chicken. You get the picture of where I'm going here. Long story short, there were dozens of long draw beer taps behind the counter (neither of us drink). Next to the place where the orders are taken, is a separate area for pickups and on-line orders. It was loud with chatter and TVs, but really a welcome treat within itself. Mask were not required and the crowds were orderly, patient and welcoming to all. One could tell that it was pretty much normal again in a new restaurant. The age range was from about age 1in high chair to 90 plus with a three or four prong cane. Oh, there were plenty of stools at the bar so there could be a chance that a Uber trip over there for lunch might be in the cards in a table-for- one situation in the future. 

Oh, they are also rumored to have one of these. Will have to confirm that and add to the post or do a new update.

North American Electric Reliability Corp. Not the same as ERCOT

 With N.E.R.C. (North American Electric Reliability Corporation) overseeing six regional reliability systems from Canada to all the contiguous US and a part of the Mexican State of Baja, California said today that Texas should be able to handle the demands following the February storms that experienced rolling black outs that lasted much longer than the should have They did say, however, that there could be some outages if the winds don't blow and the wind energy shorts power generation. Or, even, if solar does not keep up with the demand had E.R.C.O.T. testing their Emergency Alert System today.(Didn't get one on my phone).

Long story short--- only time will tell. But, it's only May and today was our 3rd day to hit 91°F. 

 American History 

A look at the past.

Happy win for the favorite team

When crowds were fun! May soon, huh?

Under the Umbrella

 First, we have noticed the return of the German flag-carrier airline, Lufthansa at the International Terminal, Dallas/Ft.Worth International Airport.  Welcome back. Mrs. Levy will be happy to see that.

The runways  north heading 18s have been getting and are still receiving upgrades for better service from landing to the terminals. The 17's were done a couple of years ago.The new terminal has planes at the gates already. DFW to grow once again.  

Second, It's National Africa Day in the United States. Pan American Culture is especially an art-based culture. 

Third, May is our most wet month. However, 16 days out of 25, so far, with another week of forecast moisture is a bit much. Especially now that  public transportation to get around is my new car.

We have been in design mode during the rain-ins. The thing is--- I've run out of texture images and need to look for some new and exciting things to shoot. Even the agencies are putting out photo calls for new images of all kinds, basically. So, health and weather permitting, looking forward to being back out again. 

Firefighters from Richardson Fire Department

Harvey

Past Memorial Day Veterans Firing Squad 21-gun salute

In the meanwhile, let us not forget that Freedom is not Free and that is the difference between Memorial Day and the 4th of July.  To me, they are two separate holidays, two separate themes and two prices paid for our freedom.Let us not forget to remember each one with equal respect to our military, the K-9s and Firefighters.

 

💫 It's time to peer into the universe…

This @NASAHubble image is swarming with galaxies housing an abundance of new worlds!

Let your mind wander... And get to know more about this galaxy cluster: https://t.co/ZXcwkYNOep pic.twitter.com/a2KBakb1sg

— NASA (@NASA) May 23, 2021

John 14:1-3 King James   

"Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms;if it were not so, would I have told you that I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."

Second Tornado in the same place in 18 months

 It's unusual, but 5 tornado's struck North Texas yesterday afternoon. When my phone app went off, it said that there was a dangerous tornado in the High-Five area. Take cover.

Today, the National Weather Service was out doing surveys of the damage to determine the strength and if tell-tale signs of the destruction could be found. In short, the three tornadoes  south of us were caught on tv news feeds and they were rated as EFU tornado's but no touch down or damage.The NWS had video of those which they reviewed. However, the two in Dallas locations of University Park (SMU area) saw winds of 70 MPH upwards as EF0 and the second one in my old neighborhood just north of University Park as EF1. Winds were in the 90 MPH with structure damage and trees down. The unusual part is the this EF1 struck the same area in the 2019 tornado . A house had just been rebuilt and a well-established local garden center and nursery was also struck again. Had it continued on that path it would have been knocking on my door as the 2019 tornado did.

Short waves are moving through one to two times a day with strong storms, heavy rain, hail, damaging wind and dangerous flooding. We are forecast to have an additional 7-8 inches of rain before the system moves east and and is out of here. Already, we have had enough rain the first 15 days of the month to saturate the ground and fill the lakes to the Conservation Level in most of the local lakes that supply North Texas with drinking water. Earlier today, the Trinity River was 5 feet above flood stage; levels we have not seen in the past couple of years. 

As I finish up here, approaching strong storms from the west are moving into the County Watch Areas Western approaches til 1 AM ; the heart of Dallas 2-4 AM and eastward 5-8 AM for thunderstorm watches and warning.

University Park funnel touched down right in the area of City Hall. Tennis courts fences were down and old growth trees were toppled. The famous LO VE sculpture was spared with cameras showing the strong winds and rain pounding the area. You can go to our profile portfolios at Alamy, Adobe or Dreamstime to see the storm damage of the area from 2019 tornado.

Besure to check out the slide show

 We have redone the slideshow on the fifth tab of our website. While spending a lot of downtime inside of late, the images are all part of the journey around the Metroplex the past 12-years. Some of the images, though not many, our regular readers might have seen here and there, but never in a constructed slide show. 

The slideshow repeats at the end of the cycle. However, should you see a blank page now and then, you do not need to do anything but wait a few moments. The show will continue where it paused. We are using a vendor's server to run the show and sometimes, their server will pause a few moments from their own traffic. It's not even a caveat type warning to worry about.You didn't break anything. Even if you are one of the rare viewers that get the pause for a brief moment.

Off to the races and other light adventures. 

If you are an avid enthusiast or have a hobby tinkering in the world of digital dust, it is always good to go down that rabbit hole now and then. For example: when we go back into that digital dust of our own images, we find things that we can actually remember. As if only a few moments in time had passed. Details of the shoot unfold automatically. Even the memory of the weather of that day can reveal itself. Very few images stump our thinking about the shot, but a few still do. We always check the detail tab about the image that records the time and date stamp. It is still stunning to find images where a lot of water has passed below the bridge and you find that years have passed before our eyes viewing those images. 

Usually, when we post, it is on subject matter. The look for images fit that subject matter.  But, once in a while, something rings the bell in our brains and the "remember" light comes on with little tidbits like a quote from Ben Franklin pops up, which we use, instead of an image or with an image.  It can be but is not only timely, but actually fits a topic, or image. "its hard for an empty sack to stand upright." old kite- in- a- thunderstorm Ben has declared. But, that quote does have a lot of merit for text as well as images.

For the first time ever, one of the most interesting things happened that was an absolute surprise. Watching on zoom the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Board Meeting was top on many fronts. It ran about 4 hours, but the gems of the event were when the three main characters running the event spoke.

Warren Buffett is an amazing man and not only for his ability.  Charlie Munger, sat quietly with folded hands (except when he was sneaking peanut brittle on camera). Greg Able was the lesser of the three but after all, he is the chosen air-to-be CEO in-waiting to Warren Buffett.  Just watching two 90 year-old billionaires from Omaha, Nebraska was absolute amazing in and of itself. When we watch those two and then see  Mark, "the Zuckerberg", a third of Buffett's or Munger's age, with many more billions than Warren or Charlie is outrageous. Berkshire Hathaway is so much more well-managed. And we are more than ever sure that the government should break up Facebook, sooner than later, than when they split AT&T. In fact, it's time to be looking to revisit  ole Ma Bell's morphed structure again. They continue to live the lie about DSL from the Federal Lawsuit settled a few years back. Speaking about morphing....they are doing the same thing again only in a morphed smoke screen. 

Now, you wonder why we took the turn from images and digital dust after the first paragraph beyond the bold type break above. Well, by not doing as many editorial photos from editor calls has made me a bit smarter about pictures as an image manager today. Surprisingly though, my sales have increased as a simple little change can make so much of a difference. So, as stated  above, sometimes, you need to go down that rabbit hole in the digital dust world. Just don't stay there! You hear!

The winter Storms in February killed the power and caused 185 deaths (at last count)

 

Direct for the upcoming Olympic Games in Japan 2021.