E.R.C.O.T. SAYS Rolling Black Outs are Possible tonight and the days to follow.

the reason is that the power generation plants are all undergoing maintenance! Can you believe that? Grandstanding Gov Abbott is running for gov again, don't you see. Meanwhile, with the early heat wave in June (it's been 99° the past two days with heat indexes of 105-107°). There is a lot of apprehensive thoughts already,especially with those with need for air conditioning. There is already talk about the city opening cooling centers should the need arise. The amazing thing that I recall is that TXU Enegy built 6 new gas-coal generation plants. (TXU also then filed for bankruptcy, moved their corporate office to Irving and became the retail seller of electricity, or was it the wholesale seller, while their spinoffs competed to sell retail.) It's not time to talk about ONCOR the part of the TXU that strung and then maintained the wires to your house and business. Yet, anyway.

The old saying, " There is NO public in public utilities". Or-I told you so. Tonight the first reports from E.R.C.O.T. to the news media mentioned that with the plants were down for maintenance and an unusual heat wave this early in June, the wind generation has very light winds more than normal and when the sun goes down, the solar generation will not be available. Actually if you look at this statement and the one issued in February,  by changing heat to cold and vise versa  volia! the excuse is the same. 

Here is a list of the states power generation from all  sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Texas.

 What is interesting is that a state, the side of Texas has only two nuclear power plants and they are in the 3-5 years age range. Ohio has had 2 from 1970s.They are the Davis-Besse plant in Oak Harbor, near Sandusky, and the Perry Nuclear Plant, east of Cleveland.Both are on Lake Erie. Davis-Besse has two units. 1and 2. My hand made- coffee cup was named Davis-Besse because it looked like the cooling towers of that nuclear power plants. Cleveland Electric Illuminating  parent, First Energy,  now owns both Toledo Edison's Davis Besse as well as Pennsylvania plants, plus their own Perry plant

The Pennsylvania Three Mile Island had three units before melt down. In fact, I sold the steel I-beams that went into the containment vault built over the reactor that had the melt down. So, in one way or another. Oh, I forgot the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station, a nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake Erie near Monroe, in Frenchtown Charter Township, Michigan. those reactors 1 and 2 are about 75 miles north of Davis-Besse along the shoreline of Lake Erie also. 

Back to the known facts.Texas has only two nuclear power plants less than 5 years old. Follow the money and the oil deals to supply the natural gas to the 6- new power generation plants that put TXU into bankrupcy and factor in the coal that the natural gas was aiding. Then, there is the E.R.C.O.T. board that ended up being fired after the loss of 150+ deaths that were caused by the shut down and rolling blackouts and the surprising fact that the board of directors of E.R.C.O.T. didn't even live in Texas. How amazing, absolutely amazing is that? And, while the Texas Legislative passed strong changes to the P.U.C.O.and E.R.C.O.T. with Governor Abbott speaking toccata spaced words that this cannot ever happen again. Well, it's been 4-months and according to the news tonight at this writing, that rolling black outs have been cancelled but E.R.C.O.T is urging residence to conserve power through Friday. What a roller coaster of emotions again in just four-months.

 It would take an entire graduating class of Philadelphia attorneys to figure out the maze of the electric grid, the power generator owners and where the money is dished out to executives nation wide. 

 

 

also see post of 02-17-21

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.