Heat, Wild Fires, Water Conservation, Power Grid worries,

This is not a typical North Texas Summer. It may be closer in between events but it's not an overall typical time. 

This morning, while it was relatively cool, I made a trip out to see how things were going outside my neighborhood. Plus, I've been in the house for going on ten days and I can only take so much before this old buzzard has to ride the thermals. And, riding the thermals has a whole new meaning of late. Three days of 109°F highs. Two were new records and one was a tie of an old record. Anyway you cut it, record or not, it was still 109° F three days in a row. When I went to bed last night it was still 100°F.

Usually, about this time, I'm saying, "come on September". I'm afraid that this year it might be October. The wild fires are coming much earlier with no rain for 48 days. Remembering, of course, that rain in these terms means the rain must fall in the bucket at DFW. That's the official reporting station. I got about a quarter of an inch about two weeks ago and my grass is already in dormant mode. 

Water conservation and power conservation has already been in discussions. Up until yesterday, we had not had much wind and wind helps to generate power along with solar. With no wind, the grid dropped reserves almost 1,000 Mega Watts. 

Still, I'll take Texas weather like wedding vows---in sickness and in health, blah, blah,blah! Although, it's been a bit more taxing this year. I have always found it interesting how we talk about the weather on earth. We have only been recording records for a bit over one hundred years and a decade or so on a planet that is some 4-Billion years old. I don't worry about the weather records for the past century--- it's the previous 4.9999 billion beforehand that worries me. You know what I mean, Vern? You know what I mean. Vern knows what I mean. 

                                            Checking the rails for safety in this heat

It isn't just the light rails that  experience expansions, the commuter and Amtrak have the same problems in this heat.

Dallas Is Well Ready to Host Anything the World Cup has to offer this One of Five Selected Host Cities

With Three major venues in Arlington; Three in Frisco and Fair Park's Cotton Bowl, the city also has a major soccer field complex with19 fields with two lighted fields in the shadows of Las Colinas at Money Gram Park.

I've seen the soccer fields in both Rio and Sào Paulo, Brazil and Toluca, Mexico. Dallas is certainly ready for that crowd.Texas Style! 

Yesterday Broke a 11- day run of 100 Plus Temperatures, but.....

 they are coming right back and building to 105°F through next Tuesday.  And, it's not just the heat, rather, it's what the heat does to roads, train rails, and a host of other things, like causing the ground to shift and rupture pipes. We have already had water mains rupture in the Metroplex this year. 

That brings to mind the fact that for a freelance photographer, one must always be on the lookout for events such as this. Here, is just an examples of such an event. I was in agreement with one of the gentleman who said that, "this is what maintenance really looks like." Hats off to these men for what they do.

 

Thanks to NASA and the People of NASA who took the greatest picture in the world.

 Absolute! Absolutely! NASA stars bring us a look at new stars never before seen. THANK YOU! NASA

We call US75, Central Expressway, but really it has a more historic name.

This story begins there in some ways. There is much more to the story that can be detailed on a little blog like this. 

About a month ago, I read an article that Bill Gates, of Microsoft fame, had purchased some 200K acre-plus, in a little town in far Northeast North Dakota. Let alone that, the number cruncher who had already made the calculations, would place him owning just shy of 1% of the United States. He apparently has been buying a lot of land elsewhere over time. Quietly.

Putting that fact aside for the moment, the main question is why did he choose this corner of North Dakota? It sits 2 miles from the Canadian border, the busiest border crossing between Blaine, Washington and Detroit, Michigan. It is one of three ports of Entry that is a 24-hour crossing in either direction. It is also the fifth POE's in all of Canada, That, "ain't all" when the story gets more interesting. However, before leaping onto that flax rope bridge, the American side land purchase residents were in an uproar over Bill's deal. They made a pretty darn good showing that they were unhappy, too.  Those residents are from the small town of Pembina, North Dakota. A town of 512 souls according to the 2020 U.S. Census.

In the 16th century, the French exploration came across native Americans called Lakota, (Soux as the French called them). They also came across the Chippewa (ojibue) and the Assiniboine. There in Pembina, the Hudson Bay Company established a fur trading post. It is, today, a Historic Site on the border. were US75 ends and crosses the border into Canada. There, as a Canadian highway, it bears the same designated number, now known as  International Historic Highway 75, the King of Trails that goes to Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Here, it should be noted that US75 begins in Galveston, Texas and comes north into Dallas paired in tandem with I-45,US75 as it leaves Houston outbound to Dallas. There, it becomes North Central Expressway (aka, NCX or George Bush, for a short distance near Southern Methodist University). The Bush Presidential Center sits yards from the fabled road through Dallas on the SMU campus. Traveling even further north, it winds it's way across several states until at Fargo, ND it become the back bone of Minnesota's border with North Dakota. From there, all the way just short of the border with Canada, it makes a sharp left turn into Pembina, where it joins US interstate I-29 on to the border with Canada, as the modern I-29 on the west side of the city. Whereas US75 came north on the east side of the city. I-29 ends at the border, and so does US75. But that same road, 75, continues on to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, as the International Highway 75, King of Trails.

One key point about Pembina besides being the historic city of Hudson Bay Fur Traders, is that it is  also the home of Greyhound Bus' beginning of new buses built there. Nevertheless it seems to be an interesting place besides being Pembina's new land holder Bill Gates. Currently, there is a movement to designate 75 in Canada the old title of King of Trails. Let us hope that the US  Department of Transportation joins that movement, Mr. Secretary Buttigieg. The Daughters of the American Revolution are a bit ahead of you since 1923 with the Central National Highway of the Republic of Texas c.1884 landmark stone that stands on Texas State Route 78 at White Rock Lake, Dallas. All the more reason to join the Canadians in making highway 75 in Canada and US75 in the states, the International Historic Highway,  King of Trails as a joint venture.

 

 

Central National Highway
 

 

 

I-45 from Houston to Dallas runs side by side. In Dallas is where US75 gets its name back all the way to the Canadian border.

Seated Across From Me on the Train Today. Thank You Ladies.

I think it was the back side of this sign that initially got my attention. I may not get it right but I'm thinking it was addressed to Abbott (governor) Patrick (his AG) and one other. It said below their names, call me when you get pregnant.Oh! my hats off to your ladies. Right on spot!

My motion sensor was going nuts on the train ride about the time that this was taken. The message is still there---none-the-less.

                                     This is what our American Freedom is all about. 

I try to see both sides of the debate. Like theirs, my decision is personal but every one needs to have that choice regardless of where you stand. I am happy to be able to share their views like I did on the opposing groups.

Some Great Hard-Working Texans Pause for a Mid-Day Laugh.

 There  are many reasons to live in Texas. No state income tax would probably rank right up there at the top of the list. Beyond that, Texans are just plain fun-loving and hard-working people. Here are those that made the afternoon just plain fun for a few moments during the day.