Only 363 more days left this year

 It's been said over and over from common man to Theologians everywhere, "Time waits for no man". It's always is a  reminder to me that you got to be in the starting gate and ready when that ball drops for all the things that you promised yourself that you were going to do in 2023. 

I have seen people do the annual ritual of writing down all the things that they want to leave behind, putting them in a bowl, pit or grill and set them on fire. Two months from now, they will still be doing the very things that they burned on those little slips of paper that they were acting out to be leaving behind for many of those that went through the motions. That: is not being at the gate ready to hit the road running when that ball drops on the New Year.  Don't be one of those people. It's like what my mother always warned about. "Nothing good happens after midnight" meaning that when you go out for dinner or entertainment, when it's over, come on home.  

Having said that, we were out the gate first thing yesterday morning. Although it was hard to believe that about 10-days ago were were in Arctic air and single digits to yesterdays 77°F at the 15:56 reporting hour at DFW International, our official record keeping for Dallas. That's more-or-less a 70° swing in temperatures. February is, by records and tradition, our coldest month of winter in the Metroplex. 

Not knowing if the American White Pelicans had made it back to White Rock Lake in October, I set my aim on Sunset Bay. I stopped at Jimmy Johns and picked up a sub and drink after getting off the bus and beginning my walk down to the lake were I ate my lunch at the picnic tables on the Sunset Bay Cottage patio.

There had been some major capital improvements to roads, and roads that have been blocked off for many years with post that rise up at control points with new column post with the White Rock markings after new water lines had been run through the park the last time that I was out shooting before my hospitalization.  In short, very nicely done. 

People were our in droves. Bikers, walkers, strollers, skateboarders, photographers, pic- nickers. From there, I rode via bus to downtown for the first time in 2023 and then taking the train out to North Dallas transferring to bus for the final trip home. It was a delightful 5-hour outing with some good pictures, and some even more good-er!!!!!

Strong storms from Dallas East to the Arklatex.  These storms and system is part of that Pacific storm that hit the Sierra and Sierra Nevada north of Lake Tahoe. Truckee had tons of snow and the first time I have ever seen snow on the side of a telephone pole protrude a foot or better out from the side from bottom to top.US Highway 50 was blocked by large bolders onto the roadway were so large, they will need to be blown up to remove them. It is also the same storm that actor Mr. Jeremy Renner was injured in with a snow plow accident he was driving at his Reno, Nevada home. Reno is just 40 odd miles from Truckee, California and Lake Tahoe. Time and time again I have watched Pacific Coast storms come through Truckee via like cameras  and drop on into the Metroplex in a day or two later. Such is happening here at this time.

                                    New Capital Improvements at White Rocck Lake

A beautiful female mallard swims with her mate close by. She had been feeding in the shallows near a dock.

click on any of the images and the enlarger will open so you can see them better.

The colony of American White Pelicans that arrive every year shortly after the scouting group come a couple of weeks earlier. They stay until about the third week of March when they head North toward the boarder states with Canada to nest.

Traffic Cones are trending

For the past two years, I have been building my collection of parking cones. That's right. Those pesky little orange cones that you can't see in tight construction projects and hope that you don't run over one. 

In fact, I have started a search of my portfolios for some of the better ones over the years. And, I have my eye on a one that I find totally out of the ball park for traditional cones because they are not orange or orange and white. But, I can't tell you at this point what makes them so special because it is a future image asset, don't you see.

But, in my wanderings today on three different bus routes. I visited my favorite Cafe in Garland. The atmosphere is great. The food is out of this world and I was routed that way with the downtown construction that is making progress, but still is a long process for a town square that was fine as it was. In fact, the trees were always something to look forward to. Now, there are no trees. And I will be pushing up daisies by the time that the new and unplanted ones mature to the size of the ones that were removed by the construction. But, I'll take all the faults and displeasure in exchange for such a beautiful day with 6-more to follow in the upper 60s and 70s that could---I say could---reach or nudge 80°F a few seconds if that old digital thermometer can't hold on to that 80 long enough for the :53 hourly reporting to register at the National Weather Service.  

                                            Try the Pecan Cobbler with Ice Cream!

New Years Draws Near

 

Happy Holidays and have a safe and happy New Years.

January, is the traditional time of year when I usually start the search for Red Shouldered Hawks begins with time to search for nesting sites. It's a couple of months process with the male finding a tree and starts to hang out there. Toward the end of the second month, the female will begin to be seen hanging out near the site. 

About the first of  March, in the traditional places near lakes, the pair will be seen building the nest together and finally. if you listen closely, you can hear the female calling out to the male from the nest site. She is beginning the egg laying and the male will bring her food.

From that point on, it is a wait and see until the young hatch chicks begin to branch. 

In the pre-covid days, I would check on as many as 8 pairs of hawks with two pairs of Bards Owls and one pair of Great Horned owls. 

 

I have missed three years and now without a car, it calls for looking for pairs in different places where I can ride a bus or train or both and walk to the nesting trees. And, with the great weather coming these days before and the several days after New Years you can bet that I will be Birding once again. 

A Second Shot at Fall as the leaves drop.

 Beautiful Mobile

Yellow Heart Leaves on Blue Sky

Whistle Stop Street Sign

Mobile a year after installatioin

A beautiful bald Cypress as it sheds its needles

For the past several year, I  have enjoyed  shooting fall, but I go back an shoot trees as they begin to loose their leaves. You would be surprised what you find in the trees.

Alliance Airport has officially been renamed Ross Perot Field

 More to come after the holidays. It is the first Cargo and Private Jet Airport in the nation. 

Located in Ft. Worth, the air field's 2 runways handle FedEx in addition to FedEx's facility at DFW. It's a nice gesture considering Ross donated the land 33 years ago and developed the facility over the years with his son. 

Ft.Worth Star Telegram has a good article about the change over in names.

These fly at Founders Plaza at  DFW

Ross gets a bronze likeness on the west side of Ross Perot Field.

Tornado's Confirmed from our outbreak is now at 14

 As advertised in our last post, the number of tornado's were expected to rise as the National Weather Service at Ft. Worth got out in the field to investigate. The number as of last night was:

Ef 0: 3

Ef 1:7

Ef 2:4

The Wise Country and Grapevine tornadoes cause the most overall damage with only injuries and no deaths. Property damage will be pretty extensive. 

Still on the weather front, but not tied to the tornadoes was an email that I got from my middle brother on 28 November from a private forecast service that warned of cold weather coming toward us from the Arctic. 

"A second surge of very cold air is likely to arrive early next week, plunging us into the deep freeze for at least a few days.  Then, expect freeze line all the way to the gulf. Warm up after the first of the year."

I do not see being out and about until that part of the text says, "Warm up after the first of the year". I do not mind being out in the cold. I did survive a winter of -17°F in the Great Lakes, but I do mind doing damage to my camera and especially the battery packs. Those little devils are expensive!

These latest tornadoes is a reminder that in North Texas, we seem to have a second season of weather outbreaks. Our traditional spring outbreak and the second one in October, November and December, recalling the deadly December tornadoes in Rockwall in 2015; North Dallas tornadoes in October 2019 that wiped out the well established shopping center at Preston and Royal Lane, leveling the Home Depot at Forest and Central Expressway coming onward as it popped open my front door and when I got up to shut the door was looking at the funnel cloud that missed me by a couple of football fields and destroyed many new homes in the Buckingham area and now, these most recent ones outside of Decatur, Grapevine and Northeast, being the one on the ground the longest. 

Fickle weather when you are just 250 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. Just right from the Pacific storms that slide down the coast and come across the deserts to meet the cold fronts from the North dropping south, Pacific storm pulling moisture up from the Gulf and right over North Texas, it all gets swirled into the mixing bowl and out spins tornadoes after tornadoes. We get through the winter month of February without any really cold weather and no ice storms, we are good to roll until about late April or May when it's round 1 again. 

Here are pictures of two of the last three storms. The deadly Rockwall storms of  12/2015

and North Dallas

10/2019

Tornado's Were Spinning This Morning throughout the Metroplex.

 The National Weather Service is still working in the field to confirm the number of tornadoes today. At the end of the day, so far, 5 are confirmed with that many, or more, to climb higher. The Sam's Club in Grapevine lost part of its roof and a couple of tire stores lost their bays, two car washes,  a high school lost its light poles and scoreboards, a restaurant named Waffle Way, a beautiful new style country farm home got hit pretty hard as well with its metal roof peeled off and hanging in power lines.  From West to East across the Metroplex, the total of spin ups could reach as many as 12. Several people were injured but no lives were lost. One pickup truck had a 2x4 stuck into the passenger door. The Wise County tornado that was inspected today was rated an EF-2 (125MPH winds). Wise County, Tarrant , Collin, and Denton are under survey by the National Weather Service.

The squall line was massive with tropical amounts of rain, hail, winds, lightening generating power flashes as it moved across the area. Oncor reported as many as 8K without power. Some of the tornadoes were rain wrapped and were upon people during rush hour before people realized that they were in a tornado. That's the worse kind---the ones you can't see.  

Lake Tahoe got the first fury of this deep low with several feet of snow.  As it moved down the coast and back up the front range of the Rockies where it meet a cold front moving down through Oklahoma into Texas. As the low pulled deep moisture from the Gulf it was right in the mixing bowl of North Texas with Gulf moisture, Cold air and a deep low turning like beaters in the bowl. By that time, the brew was ready to unleash more of its fury. And it did. Right in the lane of Tornado Alley. Now, it's moving toward the Great Lakes tonight. 

We haven't seen the sun in several day. The temps have hung in the 60-63°F range Now were are going to be near normal for this time of year in the mid 50s. Not any of the lows are below freezing, though a couple of days are close at 34°F.

I'm staying in with the current weather conditions. My worse energy health wise is a cold North wind. I've had all my shots and boosters with my flue shot so I'm not worried about an infection but I'm not taking any chances, either. I was out for Doctor's appointments on the 7th and two Doctors on the 8th so it's been 5 days of dreary icky weather. 

So, I always have the camera with me, so if I'm out any, I'll get some shots. Remembering, I use my images myself for creating items on my Zazzle stores.Today were two special sales for me. One was a Southwest Abstract Design created for a shower curtain and the other one was my 100 years old oak from a golf course. So, I made a golf head cover using the image of that beautiful old oak that had been cut and scored. I like finding things as textures that can be used for things like those. Right now, pickle ball paddles are the thing and over the calf socks. So, I like doing those. Sometimes, they work and sometimes they don't. I learned a long time ago to never fall in love with one of your creations. If they don't work I have no problem deleting them. This winter when its really cold for Texas, I can create more abstracts and for the ones that didn't make the cut in the shopping cart. 

Don't forget to donate to your local food bank this holiday season.