In An Attempt to Discover ...I Discovered.

Saturday was the last of the really hot days but I was out playing catch up on  my  three weeks of Remembrances that I take every year. I had seen the approaching Katy Trail bridge at Mockingbird and made a note that I should follow up before the decking was in place. Saturday was also a very busy traffic day for some reason, too. Finding parking spots has really become a major issue, even for short periods, let alone more than a couple of hours. The problem with the garages is that they are just about as bad and they are never close to where you need them. So, I made a trip down McMillan to McComas to come back toward Mockingbird to see exactly where the Katy crossed NCX and where the bridge ramp actually started its flight over Mockingbird. I knew that it was going to be in the neighborhood of the park south of Mockingbird.

Long story short, I never did find the bridge's genesis. But, I do need to get the shots of the deck from a higher elevation at Mockingbird Station before that deck is laid. In the mean while I was left stunned to find a whole new neighborhood at the park of new homes. This construction thing in the Dallas market is totally mind blowing. Every available lot, piece of  vacant land or 40 acre field is under construction. In Plano, they are eating up 100 acre tracks at a single bite---like Toyota's new North American Head Quarters Campus.  Now, it's a game to see what type of house will be built on the smallest piece of land. And that, is and of itself  an amazing story.

Today, I discovered yet another area where homes have been wiped out by the "we buy ugly homes" campaign and they are finally not putting totally "Ronnie" houses on those lots. Although there are still enough of those being squeezed on a lot as it is for better or for worse.

The bridge over Mockingbird is the third cable-stayed bridge in Dallas in the last 4 years. This one, however is totally for hike and bike use and the joining of two of the main trails in the Metroplex---The Katy Trail and The White Rock Trail.  With those two coming together at Mockingbird Station, all the others are now available in the network.

The joining of the Katy and The White Rock Trails at Mockingbird Station.

There are just south of Mockingbird at NCX  at the SMU main campus and the new East Campus on this side of NCX at the George Bush Presidential Library which is on the main campus of SMU.

This one comes from Richardson across from the Eisemann Center at Galatyn Plaza

              

It's Space Time!

Jupiter is almost directly below the moon here.

Here, you can see it at the bottom of the image as a little dot.

After sunset the color change went from this to that beautiful pinkish red. 

Here are some made easy facts for you. Did you know that the full moons always rise around sunset and set around sunrise? Well, it does indeed. Here's another. The 1st quarter will rise around noontime and set around midnight. That makes it visible half the time in the afternoon and the other half in the evening hours.

On July 28th (Wait! that's today!! Be right back) Jupiter meets the moon. I actually have a picture of that. I was working on my night photography which is my weakest point. I'm doing better, but got a long ways to go, too. Night photography is a whole different animal and to me it's the hardest to get right with no noise. Even now, I have noise in those pictures that I am working very hard on to solve.

The moon photography is getting better. You can almost see the "man in the moon face",  too.

An ISO Schedules Power on a Grid

It's been hot. That is what happens this time of year when the sun nears the Tropic of Cancer, before heading back toward the equator. We are in the hottest weeks of summer now until August 17th. Earlier in the week, I passed a building that I normally view from the front side. But this view was of the back and what really shocked me was the size of the monster air conditioners on the roof top. I just never had envisioned such a building needing that much cooling power.

Then, today, while our before it reached the heat of the day, I took a picture of a bank of electric meters  in one of many new apartment complexes that are invading every vacant lot in Dallas.  Looking at the meters and wondering if maybe I should take another shot or two, my brain slapped me with the realization that all these new meters would be using electricity.

ERCOT (The Electric Reliability Council of Texas) is one of nine ISO (Independent System Organization---they are 501(c) (3) non-profits ☺) that manages the flow of electricity for this region. There job or function is to schedule power on the electric grid.So when we have a power brown out it's ERCOT that will tell us to cut back on our use---which I have never understood, because someone is using it and ERCOT is telling us to cut back. It gets much more complicated than that and is one of those things that ruffles my feathers more than other things in general.

A bank of Philadelphia lawyers would need years to figure out some of the stuff that goes on there. I'm still wondering after the utility told us that we can't get reduced rates because of the wind farms in west Texas, have no transmission lines yet. But somehow, General Motors Arlington plant is getting 100 percent of their power from wind generation that will cut their bill by $300,000 a month--or was it 3 Million a month--or even 300 Million a month. It was up there in a galaxy far away from my bill and I monitor my usage like Ft. Knox. For what reason I don't know since TXU (I can't remember who they are now) already knows how much electricity I will use before I use it.I am a creature of habit, but gee! That is really scary.

A couple of years ago, I got a really good education on why Florida Power and Light was using the wind from their farms in west Texas--in fact--the largest wind farm at the time in west Texas was owned by the parent of Florida Power and Light. Go figure. On second thought---you really don't want to know. It would have been better had I not found out some of the shenanigans with electric companies. Now, that would take a few years of graduates from all the law schools in the US working 24/7 to get to the bottom of that mess. And the latest reveal was made in the past couple of weeks when Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway bought the delivery arm of the former TXU here in Dallas, which would be ONCOR--the only profitable arm, I might add since TXU  built all the coal gas generation plants and then filed bankruptcy. Not once, but twice, mind you.  I know, somewhere, some of these facts probably don't apply anymore since the deception is like the function of an ISO--scheduling changes to stay one step ahead of the blood hounds.

Don't get me wrong. I could not live in Texas without air conditioning. I don't mean to be a "hater" as the new social media term might say that I am.  Sorry, but for most of the millenniums today, I forgot more about corporate wrangling in the first two hours that I was up this morning than they will learn over the term of their first decade on their own (when they finally decide to leave the nest) so don't use so much electricity charging your I-phone would you.

Imagine 40,000 of these that are under construction since this time last year, with no sign of it slowing down. Oh, these are the new "smart" meters--not the old analog of our parents and forefathers.

Oh, I'm just talking about apartments here. That's not new commercial construction, residential construction and places in Frisco that might be something else than a sports complex.Recently a new mid rise office tower in Uptown cancelled their grand opening that was scheduled. It appeared that the reason was just that they didn't need it---the place sold out while in the final stage of construction.

Murphy's Law is Alive and Very Well In Case Anyone Is Wondering

People love this for selfies.

I have always liked carnivals.

In a normal day, I drive the three-tenths  of a mile from my place to the front gate, make my turn onto the street and away I go. Three-tenths, mine you. It's 1.8 miles to the drugstore. If you take that .3 tenths out of that, it's 1.5 miles to the drugstore. That's where it all started. 1.5 out the gate. What can go wrong in such a short distance?

While I was out, I got a call from the drug store that my scripts were ready for pickup. First, the prescriptions had been on hold  since my doctor's visit on Monday. The drug store was out of stock and were ordering it. The web site said, "no action on your part needed." No action except for me to pay for it when I picked it up. Psychologically, they would never do that because it would be bad for business. Psychologically. After I got my long awaited scripts, I swung by the candy counter. A new girl was in the middle of the isle all sprawled out with a box that was higher than her arms so when she reached into the box, she had to lift up and over the side of the box. In short, the poor girl was not to organized. She ask if there was anything she could help me with. I just made a comment that Kroger's had Snickers for $0.69 and she had Milky Ways for $0.69  and I found that amusing. Two of the most popular candy bars in America and one is 2/$2.00 and one is $0.69 ...the exact opposite  of each other. Well, she flew off the handle and said to me with an irritated tone that she couldn't be concerned with what Kroger's did. I walked out of the isle and headed for the front door. The lady at the front who is always friendly ask what was the matter? I said to her that it wasn't a big deal. She frowned and I quickly said that the girl in the candy isle couldn't be concerned about Kroger's and I said that I can't be concerned with her attitude and I'm going to Kroger's to get my snicker bar. She laughed as she always does.

Now, the thing is, from the drug store to Kroger's parking lot it's 2.5 tenths of a mile. I went into Kroger's, got a fresh head of lettuce and walked over to the display where the hidden specials are displayed. The sign said:

Fresh food. Low prices.

Hershey's Candy

Buy 1, Get 1

FREE

1.45 oz.

Selected Varieties, 1.3-2

5 oz -with card-

save up to 99 cents

expiration date 8/16/2017

So, I got a 3 Musketeer and a Hershey's with almonds. And headed to the check out. Usually I use the self-checkouts but they were lined up and I went down the line to an open register. The lady moves in one speed--slow motion. I knew that. It's okay. Things like that do not bother me. 

She rang up the items. I said that  the lettuce was $0.99 and  candy bars were  2/$1.00. Why was my bill $3. She looked at the candy in the rack across from her check out which were market 2/$2.00. I mentioned to her that the "hidden special rack" has a sign buy one get one and it was marked 2/1,00. She wanted to argue. I put the candy bars back on her counter and said that I did not want them. 

While she was doing that, I walked to the other end got the sign and brought it back up to her register. She was still working on the removal of the two items. When she was done, I showed her the sign and ask her what did it say? She replied, looking at the regular rack 2/$2.00. I'm a bit frustrated at this point. I took the bag with head lettuce and my new receipt and walked over two registers to where "Eddie" was working. He normally is in customer service and I said," did you hear that?"... he laughed and said," yes, I did!"  Still laughing, I said to 'Eddie', "see you next trip." "Have a better day!!!" I heard him say as I walked out. 

Now, from Kroger's to McDonald's, it's a drive of less than one-tenth of a mile across the parking lot..

All total, three tenths of a mile.....imagine that! Since I didn't get my candy, I hit the drive through window for an ice cream cone and a couple of burgers for dinner. Normally the drive-thru at this McDonald's is slow as honey. That day, I zipped right through the line, got the stuff and away I headed for home. Now, it's 1.5 miles from there, plus my 03-tenths past the gate up to my place. 

It was hot, Heat indexes were at 102 and no breeze. It felt like an oven. Earlier before the pharmacy, I had been shooting and it wasn't that bad. When I opened the door and felt the cool air, I knew that dinner was nearly ready and in a few, I'd be in my comfort cloths and ready to sit down and eat. 

I opened the bag and the first shock was that there was only one burger in the bag.I looked at the receipt and I had been charged for two and the ice cream cone. Having been one, two and three-ed  by my great little business strip so close to home, my frustration and what ever else seemed like a beating for just going into the businesses, I took the receipt and called the 800 number on the ticket after calling the regular store number printed on the ticked that was never answered. The guy was nice. He said that he would have the manager call me back within two hours. I ate my burger only to discover that the burger was not what I had ordered anyway.  After eating, my phone rang.  It was the manager from  McDonald's. She was, "very sorry" and said that I can come back over and she would make it right. I said to her, "Lady, I'm not going anywhere in this heat tonight". "I'll stop by tomorrow when I'm out". 

What are the odds of being one,two-ed and three-ed in three tenths of a mile?

Today, I got a late start and was a couple of miles from home when I realized  that I had left the ticket and code in the desk drawer for McDonald's, so I made the loop and came back home to get the blasted ticket and code. My entire thought process was so shot at this point with this heat, I made the loop the other way, and came into McDonalds from the back way. I got my ice cream cone again and the bag had two burgers like I had ordered. As I sat down to eat tonight, it occurred to me that this thing had been stretched out over two days. When I opened my evening pill case, the two pills that I take in the evening with my meal were still in the compartment. I had missed taking my second dose of meds in the evening yesterday. Never have I don't that before. I always take my meds as scheduled. So if you add those to things to the other three, I had a nickles worth of frustration. I don't even want tell you about what one of my editors did. At least, while that was happening, I saw two sales take place. All in a days work! Don't  you see.

On The Way To The Doctor Today.....

I missed my turn. The vacant lot where I usually turn wasn't there any longer. In addition, the three golf courses that I pass going to my doctor's appointment are all undergoing large to massive additions to the club house area and two were getting completely new guard post quarters with some very heavy ornamental iron gates. And, if that wasn't enough, three hospitals are adding multi-floors to their present facilities. One of those is the Heart Place where Singer Randy Travis was following his stroke a couple of years back. Thank goodness he is doing much better now.  It seems, that Dallas is busting out at the seams. Yesterday, I was downtown and I counted another 3 tower cranes that are up and working since a week ago. Two of those are in the heart of the central business district.

Coming back down St. Paul's by Klyde Warren Park into Uptown, the construction in the Arts District has filled in all the open spaces looking west from the triangle streets into the standard grid streets. The construction in that part of downtown by orders of the FAA, limit the height of buildings because on north wind days, the approach to the two runways at Love Field come in over that part of downtown and Deep Ellum. The west gateway aka the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is where Woodall Rodgers ends and Singleton Blvd. begins. It is also where any tall growth will follow.

Uptown  is filling in their mid range buildings in both residential and commercial office space as fast as concrete can pour. At last word, the Dallas area can still use 20,000 construction workers and 12,000 new residents per month are not slowing, if any. Toyota's new  Headquarters Campus in Plano started its first workers this past week and the remaining 30,000 are coming as fast as they can find houses and apartments. There are a lot more white Toyota's with California plates...I know that much.

I just saw the first new construction of apartments up to six floors. It had been limited at 5. Before that at 4 and at 3 stories.The funny thing about Texas is that when they are ready to build something, if something is in the way, they just build over it. Yes, there are examples of that madness in Lewisville on the upgrade to I-35E north and the new Horseshoe Project upgraded; added new roadways to the old Mix-master at I-35E south and I-30. At Fuel City, you can now wave to cars as they fly over you while filling up your car or getting a car wash, or just eating a  taco while you go out and look at the heard of Texas Longhorns and a donkey or two.

While making the rounds to see if anything interesting was going on at the South Side Studios where 20th Century Fox house all their big rigs and flatbed stake trucks that they use to film episodes of what ever they are shooting currently. All the rigs were lined up like birds on a wire. When I came back up Lamar toward the convention center, I ducked down the ramp into the Cadiz Via Duct to Hotel Street where I can check on the latest and final phase of the Horseshoe from the back side of the convention center. Got some nice shots of the DG&O short line bringing cars from around the cities industrial sites to the transfer yard over on 175 and Railroad where the remotes move train cars around like toys on a big track board.

When I started to get back in the car, I noticed something that I had never noticed before-- ramps winding upward in one section of the Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Then it hit me. That's the ramp up to the airport and the heliport. That's right. I did  say air-port. The top of one section of the 2 million square foot Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center own,operates and safely guards the most accessible and largest Vertiport and Heliport in the world. Not being as well versed in the details of that thing as I should be for an aviation geek like I am, when I got home I did a little research and dang, that thing is something else. In fact, I even found an article where a guy who happening to be a little under the weather from the spirits, crashed the security gate and drove his car off the top of the heliport. There were pictures of that as well as a video of time-lapse when the helicopter show was at the convention center. The reason they landed on the ground rather than the heliport or vertiport is because they had to use tow motors to move the copters in side using the standard loading dock ramps. As far as I know, there isn't some magic elevator that opens up and drops those things onto the convention floor,but you have to remember that freight trains pass right through the street level from one side to the other and Dart's light rail station is inside that same area.I think it goes without saying that some pretty strange things take place in that monster of conventions. Oh! yeap, tour busses are consumed as they drive into the opening below Pioneer Park and Cemetery. Places like that have always intrigued me even since I was about 16 when my uncle, in Detroit, took dad and I on a private tour of the underbelly and workings of  Detroit's Cobo Hall. This place reminds me of that in the best way!

The DG&O pulling cars to the make up yards

See the steps? Know look tothe left and see the various levels of concrete spirling upwards.

This thing is equipped to land a Harrier vertically and still have room for helicopters. If you go to Wikipedia, you can see a very good scope of the entire rooftop and how this massive center is configured. Got to also remember that the arean is still a 9612 seat auditorium where The Beatles and Michael Jackson have entertained crowns. 105 meeting rooms if you need one or two.

By Birth It's A Native Texas!

Something changed this season. Usually, I see brood after brood of baby ducks. This year, I saw a total of three broods. One, granted, was the largest that I have ever seen with 20 little ones swimming with mom. The second was at that same location with a new mom and only two ducklings. Then, I saw the never before seen wood duck ( you know, the duck with the colorful plumage and Napoleon hat head dress that nest  in a hole up in the trees and the baby ducks have to jump out of the nest to never return until they breed). They were swimming with mom and dad. But that is all the ducks that I have seen this spring. I had even called a bunch of baby ducks in one post "goslings" then went back and corrected it because goslings are geese and I probably would never see any in Texas as the baby name of geese implied.

Well, strike that! I just saw a drake with two hens and each hen had three goslings. I had noticed a pair of Canadian Geese in one of the wet land lakes earlier in the spring and then noticed this pair (I thought was a pair) in a very unusual place which was kind of out of place for geese. But, it is in an area near a local creek, although the exact location is in an extremely high traffic area. Usually, I check those places out on Sunday mornings when traffic is a bit less race coursey.

This Sunday, it seemed to be almost without traffic and I had a chance to pull over on the shoulder of the road and to get a couple of shots of the pair? Wait. There were thee Canadian geese and the old Drake wasn't having it that I had stopped. He came right up to the edge of the road on the other side and raised his long neck upward to let me know that he wasn't to happy, but as long as I stayed in the car and didn't get out, he would tolerate me being there for a bit. Then I saw fuzzy movement in the grasses behind him. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. There were  six Canadian geese goslings! I had never seen gosling Canadians in Texas before. And...since they hatched  in that very place, they were, officially, Texans!! Now, that was really a first for me; finding native Canadian geese that were Texan rather than Canadian.

The goslings are beginning to shed their down and are quite plump. They have done well finding food in that location and I will have to watch them more closely now as they are beginning to grow their feathers. It won't be long before they are fledged.  So, next late winter and early spring, I'll have to watch to see if they come back since they were so successful this year, but, I still am wondering about the baby ducks that never showed up in large numbers like they have in the past. I'm glad to see the wood ducks and the beautiful Canadians but I miss the little mallards in the wildlife and nature observations.

Pappa had chosen a rather perfect spot and had two hens that nested with him. They each hatched 3 goslings.

Since I could not get any closer, This new Native Texan was the closest to the road. The down is beginning to be replaced with feathers. It won't be long now before they take to the air. And, Air Canada has a big metal bird that crosses not to far up the road at the big airport, but I'm more concerned about Southwest and Virgin American, as they are on finals  to Love Field and dropping landing gears right over head at about 1000 feet on the glide slope.

First Full Day Back

Yesterday, was my first full day back to doing what I truly love---photography. It started out just like the old ones did but quickly was filled with black smoke in the air that from my overview of the skyline was at first, a bit deceptive. It looked as though the smoke was over Fair Park. That would have been a short trip getting there. But as I got closer to Fair Park, it was clear that the smoke was coming from much farther away. Half the battle of getting to a situation like that is knowing how to get there. And, the good Lord blessed me with a great GPS that I carry on my shoulders. It's always pointed like a bird dog.

So, from Fair Park, it was an easy cut across town in a westerly direction.From visible landmarks it looked like it was close to Oak Cliff, but gee---that is some distance to seeing black smoke rise on the horizon. On a clear day with dry air, I can see the training smoke at DFW International from the lake. That is  about 16 miles normally, so this was even farther. Then, my mind is racing that by seeing smoke at that distance and for it to still be jet black, it had to be a very large fire and I'm thinking of all the recycling places south of downtown that could be a source of the smoke,yet, as I traveled in that direction, the plume of smoke was shifting. Knowing how Dallas streets can be going east to west but end up north or south quickly solved the problem. I made a turn and headed south rather than west. At one point I was going farther away from the smoke but it's like a pilot flying on instruments. You can't see where you are going but you must trust your instruments to get you there. If you don't have that trust---you are going to crash. I had to trust my gut that while driving away from that amazing column of smoke, I was still going in the direction that would lead me there.

Up pops a street that I knew would take me in that direction. Illinois Street is a major Oak Cliff traffic route. When I had cleared the ridge that was blocking my line of sight (there are escarpments that run through Dallas...people are surprised to find Dallas is actually pretty hilly and not flat as most think).
Then, there it was. It loomed straight ahead and a bit south. That's another God- given quality...being able to make my way to a place to park. The police had the streets blocked off and I knew at that moment, the next job was to get as close in as I could and park. I did that shuffle here--shuffle there and found a place to park right behind all the fire trucks. And--with some  negotiation skills applied, I could leave my car in a safe place. The officer was nice. I would get lunch there if I could park. He agreed. (The best old-fashioned BBQ plate I have had in years was served up there when I returned. Was that also instinct? Remember the song from Annie? Food--glorious food! I knew you would get that! No pun intended.

Another thing that I learned from the old AP photographers that I hung with growing up was to just stop and look around . Resist that urge to get into action. As Dodd would always say," don't get greedy." I was---for all practical purposes---right in the thick of the action. Keeping my distance and staying out of the way was job one, but job two was to get shots that painted a picture of the emotions going on there. After looking back, this morning, I have not one but several shots that when viewed at 100% show the true emotions in several fireman's faces as they battle a 6-alarm in 100 degree temperatures plus the fire plus the heavy protective clothing---plus even the dense, thick, almost blinding and chocking smoke. It was a double-edge sword at that point. My own health and safety had to come first, then I could get the shots that my heart was telling me to get. It was almost like I had been directed there for that single purpose, I had followed a column of thick black smoke rising high into the sky from 25 miles away, got there and I hadn't missed a thing as far as getting those emotion shots. I truly felt lucky and blessed to be standing there with camera in hand.

As a result---my gut instinct grew stronger and stronger pulling me closer rather than pushing me away. The shots were less than 20 yards away and they revealed so much emotion on the faces of weary firemen. The instinct to follow the smoke was a rare event for me. Chasing fires is not my thing, but chasing a good photo op heads the list and this one was, for me, the top of the list. There are 30 more images running on the live news feed at the moment. It is about 12-hours into the 48-hour cycle. If you want to see the full thirty on the feed check it out. And--if you can increase the zoom to 100% you can see the emotions on the faces of the three and of the four firemen in thick smoke walking to their required R&R weary from there earlier on-the-job duties.

Emotion of  the moment