Observing A Key Fall Indicator for the 18th Year And May Be The Last

One thing that I remember from my grandparents is their wisdom on everything from health solutions to nutrition to signs from animals and what the sky will tell you in advance before something happens. Some of those things I still observe today and without fail, they have produced results right on time and on the money.

With the latest heat wave increasing our total days of triple figure heat from one through all of July to 12 as of today, this most likely will be our last triple digit day this season. At any rate, even if one more were to sneak in somewhere down the road, the summer has not been as hot as our run of 42 straight days a few years back. It must be stated that the humidity has been the biggest problem with this latest wave of heat.  In fact, today was the hottest of the season with the official temp at DFW International Airport (the official reporting station for the National Weather Service) hit 102 degree F. and a heat index of 109---some places at 111-112 were measured.

Yellow Leaves Turn on this tree with a record of being the earliest and first to show that annual change. This is the 18th year running and it may be the last.

 

A mark for the chain saws and wood chippers.

Some blue marking mean the same thing as the red. Eitherway, it will be another loss for long-term  park goers over the years that will miss this beauty!

Shooting from the car is not always the best, yet, for hummingbirds and butterflies and other song birds, shooting from the car will get you closer than you would if you were on foot---even if you slow step your way closer. But, when the heat is as hot as it has been, I don't break the cycle of not shooting at all. Although, there are some blank days in my file logs which indicate I did not shoot that day. The other change is that during the summers, shooting very early in the day is another alternative, which I use. It gives practice with the light shifts and angles of the sun. It also gives one a whole different way that we/they perceive a subject. Some of my best feather shots on songbirds has come from that shift from time, angles and perceptions. 

While using one of those days in the early morning hours to check on my old buddy that has not failed me for all those years, a sign stood out in the morning sun and I got out of the car and started to eye the tree for more signs. They were there and not all were positive. So, here are my limit of shots for this post. Mother nature has that perfect time on her alarm clock and it's ringing like crazy.

Lizards, Hummingbirds and What?

Even though it has been a tad cooler in the mornings than having the 80 degree F temps to start, it's been a couple of mornings of 78 with a that old Texas summertime friend----h-u-m-i-d-i-t--y still stuck in oppressive mode. The biggest problem has been no wind! Nothing to stir the air up. Five MPH just ain't cutting it this time of year.


The good news is that on Saturday, the average daily high temperature begins its descent toward wintertime levels. It starts out with a drop of only 1 degree but by end  of September, the drop will be 13 degrees less than it is now--97 degrees F. So, for us Texans, that Saturday event is always a major mile stone in activities as fall festivals and the like gear up for the State Fair at Fair Park.

With a major section of roadway on both sides of the lake closed, albeit East Lawther's water line work in its present state will not be ongoing much longer, the closed section near Fischer Road and West Lawther is going to take a while. And with that, the East Lawther section from Garland Road (highway 78) is nearing its completion, having been closed to Winfrey Point for almost two years.

The down side of that is that the closures have the bikers frustrated and the park goers that use the park regularly and have the attitudes of some bikers (not all, thank goodness) raising tempers from those that never complain about anything. The pressure on City Council, State Game Wardens, Park Rangers, and Park personnel to start enforcing the codes that are displayed on the signs that the city has posted before the situation gets out of hand. And, the stress is growing much faster than even I had realized.

I try to take it in stride and to tolerate the worse offenders that don't want to share the park with anyone else. It has always amused me that the city spent $42 million on hike and bike trails and 90 percent still use the roadways for both. In fact, posted on the information boards is the little subtle suggestion by city parks:

HAVE YOU OUTGROWN TRAILS?

If your speed or style endangers other users,seek

alternative routes better suited to our needs..

Selecting the right location is safer and more

enjoyable for everyone. 

Bicyclists are required to follow traffic laws---City Code  9

Signs that Stress Is Building with this Sticker on a Stop Sign in more than one place as even the Park publishes the rules that are city ordinances and yet won't enforce those rules and ordinances.

City made a point and tickets were issued for about a week. They stopped and everything has returned to the way that it was before.

Today, I had to laugh. In front of this sign was a Mercedes and a Grand Cherokee  parked  off road, in the grass. The same that got others tickets a few weeks ago, but it seems that the there are those that can pretty much do as they wish and not be held responsible. Oh, My!! Can it be?

Time Stamp This Morning:8:46AM,08-11-2019

Because of the heat, it was out the door very early this morning. After a quick stop at Micky Dee's to grab a senior coffee and a sausage biscuit, it was to my favorite spot at Dreyfuss Club and the picnic tables where the length of the lake can pretty much be see looking toward the dam. It's a great place to put down the camera on the wood picnic tables and drink my coffee and eat the sausage biscuit, while watching for the osprey and the eagle.

Much to my surprise, as I came down the drive from the hilltop and made the shoreline drive on the way out toward the stone picnic tables, there was already three photographers lined up at the eagles most favorite tree to perch. I pulled into the parking spot, walked over to where the guys were not even shooting so they had been there for a while already. Sure enough, there he set with that big white head and white outline around that beautiful black and grey body. I didn't even give the auto focus a chance to set before I clicked off three shots, wished the guys good shooting and headed back to the car. After all, I had seen this eagle and his mate when they first got here from the hatch release center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My brother had given me a heads up on the release and within a month, I had spotted them some five---now more like six--- years. I'm more interested in the osprey than the eagles. But, to each, their own.

American Bald Eagle at Dreyfuss Club, White Rock Lake at 8:46AM 2019-08-11

Damselfly laying eggs

I like these little guys better than the eagle, actually. Eagles eat Salmon. I eat Salmon. Damselflies eat mosquitos and I want them to eat all they want.

It's Bound To Have Happened

Up until yesterday, there had only been one day of 100 degree temps in the Dallas Metroplex this year. For the hottest time of the year for us (last two weeks of July and first two weeks of August) that is a good thing. Today, brought in the second of those 100's and for the next 7 days, it will be 100,102,103, with heat indices of 105 to 110 (That is just bite the bullet and get through it) .

The way we handle that is like most people of Australia---you close up the house and stay inside until after sunset, then you venture out. The only problem this year is that the over night lows are stuck at 80-81 degrees F. Not bad, but, with dew points in the 70s it's still feels like 100 at 10 o'clock. That heat index is a killer, especially from 105 to 110 degrees F and the weather service has posted warnings.

That big High is moving back over us for the weekend and the hottest days of the summer will rule this weekend before it slides on out of here. It has blocked the Jet Stream and all the storms that can bring rain and cooler temps is running all across the Great Lakes latitudes.

This morning, I made one lap of the lake and birds and butterflies were trying to stay cool and a couple of ducks were fishing under the docks of the marinas where it was cool shade. On the lap out of the lake, it was a quick stop at Aldi's for some Moose track ice cream and a water melon (my second of the season). So, it's inbound and down while this heat cooks every thing from tires to pavement. The water trucks were out watering down the runways at DFW to keep them cooler. When plane tires hit that 140 degree surface at 135-50 MPH, rubber is left on the runways in greater amounts and besides that, the plane weights and hot surfaces can cause buckles that can shut down runways. Therefore, spraying water on the runways is not a waste of water by any means. It is something that must be done. I watched the web cam of the the 18's being sprayed as I cooled down in the AC with an ice cooled drink of water in a glass bottle that I keep chilled in the freezer. It makes a difference on the length ice cubes stay solid in the glass.

It looks cool.

He seems cool.

His first summer in Texas

How Things Fit Together In Life Is No Accident.

This morning's news announced another curse that came to pass for the  Kennedy Family yesterday. And this one was at  the family compound  in Hyannis Port. The compound is both large and small as the main house is not the only large house on a 6-acre plot. It faces Nantucket Sound. 

I first saw the compound in October of 1975 from Marchant as it makes a turn from Hyannis. It's one of those places that is very visible from the air with that view being the most recognizable. But, coming by land, its one of those places you can easily miss. Never-the-less, having passed it going out and beyond Hyannis Port to Chatham that land view is in my memory forever. That glass gift had come from friends of my then in-laws and it was with them that we stayed while in Chatham.

My oldest son was 5 then. Later on that same trip, he and I would be splashed by a giant wave as we were leaving Ogunquit, Maine. He passed away 22 years later (1998). That year, being two locations where presidents had spent summers and holidays was interesting, but the connection that linked the two  were the most odd of all things. One was a wedding gift that was an enormous piece of glass that raised much discussing as to how that gift would be displayed. The other was a college friend who was from Kennybunk Port, Maine--who also died from  something strange that I cannot recall at the moment but I remember the girl as one of the sweetest human beings that I have known.

Staying in Ogunquit, our place was actually facing the Bush Compound at Walker's Point. George W. and I share the same birthday.  I live only miles from him that can be counted on one hand. It was there that  on our last day there, my son, KP and I got baptized together by that wave that hit that tall stone rock we tried to hide behind. I recently checked out the place where we had stayed in Ogunquit. It had changed don't you know, but it brought back a flood of memories from that trip. That day. It was also there that I had taken a picture that would  one day cause me to do photography as a hobby more than I had done in the past. And that goes back to Junior High days.

Yesterday was the 67th anniversary of my maternal grandfather's passing. The same day that Saoirse Kennedy Hill passed this year (August 1,2019).

Colonial Flag of the original 13 states.

. There are even more stunning comparisons but that would be most revealing so it is most prudent to not list those on the web, given all the breaches of late. But, I find it most interesting now.

1980 Vs. 2019. I'll Take 2019 Thumbs Down

In 1980, July recorded 100 degrees F. every single day of the month. This July, We went 29 days without a single 100 degree day. Yesterday, it finally hit 100 degrees. Today, being the last day of the month the official temperature at DFW was 97 degrees F. 

While it has been plenty hot with thick humidity, we did get a cold front that gave several days  of low dew points, low humidity and temps only reaching 89 to 90 degrees. It almost felt like fall. That got me thinking and that is always a fun trip. So, I started early looking for signs of fall. They were everywhere! I can't remember seeing so many annual signs showing up so early and in such numbers.

Then, at the end of search, I found a pod cast that keeps watch on the El Nino and La Nina. El Nino is back but in a weaker state. But, I'm still remembering the massive snow falls in the Sierra Nevada and the 8-inch rain falls in California, too. I'm thinking that we must might get a big snowfall this winter and that is why the early signs of fall are showing up. I'd like that, in fact.

The Hummingbirds Are Back!

Hummingbird

Migration this far north is right on time.

The first hummingbird of the season for me was spotted on July 12th. Yesterday, the little one played peek-a-boo over the Mexican Sage Bush. He would disappear behind the bush. After a couple of minutes, he would rise like a helicopter and hoover about a foot or two above the bush, always facing me in the car, then he would disappear again.  This routine kept happening for ten- minutes. Just as I would raise the camera, he would disappear again. Animals are jokers, just like some of the humans I know. And that---is not a bad thing!