There Is A Change In The Air

It might sound a bit premature to some, but for an old man like me who has observed the change of seasons for well more than 60 found many in the past week. These are not just a change in temps or things like that...they are age-old signs that Native Americans taught my grandfathers and they in-turn taught me as a young boy. And yes, they are most accurate for the long term.

Early last week, I was somewhat shocked to see the leaves flipped. Some of you have heard me talk about the flipping of leaves but it is one of the early signs that fall is just around the corner. There were a stand of sycamore trees that all had leaves flipped. Flipping of leaves is when the bottom of the leaf is on top and facing upwards and not in their traditional downward position. When I see leaves flipped like that big weather changes are not far away. This strong cold front that is hitting tonight was a taste of that this morning as recorded gust of over 50 MPH were the result of thunderstorms in Oklahoma last night that  sent that burst of cool refreshing air blowing over the porch early this morning as I sipped my first cup of morning coffee. It has not been in the 70s and 80s for a full morning and part of the afternoon since June 19th. And while we have had 17 days of 100 degrees plus this month, the 100s will return next week as the first two weeks of August are considered the  most hot of the season.

A couple of Mary Kay Seminar Participants ride one of the new electric scooter rentals.

The Statler Hotel Gets A Second Life. This hotel was famous for Sinatra and his crew that stayed here and played here any time that he was in Dallas. The grand old hotel lives once more, but like all things--it now has a combo of apartments, hotel rooms and offices, too.

This is the dream of Ross Perot as the family foundation donated millions to get it built in down town. It is the Perot Museuam of Nature and Science. For our Ohio readers, it's every bit as good as COSI. It truely is a hands on learning museum. The blue glass is the escalator! Fun! Plants and native grasses grow on the roofs.

With cool and comfortable temps and sprinkles falling, I took a walk through the compound today for the first time in many years. A tulip tree had already changed to some solid yellows and dropped a lot of those leaves onto the grass, sidewalk and parking lot. It is yet, another sign, that big changes are coming sooner than we think. In reality, it's been hot since early May, or a month early. Spring came early, too. It was popping out swelled buds and new tender grown  in February this year. So, while most will be looking for fall in this part of the country around October to November, they will be a bit surprised when September will spring a little surprise on them. Nature always has a way of balancing things out in the end. I have a strong feeling that this year will not be any different for her.

The Heat

Today was the 16th day of 100F or above--mostly well above. Here is the official National Weather Service Record at DFW International:

June had 4 days of 100 degrees F.

July 1 @ 102F
July 2 @ 100
July 3 @ 101
Then----

July 14 @ 100
July 15 @ 100
July 16 @  101
July 17 @ 104
July 18 @ 106
July 19 @ 108
July 20 @ 108
July 21 @ 109
July 22 @ 109

The rest of this coming week will be at 100 to 104 and it will not be until next Monday that we see temps fall back to 95.

Traditionally we get 18 days of 100-degrees F a year. It's just not as oppressive as this has been.The overnight temps never fall back below 80 and this morning, it was 85 just starting the daylight hours off.

Still, I have started out early and head for the barn at 4 hours or 100 which ever comes first. Tonight, I went outside at 9 to watch the space station cross Dallas, but the heat was still at 103 at 9 pm. Plus there was some blotchy clouds right over the path. I could see the moon and the evening star but the space station which at this time of year is usually visible for 6 minutes as it crosses the sky, was obscured.

So, I came back inside not so disappointed ---just glad that 6 minutes went so fast. There were lots of pictures to submit from the week after editing. Some interesting ones so be sure to check out the website's last tab and click on the portfolio under those that are linked. I do not have Dreamstime linked and  Featurespic and Alamy are listed on the blog so click that on as well.

I have been down to the Convention Center twice as Mary Kay Seminars began on Friday and run through August 4th.

This is next to my Kroger store. A lady stepped on the accelerator rather than the brake and drove into the Dry Cleaners. It was reported that she hit some equipment as well and that was the reason for the HazMat Crew Once they arrived on scene, the police and fire truck left and went back into servcie.

The is not your average cell tower. It sits atop a massive high tension power line net work which is like twice as high as a normal cell phone relay tower. But, the most amazing thing here is that all the Purple Martin Swallows (the largest of swallows) are lined up on  the lightening wires but if you go to 100% you will see as many inside the reply pods on braces, wires and even on the relays at various points. In short. There are birds all over the place within the structure. The monk parots normally nest there in the winter because of the heat it generates. They were flying around chattering like crazy and  were not happy that the martins had taken over.

 

This bunny I found today. It is the second one that I have seen this week and birds have been highly successful as well. From the Road Runner at the National Cemetery to the Red Tail Hawk chasing the crows out of his territory yesterday. SO, I can only conclude that the hot weather has had its effect on nature's critters including the snakes that have tried to get to cooler places. I almost stepped on a 5 footer a couple of days ago. Snakes do good things for enviroments, but they are not my favorite little helper. I would just as soon to not see any.

The Art-of-Living Experiences

It has been a while since I have dug deep into my backpack for a dose of Arthur Gordon. Catherine Marshall, the author of, "A Man Called Peter", calls Arthur Gordon's book, "A Touch of Wonder", a luster of commonplace events of everyday life.

To carry this intro a bit further, Dr. Donald E. Smith, President of the Institutes of Religion & Health simply says that Gordon's book is a "book that recaptures for the reader in an extraordinary way the excitement and joy of life." Well. There it is. The excitement and joy of life. Having felt that same way upon the first reading of my "go-to" book of common everyday events, it's baptized in bible holy water, so I don't let it replace the bible, but the pages are well worn like one another. I guess to put it in common terms, one could say, one is like thinking you need to call 911 and the other one is knowing you must call 911. Good ole common sense steeped in experience from cover to cover in both books. One doesn't replace the other, but when you use them both together---the power that Moses called forth from above to part the Red Sea can send shivers up and down the spine.

Anyway, There are a few stories that I have read and re-read so much, I should have them memorized, but I'm practical and save that energy for other things because I carry the book with me and I can landmark the story in the book as well as a GPS accurate map.

Today, the stories that call out are these:

1. I'm Aware of You
2. A Spark Jumped
3. Unlikely Friendships
4. Memorable encounters
5. The most beautiful unorthodox things
6. Discard that rain coat
7. 6-x's
8. Perhaps---the way everything of consequence begins.

 My most read story is: The Stranger Who Taught Magic.

For one, I have walked the sand dunes in the Carolina's, been flounder gigging up a backwater stream,meet older men that taught so much about life's purpose and had them disappear in death or places unknown. In short, that 13-year old boy fisherman could have been me growing up and it was a learned balance, like a good solid education that no one can ever take away from you. To have both is just an awesome experience, even when there are those that still want to see  you fail, or when you stumble, step on you as they walk on past. I try to forget those. It's like memorizing something that is in print and readily available to your fingertips. Why memorize when you can use those cells for more thing of equal or higher level consequences.

Just this week, I saw a bumper sticker on a car that said to the effect, " Pray for Peace in Jerusalem." On either side of the car were stickers for  a protestant church and on the other a Madonna. Both would signal to most that the person was fairly religious.  Yet, I saw something different. I'm thinking to myself, "lady, Jerusalem could not be in better hands,"  meaning that Jesus said, " I go to prepare a place for you and I will come again and receive you unto myself. And there are scriptures that speak of a new Jerusalem descended from heaven when Christ comes again. SO, it does not matter what happens in Jerusalem, the Lord has that well planned out. Which brings to point: the faith that this woman seemed to me to be shallow to not know or to have reached that  point of reference; that while the power of prayer is well documented, she should have known that there are other places to be praying for other than the most sacred of cities ever made mention in the Bible and Torah and Koran. Critical thinking is like a puzzle. The big picture always wins over the microscopic agendas of the weak that want us to believe that they are stronger.

A great sign. Their big digital could not do what this sign does....stops traffic.

Yes, the topic of life. Some call it poetic justice

A Morning Dove Observes

A Visit To The National Cemetery

I lift up mine eyes unto the hills.

Dallas Baptist University Campus on the south side of the cemetery,

It has been a while since I have been out to the Dallas Ft Worth National Cemetery. I made the trip this past weekend. It always gives pause and is a place to renew thought. You might say that it is a catharsis of one's soul.

Before starting the trip, early Sunday morning, loading up the car and talking out the garbage, the day got off to a surprising and inspiring start. There were two red tail hawks on the back fence. It was a signal of how the day was going to unfold and I could feel the rush of excitement almost from the very sighting.

My departures are almost like a plane being tugged out away from the gate; that controlled taxi  out to the runway;getting clearance to take off. Then, as you build speed, you are waiting for that first feel of  free flight as the laws of physics lifts the impossible into the air. In other words, it's a slow process getting into the air. My driving is like that. I have no need to rush to the next stop light and wait for the ones that I just passed to pull up along side at the light. I would rather just pace my speed and keep an even flow in my driving.

When I finally turn onto Mountain Creek Parkway and start the curve around Mountain Creek Lake, it's like a peaceful mist falls over me as I near the entrance to the cemetery. The cemetery sits on an escarpment that rises above the parkway. Dallas Baptist University Campus is on the south side of the cemetery and across the lake just off I-30 sits the unmissable  AT&T Stadium of the Dallas Cowboys.

Still, to go there and walk among the rows of tombstones brings a clean and refreshed view of though and understanding about life and humanity. To me, it's always been a way to clear out the thought process making room for a higher level of understanding in the meanwhile.

Trying to hide behind the pole in the center, sits AT&T Stadium in Arlington across Mountain Creek Parkway and Lake in the distance.

On my drive down the main causeway from the front gate the second wonder of the day  happened when a real life road runner  raced up the hill chasing a lizard. Meep Meep and all echoed in the quiet of the morning. Around the bend was the most red cardinal that I have ever seen. The bird was stunning. A bunny sitting in the shade of a tree was on the next section and a very docile Scissors-tail fly catcher set on a section marker posing for the camera. He even moved his mouth. Opening and closing, turning front to back. So, the early morning forecast of an unusual day began with the pair of red tailed hawks on my back fence, ushering in anticipation;long before I arrived at the cemetery. It could not have been a more perfect day spiritually.

It's Been Twenty Years Since You Left Us.

You left us twenty years ago today. 

In Loving Memory, KP.

Dad.

A Business That Means Business

Each of us drive by some place every day and notice it as a frequent landmark. We also see it as being mundane of little interest other than we know it's there as we pass.

With all the conflict in the world today and basically business ethics out the window, when you see a frequent, be it mundane at best, business that actually does what it says...it's no longer mundane and can even be comical in addition to being refreshing.

Such was the situation early this morning as I made my way to drive under the new bridge at the entrance of T&P Hill where the old metal trestle was replaced with a new hike and bike trail bridge yesterday. 

Unexpectedly, clouds move in with a brisk breeze and the smell of a few raindrops falling. It was a delight just to be out and have the temperature at 75 and not 80 where it has been stuck most of the month as our overnight low. As I come down 78 Garland Road, I passed a tire rental business next to Keller's Hamburgers. I was noticing the neat buntings Keller's had hanging out on their railings for the Fourth of July when I see this car in the parking lot next door sitting on cinder blocks. All four tires were gone. Then, I see the name of the business and broke out in a laughter like I haven't done in years. It just struck me as funny. Admittedly, not knowing the circumstances behind the car sitting in their lot, I turned around and came back around to get a couple of shots. In the process, I had the thought that Gee, here is a business that does what it advertises!! The proof sat right there on cinder blocks. Refreshing and I had a good laugh from it all.

The Business That I Admire For Doing What There Sign Says.

The culprit that broke me into a good laugh.

T

The Proof Is In The Pudding!

North Dallas Stuck In Traffic for 11 Hours

It started about 04:30 this morning when a tanker truck carrying highly flammable liquids started the arch-curve on the 4th-tier of Dallas High Five Interchange, one of the busiest in the nation. It was then, that the unthinkable happened. The tanker flipped over on its side up against the barrier wall.

With highly flammable liquids leaking out in humid weather that had not dipped below 80-degrees overnight, it didn't take long for police and fire department to do a unthinkable for a second time this morning and  shut down the Dallas High 5 in all directions. Haz-mat crews sprayed foam on the leaking material and an aerial ladder from the department was dispatched to get a stream of cooling water onto the tanker to keep the temperature down and hopefully from exploding. The aerial ladder could reach over the barrier wall of the 4-th tier ramp with not much room to spare, but firemen were able to direct the flow of water from their perch at the top of the ladder onto the tanker.

With the hour of the day prime for morning commuting to be underway, it didn't take long for the back-up of traffic to begin filling all lanes in all four directions. The back-up quickly stretched for not 2 or 3-miles, but  5, then 6, then 7 and nearing 8 going west bound out of Garland and Mesquite into Dallas' major distribution warehouses, package delivery services and DFW and related aviation workers heading into work, not to mention the offices and businesses that are staffed by so many in the Metroplex.

As the morning moved onward with sunrise, rising temperatures and cars idling for hours, not minutes, people stuck and pinned-in with miles of traffic if not in front of them, then certainly, it was miles and miles behind them. Some humor came out of the moment when a food truck stuck in traffic like everyone else, got out and opened up shop right in the center of the High Five at I-635 LBJ and US-75.

When I finished at the pharmacy with some issues with meds, the car just kind of on its own headed down Spring Valley toward 75. A Richardson policeman was picking up cones that he had placed on both sides of his car where he had been blocking the entrance to the service road going toward the High Five. With that almost like a green light, I headed to ground zero. Parking in my favorite spot at the high five, I had a good view of the wrecker with the tanker in tow and the Ha

Wrecker with tanker in tow

Haz-mat crew

The accident was on the 4th tier. The green colums support tier 5 above. There are level 3 and 2 below with level 1 being grade. There are also Express Lanes and HOVs up there, too!

z-mat crews there to begin even more clean up. Tonight at 10:30, 18-hours later, the crews are still cleaning up where the material had leaked down over three more tiers of roadway.

The design of the High Five was not at fault. Nor was the problems from a shut-down. It's one of those things with many, many variables that had to come together for another day like this one in Dallas Traffic.Tonight, the High Five is doing what it was designed to d0, move traffic.