So, how do you like summer so far, Scott?

We're only four days into summer and I've already had a near-death heat-related experience.

I spent 4 hours outside yesterday afternoon and thought I was gonna die.  I came home around 5 drenched in sweat and went straight to the shower.  I turned on the shower water and began to undress and realized I couldn't get my t-shirt off.  It was stuck to my back.

I wrestled with that damn thing for 10 minutes and finally got it up my back to my neck, and managed to get one arm half way out, when things went straight to hell.  My left arm was sticking half in and half out of its sleeve, my right arm was behind my head tugging for all I was worth to get get the t-shirt up and over my head, while my head was bent straight down on my chest.  I needed to get my head back up so some oxygen could make it into my lungs.  I couldn't move and I couldn't see because salty sweat was in my eyes.  I was in a helluva shape.

I figured I was either going to have to call for help, rip my t-shirt to shreds to get it off, or say "hey" to Jesus.  With hot water running out it was now or never.  One last try....and I was free!  The t-shirt was a bit stretched out, but I think it's salvageable.  

Then my underwear.  I couldn't just drop 'em and step out.  I had to roll the waistband down....it sounded like velcro pulling apart as it broke its grip on my sweaty butt.  (Not a pretty visual, is it?)

You know that story about Rip Van Winkle?  Is that even possible?  I don't want to sleep for 20 years, but I wouldn't mind hibernating in a cool place until, say, early October.

All things considered I guess it could be worse.  In addition to this #$%^&* heat and humidity, my brother is having a colonoscopy on Wednesday and a tooth extraction on Friday, and the reconstruction first step for a tooth implant.

Maybe I'd best count my blessings and just suffer in silence.

Here's to you, summer.  ;)

S

Careful what I wish for

I love "weather".  I mean the kind that goes FLASH and BOOM!  I love it when you can see it coming from miles away, and then you can smell it, and then finally you hunker down back inside and watch it blow over.  And afterwards, the air smells so clean, and hopefully has been scrubbed clean of all that nasty pollen that gives me such fits.

I vividly remember one spring back in about 1970 when I was a student at Harvard On The Plains (Texas Tech to you).  Every evening for about two weeks we had what they passed off as "dinner" in our dorm cafeteria, then went back to our west-facing rooms and watched the storms build to the west.  

They grew bigger and taller until finally winds at altitude began shearing off the tops, giving them that distinctive "anvil" head.  It sucked together whatever moisture it could find in the dry West Texas sky, and finally dumped it on top of us, complete with an accompanying light show.  Awesome!

One night it lasted for 6+ hours.  There was a flash / boom every 3 or 4 seconds, all night long.  The next day everyone you met around town was bleary-eyed from lack of sleep.  It was the talk of the town for sure.

Sometimes there were tornadoes involved, too.  In the springtime in West Texas they're common.  In fact, we made a game out of chasing them.  Today "storm chasers" have mobile 4G computer access to satellites and know where the tornadoes are likely to spawn.  It's become a fine art.

We weren't that sophisticated.  We were just a bunch of guys with a car, a full tank of gas, and nothing better to do. Well, except for studying.  Knowing that tornadoes generally travel SW to NE, we'd just maneuver ourselves SW of one and follow it.  

Most were harmless.  In the vast expanse of the South Plains of Texas there isn't much to hit.  Sadly, a few found their way to town, as in June, 1971 when one hit Lubbock and killed 26 people.  The apartment I had left the day before to go home for the summer was one of the casualties.

This is what the sky looked like yesterday evening around Cleburne, TX, just south of Dallas/Foat Wuth.  That dastardly funnel in the center of the picture was one of 10 (?) that plowed across North Texas last night.  Six people didn't survive, and property damage was extensive.  (My area was well north and experienced no damage at all.)

I still love weather, but now I'm wise enough to take it more seriously.  It can bite hard.

Prayers to those affected last night.

S

I think we've done this to ourselves

I think everyone in the US would agree that weather patterns the past decade or so have been totally off the charts.  Right now, for example, wildfires are burning in the Pacific Northwest, and the only reason much of the rest of he country isn't on fire, too, is because it's already burned up.

This has so far been the hottest year since records have been kept, and it's also the driest, with 63% of our land mass experiencing drought conditions, hence the wildfires.  And if you watch the news, it seems like the other 37% is flooding.  Things are just completely upside down.

Want more proof the end is near?  The official NOAA forecast for Dallas over the next five days calls for a 30-50% chance of rain every day, with the high temperatures in the upper 80's.  Pinch me!  

And now we have an invasion, caused by an abnormal amount of rain earlier in the year, of mosquitoes carrying West Nile Virus.  It's become so bad in Dallas County (I'm in Collin County, north of Dallas) that they have brought in a private air force to fog the area with an insecticide that will kill the nasty little buggers.  Now if there are any more mysterious deaths the medical examiner will have to decide if it's from the WNV or from ingesting the insecticide that is supposed to kill the WNV.  (Better living through chemistry!)

OK, now follow closely:  Very unexpectedly, scientists have found that the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the US has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years.  That's good, right?

Hmmmm....I'm wondering if maybe our atmosphere has undergone some sort of evolutionary change and has actually become used to CO2, so taking 20% of it out has actually pissed off the atmosphere, and now it's retaliating.  Maybe all these droughts and fires and floods and mosquitoes are just the consequence of a cleaner atmosphere.

Maybe its time we park all those Prius's and plug-ins and pull the covers off our beloved big block Chevy's.  Let's muck things up a little!  Fresh air is SO overrated.  ;)

S

Rain, rain...NO! Please DON'T go away

I don't think I've ever seen such screwy weather.  Three-quarters of the country is experiencing drought conditions, while in parts of south/coastal Texas they've had flooding.  High winds are flattening the plains states, while much of Colorado and the southwest have burned up.  Ya think this is one of those "end of time" events?


For us in north Texas our weather has been pretty normal.  Of course it's miserably hot, but rains earlier in the year topped off our lakes, and I'm hopeful we can get through the rest of the year without any water shortages.  In fact, I looked out my apartment window a few minutes ago and saw this:

Normally we don't get these kinds of clouds build up until the heat of the afternoon.  Maybe the rains currently one county west will slide this way.  I'm ready for a rainy day.  I think much of the country is ready for a rainy day/week.

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I saw on the bidness news that Sandy Weill, the man who assembled all the parts that made Citi into the first megabank, now agrees with me that our big banks need to be broken up.  (He obviously reads my blog.  ;)  He says "our banking system has been hijacked", and that banks that take deposits should be separated from those that take huge speculative risks.  Amen Brother Sandy!  But since he probably doesn't have any Congressmen in his back pocket like the banks do, I don't think it will ever happen.  At least not until after the next worldwide economic catastrophe.  (Ahem....back to that "end of time" theme?)

S

The countdown begins....

My daughter Erica's baby is due next Saturday, but as we all know, babies don't pay much attention to dates and calendars and such.  As I recall her son Parker was born a few days early.  Does that make it more likely my first granddaughter (Blakeley) will arrive early, too?


Contrary to what I experienced yesterday (cool and rainy) I heard on the news this morning that the last 12 months here in the US have been the warmest on record, and that in just the month of March we set over 15,000 record highs and (warmest overnight) lows.  (Is it global warming, or just all the election-year hot air coming out of Washington?)  Then I opened my blinds and saw fog so thick you couldn't see across the street.  NOT a normal April occurrence, I promise.  I don't think I like where this is going.


Do you ever get the strange feeling things just aren't quite right?  I mean the weather, natural disasters, current events, the world-wide economy, etc?  I can't see how anyone can honestly say they have a handle on things.  My senses tell me to pull back, hunker down, and stay as nimble as possible.  Regardless of which volcano blows up, which tectonic plate cuts loose, whether Greece pays it's bills, China implodes, or Iran pushes the wrong button and blows itself up, it's all beyond my control. 

This just seems like a good time to lay (lie?) low.  I think sometimes we outsmart ourselves.


Happy Monday.  ;)


S

Our weather could get ugly....and more car pics, too

You've heard it said that animals can sense something bad coming, such as an earthquake?  My dog Emma Belle does NOT like to go outside and "do her business" in the rain.  She just refuses, period.  This afternoon when I came home from work I took her out as usual and she...er...well, let's just say her "business" was impressive, if you know what I mean.  The weatherguessers are again predicting an atmospheric "perfect storm" is brewing for us here, and based on Emma's "now or never" bathroom behavior, I think they might be right. Emma Belle, Weather Dog  *has a nice ring to it*

And now for something more pleasant....here are some more cool/unique cars I saw last weekend at the British and European Car Day in Dallas: 

A couple of nice Alfa Romeo's ^

A well-worn Saab rally car  ^

A TVR (British)  ^

A Morgan (also British) ^

A Volvo P1800 (I almost bought one of these many years ago) ^

A "Bug-eye" Sprite (see where it gets its name?) 

A Lancia Beta (Italian) ^

(You can click on any picture to enlarge it)

Hope you're safe tonight, wherever you are.

S

EDIT:  Plano was spared the big storms last night.  Most went south of us, and some went north, but here we just got a little rain.