TEXAS WEATHER

The scorching Texas sun has finally set.  The ceiling fan in the kitchen squeals and whines in a futile attempt to cool.  The screen door to the back porch creaks and groans as the old dog wanders in and, tongue hanging out, flops on the floor under the table. No one moves, only the sound of the ceiling fan and the windmill in the yard, barely turning in the hot evening air, breaks the silence.

Fast forward sixty years…same hot Texas sun but ceiling fans purr quietly as they circulate the cool air conditioned air around the room, but the discussion on weather goes on, from the morning coffee down at the local café in Onalasaka (yes there is an Onalalaka)  to the concrete corridors of Houston.

Much is written about the weather…

 “Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.”  Mark Twain

 On February 9, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a joint resolution of Congress authorizing the Secretary of War to establish a national weather service. The resolution required the Secretary of War... “To provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent and at other points in the States and Territories”.

So the records are still being made and broken, season come and go…and the weather cycle goes on.

Though the air conditioning makes life more comfortable I can still hear the opening and closing of a screen door, the creaking and groaning of a windmill…life move on.

Humpty Dumpty

The rhyme does not explicitly state that the subject is an egg and in my case it refers to an aging laptop computer.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, (on my desk)
Humptyi Dumpty had a great fall; (blue screen blues)
Threescore men and threescore more, (Dell technical support)
Cannot place Humpty dumpty as he was before. (the more Dell helped the worse it got!)

So…I finally decided to buy a new egg (err laptop).  The purchase was easy, delivery was prompt and then the process bogged down. “Humpty” sat on the desk in various “patches” (external hard drive, files scattered all over….like a shattered egg shell).

What to do?

I really needed someone to come and take a look at “Humpty” and put him back together again. Well Dell didn’t offer that service, a nationally advertised service (they drive around in little funny cars) failed twice to show up! So…I went with a local technician who showed up and carefully looked at poor “Humpty” and declared he would take all of “Humpty’s” parts and pieces and reassemble them into the new shell (laptop).

And so he did…the scattered pieces of shell were reassembled into one smooth egg (laptop) and “Humpty” sits contentedly on my desk, ready to resume our cyber life of bit’s an bytes.

Texas Heat

The long hot and dry summer of 2011 drags on.

The promise (well actually only a “chance”) of rain today has yet to materialize and the temperatures are once again hovering near 100 with humidity’s at a sweat dripping level. Fortunately I received a job request that will take me for cooler climes…Fairbanks Alaska, for a few days work (high of 67 with rain tomorrow on arrival).

Last month I got a similar reprieve and a trip to Yellowknife NWT Canada…ironically both Yellowknife and Fairbanks are the jumping off points for Ice Road Truckers series…fortunately it won’t be -22 when I get there! This Texas boy no longer owns cloths for those temperatures.

It is sometimes hard to remember that this drought and high temperatures aren’t being felt by everyone. The south is known for its heat and humidity so there is no surprise there, however, this year seems worse. Houston is almost 20” below normal rainfall, and no relief in sight.

So…its off to Alaska and a few days of cool and wet weather.

"The Tank"

At one time I thought Russia was a totally isolated and totally self-sufficient. I found on one of my early trips to Moscow, in 1990, that wasn’t the case.

My company was one of the early ones trying to forge a relationship with Russia to drill and produce oil and aviation would be a necessary component and as the aviation advisor I was sent to define the use and arrange and coordinate with a Russian company to provide the airplane and helicopter support we would need.

Initially I wasn’t having much (actually none) success in making contact. Hours of sitting around the hotel waiting for translations and contacts to be made and meetings to be arranged.

Our resident managers wife took pity on me one day and asked if I would go with her to one of Moscow’s open air markets…it was the middle of the winter! Desperate to get out of the hotel I agreed and we bundled up against the below zero weather and took the subways (Moscow has a most architecturally wonderful system, built on the bones of the thousands of workers it took to build the ring) out to the market.

The market was spread across the hills of a large park and filled with vendors selling all kinds or wares from all over the communist world (Cuba, theRepublics, Africa and more). Trudging across the snow packed ground, the air heavy with the frozen breath of the amazingly large crowd, we surveyed the tables of mostly cloths made in China and other Russian republics.

At one table, where what I thought were toys, were some small military tanks. Crudely crafted I was assured they were models of authentic Russian tanks. As they were small (about 1” long)and of rough molding I took him at his word and bought the small tank for a few Rubles.

Years later I happened to “closely” examine the tank and to my surprise (well not really, I should have suspected) the “Made in Russia” tank had actually been “Made in China. отсутствие проблемы which means “no problem”.( ”Nyet problema'')

Alaskan Cruise

Alaska has moved many to try and capture its magnificence. Michener’s Alaska, Jack London’s Call of the Wild and of course John Wayne and North to Alaska. Over time the fascination of Alaska has called many.

That fascination still calls and the cruise line do a great job of showing a slice of that rugged states beauty. Today over forty ships ply the Inland Passage between Seattle / Vancouver and Alaskan ports as far north as Anchorage. Each of these ships carries thousands so you can see that during the cruise season (May to September) thousands get to view the marvels of the Canadian / Alaskan Inland Passage.

Last week neighbors Larry and Regina Mercer and Bobbie and I added their names to the long list of those legions that have made this spectacular trip.  Bobbie and I  also celebrated our 45th. Anniversary in Seattle before boarding the ship.

Boarding in Seattle they were treated to some of the most beautiful scenery nature can provide. They were treated to great sights and “a lot of food!” (and…no one gained weight?)

With stops in Tracy Arm Fjord, Tracy Arm is a magnificent glacier-carved fjord just south of Juneau.


Many cruise itineraries include a visit to this incredible place, often as a substitute for the comparable Glacier Bay National Park.

The fjord is part of the 30 mile long Tracy Arm - Fords Terror Wilderness region, located about 60 miles southeast of Juneau.
The fjord is truly one of the most dramatic locations in Alaska, or in all of the world, for that matter. The sheer, glacier-carved walls are often shrouded in mist.

Glacial calving in Tracy Arm can often be quite spectacular, as huge chunks of ice break off and plunge into the frigid waters below.


Skagway, where they took a train ride on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad. Built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush, this narrow gauge railroad is an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, a designation shared with the Panama Canal, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty.

The WP&YR railway was considered an impossible task but it was literally blasted through coastal mountains in only 26 months.

Juneau, the Mendenhall Glacier...another beautiful stop showing the magnificane of nature.

Ketchikan…where the boats were stacked four deep…end to end (parallel parked “beep beep”).

With one more stop in Victoria Canada the group were headed home, cameras full of pictures, memories full of good times, fellowship and marveling over the sites they had seen.

 

The passing of time

January’s freezing temperatures thawed like icicles dripping off a roof...slowly. February and March were dry and windy blowing the remnants of the dead leaves off the trees…not at all like southeast Texas winters. April showers did not happen, a drought gripped Texas. May flowers only occurred after much watering…so the months dissolved into one another with no clear arrival of spring.

Dreary as that may sound there were many crisp and crystal clear days to enjoy, no one wanted to rush the heat of summer. The tomatoes plants seemed to thrive with the cool weather, the grass lush and green, and the catfish off the dock were plentiful…so it is hard to complain (too much).

Today we are watching another line of thunderstorms headed toward southeast Texas, hoping that “this” line will hold together. Lately these lines tease us…roaring toward us we store the lawn furniture and loose items…only to have them “fizzle” out just before arriving….like I said “teasing” us!

Maybe today?

Great Day!!!

With the winds of late on our minds we awoke on Friday morning for a scheduled trip out on Lake Livingston...it was "great", flat and smooth.
Our good friends were in town and we were going to "try" and find some white bass for a fish fry. Now bear in mind that we haven't been out fishing this year (Lady Wings is the fisherperson...she'd already caught four nice catfish off the dock) and our friends had never caught any white bass on the old 190 roadbed. So...with all that we headed out early (in case the winds kicked up later) with little expectations but having a "great" day on the lake.

With the GPS we found the roadbed and started trolling. Nothing...then one, then two...then two at the same time. And so it went...slow (but we are all novices) until we had both live wells full of fish. "Great"!!!

And so the morning went...the ladies catching most of the fish and the guys driving and repairing lines...yes we lost a few to snags. One funny snag resulted in pulling up our "previous" snag...complete with Jet Diver and Pet Spoon!

"Great day" of fellowship and fun...and a few fish.