Update on Harvey

They are now predicting a couple more days of heavy rain.  The weather man is predicting 8-12 inches of rain on top of the 10-20 inches that has already fallen.  The TV is now showing lots and lots of boats helping out with the rescues.  Rockport officials have told the people that if you were in an area that was told to evacuate and you decide to stay, please write your name and SS number on your arm so that it will make it easier to identify the bodies.  That is how bad the flooding is.

I would imagine that there is a lot of flooding in our area, too, since we are only about 30 miles north of Houston.  I decided to just stay home and watch it on TV.

Bu the way, Harvey is still bouncing off and on the land on the coast.  It doesn't seem to be able to make up its mind exactly where it wants to go.  Every time it bounces out to sea, it picks up new energy.  It will be the major weather maker for the next few days around here.  Now, you all have sunny day, if possible, you hear?

Wondering About Harvey.

I enjoyed that movie with Jimmy Stewart.  He was one of my favorite actors.

Yes, I am sure you remember him.  Now, do you remember the movie he made named "Harvey"?  Harvey was a 6'-3 1/2" tall rabbit that was his best friend.

The Harvey I am wondering about is not near as friendly but it is moving in without being invited.  I suppose that pictures are worth many thousands of words so in order to save my poor old fingers from typing thousands of words, here are some pictures.  Just click on the link and you will see what is going on in our area:

  

http://elitedaily.com/news/incredible-photos-hurricane-harvey-devastation-show-like-texas/2054807/

We are getting more heavy rain and it is suppose to rain for quite a few more days.  Just now (11:42) my satellite TV signal was lost.  Now I will have to look outside to see what the weather is like and keep my ear tuned to the roar of tornadoes. . . Oh good, it came back on, now I can stay in my rocker/recliner.  Now, keep your powder dry and try to have a great day, you hear?

Update. . .  we have already had about two feet of rain and they are predicting 20 to 22 inches more tonight and tomorrow.  That will be a total of almost four feet.  That is almost a half a years worth of rain all in a couple of days.  

Still Have My Head Above Water.

I still have my head above water, although most of the Texas east coast has had some degree of flooding.  Some places have had more rain than they have had for forty years.

If you are reading this Barney, your favorite area on the Texas coast, Rockport, got hit very hard.  Hurricane Harvey came slowly ashore in the Rockport/Corpus Christi area, and just sat there for awhile pumping water inland.  Pictures are worth a thousand words so go to this site and look at the pictures: 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/in-photos-hurricane-harvey/ss-AAqEBwG?ocid=spartandhp#image=1

Here were I live we have had some gusts of wind and rain all day long.  Nothing too bad but the rain water has to go somewhere and there is and will be flooding around the area.  I don't have a problem with flooding since water runs away from my house.  Now my son, who lives on the back of my property, says he was temped to stuff empty sealed 55 gallon drums under his house and make a sail out of a couple of those blue tarps and take cruise.  Aloha son.  Now you all stay high and dry and have a great day, you hear?

Going To Get Wet.

It is going to get wet around here.  A storm system is moving in off the Gulf and will hit the East Texas coast a little south of Houston.  That puts us up here north of Houston on the wet side of the storm and they are predicting from ten to twenty inches here and south of me, maybe up to two or three feet.  That is a lot of water!!!

I should be OK where I live since water runs away from my home.  Maybe it does that because I am so ugly I scare it away.  Well, I hope it works this time, too.  Too little or too much rain can be a real problem and we get both of these situations at one time or another.

I am sure hoping that everyone in the path of this storm will get through it without too much hardship and especially without any physical trauma to themselves.  I know some of you will be hit hard with this storm whereas others will be missed entirely.  Now, if you can, have a great day, you hear?

Lonely Lawn Mower.

I often wonder if a pieces of non-living things have emotions.  No, of course they don't, but we seem to put human traits to those things.  You know, like cars, boats, etc.  So, when I noticed this abandoned lawn mower behind my place, I thought it looked lonely and that the morning glories were trying to cheer it up.

Here is a picture of some of the morning glories:

The first thing I noticed was the vine going from the ground up to the handle.  Now those morning glory vines are very limber and couldn't grow straight up in the air, but it didn't wind its way up the handle from the ground.  Yep, I always have to have something to wonder about.

Here, take a look for yourself:

What do you think?  Does it look sad and lonely to you and do you think the flowers are trying to cheer it up?  Or do you think that there is a more logical explanation for it?  I prefer to think about both, makes life more interesting, don't you think?  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

The Way I See It.

The way I see it, is sometimes a little different than most people see things.  I like to be accurate when I say something.  For instance, how many times have you heard it said that someone got hurt falling.  That would be a rare occurrence.  It is usually the sudden stop when the falling person hits something, like the floor or the sidewalk or some other solid thing.  I have had a few memorable falls.  I have already written blogs about them.

I just wasted a lot of time writing two large paragraphs about those falls when all I had to do was give you links to the original posts.  Here is the link:

LINK

You know, maybe I will just leave the two paragraphs in this blog but put them at the end.  They are the next two paragraphs:

Once when I was visiting at my Aunt and Uncle's home in a little town on the river in Pennsylvania, I was out walking the sidewalks.  It was winter time and quite cold, so I had my hands in my pocket.  I tripped over an uneven piece of sidewalk.  The falling part didn't hurt at all, I was quite comfortable on the way down.  It was that sudden stop when I hit the sidewalk face down that hurt.  You see, I couldn't get my hands out of my pockets quick enough to catch myself.

I remember another one.  When I was in my early teens, my buddy and I would spend one week at a church camp.  I would take the top bunk and he would take the one below me.  Since it was in the mountains and the nights got rather cold, most of us slept in sleeping bags.  I was zipped up in my bag with my hands down by my side, and I rolled over.  Oooops. . . I woke up have way to the floor which I hit face first.  Well, at least I have an excuse for being ugly (grin).  Now, try not to fall on your face and have a great day and night, you hear?

Just a Little Bit of Info.

This is a post about just a little bit. . .  No, I didn't forget what I was going to say.  This posting is about the words "little bit".  By the way, we used to have a dog named Little Bit.

First, let's take the word "little".  We all know what that means.  Yep, small, not tall, younger sibling (little brother).  Or a short period of time (wait a little).  Not important (make little of).  Or a short distance (down the road a little).

OK, now for the word "bit".  According to the on line dictionary ( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bit ) it can be " A small portion, degree, or amount"  Also, we all know that the coin, a quarter, is called two bits.  So one bit would have to be twelve and half cents, right?  There are bits and bytes in computers, I bit down on my sandwich yesterday, he put the bit in the horse's mouth, I only get bit parts, and yes, I am working on it bit by bit.  There are a lot more meanings and I am sure you know more than I have listed here.  Now, have a little bit of fun and have a great day, you hear?

East Texas Weather.

The weather here in East Texas this time of year is hot and humid.  It is so hot. . . well just how hot is it?  Well you just can't take a leisurely walk.  Nope, if it is a short distance between air conditioning, you can run or walk real fast.  If it is a far piece, you better walk slow and pace yourself.  It is best to find some shade to walk in but that shade doesn't stop the humid heat.  Hey, they say humidity is great for one's complexions.  If that is so, we who live in this area must have perfect complexions.

Above, I said that you could run or walk real fast.  That works if it is only short distance between air-conditioned places like between your car and your home or between your car and an air-conditioned store.  Sometimes there are power outages when the demand for electric gets too high because of all the AC units running at full blast.  That is when I am real glad that I have an RV parked in the driveway with a diesel generator and two AC roof units.  That can always be used in an emergency.

As for now, I think that I will just sit here rocking, watching TV, and looking at interesting things on my laptop.  That is a good way of staying in the AC.  I sure do pity people who have to work outside.  Hope you all are staying cool and have a great day, you hear?

My Jeep Attacked Me.

My Jeep attacked  me.  Well maybe that is a little too harsh a statement, since it was only the door that caused the trouble.  OK, the door had something to do with it but it wasn't the main culprit.  It was the window.  Maybe I should explain.  Actually, it was humorous and I did get a chuckle out of it.

Coming back from getting some supplies, I had both left and right windows down about an inch to help circulation.  It was really warm and I had the AC running at full blast.  As I pulled into my driveway, I hit the buttons to close the windows.  All well and good so far.  Got parked and turned off the engine.  I opened the door and it almost pulled my head off trying to scalp me.  Yep, my hair had blown out the slightly opened window and got caught in it when I shut the window.  When I flung the door open, my hair and head wanted to go with it.

Got the door shut and the window down.  Most of my hair came out of the window easily.  I don't have any bald spots so all is well that ends well, right?  Before I got out of the Jeep, I did have a good laugh.  Glad no one was looking (grin).  Now, keep your hair inside the vehicle that you are riding in and have a great day, you hear?

Buckle Up

Do you buckle up when you first get into your vehicle?  I do.  If I don't, that annoying "ding ding ding ding" just will not stop.  My first couple of cars (a 1955 Desoto and a 1957 Chevy Convertible) didn't have seat belts.  Did I just give my age away?  How many of you remember cars without seat belts?

Seat belts for automobiles have been around for quite some time.  I wonder if they were used on a horse you were riding or on the saddle or maybe even in the buggy behind the horse?  Check this information that I found on the internet:

The first U.S. patent for automobile seat belts was issued to Edward J. Claghorn of New York, New York on February 10, 1885. Claghorn was granted United States Patent #312,085

That was before the Model-T Ford which was produced between 1908 and 1927.  The Model-A Ford was produced between 1927 thru 1931.  Now, why did the A come later than the T??  Maybe that could be the subject of another blog.  For now, you all drive safe in whatever you drive and have a great day, you hear?

I Didn't Forget, Really

No, I didn't forget, really.   I knew our wedding anniversary was August First.  I wouldn't ever forget that.  What I did forget was that yesterday was August first.  I thought that it was still July.  So last night when we went to bed, my wife mentioned that we had a nice anniversary.  Ooooops!!!

Yep, it was 53 years ago yesterday that we eloped.  At the time, we lived in Pennsylvania and most everyone that eloped went off to Maryland to get married.  Not us, we had to be different.  We went to New York and spent our wedding night in Ohio.  It wasn't a spur of the moment thing, it was well planned.  We had our blood tests taken, found a preacher in New York, and made the appointment.  We went home and waited for the day.

My friend agreed to be my best man and his girl friend would be the bride's maid.  The night before, my Dad, Mom, and Aunt (who was visiting) were sitting around the table talking and I asked them if they would like to attend a wedding the next day.  They asked who was getting married and they almost fell off their chairs when I said I was.  They agreed to go and not to tell anyone, so we had a few guests.  There were eight of us at our wedding, counting the preacher and my wife to be and myself.  We spent our wedding night in Ohio.  I remember that day very well even though it was 53 years ago.  I even remember that we had spaghetti for our first meal later that same day.  Now, try not to forget any important dates, at least the important ones to your spouse, and have a great day, you hear?