paying for water . . .

Maybe we Texans didn't pray hard enough - seems our governor thought prayer rather than budget was the only answer worth pursuing . . . At our home, we also didn't budget for the drought but we also didn't rely solely on prayer - we used our "rainy day" nickels and dimes and kept water on our trees - our 16+ pines, oaks, maples, magnolias and lemon tree are still alive. Only the maple shows stress but that predates this year's drought. Houston on the whole has not fared so well. The drought continues to be devastating . . .

Tree casualty projections across the eight-county Houston area run as high as 66 million by the nonprofit Trees for Houston. The city will be removing only those on city public land.

"Droughts are like a Category 3 hurricane that moves very, very, very slow," said Tom Combs, vice president of the Texas region for DRC Emergency Services, the Mobile, Ala.-based company that would get the work if the spending is approved Wednesday. DRC is the city's disaster debris contractor. Combs said he does not know how many trees the company removed in the wake of Ike, only that DRC carted away 5 million cubic yards of debris, some from public land, some from private.

drying out . . .

The weather in Houston is evidently not expected to get wetter during next several months.

As a result, we should see the current drought persist through next spring over most of Texas, including the greater Houston area as La Niña intensifies. Yes, Texas will likely see some welcomed wet periods at times during the fall and early winter as the polar storm track occasionally shifts south bringing quick bursts of precipitation associated with cold fronts and other fast moving disturbances; however, below to well-below-normal precipitation will likely by the dominant weather trend over most of the state though next May.

24 days of triple digit temperature in Houston . . .

Wow! Houston's coolest day in August. It only reached 95 degrees today at Bush International. I was talking to A. about wearing a sweater tomorrow but maybe not. It is supposed to warm up again. And I haven't even cooled off any . . . Oh, bother!

The day the empanadas vanished

We have a local chain of grocery stores here in Houston (I think there is one in Austin and perhaps even elsewhere in region) that are unusual in the width and variety of stock offered. The international section is unbelievably comprehensive for a local grocery store - especially for items from Mexico, South America but also from far east, Europe and mediterranean area. It's the only place in town where you can almost always find a can of delicious smoked sprats (these from Latvia).

When A. and I first moved to Houston we were delighted to find that the bakeries in most Fiesta stores made a wide range of American and Mexican baked goods, including a variety of quite delicious empanadas. Our favorite became the apple empanada from a particular store (now closed because of freeway expansion - our freeways in Houston will soon cover the entirety of East Texas!) but most other stores had comparable apple empanadas so wherever we were if we saw a Fiesta store and felt the need, we would stop by for our empanada fix. Delicious. For years they were delicious.

About three weeks ago, we were shopping at our local Fiesta - looking for sprats actually for a surprise birthday party - and realized we had not eaten breakfast. We finished our shopping, went by the bakery and grabbed us a couple of empanadas and started back to the house, empanadas in hand. For some reason - perhaps our recent, slightly more austere, diets - but for some reason the empanada, while delicious, seemed a little too sweet. I am certain that the empanada was the same as before. But I guess I wasn't. After one bite, I stared at the portable pie in my hand (one eye on the road as I was driving) and realized it was not the most nutritious item available to staunch our hunger. I turned to A., "Do you realize what is in this thing? Look at it - do you know what we are eating?"

"An apple empanada?" she asked, clearly aware that she did know what she was eating.

"No," I said. "Look at it."

Okay, I'm not eating it, she said and she didn't and I didn't and we don't and evidently we won't anymore. We still go to Fiesta - but now we buy their fresh apples in the produce section (organic when they have them) rather than the empanadas which clearly are not made from the apples they sell in their produce section. I'm sure that those apples come with complete filling in large tins from . . . where? I don't know, but we don't eat them anymore.

Tejas and immigration . . .

Relocation.com: Texas showing steady immigration despite recession

A new report from online consumer resource group Relocation.com backs up recent Census data showing that Texas continues to see a population influx as people move from other parts of the country being more seriously affected by the recession.

The report, which analyzes interstate moves involving Texas from the beginning of 2007 through the first quarter of 2009, shows that 62 percent of such moves over the 27-month period were people moving to Texas, while just 38 percent were leaving. For 2008, Texas ranked fourth in the country for percentage of moves into the state.

The report shows that all major Texas cities apart from El Paso have more people moving in than leaving.

In Houston, 54 percent of moving quote requests were incoming, while 46 percent were for moving out of the city. Austin had 60 percent of requests for moving in and 40 percent for leaving, while San Antonio had 57 percent incoming and 43 percent leaving and Dallas-Fort Worth had 56 percent inbound and 44 percent outbound.

immigration issues

A Houston Chronicle special report on immigration.

Immigration issues - Tracking how immigration, both legal and illegal, has affected Houston and Texas, and the debate over reform.

recent Houston sunset . . .

From our backyard near Houston about 10 days ago.

it's spring time in Houston . . .

azaleas beneath the palm tree . . .

fireflies in houston

The dogs (Thelma & Blondie) and I went for our usual pre-dawn stroll along the bayou behind our backyard and Thelma and I think we saw fireflies. Now we both know that it is probably too early in the year and that there may be another explanation for what we saw.

An aside: the bayou is actually a human-dug ditch that retains water all year lying between our subdivision and the subdivision just to the west. I think it may drain into Greens Bayou. It has slowly moving water throughout the year and serves as a flood control during some of our East Texas downpours and for most of the year is a good place to walk a dog or watch a long-legged crane hunt small fish, turtles, frogs, etc. along the banks.

So we return to the house because the supposed Firefly sighting takes us to the Wikipedia entry on Firefly to learn something about fireflies.

And then a discovery that there is a website Fireflies in Houston dedicated to returning fireflies to Houston. This site also serves as a gathering place for firefly sightings throughout the country.

A good start to a week-end morning.