Weather

Water Tower

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Debora

The big elevated water towers all over DFW are still a novelty to me. I don’t recall ever seeing one in California, but they’re everywhere here. I think they look like alien spacecraft.

The one in that pic isn’t far from where we’re living; I always enjoy getting a glimpse of it when I’m out and about. I’ve started snapping pics of it during my walks, even when the rest of the view isn’t particulary photogenic.

Gotta love those perpetually-under-construction freeways. Here’s the same tower behind Luke’s school:

The tower itself is in a residential area. I think I’d feel like aliens were always peering over my shoulder if I lived that close to it.

Anyway, a forecast of showers turning to sleet and freezing rain scuttled the plans the kids and I had for today, since they involved freeway driving and that’s scary enough when the roads aren’t icy. We decided to go on a short walking expedition instead, to find out how close we could get to the water tower.

Luke spent most of the walk grumbling that I had promised him warm winters in Texas. For the record, I had promised him milder winters than the ones in Anza. So far that’s been the case.

This is as close as we could get before we hit a fence and had to turn back:

So, almost right to the base of it. There was a locked gate with a sign that had information about the tower. Fun fact: the tank holds 2 million gallons of water!

Aside from a cold, misty rain, the day was gorgeous.

I didn’t get to visit Mahogany this week, it’s been too cold and wet. Hoping for sunny weather next weekend.

I’ll close this post with a pic of the breezeway between the Library and City Hall in Colleyville. I’m not sure why I love that building so much, I just think it’s wonderful.

Categories: environment, Family, kids, Life, trees, Weather, Winter | Leave a comment

Walkies

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Debora

Fall is in full swing now.

The resident stable dog has started accompanying Mahogany and me on our rides, at least when we stick to the river trail instead of exploring the paved roads.

When the kids and I were first planning our move to DFW I had a vague idea, based mostly on Google maps of the area and my own SoCal experiences, that Bedford was a sea of cookie cutter housing tracts, apartment buildings and shopping centers. I knew there were lots of good things here too, parks and libraries and museums and great schools, that’s why we chose DFW. But I would study the satellite images and trace the greenbelt along the Trinity River and think to myself, “At least we can go for hikes along the Trinity whenever suburban life feels too crowded.”

Yeah, it’s not like that at all. We’ve come to enjoy exploring the suburbs more than the river trails. There’s nothing cookie cutter about the neighborhoods here. I feel weird about taking pictures of peoples’ houses and putting them on the Internet, but even the streets and sidewalks themselves have character.

The city (suburb, whatever) is crisscrossed with canals and runoff creeks that you can follow sometimes for miles.

Sometimes, in the spaces between one neighborhood and the next, I find wooded trails that feel like wilderness.

I have discovered three community gardens so far within walking distance of where we’re living, plus a handful of “guerrilla garden” patches tucked alongside creeks and canals. And parks. Holy crap, so many parks. According to Google Maps there are 58 public parks within a 10-mile radius of our house. Can confirm, they are everywhere. We have even found a stretch of walking and bike paths that includes a series of six “workout stations,” spaced a few minutes apart, with gym-quality equipment for strength and flexibilty training. I’ve been giving those a lot of use on my afternoon walks.

I’ve also started taking picures of the water tower that looms into view at odd moments on my walks.

But I think that’s a subject for another post.

Categories: Animals, Dogs, environment, Family, Gardening, Horses, kids, Life, trail rides, Weather | 1 Comment

Fall Stuff

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Debora

Anza sits at 4,000 feet above sea level, so temperatures go up and down with the sun. In the summer it’s not uncommon to get into the triple digits during the days and down into the 50 or 60s at night. Winter nights there are always cold, but winter days might feel like January or July.

DFW isn’t like that, at least from what I’ve seen so far. Summer felt like summer, whether the sun was up or not. And now that the weather has turned to fall, it has stayed there instead of getting all fickle and whimsical. Now the colors are creeping in, and squirrels are gathering acorns everywhere I look.

Signs of fall are all around.

On weekday afternoons I like to go for walks. I take a slightly different route each time and explore new streets. I enjoy looking at the houses and businesses; I just really like the way things are built here. Someone told me that the reason most of the buildings have so many different angles on their roofs is to deflect high winds and make it harder for tornadoes to get a grip on them. Someone else told me that that’s not the case, that people here just like funky roofs. Whatever, I like them too.

On yesterday’s walk I stumbled onto a dedicated system of walking and bike paths. I started out walking next to roads, but ended up on a trail that followed a line of massive power poles.

At first all I could see was those enormous poles, but by the end of the walk I barely noticed them. They’re almost kind of pretty, if you squint and tilt your head just right.

I’m looking forward to showing the kids those paths, it’ll be nice to have a trafficless place to walk that doesn’t involve driving first.

Tomorrow we set back the clocks. The spring time change feels like years ago on a different planet. So much change crammed into eight months.

I’ve begun to really miss my garden and orchard. Today I bought a young sage plant so I can have fresh sage for cooking; hopefully it will have time to get established before winter sets in. I think I’ll get some lettuce and kale seeds next, if the weather stays mild. It’s funny the things I miss and the things I don’t miss at all. If I could just find a local, organic pomegranate orchard my autumn would be complete.

Categories: Animals, environment, Family, food, Gardening, kids, Life, trees, Weather, Wildlife | Tags: autumn, squirrel | Leave a comment

Look At Me, I’m A Spider!

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Debora

The river trail where I ride Mahogany is quite the safari adventure. On yesterday’s ride we saw cows…

…and a llama.

I’ve actually seen the llama before. There’s a bridge that crosses the Trinity not far from where I keep Mahogany, and I was driving across it one day and glanced down and saw a group of horses and the llama hanging out in the river. Appparently they just roam free down there.

The weather was glorious this weekend, so the kids and I decided to explore more of Colleyville. We started out at an antique store, which had some pretty cool stuff. Texans like their taxidermied animal parts, yo. And Elizabeth spread a little holiday cheer:

That’s my girl. (And if you don’t get the joke, it’s referencing this.)

Okay, this is terrifying, right? It’s not just me?

Stuff of nightmares right there.

After the antique store we wandered around near the library, just because we like the way the buildings look in that area.

Found some random donkeys.

Then we found a park and explored that. It has a playground with this amazing thing like a giant spherical spiderweb. The kids and I reverted to age 12 and frolicked for a while.

The whole park is really nice.

We were walking around the pond and I saw what looked like the body of a dead snake in the grass. The scene went something like, “Oh look, a snake! Oh, it’s dead. Is it dead? It looks dead.” [Nudge snake with toe of shoe, snake doesn’t move.] “No, it’s dead. It — holy crap, it’s moving!” [Fumble for camera as disgruntled snake heaves irritable sigh and slithers into the water.]

Sorry for being a jerk, snake dude. I thought you were dead.

I read somewhere that DFW is the one place in the United States where you are most likely to be impacted by a natural disaster. Hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, floods, wind, everything but earthquakes. I’m probably jinxing myself, but aside from the summer heat and a few inconveniently-timed thunderstorms I’ve seen nothing but beautiful weather here. Have I just not been here long enough? Is the winter dark and full of terrors? Guess I’ll find out soon enough.

Categories: Animals, Family, Horses, kids, Life, trail rides, Weather, Wildlife | 2 Comments

Suddenly: Autumn

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Debora

The weather here has turned to fall. It rains at least once a week, usually on the weekends. This is mildly frustrating, because weekends are when the kids and I do our exploring, and we’ve been mostly limited to indoor stuff for awhile now.

Elizabeth and I went to see “Gravity,” and liked it a lot. If you haven’t seen it, and plan to, do see it in 3D. This movie is all about the visual spectacle, it’s incredibly immersive.

As we were walking from the parking lot to the theater entrance, I had a déjà vu moment. I stopped and looked around, trying to figure out why I felt like I’d been to that theater before (I hadn’t), and then I realized that it wasn’t the theater I recognized but the Italian restaurant next to it. The kids and I had met up with friends there for dinner on our road trip in 2007, and had a fantastic time. Got a nice little rush of nostalgia looking at it.

So, speaking of restaurants, this seems like a good time to mention that I have a very minor complaint about Texas, or at least my little corner of it. The Chinese food. It is not like California Chinese food. I’m not saying it’s better or worse, it’s just not what I’m used to. Okay, it’s worse. There, I said it. I miss orange chicken that tastes right and has the right texture.

But! Elizabeth and I tried Genghis Grill after our movie, and that was great. Does Genghis Grill count as Asian food? What I like about it is that I can put together the kind of meal I used to eat fresh from the garden back in Anza, and then someone else cooks it for me. Sweet!

Mahogany’s winter coat is growing in dark and glossy. I’m surprised at how well she’s doing just on pasture grass and coastal hay. No alfalfa, no grain, but she’s shiny and bursting with energy.

On our last ride we were accosted near the river trail by a wandering-loose group of horses.

Sorry for the blurry, they caught me by surprise.

Oddly enough, Mahogany wanted nothing to do with them. She just wanted to get back to her own buddies in her own pasture. I shooed the strange horses off, and they left us alone.

We’re still working on Mahogany’s reluctance to leave her herd-mates. I mean, I’m glad that she loves her new home and her new friends, but her unwillingness to EVER leave them is getting tiresome. It would be easier if we could find someone to ride with, but so far I haven’t seen any other riders out on the trails.

I don’t have any wildlife pics for this post, but I did see the biggest coyote I have ever seen a couple weeks ago. I was driving and didn’t have time to whip out my camera, but this guy was huge. Living large on suburban life, I guess.

The DFW area is such a beautiful paradox. I love that it looks like this…

…and this…

…and this.

I love the laid-back, down-to-earth vibe, and the fact that jeans, boots and tee-shirts are considered perfectly fashionable attire here. I love that most of the people, including the teens I’ve seen at my kids’ new schools, actually make an effort to look clean and wholesome rather than sexy or dangerous. I love how friendly nearly everyone is.

If I could just get some decent orange chicken here, this place would be pretty close to perfect.

Categories: Animals, Family, food, Horses, kids, Life, Road trip, trail rides, Weather, Wildlife | Tags: coyote, Genghis Grill, Gravity | Leave a comment