# Spring in Texas



## Ken N Tx

Some pics I took of our place a couple of days ago. A lot of people think of Texas as hot and dry with tumble weeds blowing around! I hope this enlightens some folks..
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## Ken N Tx

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## Ken N Tx

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## hollydolly

Beautiful Pictures Ken, looks more like the UK than my idea of Texas which as you say has been always that it's hot and arid .

Do you have sprinklers on the lawns every day to keep it looking as green as that?


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## Ken N Tx

..No sprinklers, we have 4.3 acres!! We just got over some recent heavy rains..


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## Ameriscot

Lovely, peaceful and lush looking, Ken.


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## Shalimar

What beautiful serene surroundings Ken. So green, love the trees.


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## hollydolly

Ken N Tx said:


> View attachment 17646..No sprinklers, we have 4.3 acres!! We just got over some recent heavy rains..



Fabulous, that's another thing I didn't realise, that you got enough rain in Texas to keep everything looking green as we do here in the UK9 i love this forum you learn something new every day)...although we don't get your hot temps of course... in Spain however we don't get rain for up to 6 months at a time so the sprinklers have to be out every morning in the summer.


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## Ken N Tx

It does get hot and dry in July and August.(our place lower left)
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And snow in the winter!!
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## Pappy

Great pictures, Ken. Love the clothesline set up. Your hot summers were like where I lived in California. Everything turned brown in summer.


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## Shalimar

I didn't realise you received snow in the winter.


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## Ameriscot

Must be northern Texas?


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## Ken N Tx

Ameriscot said:


> Must be northern Texas?



Yes, 40 miles North of Dallas...


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## hollydolly

Northfork?


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## Ameriscot

hollydolly said:


> Northfork?



LOL.  I visited Dallas for a weekend once in the late 80's and two places I had to see were Southfork ranch (it was tiny as was the pool) and Dealey Plaza.


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## Ken N Tx

Ameriscot said:


> LOL.  I visited Dallas for a weekend once in the late 80's and two places I had to see were Southfork ranch (it was tiny as was the pool) and Dealey Plaza.



Many visitors are disappointed when they see Southfork..

In San Antonio, the* Alamo* is right in town!! 
 
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## Ameriscot

Ken N Tx said:


> Many visitors are disappointed when they see Southfork..
> 
> In San Antonio, the* Alamo* is right in town!!
> 
> .



My brother and his wife went there for a couple of days for their anniversary one year (it's just after xmas) and they really loved it!


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## Shalimar

What a stunning picture, Ken.


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## Ken N Tx

Shalimar said:


> I didn't realise you received snow in the winter.



There are many misconceptions about Texas climate,size, cowboys..etc...


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## Jackie22

You have a lovely home, Ken, I can imagine the work it took for your beautiful yard and especially the placement of the rocks.


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## Shalimar

I hear you, Ken. It is much the same re where I reside in Canada. Many people view Canada as the great frozen north, whereas on southern Vancouver Island, the temperature rarely dips below freezing.


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## Ameriscot

Shalimar said:


> I hear you, Ken. It is much the same re where I reside in Canada. Many people view Canada as the great frozen north, whereas on southern Vancouver Island, the temperature rarely dips below freezing.



Same here.  A lot of people think Scotland is blanketed in snow all winter since we are so far north.  But we have the Gulf Stream to thank for this not being so.


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## Pappy

In 1958, when we're on our way home from California, we stopped for breakfast just outside of Amirillo, on Route 66. We were served a huge meal and it was the first time, as we were leaving, that the waitress told us, " ya'all come back now." I looked at my wife and told her, we sure are in Texas.

Ive never gone back but my son graduated from language school in San Antonio. I had to work but my wife went to visit him and was quite impressed with SA.


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## Ameriscot

On my trip to Dallas I saw steaks bigger than any I've ever seen.  We went to a restaurant where it was picnic tables so you shared with others.  Big jugs of iced tea on the tables, steaks on the grill, including the massive ones.  Best steaks I've ever had!  You had to buy some kind of licence though to be able to buy alcohol.


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## Ken N Tx

Ameriscot said:


> On my trip to Dallas I saw steaks bigger than any I've ever seen.  We went to a restaurant where it was picnic tables so you shared with others.  Big jugs of iced tea on the tables, steaks on the grill, including the massive ones.  Best steaks I've ever had!  You had to buy some kind of licence though to be able to buy alcohol.


Yes, a lot of places are restricted from serving alcohol..They get around the law by forming a "Club" which you must join (free) to be served. Not too many left today.


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## Ken N Tx

Jackie22 said:


> You have a lovely home, Ken, I can imagine the work it took for your beautiful yard and especially the placement of the rocks.


Thank you,most all of the rocks came from our place.


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## oldman

I have flown into DFW, which is a very busy airport, on numerous occasions. That area gets some very nasty air pockets, which causes turbulence and shifting winds that would sometimes swirl. Spring was always the worse. The warm air in Texas did not mix well with the cold air still coming down from the Rockies when the jet stream would drop that far south. It always made for some interesting landings. We would normally leave the plane on autopilot to maintain elevation, thus giving the passengers a better ride.


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## Pappy

oldman said:


> I have flown into DFW, which is a very busy airport, on numerous occasions. That area gets some very nasty air pockets, which causes turbulence and shifting winds that would sometimes swirl. Spring was always the worse. The warm air in Texas did not mix well with the cold air still coming down from the Rockies when the jet stream would drop that far south. It always made for some interesting landings. We would normally leave the plane on autopilot to maintain elevation, thus giving the passengers a better ride.



Dont remember the year, oldman, but my wife flew into DFW for a Mary Kay seminar. A day or two later, there was a wind sheer that took down a plane and caused many deaths.


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## oldman

That would have been the Delta jet, which was a Lockheed L-1011 that went down in the mid '80's. We learned about Microbursts after that crash. Because of that crash, many airports now have Doppler Radar, which can detect these cloud and wind phenoms. That was a horrible crash that claimed about 140 souls. I was still flying B-737's back then and making mainly short trips between Baltimore and Chicago, continuing on to Denver.


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## Jackie22

oldman said:


> That would have been the Delta jet, which was a Lockheed L-1011 that went down in the mid '80's. We learned about Microbursts after that crash. Because of that crash, many airports now have Doppler Radar, which can detect these cloud and wind phenoms. That was a horrible crash that claimed about 140 souls. I was still flying B-737's back then and making mainly short trips between Baltimore and Chicago, continuing on to Denver.



I remember this well, my friend and I were sitting in a plane ready to take off when this happened, will never forget it.


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## Ameriscot

Ken N Tx said:


> Yes, a lot of places are restricted from serving alcohol..They get around the law by forming a "Club" which you must join (free) to be served. Not too many left today.



This was probably around 1986ish.  I remember getting drinks at one place but another I had iced tea as the licence was too expensive just to buy for one meal.  I was only there for a weekend.


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## Ameriscot

oldman said:


> That would have been the Delta jet, which was a Lockheed L-1011 that went down in the mid '80's. We learned about Microbursts after that crash. Because of that crash, many airports now have Doppler Radar, which can detect these cloud and wind phenoms. That was a horrible crash that claimed about 140 souls. I was still flying B-737's back then and making mainly short trips between Baltimore and Chicago, continuing on to Denver.



I learned all about microbursts on Air Crash Investigations. I've never had any close calls but had a few bumpy rides.


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## Ameriscot

Jackie22 said:


> I remember this well, my friend and I were sitting in a plane ready to take off when this happened, will never forget it.



At the same airport where it happened?


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## Jackie22

Ameriscot said:


> At the same airport where it happened?



Yes, Annie, it was really scarey....we were waiting to take off to London, we waited and we waited, they had the news on the overhead screens and it came over the news that it had just happened, thats how we found out...the airline never mentioned it, although they had us to get back off and we waited in the gate area for an hour or so....after we finally took off, it was dark and we could see the wreckage and fuel tanks on fire, that the plane had hit, then... we had been flying for a couple of hours.....all the lights inside were off, movie over and everyone was trying to sleep when some woman in the back of the plane let out the most awful blood curdderly scream.... never found out what happened I guess she had a dream..not much sleep was had on that flight, oh when we landed in London our luggage was lost, it was raining and cold, we had to buy sweat shirts to keep warm as our luggage did not arrive for 2 days.

The first thing we did after landing was buy a newspaper to read about the crash back home.


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## Ameriscot

Jackie22 said:


> Yes, Annie, it was really scarey....we were waiting to take off to London, we waited and we waited, they had the news on the overhead screens and it came over the news that it had just happened, thats how we found out...the airline never mentioned it, although they had us to get back off and we waited in the gate area for an hour or so....after we finally took off, it was dark and we could see the wreckage and fuel tanks on fire, that the plane had hit, then... we had been flying for a couple of hours.....all the lights inside were off, movie over and everyone was trying to sleep when some woman in the back of the plane let out the most awful blood curdderly scream.... never found out what happened I guess she had a dream..not much sleep was had on that flight, oh when we landed in London our luggage was lost, it was raining and cold, we had to buy sweat shirts to keep warm as our luggage did not arrive for 2 days.
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> The first thing we did after landing was buy a newspaper to read about the crash back home.



How scary!  I'm sure that woman that screamed had a nightmare that the plane was crashing.


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## 911

If your baggage was delayed, were you compensated by the airline? Just wondering because we flew on American to Hawaii some years ago, 1990 actually and we had our luggage delayed. It was put on another airplane because our's had reached the weight limit. American gave each passenger holding a first class, business class or an American Airlines credit card $50.00 and later that night they delivered our luggage to our hotel. Pretty sweet deal, right? The only bad part was that we had to walk around the rest of the day in our street clothes and go to dinner in clothes that we had on for some 16 hours, which was from the time we left the house in the morning until our bags arrived at the hotel at night.


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## Ken N Tx

Shalimar said:


> I didn't realise you received snow in the winter.





Shalimar said:


> I hear you, Ken. It is much the same re where I reside in Canada. Many people view Canada as the great frozen north, whereas on southern Vancouver Island, the temperature rarely dips below freezing.



Feb 2015...
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## Ken N Tx

Some other things we deal with in the spring...
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## Ameriscot

OMG! I hate snakes!


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## Shalimar

Yikes! All we have here are garter snakes. We have poisonous black widow spiders, but I have only seen one.


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## Ken N Tx

The one in the bird nest got the 3 chicks before I could get to it!!


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## Skyking

Hi Ken, I read about and saw the pictures of your wife's lovely rock garden, the 5 year drought and grasshoppers but the spring time pictures you posted here indicate the drought might be letting up? So is the drought over? I know you recently got some heavy rains.


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## SeaBreeze

Never saw them in a nest like that Ken, poor baby chicks.


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## Ken N Tx

Skyking said:


> Hi Ken, I read about and saw the pictures of your wife's lovely rock garden, the 5 year drought and grasshoppers but the spring time pictures you posted here indicate the drought might be letting up? So is the drought over? I know you recently got some heavy rains.



Yes, the drought is ending!! We are above normal in rainfall and the lakes are filling up in our area..Parts of West Texas are still in need of rain and remain in a drought!!


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## ~Lenore

*It's like they say, "Texas, it's like another country".

It is big enough to be another country and what is happening on one end of the state can be quite different on the other four corners of the state.  Some of the friendliest people you weill ever meet, too.  Like the waitress saying, "ya'll be sure and come back now".   It is just the Texas way,


Ken your pictures are fabulous.  God bless Texas! 


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## Ken N Tx

~Lenore said:


> *It's like they say, "Texas, it's like another country".
> 
> It is big enough to be another country and what is happening on one end of the state can be quite different on the other four corners of the state.  Some of the friendliest people you weill ever meet, too.  Like the waitress saying, "ya'll be sure and come back now".   It is just the Texas way,
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> Ken your pictures are fabulous.  God bless Texas!
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> *



Thank you...

This will be here in another hour!!!!
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## Ameriscot

Whoa!  Hope there's no damage, Ken.


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## Ken N Tx

Ameriscot said:


> Whoa!  Hope there's no damage, Ken.



Lots of flooding in our area!! Fortunately I am on some high ground..


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## Ken N Tx

Bump


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## Lewkat

Ken N Tx said:


> View attachment 17636
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What a lovely spread you have, Ken.  I fell in love with Texas when I was stationed in Wichita Falls, eons ago.


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## Alligatorob

Great pictures, thanks @Ken N Tx you live in a nice place.

My father's family was from southwest Louisiana, quite close to the Texas border.  So I grew up thinking of Houston as having typical Texas weather.  Nothing cold or dry about that.


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## katlupe

Really liked your pictures. I have only been to Texas when I rode with my husband when he drove an over the road truck. Deliveries in Dallas were horrible due to the traffic. I knew Texas got snow but didn't realize it was that much.


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## Ken N Tx

katlupe said:


> Really liked your pictures. I have only been to Texas when I rode with my husband when he drove an over the road truck. Deliveries in Dallas were horrible due to the traffic. I knew Texas got snow but didn't realize it was that much.


Thank you.


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