Enchanted Rock

My wife and I played chaperon for a group of high school students on a field trip to Austin and Fredericksburg.

During the morning, we explored the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin.When you walk in the main door, you are greeted with this beautiful image in the center of the tile floor:

We went to Fredericksburg for lunch. Fredericksburg is a small tourist trap, well known for its German restaurants and its winery shops. It is also the birth place of a famous World War II hero, Admiral Nimitz of the U.S. Navy.

After lunch we went to the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area to do a little hiking and work off the good German food we had for lunch.

As you can see, I made it to the top!

32 Days

Now, it is thirty two days of over 100 degrees here in central Texas. That also means thirty two days without rain. The heat is drying out the ground and turning our crops into acres and acres of fire hazard.  Look at this chart of  the rainfall over the last two years.  In the past twelve months, we have not had more than about three inches of rain in any month.  Normally, two months are over four inches and two to three additional months with over three inches.

This map shows the spread of the drought here in Texas during the last month. The whole south-east corner of Texas has reached a critical drought level.  We think we have it bad, but when you look at the map, San Antonio and Victoria really have it bad.  San Antonio gets its water from the Edwards Aquifer which is located west of the city.  Victoria gets its water from the several man-made lakes which depend upon a constant flow of water from the same aquifer.  How much longer before that aquifer starts to run dry?

But the drought is spreading up into the Hill Country. The lakes that supply water to Austin, Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan, are reaching record low water levels. The boat ramps are now all high and dry. Lake Travis is only 47% full, while Lake Buchanan is 53% full. If the drought continues, the exceptional drought category will have spread to cover this ranch. Fortunately, our east pasture got a good start early this spring, so the herd still has plenty to eat. But without rain, they will eat it down very quickly. We need rain, but it is just not in the forecast. There is a high pressure system that has been hanging over central Texas for the last six weeks. This is forcing all the rain to pass north of Texas, up in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, it does nto look like that high is going to move any time soon. Lord help us!!

Some Really Wild Weather Arrives

Some really wild weather has hit central Texas. Down in eastern Austin, rain was falling at a rate of 4 inches per hour! Here at the ranch, we got 1¾ inches, all between 7PM and 8PM. While the rain is welcome, this was too fast. Too much of it is running off, taking the top soil with it.

Yesterday evening, we went to a meet the candidates night at the Republican party county headquarters. We got to meet all the local and county candidates. The state-wide candidates, of course, were not present. The state-wide candidates, from either the Republican or the Democratic parties, never stop at the small towns any more: not enough votes and little fund raising potential.

This is shaping up to be an interesting political season. The House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate are up for election. This means that all of the Representatives and one Texas Senator are up for re-election. These races tend to be a referendum on the job the President of the US is doing. In addition, there have been a number of scandals recently, including sweet-heart, no-bid contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq and New Orleans, the corruption scandals related to lobbying, and, most recently, the sexual scandal involving a Republican member of the House of Representatives.

For the Governor's Office, there are five major candidates: Rick Perry, the Republican; Tom Bell, the Democrat, Kinky Friedman and Carol Keaton Strayhorn, the independents; and libertarian whose name I have forgotten. Conventional wisdom says the Rick Perry will win. However, the independants have a strong following. Currently, the opinion polls show:

Rick Perry	33%
Carol Keaton Strayhorn	19%
Kinky Friedmand	16%
Tom Bell	13%

Early voting will start soon. If the turnout is heavy, I believe it will favor the Republicans. If the early voting turnout is light, I think the independents will have an advantage in the Governor's race and the Democrats in the other state-wide races. The weather will have its part to play, since rainy weather will tend to keep people away from the polls. The real results will be announced in about three weeks.