Texas Tailblogger

JPG Magazine Contest & Turkey Day

2008-11-24T16:55:00.002-06:00

I've been entering some of my photography into a few photo contests. I want to measure my work against the many excellent photographers out there. Plus, whatever exposure and publicity I can obtain from it makes it worth the effort. Heck, if I could win one, that would absolutely rock and roll my world. :-) I need your help by voting on one contest I've entered at JPG Magazine. Please cast your vote at the link below. And of course, you are voting for "change" and I will rescue the world. ;-)

http://www.jpgmag.com/photos/1251474

You will have to do a brief sign-up, but I'm worth it...I think. ;-) Thank you!

The trick is being careful of which contests you enter. Just about every one wants rights to use your photo in promoting the contest and their website...understandably. However, the more unscrupulous ones have it setup to where you basically surrender your photo to them for the rest of your life for them to do with as they please...including selling that photo to publishers of which you won't see one single dime...ever...no way...no how. Ever wonder how those online stock photo agencies acquire so many photos and images? Now you know. There are hundreds ofthousands if not millions of people ripped off by this scam. But, ther rules, terms and conditions are right there for everybody to read through, but with the legalese and fine print, most peoople don't. So, READ THE FINE PRINT before entering ANY photography contest.

Okay, on to weather. The models aren't making things any easier as of 12z today regarding the upper air evolution and resultant precip and temperature forecasts. Right now, it looks like the Panhandle will have a shot at a little wintery precip late Thursday and Friday. Even Lubbock might get into the action depending on how everything works out. Another shot is possible late into the weekend as well. Beyond that, it isn't real clear, but I'm thinking another big surge of even colder air will arrive next week. Stay tuned.

I'll be out for about a week, so I wish everybody out there a Happy Thanksgiving. My it be filled with plenty of food, naps and football. :-)

Weather Channel Axe & Greensburg Study

2008-11-22T23:46:00.009-06:00

The Weather Channel, recently purchased by NBC, underwent some blood letting recently. The biggest cut was the entire staff of "Forecast Earth" which was the environmental awareness and education efforts of The Weather Channel. Although there was some sublte pom-pom shaking for Al Gore's global warming hysteria, it wasn't a bad part of TWC. Perhaps the view ratings weren't up to snuff to justify a dedicated staff. I dunno. I am not sad to hear that Dr. Heidi Cullen is part of that group to be let go. She's the one that supported the idea of yanking the AMS seal from any meteorolgist that did not conform to the gobal warming hysteria crowd. Read about it yourself. I'm sure Al Gore will hire her...if she wasn't already on the payroll.

What IS shocking to me is they gave Dave Schwartz the axe. WHAT?!?! Again, I'm certainly not privy as to the reasons for letting him go, but it certainly seems like a stupid decision. Not that upper management in US corporations nowadays are known for making good decisions, mind you. ;-) I thought he was one of the more colorful personalities they had and was very passionate about all aspects of his weather presentations. He stood out from the crowd and I can't help but think he was part of TWC's success. I've seen his face on TWC for many many years. I could easily point out a few others that should be let go before him. I certainly hope he lands someplace that could use and appreciate his talents and persona.

Now for some highly recommended reading during the off-season. Leslie R. Lemon and Mike Umscheid recently released a scientific paper called "The Greensburg, Kansas Tornadic Storm: A Storm Of Extremes". They have written a most detailed and comprehensive study packed full of fascinating data including the thermodynamics, surface and upper air setup, 3-D radar analysis, and accounts from witnesses who rode out and survived the killer storm. It also covers two other large tornadoes that night as well, the Trousdale and Hopewell twisters.

One of the things that stand out to me are the modified Dodge City soundings at 02Z revealing 5100j/kg CAPE, 70 knots of 0-6km shear, and 0-1km storm-relative helicities up 400!! An important aspect of the CAPE is that this is a modified sounding...NOT a model forecast like the RUC which tends to overdue CAPE by a significant amount. One other interesting tidbit is Mike and Leslie's analysis of a small jet streak as evident by satellite analysis of a thin cirrus band intersecting the Greensburg cell. The rest of the stuff, including some awesome radar analysis, I'll leave for you to discover. :-)

So, the amount of energy was incredible for this storm to work with. For reference, 1500-2000 CAPE is pretty unstable, and 3000 is potent. The May 3, 1999 analsysis by Roger Edwards and Rich Thompson modified the 00Z OUN sounding for the area to the SW of OKC which yielded 5000j/kg. The Jarrell, Texas event had chase teams from Texas A&M launching near-storm soundings which revealed CAPE of 7100!! Of all three cases above, it is important to note the 0-3km CAPE values were 175j/kg to perhaps 300 in the case of Jarrell. That is one of several important parameters I look for in forecasting.

Back to the Greensburg study, I must also point out the contributions made by the stormchasers who were on that storm and provided invaluable images, video and accounts as part of this study. You know who you are. :-) That aspect of stormchasing is often ignored or overlooked in favor of blacking some eyes. Or even in the case of one rookie chaser this year expertly proclaiming in his quite delusional mind that the public throughout tornado alley despises, loathes and hates chasers. LOL!! Yes, Virginia, stormchasers actually do ALOT of good deeds. :-)

Winter Cometh

2008-11-20T15:13:00.004-06:00

Today, we are finally getting a serious blast of winter chill into the Panhandles in stark contrast to the beautiful weather we've enjoyed the past couple of months. Winds are howing out of the north here in the mid afternoon with temperatures around 42F. Still, it's not as brutal as what folks have been dealing with to the east of the Mississippi.

The upper air pattern responsible for this is a large ridge over the central US with a deep trough over the eastern states. This has opened up the doors of the arctic freezer and plunging unseasonably cold air as far south as Florida. However, there are signs that things are a changin'.

Although I'm looking at about 10 days out and beyond, there has been decent consistancy among the models. Plus, with the stubborn blocking pattern keeping the above-mentioned pattern locked in, it will break down eventually. What is being advertised makes meteorological sense. Still, we are talking about models 10 days and beyond, so nothing to really call a bet for now.

The advertised change breaks down the ridge with several strong pieces of energy coming in off the Pacific. Eventually, this will result in a very large, deep trough over the western half of the CONUS. During the transition, shortwaves will descend across the central US opening up the freezer door into the central and southern plains states. With the general deep troughiness over the western half of the US, this will setup favorable overrunning conditions resulting in several episodes of precipitation. It's a classic setup for wintery precipitation in the Texas Panhandle.

When would this occur? It looks like the weekend after Thanksgiving and beyond. But, as I keep harping about, this is on the outside edge of any reliable skill in the the model forecasts. There is enough of a hint there to really keep an eye on it though. At least it is more fun to watch than the stock markets sliding into the abyss of a depression.

Tanking Ecomony

2008-11-19T17:49:00.007-06:00

Today, the DOW dropped below 8000. The more I read, the more I'm dismayed about any major recovery anytime soon. One wonders if and when we will see the worst of it as I still think that lies ahead. I'm pretty dismayed about it with trying to launch a new business. In fact, I have decided to put any aggressive plans on hold indefinitely. It just does not make sense to forge ahead and spend more money when companies everywhere are laying off and cutting back expenditures every way they can to survive.

The biggie is going to be the auto industry. It is starting to look like even the democrats are backing away from an auto industry bail out. This will certainly lead to bankruptcy proceedings and massive layoffs. It will have a huge impact without a doubt. It will take a long time to recover from something that hasn't even happened yet. The unfortunate truth is that the auto industry has this upon themselves...in large part to inept corporate management...or mismanagement being the more accurate word. The fact of them flying to Washington on private luxury jets to ask for taxpayer handouts for their ineptness is simple, but glaring example of why they should not be running corporations who are teetering on bankruptcy. In fact, it should be criminal.

But, back to my own selfish self-preservation. I am facing some tough decisions in the short term as to what I will do. The prudent thing is to find shelter someplace out of the storm until the worst of it passes. I will soon be competing with millions of people out of a job in a tanking economy. I am considering two courses of action at this time...one of which I will have to take soon.

The first one is going back to IT with a stable company in a growing sector that I believe will offer a good chance of weathering the big storm ahead. I applied earlier this week and actually looking forward to hearing back from them. It sounds like something I might want to pursue as a long-term career option and give up on my business plans for awhile, if not entirely.

The second option is going back to school. I've been working hard on that this week to obtain financial aid so I can go full-time. It makes sense for several reasons. First, I've always wanted to get a full degree. Second, although I won't get rich, I'll at least have some support to ride out the storm....AND, pursuing a degree in something I know I would love. So, when the storm clears, I will be in great position to emerge and blaze a trail. It would help tremendously in my business efforts. What is it you say? Journalism/Mass Communications with some business courses on the side. Yeah, I'm nuts. :-) But soon to be age 44, it's the right time to try and do this. With my previous college credit, a good chunk of the mundane coursework is out of the way.

So, as the world turns...so do my careeer ambitions. LOL!! I'm sure Obama will save us though...at least that is what he promised. We can trust him, right? The mainstream media says so. However, putting together a staff that resembles Bill Clinon's third term is disturbing to me. So much for "change", eh? Ok..ok...I'll stop there. I've got more important things to attend to right now.

Ya'll take care.

American Red Cross & NASCAR?

2008-11-17T15:23:00.007-06:00

MAJOR CORRECTION: Thanks to Beau Dodson for doing a little research that I failed to do. I'm a victim of my own knee-jerk reaction instead of doing a little googling. Hey, the mainstream media does it, so I can too. LOL!! Except in my case, I admit that I made a mistake and am correcting the misinformation. Here is the link provided by Beau from the American Red Cross website itself.

http://www.redcross.org/pressrelease/0,1077,0_489_7944,00.html

Therefore, I will retract my earlier blog post and learn from my mistake. :-)

Ben Franklin: Weather Weenie Extraordinaire

2008-11-16T15:17:00.006-06:00

A recent thread on Stormtrack got me thinking about historic weather weenies which shared the same passion many of us have today. Instantly, Benjamin Franklin came to mind. Everybody knows about his experiments with lightning to prove his theories which led to the development of lightning rods. But, were you aware of his fascination with "spouts"?

Check out this diagram of a waterspout he made:

(click on image for larger version)

He even wrote a nice, long paper called "Water-spouts and Whirlwinds" in which he recounted chasing a dust devil on horseback and striking his whip repeatedly through it. Read it for yourself.

In my research, I came across a winter waterspout over Lake Ontario on January 26, 1994.

The thermodynamics are the same with colder air over the relatively warmer waters and what appears to be some sort of boundary...likely induced by baroclinicity where the sun appears to be shining...similar to steam devils.

Anyway, just wanted to share what I thought were some interesting tidbits.

Caprock Photography

2008-11-14T05:44:00.006-06:00

I'd like to announce the launch of my new photography site: Caprock Photography. I'll be adding some other photos to it in time, but I've got alot of my better stuff loaded. Some of theones on there I may go back and tackle some of the noisiness in them and do some better cropping. But, it's enough to hopefully showcase my work to prospective clients. :-)

It's hosted by SmugMug which offers alot of power and flexibility yet very affordable. You can even load your videos. Their editing tool pretty much lets you build an entire customized site once you learn some of their proprietary code concerning html and css tag names and structure. Firefox has a GREAT plug-in to help identify, edit and test such code called "Web Developer", oddly enough. :-) I've already seen some examples of nice SmugMug sites and there seems to be some good community support. So, when I have time, I'll be improving the overall look and feel as well as the navigation.

So, back to trying to get an income stream flowing. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at all stressed out with the current state of the economy and the gloomy forecast. If you or somebody you know could use my services as a photographer, photojournalist, or videographer, please let me know. :-)

On a humorous note, the Veterans Day image below contains the year 2007. Kudos to Jay McCoy for catching that. I certainly missed it. Still, it was a nice image to honor all of the veterans.

Veterans Day

2008-11-11T16:22:00.001-06:00

OUCH!

2008-11-11T09:25:00.006-06:00

Well, yesterday was a prime example of fall weather systems where if anything can go wrong with a setup, it most likely will. Part of my problem was doing a lazy analysis and forecast thus missing the fact 850mb winds would veer across the very strong convergence boundary in SW OK to west of Wichita Falls. This veered profile was just enough to spread some extremely dry air over what otherwise would have been an excellent surface setup. This was evident by high-based little showers that produced only high-based virga.

I really believed that the 850mb winds would remain more backed as the surface low intensified in far SE CO. But, I don't think the configuration of the mid-upper level system was really conducive for that...hindsight being 20/20 of course. Regardless, I truly believed there was an opportunity in my target area of any storm that could form and get organized had a good chance to produce a tornado.

However, in the "stormchasing community", things are erupting as SDS kicks into high gear. From stormchaser police writing virtual citations for rolling through a stop sign in the middle of nowhere to getting all bent out of shape over a little innocent humor, it's getting rough out there. Although I've ranted about this before, I have yet to see another "hobby" as cuthroat and backstabbing as this one is. Lanny Dean is certainly feeling the love even more than me. Time to freshen up on my chaser gang signs. Sigh....

Alrighty...moving right along....

Kudos go to Mike Umscheid who scored a nice tornado in far SW KS with a classic cold core setup. I almost made the trip up there, but seeing mid-40 temperatures storms would move into just didn't excite me very much. A lesson learned indeed. Jon Davies has a good analysis on the event too. One of these years, I'm going to commit to chasing a cold core setup.

Looking at the latest medium range models, it appears that the first real shot of winter is going to slam the southern plains in about 8-10 days. That is still a ways out, but worthy of mentioning because of the potential impacts. If this were to verify according to the GFS, then a shot of some pretty cold air plunges into the area. How cold? Highs stuggling to get to 32F. There is also some forecast precipitation as well which could be on the heavy side. But, like I said, still a ways out with a large potential error spread. I'll be watching it closely. And, wouldn't you know, as I am writing, I hear the honking of some Canadian Geese outside as they are settling into Amarillo for the winter. Time to hunker down for the winter. No more silly talk of chasing until March. :-)

Getting Old Sucks

2008-11-06T23:47:00.003-06:00

All of my life, I've enjoyed good vision. But in the last few years, I've noticed a slow deterioration of my near-sight. Arms-length and further is still excellent. Over time, I started reading stuff a micrometer further away. It was subtle and stealthy, as most aging effects are. But, the past few weeks of spending ALOT of time in front of the computer AND reading books and other material, it started becoming much more apparent. The strain really caused it to get worse. Buying groceries last week, it was quite a chore to get a clear focus when reading the small label print of product ingredients. I can't afford to screw up my eyes (who can?) and it was hindering my work. Enough was enough.

So, I finally broke down and bought some reading glasses today. I spent alot of time picking out the right strength and found some books and magazines, and even a couple of canned goods to test it thoroughly. What a HUGE difference!! :-) I've done a little reading today and some computer work. My eyes feel alot more relaxed and everything is so much sharper. I should have done it sooner, but my defiance of the inevitable made that impossible. ;-)

I suppose a trip to the optometrist will be in the cards soon, dammit. Oh well, I still have along time before ending up with a cane I guess. ;-) Here are some pics with the new four-eyes look. LOL!! (Am I starting to LOOK like an old person? Yikes! wait...don't answer that...)

Copyrights & LLCs & Obama-itis

2008-11-06T02:35:00.012-06:00

I sat out today's severe weather events because of business matters. But, I wish I could have been on the cell that exploded east of Wichita Falls and moved up towards Ardmore. It was a beauty on radar as were a couple of other big isolated cells. But, with 40-50mph storm motions, I'm kinda glad in a way I wasn't either. Is it May yet? ;-)

I just finished compiling 8,361 photos to put on a disc to send to the copyright office. Whew! I did this by going through all of my raw files and converting those I want to protect to thumbnail jpegs. That takes some time, let me tell ya. But, it's done. Everything is going out in the mail tomorrow with the form and the fee. Oh, and a tip. According to what I learned, you can submit thumbnails as small as 100px high. But, for my reference and to make them more legible, I did 200px high and 300px wide.

On the business front, the LLC formation is in it's final stage. After I discovered single-member LLCs are treated just like sole proprietorships (I file a Schedule C and the LLC doesn't file anything, basically), it muddled things abit concerning how to declare my personal assets used in the business. I would have had to do this anyway without forming an LLC. A pro will help me iron that out. With any luck, I'll send all of the documents to the state sometime next week.

And, as some of ya'll have asked, I have some comments about the Obama election. Certainly nobody thought I'd let such a major historic event pass without mentioning it, right? LOL!!

It is an incredible feat considering that a little over four decades ago, blacks in this country were subject to hostile bigotry and racism. The images of fire hoses and dogs unleashed on protesters is a sinister scar on our country's past. Forced to the backseats of buses, to drink from separate water fountains, sit in allocated sections of restaurants, and terrorized in their homes and communities by hooded thugs, is something very poisonous to the soul of this country and the ideals it was founded on.

And yet today, an African-American will hold the highest office in the land and become leader of the free world. For hundreds of years into the future, history books will note this point in time as one of the last major hurdles in becoming a truly mature, free democracy. I don't think some people fully grasp or appreciate the magnitude of what has happened. I feel lucky to have witnessed it. I congratulate Obama and his supporters on such an accomplishment.

However, the accolades stop there. It is a fact that he closely associated with Bill Ayers of the infamous "Weather Underground", a domestic terrorist group which blew up buildings. It is well documented, so anybody who shrieks about a FoxNews conspiracy should remove the tinfoil hats.

What is interesting to me is that the mainstream media barely mentioned it or made an issue out of it. You can be certain that had it been the red state candidate, we'd have heard about it everyday leading up to the election. They'd bring Dan Rather out of retirement and unleash him like a pitbull as he would certainly invent some more documents to "embellish" the story. LOL!! It was nice to see some democrats experience the media bias during their primaries when Clinton got the brunt of it. It's funny how something like that isn't obvious until it slaps you in the face.

It's disturbing to me that when this was revealed, Obama shrugged it off as just some guy that lived in his neighborhood. In my opinion, he should have reacted very strongly to it and condemn Ayers and everything his group stood for. Obama reacted more strongly against his former pastor Wright (which for you FoxNews conspiracists out there, was first broadcast by ABC news).

The comment about redistribution of wealth made me cringe as the shockwave of "socialism" assaulted my senses. He in fact later did not apologize for it and even expanded on it. What cracks me up are the nuts that claim that statement is not socialist. It indeed IS and is the basis for all different forms of socialism. Please don't take us back to the Clinton era of "define what 'is' is". Changing the definition ain't gonna fly. Socialist policies will only hurt our economy and is something we should be striving to move AWAY from...not gravitate towards. With the stock market nosediving today, the stock market cast its ballot as a vote of no confidence.

But, the American people have spoken. Everybody is pissed and demands change...serious, drastic change. I'm one of them which is why I've supported the serious inclusion of third party candidates and voted Libertarian since 2000. I believe we need something even more drastic than Obama. ;-) If Obama can stay more centrist and away from waving the red flag of socialism, then I do actually have some hope for this country. After all, I've been clamoring for such a major Washington shake-up for along time. I thought McCain could do it as well though. He has the track record to prove it.

The problem is a Pelosi/Reid led congress who has managed to obtain the lowest-ever approval ratings in history. They have proven to be bitter and divisive partisan hacks and exhibit disdain for the majority of the American people's will in order to push their far-left agendas (the offshore drilling issue a few months ago comes immediately to mind). I read today that Reid is about to punish Lieberman who is an Independent now. So much for following Obama's lead, eh? Obama MUST stand up to the extremist nutcases in his own party and do what is right for ALL Americans and our country at large.

One of the things I hope he will do as promised is to go through the federal budget, line by line, and eliminate the waste. He said he wants to eliminate programs that don't work and to make the other ones work better and more efficiently. He needs to make some seriously deep cuts...and lots of them in my opinion. I'd like to see him put the smackdown on earmarks and pork-laden bills that come across his desk. Make it a "zero-tolerance" veto policy. I'd actually pick up the Obama flag then and cheer him on. With trillions in deficits, we HAVE to in order to survive. It's as simple as that. Since congress has proven that it isn't able to, somebody needs to stand up and make it happen. "You're my only hope, Obi-wan" LOL!!! I crack myself up sometimes. ;-)

With his other Jedi powers, I'd like to see him spearhead the promised healthcare reforms...WITHOUT creating socialized (there's that ugly word again) healthcare. I read through some of his campaign stuff on his website, and I agree with a good portion of it. Healthcare is a very serious crisis that needs immediate attention. Go take a look at "DividedWeFail.org"

Lastly, I hope that he will veto any attempt by the rabid foaming-at-the-mouth liberals in Congress to stamp out conservative talk radio with the horrendous "Fairness Doctrine". Of course, they'll work hard to rename it so we won't recognize their efforts. They may even try some subversive acts via new FCC regulations. The less the government controlls ANY media source for political commentary, editorial, or discussion, the better. In fact, they shouldn't even meddle with it...nor even think about it. If they do, then I'm going to be damned sure to demand they go after the liberal mainstream media and newspapers too. After all, that's "fairness", right?

And looking to the future, keep in mind that Iraq is quite stable now and already timetables are being drawn up for removing our troops. Latest news is that it might even happen sooner than previously projected. I point this out because when troop withdrawals begin next year, the demorats will claim all the credit for it as ammunition in 2010 and beyond. Watch for it. I know I will be. I fully expect the mainstream media to let them get away with it too.

Concerning the concession speeches, it was very nice to watch Bush's gracious speech. The news reports are that he is making efforts already to get Obama ready and to make the transition a smooth one. He even invited him and and his family to stop by soon to get a feel for their new home come January. McCain also crafted a very honorable concession speech as well. I thought it quite admirable. In listening to alot of hysterical liberal dribble, one would have expected the exact opposite. :-)

On a final note, I do in fact wish Obama and his pending administration all the best. I do sincerely hope that he CAN make a positive change in the direction of this country. I don't think we've ever needed it so badly since the era of the Great Depression. He has a HUGE hurdle ahead of him. It's a monumental task of herculean proportions. Nothing is going to get done overnight and he's said that several times, even in his victory speech last night. In order to try and bring this country back together, he should be very careful in all of his appointments. I would hope that McCain would find a prominent position somewhere in Obama's administration. That would be a HUGE step in the right direction.

But, speaking as one of the Americans he is working for now, I will hold him accountable for making some significant measured progress by the end of 2009. There are various ways to do that, but significant POSITIVE progress, nonetheless. I am giving him an honest chance to make good on his promises for which I'll be rooting him on.

That's it for one of the longest blog posts I've ever written. LOL!! I'm sure somebody will be offended and write a nasty anonymous comment. Go write your own blog and spew your own opinions. I don't have the time to correct the error of your ways. :-)

That Little Ol' Band From Texas

2008-11-02T17:53:00.007-06:00

Jay McCoy and I rocked out to ZZ Top in Amarillo last night. These guys still have it!! This was the last night of their tour..to end it where they call home (although they live in LA last I heard..lol). Nevertheless, this state is where they got their start. That's why they've always been known as "that little ol' band from Texas". In fact, I grew up on ZZ Top's music and love it today as much as I did as a teenager...just a few years ago. ;-)

So, it was quite a treat to FINALLY get to see them live for the first time in my life. The venue was the Amarillo Civic Center where we had floor seats....on top of the iced hocky rink! LOL! They of course had placed some thick "jigsaw" flooring on it, but it made for a chilly start. I've never watched a concert before sitting on top of a giant ice cube. That's another thing on my list of todo's in life checked off. :-)

The opening act was a southern rock band and they were okay, but the sound sucked. It was too loud for such a venue. Aa a result, everything sounded garbled and blended together due to excessive phase cancellation and just plain too loud. It was extremely difficult to make out even which chord they were playing, much less differentiate instruments...even the drums! This concerned me with ZZ coming up. But, huge kudos to their sound crew as ZZ Top hit the stage, the sound was excellent for such a challenging environment. It rocked! Whew!

They played their hits along with a couple of vintage songs that I bet few in the audience had heard of before. They were great tunes though. They even payed tribute to Jimi Hendrix with their version of "Hey Joe" which was nicely done. They ended the concert with an encore performance of "LaGrange" and "Tush".

At one point during the set, they stopped between songs and grabbed an album cover from the audience. All three sigend it while making a big deal over it and gave it back to the woman who was pretty emotional about it. The audeince loved it. What a helluva gesture for the fans.

Overall, a great concert! Here are a few pics from my camera phone:

Dig that awesome drum set! Jay and I contemplated a way to "borrow" it for awhile. ;-)

Major Website Overhaul & Sony Vegas 8.0

2008-10-31T00:16:00.005-05:00

It's been a very long time in the making, but I finally have most of my website completely overhauled with a fresh new look and cool functionality. You may have noticed a new look to the blog. It's been kinda embarassing since I did web development and application programming as a profession. But, when you do it 8-5, it's tough to get motivated to do alot of the same work in your free time. In fact, it just wasn't possible for me other than this blog stuff and a couple of other efforts.

But, it's finally done and I'm pretty pleased with it. It's finally compliant with both IE7 and Firefox 3...with the exception of the old Stormpage. I've spent ALOT of hours the past few weeks getting it done and I think it was worth it. It's a sense of accomplishment to be certain. The two projects I have remaining is getting my chase reports page done and revamp the Stormpage which was my menu-driven data analysis page. Those two projects will be accompished over the winter months at a lower level of priority...but it will get done.

Other than that, it's just tweaking and fine tuning stuff. I want to rework some video clips, like the intro for instance too. I've got a few other things I want to take a swing at, but that will come later.

In the meantime, please browse through the site and see what you think. I'd appreciate any feedback or suggestions as I truly need a fresh pair of eyes on it to offer an impartial perspective. Take a gander at my gallery and humor sections too! :-)

In addition to ALL of that, I've been very busy using Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 to put together some video projects both in preparation for my chase reports AND for my annual contributions to the National Weather Service. I dropped off a disc of images and carefully edited video to the Amarillo office and sent copies to Fort Worth, Lubbock and San Angelo. I think I've got some good stuff on there that they can use for their training and education purposes.

Back to Sony Vegas, I'm pretty pleased with it so far as it works well for me. The tutorials are great for anything I need help with. But for the most part, it's all pretty intuitive with only a little learning curve. I personally like it better than Premier I guess in part because it's easier to me to use and yet packs a punch with all of the tools at your disposal. The input media formats are awesome and there's hardly anything it doesn't import or export for that matter. The ONLY drawback is it doesn't do flash files, but I understand why because of licensing and proprietary issues.

One of the things I like is the multitude of media FX with many different ways to enhance the video. You can stack them too which I do often with brightness/contrast and unsharp mask and a few other controls. You can tweak the settings while the video is playing which helps a great deal...and even flip each on on and off to see the effect. However, doing so can start to eat at the RAM on your computer. It's a great excuse to go add another gB. :-) Even with 3gB, it works very well. I just have to make sure everything else is shut down or even do a fresh reboot. I have not run into any errors or problems running this under XP on a Pentium 4 3gHz processor. I must note though that some of my more complex editing with lots of FX and envelopes, the rendering can be excrutiatingly slow. But, it has never once errord on me or dropped frames or any other glitcy rendering...which I have had with Premier.

One of the great features is the highly customizable workspace. Move, shift, add, remove, and rearrange everything to your liking.

So far, the only complaint I have is with trying to do timelapse. Although it's easy by simply doing CTRL+drag of the video track, it limits you, but stil about 10x speed I estimated and read on a forum. You can add a velocity envelope to eek out some more to obtain about 12-14x playback which for most efforts is adequate. Adding the velocity is easy.

It comes with DVD Architect Pro which I have not used yet, but have just completed skimming through the users manual. My first impression is a very good one. On the surface, it seems easy to use and highly flexible so you can do your own thing. I'm looking forward to taking it for a drive soon.

If you haven't given it a try, you can get a 30-day trial from Sony's website.

I've also taken some time to become better versed in matters of copyright and trademark laws with a couple of good books. One that I highly recommend Carolyn "Photo Attorney" Wright's book as an outstanding primer. It's concise and well written and packed full of good information for an idiot like me. Read her blog too....excellnt info!!

With that in mind, I just finished putting all of images on disc for the past 3+ years to send off to the Copyright Office this week. It was a daunting task, but I am so glad to get that out of the way. Now I'm just waiting for somebody to steal something. BWAHAHAHA!!! >:-)

Anyway, that's it for now. I will certainly have some more time freed up to jump into some other pressing matters of a business-related variety. So, if you haven't heard anything from me in awhile or I haven't responded to emails, now you know why. :-) I still anticipate having little free time in the future. But, it's all good though. Just be patient with me if I seem to have fallen off the face of the earth. I'm looking forward to a little break though this Saturday night. ZZ Top is performing here and Jay McCoy and I are going to go rock out!

Forecast Bust

2008-10-22T11:32:00.003-05:00

If forecasting could be compared to football, mine was certainly the equivalent of the Cowboy's performance last Sunday. LOL!! I totally missed the mark about the warm front.

I watched several strong towers erupt and dissipate around Elkart, KS yesterday. Just as they seemed on the verge of producing a storm, the thick cirrus shield moved in and helped ruin the show. In addition, dewpoints mixed out into the mid/upper 40's in this area. The surface low was late getting organized due to the slower arrival of the upper dynamics which I was afraid of happening.

I ran into Wesley Luginbyhl, so we chatted for awhile and shared stories until we saw one cell finally going up west of Ulysses, KS towards sunset. Based on the storm motion away from our current position and waning daylight, we gritted our teeth and waved to it as it departed. So, technically, my forecast wasn't that bad really of a target being Springfield, CO since initiation was not too far east of there.

I really think if the jet dynamics would have been a couple hours earlier in arriving and a little further south, and along with the lack of a thick cirrus canopy, I would have been having some fun. I don't really regret the drive up there as I needed to get out of the house. I did get some decent sunset photos though below. Now, as I write this, the winds are howling out of the north with temps are in the lower 40's. The mercury won't rise beyond that today. I'm looking at the first frost of the fall season overnight. Bye bye 2008 chasing.

Ok...some pics.

Chasing Today & Discovery's "Stormchasers" Review

2008-10-21T11:09:00.009-05:00

Pouring over the data this morning, I'm starting to zero in on the area around Springfield, Colorado. RUC forecasts a surface low to develop there with strongly backed flow in the boundary layer to the east of it along a warm front. In addition, the convergence is forecast to really tighten up as SW winds clash with the SE and E flow. I love these types of setups as the helicity in a small area is really enhanced along with focuse, surface-induced horizontal vorticity. The 0-1 and 0-3km profiles are awesome looking.

RUC and NAM both are very good with the instabilities of 1000j/kg and above. LCLs will be favorable. The only problem is the forecast weak 700mb flow across SE CO. It is better a little further south along I-40. Aloft, very strong divergence and moderate diffluence will aid in vigorous updrafts as a strong punch of energy dives into the southern Rockies. Although the best part of this energy will spread out into the area towards dark, enough will be there late this afternoon in my opinion for some stout storms. Just after dark and towards midnight, storms should actually intensify and could put on a good lightning display. By that time, they should go linear, primarily from forcing along the cold front.

I think it is a setup where one storm will produce a couple of bonafied, visible tornadoes early in the event followed by more rain wrapped and dopplar-indicated tornadoes, but in a pretty small area near the surface low and along the warm front. Everything else will qucikly cluster into line segments and produce a wind and hail event.

I'm hanging my hat on the RUC because I believe it has a good handle on the expected surface features by 23z in response to the approaching upstream energy. It makes sense. However, the warm front is still down south near Lubbock, so it will be interesting to see if it ends up further south this afternoon than the RUC forecast....or....we have a double-warm front scenario. If this were to happen, and I'm looking at this possibility, then areas around I-40 might be in play too.

So, headed to Dalhart shortly and adjust as needed along the way as I continue to digest data on the road...and whatever else I can scrounge up. ;-) Keep an eye on my live chase page...link to the right.

Sunday night, I watched the new series on Discovery Channel called "Stormchasers" in it's 2nd season now. This year, Reed Timmer, Joel Taylor and Chris Chittick are cast alongside the TIV2/DOW teams. The first episode I thought was very entertaining and fairly well produced. Although there is the usual moaning concerning the use of unrelated footage to the portrayed day in the episode, that is what TV shows do to make the best possible product for their customers...the audience. I seriously doubt the "stormchasing community" is even a blip on the radar concerning their target demographic. Some chasers just don't get it. We really aren't as important as some people think we are. LOL!!

In any event, I found Reed and Joel along with Chris to keep my attention as well as give me a chuckle or two. They are genuinely funny in being their natural selves. The baseball test in the sporting goods store was priceless! Their extreme enthusiasm and desire to get up close and personal to their prey is fun to watch and even produces an air of suspense.

The DOW/TIV scenes are interesting from a more scientific aspect. There is some drama there as well since they are behind schedule in heading out. The TIV axle breaking down though was embarassing though. It was plainly obvious to me that the axle was far from being able to support all of the weight from the armor plating including the load balance and torque strain which must be tremndous. Somebody didn't do their homework and use a calculator. But, hopefully they'll figure out how to make it work. I know I saw them a couple of times this season, so they did something.

Sean's brand of humor doesn't jive with me personally though. It just never seems appropriate to the situation at hand and comes across awkward. I can hear some eyeballs rolling in the background. ;-) But, that's who he is and I won't fault him for that. Heck, not everybody appreciates my brand of humor either. The TIV2 is definitely a nice piece of work other than the axle issue. The deployable hydraulic flaps to greatly reduce any wind from getting under the vehicle to flip it is a great idea and they seem to work well. Maybe one day we'll see if it actually works if a tornado hits it. I certainly hope that they achieve their ultimate goal of getting that one shot they are wanting so badly.

I found myself at the end of the program wanting to see more and anticipating the next episode. I found it "ENTERTAINING" to watch. That's the whole point. Don't miss it.

In honor of Reed and Joel's debut, I created this little gem just for them...all in some good-natured fun. :-)

Possible Chasing Tuesday?

2008-10-19T15:06:00.010-05:00

Before I chat about the upcoming severe possibilities this week, a little business first. Here is something I put together using diy.despair.com which I thought appropriate.

Just when I thought they couldn't play any worse, they surprised even the most staunch of pessimists today against the Rams. Dismal, sloppy, incompetent are understatements. Granted, the injuries hurt, but it's no excuse for playing like they did today. I wonder when everybody else starts seeing the core of all of their problems resting on the shoulders of the coaching staff?

Okay, with that out of the way, there is an interesting scenario shaping up for Tuesday. A strong shot of energy punches into Colorado/Kansas with some moisture and a little instability to work with. Throw in a triple-point surface low with a nice warm front, forecast low LCLs, good 0-1 and 0-3km veering profiles...and you have the ingredients for a very interesting setup. The only negative to it is the very rapid evolution and movement of the upper dynamics. So, the window of opportunity maybe a small one, but at this point, looks like a favorable time of day.

I'm basing alot of this off the GFS as the NAM/WRF is handling the upper dynamics differently. The GFS has been remarkably persistant for several runs now. We'll see what consecutive model runs hold in store. At least the SPC is looking at it with their Day 3 outlook. We should get at least one decent chase opportunity this fall.

That's it for now. Stay tuned!

Taste O' Winter, Website Update, & Cowboys Rant

2008-10-13T16:49:00.006-05:00

The first real good cold front of the season has blasted into the area. All day long, temperatures have been in the 40's with breezy north winds, low ceilings, and drizzle. For the first time since April, I'm eyeing those winter clothes packed back in the closet. Soon, the true arctic airmasses will start plunging south as the sun angle continues to lower. I always enjoy winter and the snowstorms it brings around here, but the season just drags on too long for my tastes. But, when the supercells start rampaging around these parts, it always seems worth the wait. :-)

I continue to make progress on revamping my website. If you haven't checked it out in awhile, take a gander at it and see what you think. I'm just about ready to start on the big task of getting the chase reports section revamped. That's up next after I complete my "resume" page. I'm pretty happy so far with what I've come up with after testing and tweaking the look and feel.

Now for the Cowboys....ugh. Their former brilliant coach, Jimmy Johnson says that a really good football team gets better as the season progresses. Dallas is NOT a good football team. Granted, they have a couple of key injuries, but I won't give them that excuse for such progressively poor performances in the past 3 games down to the embarrassing exhibition yesterday.

First and foremost, the offensive line is becoming a serious detriment. Poor Romo scrambled for his life all day yesterday as soon as the ball was snapped. I got tired of seeing the linemen get beat as the opposing players would just maneuver around them on the outside and attack Romo from behind. It was clear to me that Romo and the offensive line were rarely on the same page...totally out of sync. How many times did the center misread or seem oblivious to Romo's snap calls? Heck, one lineman stood there and watched a loose ball (courtesy of Romo) roll around in front of him before he finally made an attempt to recover it. Romo of course shares alot of blame for not protecting the ball more and making better decisions.

My next rant is with the offensive play calling. This is another area where whoever was sending in the plays was oblivious of reality. Down 10 points with about 8 minutes left in the game with 1st and 20. You call three little dump passes in a row for a few yards? 3rd and long and you call for a running play where you've struggled all day long? The passing plays were too few and far between (likely because of the unrelenting pressure on Romo) and never called when we really needed them. Me thinks that Romo is becoming paranoid of making the tough throws because of his tendency to throw to the other guy. TO? What a joke. He's no better than an average receiver...if that good. Way too many dropped balls that should have been easy catches the past few games.

Defense. What defense? LOL! Sure, we've got some injury problems in the secondary which I will give them that excuse. But, poor tackling? I gave up counting all of the poor and missed tackles. There is little pressure at all on the quarterback. I haven't checked, but Dallas as got to be at the bottom of the pack when it comes to forcing turnovers.

Don't get me started on special teams. High school teams perform better than that.

I'm putting most of the blame on coaching. The players are not focused and playing in sync...as a team. Play calling is terrible. Player motivation is sorely lacking. As a result, they are one of the sloppiest teams in the entire league considering they are among the most talented. Talent doesn't mean squat if there isn't good coaching. As we saw yesterday and with the Redskins, good coaching is an absolute necessity in winning a game versus totally blowing it.

Time for Dallas to do some very serious soul-searching and a deep gut check. Wade Phillips needs to start being a coach and stop being a mentor and a buddy to everybody. That or the Boys will be sitting at home come playoff time.

Another No-Go

2008-10-12T13:14:00.002-05:00

The latest 1630Z SPC outlook pretty much sums up my thoughts. The thermodynamics are terrible and with extensive clouds and precip in the area, I'm content to stay home and watch football. The upper level system out west is just hanging back a bit too far west. The result is pumping up the heights even more today resulting in about a 2C warming at 500mb. So, just like yesterday, nothing but rain, a few showers, and perhaps an embedded rumble of thunder.

E third of NM might get some stronger storms with enough insolation, but nothing to get excited about...just like yesterday. :-)

I'm hoping that tomorrow might present a better opportunity. We'll see.

Today's Outlook - 10/11/08

2008-10-11T08:57:00.005-05:00

This is a good time to point out one of the major problems with fall storm systems....warm mid level temperatures. Throughout the summer, all of that convection around the globe aides in really warming up the atmosphere. When the cooler surface temps arrive in the fall, the mid levels of the atmosphere are much slower to respond to the decreasing sun angle. The result is a a 180-degree reversal of the thermodynamic profiles we enjoy in the spring and early summer. Then, the mid levels have cooled off from winter and the surface temps start increasing rapidly thus outpacing the mid level response.

So, it is no surprise then to see the forecast models indicate rather pitiful instability forecasts regarding the current system impenging on the plains. A look at the upper air soundings reveal 500mb temps from -7 to -10C across NM and the W parts of TX. Heck, even Denver is only -12C. With surface temps only expected in the 70's today with lots of cloud cover and elevated showers, the resultant lapse rates will be pitiful and meager instability remaining below 1000j/kg....and we'll be lucky to see even 500j/kg. If the model forecasts are correct in further increasing the mid level temps as heights increase, the surface based instability will practically be non-existent. Elevated instability will be there, but that too will be meager. It's enough though to pop off some weak elevated convection.

With a lack of any surface convergence even into E NM, I just don't see how any surface-based storms will form today in E NM or western parts of Texas in my "chase radius". With the extensive moisture pouring into the area at the mid and upper levels from Hurricane Norbert from the Baja region, combined with impulses in the upper levels, we are only going to see alot of light/moderate rain and a few heavier showers with isolated embedded thunder. Definitely NOT a good day for stormchasing. Being the eternal optimist though, I'll keep checking on things though just in case we get a good break in the cloudiness and something very close to home pops up. Hmmm....maybe that's more as a delusional SDS patient than an eternal optimist. LOL!!

Tomorrow, things might be a slight tad better as we should see some surface convergence and perhaps a bit more insolation. More on that tomorrow morning though. :-)

Yesterday's Report & Week Ahead.

2008-10-07T10:26:00.003-05:00

My forecast was really off yesterday...stupid RUC. :-) The better storms popped up in Oklahoma where the shear was marginal. However, the 0-1 and 0-3km veering was great. Surface obs had a swath of moderately strong SE flow into the storms which also created strong convergence. I was encouraged by that and pressed onward.

The low-topped supercells were pretty intense for abit. At one point, one really got it's act together east of Lawton with a nice hook and radar-indicated meso. The velocity couplet was pretty good for a few scans. I was well positioned at the time looking right into the notch. A well cloud had developed and was exhibiting weak to moderate rotation with decent organization. I called it in to OUN.

The hook echo on radar became more pronounced. I continued to track it eastward towards Malone. At one point, the visible hook wrapped up more and created a tight notch. Lots of rapidly rising scud into the small wall cloud. It was cool to watch.

However, the storm, like all of the others, would become outflow dominant. I called it a day after the second storm approached Malone and was heavily outflow dominant. The show was over.

In all, it wasn't a bad chase trip, but I had hoped for a little more action and structure shots. In fact, I fired off only ONE photo during the whole event. It's not even worth posting. I did have one opportunity to get a good one, but trees and the fact I was navigating resulted in a lost opportunity. I made it back to Amarillo close to midnight.

Now for the week ahead....

Models are settling down now from yesterday. I had thought we sould see a very strong cold front plow into Texas by Saturday if not earlier. Today though, decent model consensus argues for a big, upper low to carve itself out west. If the GooFuS is correct, then we could indeed have at least a couple of days of good chase opportunity this weekend. I'm actually liking the looks of this system as the big, strong over-powering dynamics remain further west. Instead, we'll have SW flow aloft likely with embedded weaker impulses. With a dryline and increasing boundary layer moisture in place, it promises some action. Stay tuned!!!

Looking At Chasing Today

2008-10-06T11:04:00.006-05:00

UPDATE: I'm going to head that way and monitor things. I'll keep evaluating whether to keep going or turn around and come home. :-)

Although there were a couple of good supercells yesterday around my target of Midland, it was pretty much a strong linear event and lots of rain. I'm glad I stayed home. :-) However, today is a different setup that just might get me out the door.

My focus will be around the Red River Valley between Childress and Wichita Falls and about 2-3 counties to the south. I'll draw a boundary from Childress to Guthrie to Seymour to Wichita Falls, to Altus, OK. I'm keeping a little more westward componant as I'm not sure if the boundary will move too far east along with convective initiation may be early around 20z.

Here, very steep lapse rates of 7-8C/km will prevail. A nice hybrid type boundary will setup here in conjuction with a weak surface low. The most impressive parameter I'm watching are the 0-3km CAPE profiles which according to the RUC approach 300j/kg. The overall CAPE will be 1000-1500j/kg. The NTSP index bullseyes this area too of 1.8 around Electra.

The main drawback is relatively unidirectional flow from 850mb on up. But, there is decent speed shear and forecast hodographs suggest possible splitting cells. The important 0-1km veering could be pretty sharp near the surface low which is what I'm hanging my hat on for today.

With the "doomsday" economic situation looming today, I need to get away from the computer. I can't think of a better excuse. :-) Plus, in looking at the models, this could very well be the last good chase opportunity until next spring. A MAJOR cold front is aimed on Texas this weekend.

I'm not totally sold on the idea of going just yet, but I'm leaning towards that possibility. If I do, I will be streaming today on my live chase page (link to your right.....no...your other right..lol). I'll update here if I do hit the road. My target pick of the day is Lockett, TX.

Chasing Today?

2008-10-05T10:39:00.004-05:00

UPDATE 17Z: I'm staying put. If I lived closer, say Lubbock, I'd venture out. I find more comfort in the idea of staying home on a rainy day, ordering a pizza and watching football. :-)

As I continue to analyze data, I'm really perplexed in making a decision to go today. I think the SPC outlook is a good one. My target would be Midland, TX. That is a pretty decent drive from Amarillo. The main thing keeping me from going right now is the fact that this is such a strong system with excessive amounts of UVV and practically no cap. I'm inclined to believe that there will be too much convection and the good stuff that does form will quickly go linear. In short, it's a long shot to get anything develop worthy of the time and gas to drive down there.

However, there will likely be a pretty strong thermal boundary as well as potential outflow boundary thanks to a massive, moderate/heavy precipitation shield further north in the TX Panhandle and most of W TX. Insolation should be prety decent in the warm sector south of that shield along with dewpoints into the 60's. This will result in favorable LCLs. If the models are correct in backing the boundary layer flow, vertical wind profiles will be pretty good. So, anything that can remain discreet, especially if the cap ends up being abit stronger than forecast, then I'm sure there will be a pretty good tornadic supercell to be had.

As of now though, I think the odds are pretty long as I mentioned. The little formula in my head of
(DISTANCE / MPG * GAS$ + TIME * ODDS%)
combined with driving through LOTS of rain just to get there isn't meeting the threshold of jumping in the vehicle. I'm pretty certain I'll be sitting this one out today as the time to make a permanent decision is approaching in the next hour.

Blog Is Growing Mold Again

2008-10-01T23:03:00.006-05:00

I've been pretty busy to say the least over the past couple of weeks since returning from chasing Ike. After taking a nice break to do some camping and fishing with David Drummond and Jay McCoy recently, I'm focused intently now on aggressively moving forward with a business plan. It's taken me some time to do alot of assessment and reflection as to which path I want to take.

Now that I'm moving forward, a DBA and LLC along with obtaining tax and legal resources is in the works. This will allow me to start off on the right foot to initiate my desired plan of business. Wish me luck. I'll need it with the current state of the economy. My timing for such major decisions always seems to suck...just like selling my house.

I'm also initiating a major overhaul of my website. It's way overdue to say the least. Watch for the new changes at http://texastailchaser.com. I'll also be working on my photography site (Caprock Photography) which will be a winter project.

As far as the fishing/camping trip at Lake Alan Henry, it was a good one. David whipped all of us in every category including a nice 4-5 pound catfish which according to him, was quite a tasty treat. He caught a couple dozen fish at least...most all of them crappie. Jay was the "red-headed stepchild" with some unbelievable bad luck which of course did not go unnoticed nor unrewarded by his buddies. :-)

I tried fishing for bass, but they just weren't cooperating very much at all where we were at on the lake. I did help with "technical support" by unraveling horrid entanglements, surgically removing hooks from fish (almost had to remove a hook from Jay..twice..lol), and most importantly, slaying all the spiders on the fishing pier. That's right, I had to eradicate the offending arachnids from the guys' fishing spots. I had not seen arachnophobia before first hand. It was the equivalent of Kryptonite to Superman. There is talk of taking cans of hair spray and a lighter on the next trip...used in the same manner as napalm. LOL!! Seriously though, we had a good time and I look forward to another trip.

After the camping trip, my dad and I embarked on an official historical tour of West Texas from Levelland to Whiteface to Morton to Bledsoe to Bronco aboard a tour bus. It really was a fascinating trip and I learned alot. There is ALOT of history in these parts. It is important to note that many of the towns in these parts were established only in the 1920's. One of he most fascinating facts I learned was that the military signal corps based it's various signals from the Indians out here. The American sign language was based off of them too! I won't regurgitate all of the historical details, so check out the links below for a good overview:

Cochran County
Hockley County

The highlights were visiting Bronco, Texas and learning about it's founding by H. "Gravy" Fields. His daughter was there all dressed up to greet us and tell us some stories...along with her brother. We also visited the closed school in Bledsoe which is well maintained by the alumni there. It was built in 1927. We moved down the road a ways and toured the original headquarters of the massive Salughter Ranch where original bunkhouses are still maintained.

Aftwerwards, we went to Morton, my birthplace, and got to see a reenactment of the famous (and only) bank robbery. As we were at the courthouse and county jail, I recalled childhood memories of sitting in the sheriff office with my grandad who was a deputy at that time. I can even recall feeding the prisoners and going on patrol with him. LOL!! We also got to witness an Indian ceremony to pay respects to some ancient Indian bones that were found in a museum there and buried later in full Indian custom. The Morton cemetary also has memorial markers of four Buffalo Soldiers who parished from lack of water tracking Indians. I thought it somewhat ironic to have both on the same cemetary grounds.

To wind things up, we had a big, good ol' fashioned BBQ in Whiteface after touring the museum there. I took particular interest of the old newspaper clippings of the tornado which devestated the community back on April 17, 1970. Ironically, less than a month later, the infamous Lubbock tornado would ravage that city on May 11th.

Okay...some pics!

David shows off his prize catfish at Buffalo Springs Lake...a 5-incher! LOL!! He's just getting warmed up.....

At Lake Alan Henry, he astonishes even me with a 4-5 pound whopper!

This lady fishing next to us catches a real barn-door crappie...16 inches!

Daughter of H. "Gravy" Fields, founder of Bronco, Texas, shows off her attire and snazzy hand-made boots circa 1914.

Her brother sharing a story with the crowd. That's about the best picture of a Texan's swagger I've seen.

The old Bledsoe High School.

Inside one of the halls on the second floor. As you can tell, it is well maintained for being "abandoned".

The cafeteria kitchen and serving line.

Restored bunkhouse at the headquarters of the Slaughter Ranch.

Back in Whiteface.

An authentic chuck wagon campfire. Everybody is enjoying some sourdough biscuits. Yum!

Lots of hungry folks chowing down on some bodacious BBQ!

The local sheriff is keeping an eye on things.

Hurricane Ike & Gustav Photo Albums

2008-09-21T22:24:00.006-05:00

I finally got all of my best photos uploaded into a nice photo album. I've searched alot for something I really liked. BananAlbum through JAlbum was the ticket. It took some time to not only weed through and tweak the photos I wanted to use out of the nearly 400 I shot alone on Ike, to get the album tweaked, and THEN put it all together and upload it. This is the first start to a full media presentation I'm putting together including video clips, our video blogs during the hurricanes, and some other presentations and links documenting both Hurricanes Ike and Gustav.

http://texastailchaser.com/chases/Hurricanes/Ike/album/

http://texastailchaser.com/chases/Hurricanes/Gustav/album/

Preliminary Ike Photos

2008-09-14T14:15:00.002-05:00

On the road back home, but wanted to post a few of the photos we took. I have nearly 400 images, so it's tough to go through all of them and decide which ones to post. I will definitely have a full photo gallery within a few days. Stay tuned!!!