Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch Started by: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) on Wed, Mar 7, '01 73 responses so far You'll find out here when summer starts in Austin and Texas. 73 responses total. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #1 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Wed Mar 7 '01 (07:33) 1 line Not yet. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #2 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Thu Mar 8 '01 (06:47) 1 line Still waiting. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #3 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Mon Mar 12 '01 (11:46) 2 lines Pool temp broke 60 today, it's been hovering at 59 for two weeks. It's a bright sun shiney day. Still no summery. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #5 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Wed Mar 14 '01 (05:53) 3 lines Rain, rain, rain. And man I wish I had got off 183 one exit sooner today, cost me 45 minutes and got me in to poke along mode. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #6 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Wed Mar 14 '01 (06:48) 1 line Pool temp at 61 and holding . . . Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #8 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Fri Mar 16 '01 (05:34) 2 lines Back down to 60 pool temp, we had a cold night last night but it'll be in the high 60s today. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #9 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Mon Mar 19 '01 (07:05) 1 line Back down to 59, but two very warm days are coming up. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #10 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Tue Mar 20 '01 (05:36) 1 line It was freezing cold last night, but two very warm days coming up. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #11 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Fri Mar 23 '01 (10:46) 1 line Warm, warm, warm. And Sunny. But still no cigar for summer. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #12 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Tue Mar 27 '01 (06:11) 1 line 51 degrees air and water temp today. We're in a holding pattern with rain. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #13 of 73: will kreth (kreth) Tue Mar 27 '01 (19:03) 3 lines I have never been to the Gulf, but I have felt it. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #14 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Thu Apr 5 '01 (08:32) 9 lines Good news on the summer watch, it's sneaking in. After about 150 plus days of sub 80 degree weather, we're flirting with an 80 degree plus day. And I had my first real swim of the season yesterday. The pool water got up to 66 degrees which is acceptable for swimming and I'm expecting it to get to the magic 68 Barton Springs temperature today or in the next couple of days. So, summer should arrive sometime this afternoon when it hits 80. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #15 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Thu Apr 5 '01 (11:43) 1 line Not yet! It's only 77 degrees now. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #16 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Mon Apr 9 '01 (16:30) 6 lines We're having nothing but 80 plus degree days now, so summer started about 3-4 days ago. The pool temperature is up to 72 today, it was 70 yesterday and 69 the day before. Swimmin' time is here! Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #20 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Sun Jun 10 '01 (06:47) 3 lines The skies have been grey around Austin for a few days, and you can feel the stir in the air, but I didn't realize Houston's weather was the lead story on the national news till yesterday. . Hopefully the rain will stop soon. I left Houston just last year... the year before, a tornado ripped the roof off my apartment building, and I lived right down the block from the Galleria (on McCue). Hurricane season is no joke. Stay safe. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #23 of 73: Dodge (hnowell) Sun Jun 10 '01 (09:01) 22 lines Sunday morning coming down. The rain has let up. The weather people expect maybe light showers now. In the wee hours, the county evacuated the new County Jail downtown which had just lost power. Buses of inmates. Worrisome. The jail is built right on the bayou which runs behind the courthouse section of downtown. The National Guard out of Ellington are helping out. Driving big trucks into neighborhoods. Flat boats. Etc. Many people now are trying to return home. The neighborhoods still have knee to thigh high water in them but some are worried about their pets that they left behind when they were rushing to get out. Some just want to go home and assess the damage. They talked about fires in the houses - these are usually caused by sparks from electricity which is still on in the houses when the water gets up into electrical outlets. Some peopel said they would wade past an outlet and feel like ants were biting them - not thinking about electricity and water. It's amazing nobody was electrocuted. Water is going down very slowly though. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #24 of 73: Dodge (hnowell) Mon Jun 11 '01 (08:02) 31 lines Monday morning. Water is receding. Death toll stands at 17. 13,000 people are in shelters. The damage is assessed at around 1 billion. Two main hospitals (Herman & St. Lukes) evacuated and patients were transferred to hospitals still having power or flown to hospitals all over Texas. Blood supply is terribly low. Herman lost its entire supply when the water came in too fast to the basement storage to do anything but remove personnel. The rest of the hospitals are crippled with only a few of their buildings with power and all patients being moved into them. Only emergency operations are taking place - all other planned medical procedures are cancelled. Most of the downtown area has water in the basements and is closed while they are being pumped out and since that's where the generators are, the high rise office buildings have no power. Most of the courthouses, the downtown post office, the county jail and the University of Houston, Downtown, is out. Alley Theatre has lost all their offices, their props, their costumes and their lower small theatre. Jones Hall & Wortham Center has their offices and the ballet practice rooms and prop rooms and the costume storage in their basements and that's under water. Compaq Center where the basketball teams play: the wooden basketball court floated 4 feet off its base and is now being cut up and removed because the wood is too warped to play on and the basement and parking garage and first floor are being pumped out. There are some 10,000 homes estimated (preliminary) to have been damaged or destroyed. Still some 15,000 or so without power. All summer schools and colleges are closed. All city and county government offices are closed except for essential personnel. The airports re-opened yesterday and is still working on the backlog of flights. And here I am having been in an area that did not flood high and dry all weekend and I'm back up at the office and I see nothing but sunshine and it's a normal day back at work. It feels wierd. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #25 of 73: My free and simple demeanor set everybody at ease. (pdl) Mon Jun 11 '01 (08:46) 9 lines holy moly! My mom has told me about some of the damage and it is incredible. The photos of I-10 are amazing--like a drainage ditch crossed by bridges. I'm amazed at how much stuff goes on in the basement of office buildings and hospitals. I had assumed , it being Houston and all, that emergency power would not have been located in the basements because of flooding. (But I don't know anything about emergency power supplies, maybe there si some reason they have to be in a basement.) Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #26 of 73: Dodge (hnowell) Mon Jun 11 '01 (08:57) 9 lines I was amazed too. I mean, geez, Houston, swamp, the whole reason we don't have cellars in houses. But I think it's mainly because generators and such are pretty large and heavy pieces of equipment. Whatever, it turned out not to be a good idea. I believe that most of the flooding in downtown was due to the bayou that runs the other side of it having had one of the walls break into the tunnel system which connects most of the basements of downtown. Not to mention the fact the bayou was full to overflowing and that's where the water goes to drain out of downtown so... Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #27 of 73: swan dive (dextly) Mon Jun 11 '01 (09:09) 7 lines I'm guessing the Alley was able to evacuate a lot of its costume, prop, and other tech stock, but I'd bet that it'll be a while before the arena stage can be used again. (The Alley's offices, btw, are mostly on the second and third floors. It's various tech and production offices that are downstairs.) Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #28 of 73: Estimated Goonie. (chet) Mon Jun 11 '01 (09:57) 5 lines I'm guessing I didn't miss a show Saturday night after all... I had tickets to the Foote play in Neuhaus, but didn't go as I suspected downtown wouldn't be friendly to my little sports car. It wasn't until later I realized it probably wasn't friendly to the Alley, either. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #29 of 73: Dodge (hnowell) Mon Jun 11 '01 (10:23) 5 lines I heard on the news that the cars in the garage from the Friday night performance still haven't been cleared. THey're still pumping water out. That was earlier this morning though. I haven't been watching the news up here at work although I did walk through the lunchroom and see the vid of the Herman Hospital damage. Wow. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #30 of 73: Estimated Goonie. (chet) Mon Jun 11 '01 (10:26) 4 lines The Alley garage? Surely not; it's above-ground. However, they were furiously pumping the underground parking lots when I went downtown to try and see a movie last night (silly me - Angelika has no power). Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #31 of 73: My free and simple demeanor set everybody at ease. (pdl) Mon Jun 11 '01 (11:54) 8 lines Here are some URLs for photos of the flood: http://www.dallasnews.com/slideshow/0609flood/1.html http://www.txcn.com/texasnews/390057_TXCN_ww_SaturdayPictures.html http://www.ocay.com/allison/ Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #32 of 73: Dodge (hnowell) Mon Jun 11 '01 (13:24) 4 lines Great pics. I especially like the before and after. To read the news reports: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/topstory/937327 Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #33 of 73: Arabella (arabella) Mon Jun 11 '01 (13:58) 3 lines The before and after pics are great. I used to live just near there, at Westpark and Weslayan. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #34 of 73: swan dive (dextly) Mon Jun 11 '01 (19:00) 3 lines Hmph, and I live about a hundred yards from that Waugh Drive bridge, which tells me it's a good thing I moved. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #35 of 73: My free and simple demeanor set everybody at ease. (pdl) Thu Jun 14 '01 (21:22) 8 lines according to my mom, the one hospital that did not have to shut down was Ben Taub. Why--power generators were not located in the basement. I haven't been able to verify this, don't know the extent to which this is accurate, if so, I am even more amazed that the other hospitals put the generators in the basement. I also heard that quite a few long-term experiments were stored in the basements and were subsequently lost in the flooding. Again, I am amazed that anyone would store anything vulnerable and important in a hospital basement in swampy houston. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #36 of 73: Arabella (arabella) Thu Jun 14 '01 (21:50) 3 lines The basement issue was prominent after the big flood in 1993, but apparently none of these institutions budgeted to address the matter. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #37 of 73: Dodge (hnowell) Fri Jun 15 '01 (07:21) 27 lines Ben Taub only puts offices in the basement. Yes, there were major experiments being done in basements that were ruined when the water came in. Herman lost its entire blood supply which was stored in a basement. The water came in so fast that they were doing good to get the personnel out. Most of the downtown and businesses and hospital problems were due to generators in basements. It does seem rather stupid, doesn't it? I did hear today though that the ballet corps will be performing on schedule at Wortham because they spent the last few days with every member of cast, crew, direction, owners, going through the costumes and laundering them. A ballerina came on the radio this morning for her usual Friday morning report and said it was kind of strange seeing the even the diva performers and big shot bosses and so forth standing over machines feeding in quarters. Hauling piles of plastic bags holding soggy costumes to the dry cleaners in the Mercedes. Etc. The alley has moved one of its plays to another location. Jones hall, though, will take 3 to possibly 6 months to get back up and running. Probably the same for the Alley. Their generators stood under water for several days and will have to be replaced. The only problem with the theatre district is that, even if they can put the shows on, their customers will have a heck of a time finding parking since the garages aren't cleared for use yet. It'll be surface parking only. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #38 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Fri Jul 27 '01 (13:02) 6 lines Nelda, the lady who owns El Sol y La Luna, had the summer's best party yesterday, yep, better than Leighton's Interdependence bash. On her 13 acres in South Austin, she built a big stage by her pool and had Toni Price jamming till last last night. Great food. About 400 folks with plenty of room to hang out and roam around and gather around the pool and stage. It was Nelda's birthday party, and what a party it was! Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #39 of 73: arabella (arabella) Fri Jul 27 '01 (15:54) 4 lines Sounds great. Wish I could have been there... I have to get myself back to Austin soon. The longer I'm away, the more I miss it. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #40 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Sat Jul 28 '01 (18:15) 8 lines Mark July 27 on your calendar for next summer. It's an annual event. Last night Rajamani played at El Sol. It's great raw Indian music. I meant July 26 actually, since it was last Thursday. It *was* the party of the summer, but then the book on summer is still out, and I'm incubating a pool party in August sometime. Haven't figured out which weekend yet. Next weekend is Summerfest ( http://www.repeater.org/summerfest ) Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #41 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Fri May 10 '02 (07:30) 13 lines We're well in to summer now, the haze these days is overpowering. But I've been swimming every day for the past month at least. TGIF! Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #45 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus - The Spring (terry) Thu Jun 27 '02 (05:02) 3 lines Nelda, the lady who owns El Sol, had Toni Price playing by her pool last summer. I hear she may be cooking up another party this summer. She has quite the South Austin digs out near Burleson road. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #46 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Sun Oct 13 '02 (09:36) 14 lines Mostly, this topic is about summer in Texas. If I had to mark the end of summer, today would be the day. It's cool, long sleeve shirt weather for the first time in at least 6 months. We're looking at a week of cool weather. So I'd say today is the end of summer, the real summer (not the arbitrary one marked by equinoxes and solstices). I went swimming yesterday, today it feels like swim is over except for the diehards at Barton Springs to whom seasons don't matter. Bye, bye summer. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #50 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Mon Oct 14 '02 (14:19) 4 lines I think 24 Hour Fitness (formerly known as the Q Sports Club) has a 30 day free trial and they have the best heated indoor pool in town outside of UT. They're at 183 near Braker Ln, across from the HEB and La Madelaines. I used to swim there. Nice steam room and sauna as well. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #52 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Mon Oct 14 '02 (14:30) 2 lines What are the requirements for that, be a full time or part time student or staff/faculty? Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #53 of 73: My free and simple demeanor set everybody at ease. (pdl) Mon Oct 14 '02 (14:33) 3 lines I don't know exactly, I don't think you have to be a student or staff/faculty, but I think you get a break if you are. But I really don't know the details--i think they have all the info up on the web. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #54 of 73: rare white-lipped bull (arabella) Mon Oct 14 '02 (21:31) 7 lines You don't have to be a student, faculty, or staff member, but it helps... unless you have some kind of affiliation with the university, memberships are extremely limited (500 per year). --> http://www.rs.utexas.edu/main/content/memberships/mem-eligibility.htm Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #55 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Tue Oct 15 '02 (08:50) 4 lines Yeah I see that, $450 a year for a community membership. What do you get for that, access to what facilities? swimming? sauna/steam room? locker? What's included? Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #56 of 73: rare white-lipped bull (arabella) Wed Oct 16 '02 (14:59) 6 lines I assume you get the standard access to rec facilities... gregory gym, the swimming center, rec center, tennis courts, track, etc. Even students have to pay extra for a locker, and they are almost impossible to secure in my experience. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #57 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Wed Apr 23 '03 (06:10) 4 lines Summer started about April 5th this year, based on the pool water going up to the 70s around then. It hasn't really pushed much about the low 80s yet though. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #59 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Wed May 14 '03 (09:05) 2 lines Yeah, it really feels like summer when the pool water gets comfortable. Summer is solidly here now. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #60 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Wed Oct 1 '03 (06:07) 7 lines Today I walked out to get the paper and there was a chill in the air. I scooped up the pool thermometer nad it read 72 degrees, down about 10 degrees in the last ten days. It feels like we're just days away from summer's end, which started about April 5th. So our Six month Texas summer is drawing to a close. Maybe there's a health club with a pool downtown? Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #61 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Fri Oct 24 '03 (09:52) 15 lines Tentatively, today is the last day of summer. Temperature will hit 90, overnight was in the 60s. But the forecast for the rest of the week is temperatures in the 70s with much lower night time temperatures. Pool temp is at 71 degrees. So today is the last day of swimming most likely and I expect it to plummet rapidly in the next few days to the mid 60s. We've had 7 months of summer weather beginning last May 5th. Summer. End. Enter Fall. So when's the huge cricket die-off? That's what I remember most about fall in Texas. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #63 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Wed Oct 29 '03 (07:46) 7 lines We had one more day of summer after I posted that and now it's threatening to return with a warm forecast for the next several days. Pool temp is now 66 and rising. Oct 25th is now the end day with a possible reprise in the works. Don't know when the huge cricket die off will come. There are lots of 'em though, more than usual. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #64 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Fri Oct 31 '03 (06:38) 5 lines I'm wrong for the third time. Summer's back. It's hot, the pools back up to 70 so it's still summer and the forecast is for several more warm days at least. Got to 90 yesterday. The summer watch continues. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #66 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Fri Oct 31 '03 (10:29) 1 line you sed it, cat. muggy is today's watchword. I been mugged. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #67 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Fri Oct 31 '03 (19:11) 14 lines Each swim now is precious. I was in the pool at least two hours day and swam a lot of laps, did a bunch of fun stuff and my wife jumped in for a while. Tonight, the summer smell of night jasmine is strong, in the heat of summer the smell is downright pyschedelic. I'm thinking of flipping on the lights and going back in for a while, drunk with the surprise reprise of summer. The pools at 69 and dipping with the night. It's cloudy tonight but there are no promises of aurorae from the northern climes. Just a warm night with the crickets and frogs chorusing and the call of the waters. A frog lost his way in to the pool today, I need to find him and point him in the direction of Cedar Creek. TiVo or the pool. I think no brainer. The water. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #68 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Sun Nov 2 '03 (19:57) 7 lines Had a great swim again today. With the fins and the mask. Water's 71 still. Is a cold front tapping on the door? Hope not. Summer makes it to November! Amazing. My thoughts continue to turn to pool covers and solar panels as a contemplate the seasonal change. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #69 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Sat Nov 8 '03 (03:45) 2 lines Day before yesterday summer ended. Yesterday Fall came and the leaves fell. Today it's winter. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #70 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Sun Nov 9 '03 (12:06) 8 lines In about five months from now we'll be looking for the beginning of summer. As noted, in 2001 summer started April 5. In 2002 summer started around April 10. So aound the middle of March we'll start watching again. When the pool temperature hits 69 degrees we'll declare the beginning of another summer. For now, it's Winter. And it feels like it. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #71 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Wed Nov 12 '03 (14:05) 11 lines Today, summer's sayin' "OK you can have one more day of me but that's it!" Water 68 degrees. Air temp in the 80s. Cold front on the way. Let's call this the reprise of summer. But no more summer. Topic 36 [texas.ind]: Summer Watch #73 of 73: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) Wed Nov 12 '03 (20:32) 2 lines I love this one litty bitty last ditch reprieve. I'm headed for the pool now, I got distracted for a bit by the Best Damn Sports Show Period.

Two nights of freezing, summer's a long way off now.

Summer will come, be patient. Relax. Only 3 more months to go. Cold pool.

Summer's in full swing now. Heavy rains came today, luckily for the 4th and the fireworks. It's wet instead of dry. I hear them starting to pop already.

90s all week with mid 70s at night.