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Crazy good weather ahead. I hope it arrives soon.

The temperature has stayed at 28-29 degrees F all day. It looks as if the intermittent sleet that has fallen on and off most of the day is leaving to be followed, perhaps, by a small snowfall. This is all according to my favorite radar, that of Houston’s KHOU 11 site.

Even the Texas folks have laughed, good naturedly for the most part, as to how we shut whole cities and towns down when we even have a threat of a so-called “Icemageddon.” Last week’s similar winter storm was responsible for more than 100 car accidents in our county and at least one fatality from a slick overpass. If it took the police shutting down overpasses and the two massive bridges spanning the Sabine-Neches ship channel — the Rainbow and Veterans Memorial bridges — to save life and limb, so be it.

I have seen much worse winter storms in Texas, specifically East and Southeast Texas, from where I hail as does actor Jim Parsons’ character Dr. Sheldon Cooper on “The Big Bang Theory.” The reference is made due to Houston-native Parsons does a great job in calling out his TV detractors who confuse his geographical heritage with that of other parts of the Lone Star State.
If nothing else I took a nice nap this afternoon and dreamed of a long time ago when I was younger and did not feel as if I should shriek in agony from the weather-induced arthritic pain. My knee has been hurting like hell the last two days. I say it’s arthritis. I can’t be sure. Perhaps it is arthritic pain along with a muscle injury from a fall I took several weeks ago. Who the hell knows/No matter though. i understand the weather calls for a high of near 70 degrees on Saturday. That sounds crazy, I know. It’s crazy freaking fine.

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A cold-a** winter vacation doing nothing

The Winter Storm Warning that was finally issued for our area of Southeast Texas came but did so with little accompaniments of such a

Little visible ice but a lot of cold here in Southeast Texas.
Little visible ice but a lot of cold here in Southeast Texas.

warning. Still it did get icy enough to sufficiently slicken streets and highways. I woke up and went outside briefly, noticing the police were on the freeway with red lights and warning flares. Whether this was for a wreck or for dangerous driving, I couldn’t say.

Many friends and relatives who live north of me in East Texas had unusual, if not scenic, photos on Facebook this morning showing a carpet of snow laid down in their yards. To the South, here in Beaumont, most of the ice was barely visible such as the photo I have posted showing the sleet, snow and freezing rain that congregated at the base of the trees. Also, the windshields got a very good coating, enough so a light scraping wouldn’t get it.

One constant though was the cold. The “Weather Bug” temperature on my laptop — set to record temperatures at a nearby school — stayed below freezing most of the day. Walk out side into a little wind at 28 F and 100 percent humidity, and you got yourself a freezing-ass day.

I understand another bone-chiller will be on the way early next week when I return to work after a week of doing nothing. Ahhhh. It’s one of the best vacations ever.

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The anatomy of a great country song: From the dirty streets of LA

A few minutes ago I came across an interesting story in The Wall Street Journal. Now that in itself may seem unusual if you are familiar with my writing. Since the Journal became a part of Australian-American right-wing mogul Rupert Murdoch’s empire, I read the paper’s website even less than I did than when it was just a right-wing paper in its own right. But I have to admit the paper has some very talented writers and the story I came across is an example of that stable.

Writer Marc Myers penned an interesting look at the anatomy of a country hit made within a very short time period by singer, C & W legend Merle Haggard. The connection between the WSJ and a Merle Haggard song is the entertainer’s scheduled appearance on the Grammies come Sunday. The tale is of how his 1982 hit “Big City” stemmed from Haggard returning to his tour bus from a recording session only to find his bus driver and childhood friend Dean Holloway stewing over some thought. Haggard learned that Holloway hated the “dirty old city” of Los Angeles where they were. Hag tossed his friend a piece of paper and asked him to take out his discord on that paper. Within less than an hour, said the recording star, the song was written that would become his 28th No. 1 single.

I have long been a Merle Haggard fan since his hits started playing our radios back in the 60s. I never knew what to make out of “Okie From Muskogee,” whether it was a piece of satire by Hag or if that was his sentiment back then. I have heard many other Haggard songs and his views expressed in interviews that made me think, if that had been his views, they had changed somewhat over the years. People do change, after all. I remember singing some of those songs with an impromptu group of my brother John on piano, me and a young man slightly older than I — the son of the town’s cobbler — whose taste ran more toward black gospel. The music sounded okay and it was fairly loud enough to drown me out. The effort seemed to please our audience of nursing home residents. They’d probably have liked anyone to play.

Haggard said in the article that his lifelong friend, who also became his bus driver, passed away a few years ago. But he once told Haggard that he had earned — after Haggard split the song credits with Holloway down the middle — around a half a million dollars. Not bad for an afternoon’s discontent.

 

 

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It might snow. It might not. It might sleet. It might not. I don’t care. That’s for sure.

This will be as short as possible. I am on “hump day” of my annual leave — or vacation or however you would like to say it — and truly embracing some “do nothing” time.

There is a possibility of freezing precipitation tomorrow evening and going into Friday morning, according to today’s forecast (Jan. 22, 2014) by the National Weather Service office in Lake Charles, La. Yes, Lake Charles, the place with the high bridge over Interstate 10 and the gambling casino boats along the Calcasieu River. If my memory serves me, the Weather Service for the Southeast Texas was once at the Jack Brooks Regional Airport, what the airport was named back then I can’t remember. Then I think it was moved to Galveston. I don’t know, what I say might just be smoke coming from my ass.

The local NWS office “Discussion” about the area’s surface, marine and aviation weather is where one goes for a look at what the area forecasters are thinking about what is ahead. For our little spot during the winter weather slated for tomorrow, thus says NWS meteorologists:

USING A VARIETY OF PCPN TYPE FCSTING TECHNIQUES…AND LEANING QUITE HEAVILY ON THE TOP-DOWN METHOD…A MIX OF ALL MODES OF PCPN…LIQUID…FROZEN…AND FREEZING IS POSSIBLE FROM THU EVENING THROUGH THE DAY ON FRIDAY. THERE ARE STILL DIFFERENCES AMONG THE VARIOUS MODEL MODEL SOLUTIONS…BUT THERE ARE A COUPLE OF THINGS THAT STAND OUT AMONG THEM ALL…WHICH IS THAT LIFT AND MOISTURE WILL BE BETTER TO OUR WEST…AND THERE WILL BE A DRY LOW LEVEL LAYER TO CONTEND WITH. AT THIS TIME…GIVEN THE PROGGED QPF AMOUNTS…IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE WE ARE IN DANGER OF MEETING OR EXCEEDING WINTER STORM WARNING CRITERIA…AND IN FACT…EVEN AN ADVISORY LOOKS UNLIKELY FOR MOST OF THE AREA. TEMPERATURES FRIDAY MORNING ARE FORECAST TO BE IN THE LOWER TO MID 20S…ONLY RISING INTO THE MID 30S DURING THE DAY.

Click on the above if you want definitions of the jargon. But this says that, for where I live in Jefferson County, coastal, Texas, it is doubtful any significant winter precipitation will occur. But for our subtropical area or the country it certainly should be colder than a well digger’s shovel.

Nevertheless, these weather service chaps leave themselves an out. They’ve prognosticated a 30 percent chance that sleet and/or snow may fall somewhere in the Lake Charles forecasting area. This ranges, for your information, from extreme western Hardin County, Texas, to Alexandria, La.,  to the west of New Orleans and south to the Gulf of Mexico. This is given with the proviso that weather does not generally obey imaginary boundaries such as county or parish lines.

And so too, the Texas Department of Public Safety will not be caught with its “Texas Tan” — replete with blue stripe with red piping — pants down by the release of a blanket travel advisory of this state. Texas, you might know, has  a length north and south by some 800 miles and nearly 775 miles east to west.

 “DPS is asking drivers to use extra caution on Texas roadways as an arctic front moves into areas of the state. Drivers may encounter freezing rain, sleet or snow is some areas, which could create extremely dangerous driving conditions,” said DPS Director Steven McCraw. “As always, Texans should continue to monitor the changing weather conditions in their area and prepare for any expected hazards.”

Further, said McCraw, several state agencies are standing by should their assistance be required including “Texas military forces.” Military forces? I knew DPS had its own swift boats, but military forces? Isn’t that a bit over the top? Couldn’t he have just said the National and State guard? Oh well.

Whether rain, sleet, snow, hell or high water, I plan for the remainder of my week off to mostly sit around or lie fast asleep catching up on a year or more of rest. Excited? Who’s excited?

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A “Z-moment” for the Air Force top airfolk

It seems that U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff and his general minions in the USAF bureaucracy recently had a “Zumwalt moment.”

Gen. Mark A. Welsh III recently approved sort of a “Casual Friday” when it comes to certain physical training (PT) attire, according to Stars and Stripes. The newspaper is a worldwide, independent publication run by the Defense Department. Colorful shoes or “moral T-shirts,” the latter of which was worn to help build unit pride, as well as unit patches are among the items which will be okay for exercising airmen and airwomen. I think they are all called “airmen.” Perhaps for a more PC term the collective could be changed to “airpeople” or “airfolks,” the last being a play on words with Air Force. Get it? No?

While subtle changes to help Air Force personnel feel better about what they do and what they’ve accomplished, the reg rewrites pale in comparison with the sweeping Navy reforms of the early 1970s instituted by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo “Bud” Zumwalt. Bud. Hmm, I don’t think I could ever call such a historic figure and military leader “Bud.” But I might. Bear in mind that Admiral Zumwalt passed died 14 years ago, making such ridiculousness moot.

Zumwalt was going out as CNO just as I was coming in. Almost to the day. He was never my CNO. That was Adm. James L. Holloway III. A.k.a.Trey. No, I was just joking about the nickname. Holloway, had served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. In Navy speak: “He was around so long that he remembered when Jesus was just a mess cook.”

Beyond a doubt, Zumwalt made some major changes during his tenure as the Vietnam war was winding down. Morale was low and would continue that way for awhile. Zumwalt put beer in barracks vending machine. He had what someone apparently thought was more modern styles of uniforms introduced, doing away with the “Cracker Jacks,” so called because they reminded one of a Florida redneck with a jacked-up pickup off which he was to steal a tire. No, you should know by now that wasn’t the reason for the uniform’s moniker. They were so called because of the little sailor on the Cracker Jack box. Beards were likewise allowed. In the Navy beards were allowed, not on the Cracker Jack box.

Some sailors feel Zumwalt went too far. This opinion was especially held by some of those men who would light up the beer machine at 0630, these were a small part of the career Navy men or “lifer,” as they were so named in an invective.

I recently used a picture where I wore a beard during my promotion to Petty Officer Third Class — minus my commanding officer — as an example for a question I asked a Facebook group. The group is for Navy veterans. I say the overwhelming majority liked growing or would have liked to grow a beard when they were allowed. Even some of the women veterans seemed to mostly like them. One reply, not from a woman, was especially dripping with scorn. Yes, he was a scorn dripper, Sunday driver yeah, It took him soooo long … Sorry. A Beatle  flashback. The scorn dripper said:

 “Zumwalt was the worst thing EVER to Hit the Navy. He screwed us so bad.”

To each his or her own.

Many military uniform regulations are just plain ridiculous. Though I had yet to sail the seas, I initially found a cultural clash between “fleet types” like me and Seabees while stationed on a Seabee base. Seabees could go off base in their, then, green utility uniforms or fatigues. Those of us wearing a blue jumper or dungarees had to change before leaving or wear a dress or semi-dress uniform. A storekeeper I knew gave me a nice, comfy foul-weather coat. It was green, with the Seabee patch. A guy, like a “bouncer” in the dining hall wouldn’t let me in until I finally made some Seabee friends and surrounded myself with them.

Flip-flops and frayed jeans were popular then, I guess they still are in some respects, but the officer of the deck or petty officer of the watch would often not allow a sailor off the ship for liberty with such attire. I always ignored their breach of dress etiquette when I stood the latter. In some places, mostly where great numbers of sailors were on liberty such as in Subic Bay, there were actually Shore Patrol who wrote “tickets” for wearing flip-flops or such.

So these changes in Air Force wear — although I imagine some “old-timers,” now 30-somethings, burn with indignation — are one step toward eliminating the ever-present hard ass culture of the military. I mean, it’s not exactly having breakfast in bed served to new recruits or mints on their pillows.