This past Friday, the 20th of May, the folks in Mills County, I was in San Saba and just missed it, had a great hail storm! During the past 3 weeks, hopefully, our serious drought has finally broken, we’ve had over 3.6 inches of rain and yesterday’s was the hardest! Bad thing though, far west Texas, which is still under, according to NOAA a severe drought, hasn’t gotten any significant rain.

Crossing the Colorado River and coming into Mills County I noticed the oak trees had neat piles of leaves under their boughs, I thought Oh-oh, sure looks like hail to me. Driving on the 4 miles to my ranch, the last being almost 2 miles on a County Road, more leaves under the oak trees along with a scattering of good size, hail. The ground in my front and back yards were covered with quarter size hail and it had built up around my gutters too.

Walking around my house and checking for damage, none apparent, and walking out to the rain gauge, ½ inch and thinking, That’s over 3 inches this month. There being no garden this year, like the Bible says, I let it lay fallow this season, nothing was harmed, but remembering back to the hail storm we had on May 5, 2005, it was a doozy!

The constant lightning cast an eerie green glow as the storm hit from the northwest at midnight and waking us up, we went out to the front porch to watch as it closed in on us. Between Goldthwaite and my front porch, a tornado cloud came snaking down and Layla and I went streaking into safer quarters. This was one of several funnel clouds seen in the County, 2 touched down. We climbed under a mattress and lied down in our long hall and it started raining and hailing, and hailing and hailing, our metal roof was clanking with the large pieces of ice!

Finally it stopped hailing, but the rain was pouring down, over 5 inches in total and, because of the rain, we went to bed, but were up with the sun. We thought Bo, our cat, had been safe in the old house, Spike, our dog, was under the mattress with us, but on our inspection, the north facing windows had been knocked out with only jagged pieces remaining. Somehow, Bo had escaped through a window and found shelter somewhere safe.

Our cars, a new Suburban and a year old, Avalanche, left outside of course, were damaged the worst, totaling over $8,000. Then add in $1,200. for 2 new double pane, windows in the old house, plus an almost destroyed garden, gives an idea of the destruction. By far, wildlife was hit the hardest. Doves were nesting and had to start all over, the big hail killed turkeys while they were roosting, smaller birds not killed outright had eggs and nests destroyed, but ground dwellers like quail, could find cover and were spared.

Now, the big storm of 2005 is just a memory, but Friday’s hail could be the answer to a lot of prayers and could be the breaking of our, according to NOAA, severe drought!

In early March of 2005, several months before I retired, I had planned to get an early start on a Saturday morning and drive to Goldthwaite and arrive before lunch. Living in Bayou Vista, Texas, right on the Gulf Coast, I had a 4 plus, hour drive awaiting me.

Setting my clock for 5:30 AM, I awoke with a start at 6:00 AM. I hadn’t turned “on” the alarm. So much for a real early start! Rushing and getting dressed I looked outside toward my boat dock and noticed that it was foggy, not unusual for this time of the year. Nothing to load up so I climbed into my 4WD, Suburban and headed out, but there was only about 200 yards visibility, not strange for this time of year. Figuring that the farther I went inland, the lighter the fog would be, so I pressed on.

Heading north on I-45 the traffic, yes traffic at 6:20 AM on a Saturday was moving along about 45 MPH and the farther inland I drove, it seemed that the fog was getting thicker. Seventeen miles from downtown Houston, Beltway 8, a toll road, exits east and west. It is a high, elevated, curving, exit to the west and the fog almost, it seemed, enveloped the exit.
Clicking on my blinkers, the traffic report that came on, every 20 minutes on weekends, instead of the 10 minutes on work days, reported heavy fog on Beltway 8 around Texas 288, The Nolan Ryan Expressway, 5 miles ahead. Slow going for a ways!

On the “Raceway”, or Beltway, posted speed is 65 MPH, which is ignored by most of the drivers. Most motorist clip along at 75 or 80, but today, caution prevailed and we were down to 40 and nearing 288, traffic slowed dramatically, red lights glaring, hazard lights blinking and we entered a white world! The radio blared, “There has been a series of major accident on Beltway 8 between Hillcroft and Cullen, and reports from the scene say the Beltway is closed.”

Closed it was and the fog was so thick that I could barely make out the reflections of the taillights to my front. I have never seen, or even imagined, that fog could be so heavy! Behind me I heard a grinding CRASH, and braced for a hit that never came.

The sounds of more crashes echoed behind me, everything was stopped, so there was nothing to do but listen to the radio, that was now getting better reports from the authorities. The Beltway was closed both ways and at least 100 cars had been involved in a chain reaction accident on the inbound side and at least 1,000 cars were stuck and fogged in. Deaths and injuries were reported and the sight of the original crashes was still over a mile away!
Sirens were blaring from every direction as police and sheriff’s officers begin to arrive all along the Beltway. They begin moving cars off of the Beltway and soon I was on the access road, still heading west, but stopped. We crept along enshrouded in fog and in some places it was so thick that it looked to be impenetrable.

After about an hour, the fog was lifting and we began to creep along side the scene of the most deadly accidents. Then, just like that, the fog lifted! Cars were piled into each other and resembled accordions, reminding me of scenes from “The Highway Of Death” in Kuwait; some cars were upside down on the grades leading up the overpasses, with radiator fluid, gasoline and oil pooled on the road surface, people were milling around stunned and law officers were everywhere. We continued our creep for 600 or 700 yards and up ahead, in bright sunshine, I saw a DPS trooper directing us back on to the Beltway!

Since we were being herded along, we couldn’t get out of our vehicles to help. All I could do was say a prayer for those involved and thank the Lord that I was 15 minutes late. If I had been on time, I would have been right in the middle of it!

Final tally was 110, cars and trucks involved, with 7 deaths and a myriad of injured. Skid marks still remain on the road surface and median attesting to the speed and violence of the crashes!

Long ago, I learned never to plan any outdoor excursions in March!

However, most of this month we’ve had beautiful weather and I thought we’d have an early spring. That was dispelled this past Saturday when the winds really blew, thirty-five to forty miles per! Then the temps dropped to below freezing, it rained and even snowed. The weather cleared and by Sunday afternoon we were in shirt sleeves.

Monday was a workday and I’d planned to go varmint hunting Tuesday afternoon. That is, until the wind blew me out, a steady eighteen to twenty with gusts higher. I doubt if the varmints could even hear the call?

The long range, weather forecast for April 3rd, the opening of spring, turkey season is quite good, moderate temps and no rain. I’ve been busy trying to get my work wrapped up because I need to scout for turkeys in the mornings, scare up a varmint in the late afternoon (or night) and then, pick a cloudy afternoon to try to tie into a big bass. That’s my plan. We’ll see if I can implement it?

Stumpy and his Senior Softball team, The Texans, traveled to Georgetown, Texas, for the first qualifying tournament of the 2010 season. The Texans won this one with a mark of four wins and one embarrassing loss on Thursday to their old rivals, Texas Greyhounds. However The Texans came back on Friday and beat the Greyhounds in two straight games to capture the winner’s laurels. Now for the rest of the story!

On Friday afternoon, the wind had picked up significantly from the south, meaning here comes another front. Saturday morning in Georgetown, we were greeted by chilling rain, dropping temperatures and a big wind, twenty-five to thirty, out of the north. As the temperature fell, the rain and wind persisted until mid morning. With conditions so bad and a drop in temperatures to near freezing forecasted, having no other choice, Layla cancelled the tournament. But, that wasn’t all.

We called our Daughter, Laura, in Goldthwaite and found out that there were snow flurries along with a chilling rain. Then our Daughter, Suzanne, in Paris, Texas, called and said it was really snowing and coming down hard there. By the time I got home, the rain had stopped, 1.1 inches on my gauge, but there were still flurries of snow, none of it sticking.

Saturday night the temp fell to thirty-one, with a wind chill, because of the high winds accompanying the storm, near zero. Suzanne called on Sunday afternoon and said that it was still snowing in Paris, over 6 inches total and the temp was twenty-eight. Right after her call, a friend in Plano called and said it was still snowing heavily in the Dallas metro area and the temp was below freezing.

All of this cold, snowy weather and Saturday was the first day of spring! Of course, my peach trees were blooming and with eight hours of below freezing temps, no peaches from my trees this year!

So far our local record for the winter of ‘10 remains at four snows and now, one snow on March 20, the first day of spring. Bee Cave Bob’s fearless prediction of a cool snap before Easter, was totally wrong! Anyone know where I can find a good used snow shovel?

Central Texas is a wonderful place to live! After spending years fighting the humidity in Houston, plus a few years handling the ice storms in Atlanta, not to say the heat of Phoenix, Layla and I were ready for the moderate climes of central Texas. Not too hot and not too cold, not too much rain, with a little snow sprinkled in once every four or five years. Except for the “cedar fever”, hard to beat!

Last year, 2009, we were blessed with over forty-three inches of rain, close to two years of our annual amount. Through February we have received almost nine and a half inches, almost one half of our yearly average. Praise the Lord!

However, there is a problem. This year we have experienced snow, five times. Not a dusting, but accumulations that even stayed on the ground, the last being on Tuesday, the 23rd. The weathermen hit that one on the nose, saying it would begin raining in the early morning hours, then change to snow, with a total of six inches possible. We got more than that, snowing continuously for fourteen hours, completely shutting the area down!

Before lunch I took this picture of the snow pouring down.

Another one of our shooting range and the target almost obscured by the snow.

This one of the garden and the mid morning accumulation.

Layla and I went out to lunch last Tuesday and snapped these pictures of our central Texas                                                        snowstorm.

I’m a sucker for snow and water. It makes the water look black and the lack of color in the woods is neat.

The oak trees, normally an evergreen, are covered with snow.

With the temp hovering around thirty, even the fence had ice on it.

I only have two comments about this weather. One, it looks like I might have to buy a snow shovel. And two, who are we kidding, global warming is a hoax!

Sleeping soundly, I awoke to the loud crack of what I thought was a rifle shot. Reaching over and trying to turn on the lights, there was no power, rats, we had an all electric home too! The “shot” had awakened the whole family, including Rooster, our Brittany and Nick, our cat. We were all sleeping around the big fireplace in the basement,. “What was that Dad?” “Sounded like a shot to me!” “Beats me kids,” I replied, but later we found out that it was the crack of a pine tree snapping from the weight of accumulated ice. At the time, I didn’t even know that could happen.

We had moved from Phoenix to Atlanta in August of 1976 and by January of 1978 had really settled in. We didn’t live in the city but in an unincorporated area of Fulton County, Sandy Springs, that was a ‘buffer’ between Atlanta and Roswell. We had selected a home in the Lost Forest Subdivision and it truly was a lost forest, very hilly, a lot of pine trees, but ten minutes from my work and best, outside of the Atlanta ISD!

Being ‘flatlanders’ and since the last two winters had been mild for the area, we really didn’t know what to expect when the TV weather alerted us for ‘a severe winter storm and possible ice storm’. Since this was a new, high corporate mobility area, most of our neighbors were at a loss too. Finally a local surfaced and told us, “Folks you’d better prepare for the worst. We could be shut down anywhere up to a week!”

Early the next morning the storm hit in full force, rain, sleet, snow, high wind and plummeting temperatures. By evening the temperature had dropped to +5 and by early morning of the storm’s second day, -5. The coldest weather I’d ever seen! We thought we’d be ready, but soon found out how wrong we were, even with a cord of wood and fireplaces on two floors of our three, story house. The fireplaces, in particular, the one in the basement, and the wood certainly came in handy over the long haul of this storm.

Long haul it was! We were iced in and our house was on the middle of a hill. We couldn’t go up or down. We knew we would slide down and never even tried to go up the hill even in our 4WD, Dodge, Power Wagon. Our freezer was in the garage and since we had below freezing temps for over two days the loss of electric power didn’t cause a ‘great thaw’! We just opened the freezer doors and let the sub freezing cold blow in.

The biggest fireplace was in the basement and our lives centered around it. We were without power for almost four days and all cooking was done like the early settlers, over the fireplace fire. Thankfully, we never lost water pressure, our bathwater was heated over the fire and they were really only quick “rinses”.

The fourth day of the storm the weather moderated some so we loaded up four of my neighbors in my 4WD, Dodge Power Wagon with a sleeper, camper on the back end and headed off to our office. We all worked for the same large company, crept in slowly in low 4WD and finally arrived safely. Nothing much could be accomplished since we only had a skeleton staff that could make it in, but by the next day, schools were opened, business began ‘humming’ and power was restored to our part of Fulton County.

During the ‘Great Ice Storm of ’78’, our time was spent keeping the fire roaring, heating water for baths, cooking all day long, venturing to the colder portions of the house for clothes and needed items and surviving the best we could. Our time outside the protection of our basement fire was spent visiting with neighbors and helping, and being helped, with the clearing and cutting up of the numerous pine trees splintered by the ice accumulation.

This was a real learning experience for me, but just stop and think all that our forefathers had to endure, that today, we take for granted. Think of the effort expended, cutting, trimming, splitting, hauling and stacking a cord, 4’X 4’X 8’, of wood; or raising enough food to feed the family and livestock for the winter; or digging a 10 to 20 foot well for water or hauling water every day for the family’s and animal’s needs; or shearing, making the yarn, weaving and sewing clothes. All of this with no power tools, no electricity, no running water, no cell or telephones, no ‘modern medicine’, only the strength and ingenuity of the individual.

I think we’ve gotten soft!

During the summer of 1979 my company moved me back to Houston and the first customer that I had called on was Bob Baugh. On my first meeting with him, I happened to have a picture of a twelve-pound bass that I had recently caught which I promptly pulled out and showed to him. He responded by producing a picture of a six hundred pound blue marlin that he had also recently caught. Needless to say, we became close friends!

Shortly after our first meeting, we had Bob and his wife out to dinner and were enjoying a pleasant evening, when the phone rang and it was my Son, Randy. He was calling to let me know he was going to be late for supper. The reason that he was going to be late was that he was stuck in my new truck, on our new Katy Prairie, duck and goose lease, and needed me to come and help with the extricating of the truck.

One of his excuses was that the roads had been ruined because the week before, a low pressure, system had come barreling ashore between Galveston and Freeport, had hesitated over Alvin, thirty miles inland, and dumped over twenty-four inches of rain in twenty-four hours. This remained a contiguous states record for a twenty-four hour, period, until it was surpassed by tropical storm Allison! The low pressure, system also soaked the Katy Prairie, thirty miles northwest, with over twelve inches, making any dirt road travel very difficult.

He, luckily, didn’t use the real reason why the truck was stuck. It was because he and his friend Doug would try to see how much mud it would take to get stuck in. In most cases Doug would also have his truck and they would alternate pulling each other out of the mire. Not this time because he and Doug had taken advantage of the early Teal season and gone hunting together in my new truck!

Being familiar with where Randy told me he was stuck, I told him, “We’ll be right out,” and fuming, I ended the call. Filling Bob in on the details he said, without hesitation, “Let’s go get him!”

We loaded up in Bob’s 4WD, truck and headed out for the short drive to the new lease. Waiting for us at the main entrance was Randy and Doug. The boys had found the rice farmer and he had pulled them out with a tractor.

Randy, Doug and the new truck were safe and Bob and I didn’t have to wade in the mud. Our evening was interrupted but our friendship was sealed and lasts till this day!

One more fact about Randy and Doug; the owner of the local car wash, a nice man and a Deacon in the Baptist Church that we attended, had banned both boys from using his facility to wash their trucks. He said that he knew when they had been there because his main drain was always stopped up, with mud, of course!

It could be said that the weather in Phoenix is always hot, bright and dry. Even if it is cool, the sun is out most of the time and Jake Schroder and I, both of us being good Texas boys, remembered our State’s rain and clouds, and would joke around with each other and say “Ho hum, another beautiful day in paradise.” One day, for me, paradise turned real ugly!

In 1972, Bill Randall and I were both managers with a large computer company and both of us shared the same love for hunting. One afternoon during the middle of dove season we left work early, had to make sales calls you know, and I picked him up in my Bronco and we sped off to a spot that he had found north of Gilbert, Arizona.

It was a large grain field that had just been harvested. Arizona is strange. It is hot and dry, but if you can get water to a crop, it will grow and, along the east side of this field, a large irrigation ditch supplied the water. Thankfully, as we upped and downed through the canal, it was dry and we scrambled out of the truck and began our hunt paying no attention to a large thunderhead southeast of us.

Bill and I were the only hunters and were literally covered up with doves. We held off the mourners and concentrated on the bigger, white wings. Nearing our limits, we noticed that the thunderhead was moving toward us and was kicking up a small sand storm. No problem, when it gets closer, we’ll load up and go.

It got real close real quick and the next thing we knew there was a wall of sand coming closer and closer, until it engulfed us! Hurrying back to the truck, it started getting darker and darker and by the time we closed the truck doors, it was like night had fallen four hours early. As the wind picked up, large drops of rain we’re smacking into the truck and Bill said, “Jon, we’re in trouble. I bet this is a tornado and we got no place for a shelter.” Replying, “We could lie down in the canal and hope for the best.” Then he added, “Why don’t you just drive the truck into the canal?”

We pulled over one of the berms and turned left into the canal and stopped, lightning popping all around, the wind and rain buffeting us and then we heard it. A train bearing down on us, but no tracks around here and we looked at each other and exclaimed, “Tornado!”

The force of the wind shook the Bronco and tried to lift us up into the swirling vortex, but for some reason, the wind kept setting us back down into the canal! In the darkness, terrifying minutes passed until the big wind and roaring moved on. It remained cloudy but the sky brightened and the big drops of rain were replaced by a normal shower and soon, the big storm broke up before it reached a populated area.

No mention of the tornado on the 10:00 O’clock news so I guess Bill and I were the only witnesses. Also, the Chamber Of Commerce thinks it’s bad for business if there is talk of tornados in Arizona!

We had moved from Phoenix to Atlanta in August of 1976 and by January of 1978 had really settled in. We didn’t live in the city but in an unincorporated area of Fulton County, Sandy Springs, that was a ‘buffer’ between Atlanta and Roswell. We had selected a home in the Lost Forest Subdivision and it truly was a lost forest, very hilly, a lot of pine trees, 10 minutes from my work and outside of the Atlanta ISD.

Being ‘flatlanders’ and since the winters of 1976 and 1977 had been mild for the area, we really didn’t know what to expect when the TV weather alerted us for ‘a severe winter storm and possible ice storm’. Since this was a new, high corporate mobility area, most of our neighbors were at a loss too. Finally a local surfaced and told us, “Folks you’d better prepare for the worst. We could be shut down anywhere up to a week!”

Early the next morning the storm hit in full force, rain, sleet, snow, high wind and plummeting temperatures. By evening the temperature had dropped to +5 degrees and by early morning of the storm’s second day, -5. The coldest weather I’d ever seen!

Sleeping soundly, I awoke to the loud crack of what I thought was a rifle shot, but in reality was the crack of a pine tree snapping. At the time, I didn’t even know that could happen. Trying to turn on the lights, no power. Rats, we had an all electric home too! At least we had fireplaces on 2 floors of our 3, story house along with a cord of wood. The fireplaces and wood certainly came in handy over the long haul of the storm.

Long haul it was! We were iced in and our house was in the middle of a hill and we couldn’t go up or down. We knew we would slide down and never tried to go up the hill, even in our 4WD, Dodge Power Wagon. Our freezer was in the garage and since we had below freezing temps for 2-1/2 days, we just about cleaned it out and even had ice cream.

The biggest fireplace was in the basement and our lives, for 3 days, centered around it. We were without power for almost 4 days and all cooking was done like the early settlers, over the fireplace fire. The family, 5 of us, and our pets, Rooster and Nick, the cat, all slept around the fire. We never lost water pressure and our bathwater was heated over the fire and they were only quick ‘rinses’.

The fourth day of the storm the weather moderated some and we loaded up my 4WD, Dodge Power Wagon with a sleeper, camper on the back end, with 4 of my neighbors, we all worked for the same large company, and crept in slowly to our office. Nothing much could be accomplished since we only had a skeleton staff that could make it in, but by the next day, schools were opened, business began ‘humming’ and power was restored to our part of Fulton County.

Tending to personal needs, keeping the fire roaring, heating water for baths, cooking all day long, venturing to the colder portions of the house for clothes and needed items, took care of most of our time. Our time outside the protection of our basement fire was spent visiting with neighbors and helping, and being helped, with the clearing and cutting up of the numerous pine trees splintered by the ice accumulation.

This was a real learning experience for me, but just stop and think all that our forefathers had to endure, that today, we take for granted. Think of the effort expended, cutting, trimming, splitting, hauling and stacking a cord, 4’X4’X8’, of wood; or raising enough food to feed the family and livestock for the winter; or digging a 10 to 20 foot well for water or hauling water every day for the family’s and animal’s needs; or shearing, making the yarn, weaving and sewing clothes.

No power tools, no electricity, no running water, no cell or telephones, no ‘modern medicine’, only the strength and ingenuity of the individual. I think we’ve gotten soft!

In January of 1979 I flew from Atlanta to Tucson and met Jake Schroder and we experienced a wonderful 3 day, hunt for Mearns quail. Jake had his Brittany’s, Candy and Ned Pepper and I took my Brittany, Rooster. We enjoyed some fine dog work, some hot shooting and a lot of good fellowship! Right is Jake and Beech walking in on a covey with Candy pointing and Rooster backing.

Left is Jake and Beech walking in on a covey with Candy pointing and Rooster backing.

The trip was way too short and as I headed back to Tucson, the radio announced that a winter storm had smashed into the southeastern U.S. and travel was becoming difficult. Later, at the airport, I was told that Atlanta was closed down due to the ice, but flights were still landing.

Calling home, my ex-wife, she told me that she thought her and Brad could come pick us up in our Dodge Power Wagon, but definitely, the Buick was out of the question. That made my decision, Rooster and I would fly on in to Atlanta, the family would pick us up and we would be home by 9:00 PM.

It was a three, hour flight from Tucson to Atlanta and by the time we were preparing to land, the pilot announced that, due to icing, Mayor Maynard Jackson had closed the roads and freeways in the town. This sounded like Rooster and I would be stuck at Hartsfield International for the night.

The plane landed and I called home and, sure enough, the town was closed down, but my ex-wife said that she had gotten Rooster and I a room at the Day’s Inn, if, and a big if, I could get to it. I went to baggage to pick up my shotgun and luggage and then to the claims office to get Rooster, then I found a Red Cap to transport us to the cab station.

Luckily a cab was there and the driver told me that he could drive me the two blocks to the Day’s Inn and he would only charge $5.00, I would’ve paid $50.00. More luck, the hotel manager told me that because of the situation, he would waive the ‘no pets’ rule. He even got some scraps from the kitchen for Rooster! Telling the manager that Rooster was ‘house trained’ and I didn’t expect any problem, didn’t assure the manager, who told me that I would have to pay for any clean up.

Rooster, pictured at left, was perfect and we spent an uneventful night in the motel and by noon the next day, the storm had blown through, Mayor Jackson had lifted the travel ban and we were able to get home. The entire situation was kinda’ funny and wouldn’t have been any worry if I hadn’t had Rooster. However, he was a ‘trouper’ and since he’d spent the last 3 nights out in the open, I’m sure he enjoyed staying in the motel!