Dolly still deep in the heart of Texas

As of 7 PM CDT, Dolly has moved to the northwest corner of Jim Hogg County, where it intersects with Zapata County and Webb County (Laredo). Winds are down to 50 mph, which makes it still a pretty decent Tropical Storm, despite the fact it's been over land for at least 18 hours (very long lived for a tropical system over land!).

Damage is in the form of roofs blown off and structural damage on South Padre, and flooding mainly in Harlingen and points near that area. The system is supposed to keep dropping lots of rain, up to 20" in spots, which is somewhat unfortunate because that area of Texas does not need rain, while spots a 100 or so miles up desparately needs rain!

There is another area to watch in the Atlantic, although it is in no eminent danger of forming.

We are still in a drought even though we got some rain. Speaking of droughts, I'm going to up to Lake Hartwell this weekend, and Asheville next weekend, both places which are in "Exceptional"/D4 droughts. It should still be fun though!

UPDATE: Dolly has traversed from east of Laredo to North of Laredo (north of the Camino Columbia Road and about 1/2 way between Laredo & the Maverick County line), and is still barely a tropical storm. Tornadoes are breaking out in San Antonio and Bexar County however, but it is too early to determine damage extents.

Off to Maine tomorrow

Tomorrow we're traveling 1200 miles up the east coast....this would be a 20 hour drive through most of the east coast major cities, but fortunately we're flying, connecting through Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky up there and coming back through New York's John F. Kennedy, which I've never been to before. The weather is supposed to be beautiful, however it might be cold for Atlanta standards, and I think I'll bring my polar fleece vest. Saturday it's supposed to be in the 70's, with 50's at night and 60's on Sunday...it doesn't even hardly get down into the 60's here at night!

There is no tropical development to speak of, even in the long-range forecast. This is not unusual for June though. Things don't heat up until late July and August.

I think I am FINALLY recovered from my trip to Charlottesville. It was one of those conferences where we partied hard, went to meetings all day Saturday, partied hard again, then waited at the bar when our flight was 3 hours delayed because we had nothing better to do and because we had all of our bags with us.

The drought is beginning to worsen again. In Mid-may they allowed us to starting hand-watering 3 times per week at 25 minutes per day. This has helped some but not much, and my yard is starting to show the dry patches where it is stressed. Officially at the airport we've received .24" of rain this MONTH, as opposed to Jacksonville which got 4" yesterday AFTERNOON. We're offically in D2 drought stage which doesn't seem that bad, but D3 is as close as Gwinnett County and getting closer, and D4 is as close as the Upstate of South Carolina and getting closer (the D4 stage didn't even exist until a few weeks ago in the South after we had some good rains).

Wimbledon is on this weekend and next. A week from Sunday is when I get to eat strawberries and homemade Devonshire cream...yum. I missed the 1st few days thinking it started next week. Oh well.

Also next Friday, being July 4, is Peachtree Road Race day! Hopefully it won't be TOO warm. Typically it's around 71 or 72 at race time, and it looks like that will hold true this year too. It's not like we're going to get any rain (haha). I hope that they have the mist-ers hooked up to the fire hydrants, however when we had the last drought in the early 2000's, those were turned off. Also this year because of the drought the course won't make it's traditional finish on 10th Street in Piedmont Park, but instead will take 10th to Piedmont and finish at Ponce de Leon, then they'll hoard us over to the Civic Center (which is named after someone I cannot pronounce!). Fortunately this means we can park one car at my sister's apartment near Lenox Mall and one at my office downtown and avoid the smelly people on MARTA!

General Update

We had some strong storms move through the area yesteday, including one apparent tornado in Cherokee County, between Woodstock and Holly Springs. Central Fulton County was under a tornado warning at one point at the tail end of rush hour, but we did not get any damage, and in fact hardly got any rain at all from the storm. But GEEZ, this is like the 5th tornado this season (since February) to hit the Atlanta metro area...others have hit Carroll County, south Atlanta, downtown Atlanta and northwest Atlanta suburbs.

Speaking of rain, the governor got a bill passed saying that his rules superseded those of local municipalities. What that means for me is that now I can hand-water my yard for up to 25 minutes on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursday (because I have an odd address) as long as it is after midnight and before 10 AM. In addition, because I planted new landscaping and passed the online test, I can water with a sprinkler my newly planted lenten roses and hydrangeas. Now I just have to get my timer working again since I took out the batteries last September.

Big Brown won the Preakness Stakes easily, so he's looking very good for the Belmont (which I will be in Charlottesville for and therefore have to find a television set to view it). I was at Country Fair tailgating at the time, but we found a small bar behind a Chevron Station on Pryor Road (no it was not sketchy) so we got to drink a beer, use the bathroom, and watch the horse race. Good times. Country fair itself was okay. The tailgating was excellent however the concert was not that good...Pat Green sang only "corporate", not Texas, songs, and Travis Tritt seemed to sing only sad songs.

We're off to Richmond/Deltaville/Williamsburg/Charlottesville this weekend for 2 weddings and a day on the Chesapeake Bay/Rappahannock River with my folks. The weather is supposed to be beautiful!

Finally nothing in the tropics to report yet, however the season starts 1 week from Sunday.

TD-14 forms, next name is Melissa (then Noel and Olga)

TD-14 formed as of 11 AM in the Atlantic...it's still a ways off from land and because if formed fairly far to the north, it's almost certainly not a threat to land. It is expected to reach Tropical Storm strength, at least for a while, and therefore would be named Melissa most likely, unless another storm quickly forms.

On the other hand, Tropical Storm Karen, while barely hanging on, looks like it might recurve out due west, which would put it on a collison course with northern Florida or Georgia. If this atmospheric sequence of events occurs, the conditions would be ripe to turn Karen into a hurricane (or back into a hurricane, since it may have already reached that status). Although that would be a bad thing for the coast, that would be great for Atlanta (assuming it would make it here), as we DESPERATELY need the rain.

Speaking of Atlanta and rain, there are almost daily articles now in the AJC talking about our lakes, including Allatoona and Lanier, drying up which is bad since that is where our drinking water comes from. That combined with La Nina which would give us a dry winter, plus any dryness next spring, and we could have a catastrophe. Yikes. Already many lakehome owners on Lanier can no longer put their docks in the water.

I'm off to Alexandria in a few hours, then partying it up in DuPont Circle and Old Town. Also, GO HOOS! Peat Pitt.

Huntsville, Alabama

We just made it to Huntsville! A scenic drive through rural (well, at least after we got out of Dallas, Georgia) Georgia and Alabama, including driving across Lake Guntersville and Monte Sano. Jazz Factory for dinner tonight!

Bicycles & Sailboats

I took down the American flag on Wednesday morning and put up the sailboat flag...this will stay up until I put up my Virginia flag on August 23. I cannot believe we are that close to football season!!!

Now that Wimbledon is over (which ended with an awesome 5-setter pitting Federer against Nadal), I have started watching the Tour de France, which is interesting, but at this early stage, it is hard to pick someone you like. I think once the mountain stages start, the peleton will spread out and the leaders will emerge. Probably nothing like what happened when Lance Armstrong was on the Tour however.

Some new shows I've started DVR-ing: Ice Road Truckers (History Channel) - About trucking goods from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada to a diamond mind near the Arctic Circle; The States (History Channel) - Never seen this, but it's an hour-long show about 4 states at a time...recommended to me.

Drought news: We've actually had a decent amount of rain, and it's been awfully cloudy lately, but no loosening of water restrictions yet. Tuesday is the last day for me to water my new Japanese holly, but I'm not worried because I feel it will stay alive. The gigantic Japanese holly I was given and that I cut back has plentiful new growth on it, so I won't be replacing that either. Looks like I'll be down to the traditional 10 hours/week.

Finally, getting ready to go to Huntsville, Alabama next weekend...we're taking the most direct route, using state and county roads to get there, since Mapquest takes us all the way to Birmingham and then north, which cannot be any faster and will definitely be much less scenic. This way we'll get to see Lake Guntersville and Cloudmont Ski (yes skiing in Alabama) area. The wedding is a 250-person black-tie affair.

Heading down to South DeKalb

Ok, so call us crazy but we're driving 30 miles out to Stonecrest Mall/Lithonia to go eat at Chicken & Waffles tonight...partly to visit a friend who lives on the east side of Conyers.

UVa is just 1/2 game back from Boston College now & tied with VT and UNC for 2nd in the ACC standings. We've lost 3 games just like BC, but they've played 1 more (and won one more) than us. We need to be wary of FSU this weekend!!!

There is still a chance for snow on Saturday, but it's not looking promising. They have yet to issue any statements about it in Georgia, and have only gotten as close as middle Kentucky. It will be cold though...Freezing temperatures all the way to the MS/AL/FL Gulf beaches!