Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[Latestarter]

Best wishes for his recovery.

 

[Latestarter]

So the lightning flashes woke me up ~5:30 or so. Very warm (almost 70) outside and humidity is high, like nearing 90%. Had only gone to bed ~3:30 but wide awake now. Figured I'd better look at the radar and see what it looked like was coming. http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/radar.php?rid=SHV&product=NCR&overlay=11101111&loop=yes
If you follow the line that is the northern Louisiana border & go 3 counties west from the Louisiana border into TX, I'm located right center of that county, just below I-30. ~60 miles SW of Texarcana. So then I went to look for any warnings (the red highlight is mine, not NOAA's):

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL
ARKANSAS...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA...
NORTHWEST LOUISIANA...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...EAST TEXAS AND
NORTHEAST TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT...

STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE ON THE INCREASE TODAY AS A
POTENT UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM APPROACHES FROM THE WEST. STRONG
LOW LEVEL SHEAR AND SHEAR THROUGHOUT THE ATMOSPHERE SUGGESTS THAT
SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE...SOME OF WHICH COULD
PRODUCE TORNADOES...MAINLY ACROSS NORTHERN LOUISIANA AND SOUTHERN
ARKANSAS. ELSEWHERE...DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS AND LARGE
HAIL WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS NORTHEAST TEXAS INTO SOUTHEAST
OKLAHOMA. LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS WILL ACCOMPANY THIS CONVECTION
TODAY BEFORE THE ACTIVITY QUICKLY PUSHES EAST OF THE REGION BY
THIS EVENING.

Raining right now, but not torrential or anything. All this stuff is moving to the east and I guess the drought over east of here is pretty severe so I hope you pick up a lot of rain but no serious damage as this pushes over to you.

On another note, I really enjoyed watching football yesterday. The match ups were very competitive and the games I watched were nail biters right down to the end! Seeing KC beat Denver in Denver was awesome! What an ending and in overtime to boot! My team the Pats got the victory over the Jets but I was screaming at the TV watching the first 3/4 of that game. They won't win the Super Bowl playing like that. The Raiders game was an awesome match up as well. I'm expecting to watch Green Bay get pummeled again this evening.

Last night maybe 8-ish, it was dark, Mel started alerting to something out back beyond the fence. Sure enough, shortly I see this huge armadillo sauntering up. They dig these huge holes looking for bugs and worms to eat. So anyway, I killed it and then went and got it and threw it over the fence so Mel could check it out. He got pretty excited about it but lost interest pretty quickly... I guess these kinds of toys are no fun when they aren't self-powered. After a couple of hours I went and disposed of it at the back of the field. Danged thing was heavy to carry all the way down there!

 

[Mike CHS]

We had a dead armadillo in the middle of our drive about a month ago. No idea how it got there or what killed it. Shoved it off the drive figuring to get rid of it later and the darn thing was gone the next time I looked.

 

[Latestarter]

My internet keeps dropping due to the rain squalls and wind.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Sorry your not feeling well @Latestarter hope you get better soon.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Be careful with the 'Dillers'....they are the one of the animals in the US that can carry Leprosy....we have our Share here and they can really tear up some Ground....

 

[babsbag]

I think it is the 9 Banded Armadillo only that can carry leprosy.

Any reason to kill them other than the holes? Sounds like a TX version of my ground squirrels.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Well I respect your 'Thinking' @babsbag but not at the chance of getting leprosy......and I won't be counting the Bands either....I stay away from all of them......and as far as Chipmunks go...my cats just Love em...

 

[babsbag]

Oh, come on, tell the little guy to hold still while you count the bands. They are like snow...nice in someone else's yard; and cute too.

Our ground squirrels aren't exactly chipmunks. The are MUCH bigger and dig tunnels and caverns everywhere. They live in colonies like prairie dogs and you can be walking through a field and all of a sudden the ground gives way and you just found a tunnel. My dogs kill them but they are too big for the cats. We shoot and poison as they do severe damage to structures and orchards. Also, the rattlesnakes will get in the entrance to the holes and then the poor dogs get bit when trying to get to the squirrels. Useless creatures all the way around.

 

[CntryBoy777]

My 'Bad' on the misunderstanding...most around here refer to chipmunks as ground squirrels........I'd have to 'Draw the Line' on them too.......the chipmunks, moles, and voles do our ground that way too...tho probably not to the degree of those things....