Winter weather
Dreamwidth stopped cross-posting to LJ, so I repost this latest post manually. I will decide whether to import the other missing posts later.
The Winter weather set in Wednesday night. Folks here in north Texas treated it with respect. Folks stayed off the roads and prepared for the storm. This storm was a normal two-and-a-half-day wonder, Wednesday night freezing rain switched to sleet and then on Thursday turned to dnow. The main snow day set a new daily record, though it was only an inch and a half or so. Our home got perhaps a bit more, being a bit north of Dallas. I worked from home on Thursday and Friday and got some things done. I took a walk late Friday in our park, where the cold weather was a drawback but the ice and snow was lovely.
Saturday I got up early and went to WW. I was down two pounds. Only seven people besides the WW personnel attended, due to the weather. After WW, I drove to Oak Point Park in Plano. I had a great walk there, and saw 25+ species of bird. I was in layer upon layer of clothes.
Saturday afternoon I played in an on-line USCF blitz chess tournament. I won 2 and lost 3, and had a lot of fun. I had played in a 5-round tournament Wednesday night, winning 3 and losing 4. The events have not tyet been rated but I guess overall I either broken even on rating points or lost a few.
Sunday I drove to Brockdale Park, where I saw my first White Pelican of the year, well offshore in the lake. Over 100 Double-Crested Cormorants flew just above the surface of the lake. I listened on-line via my cell phone to the church service at the First Methodist Church of Gurdon, Arkansas, where I lived from ages to 15. I went to J.M. Caldwell City Park in Princeton, where I had a nice walk and saw more species. I headed over to Farmersville where I hiked the Audie Murphy Trail. I saw some lovely Northern Cardinals along the trail. I listened to a podcast from Shropshire about a therapeutic horse riding group for folks otherwise enabled.
I then drove to Lavon Lake Dam, where vultures flew. A man stopped to ask me about access to the lake for photographs. I told him what little I know. I listened to a podcast about chess while I watched Eastern Bluebirds and an Orange-Crowned Warbler on a barbed-wire fence from the road.
Monday the final Hobbit movie played while I spent time with Sparrow. He remains a lovable but rather chew-oriented guy. I elected not to play in the 10 p.m. rated tournament on Monday night, though I also did not read my science fiction novel as I hoped.
Tonight I took Sparrow for a walk in the early evening dark. At one point, he leaped toward me, because this was the only possible way to let me know that two bicyclists were cycling on the sidewalk in the dark. After we returned home, he and I played with a series of stuffed toys.
At one point he headed out to his doggie door and returned with his plastic Kong toy. He had me throw it so that he could easily retrieve over and over again. I watched the Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team beat the No. 1 ranked Auburn Tigers in overtime. It was an impressive win over a good team.
At lunch today I walked in Travis Farm Park. I had that common dilemma between whether a bird was a Song Sparrow or a Savannah Sparrow. I decided it was the latter, and inaturalist's photo prediction app agreed with me.