Hurricane Alex Soaking Central Texas

If you are traveling this weekend, please check out your destination using some of the links below.  At this time, the flooding on the Guadalupe River is between Hueco Falls to the Comal River.  However, Canyon Dam is at over capacity and the water flow may increase from the current 284 cfs.

Flooding Below New Braunfels in June 2010

Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service from National Weather Service provides up to date and predicted water levels throughout river basins in Texas.

Real-Time Data for Texas: Streamflow from United State Geological Survey features data from actual gauges on Texas rivers. May be sorted by county. You may also This site includes coastal areas.

Real-Time Data for Texas: Lakes and reservoirs from United State Geological Survey. May be sorted by county.

Have a Happy and SAFE July 4, 2010

Real-Time Reservoir Information from Texas Water Development Board. Collated information from from USGS, IBWC, and USACE websites. View by state, river basin or individual reservoir.

Road Conditions Map from Texas Department of Transportation.  Zoom in on specific areas.

Weather Underground has many maps with current weather, temperature, heat index, windchill, humidity, radar, dew point, wind, visibility, visible satellite, fronts, snow depth, precipitation and jet stream. There is also online weather radio for some Texas cities.

AccuWeather is another great site for Texas weather, including radar, headlines, videos and alerts sent to your cell phone.

New Braunfels and Schlitterbahn flooded in June 2010

Silver River State Park

The last uninhabited crystal clear river in Florida

With Crystal River in our rearview mirrors, we journeyed to Silver River State Park, west of Ocala, Florida.  Silver River bisects Silver River State Park, which covers 5,000 wooded acres.  The campground is on the southwest side of the river.  The remainder of the area is a wilderness preserve.  Silver River is a natural river, with no development on the banks except for the theme park on the headsprings and the state park and the campground on the river.

The headsprings of Silver River are the site of the Silver River Nature Park, Florida’s first theme park.  It was here that the glass-bottom boat was invented in 1878.  Now, you may enjoy a boat ride, zoo, jeep safari and water park.

As luck would have it, it began to rain as we approached Ocala.  We made it to the state park as the thunderstorm hit.  It rained hard, so we were unable to put our boat into the water.  We did bike down to the river to take some photographs.

Here is a link to the slide show on this park. Slide.com appears to have a bug. Click on the link and then select Gallery View if you would like to view photographs of Silver River.  When Slide.com is restored, I will paste the slide show here.

That evening, we discovered that our new trailer leaks, “Like a colander,” as my husband put it.  After a discussion with Heartland, the manufacturer of our Edge M21, we left the trailer in Ocala at a certified Heartland service center.  So, there we were, on a road trip sans travel trailer.  We rented a motel room and watched HBO.

We went to the service center at 1 pm the next day.  At 3 pm, we drove out with our trailer.  According to the service people, all leaks had been fixed.  We had wasted two days on repairs, so we decided not to continue to Saint Augustine, on the Pacific coast.  Instead, we plotted our path along the back roads to Ginnie Springs, home to one of the largest cave diving operations in Florida.

Backup and upgrade time.

I am having problems with this blog. I will be tinkering with it through the weekend.  If you stop by and it is not here, you will know that:

(1) I blew it big time; or,

(2) I am working on it.

Wish me luck!  Prayers are good, too!

The Ice at Discovery Green Through January 19

Discovery Green features an outdoor ice skating rink with a season full of family-friendly activities. Due to unseasonably warm weather, the Ice Rink will open at 3PM on Friday, December 19 and 3PM on Saturday, December 20.  For weather updates call the Ice Rink hotline at 713-434-RINK (7465).  See the events calendar for more information.

Snow Box

Toddler-friendly rink, complete with fluffy snow and a visit from Santa.

Nights on The Ice

Even non-skaters may enjoy the performances from professional skaters, hot jazz music, outdoor films and Friday night skate tunes.

Monday at 6 pm, Houston Skating Stars

The region’s best figure skaters, coaches and precision teams performer for you.

Tuesdays 7-9 pm, All That Jazz…On Ice

Local jazz musicians perform on the Anheuser-Busch Stage

Thursdays 7-9 pm, Silver Blades on the Silver Screen

Glide-in for a collection of the best holiday and skating movies are shown on our super-sized screen on the Anheuser-Busch Stage, overlooking the rink.

Fridays 7-9 pm, Cool Tunes, Hot Ice!

Skate to the tunes spun by DJs from Hot 95.7.

Downtown Christmas Market

December 18 & 25

Ice Carving Competition

January 10

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The Ice at Discover Green is just one of the venues included in the Downtown District Holiday Spectacular. Highlights include an amazing line-up of shows in the Theater District, holiday decor at Main Street Square and shopping adventures like the Houston Pavilion.

Two Holiday Trolleys will connect all of the festive happenings in downtown, making it simple for visitors to park once and experience multiple downtown destinations during their visit. The trolleys are FREE and will run Friday evenings and all day Saturday and Sunday beginning Thanksgiving weekend through December.

Houston Holiday Spectacular – Click for a schedule of events.

Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you are out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number.

Locked Out of Car

Does your car have remote keyless entry? If you lock your keys In the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home from your cell to their cell. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button while holding the clicker close to their cell phone.  The car will unlock. Update 11/19/08: According to Snopes, this is impossible.  However, I have had people report they have unlocked their car. Try it before you need it.  Let me know if it works.

Battery Reserve Power

If your cell battery is very low, press the keys *3370#.  Your cell phone will restart in reserve power mode.

This was sent to me in an email from a friend.  I had heard of the remote unlock, but not the other two.  If it helps you in a pinch, I am glad.