Storm Passed

We were very fortunate here. We had a Saturday of steady, non-flooding, much needed rain. A little breezy but not nearly what was forecast. Then a Sunday and Monday that ranked as genuine #7 days (just about as beautiful and perfect as it gets).

Our neighbors to the south took a big hit, though. Prayers and all the assistance we can muster go your way. A friend works for the local utility company and they were already in Louisiana helping with cleanup there. After this we'll be lucky to see him before Halloween.

Everything was fine with the horses. They really enjoyed the rain and the cooler temps. Here's Sonny boy:


and here's Sugar:

That construction in the background? [Warning: Rant Coming] That's the Jerry By-God Jones Highway, better known as the State Hwy 161 extension that will route traffic from North Dallas through the middle of our city to I-30 in the south and ultimately the new cowboy stadium. What progress! Taking hundreds of acres of the last remaining undeveloped land just south of DFW Airport for an 8 lane toll road. The pasture my wife rents was about 15 acres but has been cut down to no more than 2 thanks to the highway. Now she and all the people up and down this 2-mile stretch will have to move a couple of hundred horses somewhere else if they want them to have descent pasture and room to roam. Problem is with the premium on raw land and our location smack in the bulls eye of the Dallas-Ft Worth area they now have to look 20 to 30 miles away for a decent place. What stinks is the current location only takes about 10 minutes to get to from the house...we can even ride our bikes down there.

This project wasn't supposed to begin until 2012 or 2013 but almost to the day of the start of construction on the new cowboys stadium a year and a half ago construction of the highway extension started. Think Jerry's got some friends in the Texas Dept. of Transportation? At least the highway will have some practical benefits that far exceed the stadium...I just feel horrible for all the residents of Arlington who lost their homes and businesses to imminent domain for some greedy bastard's damn sports arena. Some of those people had been in their homes for 40 years or more and because imminent domain laws favor the condemning authority they don't even get enough compensation to get a comparable place somewhere else. When the rich and powerful need your land for their purposes you're screwed.

Thanks, Jerry, you've given me and thousands of others one more reason to hate the team we grew up loving.