We’re going through a perfect summer lawn mowing purgatory.
Back in May, when summer was revving up, the lawn mower was working great.
It was staying up with the grass until there was one of those days where everything was going well and then the machine stopped.
Then it was back to our lawnmower guy for several days.
In the meantime, the rains started and continue today as I look out the front window and see the small lake that’s become a common sight.
Not a major concern there since we apparently have a week full of storms to contend with, giving plenty of time to fix it.
Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller was here last week to speak at the Matagorda County Against Data Center forum.
Interesting how Miller turned the table on Austin about data centers and the New World Screwworm.
In both cases, Miller said he found resistance from the powers that be about preparing for the screwworm and the reaction to the data centers.
Miller said he called for a moratorium on the data centers and discovered there was no other Republican picking up his cause.
He blamed his stand to slow down the data center wave for his primary loss.
Miller’s position was to hold off approving the data centers and wait for technology to improve.
As for the NWS, Miller contends he wanted the state and feds to speed up the proven means to stop the screwworm invasion –the sterile fly program.
The $750 million sterile fly production plant broke ground in April at Moore Air Force Base in Edinburg.
An $8.5 million dispersal unit at the base already is providing 100 million sterile flies per week to cover the U.S.-Mexico border.
I visited some high school friends in Kerrville a few weeks back.
John Sample, our financial columnist on this page, gave me a tour of the Guadalupe River beginning with the riverfront in Kerrville.
Vast amounts of trees – mostly cypress - were gone, but some remained. Where brush and trees made it hard to see the river, the view is clearer, but the understanding is the absence shows the massive impact the river had.
Further up the Guadalupe toward Ingram, vast stretches of businesses, like restaurants, more cypresses, campsite areas and even playgrounds are gone.
Toward Hunt, the river is scoured, leaving only rocks and hardiest of scrub oaks behind.
Beyond Hunt, where most of the famed summer camps were, is the forlorn look of devastation.
The summer camps, like Mystic, are mostly buildings with no windows, no doors.
It was exciting to live in Kerrville when it was summer camp season. It made me realize I was living where thousands come to vacation.
There are 66 fewer summer camps than in December, the state says.
Beyond the summer camps, all the way to the headwaters, the scoured look is more pronounced and shocking.
It will grow back, not in my lifetime at age 75, but it will return to what my memories hold.
