Traffic

Glen Rose, Texas

Weather: low 37 degrees, high 74 degrees, light breezes, clear skies

It was nice to have warmer weather for a change. We did not have to keep the heaters on all day, and in the afternoon, it was possible to go outside without a coat on. Carolyn said she saw some daffodils starting to peek out of the ground, so the outlook for the weather to get better is good. The weather has been dry, and the area only received .27 inches of rain in January. Some rain would be nice for the area, even if I would rather it didn't.

The new exercises that Carolyn is doing for her vertigo tend to make her sick at her stomach. The worst is one where she turns in a circle two times to her right. After doing that particular exercise, she has to sit down and recover from the nausea. It also gives her a mild headache. Another exercise she does is using the treadmill at a slow speed for three minutes. This exercise is designed to encourage her to make her strides longer and not look at her feet as she is walking. She has been suffering from the vertigo for so long that her body has developed some habits to compensate that she will need to stop doing. The exercises are designed to do that. The last two days, she has been off just a bit due to the new exercises. We are hopeful that her body will adjust to the new exercises, allowing her to start doing normal activities again.

The area of Texas that we are in (north central Texas, ~40 miles southwest of Fort Worth) is going through a big gas and oil boom (mostly gas). Drilling rigs are set up just about everywhere we go. Along with all the drilling activity comes pipelines being laid. There is a tremendous number of big trucks hauling equipment and material to support the drilling and pipeline activities. The trucks, which run 24 hours a day, are causing a lot of damage to the roads. Additional traffic is caused by the workers that are attracted to the area by the jobs that have been created. There is no doubt that the area welcomes the economic boost that comes from the oil and gas activities, but I have heard a lot of people complain about the traffic. It is like a Catch 22 situation - if there was no oil and gas activity, the traffic would not be so bad, but the area would not have the economic boost. Personally, we like the area a lot, and we know the boom will not last forever, so we can live with the traffic. When the boom is over, people will probably complain about the economy being slow.

As I have the time, I am going to attach more pictures of items of interest. Above is another

picture of a dinosaur track with my foot beside it to give a reference for size. This footprint was taken from the bed of the Paluxy River, which passes through Glen Rose.

Another picture is of the first post office in Glen Rose. This is a far cry from we have today, but it served the purpose. It looks like a corn crib to me.

We went to the Dairy Queen in Glen Rose tonight for a hamburger and fries. It seems like we have missed something unless we have a hamburger from there at least once a week. This gives us our fine food fix for the week.

More later, be careful.

Today's Town - Alvin, Texas: Hometown of Ryan Nolan