9/8/10 storms over Dallas and Forney

Well, it started out like this…

And ended up more like this…

Last night we thought the storms from Tropical Storm Hermine had moved out of town earlier in the day and around 5:30 p.m. we decided to run over to my brother-in-law’s house, about 5 miles from our house, before “heading to town” to grab some dinner.

We heard about tornadoes in Ellis County (45 miles or so south) but didn’t think much about it until we arrived at Brad’s house and discovered the storm was heading our way.

We rushed home just in time to get our digital TV tuner working (satellite sucks in storms) and in time to see the storms roll in from the south.

We took cover around the 2 minute mark in the video above — although Laurie was wanting me to take cover a lot sooner. I turned up the TV, grabbed my laptop and headed to the bathtub with Laurie — watching the radar feeds online as the storm passed over (6:04 – 6:18 or so).

You can see what looks like some rotation in the first two minutes of the storm (between the two homes and on the right hand side of the screen) and then some smaller rotation after the two minute mark.

The Forney Post has photos from near Hwy 80 and FM 460 (about two miles from our house) that appear to show the rotation you can see in my video between the two homes.

I’m not aware of any damage in our area, but Dallas and some areas to the south didn’t fair so well. Luckily I’ve heard no reports of injuries so far.

It all made for an exciting evening — and a late dinner — and helped us realize we may have trouble getting (our soon to be) family of five in the bathtub if needed. Between Laurie, the dog and I… we were quite squished.

So how was your Wednesday evening?

(Both videos filmed with my Flip UltraHD Camcorder

Weekend photo walk

Terrell 2010 photo walkers

This weekend, I enjoyed exploring neighboring Terrell, Texas with my camera and a few folks from around the area.

We took part in a photo walk, organized by Brian Stout, which is essentially a bunch of people with an interest in photography get together to walk around an area and take photos.

There are no set rules and no certain skill sets required — just enjoy the views and snap away with your camera.
Continue reading Weekend photo walk

TxDOT to close FM 740 bridge in Forney

Sexist sign
Photo by arenamonanus

One for my Forney peeps…

We missed the public meeting, but we’ve just found out that TxDOT will be closing the FM 740 bridge near the intersection with FM 460, starting today (July 21) and lasting for the next 12-13 months.

The bridge has been reduced to one lane only for the past several months, but the bridge will be completely closed as crews work to rebuild the bridge.

We’ve been really curious about this project, as it seems all construction and repairs have come to an absolute standstill since just before we moved to Forney in May. Continue reading TxDOT to close FM 740 bridge in Forney