SJSCentralTX

@sjscentraltx

Anti-racist. Слава України! Vaxxed. LGBTQIA+. Texan. Blue. Child of immigrants.🇺🇦🇩🇪🇨🇦🍁 Ally to Black Women The Opposition #NAFO 🔔🇺🇦

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SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· 25d

Graphic for Lake Travis lake level. Currently filling quickly with two dams open. Only 7.4 feet below full! Website: isthelakefullyet.com

Description above. Answer to question; NOPE. And ask to donate to help Kerrville flood victims or TEXSAR.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· 26d

The plan to escape the heat at home came with more heat and wildfire smoke. A look at the AQI right now:

Screenshot of air quality alert. 392 (though my location is higher at 397), mostly PM 2.5. Hazardous for all humans and any animal that breathes air. It just keeps getting worse as the smoke travels south.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· 27d

Current radar for south Central Texas. That big green blob west of San Antonio is rain that has become stationary. It keeps sucking up moisture from the atmosphere and dumping it on the area below - Hondo, Texas. They could get 10+ inches of rain from this storm. Really dangerous.

Storm radar as of 2215 on 14 July 2026. The orange and red are very heavy rain. Blue dots with white lightning figure indicates lightning in the storm.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· 27d

This is what one of the Purple Martin Parties looked like last year. Watch the birds. They’re visiting royalty for a short time every summer. 2/2

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jul 9

and Lake Erie. There are schedules (and helpful Canadians) to let you know when ships will be coming through and at which location. Photos below taken in 2015. The locks still function the same way now. Welland Canals, Ontario.

Height of ship as it enters the lock. The ship is carrying wind turbines.

Ship rising in the lock as water level rises. You can clearly see the wind turbines carried by the ship.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jul 9

Orthodox Tuesday here for another hour. Dropped some more Toonies in the bin!

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jul 5

Went outside to hang up the hummingbird feeder with fresh nectar. Was standing next to suet feeder and saw this sweet Downy Woodpecker. It was so hungry that it stayed put. I apologized to the bird (they know me) and was quiet. It kept eating.

Downy woodpecker chowing down at a suet feeder (lots of seeds in that suet ). Unfazed that I was less than 1 foot away.

Downy woodpecker ignoring me and devouring suet. The feeder is a Brome Squirrel Buster Suet Feeder. It has a shroud on the outside that leaves the feeding port open for smaller birds when they perch on the wires. If a larger bird (dove, for example) attempts to feed, the shroud pulls down and prevents access to the feeding ports. If a squirrel attempts to hang onto the shroud, they usually are discouraged and jump (or fall) to the ground. To further discourage bad behavior by squirrels, I get “hot suet”: it is infused with habañero oil. Mammals have capsaicin receptors; birds do not.
The smarter doves and squirrels hang out beneath the feeders and graze on whatever the small birds drop: they are remarkably messy eaters.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jul 4

Leave the fireworks to the licensed experts who have a permit - and get out of the way! Don’t let this be you: ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

X-ray images of hands mangled by fireworks explosions. Yeah, they’re gory. Even more gory if you’re the EMT or ER staff having to keep someone from bleeding out and doing your best to save what’s left avoid amputation.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jul 3

Got this tidbit from my electric utility today - my electric usage last week totaled $0. I used AC. I did laundry. Charged my car. Cooked food. Ran the dishwasher. The solar panels on my roof worked overtime in the hot sun.

Great news from my electric utility: usage last week was less than $1. Previous week (overcast and raining) was $2. Solar. It makes electricity. No emissions.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jul 3

ERCOT, which gave us the Great Texas Blackout of 2021, hasn’t issued a conservation notice in a long time. Because municipalities and others built out a lot of solar and wind generation. In spite of Txlege.

July 2. 2026 fuel mix chart. Nearly 50% renewables in mid afternoon.

Current demand, capacity. Plenty of room today, even though AC is going all over the state. Most of us have thermostats set at 78F - cooling units are only good for a 20 degree difference in temperature. If it’s 100 outside and thermostat is set at 78, then 22 degrees difference. Feels great when you come in from outside. Reduction in humidity makes inside more comfortable. Ceiling fans are everywhere - they make the air feel cooler and promote evaporative cooling. If you set your thermostat at 68, it will burn out your AC unit . And then you have no AC.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 30

We had a visit from Saharan Dust today. It visits every year in the summer months. It’s like breathing sand: causes sore throat, burning eyes, irritated lungs. Right now AQI is “moderate” - ok unless you have lung or heart conditions.

Air Quality Index (AQI) of 85. Moderate. Main pollutant is PM10, or particulate matter of 10 microns or less. These particles are so small that they can easily get stuck in your lungs and then enter your circulatory system. They can damage healthy lungs and hearts. But you won’t know that until much later.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 27

Drawing of Greg Abbott with a fake smile on a Loteria card. Titled: El Fascista

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 27

To the Pendejo:

French soldier (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) shouting at King Arthur: “I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.”

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 26

My backyard deck (c.1993) was demolished today. The demolition crew comes back tomorrow morning to finish cleaning everything up so that we can redesign everything to avoid fire hazards, trip hazards, and to create some shelter from the searing sun.

Burrow under concrete walkway. Note mass quantities of dirt.

You can barely see the concrete edge of the old porch. There’s some nice, rich compost on top of that concrete.

View of back of house without the deck. The wildlife had constructed an entire ecosystem beneath the old deck.

There are concrete steps beneath a door to the outside of the house. The doorway is seldom used - my guess is it was originally to exit the laundry room to hang laundry to dry outside. Never mind that, due to the tree debris, bird poop, pollen, mold, and dust in the air, anything that dried outside would require washing again by then.
The stairs are buried under a fortress of dirt. Armadillos are busy creatures and made themselves a fortified burrow.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 24

She’s in a remote area of Texas. And she’s lost. She could easily die from dehydration if she doesn’t find water soon. There are multiple “exotic animal” ranches in the state. Not all of them are reputable. Leakey is county seat. Pop 438.

Map for reference. Leakey, in Real County, is at the far western edge of the Texas Hill Country. Go further west, and you’re in Southwest Texas, in the way to Big Bend. There are hundreds of miles of desert and wilderness out there. So, there aren’t a lot of people around to see a giraffe that’s not near a roadway. They should probably get a drone to fly over the area to spot her. And then get her and bring her back.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 23

Toonied!

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 22

#voting @democracydocket.com @aclutx.bsky.social @marcelias.bsky.social Election Mail Services - who are these guys??? A neighbor’s adult child received a photocopy of a voter registration form in the mail via “Election Mail Services.” In Texas. 1/3

Envelope from Election Mail Service sent to a neighbor.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 18

I was looking for some good news. Found it! Our reservoir is now a little over 9 feet from “full.” In May, it was nearly 30 feet below full. This is great! Especially at the start of the long, hot summer.

Lake isn’t full yet, but it’s only 9.2 feet below full! Much better than last year at this time. Hot and humid, but at least we’re not worried about wildfires just yet.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 18

A little more.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 16

Lauren Hough’s latest book, “Monster of a Land,” released TODAY. A portrait of her dog, Woody Guthrie, is on the cover. Order it, buy it, borrow it from your library. Her writing is brilliant and never disappoints. Order/buy from indie bookstores (please!). Please avoid Amazon!!

Cover of Monster of a Land: On the Road in search of Modern America, by Lauren Hough. Portrait of her dog (with sunglasses) on the cover. Color is more stunning in person than in this image.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 15

Since midnight, we got 4.5 inches of rain. That’s much more than we normally get in a month. I ventured out to the sodden back yard to get this (somewhat shaky) video of our normally dry creek:

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 13

Take it down, alright already.

Screenshot of scaffolding going up less than an hour ago.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 12

A tiny spider has ensnared a housefly on the windowsill above the kitchen sink. The fly is easily 10x larger than the spider.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 11

And this 3D reproduction of some of his work in Ukraine: 3/3

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 11

And there was this collage of photos of Banksy’s work in Ukraine in 2022: 2/3

In 2022, Banksy made murals across Ukraine. “Powerful works showing the strength and resilience of Ukraine.”

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 11

🧵There’s a traveling Banksy exhibit in town. I went to see it yesterday. At the beginning of the exhibit, there’s a list of his works by year. This one caught my eye, and my attention - note the year: 1/3

2027
Blinded by the flag
A suited figure walks blindly beneath a flag, turning patriotism into a symbol of unseen danger

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 10

Current weather conditions: swampy.

80F, clear, feels like 84F
Dew Point: 71F
Relative humidity: 76%
Sticky
Damp
Close
Nearly suffocating humidity

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 10

Buncha Toonies added to the pot. Total is from Liberty Ukraine receipt for all donations in this campaign.

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 8

For reference: Andrews County is in West Texas, pop. 20,000 (see red rectangle in map of Texas, below left). Gillespie County is in Central Texas, pop. 29,000 (see red rectangle in map of Texas, below middle). LaSalle County is in South Texas (red rectangle in map, below right).

SJSCentralTX@sjscentraltx· Jun 8

My cousin has a fruit farm in Canada. When they harvest tart cherries, it’s done with machinery. The workers make sure the fruit gets in the ice water bins and move the machines to the next tree. Why do California farms work their farm workers half to death?