A German Expat's Life in Texas

England/Scotland: Day 8 & 9

Pit — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:23:25 +0000

from London to Cley-next-the-Sea

Norwich

This post will be worked over [more/changed text & pictures] at a later time.

Um diesen Eintrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

Windows of Cley next the Sea, Norfolk (toffeefee.wordpress.com)
England/Scotland: Day 2 & 3 (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
England/Scotland: Day 1 (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
Watch | Old Town – Cley Next The Sea, Norfolk (selectism.com)

England/Scotland: Day 6 & 7

Pit — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:35:16 +0000

The wi-fi here in the hotel is lousy!

Westminster Cathedral

Buckingham Palace [changing of the guard]

Harrods

St. Paul’s Cathedral

Westminster Abbey

The Tower

This post will be worked over [more/changed text & pictures] at a later time.

Um diesen Eintrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

England/Scotland: Day 4 & 5

Pit — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:59:26 +0000

Hyde Park

Greenwich

This post will be worked over [more/changed text & pictures] at a later time.

Um diesen Eintrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

England/Scotland: Day 2 & 3

Pit — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:18:17 +0000

Since I wasn’t able to go online here at the hotel yesterday, Thursday, May 16, I’m going to write my first entry about England for two days together now.

Yesterday, shortly after noon, we arived tired but safe here in London at our hotel [the Morgan Hotel in Bloomsbury, in the immediate vicinty of the British Museum]. We had a short rest and then started our first “exploration” of London, a walk along Oxford Street. After an early supper it was an equally early night – even if one should not do that to avoid jet lag: we went to bed shortly after 6 p.m.

Today we first went to the tourist information near St. Paul’s Cathedral and then for an extended exploration of the City and Southwark [the borough across the Thames] on foot.

This post will be worked over [more/changed text & pictures] at a later time.

Um diesen Eintrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

England/Scotland: Day 1

Pit — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:46:46 +0000

As I’ve been unable to sleep [too many "butterflies in my tummy"] since around 5 this morning, I’ve decided to get up, sip some coffee, and start writing my travelling-diary.

There must be a skunk running around the house, it’s an absolutely awful smell, even in the house: well, off to Europe then!

Later, at around 8, I’ll take Sally and Chiquita to our vet, Dr. Patton, to be boarded at the “Patton Hilton”, as we jokingly call it. Then there will be the last-minute packing of the remaining items [my laptop, e.g.] plus some tidying-up, and then, at around 10, Mary’s cousin Margaret will take us to the airport in San Antonio.

Btw, it has just started raining: when angels travel, the heaven cries tears of joy, as my mother used to say.

This post will be worked over [more/changed text & pictures] at a later time.

Um diesen Eintrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

Preparations for Travelling [2]

Pit — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:07:51 +0000

I’m nearly done: my duffel has been packed and only my carry-on needsd to be packed – tomorrow morning. And then I can be off.

Btw, I might be posting more often that planned as I have decided to do something like a travelling diary here in my blog, trying to write something (for) every day. But as I don’t want to spent too much time with my laptop I might just write a short entry for the day, and then work that over when I’m back here at home, adding more details and also pictures.

Preparations for Travelling …

Pit — Sat, 11 May 2013 19:18:24 +0000

… are in full swing, as we’ll be leaving for England and Scotland this coming Wednesday. Travlling abroad will first of all mean less blogging, even if we’ll have internet access at all our accomodations, as I don’t see any use in sitting at the computer when I can spend my time sightseeing. It’s well nigh possible that I’ll be posting stuff once in a while, but definitely not as often as I usually do from here. But I don hope to have many pictures to publish in my “Bilderbuchblog” after returning here. Something else that, blogwise, falls under the heading “preparing to travel” is that I’ll unsubscribe all e-mail notifications for new posts and/or new comments in the blogs I follow. It would certainly mean way too many e-mails if I didn’t. I’ll still be able to see all new posts via the reader, but even with that I won’t be able to “like” let alone read (all of) them (completely). I apologize, my friends, for missing your interesting and entertaining posts, but enjoying my travelling and sightseeing takes precedence.

And now a quick itinerary:

May 15 to May 16: air-travel San Antonio – Houston [G.W. Bush International Airport] – London [Heathrow]
May 16 to May 22: London
May 22 to May 27: Cley-next-the-Sea
May 27 to June 1: York
June 1 to June 7: Edinburgh
June 7 to June 11: Shipton-under-Wychwood
June 11 to June 12: London
June 12: air travel London [Heathrow] – Houston [G.W. Bush International Airport] – San Antonio

Um diesen Eintrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

We Haven’t Had That Before: …

Pit — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:51:52 +0000

… a fire in the fireplace on a May 2! But after another cold front had come through yesterday morning and brought some more arctic air with it, we were happy to have anice little fire burning in the fireplace in the evening.

At 45 degrees Fahrenheit we had a record low for a May 2nd this morning. Never before it had been that cold on a May 2. The previous record low had been 47 degrees. There is the chance, btw, that tonight we’ll break the record of 43 degrees for an all-time low for the month of May, set on May 9, 1984, if we have clear skies and if the wind dies down. [All temperatures here are for San Antonio, btw, not for Karnes City.]

For more information on this subject see the San Antonio Express-News.

Um diesen Artikel in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

At Last …

Pit — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:02:03 +0000

we had some highly welcome rain! it started with that usual “beep” sound with which people watching TV are made aware of weather alerts and then a severe thunderstorm alert was running across the screen, like it’s usual here when thunderstorms, tornadoes or “just” flash floods are imminent. I also had quite a few e-mails in my inbox on the computer as I am subscribed to these warnings by the local weather services. Here two examples:

“===============================
Severe Watches and Warnings for KARNES CITY ===============================

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
1136 PM CDT SAT APR 27 2013
…SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHEASTERN ATASCOSA…WESTERN KARNES AND SOUTHERN WILSON COUNTIES UNTIL 1215 AM CDT…

AT 1130 PM CDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES SOUTHWEST OF POTH…MOVING SOUTH AT 20 MPH.

HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF NICKELS AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM…ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.

LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE…
KARNES CITY… KENEDY…CAMPBELLTON…SMITHSON VALLEY… HELENA…DEWEESVILLE…MCCOY…COY CITY…FASHING…PEGGY…

THIS STORM MAY INTENSIFY…AND A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THIS AREA. BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND TV STATIONS…AS WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS…FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

THE HEAVY RAIN MAY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS SUCH AS DITCHES…LOW WATER CROSSINGS AND UNDERPASSES. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE ACROSS FLOODED ROADWAYS.

LAT…LON 2865 9839 2906 9830 2909 9785 2870 9772
2868 9777 2868 9787 2871 9791 2869 9801
2877 9810 2866 9827
TIME…MOT…LOC 0436Z 353DEG 18KT 2894 9817″

“Weather Alert for Karnes County, TX

! Special Statement ! Issued at: 11:36 PM CDT on April 27, 2013, expires at: 12:15 AM CDT on April 28, 2013

…Significant weather advisory for southeastern Atascosa…western Karnes and southern Wilson counties until 1215 am CDT…
At 1130 PM CDT…National Weather Service meteorologists detected a strong thunderstorm 9 miles southwest of Poth…moving south at 20 mph.
Hail up to the size of nickels and wind gusts up to 40 mph are expected with this storm…along with heavy rain and frequent dangerous lightning.
Locations near the path of this storm include…
Karnes City… Kenedy… Campbellton… Smithson Valley… Helena…
deweesville… McCoy… Coy City… Fashing… Peggy…
This storm may intensify…and a Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect for this area. Be certain to monitor local radio and TV stations…as well as local cable TV outlets…for additional information and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.
The heavy rain may flood low lying areas such as ditches…low water crossings and underpasses. Do not drive your vehicle across flooded roadways.
Lat…Lon 2865 9839 2906 9830 2909 9785 2870 9772
2868 9777 2868 9787 2871 9791 2869 9801
2877 9810 2866 9827
time…Mot…loc 0436z 353deg 18kt 2894 9817

! Areal Flood Advisory !
Issued at: 11:25 PM CDT on April 27, 2013, expires at: 12:00 AM CDT on April 8, 2013

…The Urban and Small Stream Flood Advisory for minor flooding of poor drainage areas remains in effect until midnight CDT for northeastern Karnes…south central Bexar…northern Wilson…
Lavaca…southern Gonzales and northern DeWitt counties…
At 1118 PM CDT…showers and storms continue to affect most of the southeastern counties with heaviest rainfall occurring around southern Bexar County and central Wilson County. Expect these storms to persist overnight with additional one to two inches of rainfall accumulations. Doppler radar storm totals through 11 PM this evening average from 3 to 6 inches over the most affected areas.
Precautionary/preparedness actions…
When water covers the Road…turn around don’t drown. The life you save may be your own.
Lat…Lon 2910 9691 2911 9840 2914 9848 2924 9846
2947 9742 2953 9675 2934 9656

! Severe Thunderstorm Watch !
Issued at: 11:03 PM CDT on April 27, 2013, expires at: 1:00 AM CDT on April 28, 2013

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 142 remains in effect until 100 am CDT for the following locations TX . Texas counties included are Atascosa Austin Bandera Bastrop Bell Bexar blanco Brazoria Brazos Burleson Caldwell Chambers Colorado Comal DeWitt Dimmit Edwards Fayette Fort Bend frio Galveston Gillespie Gonzales Grimes Guadalupe Harris Hays Houston Jackson Karnes Kendall Kerr Kinney Lavaca Lee Leon Liberty Madison Matagorda Maverick Medina Milam Montgomery Polk real Robertson San Jacinto Travis Trinity Uvalde Val Verde Walker Waller Washington Wharton Williamson Wilson Zavala“

When these warnings came in [of course there had been earlier ones], I could already see some [still far-away] lightning and there were some few drops of rain on the sidewalks. But shortly afterwards the thunderstorm started for real: lightning without end, further away but also close by – seemingly overhead – accompanied by loud thunderclaps [sally, of course, has crept under the living-room table again, frightened as she usually is by thunder] that sometimes shook the house, and it really poured: the rain came down in buckets. Thank goodness nothing serious happened: no lightning struck the house and the gusts of wind were not strong enough to do any damage. Everything started to calm down fairly quickly, at around half past midnight. I don’t know when the thunderstorm finally died down, though, as I went to bed shortly before 1 AM.

Oh, btw: I was unable to follow the development on my computer any more, because – as happens quite often during thunderstorms – our internet connection to/with Karnesec.net – our provider – had broken down again.

This morning my first order of the day was to check our rain gauge and I was happy to see that, even with a short rain only, we had 2 inches. Most wonderful! But even with that amount we’ve only had roughly half of what we had at the same time last year, and that was already a dry year at that. How dry the soil was and how badly we needed that rain is shown by the fact that even early this morning there were no puddles in the garden nor in the driveways, quiet different than what we usually see after such an amount of rain: the soil had soaked up all the water. And thus we’re waiting for more – urgently.

Um diesen Beitrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

Hacking WordPress

Pit — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:59:50 +0000

At present, there seem to be hacking attempts going on to hijack WordPress accounts.

Fore more information, check these out:

So, please, everyone make sure their password is really safe.

Best regards from southern Texas,

Pit

Dealing With WordPress Hack Attacks (michele.me)
If You Do WordPress ~ read this (workplacewise.wordpress.com)
WordPress sites hacked (avast.com)
WordPress Site Hacked 2013: Massive Botnet Targets ‘Admin’ Username, More to Come (latinospost.com)
WordPress Hack Directed At .com Blogs (smallbusinessmavericks.com)
WordPress Hacking (dizzyvixblog.wordpress.com)
WordPress hit by massive botnet: Worse to come, experts warn (zdnet.com)
Question #1: Did someone hack my WordPress account? (ubev.wordpress.com)
WordPress Hacked! What Do To Right Now. (bloggingtips.com)

A German Expat's Life in Texas

England/Scotland: Day 8 & 9

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