Storms

Last night Round Rock, Georgetown, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, and Austin dealt with three waves of severe storms. The first one hit Cedar Park, Round Rock, and Pflugerville with high winds, hail, and tornados. One of the tornados walked a tightwire down the Travis - Williamson County line. It passed about 2 miles south of our house. Of course, we didn't know until it actually passed that it had missed us. We went downstairs and were just about to step into the bathroom and pantry (both in the center of the house), when I heard on the radio that it had headed a little south of us. We had high winds and hail, but no damage to our trees, house, or car. Lucky.

Later on, a second wave of storms hit Georgetown (just north of us). Then, shortly after that the third wave marched right through the center of Austin (south of us). In fact, it broke out some windows in the Capitol building. I saw quite a few tree limbs, and other debris on my way into the office. Exciting night.

Man on a Roof

Austin has a sniper on the roof of a building. From the Austin American-Statesman web site:

Austin police are on the scene of a downtown building where they say an armed man is on the roof of a building near the 400 block of West 14th Street. Police have sealed off several blocks around the building; a parent at a nearby preschool said the school has been closed and evacuated.

Offices with windows (not a computer program) have closed all their blinds.

There Is Something in the Air

And it ain't just cedar pollen! I discovered last year that I have a strong allergy to mountain cedar pollen which has played a big part in my sinus struggles for the past year. Cedar season runs until about the end of this month. I started taking antihistamines about the first of December and (knock on wood) so far I'm handling it okay.

But that's not the real point. Today the main street in downtown Austin, Congress Ave., is closed because dozens of dead birds were littering the street. Authorities feared that the problem is due to some toxic gas or toxic something, so they closed Congress Ave from Caesar Chavez street (1st street) to 11th street and from Brazos to Colorado. That's a huge chunk of downtown.

However, in spite of radio messages to the contrary, the Capitol Complex is not closed. So, me and my co-workers are here fearlessly carrying on the business of the State of Texas. Yeah, right! The co-workers that have gone outside to look around assure us that there are no birds to be seen. Hmmm...