Category Archives: Weather

The Two Budas

Posted on by
1

When I started this blog, I added the weather widget for Buda, Texas, as that’s where I hang out a lot, usually at B&B Quilting and Gifts. When I checked the weather on my iPhone, I noticed it brought up Buda, Texas and Buda, Illinois. What a coincidence! Another town called Buda.

Around these here parts (Texas), we pronounce it “BEEYOU-duh.” You can tease the tourists and your out-of-town family members if you tell them it’s “Boo-DAY” or even “BOO-duh” (as in Buddha). There’s a couple of theories as to how Buda, Texas got its name but I’m not sure if any one theory is accepted as definitive.

Then I wondered about Buda, Illinois. How is it pronounced there? How did it get its name? Looking it up on the Internet, I found that both Budas have a Wikipedia page. The Buda, Texas page mentions the regionally famous Wiener Dog Races. The Wikipedia page for Buda, Illinois doesn’t mention any such sport.

I briefly considered randomly phoning people in Buda, Illinois and asking if they knew how the town got their name and it is pronounced. I decided against it, probably for the better. Instead, I added that weather widget to my blog as a nod to our northern sister city (lower right side of the blog).

Hello, Buda, Illinois!

It’s a lot colder there. And I won’t be surprised that in the summer, it’s a lot hotter here.

Water Over Road

Posted on by
Reply
Road sign: Watch for water on road

Looks like the word "water" was added on after the sign was printed

I thought this sign was funny. We’re in a zillion-year drought and this sign sits on the side of the road, rain-free day after rain-free day. I had a draft blog post in my mind, already. I was going to write something along the lines of “the only way I would see water on this road is if someone dumped their water jug on it and I happened by before it evaporated.” Oh, yes, it was going to be funny.

Water flowing over driveway

My driveway is under there, somewhere

Three days after I took that photo, it rained. We got 7.36 inches in about 5 hours. I couldn’t get a photo of that sign with water over the road because I couldn’t get out to drive there. In that 5-hour downpour, our ponds went from bone dry to overflowing. My driveway was under water — flowing water — and I wasn’t about to risk having my vehicle get swept away. How embarrassing that would have been to explain to a tow truck driver that I needed my turned-on-its-side vehicle extracted from a mud pile a few yards away from my driveway. Instead, I waited four hours after the rain stopped before deciding the water level was low enough and that it was flowing slow enough for me to drive across safely.

Road closed due to water damage

So close, yet so far

That rain also eroded the sides of the culvert that was under the road, some yards from the end of our driveway. The county workers came and blocked off the road. I figured this out just as they were removing the barriers from their trucks and putting them across the road. I was about 25 yards from my driveway, but I couldn’t get there from where I was. I turned around and took the back way in, adding about three miles to my route.

With the road blocked, I had to leave a few minutes earlier in the mornings in order to take the back way to get to work. The county replaced the two old culverts with four new ones and opened the road late Friday afternoon. That was nice.