At least 2 inches of rain

I'm writing this post from an undisclosed airport, as I'm on an undisclosed professional assignment. I was on one coast this morning, and I'm near the other coast tonight. Back at home tomorrow after 5 days on the road. I did have a 4-hour DFW layover today, and it was pouring for part of that time. I guess those of you who've stayed in town this weekend know all about that.

I emptied out 2.00" inches of rain from the rain gauge today, which covers probably the past 4 days. I'll be mowing the lawn when I get home!

Any other news going on while I was gone? I see there are a couple of new items on RoundTheMound.com.

A Mother's Day Eve tradition at Walgreens

Please don't show this post to my wife or my mom! I had a deja vu moment a few moments ago at Walgreen's near my home. It was just after midnight and I was coming home after spending the evening calculating election results for FOX 4 and myFOXdfw.com. I stopped at Walgreen's to get Mother's Day cards for my wife and my mom. I certainly wasn't the only one there at this late hour. There were at least 8 others trolling through the well-picked-over cards trying to find something that would work for the next morning.

And when I saw these people I realized that last year at the same time, I was in the same place under the same circumstances -- Walgreen's at midnight as Saturday turned into Mother's Day.

Before you think I'm a total heel, please know that my kids already have made their Mom's Day present, and that my sisters and I have already arranged for my mom's gift from us. I've just been a slacker with the cards.

Deja vu at Walgreen's - that's something you don't hear very often.

Election Day - long ballot = long lines

My wife and I went to Town Hall around 10 this morning to do our civic duty at the polls. We saw the Pacifico/Stufflebam camp occupying the sidewalk on the northeast corner of Town Hall. Meantime, the Lindsey/Trotter/Tasker camp (with guest star Paul Stone) had taken up positions underneath a tree close to the mailboxes in the parking lot.

Pretty quiet on polling day, but quiet has been the name of the game this spring.

Inside Town Hall though was a different story. A long ballot (3 council races plus one Texas constitutional amendment, plus 10 Town charter votes) made for extra time at the polls, thus extra time waiting for your turn to vote. Everyone had to use the new-fangled video-screen ballot boxes this year, which slowed things down just a bit.

At 10am, we had to wait about 20 minutes, behind 20 people. When we left the polling room at 10:20am, the line had doubled in length.

More rainfall news

Tuesday night's rainfall total 0.24"
Wednesday night's rainfall total 0.49"

Here's additional information about 2007 rainfall totals from Road reader and FM neighbor Richard Steenson, who's done a good job keeping up with his rain gauge this year:

January 12 - 2.29"
January Total (except 1st week) - 4.57"
January Temperature Range - 26.1 - 74.5

February Total - 0.43" (Year - 5.00")
February Temperature Range - 30.8 - 81.0

March 13 - 1.22"
March 30 - 1.81"
March Total - 4.45" (Year - 9.45")
March Temperature Range - 34.3 - 84.2

April 13 (that night) - only 0.59"
April 24 - 1.65"
April Total - 2.72" (Year - 12.17")
April Temperature Range - 40.5 - 90.0

May 8 (early morning) - 2.20"
May 8 (total) - 2.32" (highest so far this year)
May Total as of 11:00 p.m. May 9 - 4.02" (Year - 16.19")

Stormy night - much more rain!

2.97 inches of rain fell overnight in the official FOX 4 Flower Mound rain gauge in my backyard. That was quite a storm! I wish I'd been keeping a running total of our rain this season, but I'm sure we're past 10-12 inches for the past month or so. My friend has a boat on Grapevine Lake. He says it's great the lake is full for the first time in more than a year.

2499 follow-up -- why the delay?

Here's a reply to my open letter regarding the delay in opening the completed interior lanes of FM2499 south of FM3030. This e-mail from a staffer in the Town's engineering office.

Unfortunately, rain has delayed the completion of the medians and the scheduled opening of these lanes. Until all work is completed including the landscaping in the medians, lanes cannot be opened to traffic. The heavy rains also required unforeseen additional work due to standing water. The new scheduled completing date is the end of May, 2007.

It wasn't much of a campaign, but at least all the candidates saved a lot of money

Correct me if I'm reading this wrong... but am I reading correctly that none of the 5 candidates running for Town Council raised or spent a single dime for their campaigns within the past month?

All the "8-day" campaign finance reports are in for our five candidates (these reports were due 8 days before the May 12th date), and all our candidates report ZEROs for money raised and money spent. I guess Trotter, Lindsey and Tasker had already paid for their signs in a previous election. Stufflebam spent a few hundred dollars in the previous reports, but nothing in April. Pacifico hasn't spent a dime, at least as acknowledged in her two campaign-finance filings.

I don't like mean-spirited nasty campaigns like we've had in the past, but I would like to see a real campaign to get the issues out there for people to consider. And that takes at least a little money raised and spent, dontcha think?

The waiting is the hardest part -- let's open up FM2499

Here's an e-mail I just sent to the Town website, via the "Have a Question" link? I'll let you know what I hear.

I thought the FM2499 construction was supposed to be done in stages, from south to north.

If that's the case, why are there still cones along the new lanes of FM2499 south of FM3040. The only thing left to do on this first stretch of widening work is to put grass or cement in the medians. Why can't they open the new lanes to traffic? It's been two months at least since the new inside lanes were finished, at least south of Northshore Boulevard? Why not open these lanes now?

I look forward to your response.

Thanks,
Chip Mahaney

Election 2007: Is this how it's supposed to end?

Election Day is this Saturday, and I'll be hanging out a bit at the polls. It's always fun to see neighbors, friends and fellow Flower Mounders.

You tell me, will there be any suspense in the final numbers? You wouldn't think so by the lack of noise being made by the candidates, both the incumbents and the challengers. So far I've only received one flier in the mail -- that from Stufflebam and Pacifico. Nothing from the incumbents. That's kind of surprising, given that we have 2 contested races.

Remember those VU Voters Guides we used to get in the mail? Didn't get one this year.

My mailbox is lonely. Candidates, please send me stuff!