Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• As I drove around Wise County yesterday afternoon, I thought that I was in the most intense rainstorm I've ever seen. And I still think that. 
• Lake Bridgeport is 16.44 feet low as of this morning.  I think that's a seven feet rise in less than a week. And we might get a little more of a rise through runoff today.
• I don't know anything about metroplex politics, but how does Arlington mayor Robert Cluck get defeated with that much name recognition?
• I don't know how I ended up watching the South Carolina Freedom Summit on CSPAN in the middle of the night, but seeing every GOP presidential candidate and Donald Trump address what looked like a white AARP convention was not inspiring. (And, man, they loved invoking "radical Islam" and "Garland, Texas" to fire up that crowd.)
• Troubled Cowboy Josh Brent "retired" last Friday.  I bet that is more of a Cowboy decision than a Josh Brent decision -- the guy can't play.
• It's been about two weeks since Gov. Greg Abbott said he would have the Texas State Guard keep an eye on federal troops as they engage in routine operations in Texas this month. I can't get past that. (And when Rick Perry pretty much called Abbott a nut because of it, you've got problems.) Edit: Funny.
• Just glanced at BagOfNothing's blog. He installed a bidet this weekend. (Cue orchestra music!)
• Local weatherman complaint: Over the weekend, they would do a forecast using a radar graphic. But this wasn't the typical "just green" projection. This included all sorts of color (red, purple, yellow) which made it look like a current live radar.  I'm against that.
• I never thought there would come a day when I'm putting stakes in the back yard exactly 43' apart to mark the distance for softball pitching. That's the distance for rec league pitching ages 12 and up. (Side note: After becoming curious, I was curious what the pitching distance for college softball. I'll be dang: 43' feet. But high schools only moved from 40' to 43' five years ago.) 
• Tornadoes struck Van, Texas last night. The only thing I know about Van is that in high school, in journalism class, we got to see the weekly student newspaper called the Van Vandal. I have no idea why we had a subscription (it was the only one we had, too.)
• This morning, The Ticket had an add for pre-paid legal defense insurance for gun users. 
• I saw where WBAP's  and TCU play-by-play man Brian Estridge has jury duty in Tarrant County this morning. Note to the defense: Cut him. 
• Close to "And Another": Principal found in car with weed and shirt partially unbuttoned. 
• Remember that nice house on Lake Whitney was intentionally burned a year or so ago because the cliff it was built upon was falling into the lake? Well, the cliff fell over the weekend. 
• A 17 year old from Bridgeport is listed in the Update death notices today. Edit: Should have recognized that it was the boy who went missing a couple of weeks ago. We just had an official ID so now they'll have the funeral.