Will It Rain Thursday?/Toads are Back/Swine Flu

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Really feeling like spring (with a hint of summer for many areas). One more day to get those April showers for those May flowers and there will be rain for the central and southern plains and the midwest. Some of this will be from severe storms. The coolest areas will be over the northern Rockies and northern plains with highs in the 30s and 40s. Highs in the 60s and 70s for much of the west coast, eastern seaboard (except the southern part), Great Lakes and northeast. Highs will be in the 80s and 90s over the southern states.

Jet stream is flattening and positioning itself over the northern third of the country. There will be dips from time to time (over the next week or so), mainly over the Rockies or northern plains. This will allow storms to travel a bit further south.

Today, Houston got that much needed respite from rain but I think there will be some thunderstorms Thursday afternoon. So, keep a watchful eye on those flood trouble spots and be ready to seek shelter if storms become intense. Otherwise it will be warm and muggy and that is the outlook through the weekend. Look for another round of rain on Sunday--although I don't expect a big rain event.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do hunt or caza, pronunced CAH-zah. Sarah and I went on a caza for toads this evening. See AND MORE section to find out how we did.

You can expose your child to the wonderful world of language in a number of ways...watching programs in Spanish is one way. PBS offers some children's programming in Spanish. And some of your DVDs may have an option to switch the language. Also, don't forget, you can watch our award winning DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco. Many of the libraries in Fort Bend County have donated copies. And of course, you can order your copy from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/,http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. Volume 2 is almost ready for release and Volume 3 will follow soon thereafter!!! For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, got to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
Well, the weather is warm and the toads are out. I sure hope they are in an eating mood..there have been so many mosquitos with this rain. We found two...we thought the first one was a girl and we named it Star from the Sprout Channel Goodnight Show. That one was very sluggish--hope that is because it had a tummy full of mosquitoes. The second one was big and tough looking. So, we named "him" Bruiser. He worked hard at trying to get away. Just so you know, the female toads, on average, are bigger than the males. You can learn more about toads by checking out Sarah and my www.youtube.com videos. Just do a search for 'TOAD HUNTERS". Make sure you capitalize those letters. Also, I have a link to one of them (in the links list at right).

Okay, here are my 2 cents on the Swine Flu. I grew up in the valley and we had a round of the swine flu in the 70s. It is another flu like any other--dangerous to the very young and old and sick. From what I have read, Tamiflu is effective in knocking it down if you start taking it within 24 hours. A friend of mine asked me if I would go to the Rio Grande Valley because a little girl who died from it recently, had just been in the valley. I most certainly will go to the valley and plan to soon for my niece's wedding. My sister who is a nurse practioner said practice good hygiene. Wash your hands frequently and don't touch your nose or eyes.

Have a healthy and toad filled Thursday everyone.

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman