Warming Up/Next Front/New Poll/Garden Pests/Eating More Candy

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
One new area has popped up in the eastern Atlantic, but the chance for development is less than 30% (according to the NHC). In the eastern Pacific, there is tropical depression Nora and another area with less than a 30% chance for developing.

Upper low will sit over central US one more day and then lift out to the northeast over the weekend. This will swing a weak front through Texas, slightly increasing rain chances on Saturday. Hot spot on Friday will be Phoenix with a high near 100. There will be some 90s in Florida and over the western (non-coastal) US. Highs will be in the 60s around Denver and into the Midwest. Elsewhere, highs will be in the 70s and 80s.

Houston will have some showers again on Friday. Thursday, most areas averaged about 1/3 to 1/2 of an inch. Saturday, there could be a couple thunderstorms. A weak front will move through Texas, but I don't think it will cool Houston off. In fact, Friday's highs will be in the low to middle 80s and then warmer over the weekend. Next front moves through end of the coming week.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do garden or jardín, pronounced har-DEEN. Do you have a jardín? Answer our new poll.

We have been giving scores of our ESL DVD to various churches in the Houston area and even in Irving, Texas. It is helping to get the buzz going. In the meantime, for all of us whose primary language is English (and want to learn Spanish), there is our award winning Volume 1 DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco. It makes a wonderful birthday or Christmas/holiday gift for the youngsters. And, Volume 2 should be here within days. You can order the your copy from www.frankandpaco.com/, 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/. For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, go to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
Our poll about favorite high temperature is closed. The high in Houston today was in the mid-70s, it was probably widely appreciated because 63% of our respondents said highs in the 70s are their favorite. 27% said they like highs in the 80s. 9% said they like highs int he 90s. No one said they liked higher or lowers than those numbers. Thanks to all who participated.

Now that the weather is cooling down, I thought it would be nice to see how you all feel about doing yard work. You can pick more than one type of yard work that you enjoy (or you can say that you don't do any yard work). Thanks in advance for participating.

Okay, my mother, with her eagle sharp gardening eye, noticed that I had these little white things on my sago palm. She took the liberty of asking about it at her favorite nursery. They said it was probably thrips and I needed to apply some all season horticultural oil using a sprayer. So, I picked some up and applied it. I'll let you know if it works. I will tell you that I saw a neighbor's yard with these little white things all over their sagos. Another friend told me that something wiped out all of their hibiscus plants (guess I'd better go check on mine). And, the Houston Chronicle ran an article in the past week that there are 4 pests attacking area plants (especially ornamentals). So, check out those plants everyone.

At the grocery store today, Patrice told me that all of sudden they are noticing that people are buying more candy. She speculated that maybe its a way of handling stress. I think people are looking ahead to Halloween and practicing their candy eating techniques. She also said that sales of beauty products have increased. She said that sales really dropped off over the summer. Now, women are telling her, you know what, I'm just going to go ahead and get what I want. I can tell you that I recently bought two new nail polish colors. But, that was because I didn't think my hot pink polish was very fall like. Who knows? Interesting observations there. Any thoughts?

Well, don't each too much candy.

Happy weekend everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman