Winter Wonderland in Texas

In Texas, it is not uncommon to hear the statement, 'If you don't like the weather, then wait a minute.'

This has undoubtedly been one of those kinds of weeks. First, we got a beautiful snowfall on Monday night, ranging from 1-3' inched throughout the DFW Metroplex. Buy Tuesday morning, the snow was melted and we were shedding our coats as the day warmed up to a clear and sunny 60+ degrees. We went from snow back to spring in the space of 12 hours.

Well, folks, that good fortune lasted just another day before we were hit with another crazy winter storm. This one blowed in yesterday afternoon and dropped anywhere from 1-9", depending on where you were. It was an unbelievable afternoon. Schools let out early, businesses closed up shop. all in an effort to avoid the treacherous driving conditions that DFW is famous for in inclement weather. It wasn't all bad, though. We got to see some sights that some Texans go years without seeing: snowball fights and snow men and women. Numerous schools reamined closed today, while others just got a late start. Hooray for snowdays!

It is warming up some today, but according to weather reports, the temps are going to drop again this evening causing a hard freeze. Be prepared for another icy morning tomorrow. Be sure to grab your winter coats, and watch for remaining icy spots on bridges and overpasses. We want you to have a safe and warm weekend!

Dallas, TX: Market Remains Steady

Economist: Dallas-Fort Worth home prices to hold steady despite U.S. decline 1:21 PM CT

01:38 PM CST on Thursday, March 6, 2008

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
stevebrown@dallasnews.com

Sales and starts of homes across the country should bottom out this year.

But nationwide home prices are likely to keep falling into 2009, predicts economist Mark Zandi with Moody's Economy.com.

"Home prices will ultimately be down 20 percent when it's all said and done," Mr. Zandi said Thursday at a Dallas economics forecast session.

"I think the bottom in housing sales will be sometime this spring and summer," he said.

But that probably won't signal a rebound in housing activity.

"I just mean activity will stop falling," Mr. Zandi said.

Moody's economists continue to see Texas' housing markets holding up well in the current national downturn. Dallas-Fort Worth home prices are forecast to remain relatively flat in Moody's latest estimate.

“The major Texas metropolitan areas stand out as an island of calm,” said Moody's senior managing director Steven Cochrane.

But North Texas' economy still has exposure to the overall housing-sector recession.

Moody's estimates that more than 11 percent of total employment in the D-FW area is housing related.

And more than 8 percent of employment here is in the financial services sector.

"There are some risks in terms of the broader banking industry," said Mr. Cochrane. "That does lend some risks to areas where our outlook is fairly benign.

"Dallas shows up as the one place in Texas."

Even so, Moody's analysts say that the Texas economy - unlike those in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida and Michigan - is still expanding. And Moody's still predicts moderate employment growth this year in Texas and Dallas-Fort Worth.

"Everything is going well in Texas," said Mr. Cochrane. "But there is no part of the economy not feeling pain - everywhere is slowing down.

"There is no escape - housing markets are beginning to slow, and consumer spending is beginning to slow."

Still, Moody's is forecasting that growth rates across most Texas markets will range from 1 percent to 2 percent this year.

However, the housing market will continue to be a drag on overall economic growth.

"There is some risk in places like Houston, San Antonio and Dallas if things wind up being worse than we expect," Mr. Cochrane said.

Foreclosures are having a big impact on housing values in Dallas and other cities.

And Mr. Zandi sees no slowdown in the wave of home foreclosures hitting many U.S. markets.

"There are increasing indications that the pace that people are going through the process is accelerating," he said. "The homeowners are giving up.

"They expect their negative equity situation to erode further and it makes no sense for them to hold on to the home."

The cause of foreclosures is shifting, he said.

Initially mortgage defaults were coming from disgruntled investors or owners with subprime loans who had seen their mortgage payments bump.

"So far year-to-date, increasingly it’s the negative equity and the job market" that are causing homeowners to default on their mortgages, Mr. Zandi said. "The [mortgage payment] resets are less important."

The closely followed Moody's economist said the national economy is tipping into recession, but he predicts that it will be a short one.

"The economy has been contracting since December," Mr. Zandi said. "We are well on our way to a recession.

"We will begin to recover the second half of this year in part because of the fiscal stimulus and in part because of Fed easing" of interest rates.

But a prolonged period of high gasoline prices - close to $4 a gallon - could derail that turnaround, he said.

"Every penny increase in the cost of a gallon of gasoline is about $1 billion in consumer spending," Mr. Zandi said. "If we from $3 to $4, we will be spending $100 billion more on gasoline.

"That's roughly the size of the tax rebate checks we are going to get."

Plano, TX: Pioneering Women

Pioneering women

September 2007 - Cindy Boykin


North Texas History Center exhibit recognizes that one thing hasn’t changed much ... a woman’s work is never done

Running the vacuum and loading the dishwasher are chores few of us like, but it’s a far better gig than our pioneering sisters endured. They worked their fingers to the bone sewing and hand washing their families’ clothes, cooking, cleaning, gardening, canning ... no wonder women in turn-of-the-century photos are rarely smiling.

Sarah Hatcher, Curator of Education for the North Texas History Center in McKinney, has great insight into these pioneering souls. Families from the east – primarily Kentucky, Tennessee and a few families from the Carolinas – trekked to North Texas to make a living. Land here was fertile, plentiful and cheap, even free in some cases. New towns were in need of doctors, store owners, school teachers, and farmers. So they came.

“People don’t think about Texas as being part of the Wagon Trail,” Sarah said. “They usually think of Oregon or California as part of that westward travel, but they also came here in wagons.

“The wagons could carry about 2,000 pounds worth of household goods – that was the cutoff for what the oxen and horse teams could pull. They had to make some hard choices as to what they would bring with them.”

Once here, erecting shelter was of primary importance. In the mid- to late-1800s, wood houses called “dog trots” were quite popular. These houses were designed to allow maximum airflow to circulate during the scorching days of Texas summers. Often, two big rooms would be built on either side of a covered breezeway running through the house.

Fireplaces were often built in each room. Some rooms had windows, some did not. Because glass was so expensive, enclosed windows were not common to many houses; instead, wood shutters would be used to cover the openings. Long porches and shade trees provided the coolest seating.

What “conveniences” did the women have to help in their housework? “The sewing machine was huge. This particular model is from 1900,” Sarah said, pointing to a sewing machine in the museum display case.

“There’s a fantastic letter from a woman named Kathryn Coit (of the Coit Road family). It was written in 1858, just before the Civil War, to her Aunt Henrietta in South Carolina asking if it was worth her time and money to buy a sewing machine. Her aunt wrote back saying, “Yes!”

Keeping clothes clean was another big job, one aided through the years by machinery. Pioneer women were accustomed to washing clothes on streamside rocks and later washboards. But around the turn of the century, simple washing machines were introduced. Large metal basins held the water throughout the wash process. Then the wringer mangle (rollers) extracted the water from the clothes as they were fed through to the other side.

Ironing was another labor-intensive chore. Common to most households was the heavy little black iron with a wooden handle. To use, the iron would be placed directly on a heat source such as the stove or on glowing coals in a fireplace. Some women had two irons. While one was in use, the other could be heating.

The Sad Iron was invented by Mary Potts in 1871. A removable handle exposed a water well inside the iron. By pouring boiling water into the iron, it would stay hot longer.

Talk about hot – those cast iron stoves were surprisingly low to the ground and dangerously hot to the touch. They were fueled by wood, coal, or cow chips if that’s all they had. Two “burners” were common, as were tall round pots, or kettles, used for soup, heating water, and making stock. Dutch ovens were also in constant use.

Sarah said that it is anecdotal history rather than documented fact, but she has been told that young children, age 7 to 8 years old, would be given the chore of keeping the younger ones away from the hot stove.

“Another oral history I read said that all babies, boys or girls, were dressed in long gowns in part because the gown slowed them down when they were trying to crawl and you had something to tether them with,” she said, mimicking a stomp on the hem. “There are still days that a tether sounds like a mighty fine idea!”

In the late 1800s, electricity and telephone lines began to transform towns. Museum placards record, “On May 1, 1889, McKinney became the first city in the county to receive electric street lights.” The first telephone was installed in 1878, but that was only one line that communicated between the local hotel and the train depot. The first exchange wasn’t installed until several years later.

This month, on September 29, the North Texas History Center is celebrating their Silver & Gold Anniversary Gala. Gold because this marks the 50th anniversary of the organization of the historical society; silver because this is the 25th anniversary of the museum.

The gala, which will be held at Plano Centre, will include cocktails and a silent auction at 7 p.m.; dinner at 8 p.m.; and dancing from 9 - 11 p.m. Special guest and keynote speaker Congressman Sam Johnson will share his memories of living in and serving Collin County.

The museum is located on 300 East Virginia in McKinney. For more information, visit www.northtexashistorycenter.org or call 972-542-9457.