Water Conservation and Landscaping

Dotty Woodson's recent column in the Fort Worth Star Telegram (3-10-2012) provided several great websites to help with selecting plants for your water conserving landscape. Texas SmartScape, Texas A&M's Earthkind site, and the Fort Worth Water Department all offer water-thrifty planting ideas.

Websites referenced:

www.txsmartscape.com

www.http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkind

www.fortworthtexas.gov/savefwwater

Freeway Construction Continues

We have been amazed at what's taking place on the freeway in front of us. Whoever planned the logistics for the North Tarrant Express project did an exceptional job.

To date at our Bedford Road intersection on our side (NW) they have

closed the access road underpasses

narrowed our access road with cement barriers so it is just 1 lane wide

stripped away the cement covering the sides of the earth that supports the freeway

constructed new support columns

They work night and day. We've experienced 1 or 2 nights of deep sounds that turned out to be trucks and cement demolition. Another day it was very dusty. The exit to Bedford Road is easy to miss since it is just a space between cement barriers lining the 3 curving freeway lanes -- which can be scary in the dark! However, other than the narrowed access road, and the increased traffic due to the closure of the Central Drive westbound access road, it has been a minimal inconvenience right in our neighborhood.

On the larger project, they have already contructed a number of sections of road and recently transferred eastbound traffic at Westpark Way onto a new section, changing the 121 exit direction to the left.

Websites referenced:

http://www.northtarrantexpress.com/

New USDA Plant Hardiness Zones

Bedford (and most of north Texas) is now in Zone 8a of the USDA plant hardiness zone map. It was recently revised based on data for the "average annual extreme minimum temperature 1976-2005."

The map covers the country. It is a fine tuning of previous maps based on increased data.

Website referenced:

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov

Rain Gauge Reports

Want to see what the precipitation is for your area or even contribute to the data collected? Check out CoCoRaHS, the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. "CoCoRaHS is a non-profit, community-based organization encouraging volunteer participation in the measurement and reporting of precipitation (rain, hail and snow)." It started at Colorado State University but now includes volunteers across the country.

Websites referenced:

ww.cocorahs.org

Everything German New Location

They have now relocated a few doors down, south of the Bedford Farmer's Market and the car wash -- 2816 Brown Trail. A full menu -- excellent chef!

Food, Lots of Great Eating in Bedford

Bedford is really a home for good food. Along Airport Freeway as you pass through you will see numerous excellent restaurants. However, take an exit a little further into the town (Brown Trail or Bedford Road) and you will find some gems. These especially stand out:

Cafe Sicilia (Italian)
located at the corner of Bedford Road and Forest Ridge Drive.
Bon Apetito!!
http://www.cafesicilia.com/

and 3 near the intersection of Brown Trail and Harwood Road:

Everything German
currently at 2828 Brown Trail in the southeast quadrant of the intersection with Harwood Road, but due to move a block further south soon
http://www.facebook.com/EverythingGerman
They also sell German groceries to take home.

Al Wadi Cafe (for Lebanese and Greek food) and on Facebook
2712 Brown Trail, a couple of blocks south of the intersection
http://www.alwadicafe.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Al-Wadi-Cafe/281477771881

and the latest addition, for breakfast and dessert treats:
The Bedford Bakery
510 B Harwood Road, in the large shopping area just to the west of Brown Trail
Here's a nice review from the Dallas Morning News by Kim Pierce on her DMS "Eats Blog."
http://www.bedfordbakery.com/

Design Concept Review for North Tarrant Express Thursday, Feb. 17, at Nearby Church

No need to drive, you can walk to the upcoming public review of the North Tarrant Express design. The come and go open house will be held at First Methodist Bedford, just at the end of the block on the access road from 5:30 - 8:30pm this Thursday, February 17.

New Bedford Public Library Opens

Today was the grand opening for the new Bedford Public Library. It is a marvelous building featuring state of the art technology and environmentally friendly features, created from the old Food Lion grocery store. The city has already received a check from Oncor for excess electricity generated by the solar panels and geothermal field. The new building features a book return sorting machine ("more fun to watch than the tortilla machine"), many computers, and user friendly areas "for learning, for leisure, for life!"

Ice and Snow Hit Bedford

Beginning the morning of Tuesday, February 1, 2011, through Friday the 4th and then again on Wednesday, February 9th the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex was iced in. First came rain which then froze into a sheet of ice. Snow followed, heavy the first time and lighter the second. Oddly, temperatures were mild both weekends after these events.

Even public transportation was difficult during the first week. The first day for a while all systems practically shut down, and later that day DART light rail passengers experienced long waits during rolling blackouts.

Finally blue skies reappeared and neighbors were happy to get out and wash their cars!