Water, Water Everywhere... *

Seems I forgot something while I was writing last week's post. Since I usually write Monday's Post on Sunday, that would have been February 17th.  That was an important date in my life. Mrs J is reminding me at this point "Not as important as September 4th or October 27th". (Our Anniversary and her Birthday, respectively) and she's right.

 40 years ago, when this picture was taken, Mom had pinned those wings on me just moments before.  A couple of things I thought of when I hit the insert button on this picture for the post.  First, Dang! I was skinny back then. (Although you wouldn't know it from the picture, I had hair back then also.)  Second, Dad was younger then than I am now.  That's a sobering thought especially when, in my mind, this didn't happen all that long ago. 

And...Yes, Sarge, that is quite likely the last time I ever wore a wheel hat.

Still that picture represented clearing the second hurdle en-route to my dream job.  (The first being, getting INTO Pilot Training.) So....a pleasant memory.

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WAAAYYY back in January, when Sarge was hosting Unterseeboot Week on the Chant Channel.  (Other "Weeks" include Skunk Week, Bayonet Week.  Lately, it seems to be the ever popular "Which is .....better/first/oldest" week. (hint: the latter is Sarge))

But......

I digress.

Anyway, in a comment in one of the Unterseeboot posts, one of the commenters had mentioned "Austin AKA Moscow on the Brazos" in reference to the Capitol of my Beloved State.  Now, I have NEVER EVER commented and hit publish before my brain read what my fingers typed, No. Never, ever, never.

Ok, maybe a few times....today. So....This is not a criticism. Merely, presenting you with a discovery.

Anyhow, I had responded to the comment and  talked about the general layout of rivers in the state, and that Austin straddled the Colorado River, rather than the Brazos River.  Not wanting to hoist myself on my own petard, I actually Googled Rivers of Texas to make sure I knew which order they were in from east to west.

Apparently, Google never forgets a question you ask.  Even if you get an answer to that question.  It must think that you have an ongoing interest in that question.  A lifelong desire for information about said subject.  C'mon Sergei, stop reading my cookies....All I wanted to know was what river flowed where.  

The reason I say this about our benevolent overloads at Google is a couple of days later, I pulled up my Browser (Firefox) and in the suggested sites list was this Site about rivers. There's a lot of graphic data  on the site.  Be patient and let it load.  

It will be worth it.  Trust me.

The site refers to a Hungarian Cartographer (Map Maker, Beans, not something to do with Middle Ages Carts), who used Computers and Geographic Data Bases to map the World's watersheds.  Each map effectively shows how each drop of rain gets to the ocean, from puddle to stream to creek to minor river to major river etc. Color captioned so you can track the watersheds of major rivers.

I have always had an interest in Maps, so.....There went the rest of the Day.

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So, from top right to bottom left.  Green is the Red River (yeah, I know), Pale Blue is the Sabine River, Light Blue is the Trinity (once navigable all the way to Dallas), Dark Blue is the Brazos (running all the way from Lubbock  and flows close to College Station.  As such, the only thing Texas Tech and Texas A&M share). Pink is the Colorado (There's something to be said about color choice there.  I won't say it.). The two purplish rivers are the San Antonio and Nueces and, finally, the Blue-Green is the Rio Grande.This site has a list of all the other colored rivers/streams for those interested.

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I'll bet you can guess which Father of Waters is represented by the pink watershed above.  

Finally, just for BarbaCat (and PLQ) Here's the Watershed for Washington State.

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Looks like without the Columbia River, you folks would be a little thirsty.

The maps are available for purchase, should you so desire. Neither Sarge nor I have any relationship with the vendor, merely trying to avoid Internet "issues".

There are maps of watersheds for all continents and a great many countries throughout the world, and I found them fascinating.  They've also got similar maps that show Forest Cover.  I found Australia's particularly interesting. Especially, in comparison to their Watershed Map.

Hopefully, you'll find them as interesting as I did.


* Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Marine