Lake Conroe full for first time since April 2010

Lake Conroe full for first time since April 2010

People who live, play and work around Lake Conroe have been upbeat for a couple years, since the lake has been within 2 to 3 feet of full.

This week, however, there's reason to break out the champagne: For the first time since April 25, 2010, Lake Conroe is at its full depth of 201 feet.

"When we get within a couple feet of being full, everyone's pretty happy," said Jace Houston, general manager of the San Jacinto River Authority, which oversees Lake Conroe. "People's docks are typically easy to access anywhere within 2 feet of being full."

But the full 201 feet is a symbolic milestone, Houston said, because there seemed to be a fear that the lake might not fill up completely again.

"It's just a relief to know that, even though we're not at normal rainfall, we can still fill up," Houston said.

Normally by this time of year, the Lake Conroe area would have had about 18 inches of rain. This year, the total so far is only about 12 inches and the area remains in drought, Houston said.

"The good news is we're going into the summer with the lake full," he said.

By August, when it's hot, dry and windy, the lake will likely be losing an inch to 1.5 inches per week, he said. But starting summer with the lake full will lessen the impact of that loss, especially if fall brings cooler, wetter conditions, he said.

What produced the fill-up was the rain on May 12, which brought 1.5 to 3.5 inches to the area around the lake, Houston said.

In earlier years, a 3-inch rain was not unusual, but Houston said the past four years have brought probably only a dozen such events.

This is the first time since the lake was completed in 1973 that it has gone four years without being full.

To finally crack 201 feet has brought a lot of smiles to residents, said Tony Williams, store manager at Stowaway Marina and RV Park on the north end of the lake.

"Everybody is happy, happy, happy," Williams said. "After the rains we just had, it's above pool. It's a beautiful sight."

Many people live on the lake with lakefront property, he said.

"It's really great for them and it's good for the fishing," Williams said. "If it will stay up, it will do wonders for the lake."

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Giant robot bugs coming to the Houston Zoo

Giant robot bugs coming to the Houston Zoo

Starting May 24, the Houston Zoo will be invaded by giant, nightmarish bugs, albeit fake ones.

The new Extreme Bugs exhibit, which runs through September 1, will feature 13 animatronic bugs, including ants, moths, grasshoppers, scorpions, and tarantulas, some that dwarf large trucks. People who are scared of any of these creatures in their normal size probably won’t dig on this exhibit, which will be a part of the zoo’s new “insectarium,” which also opens at the end of May. That exhibit will have a goliath bird-eating tarantula, which the zoo says is the biggest spider in the world.

Entomophobes, arachnophobes,  apiphobia, mottephobes, and myrmecophobics should all stay home. There are phobias for most everything, and my spell check just had a minor heart attack.

The photos above are from the last time the giant bugs on display, at the Chester Zoo in Cheshire, England.

Houston Zoo spokesman Brian Hill said the exhibit brings to his mind the 1988 movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, where fresh-faced teens had to fend off large insects after being accidentally miniaturized by a machine their scientist father had created. It’s an ’80s kid thing, you probably wouldn’t understand.

Most people’s reaction to encountering a tarantula the size of a semi-truck is an appropriate and emphatic “Nope!” but surely more daring Houstonians will gladly step up to view the creepy crawlers, if only for the selfie fodder.

The giant bug exhibit will cost $3.95 a person, plus a general zoo admission ticket.

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Five Below coming to Houston

Five Below coming to Houston, with discounts for kids and teens


Five Below, a $5 and below retail concept for kids and teens,  is entering the Houston market on June 6 with eight area locations opening simultaneously.

In a statement, the company says each store is about 7,500 square feet and carries art supplies, makeup, sundresses and other apparel, basketballs, candy and snacks, computer accessories and more.

Philadelphia-based Five Below has stores in 20 states, and the retailer already has a Texas presence, including locations in Austin, and the Dallas/Fort Worth areas, according to its website.

Three of the eight Houston area locations are within the city limits, at 9403-A Katy Freeway in Hedwig Village,  13762 Northwest Freeway in Northwest Marketplace and 17355 Tomball Parkway in Willowbrook Plaza.

The Missouri City store is at 5754 Texas 6 in the Riverstone Shopping Center.

The Copperfield location is at 7055 Texas 6 North in the Copperfield Village Shopping Center.

The Webster store is at 1209 West Bay Area Blvd. at Baybrook Square.

The Richmond location is 5450 W. Grand Parkway South in the Bella Terra Shopping Center.

The Tomball store is at 14375 FM 2920 at Tomball Marketplace.

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Empty Bowls event on May 17

 Empty Bowls event on May 17 will fill your heart

There’s a culinary event this weekend that doesn’t have the flash and sizzle that attends most the foodie competitions Houston loves to hype. But it has the biggest heart and most caring intentions.

Empty Bowls Houston, part of a nationwide effort by artists and craftspeople to feed the hungry in their communities, will hold its 10th annual event 11 a.m.-3 p.m. May 17 from at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, 4848 Main. Sponsored by Whole Foods Market and implemented by area ceramists, Empty Bowls benefits the Houston Food Bank.

For a $25 donation, attendees can select a hand-crafted bowl donated by local artists. There are hundreds of one-of-a-kind bowls to choose from. Participants also receive a soup lunch donated by Whole Foods and prepared by the Houston Food Bank Community Kitchen.
Why the bowls? They serve, of course, as a reminder of all those around the world who don’t have enough to eat.

The event also will feature potter and wood-turning demonstrations and live music.

The Houston Food Bank is the nation’s largest size Feeding America food bank and source of food for hunger relief charities in 18 southeast Texas counties. A network of 500 food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers and other agencies, feeding a total of 137,000 people each week, provides more than 53 million nutritious meals annually.


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Best burgers, BBQ and casual fare in town

Best burgers, BBQ and casual fare in town

 Burgers and BBQ. There aren't two foods more Texan than that. (Unless you add casual fare to the mix. Now you've got a list that's purely Houstonian.)

If you can't make it to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, don't worry: there are still plenty of great places around town to get your BBQ fix.

Corkscrew BBQ

Entree price range: $
Where: 24930 Budde, The Woodlands
Phone: 832-592-1184
Website: www.corkscrewbbq.com

Gatlin's BBQ

Entree price range: $
Where: 1221 W. 19th
Phone: 713-869-4227
Website: www.gatlinsbbq.com

Brooks' Place BBQ trailer in Cypress

Entree price range: $
Where: 18020 FM 529, Cypress
Phone: 832-893-1682
Website: www.brooksplacebbq.com

 Virgie's Bar-B-Que

Entree price range: $
Where: 5535 N. Gessner
Phone: 713-466-6525
Website: www.virgiesbbq.com

Hubcap Grill

Entree price range: $
Where: 1133 W. 19th
Phone: 713-862-0555
Website: www.hubcapgrill.com

Local Foods

Entree price range: $-$$
Where: 2424 Dunstan
Phone: 713-521-7800
Website: www.houstonlocalfoods.com

 Burger Guys
 
Entree price range: $
Where: 12225 Westheimer
Phone: 281-497-4897
Website: https://www.facebook.com/TheBurgerGuysHouston


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