Giant Caterpillar Roller Blading At Village Creek Natural Historic Area

I decided to go roller blading at Village Creek Natural Historic Area today. Roller blading there is a bit more adventurous than Quanah Parker Park. At Village Creek there are 4 hills you get to go down and back up. The hills curve and cause you to cross 2 dams at high speed.

I had my all time worst roller blade wreck at Village Creek. I never thought I'd go back there again on roller blades.

But today I did. It was fun. Just like at Quanah Parker Park, I found I didn't go down the Village Creek hills as fast as I used to, due to my need to put on some weight.

People with a lot of weight are so lucky. They get to go down hills fast and they can go in real cold water and not even feel it and don't even need to swim, they just bob up and down effortlessly due to their built-in auto inner tubes. I wish I could put on weight like that.

Back to today's blading. So, I'm rolling along and I looked down to see this big fuzzy thing, like a caterpillar on steroids, which is what I figured it was, eventually it would become one of those gigantic bat-like Texas moths that like to chase me when I'm wearing my wool cap.

In the photo above I'm stopped right above the giant caterpillar. In the photo on the right you see the giant caterpillar walking across the paved trail.

I think it was chasing me.

A Fort Worth Chesapeake Energy Bus & A Leak

After seeing them on the streets for months, today I was finally able to get a photo of one of the Fort Worth city buses covered with a Chesapeake Energy ad.

The ad says "Thanks Barnett Shale for 83,000 new jobs." The logo of Chesapeake Energy is all over the bus. As well as the AskChesapeake.com web address.

I did not know the Barnett Shale had produced 83,000 new jobs. Now that the drillers are scaling back how many of those jobs have been un-produced?

A non-Chesapeake Barnett Shale natural gas drilling waste water disposal operation out near Aledo, that's in Parker County, west of Fort Worth, was shut down by the Texas Railroad Commission after drilling waste was found on the ground with evidence of an underground leak.

For some mysterious reason the Texas Railroad Commission oversees gas drilling operations.

Waste water from the drilling operations is stored in underground wells. The waste water contains salt, drilling chemicals, drilling mud and crude oil.

CES Saltwater Disposal was given a permit in May of 2007 to drill to a depth of 11,500 feet to pump waste water underground at the now shut down location near Aledo.

The shutdown disposal operation is near a housing development which gets its water from underground wells.

Why these people here in Texas, who rely so much on underground aquifers, would allow contaminated water to be pumped into wells, seems bizarre to me. Up in Washington state there is a serious problem with nuclear wastes at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation slowly migrating towards the Columbia River.

Why do these people here think that contaminated water underground is going to stay put? I see bad things in the future that are only being hinted at in the present. As in MAJOR ECOLOGICAL DISASTER.

Earthquake Shakes North Texas! Is Gas Drilling The Cause?

I thought Texas did not have earthquakes. I've been told that more than once. Where I used to live, in Washington, earthquakes were quite regular. That and mountains blowing up.

Where I lived, in Mount Vernon, we went through a series of localized earthquakes centered about 3 miles east of my house. It was day after day of quakes. I remember laying on my waterbed when one happened and the waves about tossed me out of bed. Another one I was sitting in my living room and I thought the windows were going to pop out. Another one I heard loud cracking and went into the kitchen to find a fault line had formed across my tile floor.

So, I thought my earthquake days were behind me. But then last night, coming up on midnight, we got hit with a series of quakes here in North Texas. The first struck about a half hour before midnight, centered 4 miles north of Grand Prairie. Grand Prairie is the town next to Arlington. I live in East Fort Worth, about 10 miles west of Grand Prairie. I think I felt the quake but thought it was a noisy truck.

The largest quake occurred just after midnight. A 3.0 centered 4 miles southwest of Irving. Irving is the town due west of Dallas where the Cowboys currently play football.

Several smaller quakes in the 2.0 range were felt, with the last shaker occurring around 3 in the morning.

Police were flooded with 100s of calls. Most people thought it was an explosion or a plane crash.

I remember when all this Barnett Shale drilling and fraccing started happening I thought to myself, good thing they don't have quakes here, as doing that much damage to the earth's upper crust would likely have a bad result up in Washington.

The same thought occurred to Fort Worth's wise sage, Don Young. Way back in August of 2007 Don Young wrote the following....

While vacationing recently in Marfa, Texas, I stumbled into a bookstore seeking shade and ran across an interesting book titled, Texas Earthquakes.

I thought to myself, We don't have earthquakes in Texas! The concept seemed counterintuitive. The authors of the book know better. Opening the book at random to page 70, I read the following:

"Three human activities that commonly induce earthquake activity are:

1) Injecting high pressure fluids into rock formations beneath the earth's surface.
2) Withdrawing large amounts of fluid or gas.
3) Construction of reservoirs and lakes."

Until very recently, the first 2 items have occurred only in remote parts of the state, away from densely populated areas. The Barnett-Shale play and subsequent fracing technology have changed all that.

According to the Texas Railroad Commission, in the year 2000, there were less than 10 gas wells in Tarrant County. Today, there are more than 1,000 with many more planned and thousands more in the immediate vicinity.

I'm not suggesting there is a serious risk from earthquakes in Tarrant County, there are far more serious risks from drilling, but, expanded gas drilling and injection wells in the north Texas region have moved us into uncharted territory.

To paraphrase Paul Harvey, "One fine day we may know, the rest of the story."

I fear we are doomed here in North Texas, doomed I tell you.

AT & T U-Verse Email Sending Solution

I keep seeing that people are coming to my blog looking for answers regarding how to send email using an existing email account with their new AT & T connection.

It wasn't easy, but I figured it out. No help from AT &T. I'd intended to post the solution, but I forgot.

There are several steps. I use Outlook Express. You may use a different email program that may require a different solution.

First off, log into your AT & T account. Find your way to your email account.

Click on 'options'. You'll see it on the upper right.

Now click on 'Mail Addresses' under the 'Management' heading.

Now click on 'Add'. Then enter the email address you want to be able to use as a sending email address. You will be sent an email to verify this address.

Now, back at Outlook Express. Click on 'tools', then 'accounts', then the email address you want to use and click 'Properties'.

Under the 'Servers' tab you'll need to make your Outgoing mail (SMTP) "smtp.att.yahoo.com".

At the bottom of the 'Servers' section check off "My server requires authentication".

Then click 'Settings'. Under Settings select 'Log on using'. Then enter your AT & T email address as the 'Account Name'. Enter your AT & T password in the 'Password' field. Click 'OK' and get outta there.

Now, click on the 'Advanced' tab. For 'Outgoing mail (SMTP) enter '465'. Put a check mark underneath that where it says 'This server requires a secure connection (SSL).

Hit 'OK' and you're done. You should now be able to send email using a non AT & T email address.

I know it sounds like an awful lot of bother. And it is a bother that AT & T should not make us go through. But it doesn't really take all that long. And after you get it done it works just fine.

Happy Texas Halloween

My Halloween started with a scary early morning swim. At midnight the temperature was 65. By this morning it'd gotten down to 59. The pool was warmer than yesterday so I lasted longer in it before frostbite began to work its magic on my extremities.

I don't get any trick or treaters here. Benefit of being behind a security gate. When I lived in Washington I'd get a lot of the little beggars. I don't miss them.

I think I may spend Halloween evening over on the balcony of Miss Puerto Rico where I'll have a bird's eye view of Halloween.

Do you like my Halloween costume? I am Leatherface of Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame. I haven't found a chainsaw yet. I think Miss Puerto Rico has one.

Obama the Socialist Communist Dictator Wannabe

The right wing wackos are starting to get scary in their desperate fear that they are about to lose the Presidential election. After the Fort Worth Star-Telegram endorsed Obama the paper been printing a lot of really scary letters to the editor from those convinced Obama is a Socialist, Communist, Muslim Terrorist.

I tell you, this is what our inept education system produces. A lot of erroneous thinking. I'd willingly wager the vast majority of the wackos could not coherently tell you what socialism is. Or communism.

I printed some of the scary Star-Telegram letters yesterday. There were quite a few more today. Plus a few reasonable sounding ones. One of the letter writers blamed this oddball opinion flood, that borders on hate speak, on the propaganda job being spewed on talk radio and Fox News. I can see why one might think that, because I thought the same thing, in that many of the letters seem to reflect the type overwrought nonsense I've been hearing on Rush Limbaugh.

It's riling up the nutcases, as witnessed by the letters and by an incident like the pair of Neo-Nazis being arrested due to their plot to kill dozens of blacks and assassinate Obama. The right wing media is engaging in the most shamefully irresponsible disservice to our country I've yet witnessed by those who should know and behave better.

Just take a look at today's Rush In A Hurray email newsletter that came in minutes ago....

On Today’s Show...

Obama's infomercial painted the image of an America so horrible, large people have to cut back on...snacks for their children. People actually get arthritis, too! This is not the real America. It's just people with tough times.

The Obama crowds seek a redeemer in a time of turmoil. It's not what he says, it's how he says it.

Pearl of Wisdom: "This Obama infomercial was a parade of victims. I feel sorry for these people waiting around for him to save them. This wasn't inspiring. There wasn't one example of Obama's leadership. He's a cold, angry, charismatic demagogue. It was like watching 30 minutes of one-minute campaign ads. Would you do that?"

Obama calls America selfish, and thinks "charity" is government taking your money to "be our brother's keeper." Hey, you have a brother subsisting in a hut, and your beloved aunt living in a Boston slum!

Obama's media manipulation tactics exposed in a pro-Hillary blog post? Could be.

Pearl of Wisdom: "Jack Welch was on CNBC with Larry Kudlow and Michelle Caruso-Cabrera. He was on fire about the truth of economics and the Barack plan."

Rush's Gut, Daily Tracking: It's hard to know what to call, when the press is so bias.

Pearl of Wisdom: "When you have an Obama advisor saying that Obama is not a black guy -- he's half white, and that's why Americans will vote for him -- and you have Obama making a joke about it on TV, it's all strategic. It's not just a joke, at all."

A Democrat caller for McCain. He's one of many.

Focus, you people. Step #1: Drag McCain over the finish line. Step #2: Rebuild the conservative movement. If you have to, tell yourself you're voting for Sarah Palin.

Pearl of Wisdom: "We've had over 3-1/2 times the polls this October as in October of 2004. It's information overload! We're being swamped with this tainted stuff."

Chesapeake Energy's Tandy Hills Obscene Gesture

In the above satelite view of the Tandy Hills Natural Area you can see some of the trails on the Tandy Hills, plus the location of the Chesapeake Energy drilling site and the location of the Mother Nature piece of guerrilla artwork I've made mention of before.

As my longtime reader may have noticed I go to the Tandy Hills and go hiking a couple times a week, weather permitting and it usually is.

But, before I talk about that I must digress and inform you that after two days of way too chilly I got back in the pool this morning. It was bracing, but I swam for at least 10 minutes. It was 55 this morning when I went swimming.

By the time I got to the Tandy Hills it was hot enough to overheat and require the removal of some clothing. I was not long into today's hiking when I saw that an unwelcome visitor had been erected since Monday, as in the Chesapeake Energy drill site's drilling tower was now in place and though I don't think they've begun drilling something was making an awful racket.

You can see and hear the Chesapeake operation all over the Tandy Hills. In the photos it looked to me as if Chesapeake Energy was engaging in an obscene gesture, directed at the skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth. That would seem to be a perfect visual metaphor for Chesapeake Energy and its CEO, Aubrey McClendon and how they and he run roughshod over people, towns and basketball teams.

Un Well In This Week's FW Weekly

I've not seen this week's FW Weekly yet, but always on the ball, Don Young has. He sent me a link to a very good article in the current issue in the Metropolis section written by Peter Gorman.

One of the victims in this story, Jim Ashford, lives in my neighborhood, in Riverbend Estates. I've heard the noise that's made him ill.

I don't think FW Weekly archives the articles in their Metroplis section, so in the interest of the public good I'll archive it here, as in below....

Un-Well

Concerns are mounting over health effects of gas drilling.

By PETER GORMAN

Charles Morgan can’t sleep at night. The low-frequency noise from the 11 gas compressors at an Anadarko facility about a mile from his home in the little Freestone County community of Lanely gives him such bad headaches that he frequently has to take a motel room to get away from it. Sometimes he just gets into his pickup or Volkswagen and drives to a country lane elsewhere in the county to get free of it. On other occasions he’s found himself in the hospital emergency room.

“The noise has ruptured one of my eardrums,” said the 65-year-old former Air Force major, who recently retired from his engineer’s job with the Texas prison system. “The pain in my head gets so bad I think I’ll die. My legs start jumping. My blood pressure goes sky high.”

What Morgan suffers from is vibroacoustic disease (VAD), described in Noise and Health, a respected international journal, as a “whole-body, systemic pathology,” marked by “[d]epressions, increased irritability and aggressiveness, a tendency for isolation, and decreased cognitive skills,” among other symptoms.

It’s brought on by excessive exposure to low-frequency noise, the kind you hear in airplanes, near wind turbines, and from natural gas compressor stations. It’s not well known in this country, and the leading researchers on it work in Europe. But it’s real.

Jim Ashford, who lives in the upscale gated community of Riverbend Estates in East Fort Worth, suffers from it as well. “I can’t sleep. I just lie in bed awake listening to that noise,” he said. The noise comes from three Chesapeake compressors about 2,700 feet from his house. “And because I can’t sleep, I’m irritable. I just hurt in general, and I find myself getting angry and snapping over things that I shouldn’t.”

Gwen Lachelt, director of the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, which works with urban and rural communities and tribal groups “to protect their homes and the environment from the devastating impacts of oil and gas development,” says noise abatement is a very important issue and is getting more important “as drilling gets closer to — and in Fort Worth’s case, comes into — urban areas.” The group has already convinced regulators in Colorado to take the noise issue seriously.

But VAD isn’t the only health problem that those in the vicinity of oil and gas operations need to watch out for. Two recent studies by the University of Colorado School of Public Health suggest that gas drilling and its accompanying activities, including compressor stations, may cause serious health problems for those nearby — that is, pretty much everyone in Fort Worth.

The researchers found that “neighborhoods, schools, and workers in close proximity to oil and gas activities may be at increased risk for cancer, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and other disorders,” due to industry pollutants. It’s critical, they said, for more study to be done on those dangers.

“There are so many areas of gas drilling that have long-term potential to affect the public health,” Lachelt said. “What chemicals are actually being used in the drilling and fraccing of wells? What emissions are coming off compressors and being released into the air? What is being evaporated from drill site pits, and how much harm will it do to people and animals in the long run? How much contaminated waste-pit water will wind up in our surface water and earth? There are just a host of issues that are not being studied and need to be studied if we’re going to get our arms around the danger these wells and everything connected with them might pose to people.”

Fears in North Texas seem to be increasing as more and more people report health problems that seem to be related to drilling — and find little in the way of regulation or real answers as to what the dangers are. At Fort Worth Weekly, the questions and worries arrive by e-mail and letter frequently. Some report noise-related health problems and worry about compressor-station emissions. Many have found their well water ruined and wonder what toxins they ingested before the levels got so high as to make the problem noticeable by sight and smell.

Renee Salzman lives in Arlington, about 700 feet from a new well at Davis and Division streets, and she’s sick. “I’ve had these severe headaches, and I’ve had to clear phlegm from my throat constantly for the last couple of weeks,” she said. “I work in a garage studio, and after a couple of hours, I’ve just got a horrible headache.” She’s convinced that her illness is connected to the well because her symptoms appeared when the drilling company “started filling up the retention pool with that toxic waste.” Her daughters, too, are suffering from headaches.

Susan De Los Santos, a member of the Fort Worth Gas Drilling Task Force, said her group “didn’t get to tackle environmental issues because we were told to wrap things up sooner than we wanted.” She’s convinced that the citizen representatives on the industry-heavy task force would support regulations requiring more recapture of emitted gases and toxins. The task force did meet with the city council to discuss environmental issues in a workshop, she said, so that the council would have some basis for addressing those issues when it comes time to redraw the city’s drilling ordinance.

Both studies by the Denver researchers relied heavily on reviews of literature — that is, gathering various pieces of research already done on health aspects of gas and oil drilling.

The first, published in August, reviewed literature on the health effects of exposure to chemicals used or produced in drilling. The list is long and frightening, with toxins ranging from arsenic and barium to radiation from radon, radium, and uranium.

Exposure to one group of the drilling-related chemicals, known as volatile organic compounds that include benzene and toluene, can put people at risk of developing leukemia, kidney and neurological diseases, as well as increasing the risk of renal and other cancers. (Toluene was one of the chemicals found in a North Texas aquifer a few months ago, downstream from a gas drilling site, water that killed and sickened livestock and made some farmland basically unusable.)

The study also looked at heavy exposure to diesel exhaust, a lung cancer hazard that can also increase risk of cardiovascular diseases, asthma, and respiratory infections. And researchers wrote that nitrogen and sulfuric oxide, the gases released from oil and gas production during flaring and from gas compressor stations, have been shown to increase the chance of deaths from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases as well as increasing the rate of premature births and low birth weights.

Other chemicals on the list: toxic metals, exposure to which can cause cancers, auto-immune diseases, and reproductive impairment; hydrogen sulfide, which can cause depression, weakness, and memory loss and can be fatal at high exposure levels; and fraccing fluid contaminants, the exact composition of which oil and gas companies refuse to reveal as proprietary information.

A follow-up paper released in September looked at the health impacts in Garfield County, Colorado, which has been heavily drilled for gas in the past several years. Medical researchers said the scant literature available, combined with preliminary studies of health status and air and water quality, indicated that Garfield County residents could be facing physical, psychological, and social problems because of the drilling.

Dr. Roxana Witter, lead writer on the studies, said in an interview that the findings are worrisome but preliminary. “My gut reaction is that I wouldn’t have my kids or mother or grandmother living near gas drilling because of the potential health risks,” she said. “The more thoughtful answer is that without data informing us what the exposures are, we cannot be specific about the hazards.”

The preliminary data from Garfield County, she said, suggests that known exposures to dangerous chemicals are a real concern. “But when someone says ‘I’m throwing up’, or ‘I’m constipated’, I want a physician to be able to answer the question of whether those things are related to gas drilling. So I want studies done. Without them there will always be doubts. We’re trying to bring science to this issue so that the agencies that are charged with protecting our health can have the data to do that.”

She urged that more studies, targeted specifically at the gas-drilling industry, be done. “I believe it’s vital that someone begins to do legitimate scientific monitoring of air, water, noise, and light in connection with oil and gas development — drilling and production — near urban areas,” she said. “There is a potential for serious effects, but the science is not yet there to explain it.”

Lachelt would also like to see more studies done but thinks the gas companies could do a lot even now to mitigate human and environmental contact with toxins if they chose to. “We want the companies to publicly disclose the chemicals they’re using in drilling and fraccing. And we want them to use technology to capture the emissions that come off compressors and wells during flaring,” she said. “British Petroleum has been working with green completion technologies” — systems to recapture gases that otherwise escape into the atmosphere — “on 40 percent of their new wells, and they’ve found they can break even on the deal financially by selling what they capture and then also eliminate an enormous amount of methane from being freed into the air.”

A technology called the closed-loop system can also eliminate most of the wastewater pits — where toxic water sits and evaporates into the air until it’s hauled away to injection wells — by recycling the chemical-infused water in a given well.

“At a bare minimum,” said Lachelt, “wastewater pits need to be lined, fluids have to be removed quickly, there shouldn’t be any onsite burial of pit waste, and closed-loop drilling should be standard operating technology. And we immediately need to insist that only nontoxic substances be used in drilling and fracturing a well.”

The real fear, she said, is that “the accumulation of toxins in the air and water might do major health damage as time goes by. Are we going to see more people getting cancers? The only way we’ll know is by having ongoing monitoring and health studies to see what’s really going into the air, onto the ground, and into our water systems.”

In the meantime, Jim Ashford and Charles Morgan don’t see an end to their sleepless nights.

Lisa Sumi, a noise specialist with the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, said that while the gas companies might claim that complaints like those from Morgan and Ashford are not connected to the compressors near their homes, in Colorado OGAP convinced the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission — equivalent to the Texas Railroad Commission — to recognize low-frequency noise as a very real issue.

“Now when someone complains, the owners of the compressor units have to take readings, and if there is low-frequency noise being emitted, they have to eliminate it. Period,” she said. “And it’s as simple as putting up a building around the compressor to contain the sound. It costs a little for the gas companies but makes them much better neighbors.”

IQ Test Confirms I Am Not An Idiot

I don't want to go into the details of how it came about, but last week I found myself in a situation where I found myself taking an IQ Test for the first time in my life.

The idea of taking such a test made me nervous. What if it confirmed one of my worst fears and I learned I was an idiot?

I'd taken a similar test, years ago, the Federal Government's GSA Test. I did well on that one, got a GSA 14 Rating. Whatever that means. Likely I qualified to be a mailman.

The IQ Test has a lot of very abstract type questions, more like puzzles. Some of them I had to ponder for a bit to figure out the answer. One of the questions totally baffled me and no amount of pondering led to anything but a wild guess.

When it was all over I learned my IQ is 133. Since I had no idea what that meant I feared it might mean I was an idiot. I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was quite the opposite. As in I'm at the far right end of that bell curve you see above, with idiots being on the far left. Unfortunately for me, I suspect most of the people I know are in the middle of that bell curve. Or lean to the left.

A few weeks ago I was talking to an Iraq War vet. He said an amusing thing. He said he is not prejudiced against anyone due to race, ethnicity, sex preferences, nothing of that sort. The one thing he was prejudiced against was stupid people.

I've always tended to not overtly let anyone know, for the most part, that I think what they are saying or doing or the way they are acting is stupid. I felt, who am I to judge. But now that I've got these new IQ 133 credentials I'm thinking I might start allowing myself the privilege of thinking, geez, are you stupid or what? I likely won't be saying it out loud.

I've known some people who I've characterized as having degraded thinking. That sounds nicer than saying I think they are stupid. I have only directly told one person that she had degraded thinking. The situation called for it. I still think I prefer the degraded thinking terminology to bluntly telling someone they are not worth listening to because they are stupid.

I'm thinking stupid is different than ignorant. It is possible to be an ignorant person, but not stupid. Most ignorant people are stupid in that they are stupidly being lazy about losing their ignorance, as in not trying to learn more about the world they live in. Or question their ignorant beliefs. An ignorant person can get rid of their ignorance. A stupid person is stuck being stupid. This doesn't mean you can't be President of the United States one day. Obviously.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I've not offended anyone with my stupid talk. I highly doubt any of those on the downside of the IQ Bell Curve would read far enough to get to the stupid part of this particular blogging and you who have aren't on that part of the Bell Curve, so all is good.

I must go do something smart now.

Obama's Informercial Causes Me Nightmare

Last night I was engrossed in something on this computer at the time Obama's Infomercial came on at 7. Central Time. A bit after 7 I remembered I wanted to watch the Infomercial, so I turned on the TV, hit the pause button and went to make popcorn.

(I'm loving how this AT&T U-Verse DVR thing let's me watch TV on my own schedule)

So, after the popcorn was popped and the butter melted I hit the "play" button.

Now. Here is where it gets weird. By morning I was confused at to what I'd watched. I woke up thinking the Obama Infomercial was the most bizarrely surreal political thing I'd ever seen. And that it'd cost him the election.

It was a scene in the Infomercial where it appeared that Obama's head was sticking out of a field of green Astro-Turf. And then his arm and hand sort of came out of the Astro-Turf, waving around, gesturing. I sat there on my couch mesmerized as the Astro-Turf scene turned into an elaborate dancing musical production with Barack singing "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" while dancing with Michelle while all sorts of Democrat notables were backup singers and dancers, including Bill and Hillary.

As I sat there mesmerized I remember hearing Rush Limbaugh yapping about some professor somewhere saying that Obama had a hypnotic effect on old women and teenagers. I'm neither, but this morning I thought, wow, I think I was hypnotized last night.

Then, the more I thought about, and after reading the morning paper with no mention in the commentary of the Obama Infomercial being strange and surreal, I slowly realized that what I thought I was remembering as viewing last night was actually a nightmare.

I confirmed this this morning when I asked someone else who had viewed the Obama Infomercial if there was a scene of Obama's head sticking out of Astro-Turf, morphing into a Busby Berkely singing and dancing routine.

I was told that none of that was in the Obama Infomercial. And that it was very well-done.

I've long known I have a problem regarding confusing my dreams and nightmares with reality. The trouble comes from the fact that my dreams and nightmares are cinematic in their detail. I live entire movies during the night. It's exhausting at times. And confusing.

Seattle Sonics aka Oklahoma City Thunder & Aubrey McClendon's Evil Grip

A few days ago I blogged about an FW Weekly article about Aubrey McClendon, he being the evil doer who is behind all sorts of nefarious dirty dealing, including lying to steal the Seattle Supersonics from Seattle.

When I read the FW Weekly article, I, with my problem about paying attention to details, did not notice that the cover photo of the notorious Aubrey McClendon had his evil grip around a hapless Seattle Sonic player. Number 35 whoever that is. Spencer Haywood? That shows how old I am and when I last paid close attention to the Sonics.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are now playing. The new season of the NBA is underway. If you want to see the former Sonics play, it costs you way way way way less than it did in Seattle. You can probably get airfare to hapless OKC, plus your game ticket, for less than the small fortune it cost to see a game in Seattle.

As in I saw an ad for the OKC Thunder a day or two ago where the tickets ranged from $10 to $20. That's Seattle prices from the 70s. Keep in mind, though, you'll be watching the game in a town that is not quite up to the standards of 1970s Seattle.

Several of the Seattle players are not at all happy about going from trendy, upscale, super fabulous Seattle to dowdy, out in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma City. Several have left their family's behind, not wanting to move their kids to inferior schools.

I don't blame them. I like OK, I've met great OK people, but the schools, well, let me put it this way. I know a family who moved from my zone of Washington to Oklahoma. Their kids were average C students in Washington. In Oklahoma their kids were suddenly A students, top of their class. And very popular. The Okies thought they were British. Our Yankee accents can be confusing to the locals.

Meanwhile back in Seattle. They'll likely have a new NBA team in a year or two. It'll likely be called the Seattle Supersonics. There'll likely be a new basketball arena built. And Seattle people will have a great time booing and beating the OKC Thunder whenever they come to town.

Phone Interview With Michelle Obama Over Lobsters

After I heard my favorite amusing bloviator, Rush Limbaugh, rant about Michelle Obama's alleged lobster binging at the Waldorf-Astoria, I blogged about it. Since then any number of search strings looking for info about Mrs. Obama's supposed seafood binge causes my blog to show up and thus people to read my version of the scandal, followed by comments.

After 2 weeks of it not letting up I decided it was time someone somewhere asked Michelle Obama directly what was up with all that lobster. It was a little more difficult to get Mrs. Obama on the phone than some people I call, but I have my ways of getting through. I won't say I'm always totally scrupulous, but I'm always on the side of truth, justice and the American Way.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008, 11:45---2 Weeks after Lobster-Gate began, Mrs. Obama answered her cell phone. What follows is as accurate a transcript of the conversation that transpired that my limited technical abilities could muster....

Durango---Well, let's get right to it. On Wednesday, October 15, the afternoon of your husband's last debate, it has been alleged, all over the Internet, that you ordered lobster appetizers, 2 steamed lobsters, Iranian caviar and champagne from room service at the Waldorf-Astoria. Is this true?

Mrs. O---Why would I be in the Waldorf-Astoria the afternoon of my husband's last debate? I don't like lobster and I don't think I've ever tasted caviar that I liked, Iranian or otherwise.

Durango---Okay, but you aren't exactly denying being in the Waldorf-Astoria. Or eating lobster. You could eat it and not like it. And you could be in the Waldorf and later at the debate. And no one likes caviar.

Mrs. O---I'm not saying I couldn't or I didn't or I wouldn't.

Durango---What are you saying?

Mrs. O---I'm saying it's nobody's business, but mine, what I eat, when I eat it or where I eat it.

Durango---Yes, you can say it's nobody's business, but there are a lot of people out there, like Rush Limbaugh, who are making it their business, claiming that your expensive lobster habit proves you and your husband are elitists. Or something like that.

Mrs. O---(Laughing) I could not get my husband to eat something like lobster or caviar no matter what power of persuasion I used.

Durango---No one is talking about your husband's taste in lobster, it is your lobster gorging that has the country talking.

Mrs. O---I don't understand why people would worry about such a thing.

Durango---Well, there isn't a lot going on out there, that and I guess there is some worry that if you'd spend almost $500 at the Waldorf-Astoria, for some expensive seafood, fish eggs and booze, that you might be a real expensive First Lady ordering who knows what from who knows where for State Dinners. I guess there is some concern that we've never had an elitist with expensive tastes in the White House before.

Mrs. O--- I must admit I am very flattered that people think of me as an elitist with expensive tastes, that's one of the nicest compliments I've ever received, but it just isn't true. If anything, given my actual tastes, people might want to worry that I'll call up the Colonel and order in a ton of Kentucky Fried Chicken with all the fixin's for a State Dinner. If I'd been caught ordering from the KFC drive-up window would the Internet be all abuzz over my bad tastes? Sometimes you just can't win. So I don't try. Let people think what they want.

Durango---Are you saying this interview is over?

Mrs. O---Yes, and it has been very nice talking with you. Goodbye. Come see us in the White House. We'll order in. But not from the Waldorf.

Durango---Thanks for your time and for the invite to the White House. I'll be looking forward to it. Couldn't you just have the White House kitchen whip up some lobsters instead of ordering in?

Catching Gar Fish In Texas

There are a lot of disturbing things in the lakes of Texas. I've seen and swam with some of them.

I've been chased in Lake Grapevine by a Giant Turtle that at first I thought was a Water Moccasin.

I have seen Water Moccasin swimming in a lake.

The swim hole at Dinosaur Valley State Park has a sign warning potential swimmers to beware of potential Snapping Turtles. It was an inviting looking swim hole, but the Snapping Turtle warning stopped me from getting in the water.

The most disturbing thing I've seen in Texas water is the half alligator/half fish monster known as an Alligator Gar Fish aka Gator Gar Fish aka Gator Gar aka Gar Fish.

If I'm not mistaken Gar the Texan is named after Gar the Fish.

A few weeks after my first Gar Fish encounter I was at Lake Grapevine talking to these sunbathers and they told me the week before one of their boyfriends had stepped on the teeth of a Gar Fish right near where we were talking. That same day a pair of fishermen told me they'd seen 4 Water Moccasins swim out from under the dock. That was the same dock I escaped to when I was chased by the Giant Turtle. I assume the Giant Turtle was a Snapping Turtle, because it seemed to be snapping while it was chasing me.

If you've not heard of an Alligator Gar Fish or have not seen one, check out the video below and you'll see an example of the horror that lurks in lakes in Texas...

My Blood Pressue Is High

I had an early morning doctor's visit today. I was up by 5 am. I drank my usual amount of coffee while reading the morning paper and checking in on my computer.

I have had highly labile blood pressure readings for years. I hate going to see a doctor. No good ever comes of it. More often than not I lose an important body part.

The last time I lost an important body part, upon my first doctor's visit that ended up with the important body part loss, my blood pressure was through the roof. The doctor was quite concerned. I told him it was because I'm a nervous wreck due to the idea of losing an important body part. I told the doctor the blood pressure would quickly be back in healthy range.

I don't think he believed me. As I stood at the receptionist's counter, making my appointment to lose an important body part, another nurse snuck up behind me and started taking my blood pressure. It was much lower. See, I told the doctor, you made me nervous.

I remember one time, in Moab, taking my blood pressure on one of those supermarket blood pressure machines. If I remember right alarm bells went off. That particular high blood pressure incident was due to the fact that I was traveling with some difficult energy sucking people. When they finally left so did my high blood pressure. Like I said, it is highly labile.

I believe I was in danger of eminent stroke my entire time last summer up in Tacoma. I could tell my blood pressure was through the roof. I remember feeling my blood pressure start to drop as soon as I entered Sea-Tac airport for my return. As we lifted off I could tell my blood pressure had reduced to totally normal.

When my blood pressure is bad it can be in the 190/120 zone. When it's good it can be in the 110/60 zone.

I find it troubling that my blood pressure does not stay in the good range, no matter what is stressing me. I'm not overweight, I get a lot of exercise, I eat very nutritionally, I don't consume excessive amounts of alcoholic beverages unless I'm in the type situation that causes my blood pressure to rise, I don't put salt on anything, I'm not African-American, as far as I know. My one bad sin is I drink coffee.

I've quit coffee before due to the high blood pressure. Being off the caffeine drug for a month had no noticeable affect on the BP. Coffee withdrawal is a horrible thing. I don't want to go through that again.

Other than the high blood pressure apparently I am in excellent health. I am going to fix this high blood pressure problem of mine. Somehow. It has vexed me for way too long.

Christmas in Texas, Part II

I'd forgotten til I searched that I'd blogged about my aversion to Christmas already. Another indicator of my not so good memory.

The last several years I've gone to Miss Puerto Rico's company Christmas Party. Those have been fun. Except for last year. The previous years were at this place called Austin Ranch up by Lake Grapevine. Sort of a Dude Ranch. It is a cowboy themed place, big bar, unlimited booze, dance floor, music, gambling and a lot of food.

Then last year it was at this awful place called Dave & Buster's, sort of like a poor man's Gameworks. It was crowded. There was no music. No dancing. No gambling. No unlimited booze. But the food was good.

This year I figured I wasn't going to Miss Puerto Rico's Christmas party due to her being in Puerto Rico at the time.

But a couple days ago I was in Miss Puerto Rico's office and I popped in to say howdy to her boss who had been gone for a month. Her boss said howdy, then told me the Christmas Party is December 5. I said Miss Puerto Rico is gonna be on the island then. Miss Puerto Rico's boss then said I had to go with her, that the party wouldn't be the same without me. I then said, yippee, I have a date for the Christmas Party. This should be fun, Miss Puerto Rico's boss is very amusing.

As for the actual Christmas, one of those holidays I generally dread, due partly to my inability to comprehend why people go to such a fuss. This year I think I'll drive to Phoenix, unannounced, and surprise my mom and dad and sister. And my brother. I'll stay in a motel so as to not inconvenience anyone with my slovenly ways and bad habits.

You in Texas who are looking for a fun Texas Christmas thing to go to, go here to a webpage I made, not due to my love of the holiday. I had ulterior purposes.

Freezing in North Texas

It was 35 at midnight. 32 was the overnight low. I was not tempted to see if it was possible to get in the pool at these temperatures.

It was a bit cold in here early this morning. But I didn't feel like turning the furnace on. So, I put on a wool cap and layers of other things and bundled up like I was in Tacoma in summer.

About noon it'd thawed out enough and I'd warmed up enough and I'd sat at this computer long enough that I decided to go roller blading at Quanah Parker Park again.

You may remember, my one reader, that just 2 days ago I went roller blading at Quanah Parker Park and it was in the 80s and I was shirtless. Today I rollerbladed in sweatpants and wore my wool cap. And kept my shirt on, though I did take off an extra shirt by the time I started rolling, but I got a bit chilly in just a t-shirt.

It's supposed to get warm here in a couple days, again, but I think we've had a bad sample of an upcoming very cold winter.

Come To The Tandy Hills: Prairie Notes From Don Young

Prairie Notes: October 26, 2008
Orchids & Earth-movers

My Indian Summer Sunday Morning God, I Hate Gas Drilling Hike turned out to be more than expected. While evil-doers ripped into ancient prairie soil within earshot, I contemplated the contrast between short sighted human greed vs. Mother Nature's long term, yet fragile, superiority. blah blah blah. It's too early in the morning for such thoughts. I needed a distraction.

Nodding Ladies' Tresses, to be precise. (Spiranthes cernua to be more precise.) Distraction accomplished.

One year after record rainfall resulted in tall-grass heaven at Tandy Hills Natural Area, a nagging drought has severely stunted the autumn grasses and wildflowers. Nevertheless, Tandy Hills has a knack for surprises.

Over the years I have observed that these sparsely scattered orchids prefer an east-facing, partially shaded slope. That describes exactly the conditions where I spotted about a dozen blooming plants. Their fragrance is almost enough to make one forget the diesel-powered injustice being committed a short distance away.

Walking back up the hill, my eyes caught a fleeting glimpse of (I think) a Cooper's Hawk arching overhead. (Tandy Hills is home to a pair of them.) I am always struck by the speed of these birds of prey. They move so fast I've yet to get a proper ID on them.

The new drill pad next door has the hawks (and me) on full alert. While I worry they feast on escaping rodents. That may be good for their short term needs, but I worry about the long run. Their habitat has been reduced by another five acres and more acreage loss is probable. The air up there is more toxic than before. The noise, dust, polluted water, etc. from drilling operations is bound to put their health and safety at risk. I guess the same can be said for us bipedal primates who haven't yet escaped.

But worry not. Today we have orchids. Don't miss them.

Come to the meadow and get distracted from whatever is bothering you.

DY

**************

DY's convinced me. I'm in the need for distracting, so I think it's off to the Tandy Hills again today, in search of an orchid.

The Real Real Housewives of Atlanta

Go to my new Durango TV Blog for more Real Housewives of Atlanta

It turns out that the housewives on the Bravo TV show called The Real Housewives of Atlanta don't actually live in homes in Atlanta. They live in suburbs of Atlanta. If that is what it takes to be a Real Housewife of Atlanta I know of a couple very real Real Housewives of Atlanta, living in Cummings, on the outskirts of Atlanta. These Atlanta Housewives would make much more real reality TV than the ones on the Bravo show.

Speaking of which, I've now watched 3 episodes of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. It's just about the most appalling of this type show I've seen. Made more so by these sadly deluded, supposed housewives, over the top conspicuous consumption.

I was disturbed from the start by the one blonde, Kim Zolciak. Continued viewing of this unmarried "real" housewife added to the disturbance. She smokes constantly. Is seldom without a wine glass. Has bizarre delusions that she is going to be a country western singer. And most shocking, she is what I believe is called a "kept" woman. Supported by a guy she calls "Big Papa" because "Big Papa" is a supposed celebrity who doesn't his face or name to be on TV. Likely to keep his wife in the dark. Good luck.

It did not take long for Bravo TV viewers to uncover that supposed celebrity "Big Papa" is an Atlanta multi-millionaire real estate developer named Lee Najjar. In the very first episode Kim called up "Big Papa" and told him she wanted to go buy a new Cadillac Escalade. Fine he said. So Kim drove to the dealership and wrote a check for over $60K and drove away.

Kim claims to be 28. She looks pretty well worn for 28. She has a daughter who is 11. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Let's shut up about the Kept Woman Kim and move on to Cleveland Cavalier basketball player Eric Snow's wife DeShawna. In the first episode we see the Snow's arrive at their new 15,000 square foot home. The Snow's had not seen it. Built it, bought it, sight unseen. The architect said she worked with DeShawna a grand total of 3 hours on the design.

DeShawna went on and on about how she's always known she was destined for great things. And now she has an Estate Manager, a personal maid, a cook, a nanny and I forget what else. Oh yeah, the DeShawn Snow Foundation. On the show we see DeShawn ineptly make plans, on the fly, to raise a million bucks for her foundation. Turns out that her foundation is a disaster. As reported by the Ripoff Report.

At one point DeShawn goes on about her and her family being devout churchgoers. That's fine with me. Then DeShawn tells us that they religiously tithe. Then we see her dropping a $25K check into the collection plate. Let's see, I suck at math, but I believe that's over $1.3 million a year. Which must mean the husband, Eric, makes about $13 million a year playing basketball.

Does it make you feel good, Cleveland Cavalier fans, to know what your hard earned money is being spent on?

Basically, near as I can tell, expect for maybe 2 exceptions, all these women on the Bravo show are basically kept women living very bizarre self-absorbed delusion filled lives that makes for some pretty funny, appalling TV viewing.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Obama Endorsement Reaction

I guess it was to be expected, but it's still a bit disturbing, that being the reaction by some readers, as evidenced in Letters to the Editor in this morning's Star-Telegram, to the Star-Telegram's full page Sunday endorsement of Barack Obama for President.

There were several letters in support of the Star-Telegram's Obama endorsement. But those seemed reasonable and non-nutcase, so not as interesting. Below are a few of the Anti-Obama Endorsement letters....

I am so mad I could spit. I can’t believe the Star-Telegram would recommend a socialist/communist for president. Just give him a year and he will control the paper. The head honcho of the Star-Telegram should leave America because he is anti-American. Anyone who votes for the socialist/communist does not have America’s best interests at heart.

I will be laughing when he becomes the dictator and you will not have the freedom to print what you want to. It will come to pass and it will serve you right, you Obama-loving, anti-American socialists/communists (anyone who votes for Obama fits this description). You want redistribution of wealth, which is Marxist, not American.

America is dead as we know it. Four years of the socialist/communist Obama and we will be like Iran, Cuba, Russia (any country that is a dictatorship, we will be also).

— Pat Spencer, Fort Worth

*******************

The Star-Telegram recommended Barack Hussein Obama for president? By doing so, it also endorses the Democrat-controlled Congress. Just how ignorant is that?

So what’s the surprise? Another dog-and-pony show in an attempt to justify a factually unjustifiable endorsement? But it doesn’t work, at least not for those who will vote from the facts that have cast history from true cause and effect.

Obama will remain not only a far-left socialist, but one cultured in the belief of another more dangerous and inequitable dogma. Anyone of any insight at all knows what it is. It need not be rewritten, for the Obama voter not only denies it, but also by immoral compassion embraces it as their own. It is so ignorant that it defies its own recognition.

Many have hoped that this veil of ignorance will somehow be lifted between now and the Nov. 4 election. But the evidence is yet to be revealed.

For America’s sake, the “hope” remains that the majority of each state’s “citizen” voters will recognize the Obama facade and vote from reality rather than poor fiction.

— Richard M. Holbrook, Weatherford

******************

Horrors! How could you recommend Barack Obama for president? The man has less than one term as a senator and you think he can run this country? Surely this is a Halloween joke!

I can take comfort in the fact that hardly anyone reads your newspaper anymore and even fewer take to heart what you endorse.

— Marian Ramsey, Fort Worth

*******************

It was with little surprise that I opened the Opinion section Sunday to see a full-page, fawning recommendation of Sen. Barack Obama. You’ve been telegraphing this at least since the end of the Democratic primaries, and for a paper whose internal editorial policy is to “Get Bush” (see, the folks you laid off talked), it brings little shock.

Being old enough to remember the first Obama, er, Carter administration, I believe that we are headed down the same old road, only this time the Iranians will have nukes. I also believe that the 13.5 percent home loan I first had as a result of that administration’s policies is just a start with this tax-and-spend bunch.

So, go ahead and continue using the low-angle Obama head shots to make him look heroic (see, I know how this works) and keep up the fawning. Maybe it will anger the moderate electorate to drive the election to Sen. John McCain.

I certainly hope so, for our sake.

— Gerry Nichols, Lakeside

******************

I was astounded to see a whole page spread in your paper openly recommending Barack Obama for president. What everyone thinks about their choice for president is their own opinion. However, when a news outlet puts an editorial out that says the Star-Telegram recommends Barack Obama for president, I think that is overstepping the bounds of objective journalism.

Now, I know that you are trying to get away with this by putting this article in the Opinion section. I find it very hard to believe that every single person employed at your paper agrees with that statement that you printed. I would quit if I worked for a company that made blanket statements like that.

It is not about whether the article supported Obama. It is about the fact that your readers cannot count on objective journalism off the editorial page when you make blanket statements like that. This is yellow journalism in its finest.

— Jill Harper, Keller

**********************

I was so disappointed when I opened my paper Sunday and saw the huge picture and editorial recommendation for Barack Obama. I knew my hometown paper was liberal, but this is ridiculous!

Gov. Sarah Palin has much more experience in government than Obama, and Sen. John McCain has more experience than Obama and Sen. Joe Biden put together. Just because Obama is an elegant speaker doesn’t make him ready to lead and protect us! And that huge picture of him was overkill! I’m just disappointed in my paper!

— Carlye Arnold, Arlington

**********************

After seeing your recommendation of Barack Obama for president, the only reason I don’t cancel my subscription is that my wife uses the ads and coupons. Your paper will merely be a propaganda arm for the new “We will control everything” government under Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Obama. Never in my lifetime — 13 presidential races — have I seen a serious candidate so unqualified under the normal meaning of the word.

— J Morris Johnston, Mansfield

**********************

I never thought I would see the day that the Star-Telegram would support the most unqualified presidential candidate ever to run. He has no military or leadership experience to be commander-in-chief.

He has very little government experience. He has no respect for the flag or national anthem. He is supported by the Islamic leaders of the world and has vowed to negotiate with them. He is obviously a socialist because of his medical and wealth redistribution policy. I suspect the founders of the Star-Telegram are turning over in their graves!

— Robert Rainey, Arlington

And now for a final letter, one of the letters in support of the Star-Telegram's decision to endorse Barack Obama.....

I’m sure you were getting a ton of nasty mail Monday morning thanks to your principled decision to endorse our next president, Sen. Barack Obama. As a Star-Telegram subscriber, I just want to say thank you! Your reasoning was logical and well-stated, and I sincerely hope it sways the few folks who are undecided. It is really gratifying to see my hometown paper make the right choice. I’ll be renewing my subscription to offset at least one of the cancellations I’m sure you’ve received.

— Anna Brosovic, Arlington

Northern Friends Vs. Southern Friends

When I spent what seemed like all winter up in Washington last summer, but which was actually only one long month, I was struck more than any previous visit by how differently people behaved. Bad manners. Really bad manners.

Down here in the South people are just more friendly. And they say howdy a lot. At first I didn't like this all that much, but I got used to it. Now I like it.

There are a couple Georgia Peaches, known as the 2 Chippys, the actual Real Housewives of Atlanta, Lulu and Laurie. I can tell they have the Southern Good-Hearted Hospitality Friend thing down to perfection. This evening Laurie sent me an amusing email that sort of represents ways it is different here in the South from the cold North...

NORTHERN FRIENDS VS. SOUTHERN FRIENDS

NORTHERN FRIENDS: Never ask for food.

SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Always bring the food.

NORTHERN FRIENDS: Will say 'hello'.

SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will give you a big hug and a kiss.

NORTHERN FRIENDS: Call your parents Mr. and Mrs.

SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Call your parents Mom and Dad

NORTHERN FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry.

SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Cry with you.

NORTHERN FRIENDS: Will eat at your dinner table and leave.

SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will spend hours there, talking, laughing, cleaning up, and just being together.

NORTHERN FRIENDS: Know a few things about you.

SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.

NORTHERN FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that's what the crowd is doing.

SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowd's back-ends that left you.

NORTHERN FRIENDS: Will knock on your door.

SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Walk right in and say, I'm home!

NORTHERN FRIENDS: Will visit you in the hospital when you're sick

SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will cut your grass and clean your house then come spend the night with you in the hospital.

NORTHERN FRIENDS: Have you on speed dial

SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Have your number memorized

NORTHERN FRIENDS: Are for a while.

SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Are for life.

BLOGGER'S NOTE: The above has been slightly edited from its original form.

Sarah Palin & Barack Obama On Dancing With The Stars

I don't care how well Sarah and Barack dance together, I still want Cloris Leachman to win. Tonight on Dancing With The Stars Cloris will be dancing the Hip Hop. Whatever that is. It's supposed to be rather energetic, possibly taxing the seeming endlessly energetic 82 year old past the limit of what she can endure. Cloris is quite flexible for an older dame which you can see quite clearly in the photo.

Today's Rush Limbaugh Obama Bashing

I listened to Rush Limbaugh for a short while this morning whilst doing yoga prior to going to Tandy Hills Park where it was so windy and cold that I ended up running up and down the hills trying to get warm. A month ago this would have killed me due to overheating. But not today. Mr. Limbaugh seems to be getting increasingly into Bad Boy Territory with his Obama bashing. Mr. Obama is highly likely going to be our next President. The Obama bashing at this late date annoys me. Below is today's "Rush in a Hurry." That's an email newsletter summation of today's Rush Limbaugh Show. You get a good flavor from it as to what I mean by Bad Boy Bashing....

On Today’s Show...

Show Highlight: The real Barack Obama revealed himself in a 2001 radio interview. The audio reveals an angry man with disdain for the United States Constitution and the limits it places on government power in our lives.

Democrats say that talk about Obama's plans to redistribute wealth is a "distraction." No, it's the very core of this man's being! He wants to take wealth from those who work and spread it to those who don't.

Pearl of Wisdom: "Speculation about Obama's birth certificate isn't going to sway independents or change minds. With eight days to go, we need to focus on Obama, not the Woods Foundation or Ayers. Tie Barack Obama to Obama, and after we tie Obama to Obama, then tie him to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, and what will happen to America if they get unchecked power."

An Orlando interviewer dares to question Biden on Obama's apparent Marxism and ACORN. Biden responds with rage and lies.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Our Founders put LIFE first, and guaranteed it. If you don't have life, you don't have a chance for anything else. The Supreme Court eliminated the right to life in Roe v. Wade, yet Obama says the courts aren't radical enough for him. What could be more radical than that?

Pearl of Wisdom: "Obama says the Constitution charters 'negative liberties.' He wants government to do things to people, and he's mad that the 'flawed' Constitution limits its role in our lives. He doesn't like the idea of liberty, and wants to change it!"

Who's adding reverb to Obama's voice so he sounds like God? (Remember his speech in Berlin?) The Messiah now says he's going to restore economic prosperity and a higher purpose to an embattled nation. The audacity! The American people don't look to a Castro or a Chavez to give them purpose.

People keep asking, "Rush, what're you going to do?" What he's been doing for 20 years! What are YOU going to do, folks, besides calling on Rush to do something?

Sleep, Swim & Ski in Texas

I woke up some time after 3 am. I could not get back to sleep. I heard the paper clunk outside about 4:30. So, I got up, made coffee and read the paper.

The Monday Fort Worth Star-Telegram was record-breaking thin this morning. It took about 5 minutes to read. Of the 4 or 5 sections in this morning's paper, 2 of them were devoted to sports.

The only news that was remotely interesting was about the Iraqis balking at the new agreement with the U.S. that prolongs our stay. What seems odd to me is we invaded a sovereign nation on the flimsiest of pretenses. That turned out to be wrong. And now we are being all legalistic as to what we want in an agreement with the Iraqi government or we'll take all our marbles and go home?

It got down to 43 last night. I did my regular icy morning swim earlier than usual due to being up so early, as in I was in the cold water soon after the sun came up. I did not last too long.

I was wanting to blog about a couple of TV shows that appall me. One I mentioned before, that being The Real Housewives of Atlanta on Bravo. The other being MTV's disturbing Parental Control pseudo reality show.

But I'm too tired right now to remember all that appalled me about both those shows. I've now watched 3 episodes of the Atlanta one. It is truly jaw-dropping great train wreck TV.

I should be back at full energy in a couple hours. I'm going to Tandy Hills in a bit. That always revives me.

Oh. The skiing photo at the top. That was taken my first winter in Texas, when I lived in a little town on the northern border of Fort Worth called Haslet. The mailbox was in Fort Worth, the house was in Haslet. Those are cross-country skis. I got good use out of them a couple winters ago when we had about 5 inches of snow. I went skiing at Veterans Park in Arlington.

Swimming & Roller Blading Weather in Texas

This morning, about 9, I went swimming. The water must have been warmer because I stayed in it about a half hour. Or maybe I'm getting way to used to being frigid. The low overnight was 53 here in Fort Worth.

There is a hot tub adjacent to the pool. I figured it would not be a good thing to get in it because getting out would feel way too cold. I've learned otherwise. Today after a half hour in the cold I got into the hot. Then I got back in the cold. And to my surprise that felt good. Basically I think I've totally de-sensitized my nerve endings.

By noon it was in the high 70s. I decided to go roller blading at Quanah Parker Park. The high here today, so far, has been 88. That's what it felt like when I sat on a bench putting on my roller blades.

It was hot enough that going roller blading shirtless seemed the only sensible thing to do. I thought that sort of thing was over for the year.

There was what seemed to be a slightly crazy lady walking the trail that leads out of Quanah Parker Park. She said something to me, so I stopped and said, pardon me, what did you say? What followed seemed to be gibberish, all said with a smile. She seemed harmless. But you never know with those crazy people types.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Endorses Obama

That's right. Sunday's Star-Telegram devoted one full page of its puny 2 page Editorial Section to explaining their rationale for endorsing Barack Obama to be our next President.

The Star-Telegram's line of reasoning seemed pretty reasonable to me. But their endorsement of Obama had no impact on my vote because I've already voted.

I don't remember if the Star-Telegram endorsed John Kerry or George W. in 2004. I wasn't here at the time. I was up in ultra-liberal Washington where it seemed a foregone conclusion that Kerry would win and where I saw many protests against George W., including in my old hometown of Mount Vernon where dozens stood on the street corners by the county courthouse, waving memorable signs. Let me go see if I can find a photo I took that day.

In Washington there is a sub-cult of phonetic spellers. I guess that explains "shud."

Getting Lost Again At Bob Jones Park

I didn't get a chance to blog about yesterday's adventure yesterday because when I got back here I got an emergency call from Miss Puerto Rico that had me embroiled in Latina Psycho-Drama til bedtime.

Yesterday I went up to Bob Jones Park. That's near Lake Grapevine. The route to Bob Jones Park, from here, takes me by Sprouts Farmers Market, my favorite grocery store, so I went there after getting lost and after having Costco free samples for lunch.

I don't actually get lost at Bob Jones Park. Bob Jones Park is the access point to where it's easy to get lost. Trails lead out of the park to a maze of other trails that are so confusing there are directional signs. Eventually if you go in the right direction you'll come to Lake Grapevine. The lake is the lowest I've ever seen it at this location. The last time I was there many of the trails were flooded.

Yesterday I found myself on trails I'd not been on before. There were several intersecting trails with no directional signage. After about an hour and a half I had to admit I was lost. I like being lost. As long as it doesn't get dark. That happened to me one Christmas at Dinosaur Valley State Park. That time, just as I started to sort of panic, I recognized where I was and was able to escape before it got too dark.

Yesterday, I came upon the clump of cactus in the photo during the period when I was lost. The lost trail went through some interesting territory. I think long ago a house was at this location judging from piles of wood from a long collapsed building.

The reason I think this may have been the location of a house was due to something very very bizarre. As in there were hundreds of Mason canning jars on the ground, the likes of which I saw my mom and dad fill with raspberry jam when I was in Tacoma last summer. What seemed really strange was all the jars were intact. No one had had themselves a good time throwing rocks at them. I found all those intact Mason canning jars unsettling. They continue to haunt me this morning. I'll probably get over it by this afternoon.

Racial Tensions In Paris After Black Man Killed

A memorial service is being held today for 24 year old Brandon McClelland in Paris, Texas. McClelland was killed in what is being called, by some, a brutal and racist hate crime.

Paris is in East Texas. East Texas is also where Jasper is. About a year before I moved to Texas Jasper became infamous due to the horrible murder by 2 white guys of a man named James Byrd. Mr. Byrd was dragged to his death beneath a pickup.

Brandon McClelland was killed by being hit by a truck and dragged underneath the truck for about 70 feet.

Apparently Paris, Texas has a long history of tension between black and whites and the killing of Brandon McClelland has raised tensions once more.

When I moved to Texas, soon after the James Byrd murder, I thought I'd be living in a place where I'd experience racism up close and personal for the first time in my life. To the contrary I've seen nothing but people getting along well with each other during my entire time in Texas. I've not experienced anything even remotely that seemed at all racist.

The 2 men charged with killing McClelland, Shannon Finley and Charles Crostley, were friends with McClelland. They were all drinking buddies.

Paris is a dry Texas town. The three drinking buddies wanted beer. So they headed up to Oklahoma. On the way back, drinking beer, likely drunk, an argument broke out over who was sober enough to drive.

McClelland tired of the arguing and said he'd walk home. He took some beer and took off walking. That's when the driver of the pickup ran into and over him, dragging him 70 feet to his death.

The New Black Panthers are in Paris calling this a hate crime. Others say the only resemblance between the Paris crime and the James Byrd murder is both were black men and a vehicle was involved with 2 white men in it.

Finley and Crostley are in jail, charged with murder and evidence tampering. They drove through a car wash to try and remove McClelland's blood. This is not the first time Finley has been charged with murder. In 2003 McClelland copped a plea to manslaughter and was sentenced to 4 years.

Ironically, during Finley's previous murder trial the man he is now accused of killing, Brandon McClelland, pleaded guilty to perjury for providing a false alibi for Finley. McClelland was sentenced to 5 years probation and did some jail time when he violated the terms of his probation.

All of this could have been avoided if Paris was not a dry town. It's time to end prohibition in Paris.

Gas Falls Below $2 in Texas

A fresh gas price war has broken out in the south Fort Worth suburb of Burleson. RaceTrac and QT went below 2 bucks Thursday night, followed by other area gas stations on Friday.

If the pattern of the past couple weeks holds true, gas all over North Texas will be falling under $2 in a few days.

The price of natural gas has plummeted too. So, all of us who have our electricity rate tied to the price of natural gas will be seeing reduced electricity bills.

Meanwhile OPEC is cutting back production. Which, I guess, will eventually have the gas prices heading up again. Maybe.

Natural Refreshment at Village Creek Historical Area

By noon I'd grown weary of looking at a computer screen. The blue sky and the pleasant temperatures beckoned me outside. I decided to go to Village Creek Natural Historic Area Park to commune with nature and consult my travel guide book regarding my upcoming trip to South America.

This time of year for some reason the sun causes the leaves in the trees to glow like they are green light bulbs.

Where you see me sitting on a picnic table, reading, in the top photo, behind me, what you can't see, is a big pond. In that pond are a lot of turtles. And snakes. I
don't like sitting with my back to the snakes. There were a lot of frisky squirrels making a racket and making me a bit jumpy. Snakes make no noise when they slither up to you. At least I assume that to be the case. I've never actually had an incident where a snake slithered up to me.

A paved trail meanders through Village Creek Natural Historic Area. It crosses Village Creek in 2 places. Walking the Village Creek trail is very peaceful. For most of it you are under a tree canopy that is sort of jungle-like. River Legacy Park can be like that in places, too, but there are a lot more people at River Legacy. Village Creek is way more relaxing.

And you have all those Village Creek Indian spirits infusing their old homelands with some special voo-doo energy.

Cheryl Burke Has Got A Link To Me

GO TO MY DURANGO TV BLOG FOR MORE DWTS

Earlier today I blogged about Cheryl Burke and how a couple of insensitive obesity obsessers, Louis van Amstel and Maksim Chmerkovsky, had told TV Guide that they thought Cheryl Burke and Lacey Schwimmer, a pair of fellow pro dancers on Dancing With The Stars, were too fat.

So, I got back here from a salubrious visit to Village Creek Park, needed to clear my head from this morning's turmoil and checked in on my website stuff and found that my blog was getting a lot of hits from something called cherylburke.net. So, I clicked on cherylburke.net and was pleasantly surprised to find that Cheryl Burke has made a link to my blog on her website.

I've always felt sort of connected to her. And now even more so.

Gas Price Falls Fast In Fort Worth

Just a couple days ago I bought a couple gallons for, I think, $2.61.

And now today my neighborhood QT is practically giving it away for $2.39.

There are no long lines like what happened a couple weeks ago when a local rogue station started a gas war by lowering his station's price to the what seemed like a bargain at the time, now outrageous price of $2.99.

As my longtime reader may remember, whenever I get gas I call my mom in Phoenix. Today I couldn't find my phone, so mom got no gas call. I feel bad about that. I guess I should go find my phone.

Ron Howard Takes His Shirt Off To Endorse Obama

Ron Howard has used a YouTube video to let the world know he wants Barack Obama to be our next President.

In the video Ron Howard takes his hat and his shirt off and becomes Opie Taylor talking to his Pa, Andy Griffith, asking Andy why people are so stubbornly resistant to change and wishing he was old enough to vote for Obama.

After that Ron Howard becomes Richie Cunningham and has a talk with the Fonz where the Fonz has trouble admitting he was wrong to have voted for Bush/Cheney twice as they've led us down a wrong path.

Then Richie becomes Ron Howard again who then expands on his endorsement of Barack Obama. None of this had any influence on my vote. Because I've already voted.

Cheryl Burke & Lacey Schwimmer Are Too Fat?

GO TO MY DURANGO TV BLOG FOR MORE DWTS

I was surprised this morning to learn that there are some out there who have even more twisted obesity obsessions than me.

I'm talking about Louis van Amstel and Maksim Chmerkovsky.

Who are they you ask? Well, I've admitted before that I enjoy Dancing With The Stars. As do a lot of other people. Up til last week it'd been the top-rated show in the country til CSI took over the top spot.

Louis van Amstel and Maksim Chmerkovsky are two of the professional dancers. People have been commenting that a couple of the female pro dancers, Cheryl Burke and Lacey Schwimmer, have gotten too chunky. They don't look chunky to me.

But in the latest issue of TV Guide Louis said "People look at this show to be inspired and think, ‘If I just work hard enough, I can look like that.” If they watch someone who’s dancing her butt off and she’s still heavy, they can be discouraged. You have to take that responsibility."

I can't imagine how anyone could look at Cheryl Burke dancing and think geez that tub of lard is such a fattie, even after all that exercise, I'm just not gonna try anymore. It's hopeless. That's Cheryl Burke in the bikini. Does that look fat to you?

Chmerkovsky thinks so. Maks, who is one of my favorites, he's funny, said when he first saw Cheryl Burke and Lacey Schwimmer at the start of the season he told them, "Guys, you know the camera adds 10 pounds, you have to do something about this."

Both Cheryl and Lacey are still in the competition. Maks had to quit when his Olympic volleyball partner, who's name I do not remember, got injured while twirling around the dance floor. Ballroom dancing is a very dangerous sport. Lots of injuries. But, 82 year old Cloris Leachman continues to hang in there, being very funny and getting standing ovations.

It's Freezing In Texas But I'm Still Swimming

At midnight it was 58 here in Fort Worth. When I went swimming this morning it was 43. I did not last too long in the pool. It is 2 hours later and I'm still feeling cold. I've not felt this cold since I was up in Tacoma locked down in the basement.

Tonight the weather prediction is for our first frost of the year.

I don't know if I'll be tempted to see if I can actually get into the water when the air temp is below 32.

This morning, about 5 minutes into the icy pool, Miss Puerto Rico popped up, wearing a heavy jacket and gloves. She told me I was nuts. She may be right.

This morning while getting chilled to the bone it crossed my mind to wonder if a seriously obese person would get cold in cold water. They've got all that built-in insulation. I remember being around a morbidly obese person when I was in Washington last summer. I'd be shivering in the cold and this obese person would tell me I was being ridiculous. That's easy to say when you're sporting a 12 inch layer of insulating adipose tissue while all I've got between me and the elements is a thin T-shirt and thin cargo pants.

Rush Limbaugh & Sarah Palin's Quarter Million $ Wardrobe Budget

I've admitted before I find Rush Limbaugh to be pretty funny at times. But lately he is being way over the top with his strident yammering. I get an email from Rush every day that sums up his radio show. What got on my nerves today was the Rush outrage over the media fuss over Sarah Palin spending a quarter million Republican bucks on clothes. When just days ago it was from Rush I learned the story that turned out to be a lie about Michelle Obama eating way too much lobster.

On Today’s Show...

Show Highlight: "We still can't get a look into Bill Ayers or Jeremiah Wright or Tony Rezko or any of these other people allied with Obama, but we gotta look into Sarah Palin's wardrobe. Most candidates get their designer clothes for free, folks. She actually paid for them like a regular person."

The media smears Sarah Palin (the very kind of woman they claim to care about) for buying clothes. Who paid for Hillary's pantsuits, Pelosi's pearls, and Biden's hair plugs? You couldn't pay off one of Tim Mahoney's mistresses for 150 grand, or Jesse Jackson's, or John Edwards' -- not to mention the $80,000 Spitzer spent on hookers!

Obama "rushes" to his grandmother's bedside (after three days). He says you have to "put family first." Uh, how many of his half-siblings are living in squalor in huts?

The markets are hysterical on fear of a tax-raising, anti-business Obama presidency. Small businesses are terrified out there.

If Obama is so confident, why do he and Ed Rendell have to lie to old folks and try to scare them into voting Democrat? McCain will NOT cut Medicare or Social Security. Even Obama TV, MSNBC, says so.

Brian Williams asked McCain and Palin who "elitists" are, and they gave great answers. It's not an address; it's an attitude that you're better and smarter than others.

Pearl of Wisdom: "We don't get truth from the Drive-Bys Media, yet we live in a world that's ultimately governed by reality. Propaganda couldn't keep the Soviet Union afloat, and propaganda will not protect the media from collapse, either."

A caller asks why liberal Jewish folks support Obama. It's simple: to a liberal, liberalism is their religion and their #1 loyalty. Everything else takes a back seat.

We have a growing dependent class in this country -- and, of course, who are their biggest champions? Well, the Democrat Party is considered to be the party of caring and the little guy. But look at the lives of the people they claim to help. Have their lives improved after 40 years of Democrat "help," or are they still living in misery?

Hiking the Tandy Hills, Communing with Mother Nature & Trespassing on Chesapeake Energy

It got down to 41 degrees last night here in chilly Fort Worth. Right now, coming up on 4 in the afternoon we are in the 60s in this frigid zone. With it being so cold I thought this was a good day to go hiking in the Tandy Hills.

Fall has fallen hard in the past couple weeks, bringing color to the trees covering the Tandy Hills. When I first saw the Tandy Hills, years ago, I did not realize there were trails all over it. I'd been asked to go there for a Sierra Club hike. I drove up and saw all these old hippies and I thought they were nuts to go hiking out in that prairie grass. I figured it had to be infested with rattlesnakes and other vermin. I drove on.

It would be years til I would discover how hilly the Tandy Hills are and all the miles of well worn trails. I have yet to see a single snake slithering anywhere on the Tandy Hills. I haven't even seen an armadillo there. I have seen a lot of squirrels. But they are everywhere.

After I was done hunting for rattlesnakes I decided to go check on Mother Nature. My longtime reader may remember me mentioning the piece of art known as Mother Nature that some anonymous nature lover had placed on Scott Avenue near the entrance to where Chesapeake Energy has deeply scarred the Tandy Hills.

When I found Mother Nature it appeared that Mother Nature had blown her over. It did get rather windy yesterday. Mother Nature has had some things added to her since I last saw her. Someone had added "I Know" above her head. I don't think that was there the last time I saw her.

When I was done looking at Mother Nature I got back in my vehicle and decided I didn't see the little "NO TRESPASSING" sign attached to the gate at the entry to the Chesapeake Energy Tandy Hills Barnett Shale natural gas drilling site.

I was surprised to see the driveway to a house right by the gate. Those unlucky people are in for some really noisy nights and an awful lot of dust.

It appears this stage of the operation is still in site preparation mode. I saw bulldozers and other pieces of equipment and one wrecked car. I did not see any humans directly, but I assume that that was what was operating the moving equipment.

I'll check in on Mother Nature again in a week or two to see how she is doing.

Fort Worth Stockyard's Police Harrassment

Fort Worth's Stockyards are, for me, the best part of Fort Worth. I always enjoy going there. I've only been to the Stockyards a couple times when the night life wakes up. It can be a bit of a raucous place.

I totally understand the need for security and a police presence.

But it seems the Fort Worth police may be going a bit overboard, judging from surveillance camera video that has been YouTubed showing what would appear to be a ridiculous number of police harassing people going to the Neon Moon Saloon and La Rumba. These are located directly across from Billy Bob's. Billy Bob's is the world's biggest honkytonk.

During these police incursions no arrests are made. So, if no one is doing any arrest worthy deeds, what's with all the police descending on these places?

Watch the video below and see what you think. Go to YouTube, here, and you can see many more surveillance footage tapes showing the same type thing....

Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake Energy and the Seattle Sonics

In a wonderful piece of poetic justice Chesapeake Energy's CEO, Aubrey McClendon lost a couple billion bucks a couple weeks ago during the worst of the financial meltdown. His company has been in full retreat ever since.

FW Weekly's cover article this week is an in depth look at Chesapeake Energy's CEO Aubrey McClendon.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before but I'm originally from the Seattle zone of the country. The only professional sport I've ever had any interest in is basketball. I've been to a lot of Seattle Sonics games.

So, I followed the developments that led to Seattle refusing to give in to the Sonic's new owners demands for a new basketball arena to replace one the voters had just spent hundreds of millions of dollars on in the early 1990s, with the result being that the Seattle Sonics are now the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but I can be really dense sometimes. I did not realize that the lying schemer who bought the Sonics is the same lying schemer who runs Chesapeake Energy. Sometimes I simply am not able to connect the most simple of dots.

Most of the FW Weekly article is about McClendon's other dirty dealings, mention was made of McClendon and the Sonics. Here's an excerpt below...

From the beginning, the new ownership group assured Seattle fans that the team would stay there. And like most team owners, they wanted tax money to refurbish Key Arena, to the tune of $300 million. Negotiations with local and state officials continued into this year.

But while the other Oklahoma City-based owners were publicly saying the team would stay put, McClendon let the truth out. In an interview last April with The Journal Record, an Oklahoma City business publication, McClendon said, “We didn’t buy the team to keep it in Seattle, we hoped to come here. We know it’s a little more difficult financially here in Oklahoma City, but we think it’s great for the community and if we could break even we’d be thrilled.

“To the great amazement and surprise of everyone in Seattle,” he said, “some rednecks from Oklahoma, which we’ve been called, made off with the team.” To the amazement of Seattle political leaders, McClendon made that statement while negotiations were still going on.

Click to read the entire FW Weekly article about Aubrey McClendon and his dirty dealings.

It's A Cold Day In North Texas

The first Norther is blowing in from the Central Plains this afternoon, here in North Texas, making it bone chilling cold out there. And windy.

I've not been this cold since I was up in Tacoma in August.

Yesterday it got into the mid 80s. At midnight it was 75. By the time I went swimming, early this morning, it was 69.

Now, at 3 in the afternoon we are at 52 and falling fast. Heading to a low of 45 tonight. I won't be going swimming in the morning. Not due to the cold. Instead, due to the pool having its regularly scheduled treatment.

The photo is my stormy balcony view this afternoon. Lightning may be striking as the afternoon progresses. I like it when that happens. As long as none of my electronic stuff gets zapped.

Outrageous Case Of Statutory Rape In Sarah Palin's Alaska

Another Reason The Neighbors Might Not Like Fort Worth's Big Cheese Rodent Factory

I know if I lived in the Big Cheese Rodent Factory's neighborhood the type scenario so graphically depicted on the left might give me nightmares.

It's almost November.

I wonder how the Big Cheese are doing with their City of Fort Worth ultimatum to quit stinking up the neighborhood by November 1?

I haven't read another word about it.

The Real Housewives Of Atlanta

GO TO MY DURANGO TV BLOG FOR MORE ON THE HOUSEWIVES

Last night was the first night since I got this new TV viewing system, courtesy of AT & T's U-Verse and the DVR thing that comes with it, that I felt like I was finally getting the hang of it. I figured out how to trim down the hundreds of viewing options to just the 10 or so channels I might actually watch.

The best thing is I figured out how to use the DVR. Like last night I came upon a new show on Bravo. Yet one more of those Real Housewives of Some Town shows. This time it's in Atlanta. With the DVR I find if a show starts up and I hit the pause button and then go make popcorn for 10 minutes, when I'm ready to eat my popcorn I hit the play button and start watching from the point I paused. And then can fast forward through the commercials.

Last night I quickly got hooked on the Atlanta housewives. They are even more appalling than the Real Housewives of New York City. And way wealthier.

I was about half way through the first episode, pondering how do these vacuous broads have so much money. And then it was made clear to me. They are mostly all basketball and football wives. Maybe a baseball wife is included, too.

I saw a gaggle of baseball wives once in the Kingdome. It was the first time the Mariners had made it to the playoffs. I was in a luxury booth, courtesy of McDonald's. The luxury booth next door was filled with player's wives. They were all over-dressed and when I saw them in the hall way there was a lot of stupid talk going on. I'm thinking professional sports guys select for a certain type of female for wife material.

Tony Romo may be an exception with his excellent choice in Jessica Simpson. Sort of.

I was appalled at the opulent lifestyles of these wives. So centered on looking good and spending a fortune on clothes and shoes. One of them, Sheree Whitfield, has a shoe shopper bring shoes to her house for her to try on. Shoes that cost in the 1000s of bucks a pair. Sheree bought several. To add to her Imelda Marcos-worth huge closet of shoes. Each of them had someone come to their house to do their hair and makeup. They just had no time to leave the house for such things.

Earlier we got to watch Sheree plan for her elaborate high Atlanta society birthday party. All the attending housewives went to so much bother in the attempt to impress all the other housewives with how fabulous they looked. Including a country singer wannabe named Kim Zolciak. Kim had her clothes designer come over with several choices he'd made just for her. She loved one of them. Sort of a take on a naughty school girl look. Kim has huge frontal assets which made the outlet look real funny.

Kim's special outfit required some alterations. The alterator had to return to his place of alteration. There'd be no time to get the alteration back to Kim's house in time for the party. So, they decided to meet at a Shell Station where she could put on the altered dress. Yes. These are really high class dames.

So, Kim gets to the Shell Station. The altered dress is there. Kim does not want to change in the restroom. So, a makeshift changing room is made with a blanket and her car's door. Kim managed to get into the naughty school girl outfit. She and fellow Real Housewife, Nene, made it to Sheree's party almost 2 hours late, purposefully, to make a fashionably late entry. Unfortunately, Nene was not on the guest list so the bouncer bounced her. Much drama ensued. Nene and Kim ended up leaving without getting to parade in their stunning outfits and professionally made up faces and hair.

We are later shown Kim spending over $25,000 for her daughter's 11th birthday party. A one-day, over night affair that involved a trip in a Hummer limo with about 12 other girls, en route to an Atlanta hotel where more birthday stuff happened. It was all so bizarre I forget the details. On and on it went. At one point, though the daughter was acting perfectly normal, Kim got all upset that the daughter wasn't appreciating all that was being done for her. The daughter actually said something like it's all too much. The daughter was obviously more mature than the mother, so Kim did something right in raising her. About mid-way through the birthday day Kim had had enough of the birthday stress and worry and started to drink. The day ended with Kim naked, getting a massage, and all the little girls invading the massage room, to Kim's displeasure.

Another of the Real Housewives, Deshawn Snow is married to a Cleveland basketball player named Eric. We saw Deshawn interviewing people for the position of being her Estate Manager. Deshawn has 3 boys. She has live-in cook and maid. I'm not quite sure what the Estate Manager was needed for.

The only one of the Real Housewives that I much liked was Lisa Wu Hartwell. She's married to a football player named Ed. They seemed like normal people. Lisa owns her own real estate business. We saw her selling a huge house to a rap producer. Why I liked this pair is at one point Lisa got sick. Ed proceeded to take real good care of her, including making, from scratch, chicken soup. Ed said his mama told him if you like to eat you need to know how to cook.

What appalled me more than anything, watching all this excess, was that the money comes from professional sports. Sheree's divorcing her sports daddy and hoping for a settlement in the 7 figures. She already lives an over the top opulent lifestyle. Financed by all you people who are willing to pay high prices for a game ticket to these ridiculous games. We live in a very twisted world. I think way higher taxes is a real good thing for these people to be spending their money on. Instead of more shoes and $25,000 birthday parties.

Am I at the Early Stages of Alzheimers?

Yesterday something very unsettling happened to me. It was so unsettling that yesterday I didn't feel like talking about it. Today I'm not quite so unsettled.

What happened was yesterday about 3 in the afternoon I went over to Miss Puerto Rico's. I wanted to check something on her computer to see if being at a different IP address changed what I was seeing on my screen.

Miss Puerto Rico always has her security system armed. I've disarmed it dozens upon dozens of times. It's a very easy to remember 4 digit code. The code is based on an easy to remember birthday.

I unlocked Miss Puerto Rico's door. The alarm started its usual warning beeps. I went to enter the code and my mind went blank. I entered 4 digits. They were wrong. I tried again. Wrong again. You have 30 seconds to enter the code correctly. I tried a 3rd time. A 4th time. A 5th.

And then the 30 seconds were up. The screaming alarm went off. I knew this summoned the police. I stepped outside where the screaming alarm was not quite so loud and called Miss Puerto Rico, told her my brain had gone dead and that I forgot the code.

She told it to me, I entered it, the alarm shut up. But continued blinking.

A couple minutes later I was out on the balcony and saw the police arrive. Miss Puerto was called. She told them there was no problem. I was not tasered or arrested.

The incident left me thoroughly discombobulated. I came back here and pondered what had gone wrong with my brain. Early onset of Alzheimers is the only thing I can figure.

I voted today and didn't have a brain malfunction, remembering without much effort who I wanted to vote for. I used my debit card today, nervously, fearing I'd forget its 4 digit PIN. But I didn't. I went over to Miss Puerto Rico's today, again, at 3, because after yesterday's trauma I didn't get around to doing what I wanted to do on her computer. Today I was able to get in without setting off the alarm.

But, I remain hyper-vigilant for signs that my memory is failing me. So far I've seen no further signs. Well, I did forget to call my mom after I got gas today, but that's was more by circumstance and choice than not remembering. $2.44, mom, if someone is reading this to you.

Early Voting in Texas Breaking Records

Well, I've just returned from early voting. The early voting is breaking records all across Texas. You can see from the photo that my polling station at the Handley-Meadowbrook Community Center was very busy.

The line was long but it moved fast. Everyone seemed to be in a happy mood. I over heard one older guy say he thinks everyone in America wants to have a say this time.

The voting machines in Texas are very high tech. After you sign in you are given a piece of paper with a 4 digit code. Mine was 7027. You had to enter the code by spinning a dial til the number you wanted was highlighted and then you hit enter.

This wasn't too confusing to me, but I overheard a lot of people getting a lot of help. I know people my own age, well, one, with seriously degraded thinking who would have been befuddled by the voting machine.

Outside the polling place there were dozens of signs stuck in the ground. I thought that was against the rules. There were also campaigners sitting at a table under the tree you see in the photo.

A semi-interesting side note regarding my polling place. It happens to be the closest polling place to the spot where Lee Harvey Oswald is buried. That's a sentence I could never have imagined writing 20 years ago.

Chesapeake Energy's Bad Karma

About the same time that Chesapeake Energy, despite loud protests, began to run over a neighborhood in East Fort Worth in order to bulldoze a large area of the Tandy Hills native prairie, the stock market's financial woes wiped out the CEO of Chesapeake Energy, Aubrey McClendon, who had unwisely been buying up huge amounts of his own company stock and then got burned when margin calls forced him to sell.

Chesapeake Energy is now in trouble. Not for any environmental misdeeds, Chesapeake's troubles come from the current collapse of natural gas prices. You mess with Mother Nature and you get Bad Karma I always say. Well, actually this is the first time I've said that, but I've thought it before.

Regarding Chesapeake Energy's destruction in the Tandy Hills zone and the running roughshod over the Tandy Hills Neighborhood, particularly Scott Avenue, it with long-posted "No Trucks" signs, is now being pummelled by Chesapeake trucks, which lead Don Young to send out an email this morning, with photos of what's going on on Scott Avenue and a bit of poetry under the title...

How to rape a neighborhood. Part TWO

Take a quiet, narrow neighborhood street zoned, Residential.

Mix in a melting pot of multi-ethnic, low income children and working people.

Throw in an irreplaceable, endangered native prairie filled with wildlife.

Add the largest producer of natural gas in the USA.

Threaten the residents with eminent domain lawsuits and a pipeline full of un-odorized natural gas.

Blend in a corrupt mayor, and a spineless city council and staff whose "hands are tied" and hand out drilling permits like Halloween candy.

Wait for the protests to subside.

Strike with all the force of a city ordinance written by the CEO's of Chesapeake, XTO, Devon and Quicksilver.

Don't worry.

People will get used to it.

New York Post Admits It Was Wrong About Michelle Obama's Lobster Binge

The gossip mongers on the Internet, including myself, have been abuzz over what Michelle Obama was alleged to have ordered from room service while at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City last Wednesday, that being October 15.

The same day that I blogged about this I got a comment telling me that Mrs. Obama was in Fort Wayne, Indiana on the day she was supposedly gorging on lobster in NYC.

Every more desperate Republican Bad Boys have been making a big deal out of this supposed proof of Obama's elitism that never took place.

And now the original source of the lobster rumor, the New York Post, has printed a retraction on their "Page Six" page, saying....

ROOM DISSERVICE

THE source who told us last week about Michelle Obama getting lobster and caviar delivered to her room at the Waldorf-Astoria must have been under the influence of a mind-altering drug. She was not even staying at the Waldorf. We regret the mistake, and our former source is going to regret it, too. Bread and water would be too good for such disinformation.

Almost every other hit on my blog that past 5 days has been from someone Googling some variation of "Michele Obama Lobster Waldorf." I think the damage has been done and a retraction does not undo it. And Republicans, like Rush Limbaugh, from whom I first heard the Lobster Lie, should be ashamed of themselves. Unless they now tell the truth about the lobster.

Lately Rush Limbaugh's overly strident partisaning, to coin a word, has not been funny or pleasant to listen to. So, I doubt I'll hear him retract the Lobster Lie, if he does, which I doubt he will.

All this lobster talk has me thinking I'd like to go to Zorro's Buffet on Friday. That's seafood day at the biggest buffet in Texas.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama for President

If only Obama had picked Colin Powell as his running mate I'd be 100% happy to vote for him. With Joe Biden, not so much. Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama on Meet the Press yesterday was a prime example of why Colin Powell would make a great President. Colin Powell is relatively young, it could happen. In the meantime I think I'll go early vote tomorrow. And it won't be for McCain and that Alaska dame, even with my Joe Biden aversion.

Wonder Woman Has Put On Weight

This photo is a classic example of the type of thing I see on the streets all too often here in Texas. The hair is way too big and so is everything else.

And going out in your Halloween costume 11 days before Halloween is just wrong. I don't care if you're on your way to an early Halloween party.

I saw an equally odd spectacle when I was up in Tacoma, so it's not a Texas-only type phenomenon.

One day in Tacoma I was with this very obese woman. She wore these ultra tight leggings, black ballet slipper looking things on her feet. And then this big baggy blouse-like thing on top that only covered the top half of her humongous leggings-covered butt.

The blouse-like thing was black and yellow. Wide black and yellow stripes. All together this made this person look like a big bloated bumble bee. The most unsettling part was the back view.

I asked the bumble bee if she was aware that half her butt was exposed and that, due to the leggings being so tight, it left nothing to the imagination. I may have said it was very frightening. I don't remember. I do remember her saying she didn't care. Well, that was totally obvious. That she didn't care, I mean.

At least the bumble bee didn't have big hair.

A Very Obese Happy Halloween

Early Voting in Texas

Early voting began today here in Texas. I guess I'll go vote.

Voting is way different here in Texas than I was used to up in Washington. One difference is, up north, I had a permanent absentee ballot. This was much more convenient than driving to a polling place.

The biggest difference between voting in Texas and Washington is in Washington there'd always be way more on the ballot that I had a motivation to vote on.

Like Initiatives and Referendums and Propositions. I don't think Texas has a state-wide Initiative and Referendum system.

Texas towns do put Propositions on the ballot. Like for this coming election Fort Worth has 2 Propositions. Fort Worth's Proposition #1 is about whether or not to allow the sale of beer and wine for off-premises consumption. Fort Worth's Propostion #2 is also booze-related, as in whether or not to allow the sale of mixed beverages in restaurants by food and beverage certificate holders.

That's it for Fort Worth. The good citizens of Fort Worth don't get to vote on things like the destruction of the confluence of 2 forks of the Trinity River to build a little lake and some canals. Or how about a Proposition for a bond issue to raise money to fix up the Fort Worth Stockyards? Or how about voting on whether or not to provide funding to keep the Fort Worth Public Libary system fully operating?

Usually, up in Washington, on any given voting day there are several Initiatives and Referendum and Propositions to vote on. It can be things like the entire state will vote on whether or not to blow up a Kingdome and build a new football stadium. Or King County will vote on whether or not to build a light rail system. Or vote 5 times on a proposal to build a new monorail. Or several affected counties will vote on whether or not to spend $1 billion to build a new suspension bridge.

In Washington citizens can put something on the ballot via getting enough signatures on a petition. That's called an Initiative. The state legislature can pass a law that can also end up on the ballot due to citizen action. That's called a Referendum.

In Washington it'd never fall to one town to vote on and build something that the entire region benefits from, like a professional football stadium. In Washington no one would dream of using eminent domain to take citizen's homes to build a football stadium. Mostly because you'd be an idiot up there to think you could do that and successfully win a public vote to finance a stadium. In Texas you can be an idiot and successfully get people to vote to tax themselves to build you a stadium and to evict your neighbors from their homes, with nary a peep of protest.

In other words, in many ways other parts of America are more of a participatory democracy than Texas.

So I guess I'll go vote. The only thing I have any interest in is the Presidential vote. The rest are mostly meaningless names to me. Oh, there are those very important Fort Worth booze-related Propositions. I'll be sure and vote no on those.

Oil and Gas Accountability Project in Fort Worth Tonight

GAS DRILLING ISSUES PUBLIC MEETING FORT WORTH LEAGUE OF NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS AND LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF TARRANT COUNTY PRESENT

5th Gas Drilling Public Information Meeting

Monday, October 20, 2008 7:00 p.m.

An Evening with the Oil and Gas Accountability Project (OGAP)

Environmental, Public Health and Community Issues Associated with Gas Development

University Christian Church
2720 South University Drive
Fort Worth, Texas 76109

Forum Speakers:

Gwen Lachelt, Director, OGAP Oil & Gas Development in the U.S.---Community Issues and Organizing for ReformCo-founder of OGAP, Gwen Lachelt's mission is to protect homeowners and the environment from the impacts of oil and gas development. She has dedicated her career to reforming oil and gas policies and practices and has led precedent-setting campaigns to protect landowner rights, public health and the environment from oil and gas development throughout the U.S.

Jennifer Goldman, Public Health & Toxics Campaign Director, OGAP---Public Health Issues Associated with Oil and Gas DevelopmentJennifer Goldman works with communities across the U. S. and Canada on oil and gas reform efforts that address the environmental, social and public health impacts of dirty energy.

Wilma Subra, Subra Company Oil and Gas Field Chemicals and Monitoring Founder of the Subra Company and recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship "Genius" Award, Wilma Subra provides technical research and evaluation assistance to communities in paving the way for policy changes impacting environmental and human health issues at the state and federal level.

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Pantego Bible Church Blocks Traffic

Here in Texas, in the Buckle of the Bible Belt, there are a lot of churches. Many of them are Mega-Churches, these huge complexes that might have their own football field, gymnasium, airport, school and a humongous space to hold church services.

There is a Mini-Mega Church in my neighborhood. It is called Pantego Bible Church. If Pantego Bible Church were up in my old home state of Washington the locals would think it was a Mega-Church, but here in Texas they grow churches way bigger than Pantego Bible Church.

Pantego Bible Church is on the way to my neighborhood Super Wal-Mart. I made the mistake of heading that way just as Pantego Bible Church was done for the day.

So, as I headed east towards Wal-Mart a Fort Worth Policeman stopped traffic, as in me, to let Pantego Bible Church people slowly meander out onto the public highway. A few cars lined up behind me. After a few minutes the Fort Worth Policeman let us continue, because there were no more cars coming out of the Pantego Bible Church at that time.

20 minutes later I was done with Wal-Mart and back on the same public highway, heading west. The Fort Worth Policeman was still stopping people on the public highway so Pantego Bible Church people could easily leave their Mini-Mega-Church. As I passed by the Fort Worth Policeman he had at least 15 vehicles backed up while the Pantego Bible Church people continued their slow-paced evacuation from the Pantego Bible Church grounds.

I know this type thing is not a Texas-only deal. My sister in Phoenix complained about experiencing the same thing. I don't see how the Pantego Bible Church can use a Fort Worth Policeman to make it more convenient for the Pantego Bible Church goers at the inconvenience of drivers using the public highway.

There is not a lot of traffic on the road in question. The Pantego Bible Church goers could easily simply stop and go when there is no oncoming traffic. It would seem the Pantego Bible Churchgoers might exit a bit less leisurely if they were not being afforded the luxury of a Fort Worth Policeman blocking traffic for them.

That's my Sunday Sermon for this week.

Bone Daddy's House of Smoke

Who wants to go up to Grapevine for lunch today at Bone Daddy's House of Smoke? I've driven past Bone Daddy's twice in the past month. Judging just by the outside, Bone Daddy's looks to be an interesting restaurant. I like the theme-parkish look of Bone Daddy's.

Obviously Bone Daddy's is a BBQ joint. Ironically, I think I've only been in one BBQ joint since I've been in Texas, that being multiple times to Riscky's BBQ, both in the Fort Worth Stockyards and downtown. Oh, I forgot Up 'n Smoke in Keller. I guess it wasn't very memorable.

I have had BBQ up in Oklahoma, but that's not Texas BBQ. The OK one was called World Famous Bob's Barbecue. I don't know what made Bob's World Famous. It was in the little Okie town of Ada. All I remember about Bob's was the fries were cold.

Bone Daddy's House of Smoke has a good website. I've learned you can't judge a restaurant by its website, though a good website is a pretty good indicator of the quality of the restaurant. Zorro's Buffet has a real bad website, but Zorro's Buffet is real good.

I see if you Google for "zorros buffet fort worth" my bloggings about it now come in #1, several places ahead of Zorro's Buffet's website, which should tell Zorro's they need someone to fix their website. I'm available. I'd fix it for them for no money. Just give me an anytime pass to Zorro's and I'll make their website Google ahead of my blog.

In the meantime, I'll see you around noon at Bone Daddy's.

Did Michelle Obama Gorge on Lobster? Or Not?

Yesterday, the story about Michelle Obama being at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on Wednesday while her husband was at a meeting during which she supposedly had room service bring her a platter of lobster hors d'oeuvres, 2 whole steamed lobsters, Iranian caviar and champagne was all over the Internet, Cable TV News and talk radio.

I first heard it on Rush Limbaugh.

And now today I get a comment to yesterday's blog about Michelle Obama's good taste in seafood.

Someone calling him or herself dynosaurusrex had this to say......

"Michelle Obama held a rally in Fort Wayne Indiana at 1pm on Wednesday....she wasn't even at the Waldorf when she was "ordering" lobster etc."

I Googled to see if the above was true. I could find nothing. All I found was more info about Michelle and the lobsters. Okay, I looked again with a better search string, that being "Michelle Obama Fort Wayne Indiana." Turns out she was in Indiana on Wednesday, campaigning for her husband.

So, who was this impersonator in New York City ordering all that lobster in Michelle Obama's name? It's all very perplexing. I think Rush Limbaugh started this rumor.

Hiking Lake Grapevine & Costco

It's just half past 3 and I've already had myself a good day. I think starting the day with an icy swim makes the rest of the day much more pleasant than it would be otherwise.

Due to the temps being in the low 80s there weren't a lot of people out braving the cold at Lake Grapevine. So, parking was easily had.

I went to Costco before I went to Rockledge Park at Lake Grapevine. I needed printer ink. It'd been awhile since I bought printer ink. It was over $50. My printer cost less than $50. I also got a pizza. You can get a pretty good lunch wandering around Costco getting samples.

Almost all the sample giving people seemed to be old and German. And then when I went back to the food court to get my pizza there was a lady standing by the pizza window and I asked if she was waiting for a pizza. She also had a thick German accent as she said "I am #97, you are #96. Your pizza is ready, he just called your number."

I asked how she knew my pizza number. She said she was standing behind me when I ordered mine.

I wonder why there are so many old Germans in Southlake at Costco? Is Gar the Texan's latest wife moving a lot of her relatives over?

I hiked along the beach at Lake Grapevine. I like doing that. It's very relaxing. I only saw two odd things today. One was a rogue out of nowhere wave way out in the lake. The other was this guy on some sort of strange waterski that was sort of like a hydroplane. He'd hit the wake and do a total flip. I must have seen him flip a dozen times. Only on two of the times did the flip not work.

I saw gas for $2.57 at several locations in Grapevine. I didn't need any so I got none.

I got lots of good stuff at Sprouts Farmers Market, including a bag of something called Texas Sweet Oranges. My mom sent me home with a backpack stuffed with something called Arizona Sweet Oranges that were the best oranges I've ever had. I'm hoping these Texas ones are like that. I'm prepared to be disappointed.

An October Saturday in Texas

I did my regular early morning swim. The temperature got down to 51 overnight. Coldest yet. And yet I swam for almost a half hour.

This morning I see Gar the Texan rudely blogged about me rudely blogging about my obsession over the obesity epidemic. He used an amusing video to illustrate whatever point he thought he was making.

I'm going to be at Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine by noon or so today. If you want to go hiking with me, that's where I'll be. I may take my video camcorder along, so you can be in a movie if you show up. The last time I took my camcorder to Rockledge I messed up most of what I thought I was videoing, due to getting the off and on buttons reversed. So, I ended up with an awful lot of video of jerky images of the ground I was walking over.

Before going to Rockledge I'm going to Costco to have free samples for lunch and to buy a pizza to picnic with after hiking.

After I'm done with Rockledge I'm going to my favorite grocery store, Sprouts Farmers Market to get some fruits, vegetables and grain products. Sprouts always has good coffee to sample. Among other things.

Below is the previous video I made of Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine....

McDonald's in Iraq

I don't remember where I read it, maybe it was in the Bob Woodward "State of Denial" book, maybe not. But somewhere I read that when we hear that a McDonald's has opened in Iraq we'll know we've won the war. Or something like that.

So, I was curious if a McDonald's has opened in that forsaken country, thinking that maybe in the peaceful, prosperous Kurd zone the Golden Arches may have sprouted.

Well, I haven't been able to find out if Iraqis can get Big Macs yet, but I did find something interesting.

In the eastern part of Iraqi Kurdistan there is a city named Sulaimanya. In that city are 2 restaurants that purposefully copy McDonald's, both in appearance and menu. One of the restaurants is called MaDonal's. The other is Matbax.

That's MaDonal's in the photo on the right.

On the MaDonal's menu you'll find "Big Macks." The owner of MaDonal's, Suleiman Qassab, fought in the Kurdish resistance back in the 1970s. After that he escaped to Austria where he was a cook at a Vienna McDonald's. In the 1990s Suleiman applied for a McDonald's franchise in Iraq, but McDonald's turned him down.

So, he opened MaDonal's. Suleiman gives free food to U.S. troops, has been threatened by suicide bombers and has become a Kurdish celebrity. He hopes one day to turn MaDonal's into a real McDonald's.

There have now been multiple requests from various Iraqis hoping to open a McDonald's. So far McDonald's has not agreed to open in Iraq.

Michelle Obama Really Likes Lobster

I'd not listened to Rush Limbaugh in quite some time. But today I did whilst roller blading.

Speaking of roller blading. I ran over a snake today. It was a little one, slithering fast out onto the warm cement and under my blades before I could avoid him. I looked back to see the snake sort of jerking around. I expected to find it deceased on my way back. But there was no snake corpse to be seen. So it must have survived its run-in with me.

So, back to Rush Limbaugh. He seems to be harping on Obama being an elitist. Somehow Joe the Plumber got mixed in. I'm not getting the Joe the Plumber thing.

Somehow John and Elizabeth Edwards going out on their anniversary to a Wendy's with John Kerry and his wife got churned into the ranting. Something about Teresa Heinz looking at a picture of a bowl of chili, asking what it was and then asking if she could have a bowl. While John Kerry marvelled over a chocolate Frosty. According to Limbaugh, after a half hour of photo-opping the Edward's and Kerry's got on a bus where they ate a real meal from some country club.

I somehow thought this Wendy's thing had just happened, but no, this was way back during the last election. This story was somehow supposed to illustrate how elitist and phony liberals are. Or something like that.

Limbaugh's other example of democrat liberal elitism did just happen. As in on Wednesday October 15 the Obama's were in New York City. While Mr. Obama had a meeting somewhere in the Waldorf-Astoria, at 4 pm Mrs. Obama called up room service and ordered a platter of lobster hors d'oeuvres, 2 whole steamed lobsters, Iranian caviar. And champagne.

Did she eat all this herself? Isn't 4 in the afternoon in the middle of the week a tad bit early to get into ones cups? Iranian caviar? That stuff is expensive. I'm thinking Mrs. O is gonna make a very interesting First Lady.

John McCain on the Letterman Show

Two Very Obese Videos

Below are 2 YouTube videos. In the first video you'll meet several extremely obese people, shockingly so. One of them is named Lisa. You'll see much more about Lisa in the second video. I've seen the type of lack of self-control exhibited by these people up close and personal. It totally perplexes me. It's a sad sad thing....



And now the video that is all about Lisa...

Opinionated Over Obesity

I thought my opinions on the Obesity Epidemic were a tad on the harsh and judgmental side. And then I heard from someone regarding my blogging earlier today where I verbalized how appalled I am that people let themselves get so big.

Well, this person, far more harsh in the opinion department than I, opined that there should be laws passed. That if the government can control what drugs adults can buy due to certain drugs being detrimental to a person's well-being, then the same principle should apply to what a person is allowed to buy that is contributing to our nation's #1 health problem.

So, this anti-obesity fanatic suggested that obese persons should not be allowed to buy and consume certain foods, like cookies, donuts, pies, well, basically anything that is high caloric, high fat and empty of nutrition.

The fanatic thinks anyone who helps an obese person get around the Food Prohibition by buying them their donuts, that that enabling person should be charged with the crime of aiding and abetting an obese person.

The fanatic thinks obese people should have to pay more to fly. Why should the healthy weighted subsidize the obese person's flight? It costs more airplane fuel to haul those extra pounds.

Obviously obese people should not be allowed in buffets. That would have cut Zorro's Buffet's business by about 25% today. But once again, how is it fair that an obese person pays the same at a buffet as a healthy-weighted person? I doubt Zorro's makes much money off the obese people. I should have taken a picture of some of the mounds of food on the obese people's plates. But that would have been a little tacky.

Now, I know there is a school of thought that maintains that the obese are doing a heroic thing, contributing to our National Strategic Fat Preserve. If times get tough the obese can live off their stored reserves while the rest of us go hungry. I think this school of thought is ridiculous.

Sarah Palin in the Oval Office

This is amusing. Go here and move your mouse around and do some clicking. Supposedly this is updated daily til November 4. Be sure to click the phone....

Fort Worth Gas Price, Rats & Zorro's Buffet

Earlier today I blogged about obesity. And then a few hours after that I found myself talked into going to the biggest buffet in Texas. That being Zorro's Buffet.

I've blogged about Zorro's Buffet before. Sadly, for Zorro's Buffet, their official website is badly designed, so my blog shows up before their website when someone Googles "zorros buffet fort worth."

The Race Way gas station next to Zorro's had gas at $2.64. There was no line. You can get the stuff in the $2.60 range all over this zone now.

A large percentage of the Zorro's Buffet customers today were obese. One sat near me. Obese people can really eat a lot of food.

Today was Mexican food day at Zorro's. Which included chile rellenos, which is my favorite Mexican food. I had 5 rellenos. They were good. I always judge the quality of a Mexican restaurant by the quality of their rellenos. Zorro's was not quite as good as Esperanza's, but like I said, I had 5 of them.

Two guys sitting behind me, judging from overhearing their conversation, were exterminators. They were having their best extermination year ever. Getting rid of rats.

And now the weird part. One of them said the rats were on the move due to all the gas drilling disturbing their habitat. So, the rats move into people's homes and garages.

Now, as much as I find much to be disturbed about regarding all the urban gas drilling, I find it hard to believe that it has caused a mass exodus of rats.

I've not seen any rats in my neighborhood and I've got a gas operation going on right across the street.

Morbid Obesity Kills Me

Okay. I know I've made no secret of the fact that I think there are way too many way too big people. Particularly here in Texas. I have no understanding of why a person would let themselves get in such a condition. When you get so big you have trouble putting on your shoes why do you decide to eat another cookie slathered with frosting? It seems, to me, such an act of self-destruction combined with child-like self-indulgence. I don't see how an obese person could have any self-esteem, they must be constantly in a state of extreme self-loathing.

I've really only known, personally, one morbidly obese person. The behaviors that caused the obesity were bizarrely self-indulgent, almost arrogantly so. I just don't understand why one would continue to eat like a pig when ones upper body has grown so fat that you no longer have a neck and your head sits atop a mound of flesh like a ball on top of a blob.

Looking at it clinically, obesity is a condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that ones health is negatively affected. Excessive body weight is associated with various diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, sleep apnea, cancers and osteoarthritis. As a result, obesity reduces life expectancy. The primary treatment for obesity is dieting and physical exercise. If dieting and exercise fails, anti-obesity drugs and surgery can be tried.

Obesity is the result from too much energy intake overwhelming a person's basal metabolic rate and level of physical exercise. Excessive caloric intake and a lack of physical activity in genetically susceptible individuals is thought to explain most cases of obesity. With rates of adult and childhood obesity increasing, it is currently viewed as a serious public health problem.

Most obesity experts agree that a combination of excessive calorie consumption and a sedentary lifestyle are the primary causes of obesity. In a minority of cases, increased food consumption can be attributed to genetic, medical, or psychiatric illness. The rising prevalence of obesity is attributed to the availability of an easily accessible highly caloric variety of bad things to eat.

Certain physical and mental illnesses and the pharmaceutical substances used to treat them can increase risk of obesity. However, obesity is currently not regarded as a psychiatric disorder.

Personally. I think it should be. Just as any other form of self-destructiveness is considered a mental illness. The morbidly obese person who's casual acquaintance it was my misfortune to make has serious mental health issues in addition to the morbid obesity. It seems to me that the morbid obesity is just another manifestation of the underlying mental health issues. And should be treated as such.

Dow Jones, Debates & Icy Water

It is now the Ides of October, as in October 16. I continue to go swimming early in the morning. At midnight it was 59 degrees here. When I went swimming this morning it was 56. I continue to be amazed that this is doable, to swim when the water is so cold.

I've gotten so many problems fixed this week that I'm feeling sort of relieved. And then I opened the morning paper to see that the Stock Market crashed again. Just when I thought things were starting to look up.

I tried to watch last night's debate, really I did. I am truly perplexed as to what has gone wrong with me. I used to watch all things political religiously. Conventions beginning to end. All the debates. I made it through several of the primary debates. But I've only made it through one of the current string of debates, that being the Palin/Biden debate.

Maybe it has something to do with I already know who I'm voting for. But that hasn't stopped me from watching a debate previously. Maybe I'm turning into a cranky old man. Just way too easily annoyed. I think I made it past maybe 4 instances of rolling my eyes and thinking I was hearing pure idiocy and then turned off the TV and went to bed.

McCain was embarrassing. Obama seemed like the grown-up in the room. We live in scary times.

WaMu Finally Not KuKu

It's been almost a month since WaMu melted down and caused me woes due to taking way too long to credit a couple checks that'd been deposited.

Today, WaMu finally made good on their mistakes, re-imbursing me for what their mistakes had cost me. And sending letters to those with whom WaMu had caused a problem for me, explaining it was their problem, not mine.

So, I felt better about WaMu this afternoon. And so I deposited the first check since the WaMu Meltdown Debacle.

Was there anything odd about this deposit? Yes. There was. This time the receipt says the full amount of the deposit is available. I'll hold onto that receipt.

Texas Home Invasion Saves Energy

I've had me 2 days in a row of my peace being disturbed by home invasions. It has not been quite as bad as being at my little sister's in Tacoma when roofers ripped off her roof and put a new one on to the loud disapproval of a pair of highly vigilant poodles.

Yesterday I had those AT & T people in here doing all sorts of things. While that was going on there were people in the attic making a racket doing stuff with seals and insulation.

This morning the doors got attacked from the outside with this thick insulation that makes it hard to shut and lock the door. By noon the interior of this place was invaded by a crew of 4 or 5. I came back here, at that time, to find all the lights on, a guy standing in my tub, another on a ladder in the kitchen, all vents and plug covers off and another guy stuck halfway inside the vent hole under the furnace/AC unit.

I had to get out of here, so I went over to Miss Puerto Rico's and used her computer and sat on her balcony watching humanity pass below me. And then a downpour started up that lasted over an hour. I was trapped. When the rain finally let up I ran back here to find 3 people still in here. But they were soon gone.

I thought it was over. But then about 3pm there was a loud knocking on the door. I opened it to find 2 guys with all sorts of paraphernalia. A huge fun, several meters, ladders and, most disturbing, a giant bright orange plastic thing with a hole in it. You can see the two tester guys and their giant bright orange plastic thing in the photo, as well as some of their paraphernalia.

They were in here to seal off the place and then test it for leaks to make sure the previous crew got everything airtight and energy efficient. So, the tester guys sealed up all the vents and then put the big orange plastic thing with a hole in it covering the door.

When they got everything sealed up then the fun started. The first test created a vacuum as this big fan thing sucked the air out of here and out the hole in the big orange plastic thing. That test passed.

Then it was reversed and the big fan thing pressurized the air in here. It passed that test too. The tester guy told me if I opened the sliding patio door there'd be a big whoosh. So I opened it and there was a big whoosh.

As far as I know this was the last of the home invasions. I hope.

This home invasion, energy saving improvement was brought courtesy TXU/Oncor. I'm sure I'll be very grateful when I find it easier to stay warm this winter.

A Beautiful Child's Horror

I've long liked reading true crime books, with Ann Rule being my favorite true crime writer. But, sometimes it is way too disturbing reading these type books.

With Ann Rule's books part of what made them interesting to me is so many of her books are about murders about which I am familiar due to living in the northwest where many of the crimes Ann Rule details take place.

Ironically, parts of the story in the latest true crime book I've read took place here in Texas and Oklahoma, at locations with which I am familiar. The book I'm referring to is titled "A Beautiful Child" by Matt Birkbeck.

It tells the disturbing story of the girl you see in the photo. In the late '80s, that girl, who went by many names, but who for most of her life was known as "Sharon Marshall" was a bright and beautiful high-school senior in Florida. Top of her class and the leader of her ROTC unit who scored well on the SATs, earning a full scholarship to Georgia Tech.

A few years later, she would be dead and the details of her life would gradually come to light, to the shock of the people investigating her death.

In the early '70s, "Sharon" had been kidnapped at the age of 4 or 5 by a psychopath named Franklin Delano Floyd. Floyd raised her as his daughter. But, as the police and FBI investigating her death would come to find out, he was molesting her for her entire life.

A few years after Sharon graduated high school, Floyd took her to Louisiana and married her.

Soon afterward, Sharon gave birth to a son, Michael. Later, DNA testing would prove Floyd was not the father.

In 1990, Sharon was killed by a hit-and-run driver (most suspect Floyd). Sharon did not die from her injuries and was coming out of her coma when she received a late night hospital visit from Floyd. She was dead the next morning.

Later, Floyd kidnapped Michael from his school, and killed him a few days later. Following the kidnapping, photos were discovered in a vehicle Floyd had stolen in Dallas which revealed the true horror that had been Sharon’s life. Photos of Sharon being sexually abused and molested from the age of 4 or 5 til her early teens.

Floyd is now on death row in Florida for the murder of an exotic dancer in the mid '90s, a conviction made possible due to other photos discovered at the same time as Sharon’s molestation photos.

Floyd had been convicted of and imprisoned for the rape of a 4 year old girl in the early 60s. He was let out of prison a few years later. To me that is as great a crime as any other part of the story. Child molestation should get the death penalty in my Draconian world view.

"Sharon's" true identity is still unknown. Somewhere in America there may be a mom and dad still wondering what happened to their little girl. They would not be wondering and "Sharon" would still be alive, if Floyd had never been allowed back out of prison. Appalling. And it happens way too often.

401 Keg Retirement Plan For The Bad Economy

Port Aransas's #1 Song Bird, Alma, sent me some amusing retirement advice this morning. This is likely old advice for a lot of people, but I'd not seen it before.

I think this is a plan I can get behind.....

If you had purchased $1,000.00 of Delta Air Lines stock one year ago you would have $49.00 left.

With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00.

With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It's called the 401-Keg.

Texas Gas Price & AT & T U-Verse Email Sending Problem

I thought the installation of my new AT & T Internet/TV system had been successful. So, I took off, unaware I was leaving an email problem behind.

On the way to my destination I needed gas. Yesterday I'd seen it at $2.57. There was a long line to save a few cents on a few gallons of gas. So, today I paid a bit more, but had no line. I think it was $2.65.

As my faithful readers know, when I get gas I call my Mom and Dad. Usually my Mom answers. Today it was Dad. We talked for a long time. Dad hears well when he's on the phone. I don't think my Mom and Dad have heard from my little sister in awhile. I fear they feel she's ignoring them. I mentioned that she's real busy taking care of Little Evie. I try to call Mom and Dad at least once a week. I'm what you call the stereotypical perfect son that most Mom's and Dad's dream they'd have.

I got back here and checked email. I had an email that required a reply. But I could not send. With Charter this was never a problem, but near as I can tell, AT & T is in some deal with the devil known as Yahoo and somehow their email is entwined like some demon marriage that produces evil spawn.

I Googled for help. I am not alone. I think AT & T and Yahoo want to make it difficult so you'll use the Yahoo email program and thus be exposed to ads. I, in my innocent, ignorant naivete, thought that AT & T was a legit ISP, that they were just my broadband portal to the Internet. I didn't realize they also were going to play the role of Internet Spam Nanny Cop.

That's what I read more than once. The send blocking is intended to filter spam. I can go through some bizarrely byzantine process to validate up to 10 non-Yahoo email addresses from which I would be allowed to send email via the AT & T/Yahoo connection.

Why was I not informed of this? Does anyone have a solution? Besides begging Charter for forgiveness. But I like the TV part of this deal.

Bye Bye Charter Communications, Hello AT & T U-Verse

Exactly on time 2 AT & T installers showed up, a guy and a gal. Everything about them reeked of quality. They even put on these plastic bootie things when they came inside, so as to not to muddy up the carpets. Even though it isn't muddy outside.

Initially they said the install would take up to 3 hours. But they were done in way less than 2. My entire old network system is gone, including the new router I bought 3 weeks ago. The new system is wireless.

The DVR thing looks like it will take some getting used to. But it isn't like I watch a lot of TV. I like the picture in a picture option. That seems useful. The picture quality is much better too.

After the AT & T people left I had the pleasure of calling Charter Communications to cancel them. I got an American on the phone rather quickly, rather than some random Joe in a foreign land. The customer service person tried see if I'd stay if she could sweeten the deal. I told her, honey, it's already done, I'm using AT & T now.

She had the nerve to ask why I switched. As if she didn't know people aren't happy with Charter. So I told her I didn't like losing things like TCM and Bravo along with a rate increase, that AT & T I-verse was cheaper and I got way more, as in 2 DVR player things, a wireless system and way better service.

The Charter person told me I needed to return the modem that apparently I was leasing. I told her she could have someone pick it up. She was not cooperative with that concept. But what are they gonna do? Cancel my service? Nope, that's already been taken care of.

Mineral Wells Baker Hotel May Be Saved

In my first year in Texas, when it was still all new to me and I was still enjoying going out and about and exploring my new world, I came upon the town of Mineral Wells, about 40 miles west of Fort Worth.

Before driving into Mineral Wells I went to Mineral Wells State Park and discovered my first scenic thing in Texas, that being Penitentiary Hollow. Penitentiary Hollow is a maze of cliffs and caves where a lot of rock climbing takes place.

After I was done exploring the state park I drove into Mineral Wells. Ahead of me I saw this giant, totally out of place, building. When I got back to a computer I quickly learned it was the infamous Baker Hotel. A resort hotel that sprang up in the 1920s which attracted all sorts of celebrities, drawn to the supposed curative powers of what was called Crazy Water.

Years later, in the 60s, it was discovered that Crazy Water's curative powers came from the naturally occurring lithium present in the water. The government shut it down. The Baker Hotel gradually died.

Over the years there have been attempts to restore the Baker Hotel. Always with good intentions. But it always falls apart. The latest attempt was announced yesterday. It seems like this attempt might be viable. The plan is to remodel the Baker Hotel into a mixed use building with various levels of senior type housing and elderly care.

I'm guessing that once the renovation plan is costed out the people interested will decide it's not viable. I hope not, though.

Dallas Cowboy Con Job

Yet one more letter to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from a disgruntled Texan cranky at what was done in Arlington to get Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys a new stadium.

I particularly liked the heading on this letter. "Cowboy Con Job."

Here's the letter.......

Cowboy con job

The latest Pacman Jones debacle has the silver-tongued Jerry Jones describing it as a personal thing. This is the same silver-tongued mega-wealthy man who conned the Arlington taxpayers into paying for a new mega-stadium for him. No matter that eminent domain displaced many out of their homes for a mega-stadium parking lot. The emperors of Rome offered free bread and games to keep the masses happy, so it follows that the Arlington taxpayer will get the same benefits.

Jones will charge mega-prices to watch his band of not-so-merry men, and not one dime will arrive in the taxpayers’ mailbox in the form of a royalty check. It seems that Jones will hire anybody if it means winning a Super Bowl.

-- Alexandra W. Wolf, Fort Worth

Getting Rid Of Charter Communications

If all goes well, by later today I should be able to report that I am rid of Charter Communications and that my new AT & T U-verse Internet and TV cable system is working.

Charter annoyed its customers across the country in July when they arbitrarily moved several popular channels, like TCM and Bravo to new locations not accessible without some sort of converter.

Calling Charter about the missing channels got you to some foreign land where gibberish was spoken and the call quickly became an attempt to sell Charter phone service.

Last week to compound the aggravation Charter had the gall to send a letter detailing a price increase! Lesser service now at a greater price.

With this AT & T U-verse thing I get a DVR, whatever that is, that can record 4 channels at once. I can't imagine having 4 things on TV at the same time that I'd want to watch. And I'll have TCM and Bravo back viewable. Just in time for the new season of Top Chef.

Chesapeake Energy Cancels Shale.TV

Falling prices has Chesapeake Energy and the other gas drillers doing some major changing. As in stopping the poking a hole in the ground process at some locations. I've seen one pull out in my neighborhood.

And now Chesapeake Energy is cancelling their controversial Shale.TV show.

A well known Dallas/Fort Worth TV news guy named Tracy Rowlett had been hired to be the face of Shale.TV. There was a lot of local derision about his decision to be a shill for Chesapeake Energy. Rowlett becoming a Chesapeake shill had closely followed the ill-fated Chesapeake ad campaign that used actor Tommy Lee Jones. That ad campaign caused a lot of controversy due to its over the top ridiculousness.

Jerri Robbins, Chesapeake's public relations manager, said the move comes in response to the “economic challenges” faced by the country and the industry.

I wonder if we'll get to see all the Chesapeake Energy signs removed from the Fort Worth buses soon? That'd be nice.

Hiking Turner Falls Park and Dinosaur Valley State Park

A day or two ago, maybe three, maybe yesterday, I made mention of what I thought was the fact that every time I went biking, hiking or roller blading with Gar the Texan he got a case of the vapors that would cause a swoon-like collapse.

Well, I totally wrongly disparaged Gar the Texan's record regarding doing anything that requires physical exertion and its resulting bad case of the vapors.

I'd forgotten I went hiking with Gar the Texan down at Dinosaur Valley State Park. It was a long hike up steep trails. He did not get a case of the vapors. If I remember right he was gung-ho to take off on another section of trail. But I was hungry and ready to quit hiking.

There was a second time that Gar the Texan hiked around without getting the vapors that I also forgot about. Now, that second time he did get a case of the vapors, but it occurred on the drive north to the hiking destination, that being Turner Falls Park up in Oklahoma.

By the time we got to Turner Falls, Gar the Texan was totally over his vapor bout and was a hiking machine, including climbing a steep cliff to get to a cave and at another point standing on top of a pinnacle. I am a bit of an acrophobe, but Gar the Texan, despite his potential for getting a case of the vapors at an inopportune time, was willing to be quite risky.

I even recollect he ran up and down the rock stairway of the Turner Falls Castle.

So, to set the record straight, the Gar the Texan cases of the vapors occurred on 2 different bike rides up by Lake Grapevine, once at the Horseshoe Trails that involved a spectacular wreck and another time at the other end of the lake that didn't involve a spectacular wreck, just a case of the vapors.

Then there was a bike ride along the Trinity Trails, going from the Fort Worth Stockyards to downtown Fort Worth's Heritage Park. This incident was a very bad case of the vapors and included Gar the Texan taking on a sort of green tint.

I previously mentioned the Gar the Texan case of the vapors that occurred a few minutes into, as far as I know, his only roller blading attempt.

Okay, I've now set the record totally straight regarding Gar the Texan's vapor cases history.

Very Scary Halloween Worthy Video

Sweetwater Texas Rattlesnake Roundup

There is a town called Sweetwater out in the eastern end of West Texas. I was last in Sweetwater in 2002 to go to the Rattlesnake Roundup. At that time Sweetwater was a run down town that had seen better days. Since my last visit I understand Sweetwater has turned into a bit of a boomtown due to all the Wind Farms that have sprouted up.

My one and only visit to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup occurred about a week after I got my first video camcorder. The video I made of that visit was the first I put on YouTube. It has generated some interesting comments. With a fresh one today being the most well-reasoned among them.

Two hours ago leotheroach had this to say....

Rattlesnakes are relatively slow to mature, have only modest litters, and are already adversely affected by habitat destruction and persecution. These events remove thousands of animals, including large numbers of reproductively mature animals. Since rattlesnakes are an apex predator, a sudden decline in their population could have ecological consequences, particularly for the rodents they typically feed on.

A week ago dumdeedum2 had this to say...

I hate hate hate snakes. But this annual event - especially the snake taunting - seems very cruel and unnecessary.

A month ago FuzzyLogic0101 had this to say...

Animal abuse. . .period! These people have no idea what impact on the environment this causes. For that matter the thought never crossed their mind about the environment. I definitely understand and feel garter10895 anger on this, It's disturbing. I unfortunately live in Alabama where they hold one of these horrid events. It's in Opp, Alabama. The name is about the same size of the town. Morons...

4 months ago DNR001 had this to say...

It amazes me how people can spend one day torturing and making a mockery out of some of God's most fascinating animals and wake up and go to church the next day. Not only are rattlesnake round-ups cruel and inhumane, they are also very destructive to the environment. Habitats are thoughtlessly destroyed. Gasoline is sprayed into dens and burrows, driving snakes out, but this also kills many other animals that use them as shelter. Humans use and abuse this snake for their entertainment.

5 months ago yikeroo3 had this to say...

Okay, I do not like snakes. This event is very creepy to me.

5 months ago idn had this to say...

Pathetic display. Get bitten please.

6 months ago tjensensandiego had this to say...

what is wrong with these perverts?

6 months ago garter10895 had this to say...

this rattlesnake roundup is a sick sick ****ing thing you all know what causes sickness in food right, its mice and rats, which they eat, and of your worried about them remember that hawks eat them, and this is inhumane, and soon they will shut it down!!!

7 months ago avbiker had this to say...

jus to say first no they cant use the venom for anti venom its 3 different snakes in one jar and its not steril and its crule lets see how many snakes we can slaughter heres a cool show they could try bring out there inbred hick kids and see how fuckin deformed they are thats a good show.

Below is the video that generated the comments.

Unstoppable Woman™ Mentoring Conference

There is this Unstoppable Woman in Dallas named Dina Moor. I made her an Unstoppable Woman website a year or two ago.

For the past few months the Unstoppable Woman has been preparing to hold a meeting in Plano this coming November 3 called the "Unstoppable Woman™ Mentoring Conference."

Unstoppable Women from all over North Texas will be there, including an appearance by Laura Bush. And an astronaut. I don't know if the astronaut is an Unstoppable Woman or not.

Okay. I'm done with my shameless Unstoppable Woman plug now.

Roller Blading at Quanah Parker Park

Up til about 2 years ago I did a lot of roller blading. It's fun. And good exercise.

On August 11 of 2004 I had a scary roller blading incident that still gives me nightmares. I was up in Washington. On both my birthday and the day I was to fly back to Texas my ex-wife convinced me it'd be fun for me to go roller blading with her riding her bike.

She led me to a nearby park that was an access point to a long paved trail through the woods. She did not tell me the trail started with a long long long steep, very steep downhill.

By the time I realized how steep the hill was it was too late to come to a stop. I rode the brakes as long as I could. When the speed became too fast I had to release the brakes and just try and ride it out. It was awful. I must have hit at least 40 mph. I made it down the hill and started to slow down, to maybe 20 mph, when I came to a wooden bridge. I thought, this is it, I'm gonna crash.

But I didn't.

I was back here in Texas and about a month after my ex-wife tried to kill me I was roller blading at Village Creek Park and had my worst roller blade crash ever. Scraped a huge area of skin off my butt and made the worst bruise I'd ever had. It was months before I got on the blades again.

And then about 2 years ago I had a bike wreck, followed by a minor roller blade wreck. I decided to give up roller blading. Bike wrecks are quick to recover from, roller blading wrecks have always been worse for me.

But, despite resolving to never get on blades again, today I did. I went to the park nearest where I live, Quanah Parker Park. It's got a large paved trail that makes a circle and a connector trail that goes to another paved trail. The photos are from today's roller blading at Quanah Parker Park.

Quanah Parker is a famous Comanche chief. All sorts of things in Texas are named after him, including Parker County. That's where Weatherford is. Quanah Parker's mother, Cynthia Ann Parker, was a white woman who had been kidnapped as a young girl and grew up to adopt the Indian ways. There was a battle with Quanah's tribe and after it was over the Texas Rangers discovered Cynthia. They took her back to her family. Cynthia wanted to return to the Indians. Eventually, with a broken heart, she starved herself to death.

Enough of the history lesson, back to the present and roller blading.

I was wobbly at first, but it's like riding a bike, it comes back to you real fast. Some people have a hard time learning to roller blade. Way back when I thought it'd be fun to have someone to go roller blading with. So, I was somehow convinced to buy Gar the Texan roller blades. If I remember right I went roller blading with him one time. At a park right by his house. He made it about 30 feet and then got a case of the vapors and had to sit down on a bench.

After about an hour of sitting on the bench Gar the Texan had enough strength back to want to go to the bar at Chili's. I never went bike riding, hiking or roller blading with Gar the Texan where the physical exertion did not cause a case of the vapors. It makes me wonder how he manages to do his husbandly bedroom duties without these type incidents.

Google Adsense Not Making Sense Or Cents

I think I've mentioned my frustration with Google AdSense and Feedburner. Feedburner's monetize option has never worked right. And then they got bought by Google.

When I'd log into Google AdSense I'd get reminders that I could monetize my blog. When I first tried, nothing happened. Then last week there was a change. I was able to burn my blog. Whatever that means.

At first the burned blog just showed up as a blank page. And then a few days later it showed up as a burned blog.

I'd gone through the steps to puts ads on the feed burned blog. But no ads showed up in the feed version of my blog.

And then yesterday the ads showed up in the blog feed. One of my emailers emailed me telling me something was screwy with the ads on my blog feed. I guess she managed to somehow subscribe to the new feed in the short time it was working.

So, if you click on an ad you get this message....

"We’re sorry.The advertiser link you clicked on is no longer available.

What happened?

This publisher features feed advertising links provided by Google AdSense.Occasionally, if an advertisement has been left open in a web page or feed reader for too long, the campaign has ended and the link to the advertiser’s page no longer works. This happened to you just now. We apologize for the inconvenience and salute your unlikely timing!"

You get the above message whatever ad gets clicked on. My AdSense stats are telling me that there have been 100s of ad impressions from the feed. And not a single click. By comparison my regular non-feed blog gets many clicks per 100s of impressions. So, something is clearly amok. I'm assuming it will eventually be fixed, just like all the previous annoynances.

In the meantime, click here to see my newly burned blog feed. But don't bother clicking an ad, no matter how intriguing it looks, because all you'll get is the above error message saluting you for your unlikely timing.

But. If you can, please explain to me why a feed is preferable to just going to a blog the usual way? I don't get it.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's Bail-Out Plan Stutters

A few days ago I said I had trouble understanding Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson due to all the stuttering and stammering he was doing while answering questions at a news conference.

I did not know at the time that Secretary Paulson is well-known for overcoming the hurdle of having a speech impediment. I just thought he was really nervous, overwhelmed and not used to be under such a high pressure spotlight.

I did say that I thought someone in such a position should have good communication skills, particularly when explaining something that is difficult to understand. It seems like good speaking skills would be part of the job description.

And no, I don't think someone with a speech impediment should in any way be denied whatever his talents lead him to do. But I don't think a blind person should fly airplanes. That's not in anyway discriminating against blind people, it's just common sense.

And now the bail-out plan that Henry Paulson was trying to explain has itself stuttered and morphed into something else, with the U.S. Government buying a piece of various banks, copying what the Brits are doing.

It doesn't inspire much confidence, in this voter, that there seems to be so much floundering about by those who supposedly understand this mess way better than I do.

And I'm not really all that comfortable with this Paulson guy being the government spokesman, guiding us to understand it all. As evidenced by the video below....

Texas Miscellaneous & The 3 Day Walk

It's not even 3 in the afternoon and I'm exhausted. I feel like I'm going in two directions at once.

Yesterday I was talked into doing this, well, let's call it a charity type thing. This involved getting up real early. About 2 hours into being charitable I found I was not feeling all that charitable.

So. I left.

Because of the early morning charitable departure I missed my regular barely post-dawn swim in icy water. I decided to go on a mid-morning icy swim. That went well and the combo adrenalin/endorphin injection put me in a better frame of mind. But I did not like it that the air was so much warmer than the water. I prefer the reverse.

I got back in here and decided to work on webpages. Though I wasn't in the mood. Yesterday I'd added pages to my Eyes on Texas website. Two of those were faking like I'd eaten at restaurants in San Antonio and Austin. Well, I have eaten at one restaurant in each of those towns, but not the dozens that the webpages I made yesterday imply. Now the one I'd made earlier about the D/FW Metroplex zone, those I'd been to.

I tried to move on to Houston and El Paso, but didn't.

Instead I decided it was time for yoga, which I skipped yesterday, which caused an aching back by mid-afternoon, due to too many hours of sitting at the same place I'm at right now.

After yoga I went to Village Creek to go on a walk. There I met a large group of women looking suspicious. You don't usually see large groups of either men or women at this park. So I asked what are you girls standing around looking so suspicious for?

They told me they were doing a practice 18 mile walk for the upcoming 3 Day Susan G. Komen Walk For The Cure event coming up in Dallas. I asked if they were all cancer survivors. Several either raised their hands or nodded yes. I told them I was too. Then they asked how many years. When I told them they got all happy and congratulatory. As if I had anything to do with it.

Last year the Metroplex's turn at the 3 Day Walk was centered at River Legacy Park. It was quite an impressive spectacle. I've never seen so many matching tents. Cancer survivors share some sort of bond, I suppose like war veterans do. (go to the River Legacy link and you'll see photos from the 3 Day)

When I left Village Creek Park I went to Wal-Mart. It's right on the way back here. I had no disturbing incidents at Wal-Mart, no crazy ladies yelling at me or ripped flags. The self-checkout's debit card reader wasn't working so I had to use cash. I'm glad I had some.

I was barely back here when Miss Puerto Rico called me, in full Latino Mad Mode. She'd been fighting with her boss, fighting with a co-worker and all upset due to some notice being missing. I could make little sense of it, but told her I'd come over with ice later to cool her down.

So, that's my day so far. Maybe I'll be feeling more charitable in the morning. And I do have Columbus Day to look forward to. Columbus Day is just about my favorite day of the year....

Lulu's Earnest Inquiry Regarding the State of my Shrinkage

Yesterday I blogged about continuing to swim, despite the water getting ever closer to freezing. I swam this morning just as the sun was rising. At midnight we were at 65 here. When I went swimming it was 59.

In a comment regarding yesterday's cold swim, one of my favorite Georgia Peaches, Miss Lulu asked...

"Do you ever experience "shrinkage"? Too personal I acknowledge, but inquiring minds..."

Well, thank you very much for your concern, Miss Lulu. I know there was some worrying out there that I was continuing to lose weight. And that swimming in icy water was a huge calorie burner, likely exacerbating the problem.

I am happy to report that my weight loss problem has stabilized. I've come back a few pounds from the low that threatened to take me below the 160 zone. I fixed the problem by making myself eat more.

Oh. A second glance at Miss Lulu's comments makes me wonder if it was not the Big Me she was concerned about shrinking, but the Little Me.

I guess I can speak to that serious issue as well as my overall shrinkage. I think when first introduced to ultra cold water Little Me did not like it at all and tried to hide. But day after day of this aversion therapy seems to have caused Little Me to buck up and take the cold like a man. And, what little retreating the Little Guy still does, he quickly recovers as soon as he senses he's in a warm safe place. Like the shower.

I hope that answers your question Miss Lulu. If you'd like photo documentation for your research it can be provided.

Chesapeake Energy's Propaganda Artists

Every time I blog something and mention Chesapeake Energy, within a very short time, I start seeing blog readers pop up from Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City is where Chesapeake Energy is based.

Shortly after I see readers pop up from Oklahoma City I often receive comments that seem rather obviously to have originated from Chesapeake Energy shills.

Now, Chesapeake Energy used to be more ham-handed about this, using the same boilerplate blog comment response on various blogs. Like their long comment suggesting I was an Archie Bunker stuck in the 70s. Texas Sharon and who knows how many others got that same comment.

Chesapeake Energy seems to have figured out that this was backfiring on them because we used their over the top comments to make fun of them.

So, Chesapeake Energy's shills seem to have adopted a new tactic. But it needs some fine tuning.

Yesterday I blogged about Chesapeake Energy's destruction of part of the Tandy Hills. Soon after that I got the following comments.

First, from the ubiquitous Anonymous....

is someone bitter about not getting a royalty check?

Second, from wolfcry44...

looks beautiful to me

Note how both comments are in the exact same style. No capitals. One short pithy sentence.

Now, Chesapeake, I know you can do better than this. Let's put better effort into it. I'll surely share whatever you come up with....

Part VI In My Ongoing Obesity Series

Alma, the Songbird of the South, sends me funny stuff. Today, among other funny stuff was this one, the theme of which is why NFL Quarterbacks should keep their names short...

Photo Evidence of Chesapeake Energy Tandy Hills Destruction

I was able to get a vantage point from the east overlooking the large area of the Tandy Hills that Chesapeake Energy is bulldozing for the Scott Avenue Gas Drilling Site that Chesapeake Energy calls the "Thomas 1H Well." The photos do not do justice to how large the bulldozing area is. As you can see the operation is already kicking up some dust. The skyline of downtown Fort Worth is a short distance to the west.

What other major city in America would allow a natural landscape like this, so close to the heart of its downtown, to be bulldozed like this? At the same time proclaiming the gas drilling being a great money maker for the city. While libraries are scaled back.

In the photo below you can see the barrier put at the end of Scott Avenue. Just past that barrier is where the piece of Guerilla Art Work known as "Mother Nature" sits.

Deep-Fried Turkey in Texas

( With a bit over a week to go til Thanksgiving I Blogged again about Deep-Fried Turkey )

Before I moved to Texas this perverse Texan named Julene tried intensely via email to discourage me from invading her state. She told me all sorts of things that she thought would scare me off. Obviously she failed.

But I remember one thing she told me that I was sure she was making up, that being that in Texas a lot of people deep fry their Thanksgiving turkey. Or buy it from a restaurant already deep-fried.

I did not see how such a thing could be. That and it sounded disgusting. Not as disgusting as this year's State Fair of Texas Big Tex Choice Award winner being deep-fried battered thick bacon. But close to that disgusting.

It was not long upon my arrival in Texas that I saw Turkey Frying Kits for sale.

And it was not long after that that I bought one. I was shocked to see it with my own eyes, that in about a half an hour a big turkey, that would take an oven hours to roast, is done and ready to eat.

And good. As in really good. And not at all greasy. That next summer we had a pool party and deep-fried 15 chickens. That was a production.

I wonder whatever became of that Julene person who tried to convince me not to come to Texas?

I'll wonder about that and let you watch the amusing video below that is all about frying a turkey...or go to my Texas website for more Deep Frying Turkey info and recipes...

Fort Worth Gas Price War Spreads

One of my two favorite Chippys, the renowned Texas cowgirl booted Miss Lulu from Georgia commented regarding her annoyance at the fact that gas is practically being given away for free here in Fort Worth, while her zone of Georgia, that being the greater Atlanta metro zone, has been plagued with shortages and high prices.

Today, while heading towards Tandy Hills Park to do some investigative hiking trying to document the extent of the damage that Chesapeake Energy is doing to that rare urban ecosystem, I saw that the gas at the Tandy Hills neighorhood gas station had fallen to the lowest I've seen in awhile. $2.83.

Speaking of the Chippys, Lulu and Lauri, go to their blog and read all about the amusing adventures they had coming, being in and leaving Texas. They will be back in Texas in 6 months. If the border patrol lets them in.

Meanwhile, by tomorrow I suspect I'll find gas under $2.50.

Big Cheese Rodent Factory Has 3 Weeks To Quit Stinking

Last night the Fort Worth City Council, aka Fort Worth's Ruling Junta, gave the owners of the Big Cheese Rodent Factory 3 weeks to quit stinking up their neighborhood.

The Rodent Factory was given something called "planned development" zoning, instead of the "industrial zoning" the Rodent Factory owners had requested.

The new zoning lets the mouse breeders keep on breeding in their Rosemont neighborhood factory in south Fort Worth. The smell must be gone by November 1.

The Big Cheese Rodent Factory sells between 500,000 and 600,000 rats and mice a month. The rodents go to research, zoo food for snakes and birds and other uses.

An investigation by Fort Worth's Environmental Department (I'm shocked Fort Worth has such a department) found that the Rodent Factory's stench violated the Texas nuisance standard for odors.

Apparently the Big Cheese Rodent Factory reeks of an ammonia-like smell.

It will be interesting to see if the Rodent Factory stops stinking by November 1. And what Fort Worth does about it when the problem continues.

I'd blogged about the Big Cheese Rodent Factory previously.

Fort Worth's Stockyard Ruins Went Up In Animal Fat Flames

Adjacent to Fort Worth's #1 tourist attraction, that being the Fort Worth Stockyards, there is an area of sprawling ruins, the site of the former Swift-Armor meat packing plant, where cattle driven to the Stockyards met their final fate.

The Stockyard's Ruins is such an aesthetically interesting looking thing that one would think that something would be done with them. I don't know, maybe preserve the ruins, but build touristy things among them, like restaurants. Maybe they are just too unsafe and it's best to let them continue their gradual decay.

The only creative use I know of, regarding the Stockyard Ruins, is the Fox TV show Prison Break used it as the set of Sona Prison in Panama during that show's second and third season. Prison Break has now abandoned the Stockyards Ruins.

The reason I've mentioned the Ruins today is yesterday I got Feedback regarding them from someone calling himself CM Waring and claiming to have an answer as to what happened that made the ruins.

Here is what CM had to tell me....

"The Stockyards ruins were victims of arson fires, 2, in 1971 and 1973. The amount of animal fat in the buildings left the fires unable to be extinguished. They just let it burn out. I was long interested in how the ruins got in the state it's been for decades. I had to do plenty of digging to get that info, and I couldn't tell you where I finally found it. It was not easy."

I don't know. You don't really see signs of what looks like a big fire at the Stockyard Ruins. It more looks like a massive earthquake shook it all. But they don't get earthquakes here. Maybe a tornado struck it. Or maybe it was a huge animal fat fire. The mystery continues...

Swimming in the Cold in Texas on October 9

The overnight low was 53. The temperature at midnight was 66. When I went swimming this morning the air temperature was 58.

I'm guessing you can intuit from this that the water was cold. And yet I continue to be amazed that once I get past the jolting first minute it then feels good. For about 20 minutes.

I think the initial shock of cold causes an adrenalin rush that makes it work. Maybe followed by some sort of endorphin inflow like what happens after you do something aerobic for an hour. Only this cold water thing speeds it up.

All I know for sure is this is the latest in the year I've continued swimming. It makes me feel real good. And I"m gonna keep doing it. Til I freeze.

When I told my wimpy sister in Phoenix that I was still swimming she told me she'd bailed on her pool when it got too cold when the nighttime lows got into the 70s and the daytime highs got in the low 90s. I told her to give her icy water a try, that she might like it. I doubt she will give it a try though. Because she has access to my mom and dad's heated pool.

School Uniforms in Texas

During my investigative trip to Texas, back in May, 1998, checking to see if this was at all something I wanted to do, as in move to Texas, I was tasked with taking a teenager, 15, to his first day of school.

This was a kid who had been going to Mount Vernon High School in Mount Vernon, Washington.

He was about to experience his first dose of Texas culture shock. He wore what he wore to school in Washington. A t-shirt and cargo shorts and his skateboard shoes. He carried his skateboard with him, intending to ride it home.

I dropped him off. A few minutes later I got a call that I had to come pick him up. He was not properly dressed. He needed a shirt and long pants. And skateboards were not allowed at school. When I went to pick him up I saw a lot of high school girls dressed like they could have been working Harry Hines Boulevard. Of course, at that point in time I had no idea what Harry Hines Boulevard was. I was to much later learn it is an area of Dallas where you can hire ladies of ill repute to do some things best not detailed in this venue.

Several years went by. The Dropping Pants thing started happening. Gang colors became an issue. And then one year the schools in my zone of North Texas imposed a 'School Uniform' policy. A very strict policy detailing precisely what can be worn. White shirts, tucked in. Jeans properly around the waist. Girls with skirts of appropriate length. No cleavage.

I've seen the kids in their uniforms. While I do get the argument as to why this is a good idea, to me the good is outweighed by the bad. In that it seems totally un-American. In America we are encouraged to be individualistic. To me how you dress is as much a freedom as freedom of speech. It's a form of self-expression.

It seems wrong to me to suppress this form of self-expression.

I do think it is appropriate for schools to have some standards. As in girls can not come to school dressed like hookers. No hot pants. No droopy drawers on boys. No t-shirts with obscenities. But if you want to wear an 'Obama' t-shirt to school. Or an 'I Love Jesus' t-shirt to school, no one should be able to tell you no. Not in a public school.

I can understand why a lot of parents like this school uniform thing. It makes life easier for them. And cheaper. But if I were a parent I would not like being told how my kid had to dress. That would just irritate me.

Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal Comments

The cases of victims of Jerry Jones and Arlington's abuse of eminent domain continue to work their way through the court system. The new Dallas Cowboy stadium continues to grow on top of the site of the victim's former homes.

The sense that something very wrong was done here continues to grow.

There has yet to be any sign that Jerry Jones possesses any form of a normal human conscience. None of the victims, so far, have been invited to the new stadium's opening celebration. Or a football game.

Meanwhile, this week I got a rare pro-stadium comment regarding the comments others have made on my website regarding the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal. Previously pro-comments have been borderline illiterate and hard to understand. But this one was articulate and sort of funny. I also got a semi-pro-comment to my YouTube video of the stadium under construction, from one of the victims. This victim seems happy he was forced to move.

First the comment from my website, followed by the YouTube comment and the YouTube video being commented on....

"Wow what a bunch of whiners... I bet in the long run the people who object about the stadium are probably trying to get something out of Jerry Jones. Why don't you guys just give up and go on about your business. The stadium will be built and nothing you can do or say will stop it now. It's beautiful~ and I'm proud it's in my city. If you live in Arlington you should be proud as well. We live in a society of the majority rules (unless it's the Presidential Election) and the majority of people in Arlington want the stadium exactly where it is being built. You whiners probably live in Dallas anyway and can't figure out how Arlington Texas outmaneuvered in the stadium deal. I'm only hoping Jerry Jones has the balls to change the name to "The Arlington Cowboys" ~ Maybe I'll bring that up at the next town hall meeting."

The following is the comment on the video. It's more the norm of the pro-stadium comments...

"yay no more ranger's field fireworks blasting off right outside my window. city kickin us out had to be the greatest day off my life. mansfield is such a better city"

Gas Price War Breaks Out In Fort Worth

Lucky me. My zone of Fort Worth, that being the eastside, has had a gas war break out down on Lancaster Avenue. As you can see from the photo it's under $3.

There are pumps on both sides of the Race Track gas store. Goofballs coming from the west were backed up onto the street, waiting their turn for relatively cheap gas.

Meanwhile on the east side of the store I drove right up to a pump and started pumping.

Awhile back Gar the Texan blogged about the absurdity of waiting in a long line to save a dime on a gallon of gas, as if your time had no value, nor did the gas you wasted waiting in line.

I suck at math and keep in mind I didn't wait in line. The cheapest I saw gas today, other than the gas war zone, was $3.19. So, I got it for a quarter cheaper than that. My tank holds 25 gallons. Okay, like I said, I suck at math. I need to get the calculator. I saved $6.25 over the $3.19 station. Plus I found a dime on the ground while I was pumping, which brings my total net gain to $6.35.

I was feeling so fortunate, as soon as I was done pumping, I called my mom in Phoenix with my regular gas report. She was also very happy to hear about the dime.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Stutters and Stammers Too Much

Okay, I'll admit I have a personal problem with not liking it when someone stutters and stammers and says 'um' a lot. I always think, why don't you get your thoughts in order before you put your mouth in motion. It really is probably one of my pet peeves.

So, I turned on the TV while I ate lunch. All the cable news stations were covering Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's news conference live.

I have seldom, if ever, witnessed a public figure, in a position of such responsibility, stutter and stammer as much as this guy. It did not inspire confidence. Quite the opposite. Where did George W. find this one? Same place he got that Brownie guy that George thought did such a good job during the Katrina debacle?

I am aware it shows extreme shallowness on my part, but I'm just not comfortable with the idea of letting someone who stutters and stammers oversee the spending of $700 billion with a who knows if it's a good idea plan to save the world from total economic meltdown.

We live in scary times. Meanwhile I got gas today for under 3 bucks a gallon.

John McCain's Rage is a National Security Concern

Fort Worth Dumbness About ZLB Plasma

I recently learned yet one more thing that makes me cranky about how the Ruling Junta of Fort Worth runs things in this backwater town that doesn't know that that's what it is.

In one neighborhood of Fort Worth the residents can not get the city to shut down something that is making them miserable due to the smells coming from the Big Cheese Rodent Factory. Yes, the city is allowing a mice breeding operation where people live.

Meanwhile in my area of Fort Worth a company named ZLB Plasma has a branch office doing a good deed. They are so successful they bought a nearby bigger building to move their operation to so they could do even more good deeds.

But, the city of Fort Worth's Ruling Junta thinks this business attracts an unsavory crowd that lingers in McDonald's and the bus stop and make residents nervous. At least that's part of the excuse given to denying a permit to open a bigger clinic in a bigger building which would attract even more unsavory characters.

ZLB Plasma extracts blood plasma from willing donors. Plasma is used to make products that treat patients suffering from bleeding disorders, immune deficiencies, shock, trauma and burns.

There is an urgent, critical need for products that can only be made from plasma.

Every day, but Sunday, 100s of people show up at my neighborhood ZLB Plasma clinic to do a good thing. They are paid $25-$40 per donation. If you donate plasma a second time in one week they give you $40, one time you get $25.

So, you've got all these people, healthy people, well-tested before plasma is drawn, willing to do this good deed. You've got a company willing to locate in Fort Worth to do this good deed.

And you've got an idiotic city bureaucracy that does not work with them, instead, works against them. ZLB had no idea what sort of backwater place they were dealing with. They naively went ahead and bought the new, bigger building. Likely because the company had never been located in a place where permission to make a move to a bigger building would be denied.

Someone needs to overthrow Fort Worth's Ruling Junta and install a working democracy. I think maybe the Ruling Junta is running a WMD operation at the Big Cheese Rodent Factory. Time for some pre-emptive striking for the greater good of the good citizens of Fort Worth. America, please takeover this town. You'll be welcomed as liberators. I'm almost certain of that.

Disneyland and Six Flags Over Texas

Since my first visit when I was 13, Disneyland has been one of my favorite places. There was a time when I'd go to Disneyland just about every year. In the Los Angeles zone I also had fun at Knott's Berry Farm and Magic Mountain. I was a theme park fan.

When I moved to Texas I thought I'd be getting an annual pass to Six Flags Over Texas and go there multiple times during the year. But that was before I actually went to Six Flags Over Texas. Sadly, it is no Disneyland.

That old bald man you see above is sort of Six Flags mascot. While Disneyland has Mickey and Minnie.

Disneyland creates its own world, with the outside shut out. Walls keep you from seeing the outside world at Disneyland. At Six Flags Over Texas you can view the outside world through cyclone fence topped with barbed wire. Like a prison.

The entry into Disneyland is very efficient. You pass through the gates and walk under a railway and suddenly you are looking at Main Street with a castle at the end of the street. You know you're somewhere special. At Six Flags you go through a clunky entry that opens to a little plaza with an old Carousel spinning around.

Disneyland is neat and tidy. No chipped paint. No litter. Everything bright, shiny and clean. Six Flags has water with litter floating, broken TVs hanging above you while you wait in line, areas in need of paint, dead landscaping.

Six Flags Over Texas is very odd with the theming. The area that is supposed to be France is the closest Six Flags comes to Disneyland's quality level. Mexico has some stuff that looks Mexican and other things that seem out of place. I don't know in which 'country' the log ride is, but it is one disturbing ride. Because it's supposed to be in a north woods type setting, the water is dyed an unnatural shade of blue. Disneyland's log ride is quite elaborate, Six Flags is barebone.

The first visit to Six Flags I got in for free. A few years later I got another free pass. That was the year the Titan Hypercoaster opened. There had been some improvements. More flowers, less things in need of paint, cleaner. But the landscaping for the new Titan ride appeared to be dying due to lack of water. I've never seen anything dead or dying at Disneyland.

After the first visit to Six Flags I never again entertained the notion that I'd like an annual pass. I don't know that I'd go again even if I got paid to go.

A one day pass to Disneyland costs about $70. Six Flags Over Texas is under $30 if you buy online, $49.99 if you buy your ticket at the park. You get what you pay for. Compared to Six Flags, Disneyland is a bargain. Only 20 bucks more for an excellent high quality experience, vs. a glorified carnival.

Let's Talk About Libraries Fort Worth

Last week I mentioned that the Ruling Junta of Fort Worth was holding their final "Let's Talk Fort Worth" meeting. This had been a series of town hall type deals where the citizens of Fort Worth could let the Junta know what they're thinking. This current "Let's Talk Fort Worth" was the 3rd time in about 50 years the Ruling Junta has solicited such citizen opinions.

Today is the day the Ruling Junta puts its full page ad in the Star-Telegram, called "City Page." Under the headline, "Residents Share Their Dreams at Let's Talk Fort Worth," there is an embarrassing propagandish version of what the citizens of Fort Worth had to tell the Ruling Junta. There is no mention of the large protest that preceded the meeting during which Fort Worth citizen's let the Junta know what they think of all the gas drilling going on all over town.

The article also made no mention of the many people who verbalized their gas drilling concerns to the Ruling Junta during the Let's Talk meeting.

The following paragraph really rubbed me the wrong way. After you read it I'll tell you why it annoyed me....

"Several speakers praised Fort Worth's quality of life, it's neighborliness and cultural attractions, and its peaceful ambiance and low crime rates. Also mentioned as favorite things about Fort Worth were its thriving downtown and associated entertainment, dining and shopping and the urban villages burgeoning in various parts of the city...."

Before I get to the part about the above that really bugged me I've got to say, first off. Shopping? In downtown Fort Worth? Fort Worth is the only city in America with a population over 400,000 with absolutely no department store downtown. Not a one. Very meager shopping opportunities. Contrast Fort Worth's downtown with smaller in population Seattle. Seattle has at least 3 vertical malls downtown. More than one grocery store. Several department stores, like Nordstroms and dozens of other stores, in addition to Pike Place Market. Seattle has a thriving downtown. Fort Worth has the deadest downtown of any downtown I've ever seen. Just look at photos I took of downtown Fort Worth on the busiest shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving.

Okay, now the thing that really bugs me. Beneath the article on the "City Page," singing the praises of Fort Worth's alleged livability, is another article. This one making note of the city's library's new operating hours. Due to budget shortfalls the city of Fort Worth decided to save money by laying off library employees and cutting back operating hours. Every time I have been in my nearby Fort Worth library it is real busy. Everyone of the computer terminals being used by people I assume don't have a computer. People wait outside the library's entry waiting for it to open.

What sort of city that has any sort of pretension regarding caring about its quality of life would cut back on the access of its citizens to its libraries?

Tonight's Debate Among Other Annoyances

I'm not in the mood to blog about anything. Usually I've got too much I'm in the mood to blog about. But not this morning. Maybe my blah mood is due to a bad dream last night. Maybe it's due to being nervous because the financial meltdown seems to be getting worse. I'm still cranky at Washington Mutual and their bad banking practices.

I only made it through half an hour of Dancing With The Stars last night. I got bored and then I got sleepy. I'm sure I'll try and watch tonight's debate. It's likely McCain, in desperation, is going to be all Mr. Fiesty Pants, accusing Obama of cohorting with terrorists who did bad deeds when Obama was only 7 and living in Hawaii. If the debate turns ugly at least it will likely hold my interest and keep me wake. Appalled, disgusted and awake.

My bad nightmare last night was very very unsettling. I'd blogged yesterday about my aversion to Christmas and family holiday get-togethers. So, last night my nightmare had me up in Lynden at the annual combo Christmas/Birthday party for my long gone Grandma. Well, in the nightmare there was Grandma. It was like I was living it in 3-D. I was glad to see Grandma. I actually sort of enjoyed those times at times. The gift exchange was usually amusing.

And then after I visited Grandma my nightmare turned macabre. My long gone Uncle Ivan, who I really did not know all that well, was there, not looking good. And then I turned to my left and there was Uncle Mel. Uncle Mel has been fighting a battle against prostate cancer for years now. It's a battle he's been gradually losing.

I last saw Uncle Mel at my nephew Jason's wedding in April of 2006. When I turned to look at him Uncle Mel had tears in his eyes and said "I'm so glad I got to see you again." And then he faded away. I woke up instantly, very unsettled and I've been unsettled all morning.

To take my mind off of all my annoyances I have been making webpages like a maniac this morning. Adding all sortsa content to my Eyes on Texas website. That thing is getting way too big. If only I'd designed the original layout with the eventual size in mind, things would be so much easier. But it's like a bad house that someone keeps putting add-ons on til it's like a patchwork of cobbled together messiness, that's perfectly livable, but really could have been done way better. I guess it's not so bad, only I can see the mess, the viewer, not so much.

We are under a high wind alert all day here in North Texas. It's only 66 out there with an hour or so to go til noon. Brrrr. No swimming this morning. It was time to shock the pool. That's pool maintenance talk meaning chemicals had to be mixed in to keep the water all nice and clean.

Christmas in Texas

Today, for the first time this year, I heard a phrase I hate hearing, as in "the Holiday Season is almost here." Said as if this is a good thing.

I've been seeing Halloween stuff in stores for a couple months now. I'm sure if I looked closely I'd see some Thanksgiving stuff. It's probably only a few weeks before Christmas starts its yearly appearance.

I've never enjoyed much about the Holiday Season. Okay, I do like turkey dinner. Last year I got a turkey from Sprouts and made a real good turkey dinner. That's way too much bother. I doubt I'll go through that again this year. Maybe I'll have turkey hot dogs.

People who talk about how busy they are during the Holiday Season, acting sort of like it overwhelms them, with so much to do, annoy me. Why not just opt out if it's too much for you? I pretty much opted out decades ago and I've not suffered too much.

I think, maybe, part of the reason I have an aversion to the Holidays is it always involved way too much family interaction. Going to a combo Christmas/Grandma's Birthday deal a week or so before Christmas. That seeming to come up before I'd recovered from whatever the family Thanksgiving thing for the year happened to be. Followed way too closely by Christmas.

One year for Christmas Eve I had my mom and dad and baby sister over and made Chinese food. That was fun. My baby sister does not remember this, but at the time she was all pleased at the unusual Christmas Eve dinner.

For years my strategy for avoiding Christmas and all it entailed was to simply leave. I spent more than one Christmas in Reno. I enjoyed those Christmases. From Reno I'd go on to LA and have a fine time at Disneyland and playing in the LA zone. I remember the last time I did this was Christmas of 1994. Spent that Christmas at Disneyland. Best Christmas ever.

I did have a good Christmas experience in the year 1999. Right before that millennium thing happened. I'd been up in Washington. It'd been a scary drive north. Way too much ice and snow. So, I decided to return to Texas by heading south down I-5 and then east across the Southwest.

This plan put me on the path to Yuma. Where my mom and dad lived at the time. So, heading south there was much debate along the lines of Disneyland for Christmas. Or Yuma. Yuma won the debate. It turned out to be the right decision. Christmas Eve my dad drove us around Yuma looking at the lights. It was a totally different Christmas. Due to being warm, people were outside, like having a party. These luminaria candle things were everywhere. So many people outside sitting in their yards watching the people drive by.

Christmas morning mom and dad took me to their favorite casino so we could have the 99 cent Senior Citizen Special for breakfast. Me, not being a Senior, but hungry, had 3 of the specials. After the casino we took off for Algadones, Mexico to do some Christmas shopping. That was fun. The best part was watching my mom chasing parking tickets, blowing in the wind, because each one was redeemable at the casino. Which is where we went Christmas night.

Christmas of 1999, in Yuma, may end up being the last time I get to spend Christmas with mom and dad unless I make an effort to get to Phoenix. Phoenix would probably be fun for Christmas. It is very similar to Yuma. Plus they have an In & Out Burger joint. Best burgers ever.

Wal-Mart's Bad Flag Etiquette

I was at the Eastchase Super Wal-Mart today in East Fort Worth to witness another badly abused American flag on display here in Texas. The previous incident was at my nearby U.S. Post Office.

I took several photos of the Wal-Mart flag. When I got back to my vehicle a strange thing happened. A large woman in a large car drove up to me, rolled down her window and started yelling at me, asking why I was taking pictures of her. It was oddly reminiscent of a YouTube video I posted some time back. The large woman in the large car ended her diatribe by taking a photo of me. It was all very unsettling.

Back to the bad Wal-Mart flag. This is what I found when Googling about Flag Etiquette...

"If the edges become tattered through wear, the flag should be repaired or replaced. When a flag is so tattered that can no longer serve as a symbol of the United States, it should be destroyed in a dignified manner, preferably by burning. The American Legion and other organizations regularly conduct dignified flag-burning ceremonies, often on Flag Day, June 14."

Now, I'm not some sort of fanatic about flags. I don't care one way or the other is someone wears a flag pin. But if you're gonna fly the flag it seems really tacky to me to fly one that is all torn up, blowing tattered in the wind, as if it'd been pummelled in a war zone. Wal-Mart should be ashamed. About this bad flag thing too.