Saturday, August 1, 2009

Town Talking And Walking At Quanah Parker Park With Chesapeake Energy Sound Effects

I didn't realize I had not done my usual early morning blogging duty til I got missives from my therapist, Dr. L.C. and the Queen of Wink and others, asking what's wrong with me.

Like I'm going to go into the details of all that is wrong with me.

I had blogged this morning, but it was not on this one, it was on my TV one. On Thursday the new season of Bravo's The Real Housewives of Atlanta started up. During its previous run I did multiple bloggings about that show that got linked all over the place, causing that blog to go on fire. That started happening all over again on Thursday. I'm talking thousands of visitors a day.

Now, I would have thought that to be a good thing, that there'd be a lot of ad clicking. But no, yesterday there was a grand total of 4 clicks. And on this very blog you are reading right now, there were about 700 visitors yesterday, with no clicks. Meanwhile my non-blog website gets a lot of clicks all the time. So, which am I more motivated to pay attention to? Even though the subjects are not as easy to write about.

And don't get me started on my Roadtripping Blog. That one generates great ads when people come to a specific blogging from a search engine. But it gets hardly any visitors, with me unable to think of a way to catch that blog on fire like I have, at times, with this blog and the TV one. It's vexing, because the Roadtripping one was fun to do. I thought it had potential.

So, this morning I got up early, swam early, blogged about those damn Atlanta housewives, that I'd said to myself I was not going to waste anymore time on. But they are so funny.

Then about noon I had my regular inclination to get outside. It'd rained hard, post-swim, so Tandy Hills was out. I knew Quanah Parker Park would be dry, even though the heavy rain amped up the snake and alligator dangers. And I knew at the end of the paved trail I would be facing this huge Chesapeake Energy installation of buildings, and lately a drilling operation at the end of Oakland Avenue, that would be picture and blog-worthy.

This site, previous to Chesapeake taking it over, was a park with several ballfields. I have no idea what deals were made to lose the ballfields to build Chesapeake buildings, and now a drilling operation, which today was in full shrieking noise-making mode. The shrieker is seen in the photo at the top.

After my walk, I went to Town Talk. The place was packed. With 2 Fort Worth Gestapo Agents on guard. Each time I go to Town Talk I'm amazed at the stuff I find. Today I got really good, really fresh asparagus, for only 99 cents for an awful lot of green stalks. To me this place is not about the bizarrely low prices, it's about the good stuff you can get. The red peppers I got a few days ago are the best I've ever come across. Super sweet. And the tomatoes? I've not had ones this good since I grew my own in Washington. What stores is Town Talk getting this stuff from? Today, among other stuff, I got 4 huge, really top quality looking, green peppers for only a quarter each. The turnover of produce is so quick, every time I go, there it is a lot of new stuff.

And another Town Talk thing. The checkouts. They are the old-fashioned kind. No scanners. But so FAST. I don't know how these people do it. It's like they automatically know the prices. I think I've complained before about Wal-Mart's, Kroger's and Albertson's chronic price mistakes. With scanners. Town Talk has not made a single mistake. I tell you, just watching the Town Talk check-out people whiz through a stack of stuff at high speed is worth the admission price. Which is free.

So, there you go, that's been my simple little Saturday in Texas. Did I mention it rained? Making it 91 and very very very humid.

Today I was shirtless whilst walking at Quanah Parker Park. But last December 21 it was below freezing, so I wore a few more clothes, as you can see in the below YouTube video...

2 comments:

twister said...

When you mention it, that does look like a cold day. Old timers would say, nothing between us and the north wind but a barb wire fence. I'm going to have to check out Town Talk. Especially when you say they have such good tomatoes and such. Fruits and vegetables I get from Walley World are almost tasteless. Peaches? They look like peaches, but they don't taste very much like peaches. You mention cheese. I get Cabot's Vermont sharp cheddar cheese at W.W. and I like it a lot. What kind of cheese do they have at town talk that makes you walk a mile or two for (literally).
p.s.
I put a bike on lay a way at the bike inc on Harwood. A Trek 1.5 road bike. Should have it paid off about the time the heat and humidity finish their time at the podium and the bike festival at Bike Friendly Oak Cliff.

Durango said...

Twister----You never know what you're gonna find in the Town Talk produce cooler. Yesterday there were no tomatoes. I used to get that Wally World Vermont White Cheddar all the time. But then I got annoyed when the price got jacked way up. Town Talk has a lot of cheese types, they also vary all the time. They have a provolone that is somewhat like the sharp Vermont Cheddar, totally different texture though. They've got a lotta hard cheeses, like Parmesan. Good Feta, too. And I've gotten Bleu and Gorganzolla Cheese. If you go there, be prepared. You will think you've entered some sort of alternative world, after there's been a war or some similar disaster and society is trying to get back on its feet.