Rockledge, Lake Grapevine, Costco and a Camera

Well, I've had me a good day. It started off with French Toast topped with Lemon Curd and went uphill from there.

Oh, I forgot about my YouTube distress. I guess I blocked that out and went on to have that good day thing happen.

So, I went up to the Southlake Costco for the free sample lunch. It was being real good today due to all these vendors were pushing Super Bowl goodies. Everything from Meatballs to Chicken Wings to Fajitas to Hot Damn Tamales to a new Kirkland Signature brand energy drink that made me gag.

After Costco it was off to Lake Grapevine and Rockledge Park to do some hiking along the beach. There are a lot of big boulders which makes for good exercise. There were a lot of people there today, due to the warm temperatures. Lots of bikers, hikers, boaters and guys fishing.

I saw one disturbing scene of 3 grown men with a group of little boys. They were high up on the cliff. There used to be a fairly good trail along there, but the flood of a few years back did a lot of erosion damage. Now, it is just scary. I turned on my camcorder and aimed it at them, expecting one of the kids to fall.

To get around a washed out part, they had the kids sliding down a makeshift trail, one guy at the end of the slide and another down below, I assume to try and catch a kid if he fell too far.

I shouldn't be too judgemental, I guess. I was known to put my nephews in danger, a time or two, when they were little, but never like this. I do remember nephew Joey and me hiking up Sauk Mountain in the Skagit Valley when the trail was covered with ice and it was snowing, lightly. We made it to the top. Joey brought up that nephew in danger incident when I saw him this past summer. He remembers it fondly. I remember it as what the hell was I thinking?

I forgot to mention. I finally got a new camera. Today Costco had the Canon one that I wanted. I'd narrowed my search down to a Canon and a waterproof, shockproof Olympus. The battery for the new camera is charging. I probably won't get around to figuring it out til tomorrow.

Today's pictures were taken with my video camcorder. I see something, shoot a few seconds of video and then extract the "picture" in Windows Moviemaker. It works fairly well, as a stop gap measure til a new camera could be found. Which it was, found I mean, at Costco.

After Costco I went to Sprouts Farmers Market and got all sorts of good stuff. Including giant Texas Red Grapefruits. I was down to only 4 remaining of the huge supply of grapefruits my mom and dad imported into Texas from Arizona with them, earlier in the month. I still have lemons and oranges from the mom/dad delivery.

It got warm today. I have the windows open. It's time to close them. The sun is starting to set. It goes down fast here.

We're Sorry, This Video Is No Longer Available

Help!

YouTube is worthless in the help department. Yesterday I uploaded a video to YouTube. It took way longer than usual to process. When it was done and I clicked on it I got the message you see on the left, telling me the video I just uploaded is no longer available.

I deleted what was no longer available and uploaded again. Same result. So, I uploaded the video via this Blogger program's video upload. That also did not work.

This morning after wasting an hour trying to figure out what was wrong I asked someone else to try and view the video on their computer. It worked.

So, it's some problem on my computer? I deleted the temporary internet files. Ran the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware program that fixed a YouTube problem when I was up in Washington last summer. This time this was not the fix.

I tried the video in Firefox and Google Chrome. Same "unavailable" message.

I looked in YouTube's useless Help Center. Under "error messages" I found the "We're Sorry" message. YouTube said this message occurs if the uploader (me) has deleted the video. Or if YouTube has removed it due to it being in violation of terms of use.

I did not delete the video and it was not in violation of terms of use.

Then I found that about half of my videos bring up the "We're Sorry" message. About half work fine. So, if it's something on my computer causing the problem, why do some work?

It's vexing and has wasted way too much time this morning.

I've got to get out of here, away from this computer. I think a walk by water would be salubrious. I'm guessing Rockledge on Lake Grapevine would be the best for that purpose. It'll be in the 60s. I won't go swimming. Oh, great, the YouTube video I made of Rockledge at Lake Grapevine, that one still works for me.

Is there a good alternative to YouTube? If so, please let me know.

January 30 Roller Blading at Quanah Parker Park

Today is a perfect example of how I've come to be slightly addicted to at least one aspect of Texas.

And that aspect is the weather.

Two days ago we were covered with a sheet of ice and the temperature, when the sun came up, was 20.

That was Wednesday.

Today is Friday. I did still see some ice in a couple places, today. But today our temperature, here in Fort Worth, got to 65. I doubt any ice lasts til the sun goes down in a few minutes.

So, today I was able to go roller blading at Quanah Parker Park in shorts and t-shirt. And I overheated. Not to the remove the shirt point. But, close.

I took video of blading today, held the camera at eye level. YouTube is processing it right now. When I saw the video I saw I need to clean the lens. I've not done that before. If you watch the video below, you'll likely also notice I need to clean the lens.

I need a new video camcorder I've decided. The one I've got is sort of antique. I think I bought it back in 2004.

Okay, YouTube is having a hiccup and keeps saying the video I uploaded is "No Longer Available For Viewing." This seems to happen a lot anymore with YouTube. It sort of makes one want to find an alternative to YouTube.

The YouTube video below still is not working on my computer, but I've been told it works on other people's computers. I've no idea why. I'm deleting my "Temporary Internet Files."

Senior Citizens & Screaming Kids at Zorro's Buffet

I went to Zorro's Buffet today for lunch. It was good. Friday is seafood day. I had a lot of shrimp. Apparently I am funny when I separate the shrimp from its shell. A lady one table over couldn't quit laughing. I did not find anything funny. I found it messy.

There were at least 3 tables with screaming kids today. I don't like listening to screaming kids. How come you have to get training and a license to drive a car, but no training or a license before you reproduce? That is just wrong.

Another thing that was just real wrong today at Zorro's Buffet was this. Towards the end of the Zorro's stay I glanced down at the receipt. To my shocked eyes I saw I'd been charged for one "adult" and one "senior."

I believe I must have been the "senior." Due to the other adult not possibly looking like a "senior."

So much for my delusion that I look like a vital, youthful, young lad. Apparently I'm a grayed out, grizzled geezer. And due to that, today I saved a buck.

I want a refund. In the meantime I'm going roller blading. I don't know if senior citizens should be roller blading.

Big Downer For Big D

Big D as in Dallas. Another Big D, that being Denver was in the #1 top spot in a new Pew Research Center national survey that asked Americans where they'd like to live if they could.

San Diego was #2, with Seattle in the #3 spot.

Detroit was at the bottom of the list, with only 8% of Americans wanting to move there. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Kansas City and Minneapolis also did not do too well, occupying the bottom 5 positions with Minneapolis doing the best of that group with 16% thinking that town was a place they'd want to live.

It seemed to me that Dallas did pretty well, coming in at #16 with 24% of Americans saying they would like to live there.

Fort Worth was not on the list, but the actual question asked if they'd want to live in a particular city or its surrounding area.

Fort Worth does not like thinking of itself simply as an area surrounding Dallas, and why would they, what with Fort Worth being the envy of cities and and towns far and wide causing a widespread green with envy epidemic.

I first learned of this Pew Research Center survey in this morning's Dallas Morning News. The headline was "Big Downer for Big D," with the sub-heading being "So Americans rank us just mediocre, huh? Well, y'all don't know squat."

The article is amusingly tongue in cheek, both pointing out good things that are in Dallas, and making fun of some other things that have to do with Dallas, like their hapless football team. That doesn't play in Dallas.

I don't know if the hard copy edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram had an article about the Pew Research Center survey. I saw no mention of it on their online version. That paper tends to keep this type information from its readers due to it sort of contradicts the party line about Fort Worth being the Center of the Known Universe causing that envy epidemic problem I mentioned above.

I also saw no mention of this survey in the online Seattle P-I. But they are used to being at the top of such things, so it's no big deal. Had Fort Worth been near the top we would have likely had a city wide celebration, like we had when an obscure Washington, D.C. lobbying group put Fort Worth on a list of America's supposedly most livable communities. Tacoma/Pierce County was also on that list. But had no city wide celebration. Because they knew it was a bogus award.

Zombie Problem In Austin Texas

The capital of Texas is having some sort of Zombie problem.

Sort of like the plot line of the current season of 24 on Fox, some sort of terrorist type pranksters hacked into the network that controls roadway warning signs in the Austin zone.

I don't know if a War of the Worlds Orson Welles type panic ensued in Austin, with people seeking escape from the Zombies.

I doubt it. Austin is a pretty sophisticated town, from what I've seen. I'm pretty sure most Austinites know there is no such thing as a Zombie.

Now if these terrorist type pranksters hack into the network that controls Fort Worth's roadway warning signs, with a Zombie warning, well, here you might have a few people panicking.

I remember when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas, February 1, 2003, the roadway warning signs had a message of the sort that would not have crossed my mind as possible til it happened. That event seems so recent, but it's already 2 days away from being 6 years ago.

If I remember right, an hour or so after the Shuttle disaster the signs said something like "Watch For Falling Space Shuttle Debris." I vaguely recollect seeing people looking up, watching for falling debris, long after the explosion. When people started finding pieces of the Space Shuttle is when the sign was changed to the message you see in the picture.

I found no debris, and unlike a lot of people I did not hear or see anything that morning. I was laying on the floor reading the paper and drinking coffee, totally unaware that something very bad was happening above me.

Seven Summits On 7 Continents & Mount Baker

You never know when a day begins if you're going to learn anything new that day. Or not. More often than not it's not. Today was a learn something new day.

Earlier today I blogged that my ol' high school classmate, Karen, finally remembered who I was. What a relief.

I'd mentioned something about making websites and Karen then mentioned that her daughter, Danielle, had a website. And gave me the URL.

So, I went to Danielle's website and was pleasantly surprised to learn that she is a news making record breaker. At 20 years old, on June 2 of 2005, when she reached the summit of Mount Everest, Karen's daughter became the youngest person to have climbed the tallest mountain on each continent.

Antarctica is a continent. I'm assuming a mountain must have been climbed there too.

Looking around Danielle's website I learned she was inspired to climb by growing up looking at all those mountains that surround those of us blessed (no longer me) to live in the northwest. Particularly looking up at Mount Baker, which was the first mountain she conquered. With her dad, if I understood correctly.

I've said before I've climbed Mount Baker. But, when I say that, I more mean I've climbed on Mount Baker. But I've never climbed to the top of Mount Baker. That would be scary. I'm an acrophobe. I think the last time I "climbed" Mount Baker was with nephew Joey. Here's a webpage with pictures of that "climb" and Mount Baker.

Canton First Monday Trade Show Starts Today

Who wants a Fried Pie? I'm partial to an Apricot Fried Pie. I've only had one once. At Canton's First Monday Trade Days Flea Market.

When I first learned of the existence of Fried Pies it sounded like a bad thing to me, like when I learned they fry turkeys here.

But, just like I learned with Fried Turkeys, Fried Pies are a good thing. And not greasy. Just tasty.

Today is the start of February's First Monday Trade Days in Canton. The Trade Days are held the 4 days before the First Monday of every month. The First Monday in February is February 2, which makes all of February's First Monday Trade Days take place in January, beginning today.

I have gone to Canton for the First Monday Trade Days 3 times. It is fun but exhausting. I've never seen the entire thing. It's just too big.

You can rent electric carts to haul yourself and your purchases. They are sort of like the electric carts you see at Super Wal-Mart. But there they are mainly used to haul super big people around the Super Wal-Mart. In Canton you see all sorts of people, of all sizes, driving around in the electric carts.

That's a pair of Canton shoppers tooling along at walking speed in electric carts in the photo on the right.

I've not been to Canton for a couple years. The last time was the First Monday Trade Days before Christmas. It was very crowded. I webpaged what I saw that day.

Maybe I'll head east this weekend and go to Canton.

The Case Of The Mistaken Identity

My longtime reader may remember me mentioning, a few days ago, a little incident with something called Facebook that had one of my classmates from high school, Karen, trying to figure out who I was.

Karen went through so many initials trying to narrow it down. Then she finally got to my correct initials. Six of us had the same initials. One by one Karen picked the wrong name. At one point she eliminated me and another "D" and said she'd finally figured it out. That I was the guy you see in the photo.

Yikes! I thought. That guy in the photo was a nice guy. But a real doofus.

At this point in time I was thinking to myself that either my appearance has changed drastically or that Karen has met so many people through the years that some, like me, have fallen out of her memory.

Now, to be fair about it, I'll admit that that picture that I use at the top of my blog doesn't look all that much like me. I was down at Enchanted Rock State Park, it was February, windy and very cold when I snapped that picture with my very old Casio digital camera that cost an appalling, now to look back on it, $599. That camera was bought back in the last century, so you can imagine how low wattage resolution wise it was.

When Karen was making all those guesses as to who I was, I assumed, in addition to the Enchanted Rock photo, she'd also seen the slide show that runs on the right side column of this blog. But she hadn't.

Karen returned yesterday, well-rested, from 3 days in Seattle, and last night realized she'd misread one of my earlier replies, then looked at the blog again, then saw the slide show, then recognized me.

Karen said her next guess would have been David Sutton. I doubt Karen would remember this, but at our 5 year class reunion a guy named Ray was lamenting about how when he first came to our school, in grade school, he was picked on and nicknamed "Nipples." Karen overheard part of this and thought it was I Ray was complaining about. Karen began to sort of chastise me for my bad behavior when Ray told her, "No, he was the only one who stuck up for me." To which I said, "Yeah, it was that weasel, David Sutton who called him Nipples."

I wonder what became of David Sutton? I saw him once, in the late 70s or 80s at this disco called Duffy's. He sat with our group and was being all Mr. Friendly. I think he was talking about being in the army. After about 10 minutes I told him to go sit somewhere else.

The Dallas Morning News' Ice Storm Delivery

Well. I was wrong. In the blogging previous to this one I said I didn't think my Dallas Morning News paper would be able to be delivered this morning due to the coating of ice on the roads.

I was wrong. It arrived. Almost on time. Usually the paper thumps my front door between 6 and 6:30. This morning's thumping occurred about 7.

The sun is up. I am able to look out my window now. Hours of the furnace blowing hot air has melted the ice off the window.

I'll see if I can revive my comatose camera long enough to get an Ice Storm picture....I'll be right back, hopefully with a photo....

Well. That didn't work. My camera appears to be unable to be revived.

So, I used my camcorder to take video and extract a picture. Those never turn out too good. This time was no exception. But you can see the white ice that covers our roofs here in Texas this morning.

I think I'll layer on some clothes and venture out to see if the road out of here is drivable. If not a meeting at noon will likely have to be cancelled.

Well. I'm back from venturing outside to check on how bad it is. I made it to my vehicle to find it covered in ice. The road appears to have about an inch of ice covering it. I saw two vehicles moving, very very slow, on the road. It is quiet out there, almost eerie. Usually it is quite noisy.

Ice Storm Paralyzes North Texas

I doubt I am going to be seeing my Dallas Morning News paper this morning.

It is 21 degrees right now at 6am. I can not see out my bedroom window due to it being covered with ice. Frozen stuff was hitting it for hours last night, making a tinkling noise like a muted wind chime.

Schools of all types, grade schools, high schools, colleges and universities are closed today, or opening late, across North Texas, .

My town, Fort Worth, had 366 wrecks between 8am and 8pm, with 207 of them taking place between 6:30 and 8pm.

In Dallas a man fell to his death on a bridge over the Trinity River when he slipped after getting out of his car after a wreck.

A Crowley man was killed when he slid into a tree near East Loop 820.

The weather has not been kind this year to the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. On Tuesday most of the Stock Show, including the carnival midway, shut down early, or did not open at all. Even though the Stock Show shut down on Tuesday, Stock Show officials say they will open today, regardless of weather conditions. Which does not make a whole lot of sense, due to Wednesday starting off way worse than Tuesday, temperature-wise and ice-wise.

There have been some flights cancelled at D/FW Airport, most by American Airlines. I have a Puerto Rican flying in today on American Airlines. I won't be going to the airport to provide taxi service.

The Texas Ice Storm Cometh

We are heading into what weather service meteorologists are predicting may be the worst Ice Storm we've had here in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone since February 24, 2003.

The temperatures dropped below freezing early this morning. The ground is wet, with more wet stuff falling.

We'll likely be covered by a very slippery coat of ice by Wednesday morning.

The Tuesday evening commute is going to be dicey and icy. DART in Dallas is already having rail delays.

There are already school closures. I just got an email canceling an Arlington Chamber event that was scheduled for tonight.

I made it out and to the Post Office. So far the roads have not slicked up. But there was ice on the stairs and the handrailing, making it a little difficult to navigate.

I found some funny comments on the Dallas Morning New website regarding our incoming Ice Storm...

Henry Hill said---
Now we get another chance to see how Texans can't drive in icy conditions. I love watching them go by me sideways on the Bush Turnpike. If you can't drive on it then stay home so you don't ruin someone else's day.

To which Bobby Joe said----
Henry - If you are on the Bush Tollway, those aren't Texans you are seeing, they are Yankees, Californians, etc. Just like you.

To which Texans Can't Drive said---
Bobby Joe Texans are the worst drivers I have every seen! end of story.

And then Dallas Driver said---
I love how the Yankees criticize Texans winter driving skills. Try searching You Tube for ice driving. Now, that's entertainment. Yankees sliding all over the place. Besides, North Texas doesn't have an army of road clearing equipment. Only a couple dozen sanders for the bridges and overpasses.

Which caused fmlsr to say---
I am a dang yankee that cant find I-35 north and today i am not going to go hunt for it either. smart ppl stay home and watch the dummies slip and slide down the road.

And, finally, Tired of the Yankees said---
I find it very interesting how people who are not from Texas say bad things about Texans - how we are rude, can't drive, etc... Honestly, if it's that awful here - get out of here! No one is making you stay! Go back to wherever you came from. Or could it be that life back there is not all you crack it up to be?! Life around here would sure better once you are done, that's for sure!

Less Than Half Of Lessie Alvarado

That is Lessie Alvarado on the left. Lessie lives in Grand Prairie, Texas. Grand Prairie is a town east of Arlington, west of Dallas. In the photo Lessie weighs 305 pounds.

Nowadays, Lessie Alvarado is truly living up to her name. As in there is way less of Lessie. She now weighs 140 pounds. Less than half the size she was at her biggest. Lessie's weight loss accomplishment is detailed in People's cover story this month, featuring people "Half Their Size."

What motivated Lessie to lose the weight, you can't help but wonder.

Well, during a family trip, with her two kids, to Six Flags in San Antonio, Lessie was all excited to get on a particular ride. She climbed aboard, but the ride would not start, due to Lessie being too big. She was told to get off the ride, which she did, with tears flowing, while the other theme parkers gawked and whispered, adding to Lessie's humiliation, while her husband and brother comforted her. And the kids enjoyed the ride.

In addition to People, Lessie has also been featured on Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight and the Today Show.

Lessie got to her 305 pound high by sneaking in extra fast food meals. Or she'd sneak in a buffet and then a few hours later her husband would want to go out to eat and Lessie wouldn't admit she'd already eaten. That would be a pattern that would pack on pounds.

Lessie continues to lose weight. Besides eating sensibly and nutritionally, Lessie also took up kickboxing to help with the weight loss. That is the "new" Lessie on the right.

I don't know what type ride Lessie was trying to enjoy that wouldn't start due to someone weighing over 300 pounds. One of those that you go upside down in? A bumper car? I don't know.

I've only seen a BIG person have a "can't get on the ride" type humiliation once. It was at a McDonald's. The BIG person wanted to sit at a high table with high stools. This BIG person tried and tried to pull herself up onto the stool, pulling hard on the table to try and pull herself up. The table being to tremble. I had to insist she stop, lest she injure both of us.

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I should have encouraged her to keep trying, hoping that the table would come crashing down, injuring both of us, with us suing McDonald's for having such dangerous stools and tables.

I think if I had trouble sitting on a stool, I probably would have foregone the chocolate shake, quarter pounder with cheese and fries and started my diet right then, continuing the diet til I could easily sit on a stool.

Gar the Chunky Texan & Contagious Obesity

Earlier today I blogged about going up to Turner Falls with Gar the Texan. Later in the day, Gar took exception to the accuracy of what I wrote.

I had suggested that, due to his butter loving German wife, Gar the Texan had packed on a few pounds and was no longer the skinny Gar the Texan in the Turner Falls pictures.

Gar claimed, "I weigh the same now as I did then."

I then asked for photo documentation with a date/time stamp.

Gar the Texan then pointed me to the picture you see above. To my observant eyes it appears he has packed on quite a few pounds since I last saw him. Even his hair has gotten bigger.

Meanwhile, I listened to Rush Limbaugh for a very short time today. He mentioned some UK Scientist saying that obesity can be contagious. Rush can be so far behind the times. That news has been out there since 2007.

Obesity is not contagious in that there is some virus or bacteria that you catch. Rather it is contagious in that you tend to pick up the bad (or good) habits of those with whom you associate. I did not gain any weight when I was in Tacoma for a month last summer. I had done some heavy duty immunity precautions to prevent any dire weight gain during a month of being exposed to bad habits and obese people.

When I used to hang out with Gar the Texan he was skinny. I would worry about hanging out with him nowadays, what with that obesity being contagious thing. And I do like butter. I had me some today at Sweet Tomatoes. On real good whole grain bread.

Sweet Tomatoes is a very healthy eating type restaurant, that is also tasty.

Unlike my usual buffet haunts, like Zorro's Buffet in Fort Worth, where at least 30% of the patrons appear to be obese, I saw not a single plus-sized person at Sweet Tomatoes today.

An Ice Storm is predicted to be here by morning, with up to an inch of ice. Which means I won't be going anywhere until it melts. The National Weather Service Ice Storm Warning ends at noon on Wednesday. I'm stocked up and can survive 2 days of being stuck.

I hate it when that happens.

Turner Falls In Winter With Gar The Texan

I was scrolling through Picasa looking for pictures of Mount Rainier to go along with one of a Volcano Eruption Evacuation Route sign, when I came upon pictures taken up in Oklahoma, in January, at Turner Falls Park.

The pictures include ones of the illusive Gar the Texan, who does not use photos of the real him on his blog. I understand that several years of marriage to a butter-loving German has added some poundage to the skinny Gar the Texan we see in these photos.

In the first photo Gar the Texan is climbing down some steep stairs at the Turner Falls Castle. This very eccentric, well, castle, was built during the Great Depression.

The day that Gar the Texan and I went to Turner Falls Park in Winter, on the way north, he had the worst case of the vapors I'd seen him have. A Whopper at Burger King revived him. But, even after the revival I was concerned as to what he'd be able to do at Turner Falls Park, due to a lot of climbing and hiking being involved.

There is a cave high up the cliff beside the falls. Gar the Texan was determined to get into that cave, because we'd seen people in it when we looked down on the falls from the overlook. I am a bit of an acrophobe, though my acrophobia is very situational, as in it makes no sense. Get me at the Grand Canyon and I can climb out on some precipitous ledge and not be queasy. But if you mix a waterfall into the steepness, I get wobbly.

So, I followed Gar the Texan higher and higher as we climbed the Turner Falls cliff. The effort came to a point where I did not want to go further, but Gar did, climbing through a hole and then into the cave.

To celebrate his triumphant rock climbing and spelunking, Gar the Texan climbed a pinnacle high above the falls and let out some sort of primal scream that had me, for a second, thinking he was having another case of the vapors.

Honey Creek is what flows over Turner Falls. The water comes out of an underground spring a short distance away. It is very clear water. In summer the water gets nice and warm. In winter, not so much. But there is more of it in winter, making for scary rapids above the falls.

I have not been back to Turner Falls Park since the visit with Gar the Texan. I have been up to Oklahoma, a time or two, and have driven by the exit from I-35 that quickly leads to Turner Falls.

All year long the Turner Falls pages on my Eyes on Texas website are the most visited. Why? I do not know.

Cooking Oatmeal In Texas & Waiting For An Ice Storm

I'm blogging while I wait for my rice cooker to finish making steel cut oats. Did you know a rice cooker works great for cooking oatmeal? I didn't either, til I tried it. You can make grits in the rice cooker too. For you Yankees, grits is this thing us Southerners like with breakfast, or just about any ol' time. Grits is made from corn meal. It's pretty much tasteless, so you melt butter on it or syrup or honey or sorghum or cheese or anything that seems like it'd taste good.

It is a gray, foggy, drizzly Monday here in Texas, with a potential Ice Storm for Tuesday and Wednesday, with the temperature below freezing and with wet, likely frozen, stuff falling. I do not like Ice Storms. I had a butt bruising fall in my first Texas Ice Storm that was my biggest bruise ever, til a few years after that, when I had my worst roller blading fall ever.

I need to get another battery back-up, so a trip to Fry's Electronics in Arlington is on today's agenda. I'll see if my new digital camera is at Fry's. I bought all the parts, for the last computer I built, at Fry's. Fry's is good at making it easy to return stuff that doesn't work right, like my last laptop that blew up soon after being turned on.

After Fry's it's to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. I like Sweet Tomatoes.

I just heard the rice cooker click off. Breakfast is ready.

Ancient High School History

I've previously mentioned that a couple days ago, while looking at a thing called Facebook I inadvertently sent out a thing called a "Friend Request" to some names I recognized. I only actually knew 3 of the people to whom I sent one of those "Friend Requests."

One of the 3, who I actually knew, has been trying ever since to figure out who I am. This amuses me. She keeps sending me initials. Like are you MO? FC? SW?

This identification problem has caused both of us to dig out our long buried high school annuals. Or yearbooks. It's been so long I forget what they are called. I only have 3 of them, somewhere along the way I've lost my Freshman yearbook.

So, this morning I started looking through the yearbook from my Senior year, thinking there might be a picture of myself and the person who doesn't know who I am. I found numerous ones of both of us, but never in the same photo. Near as I could tell.

But, what was unsettling was reading the things people wrote in my yearbook. A lot of it made no sense to me, because I couldn't remember what they were talking about, about things I did or some wanted me to do. Were those years so painful I've blocked the memory? Or is it a function of time? Since I can't remember, I don't know the answer.

After I was done looking at the Senior yearbook I looked through the Junior one. That got even more confusing. Most of the people writing comments sign with only their first name, leaving me clueless as to who they are. Apparently I went to various places with someone named Laurie. On one of those occasions, apparently we were at the home of someone named Sue. For some reason a smacking noise was made and Sue popped around the corner all excited because she thought smooching was going on.

Another comment was from Beth. I remember Beth. I don't remember the incident Beth commented on, about me being a good sport taking someone named Lila to some prom/ball thing. along with Beth and some guy who's name I've already forgotten. I've no memory of going to a dance thing with someone named Lila.

I do remember Linda and I knew what she was talking about in her comment about Linda and me sitting in the front seat of my car for way too long, unaware that the windshield had been broken and we were sitting on glass.

A running theme in all these comments is the majority seemed to feel I have a good sense of humor. And repeatedly I am being advised not to ever change. But then there was one who commented that I had changed so much that year, and for the good. I don't remember changing. I do remember sort of being my mouthy self all the time, where earlier I only acted like that to the ones who really knew me.

Many commented on a fun event that happened to me my Junior year that gave me some bad boy notoriety that I'd never had before. That may have been the point where I decided to be my mouthy real self all the time.

In my Sophomore yearbook the comments really made me realize where the term sophomoric comes from. The Sophomore yearbook is the only one where I saw a comment from the Facebooker, Karen P.F., who can not remember me.

Apparently a friend of mine from grade school had spoken of me. In her comment in my Sophomore yearbook, Karen P.F. said that she ".....really had fun this year and one of the reasons is because I met you! I was scared of you at first and felt dumb, but after Wendy talked about you all the time I had to get to know you---glad I did!!!......"

Okay, now I know who Wendy is. Wendy and me were practically neighbors. Sometimes I rode her to school on my bike, with her sitting on the handlebars. Later we often rode the bus together to high school. And by the time I was 16, and had a car, I'd, ever so often, give Wendy a ride home. But, Wendy and I had a very, well, sarcastic sort of way of talking to each other. She'd make fun of me, I'd make fun of her. I can't picture her speaking of me in a way that would want someone to get to know me.

An example of Wendy sarcasm is what she wrote in my Sophomore yearbook..."Dearest (ooops, I can't type my name, that'd give Karen P.F. too good a clue) Let's start over....

Dearest X,
I don't know how I could have managed to complete the year without seeing your shining smile and knowing that your presence was not too far away. You really made my year and I don't know how I managed all the others without you. Your really a great guy. Good luck in absolutely everything. May the sun always shine on your path.
Just me,
Wendy

I remember exactly where the above was written. We sat next to each other in the back of the room in Geometry. All year long we bickered. I remember when I read what she wrote, I pointed out that "your" is a possessive pronoun and that she should have used "you're." In grade school I always got straight A's. Wendy usually got straight A's. I think she thought I was smarter than she was, so correcting her grammar was really annoying.

The last I saw Wendy was in 1991. She was looking real good. If I remember correctly we spoke pleasantly to each other. I actually don't remember for sure if I talked to Karen P.F. on that occasion. I do remember talking to her brother.

Okay, it is time to put these ancient annuals away for another couple decades, unless Karen P.F. comes up with some more initials for me to decipher.

Still Freezing In Texas

Okay, I know I've whined about it before, but I'm in a whining mood, so I'm gonna whine about it again. As in the schizophrenic weather of Texas is so annoying.

Yesterday was so warm I had my windows open and was tempted to turn on the A/C. Then today it's back in the DEEP FREEZE. I think our high for the day was 34. I think it was freezing when I went hiking on the Horseshoe Trails on Lake Grapevine after shopping at a super crowded Costco, that had more people cramming the aisles than when I was there before Christmas.

Where is this recession I keep hearing about?

Well, okay, other than all those shoppers, lots of cars on the road and restaurants with lots of cars in the lots, I did see some signs of the bad stuff that's going on. I saw a Circuit City with its going out of business sign. I saw the Alan Young GMC dealership with its empty lot, due to GMC shutting it down and taking the cars. I saw a lot of people having a free lunch eating Costco samples today. Including me. Yes. Hard times.

These cycles of HOT & COLD are wearing me down. It's like that torturous month I spent last summer in Tacoma, miserably shivering the entire month, for more reasons than the temperature. It took me quite some time to recover from that month last summer. Bouts of cold, like today, bring back the pain, sort of like post-traumatic stress syndrome, I suppose.

Well, the heater just came on, so warm air is now blowing down on me, giving me temporary relief from the cold. For now.

I need a tropical vacation. I hear Puerto Rico is nice.

A Tale Of Two Cities: Fort Worth And....

No, not Fort Worth and Dallas. I'm talking about Fort Worth and Seattle.

One of the many things that makes living in a new location interesting is noticing how differently things are done.

Like Public Works projects.

Both Seattle and Fort Worth have projects in the works that involve water.

In Fort Worth the water project involves changing the Trinity River, obliterating two forks that join at the north side of downtown, making the confluence into a little lake, taking down the flood levees, building a flood diversion channel and some canals where housing and restaurants will be built, along with 3 new bridges.

Seattle's water-related project involves tearing down what is known as the Alaskan Way Viaduct, that being an elevated section of Highway 99 that runs along Seattle's downtown waterfront. The Alaskan Way Viaduct is of a similar design to San Francisco's Embarcadero Freeway that came crashing down in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The Alaskan Way Viaduct was damaged during Seattle's last earthquake.

There has been one public vote in Seattle regarding replacement options. That vote did not settle the issue. Because it is a state highway, the state got involved. After a lot of debate the governor decided on a $4.2 billion tunnel option.

In a classic example of how differently things work up north, Elizabeth Campbell filed an initiative to prohibit replacing the viaduct with a tunnel. The Initiative was coincidentally named Initiative 99, like Highway 99. This initiative was filed the same day Governor Christine Gregoire and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and King County Executive Ron Sims announced the agreement to build the $4.2 billion tunnel.

Campbell has to get 17,968 signatures to have her initiative either adopted by the city council or sent to a public vote. Campbell thinks the tunnel option is ridiculous, preferring a cable-stay bridge over Elliot Bay.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, what is known as the Trinity River Vision has not been put to a single public vote. Though a lot of people think the vision is a boondoggle, there has been no attempt to force a vote, via petition or any other means. Fort Worth has snagged some pork barrel bucks, due to the machinations of Congresswoman Kay Granger, who's son runs the Fort Worth Vision, in what many consider an outrageous example of nepotism.

In these new, leaner times it is likely the Federal dollars will be cut from Fort Worth's Bridge to Nowhere. Unless, I would guess, Fort Worth's citizens finally get to vote and approve of the project, including taxing themselves to build it.

And then there is a third city. Dallas. Also with a Trinity River Vision. The citizens of Dallas have voted and approved of their vision. The first of 3 signature bridges is under construction.

I'm guessing Dallas is going to see its vision turn into a reality long before Fort Worth's Town Lake sees its first boat or the first car drives through Seattle's mile long $4.2 billion tunnel.

Unless another earthquake knocks down the Alaskan Way Viaduct, forcing a fast fix.

We're Freezing Again In Texas

That's the view from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony late Friday afternoon. It was an 80 degree day. Very pleasant. I had the windows open and was tempted, at one point, to close the windows and turn on the air conditioner.

I was almost back believing in Global Warming again.

But then this morning we are back in a deep freeze, as in it is only 30 out there at 10 in the morning. Brrr. The furnace is back on.

I was not successful in getting a new camera at the Arlington Costco yesterday. I'm able to temporarily revive my current camera out of its drop-induced coma to take a picture or two, like the one from Miss PR's balcony. And then it dies again.

I think I'll go up to the Grapevine/Southlake Costco today to see if my new camera is there. That Costco is a lot nicer than the Arlington one. It's more like one you'd find in Costco's homestate of Washington. Which makes sense due to Southlake having the D/FW Metroplex's highest percentage of transplanted Yankees, as in customers who have been in a West Coast Costco and thus have a higher quality expectation.

It's the same for the Southlake School District. The parents are used to non-Texas school standards and so they make their expectations known to the school board. And so Southlake has top-rated schools.

I read this morning that Gar the Texan has temporarily given up reading children's sci-fi type books and is instead taking someone's advice that he read some non-fiction. So, apparently Gar the Texan is now reading "Columbia History of the World." He is rushing through history, currently he's at the part in the World's History where the continents form and life begins.

Gar the Texan has a long ways to go. It's my hope that by the end of this book he will be able to talk about something other than computers, religion, Harry Potter and German beer. I hope it doesn't shock him too much when he gets to the part where he realizes his beloved Germans were bad boys long before World War's I & II.

The Priority Mail Myth

Yesterday I mentioned my newfound disdain for the delivery reliability of the U.S. Postal Service. I mentioned a package that someone sent me over 2 months ago, via Priority Mail, that had not arrived.

I also mentioned unsuccessful attempts to call my local Postmaster to complain. Well, today I got through.

The person I talked to put me on hold while she went to see if the package was there. She was back on the line within a minute, telling me that the package was there, that a delivery attempt had been made December 24.

I was here December 24. That was the day that I got a note from my mailman telling me he was sorry he was unable to deliver a package. That's the time I successfully called the Postmaster, he told me the package was there, so I went and got the package. A box of Christmas cookies.

The Priority Mail package that I got today, cost $9.80 to ship from Washington to Texas.

It seems to me there is not much of a priority to Priority Mail if the priority is so lax as to allow a package to languish for so long on a shelf with no attempt to deliver it. Or return it to the sender.

So, I opened the package. It was several Christmas gifts, all wrapped. It was like having Christmas all over again. Out of it I have a nice Washington calendar. I'm looking at a snowy Mt. Spokane ski lift right now, with the lights of Spokane in the distance. It doesn't make me homesick. It looks cold.

Facebook Friends Fiasco

A couple days ago I was reading the Only Child Syndrome blog when the Only Child mentioned that she was finally provoked to check out Facebook. She had been an early user of MySpace, but grew tired of MySpace when it was co-opted by teenagers and trashy webpages with way too much going on.

I went through a MySpace phase a couple years ago, moved to do so by Tootsie Tonasket. She was having some problems (they've gotten worse) with her son and the mother of her granddaughter. I had fun making up a bunch of characters. It was amusing having all these people interacting with fake people.

Two of the characters, Durango & Igor, used pictures of me. I had Igor being a 34 year old Dallas cop. One thing led to another and soon Tootsie Tonasket's son was making threats to Igor. Which led Igor to cause the son to believe Igor had been in contact with the Wenatchee police regarding the threats.

Which all sounds ridiculous, but had the son, he ain't too bright, telling his mother he was going to turn himself in to the Wenatchee police before they arrested him. His mother was then able to tell the wayward son that she could get Igor to stop this, if the son would shape up. And that's what he did, for awhile. And he was grateful to his mother and treated her better. For awhile.

So, anyway, after reading what the Only Child said, I decided to check out Facebook. Well, before you can do anything in Facebook you have to set up an account. The steps in that process have you listing your birthdate, where you went to school, what year, I forget what else.

And then the setup process comes to this part where people from your high school years show up. I thought I was supposed to click on names I knew. I only recognized 4 of them. So, I clicked them, not realizing this sent the person something called a 'Friend Request."

One of the Friend Requests went to someone named Jeff Kenoyer. I recognized the name, but had no memory of the guy. He sent a message back asking who I was, how he knew me and why I wanted to be his friend. This felt vaguely embarrassing.

Then I got another reply from one who I actually do remember, Karen Fisher. Since I'd made myself younger than reality during that setup thing, she said "Hey. We were not in the same class. Are you from Burlington?"

To which I explained how it was I came to send out that Friend Request thing, and that some of the info in my Facebook profile isn't true, due to me not thinking I'd be using this Facebook thing, so why bother worrying about making every little detail accurate. That and I like being 15 years younger than my actual age.

Anyway, last night Karen made a series of amusing attempts to figure out who I am. I pointed her to this very blog, but apparently I look so much different than I did in high school that I am not recognizable. This pleases me. I had no idea!

To figure out who Jeff Kenoyer is, I had to find my high school yearbook. I was pretty certain they'd made it to Texas with me. I was right, all but the Freshman one. I've no idea what became of that one. When I saw Jeff Kenoyer's face, I recognized him as someone I'd seen before.

I'd not looked at a yearbook in a long long long time. It all looks so dated now. I guess that makes sense since it was a long long long time ago. That's Karen and her twin Keith, above, scanned from the yearbook. Apparently they were voted "Most Dependable" by my class. I have no memory of voting on such a thing. I don't remember if they were dependable or not. I do remember they were both cheerful and nice people.

What a world we live in now. Way back in high school if you'd told me that in 2009 we'd have an African-American President, that I'd be in Texas, walking distance from where Lee Harvey Oswald is buried, sitting at something called a computer, writing something called a Blog and scanning a picture out of my high school annual, well, little of that would have made any sense to me. Though I would have thought the info about the black President to be cool.

I wonder if Karen will figure out who I am today. I suspect not. I have never been a memorable person....

Caroline Kennedy Affair?

The Dallas Morning News had not arrived by the time my morning coffee had.

The lack of a newspaper had me laying on the floor reading that book I've mentioned earlier, that being "Sons of Camelot: The Fate of an American Dynasty." It's a good book. I had no idea how bad the behavior was of some of Bobby and Ethel's offspring.

I remember John Jr.'s infamous photo in his magazine George were he posed as Adam, nude, with an apple above his head and chastised two of his cousin's, Michael the Statutory Rapist, and Joe, as, "Poster Boys For Bad Behavior." The Poster Boys For Bad Behavior is the chapter I read this morning.

However, despite currently reading this book about bad Kennedy behavior, I'm still not quite able to believe this morning's fresh Kennedy scandal. That being that the actual reason Caroline Kennedy withdrew her bid to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate, was that she'd been told if she didn't withdraw, her supposed affair with New York Times publisher, Arthur Sulzberger would be exposed.

The alleged affair has been reported on Fox News and MSNBC. Sulzberger is in the midst of getting a divorce after being married to Gail Gregg for 33 years. Caroline is married, with children, to Ed Schlossberg.

That's a photo of Sulzberger above.

HOT Hiking January Tandy Hills Day In Cowtown

We're in the 80s today, this 22nd day of the New Year, in Texas, in what some British newspaper called the United States of Obama.

The check I mentioned in a blogging earlier about the Post Office, showed up today. I got it on my way to the Tandy Hills around noon. That's today's view of beautiful downtown Fort Worth. This view is actually from a vantage point outside of the park, out in the zone where all the broadcast towers are.

On the way out of the park I saw that someone had dismantled the Tandy Hills Shrine, removing it from the trail and tossing it all in the grass. I was appalled at this senseless destruction of a living piece of ever growing guerrilla art. It can and shall be rebuilt.

But not today. I was in a hurry to get the hiking done.

Being an exercise addict is not all it's cracked up to be. It's like an annoying addiction. If I don't get my fix, I don't feel good. It's a living hell having a monkey like this on your back. I don't know how to get the monkey off my back. There are no 12 step programs that I'm aware of. There should be, because there are a lot of people out there, like me, with this addiction.

I took the Island Girl to the airport. Again. This morning.

A couple hours later, I got a call from Miami asking if I am mad at her. Then another from San Juan with the same question. I'm expecting a 3rd call from Ponce with the same question. The answer is "Duh." I let the calls go to voice mail.

I'm heading out in this blistering heat, again, to head north to Washington Mutual, then further north to Sprouts Farmers Market. I have room for one passenger in my vehicle if you want to come along.

Problems With The United States Postal Service

Up til recently I thought people who complained about Post Office competence were being totally unfair. With me thinking the Post Office does an amazing job of delivering so much stuff.

Up til recently, as far as I knew, I'd never not received something sent to me, or had someone not receive something I'd sent.

But, in the past several months I've had 2 packages not properly delivered. In that the mailman leaves a note saying that he was sorry he was unable to deliver. The note tells you to sign it if you want to have another attempt to deliver made. Or pick it up yourself.

I've tried the 'sign the note for another delivery attempt' option before. The note just stays in my mailbox. Ignored.

My mail room has a separate area for parcel deliveries. The mailman is supposed to put the package in a parcel box and leave the key in my mailbox. Apparently that is extra work and it's easier to leave a note.

I called my local postmaster to complain. I was told the problem was chronic and that he was old school which took pride in doing the job right, but a lot of the new younger mailmen were slackers.

About a month ago I learned someone had mailed me a package with around $250 worth of stuff inside. What stuff, I don't know, she wouldn't say. When I was asked if I got the package it was already a month since it had been mailed. It's now been another month. No package.

Calling the Post Office, now, I get an answering machine. I don't know how I managed to get the Postmaster on the line the previous time I called to complain.

And now this morning I learned that a check I've been expecting had been mailed to me, at my P.O. Box. It is a large check. I have not seen it. This vexes me.

High Tandy Hills Hiking Temps, Big Mammal Encounters, Tootsie Tonasket & The Island Girl Returns

That's the view from the Tandy Hills, a couple hours ago, at about 4 in the afternoon, looking west towards downtown Fort Worth and Interstate 30. It was 75 when I went hiking. We are in the 70s the next several days.

The picture was taken with my miraculously brought back from the dead camera. It remains alive.

I was in the Tandy Hills zone in the late afternoon due to agreeing to deliver a party, who insists on not being talked about in my blog, to a doctor's appointment. The appointment was supposed to take about an hour. Which meant I hiked for about an hour.

I had a scary encounter with a large mammal in one of the more isolated areas of the park. I heard loud noises, I first thought it was an armadillo, which I've never seen in the Tandy Hills, but I'm well used to the noise they make as they rut about for bugs to eat. I hear them all the time at Indian Village Creek Natural Historic Area.

As I got closer to the source of the noise I knew it was not an armadillo, it was too loud. I began to be concerned it might be one of those wild hogs I've read about.

And then I saw what it was. A man clearing some brush. We exchanged a few words and then my phone rang.

It was Tootsie Tonasket wanting to tell me the latest chapter in her soap opera. The short version is she had her son arrested on outstanding warrants. The son had been getting drunk and threatening Tootsie. Tootsie's husband has moved out to his own rented house a few houses from Tootsie's. The son moved in with his dad. And now is in jail. There were more details but I can't remember them, due to my attention deficit disorder problem. Or blessing.

Tomorrow I once again deliver an Island Girl to the airport for a sober return to the land of her birth. I enjoy the early morning jaunts to the airport. Why? I do not know.

My Olympus Camera Has Come Back From The Dead

A few days ago I blogged about dropping my Olympus camera, breaking it, and my search for a new camera, with the 2 finalists being an Olympus waterproof, drop damage resistant, weather proof camera and a top-rated Canon.

So, yesterday I picked up my damaged Olympus, thinking I'd take out the rechargeable batteries. But, before I did that, for some reason, I thought I'd try to turn the camera on again.

It came on as if nothing had happened to it. I took a picture as if nothing had happened to it. After I'd dropped it there was a real bad grinding noise when the camera tried to open. The display would not light up. Pushing on the shutter button did nothing.

I can only speculate why the camera is back working. Here I was going to buy a new Olympus, that was supposed to be harder to break. But apparently my, once more alive, current Olympus, has some sort of magical repair itself ability.

Or maybe when I dropped the camera some part of the inner mechanism was wrenched out of alignment, but held in tension by a spring, or something. Then while sitting idle the tension slowly put whatever had wrenched out of alignment, back into place.

I'm going with the magical repair itself option. We'll see how long the newly healed camera continues to work. It likely is a temporary return from the dead.

Are You In With Starbucks Free Coffee Call For National Service?

Minutes ago I was doing the secret behind my flexible, youthful body, that being yoga on a big inflated ball. I listen to the radio while I do this.

There was a new Starbucks ad that struck me as, well, wrong. While seeming to be altruistic.

The Starbucks ad said Starbucks was getting behind President Obama's Inaugural Speech call for community service by joining forces with something called HandsOn Network.

Starbucks is suggesting the good citizens of America answer their new President's call for service by giving up 5 hours a week to community service.

And, if you do your 5 hours between Wednesday, January 21, as in today, and Sunday, January 25, Starbucks will reward your good service by giving you one free cup of coffee. Not a Frappaccino, not a Mocha, not any of those other fancy coffee drinks Starbucks sells, that I've seldom bought, even though I'm from the coffee mad Seattle zone.

Directly from Starbucks...

How to Participate at Your Local Starbucks

Visit Starbucks:
You can join the “I’m In” campaign, part of the Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ commitment to community involvement, when visiting a local participating Starbucks beginning Wednesday, Jan. 21 (and continuing through Sunday, Jan. 25). Stop by the “I’m In” display featuring community pledge cards, pick up the card, and fill it out with your five-hour commitment to volunteer.

Pledge Five:
Place the “I’m In” sticker from the pledge card on your lapel, signifying your pledge, and take the card with you as a reminder to keep the effort going. As a thank you, each customer who pledges five hours of their own time will receive a complimentary tall cup of brewed coffee.

Track Success:
Customers can log on to pledge5.starbucks.com to record pledge hours, find local volunteer opportunities via the HandsOn Network, track hours pledged-to-date, and receive updates on the campaign."

I don't know, maybe this is Starbucks doing a good thing. But something about it struck me as sort of a cheesy marketing ploy. I think if the ad had simply said Starbucks had allied itself with the HandsOn Network and were encouraging people to volunteer, suggesting people go to Starbucks' website for info on how to volunteer. And not had the free cup of coffee thing if you do your 5 hours in the next 5 days, then it would have seemed like a totally altruistic thing.

Or if Starbucks pledged some monetary donation to some good cause for every 5 hours of community service, that would have seemed like a good thing.

But the idea of doing 5 hours of community service and going into a Starbucks to get a cup of coffee for free, well, I might do the 5 hours, but I wouldn't bother with the coffee.

I remember years ago, Burger King had a promotion where you got a free Whooper if you'd go to the counter and say "Whopper beat the Big Mac." I was able to get myself to do this once. But something about it was embarrassing to me. Even though I actually do think the Whopper beats the Big Mac.

Now, I'm off to do 5 hours of community service so I can get a cup of coffee...

Public Airport Intoxication: Part Two, The Seinfeld Moment

Well, I really had me a day, yesterday. A totally absurd day. The most absurd part was a Seinfeld moment, well minutes, that had me running for 45 minutes, covering miles of two D/FW Airport parking garages. I'll get to that later.

So, you may remember, yesterday I took someone to the airport who proceeded to get arrested and jailed for public intoxication.

The party in question was heading to an island in the Atlantic, where the arrestee's 83 year old mother was going to pick her up.

So, the arrested was quite panicked as to how to let her mother know not to go to the airport. Several calls were made from the jail cell to various people trying to get the recipient of the call to call the mother. However, the cell connection from the cell was so bad, no one could make out much of the calls. And I don't speak Spanish. So, how could I call the mother.

At some point the arrestee was able to get ahold of someone on the island and told that person to tell the mother that the arrestee was sick. The person on the island somehow then told the mother that the arrestee was sick and in the hospital. Which is sort of true if you stretch poet license to its limits.

I got the number of the jail. Called, explained the situation. I'd been getting constant phone calls from the arrestee. Little of which I could understand. The jailer said he'd put the arrestee on a land line. Before that could happen the arrestee called again. I said I'd head that way and see if I could cause a release to happen.

The jail is not inside the airport. It's on a side road to the east about 3 miles from the main airport freeway. I found the jail. I talked to the jailer. He said the arrestee had not sobered up, under the legal limit, almost 9 hours after the arrest. I was appalled.

The jailer put the arrestee on a jail phone. I felt like I was in a prison movie. The arrestee was in a panic, worried her mother would have a heart attack thinking she was in a hospital. The arrestee begged me to get her out of there. I said I'd see what I could do.

I talked to the jailer, asked if the almost sober arrestee could be released to me. He said he'd go check on the current condition. He came back and said he could release the now sober arrestee.

It took a half hour to process us out of there. That is when it was learned that the 3 pieces of carry-on bags and a jacket, were back inside the airport.

The jailer gave me a number to call to make sure the items were there. I got an answering machine. The jailer told me Lost and Found was in the C2 section of the C terminal. I'd dropped the drunk off at C31 that morning. C31 is a long ways from C2. It's a big airport.

While I was trying to call Lost and Found the newly released jailbird called her mother. The cell phone had a good connection once it was out of the cell. I don't know what cover story was told the mother. I didn't care at that point.

So, we head back into the airport. I easily park right across from C2. I barged the line at the ticket counter and asked the agent where Lost and Found is. Right behind us, through security, she said. So, we had to show our driver's licenses and she printed up what looked like boarding tickets.

I was not happy having to go through security. I hate that part of flying. And I was not prepared for it. As in I was wearing baggy pants held up by a belt. But I made it through with only one slight moment where it would have been embarrassing. I was going commando, also with no socks.

I started to feel like I was in an Amazing Race episode. I found Lost and Found. Explained the situation. The Lost and Found lady, Tiffany Washington, said that type stuff is not brought there. I used my considerable powers of charm, and Tiffany made a lot of phone calls and located the missing items. They were back at baggage claim for C31.

We went back to my van, left that parking garage and headed for the C31 parking garage. Unlike C2, the C31 entry level was full, so I go to the next level, then the next. Find a spot, park, hurry to the C31 baggage claim. We find the stuff behind a locked door. A lady opens it. All is there but the jacket.

We grabbed the stuff and hurried out of there. Crossed over to the parking garage. I quickly walked to where I thought the van was. It was not there. I was totally baffled. We walked around for a bit, re-traced steps, all to no avail.

I then told the recently drunk one to stay put and I'd run through the garage. I proceeded to do so. It was sort of fun. I was told later I looked like a cartoon character. I thought I had checked out every possible location in that garage. So, I ran to the next garage. I quickly figured out, after running through 2 levels, that there was no way that could be the location.

Ran back to the C31 garage. Found the freshly sober one, who had asked an airport employee for help and was given a number to call where they'd send someone to drive you through the garages looking for your vehicle. I thought that sounded ridiculous, but I took the number.

I said to the sober one, I think I made a mistake, thinking we'd had to go up, to find my van, but then I remembered that when I left the full level, the road went downhill, before re-entering the parking garage.

So, I ran down a level, then another. I was pretty sure I was on the right track, but I was calling that rescue number anyway. As I hit option #1 on the phone tree, I spotted my van.

I called the arrestee/jailbird/drunk/sober one and said stay put, I'll be right there.

It was an uneventful drive back. 121 had backed up 183, so I exited at 157 and took a right on Trinity Boulevard to get back here with no more traffic jams.

The starved arrestee/jailbird/drunk/sober one had not eaten, so I drove through Jack in the Box, then back to her place, where I hauled up the baggage and poured the rest of the liquid, that had caused the trouble, down the drain.

I needed a good symbolic gesture.

And then I was out of there. 20 minutes later I got a call telling me she found the missing jacket, stuffed into one of her bags.

What a happy ending to a sad, sordid, pathetic story.

Today's Obese Outhouse Joke

Regarding yesterday's incident where an intoxicated wannabe flier was not allowed to fly, but was instead allowed to spend the day in the airport jail, well, Gar the Texan opined regarding the absurdity of being so harsh with someone who is a tad tipsy, due to the tipsiness potentially presenting a hazard to the other fliers once they are in the air and facing some potential problem, where it'd be best if everyone were stone cold sober.

While at the same time, an obese person, who it would logically seem might present just as much a safety hazard, if not worse, to their fellow fliers in case of an emergency, is allowed to fly. Sometimes after having to purchase a second seat to hold all their girth.

As usual, Gar the Texan, with his extremely highly evolved thought processing, seems to be making a valid point.

I truly would not want to be seated next to either a drunk or an extremely obese person. Either would be uncomfortable and a potential safety hazard, particularly if I had the window seat, in both an emergency and a restroom call.

The Hazards Of Public Intoxication At D/FW Airport

That is the morning view of part of the enormous Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Or, as Fort Worth would prefer it to be called, Fort Worth/Dallas Airport.

I was there this morning, real early. To deliver a person flying out of the country.

On the way to the airport the person flying was consuming a liquid beverage. I thought it was some liquid breakfast of some sort.

But, by the time we got to the terminal I began to think that the liquid breakfast had a high alcohol content. It was so early in the morning I thought there was no way the person flying would be drinking a liquid breakfast with a high alcohol content.

I got the person flying through the terminal door and I was on my way home.

About 5 minutes after getting back here, that'd be about 15 minutes since I left the airport, I got a call. The person flying had been stopped from getting on a plane, charged with public intoxication and brought to the airport jail to sober up. I really was not able to understand much of what the person flying was saying.

So, I called back. A man answered. It was the jailer. The phone had been taken away from the person flying. He told me the person flying was going to be held until sober and a fine was paid.

Hours later, the jailer must have returned the phone to the person flying, because I got a garbled, bad connection call, asking me to call the person flying's mother to tell the mother the person flying was sick.

I reminded the person flying that I do not speak Spanish and even if I did, telling the mother that the person flying was sick would likely worry the mother more than the person flying not showing up at the appointed time.

About an hour back I got another call. Another bad connection.

An hour or so later, another call, this time I could make out that the fine had been paid. $210. And that the person flying would be released in an hour or so.

I then called the jail for directions. The jail is not at the airport.

I guess I'll head that way, but I'm in no big hurry to rescue the person who was formerly flying.

So, that's been my day. Up at 3am, dealing with public intoxication. And now another trip to the airport zone.

I need to find a better class of persons flying to deliver to the airport. I delivered Gar the Texan to the airport once. I don't think he was drunk.

Seeing West & Clear At The Fort Worth Omni Convention Center Hotel

The best Fort Worth blog, about Fort Worth, that I've seen, definitely isn't mine. The best that I know of is called West & Clear. So named after the two like named forks of the Trinity River, which become one on the north end of Downtown Fort Worth.

A rather scenic confluence that will be obliterated if the Trinity River Vision ever becomes clear.

Awhile back I verbalized my disdain over Fort Worth's new Omni Convention Center Hotel.

West & Clear are fans of the new building. They verbalize their appreciation of the new Hotel here. They also mention my disdain for the Hotel.

I've not seen the inside of the new Hotel. I probably will like it when I see it. My only problem with the building is all those huge balconies sticking out from the sides that look like scaffolding from the distance. To my architecturally untrained eyes they look goofy. And dangerous.

Other than that, I like the look of the building, the way it matched sleek modern tower with the stone-faced non-tower part. The shape looks slender, vulnerable in the wind, like a sail on a ship.
If only someone had said no to those balconies. I fear someone will fall from one. Or jump. Or drop something, injuring someone below. Causing a lengthy closure, like what happened after drownings in the Water Gardens, while a fix to the dangerous balconies is found.

I hope I'm wrong.

You At 50: AARP Video

The American Association of Retired People (AARP) had a contest titled "U @ 50." The below video won 2nd place. It is quite good. Very clever. The video was submitted by a 20 year old.

The Bush Regime Ends Today

I suspect there will be some partying today, around the world, with the end of the Bush Regime finally here.

I hope George slept well on his last night in the White House. I did. After yesterday's insomnia bout, this morning I slept in til past 3am.

I needed to be up early today. I have to take a Puerto Rican to the airport so she can fly to Miami, then San Juan, then Ponce, where her 82 year old Mom will pick her up to take her to her hometown of Coamo.

Coamo, Puerto Rico is known for its hot springs. And being the location of a big battle during the Spanish-American War. Miss Puerto Rico does not know that that war is why her island is part of the United States. I find people not knowing such things to be perplexing.

By the end of today George Bush will be starting his exile in Texas. I think he is heading to his ranch in Crawford, not his new home in Dallas.

I'm considering today to be the actual start of the New Year.

Happy New Year!

MLK Day Insomnia in Texas & Naked Bart Simpson

I have been up since about 2 this morning. I went to bed early. I did not have any nightmares, like during my last insomnia bout, where I was chased by 6 monster women trying to eat me.

The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning in effect til 6pm. A Red Flag Warning means the conditions are right for wildfires, as in it's dry and windy. So far, I smell no smoke.

For the past few days, AT & T I-verse has been having all their pay to view channels running free. That meant what appears to be a couple hundred versions of multiple HBO, MAXs, Showtimes and others were viewable and recordable.

Consequently I watched large parts of Suburbia and The Simpson's Movie. Maybe too much uninterrupted Homer wrought havoc with my ability to sleep. Or maybe it was that extremely long, Bart, full frontal nude skateboard scene.

Anyway, so far it's been a rather low energy Martin Luther King Day. Usually I celebrate by doing something altruistic. Right now I can't remember an example.

I read my Tacoma nephew's blog this morning. They are all sick. I have not been sick in a long time. Sleepless, yes. Sick, no. When I was up in Tacoma I tried to instill in those boys and their parents the salubrious benefits of washing their dishes with hot water and soap. I warned if you don't do this you risk getting all sorts of viruses and bacteria.

Now, I wash all my eating equipment in extremely hot water, with extremely potent dishwashing soap, to the point that I reach hospital level sterility. Hence that not getting sick thing. Maybe, now, with this most recent bout of ailing, those Tacoma nephews of mine will finally take heed of their uncle's wise advice.

And right now I don't need to hear from you boys, bragging about how easily you can fall asleep. All day long.

Fort Worth's Endangered Marvel of Modernism

At the north end of Fort Worth's downtown there is something known as Heritage Park. When I moved to Fort Worth, Heritage Park was the first thing I saw in the town that impressed me as a good thing.

Heritage Park was supposed to be a sort of memorial to the founding of Fort Worth. It was a complex set of stairs, catwalks, overlooks and water features.

You may have noticed I used the past tense "was." Because for well over a year the city of Fort Worth has had Heritage Park surrounded by ugly cyclone fencing. And "Closed Signs."

Go here to see the current sad state of Fort Worth's Heritage Park.

The excuse given for this civic neglect is that people were scared to go in the park due to homeless people hanging out there. And its water features were expensive to maintain. There has been no attempt, as far as I know, to fix this park that has become an eyesore, yet one more blight on Fort Worth's self image as a town that is the envy of other towns, far and wide.

Heritage Park is adjacent to a police building. It would seem that regular patrols could have easily been made of the park. Better lighting could have been installed. Along with surveillance cameras.

Seattle has a similar park, called Freeway Park, considered a precedent setting park of the same nature as Heritage Park. Freeway Park had some crime problems. Seattle fixed the problem. Freeway Park did not close. Go here to read the Wikipedia article about Seattle's Freeway Park and how Seattle modified the park to make it more secure.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation has released their annual list of Endangered Marvels of Modernism. Heritage Park, in Fort Worth, is on the list.

" Boston City Hall Plaza, Boston, MA
" Estates Drive Reservoir, Oakland, CA
" Heritage Plaza, Heritage Park, Fort Worth, TX
" Kaiser Roof Garden, Kaiser Center, Oakland, CA
" Lake Elizabeth, Allegheny Commons, Pittsburgh, PA
" Manhattan Square Park, Rochester, NY
" Mill Creek Canyon Earthworks, Kent, WA
" Miller Garden, Columbus, IN
" El Monte, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico
" Pacific Science Center Courtyard, Seattle, WA
" Parkmerced, San Francisco, CA
" Peavey Plaza, Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN

FDR, IKE, JFK, LBJ, NIXON & BHO

As far as I know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was our first President frequently referred to by his initials, as in FDR. I assume this came about due FDR's long last name having 3 syllables.

I know some people, like Richard Nixon, refer to FDR's cousin Teddy as TR, but I don't know if Teddy Roosevelt's contempories did.

FDR's successor, Harry S Truman, did not become known as HST. The S between Harry and Truman is not the first letter of his middle name. Truman's middle name is a middle initial. With no period after it. Why, I do not know.

Truman was followed by a President with a long last name, but he did not become known as DDE. Instead he was known as Ike. Ike was Dwight David Eisenhower. Ike sounds better than saying DDE.

Ike was followed by JFK. Who was followed by LBJ. LBJ had a fairly short last name. But I think people liked the sound of saying JFK and so they segued easily into Lyndon Baines Johnson being LBJ. It worked great for anti-war chants, as in "Hey Hey LBJ. How many kids did you kill today?"

LBJ was to be our last President known by his initials. Nixon followed him and while there were some instances of him being referred to as RMN, it just did not stick. Mostly, I suppose, because Nixon is a nice short name with a punch to it when said aloud, like Hitler.

Nixon was followed by Ford. Again a short name. Then Carter. Again short. I think Jimmy Carter's middle name is Earl. That'd make him JEC. That just looks weird. Jimmy Carter was followed by Ronald Reagan. I do remember seeing Reagan referred to as RR a time or two, but that definitely did not stick. It was just way to easy to say Reagan, a good short name, like Nixon and Hitler.

Reagan was followed by Bush. No need to call him GHWB. Bush was followed by Clinton. Again a nice 2 syllable name that has a punch to it, so it was Clinton, not WJC. That would have looked to much like the initials for Water Closet.

Of course, Clinton was unfortunately followed by another Bush. Who was never referred to as GWB, but sometimes the, to be retired tomorrow, Bush was referred to as W.

Tomorrow the world breathes a sigh of relief as W is replaced by Barack Hussein Obama. I'm fairly certain he will not be referred to by his initials. BHO sounds too much like HBO. And if you take the middle name out you are left with BO. And that definitely would not sound Presidential.

Roman Philosopher Cicero Predicting The Future

I've mentioned several times that Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, sends me a lot of real amusing, interesting stuff. Every once in awhile Alma sends something that just seems too good to be true.

Like this morning.

An email with a quote from the Roman Philosopher, Cicero.

In the subject line it said, "What have we learned in 2 Millennia?"

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."

Cicero - 55 BC

And then the punch line to the what have we learned question, "Evidently Nothing!!!"

The 2 red flags for me were the part about assistance to foreign lands and people living on public assistance. Rome occupied foreign lands and extracted wealth from them. Rome didn't operate an American style foreign aid program. Rome had a lot of slaves, there was no welfare program.

Several websites deal with this erroneous Cicero quote. With several people saying they liked fictional Cicero.

The closest Cicero came to uttering the fictional quote is when he said, “The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign hands should be curtailed, lest Rome fall.”

Despite the fictional quote not being what Cicero said, the punch line sure rings true. It does seem, at times, that in 2000 years the world has evidently learned nothing. Or very little. We had religious crazies killing and maiming people back then, we have them now. Only now they have machine guns and rocket launchers. And Internet websites.

Polite Texas 8th Grader Asking Permission First

Fairly frequently I get an email asking permission to use some of my photos from my Eyes on Texas website.

Usually the request comes from a student.

One time it came from a restaurant decorator wanting Fort Worth images to put on its wall.

Another request came from Backpacker Magazine. They wanted to use a picture of a Longhorn in Wildflowers that I took by the west end of Lake Grapevine. One time the request was for a charity coffee table type book featuring Waxachachie. I think I said yes to everyone but the restaurant designers. I didn't see why he should use my pictures for free. And he wasn't willing to pay anything for them.

Sometimes I learn someone has hotlinked to one of my photos. That annoys me. It's like stealing, with them using my server bandwidth to put my photo on their webpage. When I find one of those I alter the photo and upload both the original and the altered one to my server. Sometimes it takes a long time for the photo thief to find the picture has been changed.

Today I got an email from an 8th grader named Tiffany, politely asking for permission to use some of my Dallas photos.

I'll paste Tiffany's request below. It's nice to see we're getting some kids being taught well, here in Texas, coherent, grammatically correct and with no spelling errors. If only I could manage all three of those attributes.

To Whom It May Concern:

I am an eighth grader at Livingston Junior High in Livingston, Texas, and I am writing to request information for a school project.

My class is involved in a large project called "Business Professionals of America." This project has many different categories of competition such as keyboarding, spreadsheets, prepared speech, etc. and i am participating in web site design. Every year this project follows a theme set by the Business Professionals of America office, and for the 2008-2009 school year our theme is "The Top Ten Things To Do In Dallas." For this project, we are required to design a web site rating the top ten things to do during your stay in Dallas.

I am writing to ask for written permission for the use of the pictures on your website. If this would be possible, it would be extremely helpful. I appreciate your time and assistance. Thank you in advance for your help.

Sincerely,
Tiffany Shelby

Six January Executions In Texas

Last week, on Wednesday, we had our first execution of the year, here in Texas.

A Fort Worth man named Curtis Moore got the lethal needle for murdering three people in Fort Worth in a particularly brutal fashion, with two of the victims shot and thrown on a Fort Worth street. Then 2 other victims were driven to another part of Fort Worth, shot, set on fire and left in a car to die.

Darrek Wayne Hoyle survived the shooting and the fire, but with very bad burns which left serious scars, visible when he watched the execution of the man who tried to kill him.

Five more are slated for the lethal needle this month here in Texas, putting us on track to keep our #1 spot as the state with the most executions. There are 8 executions scheduled this month in the United States. Six of those 8 are in Texas.

The Taliban & Mentally Ill People Everywhere

That's an Afghan Taliban killing an Afghani woman. The Afghani woman had committed the horrendous crime of having polish on her fingernails.

What sort of twisted world do we live in where there are barbarians like this? It's not a capital crime to murder someone, but it is a capital crime to wear fingernail polish.

In this morning's Dallas Morning News there was an article about the Taliban in northwest Pakistan banning female education. More than 40,000 girls have been kicked out of school.

In their ultimatum, the Taliban warned parents against sending their daughters to school, declaring female education to be "un-Islamic."

In one week, this past December, the Taliban beheaded 13 people. Many people in the Pakistan Valley of Swat are fleeing the Taliban, included policemen, leaving the area even more lawless.

How do humans get so twisted and backwards all in the name of their religion? Why is there no high ranking Islam Ayatollah type person who orders these idiots to knock it off?

To me if you are in a gang that goes around murdering women because they have polish on their nails and beheading people for equally stupid reasons, well, it's just insane mental illness.

I've dealt with mental illness up close and personal. Mentally ill people are usually absolutely sure of whatever ideas and beliefs their degraded thinking produces. There is no reasoning with them. They have no sense of responsibility for their actions and behaviors. They believe anything they do is okay.

If you find yourself having to defend yourself against a mentally ill person, they never understand that their behavior brought on the defense. The Taliban are equally self-righteous. America has been blasting them for years, with America justifiably mad over 9/11, and the Taliban just continue on, doing their evil deeds.

The only way to stop them is to kill them. America kills them for killing others. Not for using fingernail polish.

Now, what to do with the non-killer type mentally ill person? We used to lock them up. Now only the most serious cases are institutionalized. Now, way too often drugs are used to control the bad behavior. That has not seemed a very good solution either, from what I've seen.

I think maybe the best solution might be move them all to the Taliban controlled zones of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I'm Leaving Texas And Heading To Oz

This coming July I'm planning on ending my Texas Exile for 6 months to be exiled in Australia instead.

As in for 6 months I'll be living off the coast of Queensland on the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef, my homebase will be on Hamilton Island, which is part of Australia's Whitsunday Islands.

I'll be working for Tourism Queensland. My job is "Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef." But I really won't be doing any caretaking.

What I will be doing is explore around the islands, above and below water, going to places like Qualia on Hamilton Island for a spa treatment, do some bushwhacking, feed some fish, fly with the aerial postal service and whatever I feel like doing.

And taking video and pictures of what I see and do. Then writing a blog about my ongoing 6 month experience, with a video diary and photo gallery.

And now for the best part. Tourism Queensland is paying all my transportation costs, plus all my other costs while on the islands. And on top of that, they are paying me $100,000, for 6 months of fun. If some emergency comes up, back in the states, I can fly back to attend to it. But at my own expense.

You can go here and see what my new home zone looks like....

I Know No Mean People In Texas

I like the true crime genre, although lately I seem to have gone deep into the political book genre, with my favorite of that genre being Richard Nixon's In the Arena. No matter what you think of Nixon, I think you'd find this an interesting book. It was like Nixon in gossip mode.

One chapter is devoted to drinking, with Nixon telling stories about the drinking habits of all the political figures he'd met. Celebrities too. John Wayne came for a visit, I think it was after the resignation, when Nixon was recuperating from his near death bout. Nixon asked John Wayne if he'd like a drink. Sure, gin and tonic. Well, Nixon couldn't find the tonic. I forgot what he used instead. And he made it heavy on the gin. John Wayne took one sip and said "that's a damn fine drink."

Nixon was one complex guy. The chapter about Pat was very touching. I think I almost shed a tear. And the way he wrote about his grandkids was poignant and funny. He was quite proud that his grandkids were proficient with computers and video games, while Nixon confessed to being baffled by both.

Nixon had a reputation of being a mean, bad man. I don't think he was, mean, I mean. Yes, he may have done a few bad things, that he came to regret, but he was not mean.

I got an email today telling me about the latest troubling shenanigans of a notoriously Mean Person we know in common.

I don't have much tolerance for Mean People, you know, those sorts who say things just to be Mean. It doesn't have to be truthful, usually it isn't, being Mean is the main criteria.

I haven't experienced all that many Mean People, but the ones I have known, have no scruples. They will out and out make up lies to buttress whatever Mean Thing they are saying. Mean People have no concept that they bring on themselves the reactions they get to their Meanness, as if they think they are under some sorta of immunity blanket.

As in, Mean People think they can say the most outrageously Mean Thing, in reaction to the most minor of stimuli. Yet, when their victim puts the Mean Thing into perspective, in an attempt to comprehend the incomprehensible, well, the Mean Person gets all bent out of shape and even Meaner. Mean People have trouble with mirrors, either verbal or physical.

The epic hypocrisy of the Meanest Person I've known, is the most outstanding trait of that particular Mean Person. This Mean Person has absolutely no sense of the irony of what comes out of this Mean Person's mouth. It can be astonishing. This Mean Person can go into full bore Mean Person mode, attacking another person in the most scathing way, while acting as if the Mean Person has no idea why the Victim of the Meanness gets fed up and does some bitch slapping. It's kind of funny to observe.

The Mean People I've known have not been very bright. Not being very bright may contribute to being Mean. All the smart people I've known have been Nice People. Nice People never act Mean. Probably because they're too smart to be Mean.

I sort of feel sorry for Mean People. That has to be a miserable way to go through your day, feeling all Angry and Mean. But then again, part of being Mean is pretty much lacking what most would consider to be a fully developed conscience. The lacking of a conscience and any ability to feel remorse for the hurt feelings the Mean Person leaves in their wake, let alone to make amends for the damage left behind in their wake, is what makes them a Mean Person. If the Mean Person had a conscience they would not be a Mean Person.

I guess what I'm saying is Mean People are sociopaths. They should all be locked up or banned to some big island somewhere, like Australia or Antarctica and leave all us Nice People in peace in a world without Mean People.

I hope Barack Obama has the banning of Mean People on his agenda. That and keeping obese people off planes.

Saturday At Tandy Hills Park & Lemon Curd

I decided against going to the Stock Show Parade this morning. I figured it'd be too cold. I was wrong. I just got back from hiking at the Tandy Hills, that's the Tandy Hills noonish view of downtown Fort Worth, with it being in the 60s and quite pleasant.

There is another drawback to going to downtown, when it's busy, which it seldom is, nowadays, as opposed to my last time going to the Stock Show Parade, due to easy parking being no more, due to the now defunct new Radio Shack Corporate Headquarters removing the huge free parking lots and free subway that connected the parking lots to downtown.

A couple days ago I blogged about the oodles of lemons my Mom & Dad left me and me not knowing what to do with them. Then discovering a Lemon Curd recipe, which came out well, which had me asking if anyone knew what one does with Lemon Curd.

That day, or the next, someone named Shirley commented, telling me, "Put it on toast, silly."

Well, this was one odd coincidence, because my Mom's name is Shirley. I'm sure this Shirley was not my Mom, because, first off, my Mom can't see a webpage. And second off, Mom would have signed the comment "Mom," not "Shirley."

So, Shirley, if you are reading this, thanks for the toast advice. This morning I made French Toast and that Lemon Curd stuff was real good on it.

I found out this morning, after the Lemon Curd French Toast, that I get to go to the airport the morning of Inauguration Day. Miss Puerto Rico is flying to her home island for a week and needs to be delivered to her plane. I better make it back here by 10am or I'll be cranky.

Texas Testicular Cancer Awareness Day

For what seems months I've been hearing ads on the radio for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk For The Cure, taking place a long time from now, in November in Dallas.

The Susan G. Komen Foundation works to find a cure for breast cancer. There is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I was curious if there is a National Testicular Cancer Awareness Month. Or a Week. Or even a Day.

Well, there isn't.

Something called "Get A Grip!" has something called Testicular Cancer Awareness Week the first week of April. But, it's not a "National" week.

So, I'm declaring today, January 17, 2009, Texas Testicular Cancer Awareness Day.

I think I mentioned it before, once or twice on this blog---I remember for sure mentioning it during last summer's Olympics, when much ado was made of swimmer Eric Shanteau's decision to postpone testicular cancer surgery, til after he swam---that I am a 23 year testicular cancer survivor. There are a lot of us. Like Lance Armstrong. He's going to try to win the Tour de France again.

I can see the value of a National Testicular Awareness Day, Week or Month. Back when I had it I did not know such a cancer existed til it was a plotline on TV's St. Elsewhere. I believe the show that focused on testicular cancer aired in early December. At that point in time I'd discovered a lump that I didn't think was right.

Early in the following February, the Seattle P-I ran a story about testicular cancer. From that story I was pretty certain that that was what my lump was. But I felt healthy, I jogged every other day. How could I have cancer?

Well, about 2 weeks after the P-I article I was jogging and I could tell something wasn't right, like the testicle zone felt real heavy.

I made an appointment with a Urologist the next day. He asked a few questions, felt the lump, turned somber, scheduled an operation in 3 days. I was forbidden to drink coffee the morning of the operation, the doctor was real late, they had me on a pre-op drip, I had a miserable coffee withdrawal headache that went away as soon as the anesthetic hit my brain.

I woke up after the surgery to find a nurse holding my hand. I instantly asked if it was cancer. Then a doctor said, okay, I guess we know you're fully alert. I was told it was cancer.

I later learned I had 2 types of testicular cancer, anaplastic seminoma and embryonal cell. I may be spelling those wrong. They are both the most treatable types of testicular cancer. The tumor had a high necrotic factor. Meaning, perhaps, that my immune system was already killing it.

Testicular cancer has one of, if not the highest, cure rates of any cancer.

I'm not going to detail the rest of my medical treatment, because I went the unconventional route and I would not want to influence anyone to go the route I took, even though I, apparently, made the right choice. Knock on wood.

During the period after learning you have cancer you feel sort of in a state of limbo. I went through the stages of adjusting to it real fast. When you face the fact that your time on the planet might be coming to an end sooner than you'd hoped it does tend to change your view of things. The only thought that could get to me, in that period, was the idea that I might not live long enough to see my little nephews grow up. The 4th one had not even been born at that point in time.

Well, I not only got to see them all grow up, I saw the oldest one get married and have a baby of his own.

Are you a man between 12-50, or are you a son, brother, father, mother, spouse, or friend of someone who is? Know this:

There will be 7,920 new cases of Testicular Cancer diagnosed during 2009 and 380 young men will die from the disease because they didn't catch it in time. That is more deaths than women in this age group who will die of breast cancer.

The main thing to be aware of on this Texas Testicular Cancer Awareness Day is early detection gives you the best chance at a good outcome. Do a self-exam at least once a month. If you find a lump that didn't used to be there, get yourself to a doctor immediately.

Gar the Texan's Random Ramblings

I know this good ol' Texas boy, known as Gar the Texan, born and reared way out in West Texas in the town of, I think the name is, Kermit.

Gar the Texan eventually escaped West Texas, married a German and became a world traveller. Which has made him quite worldly. And wise.

In Gar the Texan's most recent blogging he makes reference to me, saying (I may be paraphrasing here), that he seldom agrees with me, but I'm a smart fellow who he can tolerate listening to and that he may have learned a thing or two from reading my blog. Also, because I'm Dutch, I have an aversion to Germans.

To illustrate what Gar the Texan believes are my strange opinions about Europeans, Gar inserted an amusing YouTube video into his post. I thought the video was so good I'm going to stick it on this post. So, you don't have to go to Gar the Texan's blog to see the video....

Barack Hussein Obama & Osama

I was talking to one of my dullard friends this afternoon and he made the observation that has been made by millions, that similarity between our new President's last name and the last name of America's Public Enemy #1 Osama Bin Laden.

As I sort of dozed off to my own thoughts, as the dullard droned on, my thoughts went back to 2001, the days after 9/11.

If back in those days, that really do not seem all that long ago, if back then, someone had told me that George W. Bush would be President til 2009, that America would occupy both Afghanistan and Iraq in 2009, that America would help bring about the execution of Saddam Hussein, that in 2009 the new American President would be named Barack Hussein Obama and that the new President would be African-American, this would have struck me as being an unlikely scenario.

Well, I don't think many of us Americans, back in 2001, would have been able to imagine a scenario that would have us having a new President, a man few of us had heard of in 2001, last named Obama, middle named Hussein, African-American, a scenario that has the vast majority of us quite excited to have Barack Hussein Obama becoming our new President. With most of the World also on board, looking forward with positive anticipation to the New America that is about to reach out to the World in a way much different than the past 8 pitiful years.

I'm looking forward to Tuesday. I watched neither of the Bush inauguration festivities. Previous to Bush I watched every inauguration day in my living memory. Bush is the first President, in my memory, who I don't believe I watched a single news conference. I did watch his State of the Unions. In pain.

US Airways Hudson River Landing

If you'd seen it in a movie, you would have thought it a real stretch in the believability department. I don't recollect the last event that caused me to think it was some sort of miracle, but this crash of US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River, after taking off from New York's LaGuardia Airport, then running into a flock of geese that killed the engines, forcing the emergency landing in the water, with no one killed, is definitely a miracle.

And, apparently, the miracle came about in no small part due to the pilot's calm skill, in addition to the flight crew's, equally calm skill, at doing their jobs to perfection.

But, what crossed my mind when I read about how the passengers remained calm, for the most part, how they made an orderly exit from the slowly sinking plane, was this....

Now, I may be going, once again, into totally politically incorrect territory here, but what if one or two of the passengers had been of the hugely obese sort? Would we have had such a happy ending? What if there had been a hugely obese person onboard, and that person happened to be out at the end of a wing, upon getting out of the plane, causing the plane to tip, like a teeter totter?

I really think it is time to have a universal ban on oversized people getting on a plane. It is not fair to the other passengers, both for safety and for comfort sake. I know I would not want to be seated next to someone who oozed into my seat. I believe if that happened I would make a fuss and ask to be moved.

It may sound harsh, but I believe if a person allows themself to get into a fat state of bloatedness, due to self indulgent overeating, that they should expect not to be allowed to do some things. Like sit on certain pieces of furniture. Or use certain types of public transportation.

The rights of the majority, with the majority of us not being hugely overweight, outweigh the rights of those who's sloth has put their own health at risk, to endanger us who have not. It's that simple.

A Message from the Children of Carter Avenue

Are you kidding?

16" gas pipelines?

Under our front yards where we live and play?

Please help us have a safe place to live and play.

PLEASE don't let Chesapeake Energy pass gas under Carter Avenue!

---

At the kid's request, this message was delivered to FWCanDo and then forwarded here. The photo is by Steve Deoung who lives on Carter Avenue in Fort Worth and who spent this morning in a Fort Worth courtroom, trying to protect his kids, his house and his neighborhood. You can email Steve Deoung here.

The Battle Of Carter Avenue: In Court Today In Fort Worth

Incoming Call For Action From Don Young:

What would you do if Chesapeake Energy tried to force you to sign a document that would allow a 16" (or larger) natural gas pipeline to be bored under your home or front yard?

A Tony Soprano kind of offer that you better not refuse?

Your property marketability would instantly disappear. The safety of your family would be greatly diminished. Your homeowners insurance might go way up or be canceled.

What if they sent heavy-handed reps to your workplace to get you to sign? Pretend, for a moment, that you are a low income person who may not have a firm grip on the English language. Is your job in jeopardy if you don't sign? This has happened to at least one Carter Avenue resident.

How would you feel if the City of Fort Worth aided and abetted Chesapeake to pave the way for such a pipeline? Reportedly, the city owns 4 lots on Carter Ave. and has signed the pipeline right of way agreements on those properties. Would that make you feel that it must be safe or the city would not have done so?

These are some of scenarios playing out on Carter Avenue in east Fort Worth. They come to a new head Friday morning, January 16, 2009.

Carter Avenue resident and homeowner, Steve Deoung, one of the last holdouts to signing, refuses to be intimidated by Chesapeake into signing an agreement that would threaten the safety of his and other neighborhood children and put the value of their homes at serious risk.

His court hearing tomorrow morning in Judge Vince Sprinkle's Tarrant County Court #3 will decide his motion to dismiss the case due to improper filings by Chesapeake.

Click here to go the court's webpage

Mr. Deoung is trying to buy time to keep this legalized crime from happening. He needs your help. Please show him your support by appearing at the hearing and/or sending a pledge of financial support.

Click to Email Steve

The children of Carter Avenue need to know you care.

George W. Bush Final Primetime TV Interruption

In less than an hour, America's Primetime Television airwaves will be interrupted for the final time by George W. Bush. I may watch. I may not. I may forget.

This week's FW Weekly has an interesting article about George and his legacy. That's the cover of this week's FW Weekly on the left, with George in a cowboy hat. You probably could have figured that out for yourself.

Go here to read the FW Weekly article. It'll likely only be readable for a week, replaced next week by next week's feature article. So, if you are reading this past January 21, you likely won't be seeing this particular article about George W.

George W. Bush. I remember back in 1998, in the month of May, coming to Texas to see if there was any remote chance I wanted to move here. We'd been to the Stockyards, came back, the TV was on. An ad came on. There was the Governor of Texas, seeming smarmy, about what, I do not remember.

When the chatter started up about George W. running for President I did not take it serious. I remember saying, "there is no way he can be the Republican candidate, all the Democrats would have to do is show the rest of America all the bad stuff in Texas and proclaim, do you really want George W. Bush to do to all of America what he's done to Texas."

Little did I know how prophetic my words were.

Some time back I remember reading someone somewhere write that Texas is to America what America has become to the rest of the World. In that a lot of the world sees America as too full of itself, too cowboy, too loud, too sure of itself, too cocky, too unaware that there are other parts of the world where freedom rings, where people live well, where proud cultures thrive. Where they know the American Way is not the only way.

Before George W. Bush tarnished America in the World's eyes we were seen by the vast majority of the World as the World's brightest light. America dominates the World as no culture before has. Before George W., this domination was in a good way.

Today, not so much.

Beginning in about 5 days, I suspect America will be back being the America the World, for the most part, loves. Daring to go where no other nation has gone before. America using its power for good, to make the World a better place. America with a leader the World looks to with hope and admiration and awe.

It's been a long long long 8 years.

In all my decades on the planet this is the first time I've found myself totally discounting and despising my President. George W. is a man who should never have had the keys to the Oval Office. That is obvious now. It will be obvious 20 years from now.

It pleases me, that it is likely George W. will live long enough to realize that his hope that history will treat him better than the current times, turned out to be erroneous. Like pretty much everything else he thought to be true.

2009 Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo & Parade

This coming Saturday, January 17, the Fort Worth Stock Show starts up with the biggest non-motorized parade in the world. That means it is a no vehicle parade, everything moves by foot or hoof.

We are very cold here in Fort Worth today and tomorrow, but it is supposed to warm up a bit by parade day with a high of 62 on Saturday. I don't remember if it was last year, or the year before that, that the Stock Show Parade was cancelled due to below freezing temperatures. And ice.

I've only been to the Stock Show Parade twice. I liked it both times. Texas puts on very good parades. I've actually never seen a parade in Texas that I did not like. I've seen two good ones in Granbury, those being General Granbury's Birthday Parade and the Granbury 4th of July Parade. I've seen the Arlington 4th of July Parade twice. I think it's the biggest in Texas, which likely makes it the biggest in America. I really liked the Ennis Polka Festival Parade. It was so good it was as if some Hollywood script writer was making it up.

I've been to the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo one time, my first year in Texas. It was interesting, but I don't think I'm much of a rodeo fan.

I've been to the Stock Show, itself, only one time. It is like a state fair. Not as big and busy as the State Fair of Texas, but it is still a good fair. The weather can be the most vexing part of the Stock Show, it being winter. But I prefer dressing up to stay warm to dressing down to stay cool, like you have to do at the Dallas fair on a hot fall day. It's easier to stay warm when it's cold than it is to stay cool when it's hot.

I may try and make an effort to go to the Stock Show Parade on Saturday. If I do, I'll take my video camera along.

Go here for more information about the Fort Worth Stock Show.

Texas Lemon Curd From Arizona Meyer Lemons

My one reader may remember me mentioning that last week my Mom & Dad delivered a half ton, or more, of various citrus to me when they were visiting. They pretty much have an orchard in their Arizona yard, growing grapefruits, oranges and lemons.

The lemons are Meyers, those being a cross-breed, combining oranges and lemons, thus making a sweeter lemon.

The oranges and grapefruits seem to be doing fine, but the lemons seem to be getting to the point that they need to be used.

When I first got these Meyer lemons I did not realize they were lemons. They look sort of like a distorted orange that isn't ripe yet. Mistaking one for being an orange, and peeling it and trying to eat it, was when it was discovered these were lemons.

So, this morning I Googled for info about what I could make out of these lemons. Most recipes appeared to be beyond my skill level, things like lemon meringue pie. But, I came upon one recipe that looked like it was something I could do.

Lemon Curd.

Microwaveable Lemon Curd.

I needed a cup of lemon juice, the zest from the lemons, a cup of sugar, a 1/4 cup of butter and 3 eggs.

First thing I had to figure out was what zest was and then how to get it off the lemons. My cheese grater seemed to work.

Then I had to figure out how to get the juice. My hand seemed to work just fine as a lemon squeezer.

After I'd squeezed a cup of lemon juice I strained out the seeds. I didn't have butter and didn't like the idea of using that much butter if I did have it. So, I figured olive oil might work. It's a healthier option than butter.

So, I stirred the ingredients til they seemed well mixed. Then put it in the microwave to cook at 1 minute intervals. During the first minute I started this blogging. I had 6 interruptions before the Lemon Curd had reached the prescribed texture where it stuck to the back of a metal spoon.

It's in the fridge chilling now. It seems to taste like the lemon part of lemon meringue pie, only more lemony. The lack of butter and use of olive oil seems to have done no harm.

Now, the recipe did not say what it is one uses Lemon Curd for. Can anyone help me with that?

Happy One Thousandth Durango Texas Blog Posting

I did not realize, til minutes ago, that today I passed the number of 1000 of postings to this blog.

I think I am at number 1002 with this current one.

Appalling. I've pretty much written a couple totally incoherent books, if you put all the accumulated words into that type venue, since I started this very salubrious and enjoyable spewing a bit over a year ago.

When I started doing the blogging thing, I figured the novelty would wear off in a couple months.

My new estimate is I will likely tire of it within a couple years. Maybe.

In the meantime, I'm having a party tonight to celebrate that #1000 thing.

Tragic Tandy Hills Photographic Calamity

When last we spoke I said I was heading out to get in some aerobic stimulation. Late afternoon, temperatures in the 60s, I figured I'd go to the Tandy Hills, again, maybe getting a good picture or two of the Fracking (or Fraccing) being done by Chesapeake Energy to the formerly, sort of, pristine Tandy Hills.

But no Fracking was heard as I exited my vehicle. It was quiet, no wind, birds chirping, beautiful. I walked along, holding my camera bag in my left hand, my arms swaying back and forth, like arms do when walking fast.

I had not made it off the cement sidewalk entry to the Tandy Hill trails when, suddenly, my camera went flying out of its bag and landed hard on the cement. I picked it up. Turned it on. It did not respond. Tried again. I got a sign of life. The motor began to whir, the lens popped out, but there was a grinding noise. The display lit up for a second. Then went away. I pushed the shutter button. Nothing.

I quickly came to terms with the fact that I had killed my 8 year old Olympus camera at the Tandy Hills. A fitting place for a sad demise.

My camera was already on its last legs and I was already looking for a replacement. I've got my choices narrowed down to the Olympus Stylus Tough-8000, you see above, and the Canon PowerShot SD880 you see on the right. I like the specs of the Olympus camera. It can survive almost a 7 foot drop. I can take it 33 feet underwater. It can handle being way below freezing. And it is crush proof.

The Canon is top rated for the quality of its pictures, color-wise. And its speed of processing. Neither of which is a huge issue to me. I've been perfectly happy with my, now dead, antique Olympus. I'm thinking getting a new Olympus, that would not die from an untimely death drop, is the way to go.

It's like an omen. Old camera killed by being dropped. Get a new one that can survive such a calamity.

Revenge Of The Life Changing Events

I can be easily amused. I can be entertained by observing screwy oddball behavior. I know a hot-blooded Latina with the stereotypical Latin bad temper, a person of the sort, usually, I would have put long ago into the reject pile. But, for some reason I find it funny to watch, like it's performance art and I'm just watching, I'm not really there in the room.

I used to know this real oddball who would repeat the same behaviors over and over again, with no self-awareness that she was doing so. Time and again this person would claim to have had a Life Changing Moment. It could be a book, a movie, a TV show, a new person she met who is like the brother, sister, cousin, whatever she never had. Just about anything could be a Life Changing Moment.

What made it funny was this particular person's life never noticeably changed, not in the improving sort of way. The Life Changing Moments never seemed to put the brakes on increasing the level of morbid obesity, ending the personal slovenliness, including living like a pig in a sty.

The series of Life Changing Events brought this person from a reasonably healthy weight, living in a nice house, to being so big she has to go in sideways to squeeze into that pigsty I already mentioned.

Now that I'm thinking about it, this same person, with all the Life Changing Events, happening to a life that's a living train wreck, also has an interesting method of getting revenge, when she perceives, via her drug-addled, distorted thinking, that someone has somehow done her wrong. She erupts into a big nonsensical, neurotic, angry upset, which causes the object of her insanity to have no choice but to reject her. She then goes through a series of followup behaviors that are as predictable as the sun, including saying that, "The best revenge is a life well lived."

Which leads the object of the "revenge" to be amused and ponder how a hugely obese, horribly homely person, who lives like a slob, in clutter and filth, who has all sorts of legal problems hanging overhead like a Sword of Damocles that can come cutting down at any random time, how can such a person be so cluelessly self-unaware as to say their best revenge is to live a good life?

That's just funny. If that's a good life, please don't let me ever see what a bad life looks like.

It's like this same person can casually say something or someone is ugly, can comment on someone else's looks in the rudest of manners, directly to the object of her rudeness. And yet this person has to have steel reinforced mirrors, so they don't crack when she looks in them. Dogs barks, children cry, men shrivel, when the hulking behemoth comes into view.

It's like on the old Mary Tyler Moore Show, at one point Murray said something was stupid. Ted Baxter bristled and said something like, "I don't know what it is, but there is something I don't like about that word, stupid."

Ted sort of knew he was stupid. He knew that was not a safe word for him to be using, lest it cause him to be the brunt of a joke. Which is what makes it perplexing as to why a rather homely, ugly type person would so easily use the "ugly" word.

Now, please understand, I generally do not comment on someone's looks. Or say someone is ugly. But if that person does not subscribe to the same good manners, they are fair game. So, if you are ugly, talking about other people or things being ugly. Well, I'm likely somehow gonna mention that you are not one to talk about ugly, if the situation arises where it seems appropriate. Particularly if the person is even uglier inside than out. Then they really are fair game.

Now, I've gotta haul my fat ugly carcass out of this pigpen and go do something aerobic on steep hills, now that it has warmed up to being in the 60s. Going to be in the low 20s tonight. Not happy about that.

I'm Having Me A Mystery Here In Texas

A week or so ago I noticed a perplexing phenomenon that has me, well, perplexed.

Okay, here it is. People all over the world are connected to the Internet. People all over the world use Google.

On my Blogs, I put this little widget called FeedJit, that shows the latest 50 visitors to the blog. How long ago they arrived, where they came from. And, if they came from a search engine, FeedJit shows the search string.

The latest incident of the baffling, perplexing mystery is occurring right now on my TV Blog. About 2 hours ago I blogged about last night's American Idol. I mentioned the girl in the bikini.

So, looking at my TV Blobs FeedJit stats, right now, 1 hour 37 minutes ago, someone from Mocksville, North Carolina came to the blog using the search string, "Idol's bikini girl brouhaha."

At that exact same moment, using precisely the same search string, someone from Houston came to the blog.

And now it gets real weird, 5 minutes later, using precisely the same search string, someone from Beirut, Lebanon came to the blog.

How would 3 different visitors from different locations use the same exact search string within a 5 minute period? With the first two at exactly the same time?

If this were the first time this had happened I might not find it so perplexing, but it has happened multiple times on the blog you are reading right now. With the most instances being people Googling "biggest butt in the world." On 3 occasions there have been clusters of 3 to 5 visitors, arriving at my blog within a 10 minute time frame, from locations all over the world, using that same "biggest butt in the world" search string.

Why? How?

Maybe there is something to what I've always thought to be nonsense, that being psychic connections and telepathy. Maybe there is some field of energy that envelops the earth, which connects people, with at any given moment any given individuals synapses may be firing a the same time, from the same stimulus and the next thing you know 5 different people in 5 widely different locations find themselves Googling to find the biggest butt in the world.

Or, maybe they are all on the phone with each other at the same time, sitting at their computers, talking about last night's American Idol, or big butts and one says, "hey, let's Google 'Idol's bikini girl brouhaha.' And magically all use the exact same syntax and spelling.

Anyone have any answers?

Jackie Ethel Joan: Women of Camelot

Along with most of the rest of America I'd grown sort of tired of the Kennedy's quite some time ago. I don't remember, exactly when I developed a strong disdain for Teddy Kennedy. Likely it was over his Chappaquiddick dissembling.

I'm finding Caroline Kennedy's attempt to be anointed Hillary's replacement sort of embarrassing. She does not have the gift of easy articulation that her dad and brother and mother were blessed with. I remember thinking Caroline was a bit lacking in the swift wits department, years ago, when she and John Jr. were being interviewed by Barbara Walters and Caroline could not remember, "you know, uh, those words, famous words, you know, uh, that my dad said in his inauguration speech."

Unlike most of America, Caroline was unable to remember "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

Last week, despite my supposed disdain for the Kennedy's, I read Jackie Ethel Joan: Women of Camelot, by J. Randy Taraborreli. Reading this book I felt almost like some sort of voyeur, seeing history from the inside, as the Kennedy's experienced it, particularly Jackie.

I had no idea Bobby Kennedy was also a heavy duty unfaithful husband. I figured with all those kids he and Ethel had, how could Bobby find time for Marilyn Monroe or other women. Apparently I was wrong.

But, the worst for shameless, shameful behavior is Teddy. I did not know an awful lot about Joan, except for the sensational tabloid, found drunk on the streets type stories. By the time I finished this book, I really liked Joan. Teddy Kennedy did her wrong in so many ways, for so many years, it's appalling.

I'm reading another book about the Kennedy's now, called Sons of Camelot by Laurence Leamer. A recurring theme in this book is the Kennedy penchant for extremely risky behavior. That risky behavior's end result is many of the Kennedy tragedies. Driving drunk off a bridge, womanizing, flying in bad conditions (the demise of at least 3 Kennedys), refusing police protection, driving drunk or drugged.

So, when I finished the Women of Camelot I was curious what Joan and Ethel looked like now. Joan was pretty much a beauty queen when she was younger, Ethel not so much. Some of the 21st century photos of Joan are just sad, but there are some where she looks pretty darn good. Some of Ethel are down right scary. Ethel is 80 now. Joan is 72.

When Bobby Kennedy was murdered, Ethel was about 4 months pregnant. That baby was born December 12, 1968 and named Rory. Rory was scheduled to be married on July 16, 1999. Her cousin, John F. Kennedy Jr. crashed his plane and died on his way to Rory's wedding.

I guess if Bobby and Ethel had stopped reproducing after having 9 kids, there is a chance John Jr. might still be alive today. I say, might be, because he would have had almost 10 more years, by this point in time, to have done himself in by some other reckless behavior.

That is Ethel and Rory Kennedy in the picture at the top. Rory looks just like her dad. Spooky.

The Sweetwater Texas Rattlesnake Roundup Anti-Venom

It's not too early to start making your plans to head out to Sweetwater, Texas, the 2nd weekend in March for the annual Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup.

My only visit to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup was in 2002. At that time Coors Light sponsored a Largest Snake Contest. I don't know if Coors Light is having a contest for this year's Roundup. Or what the prize might be.

I blogged previously about the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup and included some of the comments my YouTube video had received regarding the snakes. This morning I got a new comment, this to that particular blogging, rather than the YouTube video.

This morning's commenter seemed to sound like an authority on the subject of the Sweetwater Roundup. Despite what others have said, this commenter claims the Roundup provides a valuable service due to the milking of venom from the rattlesnakes. Others have told me the venom milked at the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup can not be used for medicinal purposes due to the unsanitary milking methodology used.

Below is this morning's comment to the previous blogging about the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup...

It's obvious by the comments left that none of these people really know what they are talking about. You can make anything seem bad by the way you present it. This event has been going on for years and is the world's largest. West Texas has an ABUNDANCE of rattlesnakes! You even find them resting at your front doors, within the city, sometimes. AS FOR THEIR HABITAT--IT'S
QUITE STABLE AND SECURE. Animals were put on this earth for human needs. EVERY snake that is caught is milked (you get bit by a rattlesnake in this area--you'll be alright--due to the treatment you receive from the anti-venom). The snakes are not mistreated. People are educated in safety--since there is an abundance. Every bit of the snake is processed/used--the venom--the meat--the skins--the rattles. Honestly, you have a small bit of information to be judging so harshly. Check out the facts before you go rambling on.

Below is the YouTube video of my visit to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup...

Friedrich Nietzsche & Fort Worth

Last week I wrote a blog in which I was talking about an article in the Seattle P-I that I thought was of a sophisticated nature, the likes of which you'd never see in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, both due to the elevated level of the critique and some of the polysyllabic words and references used, such as a reference to Nietzsche.

I suggested that so few of the Star-Telegram's readers would have a clue as to who or what Nietzsche was or is, that you'd never see a reference to someone such as Nietzsche.

As a public service, in my ongoing attempt to raise the erudition level of my few Fort Worth readers, let me explain, Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher, born in 1844, died in 1900. He wrote about religion, morality, culture, philosophy and science. While some attention was paid to him while he was alive, his greater fame and influence would come after his death.

Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia about Nietzsche....

Readers have responded to Nietzsche's work in complex and sometimes controversial ways. Many Germans eventually discovered his appeals for greater individualism and personality development in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, but responded to those appeals divergently. He had some following among left-wing Germans in the 1890s; in 1894–95 German conservatives wanted to ban his work as subversive. During the late 19th century Nietzsche's ideas were commonly associated with anarchist movements and appear to have had influence within them, particularly in France and the United States.

By World War I, however, he had acquired a reputation as an inspiration for right-wing German militarism. German soldiers even received copies of Thus Spoke Zarathustra as gifts during World War I. The Dreyfus Affair provides another example of his reception: the French anti-semitic Right labelled the Jewish and Leftist intellectuals who defended Alfred Dreyfus as "Nietzscheans".

Many political leaders of the twentieth century were at least superficially familiar with Nietzsche's ideas. However, it is not always possible to determine whether or not they actually read his work. Hitler, for example, probably never read Nietzsche, and if he did, his reading was not extensive. However, the Nazis made very selective use of Nietzsche's philosophy; this association with National Socialism caused Nietzsche's reputation to suffer following World War II. Mussolini certainly read Nietzsche, as did Charles de Gaulle. It has been suggested that Theodore Roosevelt read Nietzsche and was profoundly influenced by him, and in more recent years, Richard Nixon read Nietzsche avidly.

Nietzschean ideas exercised a major influence on several prominent European philosophers, including Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, Martin Heidegger, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre. In the Anglo-American tradition, the scholarship of Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale rehabilitated Nietzsche as a philosopher, and analytic philosophers such as Alexander Nehamas, William E. Connolly and Brian Leiter continue to study him today. A vocal minority of recent Nietzschean interpreters (Bruce Detwiler, Fredrick Appel, Domenico Losurdo, Abir Taha) have contested what they consider the popular but erroneous egalitarian misrepresentation of Nietzsche's "aristocratic radicalism". Bertrand Russell in his epic History of Western Philosophy was scathing in his chapter on Nietzsche, calling his work the "mere power-phantasies of an invalid" and referring to Nietzsche as a "megalomaniac".

So, now you know, Nietzsche influenced people as widely disparate as Mussolini, Charles De Gaulle, Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon. And Hitler. He may even have helped bring about the Hippies in the 60s. I don't know if Fort Worth had Hippies during the 60s.

I Love Comments From Seattle

On the 6th day of the new year of 2009 I blogged about Fort Worth Bad Design vs. Good Design Elsewhere. I'd previously verbalized how appalled I am by downtown Fort Worth's new Omni Convention Center Hotel. When I wrote the "Fort Worth Bad Design" blog, I'd just read a real good article in the Seattle P-I about new buildings in the Seattle zone and it crossed my mind that maybe one of the reasons Fort Worth seems to fall victim to so many architectural oddities is because there is no erudite, cogent critic in the local media, that being media like the Star-Telegram.

So, this morning I got a comment from the writer of the above referenced architecture review, in the Seattle P-I, Lawrence "Larry" Cheek. He's been a Texan before, so he knows whereof he speaks regarding Fort Worth, the Star-Telegram and Texas.

Below is Mr. Cheek's comment....

Durango, I'm the author of the architecture review in the Seattle P-I that you recently cited. Thanks for your comments. It would take just two ingredients for an "article of this quality," as you called it, to appear in the Startlegram. One is a Fort Worth resident with a bit of insight, understanding of architecture and urban design issues, and a passion for the subject. Okay, plus some ability to write clearly. Second, one editor--just one--with some ambition and ability to imagine that the paper could be something other than what it always has been.

All that's needed is to bring these two together. Someone needs to start the process. That's how I began writing architecture criticism almost 30 years ago, at the Tucson Citizen.

BTW, I started my career at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. We didn't write much about Nietszche there, either. But there were plenty of people there, then and I'm sure now, who could carry on an intelligent discourse about psychology and civilization. It's a mistake for newspapers (and bloggers) to misunderestimate their readers and pander to the lowest common denominator.

Anyway, thanks for the compliments. You have an interesting blog; keep it up. This may be the future of journalism.

Yikes! If I'm the future of journalism, God helps us all!

Chesapeake Energy Fracking Fort Worth In The Tandy Hills

An army of trucks and equipment moved on to the Tandy Hills in the past few days. I first saw the army on Friday, when I was leading my Mom & Dad to the Ol' South Pancake House.

This morning I learned, from Don Young, that the "fracking" process would begin today at the damaged area of the Tandy Hills.
So, armed with my video camera I set out to record the dirty deeders in action. In a blogging earlier today we saw pictures of a recent Fort Worth fracking, that caused a big cloud of who knows what chemical stew.

I did not know if I would see a similar cloud today at Tandy. I was not shocked when I did. A constant smokestack-like plume blows up and away. When I got downwind of it I didn't like it. It reminded me too much of the first time I was ever in Los Angeles, never having experiencing smog before, with my eyes burning.

The thing that surprised me the most was 3 big pipelines, running from the drilling site, on to the public property of the freeway, then through a culvert under Interstate 30. And then to the Trinity River to extract water.

The Trinity River is a bit low right now. How does Chesapeake Energy get the right to suck water out of the river, I can't help but wonder?

When I first headed west from Tandy Hills Park to the drilling zone, I saw a Fort Worth police car sitting at the end of isolated, dead end Ben Avenue. I suspected Chesapeake had enlisted the help of the police to keep anyone from getting close enough to see what they were up to.

By the time I got to Ben Avenue the cop was gone. I suspect he saw my cameras and hightailed it out of there before he was caught on tape being where he shouldn't be.

Below is video in which you can sort of see and hear what is going on at the Tandy Hills, this 12th day of the new year of 2009.

Whataburger What A Mess

Whataburger is a regional chain. There are a lot of them in Texas. You may have heard Hank Hill or Bobby mention Whataburger on King of the Hill. I have never been in or had a Whataburger. The restaurants look real tacky with their striped roofs and odd building shapes and garish signs. I assumed Whataburgers were likely not a good thing. Wikipedia seems neutral on the issue.

And then a couple days ago I got one of my favorite emailer's periodic email newsletters, in which she described her "working" experience at Whataburger. After reading that I know I'll never visit a Whataburger.

I share my friend's experience with you as a cautionary tale....

"I was able to escape my captors at Whataburger. I've been working/slaving at Whataburger for a coupla months now. I hate it. They work you like a dog. Without any training, teaching or explanation, Frank, the GM, started me on the grill.

For breakfast that means I was responsible for the tortillas, the bob eggs, scrambled eggs, the sausage/egg taquito mix, sausage patties, any meat patties, and bacon. You have to anticipate the volume of food to cook. We'd get busloads of people. If you run out of any of the above items, it means the cook has to hold up production. They are rude when that happens.

You must scrape the grill when the grease and meat get cooked/caked on. They were working me 10 hours a day. I couldn't feel my toes when I'd get home and my back ached for every year of my age. It's a young person's job, for sure. My face looked like I suffered from rosacea. All red and pink from the heat of the grill. Occasionally, my grip would slip and my knuckles or fingers would scrap the 350 degree grill.

If the cook ran out of anythng like large or small cheese, lettuce, buns, tomatos, onions, pickles, I'd have to run into the cooler and fill up their pan. If I'd take a step back to take a drink of water, the manager was on my like white on rice and would command me to sweep and mop the kitchen floor, take the trash out, clean the grill, make more gravy or whatever he felt like.

Again, they worked me for 10 hours a day. Did I mention I hated it? And while they were no rocket scientists and while they provided me with no training - they just threw me on the grill and I was just supposed to know the lingo and how to do the job.

Next time you go to Whataburger, peek at the trash can you just emptied your tray into. I had to empty those trash cans and lift those bags full of food and drinks.

That was just the grill gig...They put me on the board to make sandwiches and again, with minimal explanation, wanted me to be fast at making all the sandwiches. I apparently wasn't fast enuf.

The next thing they put me on was produce in the back. I had to carry the boxes full of lettuce or tomatos and chop about 30 or more heads of lettuce into hamburger size pieces. I routinely had to core and slice enuf tomatos to fill 8 6x12 and about 6 inch deep pans. I got a hole in my right index finger that is just know healing from the core-er thingee. That was just from it rubbing my finger. It dug a hole in it.

The tomato slicer was scary. One bad move and I'd cut my guitar playing fingers. It never happened, but I wasn't swift at that either.

Part of that job was washing all the dishes. At 11am, when breakfast was over, they'd start bringing all the pans from breakfast that held greasy bacon, all the scambled eggs which by now were cooked on the pans pretty good. They'd bring for me to wash the metal spatulas they used to cook the eggs, the cooked on gravy dishes, the bob eggs rings, the pancake ring (oh yea...I had to make tons of pancakes), and everything had a layer of grease.

Next they put me on the front register. Easier in a way, but their register was a trick to learn. It was not logical and as they showed you stuff (only after you made a mistake), they would punch the keys so fast (almost like they were pathetically showing off) that I couldn't tell what the hell they were doing.

I had to refill all the drink cups -soda and coffee. I had to maintain coffee in the lobby caraffs, clean the soda station, refill all the cream, sugar, salt, pepper, forks, knives, spoons, napkins, sweet and low, stir sticks, and make sure there was always sweetened and unsweeten tea.

The customers were asses if I made a mistake and held them up. I had to sweep and mop the lobby and let me tell you - I hate people. They would just throw food and paper on the floor like it was a middle ages castle.

I had to make fries, onion rings, chicken strips, fish patties for their fish sandwich, and enuf fried pies. After a day of making fries, my eyes felt like there were boulders under my one remaining contact lens. They hurt.

As the food was made, I had to make sure the order was complete on a tray and go into the lobby and call out their order number. Did I mention they would work me 10 or more hours a day for $7.50 an hour. They really got their money's worth. And after all this, if I went anywhere in my Whataburger uniform, people would laugh at me and treat me like I was a moron.

My feet always hurt and I couldn't feel my toes.

I had no life left when I got home. I had no energy to do a gig and canceled a few of them out of pure exhaustion. And my hands were ugly. My nails always had meat or something under them and they looked awful. This is not a good job. You could not wear earrings. Your hair had to be completely under your cap or you had to wear a hair-net. The uniform was dark blut pants and their t-shirt. I was forced to buy some ugly non-skid shoes before the would let me start work and they hassled me everyday because I didn't have a belt until Kenneth brought me one from home that he gave to me. I got hassled if I forgot my stupid name tag.

We had had a few scary busy rushes the last week and so they brought in some outside workers to help us. Two of those helpers were the Area Managers kids - Andy and Briana. Nice enuf kids, I guess.

So, the last straw for me was last Sunday when I was working the grill. I had a great sense of accomplishment because I hadn't run out of anything during the breakfast rush and was keeping up with the demand of the job. When breakfast ended - the new GM, - Mark was trying to score points with the Area Manager and he asked Briana "what do you want to work today" Right in front of me the little princess sez - "the grill". So, Mark simply told me to go into the back and do produce and wash dishes. Needless to say, this pissed me off pretty good. Because it had been busy, there were lots of dishes to wash and I had to chop and slice even more produce than usual. I release my frustrations by banging the dishes pretty good. I asked him what I had done wrong and he tried to bullshit me and say I was the only one he could count on to do a good job. Yea... right. Then he said he didn't know if the others knew how to do that job. Yea...right...It's rocket science."

Well, that about ends the Whataburger part of the newsletter. The happy news that follows is that Whataburger was told to take their job and shove it. Because a new, much better, opportunity opened up for the former Whataburger slave.

Below is a Whataburger TV ad, for those of you have never been to the South or Southwest....

What Is That We're Smokin' In Fort Worth?

(Click here to see video and photos of the Chesapeake Energy "fracking" of the Tandy Hills Meadowbrook Neighborhood Scott Avenue, so called Thomas Well Site)

New Information from Don Young that makes one wonder what is being added to the air we breathe here in Fort Worth and surrounding environs, courtesy of the Barnett Shale gas drillers and their "frack" process.

In case anyone needs a reminder, this is what a "frack job" looks like. These pics were taken in east Fort Worth in early January, 2009, near Riverside Drive and I-30. The smoke was so dense that, at times, it obscured driving on the interstate highway.

Tomorrow, January 12, Chesapeake Energy will frack the so-called Thomas well about 1/2 mile east of this location which is in the West Meadowbrook neighborhood.

Did the City of Fort Worth warn us that fracking might be dangerous to human and animal health? No.

Did the neighborhood association send out an alert? No.

Did the state highway department issue a warning or close the highway? No.

Did the Star-Telegram send out a notice or a reporter? No.

Did Chesapeake Energy warn us that fracking involves the use of over 50 toxic chemicals that can cause cancer, endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity, skin irritations, cardiac toxicity, kidney failure, reproductive disruption, respiratory distress and developmental toxicity? No. No. Hell No!

Just what the heck is in all that smoke and dust that will float over Fort Worth Monday morning??? What exactly will our children and pets and us be breathing when the clouds roll by? Where will the dust settle?

More importantly, where are the elected officials that have allowed this to happen in our community? Do they have fracking in their 'hoods?

For a list of the toxic chemicals used in gas well fracking and other info about the dangers of fracking, look here:

Hydraulic Fracturing: Drinking Water Protected? Think Again

Is "Fracking" Safe? Or a Toxic Spew?

What is in that "Fracking" fluid?

EPA to Citizens: Frack You

Frac Water Chemical Components

Fort Worth Susan Has Solved The Fort Worth Mystery

This blog gets some interesting comments. I particularly enjoyed two I got this morning from "susan-n-ftwrth."

Susan's first comment was in response to a blogging I wrote that I called "Fort Worth: A Paradox". I spew out so many of these things I didn't remember what the Fort Worth Paradox was til I looked. Sad thing is, apparently my memory is getting really bad, because I wrote Fort Worth: A Paradox only 10 days ago.

Well, I have to admit that Susan has come up with a unique theory, that had not occurred to me, that explains why much is so goofy here. Too much booze.

So, here is Susan's first comment. It will be followed by her second.

Fort Worth is only one of the best in the nation thru the eyes of the drunkards that live here. I believe that if Tarrant County, as a whole, would stop promoting alcohol everywhere you go here (even children's ballgames and at Six Flags where the drunks have to drive their kids home) that maybe people's minds would have time to clear and see the place as it really is.

Ugly-Corrupt-Behind the Times-Bigoted-Small Minded-Back Stabbing.

But as long as nothing is done about the huge amount of alcohol that is consumed here on a daily basis, the people will not have the inclination nor the money to travel to other parts of this great nation.

I believe this is exactly what "the powers that be" want from the citizens of Tarrant County and beyond. "Keep them drunk or hungover and they will never question our behavior."

I am sure that many of you will want to tell me to go kill myself or go #$@# myself, but save your bad little breath. I've heard it before and don't care.

Susan's 2nd comment was in regards to a blogging I wrote the 2nd day of the new year, called "Texas Insomnia & Other Woes". The comment confused me, because I didn't remember ever verbalizing, on this blog, my amazement regarding the fuss made over the peaches from Parker County. I long ago, somewhat, verbalized my opinion regarding the mediocre peaches, on my Eyes on Texas website, in a webpage about the Parker County Peach Festival.

Anyway, here is what Susan said....

I love the fruit that comes from Washington & Oregon. It takes 3 or 4 Parker County peaches to even come close to the size of a peach from the northwest. And the flavor cannot be matched!

So totally true. I remember my shock the first time I tasted a Parker County Peach after enduring all the hype about them being special. Bland and pretty much flavorless. Washington peaches ooze peach flavor. Blindfolded I don't think I could tell a Parker County Peach was a peach. I miss fresh Washington fruit. I still can be appalled and amazed when I see blackberries for sale here. 3 or 4 bucks for a teeny carton of blackberries. In the northwest blackberries grow wild everywhere. So, they are free.

Roller Blading At Bob Jones Park

Bob Jones Park was fresh on my mind due to having driven Mom & Dad there on Wednesday. The paved trails at Bob Jones Park make for some good rollerblading. So, that's where I went.

I also wanted to go to Sprouts Farmers Market, so I had 2 reasons to be in the south Lake Grapevine zone.

The picture of me blading, with a castle in the background, does not do justice to the castle. I'm not as tall as the castle. It's really big, even though it looks like a dollhouse in the picture.

In the second picture, as I roller blade into the distance, I shrink and the castle gets way bigger.

I was slightly overdressed for blading. It was around 60 with no wind. It is 65 now at 4 in the afternoon.

No one has heard a report from my Mom & Dad today. I just talked to my sister in Phoenix and she's not heard from them since yesterday. I hope they didn't wander too close to the border and end up lost in Mexico.

The Oatmeal Texas Oatmeal Festival

When my Mom & Dad were here I was to learn that my Mom and I share an oatmeal aversion. I don't mind eating a little of it, it's the smell of it cooking I don't like. My Mom likes nothing about the stuff.

This morning I learned there is a town in Texas called Oatmeal. Oatmeal has a population of about 20. Oatmeal is located a few miles northwest of Austin, near the town of Bertram.

Back in 1978 the citizens of Oatmeal were irked that the official map of the State of Texas had left Oatmeal off the map due to there being no main highways intersecting in Oatmeal.

Something had to be done. So, in cahoots with nearby Bertram, the Oatmeal Festival was born as part of a plot to put Oatmeal back on the map.

It worked. The concept was to sort of spoof other Texas festivals, like all the chili cookoffs. So, instead of a 'queen' the Oatmeal Festival has Ms. Bag. Ms. Bag must be over 55. Then there is something called Groaty Oat, which I've no idea what that is. And then we have Miss Cookie and Miss Muffin, who are 4 to 8 years old.

There are Oatmeal Bakeoffs and at some point in the Oatmeal Festival planes drop oatmeal flakes from the sky. That's got to be strange. Some years there are Oatmeal sculpture contests. Again, that's got to be strange.

The Oatmeal Festival takes place Labor Day weekend, starting Friday night with a BBQ at the Oatmeal Community Center. On Saturday the Oatmeal Festival Parade takes place with events having odd starting times, like the Saturday morning 3K run starts at 8:03, the Pet Parade at 10:03, the Festival Parade also at 10:03. And the Bertram School Homecoming at 1:03.

After the parade there is a BBQ at Bertram Pavilion with brisket, chicken, pinto beans, cole slaw, potato salad, bread, onions. And iced tea. In other words, your basket Texas type picnic. There are also a lot of Texas type desserts. Which means things like banana pudding with vanilla cookies and buttermilk pie.

Next Labor Day I am going to make a real good effort to go to the Oatmeal Festival.

Wal-Mart Bingo In Texas

Like I've previously mentioned, Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, sends me a lot of funny stuff.

This morning, among the funny stuff, was a Wal-Mart Bingo Card that you can print up and take with you the next time you visit your neighborhood Wal-Mart.

At my local Wal-Mart I have seen or smelled most of the things on Alma's bingo card.

There is a thing or two that I think should be on the Wal-Mart Bingo Card.

Like, shockingly huge butt. Pants hanging below underwear. Items missing from shelves. (My Super Wal-Mart has been without Parmesan Cheese for weeks now) Garish, ghoulish looking make up on an elderly lady.

Anyway, I'm sure this Wal-Mart Bingo Card is in bad taste and likely will offend someone somewhere. Likely an obese person with a rat tail hair style, who uses a Wal-Mart scooter while wearing a rebel flag t-shirt with blood on it, not big enough to cover the tramp tattoo on her lower back, missing teeth and a limb, while reeking of unbearably bad body odor.

Texas Bush Biking

When I moved to Texas, I assumed I would be unable to continue with my mountain bike habit, due to Texas being a little short in the mountain department. Well, that erroneous assumption is my favorite of all my erroneous assumptions about Texas.

I was about 2 months into my Texas exile when I was out in the East Texas zone. I drove into Tyler State Park. There was a sign pointing towards the mountain bike trails. How can this be, I wondered?

I had my bike with me, so I followed the signs to the trails. It was on those trails I was to learn that, though Texas may not be mountainous, Texas did have mountain bike trails that are quite strenuous.

After the Tyler trails had worn me out I was talking to a guy, telling him I was from Washington, recently moved to Fort Worth and not expecting to find mountain bike trails in Texas. That guy told me there were a lot of mountain bike trails right in the D/FW Metroplex.

That information totally surprised me. The biking guy told me to go to a bike shop where I could get the local trail info. I did so the next day. Soon I was biking all over the D/FW Metroplex.

The Dallas-Fort Worth zone has over 200 miles of maintained mountain bike trails on 23 different trails. Some of them are quite challenging, like the DORBA trails at Cedar Hills State Park. Or the Northshore trail on Lake Grapevine. Some are easy, but still fun, like the trails at River Legacy Park. There is one trail, that being Sansom Park in Fort Worth, that is so steep and scary looking that there is no way I'd bike it. It was hard enough to hike it.

Many of the local trails are made and maintained by DORBA (Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association).

In a little over a week there will be a new scary addition to the Dallas-Fort Worth area mountain bike trails. As in the soon to be retired Mountain Biker in Chief is moving to Dallas and is said to be looking forward to riding the trails. Bush started pedalling when his knees could not handle jogging anymore. Apparently George has gotten quite skilled at mountain biking.

I suspect I'll run into George W. some day on some trail some where. I shall resist the urge to throw a shoe at him.

White Sands & The Helldorado Days Of Tombstone Girls In Bikinis

UPDATE #2: My Mom just called. They are safely back home in Arizona. My Mom confirmed that both photos below, sent from their cell phone, were sent from White Sands. However, my Mom also said that another picture was sent, when they were at a high mountain pass, above 6,000 feet elevation, with snow falling, skies gray, snow covering the road. I didn't get that picture. Hence the confusion below.

UPDATE #1: There is a chance I made an error, below, where I say both the pictures from my Mom & Dad's cell phone were of White Sands. I talked to my sister in Phoenix today and she claims she was told the first photo is of snow Mom & Dad saw in New Mexico. My sister told me you can tell the photos were taken in different locations due to the sky being gray in the snow picture. Both skies look blue to me. I stand by my original claim that both pictures were taken at White Sands. Though it did strike me as odd that they would send two of the same thing.

This afternoon, when I got home from hiking and barely in to the making lunch process, I heard my phone make an odd noise. It was caused by my Mom & Dad sending me a phone photo.

Eventually I figured out how to look at the photos. I'm thinking most people looking at these phone photos would assume they are looking at snow. I'm pretty sure that would be a wrong assumption.

It appears to me they are at White Sands National Monument. I don't believe any of my siblings, who got the same photo, have been to White Sands. So, they'll likely think it is snow they are looking at. Unless my Dad tells them different, with that fancy text messaging thing he does.

Somewhere in here I have a picture of me running down one of the White Sands dunes. The sand is so brightly white it is more blinding than snow on a clear blue day. Okay, I could not find the picture of me running down the White Sands dune, but I did find one of my bright white van sitting on the bright white sand. Another of my pictures of White Sands shows the same type railing fence that is in the one from my Mom and Dad, above on the right.

I saw White Sands the day after spending the night at Alamogordo. I enjoyed Alamogordo. That town has played a big role in the American space program and the atom bomb. Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands Missile Range are nearby. The Space Shuttle has landed at White Sands. The New Mexico Museum of Space History with its International Space Hall of Fame is in Alamogordo.

The day I was there they were inducting either an astronaut or a cosmonaut into the Hall of Fame. Maybe it was one of each. The museum has a very good Omnivision Theater, or whatever it is called, you know, the things with the huge screen. They were showing a movie of life aboard the International Space Station. It was like you were in it.

Yesterday I mentioned that Mom & Dad were going to Tombstone. I mentioned accidentally being in Tombstone during Helldorado Days. I also mentioned how disconcerting Helldorado Days was, with guns being fired, very loudly, and floats in the parade having girls in bikinis, which seemed so not like the Old Wild West of my imagination. They should have been attired like wild saloon girls, instead.

When I was looking for a picture of me running down a White Sands dune I found one of the aforementioned Tombstone Helldorado Days float with bikini girls. I guess it was very patriotic.

Freezing And Hiking In Texas

A week ago, today, I went hiking at the Tandy Hills. Then I was sidelined by rain and incoming Parental Units.

And now, a week after that last hike, I decided nothing was going to stop me today. Well, unless there was something like an ice storm. Today's misery was temps barely above freezing with the Wind Chill Factor making it feel like it was well below freezing.

So, I put on several layers and set off for Village Creek Natural Historical Area. I usually, erroneously, call this park Indian Village. Well, it used to be an Indian Village, which would be a more appropriate, historically accurate name. Or so it seems to me.

That would be me, hiking away from a little pond at Indian Village, in the picture above. It was in this pond, one day, years ago, that I saw my first Water Moccasins. Several of them. I have since greatly abated my aversion to snakes, but, at that point in time, it was a bone-chilling thing for me to see.

Just as I started to walk I got a call from Tootsie Tonasket. Her soap opera travails have grown worse. Yesterday she gave her husband an ultimatum, stop seeing his girl friend or never come home again. That's the short version. Tootsie's drunk son was ranting in the background. A couple days ago, in a drunken rage, the son told Tootsie he'd whack her head off with an ax. That same day the wandering husband wandered off, barefoot, with snow on the ground and no coat, heading to town.

I can only listen to very little of that insanity, then I have to excuse myself.

That ham I cooked this morning made a very tasty lunch, along with stir fried spinach I got at the Dallas Farmers Market. My Mom included a container of her patented Mustard Plaster, along with the ham. My relatives do not eat ham without Mustard Plaster.

Importing Ham From Arizona To Texas

My Mom & Dad brought me so much stuff from Arizona that I could open a small grocery store. I've got boxes of grapefruits, lemons, oranges. And jam. And a ham that is bigger than the last turkey I cooked.

I was barely able to fit the giant ham into my turkey cooking pan this morning. The ham is now in the oven, slowly getting warmed up, so it'll be fit for consumption in a few hours.

Between now and then, I'm planning on going on a hike somewhere. I've not done that since last Saturday. I took Sunday off, Monday it rained and Mom & Dad arrived, which put me in driving mode for aerobic exercise.

As soon as Mom & Dad left it got cold again. We got down to freezing last night. It is only 35 right now, with less than an hour to go before noon. And it is windy. With gusts to around 30, which makes the Wind Chill Factor making it feel like 30 out there.

When people don't have anything else to talk about they talk about the weather. So, I'll shut up. For now.

Mom & Dad Made It Out Of Texas

This morning, when I looked at my cell phone, I saw I had a couple voice mails. One was from my Mom. I think I must have been watching TV when they called and didn't hear the ring.

I think I mentioned, yesterday, that they were leaving Texas via Highway 180. That's a two-lane road in most places. Those are usually way more slow going than a freeway.

Yet, somehow Mom & Dad made it out of Texas, after leaving Fort Worth at about 11 in the morning, getting all the way to Carlsbad, New Mexico.

I was curious how far Carlsbad is from here. So, I used my Microsoft Streets & Trips program to find out they drove about 430 miles yesterday. I don't think they like to drive after dark. So, assuming it got dark around 6, they had 7 hours driving time. That works out to 61.428571 miles per hour. That number goes up each time they stopped for gas, a restroom break or a McDonald's.

I hope there were no speed limits broken in this mad dash effort to exit Texas!

I think today they are heading towards Bisbee and Tombstone in Arizona. I've been to both. Bisbee is a cool-looking former mining, now artsy type town, with this huge open hole in the center of town called the Lavender Pit. Tombstone, I was a bit disappointed in. They've not done a great job of historical preservation. The day I was in Tombstone happened to be Helldorado Days, which turned out to be a really raucous-filled deal with guns blasting and girls on floats in bikinis, which seemed totally incongruous.

I don't know if Mom & Dad are going to the Carlsbad Caverns. I suspect not. I don't know if they've been to them before. I have. It is a lot of walking. They don't like walking. I remember you walk quite a distance and then end up in this huge cavern space at the end of the tour, where there is a fast food type joint, if I remember right, and other amenities. When you are ready to get out of there, you get on an elevator that brings you back to the surface. I enjoyed Carlsbad Caverns, though it was so long ago my memory is a bit hazy.

Shocking Seattle (P-I) News

Even though I know it's been financially struggling for a long long time, even way back before I moved to Texas, it still surprised me today to read that the Hearst Corporation is giving the Seattle Post-Intelligencer 60 days to find a buyer.

Or else.

The hard copy version of Seattle's oldest paper will be no more. The online version will continue.

A few days ago I read, somewhere, that back in the early 1950s nearly every household in America subscribed to a daily newspaper. And, now, in 2009, only 20% of American households get a daily paper.

At my house, when growing up, we got the daily Skagit Valley Herald and the daily Bellingham Herald. And on Sunday's we got the Sunday Seattle P-I, which is where I learned to like the P-I, with the P-I eventually becoming my daily and the newspaper to which I compare others. Which explains why I was so constantly appalled by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which always seemed, to me, like a real small town paper, prone to mistakes and Chamber of Commerce type hyperbole that rubbed me the wrong way.

I know the drop in newspaper readership is being blamed on the new media, like cable news and the Internet. But neither is a substitute for a good locally produced newspaper.

Way back when I was in school, and already an avid newspaper reader, it seemed to me that one class a day should consist of reading a newspaper. And then discussing it. I can't think of anything a school could do that would have more meaningful educational value.

Instead, we are slowly becoming an ever larger population of people woefully ignorant about way too much. When the majority of Americans can't tell you when the American Civil War took place, that is scary. We are sliding down a slippery slope where soon the majority of Americans won't be able to tell you who is buried in Grant's Tomb. I fear we may already be at that point.

In Texas.

Mom & Dad Are Heading West Away From The Ol' South

I drove to Mom & Dad's temporary Arlington abode this morning before 9 to lead them out of Fort Worth, with a stop at the Ol' South Pancake House on the way out of town.

I didn't gain any weight during my month, last summer, in Tacoma. I think I've gained 10 pounds during the 5 days Mom & Dad were here.

This morning I had a big Greek Omelet with 3 big pancakes. It's been years since I've had a pancake.

My aerobic exercise, the past week, has been driving 100s of miles a day. And talking. In Tacoma, I think I burned a lot of calories due to the stress of verbal harassment, a lot of hiking and doing things, like walk 6 miles to escape dementia to return to relative sanity. With a McDonald's stop midway.

I did my chauffeuring in Mom & Dad's big new van. I don't think they liked the idea of being crammed into my little car. That's Mom & Dad standing in front of their big new van, with my little bitty car next to it and the Ol' South Pancake House behind them.

After we were done at the Ol' South Pancake House I led Mom & Dad back to the I-30 freeway and got them safely out of Fort Worth. They are not taking the freeway back to Phoenix. They are going to go the old-fashioned 2 lane route, via Highway 180, exiting I-20 about 20 miles west of Fort Worth.

The first town they'll come to is Weatherford. I told them about the food-poisoning bout I had after eating a burger in Weatherford. I doubt they'll be getting a Weatherford burger, due to it being too soon after breakfast, not due to the food-poisoning warning.

The next town they'll come to is Mineral Wells. So, I told them why there is a monster old building in that little town, that being the Baker Hotel. I knew it would perplex them as much as it did me when I first saw it.

It was fun having Mom & Dad here. I'd worried about what I'd find for them to do. That turned out to be no problem. Next time I will remember not to worry. They are returning in 2015.

Mom And Dad Do Dallas

Well, I had me another day with Mom and Dad. My day started sometime between 2 and 3 this morning. I picked up Mom and Dad a bit after 10.

Dallas was on the agenda for today. For the most part. Headed east on I-30, entered downtown Dallas via the infamous Triple Overpass. I was heading to the Dallas Farmers Market.

The Market was not very busy so we were able to park inside the shed. Mom seemed a bit worried that one is not supposed to do that.

The Parental Units got some blueberries and nuts. Then it was off to the Texas State Fairgrounds, known as Fair Park. I did not realize, til today, that you can drive all over the fairgrounds. I thought there were guard posts to stop that type activity. So, I was able to drive the entire fairgrounds. Pointing out where Big Tex stands, among other things, like driving right up to the Cotton Bowl. The entry to the actual football field was open. I could have driven down there. But, Mom would have had a panic attack. Anyway, Mom and Dad have now had a visit to the Texas State Fair. Sort of. Including the Carnival Midway.

I headed over to White Rock Lake en route to one of the World's Most Unique McDonald's. I drove them by White Rock Lake the last time they were here, but both were passed out that time. So, today they thought they'd never been there before.

After White Rock Lake I drove west on Mockingbird to the 75 Freeway to head north over the Big 5 Exchange to I-635. I'd not been over it since it was finished. I liked it. Dallas has made it much more colorful than Fort Worth has with its Mixmaster.

Exited 635 at Monforth. That's where the McDonald's is. Neither Mom or Dad remembered being there before. I have photo evidence to the contrary. They did a shadowy pose in front of the Giant Happy Meal, before going in and having some wraps, cheeseburgers, fries and hot fudge sundaes.

After McDonald's I headed south on Preston, back towards Downtown Dallas. This goes through some areas of big houses. Mom likes seeing those. Drove up Turtle Creek. That's scenic. Headed to the Victory Park development to show them the American Airlines Center and all the other stuff there.

Then it was on to I-35 E, to head north and get off at I-183, to drive by the soon to be defunct Texas Stadium, then on to Los Colinas in Irving. Around then I was informed a restroom break was needed. So, I headed back east on Northwest Highway to a Sam's Club. Some shopping for leftover Christmas bargains ensued.

Then it was back on the road, heading west on I-121, towards Grapevine. My eventual destination was Babes in Roanoke. I went via Flower Mound. I knew my Mom would find suddenly being out in the country to be interesting. We got to Babes. It didn't open for a half hour. So, I drove them by Cabelas and some other stuff and then back to Babes.

Babes Chicken Dinner House is always good. We got 2 orders of chicken and 2 orders of chicken-fried steak. This comes with salad, creamed corn, biscuits and mashed spuds and gravy. It's served family style with the chicken and chicken fried steaks on one big platter. And the other stuff in its own bowls. You can ask for more of all the fixin's, except for the meat products. I ate a lot of biscuits.

We had the usual incident with the Baby Rattler at Babes and all the waitresses did a long line dance routine. It was cute and amusing. Mom and Dad seemed to like it.

After Babes it was a long drive south on 377 to I-820, then a quick jaunt back to their temporary abode, then me back to mine.

Tomorrow I'm going to be at their place about 9 to escort them out of the Metroplex, stopping at the Old South Pancake House on the way. I'll take one more picture of them in their cowboy hats and then see them sail off into the west.

Phoenix, they are heading your way in the morning. They are taking the scenic route, not the Interstate method they used to get here earlier than expected.

Flooding State of Emergency in Washington

I knew that on Wednesday the Western Washington zone was getting hit by a big tropical storm which was bringing warm temperatures and a lot of wet stuff. These type storms melt the snowpack in the Cascades, causing flooding in the lowlands. Particulary when the lowlands are already saturated and are being hit with several inches of rain, while the mountains get about a foot of the wet stuff, which adds more water to the melting snow.

What is happening up there right now is record breaking, a flood of historic proportions, forcing the biggest evacuation in Washington history.

Tacoma has declared a state of emergency. The Puyallup River has gone over its banks. The Puyallup empties into Tacoma's Commencement Bay. Over 40,000 people have been asked to evacuate. That is the Puyallup River in the picture. Workers are trying to clear a log jam. A log jam and a flood can bring down a bridge.

Everyone living in the Orting Valley of the Puyallup was told to leave as the river continues to rise.

The flooding is going into populous areas and industrial zones where flooding has not occurred before. Tacoma's central wastewater treatment plant is in jeopardy.

Transportation is at a standstill in Western Washington. Interstate 5 is covered with water by Fife. Fife is a town just east of Tacoma. South of Olympia I-5 is also under water. All the mountain passes are closed, due to avalanches and mudslides.

Up in my old hometown zone, that being Mount Vernon and the Skagit Valley, mudslides have hit homes, dozens of roads are blocked by water or mudslides. From what I just read in the Skagit Valley Herald, it would appear I've got one friend trapped by water and slides. Are you homebound again, Nancy? Is it being as bad up there as it seems to be from what I'm reading?

Downtown Mount Vernon has narrowly escaped being buried in water, several times. I've been part of sandbagging brigades building a wall on the dike that protects downtown Mount Vernon. Last year a new flood wall system was installed to protect downtown. I don't believe it has been put to use, yet.

They are having the worst winter in memory up in my old home zone. While down here in Texas it will be another blue sky day, hitting a high of 72. 75 tomorrow.

Mom & Dad Won't Take Off Their Cowboy Hats

I had me another day with Mom and Dad today. I picked them up, this morning, before 11. We drove up 360 to the town of Grapevine, then by the Great Wolf Lodge, en route to the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center. The Christmas decorations were still up at the Gaylord, so Mom and Dad got to see Santa on his power boat pulling his reindeer on skis.

Leaving the Gaylord we drove across Grapevine Dam to Rockledge Park for the first photo-op of the day. Mom and Dad have really taken to wearing their cowboy hats. I think it helps them feel like they are fitting in with the natives.

After Rockledge we drove to see Austin Ranch in daylight. That's where I'd gone to a Christmas party in early December. I had never seen it in daylight and did not realize it actually is a ranch, of sorts.

After Austin Ranch it was on to Costco for a light free sample lunch. Then to check out Southlake Town Center. Then it was time for a QT stop for liquids, like coffee.

Then up to Bob Jones Park, looking at overly large houses along the way, including a perplexing castle. After driving around the Bob Jones Park zone we headed south down White Chapel Road to a REALLY BIG HOUSE zone. Then on to the Grapevine Highway, heading to Penneys at the Northeast Mall.

After way too much shopping, it was then on to the Airport Freeway, heading to the Stockyards, to Riscky's BBQ for All You Can Eat BBQ Ribs.

I dropped Mom and Dad off in front of Riscky's,
parked and ran back to them. They thought it too cold to sit outside, so inside we went. Our waitress was Brittney. She forgot our BBQ sauce. Mom didn't like her ribs til I asked Brittney if we could have some Riscky's Sauce. I like the ribs without sauce.

I ate several jalapenos, which led to my Mom biting in to one. That did not go well. Apparently she felt they were quite hot. I just thought they were tasty.

We went several rounds of getting more ribs and then it was over. Riscky's has added bone buckets since my last visit. The bone bucket quickly filled up, as you can see on the left.

Leaving the Stockyards zone, I could see I-35 was gridlock, so I drove backroads to this weird part of Haltom City that has all these wrecking yards and junky looking stuff. Very Third Worldly. Entering that zone there was a big anti-union protest group. Mom thought it looked dangerous and that we shouldn't proceed. I laughed and told her it was harmless.

Eventually we exited the Third World and re-entered civilization at Gateway Park. I showed Mom and Dad Fort Woof. There were a lot of dogs running around.

We left Gateway Park and drove Randoll Mill across a very old, narrow bridge. Mom kept being appalled by how many times we crossed the Trinity River. She was concerned as to how these people could afford to build so many bridges to cross one river.

It was then time to get on the freeway and drive Mom and Dad back to their current home in Arlington.

Tomorrow we are going to Dallas, to the Farmers Market. And then to McDonald's. They remembered and liked going to the Dallas Farmers Market on their last visit, but neither remembers going to one of the world's most unique McDonald's, so annointed by both me and the Travel Channel. I'll probably throw in a few other things to see in Dallas too. Maybe we'll drive by George and Laura's new house.

At Riscky's today my Dad announced they will be returning in 2015. Their last visit was in October, 2001, then this visit in January 2009. So, I guess the next logical date, in the sequence, is 2015. I don't know what month, though. I'm getting older. I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with them.

Israel, the Gaza Strip, Gas And My Mom & Dad

That's the view through my window at this very moment, at 10am, as I sit at the keyboard. It's a blue sky day in Texas.

I have absolutely nothing that is giving me an urge to be blogged about. Nothing.

I would blog about the current Israeli/Gaza Strip Middle East conflict. But it just makes me cranky. Israel shows great restraint for a ridiculous amount of time. And finally decides to do something about the incoming rockets. And then the world reacts. Where was the world's condemnation of Hamas during the month upon month of firing rockets into Israel?

And then you have those who deny that the Holocaust ever happened. And are now comparing Israel to the Nazis. It's like there is way too much insanity running way too rampant in the world.

I forgot about the sudden jump in gas prices. I don't know why it went up 20 cents over night. Did a couple of the Muslim nations cut us off of the black stuff?

I'm hoping it gets into the 70s by the time I take Mom and Dad to the Fort Worth Stockyards to go to Riscky's for BBQ Ribs, so we can sit at the outdoor patio.

My Mom wants to go to the Gulf Coast. I'm going to take them to Lake Grapevine today and try and convince them that it's saltwater. There are clams shells on the beach. And seagulls. The only thing missing is that telltale saltwater smell. And big waves.

Anyway, by the time I get back here, later today, I should have myself some blogging material.

Mom & Dad & The New Dallas Cowboy Stadium

Well, I have had me a day. I've been up since 4am. I left to get my Mom and Dad about 10 this morning. Traffic was backed way up on I-30, due to all the highway construction by Collins Street.

I got to my Mom and Dad about 11. Loaded them up and off we went. First off my Mom wanted to know where all the nearby fast food joints were. So, I showed them.

Then I drove them to the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium where they posed for me in their Cowboy hats. Then it was off to River Legacy Park. Then the Garden of Angels. Then the River Bottom Bar. By that point my Mom was getting hungry.

Mom asked if we had a Sweet Tomato restaurant. She wanted salad. I told her we were about 15 minutes from a Sweet Tomato. On the way there we passed my favorite Chinese buffet, that being the Super Bowl Buffet. For a minute or two it was debated if Mom wanted to go to the Super Bowl instead of Sweet Tomato.

We ended up at Sweet Tomato. It was my first time. It was good. Not as good as Fresh Choice used to be, but still good.

Mom kept being surprised by how big Arlington is, so after Sweet Tomato I decided to head south, down Matlock, til we escaped Arlington and the Metroplex.

That brought us to Hawaiian Falls in Mansfield. I then got on to 287 and headed towards downtown Fort Worth. Mom and Dad had a little sleep bout about that time.

I showed them some of the new stuff in downtown Fort Worth, like the now defunct Radio Shack Headquarters, soon to be Tarrant County Community College. I showed them the buildings that grew out of the tornado damage from 2000. The last time they were in Texas was soon after the tornado ripped through downtown Fort Worth.

I drove them through the cool new former Montgomery Wards, which has morphed into Montgomery Place. We drove through the "tunnel" and went to Super Target for some extensive shopping that included buying a bag of oranges. That perplexed me. They had given me about a half ton of citrus the day before.

After Super Target I drove them around the "Cultural District" showing them the new Museum of Modern Art, the Kimball Museum, the Amon Carter, the Cowgirl Museum, the Stock Show grounds and then on to the Botanic Garden.

After that I drove them down the very odd brick road known as Camp Bowie Boulevard. Mom wanted to go to a QT for a fountain drink. So, I turned off Camp Bowie, on to 183, and headed north. Right away there was a QT. That turned bizarre when some lady tried to work a scam on us.

Continuing north on 183 we went through River Oaks and then on to NE 28th Street til we got to the Stockyards zone. Drove through the Stockyards, showed them the Prison Break set. Continued on to Samuels Avenue to show them "Old Fort Worth" and all the development that will look down on the new "Town Lake." If it ever gets built.

Then back to the heart of downtown. Showed them the Sleeping Panther statue. And the new Omni Hotel. Mom and Dad both, even Mom, with her bad eyesight, thought those balconies were very disturbing.

I showed them the failed Sante Fe Rail Market that was supposed to be like Pike Place Market. They found that amusing. Then we got on Lancaster and headed under the Mixmaster, got on I-30, then off at Beach Street.

I drove down Scott Avenue and showed Mom and Dad the Mother Nature Shrine that weeps at the damage Chesapeake Energy has done to the Tandy Hills. Showed them the Tandy Hills. Then it was on to Oakland Park and then back on the freeway to deliver Mom and Dad back to their Studio Plus Apartment in Arlington.

Tomorrow I'm picking them up around the same time and taking them north to the Lake Grapevine zone. Lunch of free samples at Costco. Then back to Fort Worth and the Stockyards for All You Can Eat BBQ Ribs at Riscky's.

Fort Worth Bad Design vs. Good Design Elsewhere

That's Fort Worth's Omni Convention Center Hotel on the left. I blogged about that building recently and how, in my opinion, it is one bad looking building, mostly due to all those huge, scaffold-looking balconies, cantilevered from the sides. Those balconies look dangerous. And ridiculous.

So, I was reading the Seattle P-I this morning. There was an article, the likes of which I have never seen in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, that being a detailed architectural critique of some new buildings. I think it may be the absence of this type of critical analyses and watchful eyes that leads to such ridiculous looking buildings as the new Omni Hotel. And others that sort of blight what little there is of Fort Worth's skyline.

Just the opening paragraphs of the P-I article are telling in their contrast to what could appear in the Star-Telegram. For instance, the reference to "Nietzsche." The vast majority of the Star-Telegram's readers would not have the slightest clue as to who or what "Nietzsche" might be. And hence the dumbing down of that newspaper.

I'll copy the first two paragraphs of the P-I article, and follow that with another 2 paragraphs that talk about 2 new high-rises in Bellevue and their well done balconies that don't stick out like "diving boards." And following that 2 more paragraphs, including one referencing Dallas.

"Watching the dizzying phalanx of new high-rises sprouting in downtown Seattle and Bellevue, you'd assume they're all about economics -- betting on maximum return from minimum footprint on ground -- and you'd be mostly right. Nietzsche explained the rest: Architecture is the expression of human pride, our triumph over gravity, and the "oratory of power."

For too many of the towers prickling the Puget Sound sky, that oratory amounts to crude, stentorian bellowing. But developers and architects are learning from these city-killing disasters, and the early 21st century is shaping up as a happier time for skylines. The current crop of towers sports more interesting sculptural shapes, more color, better detailing, and sometimes a friendlier relationship to the person on the street. Favorable developments all."

I see at least 3 words in the above 2 paragraphs that could not be used in the Star-Telegram, due to that dumbing down problem.

And now 2 more paragraphs, with the second one referencing the building's balconies.

"The near-twin Bellevue Towers are the best pieces in the suburb's entire skyline, and the most sculpturally ambitious high-rise shapes in either city. The asymmetrical five-sided forms, skewed 22 degrees on axis from each other, guarantee they'll never look the same from any two viewpoints on the ground, and there is a wealth of intriguing pleats and tucks in their skins.

Those tucks don't just relieve visual monotony. They form partially enclosed residential balconies, a deft solution to one of the persistent problems in high-rise residential living. A balcony cantilevered off the side of a skyscraper can feel very much like a 400-foot-high diving board, which is why so many of them are deserted. These Bellevue balconies feel embraced and protected by the building."

And then in a paragraph about growth-drunk city councils we get a reference to Dallas.

"And there we arrive at the question of whether the expression of power has any relationship to quality of life. Developers don't bother themselves with such questions, and rarely do growth-drunk city councils. The Manhattanization of Seattle and the Dallasizing of Bellevue are good for the civic ego, and for the few who can buy these pieces of the sky to live in, but what else?"

With the article ending with a self-deprecating remark about Seattle, the type of self-aware type remark you'd never see in the Star-Telegram. In Fort Worth, instead, we tell ourselves, ours, is a uniquely wonderful city, that is the envy of other cities, nationwide. This is what is known as "Civic Delusion."

"That might have nipped this boom in the bud. Then again, it might have transformed Seattle into the uniquely wonderful city we keep telling ourselves it is."

Go here to read the entire article, "On Architecture: Four new high-rises stroke civic egos, with style," to read critiques of several new buildings in the Puget Sound zone. And if any of you reading this are Star-Telegram readers, have you ever read an article, in that paper, remotely approaching the quality of this one? And can you not see how having such critical eyes looking at what is built in a city can help a city avoid making mistakes, like what Fort Worth has had happen with that hideous Omni Hotel? No amount of Star-Telegram lipstick on a pig type propaganda is going to change the fact that the Omni Hotel is one very bad design.

Mom & Dad Are Here In Texas

I've had me a day. First off, we had that freezing rain thing, which went on way longer than it was supposed to. The roads never seemed slippery, but there was a lot of icicle action. And falling cold wet stuff.

I had told my Mom, 2 days ago, that Monday would be bad here. That's okay, she told me, we'll get there Tuesday.

About 11 this morning my Mom called. And said they were passing Abilene.

What? I was appalled. They were a bit over 2 hours from here. Heading into ice. I told them to call when they reached Fort Worth and I'd guide them in.

Three hours went by. The ice continued to fall. So, I called. My Mom answered. She told me they were in Arlington. What? Why didn't you call? I told them to get off at the first exit they came to in Arlington and I'd come find them. I asked, do you see the Fielder exit? Cooper? Collins? Then I heard my Dad say they were not in Arlington.

My Dad then told my Mom they were in Fort Worth. That they were going through a big freeway exchange. I ask if they've gone by downtown Fort Worth. My Dad says, yes. I then tell them to continue on til they get to the Bridge Street exit, get off the freeway there, take a left and then a right to Home Depot and I'd find them.

I hurry to Home Depot. My phone rings. It's my Dad. He tells me they got off at Ridgmar like they were supposed to, but can find no Home Depot. Ridgmar? You are in west Fort Worth? That freeway exchange you went through was the 820/30 exchange? You haven't gone by downtown Fort Worth yet?

When I figured out where they were I told Dad to get back on the freeway and continue east. I told them I'd head west and then come up behind them. So, I drove west to the Beach Street exit, got off, then back on the freeway on-ramp, heading east and waited for a white van from Arizona.

About 5 minutes later, another call, they think they are lost. Right then I see them, tell them a dark gray car will come up behind them, pass, honk and for them to follow. I then led them to the Studio Plus place I'd gotten for them earlier. Checking in went well.

After visiting for awhile I decided it was time to go. But first we had to unload all their stuff. It was a pouring cold rain. They had a trunk load of stuff to give me. That's a picture of some of it above. I have enough citrus to open a fruit stand. A bag of huge lemons, a couple types of oranges and a big box of grapefruit.

In addition to the citrus, in that same picture, you'll see a big ham and a big bag of my Mom's homemade jerky. It's good stuff.

And my one longtime reader may remember last summer my Mom and Dad making oodles of raspberry jam, while they were interred as day laborers at my little sister's. It was scandalous, at the time, that I did not want to take any jam back on the plane with me. Well, I have had me delivered a supply of jam in a variety of berries. I did not hear raspberry mentioned. Boysenberry, marionberry, blackberry and strawberry, but no raspberry. I guess I am destined to never taste of those raspberries I sacrificed so much for, last summer, helping to fill the almost insatiable need for more raspberries.

I'm going to go get the Parental Units in the morning and have fun with them til they are worn out. I don't know how long that will take. I may get worn out first.

Early Incoming Mom and Dad In Freezing Rain

The forecast was for freezing rain. Ending by noon. It is past noon now. And the freezing rain continues to fall. There are icicles.

I told my Mom on Saturday that we were predicted to have freezing rain on Monday. She told me they would get here on Tuesday.

Right after that a pipeline broke somewhere, shutting off my water. What to do for lunch, I wondered. The water is back running now.

Around 10 this morning I made them a reservation, for tomorrow, at a Studio Plus. Right after that my Mom is on the phone telling me they are almost here, as in at 11am they were passing Ablilene. When I got that call I already had my day planned and was about to head out the door.

So, I called Studio Plus and told them they were 2 or 3 hours out and could we move the reservation up a day. No problem. The Studio Plus has a nice kitchen. Maybe my Mom will have a cooking project. If I were like my little sister I'd assign her one. Or two.

I quickly changed my plans, wrapped their Xmas presents that I'd procrastinated, took care of some other things. And now I wait.

This drippy gray freezing rain is a perfect metaphor for how I'm feeling right now.

There Goes The Neighborhood: George W. Bush Is Moving To Town

Signs are appearing in George and Laura Bush's new neighborhood in Dallas, welcoming them home. In about 15 more days. But, who is counting?

George and Laura's new house, on Daria Place, is way smaller than the White House. Only 8,500 square feet. Tom Hicks is their backyard neighbor. I think Tom Hicks is the guy who owns the Texas Rangers baseball team. Or maybe he's the manager.

I really don't pay much attention to the local sports stuff, except to know Mark Cuban owns the Dallas Mavericks, who play basketball, Jerry Jones, a heartless shell of a man, owns the Dallas Cowboys, with Tony Romo being their quarterback, with a lot of people here being unhappy with Tony and the Cowboys, because somehow the locals had convinced themselves that this was the year that not only would Dallas win a playoff game, they'd be in the Super Bowl. The Dallas Stars play hockey. I know one of their players is Mike Modano.

So, anyway, some local guy named Tom Hicks, who has some association with some local sports team, is going to live behind George W. and Laura. George used to own, or partly own, the Texas Rangers. I recently read the late Molly Ivins' excellent book about George called "Shrub." It is an amazing story how George came to have the money to buy into the Rangers. And somehow he never got in hot water for it, unlike poor ol' hapless Hillary and her commodity trading.

I don't know how many yards are sporting a "Welcome Home George & Laura" sign. You can order yourself one by calling 214.676.0728. I have no idea how much they cost, or really, why anyone would want one.

I also do not know if anyone has put a "George Bush Go Home. Anywhere But Here" sign in their yard. I suspect there are likely one or two somehow expressing that sentiment by some means.

Fort Worth: A Paradox

My one or two longtime readers may remember that I used to subscribe to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. That paper provided me a lot of blogging fodder.

I still glance at the paper's online version and read the letters to the editor. There is such a contrast between the Fort Worth paper's letters to the editor and the Dallas Morning News letters to the editor. As in the Dallas paper has way fewer embarrassing ones.

This morning's Star-Telegram letters has one that perplexes me. I can't tell if the writer is being sarcastic, with heavy duty irony. Or what. I can't believe the writer is serious, due to their being so many ridiculous assertions, like Fort Worth's "10 year plan to end homelessness is amazing in its compassionate, yet pragmatic inspiration."

10 year plan? Compassionate and pragmatic? 10 years?

Fort Worth arts are "acclaimed nationwide."

Fort Worth's school system "has leadership that dares to really address our educational problems."

Our "Trinity River Vision is unbelievably far-reaching in its foresight of what can be accomplished in this city."

And my favorite, due to its use of the "envy of" verbiage that always makes me cringe, "Few would question that Fort Worth, led by its forward-thinking "first families," developed a vibrant downtown that is the envy of most cities."

Okay, on homelessness, Fort Worth sent out a task force to towns like Seattle and Denver to look at their successful homeless programs. The task force came back saying those programs were worth emulating. And it's gonna take 10 years?

Fort Worth's arts are acclaimed nationwide? You in the rest of the country, reading this, have you done a lot of acclaiming about Fort Worth's arts?

Fort Worth's school system is a disaster. How are the problems with high dropout rates, bad test scores and bad schools being addressed?

The Trinity River Vision is unbelievably far-reaching? Now this was the one that I thought the writer had to be being sarcastic, as in the River Vision is unbelievably far-reaching. It has never been voted on by the public. To fund it they had to come up with an un-needed river diversion channel, to replace humongous flood control levees that the public has already paid for. And to make it all work, in one of the weirdest cases of nepotism I've seen, Kay Granger's son was appointed to run the thing. Kay Granger being Fort Worth's representative in Congress, who now has a vested interest in trying to get funding for the Vision. So, her son can have a job.

Fort Worth's downtown is the envy of other cities? Okay, you reading this in other cities, are you envious of downtown Fort Worth? Do you even have the slightest inkling of what downtown Fort Worth looks like? Do you have any image in your memory of downtown Fort Worth? I have been to a lot of downtowns in big cities all over America. Fort Worth has the most unsubstantial skyline and downtown of any American city with a populaton over a half million. It's the only American city with a population over a half million with no downtown grocery or department store. It is the least lively downtown of a major city I've ever been in.

I'm not saying downtown Fort Worth is not a perfectly fine place. But to say other towns envy anything in downtown Fort Worth is ridiculous. What do you people, who think this type stuff, think the first time you visit the downtowns of Seattle or Denver or San Francisco or Portland or San Antonio, Dallas, Houston or Austin? Let alone New York City, Chicago, Miami, Phoenix or even Oklahoma City or Tulsa?

Anyway, below is the letter that I can't tell whether it is serious or joking....

Fort Worth, a paradox

As I was reading the Jan. 1 editorial, and the excellent column by County Judge Glen Whitley, I was struck by the paradox presented by Fort Worth and Tarrant County.

Few would question that Fort Worth, led by its forward-thinking “first families,” developed a vibrant downtown that is the envy of most cities; that our Trinity River Vision is unbelievably far-reaching in its foresight of what can be accomplished in this city; that our 10-year plan to end homelessness is amazing in its compassionate yet pragmatic inspiration; that our arts are acclaimed nationwide; that the Fort Worth school system has leadership that dares to really address our educational problems; plus many more examples that all of us could name.

Yet I read that Tarrant County is the most conservative county in the most conservative state in the nation. Our progressive actions and our accomplishments and goals belie that! Maybe we vote a certain way out of tradition or habit, when, if we really examine our values and actions, we would find we truly believe differently.

— Louise B. Carvey, Fort Worth

Corrupt Conflicts Of Interest Taking Over Fort Worth

UPDATED: 1/6/09--New info about the infamous map

UPDATED: 1/5/09--New input from a reliable source I will refer to as Deep Throat

That's a map on the left. Some call it an infamous map. Why, you ask? Well, that map was found at what is known as the Thomas well site. The Thomas well site is the Chesapeake Energy drill site that has stirred so much controversy due to it being next to Tandy Hills Park. And being part of the Tandy Hills.

So, why is this map infamous, you continue to ask? Well, the map belonged to and was made by Dunaway Associates. That's a consulting firm.

Big deal, you're thinking. Well, Jim Dunaway was one of the developers on the first Gas Drilling Task Force. The Task Force makes decisions regarding drilling. The company Jim Dunaway's father founded and ran for years is directly involved in the destruction of land next to Tandy Hills Natural Area. Dunaway work trucks have been photographed at the Thomas/Tandy Hills drilling site.

The infamous Thomas well site map gets most of its infamy due to the fact that, despite Chesapeake Energy applying for and getting approval for a single gas well permit at this particular site, the map clearly shows more than one gas well.

Task Force member, Gary Hogan, reports that Dunaway did not participate much in the first Task Force. Dunaway was replaced, early on, by Walsh Ranch representative, Rob Green. He being another pro-driller. Dunaway has extensive connections at city hall. Regardless of the amount of time Dunaway spent on the Task Force, this still was a fox in the chicken coop situation, with Dunaway later profitting from drilling operations he was, earlier, part of overseeing.

To help set government policy for some business activity from which you profit is generally thought of as a conflict of interest. This is usually frowned upon, sometimes to such a degree that those participating in such dubious deeds end up doing jail time and paying large fines.

Jim Dunaway is also a contributor to Mike Moncrief's election campaigns.

A reliable, anonymous source, I will call Deep Throat, had this to say about Jim Dunaway, "I'll quickly note, not for attribution, but for your info, that whenever I see Jim Dunaway associated with something I already know it's wrong and probably evil. He is a lowlife SOB that has not an inkling or care about the world we live in. Other than that, he is probably a fine person."

For some unfathomable reason, Mike Moncrief continues to avoid being charged with serious conflicts of interests, while Moncrief and his wife have substantial holdings in most of the gas drillers operating in Fort Worth. In other words, Moncrief profits from the operations he is part of regulating.

And in yet one more example of a conflict of interest, this morning I learned that Lead Gas Drilling Inspector, David Lunsford, now works for a pipeline company. Lunsford has been quoted as saying he rarely received complaints. Lunsford was known to dismiss gas drilling concerns out of hand. One can not help but wonder how much effort Lunsford put into protecting the public, when he had a cushy pipeline job waiting for him.

And then we have Don Behrens. Hired by the City of Fort Worth to consult and offer advice to the city and the Gas Drilling Task Force on sound mitigation. He is now selling products to Barnett Shale drillers. At one point Behrens had a monopoly on sound mitigation blankets. Behrens had a direct influence on the sound mitigation rules specified in the city's sound mitigation ordinance. Behrens misrepresented his Los Angeles drilling experience to the FW City Council and the Task Force.

Why are these type conflict of interests allowed in Fort Worth? I don't know. It's like there is no oversight.

I can't imagine the same type thing happening in Seattle. If the mayor had a vested interest in Starbucks he knows he would have to recuse himself from having any part in approving or disapproving some request from Starbucks. That's only common sense. Except in Fort Worth, where an entirely different set of rules apply to how things get done.

Only Child Syndrome Strikes Again

Commenting on Only Child Syndrome, someone told me that "Eric Cartman (South Park) is a spoiled only child of a mother who smothers him with attention and food. He’s a greedy, manipulative being, is a smartass and a foul-mouthed little brat, is vindictive & shallow AND a liar, a cheat, a smug winner and a backstabber!"

Yup, Cartman is just like one or two of the Only Children I know. Or used to know. Only Children tend to wear out their welcome. Or steal from you, swear at you, try to get even with you and in some way or the other stab you in the back.

When I first blogged about Only Child Syndrome I had no idea there were so many people out there dealing with the Syndrome. Every day there are people coming to my blog using various search strings, such as "Only Child Brat," or "Only Child Syndrome," or "Only Child Problem," or "Only Child Liar," or "Only Child Sickness," or "Only Child Disease."

If you scroll down til you see my FeedJit stats on the right, then at the bottom of that you can click "watch in real time" and you'll likely see one or two people looking for help in dealing with an Only Child.

I've gotten quite a few comments regarding Only Child Syndrome. This morning I got a real good one, which quotes me up til the LMAO part....

"Googling 'Only Child Syndrome' I found several blogs written by Only Children, basically admitting they are different and another blog blogging about the Syndrome with several Only Children commenting on the blog and ironically and cluelessly confirming the Syndrome with their comments."------LMAO. I googled the same and could not believe the comments that were being left by only children regarding the fact that in no way did they conform to such a terrible stereotype!!! They would then continue on to contradict themselves and be completely clueless that they had done it too! Hilarious! I am engaged to an only child. I deal with the very real syndrome every day of my life. Now, probably not all only children have it, but it exists. It DEFINITELY exists!!!!! "This is mine! I won't share it!" "Look at me!! I want attention!!!" " Waaaaaaaaah you made fun of me just like I just made fun of youuuuu only I cant handle it!!!" hahaha. I wish there were more blogs about this topic. Very interesting.

Well, if you're looking for more blogs about Only Child Syndrome, this morning I found one written by an Only Child, called "Only Child Syndrome: Confessions of a recovering only child."

One of the things I find most troubling with Only Children is their irrational, easily triggered tempers. The Only Child can say the rudest, most inappropriate of remarks, but if you reply in kind, the Only Child will erupt. I've known an Only Child who will erupt if she simply perceives you are somehow being critical of her. It can be over something as simple as saying "Take a right at the next intersection." or "The change is 6 dollars, give her 6 dollars."

If you deal with an Only Child you learn to avoid the triggers. So, this sort of makes the Only Child an overbearing bully. I have an aversion to someone yelling at me, particularly when it makes no sense and is caused by the yeller's screwed up thinking, so I definitely try to avoid the triggers.

If the Only Child makes a demand, like, "Hey, I want a flat of those raspberries," you have to weigh the situation carefully. You think to yourself, "they are my berries, I got them, I've got a use for them." You think to yourself, "I know the raspberries will just go to waste if I give this pig a flat." And then you conclude, "If I tell her I'm taking all 3 flats, she will lose her temper. She's already had one fit today, it's not worth it, I'll give her a flat." And then a week later I'm at the Only Child's pigsty house and sure enough, there are the raspberries, in the fridge, maybe a third eaten, the rest starting to mold.

I've never said all Only Children fit the Only Child Syndrome mold. I will say, I have known many who do. The ones who do are all despicable, difficult human beings.

I fear China is setting itself up for a future disaster with their one child only policy. Over a billion Only Children. That can not be good for the world.

Below is a YouTube video in which what appear to be students are practicing a debate. About Only Child Syndrome....

The Travails of Tootsie Tonasket

I don't know what it is with those people up in Washington. Is it epidemic Seasonally Affected Disorder? I know they are having yet one more bad storm, today, in a winter that's been the worst in a long long time.

But, gray skies and sub-zero temperatures and a case of SAD, does not explain the stuff that goes on in Washington's Peyton Place, where Tootsie Tonasket lives.

The Tonasketans have more over the top nonsensical soap opera than a Mexican Telenovela. Just today, Tootsie's husband, Alfred, 57, freshly smitten with the charms of 22 year old, pimply-faced vixen named Misty, got a call from Misty wanting Alfred to come spend the night at her apartment in Omak.

Tootsie heard the arrangements being made. And then it got worse. Tootsie and Alfred's 25 year old, ne-er do-well son, Spade, wants to go along so he can spend the night with Misty's roommate. Spade is feeling lonely ever since the mother of his child, Beulah, booted Spade out, so she could take up with a Chinese Alaskan fisherman, who is keeping Beulah and Spade's child Nervada in a style that Spade was never able to afford. Spade has now turned pretty much into an alcoholic, drinking up to 2 six packs a day.

So, it is below zero in Tootsie's town. There is ice and snow on the ground. To be able to get out to the cleared roads, much shoveling was needed. So, Alfred has been out in the cold for a long time, trying to move the white stuff. That's poor ol Alfred in the picture, above, trying to shovel his way to Misty's.

Now, Tootsie is just beside herself with worry about all these shenanigans spinning around her. So, she's called me twice today. I am currently a great resource for advice about these type matters, due to I am currently reading "Jackie Ethel Joan: Women of Camelot." I knew Jack and Teddy were serial womanizers, but I had no idea Bobby was a bad boy too. I figured how could he have the time or energy, while helping Ethel pop out that huge litter they produced.

Tootsie seemed to appreciate hearing how Jackie, Ethel and Joan handled their womanizing husband woes. I'm sure she'll do as I suggested and look the other way while she works at re-decorating the house.

Meanwhile, here in Texas it is so darn HOT. I've got the windows open and the ceiling fan spinning. There is no chance of having Seasonally Affected Disorder in Texas at the current moment. I think I'll go over to Miss Puerto Rico's for some Telenovela type interaction.

Closeup Look At Chesapeake Energy's Tandy Hills Natural Destruction

As long as I've been paying attention to Chesapeake Energy's public relations machine, it has always seemed so bizarre to me that someone like myself, who really does not have all that much contact with what Chesapeake Energy is up to, finds himself seeing so many contradictions between how Chesapeake Energy describes what they are doing. And what they actually do.

For example, until Chesapeake Energy went into operation across the street from where I live, I did not realize that all the complaints about noise and dust weren't just some whiny person with a delicate constitution getting all upset due to a little dust and noise.

Instead, I was to learn that it is VERY noisy. And the dust is more like airborne mud that gets on everything. Did Chesapeake send anyone through the neighborhood to offer car washes and new filters for our cars and air conditioner units? No. They did not. We were covered in dust, as if we lived next to a cement plant and nothing was done about the pollution or the polluters.

From that point on I become a shrill anti-Chesapeake Energy shill.

And then there's the case of my beloved Tandy Hills. Chesapeake Energy bought a plot of land in the Tandy Hills. Those who see what a great recreational resource Tandy Hills represents were mortified that this rogue defiler of the land was going to do drilling in the Tandy Hills.

Well, Chesapeake Energy assured the public that the area affected would be very small, that little damage would be done to the Tandy Hills. It was not long into the operation when it became obvious that the area affected was huge and the damage done to the Tandy Hills was enormous.

Last Monday, returning from Zorro's Buffet via Interstate 30, heading east back to here, I went by the Tandy Hills Chesapeake Energy operation and saw it from the freeway for the first time. It is appalling how it looks from the freeway. A total flattening of the landscape with huge berms and drainage ditches.

When I saw how bad it looked I decided I'd figure out how to get a picture of the view from that perspective. It took a rather adventurous hike, where no trails existed, to get to the freeway and the vantage point I wanted. The sun was in an unfortunate location, so the photos did not turn out all that great. But you still get a real good idea of how Chesapeake Energy has turned this part of the Tandy Hills Natural Area into something very unnatural.

Another HOT Winter Day In Texas

I think we are going to break a temperature record, again, this Saturday, 3rd day of the new year. It is 81, right now, at a bit past 3 in the afternoon.

I have my windows open. I'm starting to think I may need to close the windows and turn on the A/C.

I went hiking at the Tandy Hills today, a bit past noon. I was not long into the hiking when it started to feel like summer. This is not normal. I do not remember having the slightest inclination to hike shirtless, last winter. But, today, there was no way I could keep the shirt on.

I think I may have a bit of a sunburn. I've never had a sunburn in January before.

By the end of hiking I was a sweaty mess, just as if it were a HOT day in August. I am now, finally, a believer in this Global Warming thing.

I had trouble sleeping last night, due to it being too warm in here, even with a window open. I think it's almost a foregone conclusion that, before the day is done, I will have turned on my air conditioning for the first time ever in January. That just ain't right. This is the time of year I run my furnace and put logs in my fireplace.

I hope we get some days like this when Mom and Dad are here.

Incoming Parental Units Heading To Texas

I've confirmed my Mom and Dad are locked and loaded and ready to head this way early Sunday morning. They are currently scheduled to get here early Tuesday. They have a history of arriving earlier than scheduled. If they show up late Monday, they'll find me hard to find.

That's my Mom and Dad in the picture, from last summer, up in Skagit County, north of Seattle, at Bay View State Park. That is my Grand Nephew, Spencer Jack and his Mom, Jenny between my Mom and Dad.

I got Mom and Dad a Texas type Xmas present. If they are cooperative I'll, later, show you what that is. I don't know how cooperative they will be regarding letting me take video of their visit. Likely, that will prove difficult. Mom has trouble seeing. Maybe she won't notice the video camera.

I can find no Christmas wrapping type paper in this place. Would butcher paper suffice? I'm known for very tacky wrapping.

I don't have any chores for my Mom and Dad to do here. No raspberries to can, no holes to dig, no cars to fix. When you stay at my sister's in Tacoma you are given a daily Chore List, first thing in the morning. She runs a very strict house. You are not allowed to move on until your particular chores are checked off and approved as being properly completed.

It was hell for me, hell, I tell you. I'd never experienced anything like it. I don't know where my sister learned to be such a militaristic taskmaster. It certainly wasn't from my dear saint-like Mommy.

Anyway, my windows are currently open. It is a very nice warm Texas winter day. Tomorrow a big chill blows in. And then my Mom and Dad.

Below is video taken the same day as the above picture. You'll see my Mom and Dad (and me) meet Spencer Jack for the first time.

Clear Lake Penguin Dip

I am up early. Again. Though not quite as early as yesterday. This morning's early wakeup came after 4.

I'm being cranky right now because Fort Worth is still keeping my pool closed. It is 65 outside right now. It was warm yesterday. My pool water is likely a somewhat swimmable temperature. Certainly, more so than the last time I got in it.

My closed pool became a current issue this morning while reading my old hometown newspaper, online, that being the Skagit Valley Herald. There was an article, with pictures and video, of the New Year's Day 18th Annual Clear Lake Penguin Dip.

Clear Lake is only a couple miles from where I used to live, in Mount Vernon. My nephew, Joey, lives in Clear Lake. I don't know if Joey was a Penguin dipper. My longtime reader may remember me blogging about Clear Lake last August, when Clear Lake was the site of the infamous Mannequin Murders.

About 100 men, women and kids ran into the 34 degree Clear Lake, when a Countdown Clock reached zero. Apparently there was a lot of screaming and shrieking when the Penguin Dippers hit the water.

There were 2 large bonfires on shore to warm the Penguin Dippers, after they quickly got back out of Clear Lake.

The Clear Lake Penguin Dip began in 1990. I had no awareness of this event when I lived there. I suspect I would not have participated had I known

Buzzworms in the Backyard: Strikes Again!---Next Friday Night

An exhibition of visual art protesting irresponsible gas drilling

Gala Opening Reception
January 9, 2009
Fort Worth Community Arts Center
1300 Gendy Street
6 - 9 pm

Featuring Live performance art by:

Tammy Gomez & Friends
and
Lori Thomson & Laney Yarber

Refreshments provided

Don't miss it!

I'm sure I won't....I'll bring Mom & Dad