Durango Texas Going To Be On Japanese TV

A few days ago I got an email from a researcher for a Japanese TV production company in New York City telling me that one of his clients, "Nippon Television Network, is interested in using your video footage from the 2009 Sweetwater Rattlesnake Round-Up in a segment as part of a weekly prime-time TV program called "The Most Useful School in the World". The show is a family-oriented program that introduces a wide variety of subjects to its viewers."

The email said they were interested in licensing this footage for a one time only use and if interested, use one of the contact options to discuss licensing fees.

I had no idea what one might expect to be paid for such a thing, so my email reply pretty much said just that.

Then this morning I got another email from NYC. I'll paste the pertinent part below.

"Thanks for your quick response and I apologize for the delay. The producers of the segment want to pay you $3000 for the clip. It will be for one time use and broadcast only in Japan. The broadcast will only happen on terrestrial TV - i.e. no internet or DVD release or anything like that."

I thought about it while walking at Village Creek Natural Historic Area and when I got back here I replied, saying I'll do it.

And now just as I'm typing this blogging I get another email, with verbiage that would have puzzled me, as to why, if you'd told me that today I'd get an email with this phrase, "We just need to check in with the producers in Tokyo."

Ironically, during lunch I was watching The Military History Channel documentary on how close Japan came to having an atom bomb and the American B-52s firebombing of Tokyo.

The video that Nippon Television wants to use is the first video I made, about a week after I bought the camcorder. The YouTube version is below...

I'm Taking a Hike While Wal-Mart Milk Price Drops a Cent

That's the new observation deck that looks out on a bog at Village Creek Natural Historic Area. The bog used to be more of a pond, but now it's getting so thick with greenery that the greenery is coming up through the deck.

It was in this bog/pond that I saw my first water moccasins. A couple guys were staring at something. I stopped and asked what they were looking at. They pointed towards a small herd of snakes.

There were no signs of flooding, seen by me, when I walked through the park. I've no clue why it was closed 2 days ago, with the sign saying the closure was due to flooding.

It was very humid, dripping wet stuff from the trees today. I sort of liked it.

And on the Wal-Mart Milk Front. My one longtime reader may remember me complaining a time or two at Wal-Mart's milk price on the shelf being $1.98 but ringing up at $2.00 This "problem" had been happening for over a month at various Wal-Marts. Complaining brought no fix. Just a two cent refund.

So, I needed milk. I saw the big price sign had been changed to $1.97. But the price on the shelves still said $1.98. I fully expected the $1.97 milk to ring up at $2.00. And was shocked to see it rang up at $1.97.

Center for Diseae Control Swine Flu Announcement

In addition to not doing what's being done in the picture, the Center for Disease Control recommends....

Avoiding contact with ill persons.

When you cough or sneeze, cover your nose and mouth with a tissue or your sleeve (if you do not have a tissue). Throw used tissues in a trash can.

After you cough or sneeze, wash your hands with soap and water, or use an alcohol-based hand gel.

If you think you are ill with flu, avoid close contact with others as much as possible. Stay at home or in your hotel room. Seek medical care if you are severely ill (such as having trouble breathing). There are antiviral medications for prevention and treatment of Swine Flu that a doctor can prescribe. Do not go to work, school, or travel while ill.

The symptoms of Swine Flu in people are similar to the symptoms of seasonal flu in humans and may include:

* Fever (greater than 100°F or 37.8°C)
* Sore throat
* Cough
* Stuffy nose
* Chills
* Headache and body aches
* Fatigue

Swine Flu Death in Texas, Fort Worth Shuts Schools

Overnight the Swine Flu epidemic has gotten worse. I read in the Seattle P-I this morning that Washington now has confirmed cases.

As you can see in the picture of the Dallas Morning News we've had a Swine Flu death in Texas and Fort Worth has closed down its schools.

But, the most disturbing Swine Flu news this morning is the reason why they think this strain of the virus is killing healthy people, in addition to those who are usually more vulnerable to the flu, like the elderly or those with weak immune systems.

This strain of the flu virus triggers a strong immune system response in those with healthy immune systems, with the strong immune system response damaging the throat and lung tissue.

I believe I have a healthy immune system, due to the fact I rarely get sick. The main thing I remember about my worst case of the flu, back in the early 1990s was how it hurt to breathe, like my lungs were sore. So, I'm thinking if I get this new Swine Flu, I'm likely a goner.

In the meantime I guess I'll live each day with a lot of gusto, which this morning meant I went swimming.

Naked Sleepwalking in Texas

I'm having me a day. It started by having a bad night. I've not mentioned it before, because, well, it seems a bit embarrassing. But for awhile now I've had myself a little sleepwalking problem.

I always thought sleepwalking was a myth type thing, til it happened to me. I remember none of last night's sleepwalking.

But, I've been sort of able to piece last night's incident together. I believe I got up, started walking to my bathroom, then knocked over a little bookcase. This caused me to fall down.

The noise awakened others. I then left my bedroom and headed to the front door. By then I was being observed. Apparently I was speaking gibberish in what sounded like a language other than English. Then I got more lucid and began walking robotically, saying go away, I'm fine, I hurt my back.

Then I walked into the kitchen, turned on the light and began swatting imaginary cockroaches. After that I went back to bed. When I woke up this morning, late, I had no memory of any of what had happened.

Last week I had a very weird sleepwalking incident. I woke up, walked into the kitchen, made coffee, then opened the front door to get the paper. No paper. I came back inside, walked back in the kitchen, something seemed wrong, I walked back in my bedroom and saw that it was 1 in the morning. I turned off the coffee and went back to bed. Now, unlike last night's incident, I remembered the coffee incident.

So, I Googled for info about sleepwalking. I had no idea it is such a common problem. And it has been on the increase. Of late hotel and motel chains have made note of a big increase in the number of naked sleepwalkers, almost always men. I always sleep in the buff, so this makes me one of the epidemic of naked sleepwalkers.

The Wikipedia article on sleepwalking had several bits of info that hit bingo with my experience. One interesting thing I learned was in 1846 legal history was made in Massachusetts when Albert Tirrel was found not guilty of murder, arguing if he did commit the murder, he did it while sleepwalking. The sleepwalking defense earned him an acquittal.

So, I guess looking on the bright side of sleepwalking, I have myself a pretty good excuse if I do anything bad.

With last night's sleepwalking, and who knows what else went on, but by the time I got up I felt exhausted. This morning there was no swimming, stormy weather stopped any biking, hiking or roller blading. My only escape, today, was going to Sprouts Farmers Market and getting a lot of good stuff, and hopefully not a Swine Flu Virus from being in that crowded store today.

Dallas & Fort Worth: A Tale of Two City's Convention Center Hotels

Way back in December I got rid of that newspaper that was always managing to vex me, that being the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, replacing the vexation with the Dallas Morning News.

It is now almost May and I don't believe I've read a single thing in the Dallas paper that vexed me by being either stupid or just plain wrong.

The Dallas paper seems way more community minded than the Fort Worth paper. The Dallas paper does not seem to be some sort of Chamber of Commerce propaganda spewer. The Dallas paper seems to honestly and accurately cover issues.

Take the current debate, in Dallas, over building a taxpayer subsidized hotel for the Dallas Convention Center. Fort Worth recently opened a taxpayer subsidized hotel for its convention center where rarely anything convenes.

In Dallas, a grown up city with the representative democracy form of government, a vote by the citizens will determine if the citizens will build a taxpayer subsidized hotel. In Fort Worth such things are not put to a public vote. Including Fort Worth's Convention Center Hotel.

In Fort Worth when the hotel was being discussed, with the Ruling Junta insisting it was necessary in order to book conventions, I thought it odd that nothing was ever said, that I noticed, regarding the idea that if private business did not see it as a good idea to build a hotel, maybe the idea had a flaw.

In Dallas the idea that if private business did not see the value, then maybe the idea is flawed, is part of the discussion. Including the point that the real problem is not the lack of hotel causing a lack of conventions, but rather it is the lack of Dallas having attractions downtown that make people like the idea of convening there.

When Fort Worth had the hotel debate I don't recollect the real problem ever being mentioned. It's sort of a sore subject, I suppose, but it seems so obvious, unless your town is some sort of tourist draw you are not going to draw a lot of conventions.

Now, obviously some tourists do come to Dallas and Fort Worth. But not in the numbers that go to places like Orlando or San Fransisco or New York City or Chicago or New Orleans or Seattle or dozens of other American cities.

So, in Dallas it has entered into the Convention Center Hotel debate the idea that Dallas needs to work on being more attractive to tourists. Now, to me, Dallas already seems like it has a lot of good attractions, though of late the West End and Deep Ellum have gotten tired.

In Fort Worth the Ruling Junta has finally gotten around to fixing what would seem to me to be the biggest problem that caused convention bookers to balk, that being the unsightly mess that Lancaster Avenue was for years after the overhead 1-30 eyesore was removed.

Dallas has a lot of big downtown hotels. I've been to a convention in one. It was huge. I don't see why the taxpayers of Dallas would vote to build a $500 million hotel. It makes no sense to me. But the debate they are having in Dallas over the issue, does make sense to me, unlike debates in Fort Worth over similar issues.

Landslide Clyde ImPichting Fort Worth's Mayor Mike Moncrief

A few days ago I suggested that maybe it was a good idea to blindside Fort Worth's Ruling Junta and vote Fort Worth's current corrupt mayor out of office by electing Clyde Picht.

One of the Ruling Junta's anonymous shills commented on the blindsiding idea with this comment...

Picht was totally ineffective as a councilman. He would be even worse as Mayor. Blindsided? You people are blind to reality.

Near as I can tell, any ineffectiveness as a councilman was due to not being able to go against the dictates of the Ruling Junta.

In this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, online version, there was one letter praising the amazing progress under the amazing leadership of Mayor Mike Moncrief, saying that "Fort Worth is continously complimented for the quality of life here."

Continuously complimented? By who? Who is doing this continuous complimenting of the amazing wonder that is Fort Worth? That verbiage seems suspiciously like the Star-Telegram's notorious green with envy type propaganda.

Another letter was in support of Clyde Picht becoming Fort Worth's mayor. That letter was perplexing because over and over again rather than calling the man Clyde Picht it used nClyde. What does nClyde mean?

Below are both letters, first the Ruling Junta shill and then the nClyde supporter....

Keep Moncrief at work

I, for one, am proud of the progress made in Fort Worth under the leadership of Mayor Mike Moncrief. Our city is continuously complimented for the quality of life here, and when you look at the opportunities here compared to other cities in Texas and the rest of the United States, we are very fortunate.

Moncrief is not afraid to speak his mind on sensitive matters, he is fair and equally concerned about all ethnicities and areas of our city. The dedication of Moncrief and his wife, Rosie, are beneficial to our city. It really bothers me when any of our community servants are criticized.

— Pam Minick, Fort Worth

Clean the air

It is time to clean the air at City Hall.

Change is always healthy, and now is the time. Our city has been faced with financial challenges and growth that bring many challenges.

Citizens across the USA are beginning to clean their houses. Political leaders don’t need to serve for decades. Fort Worth deserves some better choices.

I am supporting Clyde Picht for mayor for the following reasons:

nClyde will act as an effective leader.
nClyde will know when to say no and will gather troops for support. Remember that the late Chuck Silcox and Clyde were the only council members who were not afraid to say “no.” They listened to their voters.
nClyde will treat residents politely and in a courteous manner.
nClyde has the time for this job. He is retired and has the experience. He needs no learning curve.
Help clean the house!

— Peggy Terrell, Fort Worth

Stopped From Having Fun In Texas

Earlier today I blogged about the Swine Flu and said I'd not heard of any cases in my county, that being Tarrant. Well, I heard on the radio, a couple hours later, that there have been 3 cases in Fort Worth, with one school closed so it could be fumigated.

Speaking of getting fumigated. Yesterday I had a Bug Man come and get rid of my cockroach pets. I'd grown bored with them and it was time for them to go. When the spraying was done the little devils started coming out of their hiding places. That was a bit unsettling. I had no idea I had so many cockroach pets. I could go days without seeing one. It took them awhile to die. I had to take everything out of my kitchen so the Bug Man could spray everywhere. That was way too close to being like moving.

The Bug Man suggested waiting til morning before putting the kitchen back together. So that's what I did first thing in the morning.

First thing in the morning, because I could not do my usual early morning swim, due to the pool getting shocked. If you don't shock a pool every once in awhile, bad things happen. Like at my first place in Texas, being a pool novice, the chemicals got out of whack and the pool turned a bad color of green. Had to bring in a pro to get it back clear. It was sort of disturbing to see how quickly chemicals turned the water back clear again. Where did all that green go?

So, with swimming not being possible, that stir crazy feeling came over me earlier than usual. I decided to go to Village Creek Natural Historical Area. As you can see in the picture at the top, I was thwarted. The park closed due to flooding.

So, I decided to drive to the Interlocken zone, which is another way into the park and where I could see Village Creek. It can be a bit wild when it goes into flood mode. But, I saw no signs of a flood. It was clear the creek had not even gone over the dam/bridge, which is what usually triggers a closure.

That's the dam/bridge in the picture. When the creek goes over the dam/bridge it leaves a lot of mud behind. There was no mud. Where I am in the picture is way past this side of the park's Park Closed sign.

It was perplexing as to why the park was closed.

I did see a new wildflower (that's it above) growing by the dam/bridge, which became the only bright moment in a dreary day. And now I'm really going stir crazy. But I'm not going to take off, again, as tempting as it is. Thunderstorms are predicted to roll in soon. We'll see. No sign of them yet.

World Naked Bike Ride Coming To Austin

At least 70 cities in at least 20 countries are taking part in this year's World Naked Bike Ride. The Southern Hemisphere rides have already taken place, back in March. The Northern Hemisphere's Naked Bike Rides take place Saturday, June 13.

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, that neither Dallas or Fort Worth is on the list of 70 cities. But Austin is. Austin is the only Texas town on the list.

In my old home state, that being Washington, in addition to Seattle being one of the 70 cities, Bellingham is also on the list. Bellingham is a very nice college town about 20 miles from the border. It is closer to Vancouver than Seattle. Vancouver is also on the list of 70 cities. Which is no big surprise. The most heavily populated nude beach I have ever been naked at is in Vancouver at Wreck Beach.

I highly doubt I'll be going down to Austin for this event. I'll probably just participate, solo, at River Legacy Park.

And in other weird naked news. Nike, that's the sports shoe maker, not the Greek god, based in, I think, Eugene, Oregon, has a new commercial filmed at something called Bear Butte, where all these sports jocks sorts, like Olympic runners, go to train au naturel. In the commercial we see the runners running au naturel. Some of them are well known, I assume, to people who follow such things, which I don't.

I tell you, the world is just getting way too free-spirited. You can watch the Nike YouTube video below. But do not watch if seeing people running naked makes you queasy.

Not Catching Swine Flu in Texas

I don't know if we've had any confirmed Swine Flu cases here in Tarrant County, but I do know Dallas County has had 3 confirmed cases, which has closed one school and has people in a bit of a panic.

I have not been sick in a long time. I can't remember when I was last sick or what I was sick from.

But, I do remember having the flu way back in the early 1990s and it being, by far, the sickest, most miserable I've ever been. That particular flu bout happened while there was no epidemic going on. I knew no one else who had it that I could have caught it from.

So, I don't want to catch this Swine Flu thing. I guess that means avoiding any buffet lines, using the disinfectant tissues that are at the entry to most grocery stores, except for Wal-Mart. I guess for the duration Wal-Mart is to be avoided. That's probably always a good idea for people with weak immune systems. I suppose I should keep my distance from most humans til the danger passes.

In the meantime I'm having pork for lunch.

Singing in the Rain at Oakland Lake Park

Coming up on noon that dreaded stir crazy thing started creeping up on me. Lightning was no longer striking, the rain was no longer downpouring.

So, I decided to brave the elements and bumbershoot it to Oakland Lake Park. I was not alone. There were a lot of ducks also braving the elements. They didn't seem too happy about it. But there was a big flock of doves that seemed to be having a good time with a bird seed buffet a bird lover had tossed out for them.

There was a little group of 4 little ducks. Are they called ducklings? I don't know. I was concerned they'd been orphaned. They seemed too little to be on their own on the lake. By the time I walked by the little guys a second time a big duck had showed up. I assume it was mom.

I don't know what type bird that is in the first picture. Every time I got close the pair would fly off. They looked like a skinny, more colorful version of a regular duck.

So, that was my Mother Nature communing for the day. And now I await the arrival of a professional cockroach killer.

The Answer is Blowing in Texas

Incoming message from Don Young about Saturday's ultra-successful 2009 Prairie Fest....

The power of nature was in full evidence at Prairie Fest 2009. People power, flower power, green power, solar power and especially, wind power blossomed into an overwhelming success. Estimated attendance nearly doubled from 2008 to this obscure little corner of Fort Worth.

Why? The answer my friend is... nah, that's too easy. I want you to tell us what Prairie Fest means to you.

IMPORTANT:

I personally thank the dozens of Volunteers with a capital V without whom this festival would have collapsed under its unexpected growth.

Thanks to our Sponsors and Exhibitors and Artists who helped us pay the bills and helped you learn how to live lighter on the Mother Earth.

We salute all the performers who shared with us their talents and time for a good cause.

Gigantic thanks goes to the Prairie Fest committee of dedicated people who devoted an enormous amount of time and energy to create essentially, a small town for a day.

We are grateful to all who attended Prairie Fest and brought their friends, family and pets. We worked hard to make your experience rewarding.

Thank goodness for email because I owe a big Thank You to thousands of people. It will take me awhile to get to all of you.

Final NOTE:

Of all the thousands of photos taken at the fest, one really illustrates, for me, the kind of day it was. See above, Brave Combo horn player, Jeffrey Barnes, in mid-song holding down the wind-challenged stage tent while singing harmony and anticipating his next solo. What a day. Thank you all!

Come back to the meadow soon where the answer is still blowin'.

DY

Morning Morning Thunderstorm in Texas

That was the view out my patio door this morning about 6. Biggest Thunderstorm in a long time. It is now 4 hours later and it's still booming out there.

About an hour ago I got a direct hit that had this place rumbling like an earthquake. I'd not felt anything quite like it since my last earthquake, which would have been sometime in the last century.

I've never had any luck getting a picture of a lightning bolt before, til this morning. The strikes were coming so fast and furious it was easy.

I think I've mentioned before that I like to go swimming early in the morning. There are plenty of things taller than the swimming pool that lightning would strike first, so it seemed pretty safe to go swimming during a raging Thunderstorm. When you are already totally soaked by a downpour, the pool feels like relief from the cold.

I suspect there will be no hiking, biking or roller blading today. And for several days to follow if the weather forecast is correct. Which it seldom is.

Drinking Beer In Texas

Regarding Saturday's Prairie Fest at Tandy Hills Park some moronic imbecile opined about the price of the festival's beer with the following remark...

"At Prairie Fest some of the happy people may have been happy due to the beer and wine they may have consumed, but I doubt it. Beer was $3 a bottle. That's $18 a six pack. That's too much to pay for beer."

Which prompted someone with a more reasonable point of view to comment with the following...

Your comment about the beer was surprising considering the fact that a beer at Main Street Arts Fest went for about $5. a pop. We keep the prices lower than any other local fest AND we keep the beer quality higher AND we keep it icy cold AND it's served by gorgeous women (and a few hunky guys). No Coors, Miller or Bud here. Best of all, all of our beer income goes back to the park, as our non profit status requires. Additionally, we all work for love, including me all the volunteers who served the beer. No one draws a salary. Give us a break.

Sunday Mountain Biking With The Kids At River Legacy Park

It is taking some getting used to to get in the pool with the air temperature being warmer than the water. This is making the water feel cold, unlike going swimming in the middle of winter. I'm sure I'll adjust.

It has been a windy, cloudy Sunday here in North Texas. I went to River Legacy Park to pedal the mountain bike trail around noon.

There were a lot of people doing the same thing today. I tell you, this trail is getting way too popular. That's a good thing. I saw no wildlife today, except for humans. I saw one family of mountain bikers. You don't see that all that often. I wish I'd grown up in a family of mountain bikers. But that would have been impossible, because mountain bikes had not been invented when I was growing up. I did have a cool bike though. I think it was called a Sears Stratoliner. It had 2 speeds which you switched by back pedaling fast, but not hitting the brake. Very high tech.

I went two times around for a total of about 11.5 miles. At about the 9.5 mark it started to rain. I had to plot my escape strategy if the rain went into Texas Downpour mode. I figured I was about 1.5 miles from a paved trail. In Texas there are areas where if rain meets dirt it makes this incredibly sticky glue-like mud. That is the sort of dirt that is at River Legacy. Walking on it can quickly add 5 inches to your height. Which quickly turns me into potential NBA material.

The new section of trail, which I first pedaled only days ago, has now been ridden enough that it's been smoothed over and you can now pedal fast on it. I like the new section. I did not like it when I first pedaled it, mostly due to, I suppose, the need for it to get broken in.

So, that's been my exciting day. Oh, I forgot to mention, the second picture is of the new section of trail. It was so dark in there the flash went off.

To those who have never been to Texas, does it being so green surprise you? I remember before I moved here, I went to see the X-Files Movie, I think that's actually what it was called, in Seattle. The party with whom I went to the movie was not approving of the move to Texas. When the X-Files Movie started it was in a suburb of Dallas, with the Dallas skyline in the background. It was all brown and desert-looking. I leaned over to my fellow movie watcher and said it's not really like that, it's really green with a lot of trees. She said, yeah, sure.

Four months after I moved here the party in question came for a visit. It was April when that visit occurred, so it would have been very green, but I do not recollect bringing up the X-Files Movie moment of skepticism about the greenery of Texas.

America Celebrates Texas Seceding Again?

Apparently the rest of America has heard that Texas, well the governor of Texas, this guy named Rick Perry, who is mostly known for his good hair, is thinking it might be a good idea for Texas to secede from the Union. Again.

That really didn't work out all that great for Texas the last time they seceded. But then again, had they not, we would have Five Flags Over Texas. And that just sounds silly.

One of my very best Texas Humor Providers, Yvonne, sent me a funny YouTube video this morning that was inspired by the talk of Texas seceding again. This video maker seems to think this is a good idea.

Now, if you are a Texan, this little video might make you cranky because you might think Texas is being made fun of. Because, well it is. There are a lot of rather cranky comments to this video that are pretty funny. I can't print most of them due to my aversion to having profane spewing on my blog. You can go here and watch the video and be able to read the comments, or just watch the video below, without the comments, except for the one I copied below, because it was profanity free.

Like it or not, we are and will all remain Americans. Texas just can't handle being made fun of...it's just how they are. What you people are doing here is basically what makes the rivalry between sports teams so rampant.... I bet you are both sports fans? Avid? There isn't much going on in sports right now so this is filling the void. Go do something constructive for both of your respective communities, and don't brag about it. Have a good night USA! Liberals: The US Flag is now owned by U

Tempting Eve & Naked Women in Dallas

Several years ago a scandal erupted here in Texas that became national news, of the snicker at something goofy in Texas genre. There was this nice little town north of Dallas called Pilot Point, a town that had attracted some creative artist sorts. The town also had its fair share of very prudish sorts. The two sorts went into conflict mode when the town's police and mayor gave an artist who had painted a mural of Eve being tempted with an apple, by God, a deadline to cover Eve's bare breasts. Or else.

Soon after that scandal erupted I was at Fair Park in Dallas and saw the statue in front of the Women's Museum and noticed she wasn't wearing much clothing. It struck me as ironic that no one was concerned about this work of art, with demands to cover her breasts, while a few miles north bare breasts were unsettling some people.

Years ago I webpaged Fair Park in Dallas, including the statue in front of the Women's Museum and the Pilot Point Naked Eve Scandal.

This morning I got the funniest feedback in a long time, from Jane Doe, all in high umbrage mode over what she felt were tacky, ignorant, arrogant, remarks, on my part, regarding that statue in front of the Women's Museum. I'm impressed Jane Doe could whip up so much agitation over this.

Below is Jane Doe's Feedback to my Eyes on Texas website...

I found your comments regarding the Women’s Museum in the Dallas State Fair Grounds to be very tacky, ignorant, and arrogant. For generations women have been excluded from history books, professional careers, and politics. Gender prejudice has been prevalent throughout our country’s history and despite this; many women have prevailed in their strength and courage. Although in the last century women have gained many rights and liberties, they still hold minority in government, executive positions, and world affairs. According to the 2007 US Census Bureau, women with a Bachelor’s Degree or higher earned on average 73% of the earnings of men with a Bachelor’s Degree or higher.

In response to your tacky comment regarding the statue near the front of the museum, I believe that your need to take a moment to review the characteristics of the world’s masterpieces before making such an arrogant statement. David by Michael Angelo is one of the most renowned masterpieces in our world’s art history. The statue stands 424 cm high and is an image of a young, unclothed male. The image is considered a tribute to masculinity and biblical history. The young male statue stands completely exposed, with his genital area in clear view. People do not view this statue with cheap eyes and no one considers this statue to be a homage to the world’s population of male exotic dancers (or rather “stripper” in you uneducated literary language).

All this considered, I think it only appropriate that we appreciate the under acknowledged heroines of our nation, and admire them for both their intellectual and spiritual beauty. I am very saddened to encounter an individual as narrow-minded as you. I hope that you find the courage to expand your horizons and open your heart to new areas of growth. As President Obama said, “I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.”

Sincerely,
Your concerned equal rights humanitarian,
Jane Doe

The Wind Blows, The Rain Holds: Prairie Fest 2009 A Huge Success

Well, I remembered (after a reminder) that today was the Prairie Fest and I managed to spend a couple hours at it, unlike last week's Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival, which I forgot to go to.

Prairie Fest appeared way bigger than last year. I met Prairie Fest organizer, Don Young, for the first time. I said something about it being way bigger than last year. He told me it was 30% bigger. I don't know where that figure came from, but to my eyes there were at least twice as many people and way more cars parked on side streets, streets that did not have cars on them last year.

I did not get to hear the band Trigger Fish this year. I listened to the Blackland River Devils. That's another thing. Last there were just a few people listening to the band, this year there were a lot of people listening. Now that you've got me thinking about it, I'm guessing Prairie Fest more than doubled in size this year.

I took a lot of pictures and shot some video. It was very windy today. At one point I watched a canopy get blown apart. I quickly got out my video camera, and that quickly turned into me being asked to help. So I did. That quickly spun out of control as the wind continued to batter the tent. Eventually Don Young was called in to help get the destruction under control.

I'll get around to making a YouTube video later. Making videos is not the funnest thing for me. The novelty has worn off. I'm sort of a klutz at taking video. I'll have it in pause mode when I think it is in record mode, or vice versa. It's frustrating. And then this morning I finally figured out, after over a year, why the video does not seem as sharp as it used to, not that it ever was all that good. I somehow had it on manual focus, which overrode the auto-focus.

A lot of kids were having fun at the Prairie Fest today. I saw way too many dogs. I don't get why people bring dogs to things like this. Kids I understand, but not dogs.

That's the band I got to listen to this year, calling themselves the Blackland River Devils. Last year's Trigger Fish plays ol' time Rock 'n Roll, I knew the genre. I think the Blackland River Devils played sort of bluegrass country music. I'm not sure. It's not one of my few areas of any remote sort of expertise.

As the Blackland River Devils were warming up this little kid was having a real good time dancing in front of the stage. He was quite a good little dancer. But, when the real music started up he stopped the dancing and just listened. He probably started up dancing again when I wasn't paying any attention.

I got a call telling me I had to come take a picture of this booth where you could make these little dirt balls that contained wildflowers seeds, that you could then deposit on the land like a Texas Johnny Wildflowerseed.

The landscape painters were seeming to be having a bad time of it due to the high wind. It appeared that a lot of them had taken a break. I don't blame them. It was real windy.

This landscape painter had a more elaborate setup to protect her from the elements. But there was little protection from the wind.

A couple ladies manning a booth promoting a project I have promoted before, that being returning Heritage Park, in downtown Fort Worth, to its original glory.

These little cars looked sort of silly. I think they were called Passions. I'm not sure. I thought it'd be real uncomfortable inside, but instead I was amazed at how roomy it was, as in Cadillac type roomy. With no back seat and a little trunk. I'm guessing these are going to be very popular. Once the Great Depression II ends in another decade or so.

Finally, I got an answer to what the mysterious short metal fence that was added to the play area of Tandy Hills Park, months ago, was for. Apparently it was put there so cool looking Texas red white and blue type flag banners could be hung, along with a Prairie Fest sign.

There were quite a few kids in interesting garb wandering about. I think they were promoting some sort of performance thing of some sort. Or maybe they were being Prairie Fairies. I don't know. I guess I could have asked, but I really wasn't all that interested.

Prairie Fest attracts an interesting demographic that you don't see at most of the Texas events I've gone to. Let's just say the percentage of pickup trucks was very low, the percentage of small cars was very high. Walking back to my vehicle I saw 4 Prius's. And several little bitty Honda cars, the name of which I do not know. This felt more like walking through a Seattle parking lot than a Texas one.

At Prairie Fest you see a way lower percentage of overweight people than you do at most other Texas events. And the people, for the most part, were seeming happy and having a good time. Well, that's actually what it's like at pretty much any Texas event I've been to. At Prairie Fest some of the happy people may have been happy due to the beer and wine they may have consumed, but I doubt it. Beer was $3 a bottle. That's $18 a six pack. That's too much to pay for beer.

The Bedford Blues & BBQ is Back

I just got email from David W. letting me know that the Bedford Blues & BBQ is back. Bedford is one of what are known as the mid-cities. Those being small towns that are part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and are in the middle zone between the two big towns.

Usually Bedford is lumped together with Euless and Hurst.

If my memory is serving me correctly, and of late it has been very faulty, I believe the Bedford Blues & BBQ was a casualty of 9/11, when insurance costs went way up for events like this.

I know the Bedford Blues & BBQ was a popular, well attended event that I never attended.

The Bedford Blues & BBQ takes place Labor Day weekend, more precisely, September 5 & 6.

You can get more details, like directions and who's going to be singing the Blues by going to the Bedford Blues & BBQ website.

Blindsiding Fort Worth's Mayor Mike Moncrief

If you are a fan of Survivor you are also likely a fan of what is known as a blindside. That's when someone expecting to win is voted out of office, I mean, voted out of his tribe. A blindside is particularly satisfying if the one blindsided has been arrogant, cocky and way too sure of himself.

Fort Worth will soon have a mayoral election. Very very very few people vote in Fort Worth's mayoral elections. This basically leaves the decision as to who will be mayor up to the Ruling Junta, also known as the Fort Worth Oligarchy.

The current mayor of Fort Worth, Mike Moncrief, is running for mayor again. The natural gas industry wants to keep him in office. Mayor Moncrief has vested interests in the various companies drilling for gas that the city tries to regulate. In other parts of America this is what is known as a conflict of interest. Such things can have a person in all sorts of trouble, elsewhere.

I'm currently reading a book called Honor Killing, by David Stannard. It's about the infamous "Massie Affair" that riveted America in the early days of the Great Depression. The "Massie Affair" brought out in the open all sorts of bad things that had become accepted in Hawaii, which was then pretty much an isolated outpost.

As I read the sad details of how the Oligarchy that ruled Hawaii, acting in their own selfish interests, to the detriment of the majority, who were all minorities, Native Hawaiians, Philipinos, Japanese and others, I thought of how things are done here in Fort Worth.

At one point the Honolulu Ruling Junta decided a place called Waikiki would make nice beachfront property. So, without a vote of the people, including the people who had built elaborate fisheries and farms on this land, a primitive method of eminent domain was used and a beach, now famous, was made.

In Fort Worth a primitive form of eminent domain is being used to take property to build a lake, some canals and an un-needed flood diversion channel in a project called the Trinity River Vision, that the people of Fort Worth have not been allowed to vote on.

Mike Moncrief has 2 men running against him in this election, Clyde Picht and Louis McBee. Because so few people vote, Moncrief is expected to win again. In 2004 McBee filed an ethics complaint against Moncrief, regarding the Cabelas Scandal, to no avail.

Moncrief did not attend a League of Women Voter's debate last week, saying he was too busy doing the city's business, like an hour later, being in the same building as the debate, to help open a remodeled gallery. It would seem that more pertinent city business would be being brave enough to participate in a candidate's debate.

I'm thinking it's time for the citizens of Fort Worth to act like they live in a grown up city and get out and vote to blindside Mike Moncrief. And then start demanding to be allowed to vote on whatever fool thing the Ruling Junta comes up with, be it a Santa Fe Rail Market or a fake lake or subsidizing a convention center hotel or a sporting goods store.

I'm voting for Clyde Picht.

An Accidental Death in River Legacy Park

Due to circumstances beyond my control I was not able to go swimming early this morning. I'll attend to that necessity in a bit. But a late afternoon swim is just not the same thing.

I've been feeling a bit sub-par the last day or two. This morning my physical therapist, Dr. L.C., who usually tells me I over-do it, this time told me to get out and get that monkey off my back. I interpreted this to mean that I should go do something aerobic. And so I did.

I pedaled a couple times around the River Legacy Mountain Bike Trail. It was fun. The only wildlife I saw, besides humans, were 2 snakes, one of whom I ran over. I was going fast around a blind corner and before I could avoid it, I ran over a snake. I feel bad about it. I don't think I'm guilty of snakicide, due to the fact that there was absolutely no pre-meditation. However, I may have been slightly negligent, due to the fact that I was going awfully fast, it was a blind corner, I should have been more careful.

I am willing to plead guilty to involuntary snakeslaughter. It was a colorfully marked snake. Of what type, I have no idea. Both snakes, the one I killed and the other, were small. The snake I did not kill was a bright green one. I think they are called tree snakes.

The primroses were all over the place at River Legacy today. They may be my favorite Texas wildflower. They were the first I ever saw, back in spring of 1998, driving in from the west and seeing all these delicate, colorful flowers on the roadsides, starting south of Amarillo.

Tomorrow is Prairie Fest 2009. I hope, unlike last week's Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival, I remember to go. I'm also supposed to go to some Chinese Tai Chi World Celebration thing in south Arlington tomorrow. But that's in the morning. And some of the people participating in that are also going to Prairie Fest, so somehow, I should have enough reminders to remember. I hope.

Acceptable Littering In Texas

Around noon I was on my way to River Legacy Park to go mountain biking. As I headed to the I-30 entry a pickup passed me. It being that blue pickup you see in the picture.

I took me a few seconds to get my camera out when I realized I wanted a picture. I was stopped at the light, waiting to take a left on to the freeway, as the pickup sped away.

I'm engaging in all that exposition to explain why I did not get a better picture. Why did I want a picture of this, you probably can't help but wonder. Well, this pickup was engaging in one of my Pet Texas Peeves.

In Texas some people use a very primitive garbage disposal method. They load their litter on to the bed of their pickup, or flatbed trailer. And then drive around while the wind blows their garbage away. In this case it was a lot of white paper material.

From all the pickups in that one picture you might conclude there are a lot of pickups in Texas. You would be correct.

I really don't understand the littering mentality in Texas. Despite all the "Don't Mess With Texas" signs, plenty of people do a lot of messing. I'm sure the vast majority of Texans are not litterers. Maybe it's because there are so many Texans the odds are you're going to have way too many messing it up for everyone else. Maybe that is why, relative to Texas, Washington and Oregon seem so litter-free. But when you get to Southern California it gets a bit messier, not a Texas-level of mess, but messier than it is further north.

I really think an increase in fines and sentencing litterers, caught in the act of using the Texas Garbage Disposal Method, to weekends on road clean-up crews is the way to go.

That and how about more and better public service anti-litter ads like I've always seen in Washington. I'm sure most of those Texas Litterers have a TV, and if the message is repeated often enough, eventually the Litterbugs might see the light.

It's worth a try. I certainly did not like all that white paper litter flying at me today. It's really windy here today. By now all that white paper litter is likely spread over a several county area. Maybe this actually is an efficient litter disposal method.

KFC KGC For Free

I do not know what I did that causes me to get an email once a week from The Colonel. I don't remember the last time I had Kentucky Fried Chicken.

In Cedar Hills, that's a town on the southern border of Dallas, there is a Kentucky Fried Chicken Buffet. That is likely the last place I had Kentucky Fried Chicken.

There is a town in the middle of Wyoming, named Rawlins, that has a KFC Buffet. I'd stopped there several times. It was very well run. Til the last time, that being in July of 2001.

I was driving myself up to Washington for my mom and dad's 50th Anniversary party. The first night I stayed in Pueblo, Colorado. That morning, as I got back on the road, I thought I should be in the Rawlins, Wyoming KFC Buffet zone by 1 or 2. As I got to the Rawlins exit I saw the KFC Buffet freeway exit sign. As I neared the KFC I could see it was real busy, so was McDonald's, there was a line out the door of the Subway. All the fast food places were packed. This may have been the first time I'd been in Rawlins at the height of tourist season.

And during the height of tourist season the Rawlins KFC Buffet is shut down. I can't tell you how disappointed I was, well, actually, I can. I was very disappointed. And hungry. I ended up going in a grocery store to find something to tide me over til I got to Little America, this oasis in the middle of nowhere when you cross Wyoming on Interstate 80.

I just remembered, I've also come across 2 other KFC buffets, have been to one in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma at least twice and once to one in Hays, Kansas. The Hays, Kansas one was nice and big, as in 2 stories with a stairway to the upper eating area.

So, back to the email I got today from The Colonel. It informed me that this coming Monday, that being April 27, KFC is giving out free samples of its new Kentucky Grilled Chicken. I've already read reviews of the new grilled version which were quite positive. I'd walk a mile for a free piece of chicken in these troubled economic times. Fortunately, for me, I have a Kentucky Fried/Grilled Chicken right across the street from me.

Prairie Notes: April 24, 2009--What's in a Name?

A timely, day before the 2009 Prairie Fest, message from Don Young. With video...

Many of you know that the late author and environmental crusader, Edward Abbey, is the spiritual godfather of Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area (FOTHNA). Ed is best known for his account of Utah's canyon lands in his 1968 non-fiction classic, Desert Solitaire and his 1975 eco-activist-comic-novel, The Monkey Wrench Gang. Those two works bookend Ed's driving themes of gut-level appreciation and dutiful activism in support of our dwindling wild and special places.

Abbey wrote about many such places around the world including, prairies. In his semi-autobiographical 1988 novel, The Fool's Progress, he describes a road-trip from Tuscon, Arizona to his birthplace in Appalachia. Along the way, while passing through prairie country, he wrote the following:

"Prairie Country - and was there ever so gentle and undulant female and sweet a word as prairie. French derived from the Latin prataria, a meadow."

Undulant meaning here, a rising and falling motion, like waves of windblown grass and, in the case of THNA, the namesake hills. Female, meaning ... well, Ed was a ladies man, but I think he meant the protective and nurturing instincts more commonly associated with the childbearing species. I dare say that Ed would appreciate the undulant characteristics of the Tandy Hills greenbelt and applaud our unyielding efforts to nurture, protect and preserve it and all Texas prairie.

"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself."

Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

Please keep the mission of FOTHNA in mind when you visit Prairie Fest this Saturday, April 25th. We want you to have a good time at the fest, and we also need you as a Friend, throughout the year. Please take a moment and watch the video below.

Special NOTE:

Dr. Joe Kuban of Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth is a long time advocate for the preservation of THNA. He is local example of a hero who cares a great deal about protection of the wild and special. My hat is off to the valiant Dr. Kuban.

Read Joe's compelling story in a recent Fort Worth Star-Telegram report.

Special NOTE #2:

Read more about Prairie Fest in the current issue of Fort Worth Weekly.

Come to the meadow April 25th and find the spirit of Ed Abbey and Joe Kuban calling out to you.

DY

The Texas Search For The World's Biggest Butt: Part 5

Ever since I blogged about seeing the biggest butt I'd ever seen, that big butt being spotted in my local neighborhood Wal-Mart, I've been amazed over and over again at how many people all over the world are looking for the World's Biggest Butt.

And just like the search for help in dealing with Only Child Syndrome, the search for the World's Biggest Butt seems to go in streaks.

For who knows what reason, this morning the Big Butt search seems to be in high gear, with one of the searchers seeming to morph the Big Butt search with Only Children Syndrome by searching for "big butt syndrome."

I did not realize the big butt phenomenon was a syndrome.

Looking at the various Big Butt search strings is interesting. In addition to "big butt syndrome" in the latest 50 blog visitors we have people looking for "world's biggest butts," and "the biggest butt" and "who has the world's largest butt" and "the world's biggest butt" and "the biggest butt in the world" and "bigbutt blogspot" and "huge butt blogspot" and "america's biggest butt."

I'm pretty sure I've seen one of America's Biggest Butts. If only I had my camera with me at the time.

Hot, Swimming, Hiking in a Bad Mood in Texas

The exercise endorphins are not doing their job today. Why I do not know.

I think, maybe, I may need to quit paying such close attention to the news. It's depressing. Usually, if anything, I am overly optimistic. But not right at this moment. Maybe I had a bad nightmare last night that I am not remembering.

The morning swim went well, but when I got out of the water I didn't feel all that energized. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that for the first time this year the air temperature was warmer than the water.

I got some bug bites yesterday. At least I assume that's what the red spots have been caused by. Maybe my foul mood is the result of insect venom being injected into me.

I continue to be made to feel dumb by two Washington women who keep beating me at Scrabble. I think they must be somehow cheating. Maybe I need to get the Scrabble for Dummies book.

At noon I did the usual hike around the Tandy Hills. Actually it was not the usual. At the top of each hill I was winded and had to bend over, hands on knees, to catch my breath. It was not being quite a Gar the Texan level of the vapors, but close. I think my blood sugar level was real low. I was really craving a non-diet Coke.

One thing did brighten my spirits a bit whilst hiking the Tandy Hills. That was all the Buttermilk Primroses I was seeing. Those bright yellow flowers almost make me feel as good as seeing the Redrock of Utah. Utah Redrock has a very mysterious, I dunno, borderline mystical effect on me. Goes back to the first time I saw it and it's been that way every time since.

That's what I really need. A road trip to Moab and some mountain biking on trails surrounded by Redrock and the best works of Mother Nature.

In the meantime I'll just stare at Buttermilk Primroses. And feel forlorn.

Saturday's April 25 Wildflower Love-In in Texas

This week's FW Weekly's Metro section has a nice article about a feisty Fort Worth pup that has grown up. That pup must be a prairie dog, I guess, because the article is about this coming Saturday's Prairie Fest, when the Tandy Hills will come alive with the sound of music singing to the wildflowers and a lot of people.

I did not know, til reading this article, that the first Prairie Fest took place on Don Young's front yard with a gathering of about 400 pissed-off environmentalists.

This year the City of Fort Worth is finally getting around to embracing the festival, which Don Young calls a "wildflower love-in."

At Prairie Fest there will be the aforementioned music, tours of the prairie and green power exhibits, plus food and beverages, including beer. There will also be around 20 landscape artists painting pictures of the landscape.

If the sun cooperates, the festival will be solar-powered.

Read the FW Weekly article here. Watch a video of some Triggerfish Prairie Fest music from last year, singing about losing paradise to a parking lot, below....

Confessions of a Texas Drug Addict

I've got me some major monkeys on my back. Real bad habits. I seem to regularly add a new bad habit.

My only drug addiction used to be coffee. Every morning. Laying on the floor, reading the morning paper and drinking coffee. And getting all perked up. Hence the addiction.

Years passed and the coffee addiction seemed to be all I needed to keep me perky.

And then I discovered endorphins. Endorphins are some sort of feel good chemical that gets released when you stress your body aerobically. After some experimenting with various methods of delivering the chemical, I found that hiking, biking and roller blading, for about an hour a day, were enough to keep me happy.

But, eventually, I realized I was addicted. If I don't get my fix, like today, I get edgy, I can't focus, I feel tired.

Like I did today. So, about 4 in the afternoon I took off to River Legacy Park to get my endorphin fix on the mountain bike trail. It was HOT. In the 90s. Felt good. First shirt off, biking, day of the year. You can see by the shadow of me taking a picture, above, that it is late in the day. The later afternoon light makes the green of the River Legacy woods look almost spooky. I liked it.

I pedaled a bit over 10 miles. I did the new section, once, that being the new section I mentioned yesterday, during my sad tale of a flat tire and a bobcat encounter. Today I was able to see that that new section's mile of twist and turns actually only gains you about 20 feet when it joins the existing trail. Yesterday I guessed 50 feet. It'll be a nice addition once it gets broken in.

I saw no wildlife, except for humans, today. No snakes, wild boars, bobcats, armadillos or squirrels.

I just realized I forgot to mention my other drug addiction. The post-coffee morning swim in cold water. I believe the jolt of the cold releases adrenalin, which in turn releases endorphins, which in turn causes me to start the day off feeling way better than just having that morning coffee perk going on.

I fear today may be a precursor for a VERY HOT SUMMER. I escaped Texas last summer during the only period that went over the 100 degree mark. Maybe I'll escape the heat again this summer. It just won't be in Tacoma. That's for sure.

Texas Heat Wave Sprouts on Target

That's a look at my current state of weather, via WeatherBug, from about 10 minutes ago. As you can see we are nearing 90 with the high today getting to 95.

I have not turned on the A/C in here. Yet. I did run the A/C in my vehicle when I drove up to Southlake at noon.

Swimming, this morning, was very pleasant.

I fixed the flat tire on my bike before the torrid temps arrived. But, I don't know if I'm ready, yet, to venture out and ride the newly tubed bike in this heat. That and I've got other stuff to do.

In Southlake I went to Sprouts Farmers Market, like I usually do on Wednesday, pathetic repetitive creature of habit that I apparently am. It was extra warm in Sprouts. Maybe due to way too many people being in there.

On the way back here from Sprouts I dropped in on the Super Target that sits with its back to the Super Wal-Mart where I first got a gallon of milk that was supposed to cost $1.98 but for which I was charged the outrageous price of $2.00. Looking at my blog stats, I can now see I am not alone. Others are looking for the reason why Wal-Mart is being odd with their milk price.

The reason I went to Super Target was to return a vegetable oil sprayer that did not work. At Super Target you walk into what at noon appeared to be a practically empty store where the employees out number the few customers. Unlike at Super Wal-Mart, at Super Target you walk up to Customer Service and you are instantly acknowledged and helped. It took all of 20 seconds to get my money refunded.

I then told the Super Target Customer Service person about my recent experiences with Super Wal-Mart Customer Service and the bizarre milk price scam. She was appalled. I told her I'd blogged about it a couple times. She asked for and wrote down my blog address. Unlike the minimum wage morons that Wal-Mart mans its Customer Service with, this Super Target young lady seemed quite sharp.

Sprouts today was also a good customer service experience. I must have bought at least 30 different items. As always, not a single price mistake. And super fast, efficient, checkout.

So, now does the title of this particular blogging make sense? Texas Heat Wave Sprouts on Target. Makes sense to me.

Texas Accents Among Other Accents

When I first watched and listened to the Super Viral Susan Boyle YouTube video (if you have not seen this, stop reading this blog now and go watch it) I thought it was interesting how Susan spoke in such a thick Scottish accent that she was a tad hard for my American ears to understand. And then she started singing and the accent went bye-bye and the voice of an angel appeared in its place.

And then, after she was done singing and the audience calmed down enough for the judges to speak, I was struck by how different the English accent is, when well-spoken, from the more flourish-free American accent of Americans from some regions of America, like the Pacific Northwest.

Some versions of the English Accent, as spoken in the UK, are very easy to listen to. Is it called High English? I don't know. But it is easy to understand, unlike Cockney English, which can be funny to hear, but hard to understand.

Now, there are some regions of America with strong accents. Like Brooklyn. Or Boston. Or the South.

There are many variations of Southern Accents. Wikipedia has an interesting article on the subject. Even within a specific Southern Accent there are variations, like different types of Texas Accents.

There is an extreme version of the Texan Accent that I really have trouble understanding, almost as bad as Boomhower on King of the Hill. And then there is the lilting, warm honey Texas Accent that I can never get enough of listening to.

Gar the Texan is from the Midland-Odessa West Texas zone, same as where George W. Bush grew up. They have similar Texas accents, though Gar the Texan's can ebb strong and weak, particularly strong if he is having a case of the vapors. Gar the Texan is very articulate. When he uses polysyllabic words he pronounces them correctly, and thus sounds Texan and smart. With an accent.

Now, George W. Bush is not the most articulate man on the planet. When George W. pronounces a polysyllabic word he often gets it wrong. Such as when he tries to say "nuclear." I think the Texas Accent, combined with the mispronouncing, may have been part of what caused many to perceive George W. as not the brightest light ever to glow in the White House.

There are a lot of versions of English accents. I find the Canadian version very unpleasant. I think this may be partly caused by having lived most of my life near the border, with access to Canadian TV and plenty of Canadians. The Canadian Accent has this way of sounding as if they are inflecting everything they say with a self-doubting tone, even without adding "eh" to the end of virtually every sentence. It comes across, to my ears, as sounding insecure and unsure about what they are saying.

Some English Accents are so easy to listen to, like Australian. How does one accent variant end up sounding Australian and another Canadian? Canadians live mostly within 200 miles of America. Why have we not rubbed off on them more in this department? Well, to be fair, which is not my long suit, some Canadians do lose the annoying accent when they become American actors, like Michael J. Fox.

I find the Hybrid-English Accents very easy to listen to. Like Italian-English, they sound so charming. I can't think of any of the hybrids that don't sound like music to me. Russian-English, good thing. I like the Mexican-English Accent. Or any Spanish Speaking-English Accent, for that matter. Middle Eastern-English Accents sound good, with plenty of variations. Indian-English, as in the nation, not the Native Americans, can sound a bit insecure, like Canadian Accent, but the lilting, sing songy way of speaking Indian-English is quite pleasant to listen to.

As for Native American-English, it comes in a lot of versions. I have heard all sorts of Indian-American accents and have liked them all. Very easy to listen to. I once spent an hour talking to a Navajo at Monument Valley in Arizona. I can still remember his soft easy Navajo-American Accent. A lot of Native Americans pretty much lose any accent. That is particularly the case with a lot of Pacific Northwest Native Americans.

Why are there so many Indians and Indian Reservation Lands in Washington and so few in Texas? What did you Texans do with all the Indians?

Okay, I have started to digress. Time to stop talking about accents.

Wal-Mart's Milk Price Is Still Wrong

It seems like weeks now since I first blogged about Wal-Mart's Supercenters having big $1.98 signs above their milk, with that same $1.98 price repeated on the shelves for each type of milk, whole, 2%, 1% or skim.

I last bought milk last Friday, and blogged my two cents worth, along with a picture of the two cents I got for complaining to Wal-Mart's misnamed Customer Service.

It was on that day I learned why Wal-Mart is now making a lot of pricing errors. Because they no longer have a motivation to be careful, due to dropping their refund policy when they are caught making a mistake.

I do not know if it is true, or not, but one local told me the Texas State Legislature changed the law regarding pricing mistakes, removing the refund penalty that had provided a motivation for stores to not mislead their customers by putting one price on the shelf and charging another price at checkout.

Scandalous.

And now, today, Tuesday, 4 days after I last got milk at Wal-Mart, I did so again. This time fully expecting it to still ring up at $2, but this time I was armed with my camera to take a picture of the big $1.98 sign. The other picture is, obviously, today's receipt. Unlike last Friday, I did not go to Customer Service to get my two cents. There was a line. I wouldn't have bothered even if there had been no line. I was hungry and wanted to go home and make tacos.

I wonder how much money those 2 extra pennies, or 1% surcharge, has added up to for Wal-Mart.

Flat Bobcat Encounter at River Legacy Park

Well, I've had me a day. I got up well before the sun did today. That had me in the pool early. About 11 I decided to try and ride the River Legacy Park Mountain Bike Trail. I figured it's been enough days since Friday's rain, that it should be dried out.

The first time around was uneventful, wildlife-wise, except for one brief encounter with a skinny green snake.

Somewhere between the 3 and 4 mile mark I came upon a turn off to a new trail. I'd just been there last week and saw no sign of this new trail. The trail twisted and turned, tracked back and forth, I had no idea what direction I was going. And then after about a mile of slightly slow going, due to the new trail not being broken in yet, it rejoined the original trail. I think I maybe gained 50 feet after twisting and turning around for a mile.

On the second time around I quickly came upon the biggest, as in overweight type big, guy I've ever seen on a mountain bike. No, I did not get a picture. I asked if I could pass. He was pleasant. I don't see how that guy could manage some of the ups and downs.

About a mile later my front tire suddenly went wobbly. It quickly went totally flat. It was not long before the Big Guy came up behind me. I was surprised. I think he'd taken shortcuts. He offered to help. I said thanks, but I'm just gonna walk it out. There are those shortcuts, I figured it'd be about a mile of pushing the flat tire. I was right.

About a minute after the Big Guy's offer of help, I came upon my first bobcat in a long time. He was a big one. He did not seem too nervous about me. I talked to him and he seemed to be doing some sorta growling thing. I was able to get my camera out and take a lot of pictures. Eventually he slowly walked away from me as I continued to snap pictures. He only walked about 10 feet, to sit in the shade of a small tree.

So, I ended up going about 7.7 miles with my bike today, with 1 mile of it being on foot. I did not like being on foot. It is a very warm day. The sort of very warm spring day that brings out the snakes, like Copperheads. It is not easy to spot a snake in the grass. Especially when it is tall green grass.

2009 Fort Worth Prairie Fest Urgent Request

It is just 6 days til April 25 and the 2009 Prairie Fest.

Don Young has sent out an Urgent Request for help. If you can help there something thirst quenching in it for you.

Below is Don Young's Urgent Request

Success has caught up with Prairie Fest. The biggest little green fest in Texas has grown about 30% larger than last year and is still growing. We need your help pronto.

Canopies, also know as pop-ups, are urgently needed. Size must to be 10' x 10'.

If you can loan us one or two, please contact me immediately. There's a beer/wine ticket in it for you.

Thanks a mil!

Don

If you can help, call 817-731-2787 or email.

Luling Watermelon Thump & Watermelon Medicinal Value

For quite some time I have noticed a big drop in the number of spam emails I get from people offering help in improving the condition and performance ability of a special part of me.

Speaking of that, did you know that a Texan has discovered a Natural Viagra? Watermelon. Bhimu Patil, director of the Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center at Texas A & M University, at College Station, claims watermelon has more citrulline than previously believed.

Citrulline is an amino acid that relaxes and dilates blood vessels, the body converts it to the amino acid arginine, which is a precursor for nitric oxide, an oxide which is a key component in a key male component.

No one knows how much watermelon one must eat in order to gain any possible salubrious affect. Watermelon is 92% water and 8% sugar. It is rich in lypocene, an antioxidant which gives it its red color. It is fat free. It contains Vitamin A, C, and a lot of other things that are good for you, especially citrulline.

While you are contemplating eating some watermelon you'll be happy to know that the 56th Annual Luling Watermelon Thump will take place June 25, 26, 27 & 28 down south in Luling, Texas. Luling is on Interstate 10, about 50 miles east of San Antonio and about the same distance south of Austin. That'd make Luling about 230 miles south of my location in Fort Worth.

Thousands of people come to the Watermelon Thump. There's a Carnival, Beer Garden, Lots of Food, Magicians, Fire Eaters, Street Dances, Arts & Crafts, Melon Judging, a Rodeo, Parade, Watermelon Eating Contest and, of course, the World Champion Seed Spitting Contest.

On Thursday you can go to the Thump for free, including the Entertainment and Dance. On Friday and Saturday it'll cost you $2 General Admission, $20 for the Dance/Concert. Kids under 11 admitted free. Admission is free on Sunday.

Lee Harvey Oswald Is My Neighbor

This coming November it will be 46 years since Lee Harvey Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby. The JFK Assassination remains controversial with way too many unanswered questions. Or things that don't make sense.

I have mentioned before that had you told me 15 years ago that in 2009 I would be living within walking distance of the gravesite of Lee Harvey Oswald I would not have been able to imagine a scenario where that would make sense.

But, here I am.

Last week I finished a book titled Oswald Talked by Ray and Mary La Fontaine. It was a rather difficult read, hard to follow the minute details at times. This was no conspiracy nutjob book, it was more of a looking back at investigations and conclusions and running them through the filter of new information released in the 1990s.

Reading this book, now that I'm living in Fort Worth, I recognize the places mentioned, like Ridglea West Elementary or Arlington Heights High School or Montgomery Ward.

When Oswald made it back to America after trying out the Soviet Union and finding it not to his liking, he returned to Fort Worth, with his Russian wife, Marina. They moved to a little house near Montgomery Ward, just west of downtown Fort Worth, near what Fort Worth calls "The Cultural District." I believe that house was destroyed in the 2000 Fort Worth tornado.

One of the key characters in the Oswald saga, one who later contradicted the "official" FBI version of the assassination and Lee Harvey Oswald, was this well-off Russian emigre' named George DeMorenschildt. Years later George DeMorenschildt committed suicide, but not before writing down his opinion about Oswald. George DeMorenschildt felt guilty about betraying Oswald by sort of throwing him under the bus to the Warren Commission. So he wrote "I am a Patsy."

There is an amusingly descriptive paragragh in I am a Patsy that describes DeMorenschildt's first trip from Dallas to Fort Worth to meet the Oswalds.

"Someone gave me Lee's address and one afternoon a friend of mine, Colonel Lawrence Orloff and I drove to Fort Worth, about 30 miles from Dallas. We drove over the dreary, sewage-smelling miles separating the two cities. Texas does have lovely open spaces, but here they were degraded and polluted. After some searching, we found a shack on Mercedes Street in a semi-industrial, slummy area, near Montgomery Ward."

So, in 1962 the drive between Dallas and Forth was like he describes it? Dreary, stinking of sewage? Polluted open spaces? I first set eyes on Dallas and Fort Worth in 1981. On that visit I drove between the two towns. By that point in time I would not have described it like DeMorenschildt does, so there must have been a lot of improvement over the 2 decades that separated my drive and DeMorenschildt's.

Who wants to meet me for a beer at the Ozzy Rabbit Lodge? That's a cozy little bar down by Lee Harvey's gravesite. When my mom was here she was appalled that someone would open a bar and name it after Lee Harvey Oswald.

Was anyone reading this blog, there at Dealey Plaza, that infamous November day? Anyone see JFK and Jackie in Fort Worth that morning?

Only Child Syndrome: Case History #2

I've blogged about Only Child Syndrome several times.

Every day people from all over the world come to this blog seeking relief from dealing with the Syndrome.

Whenever I blog about OCS it seems to generate a lot of interesting comments. Many of them amusing. Some, inadvertently so.

Only Children who developed the Syndrome make the funniest comments. Always denying the existence of the Syndrome, while at the same time exhibiting, verbally, classic OCS attitudes.

And then you have the Only Children who get it and are working on it. I like them.

Now, I have never said that all Only Children develop the Syndrome. But, all the Only Children I have known have had the Syndrome to varying degrees. But, I'm sure if I knew 100 Only Children that there would be several totally Syndrome-free. Some parents are good parents, no matter if they have One Child. Or a dozen. Other parents have One Child, and, though they may mean well and not realize they are creating a monster, that is what their bad parenting does.

Two of the worst Only Child Syndrome cases I have known were very similar in how the Syndrome manifested itself in them. Which was ironic, because they had so many things in common in addition to both being Only Children.

They had the same first name, they both had alcoholic fathers, they were born within days of each other, in the same month, they were both overweight, with one being morbidly obese, they both had a history of imaginary boyfriends. They both were infatuated with me. (shudder) They both were unkempt, and, well, let's just say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and this eye always saw the opposite of beauty when his eye beheld this particular pair.

And how did Only Child Syndrome manifest itself in this pair? They both required a lot of attention. Both had at least 2 personality modes. One being a semi-normal acting mode. The other being what I would call performance mode, as in acting up to get attention. Both were extremely neurotic, bordering on being paranoid much of the time. Both lacked self-awareness, with no sense of how others viewed them.

As it is with a lot of Only Children, a big deal must be made over birthdays, even well into adulthood, when most of us have reached the point where we prefer the day to be ignored. Both were known to throw elaborate parties for themselves. Homage had to be paid, or you risked a rage.

Which is another thing this pair of Only Children shared in common. Anger management issues. Both could fly into nonsensical rages when some random present moment thing would trigger a neurotic reaction. Very unpleasant to be around.

Both had a highly evolved sense of entitlement. That could lead to any number of bad things.

Both were extremely over-bearing, very opinionated, but both lacking the intellectual ability to reason their way out of the arguments they created. Both using the foot-stomping temper tantrum method of getting their way in a disagreement.

Obviously, I see neither of these particular Only Child Syndrome cases anymore. Which is a good thing.

Wind Chimes Need To Be Banned

Way back in December of last year I blogged about how much I dislike the noise pollution caused by windchimes. And the fact that there seems to be no awareness, here in Texas, that the things unfairly impede upon the peace and quiet and privacy in ones own home.

More enlightened parts of the world, like cities and towns in west coast states, ban the noisemakers from being used within a certain distance, like 300 feet, of a neighbor's ears.

I really don't know how anyone can be so cluelessly rude as to impose this type irritant on their neighbors.

Anyway, the reason windchimes are fresh on my mind is not because I've got my windows open and am hearing one, all I'm hearing is a lot of melodic birds chirping. The reason the windchime pet peeve is fresh on my mind is because the ubiquitious Mr. or Ms. Anonymous commented on what I wrote previously about windchime noise pollution. I thought the comment was amusing, so I'll repeat it below...

I bought an inexpensive sounds of windchimes CD and sent it to my neighbor asking if they could take down the chimes and instead listen to this in the privacy of their own home. Still waiting to see what happens as these windchimes are HUGE.......they hang from a post on their back deck that looks like a hangman's noose device. If my diplomacy doesn't work....I'm going Navy Seal on the thing.

Something Not Natural About The Tandy Hills Natural Area

The picture does not do justice to how colorful this part of the Tandy Hills Prairie was looking today. The Tandy Hills has only 6 days to get fully bloomed in time for Saturday's 2009 Prairie Fest.

I hope I remember to go to Prairie Fest, unlike what happened last Saturday when I totally forgot I was going to go the Main Street Arts Festival.

I saw a couple unnatural things today whilst hiking around the Tandy Hills Natural Area. The most disturbing unnatural thing was up by the tallest tower, right by the Tandy Hills Litter Shrine. Flags had been stuck in the ground and orange stripes sprayed marking an electric power line route. It would appear this means there will be some digging soon. I doubt the Shrine will survive.

The other unnatural thing I saw today was also flag related. All over the park I saw red flags stuck in the ground, with all but one saying "Long Route." I've no idea what this means. The red flag that did not say "Long Route" said something Latin and "Buttermilk Primrose." The Latin term for the yellow flower made me think that Don Young was behind that flag. He seems to know the Latin name for everything.

The weather today is about as perfect as it gets in Texas. 80 with low humidity. The pool was perfect this morning. I suspect it will be even more perfect tomorrow morning.

People are coming to this blog from all over the world, again, looking for help with Only Child Syndrome. Why does this and the search for the World's Biggest Butt go in streaks? Maybe I'll muster the energy to blog about Only Child Syndrome again. If I can help just one victim deal with the syndrome, I'll have done a good thing today.

Fort Worth Stockyards Saunders Park

Yesterday I made mention of a seldom seen part of the Fort Worth Stockyards, that being the Marine Creek Linear Park and the part of the Linear Park known as Saunders Park. I said this spot reminded me of Venice, but the photo I used didn't really do a good job of showing what this park looks like. Hence this followup blogging.

I'll use the verbiage from my Eyes on Texas website webpage about this part of the Stockyards.

Most Fort Worth Stockyard's visitors do not realize a river runs through it, well, actually a creek, Marine Creek, which a short distance from this point will join the Trinity River. In the above photo we are standing under the bridge which most people walking on Exchange Avenue don't realize they are on when they are in the White Elephant Saloon or standing near the Fort Worth Stockyards sign. There is a paved trail called the Marine Creek Linear Park of which this location is a part.

Now we are in the aforementioned Saunders Park, overlooking Marine Creek. This is a very attractive, scenic part of the Stockyards that few see. There is a sign on the south side of Exchange Avenue pointing visitors to an alley that leads to the park, but that one sign seems to be the only effort made to direct people to this location. Tim Love's Lonesome Dove Bistro is the only Stockyards venue to take advantage of this asset. The Lonesome Dove has a deck overlooking the park where diners can enjoy the view.

When you explore around the Saunders Park zone you can see signs that at some point in time it was bigger, with trails eroded and rockwork fallen apart. The Stockyards area and North Main Street seem to have a history of projects that don't quite get finished. I think one of them is called something like La Gran Plaza. Basically an alley was fixed up, sort of Mexican themed, but it didn't get finished. I think the Rose Marine Theater was part of that renewal attempt.

Another thing about Saunders Park. It was in the tunnel part of this trail that I saw the biggest snake I've seen since I was in Texas. That was very unsettling. I think it was a water moccasin. But when I get in snake panic mode my snake identification skills tend to suffer.

Sunday Bike Ride to the Fort Worth Stockyards with Beer

I mentioned earlier that I thought I might pedal the Trinity Trail from Gateway Park to the Fort Worth Stockyards today. Mister Twister quickly requested that I thoroughly photo document this bike ride.

I always do what people ask me to do. So, I ended up taking over 60 photos. 20 of them I've used.

As you can see on the distance odometer part of my bike speedometer I pedaled 18.961 miles today. It was very windy. Pedaling into the wind I was lucky to go 10 mph. With the wind pushing me I easily sailed over 20 mph. That was fun.

I do have some very good news to report. I have never seen so many people biking and walking on this trail before. I tell you, Texans are getting in shape.

Just a little bit east of I-35 I saw something that made me realize I made a big mistake this weekend, actually two mistakes. I'll get to that when I get to that picture.


What you see above is one of the Trinity Falls. You see this soon after leaving Gateway Park via a long bridge. I'm at the west end of the bridge in the picture.

A closer look at this particular Trinity Falls. It can be a bit exciting crossing this when it's running a lot of water. It's very noisy and you get going quite fast heading down towards the dam, and then it's a sharp turn. If a brake broke, right then, you'd go flying into the falls. That would be unpleasant. I had this happen before, the brake breaking part, not the falls falling part, at Cedar Hills State Park. When the brake cable breaks, on a steep downhill, it is like you've had a booster shot which quickly causes a wreck.


There is what amounts to being a very small lake above Trinity Falls. There is a Kayak Club that has a storage garage here. I don't know if this Trinity River lake is bigger or smaller than the new Trinity River lake that may be built further upriver.

In Texas, when you get arrested for littering, you may be sent to a Correctional Facility, where on weekends you may be sent, via bus, to pick up litter on the banks of the Trinity River, like the inmates you see here.


Here you see a message, painted in orange, visible from Interstate 35 to southbound drivers, directing them to Mayfest.org. When I saw the Mayfest sign I instantly remembered that this weekend was the Main Streets Arts Festival and I'd totally forgotten about it. My Saturday plan had been to take the bus to the Rahr Brewery Tour and then go to downtown to the Arts Festival. It was real foggy on Saturday, as was my brain, apparently.

Also, just east of the I-35 bridge over the Trinity, is this little rest stop. Since I've last biked here a new trail to a park I did not realize existed, and signage, has been added. And even more important than that, the water faucet finally works. This oasis had been a cruel torture for at least 2 summers when I'd stop, empty of water, over 100 degrees, and the faucet not running water.

On both sides of the river there are these rocks embedded into the ground with big plaques like you see above. This one, among other things, tells you that once alligators swam here. The info on the plaques is very good. Like one near Marine Creek tells you that that is where a big Indian encampment was located, back in the days when Fort Worth was actually a fort, well, a camp. I believe these plaques must have been added way back over a half century ago when the levees were built. I think that because they are rather randomly located. Such as the one you see here, when I first saw it, there was no paved trail going by it, just a dirt horse path. Some of the plaques are not where there is a paved trail.

Here you see a couple of big birds trying to stop me from crossing one of the many dam/river barriers that the paved trails use to get from one side of the river to the other. Just prior to this I was harassed, harassed I tell you by several giant eagle looking birds. I'd just watched Hitchcock's The Birds, so those Big Eagles made me nervous. I quickly pedaled on instead of getting my camera out.

After the birds finally let me get on my way I was on the side of the river where Fort Worth's very minor league baseball field is located. So, I pedaled up to take a look. It has been greatly improved since it first appeared. Back then I made a webpage making fun of it. I did that because I was annoyed at yet on more iteration of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's green with envy verbiage. As in, I think it was in an editorial, it said something like Fort Worth is the envy of its league due to its stupendous ballpark. They play in a league with some towns as small as 12,000 population! And you brag about your little ballpark? That was just embarrassing.

The trail continues on over a bridge that crosses where the aforementioned Marine Creek runs into the Trinity River. I think this may be part of what will be destroyed if Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision ever gets clear. I went over the bridge on the way back from the Stockyards. On the way to the Stockyards I went off the paved trail to go in a back way.

And now you are looking at the aforementioned back way into the Stockyards. That is a railroad bridge. I believe the Tarantula Train goes over it on its way to Grapevine. I may be wrong.

That's a warning sign letting you know that these are real tracks and a real train uses them, that being the Tarantula Train. What you're looking at here is the Iron Horse Trail, this very well done walk through the history of Fort Worth and the surrounding area. It is kept up well, but I have never ever seen anyone but myself here. Nothing in the Stockyards directs you to it. That's a shame.

That is Saunders Park in the Fort Worth Stockyards. Just like the Iron Horse Trail, few people take a look at this. Marine Creek runs through here and it reminds me a bit of Venice. The creek runs right under where the iconic Fort Worth Stockyards sign is located. The Lonesome Dove Bistro is directly to the left in this picture. The Ruling Junta really should try and come up with a way to make better use of this park.

And now I'm on the Stockyard's main drag, looking at the aforementioned iconic sign. I don't think Fort Worth has any other iconic image type things. Not that I can think of.

I always think the longhorn crossing sign is amusing. There were a lot of people at the Stockyards today, just like there always are. Awhile back a friend from Washington was visiting, we were at the Stockyards and she commented that it's just like Reno. Huh? I asked. It was all the people wandering about drinking beer. A lot of places have no open container laws. Apparently Fort Worth, or at least parts of Fort Worth are Extra Wet. I saw a lot of people at the Stockyards today walking around with beer bottles. To me it totally fits the western theme.

That reminds me, The Amazing Race is on tonight. I've never done one of these maze type things. I guess I don't see the attraction of the attraction.

This reminds me, Prison Break starts up again tomorrow. I probably won't watch. I was surprised to see that the guard towers were still standing at the part of the Stockyard Ruins that were used by Prison Break to simulate a Panama prison.

And now I'm at the end of my bike ride, back in Gateway Park, looking at the #1 (according to Dog Fancy magazine) dog park in the U.S. We are so proud. But no city-wide celebration was held. There were a lot of people with a lot of yapping mutts there today. I had a herd of yappers yapping at me and chasing me the entire length of the fence.

So, fun bike ride, most people ever on the trail. Even a record breaking number of homeless bums, 4, under the bridge favored by that minority. Near the homeless shelter on the south side of I-30.

Another Sunny Sunday in Texas

That's the Sunday morning view from my computer room window. Unlike yesterday's foggy dark gray, blue sky has returned, just in time to prevent another outbreak of SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder).

Which means I was wearing my sunglasses during this morning's swim.

Yesterday about 5 pm WeatherBug started chirping with a National Weather Service storm warning, saying a line of Thunderstorms was advancing on the D/FW Metroplex from the west, with big hail and winds up to 7o mph. But, nothing happened here. Not a drop of rain, gust of wind or streak of lightning.

I think I'll pedal my bike on the Trinity Trails today. Maybe going all the way from Gateway Park to the Stockyards. Yeah, that sounds fun.

Fighting Mad Over Texas Gas Drillers

Don Young wants to have a lynching. Here's why....

To heck with Tea Parties. We need a "hanging party" (metaphorically speaking) for a few environmental criminals and the bought off politicos who do their bidding.

This is serious folks and it's spreading all over the USA.

Brett Shipp of WFAA-TV pulls back the veils on the latest chapter of criminal activity in Texas. Where's a cop or a governor when you need one??? Somebody get me a rope.

DY

A North Texas Rancher named Robert Crowell claims Texas gas and oil regulators are turning a blind eye to toxic waste seeping into the Brazos River north of Abilene. The Brazos River is a source of drinking water for millions of Texans. In Stonewall County, where Crowell's ranch is located, the water is kept flowing by the huge Seymour Aquifer, which runs underneath Crowell's Ranch.

Crowell says petro waste is seeping into the aquifer. The waste comes from an abandoned gas processing plant, leeching lead, benzene, mercury, arsenic and PCBs into the ground and eventually the Brazos River.

Read Brett Shipp's WFAA-TV entire expose', with photo evidence and video.

Foggy Fort Worth, Texas Wildflowers & Oakland Lake Park

I already told you it is foggy today here in Fort Worth, as in real foggy. You can barely see beautiful downtown Fort Worth in the picture I took on the drive to Oakland Lake Park for a much needed nature walk.

Large areas of Oakland Lake Park are now covered by wildflowers. This means the grass does not get mowed. Which made walking in wet vegetation a bit unpleasant, so the paved path had to be used.

I got a couple good pictures of newly blooming wildflowers I'd not seen yet this year.

I called my mom and dad in the Phoenix zone while I walked because I got gas on the way, and as my one longtime reader, Tyler, may remember, when I get gas I call my mom and tell her how much it cost.

But, the parental units were not home. Or were not answering their phone. So, I called my sister who is also in the Phoenix zone. She entertained me while I did my nature walking.

I learned my oldest sister and my ex-wife were visiting, along with Ginger, she being another Washingtonian and that they'd taken a road trip south to Tombstone and Bisbee, then east to New Mexico and Silver City, then north to Sante Fe, then west back to the Phoenix zone.


Made me want to go on a road trip. It's been awhile. I'm thinking there is a good chance I'll be road tripping soon, heading west to the Phoenix zone to visit the aforementioned parental units and my sister and nephews and maybe my brother. Then head north to the Seattle zone, then back here via Montana, then south through Wyoming and Colorado.

While we are suffering in the 60s here, with that heavy fog, my sisters in Phoenix were basking in the 80s. But the wimps think it's too cold to get in the pool.

I can't believe I'm related to those people.

Foggy, Drizzling North Texas Saturday

That's a look at how foggy it is here this morning. Yesterday we had a typical Pacific Northwest winter rainy day and now this morning it's a typical Pacific Northwest foggy fall day.

And drizzling like being at the ocean.

Living in that type naturally moisturizing climate is one of the reasons people in the Pacific Northwest have such youthful healthy skin, compared to some of the weather/sun ravaged examples of epidermis I see in these parts.

Unfortunately, I have now lived in this skin ravaging climate long enough that I am starting to lose my Pacific Northwest naturally moisturized healthy youthful skin. I figure another ten years and my nickname will be Leatherface.

It being a Pacific Northwest type fall day today, I decided to have a Pacific Northwest type breakfast, that being French Toast with blackberry preserves, hash browns and sausage. I guess the only Pacific Northwest thing about that breakfast is the blackberry part.

I don't know if it'll dry out enough to be able to go on a salubrious hike today. My physical therapist, Dr. L.C., was concerned yesterday that being housebound might have a deleterious effect on my well-being. Well, I did manage to go swimming in the rain, yesterday, and in the drizzle this morning. I prefer swimming in the rain to the drizzle.

My Two Texas Cents Worth From Wal-Mart

My one reader, in Tyler, Texas, may remember me complaining about Wal-Mart's Thieving Milk Scam. Two weeks ago I bought a gallon at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in North Richland Hills. A huge sign spelled out $1.98 a Gallon. But the milk rang up at $2.00.

And then a week later it happened again, at my nearby Wal-Mart Supercenter. And now, this afternoon, at that same Wal-Mart, same thing.

That's today's receipt with 2 pennies on it.

So, today after I paid 2 bucks for milk that Wal-Mart had led me to believe cost $1.98, as I walked past Customer Service I saw there was no line. Okay, it's worth it to me to go through this aggravation, I thought to myself.

Afterall, when Wal-Mart or Krogers or Albertsons make a pricing mistake they refund what you paid. Sort of their penalty for first off, having the price wrong, and second off, the customer taking his time to fix it.

It took the befuddled Minimum Wage Moron about a minute to process what I was saying. I told the MWM that this same price mistake occurred at other Wal-Marts. I asked if the prices are controlled from some central location, like the dark dungeons of Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. She told me that that is the case and that mistakes are constant.

The MWM then proceeded to hand me the 2 pennies you see in the picture. To which I said, "Has the policy changed? I thought you got the price refunded if Wal-Mart made a pricing mistake."

Not anymore she told me. Only if the mistake is over 3 dollars.

Huh?

Has Krogers stopped the refund policy too? I've long noticed Krogers no longer has a sign touting the refund policy. Now with Krogers and its constant mistakes, that could get expensive.

I'm guessing the fast and loose pricing mistake policy may be a Texas thing. This is not exactly a consumer protection friendly state.

I don't know if it is still the case, because I've not lived there for 10 years, but in Washington, I am pretty certain it is still true that you can call the State Attorney General's Consumer Hotline with a complaint such as, "I've bought a gallon of milk in 3 different Wal-Marts with the priced marked at $1.98 but ringing up at $2.00."

A few years back K-Mart, in Seattle, got assessed a $1.5 million fine after agents found multiple chronic pricing errors.

The reason for the refund policy, such as exists in Washington, is it gives the stores a very good incentive not to make mistakes. The reason such mistakes are seen as possibly criminal, in other, more enlightened states, is due to the way it rips off the consumer. You see something on the shelf and make the decision to buy it based on what you believe the price to be. Then at checkout, if you are buying a lot of stuff, you may not even notice it rang up wrong til you get home, or maybe never notice.

How is it that Wal-Mart has been system-wide making this milk pricing mistake for weeks? Am I the first to complain? It's very easy to think two cents don't matter. But how many gallons does Wal-Mart sell a day? Enough to make two cents add up to serious money? Two cents may not sound like much, but it's a 1% increase in what I thought I was paying.

Why is it that all the time I've been shopping at Sprouts Farmers Market, a place where I buy way more than I ever do at Wal-Mart, or used to at corrupt Krogers, has never made a mistake? One thing, I think they pay their help well, as in they are all very good. When you check out at Sprouts you see a sign touting Sprouts philosophy of doing business. It's easy to see that they are true to what Sprouts spouts.

Another grocery store where I buy a lot and where there has never been a price mistake is at Hong Kong Market in Arlington's Chinatown. Even though we don't speak the same language, the checkout people are always so polite and efficient.

So, the problem has to be a function of the corporate culture of the store. And its management.

With Wal-Mart dropping the refund if they are wrong policy, and Krogers likely having dropped it, as well, I'm guessing this is why the pricing errors have now gone epidemic. Maybe it's part of the reason why Wal-Mart was one of the few non bleak retailers in the previous quarter.

Well, there you have it. I'm done whining now. For now.

America, Britain & Texas Got Talent

If you've not yet heard a word about Susan Boyle, you have now. Millions have been hearing Susan Boyle, around the world, ever since last Saturday when she appeared on Britain's Got Talent.

America has its own version of the British talent show. Simon Cowell is a judge on the British version.

The Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, Alma, auditioned for America's Got Talent. And then the next year she was asked to audition again. But, the foolish producers did not put Alma on the show. I think if they did the same thing would happen to Alma as what has happened to Susan Boyle.

The YouTube videos of what happened on Saturday in the UK have all had the embed option disabled. But, if you go to my TV Blog you'll find a link to the video. Trust me, it's worth it.

A Rainy, Stormy Thundering Friday In Texas

That's the view from my computer room window this morning. It's looking like a typical Pacific Northwest winter day out there. But this is April in Texas. I should be seeing clear blue sky.

The rain is falling northwest style. Slow. Not the heavy Texas downpour style rain I've grown to like. If we have a few days in a row like this I fear I will slip once more into a very SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) state.

Obviously there will be no biking or hiking by me today. But I did get in my early morning swim. I like swimming in the rain. There was no thunder booming at that point in time. I don't think I'd like being in the pool with lightning flashing over head.

The storm arrived much later than predicted, so I was able to watch Survivor without it being interrupted by annoying Bad Weather Reports.

Thunder has been booming off and on for several hours. One lightning flash was so bright I was momentarily a bit blinded. Maybe it was the simultaneous LOUD BOOM that got my eyeballs vibrating and not the flash.

I'm being perplexed by a Blog Stalker from Tyler, Texas. Tyler keeps going back and forth from this blog to another blog. Why? We do not know. This has been going on for days.

God, Gar the Texan & the Founding Fathers

It has perplexed and baffled me for quite some time why I have so many people happening upon my blog and so few seem to have discovered the extremely well-considered Random Ramblings of Gar the Texan.

Even more perplexing to me is how many Americans are so totally ignorant of their nation's actual history. The "Don't Believe in God" billboard has brought a lot of the ignorant crud out of the mud.

I'm afraid if some of the ignorant people were to learn what our Founding Fathers actually believed they would be so horrified they'd feel like they had to leave the country, because it was not the country they thought they were living in.

Gar the Texan, today, has done his usual excellent job of elaborating on a subject, this time he is elaborating on the actual beliefs of our Founding Fathers, people like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, George Washington and, even, though he was not a Founding Father, Abraham Lincoln.

Now, this research by Gar the Texan is particularly impressive due to the fact that it is only recently he discovered that some interesting things went on before he was born. He now seems to have evolved into some sort of history buff.

The Tandy Hills are Alive with the Sound of Color

With just a little more than a week to go til the Prairie Fest the Tandy Hills are coming alive with color. I'd not been to the Tandy Hills since last Saturday's Bus Ride Adventure, the day before the Easter Deluge rendered hiking a muddy pursuit, but apparently convinced a lot of Texas wildflowers that it was time to wake up and do their annual job.

Like the one in the first picture. Is that not a unique looking piece of work by Mother Nature? It looks like it's talking to you.

I saw at least 5 new wildflowers today that weren't showing on my last visit. I was unable to get decent pictures of some of them due to it being very windy with the flowers refusing to pose in a semi-static position.

Speaking of that wind. Apparently we are supposedly going to be having some heavy duty storming in the coming hours. In spring that can mean big baseball size hail, heavy rain, high winds and tornadoes.

Which will likely wreak havoc with my TV viewing, which tonight only consists of Survivor. I'm sure it will be interrupted, at key points, at least twice to tell us that the Doppler Radar has spotted a small circulating cell somewhere within a 250 mile radius of the D/FW Metro Zone and that that rotating cell has the potential to develop into a tornado, but fear not, they are monitoring the situation for us and will break in with developments as the rotating cell continues rotating.


I did not go to a Tea Party last night. I now regret it. My Physical Therapist, Dr. L.C. (who's advice I continue to ignore, as in I went swimming this morning and then went hiking), went to the Tea Party at La Grave Field and said it was a lot of fun.

La Grave Field is this little hobbled together baseball park that the Fort Worth Cats play in. It's a minor league team. Fort Worth is the biggest city (over 700,000 population) in America with a minor league baseball team. I think that's pretty cool.

The Fort Worth Cats are in something called the Central Baseball League. Big ol' Fort Worth plays against towns like Robstown, population 12,849 and their team, the Coastal Bend Aviators. And Harlingen, population 58,300 and their team, the Rio Grande Whitewings. And Edinburg, population 38,900 and their team, the Edinburg Roadrunners. And Alexandria, population 46,000 and their team, the Alexandria Aces. And Amarillo, population 172,400 and their team, the Amarillo Dillas. And Springfield, (that's in Missouri, I think) population 142,200 and their team the Ozark Mountain Ducks.

Well, you get the drift. Fort Worth has proudly won their league's world series, or whatever it is called, a time or two. But with no citywide celebration, as far as I know.

Don't Believe in God? Part 2

A couple days ago I blogged about the "Don't Believe in God?" billboards that have been sprouting up all over America, including the part of America I am in right now, that being the Dallas/Fort Worth zone of Texas.

In that blogging I copied an embarrassingly erroneous letter that was in that morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Now. I think it is wrong that that paper prints such letters from people who so clearly are, well, a bit dim.

And then I got a comment to the blog regarding that letter, saying it was an excellent letter. That comment was so convoluted I didn't feel the need to shoot the fish in that particular barrel.

Gar the Texan then commented on that comment, wondering why I didn't shoot the fish.

Well, in this morning's Star-Telegram three new letters to the editor shot the fish in the barrel for me. Below are those letters....

First Amendment freedom

Thomas T. Risher asks, “What is the world coming to when you see billboards that ask, ‘Don’t believe in God? You are not alone’ ”?

I can tell him exactly where the world is coming to; it’s coming to freedom.

Apparently those of us who recognize that the founders created a government not founded on religion will always have to remind those who want to rewrite history that “one nation under God” and “In God we trust” were not written by our Founding Fathers and are not part of our founding documents.

In 1797, many years before either of these phrases were written, a treaty was approved unanimously by the U.S. Senate and signed by President John Adams that contained the following words “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

Risher accuses me of mocking our Founding Fathers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I have a profound respect and an enduring admiration for our Founding Fathers, in part because they created a government that gives me the freedom of speech to put up billboards and freedom of religion so I don’t have to sit in church on Sunday next to a religious bigot.

— Terry McDonald, Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason, Grapevine

What is truly disturbing is how confused the letter writer is about history. America was not and has never been “founded on God.” The original Founding Fathers recognized the folly of using religion to create government. The one reference to religion in the Constitution is Article 6: “[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

The other great founding document is the Bill of Rights, whose First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech ... .”

How about a deal? If the writer will remove every religious reference from public view (which I have always found somewhat offensive), I’ll talk to McDonald about removing the billboards.

— Charlie Rodriguez, Arlington

I read a lot of nonsense in the letters to the editor, but I can’t not respond to Risher’s letter. He asks how we can allow billboards with an atheistic message.

Easy — it is the law. Not only is it not an affront to the Founding Fathers, it is the fruition of their work.

I’m sure Risher considers himself a patriot, but I consider his attitude of constitutional freedoms only being for citizens who share his beliefs to be the worst form of betrayal of our Constitution and its authors.

I am a Christian and a veteran. I served to defend the Constitution that the writer obviously does not comprehend — and his right to spew nonsense publicly, just as the atheists have the right to spew publicly.

— Eugene Chandler, Arlington

Michael Rosales Gets Huntsville Lethal Needle

It's been several weeks since we've given anyone the Lethal Needle in Texas. But last night 35 year old Michael Rosales was put to sleep in the Texas Death Chamber in Huntsville.

Rosales beat a 67 year old woman, Mary Felder, to death during a burglary in June of 1997.

It does not appear that this execution might be one that could later be determined to be a mistake due to DNA testing.

Since it has been awhile since we've had a state sanctioned killing here, I don't remember what the current count for the year is. The little blurb about last night's killing, on page 3 of this morning's Dallas Morning News, did not mention what the death total for the year is.

Rosales last words were, "I love you all. May the Lord be with you. Peace. I'm done." And then he got the Lethal Needle.

Infernally Ridiculous System: Pay Your Taxes On Time

I guess sometimes I procrastinate. Particularly if there is a particularly pesky odious task I prefer to avoid. Like paying taxes.

I made it to the Post Office a bit after 5 to put my annual letter to the IRS in the mail. On the plus side, this is the first year in several that I didn't send in an extension request to put off dealing with the ugly business til August.

I don't know what made me be so responsible and on time this year. Maybe I sense that the government is desperate for money, no matter how puny the pittance.

I do feel sorry for the government.

I feel good that in my small way I'm helping send money to those who need it more than I do so they can get the big bonuses they so richly deserve. And help stimulate the economy.

I suppose I should go to one of those Tea Party deals. I got invited. It didn't seem like the sort of thing I'd enjoy though. I prefer coffee.

Alma Fixes America's Sick Economy

One of the most brilliantly bright people it is my extreme pleasure to know is Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast.

Alma may have the best sense of humor I've ever encountered. Usually when people send me things they think are funny, I usually don't. But Alma sends me a lot of stuff and it is almost universally either funny or interesting or both.

In other words Alma has impeccably good taste. And extraordinarily good judgment and wisdom about all sorts of things.

Including America's current economic disaster. Obama really would have had a much better Secretary of the Treasury had he picked Alma over that tax-evading Tim Geitner guy who seems way too confused to be figuring out anything complicated.

Whereas Alma has come up with a simple plan to fix the economy which she calls "Patriotic Retirement."

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Alma would pay these workers $1 million each with 3 key stipulations.

1) They quit their jobs. With 40 million fresh job openings Alma has fixed the unemployment problem.

2) Each of the new retirees is required to buy at least one NEW American car. With at least 40 million new cars bought Alma has fixed the auto industry.

3) The new retirees have to either buy a house or pay off their mortgage. Alma has now solved the housing crisis.

I am terrible at math, but it appears to me that Alma's Economic Recovery Plan is cheaper than the trillions of dollars currently being spent, or proposed to be spent.

Once the economy is back on track I wonder if the million dollar retirees can go back to work? A million dollars really is not going to tide one over for too long.

I wonder what Alma's plan for the pirate problem is?

Annoying Microsoft XP Security Updates

Microsoft has managed to make their constant XP security updates even more annoying of late.

Previously I'd get a message that updates have been downloaded and are ready to install. This allowed me to make the update when it was convenient for me.

Once previously and now again this morning Microsoft decided it can take over my computer and install the update and restart my computer with no input from me.

Now, the majority of these security updates, when you are allowed to looked at their details, tell me that the updates fixes a new found problem that might allow someone to take control of my computer.

But the only thing that seems to be able to do that is Microsoft itself. Where is the protection from the Microsoft security breech that lets Microsoft restart my computer whenever it wants?

This morning it happened at 5am. I was still in bed and I heard the computer make its start up noise. I wondered, what fresh hell is this? When I woke up the computer, I quickly saw what the fresh hell was. My computer had been restarted. Everything I had open was gone. And a little icon on the taskbar told me updates had been installed. When I clicked the little icon so I could see what the updates were, the icon went away without opening.

So, apparently, Microsoft does not want me to know what it did to my computer this time.

Where is the security update to protect me from Microsoft? And don't tell me Linux. Or Apple.

I am not alone in my aggravation over this issue. The image above had the update message in what looked like German. So, Microsoft is creating an international nuisance. Under that image on the website I got it from was the following...

This must be one of the most annoying features in Windows.

Look the other way for a minute and find out that windows update rebooted your PC after installing security updates.

Oh? By the way, all the work you've done is gone.

How about giving users an hour to react, and not 30 seconds?

The Fort Worth Sound of Freedom

Around 4 this afternoon I started hearing the very loud rumbling of jets. Very loud. About a half hour later I decided to go to Wal-Mart. As I exited my abode I heard jets roaring again, looked up and saw what I believe were a pair of those new F-22 fighter planes flying over.

The F-22's are built by Lockheed here in Fort Worth. Yes, Fort Worth has a big arms supply industry. I did not know this before I moved here. Seems like I've always lived near big plane builders. In Washington it was Boeing and their humongous 747 manufacturing plant in Everett.

In Fort Worth the jets being built are smaller and so are the buildings. But the noise is big.

In Washington I lived near the Whidbey Island Naval Air Base. I don't know if it is still open. There is a billboard near the entry to the base that says something like "Pardon Our Noise. That's the Sound of Freedom." When I'd read that I always thought, no it's not, it's the sound of noisy jets. It was an issue when the Navy was in practice mode, because Washington's most popular, most scenic state park, Deception Pass, is near by. It could be unsettling to be sitting on top of a peak in Deception Pass and have a jet roar overhead.

So, today as I drove the long 2 miles to Wal-Mart, I saw people stopped at the side of the road, looking up. By the time I got to the Wal-Mart parking lot and got out, I was able to see that there were 2 pairs of jets flying a circle that went right over Wal-Mart. It did not take long for a pair of the jets to pass over the Wal-Mart, so I could take a picture.

When I was in the store the Sound of Freedom shook the store 5 or 6 times. I forgot what I was shopping for.

Don't Mess With Texas Women

Now, that is a warning well heeded. Do Not Mess with Texas Women. A lot of them are packing heat or at least pepper spray.

I know of one Texas Woman who decided she'd had enough of Tarrant County having no newspaper covering a lot of issues or points of view that needed airing. And so the Lone Star Telegraph was born.

It was while driving into River Legacy Park today that I found myself following this particular not to be messed with Texas woman. So, when I got my new bike out of my new van, I knew I had to pedal back to where she'd parked, to get a picture, hopefully before she accused me of messing with her with the picture taking.

Currently a cabal of Not to be Messed with Texas Women are working to fix all sorts of things, like eminent domain abuse, out of control gas drilling and piping, un-fixed flooding problems and an overall system corrupted by being run by a good ol' boy network that installs a Ruling Junta that decides things like destroying the convergence of 2 forks, West and Clear, of the Trinity River, to build a little lake, some canals and a flood diversion channel. All decided by the Ruling Junta without the good citizens of Fort Worth being allowed to vote on the project that many think will likely end up being yet one more Fort Worth boondoggle, boondoggles that might not have happened had the public had input in the form of being able to vote for the boondoggle.

Anyway, here's hoping the not to be Messed with Texas Women have great success.

Don't Believe in God? You Are Not Alone According to Billboard

The billboard you see in the picture has been appearing all over America, including Dallas, which is where the one you see in the picture is located. Another appears in Fort Worth.

Somehow this would seem to be a tad provocative here in the Buckle of the Bible Belt.

The billboards are brought to America courtesy of something called FreeThoughtAction, which is part of something called the American Humanist Association.

According to the executive director of the American Humanist Association, Roy Speckhardt, "The point of the billboard is to let nontheistic people, such as atheists and agnostics, know they’re not alone."

The founder of FreeThoughtAction, Jan Meshon further explained, "For all the attention given to religion lately, the number of secular Americans is booming. The tide is definitely turning."

To which Speckhardt adds, "So why have nontheistic Americans been made to feel marginalized and deviant? This billboard demonstrates our will to push back and refuse to be passive in the culture wars. And after so many religious billboards, it’s only fair that we should have one that gives voice to nontheists."

It really is no great surprise that the news of these billboards would generate at least one embarrassingly wrong-headed letter to the editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I'll copy it below. See how many erroneous beliefs you can spot in the letter....

Disturbing message

What is the world coming to when you see billboards that ask, “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone”?

Metroplex Atheists Chairman Terry McDonald is exercising his freedom of speech but, at the same time, he is confusing church and state. With America as “one nation under God,” how could we let this happen?

“In God we trust” is printed on our money. Our country was founded on God, and for this billboard to stand anywhere in this country is a mockery of our founding fathers.

— Thomas T. Risher, Fort Worth

Veterans Park Veterans Memorial

I'd not taken the time to closely look at the new Veterans Memorial in Veterans Park til today. There are paver stones on which the names of local veterans are engraved. Or notes from loved ones.

I don't quite know for sure what I think of the part of the memorial where the engraved paver stones end up at a pair of what I assume are intended to represent caskets.

The casket on the left, at the point where the pavers meet the casket, the engravings were for several Choctaw Code Talkers from World War I. I knew about the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II, but I'd never heard of Choctaw Code Talkers.

In a Burger King in Kayenta, Arizona, on or near the Navajo Nation, there is a museum, as part of the Burger King, that tells the story of the Navajo Code Talkers. That was the first I'd ever heard of them. That was in the early 1990s. Since then their story has become well known, via movies and I think a memorial other than the one in a Burger King.

There were pavers for soldiers from the current Iraq war, the previous Iraq War, Vietnam, Korea, both World Wars. And the Civil War. Two from the Civil War. I thought that was interesting. Jack Tankersley and James I Brewton, Civil War Confederate.

When I first came to Texas, we went out to Weatherford, we were walking around the county courthouse, which looked cool to our northwest eyes. And then there was a statue, a statue memorializing the War Between the State and the Confederacy. It was at that point that for the first time I realized, yikes, I'm living in a Confederate state. At the time this seemed significant. Now, not so much.

Cemeteries in Texas are very interesting to a person who grew up in the northwest. Washington only became a state in 1889. Prior to the 1850s there weren't a lot of people other than Indians living in Washington. So, if you walk around even the oldest cemeteries in Washington, like the one in the small town of Rosyln, you see some very intriguing gravestones, it's got something like 20 sections, divided by everything from religion to nation to race.

But, in a Washington cemetery you don't see anyone buried that was born in something like 1799. I never saw such a thing til I was in Texas. Texas cemeteries are like walking through a museum. If' you've not walked around the cemetery by the Dallas Convention Center and Pioneer Plaza, well, it's worth a walk. It also has the biggest Civil War monument I've seen. I think Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and I forget who else are on it.

I've got to remember to blog about an interesting, pretty much hidden, war memorial that I came across in the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. I took pictures and then forgot about it.

Veterans Park, Chinatown, Wildflowers & Golfing in Texas

Yesterday's rainy Easter kept me indoors most of the day, except for a drippy morning swim that was quite pleasant. I repeated the swim this morning, though under blue sky.

With yesterday's unpleasantness behind me I was in need of a walk and some goods from Chinatown. So, it was off to Veterans Park in Arlington to take care of the walking need and then on to Chinatown for red peppers and oyster sauce, among other things.

At Veterans Park I noticed a sign I'd not noticed before. Its list of prohibitions and warnings amused me. Number 2 said "No Golfing Allowed in Park." While #5 warned, "Caution: Disc/Frisbee Golf in Area.

So, #2 said no golfing while #5 warned you to watch out for the golfers. Sort of.

Easter's heavy rain seemed to have done no damage to the wildflowers at Veterans Park. I saw a couple I'd not seen before, like the red one in the picture.

After Chinatown my intention had been to come back here and make lunch. But, I was convinced to agree to go to The Tandoor Restaurant for their buffet again. It was good.

These type places fit in with my plan to gain weight. I got comments to my blogging yesterday about Morbid Obesity that convinced me that I should not write about such things unless I was writing from personal experience.

I figure it'll take me about 6 months to get Morbidly Obese. Give or take a month or two. Seems like this could be an expensive project. I used to know a Hugely Morbidly Obese person, in fact, it was from that unfortunate acquaintance that my fascination with the disease was born. She was so obese and had such expensive food tastes I figured she was waddling around wearing 20-30 thousand dollars worth of pure blubber. It takes a lot of cookies, pies and butter to make that much heft.

Wal-Mart Thieving Milk Scam

My one reader may remember last week, or the week before when I said I would not set foot inside that corrupt bastion of bad behavior that calls itself Krogers, due to chronic, over and over again price mistakes that I really think should have some Kroger employee sometime somewhere charged with theft just like Kroger's would with a shoplifter.

I've mentioned before that while Wal-Mart sometimes makes mistakes, with Wal-Mart it can go either way, their favor or mine, unlike Krogers where it is always in their favor. Which is what makes Krogers' pricing mistakes seem like purposeful thievery.

Now back to Wal-Mart. For months now Wal-Mart has been selling milk at $1.98 a gallon. Last week on the way back from Southlake I knew I neeed a gallon, so I stopped at the North Richland Hills Wal-Mart Supercenter, took the 2 mile walk to the back where the milk is, saw the BIG "GALLON MILK $1.98" sign.

Walked the 2 miles back to the self-checkouts. Quickly scanned the milk and it rang up as $2.00. I think to myself, how stupid, but 2 cents was not worth fussing about. That and I was in a hurry.

Now, today I was in Chinatown in Arlington. On the way back from that I went to the Tandoor Indian Restaurant (again) for their lunch buffet. After on the way back here I remembered I needed milk again.

So, I stop at my neighborhood Eastchase Wal-Mart Supercent, run in, well, more accurately I walked quickly in, made the 2 mile journey to the back of the store, saw the $1.98 sign I'm used to see. Grabbed my milk and quickly made the 2 mile trek back to the front of the store.

Scanned the milk and you can see the result in the picture of the receipt above. Again, $2.00

So, almost a week after the first incident, at a different store, and now again today, Wal-Mart got 2 cents more than I thought I was going to be paying them. Now, if Wal-Mart is running this Milk Scam system wide that could add up to a lot of pennies.

I suspect Wal-Mart employs psychologists, just like Microsoft does, to try and figure out how much pain they can inflict before their customers react. The research probably showed something like only 1 in 3,459 customers was even going to notice the mistake and that only 1 in 55,493 of those who do notice would take the time to wait in the Customer Service line to complain. The research probably also showed that something like 1 in 433,356 of those who notice the mistake will blog about it and at that time they'd have to label the blogger a crackpot.

America's First Dog Bo Is A Texan

President Obama finally got around to making good on yet one more of his campaign promises, this one being the one he made to his little girls that they could have a pet dog if they moved to the White House.

It has to be a special type dog due to one of the girls being allergic. A Portuguese Water Dog met those criteria.

The First Dog is named Bo. Bo used to be named Amigo's New Hope when he went to his first adopted home. But those adopters did not work out. Bo was not homeless for long before Senator Edward Kennedy bought him to give to the Obama girls.

Who I guess re-named him Bo. Bo Obama has a nice ring to it.

Bo is a native Texan, born in Boyd at Amigo Portuguese Water Dogs. Boyd is a small town about 30 miles northwest of Fort Worth.

So, it did not take Texas very long to get another native son back in the White House.

Bo sure is a cute dog. He reminds me of my nephew, Max.

Volunteer To Help Me At The Prairie Fest

The 4th Annual Fort Worth Prairie Fest is happening in less than 2 weeks, on April 25. Volunteers are needed to help me set up the Festival.

You probably could use some good fresh air and exercise. And you've been wanting to do something different with some different fun people. This is your chance.

Volunteers are needed on April 24 (the day before the festival) from Noon til Dark for pre-festival set-up. And on April 25 (festival day) to help from 7 am til 9:30 am.

If you can help, please call Prairie Fest Headquarters at 817.731.2787 or email Debora Young to let it be known what day and time you can help out.

It is a Happy Wet Easter in Texas

I am very sad to say I got not a one invite to have ham anywhere on this drippy Easter Sunday in Texas. I wonder if Zorro's Buffet has ham today?

On Friday I blogged about Good Friday and my bafflement at the whole Jesus died for your sins thing. And then was miraculously back living again shortly thereafter. All part of his Dad's plan to save the souls of the earthbound humans.

This morning's Dallas Morning News had a full page ad on this subject. That's the ad in the picture.

There is a note under a hammer and three spikes. The note says...

Son,
I need you to Build a Bridge, here are all the tools you will need. See you soon.
Love, Dad

P.S. Sorry I had to have you killed in such a brutal, painful way. But it had to be done for the greater good of all the humans I've created.

Okay. I added the P.S. It seemed to fit the theme. Isn't it a tad blasphemous for a newspaper ad to make up words from God in a trite note referencing the murder of Jesus? Oh, I just remembered, the entire Bible consists of mortal men making up words from God.

I was afraid that my Good Friday blogging might stir up some thumping being that I'm sitting on the Buckle of the Bible Belt.

But there were only 2 comments and neither seemed to be from Planet Loony Bin. Although one did make the comment all in capital letters, which is the Internet method of shouting.

Bryce said...

It sounds like God has really got you thinking about His Son.

And then Anonymous shouted...

OH DURANGO, SAD , SO VERY SAD.AH.. BUT THERE IS HOPE, ALWAYS, AND HIS MERCY AND LOVE COVERS IT ALL. TAKE THIS FROM SOMEBODY WHO LOVED FREEDOM TO DO WHATEVER, LITTLE BIT OF AGNOSTICISM, LOGICAL AND SARCASTIC ME. YOU WILL FIND HIM, SINCE HE IS ALWAYS THERE. GOD BLESS AND HAPPY EASTER, HE IS RISEN.

Bryce, God didn't get me thinking about anything. I do my own thinking.

Anonymous, thank you for your Happy Easter wishes.

Morbid Obesity, Only Child Syndrome & the World's Biggest Butt

Who knows why, but this Easter morning people from all over the world are coming to this blog looking for the World's Biggest Butt, Only Child Syndrome help and what to do about Morbid Obesity.

Why does this world-wide search for the World's Biggest Butt go through these repeating cycles? I can understand why those who are at the mercy of an Only Child might search for relief and why people are concerned about Morbid Obesity. But the endless quest to find the World's Biggest Butt?

Actually, I can sort of see a connection between big butts, only child syndrome and morbid obesity. As in I've seen all three in one person, more than once.

Anyway, this morning I got the longest comment ever to this blog. The subject was Morbid Obesity. The commenter was my most frequent commenter, that being Anonymous.

Below is what Anonymous had to say about Morbid Obesity, complete with reference links Anonymous provided...

I agree with you that morbid obesity is a form of mental illness and often-times bad character, including self-loathing, boundary issues, lack of personal responsibility, delusional thinking and usually obsessive-compulsive.

Survey says grossly obese people even over 400 pounds don't view themselves as overweight so that ought to be a tip off right there that there is something horribly wrong with them.

"...Indeed, among adults who met the National Institutes of Health criteria for being obese, only 15 percent realized they were obese, notes Kimberly P. Truesdale of the University of North Carolina. She says that her team's findings, which she reported in San Francisco earlier this month at the Experimental Biology '06 meeting, have important public health implications: "If [obese] people don't identify with being obese, then they're most likely going to ignore messages warning of health risks."..."

Most of them claim it's some kind of thyroid problem, but even people with thyroid difficulties who wish to be healthy can manage it.

It's a lack of self-control and often a method of trying to force other people to give them sympathy and special treatment while themselves lacking empathy for others.

Many morbidly obese are complete power-freaks. Morbidly obese women tend to view all normal weight women as enemies and tend to be bullies and this is true even in childhood.


"...What has struck me is that often the female serial bully is fat, and chooses a slim female target on to whom to project her self-loathing. Envy is a strong motivator for bullies...."

Survey says - most fat people are fat because they are lazy:

Very obese adults almost completely sedentary.

"Morbidly obese adults are sedentary for more than 99 percent of the day, getting only a fraction of the amount of walking that experts recommend for staying healthy, a small study suggests...

...The study of 10 men and women found that participants spent an average of 23 hours and 52 minutes sleeping, lying down or sitting each day...."

Kids Who Lack Self-Control More Prone to Obesity Later

"... In two papers published this week in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, scientists found that preschool-age children who had trouble with self-control and the ability to delay gratification gained more weight by the time they were preteens than those who were better at regulating their behavior..."

Google's Feedburner Burns Me

Okay, I have to say, even though someone kindly mailed me a Blogging For Dummies book, and even though I read that entire book, including the chapter about Feeds, I still don't understand the concept.

As in what is the point of burning a feed? And why do people subscribe to a feed? Rather than just going directly to a blog, if you like that blog?

Soon after I started this blog I, to use the vernacular, burned a feed of this blog, using Feedburner. At that point in time Google had not yet acquired Feedburner.

Feedburner had a 'monetize' option. It seemed easy to set up. You could use your Google AdSense code. However, Feedburner had you adding code to your blog layout. This was totally screwed up. It did not add the ads to the Feedburner feed. Instead it messed up the ads in the blog. So, I removed the code from the layout.

Time passed and Google bought Feedburner. I was then told I could manage Feedburner ads from my AdSense account. So, I did so. I enabled ads for feeds. But the ads still did not show up in Feedburner. They showed up in the html code for Feedburner. You could see the space where the ads should appear. But no ads appeared in the feed.

But. The Google ads do appear in other feeds. Like Google's News Reader. Why does Google have both Feedburner and Google News Reader? I can't help but wonder.

Are some Feedburner geeks annoyed at being eaten up by the Google monster and retaliating by messing up the Feedburner code?

Another Feedburner thing that bugs me is the number of subscribers. The number goes up and down, constantly. Yesterday it was 47, today it is 45. 45 subscribers? And that's just with Feedburner. And yet when I look at my AdSense account, like I just did, it shows there were only 6 Feedburner page impressions. So, I've got 45 Feedburner subscribers, but of those 45 only 6 pages were looked at? I don't get it.

Anyway, can anyone enlighten me out of my ignorance regarding this Feedburner conundrum?

Taking a Fort Worth Bus to the Tandy Hills

Today a bus riding aficionado talked me into riding Fort Worth mass transit, in the form of a natural gas-powered bus, for the first time. The destination was Tandy Hills Park to do my usual Saturday mountain hike. The distance, about 4 miles.

The bus arrived right on schedule, the #21 bus, pulled up right at 11;52 am. The bus aficionado gave me his pass to swipe through the ticket machine while he bought another ticket for $1.75. He thought it was a round trip ticket. This turned out to be erroneous, we later learned.

I have been on mass transit buses previously in other locales, that being Seattle and my old home zone of the Skagit Valley. In the Skagit Valley they were called SKAT buses, due to it being Skagit Area Transit. Bus rides in the Skagit Valley were free, back then, paid for by a slight increase to the sales tax.

In Seattle the buses are HUGE, long articulated things, meaning the bus is so long, two halves are connected by an accordion like thing so it can go around corners. The Fort Worth bus was quite small and noisy. I loved how the bus zoomed along, like some sort of ride in a theme park. At the most there were 8 passengers on the bus with me today. My last time on a Seattle bus, last summer, zipping through the Seattle bus tunnel, it was standing room only.

On the way to the Tandy Hills the bus stop exit point was not were I was told it would be. This resulted in about a half mile walk on city streets to get to the park. We hiked around for about an hour, then hurried back to Oakland Street to catch a return bus. Got to the bus stop ahead of when the bus should get there.

15 minutes went by. No bus. Called the bus center. After about 5 minutes on the phone we were told the bus was late and had just left the transit station. That meant it should reach where I was standing in about 5 minutes, which it did.

Getting back on the bus I swiped my pass. Then the bus aficionado swiped his and was told it was a one-way ticket, that he'd need to buy another ticket or a transfer pass for 75 cents. The bus aficionado somehow thought that $1.75 got him a roundtrip ticket to go 4 miles each way. When it actually cost $3.00 for a roundtrip ticket. This seemed a bit expensive to me, all things considered. I think I paid 50 cents the last time I took a Seattle bus from the north end to downtown, with Seattle buses being free in the downtown zone. When the bus aficionado bought the $1.75 ticket the driver asked if he wanted a transfer pass, to which the bus aficionado, not knowing what a transfer pass was, said no. With a transfer pass, apparently one could do the 4 mile round trip on one ticket. It all seemed way too confusing to me.

So, the bus aficionado asked me if I had 2 bucks. All I had was 2 ten dollar bills. After way too much brouhaha the super smiling sweet lady bus driver said she'd pay for it. And then we were on our way. A short distance later a lady got off the bus with a huge number of bags filled with groceries. The super sweet always smiling lady bus driver helped the lady get her bags off the bus, helping her get mobile on the sidewalk.

Early on in today's bus ride adventure I was thinking I'm liking this. I always do the driving, it was nice to be able to look around. And the ride was fun. But, by the end of the bus ride adventure it seemed like something I would likely not soon repeat. Even though the bus drivers were very nice.

But, it was a good hike around the Tandy Hills. I saw another illusive Celestial and the sky has now returned to total blue from that unfortunate wildfire haze we had going on a couple days ago.

Ride a Seattle bus with me through the Seattle bus tunnel last summer in the YouTube video below (note all the buses in the tunnel, all as crowded as the one I was on, unlike today's bus ride)....

Texas Temporary School Buildings

No, that is not a minimum security prison in the picture. What it is is windowless temporary school buildings at an elementary school I drive by when I go to the Tandy Hills.

Temp Buildings at schools are a blight all over America. I think my old home state of Washington may have had more temp school buildings than I see at Texas schools, but the Washington ones are not as bleak as the Texas ones that I've seen.

These temp buildings cost money, not as much as a permanent building, obviously, but they still cost money. Why is there not some universal design of these things, some well designed modular, easily assembled structure that has windows and does not look so prison-like.

How much would it cost to end this blight on our schools all across America? To replace all the temp eyesores with a temp building that is not an eyesore. Would it cost $1 billion? $5 billion? $10 billion? Would it cost just a small fraction of the bank bailouts? Would it not be a good stimulus investment?

Temporary school buildings have bugged me for years, way before my move to Texas. They seem like a real penny-wise, pound foolish solution to a real problem, that being having enough classroom space.

The Lone Star Telegraph: A New Blog In Town

One of the Tarrant County Underground's highly principled members, dedicated, among many dedications, to overthrowing the Good Ol' Boy Network and Ruling Junta that keeps Fort Worth and Tarrant County from having a truly representative democracy, has started a Blog.

The goal for this new Blog is to hopefully be a venue by which Tarrant County voices might be heard which the powers that be refuse to listen to.

Or if you have been frustrated by the way the Ruling Junta's mouthpiece, i.e. the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, has distorted a letter to the editor that you have submitted, or refused to listen to you tell your situation, that you had hoped the paper would act as an advocate for, doing its duty to shine a light on a dark situation, well, maybe this new Blog can be your mouthpiece.

So, if you have any Tarrant County issues that are bugging you and you have been frustrated in your attempts to get help or be listened to, visit the Star Telegraph. The Star Telegraph wants to help fix things that need fixing.

Celestial Sighting in the Tandy Hills?

I'm happy to report that the hazy, smelly wildfire sky has cleared up and Texas is back smelling good and looking purty as the wildflowers brighten the landscape, except in those unfortunate zones where they got toasted black by a raging wildfire.

It was a bit breezy at noon at the Tandy Hills. That strong breeze had blown yesterday's dark haze somewhere other than here.

When I was last at the Tandy Hills I reported on my frustrating inability to find one of the supposedly ubiquitous celestial wildflowers.

Today, I think I may have found one. It sort of looks like the wildflower that Don Young identified as a celestial. I await confirmation.

Perfect Manhood & How to Attain it in Texas

A couple weeks ago I read a book by Harold Schechter titled The Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century.

This was the first OJ type trial of the new century, that being 1900, that riveted the entire nation. Back in what were known as the Gay 90s, when the word 'gay' had a different meaning than it did during the Gay 1990s, America was booming, after recovering from the Panic of 1893. Good times would continue til the next Panic, which I think was in 1907. Both these Panics were in many ways worse than our current Panic. America always seems to recover from her Panics.

Anyway, during the Gay 90s there was no such thing as the FDA. No one regulated food production or drugs or medicines. The type murder people feared, during this period, was being poisoned. There was one sensational poisoning after another.

And then William Randolph Hearst bought a New York City newspaper and set out to take on Joseph Pulitzer by out yellow journalisming him. Hearst needed a sensational poisoning story. And then Roland Molineux obliged. The son of a revered Civil War general, Roland was accused of some nasty poisoning murders. Two trials later he was set free.

Now, that story was very interesting, but what I want to share with you now is part of the book that dealt with the thriving industry of curative elixirs. Roland bought a lot of these elixirs, attempting to cure some of his "manhood" issues.

What struck me as bizarre is way back then there was already an industry that I thought was born only in our modern era, that being the industry that produces those annoying spams that are directed to fixing some of our current, supposed, "manhood" issues.

A Dr. Vincent G. Hamill, president of the Marston Remedy Company had a thriving business selling his curatives. Below is the info on one of his widely distributed advertising circulars...

PERFECT MANHOOD
AND HOW TO ATTAIN IT

A BOOK FOR MEN MARRIED AND SINGLE

A full explanation of a wonderful method for the quick restoration of
PERFECT MANHOOD, in all that term implies.

A method that overcome EVERY EVIL CONDITION of the sexual system. Gives to the weakest organs and parts their
NATURAL VIGOR AND TONE.
And to those shrunken and stunted their
NORMAL AND PROPER SIZE.

IT EXPLAINS how to build up all sexual vigor.
IT EXPLAINS how to avoid all the physical evils of married life.
IT EXPLAINS how to cure sexual weakness in any stage for all time.
IT EXPLAINS how to cure unnatural losses from dreams, in urine, etc.
IT EXPLAINS how to cure nervousness, trepidation, lack of self-confidence.
IT EXPLAINS how the entire sexual system of the male may be brought to that condition so essential to general good health and peace of mind.
IT EXPLAINS how to develop, strengthen, enlarge all weak, stunted, undeveloped, feeble organs and parts of the body which have lost or never attained a proper an natural condition, whether through early errors, ill-health, or other causes.
IT EXPLAINS how to be free from degrading thought,
superior to debasing conditions, to feel

A VERY KING AMONG MEN!

Good Friday: Jesus Died Today, Revived on Sunday

Today is Good Friday. Celebrated, well, not exactly celebrated, but noted, as the day Jesus was murdered by the Romans.

I have always had trouble with the concept that Someone so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that those who believe in Him can have everlasting life.

For one thing, just a couple days after the Father gave up the Son, the Son supposedly rose from the dead and went to heaven to be with his Father. And if you believe that, then that too can happen for you when you die.

And then there is that God in 3 Persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost thing. Which would seem to mean that Jesus is God, God is Jesus and both are the Holy Ghost. So, Jesus isn't actually God's Son, instead he is God in human form? So, again, where is the great sacrifice if God in human form is murdered, yet isn't really dead, going from the murder, and being dead, to heavenly rewards and back alive a couple days later?

A few days ago someone sent me a very earnest email about this subject, detailing in gruesome detail what Jesus suffered on the cross.

The email ended with...

Jesus had to pass all this experience, so that you can have free access to God. So that your sins could be 'washed' away. All of them, with no exception! Don't ignore this situation. HE DIED FOR YOU! For you, who now read this e-mail. Do not believe that He only died for others (those who go to the church or for pastors, bishops, etc).

He died for you! Accept the reality, the truth that JESUS IS THE ONLY SALVATION FOR THE WORLD.

Jesus went through all this human misery so that your sins could be washed away? But only if you believe He went through this misery for you. And was then back alive a couple days later. "He died for you." But he didn't die? He was dead for a couple days. Apparently. And then wasn't.

I also have trouble with how people take this stuff all as gospel, I guess that is some sort of pun. I mean, it's all words, written by men, long after the events supposedly took place. If God wanted to send his "Son" to earth in order to somehow get the earthlings to behave in a Godly fashion, would it not have been a better plan to wait a couple thousand years, to the point in history where the Earthlings had used their God given talents to build systems of mass communication, so the news of the arrival of the Son of God could be mass communicated? He could perform a few miracles, have us all in awe and ready to follow Him and there'd be no need for a ridiculously gruesome Crucifixion to cement the deal.

It all really just seems like really bad planing on God's part, if you ask me. Which you didn't. Okay, I am ready to be struck down for blatant blasphemy.

Killer Texas Wildfires Smelly Smoke

Yesterday, late in the afternoon, I took off to River Legacy Park to ride the mountain bike trail. As soon as I hit the road I was appalled by what the air looked like, as in very very hazy/smoggy with very diminished visibility.

I didn't know what was going on. We were supposed to be getting thunderstorms and the sky looked very strange, I thought this might be some HUGE storm starting up.

Turns out the thick haze was the result of wildfires that sprouted up all over North Texas and Oklahoma yesterday, some of which continue burning today. The air this morning has the acrid smell of burnt grass. It is not a pleasant smell. I have not left my abode yet today, but from my current vantage point the sky looks blue, I'm not seeing a lot of haze.

It was so bad yesterday that flights had to be delayed at D/FW Airport. Fires burned in more than a dozen Texas counties. Thousands of acres burned in the D/FW zone, including forced evacuations west of Fort Worth. Two people near Montague, that's about 80 miles northwest of Dallas, died and their son was injured when a wildfire consumed their home.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality warned that people sensitive to smoke or with respiratory woes should stay indoors. I have neither of those woes, as far as I know. But I do have my windows open and I'm not really liking that burnt grass smell that is wafting through here. But I like the breeze. It's a conundrum.

Naturally Fun at Village Creek Natural Historic Area

Against doctor's orders and ahead of predicted afternoon Thunderstorms, that have yet to materialize, I went to Village Creek Natural Historic Area around noon. I saw only one wildflower in the park today. You can see that fragile beauty below.

A sign had been stuck in the ground since my last visit to this park. The sign told me to get my Passport Arlington today, along with a cryptic message, "Trail verification code A."

What did that mean I could not help but wonder. At the bottom of the sign I was told if I wanted more information on the Passport Arlington program I could visit www.naturallyfun.org.

I did as directed, like I always do, and went to the Naturally Fun website to find some of that information that the sign mentioned. However, the naturallyfun.org domain redirected to the City of Arlington Parks & Recreation website.

I looked and looked but I could not find how to get my Passport Arlington. So, I gave up. I'm easily discouraged.

But on the website I did see something interesting. A YouTube video of a proposed park using the long mothballed Caleum Moor Stonehenge-like sculptures. I've no idea where this proposed park is located or if the Caleum Moor sculptures are proposed to be placed in an existing park, like River Legacy.

The Caleum Moor installation disappeared prior to my exile in Texas. I remember they were in a book of things to see in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone, but when I went to find them they were no more. I later learned that the land upon which Caleum Moor sat was turned into office space. And the sculptures went into hiding due to some Buckle of the Bible Belt Thumpers being convinced that Caleum Moor was some sort of pagan blasphemy endangering the purity of the locals.

Apparently, now, wiser heads are prevailing. Below is the Caleum Moor YouTube video of the proposed new installation of the sculptures.

River Legacy Mountain Bike Trail

Yesterday I learned if I don't get around to blogging within a reasonable amount of time some people start wondering what's happened to me. Well, I've recovered completely from yesterday's viral assualt. I think the Chicken Tortilla Soup and grapefruit fixed me.

I got a comment to that blogging about ailing from Mister Twister. Mister Twister commented...

Yup, I was wondering what was wrong, too. By the way I finally made it out to River Legacy Park and took a little spin. On one the trails I was on it spilled me out onto the concrete walking path. A few minutes on, I saw a sign warning about being fined while on the concrete path. The sign was right by a dirt path so I went back out. One question and one observation. What do the two red dots painted on the trees mean? Also River Legacy is a more enjoyable ride than Sansom Park, although it's not near as challenging as Sansom Park. River Legacy is much prettier, being that it is river bottoms, dirt trails and meadow like conditions, while Sansom is rocky and scree. Now there's definitely some challenging loop do loops at River Legacy but overall it is much more enjoyable and pretty too.

Well, I was planning on biking River Legacy today, but rain has intervened and disrupted that plan. To answer Twister's questions, I have no idea what the red dots on trees mean. I've seen them too and wondered. I don't think it means those trees are going to be cut down, they don't cut down trees in that park.

I think Twister misunderstood the bike warning sign. It is perfectly okay to bike on the paved trails. The warning signs are put wherever a dirt trail takes off of the paved trail. You aren't supposed to bike those dirt trails. The only dirt trails you are supposed to bike is the Mountain Bike Trail. I think the park is being real wrong-headed with those warning signs. The bike riders have turned the mountain bike trail into the best non-paved trails in the park, with hikers feeling safe walking on them. Biking the other dirt trails would do no harm, in my opinion, it would instead make the trails be in better shape.

I can understand how Twister may have gotten off on a wrong trail and ended up at the paved trail. The Mountain Bike Trail is quite a maze of intersections. Most are well marked, but there are a couple key junctions that are not marked with directional arrows with the result of going the wrong way possibly being on the pavement.

The Mountain Bike Trail is a one-way trail, though every once in awhile you'll run into someone, literally, going the wrong way. To get it right, follow the directions on the map above. Get to the mountain bike parking lot, you'll see a sign at the west end of the lot (that's it in the picture on the left), with a map of the trail, though this map does not show all the new loops, like Fun Town and the Prairie Loop and others.

To the left of the sign is where the trail begins. Follow the arrows. You barely enter the trail when you take a right turn and go on a minor roller coaster for a bit, just keep following the arrows and you shouldn't see any pavement.

Brown Fat Keeps Me Skinny In Hot Texas

I found out this morning why I stay so skinny while eating so much. I spend a lot of time cold, like this morning, despite Dr. Layla's no swim orders, I was back in the pool for a long time.

The water in the pool is maybe 60 degrees, give or take a degree or two. By the time I'm out I am chilled to my core. It's an hour later and I'm still sort of in shiver mode.

Well, today the results of 3 groups of researchers are appearing in The New England Journal of Medicine. And what were they researching you are wondering? Brown fat.

For 3 decades scientists have been studying brown fat, due to the brown fat cells acting like a calorie consuming furnace, with the furnace triggered by cold temperatures.

It was previously thought that human babies had brown fat because during infancy babies are unable to shiver their muscles to stay warm. The operating assumption had been that human babies lost the brown fat when their muscles developed sufficiently to trigger the shiver response.

Now, the researchers have discovered that humans continue to have brown fat cells past infancy. Skinny people have more brown fat cells than fat people, the younger you are the more brown fat cells you have. Women have more than men.

The brown fat cells are brown because they are filled with mitochondria, with mitochondria containing iron, thus causing the brownish color.

This new info explains a lot of things. Like why on average people in the South are way fatter than people up north. Up north you shiver way more than you do here in the warm South. Remember last summer when I spent a winter shivering in icy Tacoma and was surprised I did not gain any weight, especially with all the extra feedings I was forced to consume? Well, now it makes sense to me. I had very few breaks from shivering when I was up there. My poor long-suffering brown fat cells were working overtime.

Just like they are right now as I type and shiver. I suppose I could put a shirt on and try to put a stop to this out of control calorie burning I've got happening right now.

Any of you tubbies reading this, you might not have as many brown fat cells as I do, due to that tubby thing you've got going on. But, you might want to try getting real cold for a period of time, every day, and see if you can melt off some of that lard. It's worth a try. Then again, I don't know if the cold pool option would work for an obese person due to all that insulating adipose tissue keeping the cold from being able to reach whatever brown fat cells you might have.

Red Flag Warning: Don't Get Sick In Texas

Apparently if I don't blog at my usual pace, the lack causes concern. As in I got an email from my one reader asking me if I'm all right, due to me not blogging this morning.

Well. I may not look as ill as the guy in the drawing, but that's pretty much how I felt this morning. By yesterday afternoon I sort of had an inkling I might have a virus inside me wanting to get out. I'd been around an extremely germy person a few days prior.

So, late yesterday afternoon I went to Wal-Mart and got a chicken and all the stuff to make Chicken Tortilla Soup. Tortilla Soup always makes me feel better. So, this morning I made the soup and several bowls later I'm feeling way better.

Due to this under the weather problem I have unintentionally followed my physical therapist, Dr. Layla's, "slow down" advice. As in, even though it was quite warm this morning and I'm sure the pool was way warmer than yesterday, I did not go swimming. Today has seen no bike riding or hiking.

But I did make my weekly trek to Sprouts Farmers Market to stock up on good stuff.

Due to these high (in the 80s) temperatures, along with low humidity and wind, the National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning, due to high wildfire danger.

Here's the warning....

Urgent - Fire Weather Message National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 253 PM CDT Wed Apr 8 2009

A Red Flag Warning Is In Effect Thursday Afternoon For The Northwest Two Thirds Of North Texas Due To Gusty Southwest Winds, Very Low Humidities, And Very Warm Temperatures.

A Deep Surface Low Pressure System Will Move East Across Oklahoma On Thursday And Result In The Passage Of A Dryline Across North Texas During The Afternoon. Very Warm, Windy, And Dry Conditions Will Occur Behind The Dryline Resulting In Critical Fire Conditions Through Sunset Thursday Evening.

Turtle & Duck Togetherness at Oakland Lake Park

My physical therapist, Dr. Layla, keeps confusing me. Now she is telling me I need to slow down, that I operate at an unhealthy level of physical activity. I wish she'd make up her mind. I'm am almost inclined to seek a second opinion.

Anyway, to keep the doctor happy, I cut my morning swim by a few minutes. That may have been partly due to the fact that it froze last night. But that unnatural unseasonable cold did not seem to chill the pool water all that much, near as I could tell.

Around noon I went to the Post Office and then Oakland Lake Park. There are no steep hills in this park, it'd be really hard to over-do it there.

One thing I have made note of lately is there are way way way more Texans out and about walking, biking, hiking and rollerblading. Has anyone else noticed this? I am thinking collectively we may be able to get Dallas and Fort Worth off those Top 20 Most Obese City type lists. Wouldn't that be nice?

There were a lot of turtles out basking in the sun today in Oakland Lake. I like turtles except for when they chase me when I swim in a Texas lake. In Oakland Lake Park the turtles and the ducks peacefully co-exist, even to the point of peacefully co-habiting the same submerged log, as you can see in the picture at the top. The turtles can act skittish when a human gets close, but ducks are of no concern.

Next Week: Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival

In 9 days the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival starts up. Of the festivals I've been to, in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, this one has been the best, in my opinion. It's huge, it attracts a lot of people, it has 3 music/performance stages, it has a lot of food options (although you have to buy coupons to buy food, American currency is not accepted) and it has an incredible variety of art from all over America.

I'm hoping to go this year. Earlier in the year I had hoped to go to the Fort Worth Stock Show Parade, but that didn't work out. One more hope, I hope the weather, April 16 through 19, is as perfect as today. That would be a real good thing. The last time I went to the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival it was overcast, hot and very very muggy. Not a good thing.

If I remember right an incoming storm wreaked havoc with last year's Main Street Festival. Or was that the year before. Time flies.

Support Prairie Fest 2009 by Drinking Rahr & Sons Beer

The next 2 Saturdays, those being April 11 and 18, from 1 - 3 pm, you can help support Prairie Fest 2009 by taking the regular Tour & Tasting at Rahr Brewery. For every pre-owned Rahr beer glass filled with beer, Rahr & Sons Brewery will contribute $2.50 to the Friends of Tandy Hills to benefit Prairie Fest 2009.

You can buy a Rahr Beer Glass for $5.00.

I am not quite clear on how this works. You buy the glass for $5.00 and then Rahr fills it for free? And then you have the option of putting some money in the donation jar that will be there? I don't know. The details are a bit sketchy.

Sounds like potential fun though.

Rahr & Sons is located at 710 Galveston Avenue in Fort Worth. Go here for a map.

2009 Bashing Texas Or Not

I started my Eyes on Texas website way back in early 2001. I was not yet 2 years into my Exile in Texas. At that time I was still adjusting to Texas, trying to understand things like Dry, Wet and Damp. Perplexed by being unable to use American currency to buy a hot dog at the State Fair of Texas or any random street fair. Little things like that. At that point in time I could still be shocked by areas of Third World-like poverty that one sees when one drives through some parts of Texas.

So, when I started my Eyes on Texas website I made a webpage on which I collected examples of Texas Bashing and solicited for more Texas Bashing, or Counter-Texas Bashing.

The intro to the Texas Bashing webpage---Texas Bashing is a national phenomenon to which Texans take extreme umbrage. Texans have no way of seeing themselves the way the rest of the country, or world sees them. To a Texan bragging about Texas seems a perfectly natural thing to do. From early grade school Texans are propagandized with a theme summarized by the phrase 'Texas Proud'. To a non-Texan, particularly a Yankee, and most particularly a West Coaster, Texas Pride can seem a bit delusional. Very few Texans seem to understand that it is their 'Texas Pride' which provokes most of the Texas Bashing.

It has been years since I've paid any attention to that webpage or received any Texas Bashing or Counter-Texas Bashing.

Til yesterday. I got a very heartfelt Counter-Texas Bashing from a Texan named Jason who is currently stationed outside his preferred location, that being Texas. Below is what Jason had to say....

"Firstly, I'm not sure why a website so thoroughly devoted to Texas, it's legends, history, culture, and lore can be created and maintained by an admitted transplant and still thought to be objective. It goes from defending the state to criticizing it so often I really can't tell what side of the proverbial fence the author is on, though I get the feeling they aren't Texas' biggest supporters, so I wonder what drives them to create and maintain this site. I roamed the different pages, especially those about my home town of Dallas. It was interesting, but at times a bit aggravating. I'm glad you made Texas your home, I'm one of the "Texas Proud" you mention, I suppose. Although I don't think I am such a braggart about it unless people ask or I am provoked.

As for the "bashing", there seems to be a lot of people saying that Texas is backwards, arrogant, red-neck, gun crazed, blah blah blah... we've heard all that nonsense before. People can say what they will about my fair state and the people that come from it. I was born and raised in Dallas for 23 years of my short life. Since leaving to go to graduate school I have lived in North Carolina (the mid-state and the mountains), Southern California, and Upstate New York. I spend significant amounts of time in Manhattan NY, Orange County CA, and all across the Midwest. Currently I live in Asheville, NC which is a beautiful mountain country about 1 hour east of the Tennessee boarder on I-40. All that is to say that in all the climates, with all the differences in culture, atmosphere, people, taxes, traffic etc., and with all the negative things these people want to say about the Lone Star State, having been all around the continent, Texas is still my first choice of places I would like to live. It's a job that keeps my in North Carolina, but after all my wanderings, my heart still belongs to Texas."

Jason

Canyon of Thorns Devastation at River Legacy Park

I had to make a delivery this afternoon in Arlington. The details we need not discuss. I may have mentioned previously that my physical therapist, Dr. Layla, keeps insisting I do not get enough physical activity.

I suppose she's right. This morning I went swimming for a half hour, then around noon I spent an hour traipsing all over the Tandy Hills looking for an elusive flower.

So, with Dr. Layla's prescription calling for me to haul my lazy self off a prone position more frequently, I decided, even though I pedaled it for 11 plus miles yesterday, to go for a late afternoon bike ride at River Legacy Park.

Yesterday I showed you a picture of the Canyon of Thorns in the Prairie Loop section of the mountain bike trail. That is the Canyon of Thorns above. It was a thrilling thorn-defying section of trail. Why am I using the past tense 'was' word? Well, the Canyon of Thorns is no more.

This afternoon I was appalled, appalled I tell you, to discover that the Canyon of Thorns had been destroyed, mowed down in its prime. As you can see in the picture on the right, taken this afternoon, at the same location as the picture at the top.

Oh well. It'll grow back. Maybe

Is the Yellow Rose of Texas Blooming in the Tandy Hills?

After reading Don Young wax poetic about the Terrestrial Prairie Celestials, busy a-blooming all over the Tandy Hills, with an ethereal short-lived beauty, I decided I had to see these blooming purple things for myself.

So, with great effort, I hauled myself to the Tandy Hills today a bit before noon, as per Mr. Young's suggestion, that being that by noon the one day wonders begin their fade to death.

I hiked and hiked and hiked, up hills, down hills, across prairies, along creek beds, through forested zones, the west side, the east side, the north side, the south side. I looked and looked and looked and I saw not a one of the vaunted Prairie Celestials, not a one.

Near as I could tell I exhausted all possible places where this saffron-spewing flower might be blooming. To no avail. But I did see a new wildflower coloring up the Tandy Hills today, that being the yellow flower you see in the picture. The picture almost does justice to how bright the yellow of this flower is, as in they glow in the noon sun like neon yellow.

It is supposed to freeze tonight. I don't know if that fragile looking yellow flower is going to be able to survive a freeze. I guess we will soon find out.

Don Young's Prairie Notes: Celestial Terrestrials Have Landed

Visual and Verbal Poetry from Don Young....

Prairie Notes: April 05, 2009
Prairie Celestials, Easter Eggs & Plum Bliss

No, it's not a 50's sci-fi flick, but close. Prairie Celestials (Nemastylis geminiflora) have landed at Tandy Hills Natural Area but these purple beings mean you no harm. I suspect they began emerging from the Earth after the recent rain and lightning storms. They are now mature and releasing saffron-colored pollen from their pleated, purple petals to the bees and butterflies that have also invaded THNA. WARNING: Homo prairiens are particularly at risk of being overwhelmed by their startling beauty.

There are very few colonies of Prairie Celestial at THNA which also means they are very rare in north Texas. After a year of miraculous preparation, each flower lasts only one day. Please, show them respect and tread carefully around them. Viewing is best before noon.

Many other purple/blue wildflowers such as, Blue-eyed Grass, Wine Cup, Engelmann's sage, and even a Bluebonnet or two, are starting to paint the prairie. A spectrum of colorful wildflowers are on the verge of exploding in coming weeks. Stay tuned.

One of the advantages of living across the street from THNA is the abundant wildlife, including lots of birds, that often make our yard part of their habitat. We enjoy their company and help them out with a steady supply of sunflower seed and nesting material.

Starting about a week ago, one resourceful little bird decided to ... um, push the envelope on our open door policy. The following photos tell the story pretty well. This swift, but shy mother bird built her *nest so quickly last Sunday that, by Monday we had to get a new mailbox for our own use. (Note the snakeskin material used in the nest)

Resident bird expert, Tom Stevens, has ID'd the bird as either a Carolina or Bewicks Wren. She has dutifully laid six tiny eggs in our mailbox. Each egg is about 1/2" long. I'll keep you posted on their development.

A few days ago while hiking at THNA, I had the pleasure of discovering, off the beaten path, a hidden grove of Creek Plum in full bloom. For one beautiful, sunlit hour the Monarch butterflies and I had a profound convergence inside the blooming oasis. Here are some snapshots of my "prairie vacation". I hope they remind you, as they do me, of the duty we have to to protect THNA and other prairie treasures. We are Prairie Keepers and we are be born under lucky stars.

Come to the prairie and wish upon a Prairie Celestial before they depart for the season.

DY

PS: Prairie Fest is only 20 days away. Be there.

National Weather Service Freeze Warning for North Texas Tonight

I have not done as much shivering, as I've done this morning, since I spent an entire unfortunate month shivering in Tacoma last summer. I think it was Mark Twain who said the coldest winter he ever experienced was a summer in Tacoma. I may have the city wrong.

It was 37 when I headed down to the pool this morning, with the wind chill factor making it feel like 32. I did not think the pool would be doable and figured I'd quickly retreat to the hot tub.

I was wrong. The pool was a lot warmer than the air. I swam for about a half an hour. I think this must have lowered my body temperature a lot, chilling me to my inner core, because it is now an hour later and I am COLD.

The National Weather Service has issued a Freeze Warning for North Texas for tonight. I don't know how all the fragile looking wildflowers handle a freeze. Do they wilt and die? I don't know. Is this an unusually late freeze in North Texas? Again, I don't know.

All I know for sure is I am COLD.

The Canyon of Thorns at River Legacy Park

Yes. I am a creature of habit. I go from one habit, bad or good, to another. Of late going to River Legacy Park, to ride my bike, seems to be one of my bad or good habits.

That and swimming in the morning, which I did this morning in a cold wind, but warm, well, sort of warm water. Unlike yesterday, when it got in the 80s, today I don't think we got out of the 50s. Brrrr.

It took a couple miles of pedaling before I warmed up, a bit, at River Legacy today, around noon. Just like yesterday there were a lot of people biking, hiking and jogging the mountain bike trails. I hope the River Legacy powers that be are fully aware of what a good thing DORBA (Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association) has done for River Legacy Park by building these excellent, well maintained trails.

The entire DORBA team should get some sort of award or something, I don't know, maybe tickets to the George Strait/Reba McEntire opening of Jerry's Jones' new Dallas Cowboy Stadium in a couple months. Or season tickets to watch the Dallas Cowboys have another hapless season in their new stadium.

I saw no wildlife, again, today, except for some butterflies and birds. I didn't even see a single squirrel. Where have all the squirrels gone? I did get accosted be a damsel in distress who was in distress because she thought she'd had a worrisome encounter with a wild beast. As in she was pedaling along and stopped when she heard a loud rutting and oinking noise.

She asked me if there are wild boars in the park. I told her, yes, there are, and thought to myself how weird, I've been biking here for years, only within the last month did a guy tell me there were wild boars here, and then 2 days later I saw the herd, followed by another 2 days when Blonde Bobbi told me about her encounter with a large, single, male boar. And this damsel, today, telling me of an encounter. She was afraid they were dangerous. I told her I thought not. But what do I know? I thought bobcats were also harmless, and then that one in Arizona went on a rampage.

The Canyon of Thorns in the Prairie Loop on the River Legacy Mountain Bike Trail, as you can see in the picture above, is growing ever more thorny and treacherous. It's a risky, stickery chance every time I choose to take that loop. The Canyon of Thorns Prairie Loop is also the location where I was almost killed by an out of control pit bullish type dog last week, you may remember me mentioning. It is a treacherous section of trail. Many avoid it.

A funny thing happened today when I neared the Fun Town section of the trail. That's a special section of extreme, expert only drops and corners. There was a family of bikers, stopped for a rest. As I took the turn that went by the Fun Town entry I heard a little guy, maybe 5, say, "Look, that guy is going to Fun Town."

No, I'm not, I thought, Fun Town scares me. As I came around the loop, about 5 minutes later, I came upon that group back pedaling. They stopped to let me by and the little guy asked, all in awe, "Did you really ride Fun Town?"

"Yup." I said. Little guys need heroes. Even if they are bogus.

Oh Canada, Oh Canaduh

Last week. Or was it the week before, I blogged about some of the dumb comments I get, to this blog and to my YouTube videos. With the dumb comments usually being in reference to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup or the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal.

I was motivated to comment about the comments due to a comment I got from a 28 year old Canadian calling him/herself diflorio007, in which phrases like "you taxas rednecks" and "how stuped they are" were used.

And then yesterday I got another YouTube comment to the same Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup video from yet one more product of the Canadian public school system.

This Canadian called himself (I know it is a him, or assume so, due to his name being Neil) ExodicSnakes. Note the exotic spelling of "Exodic."

Neil, aka, ExodicSnake's comment was...

"im all down for catcking rattel snakes but y do they kill them maby for food but ok kill it dont exploied the snake.. when thay milk the snake it is just useless they dont do it in a stairl invirement so it is all junk venom."

Now, Canada does have some different ways of pronouncing and spelling some words. Like they add a "u" to humor, making it humour. Stuff like that.

Maybe I have fallen behind the times and Canada has gone to some new futuristic, phonetic, fractured, abbreviated, punctuation-free spelling method, hence Neil's "rattel" for rattle and "catcking" for catching and "y" for why and "maby" for maybe and "exploied" for exploited and "stairl" for sterile and "invirement" for environment.

I dunno. Maybe Neil/ExodicSnakes is simply spelling challenged and the fact that I've received two of these type things, from Canada, in a week, is just a fluke and has no reflection on the bad job Canada may be doing teaching its kids.

Or, like I sort of alluded to in the previous blogging about this serious subject, could the bad education Canadians are getting explain why, in ways we can measure a nation's accomplishments, such as number of Nobel Prizes, America wins so many and Canada wins so few?

It is a conundrum that may have no easy answer.

In the meantime while we ponder that conundrum, below is the YouTube video that causes too many Canadians to sound so stuped, I mean stupid.....

Saturday Mountain Biking At River Legacy With Trinity Rapids

It has been the best Spring Day of 2009, so far, today. It is a bit after 6 pm and it is 81 out there, according to WeatherBug.

I went swimming at 8 this morning and again when I got back from riding the mountain bike trails at River Legacy Park, again today.

The mountain bike trail at River Legacy is getting really popular. And with good reason. Overall it may now be the best in the D/FW Metroplex, when you factor in accessibility, fun, trail shape and the variety of humans you encounter.

Did I mention it is scenic? Huge oak trees with a lush undergrowth that is slowly making its annual turn into a jungle. Without lions, tigers and monkeys. But, there are snakes, boars and armadillos, none of which I saw today.

In the first picture we are looking down on part of the Trinity River Rapids at the west end of the park. The river narrows at this point, hence the rapids. They are not a Washington river cascading down the Cascades type rapids, they are more a genteel Texas style sliding down the prairie type rapids, but rapids nonetheless.

Can you spot me pedaling my way through the jungle? Two of the pictures of bike riders are me. The other is a group of three, a mom and her two kids. Mom was one wicked wild riding beast on her bike. I was impressed.

I saw a lot of signs of rutting today. I thought maybe it was the rutting of the River Legacy Boars, but due to its solo nature I suspect it was the rutting of the River Legacy Armadillos, none of whom have I seen in a long long time.

There were hundreds of picnickers at River Legacy today, the smell of barbecue made me hungry. One of the groups was a family reunion. There were signs directing incoming to the family reunion. It crossed my mind to join them. I have been to a large family reunion. It would be easy to crash a large family reunion. Just act sullen if anyone asks any questions. That worked at my family reunion. That family reunion was in July of 2002. My worst week in Washington til a month in 2008. Actually by comparison, July of 2002 was a fine time, a totally fine time, totally glad I went to the bother of flying 4,400 miles to attend, totally glad.

Tomorrow I may rollerblade from Buffalo Ridge Park in Haltom City and roll my way along the creek to an infamous backyard, where if a family reunion is occurring, I may try and crash the party...or not.

America and Texas Are #1 But Not In A Good Way

In last Sunday's Parade magazine Virginia Senator Jim Webb wrote an article about the disgrace of America's prison system and incarceration rate.

America has by far the World's highest rate of incarceration. We have only 5% of the World's population, yet we jail almost 25% of the World's prisoners.

That is just embarrassing. Are we the World's most criminal country? Or as Senator Webb put it, "Either we are the most evil people on earth or we are doing something very wrong."

I don't think we are the most evil people on earth, I opt out for the doing something very wrong option.

As in putting way too many people in jail for crimes that don't seem jail-worthy. Like, as satisfying as it may have seemed to see Martha Stewart do jail time. Did her supposed "crime" really deserve that drastic punishment? I don't think so.

I think only those who commit crimes such as murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, rape, child abuse (of any sort), treason, vehicular homicide due to drugs or alcohol, and maybe a few other type crimes I'm not thinking of right now, should be locked up, many for life.

But, economic crimes, as in embezzlement, swindling, stock manipulating, being caught with marijuana, crimes where no one has been physically hurt, those crimes should not be punished with jail time. Big fines. Yes. House arrest for a period of time. Maybe.

But to take so many citizens away from being productive and making them temporary wards of the state is just plain stupid.

And then we have those convicted and jailed erroneously. Just last week, more than a dozen men who had spent, collectively, more than 200 years behind bars for crimes they did not commit, went to Austin, Texas to sadly and angrily ask the state legislature to pass laws to improve eyewitness testimony, expand post-conviction appeals and DNA testing. And to pay more compensation to those wrongly convicted.

As former inmate Billy James Smith said, "I'm still not completely free. I'll never be completely free." Smith spent 20 years in prison for aggravated sexual assault. He was exonerated by DNA testing in 2006.

In Texas DNA testing has freed 36 wrongly convicted citizens. Texas leads America in the number of wrongly convicted people freed by DNA testing. Yet one more #1 ranking to make us in Texas feel proud.

So, we've got people in jail for very minor crimes. Like an out of control Robert Powell-like cop throws a person in the pokey for walking across the crosswalk against the light (happened in Dallas). You've got young kids, with ruined lives, due to being thrown in jail for being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time with a lit up marijuana cigarette. You have all sorts of people, for all sorts of very minor "supposed" crimes, doing time, for no good reason.

And it's a mystery why America leads the World in number of people behind bars? One in every 31 Americans is in jail or on supervised release, such as house arrest.

What sort of hit does the economy take with this type of idiotic dislocation of its citizens? A certain percentage are productive adults (Martha Stewart) thrown in jail, their business taking a hit. Even though it's on a much more minor scale, a McDonald's working kid, incarcerated for 6 months, due to being caught with a drug, also causes the economy a hit.

Local, State and Federal spending on jailing Americans adds up to around $68 billion a year. That is nuts. We need a massive release of prisoners doing time for non-violent crimes. And DNA testing done wherever it may prove an American innocent.

Indian Paintbrush at River Legacy

We are slowly moving towards the point in time when Texas, well, my zone of Texas, looks its best, as in real purty.

Indian Paintbrush had sprouted up at River Legacy Park since my last visit. Along with Bluebonnets. The only wildlife I saw today, while riding the mountain bike trail, was a couple joggers and Blonde Bobbi. She must practically live on those trails.

My bike is 5 years old. It has over 4000 miles on it. It is a K2 Attack. It replaced a Schwinn Moab. The Schwinn Moab had over 5,000 miles on it when I broke its frame riding on the Horseshoe Trails. The Schwinn Moab has been my favorite bike, though this K2 is also nice, but it is getting old.

This week I replaced my bike's speedometer. The previous one had been broken for months. So, I'd been biking without knowing how far or fast I was going. But not today. I averaged 10.2 miles per hour and biked 9.3 miles. I went 2 times around. Til I got the new odometer, I did not know how far it was with all the new trails. I figured the new trails had added about 2 miles. I was about right.

The trails at River Legacy Park are getting closer and closer to being jungle-like. I like it. I wish monkeys were native to Texas.

Though the local weather record did not indicate it froze last night, this morning when I went swimming at 8am, there was frost on the roof. I don't know what else it could have been. It was white and it disappeared as the sun hit it. WeatherBug said it was 37, when I went down to the pool. The water felt warm compared to that icy air. So, I had myself a good swim. It is 71 right now with the windows open. Supposed to hit 80 tomorrow. We are at the Sweet Spot in Texas weather. Soon, the HEAT will arrive. But, I like that, too. I am very easy to please...

With Egg On Their Faces No More Krogers

I have mentioned before I do not like Krogers. Too many price mistakes. Over and over again. The last time I mentioned this, some naive sort, apparently not familiar with Texas, reminded me that Krogers gives you a refund if they make a price mistake.

Yes. Previously I have brought a mistake to the attention of the minimum wage moron who mans the customer service. I've actually done this twice. The first time the woman was so befuddled by what I was pointing out to her that I gave up.

I then wrote a letter to Krogers complaining about that incident and their horrible customer service and chronic price mistakes. About a month later Krogers sent me a $15 gift card. That sort of mitigated my aggravation. A little.

The second time that I bothered to complain was over a 2 for 1 pricing scheme that did not ring up as 2 for 1. Once more when I went to customer service I was confronted with befuddlement. This time I said, just give me my money back. And so she did, but she had trouble counting it.

And now to today's FINAL time of ever trying to buy anything at Krogers. Earlier today I'd forgotten to get eggs while I was at Wal-Mart. I needed them for French Toast in the morning. I remember seeing a Krogers special ad at the bottom of this morning's Dallas Morning News. The ad had a dozen large eggs for 88 cents. The ad also had mangoes 3 for $1 and red grapes for 88 cents a pound.

Since Krogers is right across the street I figured I'd take 5 minutes and go get eggs, some mangoes and some grapes. Three items. Krogers can't screw that up, I thought, despite having something screw up with Krogers when I've only tried to buy one item.

So, I pick up 2 dozen eggs. I head to the mangoes. They were green, hard and not worth 33 cents. I find the grapes. These did not look like grapes I wanted in my house.

So, I go to the self-checkout. I scan the first dozen eggs. They ring up as $1.29. I figure, okay, sometimes Krogers doesn't calculate the "real" price til you hit the pay button. I scan the next dozen and then hit the pay button.

The total did not rec-calculate the eggs at 88 cents a dozen. I looked for the person who manages the self-checkout lines. She'd run off. I was not going to pay $1.29 a dozen eggs, particularly after I saw the HUGE handmade sign by the eggs saying "Large Eggs 88 Cents Dozen."

I was not going to waste my time going through the buying process and then going to customer service to deal with a mouth breathing minimum wage moron in a futile, frustrating, maddening attempt to get my money back.

So, I just decided to walk away and leave the eggs behind. I don't know what happened, really, I truly don't, but as I went to exit, somehow, something snagged the bag of eggs and they tumbled to the floor. As I swiftly exited I looked over my shoulder to see some yellow stuff oozing out.

I feel real bad about that.

I feel so bad, I will never waste my time in Krogers again.

The Good Works of Fort Worth's Ruling Junta

I'm reading a book where this guy tracks the route of Alexander the Great's conquests, some of which were in what later became part of the now gone Soviet Union. In this book the writer often makes note as to how Alexander's propagandist sent altered realities back to Greece for the consumption of the home front.

The Soviet Union used to have this propaganda tool called Pravda (Russian for Truth), which the Soviets used to manipulate their people with their lying spins on reality.

Why in the world am I talking about this? Well, here in Fort Worth we have what is known as a Ruling Junta. We really don't have what is known as a representative democracy. Some are trying to fix this, like Clyde Picht, who is trying to unseat Fort Worth's corrupt mayor, Mike Moncrief.

Fort Worth's Ruling Junta does not have Pravda, what they have is the Fort Worth Star-Telegram dispensing their version of the "TRUTH."

This was brought to mind a couple days ago when I was reading the letters to the editor in the Ruling Junta's online newspaper. It was a letter that was such a bad example of over the top propaganda I was appalled. Did the writer of this letter actually believe what he was writing? Or is he a mouthpiece/shill for the Ruling Junta? Who knows? Even though, apparently this guy is the mayor of North Richland Hills, he could still be a Ruling Junta shill. The Soviets used to plant people in their satellite states.

Anyway, here is the letter........

Thanks are due

Many thanks to the government leaders of Fort Worth for their continuing efforts to make the Dallas-Fort Worth region the best place to live in the United States. Mayor Mike Moncrief and the entire City Council work diligently for their residents to make Fort Worth the great place it is — and they still make time to help their neighbors improve the region.

Council members Jungus Jordan, Kathleen Hicks, Danny Scarth, Frank Moss, Carter Burdette, Sal Espino and Joel Burns are all active in the important regional issues we face. I often find them at many diverse functions pushing for a better quality of life for all residents in this area.

I personally thank the Fort Worth City Council for going above and beyond to work for a better life for all of us in North Texas.

— Oscar Trevino, mayor, North Richland Hills

How in the world is Fort Worth's Ruling Junta making an effort to make the D/FW region the best place to live in America? This is the best place to live in in America??? I've seen a lot of