Alarming Snakes & Biking Injuries At River Legacy Park

It's another hot Sunday in Texas. 91 out there right now. My Physical Therapist, Dr. LC told me I don't get enough exercise, so I decided to go to River Legacy Park and pedal the mountain bike trail.

My last attempt to bike at River Legacy, on the mountain bike trail, was aborted due to the dual problem of it being too muddy and my bike gear/chain thing having a malfunction that caused me to have to jump off the bike 3 times, narrowly averting disaster.

So, I didn't know how it was going to go today. I'd quickly know if the gear/chain woe was gone, when I hit the curb to start the trail. Made it up that without a problem. And then make it up the first steep part with no problem, so I relax a bit about it.

So, my first incident. This is a one-way trail, for good reason, lots of blind corners. I was on the first of the steep up and down sections with multiple ups and downs. I see this kid coming right at me. I hit the brakes. He stops. I tell him he is going the wrong way. He says "someone got hurt on the South Loop, it's closed." I ask, "hurt how?" But he pedals off without answering.

When I pulled into the parking lot there were 4 or 5 emergency vehicles, including one firetruck. I figured they were doing a practice thing, because I've seen them practice search and rescue at River Legacy, closing the paved trail at the far north end past the Boyds Branch Bridge.

I don't bike the South Loop. It's a new section. I tried it once. I made it to the third downhill and decided, no, I'm not going to do that. As I pass the South Loop intersection nothing indicates it was closed. I pedal through the bypass and continue on. As the trail loops to run parallel to water treatment land I hear voices. I stop. I couldn't see anyone. I hear one guy say something like we can't take him out over the trail, he's too unstable on the stretcher. We've got to get them to come in this road so we can get him out.

I could only make out parts of what they were saying. I'm guessing someone had a really bad bike wreck and maybe broke his neck, hence the need to get him out as smoothly as possible.

So, I continue on, no major incidents til I have trouble passing a family of slow moving pedalers.

Due to that copperhead incident of a few days ago, where I almost ran over one while pedaling at Village Creek I was being a bit hyper-vigilant about the snake threat. Okay, I'll just admit it, I was being a whacked out neurotic. Over and over again I hit the brakes due to thinking a curvy stick or root was a snake. The flickering light shadowing through the trees plays tricks when you're moving fast.

On the second time around I come to the South Loop turnoff and stop to take a picture. Several bikers fly by and zip in to that danger zone. A guy walks up that I'd howdyed the first time around. I ask him if he knew anything about someone getting hurt. He'd walked the South Loop and said he saw no one in there except for the biggest snake he'd ever seen. I ask him what type. He says he didn't know snakes. He then describes it as brown with a criss cross pattern. I say rattlesnake. He says he didn't think so, he saw no rattle. Then I say cottonmouth.

Maybe the injury that caused the big ruckus was a snake bite causing an epic wreck, or just seeing the snake causing an epic wreck.

So, I pedal on. If I was being a hyper-vigilant neurotic before, now it went into overdrive. One of the snake alert heavy braking false alarms almost caused a wreck, wrenching forward, twisting my neck.

I make it back to my van without further incidents of any sort. It was a good bike ride. I hope the injury wasn't serious. Maybe I should start wearing my helmet at River Legacy.

Studmuffin Durango Jones

I already had my Durango Internet nickname when I moved to Texas. At that time I did not know there is a town named Durango in Texas. This has caused some confusion with me getting email questions about Durango the town.

This morning looking at blog webstats I saw that someone from Helsinki, Finland came to my Durango Roadtripping Blog by Googling "Durango Jones."

So, I Googled "Durango Jones" and was surprised to learn there supposedly was a Durango Jones known as a studmuffin back in the early days of Hollywood. I did not know the term "studmuffin" was around back then. I would have thought that to be a relatively new word.

Below is a blurb from a website selling a book about Durango Jones. It's a novel, so I guess there was no real Durango Jones. Anyway, below is the blurb about Durango Jones and his alter ego, Lotte Lee....

Here is the story of Durango Jones, a scandalous exhibitionist of a golden age, a lost boy-man,a male nymphomaniac. He thrilled millions. All of them in bed.

It's a story about a smiling, golden-haired, blue-eyed hunk turned sexual predator during the early days of Hollywood.

Who slept with Mary Pickford's three husbands, her two brothers-in-law, and her brother? Durango Jones, that's who!

A raunchy sense of the picaresque was alive and thriving in early Hollywood.

It somehow reminds us of what Rabelais would have written IF HE'D BEEN SCREWING AROUND HOLLYWOOD IN THE 1920S.

Who's Who? Personalities you'll meet and tales you'll encounter within this book involve Antonio Moreno, Barbara LaMarr, Buddy Rogers, Ramon Novarro, Rudolph Valentino, Natacha Rambova, Pola Negri, the Gish sisters, Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Francis X. Bushman, Gary Cooper, Gloria Swanson, John Barrymore, that cross-dressing Julian Eltinge, Richard Dix, Rod LaRocque, Theda Bara, Thomas Ince, Tom Mix, William Boyd, William Desmond Taylor, Wallace Reid, Sessue Hayakawa, and many many more.

They're each viewed and interpreted through the lens of
studmuffin Durango Jones....and his seductively buxom alter ego, Lotte Lee.

Another Hot Texas Sunday

That's the jungle view, last night, from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony. You'd think Texas was the Evergreen State from all that foliage. Most of what you see being green will remain green til Fall comes. And then it all turns very very brown.

We've had many days in a row in the 90s. This is making the pool not quite as refreshing, as in the water is getting warm. If we get a string of 100 degree plus days the pool becomes unpleasantly warm.

I was not in the pool at the crack of dawn today. It was a couple hours after the crack that I got around to my daily swim. The magnolia trees by the pool are blooming. The flowers are these big white tulip shaped things that put off a very powerful stench that is quite pleasant to smell. Some of that is wafting through the open window at this very moment.

Mechanical Juan returned my van yesterday. I think I'll use it to go to River Legacy Park today to pedal the mountain bike trail. It should be all dried out. I'll have to be on the lookout for snakes. Those new sections of trail could easily have snakes lurking about. I've been more alert ever since last week's copperhead encounter.

Taking The Bus To The Tandy Hills Natural Area

The first time I took the bus to go hiking the Tandy Hills it turned into a bit of a boondoggle. I enjoyed riding the bus, the boondoggle, not so much.

Today I was convinced that the bus ride planner had a better plan and that it might be safe to ride the bus to the Tandy Hills, again, and have it not be a boondoggle ordeal.

Since we were going to the Tandy Hills Natural Area and Fort Worth buses run on natural gas, it all seemed very sensible.

So, just before noon my Saturday Tandy Hills Hiking Group headed to the bus stop. There I saw the wildflower you see in picture. I thought we'd passed the peak of wildflowers, but I saw plenty of them today, including some new ones, like the one by the bus stop.

This bus riding attempt we knew to get off the bus where we got back on it the boondoggle time. This made it a totally different entry to the Tandy Hills. Before we get there I have to say that it is a pretty fun ride going on these Fort Worth buses. At times the bus rocks back and forth and feels like it's going to tip over. I'm always the driver, so it is a good thing to get to look around without being the pilot. And you are perched high in the bus, which makes for a better view. In the picture we are heading south on oak tree lined Oakland Avenue.

The above view is from outside the Tandy Hills park zone, about 2 blocks from Oakland Avenue, looking west at beautiful downtown Fort Worth's stunning skyline. As you can see, there are still plenty of wildflowers coloring up the scenery.

The above is the new wildflower I saw hiking the Tandy Hills today. Speaking of hiking. It isn't all that hot today, only 90 when I left to get on the bus. The humidity is down. I was carrying a backpack, due to not having a vehicle to leave my stuff in, and extra water. Anyway, some combo of factors had me breathing way to hard a couple times and sweating like a fat pig in a sauna. Why do I always use that metaphor? It really makes no sense. Why would a pig be in a sauna, and how do I know if it'd sweat in one or not?

That annoying WeatherBug is going off with its annoying weather warning chirp. I've tried to alter the settings so I only get warned if the situation is extremely dire, like an incoming tornado. But I'm still getting warned about every little thing. The past 2 days when I click the flashing WeatherBug it has been a Level Orange Air Pollution Warning. I'm sure that's what it is now. I'll go see. Yup. And the other thing that is annoying is it takes way too long for WeatherBug to come up with the warning. I click it and about a minute later, or longer, I see the message. A tornado could arrive in the time it takes WeatherBug to give me a warning.

The air did not appear to be at all smoggy today.

We took the 11:52 #21 bus to the Tandy Hills. To get back we had to get to the Transfer Center by 1:28, I think, to catch the #2, heading east. If we missed the bus it would be a half hour wait for the next one. That might have been unpleasant. The #2 arrived on time and so did we. The driver on the ride back was a real wild one. She liked to accelerate fast and brake even faster. Each Fort Worth bus I've been on seems to have its own personality. The #2 did a lot of creaking and groaning.

I've only been on buses a few times. One time riding the, then free to ride, SKAT bus back in my old hometown of Mount Vernon. I don't remember the SKAT bus as being particularly fun. I've ridden the Seattle buses several times. They are totally different than the Fort Worth buses. As in they are way bigger. The ride can be a bit wild though if you've got a frisky driver.

I think my next Fort Worth bus adventure will be to go from here to the Fort Worth Stockyards.

So, that's been my exciting day so far, up early and in the pool, a bus ride that did not turn into a boondoggle and later I think I may go over to Miss Puerto Rico's. I've not done that in awhile.

To see what I mean about Seattle buses being way different than Fort Worth buses, watch the YouTube video I made last summer when I was in Seattle. It starts with a walk across the plaza in front of Westlake Center, then goes into Westlake Center, riding the escalators down to the bus tunnel, to ride a bus for a bit, before getting out in Pioneer Square.

Doodle 4 Google Won By Texas Girl

A 6th Grade Texas girl named Christin Engelberth, from San Antonio, won a contest called Doodle 4 Google. Kids from Kindergarten through 12th grade were asked to come up with a new logo for Google's homepage.

Because the world and our country are in such a mess Google asked the students to Doodle around the them "What I Wish for the World."

Below is Christin's winning Doodle...

A New Beginning

My doodle, "A new beginning," expresses my wish that in the current crisis discoveries will be made. That in these discoveries solutions will be found to help the Earth prosper once more. That those solutions will help the world get back on its feet, and create a better place for everyone.

Christin Engelberth
Bernard A. Harris Jr High School
San Antonio, TX

A sixth grade Texas girl wrote that? And designed that logo?

Google gave the 3 Doodle finalists a laptop computer.

Miscellaneous Melancholy & Other Woes

I'm being vexed by that Durango Roadtripping Blog I started awhile back. I can see visitor stats on the blogs, as in I can see how many visitors, where they came from, and sometimes, what they were searching for.

I get a list of the most recent 50 visitors. On this blog you are reading right now that list sometimes goes back only an hour or less, meaning more than 50 visitors an hour. At one point, due to some Atlanta Housewife Scandals my TV Blog was getting 50 visitors every 20 minutes or so. I had to turn off the incoming visitor sound effect due to it got way too annoying.

The new blog is the first time I've seen one of my blogs have a visitor/stats list that goes on for days, as in, just a second, I'll see how far back it goes...

"Calgary, Alberta arrived from google.ca on "DURANGO ROADTRIPPING: Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park" by searching for going to the sun highway.
17:34:53 -- 1 day 22 hours ago"

Now, I'll go look at how far the blog you are reading right now goes back...

"Wilmington, Delaware arrived from google.com on "Durango Texas: Biking the Trinity Trail in Fort Worth" by searching for trinity trails biking blog.
12:48:52 -- 3 hours 33 mins ago"

The new blog goes back almost 2 days, this one about 3 and a half hours. Today is not being a very busy day on this blog.

Writing those Roadtripping Bloggings is way too much like being in school and doing homework. I actually have to pay attention and get the info correct.

The search engines have the new blog indexed, the Google Web Tools are now generating what search queries bring up the blog and in what position, the ads started matching the content last week, I guess I'm being impatient. And being boring by writing about this particular subject which is vexing me at this point in time.

East Fort Worth Armed Robbers

I guess I needed something new to worry about. The Fort Worth Police have warned residents of my neighborhood that we are having an armed robber crime spree.

The robbers work as a two man team. One has a gun. They work after 10pm. They wait til you get out of your car and then pounce. We are being advised to be very careful if coming home or leaving after 10pm.

We are also being asked to call the police if we see anyone out after 10pm. I have not personally been a victim of a crime, well, there was that breaking in of my van that did a lot of damage. I forgot about that. There have been a few murders in my neighborhood. And there was that woman who drove home with a guy stuck in her windshield. And Lee Harvey Oswald is buried nearby, but then again, of late, I've decided he was a patsy and didn't do the dirty deed.

I don't remember the last time I got back here after 10pm. Oh, I remember, August 20, 2008, incoming from Seattle, I got picked up in Dallas after 9, didn't get back here til after 10pm.

It being Fort Worth and Texas, a lot of people pack heat here. That's slang talk for carrying a gun. I've never owned a gun. They make me nervous. Maybe if I plan to continue to live in this wild west lawless region I should get over my nervousness and start packing heat.

So, that's been my day in Texas, an afternoon swim in 90 degree temps and keeping an eye out for an armed robber.

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Presents Concerts In The Garden

UPDATE: I WAS OFF A WEEK WITH THE CONCERTS IN THE GARDENS SEASON OPENER. GO HERE FOR THE CORRECTED INFORMATION AND MORE.

I think tonight is the first of this year's series of Concerts in the Garden. Tonight, apparently due to popular demand, someone or something called Mingo Fishtrap will be making music in Fort Worth's Botanic Garden, along with the Fort Worth Symphony.

I don't understand some of the terms, but Mingo Fishtrap is known for its top-notch music which dances a line between "gutbucket soul, N'Awlins' grit-down funk and horn-fueled Motown pop."

I've been to a Concert in the Garden. My first summer in Texas. I was not yet quite used to the heat. Even though the concert takes place after the sun has gone down, it was still way too hot for my comfort zone. Now, I'd likely find it chilly.

The theme the night I went was Star Wars. The Star Wars theme music sounded pretty cool outdoors. People were dressed up like Star Wars characters, though I do not remember seeing a Princess Leia. One would have thought that would be a popular character due to the comfortable in hot temps skimpy outfit.

The night I was at Concerts in the Garden was the first time I ever saw fireflies. Those flying glowing bugs perfectly fit the theme. I tried to find a list of this year's themes and all I came up with was something called Laser Spectacular Night, a Gatlin Brothers Night and I think an Eagles Night, oh, and one called Jailhouse Rock Night. One would think that would mean Elvis, but some other band name was listed.

You can get special seating on chairs near the stage, or sit with the masses on the lawn. We chose the sit with the masses option. You can bring your own food or buy what's available at the concert. If I remember right there were quite a few feeding options.

The concert ends with a fireworks show. And then you go home. I remember by the time the fireworks went off I was no longer hot.

In The Dumps Over Water Pumps

Two days ago I got back here after riding my bike, stepped out of my van to hear a hissing noise mixed in with a sputtering spitting noise. This can't be a good thing, I thought.

I tried to open the hood, but couldn't. I tried to pry it open with a screwdriver. I will admit I am not mechanically inclined. Eventually I got the hood open. The first thing I did then was spray lubricant on the hood latching mechanism. I find spraying lubricant on something that is misbehaving is always my first go to solution. And once more it worked. Now the hood pops open effortlessly.

Now, what did I find under the hood. Well, there was a big hose from which a little pinprick of a hole was allowing water to escape. I went to an auto parts store and got a new hose. Then I found my mechanically inclined friend with tools, Sean, and he replaced the hose. All was hunky dory again.

Until yesterday. On my way back from Arlington I stopped for a walk at the Village Creek Natural Historic Area. When I stepped out of the vehicle I didn't like what I was smelling. I popped up the hood to see water oozing from a new location.

On the drive back here, after the walk, the engine temperature gauge began to move towards HOT during the short 3 miles back here. When I got here, I again lifted the hood to see water oozing from something near the bottom of the engine.

So, I called Juan, another mechanical guy I know and described what I saw. Juan told me my water pump is shot. He's going to replace it for me on Saturday.

It is a good thing to know mechanically minded people. My first car was a 65 Mustang Fastback. Worth a fortune now if in good condition. I got it used for $1,150. That car was nothing but trouble, but it was easy to work on, unlike these complicated modern vehicles.

Over the course of driving that Mustang I replaced the shocks, the carburetor, the fuel pump, installed a sound system,fixed the radiator, did the tuneups and even replaced the water pump. It was all relatively easy to do. But I hated doing it. It's been years since I've worked on a car.

I didn't even know that it was the water pump that was leaking that I was looking at on this currently disabled vehicle.

Dallas Cowboy Stadium Drive-by Shooting Photos

Earlier today I blogged that the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium sort of had its Grand Opening on Wednesday. I'd not seen the stadium, up close, in a couple months, so, today, since I had to be in Arlington anyway, and on Collins Street, I thought I'd drive by and see if I could see those End Zone Plazas where Jerry Jones is going to charge die-hard Dallas Cowboy fans 30 bucks to stand outside the stadium, to sort of have a live, game day experience.

Well, they are still working on the landscaping around the stadium, but the stadium, itself, does appear to be finished. I could see the big end zone glass doors. That's what you're looking directly at in the picture. There is nice looking signage for all the parking lots. I saw at least a dozen parking lots. And new lamposts on Collins Street by the stadium.

A new pedestrian bridge across the creek that runs between the Cowboy Stadium and the Ballpark in Arlington, connects the Ballpark's parking lots with the Cowboy lots. I saw other new paved pedestrian trails along the creek.

There has been none of the hoped for boom in new businesses in the area around the stadium. It's still mostly run-down pawn shops, restaurants, apartments that have seen better days, an awful lot of buildings and businesses that are run-down and have seen better days.

I think the area around the new stadium may generate some negative press when the rest of the country checks out this futuristic giant space ship looking thing that's been plopped down in a run-down American neighborhood.

Speaking of Collins Street (info only locals will understand), the new Collins Street bridge over I-30 looks complete. The new Collins Street eastbound exit is open, so I exited there for the first time, which is the first time I've seen the new bridge up close. Arlington is building, I think, 3 new bridges across the freeway to better connect the entertainment district that is on both sides of the freeway, making it pedestrian friendly.

So, the new Collins Street Bridge is very wide. I think I saw maybe 8 car lanes. And two wide, covered, separated pedestrian sidewalks. Now, what struck me as odd is neither end of this new bridge is near the entertainment district stuff like Six Flags, the Ballpark, the Cowboy Stadium, Hurricane Harbor. None of it. I think Whole Foods may be easily accessed from the north side, maybe. But on the south side this pedestrian access takes you into a neighborhood and Center Street. It made no sense to me. But the bridge looks cool, even though it seems to be mislocated. I would have taken a picture, but traffic did not let that happen.

Arlington's Reservations About Hybrid Vehicles

I went to Arlington this morning, to a Tarrant County Courthouse Sub-Station to get a vehicle registration renewal sticker for my windshield. The parking lot was almost full, I saw some empty spaces facing away from the sun, so I headed towards them.

When I got to the 4 empty spaces I saw they were reserved.

The signs said, "RESERVED FOR HYBRID AND LOW EMITTING FUEL EFFICIENT VEHICLES."

Since I was driving a vehicle that did not qualify for one of those empty spaces, I continued emitting pollution in my non-efficient vehicle, til I found a parking space. That somehow seemed sort of ironic to me.

Back to the registration renewal subject. The Texas method for this is very annoying. Each year you have to replace two big stickers on your windshield, the registration renewal and the emissions test sticker. They are not small stickers. It seems counter-intuitive that the State of Texas makes you put two vision blocking stickers on the thing the driver looks out while he is piloting his vehicle.

In Washington a much simpler method is used. You simply put your new license tabs on your license plate every year. Washington is not quite as polluting as Texas is, so, in the county I lived in I did not have to take my vehicle in for an emissions test. Some areas of Washington, like Seattle, do make you get your vehicle tested. I have no idea where the proof of that testing goes. I would hope common sense prevails up north and it's not a sticker on the windshield.

More irony, just as I'm typing about emissions, WeatherBug went off with an alert, warning that a Level Orange Ozone Alert has been issued. But it appears so clear and blue out there. It must be invisible pollution.

Fort Worth's Natural Gas Is Officially...DIRTY

I just got back from Arlington where I saw an amusing 'environmentally friendly' sign on my way to check out the now finished new Dallas Cowboy Stadium.

I checked email to find fresh incoming from Don Young regarding the Barnett Shale natural gas drilling air pollution.

By the way that's a guinea pig, as in we are all being test animals for the first time ever massive drilling operation in a highly populated urban zone.

Below is the message from Don Young....

The Jig is Up !!!!!! Natural Gas is officially...DIRTY.

The "clean natural gas" myth has been debunked by none other than the State of Texas.

Mike Moncrief, Ed Ireland, Chesapeake, XTO and other environmental criminals were wrong.

Barnett Shale gas is now, officially, just another dirty fossil fuel and a major contributor to DFW smog.

How much?

200 TONS per day !!!!!

Dr. Al Armendariz of SMU, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) all agree that oil and gas development in the Barnett Shale is about equal to all the vehicles in the 9 county DFW Metroplex.

This particular study is ONLY about air quality.

When you factor in the water and safety issues, greenspace destruction and other quality of life issues, natural gas production is a significant endangerment to public health and safety.

Environmental Justice has been denied to people, pets and wildlife in the Barnett Shale.

Now the jig is up.

We are ready for some justice.

Click to read Dr. Armendaiz' press release and TCEQ data results.

New Dallas Cowboy Stadium Open For Business

Some things seem to take forever to get built here, like the little lake, unneeded flood diversion channel and canals that Fort Worth is very slowly trying to see in their Trinity River Vision.

And then there is something like the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. It seems like just yesterday dozens of homes were taken and thousands of people displaced in what many believe to be the worst case of eminent domain abuse ever to occur in America.

This morning I got a typically ignorant comment to the YouTube video I made that shows what was destroyed to build the new stadium...

"I've lived in Arlington since 1966 and the apartments that were the vast majority of the buildings that were torn down were havens for criminals and crack dealers. That area of town was responsible for the highest total cost of police calls in all of Tarrant County. The last holdout homeowner received $1.5 million for her house. Everyone who lived or owned a business there got paid well. Scandal my ass."

First off, the last hold-out, Evelyn Wray, finally settled for well over $2 million. Second off, not everyone got paid well, several of the homeowners, who's homes were taken against their will, are still fighting in court for more money. Arlington has had to pay out many millions more than they'd originally planned, due to the dozens of court cases. Third off, if this area of Arlington was such a crime haven why would Wal-Mart build the nicest Wal-Mart Supercenter I've ever seen in that location? I'm sure Evelyn Wray and her neighbors love reading their former neighborhood was such a slum.

Before I interrupted myself I intended to say that unlike some public work projects that seem to take forever to get built, the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium seemed to get built at hyper-speed. The new stadium sort of had its Grand Opening on Wednesday.

There was no ribbon cutting. Instead Arlington Mayor Cluck pulled a lever that opened the giant glass doors at the west end's end-zone. Once the doors were open about 1,500 people walked inside. I do not know if any of the former residents, who's homes the stadium was built on, were among the invited guests. Or if any of them are getting free tickets to the first event in the new stadium, that being the June 6 George Strait, Reba McEntire concert.

Cowboy owner Jerry Jones was quoted as saying, "A building like this is beyond anything that me and my family could ever imagine."

If they were unable to imagine it, how did it manage to get built?

The new stadium cost $1.15 billion. Arlington taxpayers paid $325 million of the tab.

Jerry Jones talked about an interesting revenue raiser at Wednesday's door opening. Outside the stadium, past the end zone glass doors, there are end-zone plazas. Jones said they were designed to create an exciting atmosphere during events. He said that fans will be able to buy tickets to hang out on the plazas and the main concourse platforms at the Cowboy games this fall.

So, if you are not one of the 90,000 inside the new stadium watching, Jones says, "This plaza along with the platforms allow us to have as much as 30 and 40,000 people here that come to an NFL football game and be involved, and they may not be paying but $30, $29 a ticket to get that done."

Will people actually pay 30 bucks to mill around outside, watching the game on big video screens, just to somehow feel like you're part of the game? That will truly amaze me if it actually occurs.

Asparagus Cancer Treatment

Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, constantly sends me interesting tidbits, some word tidbits, some picture tidbits, some video tidbits and other miscellaneous tidbits that I'm not remembering right now.

This morning Alma sent me an article titled "Asparagus for Cancer," printed is a publication called Cancer News Journal in December 1979.

Today is the day I go to Sprouts Farmers Market while I'm up in Southlake. Today I guess I'll get some asparagus if it's available.

Below is the article....

Asparagus for Cancer

I am a biochemist,and have specialized in the relation of diet to health for over 50 years..Several years ago, I learned of the discovery of Richard R. Vensal, D.D.S. That asparagus might cure cancer.

Since then, I have worked with him on his project. We have accumulated a number of favorable case histories. Here are a few example S:

Case No. 1, A man with an almost hopeless case of Hodgkin's disease (cancer of the lymph glands) who was completely incapacitated. Within 1 year of starting the asparagus therapy, his doctors were unable to detect any signs of cancer, and he was back on a schedule of strenuous exercise.

Case No. 2, a successful businessman 68 years old who suffered from cancer of the bladder for 16 years. After years of medical treatments, including radiation without improvement, he went on asparagus. Within 3 months, examinations revealed that his bladder tumor had disappeared and that his kidneys were normal.

Case No. 3, a man who had lung cancer. On March 5th 1971, he was put on the operating table where they found lung cancer so widely spread that it was inoperable. The surgeon sewed him up and declared his case hopeless. On April 5th he heard about the asparagus therapy and immediately started taking it. By August, x-ray pictures revealed that all signs of the cancer had disappeared.. He is back at his regular business routine.

Case No. 4, a woman who was troubled for a number of years with skin cancer. She finally developed different skin cancers which were diagnosed by the acting specialist as advanced. Within 3 months after starting on asparagus, her skin specialist said that her skin looked fine and no more skin lesions. This woman reported that the asparagus therapy also cured her kidney disease, which started in 1949. She had over 10 operations for kidney stones, and was receiving government disability payments for an inoperable, terminal, kidney condition. She attributes the cure of this kidney trouble entirely to the asparagus.

I was not surprised at this result, as `The elements of material medical', edited in 1854 by a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania , stated that asparagus was used as a popular remedy for kidney stones. He even referred to experiments, in 1739, on the power of asparagus in dissolving stones.. Note the dates!

We would have other case histories but the medical establishment has interfered with our obtaining some of the records. I am therefore appealing to readers to spread this good news and help us to gather a large number of case histories that will overwhelm the medical skeptics about this unbelievably simple and natural remedy.

For the treatment, asparagus should be cooked before using, and therefore canned asparagus is just as good as fresh.

I have corresponded with the two leading canners of asparagus, Giant and Stokely, and I am satisfied that these brands contain no pesticides or preservatives.

Place the cooked asparagus in a blender and liquefy to make a puree, and store in the refrigerator. Give the patient 4 full tablespoons twice daily, morning and evening.

Patients usually show some improvement in from 2-4 weeks. It can be diluted with water and used as a cold or hot drink. This suggested dosage is based on present experience, but certainly larger amounts can do no harm and may be needed in some cases.

As a biochemist I am convinced of the old saying that `what cures can prevent'. Based on this theory, my wife and I have been using asparagus puree as a beverage with our meals.

We take 2 tablespoons diluted in water to suit our taste with breakfast and with dinner. I take mine hot and my wife prefers hers cold. For years we have made it a practice to have blood surveys taken as part of our regular checkups.

The last blood survey, taken by a medical doctor who specializes in the nutritional approach to health, showed substantial improvements in all categories over the last one, and we can attribute these improvements to nothing but the asparagus drink...

As a biochemist, I have made an extensive study of all aspects of cancer, and all of the proposed cures. As a result, I am convinced that asparagus fits in better with the latest theories about cancer. Asparagus contains a good supply of protein called histones, which are believed to be active in controlling cell growth. For that reason, I believe asparagus can be said to contain a substance that I call cell growth normalizer. That accounts for its action on cancer and in acting as a general body tonic.

In any event, regardless of theory, asparagus used as we suggest, is a harmless substance. The FDA cannot prevent you from using it and it may do you much good. It has been reported by the US National Cancer Institute, that asparagus is the highest tested food containing glutathione, which is considered one of the body's most potent anticarcinogens and antioxidants.

Tuesday Night's Texas Storm

The last thing I blogged about yesterday was the incoming storm that had started rumbling in the west.

By the time the storm reached my location the hail was pea-sized, not golf ball-sized. Golf ball-sized hail I've only seen once, during the tornado storm that blew through downtown Fort Worth in 2000. Golf ball-sized hail hitting the roof of a house causes a deafening pounding noise.

I just remembered another golf ball-sized hail storm. I'd been at a Dude Ranch down by Glen Rose for a BBQ catered by Riscky's. I had a Texas native named Julene in my vehicle. Julene had had a car destroyed by the infamous hail storm in Fort Worth that occurred during Mayfest sometime in the early 1990s.

Leaving the Dude Ranch we could see we were heading into a storm. By the time we got to Interstate 35, heading north, we were in wind and rain, but the lightning was still north of us. Gradually we caught up. Just before we got to the junction of I-35 and I-20 all hell broke loose. I'd already slowed to about 10 mph and then the hail started hitting. Big golf ball-sized hail.

Julene reacted in panic and climbed over the seat to get away from the windshield that she was sure was about to shatter. When she reacted like that it reminded me of Jackie Kennedy climbing onto the back of the limousine in the Zapruder film of the JFK assassination.

The hail bombardment was over quickly. Julene climbed back into the front seat. And then explained the panic. That was the first I'd heard of the Mayfest Hail Storm.

Washington #1 For Bikes, Texas #36

For two years in a row a group called the League of American Bicyclists has had the state I lived in previous to Texas, that being Washington, as the #1 Most Bike Friendly State.

Last year Texas was the 30th Most Bike Friendly State. But, unfortunately, this year Texas became less Bike Friendly, falling 6 spots to #36.

According to the LAB's website, "a Bicycle Friendly State promotes cycling through legislation, policies, programs, and by creating new places to ride, educating motorists and cyclists, and encouraging people to bike for transportation and recreation."

I guess I can see how it is that Washington is more bike friendly than Texas. Just comparing Seattle to Fort Worth for instance. Seattle has these things called sidewalks running along side virtually every street in the town. Fort Worth has some sidewalks, usually narrower than your average Texan, and a lot of dirt paths. Seattle and the county in which the town is located, that being King County, has quite a well-developed complex of biking trails.

Fort Worth and the county in which it is located, that being Tarrant County, has some paved biking trails, most of which run along the Trinity River.

Recently Fort Worth's city government announced a 30 year plan to expand Fort Worth's biking trails. When I read that I wondered why in the world it would take 30 years.

Currently, as far as I know, there is no 30 year plan, here in Fort Worth, to build sidewalks on the city's streets that currently lack them. I'm pretty sure if the League of American Sidewalk Walkers had a list ranking American City's Sidewalk Friendliness that Fort Worth would rank near, or at, the bottom.

Texas Weather: Severe Thunderstorm Watch Tonight

The extreme weather may be my favorite thing about Texas. I love a good storm. But I'm not in the mood for one tonight. I've already had myself enough fun today. Which was our hottest day of the year, hitting 95.

WeatherBug went off with a National Weather Service Storm Watch warning about an hour ago. Apparently we can expect 2.5 inches in diameter hail with gusts up to 70 mph. I'll batten down the hatches.

Just got a live report from a local telling me lightning could be seen to the west, as in by downtown Fort Worth. Heading this way. I'm still seeing blue sky out my window, but I did step out on the balcony and looked west to a very angry, dark wall of clouds.

Below is the dire NWS warning....

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 11:00PM CDT

Urgent - Immediate Broadcast Requested Severe Thunderstorm Watch Number 312 Nws Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 520 PM CDT Tue May 26 2009

The Nws Storm Prediction Center Has Issued A Severe Thunderstorm Watch For Portions Of

Small Part Of Southern Oklahoma Much Of North Central Texas

Effective This Tuesday Afternoon And Evening From 520 PM Until 1100 PM CDT.

Hail To 2.5 Inches In Diameter, Thunderstorm Wind Gusts To 70 Mph, And Dangerous Lightning Are Possible In These Areas.

The Severe Thunderstorm Watch Area Is Approximately Along And 80 Statute Miles East And West Of A Line From 15 Miles East Northeast Of Durant Oklahoma To 45 Miles East Southeast Of Brownwood Texas.

Preventing Prevention Magazine

I used to subscribe to a lot of magazines. Now I don't have a single magazine subscription. For a couple months I've been finding letters from Prevention magazine in my P.O. Box. I assumed they were junk mail, because, well they were junk mail, and tossed the letters in the trash.

Then today there was a letter in the P.O. Box that had no indication who it was from, just a return address of Westbury, NY.

I opened the letter to find a REQUEST FOR PAYMENT from something called the North Shore Agency, Inc. for a subscription to Prevention magazine that I never subscribed to.

The letter demanded $17.94 be paid immediately, claiming multiple billings had been sent for a magazine I don't think I've received. If one showed up at my P.O. Box I would have just thrown it away, deeming it to be junk mail, just like their bills.

Near as I can tell the gist of Prevention magazine is info to help you get or stay healthy. I'm already there. Why would I want this magazine. That and it's a Rodale Publication. I've long known to stay away from Rodale Publications.

The collection agency had a web address at www.prevention.com where I could pay my "bill." So, I went there hoping to find some place to complain. It was fairly easy to access my "account" to a subscription I did not subscribe to. I found a Customer Service email option.

So, I wrote the following...

"I did not subscribe to Prevention Magazine. I did not open any mail from Prevention until today when an envelope arrived that did not indicate who it was from. Inside was a dunning notice from a collection agency for a magazine I did not subscribe to. I don't think I have received any magazines. Had I found one in my PO Box I would have assumed it was junk mail and tossed it."

When I clicked to submit the message, the page would refresh, the message would still be there, with no feedback that the message had been sent. I hit the submit button at least 5 times.

Then I looked at my "account" again. I saw a "cancel subscription" option. If clicked that and then clicked "cancel subscription' figuring even though I did not subscribe maybe this would put an end to this nightmare. When I hit the submit button on the cancel option, that worked.

So, we'll see where this goes now. Likely it'll just get loonier and loonier, just like that whole Dallas Morning News Boondoggle.

Getting Naturally Friendly In Midlothian

This morning I found out I'm going to a Naturist Facility in Midlothian, with Yvonne, called Naturally Friends. Naturally Friends does not have a website, but a lot of similar facilities in Texas do have a website. I was surprised by the number of Naturist choices in the D/FW Metroplex zone within easy driving distance.

When I Googled for info about Naturally Friends I eventually found a map of the U.S. You click a state and a list of that state's Naturist Facilities pops up.

I lived in Mount Vernon, Washington. Mount Vernon was on the Washington list. Somehow it seemed I'd been down this same path of confusion before. I could not picture there being a Naturist Facility in Mount Vernon. So, I clicked on the website link to quickly realize I'd seen this before and that the actual Naturist Facility is not in Mount Vernon, but out at Lake McMurray, which is maybe 10 or 15 miles from Mount Vernon.

That's a picture of a waterfall at the Mount Vernon/Lake McMurray Naturist Facility. I used that photo for Miss Joely, who has never seen a waterfall in person. But will this summer.

I don't know when Miss Yvonne is taking me to Midlothian and Naturally Friends. Yvonne is fond of getting what she calls "nakey," but I've never gotten "nakey" with Yvonne with a bunch of strangers thrown into the mix. I'll try not to worry too much about it. I'm sure I'll survive.

Village Creek Grim Reaper With Snakes & The MuMu Lady

A long time ago I blogged about an encounter at Village Creek Natural Historic Area with an odd woman wearing a MuMu and walking with a strange gait while waving her arms and talking to herself.

I never saw her again. Til today. In the previous encounter I said "Hello, did you see the armadillos?" To which she said "No, did you see the strange bird?"

I said "No, I have seen no bird." She then asked if she could give me her "testimony." I politely declined, but she began it anyway. I listened for a little bit and then went on my way. A short time after that I came upon her again, sitting on a bench. She then told me the story of her encounter on that bench with a mountain lion. She'd been praying, looked up to see the mountain lion. She then loudly prayed SAVE ME JESUS! And the mountain lion walked away without eating her.

Now, what is really strange about that story is I believe it to be true. There had been many reports of a mountain lion sighting along the banks of the Trinity River. And there was one story of an encounter with an elderly lady at Village Creek. I believe that elderly lady was Miss MuMu.

During my bike ride, a couple days ago, at Village Creek, I had several bad encounters. Same thing today. A crew was trimming the jungle at the sides of the trail. One had a long scythe-like thing, you know that thing the Grim Reaper has with a big blade on the end of a stick. I thought the Grim Reaper guy saw me coming and was letting me pass, but right as I got to him he swung back the scythe-like thing, in my direction. I let out a yell and disaster was averted.

A short distance from the Grim Reaper encounter I had a snake encounter. I was biking real fast, maybe 20 mph, down an incline that leads to the second dam/bridge, when I nearly ran over a well-camouflaged snake. I hit the brakes and got out the camera. My only copperhead encounter in Texas took place in about this same location. That copperhead was a big snake who would not get off the trail. Another guy had spotted the snake and warned me to stop. I was roller blading. Eventually the snake got bored and slithered away.

I forgot to mention, that's Miss MuMu lady in the picture at the top. I came upon her a second time today as she was entering the part of the trail that goes through Interlochen. She must live in one of those cool houses on a canal. I was coming up behind her, I don't think she can see very well. There's a bench at the top of the slope that leads from the dam/bridge. She sort of crawled on to the bench, getting down on her knees in the down on all fours position. It was very un-ladylike.

I pedaled on, down the slope, then hit the brakes and turned around, thinking I gotta see if I can get a picture of this. I was far enough away that she would not have been able to tell I was snapping pics. I took the pics using the maximum optical and digital zoom.

The other regular Village Creek character was there today too. Log Man. He's an older guy who walks while swinging a thick stick, like a long log. It's a little unsettling when he's swinging that thing and you bike up on him from behind. I don't think he hears very well.

Italian Police Investigate Gar the Texan

I went for my usual crack of dawn swim and then while sitting here eating breakfast I saw that Gar the Texan had freshly blogged.

When Gar the Texan was in Italy a few weeks ago he told some amusing tales of drunken misadventures and troubling train rides.

Gar the Texan had to go back to Italy a few days ago. He is now safely back in Texas where he disturbed the Memorial Day peace and quiet.

While he was in Italy, this time, Gar the Texan came under police surveillance. Why, I do not know. Suspected of being a terrorist? He no longer has an odd hairstyle that could get police attention. He used to be a mullet head, which could probably land you in jail in fashion conscious Italy.

By his own admission that boy would likely not be married, at this point in time, had he not listened to my suggestion that he lose the mullet. Has Gar the Texan thanked me for this? I don't remember for sure...

Memorial Day Pizza

When my physical therapist, Dr. Layla, read on my blog that I was having pizza for Memorial Day she sent out an urgent query, wondering what had been done to Durango. Due to Dr. Layla's erroneous belief that pizza is not health food.

I beg to differ with the doctor. She is always telling me I get way too much exercise and that I eat way too many fruits and vegetables and other healthy stuff.

But, for Dr. Layla to assume the consumption of a pizza is a fall off the health food bandwagon, well, it just makes me question her credentials and wonder if she might not be just some sort of quack pretending to be a physical therapist.

My Memorial Day Pizza was a whole wheat pie. Covered with a tomato paste base. Tomatoes are rich in lypocene. There was a chopped up red pepper on the pizza, also rich in lypocene. BBQ chicken breast was the meat product on the pizza. Other vegetables included green pepper, onion, garlic, broccoli, spinach, green and black olives, fresh tomato (more lypocene) and mushrooms. On top of all that was a smattering of low fat Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Now, how can any legitimate doctor not see that this was one very healthy pizza? It perplexes me.

Memorial Day Moms, Humidity & Pizza

I've only got a few minutes before my Memorial Day pizza comes out of the oven. It is 84 and very humid here this afternoon. We had some rain overnight, hence the humidity. It seems sort of counter-intuitive to be baking a pizza in a 400 degree oven while you're running the A/C.

I was up before the crack of dawn again, which means that once again I went swimming as the sun came up. This seems to be a good way to start the day.

Due to the rain, the Tandy Hills would not have been hikeable today, most likely, so a walk around Oakland Lake Park substituted. A lot of people were there having their Memorial Day picnic.

I called my mom while I walked. Even though I didn't get gas. My one long time reader may remember that I call my mom whenever I get gas to tell her how much it cost. Yesterday I got email from my mom and dad telling me how much their Phoenix gas cost. I figured this was a hint that I'd not called with a gas call in awhile.

Yesterday I got two Facebook messages from long ago high school friends telling me they'd lost their moms and how it hard it was on both their dads. That was sort of odd to hear that from two people on the same day. I think that was what motivated me to make a non-gas related call to my mom on Memorial Day.

That's been my exciting Memorial Day. It started with an urgent cry for help from my Favorite Blogging Co-Conspirator. She finds the most interesting ways to mess things up. I find it quite enjoyable fixing them.

And now it's time for pizza.

Charlie Company Memorial in Fort Worth's Botanic Garden

Last Fall I walked all over Fort Worth's Botanic Garden looking at the Fall Foliage which was being particularly colorful. Tucked away, way off the beaten path, I came upon a lonely, neglected memorial.

It being Memorial Day I thought I'd tell the story of this Fort Worth Memorial to Charlie Company.

Way back in August of 1967 an 18 year old soldier named James David "Shorty" Haas sent a letter home from where he and his group of fellow U.S. soldiers were hunkered down deep in the steaming jungles of the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

The troops were war-weary, had suffered months of sleep deprivation and constant enemy fire. They were getting discouraged. The letter James Haas sent home asked for some sort of encouragement, some token of acknowledgment to raise the morale of his comrades.

Somehow the letter soon found its way to DeWitt McKinley, the mayor, at the time, of Fort Worth. He was touched by the simple humility of the hometown soldier caught in the throes of war, asking for nothing but a glimmer of hope.

The mayor and the people of Fort Worth responded. In September, Fort Worth's answer to the letter began to arrive in Vietnam. Duffle bags stuffed with cookies, cakes and letters of support arrived weekly. Among the many letters sent to the soldiers was one proclaiming that the City of Fort Worth had officially adopted the soldiers, formally known as Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade.

For the soldiers, this flood of reassurance came at a particularly difficult time. One soldier later commented, "You have no idea how that compassion turned us around."

Thirty-four years later, on July 6, 2001, 21 surviving members of Charlie Company met in Fort Worth's Botanic Garden to again say "Thank You" to the people of Fort Worth. Sadly, among the missing, was James David "Shorty" Haas, who's letter had touched so many.

President Obama's Wolf T-Shirt

Apparently a black t-shirt, sold on Amazon.com, that has 3 wolves howling at the moon on it, has gone viral, which means a lot of people are ordering this t-shirt, some, I suppose, due to the hype that wearing the t-shirts gives a guy magical women attracting powers.

I assume the photo of President Obama wearing one of the wolf t-shirts is not faked. The photo is on the Amazon page that sells the t-shirts.

Below is an amusing comment from a guy who wore his wolves howling at the moon t-shirt to Wal-Mart with magical results....

This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened. After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called methh. I told them no, because they didn't have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn't settle for the first thing that comes to him.

I arrived at Wal-mart, mounted my courtesy-scooter (walking is such a drag!) sitting side saddle so that my wolves would show. While I was browsing tube socks, I could hear aroused asthmatic breathing behind me. I turned around to see a slightly sweaty dream in sweatpants and flip-flops standing there. She told me she liked the wolves on my shirt, I told her I wanted to howl at her moon. She offered me a swig from her mountain dew, and I drove my scooter, with her shuffling along side out the door and into the rest of our lives. Thank you wolf shirt.

Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women.

Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the 'guns'), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark.

The World's Biggest Butt In Trafalgar Square

Well, I think I may have solved the "World's Biggest Butt" mystery. I've mentioned many a time how people come to this blog by Googling various search strings which had me thinking they were looking for the biggest human butt in the world.

But, this morning I learned that the UK is in the midst of campaign to get smokers to dispose of their cigarette butts properly, rather than dropping the butts on the ground.

Apparently a lot of pounds are spent every year picking up cigarette butts dropped all over England.

So, to publicize this anti-butt dropping campaign, the World's Biggest (Cigarette) Butt was constructed on Trafalgar Square in London.

I wondered why so many people, all over the world, thought somehow that there would be photo documentation of the biggest human butt, I mean, how would that info be gleaned? But, looking for a photo of the biggest cigarette butt in the world after you heard mention made of it, I guess that makes sense.

I don't know when the World's Biggest Butt appeared on Trafalgar Square or if it is still there.

Big Butts, Ugly Women & The Hippie Hollow Nude Beach

I've mentioned before how there are strange patterns of search strings that bring people to this blog. The last couple days, once again, it's been a world-wide search for the "Biggest Butt in the World," that people are looking for more than anything else.

From the blog stats I can see that people in Saudi Arabia have a big butt fixation.

This morning I saw three people came to this blog after Googling something like "insomnia caused by ugly fat woman." I thought to myself, why would my blog come up with that search string? So, I typed "insomnia caused by ugly fat woman" into the search window and was appalled to see my blog comes up as #1 when someone searches for "insomnia caused by ugly fat woman."

I'd forgotten I'd blogged on this subject after I had a nightmare of being chased by several scary, ugly, fat women. The scary, ugly, fat woman, who was the source of the nightmare, bears an uncanny resemblance to the guy in the picture.

I'm likely going to have an insomnia episode tonight due to this subject being brought back to the forefront of my consciousness. I hope it doesn't turn into another sleepwalking trauma.

Speaking of traumas, I can see people are looking for info about Hippie Hollow, likely looking for something different to do this Memorial Day. If you've never gone to a nude beach, this might just be the different thing to do that you are looking for. If it weren't such a long drive to Hippie Hollow I might go there on Monday. Nothing I like better than communing with nature.

Which means I think I'll go pedal the mountain bike trail at River Legacy Park today.

Wal-Mart's Institutionalized Thievery Strikes Again

Yes, I realize my one longtime reader is rolling her eyes and thinking he's not going to go on about Wal-Mart sucking again, is he?

Why, yes I am. Earlier this month I blogged several times about how Wal-Mart, system-wide, was charging $2.00 for a gallon of milk, when their shelf price signs had it at $1.98. After the 3rd or 4th time of being overcharged 2 cents, I went to Customer Service, assuming the longstanding practice of totally refunding the price of a mistake was still in play, but instead I just got my 2 cents worth back. And the satisfaction of blogging about it.

I then got a very long comment from some guy who I found out later has a Wal-Mart Sucks Blog. He referred to Wal-Mart's pricing scams, which have become chronic, as Wal-Mart's Instituionalized Thievery.

Yes, I know I said I wasn't going to shop at Wal-Mart anymore, but, other than Sprouts, where am I to go? Sprouts is 12 miles north. I'm not going to go there every time I need something. And today I needed bread. I got only 6 items. Of the items, the bread was the only item I had noticed what the price was.

I usually get Wal-Mart brand whole wheat bread. For a long time, for some reason, Wal-Mart wasn't stocking their Wal-Mart brand whole wheat bread. They substituted locally made Mrs. Baird's whole wheat bread for the same price, that being $1.47. Mrs. Baird's whole wheat bread is usually $1.78.

Today the Wal-Mart brand whole wheat bread had gone missing again. And once again, there was Mrs. Baird's in its place, with $1.47 once more as the price.

But, when I checked out, the bread scanned at $1.78, a 31 cent difference. I know you're thinking if I went to the bother of going to Customer Service to get my 2 cents worth I certainly would do that again to get a whopping 31 cents. Well, you would be wrong. Even though there was no line in Customer Service I wasn't going to waste time to get a measly 31 cents.

I have other ways of making Wal-Mart pay for their Institutionalized Thievery...

Looking for Hogs, Studs & Suds at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie

I noticed this billboard a couple days ago, driving back from hiking the Tandy Hills. From the quick drive-by glance I could tell it had something to do with Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie. That's a horse race place.

It was the Hogs, Studs, and Suds part that perplexed me. Hogs I figured were motorbikes. Suds I figured was beer. But Studs? The party with me was certain Studs referred to the guys and their Hogs. I suggested that Studs must refer to horses. It being a horserace track, that seemed logical. I was told that not all racehorses are Studs, that some are Fillies.

I don't know farm talk so I had to ask what a Filly was. Maybe the Lone Star Park only races Studs. It being Texas that makes sense. I did not know there were girl race horses. Perhaps I should doubt the rectitude of my source.

I Googled "Hogs Studs Suds Lone Star Park" and still don't know what the "Stud" part of the sign refers to. But I did learn on Memorial Day you can pay $5 to get in the park ($3 kids 4-12, under 3 free). When you are in the park apparently you get to experience "the richest day of Texas Thoroughbred racing on Lone Star Park Million Day."

I don't know if that means there is a million dollar prize, or what. Being at Lone Star Park for Million Day you have a chance to win a Harley-Davidson Motorcycle, hence the Hog part of the sign. You'll also have the opportunity to get quite drunk, sampling more than 100 microbrews at the Studs and Suds Micro-Brew Festival. So now we know why Suds is on the sign.

But why Studs? A band called Professor D will play during the festival at the Courtyard of Champions. Maybe Professor D is the Stud.

Tandy Hills, Wildflowers, Hamburgers & Broccoli

It's 3pm, 84 degrees, windows closed, A/C running. It's Saturday, so I did my usual Saturday thing and went hiking on the Tandy Hills.

I don't know what happened but I lost a couple hours this morning. This had me in the Tandy zone way later than usual. Being later had it also being hotter, as in today I was sweating like a Fat Pig in a sauna.

The first thing I did when I got back here was to jump in the pool. The water was way cooler than the air. Which was a good thing.

The Tandy Hills are being about as green as they are going to get before gradually returning to being brown. Last week's rain seems to have caused a fresh crop of wildflowers to bloom. I thought they'd passed their peak, but today the prairie was being real colorful again.

Big Ed did not like my abridged version of his long-winded Lake Powell fish story that I blogged about this morning and put on my Durango Roadtripping Blog. I thought I improved the story. Well, at least made it so it couldn't be used as a sleep aid.

I'm hungry, I must go eat a hamburger now. With broccoli.

Lake Powell Fish Catching Passive Aggressiveness & Scarborough Faire

In my email inbox this morning I found a long-winded tale, by Big Ed, tall taling about catching a single solitary fish at Utah's Lake Powell during a houseboating trip.

The tale was way too long to use as a blogging, so I re-wrote a much shorter version and put it on my Durango Roadtripping Blog. A blog which is starting to seem way too much like being back in school doing homework. So many facts to check on.

Also in the inbox this morning was something from my Favorite Blogging Co-Conspirator that can only be thought of as being cruel. She knew I was lamenting over wanting to go on a road trip or hike up a real mountain or swim at a saltwater beach, hopefully combining all three. So, what does Miss Sassypants send me? A picture of Fort Walton Beach where she spent several days lounging recently.

If that's not passive-aggressiveness, I don't know what is.

There is no saltwater beach in my future today, but I did go swimming, again, this morning at the crack of dawn. That is a pathetically weak substitute. Maybe I'll go for a long walk on the beach at Lake Grapevine today, which is another pathetic substitute, but at least it's a beach and if it's windy there'll be waves with whitecaps.

This weekend and Memorial Day is your last chance to go to Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival for the year. I've only been to the Faire once, several years ago, but that day and its aftermath had a lingering effect. It's been awhile since I've gotten a death threat, so that's a good thing.

80 degrees. Time to shut the windows.

Nearly Killed At Village Creek Crime Scene

I had too much to get done this morning. By the time I was able to escape it was past noon. I was going to go to River Legacy Park to ride the mountain bike trail, but that would have taken too long, so I went to my nearest pedaling place, that being Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

When I was at Village Creek a couple days ago I was not pleased to find myself biking over the remains of a window. Likely a break-in theft attempt looking for valuables, which you are warned not to leave in your vehicle because there have been problems previously.

So much so that a pole with security cameras were added some time ago. The sign on the security pole says...

SECURITY NOTICE
PARKING AREA
SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS
MAXIMUM ENFORCEMENT
OF ALL ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES

The first time I saw this it just seemed real silly to me. "Enforcement of all illegal activities?" What does that verbiage even mean? And am I supposed to believe that someone actually monitors these cameras? If so, I've mooned that person a time or two, as I quickly change from biking shorts to non-biking shorts. I guess mooning the security camera must not be an illegal activity requiring maximum enforcement.

As soon as I stepped out of my van I saw there'd been two more windows broken. From the position of the glass I could tell they were side windows on the side not facing the street. Since there is nothing of value in my van, I left the window open today.

I had several "incidents" while biking today. First off groundskeeping crews were all over the place, trucks were driving the trail. They can be hard to get around.

Coming to the first bridge/dam I could see 3 bikers on the other side. I knew that by the time I was on the other side, they'd be coming down the hill fast towards me. I met the first 2 females with no problem, but the male behind them was looking at his odometer and heading straight at me at high speed. I had no room to maneuver out of his way. I hollered, he looked up and swerved, narrowly avoiding a head on collision.

About a mile after nearly being killed in a head-on bike wreck there was a group of 2 moms with 5 little kids. I hollered "coming up on you." The moms got all frantic, yelling at the kids not to move. I slowed way down, then, just as I got right to them, a little boy, who had only been paying attention to a spider, suddenly backed up when the spider moved towards him. I had to slam on the brakes or I would have hit the little guy.

The next weird thing is they'd been mowing the sides of the trail. This leaves some grass residue, which would likely desiccate and blow away within 24 hours. But, rather than let that happen, a person stands on the bed of a pickup, while the driver drives as the bed stander holds a leaf blower and blows some of the grass off the pavement.

I thought, why waste gas doing such a thing? Not to mention the pollution, both noise and air, that those air blowers put out.

So, that was my bike ride today. I almost died and I almost killed a little kid and I was at a crime scene where there is maximum enforcement of all illegal activities. It's been a good day in Texas.

Fort Worth Soldier Zachary Boyd Battles Taliban In Pink Boxers

I am sure the Fort Worth Star-Telegram covered this story, since it involved a Fort Worth soldier. I no longer get the Star-Telegram so I no longer get to marvel at that paper's odd need to mention the Fort Worth connection, no matter how tenuous, to a celebrity or person in the news. You could be married to someone who once lived in Fort Worth and that would be enough of a connection for the Star-Telegram to need to mention it.

Long ago I webpaged some examples of that paper's goofiness, including funny uses of their patented "Green With Envy" verbiage. As in towns far and wide are green with envy because a soldier from Fort Worth battled the Taliban in Afghanistan out of uniform, clad in pink I Love NY boxer shorts and flip-flops.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates (if I were like the Star-Telegram I would somehow insert that Gates was a neighbor of mine when I lived in Washington) heaped praise on a Fort Worth soldier on Thursday. Earlier this month a picture was snapped of the soldier hurrying to defend his post, wearing pink boxers and flip-flops.

Secretary Gates yesterday said he wants to meet the soldier and shake his hand the next time he visits Afghanistan. Gates said, "Any solider who goes into battle against the Taliban in pink boxers and flip-flops has a special kind of courage. I can only wonder about the impact on the Taliban. Just imagine seeing that a guy in pink boxers and flip-flops has you in his cross-hairs. What an incredible innovation in psychological warfare."

Army Specialist Zachary Boyd, 19, ran out of his sleeping quarters May 11 to help his other platoon members who were under fire from Taliban positions shooting at their base in Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan. A photographer was on the scene. When the picture showed up on the front page of the New York Times, Zachary told his mom and dad, here in Fort Worth, that he might lose his job if President Obama saw that he was out of uniform.

To which Secretary Gates said, "I can assure you that Specialist Boyd's job is very safe indeed."

Memorial Day Weekend at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center

I've said it before, I'll say it again, during my now decade long exile in Texas the funnest thing I've done, where I laughed more than anything else I've laughed at in Texas, was my drive through Fossil Rim Wildlife Center.

If you're in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex zone and you've not been to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center and you're looking for something in the area to do to kick off the start of the summer season, you can not go wrong with Fossil Rim. Especially if you have kids.

Fossil Rim is down by Glen Rose, near Dinosaur Valley State Park, which is also a good getaway if you've never seen the dinosaur tracks in the Paluxy River bed. The hiking and biking in Dinosaur Valley may be the best I've experienced in Texas.

At Fossil Rim you go into the Visitors Center to buy your tickets and feed, if you want to feed the animals. On weekend and holidays the entry fee is at its highest. It may sound a tad expensive in these troubled times, with adults 12 - 21 $22.95, kids 3 -11 $16.95 and seniors $19.95.

I do not know, what with Fossil Rim qualifying 12 year olds as adults, if the 12 year olds are allowed to buy adult beverages at Fossil Rim.

The entry fee may seem steep, you will only think that before you see what you get for your money. After that it will seem like a bargain and the money will seem well spent.

After I webpaged my visit to Fossil Rim I was sent an annual pass good for one year and two guest passes. I did not get around to using the pass. I had good intentions. I wanted to go back and take video. But, I've not been back.

For more pictures, including more zebra pictures, go to my Eyes on Texas website to see why Fossil Rim Wildlife Center is the funnest thing I've done in Texas.

Have yourself a good, happy Memorial Day Weekend.

Alma Sings Sunset Sounds In Port Aransas

Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast sent me a cool picture this morning that I felt compelled to share.

In the picture Alma and her conga drummer, Luis, are playing at Sunset Sounds at Patsy Jones Amphitheater at Roberts Point Park in Port Aransas.

That is the Lydia Channel behind Alma, with a big freighter going through the channel. While Alma was singing and Luis was drumming Mother Nature was blowing gusts up to 52 mph.

Below is Alma's America's Got Talent YouTube Audition....

Swimming In Potholes In Fort Worth

Another beautiful morning in Fort Worth.

This new swimming at the crack of dawn is being a real good thing.

Speaking of cracks. We have a lot of cracks in the pavement here in this zone of Texas. And potholes. And leaks. Sometimes all three at the same time.

Yesterday, when I turned on to View Street to go hiking at the Tandy Hills, I saw a lot of water spewing from yet one more water pipe leak. The leak ran into the park, eventually finding its way to a usually dry creek bed, turning the dry creek into an active flow moving a lot of gallons of wasted water per second. Appalling in a zone where water is something you don't want to be wasting.

On the road by where I live there are several potholes that are caused by water leaks. The potholes get filled with asphalt, like they were yesterday, and then the water gradually erodes the asphalt away and the pothole returns. There seems to be no effort to find the source of the water leak.

This problem seems to have turned epidemic in some areas of this town. I've read the water delivery infrastructure is ancient, in some places, and in need of replacement. This must be the case with the View Street leaks.

So, that's my day so far, swimming at dawn and being perplexed by leaking potholes.

Dallas/Fort Worth Level Orange Ozone Alert & Yellow Wildflowers

Despite being under a Level Orange Air Ozone Alert here in Fort Worth, I decided to risk doing damage to my lungs and other vital organs by going hiking at the Tandy Hills Natural Area at noon.

That's the noon view of beautiful downtown Fort Worth's stunning skyline. The air does not look very dirty, to me, in Ol' Dirty Town, today. Maybe it's invisible air pollution.

The Tandy Hills wildflowers seem to have had a resurgence, there was a lot of color on the ground today, including a big yellow flower that looked sort of sunflower/daisy-like.

Today whilst hiking it occurred to me that the Prairie Fest powers that be should have an Easter Egg Hunt during the Fest. With eggs on the trails, only, so that the little buggers don't go traipsing on the prairie grass. Eggs all over the park, with a couple golden prize winning eggs. Or something like that. You wouldn't want really little kids on the trails so there'd need to be their own special egg hunt on the grass somewhere, but kids 10-18, they'd be old enough to hurry along the trails looking for eggs, with some over exerting parents stumbling to keep up.

My backache woe is totally gone, hiking was good, semi-HOT, requiring that clothing be minimalized, and starting yesterday, even though it gets few visitors, so far, I have gotten the type feedback I was looking for to validate I was on the right track, so the new Durango Roadtripping idea is working out.

Bald Heads, Back Aches, Mountain Biking, Swimming, Hiking & American Idol

Yeah, that's me with my newly shaved bald head and a backache. Yesterday I said I was going to Sprouts Farmers Market around noon and then going to River Legacy Park to go mountain biking in the late afternoon.

The mountain biking did not happen. I believe I had over done a yoga stretch and my back muscle rebelled. The rebellion took place while I was in Sprouts pushing a cart full of fruit and vegetables. I believe my back seized up in what is known as a spasm. It hurt.

Having my back go out on me is the worst. I'd rather recover from a painful surgery than a backache. The pain I was feeling, that came in bursts, was the pain I've felt before that leads to my back going out. So, I was not pleased.

I got out of Sprouts and made it back here, took some ibuprofen and did the stuff I've learned to do to thwart this type disaster.

By the time I sat down to watch American Idol, a half hour after the show started, my back was feeling no pain. It did not take me long, fast forwarding through boring parts, before the DVR was caught up to being live with American Idol. I grew bored waiting for commercials to end.

So, I offed it and went to bed. It didn't matter to me who won the thing, but I was a bit surprised this morning to see that Adam Lambert was not the winner. It seemed like he'd been already crowned months ago.

By morning, no back woes, up way before dawn, in the pool as the sun came up.

But, fresh woes, WeatherBug just went off with a Level Orange Air Pollution Alert. This means if you are old, infirm, have breathing problems or just hate air pollution that you should avoid breathing today. I hit bingo in at least 2 of those categories.

I wonder if this Level Orange thing should stop me from going hiking the Tandy Hills today. Probably not.

Seas Of Peaks & Midland Flatlands

Like I said earlier today, when you get high in the Cascades you see this phenomenon called "The Sea of Peaks," where there are so many mountain tops, extending as far as you can see, that it looks like whitecaps on a rough sea.

The young lady from Midland, whom I mentioned on my Roadtripping Blog, had asked me if I knew of any waterfalls within 2 hour roadtrip distance from Dallas/Fort Worth, commented on "The Sea of Peaks," saying...

"The pic of you lying on the flat rock over looking your beautiful descriptive simile of white caps on the sea...makes me feel like I'm on the seashore of endless worlds...truly inspiring and if doesn't want to make a body move...I don't know what will...:)"

I've driven by Midland, Texas a time or two, both heading west and east. Flatest, most mountain-free stretch of land I've ever seen. But there are sort of mountains within easy driving distance of the flatlands of Midland. The Young Lady who has never seen a waterfall went to those mountains a few days ago and blogged about it.

In the picture above those are some of "The Sea of Peaks" as seen from the Mount Pilchuck Lookout. Mount Pilchuck is pretty much in the Cascade foothills on the far west side of the Cascade Range. From the summit, on a clear day, you can see the Seattle skyline, Puget Sound, Mount's Baker, St. Helens, Rainier, Adams and others.

Click here to seem more Cascade Mountain pictures, including some of me taking my nephews on Dangerous Adventures that their parents knew nothing about.

LOST Facebook TV Star Friend

Just moments ago I blogged my sad lament about wanting to be at a beach, on top of a mountain or on a roadtrip. Actually combining all three would be great.

After I finished my sad lament I saw I had a Facebook message. When I logged into Facebook I saw the online chat thing was open. My one longtime reader may remember me mentioning a few days ago the pleasant surprise of getting Facebook Friended from a high school classmate, which then led me to learn she is now a TV and Movie Star. The TV part being on LOST.

Her message to me in the chat thing was commenting on me being up at 4am and saying I must be an early riser. I suspect I have some time setting wrong, because I was not up at 4am, though I did get up before dawn today.

I then saw on that Facebook Wall thing, or whatever it is called, that Beth had added some more pics for LOST fans. My favorite was the pic with Sayid. The one with Hurley is cute too. There were pics with Dr. Jack Shepherd, Danielle, the French Woman, Walt and I forget who else.

Like I've said before, I've never had a TV Star Facebook Friend before. Let alone one asking me if I'm an early bird. It's got me all atwitter. And wondering why nothing exciting ever happens to me, like being on a TV show? I suppose one must make some sort of effort for such a thing to happen. Making an effort has never been one of my outstanding traits.

A Warm Saltwater Beach, Mountain Peak, Roadtripping & Woeful Me

My favorite Blogging Co-Conspirator has caused me to think of being at a beach of late. Though I may get in water in the form of a swimming pool, like I did real early this morning, as in crack of dawn early, I can not remember when the last time was that I was at a saltwater beach, with the water warm enough to swim.

But, as much as the thought of saltwater beach swimming makes me want to get out of this landlocked zone and see some open water, even worse, of late I have found myself writing about roadtrips I've gone on in the past.

That is causing me to dredge up some rather fond memories, which is causing me to want to go on a roadtrip real bad. I have not been on a long roadtrip since July of 2001 when I drove, solo, from Fort Worth to Seattle for my mom and dad's 50th. And back.

I can't even remember the last time I've been out of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. That's pathetic. I occasionally used to take a short roadtrip up to Ada, Oklahoma to see one of my best friends, dating all the way back to early grade school. But last summer she moved back to Washington. I now know no one in Oklahoma, as far as I know.

All this thinking about roadtrips and looking at old pictures is also making me want to go on a real hike on a real mountain. Just like how I can't remember the last time I've been out of this Metroplex, I can not remember the last time I hiked up a real mountain. The picture at the top is me laying on top of Hidden Lake peak, looking down at Hidden Lake. This is deep into the North Cascades. When you get high in the Cascades you see this phenomenon called "The Sea of Peaks," where there are so many mountain tops, extending as far as you can see, that it looks like whitecaps on a rough sea.

I guess last summer's hike at Mount Rainier sort of counts as hiking on a mountain. But not really. As in no mountain top got reached. No Sea of Peaks was seen.

Today I'm taking a short roadtrip up to Southlake and Sprouts Farmers Market. And then maybe this afternoon I may take an even shorter roadtrip to River Legacy Park to pedal the mountain bike trail. It is now dried out from our recent deluge. All this beach, mountain and roadtrip talk has me feeling a bit depressed. I need an endorphin boost.

Tattered American Flag At Wal-Mart Again & Rush Limbaugh

What is it with Wal-Mart and the U.S. Flag? The flag at my neighborhood Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market was all tattered today.

Maybe that's the new style of the flag, sort of to better symbolize the current tattered state of the United States.

Earlier today I mentioned I woke up feeling agitated. When I was biking today I figured out why.

First off, I no longer am reading a daily paper. I had not thought about it, but I'm really getting a lot less news. One would think that would make me less agitated. But more often than not, what I read in the paper was just interesting, it didn't agitate me.

So, here's the problem. I've been reading more books. I think it may be my choice of what I read that gets my agitated. A couple days ago I finished The Zapruder Film: Reframing JFK's Assassination by David R. Wrone. I was already of the opinion that Lee Harvey was a patsy. This Zapruder Film book sealed the deal. That and actually seeing the Zapruder Film.

After the Zapruder Film book is when I really made a bad choice and started reading When Giants Fall: An Economic Roadmap for the End of the American Era by Michael J. Panzner. This is a very new book. The author details in excruciating detail how big the trouble is that America is supposedly in. The book is so recent it covers the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG Bailouts. The guy predicted, accurately the next problems that cropped up.

By about page 80 I'd grown so tired of the doom and gloom naysaying that I decided to go back to my previous point of view, that being that America has weathered some rather tough times before and has always come out okay. The guy lost me when he went into all the future conflicts, as in wars, America will be facing, dealing with the new Superpowers of China, India and Brazil.

So, that guy had me agitated. And then there is Rush Limbaugh. Back when he was not on the opposition side of things, I found him pretty amusing most of the time. I don't often agree with him, but I enjoyed listening to him spew his bombastic, well-spoken version of reality.

And then Obama gets elected. That turned Limbaugh nasty. At times the rhetoric seems so inflammatory, to me, that it's almost like the man is inciting an insurrection.

It's so bad that I worry that Limbaugh may be poisoning the mind of some nutjob who decides to turn all John Wilkes Booth on us, demented into thinking he is saving America from a president who, Limbaugh says over and over again, is the most extremely radical leftist socialist ever to lead America. That and he repeatedly claims this or that thing Obama says or does is incompetent. And he repeatedly refers to Obama as Barry and the Messiah.

I can only take listening to Rush Limbaugh for about 15 minutes anymore til I tire of it.

Village Creek, Interlochen Canals & Turtles

We have not yet had enough dry days in a row to make my favorite mountain bike trail ready to ride. This meant that my biking energy today had to be spent an the trail closest to me, that being Village Creek Natural Historic Area.

I don't think I've mentioned it before, but the trail runs along the western edge of the Interlochen neighborhood. Interlochen is known for putting on over the top lighting displays at Christmas, drawing big crowds and causing traffic jams.

I believe the Interlochen Canals were made as some sort of land reclamation project that won national acclaim, in ancient times, long before I came to Texas. There is a historical type marker explaining the gestation of the Interlochen Canals, but my ever worse memory is not remembering the details right now. I'll try and remember to take a picture of the historical type marker the next time I'm there.

When I first saw the Interlochen Canals I thought it looked to be the coolest place to live that I'd seen in Texas. You can take your boat to visit the neighbors. Or walk. I don't know what is wrong with the water, if anything, but I've never seen anyone swimming. But, why swim in a canal when you have a pool?

It is semi-hot today, in the 80s. Which means the turtles that live in the Village Creek Pond were having themselves a good time sunning their hides on a log.

Usually they are a bit skittish as soon as they detect an intruder. But today they let me get out my camera and take several pictures.

Durango Roadtripping & Swimming

This morning I was able to have my first early morning swim in two weeks. The temperature got down to 55 by the time dawn broke this morning. So, for the first time this year, the pool water was warmer, by far, than the air.

I finally found a name I didn't dislike for my new blog. The image I used was a picture taken on the road that leads to Monument Valley in Arizona, taken looking out the windshield of my van at the same scenery that was on the cover of the van's manual.

I've only been doing the new blog for a few days. Yesterday I was pleased to see that Google had indexed the blog. And this morning I was pleased, again, to see that someone came to the blog due to doing a Google search for "The Loneliest Road in America."

I do have something vexing me about my new blog that I don't understand. A couple days ago I burned a feed for both the new blog and my TV blog. Overnight both had subscribers, with the TV one having 12 and the new blog having 15. I can look at my FeedJit stats and see that I've not even had 15 visitors to the new blog, so how can there be 15 subscribers. That makes no sense. It perplexes me.

Speaking of perplexing, Gar the Texan has taken off for Italy again. I'm sure a lotta hilarity will ensue. If you didn't read about his Italian misadventures from a couple weeks ago, go here, and you'll find the links. The most amusing tale was the 5 hour train ride to Rome with a woman who would not shut up.

The early morning swimming has me feeling agitated. Maybe it's something else causing the agitation. I did have some exhausting nightmares last night due to being overstimulated by the season finale of 24. I'm fairly certain I did not sleepwalk last night. But I can never be sure about that.

Veterans Park, Chinatown & Roses

Today I needed some Chinese fixin's, which everyone knows means I go to Arlington's Chinatown to the Hong Kong Marketplace.

And since I was in Arlington, obviously I went hiking at Veterans Park before getting Chinese fixin's.

Veterans Park had way too many guys, today, with nothing better to do than play Disc Golf. This makes it a bit hazardous at times as spinning discs randomly fly through the air.

I've only been hit once. And it didn't hurt too bad. I did get a bruise though. But I bruise easily, so that bruise was no indicator of the brutality level of the spinning disc blow.

Someone had vandalized the sign that asks people to "Stay Off the Wildflowers," scratching out the "Off" word, replacing "Off" with "On."

In the Xeriscape Garden part of the park, roses were busy blooming and putting off a lot of rose odor. It smelled real good.

That's one of the roses in the picture. Okay, I'm absolutely no good at identifying flowers. I'm almost 100% that this was a rose. It smelled like one. Or what I think a rose smells like.

Writing this blog right now has taken up way too much mental energy. I'm going swimming.

Texas Secede! And Other Nonsense

The "I vote to SECEDE" baseball cap that I ordered weeks ago finally arrived on Saturday, in plenty of time for 4th of July Tea Parties. Click here to go to a website where you can get your own Texas Secession stuff, like t-shirts, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, key rings and aprons.

The goofy governor of Texas, Rick Perry, caused a nice big brouhaha when he mentioned the Texas Secession option at a Tea Bag Party awhile back. This week's FW Weekly's cover article is a very amusing take on what Texas will be like after it gets out of the Union for the second time.

Apparently 31% of Texans believe Texas has the right to opt out of the United States, with 19% of Texans wanting secession to happen.

A few weeks ago I opined that this would be a bad thing because Five Flags Over Texas sounded wrong. I was wrong, the title for this week's FW Weekly cover article is "Seven Flags Over Texas." I'm real bad at math. I subtracted a flag when I should have been adding one. Seven Flags Over Texas does not sound as wrong as Five Flags Over Texas.

Click here to read a Texas Secede FAQ.

Sunny Sunday & No Earthquakes In Texas Today

We have had a return to a sunny blue sky and very pleasant temperatures here in the Fort Worth zone of North Texas.

It is only 73 out there right now at about 3 in the afternoon. Windows open, no need for A/C. A rare, perfect Texas Sunday.

As far as I know we have had no aftershocks from the earthquake that rattled us yesterday. I did feel the earth move today, but it was not an earthquake.

Yesterday, due to it being a Pacific Northwest in winter, slow dripping and wet day, I was housebound. Around noon I un-housebounded myself and went the the Village Creek Historical Natural Area to commune with nature via a walk.

I saw no wildlife today, except for an unusually large number of humans of great diversity, big, small, old, young, feeble and fast. The fast humans being a pair racing way over the park's 10 mph speed limit. I was walking along in the spot you see in the picture, lost in my thoughts, enjoying the tweetering of the birds, when the bikers came up behind me. It was the "on your left" that startled me, and then I turned to see 2 guys on rocket bikes heading right at me. I think I jumped, because the first guy said, "sorry."

I realize I contradicted myself in the above paragraph, first I say I saw no wildlife and then I mention birds. I saw a squirrel or two, too. I should have said I saw no interesting wildlife, like snakes, armadilloes, garfish or turtles.

Now I've gotta go change the logo and name of my new blog. I'll probably change my mind on this name too.

Durango's Old T-Shirts

Yesterday I blogged about my new blog, Durango World America, and the fact that I'm not liking that name all that much. I ended up with that name due to the process you go through when you create a new blog, with one name choice after another getting rejected due to the name already having been taken.

I got a couple suggestions for blog names.

Mr. Twister suggested "Durango's Old T-Shirts." Okay, I'm not really getting it, but I think it's funny.

Then the ubiquitous Anonymous had several suggestions, How 'bout "Durango Does America"? Or "Durango's Been There, Done That... And Lives to Tell About It"? "Durango Jones.."? "Durango's From SEE to Shining Sea"?

And then Chipper chipped in with, "I like the Durango World America name. Keep it."

Is Barnett Shale Drilling Causing Texas Earthquakes?

Yesterday I blogged about yesterday's earthquake here in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex zone.

A couple people commented on the earthquake, one of whom experienced the quake. One of the comments speculated on whether the recent quakes are being caused by the Barnett Shale Gas Drilling. And then I got an email from Don Young on that very subject.

First I'll copy the comment from cd0103, who felt the quake, then the other comment, then the email from Don Young....

cd0103 has left a new comment on your post "North Texas Rocked By Minor Earthquake":

We lost power when it hit, it was very strange. Had a "thunderclap" that wasn't. I didn't think anything about it until a waitress downtown told me the same thing.

unclejerry.net (http://unclejerry.net/) has left a new comment on your post "North Texas Rocked By Minor Earthquake":

I didn't feel the earthquake we had today but saw it's effects. I had just made breakfast and had walked to the tv to turn it on and I heard this knocking noise on the wall coming from where my desk is. It had started rocking into the wall and my laptop screen was also rocking back and forth like I had bumped into it. It was really strange looking but only lasted a few seconds. I went ahead and finished breakfast and then got on twitter and noticed that a few local people had posted questions wondering if we had just had an earthquake.

This one was slightly bigger than the one we had in October but with the first one it seemed to make more noise and rattle the dishes, things I didn't notice with todays quake.

Oh well, I just hope we don't ever a "big one" as the houses and buildings in north Texas aren't designed to withstand quakes like they are along the west coast.

I've also heard some people make comments wondering if the recent quake activity could have anything do to with all the oil drilling that's been going on around the metroplex the last couple of years. Think that could have anything to do with?

And now Don Young answers the question regarding the role "all the oil drilling" may have to do with the quakes....

After today's (5/16/09) 3rd earthquake in the Barnett Shale region in less than eight months, I think my attached message from August, 2007 bears repeating.

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

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

"Three human activities that commonly induce earthquake activity are:

1) Injecting high pressure fluids into rock formations beneath the earths surface.

2) Withdrawing large amounts of fluid or gas.

3) Construction of reservoirs and lakes."

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

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

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

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

Click here for more info about Induced Earthquakes.

Durango World America Gradually Takes Flight

Okay. I started a new blog a few days ago. It is being sort of fun and a bit more bother to write this blog than my others. Mostly because it is not just spewing opinion, which is easy and takes little time, but it is about real places and real experiences and thus needs real facts.

Not that real facts are some sort of difficulty for me, there is no denying it takes more time to make sure you've got the info right.

So, with this blogging thing, the process comes in stages. First off, you make the blog, or website, or whatever content you are putting on the Internet.

And then the challenge becomes causing people to find your blog or website or whatever you've put on the Internet.

With the blogging thing it is sort of a video game trying to get Google and the other search engines to index the content. Since I started this new travel/tourist type blog I've been appalled at the goofy ads Google has been generating.

And then today, about 4 or 5 days into starting this blog, Google got the ads right and I'm all stoked that this new blog is going to be a fun, rewarding thing.

I'm thinking roadtrip, with camera and laptop. And wireless Internet connection.

In the meantime, I really need to do some re-thinking on this Durango World America blog name. I keep waiting for it to grow on me. But how long do I want to wait?

North Texas Rocked By Minor Earthquake

At 11:24 am we were rocked by a 3.3 on the Richter Scale earthquake here in North Texas, this wet Saturday, May 16th day.

The quake was centered about 4 miles south of Euless, about 9 miles northeast of my location in East Fort Worth and about 18 miles west of Dallas.

There were no reports of injuries or damage. Texans in Irving, Euless, Bedford and Hurst reported feeling the shaking.

At 11:24 this morning I was laying on the floor doing yoga exercises. I felt nothing but my muscles stretching. I have experienced many earthquakes, due to living the majority of my life in the Pacific Northwest. They can be scary. There's no warning like there is with a tornado. An earthquake can be very loud.

Where I lived in Washington, in East Mount Vernon, there was a period of time during the 1990s when we had multiple very minor earthquakes centered about 4 miles east of my location, by what is called Big Lake. These quakes were in the 3.3 zone. Which you would think would not feel like much. Well, if you are a short distance from the epicenter of a 3.3 quake, you definitely feel it. I remember one hitting while I was laying on my waterbed. It about tossed me off the bed. Another time I was watching TV when one hit. First there's a loud bang-like noise, with the windows all sort of popping in unison. One of the quakes cracked my kitchen's ceramic tile floor. I convinced myself it gave the floor character.

The strongest earthquake I ever experienced was a 6.5. I was over 70 miles from the epicenter. Even that far away, the motion was amazing. You could hardly walk. It lasted what seemed like a minute. The tall trees in the park across from where we lived swayed as if some invisible giant was shaking them.

So, that's been my day in Texas. An earthquake. And I forgot to mention. Someone ran into a nearby natural gas meter, knocking it over, nearly causing an explosion, shutting off gas to a lot of people. Hazmat teams arrived, foam sprayed all over. It is supposed to be fixed by tomorrow. In the meantime, I have no hot water.

Chesapeake Energy's Carter Avenue Eminent Domaiin Abuse

Earlier today I blogged about the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Jerry Jones in cahoots with the City of Arlington outrageous example of eminent domain abuse. That prompted a very good comment about the situation on Carter Avenue in Fort Worth, where a private company, Chesapeake Energy, in cahoots with the corrupt government of the City of Fort Worth, is forcing people to allow a big pipeline filled with odor-free natural gas to be pumped through their property.

I published the comment and then decided it needed it's own blog posting...

Eminent domain for private gain is the refrain that we keep hearing again and again (no rhyme intended; it could be a crime). Which is a worse (both are bad) form of eminent domain abuse: "buying" people's homes and then demolishing them OR, as seen in the Carter Ave. controversy, where a deep-pocketed, politically-connected, and profit-focused private corporation REFUSES TO EVEN CONSIDER "buying" people's homes. so that they can run their massive pipelines under people's front yards?

Chesapeake (CHK) claims that they only "need" the 20' deep (originally 30-40' deep, which would have pipelines running under and around the houses)easement/right of way, so they will only "pay" for that strip of easement right.

Note: it is NOT buying or leasing as most people presume; it's giving them "superior/dominant rights" to use the yard for their "necessity and convenience"? The first abuse at least gives people a chance to relocate and start over, but the second (and will be increasingly exercised) abuse essentially TRAPS people in their home so that CHK could make hundreds of million$$ off the pipelines while making "just compensation" (Fifth Amendment to U.S. Constitution and consistent with Texas laws/codes) ranging from $1,500 to almost $16,000 for about the same easement/lot size, with most 50' wide X 20'deep right of ways receiving around $4,000 (pre-tax and before increase/s in insurance/s).

Guess who got which: the new immigrant with little language and cultural skills with the 50' lot and the media-hungry retired white lady with the 100' lot. Just do the math and think of our currently used phrase "predatory practices".

The easement is "permanent" which means that it has to be disclosed to a potential buyer. Who in their right mind (or linguistic and cultural sophistication) would pay full market value for such a house with such a "burden" (real estate law term)?

Therefore if these people on Carter Ave. want to "make the choice" for their family's health and financial safety (they still pay the taxes, insurance, and upkeep, just like city sidewalk/street easements)they must decide to sell at a deep discount (losing their equity and likely selling for cash to landlords--FHA will not approve a loan that has an easement within 10' of the house)or even default on their mortgage in order to "move away and start over again" except they might return to being renters themselves.

CHK and their fancy lawyers claim that having these 16-24" pipelines (see the explosion last week in S.A. at www.woai.com--the homes and people on Carter Ave. would not make it if it were to happen here, and it will--just see recent explosions in nearby counties) "will have no effect on the rest of the property at all".

Shove something dangerous under their forehead/face and tell them "it will have no effect..."on the rest of their body and quality of life (like finding a mate or a job). In Texas and many other states, what Chesapeake Energy is doing would be considered "rustling"-not of livestock, but of the largest purchase and ownership of private property for most people.

Am I making a valid and fair comparison of abuses just now? If not, set me straight. If so, look out you might be next, especially if you happen to be the unfortunate people living on the other side of the street from "pipeline alley" (or nearby streets) who received nothing--not even a letter notifying them about the pipelines just a few yards away--but will likely suffer the same "damages" and loss as the people with easements.

Which raises a third (living nearby)and fourth(renters who tend to be poorer and immigrants in general--again in general) group of "victims" of abuse. So instead of asking who has it worse, it should be who has it the worst? There are other victims that I won't get into now.

A Rainy Gray Day In Fort Worth Not Fort Walton Florida

I woke up to a downpour this morning. This did not please me as in now I can not do my regularly Saturday Tandy Hills Hike. When one is a creature of habit disruptions like this are very unsettling.

For the past couple hours it has been a northwest in winter type rain, a constant sprinkling, but no downpouring. And I've heard none of the predicted thunder.

My favorite Blogging Co-Conspirator has escaped this grayness, for blue sky and a sandy beach, at Fort Walton in Florida. I've no idea where that is. I'll go see. Okay, it's on the eastern end of the Florida panhandle. I'll see how many miles from here. 773 miles. Microsoft's Streets & Trips program is such a slick little tool for plotting directions and finding places.

Fort Walton is near where Tootsie Tonasket's long lost sister was recently found. Tootsie and the long lost sister have not yet had a reunion.

Dallas Cowboy Stadium Eminent Domain Abuse Cases Still In Court

That's the termination anchor point of the northeast end of one of the 2 huge arches that holds up the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium in Arlington.

That anchor point is right about where Evelyn Wray's house sat. She's is the one most in the news for fighting Arlington over what they wanted to pay her for her property. She ended up with a couple million bucks.

Several of the eminent domain cases are still in court. I have long said it seemed so criminally wrong, to me, to use eminent domain for private gain and then to force people out of their homes and start bulldozing, before they had their say in court.

A new lawsuit regarding Arlington's eminent domain abuse has popped up. The lawsuit is arguing something like the property owners where not paid the proper value for their property. Arguing that proper value is based on highest possible use and value of the property. Or something like that. As I understand it, the lawsuit claims that since a $1.1 Billion building now sits on their property, they were not paid the highest potential value.

Over and over again I've gotten comments telling me I just don't understand how much money this stadium is going to bring to Arlington and how much development is going to take place. These commenters apparently have never been to Texas Stadium and seen the lack of development around that stadium. Or asked themselves, why, if the stadium is so valuable, Irving so easily let it go?

I found interesting info about a previous abuse of eminent domain in Arlington. That time for the Ballpark in Arlington, with someone named George W. Bush steamrolling the eminent domain abuse. As with the Cowboy stadium people fought having their homes stolen. The Ranger ballpark has produced little of the economic boom its backers promised. It all sounds real deja vu.

I'll copy and paste 4 paragraphs about George W.'s foray into abusing eminent domain for private gain....

One of the most famous eminent domain cases involved the Cowboys' future home of Arlington, where baseball's Texas Rangers, at the time owned by George W. Bush, convinced local voters to approve a 1991 tax increase that helped build a new $191 million stadium. The city of Arlington used eminent domain to acquire the property from hundreds of private owners, claiming that the stadium was a "public use," just like highways, schools, or government buildings. Several property owners were lowballed, and court decisions increased their take. (The city, not the team, was responsible for the larger payments. The compensation for one 13-acre plot was increased from $877,000 to $5 million, for example.)

The stadium clearly benefited the Rangers' owners more than anyone else: Bush turned his initial $600,000 investment into $15 million when the team was sold in 1999. But it has produced little of the promised economic benefit to Arlington, and there has never been a real "public use" factor aside from baseball fans' paying their money to see games.

Opponents of stadium deals argue that teams and local governments are getting around the public use issue by placing the stadium or arena in the ownership of a "public sports authority." The property is then tax exempt, and the teams pay nominal rent that is often less than they would have owed in property taxes. The lease arrangements are often lopsided in favor of the teams; many, for instance, allow the franchises to move after a certain time if revenues do not hit projections. This threat to pull stakes and run gives teams strong leverage to renegotiate. If the sports facility were privately owned, there would be no lease to haggle over, and the team would be less willing (and able) to leave.

Without eminent domain, acquiring enough property for a stadium could become expensive. A handful of property owners could hold up an entire complicated deal. "If the court makes the ruling that this is not a valid use of eminent domain, there will be some problems," says Scott Powe, a law professor at the University of Texas. "Huge problems. No doubt, there will be lots of litigating."

A law is winding its way through the Texas Legislature that would greatly restrict the use of eminent domain for private gain in Texas. I'm guessing this law has a very slim chance of passing.

The Lonely Bench That's Not On The Loneliest Road In America

That's a Lonely Bench looking out at one of the ponds at Village Creek Natural Historical Area. I have never seen anyone sitting on this bench, including today when I took the picture of the Lonely Bench.

I have no idea why, but every time I see this bench I think to myself that's the Loneliest Bench in the World. There are a lot of lonely picnic tables in this park, too, that I've never seen used.

I saw several humans at Village Creek while I pedaled today, some biking, some walking, with one pair engaging in behavior best kept out of public view. I think they figured they were in an isolated spot and did not realize how quickly a biker could close in on their location. I politely averted my eyes, for the most part, and zoomed away.

Years ago on a very fun road trip, one part of the trip took the drive across Nevada that is called "The Loneliest Road in America." I think it was an article in Life magazine that dubbed it that. There is a giant sand dune that you drive by on the Loneliest Road. By that sand dune is a phone booth that has a sign that says "Loneliest Phone Booth on the Loneliest Road in America." I wonder if that phone booth is still there? I saw it early on in the era of cell phones and the demise of phone booths.

I think it was all the lonely stuff on the Loneliest Road that causes me to think that's the Loneliest Bench every time I see it. So, despite what I said above, I guess I do have an idea why I think that's the Loneliest Bench every time I see it.

Finally A Bill For Zero Owed From The Dallas Morning News

A couple weeks ago I blogged the sad story of the demise of my longtime habit of reading a newspaper in the morning.

I had pre-paid for the Dallas Morning News for 3 months. When that 3 months was up I was not contacted by the Dallas Morning News to ask if I wanted to continue my subscription.

The paper continued to show up on my doorstep for 43 days after the 3 pre-paid months were up. On day 44 there was no paper on my doorstep. I had no idea the 3 months were up, since, like I said, there'd been no contact from the Dallas Morning News.

So, I called to complain about the missing paper. I was told the paper had been stopped due to me not paying the bill. I told the customer service person I had received no bill. At that point in time it had not occured to me that I had not authorized continued delivery after my 3 month pre-paid subscription was up. And that I owe them nothing.

And then I started getting daily phone calls from an unknown number. After a week or so of that I answered the phone to learn, via fractured English, that the calls were in regards to the un-paid bill that I had not received. The caller told me she'd inform the Dallas Morning News that they needed to send me a bill.

So, today I finally got a bill from the Dallas Morning News. That's part of the bill, at the top, that says I owe $0.00 for my subscription. And asking me to donate $2.00 to Newspapers in Education. And telling me that that $2.00 is due May 15, which is today.

And it's a mystery why the newspaper business is in trouble?

To make it even more ironic and funny. And incompetent. There was a letter enclosed with the "bill" from the Editor of the paper. I can't make out the name, it's in bad long hand. Maybe the last name is Morry. No clue about the first name, it looks like it might begin with a B.

The letter is addressed to "Dear Subscriber," It starts off with "I wanted to thank you again for reading the Dallas Morning News and for your loyalty."

Thank me again? This is the first thanks I've gotten. My loyalty? I no longer get the paper.

The letter continues on about how the paper wants to continue serving me and the community and their commitment to me and a whole lot of other nonsensical blather that is silly because I'm not a subscriber and no longer read their paper.

I liked it while I read it, though, even said nice things about that paper on this very blog. And then they went all screwy on me. And continue to be screwy. At least now I have a piece of paper from the Dallas Morning News that quite clearly says I owe them no money.

Only Child Syndrome & The Mommy Playbook

Yesterday I blogged, again, about Only Child Syndrome. I'd seen a lot of people coming to my blog via searching for help in dealing with the syndrome.

And then I saw one of the relief seekers had come from a website called "The Mommy Playbook." I then visited "The Mommy Playbook" to discover a forum in which someone had started a thread titled "Too Hot to Touch" in which one of my bloggings about Only Child Syndrome was copied in its entirety. Which set off a lot of Mommys commenting.

There were several amusing comments to what I had to say about Only Child Syndrome. Below is one of my favorites...

I've never understood the need to have a huge celebration when it's someone's birthday.

On the subject, I think the author is a wee bit cranky, but does make some valid points. I've known some only children that were just awful to be around. I've also known only children that grew up to be wonderful, well-adjusted adults.

It totally has to do with parenting. I think yes, it probably takes a lot of work on the parents' part, but is well worth it to the child's future.

This article made me think of one horror story of a friend I had who was an only child and fit that description completely. Her parents made her the center of their world and she completely thought, and still thinks she is the center of the universe. I really hope I don't make the same mistakes.

The above is correct. The author was a bit cranky when he wrote about Only Child Syndrome. He'd dealt with the disturbingly bizarre behavior of one of the worst of the breed and was trying to figure out what causes such twisted, self-centered, irrational behavior.

Strange thing, in "The Mommy Playbook" thread about Only Child Syndrome I saw no link to my blog. So, how did this website show up in my stats as having a link to my blog? It's perplexing.

Hot Hiking & Canton First Monday Trading Days

This is Thursday and it is not raining. My one longtime reader might remember that means there is a good chance I went hiking today at the Tandy Hills Natural Area. My one longtime reader would be correct.

Slightly warm today and not very breezy, making for some HOT hiking with minimalized clothing to maximize comfort.

It would appear the wildflowers have peaked, judging by what I saw today. I don't know if it qualifies as a wildflower, but the prickly pear cactus were busy blooming. They sprout out a nice big yellow flower that eventually turns into an edible piece of fruit. I bit into a prickly pear once. I can see if one were real hungry one might eat one.

May this year ends on a Sunday, which makes the first Monday of June come on the first day of June, which makes the next Canton First Monday Trading Days take place the last 4 days of this month due to First Mondays taking place the 4 days prior to the First Monday of any given month.

Someone got a new car and wants to take it on a short road trip and is trying to convince me to drive her new car to Canton at the end of the month. It sort of sounds fun, except, by the end of May it can get really really hot. My first time to First Monday was late in the month of April. And it was HOT. I was not as acclimated, then, to the Texas HEAT as I am now, but still, it was HOT. I was in Canton the next time in October with very pleasant temperatures, with the last time being in December, two years ago, when First Mondays was the busiest I'd ever seen it, due to Christmas. The December visit to Canton managed to be warm and muggy.

Texas weather can manage to be warm at any time of the year.

LOST In Texas With A TV Star For A Friend

A couple months ago I'd grown tired of reading about Facebook to the point I was finally curious enough to check it out. But there was a catch. I had to create a Facebook account to do so.

In the process of creating the Facebook account I used my Internet nickname, not my real name. Some of the info was correct, like the name of my high school and where I went to college. Most info I was not accurate about.

During the process of creating the account there is a step where you are shown a list of names you might know. I thought I was supposed to select the names I recognized. So, I did so, not realizing this sent out "Friend" requests to these people.

That resulted in me getting embarrassing messages like "How do I know you and why do you want to be my friend." Eventually one of those to whom I had inadvertently sent out a "Friend Request" figured out who I was. She now regularly beats me at Scrabble. It's humiliating. I used to think I was pretty smart til Scrabble put me in my place.

So, this morning I got a fresh "Friend Request" from Beth in Hawaii. I've no idea how Beth figured out she knew me. Maybe it's through the Scrabble Queen. Who knows? Or cares? When I confirmed that I was, indeed, a friend of Beth's I went to look at her profile I found out what Beth has been up to since I last saw her sometime late in the last century.

I knew Beth now lived in Hawaii. We used to both live in Mount Vernon, Washington. I did not know she is now an actress! She's been on LOST, playing one of the crash survivors in that first plane that crashed on LOST that started the show.

I don't know if Beth goes skinny dipping with Matthew Fox, aka Jack Sheppard. I've read that several castmates join him in his regular skinny dips.

It does not shock me that Beth would be on TV and in movies. She's always been a real cutie, with a very easy to listen to voice. I think this may be the first time I've been friends with a TV/Movie star. I'm all atwitter. Whatever that means.

P.S. I forgot to mention, Beth is the one second from the left in the picture, behind Charlie.

Only Child Syndrome: Another Outbreak

I wish I knew what causes the outbreaks of people suddenly looking for help in dealing with Only Child Syndrome. Yesterday I had one of those outbreaks, with relief seekers coming in clusters.

This time the outbreak was limited to the U.S. and Canada. Maybe OCS is a plot-line on a soap opera that popped up yesterday. Or maybe Oprah did an episode on the Syndrome some psychiatrists have opined is a disease.

I've blogged a number of times on this serious subject, originally doing so because I was trying to figure out the mentally ill behavior I experienced from an Only Child last summer in Tacoma.

The bloggings about Only Child Syndrome get a lot of comments. Yesterday's outbreak on people seeking Only Child Syndrome information generated an inadvertently funny comment from an Only Child. This is not the first comment I've gotten from an Only Child in which the Only Child seems to be both arguing against the reality of the Syndrome while at the same time exhibiting symptoms of the Syndrome.

Below is the comment.....

I feel like this is ridiculous.

Only Child Syndrome is a term used to describe selfish characteristics that tend to be exhibited in children with no siblings. being an only child has nothing to do with grammar, intelligence or, family dynamics. The truth of the matter is that growing up in a household where there are no other children you learn some vital survival skills, the first of which is that mom and dad don't always have time to play so be creative and play single person games, second; there is no one to share the task of chores with, so while "John and Jane" get to split and alternate, you are stuck doing dishes every day, third; the only reason to be angry with anyone is when they are insulting/disrespecting you or invading your space. I agree that it is more difficult for only children to make emotional attachments, but I think that with time the difficulty eases and we learn. The moral of the story, We ARE entitled, We DON'T have to share, and if you want us to share maybe you ought to be nice!

Shared Blog DNA Telegraph & Sprouts With News From The Community

It's a HOT one in Texas today. 87 right now at 3 in the afternoon. WeatherBug just went off with one of its annoying weather warnings.

I have WeatherBug set to only warn me if the weather warning is of the dire run for cover before you die type. But that setting function does not seem to work. So, I get warned about every little thing. Like right now the warning was because it will be a little windy for while. I can look outside and deduce that it's a little windy.

Today being Wednesday I made my usual journey north to Sprouts Farmers Market. I got a lot of good stuff. The Texas Red Ruby Grapefruit are being very good this year. Big and sweet.

Yesterday the Fort Worth Blog, West & Clear called it quits. That same day a blog called Fort Worth DNA, somewhat similar to West & Clear, sprung up, which mentioned the demise of West & Clear, saying...

"With the discontinuation of West and Clear, and the downfall of printed media, we wanted to create a local outlet. Anyone can post, and you can even share in any advertising revenue."

And another somewhat slightly curious thing about this new FW DNA Blog is their motto, or tag-line, or whatever it is you would call it...

"Written by the Community, for the Community."

Which reminds me of the motto, or tag-line, or whatever it is you would call it of another new Fort Worth Blog, one that that started up several weeks ago, that being the Star-Telegraph Blog which at the top says...

"Real Community News From The Community."

This must be one of those all great minds think alike type deals. Or not.

Tootsie Tonasket's Kentucky Grilled Chicken Free Meal Deal Woes

I have not yet tasted Kentucky Grilled Chicken. Apparently a lot of people are having trouble tasting Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

I remember reading awhile back that Oprah had some Kentucky Grilled Chicken Two-Piece Meal Coupon freebie deal on her show. People were told to go to a website to download and print a coupon for their free chicken.

Apparently, in these troubled times, way too many hungry people, with computers and the Internet and some spare time, printed up the coupons and overwhelmed KFC's with their desire to get a free KFC KGC meal deal. Some locations had near riot scenes.

I bring up the Colonel and his business at this point in time because I just got an email from the Freebie Queen of Area Code 506, Tootsie Tonasket, regarding the aftermath of the Oprah/KGC Missing Chicken Scandal.

I don't know where Tootsie's nearest KFC is, I'm almost certain there is none close by, due to Tootsie living in a rather isolated zone of Eastern Washington. But apparently Tootsie printed up one of the Oprah coupons and has been doggedly trying to get her free chicken ever since.

Below is the message sent to Tootsie Tonasket from KFC President, Roger Eaton....

Rain Check Policy from KFC

We are so sorry, but due to the overwhelming response to our FREE Kentucky Grilled Chicken meal coupon, we can no longer redeem the free coupon at this time. But we will honor our commitment to giving you a free Kentucky Grilled Chicken meal. Please visit a participating KFC restaurant for a rain check form. Complete the form, attach your original coupon, and give it to the KFC restaurant manager or postmark per the form's instructions, by May 19, 2009, and we'll send you a rain check for your free Kentucky Grilled Chicken meal at a later date, plus a free Pepsi with our compliments. Your participating KFC restaurant will provide you with the form you need. Please note that the redemption periods of the rain checks will vary. All other terms and conditions of the original free Kentucky Grilled Chicken coupon will apply. Thank you for your understanding,

Wow! That is a lot of hoops to jump through to get a couple pieces of chicken. Even with that free Pepsi thrown in to the deal. What if they run out of Pepsi? Do you have to fill out another raincheck form?

Hitler Was Murdered & Oswald Was A Patsy

I think I may be too easily swayed by people who make a good case to support what might be an erroneous conclusion.

I probably would not make a good juror.

Lately I've read a couple books that altered what I thought I believed to be true.

I've long thought those who doubted Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the JFK Assassination were conspiratorial nutjobs.

And then I read "Oswald Talked" by Ray and Mary LaFontaine. That book had all sorts of disturbing information I did not know about. Like Oswald had a lot of contact with the FBI prior to the Assassination. And Oswald was not some loony loner.

Now I'm reading "The Zapruder Film" by David R. Wrone. If you've never watched the Zapruder Film watch the YouTube video below. The Warren Commission conclusion has the magic bullet coming from behind Kennedy. Watch the video and see if that's your conclusion.

I just finished "The Murder of Adolf Hitler" by Hugh Thomas. This book makes the case that Hitler did not commit suicide. Rather, some of those closest to him were getting nervous due to the Soviets being a couple blocks from Ground Zero. Hitler had told his people he was going to commit suicide and gave instructions as to what to do with his and Eva Braun's corpses.

But, at the end Hitler was a mess, according to those there, barely able to function. So, Hugh Thomas puts together a pretty good argument that in the end Hitler was murdered, quickly disposed of, with the remaining Nazis running like rats to escape all the Incoming Ivans.

So, this week I'm choosing to believe Hitler was murdered and Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy.

Durango World America

I'm sure I'll come to regret it, but I started another blog today, well, actually, finally decided to go ahead with it and post something.

I'd grown bored and annoyed with the TV Blog I started months ago. At times that Blog can get thousands of visits a day. But it doesn't generate the ad revenue one would think thousands of visits would generate, due to the type ads the TV Blog attracts, I guess. While this blog you're reading right now does not, usually, get as many visitors as the TV Blog, it generates way more ad revenue.

I know from my Eyes on Texas website that travel and tourist information causes real good ad revenue generation. So, a travel/tourist type blog, which is actually something I can get more motivated to write about than TV, seemed like a good idea. I don't even watch all that much TV. But I have done some traveling and touristing while I've been on the planet.

When you make up a blog name in the Google Blogger it can be a bit frustrating. I don't even remember what name I hoped to get, but they kept getting rejecting, due to all ready being taken. Which is how I ended up with Durango World America. It sounds real global. It may grow on me in time.

So far, the blog has only the first posting, that being the one I wrote today. If history is any indication, I am likely about to go into maniac mode on this new blog and will quickly have it having an awful lot of posts. I'm amazed I've spewed out about 200 TV bloggings. That's impressive, if I do say so myself, what with what little TV viewing I do.

Now, that has been my day. A lot of aggravation and a new blog.

Windy Texas Bike Riding With Snakes, Lizards & Wildflowers

I'm having me a day that's having me feeling like a tired worn out old man. I woke up way too early. My bedroom window was open, by morning it had gotten cold, as in the 60s. A bird started up some siren, alarm clock type warbling, well before the sun came up. I assume it was a bird.

So that warbling bird got me up early. I then got on the computer where one thing after another sucked my mental energy while trying to figure out annoying website and blog issues.

Around noon I had had enough of straining my easily strained brain. I needed some fresh air and sunshine. The closest available source is Village Creek Natural Historic Area. Or Historic Natural Area. I never remember which way that goes. Neither way makes a lot of sense. Is it a natural historic area? Or an historic natural area? It's perplexing.

It was being very windy around noon. With the wind pushing me, it was very easy to pedal over 20 mph. That was fun. Heading back into the wind I was lucky to go 10 mph. That also was fun. I pedaled about 11 miles before I had had enough.

Of all the Texas wildflowers I think the pink primrose ones are my favorite. Maybe because they last the longest, as in the bluebonnets seem to be long gone, but these pink things just keep blooming along. And they were the first Texas wildflower I ever saw, coming in from the west, just east of Amarillo, they started appearing. There were several big patches of the pink wildflowers waving in the breeze at Village Creek today.

I saw some wildlife, while pedaling today. Two snakes and a big lizard. The snakes weren't moving too fast, due to it not being all that warm, with them being cold-blooded little monsters. The lizard did move fast. Aren't they cold-blooded, too?

That's been my day today in Texas. Tomorrow will be better. It always is. Sometimes.

Putting The Dallas Morning News On The Do Not Call Registry

Yesterday I blogged about getting pestered by multiple phone calls from (636) 925-1746 and how a little Googling led me to learning that this number is a phone bank thing used by newspapers. I speculated it was either the Dallas Morning News or the Fort Worth Star-Telegram trying to get me to re-subscribe.

I was wrong. It's even stupider.

My one reader may remember me dropping the Dallas paper after they stopped delivering due to them never managing to get a bill to me after my 3 month pre-paid subscription had run out.

When I told their customer service guy I was not going to pay them $30 a month, for their paper, I also told him to send me a bill for the amount owed, which was $27.50, I think.

I have not received a bill. But I have been getting those annoying phone calls. Today I decided to answer it.

A woman not fluent in English fumbled through mispronouncing my name, mangling it really bad. Then she tried to do some "how are you doing" type pleasantries. To which I said what do you want and why do you keep calling me?

To which she said she was calling on behalf of the Dallas Morning News to tell me I was late paying for my subscription.

I told her I was told I would be sent a bill and no bill has arrived. To which she said "Thank you, sir. I will put in a request for a bill on your behalf." Or something like that.

I'm appalled that the Dallas Morning News has gone from the slick way they hooked in a new subscriber, to continuing to totally botch up ever since.

Fort Worth's West & Clear Gets Cloudy

No, I am not referring to pollution at the point where the West & Clear Forks of the Trinity River become one.

I'm referring to the Fort Worth blog that many believe to be the best of the Fort Worth blogs, West & Clear, and the fact that West & Clear has decided to call it quits.

This morning's West & Clear post, "Goodbye To A River," says farewell. The 5 guys who worked on West & Clear, for over a year and a half, have decided they don't have the time to maintain their website in the style we've all grown accustomed to.

I thought West & Clear had been around a long time. It surprised me to learn it's about the same age as the blog you're looking at right now.

Maybe the 5 West & Clear guys will do some re-considering and figure out a way to keep alive this thing they've created that really is way too young to die such an untimely death.

(636) 925-1746 Sorry Wrong Number

Ever since the Dallas Morning News failed to bill me at the end of my 3 month pre-paid subscription, I have not received a final bill, but I have been receiving a daily call to my cell phone, no Caller I.D., but I do see the number, it being (636) 925-1746,

I generally don't answer calls when I don't know who is calling. I looked up the area code and saw it was in Missouri. I know no one in Missouri. No voice mail was left.

When today's daily call arrived, for the first time I flipped the phone open and said nothing. After about 20 seconds a male voice said my first name and then hung up.

So, I Googled the number. And what do I find? This number is used by some service that newspapers contract with to call people to get them to subscribe to their newspaper.

Two days after I stopped the Dallas Morning News, after they stopped me first, a Fort Worth Star-Telegram showed up on my doorstep. Prior to that I got a special offer, in the mail, from the Dallas Morning News, significantly cheaper than what their rep had offered me on the phone, that caused me to no longer want to get the paper.

So, which of the two papers is behind the annoying repeating phone calls?

It's been a week, I think, and I've not missed reading a morning paper. I feel like I still know what's going on in the world.

Fort Worth's Forward Thrust Making Fish Safe To Eat

We had ourselves a stormy morning here in North Texas. The stormy morning has moved east to Louisiana, so we are back semi-sunny, with cool temps in the 70s.

When the rain let up around noon I had had enough of going stir crazy, so I escaped stir and drove to Oakland Lake Park. Any other nearby walking option would have been too wet.

The powers that be have lessened Oakland Lake's previously, more dire, "Don't Eat the Fish" warning signs. Now the warning signs just say, "A Fish Consumption Advisory Exist for this Water Body."

I saw a couple guys fishing today. What if they couldn't read English? And ate the fish they caught, not knowing there was a Consumption Advisory in place? There are also signs forbidding boating or swimming in this lake. I would not want to swim in that water, but what would be so bad about floating my boat in it?

If this water is so bad, why are there so many turtles and birds happily using the lake? Not to mention fish happily swimming about.

If the water is so bad, why is there no effort to clean it up? Way back in the 1960s, Lake Washington, by Seattle, had gotten badly polluted. I think fishing and swimming were banned. Several Washington lakes were in bad shape. Then there was this bond election called Forward Thrust that included new water treatment plants, among a lot of other things, like building the Kingdome, re-doing Woodland Park Zoo, fixing up Pike Place Market, I forget what else was voted on in the Forward Thrust election.

As a result of decisions made way back then, Lake Washington and other bodies of water in the Puget Sound zone have been clean and safe now for decades.

Fort Worth could use a Forward Thrust type election. But that's not the Fort Worth Way. First off, to have a Forward Thrust you'd have to have people willing to vote and able to see the vision involved in the Forward Thrust.

I really don't think Fort Worth needs to be building a little fake lake and some canals that the people of Fort Worth have not voted to build. I think Fort Worth needs a Forward Thrust that does things like bringing Fort Worth up to modern city mode by building sidewalks. I have never been in any other city where I've seen so many people walking on dirt paths, where in other towns sidewalks exist. Where there are sidewalks they are often so narrow that two average plus-sized Texans couldn't meet without one having to step off the sidewalk.

Before building a fake lake I think Fort Worth should clean up the lakes that already exist.

And as part of Fort Worth Forward Thrust, how about fixing the eyesores in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historical District. Start with the New Isis Theater.

As part of Fort Worth Forward Thrust how about landscaping the freeway exits in town, like most towns on the west coast do? Or at least landscape and keep litter free the two exits to Fort Worth's main tourist attraction, that being the Stockyards. Here, go to my Eyes on Texas website and the webpage about the Stockyards, scroll down til you see the part about the Stockyard's freeway exits. There is a picture of one of the freeway exits at my old hometown of Mount Vernon, a little town of less than 30,000 that manages to keep its freeway exits landscaped and litter free.

I walked all over Tacoma last summer. Everywhere I walked there was a nice wide sidewalk.

Now I know the climate in Western Washington is more conducive to colorful landscaping, but how is it that many towns on the West Coast manage to hang huge flower baskets from lamp poles all over their downtowns? Leavenworth, in Eastern Washington, has a much more Texas type climate than the west side of the Cascades. Yet, little Bavarian-themed, tourist town, Leavenworth, has huge hanging baskets of flowers all over town and on the ground? How is it Leavenworth can do that, but a town like Fort Worth can not?

Go here and get a look at Leavenworth. Ask yourself if that little town can make itself into such a hugely popular tourist attraction, with no eyesores, why can't Fort Worth, with its 3/4 of a million people population, do a makeover of the Stockyards, that turns it into all it could and should be?

I know, it's not the Fort Worth Way. I know there is no way for the Fort Worth Way to change, when only 6% of the people bother to vote. That's sad. It could be so much nicer here with a little citizen backed Forward Thrusting replacing Ruling Junta Boondoggles that get undertaken with little public input or debate. I think the people of Fort Worth might learn to like it if they got together to Thrust Fort Worth Forward instead of letting the Ruling Junta take the town places the people don't really want to go.

Okay, I'm done venting over Saturday's debacle election. For now.

President John Tyler & Texas

There is a town in Texas called Tyler. I've got some blog stalkers that come from Tyler. I'm almost 100% certain Tyler, Texas is named after President John Tyler, due to a special connection between this particular president and Texas, which I'll get to below.

Some time back I was appalled to read about a survey that found that over 60% of Americans did not know when the American Civil War took place. I don't understand people who have no interest in history. I don't see how you can understand today if you don't know what happened in the past.

When Israel was having its recent problem with the Gaza Strip I was in the presence of a person who thought this was just the worst thing ever. I mentioned the Yom Kippur War and the Six Day War. She had no clue about either. This is a person who did now know why she grew up speaking Spanish on an island that was part of the United States.

Anyway, back to John Tyler. He was our first unelected president. Tyler had been vice-president for about a month when William Henry Harrison became the first president to die in office.

Do you know what one of the few things was that Tyler accomplished while president? Three days before James Polk took over as the next president the Republic of Texas was annexed to the United States. This was the accomplishment about which Tyler was most proud.

John Tyler had more kids than any other president. Fifteen. 8 by first wife Letitia, 7 by second wife Julia. Letitia died in 1842, a year after Tyler became president. It did not take John Tyler long to find a new wife. His son, John Jr. had fallen for a young beauty named Julia Gardiner. When John Jr.'s dad met Julia, he was smitten too.

The president began actively pitching woo to his son's girl friend. Julia became enamored of the president, but kept saying no to the let's get married question.

And then tragedy struck. On February 28, 1844 the president and an entourage of Washington elite were on board the new frigate Princeton taking a cruise on the Potomac for a demo of a new cannon, the world's biggest, called the Peacemaker. The crew did one test blast. Then another. Everyone loved the big boom so much that when they passed George Washington's Mount Vernon home someone suggested firing the cannon off one more time.

But that time the cannon exploded, turning the boat into a killing ground. Among the instantly killed were Secretary of State Abel Upshur, Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Gilmer and Julia's father. When Julia learned her dad was dead she collapsed in the president's arms. Tyler carried Julia off the burning ship.

Soon thereafter, 23 year old Julia had a change of heart and married the president in New York City on June 26, 1844. When they got married Julia was 5 years younger than Tyler's oldest daughter. Yes, the step-mom was younger than the step-daughter.

Some wag asked Tyler if he weren't a tad old to be marrying such a young woman. Tyler replied, "Pooh. Why, my dear sir, I am just full in my prime." Tyler was 54 when he married Julia.

Now here is an interesting factoid. John Tyler was born while George Washington was president (March 29, 1790). Tyler's youngest daughter, Mary, born when Tyler was 70 years old, died during the Truman administration, a span of 32 Presidents and more than 150 years.

Now that's your history lesson for today. When next I'm in the mood to give a history lesson it'll likely be about Tyler's successor, James Polk and how he was an inspiration for the dirty deeds of a psychotic maniac named Adolf Hitler.

An Invitation from the Arlington Conservation Council

Air Emissions from
Oil and Gas
Development in the
Barnett Shale & the Rest of Texas

Dr. Al Armendariz

Wednesday, May 13, 2009
7 pm
West Police Station
2060 W. Green Oaks Blvd.
Arlington, Texas

Everyone is invited to attend this free lecture. Dr. Armendariz is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and has written extensively on air quality issues related to industrial activity and gas drilling.

Presented by the Arlington Conservation Council and Green Arlington Foundation

What Is Wrong With Fort Worth?????

I tell you, it is now almost a decade old project trying to figure out why it is so different here, in Fort Worth, and Texas, than where I came from, that being the ultra fertile Skagit Valley of Washington state and the relatively small town of Mount Vernon. A town with a population of less than 30 thousand, where the population turns out when there is an election. A town that was picked, by a legit picking entity, as the Best Small Town in America, while Fort Worth went into an embarrassing ecstasy of celebration when an obscure Washington, D.C. lobbying group put Fort Worth on a silly list of what they claimed to be America's Most Livable Communities.

I tell you, I am just feeling a bit sorry for Fort Worth and the embarrassment that was Saturday's election. How can only 6% of you manage to vote? Do you not have any inkling of how badly your city is run? Apparently not.

I agree with FW Weekly, someone needs to go all Pancho Villa on Fort Worth and get this town to wake up. I'm thinking Don Young is just the man to kick some sense into this town. I come to that conclusion due to the email I just got from Don Young.

I'll copy it below..........

Dear Clyde & All-

The clarion call is still sounding, it just needs to blown louder because 94% of the people are still sleeping. After today, all this talk of resignation, disappointment and blame is counterproductive. Everyone gave it their best shot - good - but some ass still needs kicking. The "game" is not over, it's just waiting for some new players and a new strategy.

There is always Non-Violent Direct Action, that is, Civil Disobedience, something that hasn't been tried much in FW. Does that sound radical? Compared to Moncrief's actions and the gas drilling cartel's deeds, I think not. Even Al Gore is amazed that people are not exercising their right to clean air more directly. Here's what he told the New York Times last year:

“We are now treating the Earth’s atmosphere as an open sewer,” he said, ...."

"I can’t understand why there aren’t rings of young people blocking bulldozers,” Mr. Gore said, “and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power plants.”

If we believe in Dr. Aremendariz' study and all the others that prove the ill effects of natural gas production, delivery and generation, how can we not act in a more direct way? If voting doesn't do the job there are other methods of getting smog peddlers like Moncrief & Co. to pay attention.

If we believe they are guilty of environmental crimes that are hurting our children and us, how can we not do something more, something new. But that takes a certain kind of commitment that is lacking in Dirty Ol' Town - one that Moncrief keeps betting won't happen and, so far, he keeps winning.

I believe there is a direct connection between that lack of commitment, that un-willingness to act outside the norm, and the situation we find ourselves in today, the day after the election.

DY

Various Mother's Day Malfunctions at River Legacy Park

I made my Mother's Day call to my mommy on the drive to River Legacy Park to ride my bike. I didn't know if it'd be dried out enough for the mountain bike trail, but I was optimistic, because the Tandy Hills were dried out yesterday.

Well, I got to the mountain bike trail parking lot, saw the trail closed cable was not up. But I saw a lot of clumps of mud in the parking lot. Not a good sign.

I got my bike out, got it ready to ride, loaded it up and hopped on. When I went to switch sprockets the chain went all limp, stuck trying to make the switch. I didn't know what was wrong. I got all greasy getting the chain on the sprocket. I don't like getting greasy.

Got back pedaling again. Going up the first steep part, as I put pressure on the crank, the chain messed up again, going limp. This causes me to pretty much have to jump off the bike. The same thing happened again. Then a third time on a very steep uphill, I came very close to a bad wreck.

So, this was not being fun. In addition to the malfunction, the trail was very muddy, in way too many places. The mud began to build up on my tires. The trail should not have been open. Between the mud and the malfunction I decided to shortcut it out of there and head back to my van to see if I could figure out what was wrong with the chain.

I figured maybe the chain, gear shifting thing was malfunctioning due to needing to be lubricated. Lubrication seems to have become my go to fix-it solution. So, I sprayed some White Lightning on anything that moved and set off to pedal the paved trail for a few miles.

The first picture above is looking across the bridge that the paved trail crosses to get to the north side of the Trinity River. It was on this bridge that I had my best bobcat encounter, with the bobcat coming on to the bridge from the south side and me from the north, with us meeting in the middle. It was a friendly meeting.

The second picture is looking east from the middle of the bridge. There were a couple guys fishing on the left bank, well, the bank on the left in the picture.

There were a lot of people picnicking, barbecuing, walking, roller blading, skateboarding, biking and scootering today.

I'm thinking I may need to take my bike to a bike doctor. Does anyone know a good one? I've taken bikes to Bicycles, Inc. in Hurst a couple times with bad results. The first bad result was the gears sprockets needed to be replaced. And so Bicycles, Inc. did so. I get the bike back with the new gears, go to ride it and the chain has all sorts of problems.

So, I take the bike back to Bicycles, Inc. and am told that due to it being a new gear set, or whatever it's called, I needed a new chain, because the old chain had been worn in to match the old gearset. Why was this not taken care of in the first place? They had no good answer.

And then about a year ago my new bike was missing a couple spokes and the wheel had gotten out of round. So, I took it to Bicycles, Inc. I was told it'd be ready to pick up the following Tuesday. I go to pick it up. Ooops. They hadn't got it done. I was told they could get it done within a half hour. I said fine, I'll go to Wal-Mart.

When I got back to Bicycles, Inc. the wheel had been trued, as good as it could be, I was told.

I got out of there, put my bike back together, and found that the wheel was way wobblier than when I brought it in to Bicycles, Inc. This was to be my last time taking any business to Bicycles, Inc. in Bedford.

And then I kept getting one flat tire after another. After the fifth flat, or maybe the sixth, I figured out that the Bicycles, Inc. bike fixer guy had not put back the liner that keeps the spokes from causing flats.

I had a good place to get my bike worked on when I lived in Washington. There must be a good place somewhere in Texas.

Wal-Mart's Institutionalized Thievery

A guy named Stephan made the best comment ever, well the longest, if not the best, to one of my numerous bloggings where I whined about Wal-Mart's milk ringing up at $2 when, on the shelves and in big letters above, it says $1.98. This went on for well over a month. Then the signs went down to $1.97 and actually rang up at $1.97. Now it is back to $1.98 and ringing up at $1.98.

So, when I got the comment about Wal-Mart's pricing practices I hit the publish button and then decided I turned the comment into a blogging. Below is Stephan's comment...

Regarding Wal-Mart scanning different prices at the check out vs the advertised or shelf price.

You may be old enough to remember when items had the price marked on them, and the checker would call out the price of each item rung at the check stand. Checkers actually used to memorize the prices because they were so stable. Price tags on select items changed maybe once weekly for an advertised sale, or even more infrequently when the item went up in price.

Those were the good old days.

Price accuracy was a concern raised by unions when grocery and general merchandise chains first decided to go with the UPC bar code and eliminate marking the price on individual shelf items back in the late 1970’s. The stores saved a bundle eliminating the labor required to mark and change prices, and promised to pass these savings on to the consumer.

But the result of the technology is that it allows the changing of prices so quickly that price stability has gone by the wayside. With some chains there seems to be little coordination between the person who changes the shelf tag and the person who programs the price in the computer.

Some stores used to back up their claims of price accuracy by allowing any item in which the scanned price differed with the shelf tag to be either sold at the lesser price if the scanned price was less than the shelf tag, or the item was free or at the very least a discount was provided if it scanned at more than the shelf price. These policies created good will with the consumer who was compensated for the error and time it took for the price to be checked and the manager to make the override. After all, honest mistakes can and do happen. And when the store or company has to reach into their pocket to pay for an error, it is financial incentive for them to make sure that such errors occur less often.

However, it appears that dishonest “mistakes” occur far more frequently these days.

And such chains as Wal-Mart rank very high on the side of consumers being charged more at the check-out than they should be.

The Associated Press, among others, has reported several studies where shoppers have been overcharged by Wal-Mart stores at a rate that exceeds the federal guidelines of what is an “acceptable” norm for error. This is not just a particular store, mind you; the problem appears to be pandemic within the entire Wal-Mart chain. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called the problem “a culture of inaccuracy.”

To personally avoid being a victim, I try to always shop with a pen in hand. I make very sure that what I pick up matches the shelf tag description and then I mark the shelf tag or advertised price somewhere on the label of the item. On produce with out a UPC code tag, I either mark the item itself or the bag that I place the item in. At check out, I request that the scanned price display be facing me and experience has taught me to not leave the store until I have analyzed the receipt for accuracy. All this takes time, but it saves me an expensive and even more time consuming return trip, by finding an “error” after I’ve already reached home.

What annoys me with chains like Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart in particular, is that when an “error” has been discovered at the check out, that it is not immediately corrected throughout the store. Yes, I will get the item for the shelf price, but unless another shopper is as savvy as I have learned to become, they will not.

I have been told this by both the check out clerks and even a few “assistant” floor managers, interestingly, after they have told me that the cashier “shouldn’t have told me.”

The Wal-Mart “system is set up where only a few select individuals within the store are “qualified” to make the computerized correction, and more often than not, they are not around to “fix” the error at that time. I’m always apologetically told that the problem will be corrected, but when I’ve performed my own informal surveys, I’ve discovered that these “errors” may continue for literally a month or more on an item, without being corrected, even though each time I bring the issue up to a cashier or floor manager. So there is seldom any follow up to the lip service.

When traveling in different states at different Wal-Marts the story is unfortunately the same.

I have come to the conclusion that Wal-Mart literally banks upon these “errors” and has made the inefficiency of correction a model of corporate policy. As an individual I have not conducted a price check of every item Wal-Mart sells, but I can practically guarantee on a diverse purchase of 20 or more items there will be at least one or more pricing “errors.”

A not infrequent annoyance is when there is not even be a descriptive price tag for an item on the shelf and one must either locate assistance or find out what the price is at the check-out stand. .

Wal-Mart has the purchasing clout to dictate to manufacturers the packaging specs of what they sell. For example, if one shops exclusively at Wal-Mart, one may think that the Iams dog food company now only produces a 17 ½ pound bag of dry dog food, when it used to be packaged in 20 pound bags.

Not so. A call to Procter & Gamble (the corporate parent of Iams) will inform the consumer that Wal-Mart corporate headquarters specifically requested the lesser weight packaging, and because chains such as Wal-Mart are such large purchasers, they comply. You can still find the 20 pound bags at competing stores at competitive prices. This practice was not done to save shelf space as the two bags are the same size, only the weight is less.

A number 303 size can used to hold 16 oz, but today on Wal-Mart shelves you will find this to be 14 ½ oz or even less weight in a can that looks very close to the same size as it used to be. The shelving space is still the same so that is obviously not the rationale. So why is this occurring?

I may be wrong, but I strongly believe that this is corporate strategy where the consumer thinks he or she may be paying the same or less for an equivalent item at Wal-Mart when in reality the consumer is receiving less for the same price or paying more for less.

American Airlines reportedly saved $40,000 in 1987 by merely eliminating 1 olive from each salad it served its patrons. So how much money does Wal-Mart shareholders and CEO’s gain by shaving off 2 ½ pounds from a bag of dog food, or a couple of ounces off a can?

If Wal-Mart really wants to give consumers more for their money they could do so by charging less for the same 20 pound package or offer a 22 pound bag for the same price, but instead they’ve opted to charge the same or more for less.

Is shopping at Wal-Mart really a good deal for consumers?

Wal-Mart has made it corporate practice to deceive us into believing so, but my sound advice is to do your own comparative shopping.

Read the labels, compare weights along with prices. And make sure you write those prices on the item when you shop.

Unfortunately Wal-Mart is not the Lone Ranger when it comes to these kinds of practices, but it is the largest trend setter.

You may find that the local store is more competitive than you thought it was and you won’t be rewarding unethical practices by feeding the giant international import Wal-Mart machine with your hard earned American dollars just to “save” a little money.

Be a wise consumer and remember the wisdom of the old adage “buyer beware.”

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. I must remember to call my mom today. I don't think I need gas. Usually I only call my mom when I get gas. I guess I can make an exception to that rule.

When I call, my mom will ask me when I'm coming to Arizona for a visit. She always asks me that. It seems impossible that it has already been 5 months since mom and dad put on their cowboy hats and rode into town.

At that point in time I thought it fairly certain that I'd be visiting the Phoenix zone sometime in late March or April. But, those plans have gone awry.

Nephew Joey is heading to Phoenix on June 20. That's my new target date. I never have any luck hitting any sort of target. It always ends up being wishful thinking.

Gar the Texan's Italian Adventures & Amtrak

Gar the Texan has been blogging amusingly about his recent nightmarish trip to Italy. The latest installment tells the chilling details of a 5 hour train ride from Lamezia to Rome.

A blogging previous to the train ride told the chilling details of the 30 hour ordeal of getting to Italy, including lost luggage, plane problems and Italians rioting.

Another blogging tells the chilling details of a night of going from one bar to another, drinking way too many adult beverages, to the point memory loss set in, with Gar the Texan waking up in the morning to find a strange note pinned to his forehead.

Reading Gar the Texan's details of his train ride to Rome reminded me of my one and only train trip. Taking Amtrak from Tacoma to Portland. I think it was sometime in the late 1980s or early 90s. The tracks were in terrible shape, causing the train to rock back and forth like a boat in rough water.

By the time I got to Portland I had a splitting headache that stayed with me the entire trip. Departing two days later, the Portland train station was pure anarchy. It was every man for himself to try and find an empty seat. The train was way bigger than the one we'd taken south. Going from car to car to car to car looking for a seat had me nauseous before we started to move.

By the time we made it back to Tacoma I was feeling sick. I was barely back in my car when I had to pull over to throw up. I'd never ever been seasick, having been many a time on boats in very rough water. But Amtrak made me seasick.

Since my train ride to Portland the tracks have been improved, along with a new high speed Talgo train.

The Amtrak website almost make me want to hit the rails again, with how they describe what they now call the Amtrak Cascades...

"From Eugene, Oregon to Vancouver, British Columbia, the Amtrak Cascades offers an unparalleled experience of the great Pacific Northwest. Through Seattle and Portland, past Mount St. Helens and across the Columbia River Gorge, you'll witness some of our continent's most distinctive cities and most spectacular natural attractions.

Onboard these sleek, European-style trains, you'll enjoy wide, reclining seats, laptop outlets and bike racks. Relax in the Bistro Car, which features fresh, regional cuisine, wine, microbrews, and the coffees Seattle made famous."

94% of Fort Worth Stays Home Election Day

Fort Worth's Ruling Junta won a stunning victory Saturday, with all incumbents winning, including Mayor Mike Moncrief who won with over 70% of the vote. Clyde Picht got 22%, while Louis McBee almost got 8%.

The Ruling Junta remains in power thanks to the whopping 6% of the eligible voters who bothered to vote.

Which means Moncrief remains mayor by getting 70% of the votes of the 6% who bothered to vote.

I can't help but wonder why only 6% of Fort Worth's voters bother to vote. Do they think it doesn't matter? Does the majority simply shrug off all the corruption charges levied at Moncrief? Is this just the way it's always been here? It's perplexing to me.

I guess Fort Worth must wait for another day to have a revolution to establish a real democracy in this town.

Tandy Hills Hiking, Wildflowers & Overthrowing a Ruling Junta

If it is Saturday and not raining, my one reader may make the guess that I went hiking the Tandy Hills today. My one reader would be right.

I am working on trying to not be such a predictable creature of habit, but it's hard to change when one gets old.

Speaking of getting old. When I purchased an adult beverage today at Wal-Mart the young thing checking me out asked to see my I.D.

I felt quite complimented. I was in cargo shorts and had a baseball cap on backwards, so maybe I was dressed in a youthful way. Or maybe the young thing checking me out has really bad eyesight. Or maybe I don't look like I'm over 21. Yeah, I'm sure that's it.

The wildflowers at the Tandy Hills Natural Area were the wildest yet. I saw several I'd not seen before.

I saw a snake for the first time in all my time of hiking the Tandy Hills. I have an aversion to snakes. Early on in my Texas Exile there was no way I would hike in a place as wild as the Tandy Hills. The snake today was a non-bad snake, just a little brown colored thing. And I didn't squeal like a school girl when I saw it.

I did see something disturbing whilst hiking about today. When you hike the Tandy Hills you come across signs of civilization from long ago, things like pipelines and manhole covers. The manhole covers are part of an old long abandoned sanitation system. Or so I thought. But today I saw one of the manhole covers had been blown open from the pressure of liquid material.

You could see the remnants of whatever came out of the manhole fanned out on the ground. When I went to take a picture of this I was told my camera battery needed re-charging. Maybe I'll make it back to the Tandy Hills tomorrow, if the weather holds, and get a picture.

Speaking of the weather, so far it's nice out there, only 72, almost felt chilly hiking today. Thunderstorms are expected to roll in later, possibly severe. We'll see.

No word yet on whether Fort Worth's Ruling Junta has been overthrown by today's election. I saw no signs of a coup d'etat while driving to hike today. I went by a polling place. There was not a single vehicle there. The polling place workers must have been within walking distance.

America's Alma's Got Talent

The Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, Alma Squillante, is going to be on this year's America's Got Talent, if those who decide who is going to be on that talent show have any sense at all.

Alma has previously auditioned for America's Got Talent, twice. The second time, the America's Got Talent talent seekers sought out Alma, giving her an audition reservation, so she was able to sing without having to wait in a long long line.

This year America's Got Talent, in addition to live auditions, is accepting YouTube video auditions. Alma would not have been able to go to the live auditions, this year, so this YouTube option seems like a good omen to me.

Alma's Audition videos are on the America's Got Talent blog site.

If you are visiting Port Aransas you can hear Alma live at various venues, like the Tarpon Ice House.

Village Creek Vanishing Pipelines, Topless Jogger & Lubricant

On May 1 I blogged about pedaling my bike at Village Creek Natural Historical Area and being surprised to discover that the reason I'd been seeing a sidewalk closed sign for weeks was because a pipeline was being run across the trail.

That and I saw a mess of other pipelines. And the mess those laying the pipelines had made.

Now, today, 8 days later, I pedaled the Village Creek trail again and found no sidewalk closed sign, no pipelines. And the muddy ruts had been smoothed over and re-seeded.

The only mess left behind was where the sidewalk closed sign had been on the north side of the underpass. A big pile of material that had been used to block the trail had been left behind and seemed to be deteriorating. Maybe that's the disposal method, to let the elements slowly melt it away.

I did have something else happen today while pedaling at Village Creek. Naked Bike Ride Day takes place in a few days. Austin is being vexed because even though Austin is on the list of Naked Bike Ride Day towns, no one in Austin has organized this year's ride.

I digress. I mention the Naked Bike Ride Day due to what I saw on the trail at Village Creek Natural Area today. Keyword, natural. I was peacefully pedaling along, quite fast, when in the distance I saw what appeared to be a female form. Topless. With the non-covered top jiggling quite vigorously as the jiggler jogged along.

As I got closer I thought, topless for sure, either that or form-fitting flesh-colored shirt. As I got still closer the form started to look less female. As I got within 100 feet I realized it was an older man with long white hair and the biggest man boobs I have ever seen.

That's been my Friday today. That and that vehicular mechanical problem that had me cranky yesterday was easily fixed with a squirt of White Lightning Lubricant. I am not mechanically minded. But I can accidentally fix things sometimes.

Fort Worth Democracy Now: Vote Out The Incumbent and the Ruling Junta

Tomorrow, Saturday, May 9, 2009, is the people of Fort Worth's best opportunity to overthrow Fort Worth's Ruling Junta and establish democratic rule.

As near as I can tell, and people tell me, the current political mood, among many in Fort Worth, is the most rebellious in Fort Worth history.

Thomas Jefferson once opined that it is good for a democracy to have a revolution every once in awhile.

It's time for Fort Worth's Revolution. More Fort Worth people are sick and tired, than ever before of being ruled by an oligarchy. Even if most of them don't know what an oligarchy is. They do know what a good ol' boy (and girl) network is. They do know what special interests are. They do know what doing business the "Fort Worth Way" means and they don't want to operate that way anymore.

Are those who want to revolt in the majority? I suspect so. Will those in the majority take control and revolt? I suspect not. Why not? I don't know. All you have to do is get yourself to a ballot box and vote against the Incumbent and the Ruling Junta.

Would you like to be able to go to a city council meeting to air a grievance and have more than 3 minutes to do so? Then vote out the Incumbent and the Ruling Junta.

Would you like to be able to go to a city council meeting and express yourself in any manner you choose, like you could if you lived in a free speech democracy? Then vote out the Incumbent and the Ruling Junta.

Would you like to have more say regarding things like Barnett Shale drilling? Then vote out the Incumbent and the Ruling Junta.

Would you like to have a corruption free, ethically clean city government? Then vote out the Incumbent and the Ruling Junta.

Would you like to vote on things like River Visions, Convention Center Hotels, Mercados, Santa Fe Rail Markets and other Ruling Junta type projects? Then vote out the Incumbent and the Ruling Junta.

Would you like to see Fort Worth become a vibrant, modern city that takes care of all its people, in all its neighborhoods? Then vote out the Incumbent and the Ruling Junta.

It is time for Fort Worth Democracy. Now.

Go Vote Tomorrow!

Dialing Doctor Durango and the Parker County Peach Festival

Every year around this time of the year, for the past 7 years, I start getting emails like this one from Leroy...

---

I understand that you have some gospel singing at the festival and would like the opportunity to be considered for a spot to sing. I have a group called Established and you can see us and listen to our sound clips at establishedtrio.com. Thank you for any consideration,

Leroy Lewis,the old gospel singer

---

They go to my Eyes on Texas webpage about the Parker County Peach Festival and somehow think I run the thing. To help alleviate this confusion I put a link to the actual place where they can get the information they are seeking, but that doesn't help, they still email me.

I don't know how anyone could mistake one of my webpages for any sort of official website representing an event, but every year I get questions about the Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival, Fort Worth Stock Show Parade, the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Festival and General Granbury's Birthday. And others I'm not remembering right now.

One of the reasons people get confused, maybe, is my webpages on these subjects show up at or near the top of searches, often above the official website. They should all hire me to make websites for them and solve this problem.

This sort of confusion, where people somehow miss the drift, dates back to way back when I made my first website, Dialing Doctor Durango, way back in 1995. Dialing Doctor Durango was supposed to be this tongue in cheek thing where I acted as if I was an authority on everything. I made up a lot of fake questions and answers.

Then Dialing Doctor Durango got picked for one of those site of the day things. I think it was Funky Site of the Day. After that happened I started getting questions of all sorts from people who did not get that I was not actually a doctor. Just a quack pretending to be one.

One of the questions came from Wee Cheng in Singapore. It was a lovelorn question about her ex-boyfriend who was returning from London, wanting to rekindle their relationship. I advised Wee to give Teck Seng another chance. Soon Wee became Wee Cheng Seng. Wee credited me with pointing her in the right direction to getting married. Wee and I communicated for years, including several phone calls. Wee shipped me several gifts. Wee got mad at all Americans after George W. invaded Iraq. I've not heard from Wee since.

Soon after I first heard from Wee I found out that a medical university in Munich had listed Dialing Doctor Durango as one of the Top 25 medical advice websites on the Internet! I was appalled.

Soon after that I got a very serious gynocological question regarding a UK lady's uterus. I thought, I've got to put a stop to this. I explained to the UK lady that I was not a doctor and that she should consult a real doctor about her uterus problem.

I then killed Dialing Doctor Durango and turned it into the Durango Files. Dialing Doctor Durango had become so huge it was easy to lose the doctor part and still have a website. The Durango Files lasted til I moved to Texas. Some time in 1999 I got the durangotexas.com domain. Some time after that I started Eyes on Texas. I don't have the Dialing Doctor Durango or Durango Files files anymore. They died long ago on a long ago dead computer. Sad.

A Hunky Dory Day at the Tandy Hills Natural Area

Everything was going just hunky dory today, well, except for my pool still being closed. I'd solved a long time vexation over Feedburner and was feeling real pleased about that.

I'm not missing a morning paper, even though I did glance through that Star-Telegram that was left at my door this morning.

Like I said, everything was going just fine, one good thing after another. And then I decided it had been enough days, since our recent deluge, that the Tandy Hills should be dried out and hikable.

So, I go to get in my vehicle to find that a mechanical problem, that was fixed a month ago, is back malfunctioning. It's no HUGE big deal, but still annoying, particularly since I had such a long string of things going right going.

Thus, I got to the Tandy Hills Natural Area (I'm switching to calling it Natural Area instead of Park, due to noticing that's how Don Young refers to it. And he knows best about such matters) in a grumpy mood. But was pleased to find the hills dried out enough for a very hot, humid hike. The only muddy zone was very odd. It was on the slope up to the former Tandy Hills Shrine. It made no sense that this was muddy. Other, usual wet spots were dried out. Why was this usually dry slope muddy? It perplexed me.

It was too hot and humid today to be wearing my heavy duty cargo shorts. After about an hour I was saturated. It's time to break out the nice breezy mesh shorts.

The Tandy Hills Wildflowers were being their most numerous yet. The picture above does not do them justice. You should see them with your own eyes and not rely on my photo taking skills.

Remember. The Prairieland Wildflower Ball is this Saturday at the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

Southlake Texas Tornado Siren Test

Yesterday I mentioned the unsettling experience I had yesterday up in Southlake regarding an extremely loud siren and the equally loud voice that spoke after the siren finally shut up.

Well. Someone calling himself Big Ed in Texas directed me to a YouTube video of the Southlake siren.

Apparently I am not the first person startled by it. Now that I now what makes the noise, that being the thing in the picture, I know where I've seen one before. I was up at Bob Jones Park, also in Southlake and wondered what the big cylinder on a stick was.

I remember it was speculated at the time that it might be a tornado siren. I guess it's a good thing having such a powerful and loud warning system covering such a large area. As in in Southlake you don't have to rely on Pete Delkus interrupting your TV viewing to tell you you are in danger, you've got a much better system. Unfortunately, even though Southlake does have this ultra-sophisticated system, Southlake likely still gets the annoying TV bad weather interruptions.

You can vicariously go to Southlake, Texas and experience the Big Brother Siren and Voice by watching the YouTube video below. You'll have to suffer all the way through the siren, to hear the voice, just like I did yesterday....

The Sad State of Newspapers: Dallas Morning News & Fort Worth Star-Telegram

A couple days ago I blogged about the sad demise of me getting the Dallas Morning News. I'd pre-paid for 3 months. After that 3 months was up, the paper kept coming. I got no bills. And then delivery was stopped. I called to say I'd gotten no paper that morning, which is when I was told it'd been stopped. I was told I could re-start the paper, which would now cost $30.00 a month.

I said send me a bill for what I owe and keep delivery stopped.

I have not yet received a bill, but I have received a "special offer" from the Dallas Morning News. Now, keep in mind the reason I dumped that paper, in addition to the incompetence, was the price increase.

But in this "special offer" it says I can get the paper 7 days a week for $15.75 a month. Which, I believe, pretty much matches what I thought I remembered being told by the guy who originally talked me into subscribing.

So, why did the Dallas Morning News customer service guy pretty much kiss off a subscriber with that $30 a month deal, while they are sending out "special offers" for $15.75?

It's a big mystery why the newspaper business is in rapid decline.

And on that rapid decline line of thought, fresh newspaper weirdness this morning. I opened my front door and what do I find? A Fort Worth Star-Telegram! With a "special offer!"

The Star-Telegram's "special offer" was not as special as the Dallas paper's. I don't remember what it was now.

I had not read the Star-Telegram since I fired them. The paper seems to have shrunk some more. One example was the pathetic editorial pages. The editorial section is 2 pages. 50% of those 2 pages is now taken up by the weather! 12.5% is taken up by editorial cartoons. The paper was so thin it felt flimsy.

And in the Star-Telegram there was no mention made, that I saw, of last night's pre-election event at the Botanic Garden's Moncrief Room. Named, according to one of my sources, after one of the "good" Moncriefs, not the current corrupt mayor, who, incidentally deigned to briefly appear at this event, causing giggles and snickers when he said he could not stay long.

Fort Worth's Parks & Mayor Mike Moncrief's Reign of Craptacularness

Like I said in the previous blogging, here in Fort Worth we are being inundated by a propaganda misinformation campaign by the Ruling Junta seeking to convince those few who vote to keep Mike Moncrief as mayor.

Those singing the praises of Mike Moncrief go on and on about all he has done to make Fort Worth the most celebrated city in America, how he has solved the many problems thrown at Fort Worth, how he has helped make Fort Worth the dynamic wonder that it is.

I beg to differ.

Let's just take one example of something that has happened during Mike Moncrief's reign and how it effects those little people who his supporters claim he cares so much about.

Fort Worth has one of the biggest areas of parkland in the nation. It is called the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge. This park has buffalo, prairie dogs, miles of trails, a nature center, boardwalks over a bayou. And very few visitors.

In April of 2006, with very little debate, Fort Worth's city council, with one or two councilmen objecting, voted to begin charging an entrance fee for access to the Nature Preserve.

I have never read any followup as to how this has worked out. Has the fee even been able to raise enough money to pay for the toll booth and pay to man it?

The entry fee is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors, kids 3 and older $2, under 3 free. And residents who meet federal low income guidelines get in free.

This is what I said about the fee and the city council debate on my Eyes on Texas website...

The argument was made that other cities charge for admission to similar parks. However, no argument was made to counter that dubious assertion. Many cities consider their parks to be amenities that add to the overall quality of their communities and to which it is important that the least affluent of their people feel 'free' to visit. Does Central Park in New York City charge an admission? Does Point Defiance Park in Tacoma? Does Stanley Park in Vancouver? Does Golden Gate Park in San Francisco? Does Cameron Park in Waco? Does any city with real aspirations to being a livable community charge an access fee of this sort to a park of this sort? And require the poorest among us to prove they are without means in order to enter?

It's that low income part of this that really bugs me. This is why a great city has parks like this. So those who can't afford to fly to California to go to Yosemite or drive up to Wyoming to go to Yellowstone, can still enjoy the great outdoors.

I mention Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, above. I had an interesting incident at Point Defiance last summer. Point Defiance is one of the biggest urban parks in America. It is huge. There is a zoo and an aquarium in Point Defiance, miles of trails through old growth forest, beaches, picnic areas and other attractions, like Fort Nisqually. You do not pay an admission fee to enter Point Defiance. There is a fee to enter the zoo and the aquarium.

Last summer I was heading back to my car after jogging the trails at Point Defiance. A couple was walking towards me, looking perplexed. The man of the couple said "excuse me, can I ask you a question? Where do you pay to get in this park?" I was perplexed. But I recognized the accent. I asked if you guys are from Texas? Yes, was the reply. To which I explained that in Washington, unlike Texas, there is no entry fee to state parks, nor is there an entry fee to city parks, like Point Defiance. A few years ago, during a budget shortfall period, Washington tried charging an entry fee to the state parks. The public rebelled, like the public in a participatory democracy is prone to do when they don't like something. The fees were removed.

I have other issues regarding Fort Worth's parks during Moncrief's corrupt reign.

Heritage Park in downtown Fort Worth has been turned into an embarrassing, for any city with pretensions of livability, eyesore.

Fort Worth does little to help the Tandy Hills Natural Area, an area the city should embrace and appreciate as being something in Fort Worth that is truly unique. The city should send in crews to clean up the litter, remove the dumped roofing material, remove non-prairie vegetation and cover up no longer needed manhole covers and pipes from a bygone era.

On Boca Raton Boulevard in east Fort Worth, in an area of dense population due to their being a lot of apartment complexes, one of those complexes was condemned and removed, leaving a huge open space in an area with no parks. Has Mayor Moncreif and the Ruling Junta, caring about all the citizens of Fort Worth in that magnificent manner we hear so much about, proposed turning this new open space into a park? No.

Sansom Park near Lake Worth has been allowed to deteriorate during Mike Moncrief's reign, with the rockwork pavilion now closed off by crime scene type tape, just like Heritage Park is closed off.

There are likely many other examples of park deterioration and neglect and wrong-headedness that I am not aware of or currently not remembering.

Fort Worth really deserves better than it is currently getting from the Ruling Junta. The only way to change that is for the people of Fort Worth to have a revolution and throw the bums out. But that won't happen. It's not the Fort Worth way.

Fort Worth's Public Library & Mayor Mike Moncrief's Reign of Craptacularness

Preserving scenic areas by establishing National Parks and free to use Public Libraries are 2 of the best ideas America has given the world.

We are getting a daily dumping of Ruling Junta propaganda here in Fort Worth regarding our amazing mayor, Mike Moncrief, and all he has done for the people of Fort Worth during his reign.

The Ruling Junta shill's letters to the editor of the Junta's mouthpiece, the Star-Telegram, are long on meaningless fluff and weak on facts. Facts like pointing out what exactly Moncrief has done for Fort Worth that warrants him remaining in office.

I can think of one specific that has occurred during this ethically challenged man's reign. He cut the number of days and hours the Fort Worth Public Library is open. The reason for the cuts? Not enough money.

Here's another accomplishment of the City of Fort Worth's government under Moncrief's sterling, inspiring, leadership. Millions of dollars have gone missing. Just vanished. Now when I first read of this, my first thought was has anyone checked Moncrief's pockets for the missing money? I mean, this is a guy who operates in an ethics free bubble, doing stuff that would have you under investigation, or in jail, in the parts of America that have opted to live under a system of laws. I forget how much money it is Moncrief and his wife have made during his reign, off the various natural gas drillers he is in cahoots with that he does not recuse himself from voting on when natural gas drilling issues are on the table.

So many of those Ruling Junta shills have mentioned how much Moncrief cares for all the citizens of his city. Has he seen the kids lined up outside the Eastside Regional Library, waiting for it to open, later than it used to? Has he seen all those kids, with no computer at home, eagerly waiting their turn at a terminal?

But, what's got me blogging about this right now is I just returned from the Eastside Regional Library. I needed to get some new books to read, now that I've bailed on all the local papers. Except FW Weekly, this week's copy of which I got at the library.

Anyway, ever since the library cutbacks there has been a line when I go to check out. It can be a long wait. Today it was at least 20 minutes. The first time I experienced a line, between when I walked in and was ready to check out, the line had not moved at all. I waited at the back of that line for maybe 10 minutes, then with a couple people now behind me, I got feisty and started complaining. Another librarian then began checking out books.

I like going to the library. I always have. I've never experienced a library as badly run as they are in Fort Worth. I never waited in a line in the Mount Vernon library, the Bellingham library, the Burlington library, the Seattle library or the Tacoma library. Now, what is the difference between those libraries and the Fort Worth one? They are in Washington. The state with America's highest per capita number of book readers and library users. And trust me, if you tried to pull on people in Washington the stunts pulled in the Fort Worth library, it would not be tolerated. You'd have so many people complaining, demanding it be fixed, that it would get fixed.

But, the bottomline is, this type problem would never have been allowed to even develop up in Washington. Paraphrasing Bart Simpson, Fort Worth is used to things being craptacular. You accept craptacular service in your public library, in your trash pickup service, in your road maintenance. And worst of all, you accept a level of craptacularness in your elected officials that not only, would not, it could not, occur in Washington. Moncrief would be in his 5th or 6th year in prison by now if he'd been mayor of Seattle and tried to do business the Fort Worth way.

At the top I mentioned National Parks. Tomorrow I'll blog my crankiness about the craptacular way Fort Worth has managed its parks under Mayor Mike Moncrief's caring leadership.

Big Brother, Sirens, Signs, Sprouts & Near Misses

If it is Wednesday I probably had to be in Southlake today. Which my one longtime reader might guess likely meant I went to Sprouts Farmers Market when I was up north.

My one longtime reader would be right. I had my camera in my pocket today, so I took a picture of the TEXUS TOMATOES sign I see each week when I walk into Sprouts and get a grocery cart.

I like the signs in Sprouts. There are several of them.

Speaking of which, every single Sprouts shopper that I saw come in today, pulled off one of the sanitizer paper towels and wiped down their grocery cart handle. I've seen a few random instances of this before, but never like this. I am almost easily swayed into a herd mentality, so I wiped my cart down for the first time.

I must back up to what happened before I got into Sprouts. I was heading north on Davis Boulevard. Sprouts is at the northeast corner of Davis & Southlake Boulevards. As I neared that intersection the loudest siren I have ever heard went off. It was loud, with the windows up and with Rush Limbaugh in full loud blowhard mode. It was rock concert from hell loud with the windows down.

The siren was a steady sound, not like a tornado siren, but that is what I thought it might be, the weather being a bit unsettled and T-Storms mentioned as possible. The sound seemed to be coming from every direction. After what seemed like minutes of this ear-piercing noise it finally quieted down to silence.

And then the weird thing happened. A voice, just as loud as the siren, started speaking, "This has been a test of the emergency warning system. This has been a test of the early warning system." And then, finally, silence.

Where were the speakers located that this voice was coming from? How large an area do they have wired in Southlake to broadcast like this? It was such a weird Orwellian Big Brother moment. I asked a few people if they knew where the sound came from. No one knew. It's like it came from everywhere, as if it was broadcast, perfect use of that word, from above.

The siren warning incident and Big Brother speaking had my nerves on edge while I did my hunt for stuff at Sprouts. I was only in there about 20 minutes.

On the way back, heading south on Davis, suddenly it started up again, more sirens, only this was an emergency vehicle, followed by a fire truck. Less than a minute after almost getting hit by a firetruck I saw a longhorn I've long wanted to take a picture of. I started to slow up, saw the driveway entry coming up quicker than I thought, hit the brakes, not realizing there was a car a bit close behind me. That driver seemed to handle it okay and a rear ender was obviously avoided or I would have already mentioned it.

Anyway, that's been some of my day today, up at 4 am, no newspaper, pool closed due to all that rainwater of a couple days ago requiring a shock treatment. Impending doom weather-wise, with ultra-high humidity and temps in the 90s.

Swine Flu Warning From South Central Texas

Scary Swine Flu incoming info from Alma down in Port Aransas on the Texas Gulf Coast. Comal County, referenced in the next paragraph is where New Braunfels is, in south central Texas, just a bit north of San Antonio. The info below seems to be contradicted by news this morning that the Center for Disease Control has relaxed their position on closing schools if a case of Swine Flu in the school is confirmed....

"After I returned from a public health meeting yesterday with community leaders and school officials in Comal County, Heather suggested I send an update to everyone, because what we are hearing privately from the CDC and Health Department is so different from what you are hearing in the media. Some of you know some or maybe all of this, but I will just list what facts I know.

The virus is infectious for about 2 days prior to symptom onset.

Virus sheds more than 7 days after symptom onset (possibly as long as 9 days) (this is unusual).

Since it is such a novel (new) virus, there is no "herd immunity," so the "attack rate" is very high. This is the percentage of people who come down with a virus if exposed. Almost everyone who is exposed to this virus will become infected, though not all will be symptomatc. That is much higher than seasonal flu, which averages 10-15%. The "clinical attack rate" may be around 40-50%. This is the number of people who show symptoms. This is a huge number. It is hard to convey the seriousness of this.

The virulence (deadliness) of this virus is as bad here as in Mexico, and there are folks on ventilators here in the US, right now. This has not been in the media, but a 23 month old near here is fighting for his life, and a pregnant woman just south of San Antonio is fighting for her life. In Mexico, these folks might have died already, but here in the US, folks are getting Tamiflu or Relenza quickly, and we have ready access to ventilators. What this means is that within a couple of weeks, regional hospitals will likely become overwhelmed.

Some of the kids with positive cases in Comal County had more than 70 contacts before diagnosis.

There are 10-25 times more actual cases (not "possible" cases -- actual), than what is being reported in the media. The way they fudge on reporting this is that it takes 3 days to get the confirmatory nod from the CDC on a given viral culture, but based on epidemiological grounds, we know that there are more than 10 cases for each "confirmed" case right now.

During the night, we crossed the threshold for the definition of a WHO, 20 Phase 6 global pandemic. This has not happened in any of our lifetimes so far. We are in uncharted territory.

I expect President Obama will declare an emergency sometime in the next 72-96 hours. This may not happen, but if it doesn't, I will be surprised. When this happens, all public gathering will be cancelled for 10 days.

I suggest all of us avoid public gatherings. Outdoor activities are not as likely to lead to infection. It is contained areas and close contact that are the biggest risk.

Tamiflu is running out. There is a national stockpile, but it will have to be carefully managed, as it is not enough to treat the likely number of infections when this is full-blown. I don't think there is a big supply of Relenza, but I do not know those numbers. If I had to choose, I would take Relenza, as I think it gets more drug to the affected tissue than Tamiflu.

You should avoid going to the ER if you think you have been exposed or are symptomatic. ER's south of here are becoming overwhelmed -- and I mean that -- already. It is coming in waves, but the waves are getting bigger.

It appears that this flu produces a distinctive "hoarseness" in many victims. The symptoms, in general, match other flu's; namely, sore throat, body aches, headache, cough, and fever. Some have all these symptoms, while others may have only one or two.

N-Acetyl-Cysteine -- a nutritional supplement available at the health food store or Wimberley Pharmacy, has been shown to prevent or lessen the severity of influenza. I suggest 1200mg, twice a day for adults, and 600mg twice a day in kids over 12. It would be hard to get kids under 12 to take it, but you could try opening the capsules and putting it on yogurt. For 40 pounds and up, 300-600 mg twice a day, for less than 40 pounds, half that.

Oscillococinum, a homeopathic remedy, has been vindicated as quite effective in a large clinical trial in Europe, with an H1N1 variant. You can buy this at a Natural Foods store, or Pharmacy."

Flushing Out Fort Worth's City Hall

The following is a message from Don Young regarding the upcoming, May 9 elections in Fort Worth.....

Sensitive readers: please read no further.

Only a fool would keep flushing a stopped up toilet, right? Disgusting? Yes. Irresponsible? Definitely. But that's essentially what's happening in Fort Worth, Texas under the watch of the current elected officials.

Fort Worth Mayor, Mike Moncrief, and his city council brown-nosers keep flushing and we keep paying to clean up their mess. Case in point:

Irresponsible Gas Drilling.

The reason that irresponsible gas drilling is allowed in Fort Worth and other north Texas urban centers can be traced directly to Mike Moncrief's and former mayor Ken Barr's dishonorable association with the gas drilling industry. The buck stops with them. Consider the following:

---Moncrief's gas drilling Task Farce was designed to deceive the public and grease the wheels for a dirty industry. Public comments were ignored.

---We now have proof that Barnett Shale drilling has a major impact on the air we depend on for life yet, the City of Fort Worth under Moncrief's watch still issues drilling permits and cozy's up with drillers.

---The Barnett Shale Energy Education Council (BSEEC), Moncrief's brainchild, was founded by gas drillers to counter the negative press they rightly deserve. (see above)

---Moncrief continues to violate respectable ethical standards by voting on controversial gas drilling issues before city council, despite his significant investments in Barnett Shale drilling companies.

---Former FW mayor, Ken Barr, who now works for Chesapeake Energy, represented them on the gas rilling Task Force and, unethically uses his insiders clout to push their filthy agenda at city hall. That's not very sporting of our former mayor.

---For the past year, both men and their lawyers have mercilessly toyed with the people of Carter Avenue whose property and lives have been held hostage.

---Moncrief has so many conflicts of interest it's hard to tell him from a truth-challenged Pinocchio. He deserves a jail term, not another term as mayor.

Voters should stop holding their noses and hoping things will get better. Moncrief's, "Fort Worth Way" is the Wrong Way. It's time to stop the foolishness and flush out city hall.

>>> Vote the gas drilling fanatics out of office on May 9th.
>>> Bring back ethics and a livable city to local government.

Need more reasons to flush out Moncrief & Co.? See my 28 Questions for Mike Moncrief (that he never addressed) first published in 2005, here:

Now it's your turn. Voting Day is May 9, 2009.

Fort Worth Gas Price Rises Fast Again

Yesterday a gallon of regular unleaded at my neighborhood QT was $1.92. This morning, when I went to Arlington, I needed gas. So I went to the QT. Overnight gas had gone up to $1.98.

I got gas, but did not call my mom with my usual call to tell her I got gas and how much it cost. It was not convenient at the time. I intended to make a gas call, later, but I forgot, til now, when it is also not convenient to call.

A few minutes ago I had to go to the Post Office. The route there goes by the QT. Now, just a few hours since I bought gas, it has gone up another 7 cents, to $2.05, as you can see in the picture, in which you can also see it is foggy here today in North Texas.

Are we in for another round of fast rising gas prices? If it zooms back up to $4 I think that'll be the blow that totally knocks the current situation into truly being The Great Depression 2.0. That is truly greatly depressing.

HP Webcams, Little Ol' Lady Electric Cart & Darwinian Selection

What I saw today in Arlington is the reason I don't think I want one of those new GM Volt Electric cars that can go only a few miles before running out of power.

I'd been at the Arlington Costco. On the way from Costco to Fry's Electronics I saw this little ol' lady in an electric cart device crossing the Matlock Road overpass over I-30.

As I passed her she was not moving, but was frantically cranking on something.

I was going to Fry's to return the HP Pro Webcam I got there yesterday. I am appalled HP makes such a piece of junk and Fry's sells it. The video was fuzzy, the audio was worse. There was no manual. Just a piece of paper with 3 instructions. 1) Turn on computer. 2) Insert cdrom. 3) Plug in USB cable. That was it.

So I got rid of the HP Pro Piece of Junk Webcam and replaced it with a Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000. The HP Pro Webcam cost $29.99. The Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 cost $79.99.

You get what you pay for. The video from the Logitech is pretty much high definition. And the audio is also excellent. When I went to Fry's yesterday my intention was to get the Logitech one I got today, as it is top-rated. But then I saw the HP one for 50 bucks less, and figured, HP, they make good stuff, it must be good if it's an HP product. As it so often is, my logic was obviously flawed.

So, with the webcam switch out of the way, it was back on the road. I headed north on Matlock Road, wondering if the little ol' lady had gotten her electric cart moving. Traffic is very bad at this location. I was appalled when I finally got a clear view and could see the little ol' lady and her electric cart were moving again. From her pushing it.

I wanted to stop and help, but there was no way I could easily navigate the 10 or more lanes and get turned around again. It was just way too complicated. However I was able to fumble around and get my camera out and on and snap a picture as I drove by. This was a rather risky move in heavy traffic. I don't know how the little ol' lady was going to get out of that congested zone. What was she thinking? Driving such a thing in such traffic? Is there a chance that that was a Volt? Are they for sale yet?

Prairieland Wildflower Ball This Saturday at Tandy Hills Natural Area

An incoming invitation to the Prairie from Don Young....

Dust off your frock, put on your bonnet, hop in your carriage and head over to Tandy Hills Natural Area this Saturday morning, May 9th at 10:00 am for the Prairieland Wildflower Ball.

Last week at the Prairieland area of Prairie Fest, dozens of children used mud and native wildflower seed to create seed balls for distribution at THNA. The kids had a blast playing in the mud and doing their part to help with the restoration of the prairie. Now they get to celebrate their handiwork by dispersing the seed balls.

Please come out this Saturday to witness and support this beautiful gift to Mother Earth and the people of Fort Worth.

Details:

WHO: Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area in partnership with the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) and dozens of area children.

WHAT: Prairieland Wildflower Ball
(seed ball distribution)

WHEN: Saturday, May 9th. 10:00 - 10:45 am

WHERE: Tandy Hills Natural Area
3400 View Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76103
(meet at the playground)

- Rain or shine.
- Dress for the weather and the terrain.
- Bring water and hat.
- While you're here, take time for a hike and see how the wildflowers have bloomed since Prairie Fest.

PS:

FOTHNA now has a FaceBook page and Tandy Hills Natural Area has a Wikipedia entry.