A 10th Day Of August Elsie Hotpepper Happy Birthday

Elsie With Her Trademark Hotpepper

Years ago, way back in the first decade of this century, there was an incoming email or blog comment, my failing memory can not quite remember which, but the name of the emailer or blog commenter was instantly memorable.

Elsie Hotpepper.

In the years since I have received and sent a lot of emails and text messages to Elsie Hotpepper.

Way back when I first heard from Elsie Hotpepper, and for quite a while after I first heard from Elsie Hotpepper, I thought Miss Hotpepper was an elderly lady. I recollect way back then helping Elsie with something with me thinking what a nice young whipper snapper I am, helping this elderly lady navigate something technical.

I do not know for sure why I figured Elsie Hotpepper to be an octogenarian. Maybe it was the well-composed, articulate, properly punctuated, grammar error free nature of the Elsie emails which had me thinking she was of an older generation.

So, imagine my surprise upon first meeting Elsie Hotpepper in person. I think this occurred either at the Tarrant County Courthouse, the Fort Worth Stockyards or the Ozzie Rabbit Lodge.

I was expecting to meet a little old gray haired lady walking with the assist of a cane when this very young lady walked up to me and introduced herself as Elsie Hotpepper.

I was speechless.

Years later I found myself in a public location with Elsie Hotpepper, manning some sort of information booth, when a guy walked up to chat about the information we were dispensing. At some point this guy said something to Elsie Hotpepper like "it's cool you are doing this with your dad."

Elsie Hotpepper looked at me and I think we laughed simultaneously. The guy who made me Elsie Hotpepper's dad seemed perplexed.

Anyway, today is Elsie Hotpepper's 29th Birthday. Which means Elsie Hotpepper has a few years to go before she becomes that old lady of my imagination.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELSIE HOTPEPPER!!!!

The Curious Case Of Elsie Hotpepper's Oregon Rock Stalker

A couple years ago lifelong Texan, Elsie Hotpepper, ventured to the west coast state of Oregon.

I do not know if this trip to the west coast was Elsie's first visit to 21st century America, or just the latest of many trips to one of the non-Texas, modern, regions of America.

What I do know is Elsie Hotpepper checked into a Portland hotel. And in her room she saw a big piece of artwork hanging on a wall.

A day or two or three later Elsie Hotpepper ventured to the Pacific Ocean, to the fabled Oregon Coast.

Eventually Elsie came to the town known as Cannon Beach.

At Cannon Beach Elsie Hotpepper saw that which had inspired the piece of artwork she found hanging on her hotel room wall.

Haystack Rock.

Sort of an iconic symbol of the Oregon coast.

And then that Oregon rock began to stalk Elsie Hotpepper.

Haystack Rock followed Elsie to Portland International on her flight out, with a large piece of Haystack Rock artwork hanging overhead as Elsie made her way through security.

On her way back to Texas, Elsie way laid  to visit a friend in Colorado. Entering that friend's Colorado abode Elsie Hotpepper was startled to see a big picture of Haystack Rock hanging on her friend's wall.

I can't remember all the details, but when Elsie Hotpepper finally made her way back to the D/FW zone she soon found herself stalked by multiple iterations of Haystack Rock. If I remember right, one Haystack Rock iteration was in Elsie's mom's bathroom.

And now, today, I suddenly realized Elsie Hotpepper's stalking rock is stalking me.

Regularly.

My computer cycles various background images, to which I pay little attention. Today nothing was blocking the view on my secondary screen, with me realizing I was looking at Elsie Hotpepper's stalking rock.

That is a screen cap of such above.

And now, just as I typed "screen  cap of such above" Elsie Hotpepper's stalker rock cycled in to view again....

Smoky Visit With The Retired Elsie Hotpepper

Til yesterday I had not had a chance to meet up with Elsie Hotpepper since she retired from her decades long career at a job the details of which Hotpepper has always refused to reveal.

Undercover government employee of some sort has long been the Elsie Hotpepper job speculation of many.

The week Elsie Hotpepper retired she left Texas, via Galveston, on a one way cruise through the Panama Canal, followed by a month in Mazatlan before flying back to Texas.

Hence the reason why Elsie Hotpepper is looking more sun tanned than is her norm in the selfie she took for this blog post.

Meeting up with Elsie for the first time in over a year I felt obligated to ask if she had any plans to try to give up on her three plus packs a day Camel unfiltered cigarettes habit. That puff of smoke in my face, you see above, was Hotpepper's answer to that perfectly legitimate query.

I asked Elsie what she has planned for her retirement years. Another run for political office? Mayor? Congress? Governor?

The answer was a resounding NO.

Elsie says her main activity is going to be being an even more active supporter of the Bucky Elementary Grade School from which Elsie graduated decades ago, way back in the last century.

Around the turn of this century Elsie Hotpepper was made an honorary lifelong Bucky Buckaroo after someone made note of the fact that Elsie Hotpepper, in all the years since she graduated, had never missed a single Bucky Buckaroo football homecoming parade, football game or post game dance. And that Elsie Hotpepper was an ardent supporter of just about all Bucky Elementary activities.

Now you who did not grow up in Texas, or the South, might think it unusual that someone would pay any attention to the grade school from whence they graduated. Well, the thing is, for many in Texas, and the South, graduating grade school was their last bout of higher learning, stopping their school years at 8th grade, never venturing on to high school.

Later generations, for the most part, in Texas, and the South, do go on to high school, with many managing to graduate and go to college, leaving their high school and grade school years in their distant past.

I thought maybe, now that she has the time to do so, Elsie Hotpepper might get her GED high school equivalency certificate. So I asked if that was something she might think of doing.

Again the answer was a resounding NO. Along with verbiage which sounded like Elsie Hotpepper was channeling Pink Floyd, telling me she did not need no education, did not need no thought control.

I thought maybe Elsie's use of double negatives indicated otherwise, but what do I know?

My Life Now Includes A Shocking Elsie Hotpepper Republican

A couple days ago an incoming email asked me if I had seen Elsie Hotpepper's online biography on a website called MyLife. The emailer indicated to me that the Elsie Hotpepper Bio contained at least one bit of info which would likely shock me. And so, of course, I clicked on the link and did soon find myself shocked...

Elsie's Bio

Elsie Hotpepper's birthday is 07/11/1963. Elsie is 56 years old. Elsie's Reputation Score is 4.35. Previous towns in which Elsie has lived include Las Vegas, Nevada and Cannon Beach, Oregon. Sometimes Elsie goes by various nicknames including Elsie Hotspot, Elsie Hotspotter, Elsie Nothotter and Elsie Jalapeno Hotpepper. Background details that you might want to know about Elsie include: ethnicity is Native American, whose political affiliation is currently a registered Republican; and religious views are listed as Scientologist. We know that Elsie is single at this point. Elsie's personal network of family, friends, associates & neighbors include Elmer Hotpepper, Ethel Hotpepper, Peter Snively and Petunia Hotpepper. Taking into account various assets, Elsie's net worth is greater than $25,000 - $49,999; and Elsie makes between $100 - 149,999 a year when she feels the need to have a job.

Birthday: 7/11/1963
Political Party: Republican
Ethnicity: Native American
Religion: Scientologist
Income: $100 - $149,999
Net Worth: $25,000 - $49,999
Relationship: Single

__________________

Okay, now that is new information. Elsie Hotpepper is a Registered Republican?

Shocking.

I do not know if being a Republican and a Scientologist are two things which should be in conflict.

As for Elsie Hotpepper being of Native American descent, this does not shock me.

I suspect Elsie must be of the Cheyenne tribe, known as the Tsistsistas, meaning Beautiful People.

Or possibly Comanche, what with that fierce Hotpepper warrior spirit and those prominent cheekbones...

A BOLO Has Been Issued For The Missing Elsie Hotpepper

Elsie Hotpepper Mugshot

I had no other option but to issue a BOLO (Be On Look Out) for Elsie Hotpepper.

Because Elsie Hotpepper has gone missing again.

Yesterday Elsie Hotpepper asked me if I'd go with her to the new In-N-Out Burger joint on West 7th, in Fort Worth, today. Elsie has never had a Double-Double burger from In-N-Out.

Elsie thinks the product of the locally infamous Kincaid's is a good burger. I told Elsie, in my opinion, that whole Kincaid's is a good burger thing is a local Emperor Has No Clothes type deal. In my humble opinion.

I was back here, from an earlier jaunt to the Village Creek Natural Historic Area and Pantego by an hour past noon. I got myself attired in Elsie Hotpepper approved attire and eagerly awaited the call that told me to exit my security perimeter to meet up with Elsie Hotpepper in the Peppermobile.

No call came.

Calls to Elsie Hotpepper's phone go to voice mail. Email goes unanswered.

Since Elsie Hotpepper is a self-employed freelancer there is no place of employment or boss I can call to check on the Hotpepper's welfare.

It is very perplexing and I am very worried.

Remembering The Day I Learned Elsie Hotpepper Was Not An Old Lady

The young lady you are looking at here is an artist's rendering of Elsie Hotpepper, rendered years ago, before I actually met Elsie Hotpepper, with my impression of what Elsie Hotpepper looked like, and her age, derived from, if I remember right, email exchanges exchanged after I mentioned Elsie Hotpepper's doppelganger in a blog post.

Imagine my shock when I actually met Elsie Hotpepper to find that not only was she not a wrinkled old lady, but was, instead, a young lady who looked like a super model.

A super model who regularly cursed like a drunken sailor on shore leave.

A couple months ago I learned Elsie Hotpepper was being a willing collaborator of an insanely stupid racist Texan.

To say I was appalled upon learning this does not cover how difficult it was for me to try and understand how a sweet someone such as Elsie Hotpepper could condone the un-condoneable in any way.

Is this a Southern thing? Where way too many Southern women are way too used to condoning something most of the world sees as reprehensible?

But, then, to further confound me, one of Elsie Hotpepper's co-racist collaborators, Miss Mary Not Contrary, is a Yankee, from the actual Yankee land of New England.

I am from up North, but I am not a Yankee. The Pacific Northwest was not part of the Union back during the era of the War of Northern Aggression, also known as the Civil War. My relatives were still living in war torn Europe at the time the North was finally fed up enough with the South to whip the South into behaving like proper human beings.

A process which, sadly, continues to this day. A process hampered, sadly, by Southern racist collaborators inhibiting the progress towards eliminating racist idiots from the face of the planet.....

Fort Worth's Roundabout Way Of Installing Imaginary Pieces Of Art

Til this morning I had the longest break from hearing from Elsie Hotpepper in years.

Consulting my phone I see it was way back on September 5 that I last heard from the Hotpepper. And all that message was was text saying "Excellent slapping sir!"

I figured Elsie Hotpepper has been laying low due to the ongoing COVID Trump Virus nightmare, with Hotpepper's delicate constitution rendering her fearful of possible contact with a virulent virus. That, and ever since Elsie traded in her Harley Hog for a yacht she has been spending a lot of time sailing.

So, this morning when I woke up my phone I saw a notification telling me Elsie Hotpepper had sent me a Facebook Messenger message, with the subject of the message being "Merry Christmas!"

Oh no, I thought, the old girl is losing it, the ongoing surplus of societal nightmares has caused her to lose track of time, skipping Halloween and Thanksgiving and going straight to Christmas.

Well.

When I went to Facebook and saw the message from Elsie Hotpepper I quickly realized she had not lost her mind. The Merry Christmas verbiage was pointing me to a link to a Facebook page, with a post which Elsie Hotpepper thought would be gifting me with good mocking material.

As per usual, Elsie Hotpepper was right.

The Facebook page to which the Hotpepper pointed me is a propaganda piece of work from the bad folks who have foisted America's Biggest Boondoggle on Fort Worth, with the Facebook page titled...

Panther Island - Central City Flood Project

A project which has been boondoggling along for most of this century, sold to the apparently gullible Fort Worth public as a vitally needed flood control project, where there has been no flooding for well over half a century, due to flood control measures already in place. The imaginary un-needed flood control project was also sold as a vitally needed economically development scheme.

Both parts of the scheme, so un-vitally needed that the project has never been fully funded, and relies on hoping to secure what amounts to federal welfare to pay for something most big cities wearing their big city pants vote to pay for themselves. Or at least pay the majority of the cost. 

And how can a project be "vitally needed" when it ambles along in slow motion? Soon to enter its third decade of little progress.

The specific Panther Island - Central City Flood Project page post about which Elsie Hotpepper wished me a Merry Christmas was about that which you see at the top. A million dollar supposed work of art, installed five years ago at the center of a still un-completed roundabout, which is related to a couple of the bridges the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision seems unable to complete.

With the bridges being built over dry land, supposedly to save time and money, or so the Boondogglers claim. When there was never any option but to build the three bridges over dry land, because there would be no water available to flow under them until a cement lined ditch is dug with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch.

The Trinity River Vision Boondogglers have been scheming to secure federal funds. At the same time they waste a million bucks to install what many think looks like a giant aluminum trash can. 

On the Facebook post about the aluminum trash can the text tells us...

Did you know that the art piece located at the center of the Henderson Street and White Settlement roundabout was installed in 2015 as part of the Fort Worth Public Art? 

Many have long asked how this "art piece" came to be. How was the creator of this "art piece" paid? Was it upon completion? Or was it when the "artist" got the commission to build the "art piece"? Was the "artist" a good friend of anyone associated with the Trinity River Vision, or its parent enabler, the Tarrant Regional Water District? 

A million bucks wasted on this, whilst trying to secure federal funding. You reading this in non-Fort Worth America, do you feel like helping pay for this Boondoggle when you learn of such?

Predictably this Facebook post about this "art piece" has generated some comments. Below is an edited version of some of those comments...

Mark Criswell: Is it finished?

Pat McDonald: Yes, in 2015.

Cody Bertram: I thought it was a carnival ride.

John Razo: Did you know they should have finished the road before wasting tax payer's money on an art piece? This has been under construction for going on 7 years........

Paul Wilson: It's like the toll road construction, Forever...........

Adam Perez: It looks like a garbage can from ikea!

Sophia Caballero: Adam Perez, for the longest time I thought it was left unfinished, until Trey told me that was the final thing 😒 they should have some incorporated TCU or anything fort worth related.

Adam Perez: Sophia I’ve hated it since they put it up! It’s clunky, unimaginative, and so out of place!

Craig Bickley: Well, this post can only backfire...

James Milburn: How do you expect this post to go? They are bragging about a piece of art that was made 5 years ago in the middle of a roundabout that still isn't complete? How many people have lost their business because of this mess? How many millions (billions?) of taxpayer's dollars have been wasted? It took 4 years to build the Golden Gate Bridge in 1933. How is it that nearly a century later it is taking long to build a bridge over dry land?

__________________

And that Golden Gate Bridge was not built over dry land. It was built over deep, fast moving tidal water. 

The Trinity River Vision has now been a project underway longer than the ten years it took to build the Panama Canal. Another cement lined ditch which had its water added only upon completion, thus built over dry land...

A Little Teapot Spouting To The Politically Ecumenical Elsie Hotpepper

A couple days ago I speculated in a blogging that we might soon be hearing Elsie on Radio Hotpepper.

Last night someone called Little Teapot commented on the Radio Hotpepper blogging, self diagnosing that in part the Little Teapot comment might be considered politically incorrect....

Little Teapot has left a new comment on your post "Are We On The Air With Elsie On Radio Hotpepper?": 

Unless the format has changed recently, this station is Asian-centric, as in Indian and other cultures surrounding India. The brownskins instead of the redskins, pardon any violations of political correctness.

As for your gal pal Miss. Hotpepper, any talk hosting she does will likely involve a Tea Party flavor. Doesn't seem like that flavor is your cup of tea, Mr. Progressive Washingtonian. Then again you may be more Texan and conservative than you might think after absorbing the culture here for so long. A down home Stockholme syndrome?

This morning I heard from Elsie Hotpepper regarding what Little Teapot had to say. Suffice to say Elsie did not take kindly to having her good character assassinated with this uncalled for Tea Party slur.

Does Elsie Hotpepper associate with people who associate themselves with the Tea Party? Yes, she does.

Elsie Hotpepper also associates with people who associate themselves with the Republican Party, the Democrat Party, the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the Socialist Party, the Progressive Party, the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and any other party who might be a help with any of the many Elsie Hotpepper causes and issues.

In other words, Elsie Hotpepper is politically ecumenical.

Rolling Around Mount Wichita Pondering Long Elsie Hotpepper Road Trip

Overnight the heat of summer retreated whilst the cool of fall moved in.

Barely 60 degrees when I first saw the temperature at first light this morning.

This past summer, if I remember correctly, I only rolled my bike's wheels a couple times to Mount Wichita.

But, today, with the sun glaring through a clear blue sky I rolled around Mount Wichita. And stayed cool.

The forest fire which had ravaged the slopes of Mount Wichita, early last summer, has mostly healed, returned to green, for the most part.

Soon winter will arrive, well, in a couple months. And with winter snow may cap the summit of Mount Wichita. But, I dunno, what with this ongoing global warming, the Mount Wichita ice cap may not form this upcoming ski season.

Changing the subject to something else.

During the course of this current week Elsie Hotpepper has been negotiating with me about going on a road trip. With Elsie Hotpepper behind the wheel, a couple thousand miles to the northwest, to Washington.

I have some reservations regarding a long road trip with Elsie Hotpepper. For one thing, I am a reticent, quiet sort who can drive 450 miles before finally saying something, such as "Time to fill up the tank". Which might either mean the car needs gas, or I am hungry.

While I am one who uses few words, Elsie Hotpepper is one of those non-stop talker types. And while Elsie Hotpepper is absolutely fascinating to listen to, particularly when she is lubricated with an adult libation, it can be exhausting following the complicated plot lines of Elsie Hotpepper's ongoing long monologue.

So, I have not yet decided if I am on board with the Elsie Hotpepper long road trip concept...

Elsie Hotpepper Caught Shamelessly Taking Forbidden Sikes Lake Selfies

A couple days ago Elsie Hotpepper's appointment secretary made contact to arrange a meeting this weekend whilst the Hotpepper was in Wichita Falls for some Hi Jinks involving a Silver Dollar Saloon and a stage once performed on by Elvis.

After some negotiating it was arranged to meet Elsie Hotpepper at a bench on the Sikes Lake paved trail at the north end of the signature bridge at the west end of the lake.

Elsie Hotpepper agreed to come alone, without her entourage and that she would take no photos, no selfies, no nothing of the take a photo type thing.

The no photo clause was inserted due to previous incidents where Elsie Hotpepper took stealth photos, unbeknownst to those photographed, with those photos then showing up in various venues, such as Facebook, Twitter, Dallas Observer, Fox News, and other such spots.

So, today, whilst on that aforementioned Sikes Lake signature bridge, Elsie Hotpepper whipped out her phone and took a photo before prevention measures could be taken. When chastised for this breech of photo protocol Elsie claimed she was just taking a selife of herself with Sikes Lake in the background.

And then, a few minutes ago the photo Elsie took began to show up on various social media, where it was quickly clear Elsie had surreptitiously taken a forbidden photo, using her sunglassess as reflective mirror.

Dastardly.

And people still wonder why there are people who insist you just can not trust Elsie Hotpepper.

On Top Of Mount Wichita Learning Elsie Hotpepper Is Not In Los Angeles

I was back on the summit of Mount Wichita today, with the mountain totally dried out from the early Saturday deluge.

From the summit we are looking northeast at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Wichita Falls. I think that is a downtown, sort of tall building, you see on the horizon at the center of the photo.

Lately it seems whenever I get to the summit of Mount Wichita I get a text message from Elsie Hotpepper.

Today was no exception.

The last time I got an Elsie Hotpepper text message on the summit of Mount Wichita it was a cryptic message I have yet to decipher, telling me that Elsie did not like sauerkraut.

Today's summit of Mount Wichita text message from Elsie Hotpepper informed me that she was on her way back from Louisiana.

I thought the Hotpepper was in California, specifically in Los Angeles. Because I saw an Elsie Hotpepper post on Facebook which clearly indicated she was in LA.

I always forget that in Texas LA means Louisiana, not Los Angeles.

I have no idea why Elsie Hotpepper was in LA. I was kept out of that information loop. I suspect alligator hunting may have been involved.

Prior to learning which LA Elsie Hotpepper was in I learned from Miss Mary Not Contrary, also via Facebook, that East Fort Worth was shaken this morning by an earthquake.

When I learned of the Fort Worth quake I texted Miss Puerto Rico to ask if she felt the earth move. She had not.

This morning whilst still in prone position I felt some vibrating that had me wondering if it was from a distant quake. But, I later saw no news of such.

It's time for lunch now. No. I am not going to Nacho Mama's....

I Made It To The 2014 Prairie Fest But Did Not Find Elsie Hotpepper Belly Dancing

Sometime around noon today I started getting text messages from Elsie Hotpepper instructing me as to when I needed to be at the Tandy Hills Prairie Fest.

At some point in time after the last Elsie Hotpepper message I arrived at the summit of Mount Tandy, figuring it'd be easier to park there and hike to the Prairie Fest, thus avoiding any parking annoyances.

The route from where I parked to where I fested took me across the lonely colorful spot of prairie you see above. No humans in view. One would not guess a festival was in progress nearby.

Eventually I made it to the Prairie Fest, where, in the center of the sprawling festival grounds I saw the tepee you see below. Everyone knows how much I like anything that has anything to do with Native Americans, so seeing the tepee pleased me.

I walked around the tepee as the first step in my search for Elsie Hotpepper.

On the west side of the tepee I came upon the view you see below.

For a part of a second I stood there thinking that this was Elsie Hotpepper belly dancing by a hippie van.

But, I quickly realized I had not located the elusive Hotpepper.

However, I must say, this belly dancer addition to the Prairie Fest was interesting. Every time the band would start playing a new song the belly dancer would go into dancing animation mode. It was hypnotic.

A large crowd was enjoying having themselves a mighty fine time listening to the music. It was like being at a mini-Woodstock, but with very little inappropriate behavior.

The biggest disappointment at this year's Prairie Fest you see below.

The Tandy Hills Hoodoo at Hoodoo Central at the north end of the View Street trail was totally obliterated, with only its foundation rock left in its place. Tragic.

As for the search for Elsie Hotpepper.

After what seemed like hours of searching I eventually resorted to text messaging "I have looked all over. Where are you?"

To which Elsie Hotpepper replied something like "I left for another engagement."

To which I replied, "Well......."

Rolling My Wheels In Fort Worth's Gateway Park Anticipating A Sickening Email From Elsie Hotpepper

Rain is predicted to precipitate tomorrow. Precipitation predictions usually don't precipitate, but I had myself such a mighty fine time mountain biking in Fort Worth's Gateway Park on Tuesday that I decided to do so again today, in advance of the possible arrival of mud.

That is not my usual Gateway Park photo op location you see my shady handlebars looking at. This location is a short distance up stream from my favorite Gateway Park photo op location.

About a minute before I was scheduled to leave my abode to head west to Gateway Park I got a text message from Elsie  Hotpepper saying...

"I sent you an email that will either make you sick or provide you easy blog fodder. Or both."

Well, of course I was intrigued and so quickly checked my email to find nothing from Elsie Hotpepper. I texted Elsie back with the no email info and that I was heading out to go biking. Elsie said to text again when I got back if the email had still not arrived.

I arrived back to still find no Elsie Hotpepper email. So, I tried to text the message that there was still no email. But I got a "sending message failed" message. Twice.

So, I emailed Elsie Hotpepper that the email was still missing and that texting her no longer worked.

I sent that email and then suddenly the missing email showed up, time stamped hours earlier. The subject line of the Elsie Hotpepper email said "I'm gagging". Which amped up the being intrigued thing.

The email had a link to a webpage. I soon saw that which had Elsie Hotpepper gagging.

I will blog about that which has us gagging in my next blogging....

Finding Mutant Trees With Elsie Hotpepper Today Walking Around Fort Worth's Fosdic Lake

I got back here around 11 this morning, after walking all around the Dallas Cowboy Stadium to check out what the Super Bowl has done to that ultra-modern structure.

Well, it has been tarted up like a cheap one of those types that a big flashy billboard warns you not to employ, that you see when you exit I-30 to try and check out the stadium.

So, I got back here, feeling like I'd had done plenty of walking for the day, when I got a call from a forlorn Elsie Hotpepper.

My one longtime reader may remember of late I have turned down  a couple Hotpepper hike requests. And I also turned down last night's Hotpepper saloon hopping request.

When Elsie called me around noon, sounding forlorn, and asking if I would go walking again with her around Fosdic Lake, I figured I was already tired of walking, so doing the slow Elsie Hotpepper walking would not bug me too bad.

So, I went walking with Elsie Hotpepper today.

I'd noticed the tree at the edge of Fosdic Lake that you see above previously. But not til Elsie saw it and said it looked mutant did I wonder if it was. For years fish that live in Fosdic Lake have not been safe to eat.

It seems possible that a tree who's roots sucked its water from Fosdic Lake might grow up to be the mutant tree you see here.

Maybe I should be more agreeable to doing some more Elsie Hotpepper hiking. Apparently when you walk slow you see things you do not notice when you are moving fast.

I should have taken Elsie Hotpepper with me to check out the Super Bowl today. Who knows what she would have noticed that I didn't?

Elsie Hotpepper Granddaughter Panther Island Challenge

That which you see here arrived on my phone yesterday, on the final Tuesday of the 2019 version of November.

The sender was Natsie Hotpepper, granddaughter of the recently retired Elsie Hotpepper.

We have not heard from Natsie's grandma since our last Smoky Visit With The Retired Elsie Hotpepper.

Natsie Hotpepper's actual first name is Natasha, but she has been known as Little Natsie Hotpepper almost from the first words she ever spoke.

Elsie Hotpepper has long insisted she never be addressed by her actual first name, which is Elsivinia.

Naming Elsie's actual name in this blogging venue is not the same as addressing her by her actual name in person, so that particular Elsie Hotpepper convention has not been violated.

I hope.

Now, regarding this "graphic" which Natsie Hotpepper sent me, well bless her heart. She means well.

And we can all appreciate Natsie's sentiment regarding making mock of Fort Worth's ongoing embarrassment which has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision Boondoggle.

But there are some obvious problems with Natsie's Panther Island Challenge meme.

First off the three bridges began their slow motion construction in 2014, not 2009. The meme shows the 2009 V-piers having made it to the cement part of their slow motion construction. That actually happened closer to 2019 than 2009.

And the 2019 part of the meme shows the V-piers in wooden form mode, prior to cement being added. Which is the reverse of the pitiful reality.

Even in 2014, when the bridge construction began with a bizarre TNT exploding celebration, actual construction did not begin til months later, in 2015, and then soon stalled.

Another problem with Natsie's meme is in the 2009 part we see the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth rising in the distance.

But, in the 2019 part of the meme the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth has totally disappeared.

Anyway, thanks for the effort, Natsie, and keep on trying to live up to your grandma's feisty reputation of working to right wrongs and fight for Truth, Justice and the American Way.

The original Hotpepper legacy is a tough act to follow...

Elsie Hotpepper Did Not Bite A Hot Pepper On The Tandy Hills Tonight

Elsie Hotpepper was seeming to be a tad down in the dumps this weekend. In dire need of being cheered up.

I thought maybe with Gar the Texan bailing on going to the State Fair of Texas with me, due to choosing to go battle annoying Germans in their Fatherland, instead, that maybe Elsie would enjoy going to the State Fair of Texas to maybe take her mind off her infernal aggravations.

I was wrong. Elsie Hotpepper did not respond in an affirmative manner to my suggestion that she needed to have herself some Deep-Fried Beer.

I then thought maybe a trip to the Tandy Hills Natural Area Sanatorium might be just what Elsie Hotpepper needed to get the heat back in her peppers. This suggestion was also met with a negative, even after I conjured up an artist's rendering of Elsie Hotpepper enjoying the salubrious sanatorium that is the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

It is now less than an hour before I enjoy my favorite TV show, that being The Amazing Race, so time has now run out on me being able to come up with anything to put the pepper back in Elsie Hotpepper.

I will try again tomorrow. To re-pepper Elsie Hotpepper, I mean. But, I will not be trying much else tomorrow. Because I am in total body sore ache mode. As in, I need a day of doing nothing so my aged aching body can recover from whatever it is I have done to it that has me feeling so sore.

Well, there was that semi-bike wreck earlier today. And the Scrabble Queen of Washington did teach me some new pool moves that I think may have strained a thing or two. I am sure in the long run all will be well, as will I.

Is The Texan Accent America's Most Attractive?

This morning I learned via that well known, extremely reputable news source, the FOX News website, which North American accent is the most attractive.

The first sentence of the Which North American Accent Was Voted the Most Attractive? article answers that question...

If you hail from the Lone Star state or the Heart of Dixie, then chances are you won’t have any problems in the dating department.

Those of you who do not know what state the Lone Star state is, well, the Lone Star state is also known as Texas.

I pretty much agree with this most attractive accent conclusion. I have, multiple times, found myself totally charmed by a dripping honey Texas accent.

Years ago I made a website for a Texan named Ann. I usually try to get people to use email to communicate about website issues, due to that being much more efficient than talking on the phone. However, with Miss Ann, if she'd email me with a question, I'd call her, just to get to hear her dripping with honey accent.

Elsie Hotpepper is a native Texan. I would not describe the Elsie Hotpepper Texas accent as dripping with honey. The Elsie Hotpepper Texas accent is perfectly pleasant, just not a honey dripper. With Elsie Hotpepper her Texas accent comes in two versions. There is the professional spokeswoman Elsie Hotpepper Texas accent, which is subtle and understated.

And then there is the Elsie Hotpepper in informal mode Texas accent, which I characterize as Elsie Hotpepper being in Cowgirl mode, with her Texas accent much more twangy and peppered with barnyard vulgarisms spoken with that peppery twang.

Gar the Texan is another native Texan with his own spin on the Texas accent. Gar the Texan's Texas accent was acquired in West Texas, so I guess his version would be known as the West Texas accent variant. I would definitely not characterize Gar the Texan's Texas accent as dripping honey. It is more of a slow drawl with the Texas accent part of the drawl being very understated.

Understated, that is, until Gar the Texan has one of his bouts of the vapors. At that point his Texas accent gets extreme, to the point of being difficult to understand as the drawl starts dropping word endings, almost to the point of getting into slur mode.

Speaking of a hard to understand Texas accent, my best example of that variant is a neighbor all the neighbors call Crazy Greg. If you have yourself a Crazy Greg encounter you usually find yourself in a conversation which makes no sense, spoken in a twangy drawl that is very hard to comprehend.

Susan is another native Texan neighbor. Susan's Texas accent is another honey dripper. I particularly like talking to Susan because many of her sentences end with the word "Hon" which never fails to make me feel all cozy.

I don't know if it is what is known as a guilty pleasure, or just a regular pleasure, but one of the things which pleases me is to wander around Walmart hearing snippets of dialogue in multiple variations of Southern accents, including when the loudspeaker makes an announcement, like "Clean up on aisle 12" spoken with a Texas twang.

I have attempted to affect a Texas accent a time or two.

I have had a Texan, a time or two, tell me I fail at this effort.

Apparently my faked Texas accent, to a Texan's ears, sounds like an annoying Yankee trying to sound Texan.....

Bob Schieffer Warns Fort Worth Corruption Will Rise Without Real Newspaper

Last night I got one of those worrisome Facebook messages telling me I have been tagged. This always sounds slightly threatening to me. This time, as it often does, the tagging came from Elsie Hotpepper.

The Star-Telegram had printed one of its patented bizarrely ironic articles, an opinion piece titled Schieffer: Corruption will rise if local news organizations aren’t here to fight it.

The obvious irony, made obvious just by the title, even before you get to the ironies in the article, is that Fort Worth is already rife with corruption due to having no local newspaper of the shining a light on truth, justice and the American Way sort.

In other towns in America, towns with real newspapers, local corruption, such as nepotism, would be made a criminal legal issue. In such a town with a real newspaper questions about corruption would be asked of a local congressperson if said congressperson benefited financially, or personally, by advocating an ill conceived, ill actualized pseudo public works project the public never voted to approve.

The Facebook posting about this Star-Telegram article generated a lot of comments. I share some below, giving you a clue that not everyone in the readership area ill served by the Star-Telegram are sheep, cluelessly unaware of the corruption which has corrupted their town.

A sampling of those comments, with a few from me, the second of which was made after I actually read this latest embarrassing Star-Telegram propaganda...

Aaron Harris: I think this is a satire piece...right??

Elsie Hotpepper: I can’t stop laughing long enough to finish reading it.

Fort Worth Mayor
 Betsy Price

Mary Kelleher: It has to be a satire piece! Wow! Our mayor!

Melissa McAdoo-McDougall: It is laughable! They never cease to amaze me.

Chris Putnam: Is this The Onion???

Durango Jones: You people really should consider cutting this elderly man some slack. It is highly likely his delusions are senility or Alzheimer related. He probably thinks Betsy Price is his grandma, and Fort Worth is New York City, and the Star-Telegram is the New York Times. Or some equally sad, pitiful confusion. Or maybe the old guy can no longer read and has no awareness that the Star-Telegram does not function as a real newspaper covering real local issues, let alone the wanton corruption which so obviously corrupts the town that sad newspaper so ill serves....I'm done now....

Durango Jones: Ugh. I have now actually read this Scheiffer opinion piece. I do not think Mr. Scheiffer has any awareness of the fact that the newspaper he worked at years ago has become the very type newspaper he warns about. Corrupted by a strange hubris which has the Star-Telegram functioning as some sort of perverse propaganda organ of the Chamber of Commerce sort, spewing delusions and ignoring, well, not investigating and reporting on obvious corruption. Things like acts of nepotism which should not, would not, happen in a town with a real newspaper. How long would J.D. Granger and his mother last in a modern American town with a real newspaper? A town like New York City, Or Seattle. Or Denver. Or Portland. Or Phoenix. Or San Francisco. Or Austin....

Elsie Hotpepper: Someone...needs to write a note to the new girl and let her know instead of writing about ‘coaching salaries’ maybe be she go downstairs and look around.

Durango Jones: Elsie Hotpepper--- New girl? Go downstairs? What does that mean???

Elsie Hotpepper: Durango Jones---the new girl running the ST. She needs an open letter telling her no one buys this crap for a reason, about a billion of them.

Durango Jones: Elsie Hotpepper--- Is this new girl an actual real journalist? Or just another, well, toady????

Elsie Hotpepper: Durango Jones---we’re about to find out. The ST has a very long history of shoving one sided propaganda down our throats. Ask them to write a ‘fair’ article on your Congresswoman, her baby and their 13+ year, billion + dollar project. Just one.

Happy Birthday Elsie Hotpepper

The young lady you see here, up a creek with only one paddle, goes by many names, with my favorite being Elsie Hotpepper.

The cattle herd Elsie is ramrodding is making its way across the pristine waters of the Trinity River, at a location I believe to be at the east side of Fort Worth, near where the river soon leaves Fort Worth and enters Arlington.

I am not certain what particular photo shoot brought about this photo. It may have been part of Elsie Hotpepper's audition for some TV show, Yellowstone, maybe.

It is hard to keep up with the various antics of Elsie Hotpepper. Truth be told, keeping up with the Hotpepper can be a bit exhausting.

Anyway, today, August 10, is Elsie Hotpepper's birthday.

29 years old.

At least that is what is indicated by Happy Birthday signage installed overnight in Elsie Hotpepper's front yard...

Mary Kelleher for Fort Worth City Council 5

Yesterday a Facebook notification showed up notifying me that something had changed...

A Page you follow, Elect Mary Kelleher, changed its name to Mary Kelleher for FW City Council 5

This was new news to me. I am assuming Mary Kelleher's current term on the Tarrant Regional Water District Board is coming to an end, and thus, now, Mary Kelleher is running to become a Fort Worth city councilwoman.

Ironically, well, maybe it is not ironic, more coincidental, but the same day I learned Mary is likely going to become a councilwoman, a Microsoft OneDrive Memory showed up which also reminded me of Mary Kelleher.

That is me you see above, on my way to D/FW International Airport, picking up an ostrich egg from Mary Kelleher's mailbox, on the way.

Switching from ostrich eggs back to the previous subject.

If my memory is serving me correctly, I first learned of Mary Kelleher, decades ago, via an article in Fort Worth Weekly, about Mary's issues regarding the Trinity River regularly flooding in her area of Fort Worth.

Prior to that, the entity who goes by the name Layla Caraway, who some know as Elsie Hotpepper, had been in the news---local, state and national, due to her home in Haltom City teetering precariously above a flooding creek.

Fort Worth's Congresswoman, Kay Granger, visited the site of Elsie Hotpepper's teetering home, causing Elsie to have some hope that maybe that local politician might be of some help. A hope history would prove to be erroneous.

This was all happening early on during the first decade of what has become an embarrassing Boondoggle, which has been Boondoggling along now for three decades, with little to show for what was purported to be a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme.

The fact that no attention was being paid to actual vitally needed flood control, both in the flooding creeks in Haltom City, and the Trinity River in East Fort Worth, motivated both Elsie Hotpepper and Mary Kelleher to become what are known as political activists.

After reading about Mary's flood woes in that FW Weekly article, Elsie Hotpepper met with Mary, and convinced her to run for the TRWD Board.

I remember I was on a bike ride on the Trinity Trail when I got a call from Elsie Hotpepper, telling me about the meeting with Mary, and the hope Mary would run and win.

Mary did so, she ran and won. By a landslide.

I recollect my first time meeting Mary was when I went to vote at the Handley/Ederville polling location, where Mary was outside the polling location, greeting voters. I introduced myself.

It is sort of hard to believe this was such a long time ago, and, all these years later, the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision has yet to come to any sort of useful visible fruition. That and nothing much has been done to mitigate flooding in Tarrant County areas actually prone to deadly, serious flooding.

If I remember correctly, and sometimes I do, the last time I saw Mary and Elsie, in person*, was back in early 2016. Mary took Elsie and me out to lunch at an Outback Steakhouse, I think that was the location. 

And then after lunch we drove to Mary's farm where I met a large collection of animals, including an ostrich, one of whose eggs ended up getting picked up by me out of Mary's mailbox, a few days later.

Methinks it will greatly benefit Fort Worth having Mary Kelleher on the city council. And then, eventually, Fort Worth Mayor. Or Kay Granger's position. As a congresswoman...

*I was erroneous regarding Outback Steakhouse being the last time I have seen Elsie Hotpepper. I forgot about a year before COVID struck, I pedaled my bike to Sikes Lake to meet up with Elsie at a Sikes Lake gazebo.