Sunday In The Park (Tandy Hills)

For 2 days my mom has been calling and leaving voice mail messages. When I call back I get their answering machine. It's vexing. Modern communication is so unreliable.

One of my ex-sisters-in-law sent me and mom and dad a DVD with a lot of video of my grand nephew, Spencer Jack. I don't know if mom and dad will figure out how to watch the movie.

I don't know if they've ever recovered from buying a Beta VCR, rather than the VHS version. For some reason all my relatives blame me for them all buying Betas. While I got rid of my Beta and got a VHS. It seems like decades ago and I still hear complaints. As recently as last week. I guess on some things there are no statutes of limitations.

Are you planning on being at the Tandy Hills next Saturday to help with the first phase of Operation "Make it Natural"? I went hiking there today, with an eye to looking at what is going to be removed. It would appear to be quite a daunting task. Rather than haul out all that mesquite, why not have a huge bonfire? It'd smell real good. I'll bring meat products to BBQ.

That is downtown Fort Worth, in the photo above, looking through a haze of smog. Even the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which usually operates as some sort of industry shill, is reporting that the Barnett Shale natural gas drilling operations are adding more pollution to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex air than all the vehicles on all the roads in this large metropolitan area.

I was startled by a large cat-like creature while hiking today. Moments later I was startled by a large mammal in human form with a big cock-a-poo type dog. The human was an older gentleman who walked with a cane. I thought he was being quite adventurous, negotiating the steep Tandy Hills with a cane.

I don't know if it true or not, but he told me that Mesquite is not native to Texas. It came from Mexico, brought north by the cattle drives that ran through Fort Worth. He told me that since there were no cattle drives through Dallas, there is no mesquite there.

The Man with the Cane has lived near the Tandy Hills since 1979. Back then, the long gone restaurant that used to sit on the western end of the Tandy Hills, was still in operation. He couldn't remember the name for sure, thought it might be something like Calamity Jane's. He said it had a great view and an outdoor patio. It was still standing when I first moved here. Then it was torn down. After that you could make out the layout by looking at the foundation. There was a water feature that you crossed over via a bridge to enter the restaurant.

I've long thought it may have been a Prohibition era Speakeasy type joint, due to its isolated location on a bluff affording a good view of possible incoming police. The Man with a Cane said the building looked like it could have been built back in the 1920s. I am now on a mission to find out the history of that place.