Star Telegraph's Way With Words

Several months ago a new blog showed up in town, calling itself "Star Telegraph." I do not know who is behind the Star-Telegraph blog.

Due to how I have, at times, made a little fun of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I have been asked, a time or two, if the Star Telegraph is my blog. It definitely is not. But I wish I'd thought of that name.

Whoever it is who writes the Star Telegraph, he or she or they, have really good taste and a highly discerning eye for clear, high-quality thinking and writing.

Just this past Friday was the following blog post in the Star Telegraph...

A way with words

As usual, we enjoyed Durango's honest opinion about the Trinity River Vision Boondoogle. You will enjoy it, along with the interesting picture.

Read all about it on Durango's blog.

This was not the first time the Star Telegraph showed such good taste in singling out something in this blog. I can't remember when or what, right now, but thought I'd mention the latest.

Why Bother Looking For A Tandy Hills Tarantula?

Some mornings when it is time to get up I think to myself, why bother? Today was one of those mornings. But, I got up anyway.

About 6 I had my regular impulse to go swimming before the sun came up, but that why bother impulse struck, so I didn't bother going swimming.

After I didn't bother going swimming I got an email desperately seeking my help fixing an Internet related problem. My first impulse was to think why bother, but I overcame the impulse and fixed the problem.

After fixing the Internet related problem I thought of blogging, but I had nothing motivating me to blog about, that and I thought why do I bother with this blogging thing? Really? What is the point? Why bother? Even though I felt like not bothering, I bothered anyway and blogged. About what, I do not remember. That was this morning, it is now afternoon. How can I be expected to remember what I did this morning? I suppose I could look, but why bother?

Around noon I was really feeling tired of this hell I'm living. But I really did not feel like going to the bother of going to the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Fortress of Solitude Area to get in my usual mood-lifting, endorphin producing, fast hiking up and down hills.

I sort of thought to myself why do I want to bother feeling better by forcing some endorphins into my bloodstream? Against my negative nature I forced myself to go to the Sanatorium.

After a mile or two of hiking I saw the wildflower you see at the top. It looked unusual to me. By then I started to feel a bit less bothered by the feeling that I didn't want to bother.

I learned yesterday that the last time Martha and Big Ed went hiking on the Tandy Hills they saw a tarantula. I have only seen one of those bugs once since I've been in Texas. It was on a trail in Cedar Hills State Park. Cedar Hills State Park is by Lake Joe Pool near the southwest side of Dallas.

Along side the paved biking/hiking/blading trail, in Arlington's River Legacy Park, there are signs telling you what wildlife to look out for. One of the signs tells you you can find tarantulas in the park. I've seen all the park's wildlife, depicted on the various signs, except for a tarantula.

That's all I feel like bothering to blog about right now.

Facebook Found Out I Know Sarah Palin

Facebook can be entertaining. When I first signed on to Facebook I figured it'd be like MySpace and I'd not like it and see no use for it.

Instead Facebook has me talking to people I've not talked to in in a long time.

Facebook has exercised my lazy brain due to me trying, unsuccessfully, to beat the Scrabble Queen of Washington, known as Scrabble Queen Karen, or SQK. Currently I have a slight lead in one game. That lead won't last.

Facebook is constantly suggesting that this that or another person may be a friend of mine. As you can see in the Facebook screen cap, currently among the many suggestions, is Sarah Palin. Now how did Facebook find out I knew Sarah back during her short stint in school in Idaho? It feels like some sort of Big Brother thing.

Also on the list is my ex-sister-in-law and the namesake of my ex-sister-in-law's grandson, Spencer Jack, with the namesake being my ex-wife, Loretta. How did Facebook know to put Loretta on this list? I have not seen Loretta in over a year. We don't email. How did Facebook know I know Loretta? Even if Loretta and I exchanged emails, that Facebook could somehow snoop, she doesn't use her Loretta name in Internet World. She calls herself Otterpengu.

On the list of possible friends is someone who would, in reality, be on my Enemies List, if I had such a list. How did this person get on a list of my possible friends? We did not go to the same school.

Years ago I made a website for a guy, here in Texas, named Lewis Shallcross. He is on the list of possible friends. I have never even met the guy. His website is not on this computer. How did Facebook make this connection?

Anyway, Facebook is fun and perplexing. And don't get me started on Farmville.

Our North Texas Community

For months Big Ed has been working on what I thought was a blog. I looked at it a few times during it's genesis and it didn't make me cringe as bad as I often do when reading something written by Big Ed. I've only looked at a little of it. It is likely there is something in there that will cause cringing.

Big Ed's blog, or website, I can't tell what it is, I thought it was a blog, but it looks like a website, anyway, it is called Our North Texas Community. It is now ready for primetime.

I see a link titled "We Watch Out For Moms Here." Just the title made me cringe a little.

There is a list of Recent Posts. I see one titled, "What Turns You On?" I don't think I'm gonna click on that one.

The internet has this thing called Alexa Rankings that are sort of like the Nielsen Ratings. Only it is the popularity of a website that is being ranked instead of a TV show. The goal is to get into the top 100,000 of websites. If you do that, you've made it in Website World. It's like having a hit TV show.

Big Ed's Our North Texas Community currently has an Alexa Ranking of just over 500,000. Alexa's stats have Big Ed's visitors staying over a half hour on average.

Of my blogs, the one you are looking at right now has the highest Alexa Ranking, something in the 1,200,000 zone. The average stay of my visitors is under 3 minutes. I get a lot of comments on this blog. Big Ed has gotten 1 comment.

So, now I have yet one more thing to be perplexed about. Alexa Rankings. And our north Texas community.

New Dallas Cowboy Stadium Making Locals Cranky

That is the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium's roof above the FINA station. The view is looking northwest from the industrial blight area southeast of the stadium.

Several events have now taken place in the new stadium, including one or two football games of various sorts. I have seen no reports of traffic or congestion problems related to stadium events.

That surprises me, due to the fact that that area can be a bit congested, due to all the road construction, whenever I drive through the area.

I got feedback to my Eyes on Texas webpage about America's Team from someone who attended the first football game in the new stadium. The Dallas Cowboys call themselves "America's Team." This seems to be some sort of local delusion. The feedbacker was not happy about something he did not see.

Eyes on Texas,

What I noticed about the first game was what wasn't seen. No United States flag during the whole affair. Very little participation of players and fans when the national anthem was rendered. Some America's Team !!!!!!!

— Ray Pettigrew

And then this morning, in the Sunday Fort Worth Star-Telegram, there were 2 letters to the editor from a couple Arlington residents not at all happy with the new stadium. Both letters are below....

Stadium not disability friendly

Now that the world has said all its superlatives about Jerry Jones’ stadium, what does a handicapped veteran think?

When I bought my ticket, I asked about handicap parking. I was told to use the Rangers parking lot, where a courtesy cart would pick people up. There were three carts that could handle two people at a time for 78,000 fans, some handicapped. I waited with eight other handicapped people for 40 minutes. No cart.

I decided maybe I could walk. Along the way, I counted about a half-dozen people in wheelchairs being pushed up the hill by family or friends. I also saw numerous people using canes to help them walk. I talked to people who said they waited about an hour for a courtesy cart that never showed. It appeared that Jerry’s people had carts running here and there to pick up fans who were seemingly healthy enough to walk.

Once I reached the stadium, my knee was killing me so I asked the attendant if I could I go in the door. He looked at my ticket said sorry but my gate was on the back side. Once I got to the gate, I had to walk half way back to find an escalator to get upstairs.

I was unable to find a handicap stall in several restrooms. Aren’t there federal laws about handicap parking and restrooms? Did Jerry’s facility slip below the federal radar?

— Senior Master Sgt. David A. Fitzwater, retired, Arlington

Prisoner in own home

My home is cut off by barricades and if I want to go anywhere, I’m routed all over the place because I happen to live about a half-block from the new Cowboys stadium. Helicopters were overhead the entire day of the first game.

I have been subjected to this harassment many times this summer. Paul McCartney’s concert brought Excalibur Towing, parking two tow trucks in front of my house. Nobody else can park here, but it seems the tow trucks have priority, whipping their big trucks up and down this little street.

We had a buyer for our property, but when the buyer tried to get zoning for a parking lot, the Arlington City Council said, "No way!" The deal fell through. Now I see in the Star-Telegram that the council is going to approve the use of the city lots for Cowboy parking.

It’s becoming clear why they turned us down! They didn’t want the competition.

The city has ruined my and my neighbors’ chances of getting out of the rat race that this stadium has brought to our little neighborhood.

I am 74 years old and have been hospitalized twice this summer for surgeries, including an aneurysm, and I’m sure that I’m an unimportant person in your eyes. But I have lived here for many years and intended to live out my life here until the city plunked the stadium about 500 feet from my house. Now they’re making sure I’m stuck here.

The city of Arlington should be ashamed!

— Anne Blanchard, Arlington

The Skinny Texas Summer Weight Loss Diet

Every summer since I moved to Texas I've lost weight. Except for last summer and the summer of 2004, because those summers I spent a month in Washington.

Last summer in Washington I only gained a few pounds, even with the boarding house matrons, who ran the place I was staying at, insisting I eat dinner, despite me repeatedly saying I don't eat dinner. Big breakfast, big lunch, something light at night. But no dinner.

When I got to Washington, last summer, I think I weighed about 170. If I remember right I weighed 178 when I got back here. So, they did manage to fatten me up, somewhat. I suppose I caused some fatten me up motivation when I remarked that I weighed less than any of my adult female relatives.

So, why am I going on with this boring subject you're sitting there wondering? (if you've read this far) Well, I had not stepped on the scale for awhile. This morning I stepped on it to see I've hit a new low. As in 168. I have noticed that going up the Tandy Hills has seemed easier of late. And now I know why. I'm hauling less of me up those hills.

I've also noticed lately that I have very little floatibility when I'm swimming. The most I've ever weighed is 217. With all that fat I was my own air mattress. I could just lay on my back and float. I try that now and I slowly sink.

I knew I'd been losing weight and have been trying to eat more. I've observed the feeding habits of people who know how to pad themselves with thick layers of adipose tissue. But ice cream, bag of chips, butter on everything and lots of bacon just do not appeal to me.

This morning, as part of my stop the shrinkage campaign, I had a 3 egg omelet with lots of cheese, two slices of whole wheat toast and hashbrowns. And a banana.

I see a lot of really BIG people here in Texas. There are many reasons Texas is known as a BIG state. It seems to me it must be miserable carrying around all that heft in high temperatures. Then again, you really do not see the real Biggies out and about much in the outdoors. They are probably masters at going from one air-conditioned venue to the next.

So, why does the Texas summer make me skinny? Well, heat depresses my appetite. I'm sort of addicted to enjoying going out in the heat. I burn a lot of calories out in the heat. That's my simple skinny Texas diet. Eat less and go out in the heat. Anyone can follow this easy diet. Well, you do have to move to a place where it gets hot. But, other than that, easiest diet ever.

Tandy Hills Fossils & Eagles Soaring

I saw some wildlife whilst hiking the Tandy Hills today. There were several birds that looked like eagles circling above me, trying to decide if I was a rodent worth grabbing, or not.

Apparently I did not look like a good dinner, so the birds of prey did not prey on me.

I rarely see humans hiking the Tandy Hills, other than the humans I bring with me once in awhile. Today I was lost in thought in the peaceful solitude when I was startled by a man and his son.

I startled them too. The man said he'd been hiking the Tandy Hills for years and rarely sees a human, so it startles him when it happens, too. The man and his son had been fossil hunting in a dry creek bed. He told me there are a lot of fossils to be found.

It got into the low 60s overnight, in the 80s when I went hiking. There was a slight hint of cool in the breeze that sort of felt like September is almost here. Swimming this morning was noticeably cooler. Very pleasant.

About 10 minutes after my encounter with the fossil hunters I heard voices. I don't often hear voices while in the Tandy Hills Natural Solitude Area. I looked the direction of the voices and saw the fossil hunters making their way up the hill I'd made my way up minutes before. I zoomed in on them and got a bad picture of one of my rare human encounters in the Natural Area.

Thinking About Moving To San Manuel

I have had me a rough few days. Savagely, brutally attacked by hackers, twice. In between hack attacks I got a text message from my mom and dad that caused me to collapse while hiking the Tandy Hills Natural Area's mountains.

Today was my first day back stomping on the Tandy Hills since I got battered and banged by rough rocks. I was slightly concerned that there might be another fall. Apparently falling down is a common malady of the elderly, I learned this morning from Nurse Martha.


We had a good storm last night. A lot of thunder, but not a lot of water. Today, for the most part, the Tandy Hills were mud free. But whatever rain fell, it made for extra humid hot air. But it was not too bad because it was not even in the 90s. I think our 100 degree days of the year may be over. Overnight it is supposed to get down to 65. That should make the pool refreshing in the morning, for the first time in a long time.

It is almost September and there are still wildflowers coloring up the Tandy Hills prairie. I do not remember seeing flowers this late last summer. And I was back on the Tandy Hills by this time last year, using strenuous hiking and its attendant endorphin release to help mediate the pain I was feeling from all I endured in Tacoma. Maybe I was too distracted by all I was aggravated by to notice something like a flower.

I am thinking about moving to San Manuel, Arizona. That's a mining town. There is a house there waiting for me. It is semi-close to Tucson, with a semi-good buffer from my brother, sister and parental units. I'm sure they'd call first before dropping in for a visit.

My therapist, Dr. L.C., sent me an email this morning with the word "love" in the subject line. That sort of word in the subject line always makes me a bit nervous to open the email. Turned out there was nothing I needed to be nervous about. The "love" in the subject line was the first line in a sentence continued in the body of the email, as in "love the blog!!! you rock."

I like it when someone uses teenage type lingo directed at me. It does not happen very often.

J.D. Granger's Trinity River Vision In 2021 Dollars

That is my Facebook friend, J.D. Granger in the picture, guzzling down some beer. J.D. is the son of Congresswoman Kay Granger. Kay Granger represents the district Fort Worth is in.

Sometime late in the last century a vision came to Fort Worth that became known as the Trinity River Vision. That vision foresaw building a little lake at the confluence of two forks of the Trinity River on the north end of Fort Worth's downtown.

As the vision grew brighter 3 signature, fancy bridges were added. After awhile the vision started to see some canals. As the vision grew clearer the price tag kept rising. A way to pay for the vision had to be found.

And so an unneeded flood control diversion channel was added. With the unneeded flood control diversion channel added, Federal dollars might more easily be secured. To secure help in that regard, Kay Granger's son was put in charge of the vision, even though he had no experience with such things, but it sure gave his mom a reason to be an ardent supporter of the vision.

The Trinity River did flood real bad back in the 1950s. To make sure that did not happen again massive levies were built, likely with help from the Federal government. Those levies have kept dry parts of Fort Worth from getting wet for over 50 years.

On August 24, 2009, the Fort Worth Business Journal had a very interesting, sort of bizarre article about the Trinity River Vision. The price tag has now inched closer to $1 billion, with the latest price tag being $909.6 million.

In the article, and this is one of the bizarre parts, J.D. Granger explains that the cost figures are based on 2021 dollars. Huh? How is that done? In our mixed up economy someone is able to say what the dollar will be worth in 2021?

The $909.6 million price tag being based on 2021 dollars, is, according to J.D., "A move few projects make because of its shock value."

The above and below quotes from Granger are excerpted from the FW Business Journal article.

Granger said, "You'll not find another project done that way. Funding estimates for projects are always done on the front end. They're always done based on the year in which the estimate was made. But we wanted a clear picture of the end amount for this project. I don't know if anyone will ever do it again after we've done it, but the public said it wanted it, so we did it and we'll see how everyone likes it. Everyone is still watching us to see how it turns out."

J.D really likes to use the word "it" a lot. How did he find out the public wanted it? I am part of the public. I didn't want it. With it being the cost figures being based on 2021 dollars. I know other members of the public and I've heard none of them say they wanted it.

I have heard a lot of the public verbalize concern over this boondoggle, particularly with the 2021 price tag going up and up, while the vision fades, with the signature bridges gone, replaced by bridges designed by a local architect. The canals are gone. And the lake has shrunk. The FW Business Journal says it will be a 33 acre lake with two islands. I had not heard of the islands before. A couple weeks ago the Fort Worth Star-Telegram had an article about the growing boondoggle which said the lake had been shrunk from its original size to something like 17 acres.

I don't know if 17 acres qualifies as a lake. Sounds to me like the lake vision has turned into a big pond with a big price tag.

Friday Morning With No New Hacking Attacking

Google is no longer telling people that my website is a threat to humanity and their computers. That's a relief.

Yesterday's hack attack wasted a few hours. After spending an hour on the phone with my web host tech support person I was able to combine what she told me with the confusing Ukrainian written instructions and figured out how to add to files to the root directory of my website.

Below is what was added that supposedly makes it impossible for bad guys to penetrate my space.

ftp.deny:
ALL: ALL

ftp.allow:
ALL: 201.6.100.90
ALL: 91.24.12.0/255.255.255.0
ALL: 76.162.

The numbers above have been changed so that any of you bad guys reading this can't attack me.

I agree with what one of my Facebook friends had to say about my hack attack...

"I never could understand why somebody would do that kind of stuff. In my mind, the only people that have something to gain are the "anti-virus" people. Without viruses, they would be out of business."

I Have Been Hacked Again By Malware Miscreants

This morning I got a message telling me that Google was warning searchers, once more, that visiting my Eyes on Texas website could harm their computer. I quickly did a site:durangotexas.com check and saw no problem.

Shortly after that I found out I did have a problem. Again. Last Saturday's hacker attack was from something called metastatic.net. Today's is from mega-tracker.net.

I checked my Google Webmaster Tools to see the red "This site may be distributing malware" warning. When I click for details it says upon further review the website was found clean. This was before I'd found and removed the infection from the 10 pages Google listed.

After I removed the infection I called my web hosting company to try and find out why this is happening. After Saturday's debacle I'd changed my passwords, making them way more complicated. I'd made other suggested security changes. Today I was told to make changes to my FTP permissions. It was confusing, but I think I've made the changes.

The day started off real nice, with a long swim in the dark. It has gone downhill ever since then.

Wednesday At The Fort Worth Stockyards With Germans

Because I was in downtown Fort Worth yesterday afternoon I thought I'd also go to the Fort Worth Stockyards, which are a couple miles north of downtown. I had not been to the Stockyards in awhile. The most recent time was months ago when I pedaled from Gateway Park to the Stockyards. Previous to that it was with my mom and dad, BBQing at Riscky's BBQ, way back in January.

The Stockyards may be my favorite tourist spot in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. It's usually the place I take out of state visitors that they like the best. I think because the Stockyards fits a Texas stereotype with its Cowboys and Longhorns.

I expected there would be more tourists than I saw yesterday. On the weekends the Stockyards are real busy. But in the middle of the week, on Wednesday, the place was not the hopping spot it will be on Saturday and Sunday. I did see some tourists. I sat there thinking us Americans really need to stop dressing so weird when we are in tourist mode.

And it wouldn't hurt to have the Stockyards security guys cowboyed up a bit more than just a cowboy hat.

I watched a particularly strangely attired couple walk into the Visitors Bureau. When they came out they walked to where I was sitting by the misters. And then I hear them talk. They weren't Americans. They were foreigners. German. A half hour later another group of Germans got misted. They were not dressed goofy.

I think no one with a gut should wear a t-shirt. And no one over 21 should wear a t-shirt that says anything on it. Like this other group standing by the mister. The older mister of that group had a t-shirt that said "North Cascades Highway Washington." So, I asked, "Are you from Washington?" He said, "No, why do you think that?" To which I said, "Because you are wearing a Washington t-shirt." To which he said, "No, we are from Texas." That's the misters and the Texan with the Washington t-shirt in the picture.

When I first set eyes upon the Fort Worth Stockyards it was after dark. The place lights up real nice. Back then daylight allowed you to see that the Stockyards needed some sprucing up. Over the years, that I have been here, there has been a lot of sprucing up done. Yesterday I saw a lot of sculptures have been added. One sad thing has not changed at all, that being the New Isis Theater. Ever since my first day in Texas this theater has been boarded up with the marquee saying "Coming Soon The New New Isis Theater." A couple years ago I got email from a guy who said he was restoring the Isis and that he was selling the original theater seats because they had to be replaced because Texans' butts have grown a lot bigger since the Isis last sat people.

I like Stockyards Station. I think it used to be where they put cattle before putting the cattle on trains. Which is why a train track runs through Stockyards Station. Now the Tarantula Train uses those tracks to take tourists to Grapevine and back. I have not ridden the Tarantula Train. Trains do not appeal to me. I got nauseated from motion sickness, which I'd never had, before or since, riding Amtrak from Seattle to Portland and back. Stockyards Station also looked spruced up yesterday. But there were very very few people in there. Ghost town.

It's been years since I've gone to the Stockyards after dark. I should do that again someday, if I ever decide to do something for fun again.

Downtown Fort Worth Is Looking Good, Except For One Glaring Eyesore: Heritage Park

I had to, I mean, I got to be in downtown Fort Worth this afternoon. I don't think I've been there since my mom and dad were here in January.

I'm about to utter words I've never uttered before. Fort Worth was looking pretty good this afternoon. I saw 2 new buildings by the Convention Center that I liked. That is one of them in the picture, next to the AT & T building.

I'd not driven by the new Convention Center Omni Hotel since the road opened between it and the convention center. At first I did not realize what it was, then looked to my left, oh, convention center, looked up and recognized the Omni Hotel, though not by the ridiculous balconies that stick out too far, those I could not see. I can see why having that new hotel right next to the convention center might add to the appeal. I've still not heard about many conventions being in town. I wonder how the new hotel is working out?

Lancaster Avenue now looks real good. It was such an eyesore for so long. Something has changed with the Water Gardens, maybe a wall has been removed, I don't know, but I don't remember being able to see into the main swirling drowning pool before, while on the road.

There are parking meters all over downtown Fort Worth now. It used to be easy to find free parking. It's not quite as bad as Seattle, but it's getting there.

I followed one of the Fort Worth Trolleys along Main Street. Something seems forelorn about them to me. I didn't see anyone on board. You don't see Fort Worth buses running around downtown. I wonder why? There are buses running all over downtown Seattle, both above ground and below. And they are free to ride in the downtown area. But you really do not see all that many people on the downtown Fort Worth streets. Likely the heat has something to do with that.

I was surprised by how far along the construction is of the now defunct new Tarrant County Community College on the banks of the Trinity River. Coming back from the Stockyards, on Main, the TCCC building looks impressive. It sort of bookends where the college ended up locating, that being in the defunct new Radio Shack Headquarters. From what I saw of the TCCC building, it re-inforced what I originally said, that this had the possibility of being Fort Worth's first signature building, something in Fort Worth that people elsewhere recognize as Fort Worth.

Heritage Park is still an eyesore of chainlink fence. Recently numbers to fix it, like $7 million, have been bandied about, with an over a $1 million study. I'll solve it for downtown Fort Worth for free. Take down the cyclone fence, then take down the wall that closes off the park from street view. Install lighting. Don't worry about the water features for now, that can be dealt with later. Install alarm buttons so people feel secure. Install camera surveillance for more security. Have members of the Fort Worth Gestapo, who are in the building next door, walk through the park regularly. Connect the park to downtown via a pedestrian bridge. The bridge would be the only large expense.

When I first saw Heritage Park it was the first thing I'd seen in Fort Worth that impressed me as being quite cool. As in very. That it has been allowed to get to its current sad state is bizarre to me.

Facebook OMG Morning Madness

When I went to bed last night all was calm in Facebook world. By morning I learned it was a calm before a storm.

In Facebook there is this "share" thing that asks "What's on your mind?"

At 5:26 pm I wrote what was on my mind, that Durango Jones "had a bruising falling down accident, on rocks, when his mom and dad texted him, telling him to 'be good at noon.' It was the directive to 'be good' that likely caused the collapse. Hours later, all makes sense again, yet the bruises remain."

At 7:19 pm Alma commented, "r u ok? U can get pretty hurt from a fall."

To which I replied at 8:13 pm, "All is good now. No aches. Thanks for caring." Soon after that I left the computer for the evening.

At 8:32 pm Beth commented to my comment, commenting, "she didn't say she cared..."

And that is when the fun started. I did not see Beth's comment or all those that followed til I looked at email messages. this morning, and saw way too many status comment ones from Facebook. When I read the emails none of it made sense to me. I didn't know what they were talking about.

So, I went to Facebook. Then it all made sense. Somehow Beth's innocuous, totally true, little joke turned into an angry debate about caring, not caring, to much mothering, how long someone has known me, how old someone is, who needs to simmer down, who's juvenile, someone being retarded, people living in Hicksville, someone needing to buck it up, someone being a buttinski and one person swearing at me in French.

All in all, quite an amusing wakeup on Facebook this morning. After the Facebook amusement, it was still dark. I went swimming.

Ziplining In New York Texas

That is a zipliner at NY TX Zipline Adventures. That is not me on the zipline. The zipline is located in New York. New York is by Athens in the part of Texas called the Piney Woods.

When I first learned of NY TX Zipline Adventures Eco-Friendly Zipline and Canopy Tours I blogged about it, because it sounded like a fun thing to do.

I then heard from Connie at NY TX Zipline telling me if I came to New York they'd give me a zipline tour.

Then when I was up in Washington last summer I heard from Connie again. And now another year has gone by, I've still not made it to New York. And I've heard from Connie again.

Once more telling me, "I have not read you blog in some time. If you are still coming my way, call me for your zipline tour. It is a blast! Your two free tickets are waiting on you."

The last time I heard from Connie I asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to go ziplining with me. If I remember right Gar the Texan volunteered. But, when I got back from Washington, last summer, I had so much stuff going on I totally forgot about New York.

Volunteers?

The Blue Max Coneheads

Max and Blue are both being coneheads, but they are still keeping up with their blogging. Blue is feeling better. He did some jumping, against doctor's orders. Blue is going to get his surgical staples replaced. Stapling a little poodle seems wrong to me.

Max's condition sounds less dire than Blue's. Blue is a bit more delicate than Max. Blue is a purebred. Max is only part poodle, but it's the dominant part.

Both my sister, who, incidentally, Blue and Max take care of and Gar the Texan informed me that that text message from my parental units that said, "be good at noon" likely was intended to say, "be home at noon." Something about the text predicting function. I don't do texting. All I know is how to read one if someone sends me one.

I called the PU's Arizona landline about half past noon, my time. They weren't home, so I left a message saying I had been good at noon, but now that it is half past noon can I start being bad again.

My back continues to be pain free, but I've found other injuries from this morning's brutal fall. I landed on my right side. It was very rocky. Somehow I got a big bruise on the top of my forearm. I believe I tumbled and rolled onto my arm, reaching out to stop the fall. There are cuts on my thumb, too. I don't know why I did not notice these injuries til hours later. Post-traumatic stress, most likely.

I had a bike wreck back in the late 1990s, up in Washington, out on some National Forest land on the Olympic Peninsula. Worst bike wreck ever. When I hit the mud my thumb got bent back. It took at least 6 months to quit hurting. The same thumb took the hit today. The pain is slightly deja vu, but this is not going to turn into a long term pain. I hope.

Below is YouTube video from last summer in Tacoma. Blue and Max like McDonald's Cheeseburgers, but I was told not to give them any while they were in my care. I always do what I'm told...

Taking A Fall & Being Good At Noon In Hot Texas

I had my bad brain freeze up this morning. That has not happened in a while. With a bad brain freeze I'm unable use my imagination. It just goes blank.

To thaw the brain freeze I decided to go unusually early to the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Sauna Area. Even though it was early, it was HOT.

As I was walking along, on a downhill, rocky path, my phone went off with a text message noise. I reached for the phone, flipped it open and slipped on the loose rock, totally falling down, hitting hard on my right hip, wrenching my back real bad.

When I got back vertical my back was in full backache pain mode. I thought, first total brain freeze, and now my back is out. Yet more misery in this hell I am living. My back has not gone out in a long long time. I was telling someone, just a couple days ago that I never get backaches anymore, due to, I thought, yoga, stretch and exercise ball routines I do religiously. I thought when I said that that I was possibly jinxing myself.

When got stable enough to walk, it was very hard to get to the top of the hill. Each step brought a gasp of pain. I got to where the trail is relatively flat and the walking became less painful. I was pretty sure I'd put my back out. That can take a long time to recover from. So, I'm happy, now, a couple hours later, to be able to type that my back is not out. No pain. And the brain freeze has melted.

And what was the text message that caused all this havoc? Well, it was from my mom and dad. It said, "be good at noon." What in the world does that mean? It perplexes me.

A Taste Of Sedro Woolley Post Tandy Hills

Before I forget, Spencer Jack's grandma sent me a link to a video of Spencer Jack driving to Costco while singing the Beach Boy's Barbara Ann. What a cute kid, but he's too young to be driving. And he was not wearing a seatbelt.

I've been up since around 4 this morning. I was in the pool around 5. It was very dark. This made for minimalist swimming attire, which is my preferred mode.

Around noon, after way too many hours spent on the inner workings of the Internet, I took off for the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Sauna Area to get in some HOT HUMID hiking. In the picture we are looking north. The white building is a bit north of Town Talk, which is where I went when done hiking.

As I slowly drove away, with my seatbelt on, one of the Fort Worth Gestapo was driving rapidly south on dead end Ben Street, barely stopping at the intersection with View Street, where I was stopped.

I found some odd stuff at Town Talk today. Jars of soy butter. For 50 cents. I got some more Cascadian Farm Organic Spinach. It seems an odd thing to find in a Fort Worth surplus store.

On the spinach package I read, "Back in 1972, we started growing fine organic fruits and vegetables on a small farm in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State."

The box also invites the spinach eater to stop by Cascadian Farm in Rockport, WA. Or visit their website, www.cascadianfarm.com. I have driven by there many a time. But I've never stopped. Also on the spinach box it says "distributed by Small Planet Food, Inc., Sedro Woolley, WA."

It is a Small Planet. I lived in Sedro Woolley for a short time. It's about 5 miles east of where I grew up, in Burlington, and about 5 miles northeast of Mount Vernon, where I lived before moving to Texas. Yes, I lived in a Metroplex in Washington, cluster of towns on a much, much smaller scale than the D/FW Metroplex. But with a lot more fruits and vegetables, so much so that spinach gets sent to Fort Worth all the way from Sedro Woolley.

I just remembered, I heard from someone in Sedro Woolley this very morning. And the morning before that, now that I'm thinking about it.

Spencer Jack Invited Me To Read His Blog, While Blue & Max Look After Evie & Marley

Yesterday I think I mentioned that my favorite great nephew, Spencer Jack, was not letting me look at his blog. It was by invitation only.

Well, today Spencer invited me to his blog. Spencer has grown a bit since I last saw him. That is Evie, with whom Spencer is enjoying a Popsicle.

From what I saw on Spencer Jack's blog it appeared he was at my sister Nancy's, in Kent. I saw my mom and dad, brother, his latest wife, my ex-wife and nephew Joey. I don't think I saw Spencer's mom. She must have been taking the pictures.

Evie and Blue and Max take care of my little sister, Michele, and Kristin and Marley. Marley is a new addition. My little sister does not have enough going on so she has foster kids. I can't even take care of myself, properly, and my little sister takes care of 2 little kids and, currently, 2 extremely ailing poodles, while during the day she goes to Olympia and does legal things.

That is Max playing with Marley. Currently both Max and his brother Blue are recovering from being operated on. Blue had bladder stones that could have ruined his kidneys.

Max tore his ACL. I have no idea what that means. But I think, maybe, it has something to do with a leg joint. Whatever it is, Max is currently wearing one of those plastic guards around his head.

Blue and Max are supposed to do no jumping or running for 2 weeks. I have no idea how this is accomplished. I need to ask my sister if she realizes what happens with those poodles when the mail arrives. Utter chaos.

Ukrainians Save Me From Brute Force Hack

That is a pair of Ukrainian soldiers you're looking at it in picture. I think I've mentioned the Ukrainians before. My webhost, which is based in the United States, has Americans handling customer support if you call. But if you submit a support ticket, it goes to the Ukrainian support center in the Ukraine. The Ukraine is now a country. It used to be part of the Soviet Union.

The reason I submit a support ticket rather than call is because it takes less time and usually eventually the Ukrainians solve the problem. A lot of seriously fractured English is usually involved.

I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but recently one of my websites developed a problem so serious that Google pretty much banned it from the Internet.

So, I contacted the Ukrainians, who I'm sure work in a very secure bunker likely guarded by soldiers like you saw above. Saturday they went right to work on the problem. This morning I got a message from Dmitriy Pavlov. It is not as fractured as they often are. However, following Dimitriy's instructions did not work, because his instructions did not match with the reality on my webhost control panel.

Below for your confusion is Dimitriy's message in which I learn I was hacked by brute force....

Thank you for waiting. Our administrators have completely cleaned your account from all malware. During investigation we have found that your account was hacked due to bruteforce attack on FTP. Due to not very strong FTP password hacker was able to get it and used FTP access for adding harmful code inside your files. To get more information you can check FTP logs in files ftp.logs and wrap.log, which located inside your FTP root directory. You will see that a lot of different IP address were tried to access your account. To protect your account we have already changed FTP passwords for all accounts. To get FTP access back you need to change passwords back. For creating FTP password we suggest to use some password generator like at "goodpassword.com". To change FTP password you should login at manage.9webhosting.com, then click manage button for your hosting plan. After this please click on FTP Manager icon and then click on little notepad icon nearly with caption "password".

Also we have found a lot of files and folders with unsecured permissions. Full list of them you can find in file permissions.list, which located inside FTP root directory. We are suggesting to use 755 permission mask for folders and 644 mask for files in your account. For checking/changing permissions please use following steps:

1 Go to webshell in your control panel
2 Find certain folder
3 Click on little folder icon left from folder name (or simple on file name)
4 At right side you will see permissions table
5 Choose needful permission mask
6 Click change

Kind regards,
Dmitriy Pavlov
Technical Support

I Have Been Rejected By My Great Nephew Spencer Jack

I have 4 nephews. Of those 4, one has reproduced. The reproduction is the cutest little kid I've ever seen, named Spencer Jack. Spencer Jack has a blog. Since I live in Texas and Spencer Jack lives in La Conner, that being a very cool tourist town in Washington, the only way I have to check in and see how Spencer Jack is doing is to check in on his blog.

But I can no longer do that. This afternoon I went to check on Spencer Jack and was told, "This blog is open to invited readers only."

Yet one more party I've not received an invite to.

The rude message goes on to say, "It doesn't look like you have been invited to read this blog. If you think this is a mistake, you might want to contact the blog author and request an invitation."

I don't know Spencer Jack's email address or phone number. By what means can I request an invitation? This could just maybe be the straw that breaks this camel's back in this hell I am living.

In the picture, that is Spencer Jack being held by his mom, Jenny, and my mom and dad, at Bay View State Park, in Washington, last summer.

In case you were wondering, and I'm almost 100% certain you weren't, Spencer Jack is so named because someone told my nephew you can't go wrong naming your kid after your richest relative. Spencer is the maiden name of my ex-wife, Loretta. She is Spencer's richest relative. Jack is my dad's name. I assume Jack was chosen for the middle name because it just sounds good.

And now, Spencer Jack's favorite Great Uncle, Durango Jones, can't check in on him. This saddens his Great Uncle. But somehow I think this sad situation will get rectified, just like my Google Nightmare did. I hope.

Spencer Jack had his first hot dog on the day I met him last summer. His dad owns a burger type restaurant in Anacortes. With, I guess, no hot dogs.

Do The Hustle In A Mao Jacket

I don't often listen to one of the Golden Oldies radio stations while driving. When the Beatles became Golden Oldies I realized I was one too. Some things are best not realized.

Today I had a strong need for contemplative solitude. I know of one good location for that, it being the best place to stand in Forth Worth, yes the same place I stood yesterday, the Tandy Hills Natural Solitude Sanatorium Area.

The temperature was only in the low 90s and there was a breeze blowing, but I was getting no wind chill factor. Very humid. Steambath humid. Ten minutes in I was a HOT, sweaty, wet mess.

After getting all wet I went to my Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. For you who don't live in urban zones with 100s of Wal-Marts, the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market is different from the Wal-Mart Supercenter, that being the place where a guy rammed through the doors last week, in a hurry to get to McDonalds. I've not been back to see if that entry is still barricaded by upside down grocery carts.

Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market keeps its air-conditioning way too cold. Particularly for someone who is coming in from some ultra-HOT hiking. I was shivering in there.

As I left the Wal-Mart parking lot I turned the radio on. I hit a button and it went to a Golden Oldies station. The disc jockey, or whatever you call them now, it must be something different because they no longer spin disks. Anyway, the guy who tells you what song he is about to play said he was about to play Van McCoy's The Hustle.

I felt vaguely embarrassed as I thought back to The Hustle. I'd been in San Francisco on a roadtrip in a VW van. Post hippie era, but that sounds like a real hippie thing to be doing. The first destination of that roadtrip had been Reno, then, if I remember right, we headed to San Francisco, then up through wine country.

In San Francisco's Chinatown we all bought blue Mao jackets and hats. Home from that trip, back in Mount Vernon, one of my friends knew a Navy guy, fresh in from the Phillipines. In exchange for getting home cooked turkey dinner he would teach us how to do The Hustle. Back then there was this thing called Disco, with all these Disco Dances that you danced to Disco Tunes. It was a very tacky period in our nation's history.

It did not take us long to learn The Hustle. Easier for some than others. Not easy for me. We decided to make our Disco Debut the following Friday night. The four of us who had been in San Francisco decided we'd be real revolutionary and wear our Mao jackets and hat.

We all met up to wait in the line to get into Duffy's, it being Mount Vernon's only Disco. It was a fun place, very popular for a few years. At an appointed hour, I think maybe 8, the disco ball starts spinning and the music starts up. I don't remember how long we waited for The Hustle. Maybe we asked the Disco music guy to play The Hustle, I don't remember.

I do remember the song starting up and about 8 of us hustling out on the dance floor where we did The Hustle. We were quite a coordinated dance team. When the song was finally over there was applause for our stunning performance. At least that is how I'm choosing to remember it. I certainly do not remember how to do The Hustle. Nor would I want to.

A Sunday Morning Glass Cactus Texas Headache

I am not a night owl. Night owling is so rare for me I can remember the precise date of the previous instance, that being December 5, 2008, when I did not get home til past 2 in the morning.

Last night I got home this morning, at around 1.

I had a sleep walking incident around 4. Apparently I wanted to go swimming. I made it partway to the pool when I became aware I was walking around wearing nothing but a stocking cap. I made it safely back to bed.

So, I had myself a wild night at the Glass Cactus at Gaylord Texan with Gar the Texan and the Queen of Wink and others. The Queen was more regal than I thought she'd be. Gar the Texan did not have any case of the vapors attacks. I'd not seen Gar the Texan in awhile. He's put on a few pounds, which has him looking healthier than when last I saw him. The Queen is quite the conversationalist and is a bit too quick with the wit for me to keep up with.

Summed up. I don't like waking up with a headache. No matter what the cause.

My Google Nightmare Is Over, Let's Go To The Glass Cactus At Gaylord Texan Tonight

It has stressed me out all day, this Saturday, having my main website suddenly a rogue menace, flagged by Google as a danger to the world.

I have fussed with this all day. Why I get so overwrought over such things perplexes me. But it's the way I am. Maybe it is because it feels so good when it all gets fixed.

Which it now is. Google is no longer warning people that I am a dangerous terrorist about to explode their entire world.

I am grateful that I am now back in the good graces of humanity.

In the midst of my stress I got an email from Gar the Texan, wanting my help with entertaining the Queen of Wink, in town to see her first waterfall and gawk at ancient hair bands. I'd not looked at my phone in awhile. I see that Gar the Texan also called me. He did not leave a message. Had he left a message I likely would have returned the call.

Gar the Texan's dilemma was trying to figure out how to properly entertain a Wink Queen. I know this would daunt me. What a challenge. It seemed Gar's two options were the Dallas West End entertainment district or Fort Worth's downtown. Neither all that entertaining to me.

So. I suggested that Gar take the Queen up to Grapevine, to Gaylord Texan and the Glass Cactus. Trust me, this is a suitable venue for the Queen of Wink. The photo at the top should ice the deal.

Hiking Tandy With Google Gunk On My Brain

Are there few things sadder than an empty swing? Right now I can think of dozens and they all involve me and this hell I'm living.

The empty swings are located at the civilized part of the Tandy Hills Natural Area, well, I guess it'd be more accurate to say the empty swings sit outside the Natural Area.

Google continues to have my Eyes on Texas website generating malware warning messages. On all of the hundreds of pages. Go here and you'll see what Google is doing to me. This morning Google told me they'd determined my website was clean of danger and the warnings were being taken off. But that it could take awhile.

Meanwhile, I learned from Twister that he'd gone to my website at some point recently and it set off his anti-virus program. My therapist, Dr. L.C. told me about the Google warning, but I made no note of it, just figured it was some random thing. I just learned from my therapist that this could have been up to 2 weeks ago that she warned me.

I'm assuming this will all sort itself out. But I did not need this aggravation.

Hiking the humid Tandy Hills helped a bit. My early morning swim came before I'd learned what Google had done to me. The Tandy Hills were pretty much dried out from yesterday morning's deluge, except for that humidity residue.

I called my sister in Phoenix while sitting in the shade of a tree, by that swing with no one swinging. She was my first live opportunity to vent regarding my Google trauma. I called Tootsie Tonasket first, but she wasn't answering. It is monsoon season in Phoenix. They got hit with one yesterday, just like we did here, only in Texas we don't call it a monsoon. So the Phoenix temps were 20 degrees lower than pre-monsoon, but now with extreme humidity. And a lot of mud.

I continued talking to my sister while I drove to Town Talk. I don't think I remembered to put on my seatbelt. At Town Talk I got some cheese, peanut butter, cinnamon, spinach and raspberries. The raspberries were in a semi-large plastic carton, 12 ounces for $1.59.

A little over a year ago at the Fremont Sunday Market, in Seattle, I got 3 large flats of organic raspberries. For free. 2 of the flats made it to my mom and dad's raspberry canning operation. The third flat went to waste in a fat pig's refrigerator. Despite not wanting to, I had to let that third flat go. I don't like getting into a fight with a demanding fat pig. One could get squished.

Google Is Harming My Computer

I've had a bad bad thing happen. This morning I checked on my Google Webmaster Tools to see a big warning in red, "This site may be distributing malware."

I then Googled a search string that brings up the affected website to see that searchers were being warned that, "This site may harm your computer."

Clicking on the link brought up another warning that sounded dire.

In the Webmaster Tools, under the warning in red it said, "Status of the latest badware review for this site: A review for this site has finished. The site was found clean. The badware warnings from web search are being removed. Please note that it can take some time for this change to propagate."

So far the "badware" warnings are still there. I have been wondering why I've had a big drop in website visitors of late. Usually about 80% of searchers come to the website via Google, followed by Yahoo and Bing. Currently most are coming from Yahoo, then Bing, with Google trailing.

I don't know how long this warning has been scaring people off my harmless website. It seems like recently someone said something about seeing a warning. And someone on Facebook said clicking on a link to a photo brought up a "pollutant" warning.

I looked at the source code for 6 webpages the Webmaster Tools pointed me to. Each had a line of code that I had not inserted. The code is:

Now this is interesting, earlier I'd copied and pasted the troubling code in this spot. Hours later I look at the blog and see white space where that code had been. This must seem some dire, evil code to be removed mysteriously.

I have no idea what megastatistic is, but Googling it I found that Google does not like it. I have now removed that code. I hope I found all the instances of it.

During the course of trying to figure out what has gone wrong and fix it, I learned that on January 31, of this year, Google had a malfunction that put the "This site may be distributing malware" warning on every link on their search engine, world-wide, including Google's own webpages. This was quickly fixed.

I have no idea how much AdSense revenue I've lost due to this. For the past several days I have noticed a decline.

Anyway, very frustrating day. I hate stuff like this.

Seeing Birds and Fort Worth Mounted Policewomen

For weeks now I have been seeing Fort Worth Mounted Policewomen patrolling my neighborhood. I did not get a good photo opportunity until today.

Usually it is a solo cop on her steed that I see, a few times it has been a pair of lady mounted cops.

I have no idea what the purpose of doing this is. I see where they park the big horse trailer the horses are hauled in. Keeping horses is expensive. I know this from personal experience. Fort Worth has a lot of budget woes. The city cut back on library hours. Yet can somehow pay for horsebound cops.

I came upon the Mounted Policewoman today at a stoplight on Woodhaven Boulevard. The horse had the right of way. This gave me an opportunity to get out my camera. That is the picture to the right, taken as she slowly ambled down the street.

The cop and the horse presented a bit of a road hazard, walking slowly, basically blocking a lane. I think I mentioned, previously, that in recent times I was stopped by one of the Fort Worth Gestapo, because I was driving too slow in a quiet residential neighborhood and did not have my seatbelt on.

Well, the Fort Worth Mounted Policewoman was moving slow, on a busy street, not a quiet residential neighborhood. The Policewoman was not wearing a seatbelt. Or a helmet. I know a citizen can make a citizen's arrest. Can a citizen give a cop a citizen's ticket?

To take the picture at the top, I'd passed the mounted cop and looped back around her to take that picture, as she took a left, without signaling, nearly having a head-on collision, clearly illustrated in the photo. I was appalled at the disdain for public safety so wantonly on display.

After I was finished with photo documenting this latest Fort Worth police outrageous behavior I continued on my way to Oakland Lake Park to partake in some high humidity hiking. The temperate was a very pleasant low 80s, but this morning's rain had amped up the humidity.

There are a lot of waterfowl on Oakland Lake. Ducks and geese and others alien to me. People have fun feeding the birds. The birds get used to getting fed. Today I stopped to look at the birds and the pair in the picture were sure I was going to feed them something. They made a bee-line towards me. As I got out the camera, apologizing to them for my lack of food, they figured out I was not reaching in my pocket for food and turned their backs on me and waddled away, making scornful noises as they waddled. I'll try and remember to bring them something to eat next time I visit their home.

I Did Not Get Struck By Lightning While Swimming This Morning

A cold front was supposed to bring me a storm last night. That didn't happen. But, this morning the cold front has arrived. It is only 69 out there at half past 8 in the morning.

On my way down to the pool, a little before the crack of dawn, I thought I saw flashes in the distance. But I heard no rumbling. And it was not very cloudy.

I was about 10 minutes into the pool when dawn began to reverse itself with the sky growing dark. Then it got very windy. Still, no visible lightning, no thunder. Then the power went out, making it suddenly darker and a lot quieter, due to the lack of power shutting off the noisy fountain and waterfall.

About 15 minutes after the power went out the storm moved into my neighborhood. The lightning strikes were still about 5 miles away, but I started to think maybe it was time to get out of the water. I've been wary of combining water with lightning ever since I saw a building burn due to a lightning strike a few weeks ago.

So, I got out of the water. The power came back on at the same time the lightning was directly overhead. That seemed odd. One strike was earth shakingly close.

The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch Alert. I suspect this may have some flood weary Haltom City people staying home to keep an eye on their creeks.

A Visit To My Wal-Mart McDonald's Car Crash Site

The entry to the Wal-Mart I frequent most frequently was barricaded with upside down grocery carts as the first line of defense, with bundled up cardboard as the second line of defense.

I blogged 2 bloggings ago that a car had attacked my neighborhood Wal-Mart this morning, smashing through the doors in a hurry to get to the McDonald's inside.

From the outside I could not figure out how the car got inside. The doors looked completely intact. I asked the Wal-Mart worker who was stacking bananas if he was in the store when the car crashed in. He said he was. I asked how the car got in, because the doors were intact. He did not know. I told him the Star-Telegram article said much chaos ensued. I asked what the chaos was like. He said there were people running all over and yelling. And that it was real loud.

The interior barricade to keep you out of the crime scene was a string of those orange cone like things Wal-Mart puts on the floor when the roof leaks or someone spells something, plus a shopping cart or two with signs taped on saying, "No Customers Beyond This Area Thank You".

I got my goods and found a check-out. My usual self check-outs were not working due to being in the crime scene area.

I asked the lady checking me out if she was in the store when the car came inside. She said she was. I mentioned the chaos and asked her to describe it. She said it was very loud, with people running and yelling for people to get out of the store. So, she and others ran outside. There she saw police trying to handle the guy who had done the damage. She said he was Asian, small, acting crazy and doing Karate moves on the police. I have trouble understanding the local dialect's version of English, sometimes, but I think she said the guy was running around the parking lot before police could catch him.

I asked her about the doors, asking how did the car get in without breaking the doors? She said the doors were totally destroyed, but that they had someone fixing them right away with new doors. So, that mystery was solved. Yet, strangely, as you can see in the picture, the doors do not look destroyed. And yet the car is inside, trying to make his own McDonald's drive-through.

Incoming Texas Cold Front & The Tandy Tent

The headline is "Cold front may bring severe storms to North Texas".

This from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The first paragraph says:

"A cold front is heading our way, bringing with it the possibility of strong to severe thunderstorms tonight."

Reading on, I learned this "cold" front may drop temperatures a whopping 4 to 5 degrees, creating a daytime high of around 94 degrees, which is normal for this time of year.

I guess the air-conditioning will still be running tonight, despite this frigid cold front.

A day or two ago someone commented, regarding me, on Facebook, saying that, "Even though you are bald, old and fat, none of that matters. Because you've got a good heart and personality." To which someone else said, "He may be bald and old, but he is not fat. He's an exercise fanatic".

I did not mind someone saying I was bald, old and fat, because they said it in a very nice way. But, calling me an exercise fanatic? That is just inappropriately rude.

If I were a fanatic I would have gone swimming this morning. But, I did not. But, by noon I was feeling withdrawal pains from no endorphins. So, I went to the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Homeless Shelter Area to go on a long, vigorous, mind-clearing hike up and down the hills in the mid-day heat. Does that sound fanatical to you?