Why Is Top Chef Fort Worth Not Premiering November 7 On Bravo TV?

Top Chef Fort Worth. Season 10 of Bravo TV's Top Chef premieres November 7. Season 9 of Top Chef was Top Chef Texas.

If you parse the above paragraph you will see I am not actually indicating that Season 10 of Top Chef is going to be Top Chef Fort Worth.

Because it isn't.

Season 10 of Top Chef is going to be Top Chef Seattle.

That got me to thinking. Why is it that it is highly unlikely there would be a Top Chef Fort Worth?

Why are there no TV shows which use Fort Worth as their setting?

I can think of several TV shows that use or have used Seattle as their setting. Frasier, Grey's Anatomy, Real World. Others that I'm forgetting.

Okay, I just now Googled "TV Shows Seattle" to find there is a Wikipedia article titled List of television shows set in Seattle. It is a long list. It starts with Here Come the Brides. On the list are A Year in the Life, The Night Strangler, John Doe and many more.

I Googled "TV Shows Fort Worth" to find no Wikipedia article listing television shows set in Fort Worth.

Methinks this is a very interesting question to seek an answer to.

What is the question?

Why is Fort Worth not used as the setting for any television show?

Me also thinks it would behoove the Fort Worth powers that be to ponder that question.

Methinks Fort Worth might be a good setting if a TV producer were looking for a city with a rather humdrum downtown, poorly maintained parks, with a closed eyesore of a park at the heart of its downtown (Heritage Park), people walking beside roads without sidewalks, an unseemly amount of litter.

Unlandscaped, littered, weedy freeway exits to the town's only actual tourist attraction, that being the Fort Worth Stockyards.

A ditch-like dirty river on which litter is often seen floating.

Lots of litter everywhere.

A drive back in time, that my visitors from the Northwest always find fascinating, that being a drive east on Lancaster, Rosedale or Berry.

I actually think Fort Worth would be a great setting for a TV show and that Hollywood is actually missing out on a potential gem.

It would need to be a Twin Peaks/ Northern Exposure type show. Maybe a primetime soap opera.

Just look at the elements that clever writer's could have fun with.

Fort Worth has had a corrupt mayor named Moncrief who was so dumb he tried to dye the Trinity River purple as some sort of tribute to TCU being in the Rose Bowl.

Fort Worth's corrupt congresswoman, Kay Granger, had her unqualified son, J.D., installed to run a bizarre public works project, for which the public has not voted, called the Trinity River Vision Boondoogle, a project which abuses eminent domain to take down Trinity River levees that have kept Fort Worth dry for decades, to build a little pond, and a flood diversion channel that will likely look so ridiculous it will become a tourist attraction.

Additional TV show fodder can be found in the town's sad excuse for a newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which acts like a Soviet-style propaganda rag, touting enterprises, like a sporting goods store called Cabela's, claiming it would become the #1 tourist attraction in Texas, bringing in millions upon millions of visitors. And then not a peep from the Star-Telegram when Cabela's does not quite perform as propagandized, not only that, it is now not only not the only Cabela's in Texas, it is not even the only Cabela's in the D/FW Metroplex.

During the summer hundreds of Fort Worth natives get into the polluted river in Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats.

There really is a lot of material here for a TV show.

Fort Worth is really proud of having the world's only twice daily cattle drive. Cowboys drive a small herd of longhorns up and down the main drag of the Stockyards, once in the morning, once in the afternoon. You don't see something like this anywhere else in America.

A TV show based in Fort Worth could do flashbacks, back to the days of Hell's Half Acre, with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. You could flashback to the Spring Palace and it tragic end with the heroics of Al Haynes. You could flashback to Quanah Parker coming to town. Or earlier to when Quanah's mom and sister arrived in Fort Worth after being re-kidnapped.

Fort Worth has so much culture an entire area is devoted to Fort Worth's culture, called The Cultural District. Does any other town in the world have a Cultural District?

So much material.

Fort Worth is the biggest town in America that has no major league sports team. But, the town does have a minor league baseball team, the Cats, who play against little town's teams. This seems sort of unfair and unsportsmanlike to me.

Fort Worth is the world's guinea pig for urban shale drilling and its fracking, which leads to contaminated water and earthquakes, along with natural gas. Fort Worth has 1000s of natural gas holes in the ground, with the town being blessed with an ever growing network of underground piping carrying non-odorized natural gas.

Like I said, so much material. Hollywood really is missing out on a Mother Lode of material in this town.

I'm done now, for now....

Walking Around Fosdick Lake With Pink Wildflowers & Tortilla Pizza For Lunch

Fosdick Flowers

Today, for my last day of September, Sunday walk in the wild, I went to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdick Lake.

Thanks to Mother Nature's irrigation intervention in the past 24 hours a forest of pink wildflowers was busy blooming near the Fosdick Lake Dam spillway.

Dozens upon dozens upon dozens of pink flowers made the landscape look as if it is Spring, not Fall, not sliding down the slippery slope towards Winter.

I saw no turtles today. They are likely traumatized by the cool temperature. The Fosducks seemed to be in a very good mood, doing a lot of melodic quacking.

Changing the subject from quacking to pizza.

I invented a new pizza for lunch today. Took large whole wheat tortillas, covered them with spaghetti sauce, then black olives, green olives and mushrooms, then shredded 4-cheese Mexican blend I got yesterday from Town Talk. Roasted the pizzas for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Very tasty.

However, due to the thin nature of the tortillas, to render the pizza edible it had to be folded over, ala a taco.

Driving North To Hurst On The Last Day Of September Thinking About Getting Shaken By The Irving Earthquake

In the picture you are looking at the view out of my motorized vehicular transport, mid-morning, on the last day of September, looking north towards my destination of Hurst, on the on ramp on to the I-820 freeway.

That dark thing at an angle across the windshield is a rain wiper.

This morning it is barely drizzling, not like the copious amount of wet that fell yesterday, but still enough wetness to require the window wiping device to be activated.

Yesterday's rain added a couple more inches of water to my swimming pool. This morning's swim was very pleasant, with the water being warmer than the air, which was being chilled to barely above 60 degrees.

It seems to my well functioning breathing tubes that the rain has swept the air clean of all that which has vexed my respiratory system. I have my windows open.

Yesterday the earth moved again in the D/FW Metroplex. This time it was Irving that was shaken by an earthquake, shaking somewhere between 3 and 4 on the Richter Scale. If you are near the epicenter of an earthquake of this magnitude, you definitely feel it.

Prior to my move to Texas I got to experience multiple small quakes epicentered a couple miles to the east of my abode, in what is called the Big Lake area. The strongest of these shakers was in the 3.0 range. One of the quakes cracked the tile on my kitchen floor. Another time I was laying on my water bed when a quake struck, creating a rough water on the ocean effect. Another one of those quakes I was sitting in my living room, the windows all flexed and the tall evergreens swayed.

I suspect a lot of people in the Irving zone felt the earth move yesterday. It can be very unsettling.

A Walk In The Rain Perplexed By An Area Closed To The Public In A Fort Worth Public Park

Under A Bumbershoot Stopped By A Spider

Today, on my way to Town Talk, I stopped at Gateway Park via the Beach Street park entrance.

This morning, swimming in the rain was very pleasant, so I thought I'd have myself a noontime relaxing walk in the rain under my bumbershoot.

In the picture you are looking at Trinity Falls from the middle of the pedestrian bridge that exits Gateway Park to the Trinity Trails.

I only recently learned, via Hometown by Handlebar, that this bridge does not cross a creek, which I erroneously thought, but instead it crosses a former riverbed of the Trinity River. The Army Corps of Engineers, in flood prevention mode, rendered this section of the Trinity River to its current non-river status.

I got no further on the bridge across the former Trinity River than you see in the picture. I was stopped by a giant spider and its web. You can see the spider in the picture, it being that dot slightly above the center. I don't like tangling with giant spiders, and so I didn't.

I reversed direction and walked back into Gateway Park. When I started walking the rain was falling lightly, by the time I headed back into Gateway Park the rain had greatly quickened its pace.

I soon found myself looking at something I have been perplexed by for a couple years now. That being the boarded up boardwalks in Gateway Park.

How does a self-deluded World Class City, like Fort Worth, one of the most modern, highly developed, forward thinking, advanced cities in the world, reconcile its renowned, imaginary greatness with having a sign in one of its public parks saying "AREA CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC?"

How many more years are these boardwalks going to be boarded up? If there is no plan to fix the boardwalks, why not remove the eyesores?

Seriously, Fort Worth really needs to start learning to put on its big boy pants and start acting like a grown up city, instead of a town stuck in a troubled adolescence, with a lot of really bad pimples, with, apparently, no anti-pimple ointment in play.

What is the current status of one of Fort Worth's other embarrassing eyesores? That being Heritage Park in downtown Fort Worth, across the street from the Tarrant County Courthouse, overlooking the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Over the years I have learned of Fort Worth's alleged greatness only via propaganda spewed in the town's sad excuse for a newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I have never actually heard a Fort Worth native spew the delusional Star-Telegram type propaganda regarding the wonders of Fort Worth which make the rest of the planet Green With Envy....

Alma The Songbird Of The Texas Gulf Coast Showed Me A Surfin' Bulldog That Made Me Want To Go Roller Blading

Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, currently crooning at various venues in the Port Aransas zone, pointed me to the above amusing YouTube video.

I have ridden a wave on a surfboard, slid on snow on a snowboard, rolled on cement on a skateboard, but never at the skill level of the Surfin' Bulldog you'll see in this video.

I'm inspired to put on my roller blades, something I've not done in years, but it is currently raining out. The roller blading inspiration will likely pass by the time the rain abates.

I Am Shocked To Learn Fort Worth Is Not One Of The 50 Best Places To Live In America

I was shocked today, shocked I tell you, to learn that Business Week and Bloomberg worked together to evaluate 100 of America's largest cities to come up with a list of the 50 Best Places to Live in America. Shocked I tell you, because the town that regularly makes the world Green with Envy, Fort Worth, is not on the list.

Dallas made the list, solo, not linked together with the other towns in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metropolitan zone. Dallas was deemed to be the #41 Best Place to Live in America.

Other Texas towns fared better, like Austin at #8, Houston at #22, San Antonio at #30.

Looking at the criteria upon which the rankings were based, I can see why Fort Worth does not show up on the list of the Top 50 Best Places to Live in America.

The rankings were based on leisure attributes, like the number of restaurants, bars, museums, libraries, pro sports teams and park acreage per capita. Then educational attributes were factored in, taking into account public school performance, the number of college graduates, and the number of colleges. Additionally, economic factors, crime and air quality were factored in. The order of emphasis was leisure amenities, educational quality, economic factors, crime and air quality.

Years ago a Washington, D.C. lobbyist group named Fort Worth as one of the Most Livable Communities in America, or something like that. Having lived in a part of the country where towns regularly showed up on legit lists of this type, I was struck by a big HUH?

Like a homely girl suddenly finding herself named a beauty queen, Fort Worth totally overreacted to the bogus award, with the city sponsoring a City Wide Celebration. I think this may have been the most embarrassed I have ever been for Fort Worth. It just seemed really pitiful to me.

Then, a short time after Fort Worth won this "prestigious" honor I was up in Tacoma, a town which was also honored by this bogus award. I happened to be dealing with Tacoma's Deputy Major at that point in time. I told him Fort Worth had a city wide celebration when they got that award. He giggled, asked if I was kidding. I said, no, I'm not kidding. Then I asked if Tacoma had a city wide celebration. He said, no, they just politely said thank you and that was the end of it.

Tacoma is located in a bit more sophisticated part of the planet than Fort Worth.

So, what was the Best Place to Live in America as determined by Business Week and Bloomberg? That would be San Francisco. The second Best Place? Seattle.

I had no idea til reading the Best Place to Live in America article today that the per capita income in San Francisco and Seattle, at over $90K, is around double the per capita income in Dallas.

You can view a slide show of the towns that make up the 50 Best Places to Live in America.

A partial list of the 50 Best Places to Live in America is below, with one of my favorite towns, Phoenix at #44, and another of my favorite towns, Los Angeles, at #50. I guess #50 is not that bad. It could be worse, as in not showing up on the list at all, like the forlorn town I'm currently typing in....

1. San Francisco
2. Seattle
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Boston
5. Portland, Oregon
6. Denver
7. New York City
8. Austin, Texas
9. San Diego
10. St. Paul
11. Pittsburgh
12. Minneapolis
13. Nashville
14. New Orleans
15. Kansas City, Missouri
19. Honolulu
22. Houston
23. Oklahoma City
24. Chicago
30. San Antonio
41. Dallas
44. Phoenix
50. Los Angeles

With A Moderate Ozone Level I Hiked The Tandy Hills With Potentially Noxious Yellow Weeds

Tandy Hills Mutant Scotch Broom

With the ozone level up one stage from 'good' to 'moderate' I risked breathing in moderately adequate air whilst doing some endorphin inducing aerobically stimulating Tandy Hills hill hiking today.

Clouds did some sun blocking, but high humidity still turned the hill hiking into a salubrious steam bath that felt really good.

The Tandy Hills are currently sprouting large patches of yellow flowers on skinny stems that look like a mutant variation of the notorious noxious west coast weed that goes by the name of Scotch Broom.

A lot of people are allergic to Scotch Broom. I did not seem to have any sort of immediate allergic reaction to the Tandy Hills mutant Scotch Broom.

A week ago today I was in total allergic misery, with Friday night, a week ago, being the night I was a sleepless Zombie. What a difference a week makes.

Last Saturday I got myself a dozen Poblano Peppers at Town Talk. Yesterday I wondered if there was such a thing as Poblano Pepper soup. So I Googled "Poblano Pepper Soup Recipe" and found that there are a lot of recipes for making soup with this particular pepper.

So, this morning I made Poblano Pepper Soup. It turned out to be really tasty.

If one looks at a recipe for making a Chile Relleno it is a Poblano Pepper that is the main ingredient. But, when I roast and use a Poblano Pepper it tastes nothing like a Relleno. When I roast a Hatch Chile, then I totally get the Relleno taste.

This Poblano/Relleno conundrum is very perplexing.

Walking With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Spying A Mysterious Stranger

What a difference a week makes. Last Thursday I was falling down an evermore miserable allergic hole, wondering if I was ever going to breathe normal again, not knowing, a week ago, that the next night would be my worst night of allergic misery, ever.

And, now, a week later, I'm breathing free and feeling like my regular fairly healthy self.

Today I drove my regular fairly healthy self to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to walk with the Indian Ghosts who haunt this area. It seems like it's been awhile since I've visited the Village Creek Indian Ghosts.

I was a bit startled, today, when I got to the location you see in the picture above. Usually I walk to this Village Creek overlook to startle the turtles. Today it was I who was startled, startled by a guy on the other side of the creek waving at me.

You would need to click the picture to enlarge it to see the guy on the other side of the creek.

Now, you're thinking, what is the big deal, so what if there was a guy on the other side of the creek. Well, I have no idea how he got there. I know of no trails. It's a thick jungle on that side of Village Creek.

I continued on to the Village Creek Blue Bayou overlook, and then headed back to my vehicle. That waving guy, who startled me, was still in the location where I first saw him, now, hunkered down, digging in the sand bank, with a backpack beside him.

Very mysterious.

Up Before The Sun Breathing Free On My Little Brother's Birthday With Spencer Jack Building Bridges In The Skagit River Sand

I am vertical well before the arrival of the sun on the morning of this 26th day of September.

September 26. Today is my little brother's birthday. Happy birthday little brother. My little brother is my great grand nephew, Spencer Jack's, grandpa.

Last night Spencer Jack's dad emailed me a picture of Spencer playing in the sand on the banks of the incredibly shrinking Skagit River.

What makes the banks of the Skagit River so sandy, I am sitting here wondering? The banks of the Trinity River aren't sandy.

It is already a week ago today that I found I had a dead battery, followed by a huge increase in my allergy woes. Now, a week later, the allergy woes have greatly abated.

During the course of my allergy woes I was very troubled to learn that I was over using the nasal sprays. That over use causes what is called the rebound effect. The rebound effect means the over use of the nasal spray causes the nasal passages to quickly clog up again.

I Googled "nasal congestion rebound effect" and read some awfully dire info about the dreaded rebound effect. One person said recovering from the rebound effect could take up to a week and one should be prepared to spend a couple nights unable to sleep.

I was mortified.

Then I read a suggested cure that made sense. As in keep one nasal passage clear by continuing to spray, while the other nasal passage clears up. When that happens quit spraying. The person making this suggestion suggested it would take a couple days.

Well.

Monday night I sprayed my left nostril. Early in the morning the right nostril was clear. When I got vertical, Tuesday morning, both nostrils were clear. The left nostril clogged up during the day and I used the spray one time to clear it. That was the last time I used the spray. This morning I am pretty much cleared up.

What a relief.

Below is a cropped version of the picture my nephew sent me last night of Spencer Jack making bridges in the Skagit River sand. The orange arch in the lower right of the picture is Spencer's version of La Conner's Rainbow Bridge.

Hiking The Windy Tandy Hills Breathing Low Ozone Air With Extreme Pollen

With the temperature barely in the 80s, with a strong wind blowing, with the ozone level low enough for the air quality to be declared "Good" in North Texas, I decided to return to the Tandy Hills today for the first time in awhile.

I am not sure how long awhile is, maybe well over a week.

In the picture you are looking at the Tandy Wagon Trail that heads towards the skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth from the top of Mount Tandy.

Many a wagon must have rolled over this trail to leave such long lasting ruts.

Typing the word "ruts" I am sitting here wondering if that is actually a word and also wondering why I think this word refers to the tracks left on the ground by wheels passing over a trail.

Hiking the Tandy Hills today tests what it is what I have had an allergic reaction to the past couple weeks.

So, far I don't seem to be having any new allergic reaction. If I was having an allergic reaction I'm thinking I would need to consider that it is pollen that is bothering me and not high ozone levels. The pollen level remains "Extreme". I am not quite sure what that means, but it sounds sort of dire.

The Ozone In The Air That I Breathe Has Gone From Bad To Good So I Went Walking

The Air Quality Alert that has been alerting the part of the planet on which I reside ceased doing its alerting this morning.

The air has gone from bad to good. Well, the ozone problem part of the air has gone from bad to good. The pollen problem remains extreme.

I don't know if my allergic woes are ozone or pollen related or a combo of both, but with the ozone problem no longer being bad, I decided to risk breathing outdoor air via walking around Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park.

I was a bit clogged up on the drive to Fosdick Lake. By the time I was done walking I was no longer clogged up. Now that I am back in air-conditioned comfort, clogging has returned. Maybe I'm allergic to air-conditioning.

As you can see in the picture above, a herd of Fosdick turtles was enjoying the respite from bad air by having a sunning session on their favorite log. Usually the Fosdick turtles are spooked as soon as they hear my camera make its chirping noise. But not today. The Fosdick turtles posed cooperatively.

Steve A pointed me to a Air North Texas website where I learned all sorts of things about ozone and North Texas Air. On the website you can sign up for email alerts which will alert me when the air that I breathe goes bad. So far I have not been alerted.

I Finally Realized I Have Been Stupidly Exposing My Allergy Prone Self To Texas Ozone Air Pollution

Occasionally I really amaze myself with how cluelessly dumb I can be. Really, it's true. Years ago, if I remember right, someone somewhere told me that they thought me to be really smart. Witty, smart and highly intelligent.

Well.

I know myself better than I know anyone else. I may be a bit witty, at times, but smart and highly intelligent? Not so much.

Example of my clueless dumbness.

For weeks now I have been whining about my allergic woes. I do this whining at the same time I mention going hiking or biking under the noon day sun.

Friday night I basically was unable to sleep, so miserable and clogged up was I from my allergic woes.

The next day, that being yesterday, as in Saturday, a light bulb finally turned on in my dim bulb, oxygen deprived brain.

At the same time that those who monitor such things inform me via various means that the air that I am breathing is polluted, I go out in it at the worst time of the day.

And then wonder why I have allergic woes.

Below is today's AIR QUALITY ALERT from the National Weather Service...

...AIR POLLUTION WATCH LEVEL ORANGE... 

AIR POLLUTION WATCH - LEVEL ORANGE - FOR DALLAS-FORT WORTH.

THE TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (TCEQ) HAS ISSUED A LEVEL ORANGE AIR POLLUTION WATCH FOR THE DALLAS-FORT WORTH AREA FOR SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012.

ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE FAVORABLE FOR PRODUCING HIGH LEVELS OF OZONE AIR POLLUTION IN THE DALLAS-FORT WORTH AREA ON SUNDAY. OZONE LEVELS COULD REACH THE LEVEL ORANGE "UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS" CATEGORY.

ELEVATED CONCENTRATIONS OF OZONE CAN ACT AS A LUNG IRRITANT. INDIVIDUALS WITH CHRONIC LUNG DISEASE, SUCH AS ASTHMA AND EMPHYSEMA, AS WELL AS THE ELDERLY AND YOUNG CHILDREN, ARE PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE TO OZONE AND SHOULD ATTEMPT TO AVOID EXPOSURE. TO AVOID EXPOSURE, MINIMIZE EXERTION OUTDOORS DURING THE MID-DAY TO EARLY EVENING HOURS OR STAY INDOORS IN AN AIR- CONDITIONED ROOM DURING THIS TIME.

Clearly I have been in denial. Somehow thinking I am impervious to the threat posed by the air that I breathe. Also in denial that I am borderline being in that ELDERLY group the National Weather Service indicates has an increased vulnerability to Ozone.

So, from this day forth, there shall be no more noon day aerobic exercising, by me, in the outer world at my polluted location on the planet, until the National Weather Service indicates that the air that I'd be breathing in that outer world is no threat to my respiratory system.

I will continue to go swimming though. In the morning. Which I will do today, Sunday, the second Fall morning of 2012, as soon as the sun arrives to light up this forsaken, polluted place I call home.

I Did Not Climb On Tarzan's Treehouse In Fort Worth's Gateway Park Today

No, that is not part of Tarzan's treehouse in the African jungle you are looking at in the picture.

What it is that you are looking at is part of one of the two "CLOSED TO PUBLIC' boardwalks in Fort Worth's Gateway Park jungle.

Both of Gateway Park's boardwalks have been neglected, with rotting floorboards, I think, being behind the reason for the "CLOSED TO PUBLIC' signs, that are easily walked around.

I stopped at Gateway Park on my way to Town Talk, intending to go on a short walk under the tall trees which render shade which, for the most part, blocked the sun from reaching me directly.

There were a lot of mountain bikers biking the FWMBA mountain bike trail today. Usually, at most, I'll see one or two, maybe three. Today there were, maybe, dozens. It's hard to count such a thing. Maybe all the mountain bikers were in some sort of Autumnal Equinox celebrating mode.

The air in Gateway Park today seemed real oppressive, felt heavy. By the time I got to Town Talk I was clogged up with nasal congestion. Again.

I am remaining indoors, in air-conditioned comfort, for the rest of this first day of Fall.

On The First Day Of Fall I Have Been Practicing The Buteyko Method Of Breathing Foul Texas Air

I had a very rough early first day of Fall. As in my allergic nasal congestion woes rendered sleeping very difficult.

It seems there is an epidemic of nasal congestion in the D/FW Metroplex. I come to that conclusion not based on anything I've read in what passes for newspapers in this ill-served, newspaper-wise, part of the planet. I came to the epidemic conclusion due to the number of people I've heard suffering from the same symptoms I suffer from who formerly rarely suffered such symptoms.

Elsie Hotpepper is a recently joined member of the epidemic.

I have been vertical since sometime between 4 and 5 this morning.

My  clogged desperation was so great that I Googled "nasal congestion." There are a lot of suggestions as to how to remedy this woe.

I had, in stock, a jar of mentholated Vaseline. One of the suggestions suggested rubbing some inside ones nose. I did so. Now everything smells like Eucalyptus. But the nasal congestion remained.

I already had saline spray and was using it. Maybe it had some salubrious effect, moisturizing wise, but not decongestant wise.

Then I found the nasal decongestiing method you learn about in the YouTube video above. It is called the Buteyko Method. Here's a blurb from the website from whence I got the video....

Over 90% of people with nasal congestion can get a relief in less than 2 minutes if they slow down their heavy breathing using a simple breathing exercise. This easy respiratory exercise to clear a stuffy nose was invented by Soviet MDs practicing the Buteyko method. More than 180 MDs taught this most natural remedy to thousands of their patients with asthma, sinusitis, hay fever, chronic mouth breathing, rhinitis, and many other conditions.  This treatment and remedy also works for children, pregnant women, and those with symptoms of fatigue.  The exercise can be applied during night sleep as well.

Basically you mouth breathe in a deep breath, then pace for 20-30 steps whilst pinching your nose to prevent breathing, then sitting down and exhaling through ones nose. Stand up and repeat. I did several repeats. The totally clogged nasal passages did open up a bit, but I did not get the total relief I was hoping for.

After practicing the Buteyko I left my abode for a walk around the neighborhood, holding my breath and exhaling through my nose as I walked. When I got back to my abode I was still clogged up. So, I gave in and squirted 4-Way Nasal Spray into the clogged zone.

Instant relief.

I'd stopped using the 4-Way last night because I thought I'd over done using it and had caused the dreaded rebound effect, where overuse causes the clog. Taking a break from the 4-Way seems to have been a good plan, because I have now been breathing clear for a half hour.

I believe this first day of Fall is the last day we are scheduled to be under the dire AIR QUALITY ALERT. Until the next time.

Walking To Fort Worth's East Regional Library With Ross Perot Wondering What Is Wrong With Us

I noticed this morning that I had a some library books due. When one has library books due one must return them by the due date or the day after the due date one is assessed an enormous fine. Something like a dime. Maybe a quarter.

I really don't know what the fine is because I've never been late returning a book.

I decided to be really adventurous and walk to the East Regional Library to return the books. This particular Fort Worth library is closed on Fridays.

Closing libraries and cutting hours is one of those things Fort Worth does that makes me wonder how it is that Fort Worth is such a World Class City that is the envy of much of the civilized world.

Walking to the library I came upon yet one more thing that makes me wonder how it is that Fort Worth is such a World Class City that is the envy of much of the civilized world.

That one more thing is the obstructions blocking the narrow sidewalk that one walks to get the East Regional Library. I put my books down on the sidewalk, then backed up to take a picture. After I made it past the obstruction I found another sidewalk obstruction, so I laid my books down, again, and took another picture.

As you can see, above, the second sidewalk obstruction is a combo, with one obstruction being Mother Nature made and the other obstruction man made, that being a "ROAD WORK AHEAD" sign plopped on the sidewalk. To get around that sign one has to either step out on to busy Bridge Street, or slide oneself between the sign and the guard rail.

I'm skinny so I was able to take the slide by option. I would guess at least 50% of Texans would not have this option available to them, with the dangerous stepping out on the busy street option being their only way around the sign.

I think I have commented regarding Fort Worth's pathetic sidewalks in previous bloggings. It is truly amazing to me how many Fort Worth streets have no sidewalks. The shortest walking route to the library would have had me walking a sidewalk-less hill up Bridge Street. To avoid the sidewalk-less section of Bridge Street I detoured through the Albertson's parking lot.

I really think Fort Worth should address its sad sidewalk situation before it wastes money on unneeded projects, like building an unneeded flood diversion channel and little lake, replacing perfectly functioning levees that have kept the downtown Fort Worth zone flood free for over a half a century.

Years ago, back in the 1980s, Ross Perot sparked some controversy criticizing what he thought was a failing of the United States and its cities, claiming that America "had grown arrogant and complacent after World War II." And due to this arrogance and complacency America was no longer the world's greatest nation, further asserting that America was "daydreaming of its past while the rest of the world was building its future."

Perot said, "Go to Rome, go to Paris, go to London. Those cities are centuries old. They're thriving. They're clean. They work. Our oldest cities are brand new compared to them and yet… go to New York, drive through downtown Washington, go to Detroit, go to Philadelphia. What's wrong with us?"

I doubt Ross Perot has ever been to Fort Worth. He lives in Dallas. But, if he visited Fort Worth, I'm sure he would add Fort Worth to his list of American cities that make him wonder what is wrong with this town?

Chesapeake Energy's Noisy Fort Worth Pipeline Drilling

Since early this morning there has been a constant throbbing hum vibrating my neighborhood. At times the throbbing hum gets very loud.

Around 10 this morning I needed to make a call to Los Angeles. I needed to be at my computer to make this call. My computer sits by a window. I knew I would not reliably be able to hear what was being said on the phone.

I needed a makeshift solution.

This will likely sound very pitiful, but my solution was to haul my wireless laptop into my windowless walk-in closet where the humming was less loud. I successfully completed the call, whilst sitting on the floor of my closet.

Like I said, pitiful.

Around 2 this afternoon Miss Puerto Rico called to ask if the noise was driving me crazy. I said yes. She said it was so loud where she was that it was unbearable, rendering the office unable to work. I asked what the noise was coming from.

It was then I learned that the noise is coming from the Chesapeake Energy non-odorized natural gas pipeline drilling operation that I made mention of previously, after Chesapeake Energy mailed me a letter telling me they would be laying a pipeline from their Loop 820/Boca Raton Boulevard Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Pad Site.

A Chesapeake Energy accomplice, Quail Energy Services, is the culprit actually making the noise.

Miss Puerto Rico told me I should go over to her place and hear how bad the noise is from her balcony overlooking the operation.

The YouTube video I made of the noisy view from Miss Puerto Rico's is what you see and hear in the video above.

How does Chesapeake Energy get permission to drill under the parking lot of an apartment complex, right in front of the apartments, and Miss Puerto Rico's office? Miss Puerto Rico told me they were given no notice that Chesapeake Energy was going to be doing this, other than the amorphous letter the entire neighborhood got.

Just like when water pipelines were laid to run water for this particular well's fracking, with no notice given, with the leaking pipes causing water problems in Miss Puerto Rico's parking lots.

Like I say in the video.

I DON'T GET IT.

How does Chesapeake Energy get to create this level of disturbance with no consequence?

Has Miss Puerto Rico's apartment complex been compensated for what is going on on her property? It appears once the pipeline leaves Miss Puerto Rico's apartment complex it will cross Bridgewood Drive, then head north on the west side of Bridgewood Drive. This will eventually take the pipeline right by my abode.

I am feeling like I'm on a post-Apocalypse Carter Avenue, with no Steve Doeung existing in my neighborhood able to take on Chesapeake Energy and make that corrupt company behave in a civilized manner....

A Cool Breeze Blowing Across A Turquoise Sea With A Dead Battery

It looks as if there may be whitecaps waving on that turquoise sea you see in the photo.

A breeze appears to be moving the leaves in the trees, so whitecaps on the pool,  I guess, are possible. It's a large body of water.

I was in that turquoise sea very soon after the sun arrived this morning. The temperature dipped somewhere in the 50s overnight. Hence the water in the turquoise sea was very refreshing.

At 4 this morning I woke up to find myself quickly thinking I'd left the A/C turned way too low.

Because I was cold.

Then I noticed my open bedroom window. A cold breeze was blowing through the opening. I shut the window and soon stopped shivering.

I thought I'd fixed the battery woe I mentioned yesterday. But, today the battery was back dead again. So, now, the battery, and the entire vehicle that surrounds it, have been taken to the Vehicle Doctor for intensive therapy. The sick vehicle is my bike carrier. I removed by bike before the vehicle was admitted to the hospital.

Speaking of intensive therapy. My allergic woes have abated a bit. But, there are still lingering issues. This morning I am in possession of the salubrious 4-Way Spray that has always worked for me in these type clogged situations.

I had my first dose of the new 4-Way Spray just a few minutes ago. The resulting relief is being very relieving.

Recovery is still not to the level that makes me feel like booking a flight out of this polluted part of the planet.

Dallas Cowbabies

I was told the above has something to do with Dallas Cowboy football.

But.

Since I am neither a Cowboy or a Cowboy fan, it does not compute for me.

Today I Am Being Very Patiently Mechanical

Today I am enjoying the joys of being a pseudo mechanic.

Being a pseudo mechanic started early this morning in pseudo bike mechanic mode. It was my bike's flat front tire that needed a replacement tube.

When I replaced the bike's back tire's tube it turned into a bit of an annoying adventure. The front tire tube replacement was much less annoying. And not much of an adventure.

Coming up on noon I decided to take the freshly fixed bike on a ride.

When I turned the key to ignite the device that ignites my bike's vehicular transport's engine, it did not ignite.

Dead battery.

Lifting the hood I saw the battery is less than 3 years old, with a 3 year replacement guarantee plastered on the battery, with the date of purchase, 11/09, also plastered on the battery.

I am awaiting Allstate to arrive to jump start the bike carrier. Then I hope to drive the bike carrier to the location I purchased the battery, Walmart, and get a free replacement. It will be interesting to see how that works out.

Allergy Woes Whilst Hunting For Inner Tubes In Texas

You are looking at the September 18 early afternoon view from my patio viewing portal on the outer world.

I had a rough night, last night. Allergy misery. I managed to have a bout or two of actually sleeping.

Soon after the sun was up, so was I. I thought a dip in that turquoise water you see in the picture might be a good thing.

It was.

The allergy woes, currently, seem to be a low ebb. I've not felt the urge to medicate for hours.

Changing the subject from one type of feeling flat, to another type of feeling flat.

Several days ago I found that the front tire on my bike had gone flat. I was at Super Walmart that very day and found Super Walmart not being too super. All sorts of tire tubes were available, many in obscure sizes I'd not seen before. But none in the 26" mountain bike size, which is usually the size there is the largest supply of, likely due to there being the biggest demand for that size.

This morning I went to the store on the opposite side of the I-30 freeway from Walmart, a store called Target, to return a failed bike bag and to see if Target had a bike tire they wanted to sell me.

Target had way fewer tube choices than Walmart. There were a couple of the Schwinn variety with the slimed, no flat feature. I put one of those slimed no flat tubes on my bike's rear tire when the new tube went flat the day after I bought the bike. It was really difficult to stick the slimed tube in the tire. I did not want to go that route again.

After the Target tube disappointment I drove to the other side of the I-30 freeway to go to the aforementioned Walmart because I needed a jalapeno for the re-fried beans I was slow cooking, and some other stuff.

Upon entering Walmart I headed first to the tire tube area. There was a fresh supply of tubes. Many still in obscure sizes, plus many with the slime, no flat feature.

Then I noticed all the tubes boxes said "Schrader Valve" on them. Does Walmart sell any bikes with tubes using a Schrader Valve? My bikes have always used Presta Valves. My only experience with a Schrader Valve was on someone else's bike, with the person having a lot of woes with his tire tubes.

As I stood forlornly looking at Walmart's tube selection I saw there was one non-Schrader Valve choice. A  Bell brand tube, which was the correct 26" size, Presta Valve. But with that annoying supposed flat preventing slime in the tube.

I decided to buck it up and not risk this being my only chance to ever find a replacement tube that works and and so I got myself a new slimed tire tube that I am dreading installing.

I think I will drag my bike into air-conditioned comfort to perform the operation. But not right now.

Notes From The Underground About Potentially Explosive Fort Worth Pipelines

A couple weeks ago I mentioned getting a letter from Chesapeake Energy in which I was informed that Chesapeake Energy would be installing a gas pipeline to carry gas from my newest neighborhood gas pad to wherever it is gas goes.

Chesapeake Energy neglected to mentioned that this would be non-odorized, as in totally natural natural gas, that would be passing through the pipeline by where I live.

The pipeline insertion operation has been underway for days now. The operation is a bit noisy and messy.

That is part of the pipeline operation you are looking at in the photo above. With pipeline waiting to go underground, laying on the west side of Bridgewood Drive in Far East Fort Worth.

This morning Don Young email blasted some Notes from the Underground which blasted the surprising number of surprising places, in Fort Worth, that pipeline is proposed to be stuck underground to carry non-odorized natural gas.

Fort Worth has more gas pads (by far) with more fracking (by far) inside its city limits than any other city in the world. We in Fort Worth are very proud of this, even though it does cause other towns, far and wide, to be Green with Envy. Fort Worth is very self-conscious about its tendency to cause other towns to be Green with Envy.

You can read Don Young's Notes from the Underground on FWCANDO. Below is the first paragraph of what the Underground wants you to know....

What do the following high-profile locations in Fort Worth, Texas have in common? - Forest Park (FW Zoo, miniature train, sports fields, Log Cabin Village) - Sycamore Park (Sports fields used by public and Texas Wesleyan University) - Gateway Park (FW Dog Park, sports fields, bike trail) - Trinity Park (Duck pond, picnic sites, playgrounds, concert site) - 7th Street corridor (Cultural District, museums, shops, cafes, high-rise apts.) These are just a few of the heavily-travelled places where large diameter, natural gas pipelines have been buried underground in recent months. These pipelines, servicing dozens of new gas wells in the area are filled with explosive, UN-odorized natural gas, straight from the padsites. This is what Barnett Shale frackers do while waiting for the inevitable rise in the price of natural gas. Build pipelines. Lots of them. In a densely populated city. Population: 758,738+. Right under your noses and right under your feet. It gets better... Jaw-dropping as it may seem, Chesapeake Energy is currently installing a NG pipeline along Lancaster Avenue, right downtown, that services a single Chesapeake gas well (Westgate padsite). Lancaster is one of the busiest thoroughfares in town. The U.S. Post Office, T&P railway station, Fort Worth Water Gardens, I-30 and numerous offices, apartments and hotels straddle the pipeline, just a few steps away.

No Fog Shrouded Fosdick Lake Today While I Choke Up From Allergic Overload

This morning when I woke up my computer, my computer's weather monitoring device was flashing red, warning me that heavy fog would be making for some limited visibility today.

Well, I saw no fog, not even semi-fog, nothing foggy at all.

I did see some skybound cloud action though, such as what you see via the picture taken today from high atop Fosdick Lake Dam in Oakland Lake Park.

Changing the subject from the lack of fog in the outer world at my location to my own personal interior fog.

Yesterday the allergic woes that have vexed me, off and on, for a week or more, returned to vex me again, with a vengeance.

A combo of factors combined to cause me to think I may have experienced my first ever panic attack.

Yesterday I made really tasty chicken tacos for lunch. I ate too many really tasty chicken tacos. After I was over stuffed with too many chicken tacos an allergic attack set in, making breathing very difficult. Made worse, I think, by my congested lungs being impacted by my congested digestive system.

I thought to myself, is this what drowning feels like? It was not possible to sit without feeling like gasping for air.

So I paced.

Then, even though it was raining, I paced outside. Pacing outside, in the rain, quickly abated the congestive issues to the point where I no longer felt like I was drowning.

Today, on the way to walk around Fosdick Lake, my respiratory system again went into malfunction mode, but quickly recovered once I started walking.

Saturday afternoon, after hiking the Tandy Hills, I got back here and went swimming. That went well, til I laid down on a lounge chair. My respiratory system quickly went into fail mode, so I quickly got vertical and raced back to my Saline Nasal Spray for some relief.

Miss Puerto Rico has year round allergic woes. Miss Puerto Rico called me a couple times on Sunday. But I was in no condition to talk. When I returned from Fosdick Lake I ran into Miss Puerto. I asked if her allergy woes have gotten worse lately. She said they had. She takes prescription meds to medicate her allergic woes.

My allergy treatment meds are all of the over the counter sort. I am currently a mess, but I'm fairly optimistic that I will return to my respiratorical norm before needing to resort to getting medical attention and prescription meds.

I think I will go swimming now and hope not to have a repeat of Saturday's nightmare.

A Previously Unnoticed Mysterious Tree Formation In The Rainy Village Creek Natural Historical Area

I did not realize rain had been falling til the sun arrived to light up the outer world at my location this morning. I don't know when the rain started, but I do know it continues, still, midway through Sunday's afternoon.

Today's rain has not been a typical Texas rain. Instead today's rain has been the stereotypical Pacific Northwest type rain that happens for much of the fall, winter and spring. A non-stop slow rain that goes on and on for days.

I carried a bumbershoot with me today, unopened, because the rain was not falling in amounts sufficient to require its use.

With all this rain talk you are probably thinking you are looking at a picture of a rain forest, because the picture does sort of look like a rain forest.

A rain forest needs moss. I have seen no moss in the forest in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

I have seen fungus though, like today, on the stump in the middle of the picture. I do not see how it is I never noticed this tree/stump combo before, til today. The tree/stump combo is located just a short distance from the Dottie Lynn Parkway parking lot. What makes this tree so noticeable, and odd, is that stump in the center of the picture.

That bent tree trunk is supported by the stump. How this came to be, I do not know. Was the tree blown over on top of what is now that supporting stump? It was the stump, which is now dead, on which the big fungi grows.

Speaking of fungi.

Yesterday I got around to viewing the Innocence of Muslims YouTube video that has made some mad Muslims madder than their regular Muslim madness level.

The video is so ridiculously stupid I put it on my TV blog. Click the link in the paragraph above and see if it makes you mad. It likely will not, make you mad, unless you are an easy to make mad Muslim.

The Muslims that it has been my good fortune to know have been very easy going, tolerant, kind and peaceful. Just like the majority of Muslims. It is that fringe mad Muslim group that causes that religion all its bad PR.

On The Tandy Hills Hunting Prickly Pears With 72 Avocados

Tandy Hills Prickly Pear Cactus Without Pears

I woke up at 4 this morning, and have been awake ever since. I should be more tired than I am.

The arrival of colder air, with air replacement brought by the wind that arrived with the colder air, and the slight amount of rain scrubbing the dirty air, has not removed from the air that I breathe whatever it is that causes me to go into spasms of allergic reaction.

All was fine, today, til, after swimming this afternoon, post Tandy Hills hiking and lunch, when, upon finishing with swimming, I was peacefully relaxing on a poolside lounge when suddenly my breathing tubes ceased working,  forcing me to use my oral orifice to acquire oxygen.

I do not like being a mouth breather. I have a very strong aversion to mouth breathing and mouth breathers. This has been a lifelong aversion and is part of my matrix of aversions under the general heading of being averse to slobbiness in any of its many forms.

If I am not making much sense I beg your pardon and ask that you realize my cerebral bloodflow is likely being impacted by my breathing woes.

I hiked the Tandy Hills today with my harvesting bag in hand. It is that time of year when I harvest Prickly Pears from the Prickly Pear Cactus, so I can make Prickly Pear Jam to put in the Christmas Boxes that the multitudes enjoy getting from me.

Okay, the only part of the above paragraph that was actually true was I did hike the Tandy Hills. I don't harvest Prickly Pears, make jam or send anyone a Christmas Box.

I just wanted to see how gullible you are. Were you gullible and wondering why you have never received a Christmas Box from me?

I did notice an absence of Prickly Pears on the Prickly Pear Cactus today. Maybe someone has come along and harvested them.

Speaking of harvesting.

I had some good harvesting at Town Talk today. But what am I going to do with a case of Avocados? 72 very big Avocados. I like Avocados. I like Guacamole. But, 72 Avocados?

I also harvested some very big yellow peppers. But not a case. Only 6.

Walking In The Rain With A Laboodle (AKA Labradoodle) On Top Of Fosdick Dam

When I left my abode this late morning to drive to the top of Mount Tandy, about a mile to the west, a very light drizzle began to moisten my windshield, but not in an amount copious enough to require the motorized window wiping device to be activated.

When the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth came in to view I could see that rain was falling that short distance further to the west.

So, I bailed on the Tandy Hills and turned left off Oakland Boulevard, rather than right, and went to Oakland Lake Park, instead, to walk around Fosdick Lake.

When I exited my vehicle the light misty drizzle had grown a bit less light. It reminded me of being on a Pacific Ocean beach in winter.

In the picture you are looking up at the massive earthen structure known as Fosdick Dam. On top of the dam, in the center of the picture, you can see a lady and the top of her dog.

When I passed the lady and her dog and did the requisite howdying, I remarked to the lady that that was a very cute doggy. I said I'd not seen a dog that looks like that before. I said he looks like he is part poodle. The lady then told me that the dog was a Laboodle. Made sense, it had the yellow coat of a Labrador, but it was curly, like a poodle. The face looked like a poodle. But this was a big dog, like a Labrador.

There were more people jogging around Fosdick Lake today than I've ever seen any time previous. I think the chilly weather, with natural cooling misting, causes people to want to run.

I soon found myself running, something I rarely do. I started to run because it started to rain. The pleasant drizzle morphed into your basic run of the mill rain. Not of the downpour sort, but with enough volume to render one quickly all wet.

Driving back to my abode I expected it to be wet here, but no, I am still dry. I must live in some sort of rain shadow. Maybe I'm in the rain shadow of Mount Tandy.

The Calm Before The Storm Of The Second Friday Of September

You are looking at my mid morning balcony view of the swimming pool and stormy sky on this 2nd Friday of September, Day 14.

It is only 63 degrees right now in the outer world at my location. The predicted high for today is only 76, with lightning strikes and possible rain also predicted.

So far I've seen no lightning striking or rain dripping.

I had myself an allergic meltdown last night. This morning that seems like ancient history.

I think the wind that has moved in with this cold front has cleared the nasty allergens out of the air. I hope the nasty allergens remain cleared out of the air. I do not like nasty allergens in the air that I breathe.

Speaking of nasty things in the air.

That Chesapeake Energy gas pipeline that I mentioned a few weeks ago, after I got a notice from Chesapeake kindly informing me they would be sticking a pipe in the ground in my neighborhood, is now underway. The operation was a bit noisy yesterday. No noise today.

I have my windows open to let in the cool breeze. The only noise I am hearing through the open windows is the sound of vehicular traffic, every once in awhile. Very peaceful. I think this may be the calm before the storm.

Almost Getting Wet From Rain At The Village Creek Bayou While Not Having A Camp Bowie Bingo Hot Dog

In the picture you are looking south across the east end of the viewing platform that overlooks the sometimes blue bayou in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

When I left my waterproof shelter, a half hour before noon, I'd just heard a voice on the radio say that rain was falling in Tarrant County, with up to a couple inches of wet stuff possible.

I was not long into my walk with the Village Creek Indian Ghosts when I felt a little moisture hitting a spot of exposed epidermis.

By the time I got to the sometimes blue bayou, multiple drops began falling, with ever increasing velocity. I decided to fast walk back to the waterproofness of my vehicular transport. However, by the time I got to waterproofness, the dripping had ceased.

And now, coming up on 3 in the afternoon, it appears the clouds have thinned, the sun is back shining. And I have not seen 2 inches of rain. Maybe it is still to come.

Changing the subject from non-existent rain to something else.

Yesterday evening, when I drove to West Fort Worth, my intention was to check out the new Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Bridge, which I did, then go to TCU, which I did, then go to Paradise Center's Camp Bowie Bingo, which I did not.

I did not get out of TCU til it was almost 9 o'clock. Too late to head further west to Camp Bowie Bingo. I think I am destined, somehow, to never get to have a Camp Bowie Bingo hot dog.

A Walk Across The Trinity River On The Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Bridge

Yesterday in the early evening, prior to going to TCU (Texas Christian University, for you non locals) I went to Trinity Park to check out the newly opened for business Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Bridge.

In the picture you are looking at the new pedestrian bridge, that thin shallow arch of white, below the 7th Street vehicular bridge.

From a distance the new bridge looks good. Up close, not so much.

The landscaping around the new bridge is a work in progress. The bridge itself appears to be a finished product, albeit a bit perplexing.

I could not figure out why the rails between the top rail and the bridge deck were so crooked, rather than paralleling the top rail. This made the bridge look, well, sloppy.

And why is a plastic pipe laying on the left side of the bridge deck? It appears to serve no purpose. Why is there an orange traffic cone at the top of the bridge? You can barely see this, in the picture, at the top right of the bridge deck.

Above you are looking at what the Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Bridge leads to, across the Trinity River from Trinity Park. Is this what is meant when someone says, of a bridge, that it is a bridge to nowhere?

As for Trinity Park. I was really liking Trinity Park yesterday. There were a lot of people engaging in a lot of activities. It is a busy park, and very well kept by the City of Fort Worth park people responsible for the park's upkeep. Unlike Oakland Lake Park, in east Fort Worth, the grass in Trinity Park is mowed, and is actually grass, not weeds gone wild.

David Does The Puyallup On His Birthday At The Western Washington State Fair

David Driving at The Puyallup

My nephew, David, Did the Puyallup on his birthday, yesterday, 9/11. I learned David Did the Puyallup, on his birthday, when I called my mom yesterday afternoon. David Doing the Puyallup was confirmed this morning when I saw photo documentation on the Blue and Max Adventure Poodle Blog in a blogging titled David Does The Puyallup.

If you are in Texas reading this, or some other part of the world, or America, you might be wondering what it means to Do the Puyallup.

Well, to Do the Puyallup means one is going to the Western Washington State Fair.

In the town of Puyallup.

Puyallup, the town, is a few miles east and south of Tacoma. The Puyallup, the People, are a Washington Tribe of Indians, as in the Puyallup Tribe.

I do not know why, when one says one is going to Do The Dallas, it does not mean one is going to the State Fair of Texas. Very perplexing.

I don't enjoy the State Fair of Texas as much as I always enjoyed Doing the Puyallup. One thing is the food is better at The Puyallup. And you don't have to buy coupons to buy food. American currency is accepted.

The Midway of the State Fair of Texas is bigger and wilder than The Puyallup's. I'm not a big Carnival ride fan. But I greatly enjoy walking through the State Fair of Texas Midway. It is a bit of sensory overload. The Carnival/Midway zone of The Puyallup is puny compared to The Dallas.

David at The Puyallup in his Ask Me
My Secret Identity T-Shirt

Both fairs have gondola rides. The State Fair of Texas gondola skyride is only a few years old. The Puyallup's was born during the Seattle World's Fair, in 1962, moving to Puyallup, many years later.

If I remember right The Puyallup has a wooden roller coaster. I don't think there are one of those at the State Fair of Texas.

I always found shows I enjoyed watching at The Puyallup, not so much at The Dallas. Ironically, it was a Dallas based band, The Shoppe, that was always the highlight of a visit to The Puyallup, followed by a hypnotist show.

With Washington being a bit more of an agricultural area than Texas, that part, the produce and animals, is a bigger deal at The Puyallup.

The Puyallup has way more varied exhibits than the State Fair of Texas. Lots of demonstrations. Lots of temptations to buy. It was at The Puyallup I got my first Vita-Mix.

The State Fair of Texas seems to devote an awful lot of space to vehicle exhibits. I do not recollect seeing cars on display at The Puyallup.

The State Fair of Texas has some very cool permanent buildings, built in the Art Deco style, plus several museums. The Puyallup has a lot of permanent buildings, but not of the sort you see in Fair Park in Dallas.

I think you can find some fried food at The Puyallup, but nothing of the exotic deep-fried Big Tex Choice Award sort that can be a bit horrifying at the State Fair of Texas.

Right now I'm thinking if I weren't such a procrastinator, I would likely have gone to The Puyallup with my nephew, David, yesterday. And had a scone. Or two. Or three. But, nothing deep-fried. Not even butter.

Watching The Old Man In The Fosdic Sea And A Los Angeles Police Chase With Robin Hood Throwing Money To Poor People

The Old Man was back fishing in the Fosdick Sea, in Oakland Lake Park, again today, fishing whilst sitting on his mini-dock, with his feet in the water one is forbidden to swim in, trying to catch fish one is forbidden to eat.

It was an idyllic scene. Sort of Tom Sawyerish. Becky Thatcher is not in the picture. She had her pole in the water about 10 feet to the right of the Old Man in the Fosdick Sea. Becky fished from shore, not from a mini-deck.

Speaking of idyllic scenes, my lunchtime entertainment, whilst enjoying Beef Stroganoff, was to watch a Los Angeles police car chase through the streets of LA, eventually stopping a pair of Robin Hoods, who had engaged in an armed robbery.

Eventually a lot of Los Angelenos, who were watching, like I was, the live chase on their TVs, with the chase taking place on their streets, left their TVs to go out to the streets, where the armed robber Robin Hoods began throwing money to the poor people of Sherwood Forest.

The Robin Hoods throwing money added an added element of mayhem to the chase, as the moneyseekers got between the robbers and the police cars, at times.

This is not the first time I've watched one of these bizarre police chases. I think I've watched 2 that have taken place in the D/FW zone. I never quite understand why these are broadcast live. It seems, like it did today, the live broadcast creates problems.

Although, on the other hand, some poor people got themselves a little unexpected cash today, after seeing the potential easy money being thrown live on their TVs.

Wednesday Night Free Dinner At Paradise Center's Camp Bowie Bingo

When I don't hear from the good people at Paradise Center I know all is going well in their world.

It has been months since I've heard a Paradise Center peep, except for weekly emails about Paradise Center's Camp Bowie Bingo.

This morning the incoming email included a Camp Bowie Bingo invite for free dinner, tonight, as in Wednesday, September 12.

Paradise Center's Camp Bowie Bingo must be doing real well, with it now expanded to weekdays, in addition to weekends, and offering free dinners.

I am currently scheduled to be at TCU this early evening. I was going to follow being at TCU with biking to check out the new Phyllis Tilley Bridge, it being a massive pedestrian crossing structure that spans the mighty Trinity River, giving Fort Worth a much needed pedestrian connection between downtown Fort Worth and West Fort Worth.

Now that I've gotten this dinner invite from Camp Bowie Bingo I may add heading a bit further west to this evening's agenda.

Sneezing On Top Of Mount Tandy Before Navigating A Maze Of Thorns

I returned to the Tandy Hills today for the first time since my recent bout of allergic woes became even more woeful after my visit to the Tandy Hills last Saturday.

I parked on top of Mount Tandy and barely exited my vehicular transport when the sneeze impulse hit me.

Fighting back the sneeze impulse I thought to myself, this is not good, it's the Tandy Hills to which I am allergic.

As I walked down Mount Tandy, past the maze of purple thorns you see in the picture, the allergic woes began to abate, once again. The more hill hiking I did the better I felt.

I have concluded it is not the Tandy Hills tot which I am allergic.

What a relief.

Another relief that I found on the Tandy Hills today, was to find that someone has removed the mysterious ice chest that has laid next to the trail, by the equally mysterious burial crypt, since August 25, which remains intact.

Wishing My Nephew David A Happy 9/11 Birthday

That is my nephew, David, getting ready to take a swing at a pinata at his birthday party this past  weekend.

Have I mentioned, previously, that David is bilingual? He is learning Spanish at the Montessori school he attends.

I do not know if David's bilingual bi-cultureness is the reason for the birthday pinata.

I was invited to David's birthday party, but was unable to make it to Tacoma in time to attend.

Even though David's birthday party was this past weekend, his actual birthday is today. September 11.

Yes, David is a 9/11 baby. Born 4 years ago, today.

Happy Birthday David!

The 11th Anniversary Of September 11, 2001

One World Trade Center

It does not seem possible that it is 11 years since I got a call from Big Ed in Dallas telling me that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. I assumed Big Ed was talking about the World Trade Center in Dallas, since he was in Dallas at a meeting near the Dallas World Trade Center.

I turned on the TV right when the plane struck the second tower in New York City.

I thought I was seeing a replay, then I realized the other tower was burning. When it sank into my thick skull that America was under attack I started waking up people on the west coast.

I'd been on the west coast a week prior to 9/11. I'd driven, solo, back to Washington a month prior. This was to be the last time I've driven back to Washington. In the 3 years prior to 9/11 I'd driven back and forth from Texas to Washington 5 times. I do not know why 9/11 stopped the drives back to Washington. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it became way cheaper to fly.

Now, 11 years later, a very impressive memorial exists where the twin towers used to stand.

What was originally called the Freedom  Tower and is now called One World Trade Center, is not yet finished. However, on August 17, 2012, the building was topped out at the 105th floor, at 1,368 feet, eventually to reach 1,776 feet, with the installation of 408 foot antenna spire.

A lot has happened in the world in the 11 years since 9/11/2001, but that date still seems like yesterday to me.

Apparently Killing Sweetwater Rattlesnakes Is Senseless & Makes You Look Like A Moron

On the left you are looking at a screencap of the webpage on my Eyes on Texas website devoted to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup.

This afternoon I got yet one more email about the rattlesnakes in Sweetwater. Those rattlesnake emails have become frequent lately. So, I Googled "Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup" and found that my webpage about this important subject is back Googling in the #1 spot, hence the emails asking me where rattlesnake meat can be purchased, if I sell rattlesnake skins and rattles. And my favorite, asking me for my favorite rattlesnake recipes.

I have no rattlesnake recipes. Let alone a favorite.

And then there are the haters, you know, those who hate those who murder rattlesnakes. I think some of the haters think I am one of the murderers. I have never killed any snake, rattlesnake or any other brand.

Today I got a good example of the hater type rattlesnake email, incoming from someone named Jack Kittae. Jack Kittae totally overly formatted his message, all highlighted in red, with words shouted in various sizes, as you can see via part of the email, in the second screencap of the day.

I copied and pasted the email in its formatted mode, but it looked real bad in blog form, so I de-formatted it for your more easily read reading pleasure...

Hello Roundup People, Consider this a warning from a very powerful person who plans to shut down your operation. Just think (if your able to actually THINK) A rattlesnake is just as dangerous as an electrical outlet......If you don't put your fingers in it....YOU WON'T GET BIT. These animals are NOT hurting you or coming to your house seeking food and shelter.

Do you all think killing Rattlesnakes makes you "COOL"????????

What you are doing is senseless and makes you look like a MORON!!!

Why don't you have a FLEA and TICK roundup and kill some things that really bother us HUMANS.

It won't be long before WE SHUT YOU DOWN FOR GOOD.

Meanwhile, I will continue to BREED Rattlesnakes by the HUNDREDS and release them in the wild.
YOU WILL NEVER WIN!!!

My only hope is that ALL OF YOU receive a nice, big, fat, juicy BITE right in your face during your next IDIOTIC ROUNDUP.

You will never know when one of us is out in the crowd....letting some nice big Timber Rattlesnakes loose.

If it didn't have any consequences....I would take your "hatchet man" and do to him what you do to those defenseless little RATTLESNAKES..

YOU ALL make it real easy to HATE YOU and FEEL SORRY for you at the same time.

YOU ALL are NOT COOL and are not REAL MEN no matter how hard you try and convince yourselves......

I REALLY, REALLY hope you get BIT and stay in the hospital for a few days.

YOU are ALL so WRONG.....WAKE UP ROUNDUPPERS!!!!

Go get your Pick em Up Trucks and your Bud Lites and go hunt some Coyotes!!

GOD is watching YOU and HE doesn't like what he sees...better watch your Karma!!!

LEAVE OUR RATTLESNAKES ALONE!!!!!!