Leaving Lucy Park Via Suspension Bridge To Alligator Alley Alligators

 It was to Lucy Park I ventured on this second day of the 2022 version of September, for my daily commune with nature, via endorphin acquisition from high-speed aerobic walking.

Today I exited Lucy Park, via the suspension bridge over the Wichita River, then headed to the Alligator Alley section of the Wee-Chi-Tah mountain bike trail.

I assumed, with the temperature barely in the 80s, that the alligators, reptilian creatures that they be, would be a bit sluggish, with the cooler temperature slowing them down.

I was walking along fairly fast when I came to a quick stop when I saw what you see in the photo documentation.

The gator looked to be sleeping. I lingered only long enough to take a picture, and then skedaddled back across the suspension bridge to the relative safety of Lucy Park.

Where do alligators go when an Arctic blast knocks the temperature down below zero, I cannot help but wonder...

Have A Mighty Fine 4th Of July Grilling Filet Of Alligator

Yesterday, as in Saturday, the day before today, Sunday, the 4th of July, I was in Walmart collecting the vittles needed for my annual 4th of July Grilling.

I was in the seafood section looking for salmon, when I saw that which you see above, which I had my phone take a picture of for documentation purposes.

Filet of Alligator.

I have no idea how one cooks Alligator.

I need to consult the Southern Belle, Elsie Hotpepper, with whom I consult when I am dumbfounded trying to figure out some Southern cuisine confusion.

Elsie is a gourmet level chef specializing in the complicated cuisine of the South.

From the Hotpepper I learned how to make perfect grits, hush puppies and fried green tomatoes.

You reading this in Washington, and other locations not in the South, does your Walmart seafood section stock Alligator?

Speaking of Alligator, of late that particular reptile has been in the local news due to there being way above the norm number of Gator sightings in Fort Worth's Lake Worth.

Lake Worth is an impoundment of the Trinity River, a few miles upstream from the downtown Fort Worth location of the Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the polluted Trinity River.

I have seen no coverage, this river floating season, of Rockin' the River. Has this been cancelled again, like last year, due to COVID?

Or is this increase in the Alligator population the new reason not to be Rockin' the River?

Reptile Dodging Alligator Alley On Wichita Falls Wee-Chi-Tah Trail

Til yesterday it had been several years since I have mountain biked on an actual mountain bike trail.

At my former DFW location there were multiple mountain bike trails within a reasonably short distance of my home location.

At my current home location in Wichita Falls, as far as I know, there is only one mountain bike trail within a reasonable distance of my home location.

That being the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail.

One can access the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail from multiple access points. My access point, yesterday, was via Lucy Park, crossing the suspension bridge across the Wichita River to the location you see photo documented above, that being the ALLIGATOR ALLEY section of the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail.

I saw no alligators lurking on this trail section. I do not think it likely that alligators venture as far as Wichita Falls. But, I suppose it is possible, what with alligators known to be frequent visitors in the DFW zone, which is only a little over a hundred miles to the southeast.

On my regular Circle Trail type bike rides I don't bother wearing a bike helmet. On a mountain bike trail I feel the need to be helmeted.

I need to get myself a better, more comfortable, bike helmet, by the next time I dodge alligators on a mountain bike trail...

Is The Lake Worth Gator Population Floating To Downtown Fort Worth To Rock The River?

I saw this this Monday morning on Facebook via a Facebooker I assume may be a relative of the notorious Texas governor who preceded the current notorious Texas governor.

It has been known for a couple months now that alligators have been migrating to Fort Worth's Lake Worth from their long time abode in the Fort Worth Nature Center & Prairie Preserve's bayous.

Last year a blind alligator somehow made it past the Lake Worth dam all the way to the area where America's Biggest Boondoggle operates its Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the polluted Trinity River.

With such evidence as the fact a blind gator can journey past the dam, combined with the fact a flock of clear-eyed gators has taken up residence in Lake Worth, is The Boondoggle going ahead with this year's enticing locals, who lack sufficient entertainment options, to get in the water at the imaginary island with the imaginary pavilion?

If Rockin' the River does take place this year, and if a gator floats in among the floaters and takes a bite or two or three, whose liability is it? The floaters who The Boondoggle makes sign some sort of pseudo legal document prior to getting in the water?

Or, with that document ruled irrelevant, does the law suit liability go to The Boondoggle?

Or is it the City of Fort Worth which will be held responsible for allowing something so irresponsible to happen as allowing such events to take place in a polluted river where it had become known that alligators were in town?

Has the Fort Worth Star-Telegram addressed these issues, with me missing the addressing?

Are Alligators Preparing To Invade Fort Worth's Imaginary Island?

I saw this this morning, on Facebook, brought to my attention by Elsie Hotpepper and her Doppleganger.

So, alligators are being seen enjoying Lake Worth again. Isn't this sort of a regular occurrence?

With the reptiles visiting Lake Worth from their home in the marshes of the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge, where one sees signs warning visitors not to disturb the gators.

The Facebook poster, Libby Barker Willis, is suggesting that perhaps Panther Island should be renamed Alligator Island.

That same suggestion cropped up last year when an alligator showed up in the area where the Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats take place.

I don't know how a gator could get from Lake Worth to the Rockin' the River zone, what with the Lake Worth dam seeming to be a bit of a water transit impediment.

Changing the subject ever so slightly.

I really think America's Biggest Boondoggle needs to stop with the Panther Island nonsense. There is no island. There may never be an island. And even if the un-needed flood diversion ditch is ever dug and filled with water, the area currently being called Panther Island still won't be a real island.

Fort Worth has a history of misnaming things. Like for decades confusing the town's few tourists by calling its downtown Sundance Square, where there was no square, til a couple years ago when a little plaza was built where parking lots used to be. With those parking lots being what many people long thought were Sundance Square.

And now we have The Boondoggle nonsense. Re-branding that hapless slow motion "project" over and over again. Trinity Uptown. Central City.  Trinity River Vision. With Panther Island being the latest. And then slapping that absurd Panther Island nomenclature on all sorts of things, like Panther Island Pavilion.

Where there is no Pavilion. Or island.

Currently I am in Wichita Falls. I'm liking Wichita Falls. Pretty much each day I've been here I see something which impresses me, which I never saw in Fort Worth.

Yesterday as I drove to Walmart, driving by the park nearest my abode, about two blocks distant, it being a park with a big pond and regular park facilities, had dozens of kids fishing in the pond. I read this morning this was some sort of after school program.

The signage all over Wichita Falls is very well done and useful, and so far I have not had the signs point me to something which does not exist, like a square, an island or a pavilion that can't be found.

Wichita Falls did have a serious problem with misnaming something and confusing tourists. This problem went on for about a century. I'll let Wikipedia explain via a paragraph in its Wichita Falls article....

A flood in 1886 destroyed the original falls on the Wichita River for which the city was named. After nearly 100 years of visitors wanting to visit the nonexistent falls, the city built an artificial waterfall beside the river in Lucy Park. The recreated falls are 54 ft (16 m) high and recirculate at 3,500 gallons per minute. They are visible to south-bound traffic on Interstate 44.

I visited Wichita Falls in Lucy Park on Saturday. I was impressed.

Another Alligator Not Caught In Downtown Fort Worth

Yesterday I blogged about the capture of the 10 foot long blind alligator which had been terrorizing downtown Fort Worth ever since it was flushed in to town by last month's flooding.

In that blogging I opined that this was something one would never see in the Seattle Times, a reversal of my popular series of bloggings about things I read in west coast online news sources which I would never read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Well.

This morning I found a blog comment from Steve A which sort of contradicts what I'd opined about not seeing such a thing as an alligator capture in an article in the Seattle Times about an alligator terrorizing the Seattle zone on one of the town's lakes  or saltwater beaches.

Steve A's comment....

Steve A has left a new comment on your post "Downtown Fort Worth's Blind Alligator Pulled From Trinity River So Rockin' The River Can Resume":

Hmm, they caught an alligator last year in Ocean Shores - http://northcoastnews.com/news/police-nab-alligator-ocean-shores-blvd.html 

_________________________________

There are some major differences in the two alligator incidents.

The Ocean Shores alligator was a woman's pet, kept in a kid's swimming pool in her apartment. The woman had had this unusual pet for years. Someone tipped off the police, a warrant was issued, but then someone tipped off the Alligator Woman, who then tried to escape with her alligator, just as police arrived to find the gator in the backseat of the woman's vehicle, thwarting the attempted escape.

The alligator was then taken to a nature preserve. I am guessing it was a different nature preserve than the one Fort Worth's downtown alligator was taken to....

Downtown Fort Worth's Blind Alligator Pulled From Trinity River So Rockin' The River Can Resume

Today I am reversing my popular series of bloggings about something I read in a west coast news source, online, usually the Seattle Times, that I would never read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

That which you see here was screen capped from this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram and is something  I don't think you'd ever see in the Seattle Times getting wrangled out of Puget Sound or any of the lakes in the Seattle zone.

The big alligator which has been terrorizing downtown Fort Worth, like Godzilla terrorizing Tokyo, has been captured and removed to a new home, presumably the bayous of the Fort Worth Nature Center & Wildlife Refuge which is located between Lake Worth and Lake Eagle Mountain.

In the caption below the photo of the captured gator we learn the 10 foot long monster was blind. How was this determined I can not help but wonder?

Did the alligator go blind from too many years of exposure to the water of the Trinity River? Or is it blind from one of the usual old age blinding maladies, such as cataracts or macular degeneration?

Speaking of going blind from too much exposure to the water of the Trinity River.

Now that the alligator has been removed from America's  Biggest Boondoggle's party zone did Thursday's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Float take place?

I Googled Rockin' the River to see if I could find out if an alligator free float took place yesterday, to no avail.

But, I did find something else appalling. That being that America's Biggest Boondoggle has gotten itself yet one more domain name and has had yet one more website made touting one of its many parties.

The new domain with a new website is rockintheriverfw.com. Apparently The Boondoggle's other website devoted to its imaginary island and imaginary pavilion, pantherislandpavilion.com did not suffice for propaganda spewing purposes.

Back a decade and a half ago, before America's Biggest Boondoggle turned into one, did anyone think that all this time later all we would basically see produced was a tacky music venue where the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision encourages people to float in the Trinity River and three simple little bridges being built over dry land, taking four years to build, to connect the mainland to an imaginary island?

Oh, and the world's premiere wakeboard lake. I am likely forgetting a product or two.

If the TRWD had hired an actual qualified project engineer as the Executive Director of what, at the time of the hiring, was called the Trinity Uptown Project (I think that is what it was called, it gets hard to remember all the names The Boondoggle  has gone by over the years), instead of hiring a local congresswoman's son to motivate her to seek federal money for the project, do you think we would be seeing people floating in the Trinity River at Rockin' the River and Sunday Funday events?

Do you think the old Tandy Subway's service shed would have been turned into a beer hall called The Shack?

If a real project engineer had been hired would we, all these many years later, be seeing the proposed project actually coming to some sort of fruition?

And another thing. How much of the people's money is America's Biggest Boondoggle spending on all these websites it is making to promote its various shenanigans?

There really needs to be some sort of adult oversight of Kay Granger's son. Don't you think the mountain of evidence makes that sort of obvious?

Panther Island Pavilion Propaganda Claims No Gators Rockin' The River With The Tubers

A few minutes ago Elsie Hotpepper emailed me what you see here.

What you are looking at is a screen cap from America's Biggest Boondoggle's Panther Island Pavilion Facebook page.

Seems like just a couple days ago I blogged a blogging titled An Alligator Is Rockin' The River At Fort Worth's Imaginary Island Pavilion.

Two paragraphs from that blogging...

The TRWD spokesman is Matt Oliver, hired after an extensive search for a qualified experienced spokesman discovered that the son of the TRWD's manager, Jim Oliver, was best suited to adhere to the TRWD's policy of employing corrupt nepotism whenever possible.

Anyway, wildlife expert, Matt Oliver, informs us that there is nothing to fear from an alligator enjoying Rockin' the River near the imaginary island and pavilion. That alligators are just like turtles, what with being shy and minding their business unless intruded upon by hundreds of foolish people floating in inner tubes.

So, we have the spokesman for the parent of America's Biggest Boondoggle reassuring people there is no danger from the gator that took up residence in the Panther Island Pavilion zone, where there is no island or pavilion.

Meanwhile, America's Biggest Boondoggle's Panther Island Pavilion Facebook page is telling people there are no gators in the federal flood way were the tubing  takes place.

Federal flood way? This is the first time I've heard the confluence of those two forks of the Trinity identified as a federal flood way.

The Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision Boondoggle has always been big on exaggerated propaganda.

Touting things like three simple little bridges being built in slow motion for four years are going to be signature bridges. You know, like the Golden Gate Bridge is.

Or propaganda like touting that Panther Island Pavilion, where I think I have already mentioned there is no island or pavilion, is the only urban waterfront music venue in Texas and other exaggerations regarding that rather sad, aesthetically speaking, music venue, with old subway stations turned into stages, a service garage turned into a beer hall/music stage, and for restrooms, a couple concrete enclosed outhouses.

Yeah, that is one world class music venue. Now with gators.....

UPDATE: I have been erroneous in saying TRWD spokesman, Matt Oliver, is TRWD mis-manager, Jim Oliver's son. Jim Oliver is Matt's uncle. I learned this from TRWD board director Mary Kelleher's blog in a blogging titled Croc In River....

An Alligator Is Rockin' The River At Fort Worth's Imaginary Island Pavilion

This morning Elsie Hotpepper in her ongoing campaign to convince me to cease with participating in America's Biggest Boondoggle's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the polluted Trinity River emailed me a link to a NBCDFW news story titled Alligator Spotted Near Downtown Fort Worth.

The spot where the alligator was spotted is the same spot where The Boondoggle's Rockin' the River takes place.

I have long wondered how long  it was going to be til something unwanted floated into the location where the River Rockin' takes place. Something like a water moccasin or a herd of snapping turtles or a big garfish or an alligator.

In addition to the information about the alligator what I also got out of this story was a feeling of how bizarre it is that the local idiocracy has gone along with The Boondoggle's Panther Island Pavilion nomenclature, what with the fact of the matter being there is no island or pavilion.

The talking heads used the Panther Island Pavilion misnomer and it was printed on the screen showing a flooded Trinity River lapping up against the stage which I think is what The Boondoggle is pretending is a pavilion.

In this location there is also a pretend beach with transplanted sand, likely in need of being re-transplanted when the river recedes.

Also included in this story was alligator information from the spokesman for the Tarrant Regional Water District.

The TRWD spokesman is Matt Oliver, hired after an extensive search for a qualified experienced spokesman discovered that the son of the TRWD's manager, Jim Oliver, was best suited to adhere to the TRWD's policy of employing corrupt nepotism whenever possible.

Anyway, wildlife expert, Matt Oliver, informs us that there is nothing to fear from an alligator enjoying Rockin' the River near the imaginary island and pavilion. That alligators are just like turtles, what with being shy and minding their business unless intruded upon by hundreds of foolish people floating in inner tubes.

I think I will likely stay out of the Trinity River for awhile....

A Regular Saturday Roll Through The Gateway Park Jungle Followed By Town Talk Maple Yogurt

Today being Saturday naturally I was back at what has recently become my regular Saturday photo op, that being a cliff in Gateway Park overlooking the beautifully green Trinity River.

I have seen a river or two named Green. Green River in Utah comes to mind, with that Utah Green River not being green.

I have no idea what grows in the Trinity River that colors it such a pleasant shade of green, but today, looking over the cliff into the water  I spotted two very large fish near the surface.

The spotted fish were a couple feet in length. The distance and distortion caused by the water kept me from telling for sure if this was a pair of Gar Fish I was looking at.

I have not been in a Texas body of water, except for my swimming pool, since the day I had a Gar Fish pointed out to me for the first time, in Village Creek. A week after that I was at a dock on Lake Grapevine where a pair of teenage girls informed me that one of their friends had stepped on the teeth of a Gar Fish, at that location, the week before.

I have seen a large lizard basking in the sun at the fringe of my pool, but no Gar Fish. I think it is likely almost impossible for a Gar Fish to make its way to my pool.

An alligator, maybe.

A few years ago an 11 foot alligator was run over and killed a very short distance from my abode. That alligator had wandered from the safety of the Trinity River on to Trinity Boulevard. Perhaps the gator had misread the signage.

After having myself a really fine time rolling my wheels in the refreshingly shady Gateway Park jungle I rolled my motorized wheels to Town Talk where I did not find anything particularly noteworthy, besides my Town Talk staples, unless one considers a couple cases of Greek Maple Yogurt to be noteworthy. Maple was the only flavor in the cooler and I was out of yogurt.

I was in the pool for an hour early this morning. I am tempted to have myself a rare afternoon swim, what with it being nearly 100. I'll likely resist the temptation.

Playing With Transmission Fluid & A Lime Green Village Creek Blue Bayou Alligator

Today, when I went walking with the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area I was a little surprised to arrive at the Village Creek Blue Bayou to find what looked like a lime green alligator climbing out of the bayou on to a perch on the Blue Bayou overlook.

Visiting with what looked to be a lime green alligator was just one event in what is being an eventful day.

The first eventful event of the day was finding that the fact that the temperature in the outer world at my location, which had remained above 50 degrees for over 24 hours, had rendered the cool pool not too cool to swim in.

So I had a real fine time in the pool this morning, unlike yestermorning, which required 3 escapes from the cool pool into the not cool hot tub.

Vehicle maintenance is another event that has made today an eventful day.

When it comes to vehicle maintenance I am not a very responsible person. Until a warning light or beep alerts me that something may need attention I forgot to check things like the oil, transmission fluid or tire pressure.

The last couple days I thought my transmission was acting unusual. I looked in my vehicle manual for directions as to how to check the transmission fluid. That eventually led me on a 15 mile drive and a two person operation.

I think maybe the 15 mile drive is required to heat up the transmission fluid enough to get an accurate reading. That accurate reading indicated the transmission fluid was low. This accurate reading took place in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area parking lot, which is about a mile from Walmart.

Before I drove the 15  miles for the scheduled fluid check, I drove to my neighborhood Fort Worth Credit Union to make a deposit. Two Fort Worth cops were guarding the Credit Union. This particular Fort Worth Credit Union branch is on Brentwood Stair Road, across the street from the Whataburger that was in the news yesterday due to a shootout between a Whataburger robber and a Fort Worth policeman, who was injured in the shootout, which was fatal for the Whataburger robber.

So, after walking with the Indian Ghosts and after avoiding being gator bait, it was off to Walmart to find some transmission fluid and a funnel.

In the process of checking fluid levels I also discovered I was down a quart of oil. Whilst still in the Walmart parking lot I funneled transmission oil where it needed to go and poured oil in to the hole where it needed to go.

After all this fluid injecting my motorized mechanical conveyance seemed to respond in a positive fashion.

Even so I am leaving my motorized mechanical conveyance in its home parking spot tomorrow while I ride the Fort Worth Adventure Buses to downtown Fort Worth and beyond and back. I expect to find some prime blogging fodder....

A Village Creek Indian Ghost Walk With A Bluebonnet Snake Or Alligator

With the return of blue sky and a warmer outer world I decided to return to Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area, today, even though I'd walked with the Indian Ghosts yesterday.

As you can see the Village Creek jungle of ultra green foliage has returned. For me, this is the most pleasant time of the year to be outdoors in Texas, particularly in an area with jungle-like foliage.

I think the rapidly growing greenage puts out some sort of negative ion energy into the air that sort of amps up the endorphin inducing feel goodness I get from a good bout of aerobic activity.

In other words, walking with the Indian Ghosts today put me in a very good mood.

That and I saw my first bluebonnet of the year.

Is that not an otherworldly shade of blue? I believe the bluebonnet is either the State Flower or State Wildflower of Texas. Maybe both.

Yesterday I saw a long necked big white bird in the Village Creek Blue Bayou. Today I saw something in the Village Creek Blue Bayou that seemed a bit more sinister than a long necked big white bird.

The critter that was floating along in the Blue Bayou was too distant for me to know, for sure what it was. A big snake? An alligator?

A pair of ducks were swimming towards the sinister critter. When the ducks got within about 15 feet the critter came into their view, with the ducks quickly making a U-turn, then going airborne.

So far I've had myself a real fine time on this first Friday of April, even though I did not attempt going swimming in the cool pool this morning. At pool time the outer world was chilled to only 6 degrees above freezing.

An incoming heat wave, blowing north from the Gulf, should start warming up the cool pool soon, as you can see, via the 7 day forecast, below....

The 16th May Day Morning With Air Pollution Alerts, Alligators & Questions About Olive The Missing Prairie Dog

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell on this  16th May Day morning it was dark enough to set off the camera's flash, but the sun was up enough to see that this 3rd Wednesday of May is, so far, a totally clear blue sky day in North Texas.

A clear blue sky currently chilled to 63 degrees, heading to a high of 87, with the weather warners warning that the pollution in the air warrants and "Air Quality Alert."

At this point in time the quality of the air is not so bad that I have shut my windows.

This morning I had an email from one of my favorite Southern Belles, asking me if Olive the Missing Prairie Dog was "without a leash or collar?"

I know Olive was not wearing her collar when she went missing. Without a collar, I suspect no leash.

I hope the Olive the Missing Prairie Dog search team put one of her missing posters on the fence at Fort Woof in Gateway Park, a location that attracts a lot of dog lovers.

Changing the subject to something less lovable.

Trinity River Alligator Corpse

Yesterday Elsie Hotpepper emailed me asking if I'd seen a disturbing gator picture on the WFAA's Facebook page. I had not.

Apparently the murder of an 11-foot 3-inch alligator is being investigated by the authorities who investigate such things.

The alligator was found by game wardens in the Trinity River at a location between Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Worth.

The Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge is between Eagle Mountain Lake and Fort Worth. There are signs in the Nature Center warning visitors to be cautious about alligators.

I know there have been many reports of alligators in Lake Worth. How do the gators get past Lake Worth Dam to get into the lake? On their trip upriver do the gators get out of the river when they come to the dam and walk around it? I've hiked in that location. It'd take a lot of effort, I would think, for a gator to get around that dam.

With this latest alligator incident I am really going to have to re-consider Elsie Hotpepper and me floating in the upcoming Rockin' the River With Alligators Happy Hour.

Biking River Legacy Park Thinking Of Kayaking With The Trinity River Alligators

River Legacy Park Trinity River Kayakers

My physical therapist told me I'm not getting enough exercise, so I decided to bike to the end of the River Legacy Park trails this early evening.

Many other people had the same idea. I don't know how many of those biking, walking, skateboarding, roller blading and kayaking were doing so due to advice from their physical therapist.

Just this afternoon I watched a disturbing video of an alligator attacking a guy in a kayak in a lake in Florida. No alligator harm was done, except for panicking the guy into a profanity spewing reversal of his kayak to escape the marauding reptile.

Just a couple days ago, thanks to an email from one of my favorite Southern Belles, Miss Connie, I learned about a couple locations in the south Dallas zone where large alligators are known to reside. From that same email from Miss Connie I also saw a photo of the biggest alligator gar ever caught in the Trinity River.

I have it on my to-do list to blog about that which Miss Connie led me to see, but I've become a really bad procrastinator, of late.

Since I have been biking the River Legacy trails again, on several occasions, I have seen kayakers exiting or entering the Trinity River from the kayak launch pad that was added a couple years ago. I remember when I saw that kayak launch pad built thinking to myself that this is never going to be used.

Shows what an accurate prognosticator I am.

I have a kayak that I have not kayaked in in years. I had a momentary thought, last summer, to kayak among those enjoying feces infested floating in the Trinity River via J.D. Granger's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats, but I never was sufficiently motivated to go to the bother.

Maybe I'll take my kayak for a spin in the Trinity River in River Legacy Park. I could add this to my exercise regimen.

Walking Around Fort Worth's Fosdic Lake Looking At Colorful Trees & Possible Alligators

Fosdic Fall Freeze Leaves Trees New Color

In the past few days we have had the first freeze of the fall. The freeze has the leaves in the trees putting on their annual fall foliage display of colors brighter  than the usual green.

Like the tree in the picture. Taken today at Oakland Lake Park where I went to walk around Fosdic Lake.

The temperature in the outer world, at my location, in the noon time frame, was almost 50. Little wind. No windbreaking jacket or wool cap required.

Currently it is 54 at half past 3 in the afternoon.

There were a lot of ducks flocking on Fosdic Lake today. They looked like they were having themselves a real fine time.

You have likely noticed I am suffering from extremely low energy lately. This malady has been maladizing me for a couple days now. I believe I am being allergic to something. Like the dirty air I get to breathe in this formerly totally parched part of the planet.

Speaking of which, I picked up this week's Fort Worth Weekly on my way back to my abode from Fosdic Lake. I see this week's featured/cover story is titled Dirty Air Through Rose-Colored Glasses. Apparently Environmentalists and TCEQ see different things in North Texas air pollution.

A Possible Gator Encounter On Fosdic Lake

The Dirty Air article is written by that nice young lady I met at the TRIP forum in the Botanic Gardens a couple months ago, Gayle Reaves.

Changing the subject back to Fosdic Lake and Giant Lizards.

For a second or two I thought I was seeing an alligator at the edge of the lake today.

I have what are technically known as Old Geezer Eyes. This can cause confusion due to blurry vision. I am almost 100% certain that that which looked like a gator was actually a log.

However, I did notice that the Fosducks were steering clear of this log.

Giant Texas Gators Do Not Attend J.D. Granger's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Rockin' The River Inner Tube Happy Hour Floats

Giant Texas Alligator

Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, currently crooning at various venues in the Port Aransas area, sent me an email this morning in which there were dozens of photos that were identified as either REAL or FAKE.

I'd seen some of the REAL or FAKE photos previously. But I'd not seen the photo of the gator being strung up.

The gator photo's caption said "TEXAS GATOR: REAL."

Yikes!

That is one big reptile.

A couple years ago, before it became safe to swim and float in the Trinity River, a 10 foot alligator left the safety of the Trinity River to go for a walk on Trinity Boulevard, slightly north of the river and my abode, where it was hit and killed by a passing vehicle.

It is because of these type tales that when I go on one of J.D. Granger's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Rockin' the River Inner Tube Happy Hour Floats I super dose myself with alligator repellent.

I super dose with alligator repellent even though I'm sure the Trinity River Vision people put alligator and water moccasin trapping nets on all sides of the Rockin' the River float zones.

Up Early Not Knowing The Temperature Thinking About Leaking Pipes & Murdering A Trinity River Alligator

As you can see via the headless shadow of the skinny dipping skinny man the skinny man is up way before the sun on this 22nd day of July.

The skinny dipping skinny man has no clue what the temperature is. All he knows is it felt very pleasant when he stepped outside.

Reading the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this morning I learned that water pipes are breaking all over Fort Worth, at a pace out pacing other North Texas towns.

The Star-Telegram article said the HEAT is the cause of the water pipe breaks. Others, elsewhere, have claimed that some of the water pipe breaking is due to Barnett Shale seismic testing shaking the ground and people's nerves. No mention was made in the Star-Telegram article about seismic testing being a possible reason why Fort Worth is leaking way more than other Texas towns.

A Dallas lawyer, who used to be a Baptist minister, before he got the call of the law, had an arrest warrant issued for him on Wednesday due to the former preacher's murder of a couple of really big alligators that he found and killed on the Trinity River in Leon County about 145 miles southeast of Fort Worth.

The lawyer's name is Levi McCathern II. The arrest warrants were for the lawyer and his 3 guides. The lawyer's lawyer says McCathern will fight the charge, claiming McCathern performed a public service.

Was McCathern trying to do what little he could to make the Trinity River safe from gators for those Rockin' the River Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Happy Hour Inner Tube Floaters who bravely get in the Trinity River a couple times a month? On Thursdays.

I am going to go swimming now and try not to think about 13 foot long alligators in the pool.

An 11.5 Foot 700 Pound Alligator Found Murdered In Texas

A week ago an 11.5 foot, almost 700 pound alligator was found murdered near a creek that is a tributary of the Colorado River in Bastrop County.

Bastrop County is a short distance southeast of Austin.

The murdered gator was discovered after a poacher shot and killed it and posted pictures of his kill on Facebook.

The Facebook posting led to a tip to the Texas Crime Stopper program which got Park and Wildlife officials investigating, which led to the discovery of the body.

I do not know how the Facebook posting provided the clues that led to finding the crime scene.

Alligators are protected in Bastrop County. Alligators used to be an endangered species in Texas. But, the numbers of alligators is growing. There is actually an alligator hunting season now, which opens in a couple weeks.

A game warden was quoted as saying, "gator sightings are still rare and about as common as seeing a bobcat."

Yikes! I've had multiple bobcat sightings.

But no gator sightings.

I think I must be due for an alligator encounter.

Looking At The Village Creek Alligator Pond & Pondering What I Need To Do To Get More Obese

It is around noon in the picture, where you are sitting on a picnic table with me, looking at the Village Creek Natural Area's Alligator Pond.

This formerly was an area where water flowed, but something has diverted the water flow, which has caused the previously big pond to slowly get choked with green growing things.

A couple months ago, before the pond became almost totally choked, I was almost 100% certain I spotted 2 small sized alligators snapping out of the water. At what they were snapping, I do not know.

I saw no alligators today. The only critters I saw were 2 humans. I howdied the humans. One was an ornithologist. That means she was staring intently at birds in the trees. She reminded me of Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies.

None of the birds she was staring intently at seemed nearly as interesting as my new pet lovebirds, who are still sitting out on a branch by my patio, still cooing. I have named them Albert and Alice, after an infamous pair of Washington lovebirds.

I cooked a big batch of beans overnight in the slow cooker. I thought I'd turned it off in the middle of the night, but what I'd actually done was set it on low. Consequently the beans were very well cooked by this morning. I amped up the big pile of cooked beans with other good stuff.

I am working on making sure I have a steady caloric stream so that I stabilize this weight loss thing I've got currently going on. I know it is caused by too much activity, too much energy expended to stay cool. And the heat sort of stifling my appetite.

As a consequence of this perfect storm of metabolic forces, I am now skinnier than I was 2 years ago when I was in Tacoma, shivering constantly due to my lack of sufficient insulative adipose tissue. I was so jealous of all the obese people up there who did not have the shivering problem. But, I just could not bring myself to eat what the obese eat in order to achieve that obese goal.

As in, I have never eaten a doughnut with multi-colored sprinkles on it, ever. And I do not intend ever to do so. I don't care how skinny I get. No doughnuts with multi-color sprinkles for me.

And now it is time for the Bean Concoction I made this morning, along with baked cheesy bread. My goal is to fatten myself up by the chills of winter, so that I am swimming pool ready.

Swimming In Texas With The Lake Worth Alligators

You're looking at an alligator, recently spotted on Lake Worth. Lake Worth is in Fort Worth. People swim and water ski on Lake Worth. Apparently this is the time of year when gators usually get real active.

There is more water than the norm flowing out of Lake Eagle Mountain, which flows to Lake Worth. The alligators don't like fast moving water, so they head to where it is calmer. Which, apparently, has caused many of the big boys to leave the Fort Worth Nature Preserve for the calmer waters of Lake Worth.

I have not seen an alligator in the wild since I've been in Texas. I have seen the signs in the Fort Worth Nature Preserve informing visitors of the presence of gators.

Last year a 10 foot long alligator was killed in my neighborhood when it was crossing a road on its way to or from the Trinity River.

It has been years since I've gone swimming in a Texas lake. I think the last time may have been when I was chased by a big turtle.