Up Early Thursday Morning After Rioting Last Night In Vancouver & A Victory Parade Today In Dallas

Looking closely through the bars of my patio prison cell on the morning of the 16th day of June the pool is looking very inviting.

It is not yet 7 and I'm already ready to turn on the A/C.

The predicted high today is currently 103.

103 degrees should make it very comfortable for the quarter million Dallas Mavericks fans on the streets of Dallas today to watch a Victory Parade.

I hope the heat does not drive the Dallas fans to riot.

Last night, up north in Canada, in Vancouver to be more precise, the Canucks lost the 7th game of the Stanley Cup Hockey Tournament. This caused a lot of ill-tempered Canadians to go into street riot mode. Setting cars on fire, breaking in to stores and looting.

In the Seattle P-I this morning I saw an odd headline.

Hey Houston! It's only a naked bike ride if you're naked.

The short article went on to say...

"Naked bikers in Houston could learn something from Seattle. First of all, it’s not a naked ride if you’re wearing underwear. Or shorts. Or a sundress."

And then had about 30 pictures of Houstonites in their underwear thinking they were naked.

I really don't understand why anyone would want to ride a bike whilst wearing no clothes. Hiking with no clothes, that I get.

Or swimming with no clothes, that seems totally natural. I think I'll go do that right now. And then later maybe some clothesless hiking on the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

The Middle Of June With A Texas-Sized Aching Back

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell, on this 15th day of June, we can see it is yet one more blue sky morning in Texas.

I heard thunder booming in the middle of the night. At least I assume the booming was thunder.

I am starting this Wednesday with a major pain I've not had in a long long time. That being my lower back is in full ache mode. I think I strained my back moving a BIG TV.

I read this morning that tomorrow around a quarter million Dallas Mavericks fans are expected at a Victory Parade. A quarter million is a lot of people. Out in the heat. I have no idea on what Dallas streets the Victory Parade is taking place.

In my current state of aching decrepitude I do not know if swimming would exacerbate the ache or make it better. What I do know is I am medicating myself with ibuprofen.

Up After The Sun Thinking About Basketball Fanatics, Republicans & Bachelorettes

I am up after the sun, looking out my bedroom window at water colored turquoise. I do not think I will go swimming in the turquoise colored water this morning.

I am trying to break free of being a creature of habit.

I admit that, beyond knowing the Dallas Mavericks were playing in the final round of the NBA championship, I really paid no attention.

So, I did not realize til this morning that the final game was played in Miami's American Airline Center, not the Dallas American Airline Center.

I had seen the news footage of the huge crowd going nuts in downtown Dallas outside the American Airline Center and wrongly concluded this is where the game was played. Why was there such a large crowd in downtown Dallas during the final basketball game if it was not being played in downtown Dallas? Was the game being shown on big screen TVs?

Sports fanatics perplex me.

But not nearly as much as Republicans. I watched last night's Presidential Debate on CNN til it wore on my last nerve. So I switched to watching The Bachelorette til it wore on my last nerve.

And on a HOT temperature note. Yesterday the official temperature measuring station at D/FW Airport made it official. Yesterday was our first 100 degree day of the year.

We are currently scheduled to only get to 99 today. Brrrr.

There Was No Rioting In My Neighborhood After Dallas Mavericks Won NBA Championship

I got up about the same time the sun did to look through the bars of my patio prison cell at the Monday morning of the 13th day of June.

There was little or no rioting in my neighborhood after the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA championship last night.

But, a few miles west of my location, in Dallas, a huge number of cops, many on horses, were assembled to stifle the celebrating fans.

I don't quite understand why the fans needed to be stifled.

It is only 79 degrees right now. I've got my windows open. But, I seem to be overheating. We still have not hit 100 in my location, despite day after day of 100 or higher being the prediction.

I think I'll go swimming now.

Up Early The 10th Day Of June Thinking About Dallas Winning The NBA Championship

Looking out my bedroom window this morning, with a third of June already gone, I am feeling relieved that a new day has dawned with me free of any rash type event affecting my delicate epidermal zone due to having attended last night's Rockin' the River event.

I saw no mention made of the Trinity River floaters in this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

I did see a very big headline that told me that the Dallas Mavericks are possibly about to win their first NBA championship.

Professional basketball is the only professional sport that I've ever had any tolerance for watching. There was a period of time when I would go to the Seattle Coliseum to watch the Seattle Supersonics play basketball, including going to many playoff games.

And then one year the Seattle Supersonics won the NBA championship. After so many years of being in the playoffs and not making it to the end, finally doing so seemed so anti-climatic. After the Sonics won the championship I sort of lost interest. I never attended a game in the expanded Coliseum, renamed Key Arena.

I did not pay much attention to Seattle's professional sports teams for a long time, not until one year, in the 1990s, when the Seattle Mariners had most everyone in the Pacific Northwest watching baseball. You could not escape it. I attended one of those games, that year, when the Mariners were making a run for the World Series.

The game was in the now long gone Kingdome. I was in the McDonald's luxury suite. This was to be the one and only time I have actually enjoyed watching a baseball game.

Unfortunately, I will not be in the McDonald's luxury suite in the American Airlines Arena watching the Dallas Mavericks win the NBA championship. I likely will not be watching this on TV either.

But, I am going swimming right now.

Up Early In The Dark With The Thin Man Thinking About The Seattle Sonics Beating The Dallas Mavericks

The Shadow of the Skinny Dipping Thin Man stepped out into the darkness to retreive his swimming suit well before the arrival of the sun on this 16th day of May.

It seems like just yesterday I complained it was already the 16th of April and that time was flying to fast, rapidly aging me.

The cold temperatures, in mid-May continue to be a bit bizarre. It is only 53 in the outer world in my vicinity right now. Heading to a high today of 73.

Last night was too cold to have my bedroom window open. Is this portending for a record breaking cold summer in North Texas?

As anyone who knows me knows, I am a real rabid sports fanatic. So, I am switching the subject from the weather to sports.

I did not realize the Seattle Supersonics, now known as the Oklahoma Thunder, were in the NBA playoffs. I remember decades ago when the Sonics won the championship for their one and only time before Aubrey McClendon stole the Soncis from Seattle and moved them inland to Oklahoma City.

Yesterday the former Sonics won Game 7 against Memphis, in a game played in Oklahoma City, which had the OKC Thunders fans on their feet chanting, "We want Dallas! We want Dallas!"

So, now the Dallas Mavericks and the former Seattle Sonics are playing best of 7 to see who wins the Western Conference finals of the NBA championship tournament.

Even though I am a rabid sports fan, I won't be watching.

And right now the sun has lit up the place enough that I think it is time for my morning swim.