Enjoying The Emerald Fosdick Isle Of Fort Worth Texas

That emerald green you see carpeting the ground is yet one more sign that the long cold Texas winter is finally fading into history.

At the top of the mass of emerald green, in the middle, you can see one man walking.

What is that one man walking on?

Fosdick Dam.

That being the feat of engineering that holds back Fosdick Creek creating the Fosdick Lake Reservoir in Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park.

I do not know why big trees sprout from this earthen dam. I do know that standing beneath this dam is a bit less scary than standing beneath Hoover Dam.

The warm cloudy final Wednesday of March had a lot of people walking and playing in Oakland Lake Park today.

Currently, a couple hours after walking around Fosdick Lake, the clouds have grown thicker and are dropping a few drops. Thunderstorming is on the menu. I will believe Mother Nature is serving up a Thunderstorm today when I hear the booming.

In the meantime, I am on the hunt for a replacement A/C adapter for a Toshiba Satellite Laptop.  It is proving to be a difficult hunt.

I Was An Angel Of Mercy Before I Walked Over Fort Worth's Fosdick Falls In Oakland Lake Park

Very early this morning, sometime around 4am, thunder boomed and rain poured down. This storm was of short duration, but of long enough duration that water fell in amounts sufficient to cause Fosdick Falls to still be roaring from water falling out of Fosdick Lake by the time I walked across Fosdick Dam, a short time before noon on this 3rd day of April.

Early April has brought a hint of a return of winter to my location in North Texas. As in the outer world at my location is currently being chilled to 47 degrees.

When I went swimming, this morning, the air was being chilled to 49 degrees. With the air chilled to 49 degrees the water in the pool was warmer than the air. Hence I had myself a real fine time in the pool this morning.

I suspect tomorrow morning's swim will have me back cycling between the hot tub and the pool due to the outer world being too cool for an extensive pool bout.

On my way to Oakland Lake Park I stopped at a Circle K to get gas. I talked to my mom yesterday, so I did not call my mom to tell her I got gas today.

An amusing incident occurred whilst I was getting gassed. Right after I swiped the debit card and entered the PIN I saw a generously sized, stylishly dressed, African American lady struggling with a big bag of stuff she'd bought at the Circle K. She opened the door of her cool looking car and got sort of pinned between the door and the bag.

I quickly zipped over to the lady and grabbed the bag. She did not see me coming, but was instantly relieved to find her struggle over. She looked at me and said, "Thank you Lord, you have sent me an Angel of Mercy."

What happened next is a little embarrassing to repeat. The lady looked at me, up close, and said, "Oh my God, you are so handsome. Just look at you. You're an angel."

More words were uttered about wanting to take me home or take my picture. The words were coming at me real fast, so I am a bit blurry remembering what was said.

Regarding the lady saying I was so handsome and an angel, I noticed that before she started her engine and drove away, she put on eyeglasses....

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.

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.

Walking Around Fosdick Lake With The Don't Litter Signs Littering The Park

Don't Litter This Sign

Today by the time of my mid-day constitutional the temperature had not yet reached 90. And a good wind was blowing. So, with it being semi-chilly I decided to go for a walk around Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park.

There is some shade whilst walking around Fosdick Lake, but nothing that rises to the shade level of the Village Creek Natural Historical Area .

I think it was the last time I walked around Fosdick Lake that I made mention of the dozens of litter barrels that litter the park, with signs pasted on the litter barrels saying "Don't Litter - Put it in the Can! Keep Fort Worth Beautiful."

Well,  a lot of the "Don't Litter" signs have peeled off the litter barrels and are now littering up the park. Like on the Fish Consumption Advisory warning sign you see above.

I think anti-litter signs blowing around and littering is what may be an example of irony.

I'm not sure though, I am a very bad judge of irony.

I have not seen much litter in the litter barrels that litter up Oakland Lake Park. Not that I've looked in many of them. Many of the litter barrels littering up Oakland Lake Park are near the playground areas and the picnic tables.

Please Empty This Can

There is one lone litter barrel on the east end of Fosdick Dam, not near any picnic tables or playgrounds. That particular lone litter barrel is full of litter, so full it is spilling out and over the dam.

I think a lone litter barrel overfilled with litter in a park littered with "Don't Litter" signs may also be an example of irony. Again, I am not sure.

What was also ironic, to me, was the fact that this over filled litter barrel was missing its "Don't Litter" sign. Apparently people don't like to put litter in barrels with a sign advising them to do so. But, they'll go out of their way to fill, to the point of being overfilled, a litter barrel with no Don't Litter sign.

I suspect by the next time I walk around Fosdick Lake the Fosdick Dam litter barrel will be empty.