Santa Checking Holliday Creek Flood Before New Year's Eve Smoked Salmon

On this icy cold Sunday before the last day of 2018 I stepped outside for a minute to see if Holliday Creek was still running excess water due to last Wednesday's extreme downpours.

Yes, as you can see to the right of the extremely rare selfie of me, Holliday Creek is still running excess water.

Regarding that selfie.

As you can clearly see, I am still sporting part of my Santa Claus disguise.

Back to Wednesday's storm's aftermath.

Wichita County was declared a disaster area, following the storm, due to flood, wind, and loss of power, damage.

Near as I can tell this disaster area declaration has been a local county declaration, not the state of Texas declaring Wichita County a disaster area, or the federal government doing such.

I may be wrong about this, but I do know I've seen nothing of FEMA anywhere I have been.

In a few minutes I will exit my abode again, and this time use my mechanized motion device to drive to Lucy Park to see how high the Wichita River is, and if Lucy Park is flooded.

If Lucy Park is flooded I will continue on to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area where the Circle Trail from the western entry is high above the river, and thus no possibility of being flooded. If Lucy Park is flooded, the east entry to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area is likely also flooded.

Tomorrow my New Year's Eve Party begins promptly at 6 pm.

Smoked Sockeye Salmon from Anacortes will be the main protein on the buffet table. If you are planning on bringing anything to contribute to the buffet table please make sure it does not conflict, taste-wise, with Smoked Sockeye Salmon from Anacortes.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of this serious taste conflict issue...

Too Cold To Celebrate New Year's Eve At Fort Worth's Sundance Square

Baby, it's cold outside.

Still 24 degrees at my Wichita Falls, North Texas location. But, I think my phone based temperature monitoring is stuck at 24 degrees, which is the temperature the phone has been claiming ever since the sun arrived this morning.

As you can see, via the screen cap, Fort Worth has cancelled its downtown New Year's Eve celebration.

What I found interesting about this headline in the Star-Telegram was that this was the second time in the past couple days I have seen Sundance Square Plaza sponsored by Nissan referred to simply as Sundance Square.

Does this mean that Fort Worth has finally dropped the goofily stupid practice, which has plagued the town for decades, of referring to its downtown as Sundance Square? Where for decades the town confused its few out of town tourists because there was no square in Sundance Square, til a few years ago a couple parking lots were turned into an actual square, then named Sundance Square Plaza, while the rest of the downtown was still referred to as Sundance Square.

Is there an outbreak of common sense breaking out in Fort Worth? Soon to be followed by pulling the plug on America's Biggest Boondoggle? Leaving those pitiful bridge V-piers as monuments to hubris and civic incompetence?

Changing the subject back to the big chill chilling downtown Fort Worth's Sundance Square celebration. Checking temperatures in other towns I see New York City will be around 15 degrees at midnight. I doubt the party at Times Square has been cancelled.

I see Seattle is supposed to be about one degree above freezing up in the relatively balmy Pacific Northwest. I imagine tonight's New Year's Eve celebration at the Seattle Center will go on as planned, with fireworks shooting off the Space Needle.

Sort of ironically the best New Year's Eve celebration I have ever been to was in downtown Fort Worth, at that turn of the century New Year's Eve. That night downtown Fort Worth was packed with people. I remember the countdown to midnight was projected on one of Fort Worth's few tall buildings, with fireworks erupting spectacularly.

Back then, when 1999 became 2000, it was so easy to go to downtown Fort Worth. There were huge parking lots, free to park at, and the world's shortest subway to take you from those parking lots to the heart of downtown Fort Worth.

All that which made visiting downtown Fort Worth easy to do was lost when eminent domain was abused to take property so Radio Shack could build a corporate headquarters it could not afford. When the City of Fort Worth allowed this to happen may have been the moment when I realized something was dire wrong with that town, with that realization re-realized over and over and over again in the years which followed.

Years later what remains of those parking lots is now part of the location where America's Biggest Boondoggle has its Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats. The subway's maintenance shop has been turned into a Trinity River Vision Beer Hall called The Shack. The subway stations have been turned into stages, you know, you know, for those music events hosted by America's Biggest Boondoggle in what we learned earlier today is the first music-friendly community in Texas.

Anyway, hope y'all have a safe and warm New Year's Eve...

Spencer Jack's Early 2013 New Year's Eve Party

A couple minutes ago incoming emails from Spencer Jack's dad, he being my favorite nephew, Jason, brought me some early west coast New Year's Eve celebrating.

The first email included a video, with the email's subject line being "Spencer Jack Welcomes 2014."

The second email was simply subject lined with "Happy New Year" and included the picture you see here of Spencer Jack at his, apparently, early New Year's Eve Party.

To view one of Spencer Jack's dad's iPhone created videos I have to convert it to a YouTube video.

You can view that video below to witness for yourself Spencer Jack's raucous New Year's Eve Party, including a pre-mature countdown to the New Year of 2014.

When I was Spencer Jack's age, and younger, and older, til I was a teenager, heavy drinking was part of the New Year's Eve celebrating, in that it was the one time of the year when my parental units would let us get HUGE quart-sized bottles of sugary pop. This seemed like a real special treat, way back then.

I recently learned via that recent New York Times deal that went viral which identified where one was from, accent-wise, by answering a lot of questions, that calling carbonated beverages "pop" identified me as being from the Pacific Northwest.

In Texas "pop" is called "soda" or Dr Pepper.

Below is the aforementioned YouTube video of Spencer Jack ringing in the New Year of 2014, well ahead of the rest of America....

Talking To Tootsie Tonasket On The Last Day Of 2012 In Chilly Drippy Texas

The last day of 2012, New Year's Eve Day, is being a drizzly, chilly dripper at my location in North Texas.

In the picture you are looking through my windshield, heading east on John T. White Road, on my way to Walmart to get my New Year's Eve Party supplies.

I'd not talked to Tootsie Tonasket in quite some time. Tootsie called me on Christmas and left a voice mail. I called Tootsie back and got voice mail. But, today I called again and Tootsie Tonasket answered.

The past several months I've gotten multiple messages from Tootsie's Facebook Friends worried about her disappearance from Facebook. Tootsie has been involved in a Civil War with her ex-husband, with Facebook being one of the battleground casualties.

Changing the subject from Tootsie Tonasket to something else.

Yesterday I blogged about a Mystery Photo. By day's end, yesterday, some of the mystery was no longer mysterious.

My mom called late in the afternoon. I mentioned that I'd found a photo from 1997, with the whole family in the picture, but I can't figure out where it was taken. Without missing a beat my mom says "Is that the picture without Jeremy in it?"

"Yes" said I.

That picture was taken at Jackie's house, my mom then told me. But, my mom did not remember what the occasion was. Or who took the picture. Or why Jeremy was not in it.

Then I got email from Spencer Jack's dad, also confirming that the photo was taken at sister Jackie's house, but also not remembering the reason we were all there, or who took the picture. Spencer Jack's dad and I exchanged a couple emails and then he called. Talking did not get us any closer to remembering any more details about the Mystery Photo.

Then I heard from Blue & Max, Tacoma's Adventure Poodles, relaying a message from my little sister, also confirming this picture was taken at sister Jackie's, but also not remembering why we were all there. But adding the speculation that the reason Jeremy was not in the picture was because he was being a bit of a pill.

I don't know if "bit of a pill" is universal slang or a Northwest idiom. It means being a bit of a brat.

I don't know how long my New Year's Eve Partying is going to last. I don't remember the last time I made it til midnight. I know for sure I am not going to Dallas, to Victory Park, where, supposedly, the biggest New Year's Eve Party in the middle part of the country is going to take place tonight.

Happy New Year From The Fort Worth Fat Man

2012 New Years Day Morning Polar Bear Swim

Happy New Year.

I'm starting off the New Year doing something drastically different on my blog. Instead of my usual morning view from one of my viewing portals on the outer world, I am starting off my first blogging of the New Year already out in the outer world.

It got into the 70s here yesterday. This made this morning's Annual Polar Bear Swim much more pleasant than last year's much colder Polar Bear Swim.

The Polar Bear photo rather clearly documents the number one problem I am going to be confronting in this New Year.

That is my obvious HWG (Hideous Weight Gain).

In late December of 2010 I started a blog to chronicle my struggle with obesity, documenting my attempt to get back under 200 pounds and down to 190 by the time of the Super Bowl. I managed to do that, and then managed, over the course of the rest of the year, to reverse what I'd managed to do.

This has me now weighing almost 220 pounds. Most of this poundage seems to have grown in my gut zone, giving me a beer gut without having had the pleasure of drinking beer.

I don't find myself having any difficulty zipping up the Tandy Hills, which makes this added poundage thing a bit perplexing. Maybe it is all muscle and what I think is a beer gut is actually a really muscular abdominal zone. Yeah, I'm sure that's it.

Changing the subject from me being a fat slob to some other mistake I made.

A couple days ago when I blogged about getting sour cream at Krogers because I was making Beef Stroganoff, cd0103 asked me for my recipe. I don't do a lot of measuring and don't think in terms of recipes when I am doing the cooking thing.

So, I typed out my directions for how I make Beef Stroganoff, for cd0103. A short time later a nice Anonymous person commented that I'd missed a key ingredient. I hit the publish button on that comment without really reading the entire comment. I get a lot of comments, sometimes when I realize it is not a spam comment and the person is making a useful point I hit the publish button without reading the entire comment.

Last night Betty Jo Bouvier emailed me telling me she was using my Beef Stroganoff directions to make New Year's Eve dinner. I then went back and looked at my directions. At that point I read the Anonymous comment which told me that "You made, no doubt a tasty dish, but it was not Beef Stroganoff." Anonymous then informed me my directions lacked sour cream.

I was mortified. The directions should have said that after the Strognoff mixture is done cooking, turn off the heat and stir in a pint, more or less, of sour cream. Without the sour cream it wouldn't even taste like Stroganoff.

I immediately emailed Betty Jo, hoping she was not already eating the non-Beef Stroganoff.

Well, tragedy was averted. Betty Jo knew Beef Stroganoff has sour cream in it. I'm guessing Betty Jo may have known this because in the blogging, with all the bad mis-direction, I said I'd gone to Krogers for sour cream for my Beef Stroganoff. Which I suppose in my mind was already in the directions without adding it to the directions I typed out for cd0103.

Changing the subject from Beef Stroganoff to New Year's Eve.

I think I may be too close to being elderly to stay up past midnight to ring in the New Year. Doing this did not used to be exhausting. Staying up way too late caused me to get up way too late on the first day of the New Year.

I do not like getting up late. New Year's Eve of 2012 I am not going to be awake ringing in the New Year. That is one of my New Year's Resolution. Along with ceasing being a Fat Tub of Lard.

Up Late The Last Morning Of 2011 Thinking About Not Ringing In The New Year & Pro Bono Nutcases

You can not glean the fact, via the view from my primary viewing portal on the world, that I am up long after the arrival of the sun on this last morning of the year 2011.

The sky is completely blue in my view this morning, reflected in the bluish tint of the picture.

Since this is the last morning of 2011 that would seem to mean this evening is New Year's Eve.

I am not a big fan of making any sort of big deal out of New Year's Eve.

The last time I did make a big deal out of New Year's Eve was at the turn of the century. I went to downtown Fort Worth's celebration of the incoming year 2000. That is over 10 years ago, so my memory of that night is a bit fuzzy. But, I think I had fun.

Changing the subject from New Year's Eve to crazy people.

The first couple of my years in Texas I participated in a thing called a newsgroup, on this thing called USENET, for people in the D/FW zone. This was sort of like a primitive version of Facebook. It was on this newsgroup I met people like Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast and Gar the Texan.

And others.

Including a person calling himself Sonny Pro Bono. Sonny Pro Bono's deal was to try and provoke people. He was very inappropriate and rude. And not even remotely funny. Eventually Sonny Pro Bono's bad behavior escalated to the point where he had a face to face confrontation that resulted in Sonny Pro Bono getting beat up by a guy whose wife Sonny Pro Bono had insulted.

During the time frame of doing blogging I've never had any Sonny Pro Bono type commenting nutcases. Til lately. I don't have any understanding of this type odd behavior. I do find it amusing, but not even remotely in the way intended by the one providing the amusement.

The New Year's Eve Shadow Of The Tandy Hills Thin Man

You are looking at the long skinny shadow of the ever more skinny shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man, today around noon.

I thought we were scheduled for clouds and rain today. Apparently I thought wrong.

The Tandy Hills were still being a bit tacky, mud-wise, so I cut the hiking a little short. I was not liking mud sticking to my shoes. That and my right foot pain was paining me. It is getting better though.

Earlier today I blogged about the BIG Box I got from my mom and dad this morning. It was full of oranges.

That blogging rose Nick Beef from the dead to make a comment.

Nick Beef is the headstone next to Lee Harvey Oswald in Rose Hill Memorial Burial Park in my neighborhood of east Fort Worth.

I do not believe Nick Beef is actually buried next to Lee Harvey. I believe Nick Beef bought the plot as some sort of publicity stunt.

And now, on the day before 2011, Nick Beef is still doing the publicity stunt thing, commenting on my blog. I'm sure this will get Nick unprecedented publicity.

After I was done getting stuck in the Tandy Hills mud I headed to Town Talk. Not knowing if it was open. It was.

Even though I'd just gotten a shipment of citrus from Arizona, from my mom and dad, I got myself a big bag of Cuties for only a buck. Among other things.

I think MLK or MBK or both, may be right. My unfortunate weight gain might be traceable to Town Talk. I know having Town Talk in my life has amped up my access to a lot of different cheeses. And chips. Something I don't usually buy.

But.

For example, today, for 50 cents, Town Talk had All Natural Cheddar Tortilla Chips made with Cheddar Cheese, Quinoa, Soy, Flax, Sunflower, Sesame Seeds, Oat Fiber and Brown Rice. Made by some chip maker called Food Should Taste Good.

And I am sure it will. And be good for me. And not make me fat.

I will likely take a bag or two to my New Year's Eve Party. Due to start soon. See you there.

The Warm Early Morning Of New Year's Eve In Texas After A Night Of Nightmares

As you can see, looking out the window, I am up way before the dawn of the last day of 2010.

The last day of 2010, in Texas, is already semi-warm, as in 62 degrees, according to my AccuWeather temperature measurer.

Apparently rain is on the schedule for today, with incoming freezing, starting the first day of the New Year.

I had myself some fun nightmaring last night. Including one where I watched two hoodlums breaking into my vehicle. I was helpless to stop them.

Soon after that I was riding my bike, fast, pedaling past Betty Jo Bouvier, who was in her yard, pulling weeds. I turned a corner and was at my house, which seemed to be my sister's house in Kent, sort of gone to seed. Parked beside my sister's house was my cousin Scott, in a Volkswagen bug.

I found this very disturbing. I've not seen cousin Scott since 2002. I was instantly perplexed, in my nightmare, as to why he was parked by my house, which really wasn't my house. And his presence was stopping me from heading back to Betty Jo Bouvier's to help her pull weeds.

The last I paid any attention to cousin Scott was a couple years ago, when he retired from the Seattle Times. He then took a cross-country trip in his Mustang convertible, going from the most northwesterly point in Lower 48 of America to the furthest distance to the southeast. Which meant cousin Scott started his trip at Cape Flattery on the Washington Olympic Peninsula, reaching his final goal at Key West, Florida. Visiting every one of his relatives along the way.

Except for me.

Cousin Scott had an aversion to driving through much of Texas, so he sort of skirted this state via Oklahoma, only entering Texas somewhere near Paris, quickly escaping to Arkansas, and avoiding me. I was able to follow cousin Scott's progression back and forth across America via his Scott's on the Road blog.

So, tomorrow starts the New Year of 2011. I think it will be a very good year. I think that, pretty much, at the start of every New Year, demented optimist that I am.

I am hoping to go hiking on the Tandy Hills today. One last time in 2010. If the rain does not arrive too soon.

The Day Before 2009 In Fort Worth Texas

2009 starts in a few hours. I'm probably not telling you something you didn't already know.

Tomorrow it will be 1 full year since I started this blog.

If you had told me a year ago that I would blog every single day of the new year, I would have said that was ridiculous.

If you had told me that not only would I blog every day, but that the total number of posts would be almost a thousand on this blog you're reading right now, I would have said that was ridiculous.

If you had told me that during 2008 I would create 3 other blogs, I would have said that was ridiculous.

If you had told me that the total number of postings on my 4 blogs would number over 1500, I would have quit listening to you, because that was so ridiculous.

If you had told me that the number of visitors to my blogs would greatly exceed the large number of visitors to my Eyes on Texas website, I would have said that was ridiculous.

If you had told me that by the end of 2008 my blogs would be generating the majority of my ad revenue, I would have told you that was ridiculous.

If you had told me that by the end of 2008 I would have over 200 subscribers to my blogs, I would have told you that was ridiculous.

If you had told me that there would be days in 2008 when my ad revenue would go over $50, I would have told you that was ridiculous. (I used to think it was doing well if it made $5, thinking $50 was not possible)

So, for me, in many ways, on many days, 2008 was the best of times. I made a lot of changes in 2008. All for the good.

I made some mistakes in 2008. Like I should never have gone up to Washington for a month. It took me a long time to recover.

But, even that lemon turned into lemonade, because one good result of being up north, this past summer, is I fixed a problem that had been nagging me for a long time. It has been 4 months since I've been rid of, what I know realize, was a negative toxic poison that had been assaulting my psyche for years, like a chronic illness that had gone on so long I didn't realize how badly dealing with it was affecting my well being.

I've set some new rules for myself. One is I will not willingly, ever again, allow myself to be subjected to the presence of negative, hostile beings. If a person turns ugly, I will quickly make myself absent.

I will never again associate with a hugely obese person. Obesity is a form of mental illness. An obese person is a self-indulgent, self-absorbed, self-loather. A self-loather, at their heart, in my opinion, hates those who are well. Jealousy is an obese person's overriding emotion.

I will never again associate with a person who is addicted to prescription mood-altering drugs. If a person requires a chemical intervention in order to stabilize their moods, this indicates they are inherently unstable. And despite the drugs, that instability can erupt into irrational, illogical temper tantrums that reflect the individuals seriously degraded thought processes and underlying neurosis. If the person is uneducated and ignorant, on top of neurotic, you've got yourself a time bomb that will tick off at any random time.

In the future, if I befriend a person who I later learn is a convicted felon, I will once again extend the chance for that person to show that they have mended their criminal ways. But if I get the slightest hint that that person is still a sociopath, still thinking they are above the law, still being irresponsible, I will immediately cut that person off.

But, I think the best policy is to steer clear of anyone who has done jail time for any reason. It is highly likely that they can not be trusted. Once a thief, always a thief.

Tomorrow, I start 2009 in "better shape," in every sense of the phrase, than I started 2008. And I started 2008 in good shape. I'm looking forward to the next year more than I did 2008. I don't recollect thinking in those terms a year ago. Despite the bad economy and other bad things going on in the world, I'm feeling sort of optimistic in a way I have not in a long long time. Why? I don't know.

Maybe it's because my Mom and Dad are visiting in about a week. Yeah, I'm sure that's what's causing my good mood.....I think I'll go roller blading in a bit under this fine blue Texas sky.

The Texas Value of a New Year's Eve Drink

Today is New Year's Eve Eve. In about another 32 hours, give or take an hour or two, a large number of Texans living in damp and wet zones will be downing unseemly quantities of alcoholic beverages as part of celebrating the start of 2009.

Meanwhile, Tee-Totalling Texans like me, and Texans living in a dry zone, will be bringing in the New Year free of any sinful libations. We will wake up January 1, 2009 with hangover free heads, starting the New Year bright, clear-headed and cheerful.

I've mentioned before that Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, sends me a lot of very amusing emails. A couple days ago Alma sent me one titled "The Value of a Drink."

I think the day before New Year's Eve in Texas is a good day to share Alma's wise quotes about "The Value of a Drink."-----

'Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink I feel shame . Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes and dreams .. If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, 'It is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.'

~ Jack Handy

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may leave you wondering what the hell happened to your bra and panties.

---

'I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. '

~Frank Sinatra

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking than most people.

---

'When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.'

~ Henny Youngman

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you.

---

'24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not.'

~ Stephen Wright

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think you can sing.

---

'When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!'

~ Brian O'Rourke

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause pregnancy.

---

'Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.'

~ Benjamin Franklin

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol is a major factor in dancing like a retard.

---

'Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.'

~ Dave Barry

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.

---

To some it's a six-pack, to me it's a Support Group. Salvation in a can!

~ Dave Howell

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.

---

And saving the best for last, as explained by Cliff Clavin, of Cheers. One afternoon at Cheers, Cliff Clavin was explaining the ' Buffalo Theory' to his buddy Norm. Here's how it went: 'Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest bra in cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers.'

~ Cliff Clavin

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you are whispering when you are not.