Does A Tandy Hills BioBlitz Earth Day Weekend Come With No Prairie Fest?

I am more than a little tired. Have been up since before five. Have been having trouble sleeping.

But, enough about my litany of woe.

I needed to take care of something which could only be taken care of directly at the U.S. Post Office this morning.

I opted to use the Handley Post Office, which is the one I have been used to using for quite a few years.

But, it has been a couple years since I had the direct, in the Handley Post Office, experience.

Yikes!

Long line. One postal worker working slow. Real slow. She was working on one customer when I joined the line, eight people back. 37 minutes later the line finally moved. Eventually a second postal worker opened a second window. From that point the wait was not too much longer.

After finally getting my postal business taken care of, since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to drive to View Street, for a short jaunt on the Tandy Hills. I can't remember the last time I jaunted on the Tandy Hills, but it has been awhile.

Upon arrival I saw the sign you see above, advertising the upcoming Tandy Hills Natural Area BioBlitz on Earth Day, 6 a.m. Friday, April 22, til Saturday, April 23 at 6 p.m.

I have been asked by more than once by more than one person when this year's Prairie Fest was taking place. Additionally asking if I'd noticed any promoting of the 2016 Prairie Fest.

Well.

This Earth Day weekend is the usual time the Prairie Fest takes place.

I do not know what has become of the Prairie Fest. I've heard nothing. I suspect it has been replaced by this BioBlitz event.

I usually check out the Prairie Fest each year. I don't know if I will be checking out this BioBlitz deal. Pretty much ever time I've gotten blitzed the next morning I wake up with a splitting headache. I do not like waking up with a splitting headache....

Puzzled By Tandy Hills Prairie Fest Art Before Getting Sesame Oiled At Town Talk

One week after the 2015 Prairie Fest I was back on the Tandy Hills for a pre-Town Talk hill hike.

I intended to park at my regular summit of Mount Tandy location under the Fort Worth Space Needle.

However, since my last visit to this location multiple "NO TRESPASSING VIOLATORS PROSECUTED" signs have been added.

I was in no mood for a possible confrontation with a member of the Fort Worth Gestapo, what with a large number of such ensconced a short distance away in the former NBC broadcast building, so I drove on to the View Street entry to the Tandy Hills, which also is the location of the Prairie Fest.

Some interesting pieces of Prairie Fest art remain on the prairie, like that which you see here.

I pondered the above piece of art after I finished pondering the piece of prairie art below.

My guess is the above is titled "Bird's Nest". Built for a really big bird. The color in the nest comes from string of various sizes and color.

Continuing past the first artwork installations I came to what appeared to be a new trail, heading west. I followed that trail and eventually came to another possible art installation, installed to cause us to ponder the sad fate of Fort Worth's large population of homeless people.

I walked into the Homeless People Prairie Fest art installation til I got a closeup view.

As you can see the Homeless Camp is quite a mess. To the left of what you see here was a black tarp stretched between tree limbs, clothes hanging off branches and other stuff.

After a couple miles of hiking it was time to exit the Tandy Hills. On the way back to my vehicle I came upon the latest Tandy Hills Outdoor Learning Center, which is what you are looking at below.

This is the area of the latest brush bashing, an ongoing project which removes non-native, non-prairie vegetation from the Tandy Hills.

And then installs natural benches where un-natural vegetation once grew.

The Town Talk Treasure Hunt went well today. Four loaves of Ezekiel bread, sausage, English sharp cheddar, corn tortillas, carrots, kale, tomatoes on the vine, a couple bags of apples, yogurt, sesame oil and other stuff I am not remembering right now.

A Few Minutes Spent At Prairie Fest With Mary Kelleher & The Chicks

I spent an almost record breaking amount of time at the Prairie Fest today, along with a lot of other people.

I would hazard to guess that today's Prairie Fest broke the record for number of people on the Tandy Hills prairie.

The 10th Anniversary Prairie Fest appeared, by far, to have the most booths, displays and activities I've seen at a Prairie Fest.

However, the belly dancing was a bit subdued this year, at least whilst I was watching. But there was some good hula hooping going on in the hippie van belly dancing tepee area.

Music is a big part of the Prairie Fest, powered by solar generated electricity. As you can see, below, the Prairie Fest is a bit of a Woodstock on the Prairie.

Now that you're making me think about it, I think Woodstock on the Prairie should be the theme of next year's Prairie Fest.

As I walked around the Prairie Fest, taking in all the festivities swirling about me, I came upon one area that was in a frenzy of excitement. What, I wondered, are all these people looking at and doing which seemed to be causing them to have such a mighty fine time?

Turned out to be a wagon full of one week old chicks.

Earlier in the week I had been told that Mary, who has a farm, would be at the Prairie Fest with chicks. At that point in time I was not sure what this meant.

Turns out Mary with the farm is Mary Kelleher, the lone Representative of the People on the TRWD board.

Mary wheeled a wagon full of chicks to the Prairie Fest where she and others, including Layla Caraway, were doing some intense campaigning for Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner to join Mary on the TRWD board, replacing Jim Lane and Marty Leonard, who were nowhere to be seen at the Prairie Fest.

I sat with the chicks for awhile. It was interesting, and a bit surprising to me, how many people were tuned into the TRWD board election and totally receptive to the plea to vote out the incumbents. Some of the people sounded more like campaigners than the campaigners.

The young voter above told me he'd named his chick, Peeps. I thought that was cute, but we were all concerned he was holding Peeps way too tightly.

At one point I decided to take a picture of the chick's signage. That caused a bad dog reaction which almost got me bit.

I was asked twice if Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner were in attendance. I said that they were not in attendance, but Mary Kelleher was in the room.

With her chicks.

Mary Kelleher in the room seemed to be a satisfactory substitute for the missing candidates.

I did point out that fellow TRWD board candidate, Keith Annis, had a booth, but no one seemed to know who he was. I saw the Keith Annis booth, with Keith Annis manning it all alone. It was sort of pitiful. He could have used some chicks....

10th Anniversary Prairie Fest Opens On The Tandy Hills Under A Clear Blue Sky

The 10th Anniversary Prairie Fest has begun, with People to the Prairie starting to arrive a few minutes ago at the 11am opening, closing when the sun leaves today at sunset.

The Tandy Hills are likely a bit damp today, muddy in places, due to yesterday's heavy rain. But, a little mud won't stop a lot of people from having themselves a mighty fine time communing with the natural world today.

I expect to be among the nature communers sometime in the mid-afternoon time frame.

A Long Walk To Albertsons Under An Ominous Sky Thinking About Prairie Fest Chicks

Today as I hiked up the hill that leads to my neighborhood Albertsons, as you can see, I was walking under a very ominous looking sky.

In the photo I am looking east towards Dallas, about to turn south onto the Albertsons parking lot.

One of Fort Worth's lonely little public transit buses waits at the Albertsons bus stop, hoping to pick up a passenger.

The Fort Worth bus is that little white thing on the right side of the road in the mid-distance.

The forecast today is for some raining and thunder booming. With louder booming and more rain on the menu for tomorrow and Thursday. By Saturday, that being the day of the 10th annual Tandy Hills Prairie Fest, blue sky is scheduled to return with no thunder booming on the current horizon.

I do not know how I am going to work in both the Prairie Fest and my regularly scheduled Town Talk treasure hunt on Saturday. I'll likely figure it out.

I heard from a fairly reliable source that Mary, who has a little farm, will be at the Prairie Fest towing a wagon full of chicks. I am fairly certain these chicks are of the baby poultry type, not the performs nightly at Baby Dolls type chicks.

But, I won't know for sure til I eye witness the Prairie Fest chicks on Saturday...

10th Anniversary Prairie Fest On The Tandy Hills April 25

This morning Jenny C emailed me a press release about the upcoming April 25, 10th Anniversary Prairie Fest on the Tandy Hills, asking me to please help  spread the word.

Since I almost always do what anyone asks me to do, particularly if they ask politely, remembering to say please, below is the aforementioned press release in its entirety...

Press release: 

10th Annual Prairie Fest at Tandy Hills Natural Area Fort Worth, Texas

Tandy Hills Natural Area, a 160 acre native prairie remnant, located minutes east of downtown Fort Worth, will host the 10th Annual Prairie Fest, Saturday April 25, 2015. A FW Weekly Best Outdoor Cultural Event winner, this free, family-friendly festival will run 11 am to dusk. Set amongst wildflower-covered hills, the festival fosters environmental awareness with a fun, innovative, yet down-home event.

Come celebrate the festival’s 10th anniversary with live, local music on 2 solar-powered stages, including End of the World Parade and Brave Combo. Enjoy guided wildflower tours for young and old at the Best Place to View Wildflowers in the Metroplex. Explore local art, craft, and green living exhibitors in the “Prairie Circle”. Experience site-specific interactive art installations, plein air painters and “live artists”, creating art on site. The festival features a kids area with educational activities and discovery hikes. Don’t miss performances by storytellers, belly dancers, and more! Tasty local food and beverages will be available. 

Prairie Fest - the greenest outdoor festival in Texas - is presented by Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area to sustain and grow their award winning environmental education and conservation programs at Tandy Hills. 

WHERE: 
Tandy Hills Natural Area
3400 View Street
Fort Worth, TX 76103

WHEN: 
Saturday, April 25, 11:00 am - Sunset

WEBSITE:
 http://tandyhills.org/fest

CONTACT:
Jen Schultes
information@tandyhills.org
817-888-0594

April 25 Historic Tandy Hills Prairie Fest Photo Op

Interesting incoming email from one of Olive the Prairie Dog's housemates, Don Young, about an opportunity to be in a photograph with a horde of North Texas fractivists at the 10th Anniversary Tandy Hills Prairie Fest, next month, on April 25.

The email in its entirety, plus I added Don Young's email address at the end, to help facilitate that RSVP request which is also at the end of the email...

Greetings north Texas Barnett Shale fractivists-

For the past few years I have dreamed of gathering all north Texas fracktivists together at one place and time for a group photo. But the tremendous growth of the movement since 2004 made the the possibility of that happening somewhat daunting.

But I like to dream big, so....with the 10th anniversary of Prairie Fest coming on April 25, the time is right. Are you in?

Why Prairie Fest? As some of you know, Prairie Fest began in 2006 as the first major public event / protest / festival / push-back to bring attention to threatened gas drilling at Tandy Hills Natural Area in Fort Worth. State Rep. Lon Burnam was the keynote speaker. The term, "fracktivist" didn't yet exist but the goal was the same. Keep drilling out of our neighborhoods and raise awareness of the impacts and dangers.

In 2004, a small group of concerned neighbors started the group, Friends of Tandy Hills. We were NIMBY's. After the first ever public protest against fracking and a few key reports by Jeff Prince in the Fort Worth Weekly, Friends of Tandy Hills morphed into FWCANDO (Fort Worth Citizens Against Neighborhood Drilling Operations) and our small group connected up with others in the Barnett, both urban AND rural. Next thing you know, a corp of international media was knocking on my door and a guy named Josh Fox was sleeping on my couch, taking notes about a little film project. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then.

With notable exceptions, victories in the Barnett have been few and far between but, ten years later, awareness has never been greater. Participation in push-back against drilling and fracking is at an all-time high. Organizations and individuals not on-board in 2006 are now leading the charge. Tandy Hills is well protected. Prairie Fest, a solar-powered event, has helped demonstrate the importance of connecting with and protecting the natural world. Friends of Tandy Hills have sponsored field trips for thousands of kids. The tide is turning.

Please join me at Prairie Fest on April 25 for a group photo to celebrate 10 years of fighting the fracking monster. It will be a rare opportunity to meet and make connections with fellow fractivists. A professional photographer will capture the moment. Exact time of photo will be announced soon. I'm making a list of participants so please, spread the word and....

RSVP email

Mountain Biking Gateway Park Blocked By Piles Of Brush Before Finding Elsie Hotpepper At The Tandy Hills Prairie Fest

I think it has been a couple weeks since I last rolled my bike's wheels on the Gateway Park mountain bike trails.

A couple weeks and today I found that piles of brush are still piled up, blocking the trail, the sidewalk, and spilling over on to the road.

When I started pedaling today I was quickly annoyed by a metallic rattling noise that sounded like something was about to malfunction.

After three stops for a water break I discovered it was the water bottle's metal cage  that had come a bit loose, making the malfunction in the making noise. A wrench quickly fixed the problem so I could continue rolling with no metallic rattling noise.

Prior to driving to Gateway Park Elsie Hotpepper asked me when I was going to be at the Tandy Hills and the Prairie Fest today. My answer was I don't know.

When I got to Gateway Park I text messaged Miss Hotpepper with the information that the wind was gusting quite blustery, making me think that the Prairie Fest may be heading to blown to smithereens mode. About an hour ago I got a text message from the Hotpepper saying she would be at the Prairie Fest in half an hour, at which time she expected to see me there.

Well, I knew that was not going to happen. Lunch was my priority at the time. Whole wheat ham & cheese wraps.

After I had my fill of bike riding I was off to Town Talk, back on my regular schedule after going rogue last week by going to Town Talk on Friday instead of Saturday.

Yogurt was three cases for five bucks today. I got one case of Chobani blackberry, one of Chobani apple cinnamon, plus one case of Odyssey Greek peach yogurt. I also got a big bag of chopped kale, bleu cheese, extra sharp white cheddar, two jars of sun-dried tomatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes and whole wheat tortillas.

It was a good Town Talk day today.

And now I must see if I want to muster the energy to go to the Prairie Fest.....

On The Colorful Tandy Hills Getting Ready For Saturday's Prairie Fest X3 Part 2

Tandy Flowers Growing Wild

I think my plan to get in shape to swim in the waters off South Padre Island is coming along fine. Today's amped up Tandy Hills hiking went particularly well.

As you can see, via the picture, the wildflowers are being particularly wild this year, along with a lot of overly exuberant, equally colorful butterflies.

I arrived at the park on View Street to see what I thought was a big eco-friendly solar powered grass trimmer mowing  the lawn. I assume in preparation for Saturday's Big Prairie Party.

It seems like just yesterday I went to Prairie Fest x3 Part 1, but come Saturday, that Part 1 part was already a month ago.

I got an email from the Don of the Tandy Hills, a couple days ago, with the schedule for Saturday's Prairie Party....

Prairie Fest x3 on April 28 . . . 

- Dallas Area Kitefliers Organization will be coloring the sky above Tandy Hills
- Kites for sale at the festival by, Fun Family Kites
- Plein air painters will be setting up easels on the prairie
- Food Factory science hikes for kids 9 - 12 (see website for details)
- Native Plant Society of Texas plant sale
- Grammy-award winners, Brave Combo, performs with Brazen Bellies (see full stage schedule below)

Stage  Schedule (4/28):

4 PM  Darrin Kobetich  (Six straight years at Prairie Fest)

5 PM  The Ackermans  (Six straight years at Prairie Fest)

6 PM  Fort Worth Scottish Pipes & Drums

6:30 PM  Brave Combo w/ Brazen Bellies

On The Tandy Hills Looking For Wildflowers While Feeling Like A Bloated Pig

That Is Not Wild Asparagus Growing On The Tandy Hills

Today, on the Tandy Hills, it became clear to me that whatever I brought back with me from Arizona, that gave me a really bad headache and other aches for a couple days, then slowly abated, is still with me.

As in, usually I go up the Tandy Hills light as a feather blowing in the wind. Today I plodded up the Tandy Hills feeling like a bloated pig being led to slaughter.

Not that I really know what a bloated pig feels like. It's just a guess on my part.

My mom called me Wednesday night and informed me that my sister got sick after I left Arizona, and my favorite brother-in-law relapsed, requiring a doctor's visit, where meds were prescribed. My mom and dad, with their superior immune systems, did not catch this particular ailment.

It is already a week since my now ailing sister and I hiked to the top of Piestewa Peak. On that hike I was still in light as a feather blowing in the wind mode. I could not have done that hike, last Friday, feeling like I do this Friday.

If I'm still feeling like I'm in ailing mode tomorrow, I will need to re-think my plan to go to the Prairie Fest. I would not want to start an epidemic.

I've been getting messages about tomorrow's Prairie Fest on the Tandy Hills.

Methinks someone forgot to send the Tandy Hills the message that tomorrow is the Prairie Fest, because the Tandy Hills is being unusually sparse with its wildflower display. Although, the top of Mount Tandy was quite a bit more colorful today than a couple days ago. But there was nary a bloom on Lost Sunglasses Ridge.

A Perfect Day On The Tandy Hills With Don Young & The Prairie Fest All Over The Place

The hiking temperature on the Tandy Hills today was about as near perfect as I can recollect ever experiencing.

The last Saturday of February is a beautiful day in North Texas.

On this incredibly prefect day I was the only sign of life I saw today on the Tandy Hills.

I did not get gas today, but I called my mom anyway to talk on the drive to the Tandy Hills.

My mom and dad are looking forward to the incoming visit from Spencer Jack in a couple weeks.

I was still talking to my mom when I got to my parking spot on View Street. A lady in a van drove up next to me and rolled down her window indicating she wanted to ask me something.

I rolled down my window after which the lady asked me if I knew where Don Young's house was. I did happen to know where that particular abode was and told her where to find it.

My mom then asked me who Don Young was and why I knew where his house was. I had no idea how to explain who Don Young was or why I know where his house is, so I just told my mom that Don Young is in the news a lot here and everyone knows where he lives.

Except for that lady in the van who stopped to ask me where Don Young's house was.

Apparently Don Young is destined to show up all over the place with me today. As in a couple emails about the upcoming Prairie Fests. I shall copy the latest one below.........

We all have a place that inspires us to take a stand against Big Gas & Oil. 

That place can be as vast as the Upper Delaware River Basin that inspired Josh Fox or a humble home in the suburbs. For me that place was and is, Tandy Hills Natural Area, in Fort Worth, Texas. 

I'm requesting your help to keep Tandy Hills "like it was."

The main thing you need to know about Tandy Hills is that it's one of the last of the breed. The few remnants of native Texas prairie are akin to Unicorns: Beautiful, exceedingly rare and hunted to near extinction.

The 160 acres of Tandy Hills prairie were stalked by the gas industry just like the mythical Unicorn hunters of old. Keeping them at bay has been one of the few victories in the local gas war. But it takes constant surveillance, unwavering commitment and creative subversion to keep them out of Tandy Hills.

That's what Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area (FOTHNA) does, but in a non-threatening, positive way. FOTHNA helps people fall in love with the place so they will fight to protect it. Most importantly, we help educate the future guardians of the place.

Prairie Fest and Kids on the Prairie may look like benign activities but they are actually part of a subversive campaign to save some of Fort Worth by raising public awareness via wildflowers, music, art and environmental education.

Here's how it works:

---> Prairie Fest began in my front yard in 2006 as a direct attempt to keep gas drilling out of the park. Since then, the solar-powered festival has become one of the largest green festivals in north Texas, winning the Best Outdoor Cultural Event in Fort Worth in 2010 while demonstrating environmental stewardship to thousands of Texans. It even received an honor from the City of Fort Worth.

---> Kids on the Prairie is a partnership outreach program between Friends of Tandy Hills and the Fort Worth ISD. Funds raised at Prairie Fest pay for hundreds of public school kids to have a field day of learning at Tandy Hills. Most of these kids are low-income. They are led by a group of Master Naturalists recruited by FOTHNA.

As founder of FWCanDo, I have never asked you for money. Any service I provided over the years was done out of a sense of love and duty. As founder-director of Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area, I ask you to help us save some of Fort Worth in one of the two E-Z ways listed below. 

• Membership in Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area
• Sponsorship of Prairie Fest.  
• Friends of Tandy Hills website

Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and is not directly affiliated with FWCanDo.

Don Young
FWCanDo
P.O. Box 470041
Fort Worth, TX 76147

Major Tandy Hills Prairie Fest News Today In Prairie Notes #60

A Re-Imagined Re-Named Prairie Festival

I had not realized until it arrived this afternoon that the early morning of the day of a new month had not brought the latest Prairie Notes from Don Young to my emailbox.

Prairie Notes #60 contains major news about the Prairie Fest.

I have to say I think this change makes a lot of sense. Every year I think the Prairie Fest is tempting a bad weather fate by putting so much effort into one single day in the Spring that could go horribly wrong, weather-wise.

The latest Prairie Notes, with all the info and excellent photos, is not yet up on the Friends of Tandy Hills website's Prairie Notes page.

Below is a blurb from Prairie Notes #60...........

For 2012, Prairie Fest has been re-imagined and re-focused back to discovery and enjoyment of Tandy Hills, itself. Instead of a single event, there will be three festivals throughout the Spring on the last Saturdays of March, April and May. Event hours will be from 4 PM - Dusk. We call in Prairie Festx3.

The main event will be enhanced Prairie-Wildflower Hikes for kids and adults, specially designed by Heather Foote, a Master Naturalist and schoolteacher in Grapevine. More on that below. There will also be the usual, unstructured wildflower tours led by Suzanne Tuttle of the FW Nature Center & refuge.

In the re-imagined fest for 2012, we have eliminated Exhibitor booths. ("Virtual booths" will be available. Stay tuned for details.) There will still be live music and other entertainment, food, beverage and friends. The festival site will be a wide-open, kid-friendly playground for kite-flying, frisbee-tossing, stilt-walking, picnicking, guitar-picking, dog-running and other impromptu activities. 

Viewing Tandy Hills Art Installations & Thinking About Ivar's Puget Sound Style Clam Chowder

This Saturday at noon I entered the Tandy Hills from View Street for the first time since the Prairie Fest, two weeks ago.

All that remains from the Prairie Fest is some orange markings on the grass and the art installation you see in the picture.

I know, post Prairie Fest that I read what this art installation was called or was supposed to signify.

But, my pathetically bad memory, combined with my pathetic case of AADD, has rendered that memory missing.

I think the forest of stick phalli, arranged in a circle, was signifying the fertility of spring. Maybe. Was it called "The Fertile Spring?" I wonder how many years this art installation will remain standing?

I saw today that the Tandy Hills Bamboo Teepee art installation is down to only 3 poles. If it loses one more pole that teepee is coming down.

I had an encounter with a coyote today. I was coming down a hill, it was heading up. It saw me and quickly turned around and ran off. I had no chance to take a picture. I have now encountered both a coyote and a roadrunner on the Tandy Hills.

After hiking like a maniac on the HOT Tandy Hills I took my HOT self to Town Talk, just like I do every Saturday.

Today I saw something at Town Talk that there was no way I was not buying. "Estilo Puget Sound Sopa de Almeja Con Tocino Receta del Restaurante Ivar's," it says on the package. Along with "Ivar's Since 1938." And "Acres of Clams."

Ivar's is a Seattle institution. Ivar was a restaurateur who had a famous Seattle waterfront restaurant, which in his later years, he greatly expanded, opening Ivar's in many locations. Wikipedia has an article about Ivar Haglund.

Why Ivar's is selling clam chowder in packaging in Spanish and where it is being sold is a mystery to me. Well, I know it is being sold today at Town Talk, but where did Town Talk get it? When Town Talk gets a new thing, like this, at checkout they give you a piece of paper with the directions on how to cook it.

The title at the top of the instructions says, "INSTRUCTIONS FOR IVAR'S PUGET SOUND STYLE CLAM CHOWDER."

You reading this in the Puget Sound zone, did you know there was a Puget Sound style clam chowder? I sure didn't.

I Came Back From The Tandy Hills Today To Learn I Have Been Handpicked To Help The Prairie Fest Get Setup

I made it to the Tandy Hills in the noon timeframe today for the first time in a few days.

It is not being particularly hot today, only in the low 70s. But it is being very windy. The windiest I've ever experienced on the Tandy Hills. Earlier today the gusts were up to 55mph. Currently 35mph.

The pink wildflowers in the picture look like they'd be blown apart by heavy wind, but they seemed to be surviving just fine.

The horizon to the north was looking very smoggy as I drove back from the Tandy Hills. I suspect this heavy wind is blowing in some wildfire smoke. I'm going over to Miss Puerto Rico's in a bit to take a picture of the panoramic view to the north from her balcony. And feed the cat.

I got an urgent message from Don Young a short while ago. Congratulating me for being a hand-picked individual. Below is the message....

Congratulations! YOU are among a few hand-picked individuals invited to be on the Prairie Fest set-up Posse. Your help is needed to prepare for the festival site for the 4 - 5,000 people who will attend Prairie Fest.

We need your help the day before the festival doing the following:

-Setting up a few tents
-Installing signs and banners
-Setting up the stage
-Arranging barricades and hay bales
-Unloading and setting up tables and other equipment
-etc.

• We need reliable individuals with willpower and stamina. Handyman-woman skills are a plus.
• Work will start Friday April 22 at 10 am and end about 7 pm with breaks for lunch.
• Bring tools, wheel barrows, garden wagons, hand-trucks, gloves and whatever else you need. Water will be available.

This is an URGENT request for assistance. RSVP.

Yesterday I told you I ran into Stenotrophomonas on the Tandy Hills, picking up litter and putting it into a black garbage bag.

Today, part way up Mount Tandy, I found a black garbage bag sitting beside the trail.

Was this the Stenotrophomonas bag?

My best guess is that his bag burst open, so Stenotrophomonas left it in this location til he could return with more garbage bags.

The wind was not impacting too strongly on the damaged bag. I'll bring a bag with me tomorrow in case this abandoned bag is still being a hazardous waste site.

I Found The Legendary Stenotrophomonas Doing Maintenance On The Tandy Hills Today Along With Possible Poison Ivy

A 10 o'clock doctor visit, this morning, rendered my regular noon aerobicizing not doable, til later.

It was 85 when I hit the Tandy Hills today. And very windy.

The wind was blowing clouds in front of the sun, making taking a picture of the Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man slightly difficult. It was as if the lights kept getting turned off right when I clicked the shutter button.

As you can see, a buzz cut has my head looking like it's shrunk. A buzz cut makes for a much cooler hiking experience.

Today I had 3 Close Encounters of the Human Kind on the Tandy Hills. I can go weeks without seeing another human on the hills.

The first encounter came as I reached the bottom of Mount Tandy, at the point where the trail enters the Tandy Highway. A guy was walking towards me, picking up stuff and putting it in a black plastic bag.

As our paths crossed I said howdy, to which the guy with the black bag said, in a quizzical tone, "Durango?"

"That would be me" said I. "Who are you? I asked.

"Stenotrophomonas" came the reply.

I was face to face with the legendary Stenotrophomonas.

I continued on. A mile or so later I saw movement across a gully. Soon another human came into view. I'd seen this guy before. He had some sort of music playing device in his ear. So his "howdy" was quite loud.

The Third Encounter of the Human Kind occurred in the dark, foliage thick area you reach from the north side of Tandy Falls. I was coming down the trail that leads to the falls. Suddenly this guy hollers at me some sort of warning. I was a little concerned.

Turns out he had found what he thought to be a lot of poison ivy. I've no idea if it was poison ivy or not. But he was quite concerned. He was wearing one of those identity cards, like people who work in a hospital have.

The new wildflower, for the day, I found on top of Mount Tandy, near the Tandy Hills Shrine. It is a humongous wildflower.

In other Tandy Hills news, today I learned I will be in a booth at the Prairie Fest on Saturday, April 23. Currently I am scheduled to be at the Prairie Fest starting at 2 in the afternoon, til, I assume, closing.

I have never spent more than an hour or two at the Prairie Fest.

The last time I was in a booth, at a festival type event, it was in Seattle at the Fremont Sunday Market. That time I was in a booth with a crazy, raging sociopath who weighed 5 or 6 hundred pounds and looked like Jabba the Hut. This time I will be in a booth with a relatively sane person who is a skinny little thing who does not look like Jabba the Hut.

Two Weeks Til The 2011 Prairie Fest On The Tandy Hills Hopefully With Lots Of Wildflowers

Two weeks to go til the 2011 Prairie Fest, with the Tandy Hills Wildflowers needing to get serious about amping up their bloomage.

It was in the low 80s when I hit the hills today. And windy. Very pleasant.

I saw several of the wildflowers you see in the picture today. Each day there are more wildflowers, but some areas, like Lost Sunglasses Ridge are still bloom free.

A lady with a little kid was flying a kite on top of Mount Tandy today. The little kid had rolled the toy stroller, that is part of the Tandy Hills Shrine, over to where his mom was flying a kite, in case the Tandy Hills Shrine Keeper wonders why the stroller moved.

The top of Mount Tandy does not seem, to me, to be a good kite flying location, due to all the cables anchored to the ground from all the towers. I guess the worst that could happen is the kite gets tangled in a cable.

Tomorrow we are currently scheduled to get heated to a high of 92, with a strong Thunderstorm. I don't know at what time Sunday the T-Storm is expected to arrive.

A pushy lady on Weight Watchers convinced to buy a big loaf of gingerbread at Town Talk today. She had several people chiming in on how good this gingerbread is. Having never had gingerbread I would not know good from bad.

I'll let you know what I think of gingerbread when I get around to trying some.

In the meantime, I am going swimming again.

Texas Wildflowers Bloom Boom at Tandy Hills Park

This time of year Texas turns very green and very colorful. This year's wildflowers are being particularly plentiful. I've lived in my current location for most of this century. Up til about 5 months ago I did not realize I lived just a couple miles from Fort Worth's best park, that being Tandy Hills Park. I used to drive dozens of miles, sometimes more, to go on a hilly hike. I could have saved so much gas had I realized Tandy Hills had fun trails. And a lot of them. Miles and miles. A maze of trails.

Last Saturday the 3rd Annual Prairie Fest occurred at Tandy Hills Park. I'd been there just a few days prior and in just those few days the wildflowers at Tandy Hills had really amped it up, just in time for the festival. I saw a wildflower I'd not seen before, that being the yellow one you see above. It's real delicate, like an orchid.

In the photo above you see a lady with a kitchen utensil in her hair, sitting amongst the wildflowers and painting them. I don't mean she was painting wildflowers, I meant she was painting a likeness of the wildflowers. She was among many artists doing the same thing in one of the Prairie Fest activities.

In the above photo you see some Prairie Fest goers walking towards the main part of the festival. That is cactus in the foreground, I believe it's called prickly pear cactus. It also blooms and produces this fruit that is sort of tasty.

Above we're looking at a Tandy Hills trail heading through a patch of wildflowers, mostly bluebonnets, the official state flower of Texas.

I'm deeper into the Tandy Hills in the above photo. The wildflowers were being particularly thick here.

If you've never visited Texas and are thinking it might be interesting, April is the time you want to aim for. Texas looks its best. The temperature is not scorching yet, usually. In fact, the past couple days we've plummeted from being in the 80s, with a cold front from the north dropping the temps to natural air conditioned levels, as in it is 78 out there right now, but it got down to 46 last night. Brrrr. And in April, if you're lucky, you might get to experience a real wild Texas storm.

Fort Worth's Tandy Hills Park Prairie Fest

Today I went to the Prairie Fest at Tandy Hills Park in Fort Worth. It was a much bigger deal than I thought it would be. Tandy Hills Park has become my favorite place to go hiking and this festival did it justice.

So, in record breaking time. For me. I've uploaded 3 videos from today to YouTube, and they've already been processed and are viewable. One is viewable below. Now, please understand I have a very cheap video camera and very limited videographer skills, hence the jerky video. But it gives you an idea of what it was like to walk around this event and you get to see some Texans being a bit goofy. That's always fun.

Update: I've now webpaged yesterday's Prairie Fest. And added two more videos in addition to the one below.

Barnett Shale Explodes the North Texas Economy

Today I had to drive through the industrial wasteland of north Fort Worth to pick up a check for a website. En route I drove by at least a dozen gas drilling operations in various stages.

A few years ago it was discovered that a field of natural gassified shale was much larger than earlier believed. Seismic testing kept finding the stuff further and further south. At first the gas drilling only took place on the fringes of the Dallas/Fort Worth urban zone.

And then in 2003 an oilman named Mike Moncrief, with interests in all 4 of the gas drilling companies that are exploiting the Barnett Shale, was elected mayor of Fort Worth. Soon after the new mayor took office drilling started happening all over town, in formerly peaceful neighborhoods, in parks, near parks and across the street from where I live.

Experiencing it, up close and personal, the gas drilling operation was as bad as all the complaints I'd been reading. While the drilling is underway it is very noisy, making all sorts of odd high pitched noises, day and night. The rigs are lit up very bright. When the drilling is done the next bad thing starts up, that being dozens upon dozens of trucks hauling in water to pour down the hole to fracture the shale and release the gas. I've no idea how this works. But I do know there is a problem with the resulting polluted water. The powers that be are allowing the drillers to pump out the water and pump it into vast underground cavern like holes in the ground where some believe it will eventually contaminate the aquifers from which much of Texas gets its water.

As most people know, things are different in Texas. Like I've previously mentioned the perfectly valid concept of taking private land for the public good is perverted in Texas with our nation's worst cases of eminent domain abuse with the worst abuser being Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys. And then you have the mayor of a big city, with obvious conflicts of interest, overseeing meetings where decisions are made in favor of the gas drillers.

Except for Fort Worth's valiant alternative newspaper, FW Weekly, no one seems to care that the Mayor of Fort Worth, with interests in each of the gas drilling companies, should not be making decisions regarding the drilling from which he financially benefits handsomely.

One good thing, a group of people in East Fort Worth have turned into Rabblerousers and are fighting the city with some success. Last week the aforementioned FW Weekly had a real good article about the group of activists. They were mostly moved to action due to Chesapeake Energy letting it be known they wanted to slant drill under Tandy Hills Park.

I have sort of been part of the Eastside Rabblerousers, doing my part to help rouse the rabble. The Rabblerousers have a real good website. On their website you can find the link to my contribution, that being a webpage I called "Fort Worth Flatulence". It gets a lot of page views.

One of the leaders of the Eastside Rabblerousers is a man named Don Young. He organized an event called Prairie Fest to raise awareness of Tandy Hills Park and the need to protect it. This year's Prairie Fest is in just a few weeks. If you are in the D/FW zone and want to attend, go to the Tandy Hills Park link above and you'll find all the info you need.