A Walk With The Gateway Park Trees Before Picking Strawberries

Trees seemed to be the theme of my walk on a few miles of the Gateway Park paved trails today.

I like this time of year in Texas, foliage wise.

Most of the leaves on most of the trees are long gone, making for a completely different look from the jungle that will begin to re-sprout in a couple months.

Today's walk was immensely more pleasant than yesterday's chilly, breezy walk with the Fosdick Lake ducks.

I was slightly, ever so slightly, surprised when I came to Gateway Park's #2 Boardwalk today.

Surprised because the "Closed To Public" sign was nowhere to be seen. And the yellow crime scene tape was gone.

Have the boardwalks been fixed was my first thought. Then, upon seeing that the Boardwalk had not been fixed, my second thought was a mischievous park vandal had been at work.

Mother Nature has also been doing some mischievous vandalizing since my last walkabout in Gateway Park.

As you can see a tree has either grown into a vertical trail blocking position, or Mother Nature blew the tree down to be a trail block.

Whatever it was that put this tree into this trail blocking position, it took a very strenuous effort to circumvent the trail blockage.

When I finished with my walkabout I headed to the Beach Street Walmart. When I drove by the Beach Street Town Talk I saw that strawberries were the featured product of the day.

So, I stopped at Town Talk and got me some strawberries. People were scooping up the strawberries. Many people had multiple flats in the carts. A flat of strawberries was only costing $6. I had no idea what I would do with that many strawberries, so I only got 2 boxes.

That is still a lot of strawberries.

That likely will not taste very good and will likely cause me to lament missing the tasty, sweet Skagit Valley strawberries of my long ago youth.

Pedaling The Gateway Park Mountain Bike Trail Buzzed By A Copter Before Finding Strawberries

Since it was not quite yet 100 degrees, I decided it'd be cooling to ride my bike on the Gateway Park Mountain Bike Trail on my way to Town Talk.

That being the part of the trail before one gets to the roller coaster twisting and turning part. And then pedaling on the paved trail.

I discovered a new area of mountain bike trail that shares trail with the disc golfers. This trail, with two disc golf holes, runs beside a pond covered with green scum for part of the distance,

I can not imagine many disc golfers willing to try to hit the holes that are by the pond covered with green scum, lest they lose their disc in the pond. I had some concerns for myself pedaling beside a green scum covered pond, what with the recent warnings to avoid stagnant ponds that are potential breeding grounds for mosquitoes and the West Nile Virus.

But, the only mosquito like critter I saw today was the thing you see in the picture that looks as if it is trying to push over a Gateway Park light pole.

For some reason a helicopter was buzzing all over the Tandy Hills and Gateway Park and points further to the west. Maybe the helicopter was looking for the latest Gateway Park snake bite victim.

The last time I was at Town Talk I got a case of the best peaches I've had in years. Today I got a case of strawberries. I've not tasted them yet. They are Driscoll's Strawberries from California. I have occasionally had  a semi-good Driscoll's Strawberry.

Now if these had been Ole & Sven's Strawberries, from the Skagit Valley, well, I would know they'd be real good even before my first taste.

Sven's Skagit Strawberry Patch Is Not In Poteet Texas

Dirty Ol' Sven Holding A Box Of
Skagit Valley Strawberries

In the picture you are looking at a box of strawberries.

You are also looking at the first husband of a young lady who taught me not to step on thyme when I was in high school.

The strawberry holder is known by various names. In strawberry mode he goes by Sven Burwash. By another name, Sven is the author of a major best seller titled Vis Major.

Being a best selling author is what Sven does to make a living. Growing strawberries is what Sven does for fun.

I can not remember the last time I had a real strawberry.

The last time I was in Washington was well past strawberry season.

A Driscoll strawberry from California is not a real strawberry. It looks like a strawberry, it sort of tastes like a strawberry, but if you've had a real strawberry, a Driscoll strawberry is a pale imitation.

Texas grows strawberries, down by Poteet. Poteet has a real big festival to celebrate its strawberry harvest. I have not had a Poteet strawberry. Poteet does not grow enough strawberries to export this far north. Poteet is south of San Antonio.

I'm guessing a Poteet strawberry, to me, would not taste like a real strawberry, but that prejudice may be unfair, due to being appalled by the peaches touted as being so good at the Parker County Peach Festival in Weatherford.

During my first time sampling peach products at the Parker County Peach Festival I told myself maybe they had a bad year. A few year's later I was back. Still not good peaches.

I remember wondering what one of those Parker County people would think if they were in Yakima or Wenatchee and came upon a Peach Orchard and tasted one of those peaches? Would they scream out "Dang, is that what a peach is supposed to taste like?"

Back to Sven and his strawberries.

The past few days Sven has been advertising his strawberries on Facebook with the following...

Get the kids, grandkids, stray kids....come on up to Ole and Sven's Strawberry Patch and take Sven's Strawberry CHALLENGE! Can you or one of your group get as dirty as ol' Sven here after picking just ONE flat of juicy berries?

UFF-DA-MY!

Remember, at Ole and Svens' U-pick/We-pick;
You only pay for the ones we see
The ones in your tummy leave for free
Yah Sure Ya-betcha......

Sven got several comments to his Facebook strawberry posting, including the following one from my nephew, Spencer Jack's dad, which elicited a warning from Sven ...

Jason Jones: Will for sure keep up the annual tradition...of picking the berries for free after dark...

Sven Burwash: Just don't step in one of our lutefisk booby-traps...

Those pesky Skagit Valley strawberry growers and their notorious lutefisk booby traps.

A Saturday Walk Through The Steamy Tandy Hills Jungle With Green Poles & Strawberries

It was no where near 100 degrees when I went to the Tandy Hills today. It was 95. And slightly breezy.

I parked on the top of Mount Tandy. My intention was to not overheat. To accomplish that goal I decided that after I descended from the slopes of Mount Tandy I'd stay on the Tandy Highway as it meanders through mostly shady jungle.

Walking on the Tandy Highway takes me along the route of a sewer pipeline. This pipeline was worked on in the recent past. After the work was done strange green poles appeared by each manhole cover.

The message on the green poles is "SEWER PIPELINE CAUTION."

Molly the Fort Worth Longhorn is also on the green poles, along with a phone number to call if you have a sewer pipeline emergency.

As you can see in the picture some graffiti has been added to one of the green poles. The graffiti says "SLYCE." Who is Slyce and why did he or she put his or her name on this particular pole?

Is Slyce the Tandy Hills Guerrilla Artist responsible for hanging Hello Kitty balloons from branches and constructing the Tandy Hills Bamboo Teepee and other Tandy Hills artworks?

For years the Tandy Hills got by without those green poles advising "CAUTION." Were we in danger and did not realize it?

Like I said the green poles are near manhole covers. On the manhole covers it says "Sanitary Sewer."

This has perplexed me before. A sewer is not at all sanitary, is it?

Changing the subject back to my favorite subject, that being the temperature.

We have gone over the 100 degree mark again.

Does that make it Day #16, or is it #17, in a row over 100?

I have reached the part of the HOT season where I stick my water bottles in the freezer a couple hours before departure. Cold water with chunks of ice in it really helps a lot in the Battle against Heatstroke.

After successfully battling Heatstroke, once again, I, once again, went to Town Talk to cool off in the Town Talk cooler. In the cooler I found big containers of fresh Dole strawberries, 2 cartons for a buck. I got 4 cartons. And a lot of other good stuff.

I have particularly craved good strawberries of late. I long ago gave up on the strawberries I find in the regular grocery stores here. If you grow up with Skagit Valley strawberries, knowing what a real strawberry is supposed to taste like, well the cardboard substitutes from California just don't cut it.

Since the Town Talk strawberries were a Dole product I thought there was a chance they might be good. Turns out I was right to take that chance. No, they are not a Skagit Valley quality level of strawberry, but much better than I've had in Texas previously.

I have been being reminded of Skagit Valley strawberries daily, of late, via Facebook, courtesy of this annoying guy who is married to one of my friends from high school. He has hundreds of acres of strawberries in the Skagit Valley, which are currently in harvest mode. Mentioned daily. Like today he mentioned that tonight he is going to his 50th High School Class Reunion. And bringing a flat of strawberries with him, along with his latest book, a best seller called Vis Major. It's about trains. And an avalanche. I think. I've not read it. I'm waiting for the movie, which I believe is in pre-production.

Up Early Thinking About Sleeping Walking and Strawberries While Visiting Laredo and McAllen

Up well before dawn's crack this 10th day of August. I think I'll be visiting the pool really early this morning. The moon seems to have gone missing again, which makes the dark darker than when the moon is doing its glowing thing.

I suffered epic cinematic nightmares last night. I can't remember the specifics, except I was erroneously in BIG trouble, but I rescued myself from the BIG trouble multiple times, using my impeccable logic in the face of crazy talk.

I've no clue which of my personal traumas my sub-conscious was trying to deal with by showing me that epic cinematic nightmare last night. All I know, for sure, is I woke up refreshed.

I forgot to mention, I had another sleep walking incident. Recently on Kathy Griffin's My Life on the D-List much amusement was had due to Tom's Ambien sleep aid caused sleep walking. I take no sleep aid, but I had similar results to Tom.

As in, apparently I got up, got into a piece of whole wheat bread and cheese and then proceeded to walk around dropping pieces of bread and cheese. Near as I can re-construct the crime, after I was done making a mess with bread and cheese I picked up my TV's remote control from the TV viewing room and moved it to the top of the chest of drawers in my closet.

I hope I did not spend too much time in my closest clicking the remote hoping to turn on a chest of drawers.

I did not go to bed early last night, though I probably should have. I had had me a day, and if that day did not already have me tired enough, in the afternoon I took a virtual trip down to McAllen and Laredo.

I knew what to expect with Laredo, what with it being paired with its bigger half of Nuevo Laredo, I figured this would be a heavily Tex-Mex type of town. But, I had no idea that McAllen is a bit of a tropical paradise, known as the City of Palms, due to all its palm trees. Citrus grows in the McAllen zone of the Rio Grande Valley.

When the grapefruit are ripe for the picking you can go pick some at a place by McAllen called Eggers Acres. The Eggers family runs a citrus market. Grandpa Eggers developed the Ruby Red Grapefruit. McAllen reminds me of the Yuma, Arizona citrus growing zone, with lush tropical vegetation and parrots and parakeets added.

I think may virtually go to San Marcos today, checking out Aquarena Springs, again, on my way to Poteet, where I want to find out the truth regarding something I read yesterday, that being that Poteet, the Strawberry Capital of Texas, has to bring in strawberries from California for the hugely popular annual Poteet Strawberry Festival.

California strawberries? They are terrible. Poteet should import strawberries from the Skagit Valley of Washington. They actually taste like strawberries, unlike those strawberry-essence, red cardboard, genetically altered to ship well, sad excuses for strawberries that California grows way too many of.