LOST in the Tandy Hills Dharma Initiative

I was at the Tandy Hills Natural Area today. I saw 3 separate, very large areas covered with what I now know to be Texas Wild Irises, thanks to the horticulture input of Twister and Shirley.

I was surprised to find no Texas Bluebonnets doing their blue thing on the Tandy Hills today, because I saw a patch of them blooming along the freeway, I assumed they'd be up and running on the Tandy Hills.

I did see another Wildflower that has now made its Spring appearance. I've no idea what it is, but it is a reddish colored thing sort of shaped like a horn.

I suspect that by my next scheduled Tandy Hills visit, on Monday, the hills will be alive with the sound of color. And birds.

I've mentioned before that sometimes when I'm wandering around the Tandy Hills the TV show LOST comes to mind. I got around to watching 2 episodes of LOST last night, so it was fresh in my memory.

Today I came upon 3 underground stations like the one in the picture, indicating that before the current Earth Loving Tribe took over the Island of Hills, "Others" had punched some holes in the ground here. I did not try to open the hatch to see if it was inhabited. I suspect whatever "Dharma-like Initiative" put this hatch in this location, has long abandoned the area, unable to abide by it being taken over by Natural People wanting a Natural Area.

I wonder if the patches of Texas Wild Irises date from when "The Others" controlled the Tandy Hills? One more thing they left behind. Like their hatches.

Fresh Texas Tandy Hills Color & Mom

It took awhile to find some new color in the outdoor zones of Texas today. I don't think this tree was blooming when I was at the Tandy Hills last Thursday, but it was today.

I got an email yesterday that my mom directed my dad to send, asking why I've not gotten gas lately. My one longtime reader may remember me mentioning that when I get gas I call my mom and tell her how much it cost.

So, even though I didn't get gas, I called my mom today while hiking around the Tandy Hills.

It has not been a blue sky day in Texas. But it is warm. Swimming was very pleasant this morning.

I'm reading a book called Twentynine Palms. Twentynine Palms is a town in the Mojave Desert in California. It's a true crime book. Rather well written with a very high level of detail and historic background of the characters involved.

I like reading books where the area being described is somewhere I've been. I have never been to Twentynine Palms, but I have seen many of the places described, like Barstow and Victorville and the Mojave.

It surprises me how often I'll be peacefully reading along when there will be some Texas reference. In this Twentynine Palms book the Texas reference is a Dallas Cowboys reference. Short version, the Dallas Cowboys cause fits of wifebeating. I'll blog the details of that tomorrow. It seems like way too much bother right now.

Sunday In The Park (Tandy Hills)

For 2 days my mom has been calling and leaving voice mail messages. When I call back I get their answering machine. It's vexing. Modern communication is so unreliable.

One of my ex-sisters-in-law sent me and mom and dad a DVD with a lot of video of my grand nephew, Spencer Jack. I don't know if mom and dad will figure out how to watch the movie.

I don't know if they've ever recovered from buying a Beta VCR, rather than the VHS version. For some reason all my relatives blame me for them all buying Betas. While I got rid of my Beta and got a VHS. It seems like decades ago and I still hear complaints. As recently as last week. I guess on some things there are no statutes of limitations.

Are you planning on being at the Tandy Hills next Saturday to help with the first phase of Operation "Make it Natural"? I went hiking there today, with an eye to looking at what is going to be removed. It would appear to be quite a daunting task. Rather than haul out all that mesquite, why not have a huge bonfire? It'd smell real good. I'll bring meat products to BBQ.

That is downtown Fort Worth, in the photo above, looking through a haze of smog. Even the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which usually operates as some sort of industry shill, is reporting that the Barnett Shale natural gas drilling operations are adding more pollution to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex air than all the vehicles on all the roads in this large metropolitan area.

I was startled by a large cat-like creature while hiking today. Moments later I was startled by a large mammal in human form with a big cock-a-poo type dog. The human was an older gentleman who walked with a cane. I thought he was being quite adventurous, negotiating the steep Tandy Hills with a cane.

I don't know if it true or not, but he told me that Mesquite is not native to Texas. It came from Mexico, brought north by the cattle drives that ran through Fort Worth. He told me that since there were no cattle drives through Dallas, there is no mesquite there.

The Man with the Cane has lived near the Tandy Hills since 1979. Back then, the long gone restaurant that used to sit on the western end of the Tandy Hills, was still in operation. He couldn't remember the name for sure, thought it might be something like Calamity Jane's. He said it had a great view and an outdoor patio. It was still standing when I first moved here. Then it was torn down. After that you could make out the layout by looking at the foundation. There was a water feature that you crossed over via a bridge to enter the restaurant.

I've long thought it may have been a Prohibition era Speakeasy type joint, due to its isolated location on a bluff affording a good view of possible incoming police. The Man with a Cane said the building looked like it could have been built back in the 1920s. I am now on a mission to find out the history of that place.

Saturday At Tandy Hills Park & Lemon Curd

I decided against going to the Stock Show Parade this morning. I figured it'd be too cold. I was wrong. I just got back from hiking at the Tandy Hills, that's the Tandy Hills noonish view of downtown Fort Worth, with it being in the 60s and quite pleasant.

There is another drawback to going to downtown, when it's busy, which it seldom is, nowadays, as opposed to my last time going to the Stock Show Parade, due to easy parking being no more, due to the now defunct new Radio Shack Corporate Headquarters removing the huge free parking lots and free subway that connected the parking lots to downtown.

A couple days ago I blogged about the oodles of lemons my Mom & Dad left me and me not knowing what to do with them. Then discovering a Lemon Curd recipe, which came out well, which had me asking if anyone knew what one does with Lemon Curd.

That day, or the next, someone named Shirley commented, telling me, "Put it on toast, silly."

Well, this was one odd coincidence, because my Mom's name is Shirley. I'm sure this Shirley was not my Mom, because, first off, my Mom can't see a webpage. And second off, Mom would have signed the comment "Mom," not "Shirley."

So, Shirley, if you are reading this, thanks for the toast advice. This morning I made French Toast and that Lemon Curd stuff was real good on it.

I found out this morning, after the Lemon Curd French Toast, that I get to go to the airport the morning of Inauguration Day. Miss Puerto Rico is flying to her home island for a week and needs to be delivered to her plane. I better make it back here by 10am or I'll be cranky.

Closeup Look At Chesapeake Energy's Tandy Hills Natural Destruction

As long as I've been paying attention to Chesapeake Energy's public relations machine, it has always seemed so bizarre to me that someone like myself, who really does not have all that much contact with what Chesapeake Energy is up to, finds himself seeing so many contradictions between how Chesapeake Energy describes what they are doing. And what they actually do.

For example, until Chesapeake Energy went into operation across the street from where I live, I did not realize that all the complaints about noise and dust weren't just some whiny person with a delicate constitution getting all upset due to a little dust and noise.

Instead, I was to learn that it is VERY noisy. And the dust is more like airborne mud that gets on everything. Did Chesapeake send anyone through the neighborhood to offer car washes and new filters for our cars and air conditioner units? No. They did not. We were covered in dust, as if we lived next to a cement plant and nothing was done about the pollution or the polluters.

From that point on I become a shrill anti-Chesapeake Energy shill.

And then there's the case of my beloved Tandy Hills. Chesapeake Energy bought a plot of land in the Tandy Hills. Those who see what a great recreational resource Tandy Hills represents were mortified that this rogue defiler of the land was going to do drilling in the Tandy Hills.

Well, Chesapeake Energy assured the public that the area affected would be very small, that little damage would be done to the Tandy Hills. It was not long into the operation when it became obvious that the area affected was huge and the damage done to the Tandy Hills was enormous.

Last Monday, returning from Zorro's Buffet via Interstate 30, heading east back to here, I went by the Tandy Hills Chesapeake Energy operation and saw it from the freeway for the first time. It is appalling how it looks from the freeway. A total flattening of the landscape with huge berms and drainage ditches.

When I saw how bad it looked I decided I'd figure out how to get a picture of the view from that perspective. It took a rather adventurous hike, where no trails existed, to get to the freeway and the vantage point I wanted. The sun was in an unfortunate location, so the photos did not turn out all that great. But you still get a real good idea of how Chesapeake Energy has turned this part of the Tandy Hills Natural Area into something very unnatural.

Another HOT Winter Day In Texas

I think we are going to break a temperature record, again, this Saturday, 3rd day of the new year. It is 81, right now, at a bit past 3 in the afternoon.

I have my windows open. I'm starting to think I may need to close the windows and turn on the A/C.

I went hiking at the Tandy Hills today, a bit past noon. I was not long into the hiking when it started to feel like summer. This is not normal. I do not remember having the slightest inclination to hike shirtless, last winter. But, today, there was no way I could keep the shirt on.

I think I may have a bit of a sunburn. I've never had a sunburn in January before.

By the end of hiking I was a sweaty mess, just as if it were a HOT day in August. I am now, finally, a believer in this Global Warming thing.

I had trouble sleeping last night, due to it being too warm in here, even with a window open. I think it's almost a foregone conclusion that, before the day is done, I will have turned on my air conditioning for the first time ever in January. That just ain't right. This is the time of year I run my furnace and put logs in my fireplace.

I hope we get some days like this when Mom and Dad are here.

Come To The Tandy Hills: Prairie Notes From Don Young

Prairie Notes: October 26, 2008
Orchids & Earth-movers

My Indian Summer Sunday Morning God, I Hate Gas Drilling Hike turned out to be more than expected. While evil-doers ripped into ancient prairie soil within earshot, I contemplated the contrast between short sighted human greed vs. Mother Nature's long term, yet fragile, superiority. blah blah blah. It's too early in the morning for such thoughts. I needed a distraction.

Nodding Ladies' Tresses, to be precise. (Spiranthes cernua to be more precise.) Distraction accomplished.

One year after record rainfall resulted in tall-grass heaven at Tandy Hills Natural Area, a nagging drought has severely stunted the autumn grasses and wildflowers. Nevertheless, Tandy Hills has a knack for surprises.

Over the years I have observed that these sparsely scattered orchids prefer an east-facing, partially shaded slope. That describes exactly the conditions where I spotted about a dozen blooming plants. Their fragrance is almost enough to make one forget the diesel-powered injustice being committed a short distance away.

Walking back up the hill, my eyes caught a fleeting glimpse of (I think) a Cooper's Hawk arching overhead. (Tandy Hills is home to a pair of them.) I am always struck by the speed of these birds of prey. They move so fast I've yet to get a proper ID on them.

The new drill pad next door has the hawks (and me) on full alert. While I worry they feast on escaping rodents. That may be good for their short term needs, but I worry about the long run. Their habitat has been reduced by another five acres and more acreage loss is probable. The air up there is more toxic than before. The noise, dust, polluted water, etc. from drilling operations is bound to put their health and safety at risk. I guess the same can be said for us bipedal primates who haven't yet escaped.

But worry not. Today we have orchids. Don't miss them.

Come to the meadow and get distracted from whatever is bothering you.

DY

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DY's convinced me. I'm in the need for distracting, so I think it's off to the Tandy Hills again today, in search of an orchid.