Drinking Bad Coffee Under A Stormy Sky With The Indian Ghosts At Village Creek

In the picture you are looking south from the viewing platform overlooking the Village Creek Bayou in Arlington.

As you can see, in the noon time frame, walking among the ghosts and under the oak trees of Village Creek was a bit on the dark and stormy side of a usually bright, sunny day.

Last week I mentioned that water was again flowing through Village Creek, despite the ongoing Great Texas Drought of 2011.

The water began flowing through Village Creek at the same time that 3 water pipelines, courtesy of Chesapeake Energy, ran along the road that leads to Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

I speculated that the reason water was flowing through Village Creek was because Chesapeake Energy needed it so they could do some fracking.

Well, more circumstantial evidence disappeared today. As in the 3 water pipelines are now gone. And water is no longer flowing through Village Creek.

Coincidence? I think not.

Changing the subject from possible coincidences to coffee.

I have never mastered the art of making good tasting coffee. I gave up years ago. I may have mentioned previously that the best coffee I've ever had was had at the WinStar Casino's buffet, in the year of 2004, when I met fellow former Washingtonian, Mrs. McP, for lunch and coffee.

Over the years I've tried grinding coffee beans with no noticeable improvement. I do not recollect doing so ever since I moved to Texas, along with my coffee grinder, which was one of the few kitchen things I did not give my nephew upon moving.

Well. At Town Talk on Wednesday they had bags of coffee beans. From Safeway. They don't have Safeways in Texas. I believe here Safeway is called Tom Thumb. I don't ever go in to a Tom Thumb, so I've no idea if Tom Thumb sells stuff with the Safeway Select brand on the label.

So, I've no idea where Town Talk's Safeway Select coffee came from.

And if you think where this is leading is me saying that I finally made a good cup of coffee, well, you would be wrong. I'm drinking it right now, the first batched brewed with the Town Talk beans.

It's worse than my usual coffee.

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head On The Tandy Hills While I Think About Drinking The Best Coffee In The World In Oklahoma

In the picture it is a little after noon looking west from the Tandy Hills at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, with a rare shroud of cloud overhead.

That shroud of cloud had a few raindrops falling on my head, but not enough to dampen my regular overly sunny disposition.

The hills were cooled to the low 80s today. Very pleasant. The outer world has since heated up to around 94, coming up on 4 in the afternoon.

It is highly unlikely today will hit the 100 degree mark. So, maybe the HOT nonsense is over for the year.

Changing the subject from HOT temperatures to HOT coffee.

Of late I've found the need to amp up my coffee consumption to counter going in to low energy mode in the late afternoon. I have never learned to make good tasting coffee.

I do not mind my bad tasting coffee in the morning when it is primarily used for perk me up purposes. But, in the afternoon, I would like coffee that tasted better.

Years ago I met up with Miss Chris McMoosejaw up at the WinStar Casino in Oklahoma to have a very long lunch at the buffet. After the buffeting was done we had coffee. We ended up staying there at least 3 hours drinking coffee. With us both being from the Coffee Capital of the World, that being the Pacific Northwest zone centered around Seattle, we know good coffee.

We both agreed that coffee we were drinking in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma was the best we'd ever had. Eventually the nice Okie who kept our cups filled fetched us the information as to what brand of coffee it was we were drinking and how it was brewed. That information has been lost in the fog of time.

Sometime after that first exposure to the best coffee in the world I returned to WinStar with another Pacific Northwest coffee drinker. Again the Okie coffee was proclaimed to be the best ever.

I must remember to Google for "good coffee" after I'm done blogging and drinking this bad coffee I've currently brewed.

I Am A Drug Addict

Yes. It's true. I am a drug addict. I've got 2 monkeys on my back. One in the morning. One at night. The morning monkey has plagued me for decades. I've tried to get the morning monkey off my back but the withdrawal headaches are so bad I've never stayed clean for long.

Every morning my day starts off with me laying on the floor, reading a newspaper and drinking 5 or 6 cups off coffee. The current pattern is I get wired up and then go swimming. This morning that happened a bit past 7. Overnight the low got to 45, the high at midnight was 60. The water didn't feel any colder than yesterday.

I used to think I had to drink coffee in the afternoon, by 4pm, or I'd get a coffee withdrawal headache. I long broke free of that habit and I no longer get headaches. The only thing these days that makes my head ache is if I am around annoying people. I know no annoying people in Texas, so I'm pretty much headache free.

My other drug addiction started last summer when I was in Tacoma. I was having trouble sleeping so I started taking Unisom sleeping pills. I continued taking them when I got back to Texas. I hate insomnia and these pills pretty much knock me out, yet I'm able to wake up early without being at all drowsy.

But, I believe the sleeping pills are part of the cause of my periodic high blood pressure. So, last night I stopped taking sleeping pills cold turkey. And I had no problem sleeping

I know the coffee also contributes to high blood pressure. And may contribute to having trouble sleeping. Maybe I could cut back, but there's no way I'm going through coffee withdrawal again.

I may have a 3rd drug addiction. That being an addiction to endorphins. If I don't do an aerobic exercise thing during the day I start feeling not so good. This is why I think I'm liking this early morning ice cold swim. It starts the day off with a good combo of caffeine and endorphins that leaves me feeling a bit sedated.

I don't think I'll give up the exercise endorphin addiction. If anything I may amp it up so as to tire myself out so as to sleep easily without craving a sleeping pill.

It's difficult coping with these addictions, there are no support groups, but I get by, taking it one day at a time.