Wichita Bluffs Nature Area Wildflowers

This is the time of year when Texas is at its most scenic. Well, more accurately, this is the only time of year when the Texas landscape is naturally scenic.

As you can see, the Wichita Bluffs Nature Area is alive with a little color, and a lush jungle of green. 

Til today it had been awhile since I went hiking on the Wichita Bluffs. I do not remember last spring, or the spring before that, the Wichita Bluffs being this green, with so many wildflowers.

Conditions this year must be optimum for wildflowers to bloom. Even so, I have only seen the State Wildflower of Texas where people have planted it in their landscaping at their house. I've not seen a single bluebonnet blooming naturally anywhere on the landscape at my location in North Texas.

The last time I visited the Wichita Bluffs, the area where Hoodoos arise, the area had no Hoodoos. Today there was the Hoodoo you see above. There were no wildflowers blooming by the Hoodoo.

I think the orange wildflower you see above is known as an Indian Paintbrush. I could easily be wrong about that. I have no idea what the purplish/blue wildflower's name is.

As you can see, via the photo at the top, it is cloudy here today. A slight drizzle drizzled whilst I was hiking.

Yesterday the outer world heated to nearly 90. Today a big chill has cooled the outer world down into the 50s. Thunderstorms are on the weather menu for later today...

Foggy Drizzly Walk With Colorful Texas Wildflowers

You can not quite tell so via the photo documentation above, so I will just have to tell you, today, on this next to last Friday of the 2021 version of April, the outer world at my location is overcast with a drizzly fog that one expects to find this time of year on an ocean beach, not hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean.

By late afternoon the clouds are predicted to thicken and produce thunder. This time of year when thunder comes to town tornadoes often follow. 

I have had little endorphin inducing aerobic activity the past couple days, so this morning I ventured out to do some fast walking on the Circle Trail.

Heading south on the Circle Trail I soon came to the colorful collection of Texas wildflowers you see above. These are located a short distance from where the Circle Trail passes under the Southwest Boulevard bridge over Holliday Creek.

Wikipedia has a Holliday Creek article, which should be illuminating for anyone thinking Holliday only has one 'l'.

Nurse Linda Lou has me finally getting an appointment to get the COVID vaccine. I can not remember when I was last shot for anything. I can not remember any shots this century.

Salubrious Sikes Lake Wichita Falls Wildflower Walk

Today I opted to follow my pseudo doctor's advice to stay off my bike and go on a long walk instead, because, according to that pseudo doctor's analysis, my aching joints are due to too much time spent sitting on a saddle and not enough time spent vertical in walk or hike mode.

And so today I took a long walk to Sikes Lake.

I was not long into walking before I realized it had been a long time since I had done such a thing. I soon found walking conducive to thinking about things I might not have thought about whilst engaging in the more active activity of riding a bike.

That and whilst walking I was easily able to stop and smell the roses. Well. Primroses. As in Evening Primroses, currently in their annual bloom mode.

Above you see a patch in the pink at Sikes Lakes.

Walking along whilst thinking I dwelled a moment or two on a subject which has grown old, as in I've grown tired of a particular subject. With that subject being the Texas town I used to live in.

Fort Worth.

This morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram had way too much mocking material. Three front page headlines right in a row which caused a head shake and eye roll. Below are those three headlines, without the headlines linked to the actual pitifully embarrassing articles...

Why Fort Worth hopes sports is the tourism ticket

This north Fort Worth neighborhood will soon be getting a brand-new liquor store

Consultant for Amazon HQ2 explains how Fort Worth missed out

Anyone who has previously read what I have made note of about Fort Worth can probably guess what I might point out in these three articles.

Two of the three are examples of Fort Worth's tendency to delusion, as reflected in the town's sad excuse for a newspaper.

One of the three is just an embarrassing front page headline to see in a newspaper in a town of over 800,000 population.

I am sort of falling behind in pointing out embarrassing things I've been reading in the Star-Telegram. Maybe I will get around to catching up. Maybe not....

Hot Humid Wildflowers Before Arctic Chill

I have been having myself a day of computer aggravation. I shan't bore you or myself with the details.

Suffice to say the upper limits of my blood pressure have been tested.

Around noon, not realizing the outer world was HOT, extremely humid and almost totally wind-free, I decided to go on a walk south on the Circle Trail.

The walk south turned into a short walk south due to that aforementioned unexpected HOT humid thing.

Just yesterday I mentioned the shortage of wildflowers coloring up the landscape at my location in North Texas, particularly the total absence of the State Wildflower of Texas, the Bluebonnet.

Well, today, just a short distance south of my abode I came upon the colorful spread of wildflowers you above.

But again, no Bluebonnets.

About an hour after my return to my abode the wind suddenly began howling from the north. The wind from the north brought a quick drop in temperature. It is no longer HOT and humid.

Today I was the closest yet this year to firing up the air-conditioning, but then that Arctic blast from the north arrived, putting off for another day the beginning of this year's cooling season...

At Fosdick Lake Walking By Uprooted Trees With Wildflowers Prior To A Town Talk Visit Ending South Of The Border

Inclement weather, in the form of rain mixed with some thunder, last night, again rendered Gateway Park and the Tandy Hills likely muddy, so, just like last Saturday, I opted to walk around Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park for my Saturday pre-Town Talk communing with nature.

The wind damage from the storm two Thursday's ago is still in evidence all over Oakland Lake Park. The fallen trees have been chainsawed into pieces, for the most part, with the brush and wood chunks gathered in dozens of piles, either awaiting being picked up or dried up enough to become a few dozen bonfires.

Most of the tree damage was in the form of the wind snapping off a chunk of a tree, or snapping the tree midway up the trunk. The tree remains you see above is the only instance I saw where the wind totally yanked the tree out of the ground, leaving a big hole, currently filled with water.

Yesterday the outer world was heated well into the 90s, with shorts being my only outerwear for most of the day. This morning the outer world was chilled to somewhere in the 50s, making the pool feel much warmer than the air. Out and about today I was in long pants with a long sleeved shirt. And was still a bit chilly whilst walking, at first. Eventually I warmed up, a little. Currently, at 2 in the afternoon, we are still chilled into the 50s, 59 to be precise.

Changing the subject back to walking around Fosdick Lake.

The past week or two I've been seeing the wildflower you see below sprouting colorful at the various locations I find myself rolling or walking.

I don't remember wildflowers blooming this time of the year. But, my memory is very faulty, so I've likely forgotten. I'm thinking maybe renowned Fort Worth Horticulturist, CatsPaw may be able to identify this late bloomer.

Every gas station I came across today whilst out and about had gas under $3. The cheapest I saw was $2.93.

The Town Talk parking lot was near capacity, filling me with a little dread of a crowd inside. But, inside the store was not overcrowded and I had zero wait in the checkout line to get a case of yogurt made from soy and coconut, a big bag of orange, yellow and red mini-sweet peppers, cheese from my home country of Holland, red beans, white spuds, orange carrots and other stuff I am not remembering right now.

Leaving Town Talk I headed north on Beach Street with the El Rancho Supermercado as my destination. I wanted some of their hot out of the oven flour tortillas. That and I find this store to be like a trip south of the border.

Speaking of tortillas. Hunger pains are telling me it is time now to make me some bean and cheese tortillas.

An October Hike In The Colorfully Lush Tandy Hills Jungle

I had not noticed this particular view you are seeing in the picture on the left, til today, that being a solo skyscraper rising from the Tandy Hills jungle.

Is there any other town in America with a population over a half million with a big chunk of wilderness so close to its downtown?

I  would guess not.

With two thirds of October gone, along with a third of Fall, shouldn't the lush green of the Tandy Hills be turning into Autumn colors?

Additionally perplexing is the volume of wildflowers currently coloring up the Tandy Hills landscape. I do not remember this in Octobers past. And why are the Tandy Hills being so green whilst the Great Texas Drought continues? By the end of the Summer of 2012 the Tandy Hills were showing the effects of the drought, with a lot of foliage in death throes.

But now, in  the Fall of 2013 the hills are alive with color, such as what you see below.

Hundreds of these yellow blooms are busy blooming on the Tandy Hills. These flowers look like the result of a liaison between a sunflower and a dandelion. Perhaps renowned Fort Worth horticulturist, CatsPaw, can identify this yellow flower and the other yellow flowers in the picture below.

The yellow sunflower dandelions share a color scheme, and growing space, with a much smaller yellow flower which is currently carpeting large sections of the Tandy Hills.

The temperature conditions are currently perfect for some hill hiking. Not too hot, not too cold.

I wish I could say the same for my swimming pool.  But the temperature conditions are currently not perfect. As in too cold. But, I managed to have myself a bracing swim this morning of short, but vigorous, duration.

In incoming email I just got a Travelocity fare alert for Phoenix. Roundtrip for only $110. How can that be?

My mom wants me to come to Phoenix in December. Is this fare alert one of those omen things telling me to book a flight? Even though I have a very very strong relative reason not to want to go to Phoenix in December.

Walking With Wildflowers & Indian Ghosts After Voting For Basham, Nold & Kelleher

Prior to getting my daily aerobically induced endorphins I did my civic duty and voted for Basham, Nold & Kelleher for the Tarrant Regional Water District Board.

Prior to voting I met a local political celebrity. More on that in a subsequent blogging.

I do early voting at the Handley Community Center. Early voting uses these video game type voting machines. One would think I would remember how these video game type voting machines work, but I always seem to spend a second or two a bit bum puzzled.

This time the bum puzzlement came from the code entering part of the process that one must do before doing the voting. My code was 5099. But, I somehow read that as 5009. I caught my error before hitting the enter button.

The only other thing on the ballot, besides the Water Board, was two choices for City Council. Danny Scarth, I think that's how you spell the last name, and some guy I'd never heard of. I knew Danny Scarth is the incumbent and I knew I did not want to vote for him. Since I knew nothing about the other guy, I did not vote for a city councilman.

The ladies who run the early voting always seem to be having themselves a real fine time.

After doing my civic duty I drove to Arlington to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to have myself a pleasant walk with the Native American Ghosts who haunt this location.

As you can see an orange yellow wildflower is now dominating the Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Wildflower Area.

Walking Around Fosdick Lake With Pink Wildflowers & Tortilla Pizza For Lunch

Fosdick Flowers

Today, for my last day of September, Sunday walk in the wild, I went to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdick Lake.

Thanks to Mother Nature's irrigation intervention in the past 24 hours a forest of pink wildflowers was busy blooming near the Fosdick Lake Dam spillway.

Dozens upon dozens upon dozens of pink flowers made the landscape look as if it is Spring, not Fall, not sliding down the slippery slope towards Winter.

I saw no turtles today. They are likely traumatized by the cool temperature. The Fosducks seemed to be in a very good mood, doing a lot of melodic quacking.

Changing the subject from quacking to pizza.

I invented a new pizza for lunch today. Took large whole wheat tortillas, covered them with spaghetti sauce, then black olives, green olives and mushrooms, then shredded 4-cheese Mexican blend I got yesterday from Town Talk. Roasted the pizzas for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Very tasty.

However, due to the thin nature of the tortillas, to render the pizza edible it had to be folded over, ala a taco.

Anonymous Animal Encounters With Giant Purple Flowers On The Tandy Hills

Today I came upon some new color brightening up the Tandy Hills in the form of the giant, purple orchid-like bloom you see in the picture.

It was slightly warm, in the mid 80s, when I hit the hills today to get some much needed endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

Coming up a hill I was startled by a large animal running across the path ahead of me. I only saw it for a flash and have no idea what it was.

Giant roadrunner? Scrawny coyote? Cougar? Bobcat? Olive the Prairie Dog?

I don't know. It was fast and long gone by the time I got to the top of the hill.

Currently, back in air-conditioned comfort, the outer world is being heated to 92 degrees, as measured by a thermometer device, with the humidity having the air feeling like it is 102 degrees.

I have a relative issue or two that weighs on my melancholy mind. For some reason watching the re-boot of Dallas heightened my melancholy feeling. Why? I have no idea.

I was up early this morning and in the pool shortly after the sun arrived.

I don't think I'm getting enough exercise, so this evening I think I will check out the mountain bike trail at River Legacy Park that was looking fun when I saw it yesterday.

Hiking The Tandy Hills With A Howling Wind & Yellow Wildflowers

As you can see via today's noontime view from atop Mount Tandy, looking west over the wagon train trail that leads towards the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, storm clouds have blown in to North Texas.

Blown in by a very strong wind.

I can not remember the last really bad storm to rattle my location. Stormy weather with bolts of lightning, downpours and tornado sirens blaring used to happen fairly frequently

I can not remember the last time I heard a tornado siren. Or Pete Delkus interrupting prime time TV with one of his breathless weather warning reports about a circulating cell somewhere within a couple hundred mile range.

The wind has turned up its volume and is now doing some howling and whistling.

An Early March Tandy Hills Wildflower Bloom

The best howling wind I've ever heard was during a blizzard whilst in a log cabin at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. That happened in late October, if I remember right.

Today on the Tandy Hills I saw several instances of a freshly bloomed yellow wildflower. I don't recollect seeing this particular wildflower before, but I'm sure I have.

I am fairly certain I will be missing Prairie Fest One that I believe happens later this month.

The Tandy Hills' wildflowers need to start waking up and coloring the hills for all the incoming Prairie Festers.

New Tandy Hills Wildflowers Enjoying Pleasant Temperatures Waiting For More Rain

Freshly Sprouted Tandy Hills Wildflowers

Today on the Tandy Hills I came upon a patch of freshly sprouted light purple wildflowers that had sprouted since I was at the same location this past Saturday.

It seems as if the long drought is causing some wildflowers to get excited when a little rain falls, causing them to go into sprouting mode.

I somehow thought the time of the year had come to an end where I'd be running my air-conditioner. I thought wrong.

It is currently 84 degrees in the outer world in my location.

Swimming was very pleasant this morning. It should also be very pleasant tomorrow morning. And then a lot less pleasant on Thursday morning with a big drop in temperature, with predicted heavy rain. I heard mention made on the radio of big incoming storms on Thursday, but no mention was made of these storms being thunderstorms. I suppose on this parched part of the planet that goes without saying.

I am almost 100% certain I will not be on the Tandy Hills tomorrow in the noon time frame. I am currently scheduled to be at the Fort Worth Stockyards tomorrow.

A Sunny Yellow Wildflower Sprouts Today In Drought Stricken Texas On The Dry Tandy Hills

Today, in the noon time frame, was my first time back to the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area since Saturday.  

Clouds, a semi-cool temperature and a breeze made for some pleasant hill hiking.

I do not believe any significant precipitation has precipitated on to the Tandy Hills to account for the sprouting out of some colorful wildflowers since my Saturday visit.

Wildflowers like the sunny yellow flower you see in the picture.  I only saw one of these, in one location, at the north side of Mount Tandy, southeast of Dry Tandy Falls.

Stalks with purple flowers are now sprouting all over the Tandy Hills.

Swimming this morning was pleasantly cold. But apparently it did not aerobicize me to a level sufficient to release pain reducing, mood elevating endorphins.

I think, post hiking, that I'm feeling less pain and my mood may be slightly elevated above its pre-hiking doldrums.

It may be the endorphins speaking, but I think I want to move to Florida.

But, before I do that, I need to have lunch, which is now available. This I know because the lunch buzzer is buzzing.

Playing Golf With The Fosdic Lake Turtles & White Wildflowers Sprouting In Oakland Lake Park

White Fosdic Wildflower

I was blocked today from walking in Quanah Parker Park because of City Gas Lease Revenue in Action.

I blogged about this blockage a couple minutes ago.

With access to Quanah Parker Park blocked my next closest park, to take my aching feet to, was Oakland Lake Park, to walk around Fosdic Lake.

I walked around Fosdic Lake on Sunday. On Sunday there were no flowers blooming. Today white wildflowers were blooming in multiple locations throughout the grasslands of Oakland Lake Park.

I suspect last Friday's rain unleashed these white wildflowers.

I found several white golf balls today, in addition to the white wildflowers. I won't detail what I did with the golf balls. Suffice to say, turtles were involved and I do not have a good throwing arm.

I think I am continuing to have an allergic reaction to something I am breathing. This leaves me a bit dizzy every once in awhile.

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.

The Shadow Of The Fosdic Lake Thin Man On An Oakland Lake Park Ledge Thinking About Wink & Roy Orbison

The Shadow of the Thin Man was not on the Tandy Hills today. Instead the Shadow went walking around Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park in Fort Worth in Texas.

I was sitting on the Fosdic Lake Pavilion's rock ledge when I looked down and saw my shadow. So, I stood on the ledge and took a picture. It made for a very different Shadow of the Thin Man picture than those that happen on the Tandy Hills.

Last night I got email from a New York based rock critic who is busy writing an article for Billboard magazine about Roy Orbison.

The hunt for Roy Orbison info led the New York based rock critic to my bloggings about Wink. It sounded like he did not make it all the way to the bloggings about Wink's Roy Orbison Festival. I told him that the Queen of Wink was his go to girl for info about Wink and Roy Orbison, saying I'd forward his query to the Queen of Wink today. And then I forgot. I'll take care of that as soon as I am done with this blogging.

Change of subject back to Fosdic Lake.

It is always a harbinger of the upcoming arrival of spring, and its wildflowers, when I see the first of a special delicate very bright yellow flower.

I would have picked a bouquet of those yellow beauties except for the disturbing fact that they don't really have a very pleasant fragrance.

I don't remember if I've mentioned it before, but I'm from the Pacific Northwest, Western Washington to be precise. The Skagit Valley of Western Washington to be even more precise.

Up in the mountains in Washington you will see wildflowers. But not so much in the lowlands. In the lowlands you see a lot of flowers though. Fields of tulips, flags, irises and bright yellow daffodils of the same type bright yellow as the Fosdic Lake yellow wildflowers.

An XTO Energy Gas Site Blows Frac While I See My First Tandy Wildflower Of The Year & Contemplate Taking A Trip To TRIP

The arrival of the first wildflowers coloring up the Tandy Hills was a good indication today that spring is almost here.

Only 15 days until we can say goodbye to the worst winter I've experienced in all the years of my Texas exile.

Yesterday I blogged about a potential gas leak at an XTO Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Operation next to Pappy Elkins Lake in Dalworthington Gardens.

Today, the source of the potential gas leak information, Kim, followed up with what she's found out about what happened at the XTO site next to a lake and apartments and Veterans Park, in Arlington....

Last night, the Dalworington Gardens XTO site had a failed valve and loudly blew (radioactive?) frac sand all in the air near an apt. complex and never called the incident in to the RRC. Since I called this in (thanks to an email tip), the RRC rep called me back and told me that the choke valve leaked into their cellar and blew frac sand out of the well. XTO shut in the well and made the repair. While there was "wash out" in the area, no chlorides or effluents came off the pad into Pappy Elkins Lake. I do not know if any evacuations of the nearby apartments were attempted.  Also unknown is if any people were exposed to any gas or other effluents that the frac sand was under pressure from. 

On a different incident, the drilling spill at Lake Arlington last summer was reported by the Star Telegram as a small water spill, but a report I received today states that at least 95 barrels of produced water was recovered. The five barrels is what they estimate made its way into the lake which is the drinking source for over 500,000 souls.

My next door Chesapeake Energy drilling site has erupted with loud noises a couple times, loud popping noises. I did not know about the Lake Arlington spill. Lake Arlington is fairly close to my abode.

Change of subject. Back to the Tandy Hills. In the picture we are looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth. As you can see it was a bit overcast in the noon time frame. It has since brightened up a bit.

I may be taking a TRIP to the west side of beautiful downtown Fort Worth in a couple hours.

Today's Shadow Of The Tandy Thin Man Thinking About Good News For Fort Worth's Paradise Center

The sun was in full exposure mode at noon today, which brought the Shadow of the Tandy Thin Man into view. Because it was noon it made for a very short Shadow of the Tandy Thin Man.

Sources close to the situation tell me that there may be good news soon about the Paradise Center. It seems there are some good people in Fort Worth who when they learn someone has done a bad deed, come forward and try to help right the wrong.

I also heard from Wandalyn again. Wandalyn is going to look into the idea of starting a blog as a memorial to her murdered daughter.

And, as if Wandalyn does not have enough grief, she was coming home to the apartment she lives in with another daughter, to find the body of a young black man. Shot in the head. Wandalyn called 911 and then waited by the bod until police arrived.

I saw my first Tandy Hills wildflowers of the year today.

68 degrees out there coming up on 4 in the afternoon. My windows are open. Daylight Savings Time starts up March 13. I would prefer it not to start up.

Village Creek Natural Historic Area's Brown Bayou, Wildflowers & Canyon Animals

Freezing temperatures have turned brown the Village Creek Historic Natural Area's Bayou. Yet, even in its decayed state the bayou was a scenic spot today. A coldly scenic spot.

Deep inside the Grand Canyon of Village Creek I saw a helmeted female on a Village Creek Beach having a confrontation with some sort of wild animal that I was unable to identify.

I searched the Village Creek Natural Historic Area's designated Wildflower Area for some wildflowers, to no avail. I'll keep checking. In a few months I suspect wildflowers may appear.

Snakes & Wildflowers Coloring Up Fort Worth's Tandy Hills

The first of October is tomorrow. On this, the last day of September, there are still wildflowers coloring up the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

Today it was the pink wildflower you see in the picture that decided it was the right time to bloom.

Until this year I had never seen a snake on the Tandy Hills. And then months ago I saw a skinny green snake slithering on the Tandy Highway.

Then a month or so ago I saw a 6 foot long snake slither up a Tandy Hills tree.

And now, today, I saw a gun-metal gray snake about 3 feet long, sunning itself. This snake was doing its sunbathing on the trail that is the first right after the first right on the main trail off View Street.

I did a little foot stomping which woke the snake from its sunbathing slumber and got it slithering out of my way.

It is not very warm today, low 80s. I don't know how cold it has to get for the reptiles to get in slow motion mode.

And what is behind this epidemic of snakes on the Tandy Hills?

Hiking The Emerald Forest Of The Tandy Hills With Wildflowers, Recovering Queens, Gar The Texan's Erudition & Smart Phones

You are looking at a trail deep in the Emerald Forest of the Tandy Hills, around noon, today. This particular trail is found after you cross the dried up Tandy Falls, where nothing is currently falling, at the end of the new Tandy Highway, that the Fort Worth Water Crew made passable.

Speaking of falls, this morning on another blog I blogged about Nooksack Falls. I mentioned Nooksack Falls a couple days ago. Due to it causing me bad nightmares.

I returned to the Tandy Hills today for my salubrious aerobically induced endorphin fix because Stenotrophomonas informed me that Sunday's downpour did not pour down on the Tandy Hills.

Yesterday I mentioned being perplexed by a sign in the Village Creek Natural Historic Area that made no sense to me.

The sign said, "DANGER LOW WATER CROSSING".

The entity widely believed to be the most erudite person ever to have come from Wink, Texas, Gar the Texan, made sense of that sign for me.

Gar said, "The Golden Gate Bridge is a water crossing. It's a high water crossing; as in it's way up there. You aren't going to get wet crossing the water. A low water crossing also crosses water, but it's low. If the water rises too much, you're going to get wet. Anyway, it's not the water that is high or low. It's the crossing."

I think the rains of June and July and the high humidity have caused a slight resurgence of wildflowers coloring up the Tandy Hills prairie.

I don't know what I'd call the color of this delicate wildflower that was blooming solo, no relatives seen. I guess I might call the color faded lavender.

I heard from the Queen of Wink this morning. She has been laying low while she works out the kinks in her Top Secret Operation. She's had some computer issues. Even royalty has computer issues.

But, I suspect the Queen of Wink is the first queen anywhere using her phone to use Facebook.

Miss Puerto Rico got one of those new smart phones that can access websites, show movies, take movies, make movies, watch TV, do email and all sorts of others stuff.

Except it seems a bit weak on the classic phone operation.

As in, on Sunday, Miss PR got paged. When she went to call the number her new smart phone would balk at the 5th or 6th input. After she tried several times I asked if she wanted to try and make the call with my antique cell phone. She was able to make the call with no further problems. Using my extremely outdated un-smart phone.