Natural Refreshment at Village Creek Historical Area

By noon I'd grown weary of looking at a computer screen. The blue sky and the pleasant temperatures beckoned me outside. I decided to go to Village Creek Natural Historic Area Park to commune with nature and consult my travel guide book regarding my upcoming trip to South America.

This time of year for some reason the sun causes the leaves in the trees to glow like they are green light bulbs.

Where you see me sitting on a picnic table, reading, in the top photo, behind me, what you can't see, is a big pond. In that pond are a lot of turtles. And snakes. I
don't like sitting with my back to the snakes. There were a lot of frisky squirrels making a racket and making me a bit jumpy. Snakes make no noise when they slither up to you. At least I assume that to be the case. I've never actually had an incident where a snake slithered up to me.

A paved trail meanders through Village Creek Natural Historic Area. It crosses Village Creek in 2 places. Walking the Village Creek trail is very peaceful. For most of it you are under a tree canopy that is sort of jungle-like. River Legacy Park can be like that in places, too, but there are a lot more people at River Legacy. Village Creek is way more relaxing.

And you have all those Village Creek Indian spirits infusing their old homelands with some special voo-doo energy.

Cheryl Burke Has Got A Link To Me

GO TO MY DURANGO TV BLOG FOR MORE DWTS

Earlier today I blogged about Cheryl Burke and how a couple of insensitive obesity obsessers, Louis van Amstel and Maksim Chmerkovsky, had told TV Guide that they thought Cheryl Burke and Lacey Schwimmer, a pair of fellow pro dancers on Dancing With The Stars, were too fat.

So, I got back here from a salubrious visit to Village Creek Park, needed to clear my head from this morning's turmoil and checked in on my website stuff and found that my blog was getting a lot of hits from something called cherylburke.net. So, I clicked on cherylburke.net and was pleasantly surprised to find that Cheryl Burke has made a link to my blog on her website.

I've always felt sort of connected to her. And now even more so.

Gas Price Falls Fast In Fort Worth

Just a couple days ago I bought a couple gallons for, I think, $2.61.

And now today my neighborhood QT is practically giving it away for $2.39.

There are no long lines like what happened a couple weeks ago when a local rogue station started a gas war by lowering his station's price to the what seemed like a bargain at the time, now outrageous price of $2.99.

As my longtime reader may remember, whenever I get gas I call my mom in Phoenix. Today I couldn't find my phone, so mom got no gas call. I feel bad about that. I guess I should go find my phone.

Ron Howard Takes His Shirt Off To Endorse Obama

Ron Howard has used a YouTube video to let the world know he wants Barack Obama to be our next President.

In the video Ron Howard takes his hat and his shirt off and becomes Opie Taylor talking to his Pa, Andy Griffith, asking Andy why people are so stubbornly resistant to change and wishing he was old enough to vote for Obama.

After that Ron Howard becomes Richie Cunningham and has a talk with the Fonz where the Fonz has trouble admitting he was wrong to have voted for Bush/Cheney twice as they've led us down a wrong path.

Then Richie becomes Ron Howard again who then expands on his endorsement of Barack Obama. None of this had any influence on my vote. Because I've already voted.

Cheryl Burke & Lacey Schwimmer Are Too Fat?

GO TO MY DURANGO TV BLOG FOR MORE DWTS

I was surprised this morning to learn that there are some out there who have even more twisted obesity obsessions than me.

I'm talking about Louis van Amstel and Maksim Chmerkovsky.

Who are they you ask? Well, I've admitted before that I enjoy Dancing With The Stars. As do a lot of other people. Up til last week it'd been the top-rated show in the country til CSI took over the top spot.

Louis van Amstel and Maksim Chmerkovsky are two of the professional dancers. People have been commenting that a couple of the female pro dancers, Cheryl Burke and Lacey Schwimmer, have gotten too chunky. They don't look chunky to me.

But in the latest issue of TV Guide Louis said "People look at this show to be inspired and think, ‘If I just work hard enough, I can look like that.” If they watch someone who’s dancing her butt off and she’s still heavy, they can be discouraged. You have to take that responsibility."

I can't imagine how anyone could look at Cheryl Burke dancing and think geez that tub of lard is such a fattie, even after all that exercise, I'm just not gonna try anymore. It's hopeless. That's Cheryl Burke in the bikini. Does that look fat to you?

Chmerkovsky thinks so. Maks, who is one of my favorites, he's funny, said when he first saw Cheryl Burke and Lacey Schwimmer at the start of the season he told them, "Guys, you know the camera adds 10 pounds, you have to do something about this."

Both Cheryl and Lacey are still in the competition. Maks had to quit when his Olympic volleyball partner, who's name I do not remember, got injured while twirling around the dance floor. Ballroom dancing is a very dangerous sport. Lots of injuries. But, 82 year old Cloris Leachman continues to hang in there, being very funny and getting standing ovations.

It's Freezing In Texas But I'm Still Swimming

At midnight it was 58 here in Fort Worth. When I went swimming this morning it was 43. I did not last too long in the pool. It is 2 hours later and I'm still feeling cold. I've not felt this cold since I was up in Tacoma locked down in the basement.

Tonight the weather prediction is for our first frost of the year.

I don't know if I'll be tempted to see if I can actually get into the water when the air temp is below 32.

This morning, about 5 minutes into the icy pool, Miss Puerto Rico popped up, wearing a heavy jacket and gloves. She told me I was nuts. She may be right.

This morning while getting chilled to the bone it crossed my mind to wonder if a seriously obese person would get cold in cold water. They've got all that built-in insulation. I remember being around a morbidly obese person when I was in Washington last summer. I'd be shivering in the cold and this obese person would tell me I was being ridiculous. That's easy to say when you're sporting a 12 inch layer of insulating adipose tissue while all I've got between me and the elements is a thin T-shirt and thin cargo pants.

Rush Limbaugh & Sarah Palin's Quarter Million $ Wardrobe Budget

I've admitted before I find Rush Limbaugh to be pretty funny at times. But lately he is being way over the top with his strident yammering. I get an email from Rush every day that sums up his radio show. What got on my nerves today was the Rush outrage over the media fuss over Sarah Palin spending a quarter million Republican bucks on clothes. When just days ago it was from Rush I learned the story that turned out to be a lie about Michelle Obama eating way too much lobster.

On Today’s Show...

Show Highlight: "We still can't get a look into Bill Ayers or Jeremiah Wright or Tony Rezko or any of these other people allied with Obama, but we gotta look into Sarah Palin's wardrobe. Most candidates get their designer clothes for free, folks. She actually paid for them like a regular person."

The media smears Sarah Palin (the very kind of woman they claim to care about) for buying clothes. Who paid for Hillary's pantsuits, Pelosi's pearls, and Biden's hair plugs? You couldn't pay off one of Tim Mahoney's mistresses for 150 grand, or Jesse Jackson's, or John Edwards' -- not to mention the $80,000 Spitzer spent on hookers!

Obama "rushes" to his grandmother's bedside (after three days). He says you have to "put family first." Uh, how many of his half-siblings are living in squalor in huts?

The markets are hysterical on fear of a tax-raising, anti-business Obama presidency. Small businesses are terrified out there.

If Obama is so confident, why do he and Ed Rendell have to lie to old folks and try to scare them into voting Democrat? McCain will NOT cut Medicare or Social Security. Even Obama TV, MSNBC, says so.

Brian Williams asked McCain and Palin who "elitists" are, and they gave great answers. It's not an address; it's an attitude that you're better and smarter than others.

Pearl of Wisdom: "We don't get truth from the Drive-Bys Media, yet we live in a world that's ultimately governed by reality. Propaganda couldn't keep the Soviet Union afloat, and propaganda will not protect the media from collapse, either."

A caller asks why liberal Jewish folks support Obama. It's simple: to a liberal, liberalism is their religion and their #1 loyalty. Everything else takes a back seat.

We have a growing dependent class in this country -- and, of course, who are their biggest champions? Well, the Democrat Party is considered to be the party of caring and the little guy. But look at the lives of the people they claim to help. Have their lives improved after 40 years of Democrat "help," or are they still living in misery?

Hiking the Tandy Hills, Communing with Mother Nature & Trespassing on Chesapeake Energy

It got down to 41 degrees last night here in chilly Fort Worth. Right now, coming up on 4 in the afternoon we are in the 60s in this frigid zone. With it being so cold I thought this was a good day to go hiking in the Tandy Hills.

Fall has fallen hard in the past couple weeks, bringing color to the trees covering the Tandy Hills. When I first saw the Tandy Hills, years ago, I did not realize there were trails all over it. I'd been asked to go there for a Sierra Club hike. I drove up and saw all these old hippies and I thought they were nuts to go hiking out in that prairie grass. I figured it had to be infested with rattlesnakes and other vermin. I drove on.

It would be years til I would discover how hilly the Tandy Hills are and all the miles of well worn trails. I have yet to see a single snake slithering anywhere on the Tandy Hills. I haven't even seen an armadillo there. I have seen a lot of squirrels. But they are everywhere.

After I was done hunting for rattlesnakes I decided to go check on Mother Nature. My longtime reader may remember me mentioning the piece of art known as Mother Nature that some anonymous nature lover had placed on Scott Avenue near the entrance to where Chesapeake Energy has deeply scarred the Tandy Hills.

When I found Mother Nature it appeared that Mother Nature had blown her over. It did get rather windy yesterday. Mother Nature has had some things added to her since I last saw her. Someone had added "I Know" above her head. I don't think that was there the last time I saw her.

When I was done looking at Mother Nature I got back in my vehicle and decided I didn't see the little "NO TRESPASSING" sign attached to the gate at the entry to the Chesapeake Energy Tandy Hills Barnett Shale natural gas drilling site.

I was surprised to see the driveway to a house right by the gate. Those unlucky people are in for some really noisy nights and an awful lot of dust.

It appears this stage of the operation is still in site preparation mode. I saw bulldozers and other pieces of equipment and one wrecked car. I did not see any humans directly, but I assume that that was what was operating the moving equipment.

I'll check in on Mother Nature again in a week or two to see how she is doing.

Fort Worth Stockyard's Police Harrassment

Fort Worth's Stockyards are, for me, the best part of Fort Worth. I always enjoy going there. I've only been to the Stockyards a couple times when the night life wakes up. It can be a bit of a raucous place.

I totally understand the need for security and a police presence.

But it seems the Fort Worth police may be going a bit overboard, judging from surveillance camera video that has been YouTubed showing what would appear to be a ridiculous number of police harassing people going to the Neon Moon Saloon and La Rumba. These are located directly across from Billy Bob's. Billy Bob's is the world's biggest honkytonk.

During these police incursions no arrests are made. So, if no one is doing any arrest worthy deeds, what's with all the police descending on these places?

Watch the video below and see what you think. Go to YouTube, here, and you can see many more surveillance footage tapes showing the same type thing....

Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake Energy and the Seattle Sonics

In a wonderful piece of poetic justice Chesapeake Energy's CEO, Aubrey McClendon lost a couple billion bucks a couple weeks ago during the worst of the financial meltdown. His company has been in full retreat ever since.

FW Weekly's cover article this week is an in depth look at Chesapeake Energy's CEO Aubrey McClendon.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before but I'm originally from the Seattle zone of the country. The only professional sport I've ever had any interest in is basketball. I've been to a lot of Seattle Sonics games.

So, I followed the developments that led to Seattle refusing to give in to the Sonic's new owners demands for a new basketball arena to replace one the voters had just spent hundreds of millions of dollars on in the early 1990s, with the result being that the Seattle Sonics are now the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but I can be really dense sometimes. I did not realize that the lying schemer who bought the Sonics is the same lying schemer who runs Chesapeake Energy. Sometimes I simply am not able to connect the most simple of dots.

Most of the FW Weekly article is about McClendon's other dirty dealings, mention was made of McClendon and the Sonics. Here's an excerpt below...

From the beginning, the new ownership group assured Seattle fans that the team would stay there. And like most team owners, they wanted tax money to refurbish Key Arena, to the tune of $300 million. Negotiations with local and state officials continued into this year.

But while the other Oklahoma City-based owners were publicly saying the team would stay put, McClendon let the truth out. In an interview last April with The Journal Record, an Oklahoma City business publication, McClendon said, “We didn’t buy the team to keep it in Seattle, we hoped to come here. We know it’s a little more difficult financially here in Oklahoma City, but we think it’s great for the community and if we could break even we’d be thrilled.

“To the great amazement and surprise of everyone in Seattle,” he said, “some rednecks from Oklahoma, which we’ve been called, made off with the team.” To the amazement of Seattle political leaders, McClendon made that statement while negotiations were still going on.

Click to read the entire FW Weekly article about Aubrey McClendon and his dirty dealings.