Hillary Clinton Physically Assaults Barack Obama

Yesterday I checked in on Fort Worth's best blogger and found myself amused by a YouTube video in which Hillary battles Barack with a light saber in a futile effort to get him to come over to the Dark Side. The Force continues to be with Barack, though, with a lot of support, including Abraham Lincoln.

Rattlesnake Phobia

When I began my exile in Texas back in 1999 I think the #1 thing that concerned me about Texas (at that point in time) was I knew rattlesnakes, copperheads and water moccasins lived in Texas. Along with tarantulas.

On the west side of the mountains, in Washington, there are no poisonous snakes. Eastern Washington does have rattlesnakes, but I never saw one. I do remember a ranger at Sun Lakes State Park once warning my brother and me of a bunch of rattlers ahead in the canyon we were climbing around in.

When I was first in Texas, at my first abode, I had to walk out a long driveway to get my morning paper. It took me along time to quit worrying I'd encounter a snake.

I was swimming in Lake Grapevine in July of 2002. I knew there were water moccasins in the lake. Suddenly a reptilian head popped up in my face. I did not know I was able to swim as fast as I did. The temps were well over 100. Forgetting that, I ran out on the metal floating dock to see if I could see the snake. I was jumping up and down cuz the deck was so hot. After a minute or so of hot footing it a big turtle popped up instead of a snake. They can bite you too, it just isn't poisonous. I've not been back in Lake Grapevine.

And then in 2003 I went to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup. Sweetwater is a town out in west Texas, about 200 miles from my current location. At the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup I saw hundreds of snakes. I heard many rattling. At first I was unsettled by all the up close and personal contact I was seeing with the snakes, but I got used to it.

I'd bought my first video camcorder the week before I went to Sweetwater. The YouTube video below is the first video I made. Hence the goofy bad titles at the start. But, even though this was my first video, and with it only being on YouTube for a few months, it is by far my most viewed video with almost 2000 viewings.

The rattlesnakes at Sweetwater were the first I'd seen in Texas. My snake fear had had some reinforcement via copperhead and water moccasin encounters at a Indian Village Park in Arlington. And I've had many non-poisonous snake encounters at River Legacy Park. You can go here and see a photo of a huge snake blocking my way at River Legacy.

So, one week after hearing all those rattles rattling at Sweetwater I was biking the Extreme Trail at Cedar Hills State Park's mountain bike trail in Dallas. I was nearing the top of Expletive Ridge when I let out an expletive, not due to the steep, punishing hill, but due to the no mistaking what it was loud sound of a rattlesnake rattle. I looked to my right and there it was, bigger than any I'd seen in Sweetwater, its rattle in fully erect position and shaking hard as the snake slithered away. I suspect it'd been napping on the sun warmed trail when the sound of me coming up the hill woke it up.

The rattlesnake encounter sent my adrenaline into overdrive. The section of trail after Expletive Ridge went through a marshy, tall grass area. Prime snake territory it seemed to me. I pedalled as fast as I could to get through it and was real happy when I reached a much broader section of trail.

I have not been back to Expletive Ridge since, because of the rattler encounter, plus the fact that the trail was destroyed by a 13 inch rain and has only recently re-opened with newly built trails.

It amazes me how my snake phobia has so greatly diminished over the years. It doesn't even cross my mind anymore, even when hiking in a real wild place like Tandy Hills Park. Of course, all it would take is one close snake encounter and my phobia will be back.

JFK Assassination Anniversary

Yes. I know it isn't November 22. But I'm busy doing something that requires me to concentrate my limited brainpower, so I've got not enough mental bandwidth to think of anything to blog about. But, my YouTube videos now seem to work just fine in this Blog.

Back in 2003 I went to Dealey Plaza in Dallas for the 40th Anniversary of the JFK Assassination. This event drew a huge crowd, as you will see in the video. Many very moving and very odd things occurred during this event, the most macabre being police arriving in riot gear just as the moment marking the firing of the sniper's gun arrived, diverting everyone's attention. I did not catch the police on video, I had my digital camera out when they arrived. You can see the police and more photos from that day by going to my Eyes on Texas website. And below you can watch the video I took that day.

Paula Abdul is a Precious Gift

Paula Abdul had one of her better moments of ditsy weirdness on Tuesday's American Idol. The 5 remaining singers were to warble 2 songs each. The judges did not do their usual critiquing after each singer sang.

Instead, after all 5 had sung their first song they stood as a group in front of the judges to hear what they had to say.

Well, Paula started with the dreadlocked, perpetually stoned-acting one, named Jason Castro, believed to be Fidel's 4th cousin twice removed. Paula pretty much told Jason she did not like his performance of his first song, that being the only song he'd sung. And then she went to tell Jason she also did not like his second song. Which he had not yet sung.

Paula was, in a very confused way, reading off notes. When the other judges, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell tried to get out of this mess, Paula just got more confused, crying "this is so hard."

The show's host, Ryan Seacrest, tried to get out of the awkward moment with an attempt at humor, saying "Paula is finally revealing her secret power, that she can see the future." Or something like that.

Last year Paula had her own reality show on Bravo, called "Hey Paula." It was extremely painful to watch, but in a good bad train wreck sort of way. We got to see the backstage look at those embarrassing interviews she gave last year that caused a big brouhaha because she appeared to be drugged, drunk or both.

I thought the "Hey Paula" show would be the end of her career, that American Idol would replace her. It was that embarrassing.

My favorite moment of the "Hey Paula" train wreck was a part where Paula was in full whining, crying mode, verbalizing her odd sense of entitlement and her displeasure at being ill-served by her minions. She uttered what I thought would become an infamous quote that Simon Cowell would use at least once, but hasn't, as far as I know. Paula said, "Why don't they appreciate me for the precious gift that I am?"

Below you can watch YouTube video of Paula being very precious this past Tuesday.

This Farmer Wants a Wife

Before I get to this wanting a wife thing I've got to mention that there is this brilliantly insightful website devoted to all that is good about Fort Worth that has the extremely highly evolved good taste to include me among all that is good about Fort Worth.

The website is called West & Clear and they had this to say about me....

"The Durango Texas blog has writeup and YouTube-ry from last Saturday’s PrairieFest. You’ll see our booth at about 3:16 on the video! We are famous in the internet! Durango Texas looks like a pretty interesting read (especially the frequent Star-Telegram bashing) and I am looking forward to spending some time on the site. "

So, what I got out of that is yet one more person who sees the need to bash the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Pravda-esque Purveyor of Propaganda and Disseminator of Misinformation tool of the good old boy network that runs the company town of Fort Worth.

Well, let's do some bashing. In today's paper we had yet one more article that revolved around the exciting news that yet one more person from Texas is on yet one more reality show. It makes us so very very proud. My 2 readers may remember me complaining about this odd trait before, with me getting a clarifying message from the Star-Telegram's lead TV writer explaining that, unlike that evil paper in that evil city 30 miles to the east, the Star-Telegram tries to make their paper localized, connecting their few readers to anything remotely local about any given story.

Tonight a new show starts on the CW Network. I've no idea what that is, the network I mean, not the show. The show is of the reality show genre and is called "The Farmer Wants a Wife." Some farmer in Missouri apparently is having such a tough time finding a mate that he contacted the CW Network and asked for help. So, they brought in a bunch of city girls for the farmer to choose from.

And one is from Texas. Which the Star-Telegram made the focus of in their article about this show. The headline being "Farmer girl on new CW dating show has local ties." Wow. Now that really makes me want to watch this now that I know the show has a Texas connection.

The article goes on to report the totally important and pertinent info that "Brooke Ward is identified as being from Dallas. But the Texas Christian University grad grew up in the East Texas town of Atlanta, about 25 miles south of Texarkana. So among the 10 'city girls' that Missouri farmer Matt Neustadt has to choose from on this Bachelor with hay, the 23 year-old marketing representative would seem to have an edge."

Because she's from Texas? That's her edge? I don't think I am able to follow the train wreck of logic.

The article goes on to interview the Texas connection in a fine example of making a story local for the readers of the Star-Telegram. A paper with a mission. Unlike the Dallas paper that does not connect its readers to anything remotely local.

And on a totally different note on the same subject. I looked at the Farmer Wants a Wife website. It opens with a video. The video is amusing. At one point the voice over is saying something like "when the girls get to the farm they see the biggest (we cut to a rooster strutting about) they've ever seen." Then one of the girls says, "I didn't realize roosters were real things." Obviously the producers selected for high intellects when casting this show.

No wonder they ended up with at least one Texas girl.

I am Woman Hear me Bore

Have I already talked about my first Texas driver's license? I recollect mentioning it to Gar the Texan in reference to something I also don't remember.

Rather than blog about my driver's license I'd prefer to blog about a new goofy Star-Telegram, Fort Worth thing. But I've been banned for a week from boring people with my pathetic making fun of Fort Worth and its sad excuse for a newspaper.

So, back to my first Texas driver's license. It arrived the day before I was set to drive up to Washington for Christmas. I didn't notice anything wrong with it til I looked at it more closely the next day. Texas had turned me into a woman. I didn't mind too much.

I made it out of Texas and all the way to Washington without having to show my license to anyone. Not til I was at my sister's house in the Seattle suburb of Kent did I have to show my license. She was having an all-girl Christmas party and I was allowed to stay if I acted as the greeter and if I showed my license to all the incoming girls to prove my bonafides as one of them. It really wasn't all that hard to be a good girl. I was actually one of the better looking girls at the party, if I do say so myself.

I made it all the way back to Texas without having to show my license to anyone with a badge. When I got back here I went to the Department of Motor Vehicles, that's not what they call it here, that's the Washington name, I never can remember the Texas name for the place you get a driver's license. The DMV, or whatever it's called here, is a total zoo. Long lines, antique computers, noisy. But the help is nice.

When my turn finally came I showed the nice lady my license and asked if she can spot an error. She saw it and said "I assume you are not female."

"I'm fairly certain I'm not," said I.

She then entered something into her computer to get my records from Austin. When she had that info she looked surprised and had me lean in close because she had a delicate question to ask me.

She whispered, "It says you're African-American. You aren't are you?"

"I'm fairly certain I'm not," said I.

She snipped the corner off my license so I could keep it as a souvenir of my day's as a female. I wonder what would have happened to me if I'd been stopped for speeding and the cop looked up my record to learn I was African-American in addition to being a woman? I suspect if this had happened in Texas this would not have gone well for me.

Texas Wildflowers Bloom Boom at Tandy Hills Park

This time of year Texas turns very green and very colorful. This year's wildflowers are being particularly plentiful. I've lived in my current location for most of this century. Up til about 5 months ago I did not realize I lived just a couple miles from Fort Worth's best park, that being Tandy Hills Park. I used to drive dozens of miles, sometimes more, to go on a hilly hike. I could have saved so much gas had I realized Tandy Hills had fun trails. And a lot of them. Miles and miles. A maze of trails.

Last Saturday the 3rd Annual Prairie Fest occurred at Tandy Hills Park. I'd been there just a few days prior and in just those few days the wildflowers at Tandy Hills had really amped it up, just in time for the festival. I saw a wildflower I'd not seen before, that being the yellow one you see above. It's real delicate, like an orchid.

In the photo above you see a lady with a kitchen utensil in her hair, sitting amongst the wildflowers and painting them. I don't mean she was painting wildflowers, I meant she was painting a likeness of the wildflowers. She was among many artists doing the same thing in one of the Prairie Fest activities.

In the above photo you see some Prairie Fest goers walking towards the main part of the festival. That is cactus in the foreground, I believe it's called prickly pear cactus. It also blooms and produces this fruit that is sort of tasty.

Above we're looking at a Tandy Hills trail heading through a patch of wildflowers, mostly bluebonnets, the official state flower of Texas.

I'm deeper into the Tandy Hills in the above photo. The wildflowers were being particularly thick here.

If you've never visited Texas and are thinking it might be interesting, April is the time you want to aim for. Texas looks its best. The temperature is not scorching yet, usually. In fact, the past couple days we've plummeted from being in the 80s, with a cold front from the north dropping the temps to natural air conditioned levels, as in it is 78 out there right now, but it got down to 46 last night. Brrrr. And in April, if you're lucky, you might get to experience a real wild Texas storm.

Cowtown's Crown Jewel

Okay. I admit I am in dire need of getting a life and that it is obvious I have too much time on my hands. Why else, with all there is to be troubled by in this world, do I seem to focus an inordinate amount of attention on things I read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that strike me as very goofy? Or things in Fort Worth that strike me as goofy.

So, on the front page of the Sunday paper there was this headline at the top, "Cowtown's crown jewel marks 10 years of sound and spectacle." Underneath the headline was the following.:

"It's been 10 years since the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall opened to great fanfare in downtown Fort Worth. In May 1998, the arts-rich city that is home to the Cliburn competition---and a healthy menu of symphony, opera and ballet---finally got a distinguished performance space equal to its world class art museums and worthy of local performing-arts groups' quality. We reflect on the hall's impressive first decade and its impact on the cultural scene."

Okay, I'm pretty sure it's the weird inflated self-congratulatory tone that bugs me. Using phrases like "world class." I'm almost 100% any place that actually does have world class attractions has the class not to describe them as such. It just seems sort of gauche and vulgar to me.

Speaking of gauche and vulgar, regarding that long name for this building, "Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall." The Bass family are Fort Worth billionaires. They bought Fort Worth the performance hall. And, I guess, gave themselves naming rights. The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is in Nancy Lee Bass Hall. It just seems tacky to me to name a building after yourself that you're giving as a gift.

Up in Seattle, Microsoft billionaire, Paul Allen has built and remodeled many buildings. But somehow he had the good taste not to name his restored-to-its-retro-glory theater the Paul Allen Cinerama. When he built a Frank Gehry designed music museum he did not call it the Paul Allen Music Experience Project. Paul Allen has been buying up property in downtown Seattle for years and making come true his vision of creating a sort of mixed use Central Park type area connecting the downtown core to Lake Union to the north.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth the Bass family bought up some downtown real estate and turned it into parking lots named Sundance Square. Which they police with their own police force which locals call The Bastapo.

Paul Allen used an actual world class architect to design his music museum. I don't know what architect designed Bass Hall, but the Bass's have a reputation for having bad taste in building design. And to my eyes Bass Hall is not an impressive building. It's the type of bad architecture that Howard Roark would blow up. I think it would be the garish horn tooting angels stuck on the side that would have set off Howard Roark. If you don't know who Howard Roark is, Google it and add Ayn Rand to the search string.

In recent times one of the Bass's, I think it was Ed, tried to thwart the clever design of a sunken plaza at a college being built in downtown Fort Worth. The Bass family does not like modern looking structures. My dear ol' mom has equally bad ideas. I remember her suggesting I add gingerbread trim to an awning I built over my deck. I bet the Bass's love gingerbread trim.

I'm sure the Bass Family has greatly helped Fort Worth. One can't help but wonder what downtown would be like without them. But, Fort Worth has a population that is nearing 700,000. Isn't Fort Worth big enough to pay for things the way other world class cities do? As in if it is for the public good, put it to a public vote asking the citizens to approve taxing themselves in order to build something. What a concept. Then you could name it the Fort Worth Performance Hall. Wouldn't that be a nice name?

Instead, Fort Worth is run like a company town with the people mostly cut out of the loop. I know Oklahoma City voted a $1 billion bond when they built their hugely successful Bricktown development. The Fort Worth powers that be, copying a similar plan in Dallas, that was voted on by the people of Dallas, announced that the Trinity River north of downtown Fort Worth would be diverted into a town lake with canals and a diversion channel. If this goes forward it will involve yet more eminent domain abuse here in Texas. I don't know if you can use eminent domain for such a thing without a public vote. With over 80 businesses being given their eviction notices, I'm thinking a good lawyer is going to tie the project up. That and when the predictable, expensive to clean up polluted ground is found in that industrial wasteland the project will screech to a halt.

But, maybe I'm wrong and Fort Worth will end up with its own special version of Oklahoma City's Bricktown and San Antonio's Riverwalk.

I just thought of another amusing thing. When this Fort Worth copycat boondoggle was first announced, with plans by a Vancouver, B.C. designer, the Star-Telegram actually said this project would make Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South! They went from claiming Fort Worth's lame Sante Fe Rail Market was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place to claiming a little lake and some canals was going to turn Fort Worth into Vancouver. I sent a letter to the editor asking "Have any of you people actually been to Vancouver? If not you need to send a reporter pronto so he/she can report back to you how dumb your Vancouver of the South claim is." I don't remember if that letter got printed. I do remember the "Vancouver of the South" lie did not last as long as the "modeled after Pike Place Market" lie. That one got repeated for months.

I need to switch to the Dallas paper.

Fort Worth's Tandy Hills Park Prairie Fest

Today I went to the Prairie Fest at Tandy Hills Park in Fort Worth. It was a much bigger deal than I thought it would be. Tandy Hills Park has become my favorite place to go hiking and this festival did it justice.

So, in record breaking time. For me. I've uploaded 3 videos from today to YouTube, and they've already been processed and are viewable. One is viewable below. Now, please understand I have a very cheap video camera and very limited videographer skills, hence the jerky video. But it gives you an idea of what it was like to walk around this event and you get to see some Texans being a bit goofy. That's always fun.

Update: I've now webpaged yesterday's Prairie Fest. And added two more videos in addition to the one below.

Get a Life, You've Got Too Much Time on Your Hands

There are some things that I hear people say that make me cringe. One is "Get a life." Another is "Someone has too much time on their hands." To say either seems way way way too judgemental to my ears. Like suppose someone has a hobby that they obviously enjoy, that they put time and effort into. What sort of brain dead moron would besmirch someone's creativity by telling them they need to get a life? Or that they obviously have too much time on their hands?

It has been my observation that the type person who makes these type remarks is a person of very little accomplishment. They usually work at some menial job, or are unemployed, are poorly educated and no matter how hard you look you can not see any thing that they do, have done, are doing or can do. And even with a gun to their head they would be unable to do the very thing they are denigrating.

They are usually empty ciphers and at their core they are extremely jealous of anyone who can actually do anything.

Unfortunately, for me, I have relatives who fit this mold. Fortunately for me, I live thousands of miles from them, with my only contact usually being by phone. And even then, out of the blue, in regards to some erstwhile effort on my part, I will hear that I obviously have too much time on my hands. This from one who hasn't spent time with me in years and has no clue what I do.

I remember another time, I was up in Washington. I got a call telling me the mountain was out. In Washington that means you can see Mount Rainier. So, I took my video camera and walked down to the lake and took some video of the mountain. I stuck the video on my computer and in about 2 minutes I'd made a little movie.

When my relative got home I showed the movie. My relative whacked me on the head and said, "I thought you were supposed to be working, not wasting time on stuff like this. You've got too much time on your hands."

I said I did not realize you'd made videos and knew how much time they took.

Two days later we were with our favorite Aunt and suddenly the video I made had become valuable and this ill-mannered, obnoxious relative of mine asked me to show our Aunt the video that I'd apparently wasted time on due to my need to get a life and my problem with having too much time on my hands.