Beached Whale Killed on Texas Gulf Coast

Alma, the Songbird of the South, just emailed me with a story from her zone, that being the Corpus Christi, Port Aransas zone. On Mustang Island, yesterday, beachgoers came upon a stranded 30 foot long, 10 ton sperm whale who had run itself aground on a sandbar.

Whales do this when something is badly wrong, as in an illness, or just old age. Onlookers surrounded the whale as it thrashed about. Eventually people from the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network showed up. It was decided to tranquilize the whale and then haul it to shore before euthanizing it. And then perform a necropsy to learn what was wrong with the whale.

Alma also included a link to Texans' comments about the stranded whale with Alma commenting about the comments that "some people are obviously insane."

Some of the comments-----

"Bad tomatoes?"

"Bad fillet."

"Bad sushi"

"They did not use euthanasia for the whale....they gave it tranquilizers and then bled the animal in the surf."

"They should try blowing it up like in the one video on the internet were a whale beached its self and there was no way to remove it so they used dynamite to blow it up in to smaller pieces but used to much and the whole thing just blew into a bunch of small chunks and got a whole lot of people covered in whale body parts."

"THING IS, THESE IDIOTIC SPECTATORS AND THEIR KIDS ARE STANDING TOO CLOSE TO THIS STRICKEN WHALE WHEN THEY COULD'VE GOTTEN INJURED. PARENTS, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO LEARN?"

"Under what authority exactly did the police and lifeguards have to "clear the area". If people want to take the risk of getting close to a stranded 30 foot sperm whale in a public area, they should be allowed to do so."

"LOL go play in the freeeway."

"Well, that's American's for you!"

"It was Bush and the Republicans fault!"

"Hey dudeI just wanted a few steaks for the bbq. As Homer would say "MMMMMMM Whale burgerrrrrrrr.......", the whale died, its tragic, people are curious, and if it were up to me I would have eaten him."

Obama Smoking Again

This morning I was peacefully pedaling my bike on the River Legacy Mountain Bike Trail, listening to Rush Limbaugh til my batteries wore out. But before that happened I learned that Barack Obama is back smoking again. Cigarettes.

Apparently people have been noticing him smelling of the nasty weed on the campaign trail. Today Obama told reporters in St. Louis that he's fallen off the wagon and smoked in the past months.

Obama had become a Nicorette chewer when he gave up the coffin nails after promising his wife he would do so if he ran for President. What with needing to set a good example, among other reasons.

Apparently, prior to quitting Obama had been a very heavy smoker. It is hard giving up an addiction. I'm addicted to coffee in the morning. I've tried to give it up. But then I get coffee withdrawals. So, I remain an addict. There is no Nicorette type thing for coffee addicts, as far as I know. Just de-caf.

Leavenworth and Lulu

Yesterday I mentioned Lulu and her aversion to the Washington tourist town of Leavenworth.

I got an email from one of my 2 readers asking what this Leavenworth place was that I liked and Lulu didn't.

Well. Leavenworth is a town on the east side of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. It's located in the Wenatchee River valley at the east end of Steven's Pass, that being one of the mountain passes one drives to get over the Cascade Mountains.

Steven's Pass is very scenic. It's my favorite of the 3 main mountain passes in Washington. Mainly because Leavenworth is at one end of it.

Way back in 1962 Leavenworth had fallen on hard times. City leaders knew something had to be done or they'd end up a ghost town. So, Project LIFE (Leavenworth Improvement For Everyone) was started. It was decided to transform Leavenworth into a Disneyesque Bavarian Village.

Project LIFE succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations. Leavenworth is now busy year round, with many festivals, including the largest Oktoberfest outside of the original in Munich. I've been to the Leavenworth Oktoberfest. It is a spectacle.

The A & E Network named Leavenworth the Ultimate USA Holiday Town.

Now, a few weeks ago, Lulu was doing her Fremont Street Market and a couple from Dallas showed up at her booth. Lulu and the couple chatted and at some point the Dallas couple asked what else they should see when they were in Washington. They mentioned to Lulu that they'd heard Leavenworth was fun. Lulu told them Leavenworth was silly and not to bother, to go to see the Pacific or ride a ferry instead.

Now, when I heard that she'd told the Dallas couple this I was appalled. I mean, they are from Dallas. No matter how strong a telescope they might have they can not see a mountain from Dallas. Texas has saltwater and ferries. But there is nothing in Texas like the Cascade Mountains, Steven's Pass or Leavenworth.

Leavenworth has fun shops, restaurants, brew pubs, bakeries and even a Bavarian style Starbucks. That's what the photo is at the top, the Leavenworth Starbucks. That's Wanda and Wally having expensive coffee. We went to Leavenworth when I visited a few years back. Prior to the coffee we'd been to a real good outdoor hamburger grilling place.

Click here to see a multi-day fast forward look at Leavenworth's main street.

Go here for a look at Leavenworth and the Cascade Loop.

Go here for other pics I took of Leavenworth with Wanda and Wally.

Go here for the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce website for good photos and video. And where to eat and sleep info.

Go here for the Leavenworth Oktoberfest website.

Go here for the City of Leavenworth website.

Lulu & the Golden Corral

My dear ol' friend, Lulu, up in Tacoma, has always had impeccably refined tastes when it comes to most things, especially food. She has the snout of a truffle sniffing pig when it comes to finding a random good place to eat when in some random town on a road trip.

Lulu is not snooty or pretentious when it comes to food stuff. It just has to be good. Over the years Lulu has become somewhat of a buffet aficionado. I've lost count of the number of buffets we've done in Vegas over the years. Usually 2 a day during a Vegas stay.

On our first group visit to Vegas, Lulu's first husband, Pulitzer winning photographer, Geff, dubbed us Buffet Sluts after one particularly spectacular stuffing at the original Luxor buffet, during which one member of our party had so overstuffed himself that he began to sweat profusely. That buffet has since gone to the basement in both meanings of that word. Soon after Geff labeled us Buffet Sluts he started one of his many Cool Site of the Day websites. It was about mountain bikiing. He called it Mudsluts. This has since become the term Pacific Northwest mountain bikers are known by.

This past weekend Lulu was in Spokane for something called The Farm Chick Antique Show. Lulu is a well-known Pacific Northwest antique artsy person. So, the Farm Chicks invited her to their show. You can see Lulu at the Farm Chicks Show by going to her blog.

Lulu blogged from the Farm Chick Show. In her first blog from the show she said something that shocked me, shocked me, I tell you, totally shocked me. When I read it I feared Lulu had had some sort of breakdown.

On the first night of the show, Lulu went out for dinner at a buffet. The Golden Corral. A franchise operation that is all over the country. I've been to the Golden Corral a few times. I don't care for it.

But, Lulu has declared the Golden Corral in Spokane to be the best buffet she has ever been to. In her blog she said it was last meal on earth worthy. When I talked to Lulu on the phone she waxed poetic about the Golden Corral's banana pudding with vanilla cookies. That overly sweet dessert is a staple here in the South. I'd not had it prior to my exile here.

Lulu told me she'd make the 500 mile roundtrip to Spokane just to eat again at the Golden Corral. She threatened to take me there when I'm up north this summer. I'd only agree to that if Lulu agreed to go to Leavenworth. Lulu has some very disturbing ideas about Leavenworth. Leavenworth is one of Washington's top tourist attractions. But its charms, for reasons unfathomable to me, are lost on Lulu. I've always liked Leavenworth.

Distorted thinking regarding Leavenworth, and now this Golden Corral thing. I am in fear of what else I'm going to be shocked by, via Lulu, when next I see her.

Dennis Kucinich: Impeach Bush

Last night Dennis Kucinich introduced 35 Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush. Each of Kucinich's articles seemed much more serious than the Articles of Impeachment that were brought against Bill Clinton.

Or even Richard Nixon. No one died due to the supposed high crimes and misdemeanors of Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon. Or Andrew Johnson.

It's long been a mystery to me why there have not been any impeachment moves against our Dear Leader. Til now. Or at least investigations. We suffered through laboriously long investigations into Watergate, Iran-Contra and Monicagate. But there's been no special investigation, with live TV coverage, into Bush's various shenanigans. Why?

Also a mystery to me is why it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that Kucinich's Impeachment attempt will go nowhere. Granted he is a bit of a goofball. But at times he can make a lot of sense. Like with his Articles of Impeachment thing.

Below is video of Kucinich introducing his Articles of Impeachment to the House of Representatives.

Gennifer Flowers & Paula Jones

That's a pair of names that belong in the last century. Unfortunately they resurfaced this morning. The pair of Bill Clinton's ex's have teamed up in a business venture.

They are offering Internet users graphic details of their Bill Clinton encounters for a mere $1.99 per viewing of one of their videos describing their rollicking times with Hillary's first hub.

Speaking of Hillary. Yesterday I came upon some YouTubery about Hillary. It is so easy to forget the many Clinton scandals. This YouTube video is about that long ago scandal regarding Hillary and Hollywood and a massive fundraiser whilst she was still First Lady and running for Senator from New York.

The video is in 2 parts. You have to get a couple minutes in for it to get interesting. It starts off sort of goofy. This video sort of relates to the most recent Clinton dust-up, that being a week or so ago when Bill got all huffy over an article in Vanity Fair.

United States Flag and Religion Day

I've had me a day so far. I'm sort of recovering from pedaling 20 miles yesterday and ending up with my first bad sunburn in a long time.

I thought a nice peaceful non-hilly walk would do my aching aging bones good. About 3 miles from my abode there is a nice park called Indian Village Park. So named because before the invaders ran them out of their town it was the site of one of the biggest Indian Villages on the continent.

But, before getting to Indian Village I had to go to the Post Office. And was surprised to see the state of the flag waving in the wind. That's it in the photo. This was at the Handley Post Office. Aren't there some rules and regulations regarding displaying a flag? Or maybe this tattered flag has some significance of some sort.

I'd not been to Indian Village in quite a while. It's the time of year when it's a lush jungle, with really big trees. I saw my first armadillos in a long long time, 2 little ones. My last armadillo sighting was a couple years ago at River Legacy Park when in one day I saw 3 separate sets of baby armadillos. I used to see armadillos at River Legacy all the time, but ever since a huge flood a couple years ago I've seen no armadillos and way fewer snakes.

Right after I saw the armadillos I saw this older lady in a moo-moo heading towards me. She asked if I'd seen 3 boys with fishing poles. I said no, but I just saw 2 armadillos.

She asked if I walked here often. I said no. She asked what parks I go to. She liked learning that River Legacy now has a mountain bike trail. She said something about praying about the blessing of taking her kids walking at River Legacy.

And then she asked if she could give me her testimony. This is only the second time this has happened to me in the Buckle of the Bible Belt. The other time was Gar the Texan giving me his religious testimony. But his was of a different sort, I suspect, than the type testimony the moo-moo lady wanted to give me.

I indicated I did not want to hear her testimony. She then asked if she could say one verse to me. I said okay. She then said that bible verse you hear all the time that goes something like "God sacrificed his son so anyone who believed in him would have everlasting life." I wanted to ask what sort of father would do such a thing? And if Jesus didn't really die and was back alive and in heaven 3 days after being murdered, then, really, where is the sacrifice? And why does believing this somehow give you everlasting life?

As I started to walk away the moo-moo lady insisted I take two little pamphlets. One is called "THIS WAS YOUR LIFE." The other is "DO YOU KNOW FOR CERTAIN THAT YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE AND THAT YOU WILL GO TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE!"

That second one is disturbing for asking a question, but ending the sentence with an exclamation point.

I thought I'd made my escape, quickly crossing the bridge. But the moo-moo lady started hollering at me, something about a bird. So, I turned around and headed back towards her. She was pointing at something, but all I saw was a turtle. And then the bird appeared. It was very exotic looking. I'd not seen one before. Then the bird flew away. I started thinking the moo-moo lady has strange powers.

She then told me she'd seen a mountain lion just ahead. She said people didn't believe her. I told her I believed her because I've seen one too. She pointed to a bench and said that's where it happened, that she was kneeling and praying and looked up from her praying to see a mountain lion 6 feet away. She started screaming "Save me Jesus." The mountain lion backed away.

The moo-moo lady went home and called the police. Animal control was sent. They found signs of a mountain lion. Later that day a Dallas news helicopter got footage of the mountain lion near River Legacy Park. I remember when this was in the news.

The moo-moo lady was really easy to listen to with a classic lilting Texas accent. If only she didn't mix in that religious stuff.

Biking the Trinity Trail in Fort Worth

I have not been on my bike much in the past several months. I've been enjoying hiking at Tandy Hills Park instead. But this week I rode the mountain bike trail for 11 plus miles at River Legacy Park for the first time in a long time. New sections of trail have been added. It was all in the best shape I'd ever seen it.

I felt so good after biking at River Legacy that today I decided to pedal another trail I used to do all the time, but have not in months. That being the Trinity Trail in Fort Worth. There are 30 some miles of paved trails along side the Trinity River in Fort Worth.

I started my ride at Gateway Park. Gateway Park is where Fort Woof is located. Gateway Park is on the north side of I-30, directly across from Tandy Hills Park. Gateway Park supposedly has a new mountain bike trail. I pedaled all over, but was unable to find it. So I hit the Trinity Trail. That's it above where you see a bridge atop a dam. The trail crosses these type dams in several places.

Usually I pedal about 7 miles, turning around when I am in view of the Fort Worth Stockyards. But today was being a lotta fun. A heavy wind pushing me had me sailing over 25mph a couple times. I knew I was gonna pay for it when I headed back into the wind.

Usually I see no one on this section of the Trinity Trail. But today I saw at least 6 other bikers. And two walkers. But they were homeless people under bridges. The homeless people are usually the only humans I see on this section of the Trinity Trail. The section that runs from downtown, west, is where you'll usually see humans. And no homeless people.

I saw 2 vexing things during my ride, other than the 2 homeless people. The first one was right after I pedaled under I-35 I saw something new. A shelter with a bench and 3 drinking fountains, one on ground level for dogs, a mid-level one for kids and a taller one for bigger people. But the oasis turned out to be a mirage. As in the water fountains produced no water. I could have used some more water. When I went by the mirage on my way back there were a pair of bikers pushing on the buttons trying to get water. The City of Fort Worth has been having some budget woes. Maybe they didn't pay the water bill.

The other vexing really surprised me. When I got in view of the Stockyards, on the other side of the river, not far from that side of the river's trail, a gas drilling company rig is in full operation. I'd not seen this brand before. FGDC, I think were the initials, but my bad eyes could not read what the F word was. I know what my F word was at that moment, though.

This was at the 7 mile mark, or so. Usually this is when I turn around. But I saw construction cranes where the new downtown Tarrant County Community College is being built. When I last saw the construction zone they were cutting into the Trinity Bluff, shoring it up with steel and cement. And now the building is well underway. From what I saw I think this is going to be a real good addition to downtown Fort Worth.

I've always been impressed by the Main Street Bridge that crosses the Trinity River, connecting downtown to the Stockyards and beyond. There is an historical marker near the bridge on the opposite side from where I was. I can't remember what makes it historical, but I think it was something like being the first bridge to use concrete arches. Or something like that. I was too worn out at the 10 mile mark to add another 1 to get to the other side to read the historical marker.

But what struck me today is it is sort of sad that few see this bridge. The Trinity Trail runs under it, but no road comes into view of it. So, those Texans who are constitutionally restricted to walking distances no greater than 10 feet, have never seen this bridge. One troubling thing I noticed. One of the support trusses attached to one of the arches, was cracked. If this were an earthquake zone that would be worrisome.

That is the Main Street Bridge in the photo, just part of it. That is the arch that has the cracked truss on top of it. That is Radio Shack's Headquarters on the other side of the arch. It's a scenic spot. That few see. I think when the new TCC campus opens up, many more people will get an appreciation of this bridge. And this section of the Trinity Trails.

So, I ended up biking about 20 miles. There is little shade and I ended up being out in the sun for about an hour and a half, shirtless. So, I have my first minor sunburn in a long long while.

Dallas vs. Fort Worth

This is a totally D/FW centric blogging, so read no further if anything D/FW centric vexes you.

So, it's been my observation during my time here that there is a weird one-sided rivalry that has gone on for years, with many Fort Worthers feeling like their town is overshadowed by Dallas. Because, well, Fort Worth is overshadowed by Dallas.

You often hear odd remarks about Dallas coming out of Fort Worther's mouths, as if Dallas is some sort of evil place best avoided. I documented some of this some time ago. You can read that here. Some of it is pretty amusing.

Well. Yesterday I came upon something interesting that likely will vex those Fort Worthers who are Dallas obsessed.

On my Eyes on Texas website I have a page about the Fort Worth Stockyards. It is usually my 4th or 5th most visited webpage. I've long known it Googles well, as in, usually somewhere in the top 5, when someone searches for "Fort Worth Stockyards."

I was checking on my webstats. I get a list of what search strings people are using that have them ending up on my website. I'd noticed before, but thought nothing of it, that one of the top search strings is "Dallas Stockyards."

Fort Worth Stockyards does not show up on my top 20 list of search strings.

So. I Googled "Dallas Stockyards" and what do my surprised eyes see? My webpage Googles #1. Then I noticed the number of results for the Dallas Stockyards search was 379,000.

I then Googled "Fort Worth Stockyards" and found that search string brought up only 122,000 results with my Fort Worth Stockyards webpage being #4.

I don't really know what to conclude about this except that it would seem a lot of people associate Forth Worth's actual one and only unique thing, that being the Stockyards, with Dallas.

For a variety of reasons, some notorious, Dallas is imprinted on the world's consciousness. The Dallas skyline is iconic, recognized all over the world, due to a TV show's opening credits and that show for a long period of time being the world's most popular TV show. Nothing about Fort Worth is recognized all over the world, or even the majority of the nation.

The only thing in Fort Worth that even remotely might be considered iconic, that might be recognized by some people in the rest of the nation, is the Fort Worth Stockyards sign above Exchange Avenue.

It's sort of sad that apparently a lot of people associate Fort Worth's only possible iconic image with Dallas and Google for info about it because they think they want to visit the Dallas Stockyards.

D-Day Anniversary & Google Earth

Yesterday, if my math is correct, and I admit my math is often faulty, was the 64th Anniversary of D-Day.

I knew a computer whiz once, named Dale, who had no idea what things like D-Day or Pearl Harbor Day were. I found that appalling.

So, for you Dale's out there, here is the short version of what D-Day is.

Way back in the last century there was this massive war caused by Germany and Japan going nuts and violently taking over other countries. This became known as World War II.

A couple years after starting the war, Germany tried to take over Russia, which was then known as the Soviet Union.

But that invasion didn't go so well for Germany. The Soviets began pushing the Germans back to Germany where they belonged. The dictator of the Soviets was an evil man named Stalin. Stalin wanted his Allies, those being, mainly, America and England, to open a second front in the west.

The Allies took awhile to agree on the idea of how to open a western front. Roosevelt, who was the American President, was gung-ho on the idea of taking on the Krauts in France, but the English leader, Churchill, feared a bloodbath.

By 1944 the Soviets were rapidly advancing on Germany. The Americans and Brits knew they had to move fast so as to prevent the Soviets from taking over all of Germany. And so on June 4, 1944 the largest amphibious invasion in history began with landings on the beaches of Normandy. Normandy is a province of France. France is a country that Germany invaded in 1940. By the end of D-Day the Allies had control of the beaches and were moving inland.

The Germans were soon in full retreat on all fronts.

In a coincidence, regarding yesterday, and D-Day. I am currently reading a very good book by Joseph E. Persico called Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage. On the anniversary of D-Day I was at the point in the book were Roosevelt had changed his mind on who was to be the General in charge of Operation Overlord, that being the code name for D-Day. Roosevelt decided to have Eisenhower run the show instead of General George Marshall.

And, on another D-Day note. Yesterday I went to the beaches of Normandy. I visited via Google Earth. If you've not installed Google Earth on your computer, you really should. It's free. Go here and get it. Yesterday I also went to Baghdad. That was very interesting. You can check out the Green zone and go all over Baghdad. I had no idea there we so many cool looking buildings in Baghdad.

Google Earth has a lot of features packed into it. Like if you go to Mount Rushmore an audio tour starts up. Some areas are done in extremely high resolution. Like I can almost read the license plate on my vehicle. If you've not been to Mt. St. Helens, go via Google Earth. Las Vegas is another locale that is in extremely high resolution. You can get down to street level and see exactly what it is like to vist Vegas. I'd not been to Disneyland since Disney California opened, so that was interesting to see how that has all changed.