Fort Worth Tandy Hills Park Search & Rescue

I got up early, real early today. When the day started it didn't cross my mind that part of my day would be spent participating in a search and rescue mission.

About noon my brainpan began its daily performance lag due to lack of oxygen. So, I knew it was time for my daily bout of aerobic exertion. Usually, since it is almost in my backyard, this means going to the most scenic part of Fort Worth, that being Tandy Hills Park.

Last winter, when I discovered the Tandy maze of trails and hills, I never thought I'd be able to still hike Tandy when the heat of summer arrived. But here it is July, it is hot. And I'm still hiking. I was a sweaty mess today though. Totally soaked. I used to hate to sweat. Texas has changed me. For the better? Or worse? I'm debating that.

I rarely see other humans at Tandy Hills Park. I had an encounter with a Doberman last week. That was mildly unpleasant.

But today I did have a human encounter. Upon reaching the top of a hill I saw a man and a woman in some sort of bright uniform. They were standing under the shade of a tree. They had a large German Shepherd on a leash.

I remarked that I rarely see humans here. They asked if I'd seen anyone else. They told me they were searching for a scruffy looking 50 something guy who was missing. And that there were search teams all over the park. I talked to the pair for a bit. The man seemed too old to be out in the middle of this strenuous place at nearly 100 degrees. The woman was much younger and in good shape. We shared our favorite hiking places. She thought I must be in training for something, like going to Colorado.

They told me if I see a man matching the description to call 911 and tell them to notify the search team in the park. But not to approach the man because he could get violent.

So, all this time I've been concerned about encountering a Rattlesnake, Copperhead, Cottonmouth or Panther and today I got to add a dangerous, violent man to what I needed to look out for. Somehow, I was less concerned about him than my ongoing concerns about snakes and cats. And Dobermans.

ABC's The Bachelorette Final Rose Wilts

Go here for this morning's blogging about last night's Bachelorette final episode.

It's sort of embarrassing that of the 100s of bloggings I've blathered, by far, the most viewed bloggings have been the ones about that ABC train wreck of a show called The Bachelorette. Also embarrassing is various search strings have my bloggings about this show Googling in the top spot. Hence all the readers.

Well, I'm all about pandering in a constantly lackluster attempt to get someone to listen to me, so, once more I'm blogging about ABC's The Bachelorette.

Tonight is the show's finale, or in Bachelorette-speak, the Final Rose Ceremony. This show is almost religious in its ceremonies. Last week we were treated to the ceremony of the greatly sought after invite to spend a night as a couple in the Fantasy Romance Suite. Or something like that.

As I understand it, tonight, for 2 hours I'll be subjected to, if I watch, the Bachelorette, DeAnna Pappas, introducing her two potential husbands to her family in order to gain their possible approval.

Then, in the seemingly scripted part of the show, the two potential husbands solemnly confess to the father their deep love for his daughter. And ask for his approval of the suitor as a son-in-law.

What'd be fun is if the dad said something like "If you think you've fallen in love with my daughter in 30 days on a TV show and you want to marry her, well you've gotta be a nutcase, so NO WAY do I want you in my family."

This morning the Star-Telegram made note of tonight's end of this show and lamented that we in Texas have little reason to watch because the girl gave the guy from Dallas, Jeremy, the boot last week. It was heartbreaking.

Tonight DeAnna chooses between Jason, with a kid, and a real job, and Jesse, a professional snowboarder.

This goes on for 2 hours. And then is followed with another hour called "After the Final Rose: DeAnna Tells All." I guess she is gonna tell what actually happens during those overnight stays in the Romantic Fantasy Suite.

My Favorite Places in Washington

Thirteen days til I head north for a month. A few weeks back I blogged about my favorite places in Texas. Someone asked me if I had any favorite places in Washington.

Well, that photo on the left is me laying on top of Hidden Peak, looking down at Hidden Lake, deep in the heart of the North Cascades. Anywhere on a mountain in Washington is one of my favorite places.

Below is La Conner. La Conner is in the Skagit Valley, north of Seattle about 55 miles. La Conner is a scenic tourist town. I've always liked La Conner.

Leavenworth is on the east side of the Cascades, the eastern end of Stevens Pass. Stevens Pass is one of the three major passes over Washington's Cascades. All three of them have their own charms, but Stevens Pass having Leavenworth on the other side makes it my favorite of the passes. I'm hoping Lulu and I get to go to Leavenworth while I'm up there, because that would mean I'm doing one of my other favorite things, that being going to Eastern Washington and getting fresh fruit. As in apricots, peaches, maybe cherries, apples won't be ready yet. On the west side I should be able to get fresh corn, all the blackberries I wanna eat. For free. And all sorts of other fresh veggies, fruits and seafood. This makes the fresh produce of Washington one of my favorite things up there.

Well, another hiking photo, which shows how much I like the mountains of Washington. This is my favorite Washington mountain, the volcano known as Mount Baker. The Mount Baker zone has another of my favorite Washington places, Baker Hot Springs. I doubt I'll get to the Baker zone when I'm up north.

That's my mom and dad. I'm expecting to see them for the first time in over 2 years by the end of this month. I think this photo was taken in 2001, right before 9/11. I'd made a surprise trip up north for mom and dad's anniversary. They drove me out to Ocean Shores, which is where we are in this photo. Ocean Shores is one of my favorite places. Lulu and I drove out there summer of 2004 and had great razor clam chowder, fish and chips and blackberry milkshakes.

That bear is sitting on the stair rail at Stehekin Lodge. Stehekin is one of my favorite Washinton places. I like everything about it. The long boat ride you have to take to get there, the bears, the bakery, the bike riding. And dinners at Courtney Ranch.

Seattle is one of my favorite Washington places. Along with Tacoma. In this photo you actually see 3 of my favorite Washington things. Seattle, Pike Place Market and a Washington State Ferry. Which brings up another Washington favorite place. The San Juan Islands and the ferry ride to get there.

Other Washington favorite places of mine are Olympic National Park with the rain forests and rugged beaches.

Fort Casey on Whidbey Island. It's an abandoned fort from the Spanish-American War era. Great, scary tunnels and passageways and ladders taking you into darkness. As a kid I always had fun at Fort Casey. As an uncle it was a fun place to take my nephews. A weenie roast on Washington beach would be a good thing when I'm up there.

From Fort Casey you can hop an often, due to extreme tides, wild ride, ferry to the cool tourist town of Port Townsend. I've done that ferry as a walk-on, drive-on and walk-on. It's a very good thing.

Also on Whidbey Island is Deception Pass State Park. Biggest in Washington. The Pass between Fidalgo Island and Whidbey can make for incredibly wild water works when the tide differential is huge. I know I've got a lot of Deception Pass photos, somewhere. It's is near where I lived, so I went there a lot.

Beacon Rock, in the Columbia Gorge, is a fun hike to the top of the Gibraltar like rock.

Sun Lakes State Park in Eastern Washington. It's in a Coulee. That's Washington-speak for canyon. Sun Lakes is right below Dry Falls, the biggest waterfall the world has ever seen. Grand Coulee Dam is about 50 miles away, if I remember right. I've always liked Eastern Washington. It's so different than the west side, tan brown rolling hills, canyons, the only green being all the orchards and corn and hops and grapes.

I can't think of any other favorite Washington places right now, that and I've tired of the subject.

Dallas Cowboy Stadium Pending Lawsuits

There are still 22 lawsuits against the city of Arlington brought by homeowners who did not appreciate having their homes taken from them for a private business that wanted a football stadium built where their homes were.

I've never understood how the people could be kicked out of their homes and those homes destroyed, before they had had their day in court. That just seems wrong. And somehow sort of criminal to me.

It is as if the city of Arlington and Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys did commit a sort of criminal conspiracy that direly effected citizen's lives in no less a manner than if an arsonist had burned down their house or a terrorist exploded it.

At least with the lawsuits there is some hope that some sort of justice will win out in the end. The city of Arlington's own attorney, Jay Doegey says the lawsuits are about challenging the constitutionality of the city's actions.

Go here to see what was done in Arlington go get a place to play a few games a year.

Go hear to read comments from around the world regarding what people think of what Jerry Jone's and the Dallas Cowboys did to some people in Arlington.

The Big Cheese Rodent Factory

There is a rodent breeding factory in south Fort Worth called the Big Cheese Rodent Factory that produces between 500,000 and 600,000 mice and rats a month.

Why you wonder? I know I did.

Well. In 1999 Lynda Hanna read in the Wall Street Journal that there was a need for rodents to feed the growing population of exotic animals for whom rats and mice are dinner. So, Lynda and her son, Chad Martin opened the Big Cheese Rodent Factory.

All was hunky dory in the rat/mice breeding business until neighboring businesses and residents started complaining to the city about the foul odor coming from the Rodent Factory. That complaining grew louder in the past couple months because the Big Cheese owners have asked for a zoning change so they can expand the Rodent Factory.

A city inspector sent to check out the smell said it was so bad he had moments of nausea while inspecting.

The Rodent Factory is trying to lessen its stench. One of their breeding zones has had a ozone filter installed that greatly improves air quality. Another odor source is the used up sawdust tossed into a garbage bin. They are trying to lessen that problem with disinfectant sprays.

What I know for certain is I would not want to live by a Big Cheese Rodent Factory. Bad smells aside. What if the rats escaped? Remember the movie, Willard?

Texas Ant Invasion Episode 4

This morning's ant invasion came in 2 parts. First thing this morning when I went in the kitchen to make coffee I was greeted by a sink full of Sugar Ants.

I'd emptied and not replaced my can of kitchen safe ant killer. So, I had to manually exterminate the sink invaders.

An hour later I was peacefully sitting in my living room when I noticed a wall moving. This was on the opposite wall from last week's living room ant invasion. Following the trail, I saw the ants were invading via the front door and were hugely massed there. They then went up the wall and made a path where the ceiling meets the wall. That path continued about 40 feet, to the fireplace, where the ant trail went back to ground level, behind the TV, where the trail met up with the ants coming in.

Near as I could tell the ant invasion was going in a vicious circle to nowhere.

I desperately needed ant killer. My first impulse was to run across the street to Albertsons. Then I remembered the huge arsenal of insect killer cans that my nearby Puerto Rican had. So I called her and she did have a can of ant killer.

So, I ran over to her place as fast as my legs could carry me, got the can, got back here and got to killing ants. The extermination took about 2 minutes.

I don't know what is making this year's ants so invasive. Maybe it's the drought.

I Googled for any info as to how to deal with invading Sugar Ants. I learned that Sugar Ant isn't their scientific name. To ant experts they are known as Pavement Ants.

Marco Polo & Screaming Kids

What is the deal with kids in a swimming pool screaming "Marco Polo" back and forth at each other?

I first experienced this about 10 years ago at a horrible Six Motel in a dismal border town in Arizona, called Douglas. The Six Motel sat next to a former motel that had been converted into a makeshift prison, surrounded by concertina wire. I think a lot of the people staying at the rundown Six Motel were staying there so they could visit inmates next door.

I could not hear the kids in the pool from my room. But as soon as I opened the motel room's door I started hearing Marco Polo being yelled back and forth. I walked by the pool and watched and listened from above. There seemed to be no point, besides taking turns screaming Marco Polo.

Move forward a decade. I'm around a lot of swimming pools in Texas. I've heard a lot of Marco Poloing. About 5 years into my Texas exile I was told there is some sort of legit Marco Polo game played in swimming pools. A sort of waterborne version of tag. However, I've never seen this actually played.

All I've ever heard and seen is kids screaming Marco Polo back and forth at each other for no noticeable game purpose. I figure at some point in time some kids somewhere saw some kids playing the actual Marco Polo game, but didn't understand it. So they morphed the game into just screaming Marco Polo back and forth til they get bored with it. And then other kids saw those kids doing that and did that themselves.

Who knows how far this aberrant behavior has now spread. It needs to stop.

Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Disappearing?

In the past week or so I've noticed a steep decline in the amount of propaganda being spewed by Chesapeake Energy. For months it has seemed you could not go through a day without getting multiple messages in multiple forms attempting to convince us that Barnett Shale and Chesapeake Energy are the most wonderful thing to ever bless long blessed Texas.

Yesterday, as I sat outside enjoying the ultra blue sky and the ultra white clouds, I saw at least 6 buses go by. Not a single one was plastered with a Barnett Shale message. Previously it seemed like one out of every two buses said something like "The Children of Texas Thank You Barnett Shale."

I have not seen Tommy Lee Jones on my TV all week long doing his shilling for the Barnett Shale. Yesterday, I noticed the Tommy Lee Jones Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale billboard I'd taken a photo of weeks ago is now gone. So are the other Chesapeake Energy billboards on the section of I-30 I drive regularly. There has not been a full page Chesapeake Energy ad in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram since last week's rather odd one featuring Tommy Lee Jones saying "Texans can live with industry. We always have."

I wonder how many dollars Chesapeake Energy has spent on its propaganda campaign? Those bus signs can't be cheap. I imagine Tommy Lee Jones charges a hefty fee to be a propaganda tool. Billboards are expensive. And then there are those TV ads. I wonder why Chesapeake Energy feels they need to try so hard to convince Texans that drilling into the Barnett Shale is such a good thing?

If we all agree that we all love what Chesapeake Energy is doing to the Barnett Shale, could Chesapeake Energy stop throwing money away on ads and instead, maybe, hold a weekly free beer party in the Fort Worth Stockyards? Now, that'd be the way to win the hearts and minds of Texans.

The Bluest Skies I've Ever Seen In Texas

I don't know what happened. We had had no storm blow through. It wasn't windy. But for some reason the air in the D/FW Metroplex appeared to be totally devoid of any pollution on Saturday.

Looking out the window, this morning, it appears Sunday's air is totally clear too.

That's the balcony view in the photos. The super white clouds and the extra blue sky made for good Texas scenery yesterday.

Of late, we've been under High Ozone Alerts. Supposedly this type air is dangerous to little kids, the elderly and those with respiratory problems. Of those categories, the only one I come close to is the elderly one. I've never actually been troubled by air pollution here. It's never been a bad thing, like being in Los Angeles and having the pollution sting my eyes.

The only jarring thing I saw in the sky yesterday was the weekly fly-by of a giant sign being tugged through the air by a little airplane, apparently trying to motivate me to go to something called Huggins to buy a car.

Tattoo Granny Revolting Reaction

Last month I blogged about a front page story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about a tattoo covered granny who calls herself Miss Dixie. I did not focus on the Star-Telegram's making this a front page story. My focus was on this granny's bizarre, in my opinion, behavior.

Well. A couple days ago there were a pair of letters to the editor that took issue with the Star-Telegram's bad judgement in putting this story on the front page.

Letter to the Editor #1---------

Furthermore...

I like newspapers. I grew up around newspapers. I’ve written for newspapers. Some of my best friends work for newspapers. But I’ve never seen a more unseemly and unprofessional front page than that on June 21 featuring a large color photo of a woman’s tattooed back and arms. And you wonder why revenues are down?

— Bruce Rider, Grapevine

Letter to the Editor #2---------

Lots of ink

I looked at the front page of the June 21 Star-Telegram and couldn’t believe my eyes. There was a large picture of a woman covered by tattoos over her whole body. The story said that her mother died of cancer when she was 47 and she had a small tattoo put on her in remembrance of her mother. I do not find fault with this, as a small tattoo on someone’s body does not upset me.

However, I can’t stand to see all these ballplayers covered with them — and especially not this woman, Shirley “Miss Dixie” Hammond. She does not have a spot left on her body except for her face, which will probably be next.

Using two types of cancer and family trauma is not an excuse. I suffered from three types of cancer for 10 years and have now been free of it for 10 years. I did not get one tattoo to get me over this cancer and the traumas I have had in my 76 years.

These tattoos kept her out of la-la land and alive and happy? Her psychiatrist said it’s because she is paranoid. Yes, he is right. Her disorder is characterized by delusions of persecution or grandeur, often strenuously defended with apparent logic and reason.

These tattoos over her body did not keep her out of la-la land but put her in it very deeply. It was a very bad article for our young and upcoming generations.

— Don Vouky, Arlington