John McCain's Teleprompter Problems

In this video John McCain blames his nephew's incompetent handling of the teleprompter keyboard for his frequent miscues...scroll down the list to find the John McCain Teleprompter video. I could not seem to get the right embed code and instead it turned into some sort of entertainment news thing that started off with Britney Spears. I don't want Britney Spears on my blog...

Lulu Is Heading To Texas

Along with Lauri. Two of my favorite Southern Belles are heading to Texas in less than 2 weeks. These two call themselves Chippys. I am not sure, but I think a Chippy is someone who takes something someone else might have not seen as art and the Chippy turns it into something purty.

The Chippys are going to be down in Round Top for this twice a year event that's something like the biggest in the world for those who collect antiques and cool stuff that people make.

Again, I'm not totally certain, but I think this Round Top thing has gotten so big it has had to spread to surrounding towns in order to contain all the collectibles that find their way to Central Texas. Here is a website with Round Top/Antique Weekend info.

Now, Lulu and Lauri have some appreciation of my skills in regards to these type shows. They have made an excellent case (Jalapeno Margaritas) as to why I should show up there. Today I looked at how far it is from here, a bit less than 300 miles. I've driven to Austin easily in one day, Round Top isn't much further than Austin.

What makes this trek to Round Top sound appealing to me, besides the Chippys, is it is going somewhere different for once. That and Lulu and Lauri have mentioned this Jalapeno Margarita thing that sounds intriquing to me.

When I first heard of a Jalapeno Margarita I thought the ladies were teasing. So, I Googled it. There is a lot of Jalapeno Margarita info. Including recipes, even one from Fort Worth's renowned cowboy chef, Tim Love.

Here's the simplified way to make a Jalapeno Margarita.....

No. I'm not gonna say have the Chippys make one for you. Here's the recipe....

Ingredients

1 jalapeño, poked with a knife
1 1/3 cups tequila
1 cup orange liqueur
1 cup fresh lime juice (10 limes)
3 tablespoons superfine sugar
Kosher salt and ice

Directions

1. In a jar, steep the jalapeño and tequila; keep at room temperature for 3 days.

2. Strain the tequila into a large pitcher and discard the jalapeño. Stir in the orange liqueur, lime juice and sugar.

3. Pour the salt and a small amount of the margarita onto 2 rimmed plates. Dip the rims of 6 glasses into the margarita, then into the salt. Fill each glass with ice, pour in the margarita and serve.

Cheers! And here's to hoping to see some Chippys soon, down further south in the Round Top zone.

Clinton & Palin In 2012

Expert prognostiator that I am, always with an opinion, seldom correct, I am now going to make my prediction as to the outcome of the upcoming Presidential election. And the election of 2012.

I believe, come election day in November, the Obama-Biden ticket is going to lose to McCain-Palin.

McCain, being an old man, is only going to serve one term. The McCain presidency will be fairly popular with the people, much more so than the disgraced Bush presidency.

Sarah Palin will win the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Hillary Clinton will win the Democrat presidential nomination in 2012.

Hillary Clinton will beat Sarah Palin, to finally win the presidency, in the election of 2012. Making Hillary the first woman to be elected president.

One week before Hillary's inauguration John McCain will resign as President.

Making Sarah Palin, for one week, the first woman President of the United States.

Thus robbing Hillary of being the first female President, but still basking in the glory of being the first woman to be elected President of the United States.

Bill will take a cue from Sarah Palin's husband Todd and suggest that he be referred to as the First Dude.

Soon after they move into the White House, again, Hillary will announce she no longer needs the First Dude and is divorcing him.

Hillary's popularity ratings soar.

I forgot to mention, Hillary will pick Barack Obama as her Vice-President in 2012.

I doubt Hillary will re-marry.

The Dallas Trinity River Project

Dallas had a vision about the Trinty River before Fort Worth did. But Dallas does not call theirs a vision. It's just the Trinity River Project. The Dallas project will give Dallas a huge lake, some very cool bridges and a lot of new recreation areas. All in all, to me, the Dallas project makes way more sense than the Fort Worth project. That and the Dallas project will enhance an existing huge flood plain, not destroy existing good stuff, like the Fort Worth vision does. Let alone the dozens upon dozens of businesses dislocated by Fort Worth. You get a good look at the Dallas 'vision' in the video below.

Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision

Interesting little news video. You get so see some of the notorious players, like Kay Granger's son, he of the nepotism charges. And Fort Worth's notorious mayor, Mike Moncrief. You get to see the notorious Trinity River Vision Project underway. And you get to see some of what is being destroyed by this vision.

T. Boone Pickens Energy Plan

Makes sense to me...

One More Stupid Thing I've Done In Texas

When I was up in Tacoma earlier this year I walked a lot. Right out of my little sister's house. You exit the front door to a walkway that connects to a sidewalk that connects to other sidewalks that you can walk all over town. That is a Tacoma sidewalk you see in the photo.

My sister lives in the swanky north end of Tacoma. A former acquaintance lives in the less swanky south end of Tacoma. About 6 miles from my sister's. One day I was at the less swanky side of town and decided to walk back to my sister's. It was a nice, long walk. Sidewalks all the way.

Tacoma is heavily landscaped. When you walk the sidewalks it is sort of like being in a park. Very nice.

So, today, I don't know how I managed to be possessed by an idea of total idiocy, but I needed to go to the Post Office. It's about 2 miles from here. So, I decided I walk to the Post Office. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Well, Fort Worth is a large city. Over 3 times bigger than Tacoma in population. But it is sadly lacking in a lot of big city amenities. Like sidewalks. Maybe 15% of the route from here to the Post Office and back had some semblance of a sidewalk. Narrow little things. Large sections of the route were basically worn down foot paths, where hapless Fort Worthers, like myself, had worn a path through the weeds.

The amount of litter was astonishing. As was the variety. But I made it to the Post Office. I decided to make a loop of it and get back here via a different route. This was a mistake. Way fewer sidewalks. I guess I don't notice how sparse the sidewalks are when I'm driving.

I crossed over I-30 on a very old bridge that also had no sidewalk. It must have been built back when I-30 was a tollway, before the Feds mandated sidewalks on bridges.

I was barely on the other side when I was accosted by 3 pit bulls. Loose pit bulls. I clapped my hands together real hard to scare them. This worked, but I ended up with a real sore spot on the palm of my hand.

Soon after the pit bull attack I stepped on a glass shard. It penetrated my shoe, but not my skin. The "ouch" made me lift up my foot in time to prevent further damage. I pulled out the glass shard and continued on my way.

Suffice to say, I made it back here. I will never try and walk the mean streets of Fort Worth again. Unless I have to.

Meanwhile, Fort Worth continues to be enamored of a messianic vision, that I've mentioned before, called the Trinity River Vision, a vision to build a little lake, some canals, a flood diversion channel and some wetlands restoration.

I wish Fort Worth had the vision to build some sidewalks. Maybe the canals in the Trinity River Vision will have sidewalks.

It's Almost Icy Cold In Texas

Last night the temperatures here in Fort Worth plummeted into the 50s. Brrrrr. Slept like a baby with the windows open and no A/C running.

This morning about 7am I contemplated going swimming. At first I decided against it, figuring the water would be too cold. But then I decided to give it a try.

Well, the water in the pool was way warmer than the air. This made it feel good to get in the warm water. Though it did take a few seconds to get adjusted to the water, which must have been in the low 70s.

I've now decided I'm going to keep on swimming every morning all the way through winter. Unless there is an icestorm making it too slippery to go outside. I may change my mind about this plan at a later date.

Texas Railroad Commission Makes Entire Town Mad

The population of the little Texas town of Era is in full umbrage mode due to the fact that the Texas Railroad Commission totally ignored their concerns, even after legions of Eraites travelled all the way to Austin to verbalize their concerns in front of the Commission.

The Texas Railroad Commission is the oddly named Texas government entity that oversees that gas drilling industry, among other things. It is widely believed to be a completely corrupt tool of the gas industry.

Last week Dallas ABC affiliate, WFAA-TV's reporter, Brett Shipp aired a real good report about what has happened in Era. You can watch the Shipp report here.

Stehekin, Bears, Boats, Bikes, Hikes, Eating & Lake Chelan

Looking through old webpages today I've come to the realization I don't do anything new, different, fun and adventurous anymore. This must come to an end. Soon.

I'd forgotten about the fun of Stehekin. That's an isolated town, deep in the Washington North Cascades and the north end of Lake Chelan. Accessed only by boat or hiking or plane.

The summer before I moved to Texas. Or was it the summer before that, a group of 7 or 8 took the Lady of the Lake up Lake Chelan, to stay at the Stehekin Lodge. We took our bikes along. We were barely off the boat when we were greeted by our first of what was to be dozens of bears. Like the one you see in the photo.

Below is an excerpt from one of my 3 webpages about the trip to Stehekin. Go here to read the whole thing.

"The Way to Stehekin is definitely over the Road Less Traveled. Stehekin is situated at the end of 55 mile long Lake Chelan, deep in the North Cascades of Washington, accessible only by boat or foot or floatplane. No phones, no TV, no radio. Very likely the most remote, isolated location in the Lower 48 of the United States. None of your companions on this little adventure had been to Stehekin before. It was to be 4 days of discovering the delights of a world far removed from our usual Urban Madness..."