Getting Lost Again At Bob Jones Park

I didn't get a chance to blog about yesterday's adventure yesterday because when I got back here I got an emergency call from Miss Puerto Rico that had me embroiled in Latina Psycho-Drama til bedtime.

Yesterday I went up to Bob Jones Park. That's near Lake Grapevine. The route to Bob Jones Park, from here, takes me by Sprouts Farmers Market, my favorite grocery store, so I went there after getting lost and after having Costco free samples for lunch.

I don't actually get lost at Bob Jones Park. Bob Jones Park is the access point to where it's easy to get lost. Trails lead out of the park to a maze of other trails that are so confusing there are directional signs. Eventually if you go in the right direction you'll come to Lake Grapevine. The lake is the lowest I've ever seen it at this location. The last time I was there many of the trails were flooded.

Yesterday I found myself on trails I'd not been on before. There were several intersecting trails with no directional signage. After about an hour and a half I had to admit I was lost. I like being lost. As long as it doesn't get dark. That happened to me one Christmas at Dinosaur Valley State Park. That time, just as I started to sort of panic, I recognized where I was and was able to escape before it got too dark.

Yesterday, I came upon the clump of cactus in the photo during the period when I was lost. The lost trail went through some interesting territory. I think long ago a house was at this location judging from piles of wood from a long collapsed building.

The reason I think this may have been the location of a house was due to something very very bizarre. As in there were hundreds of Mason canning jars on the ground, the likes of which I saw my mom and dad fill with raspberry jam when I was in Tacoma last summer. What seemed really strange was all the jars were intact. No one had had themselves a good time throwing rocks at them. I found all those intact Mason canning jars unsettling. They continue to haunt me this morning. I'll probably get over it by this afternoon.

Racial Tensions In Paris After Black Man Killed

A memorial service is being held today for 24 year old Brandon McClelland in Paris, Texas. McClelland was killed in what is being called, by some, a brutal and racist hate crime.

Paris is in East Texas. East Texas is also where Jasper is. About a year before I moved to Texas Jasper became infamous due to the horrible murder by 2 white guys of a man named James Byrd. Mr. Byrd was dragged to his death beneath a pickup.

Brandon McClelland was killed by being hit by a truck and dragged underneath the truck for about 70 feet.

Apparently Paris, Texas has a long history of tension between black and whites and the killing of Brandon McClelland has raised tensions once more.

When I moved to Texas, soon after the James Byrd murder, I thought I'd be living in a place where I'd experience racism up close and personal for the first time in my life. To the contrary I've seen nothing but people getting along well with each other during my entire time in Texas. I've not experienced anything even remotely that seemed at all racist.

The 2 men charged with killing McClelland, Shannon Finley and Charles Crostley, were friends with McClelland. They were all drinking buddies.

Paris is a dry Texas town. The three drinking buddies wanted beer. So they headed up to Oklahoma. On the way back, drinking beer, likely drunk, an argument broke out over who was sober enough to drive.

McClelland tired of the arguing and said he'd walk home. He took some beer and took off walking. That's when the driver of the pickup ran into and over him, dragging him 70 feet to his death.

The New Black Panthers are in Paris calling this a hate crime. Others say the only resemblance between the Paris crime and the James Byrd murder is both were black men and a vehicle was involved with 2 white men in it.

Finley and Crostley are in jail, charged with murder and evidence tampering. They drove through a car wash to try and remove McClelland's blood. This is not the first time Finley has been charged with murder. In 2003 McClelland copped a plea to manslaughter and was sentenced to 4 years.

Ironically, during Finley's previous murder trial the man he is now accused of killing, Brandon McClelland, pleaded guilty to perjury for providing a false alibi for Finley. McClelland was sentenced to 5 years probation and did some jail time when he violated the terms of his probation.

All of this could have been avoided if Paris was not a dry town. It's time to end prohibition in Paris.

Gas Falls Below $2 in Texas

A fresh gas price war has broken out in the south Fort Worth suburb of Burleson. RaceTrac and QT went below 2 bucks Thursday night, followed by other area gas stations on Friday.

If the pattern of the past couple weeks holds true, gas all over North Texas will be falling under $2 in a few days.

The price of natural gas has plummeted too. So, all of us who have our electricity rate tied to the price of natural gas will be seeing reduced electricity bills.

Meanwhile OPEC is cutting back production. Which, I guess, will eventually have the gas prices heading up again. Maybe.

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?