40 Days Til Christmas. Ugh.

I went to my local neighborhood Super Wal-Mart today. I've been seeing Salvation Army bell ringers for about a week now.

Today I walked into Wal-Mart and was assaulted by a sound I dread every year. Christmas music. It felt time warpy. But also put me in some sort of momentary odd wistful mood.

And then as I was leaving the store, near the exit, I saw something that appalled me. My first Christmas tree of the year. A real big one with real big balls.

The most appalling thing about the Christmas tree was not the real big balls. It was what was also hung on the tree.

An electronic sign counting down the "Days Til Christmas". As in the sign on the Christmas tree said "40 Days Til Christmas".

Ugh.

Sweet Tomatoes & My Shadow

Within the past year or so a restaurant called Sweet Tomatoes opened in Arlington. Since then 2 more have opened in the D/FW zone, one in Addison and one in Irving.

Sweet Tomatoes is like Fresh Choice. Without the roasted chicken. Fresh Choice used to be my favorite Fort Worth restaurant. And then it closed.

I'd not been to Sweet Tomatoes til today. My Shadow wanted to take me there for lunch to meet up with a couple of her friends I'd not met. My Shadow has forbidden me from putting her name on my blog. Or much of anything about her for that matter. I was given permission to mention going to Sweet Tomatoes with her if I called her My Shadow.

Well, here's my restaurant review of Sweet Tomatoes. I liked it. I probably like Zorro's Buffet in Fort Worth better. And I may have liked Fresh Choice better, but it's been so many years since it closed that I don't trust my memory.

Sweet Tomatoes is a buffet-like setup, like Fresh Choice and Zorro's. The menu consists of Tossed Salads, Prepared Salads, Soups, Pastas, Muffins and Desserts.

In the Tossed Salad category there was Azteca Taco with Turkey that I liked and one called Won Ton Chicken Happiness that was real good. I did not try the Caesar Salad Asiago.

Of the Prepared Salads I liked the Whole Wheat Creamy Chipolte Salad and Joan's Broccoli Madness. I didn't try the Southern Dill Potato, Three Bean Marinade or Tuna Taragon.

Of the Soups I tried the Yankee Clipper Clam Chowder and the Chicken Pot Pie Stew. Very good. There were at least 9 different soups. You'll have to go to the Sweet Tomatoes website to see what the rest of them are.

I didn't try any of the Pastas. The Macaroni & Cheese looked good. There was also a Vegetarian Marinara and Steamed Veggies with Lemon Butter.

The Muffins category is a bit confusing because there were also Buttermilk Biscuits and a couple Focaccia bread choices in addition to some muffins. I tried the Quattro Formaggio Foccaccia.

I'm not a big Dessert fan and there weren't all that many dessert choices. My Shadow thought the Tapioca Pudding was good. That stuff always reminds me of baby food.

So, that was lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. I'd go back. But not tomorrow. Right now I'm in need of walking off eating too much.

Artists Call---Buzzworms in the Backyard: Strikes again!

buzzworm n : a quaint, western euphemism for a rattlesnake 2 : an insistent, noisy vibration 3 : a warning sign 4 : a metaphor for a natural gas drilling rig.

~ Call for Entries ~

FWCanDo makes an open call to all artists to submit entries in all media to the second annual Buzzworms in the Backyard, an exhibition of art against ALL irresponsible gas drilling. Artists may enter up to three works at a fee of $10.00 per entry, or three for $25.00. Art will be juried from the actual work (no slides or cd’s) with $500.00 in prizes to be awarded.

Exhibition Dates and Location
January 9-30, 2009

Fort Worth Community Art Center (Back Gallery)
1300 Gendy Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76107

Jurors: Ed and Linda Blackburn
Ed and Linda are nationally-recognized and revered artists and collaborators “who live in Fort Worth, show here and beyond, teach some, are interested in our town, it’s doings and the art done here”. Recent exhibitions include two solo shows at Artspace 111. Ed’s work was recently seen at SUNDAY L.E.S. in New York and he received the Distinguished Texas Artist Award in 2006.

Pre-registration Deadline: Monday, December 29th
Delivery Date for all entries: Saturday January 3rd, 2-5PM

Rules of Entry and Registration Forms:
http://www.fwcando.org/

For further information:

Go to: http://www.fwcando.org/
Call: Don Young @ 817-731-2787
Email: donyoungglass@earthlink.net
Or write: FWCanDo P.O. Box 470041 Fort Worth, TX 76147

Co-sponsored by:

CREDO (Coalition For Reformed Drilling Ordinance)
Heliotrope

New York Parolee Executed Thursday In Texas

The Texas Death Row lost another resident Thursday night. That makes 2 days in a row of executing here in Texas. Three more are scheduled for the lethal injection gurney next week.

Last night's latest visitor to the Texas Death Chamber was a parolee from New York named Denard Manns. He was 42.

Manns got the death penalty for robbing, raping and fatally shooting an Army medic at her apartment near Fort Hood. The victims name was Michele Robson. She was 26.

Manns came to Texas after he got out of prison in New York. He got in trouble twice there for armed robbery.

Manns claimed to be innocent of murdering Michelle Robson who lived in the same apartment complex as Manns. DNA and fingerprint evidence tied Manns to the crime.

The story of yesterday's Texas Execution was buried inside the second section of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Page 6B.

The Idiots Will Always Be Among Us

Maybe one day in the distant future natural selection will have weeded all the ignorant idiots out of the collective gene pool. But til that happens, we are stuck with them.

Earlier in the week I had a day of getting very bizarre ignorantly idiotic comments about a blog I'd written months ago. There was something very disturbingly off about this person and his comments.

I don't get a lot of up close and personal contact with idiocy, ignorance or bigotry, so I was a bit surprised at an accounting of some local idiocy, ignorance and bigotry in this week's FW Weekly, idiocy, ignorance and bigotry that I fear may not be localized to Fort Worth, but may be a nationwide outbreak of fresh idiocy, ignorance and bigotry.

The FW Weekly article I'm talking about is the Second Thought column of the Wednesday, November 12 issue. The title is "Surviving Their Raising." The writer is E.R. Bills who tells of some local bigotry witnessed by Bills' children. I was appalled.

I'll copy the column below, I don't think FW Weekly archives their Second Thought columns, so the point made by E.R. Bills can live on here til this Blog dies.

Surviving Their Raising

Could we make this the last generation of racists?

By E.R. BILLS

A few weeks back, a 7th-grader who hangs around the neighborhood told my kids that Barack Obama was a stupid Muslim terrorist and that if that “nigger” got elected he and his family were moving to Canada.

A week ago, my 10-year-old daughter related the new joke going around her elementary school: What’s the difference between Obama and Simba? Simba is an African lion and Obama is a lyin’ African.

And the day after the election, in a high-school lunch line, a sulky-looking kid standing behind my 15-year-old son was asked by a friend what was wrong. “There’s a nigger in the White House now,” he said. “Yeah, I know,” the girl replied. “I don’t like him either.”

As a parent of mixed-race children, I find the ignorance inherent in these sentiments offensive. I would find it just as revolting if my kids were white, Hispanic, or of any other ethnic background. But I’m not upset with the children who parrot such ideas. I’m unhappy with their parents.

Teenagers are not genetically predisposed to use ugly racial slurs. That kind of prejudice starts at home. Ten-year-olds don’t independently question a politician’s integrity or sit up thinking of ways to mock half of his ethnicity. And young middle-school students don’t instinctively suspect Obama is a Muslim or equate that with being a terrorist. It’s something they get from Mom or Dad — from the language routinely used at home, or the jokes repeated there, or the attitudes that, subtlely or overtly, the grown-ups at home display in dealing with other people.

The “trickle-down” theory of economics may have proven to be a terrible blunder, but the moniker itself is solid. It’s simply misapplied.

Wealth doesn’t trickle down, but ignorance sure does.

If a child’s parents are members of the Ku Klux Klan or the Aryan Nation or are simply active, vocal racists, chances are that child will absorb those repugnant ideologies and learn to discriminate against ethnic minorities. If a child’s father hangs out on street corners holding up signs that say “God Hates Fags,” the chances of that child becoming a homophobic bumpkin who is afraid of gay marriage increase exponentially. If Mom and Dad are shallow, xenophobic neocons who mock anyone the talk radio jocks tell them they should feel threatened by or disagree with, little Timmy is much more inclined to denigrate people who make him uncomfortable or who have different political opinions.

Hate breeds hate. So many of the evils that plague our nation — racism, sexism, homophobia, and general narrowmindedness — are passed down from grandparents to parents to kids like family pictures or precious heirlooms.

Hence, ignorance and cruelty continually dim our collective future. American poet Anne Sexton put it best: “Live or die, but don’t poison everything.”

If you’re so eaten up with hate and fear that you can’t abide the skin color or free will or liberty of others, that’s your prerogative. But please, do us all a favor and keep it to yourself.

No offense, but the world might be a better place if the chains of which you are a link were broken — not to mention the chains you’d like to see the rest of us wrapped in. If we could stop stuffing our children like Thanksgiving turkeys with our preconceived notions and prejudices, they might grow up to figure things out for themselves.

Trust me, as a fellow parent: For my children and yours, life is too short to make them spend years trying to transcend our follies. Let’s allow them a fresh start, a clean slate. And who knows, one of our kids might grow up to be president someday.

Me & My Shadow Roller Blading and Swimming in Texas

Yes, that is me and my shadow rollerblading at Quanah Parker Park a couple hours ago, before lunch. Usually today would be a go hiking at Tandy Hills Park day, but we had so much rain Monday and Tuesday that the Tandy Hills are likely still too wet in places.

The photos in this blogging are showing you parts of Quanah Parker Park I've not shown you before. The paved blading trail meanders for several miles through some interesting terrain. I have had bobcat encounters in this area. And snakes.

You may notice that unlike 2 days ago, today I kept my shirt on. It got a bit nippy, temperature-wise overnight, as in down to 41. It was in the 50s at midnight.

Consequently the pool was a bit cooler this morning. But I still managed to swim for about 45 minutes, starting at 7am. Saturday it is supposed to get down to 35 overnight. That may test my tolerance for cold.

I kept my shirt on for rollerblading, but went shirtless when swimming when it was a lot colder. One more indication of my convoluted thinking.

Both my blogs are on fire at the same time for the first time. Well, actually this is the first time my Durango TV Blog has been on fire, ever. By on fire I mean I somehow blog about something that people are searching for and so the blog gets a lot of hits. It was the blogging about Naked Biking in Seattle that caused this blog to get a lot of hits. On the TV Blog it was blogging about The Real Housewives of Atlanta's Lee Najjar being the supposed boyfriend of the Kept Woman Kim.

When the Blogs get busy the Google ads get clicked on more. For a long time I thought I was having a good ad day when I made 10 bucks. Lately I don't think I have a good day if the total isn't over 30 bucks. That isn't much, but it makes wasting time on blogs seem like less of a waste.

Alma Sings at the Tarpon Ice House in Port Aransas Thursday

Alma will be singing tonight at the Tarpon Ice House down in Port Aransas. I can't tell you how much I wish I could be there.

Alma will be singing about 7pm to 10ish pm Island Time at the Tarpon Ice House 103 Roberts (by the VFW Hall on Alister at Beach Street) Port Aransas TX 78373.

Grab a sweater and come on down to the Tarpon Ice House.

We'll be burning pinion wood in the chiminea and tipping ice cold brewskys in this outside venue. I'm doing this one for fun so we'll just see what mischief we can get into! Don't waste your time at the lame-o local imitation coffee house. They just want your money. Trust me when I tell you this. Just come to the Tarpon Ice house where you can be yourself. We love that!

I'm playing for tips so bring your $1s (bigger bills always welcome) to help me make rent. I want your money, too, but I really care about you. I will sing my butt off for you! This is free music, so anything you can contribute will help! It's the slow season in Port A so I don't have to tell you what that's like! You'll have fun and my friends, known as the locals, will hopefully all come out and you will see why I love them so much! There's no place like Port Aransas and I'm feeling the love today for some reason! :-)

Come - Be Yourself.

Texas Executions

We executed another murderer here in Texas yesterday. It seems barely a week goes by without at least one murderer getting murdered here by lethal injection.

Yesterday's executed killer was named George Whitaker, III. He was 37. He killed the 16 year old sister of his ex-girl friend. And wounded another sister and the sister's mother.

In Washington I only remember a couple of executions. There it such a big deal that it warrants big headlines on the front page. In Texas the executions are about as common as car wrecks, with the article about any given execution being buried far off the front page.

Many Texans don't realize the rest of America does not execute as often as Texas does. Or that Texas executions are one of the few, if not the only thing, that Texas ranks #1 in the nation.

Below is a list of some of the executed this year in Texas. I got the list from a website about Texas executions. There are several of them, including the official State of Texas Department of Criminal Justice Execution webpage.

I am not against capital punishment. I do think it is very unevenly carried out. In Washington the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway, got life instead of the death penalty. He murdered dozens upon dozens of women. He should have gotten the death penalty.

11/6/2008
Elkie Taylor
Murder and robbery of a two men in their homes.
10/30/2008
Gregory Wright
Murder and robbery of a woman in her home.
10/28/2008
Eric Nenno
Murder and rape of a 7-year-old girl.
10/21/2008
Joseph Ries
Murder and robbery of a man in his home.
10/16/2008
Kevin Watts
Murder and robbery of three restaurant employees.
10/14/2008
Alvin Kelly
Murder and robbery of a couple and their baby in their home.
9/17/2008
William Murray
Rape, murder, and robbery of a 93-year-old woman.
8/14/2008
Michael Rodriguez
Murder of a policeman while on escape from prison.
8/12/2008
Leon Dorsey
Robbery and murder of two store employees.
8/7/2008
Heliberto Chi
Robbery and murder of a store manager.
8/5/2008
Jose Medellin
Rape and murder of two teenage girls.
7/31/2008
Larry Davis
Murder and robbery of a man in his home.
7/23/2008
Derrick Sonnier
Rape and murder of a woman and murder of her child.
7/10/2008
Carlton Turner
Murder and robbery of his adoptive parents.
6/11/2008
Karl Chamberlain
Rape and murder of a woman in her apartment

Seattle Naked Bike Ride & Fort Worth's Naked Bike Ride

I read the Seattle P-I every morning after I'm done reading the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It takes me a lot longer to read the P-I than the Star-Telegram. The P-I seems to have a lot more content that catches my attention.

Like this morning there was an article about an activity the likes of which I can't imagine happening here in the Buckle of the Bible Belt. Then again, we do have a local preacher advising his flock to have sex every day for a week, so maybe there could be a Ride in Fort Worth sanctioned by the WNBR (World Naked Bike Ride) Association. Not that there is any connection between riding a bike naked and having sex every day for a week.

Seattle is considering putting some restrictions on people riding bikes naked through the Seattle Center, Gas Works Park, Alki and other locations.

I did not know there was so much naked bike riding going on in Seattle. All I knew about was the annual Fremont Solstice Parade's collection of naked bike riders.

One of the Seattle Naked Bike Riders, Daniel Johnson is quoted as saying, "This is very Seattle. Seattle is one of the most liberal and tolerant cities in the world."

Well, without a doubt Seattle is more liberal and tolerant than Fort Worth and its surrounding area, but I don't think Seattle comes close to being as liberal and tolerant as, well, Amsterdam. I don't think they are selling beer and wine in Seattle's McDonald's yet.

Fort Worth has some areas where I don't think being naked would be a big deal. Like hiking at the Tandy Hills might be more pleasant if one were naked when the temps get real HOT. 95% of the time I go hiking at the Tandy Hills I could be buck naked and know one would see me. Maybe I should organize a Naked Tandy Hills Hike when the weather turns warm again. I will confess to a naked hike up Church Mountain in the North Cascades. This was due to necessity more than the desire to hike naked. I will spare you any further details.

Gas Gets Down To $1.89 In My Neighborhood

Yes, $1.89 is the new low in my zone of Fort Worth.

I remember in July of 2001, my last road trip back to Washington, filling up in Amarillo for $1.19. Gas remained in that range through Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. But then I needed gas in La Grange, Oregon. I was appalled that it was $1.79.

I figured it was so high in La Grange due to the town being up in the mountains and out in the middle of nowhere. And that it'd be cheaper in Washington. So, I only got enough gas to get me to Washington. And soon learned gas was even higher in the Evergreen State.

On the way back, a month later, gas was now $1.41 in Amarillo and people were grumbling about President Bush. I don't recollect what he'd done at the time that had people blaming him for the gas price jump. 9/11 happened a week or so later, with most of us happy with how George Bush handled that. For awhile.

And now gas is almost back to being at pre-9/11 prices. Likely actually lower if inflation is factored in.

One personal note of how this drop in gas prices is affecting me. When last I talked to my mom she told me with the newly cheap price of gas they are thinking of taking a road trip to Texas again. I hope they don't plan on making any raspberry jam. We don't have raspberries in Texas. Not that I know of.