Hiking, Eating at Zorro's Buffet & Getting Gas

Like I said earlier, the plan for the day, that day being Thanksgiving, was to go hiking then eating at Zorro's Buffet, it being the biggest buffet in Texas, or so Zorro's claims.

The hike took place at Oakland Lake Park, which happens to be on the way to Zorro's, which is located south of downtown Fort Worth on the east side of Interstate 35.

That's Oakland Lake you see above. It was looking very much like a fall day there today. Before I did my pre-eating hike I needed gas so I went to the nearby Tandy Hills Gas Station. To my shocked mortification the price had gone up. It was $1.61 when I drove by there yesterday. Today it was $1.65.

After I got gas and drove back to Oakland Lake I called my Mom in Phoenix to tell her I got gas. My Dad answered so I told him instead. After talking to my Pa for a bit my Mom demanded the phone so she could tell me something.

They are coming to Texas. In January. I'll have a long list of chores for them and a few gallons of berries they can turn into jam. I can't wait.

The merciless hiking went on for about an hour. Then it was time to go to Zorro's. I expected it to be busy, but when we got there it obviously was not. As in there were plenty of parking spaces. Zorro's was good today, but I didn't like it as much as the previous 2 visits. And I didn't get stuffed.

As you can by peeking through the Zorro's covered walkway, the gas at the Zorro's Racetrack gas station is the lowest I've seen here in Fort Worth. $1.59. But I didn't need any.

X-Rated Happy Thanksgiving

Last night I was over at Miss Puerto Rico's, sitting out on her balcony, enjoying the view, when I looked up to see a giant X in the dark night sky. The contrails of 2 jets had intersected above me. I'd never seen that happen before. The photo does not do justice to how weird it looked.

I neglected to mention that I went swimming yesterday. It was not as cold as this morning's Thanksgiving swim.

I'm going to go hiking sometime around noon and then we're off to Zorro's Buffet for turkey.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's editorial page today consisted solely of people saying what they are thankful for. About half were in some way or the other thankful that God and Jesus had done some good thing for them, like fixing their health or getting them a job.

I'm sitting here trying to think of anything I'm thankful for. Well, I'm thankful I'm able to go swimming in November. I'm thankful I'm in good shape and healthy. I'm thankful I'm not obese and stupid. I'm thankful for all the people who are good to me. I'm thankful I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner today.

On a sort of thankful, but different note, my TV Blog continues to amaze and amuse me. There was a time when I thought I was doing well if this Blog you're reading now and my Eyes on Texas website got over 2000 visitors a day. I started the TV Blog a couple weeks ago. My TV Blog has been getting around 5000 visitors a day for over a week now. It is now, by far, my biggest ad revenue generator.

It's time to get ready to go hiking, so I can get really hungry and then go to Zorro's Buffet and eat a lot. I am thankful I am able to eat a lot. And not get fat.

Thanksgiving Tomorrow Rhymes With Zorro

Last year I went through the extreme bother of cooking all the basic Thanksgiving stuff, everything from pumpkin pie to turkey. It's way too much bother for 20 minutes of eating. Even though the leftovers are a nice thing to have, they aren't really all that nice.

Some of the previous Thanksgivings, in relative-free, Texas I've gone to restaurants. Twice to one up on Eagle Mountain Lake, the name of which I can not remember. One memorable Thanksgiving was spent in a very crowded Truck Stop Iron Skillet Restaurant in Weatherford.

A couple years ago a nurse friend, who can not cook, invited me over for Thanksgiving. At one point I politely asked to have the platter of rolls passed to me. Rather than passing, her uncouth 13 year old daughter tossed a roll my way. Needless to say this was the last time I ate at that house. I recently learned the uncouth daughter is now 16 with a driver's license and recently ran into a wall in her mother's brand new car, rendering a door useless, among other bits of damage.

Tomorrow I am going to go to Zorro's Buffet for Thanksgiving. If Thanksgiving tomorrow is as tasty as the previous visits to Zorro's, it should be one good Thanksgiving. With no cooking. And no one throwing rolls at me. I hope.

Swimming, Roller Blading & Ballistic Missile Launches in Fort Worth

I'm sorry to bore you with my daily swimming reports, but there is one person, well, my one reader, who religiously tracks my swimming reports, who emails me when I forget. Which I did yesterday. Well, yesterday it was much colder than the day before. I only lasted about 3 minutes before I escaped the cold and climbed in the hot tub.

Now, this morning was very strange, as in it was freezing when I went to the pool, as in actually freezing, as in 32 degrees, with frost on the roofs and ice on the windshields. Because it was freezing the water actually felt somewhat warm. I was able to stay in it for about 15 minutes. My skin's heat sensors were so traumatized that the hot tub water felt cold, even though it was steaming. It took a couple minutes for the hot tub to feel hot.

By 8:30am I had to be at the regional Post Office on Rosedale to pick up a package that had not been successfully delivered. That was interesting. A very strange collection of people waiting for the Post Office to open.

About noon I was tired of looking at my computer screen so I went to Quanah Parker Park to go roller blading. The morning's freeze had turned to 67. Very pleasant. The pool should be quite a bit warmer in the morning.

As I was putting on my roller blades I looked up to see what looked like Ballistic Missiles being launched from southeast Fort Worth. I don't know what it was that was climbing almost vertical. That's the Ballistic Missiles in the first photo.

I don't believe I've mentioned before that Quanah Parker Park sits next to the Trinity River. The Trinity River runs through the D/FW Metroplex. It is one of the few things that Dallas and Fort Worth share. That's the Trinity River, as seen from Quanah Parker Park, in the photo on the right.

Citi-Mets Stadium Naming Scandal & The Federal $20 Billion Bailout

Last summer, when I was in Tacoma, I started questioning the sanity of just about everyone I had contact with. I got back here to Texas and all seemed sane again. But then about a month later I started to think that the world was going insane.

It's not so much the supposed ever-spreading economic meltdown, it's the things being done to supposedly stop the meltdown. Like yesterday the government came to the rescue of Citigroup to the tune of $20 billion.

Citigroup has cut over 53,000 jobs. While paying the New York Mets $400 million over 20 years for the naming rights for the Mets stadium.

Why would this not be one of the first things you cut back when things get tight? Here in Texas the Rangers played in The Ballpark in Arlington when I first moved here. Then a business that got in trouble long before the current troubles, paid to have the Ranger's home called Ameriquest Field. I forgot how much Ameriquest paid for this honor. But whatever it was, they quit paying and so now the place where the Rangers play is back being called The Ballpark in Arlington.

The first time I was in Houston I saw where the Houston baseball team plays. The name of the team escapes me, but the ballpark was Enron Field. Enron disappeared during an earlier meltdown. We sure have a lot of meltdowns. Enron Field is now Minute Maid Park.

So, it is not unheard of for a failing business to get out of the ballpark naming thing. I don't believe either Enron or Ameriquest were given taxpayer's money to bail them out. It seems reasonable to me that Citigroup should not be spending money on such a thing after getting a Federal bailout.

On another note, except for my bank, Washington Mutual, failing, I've had no personal contact with this supposed economic meltdown. If it weren't for reading that bad things were happening, with worse to come, I would think everything was hunky dory. Gas prices are about a third of what they were a short time ago. I go in Wal-Mart and the store is packed with what looks like happy people with carts full of goods. By 5pm every weekday the freeway that goes by where I live is backed up with a traffic jam. I go to a park and see a lot of happy people having fun. I know a lot of people with new flat panel TVs. Every McDonald's I drive by is busy. Last night they were lined up 20 deep at my local Super Wal-Mart's McDonald's.

This just doesn't look like the Great Depression to me. It's perplexing.

Chesapeake Energy Stormtrooper Tactics

A City of Fort Worth public meeting was held at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens last Thursday, the purpose of which was to allow the citizens of Fort Worth to have input into a new ordinance which contains restrictions on noise and pipelines, along with a City Board that would hear cases involving Barnett Shale natural gas drilling sites near residential areas.

Chesapeake Energy did not like these changes, which were made without their usual stamp of permission. In other words, Fort Worth's Ruling Junta had gone rogue, to the great displeasure of Chesapeake Energy. Chesapeake sent out orders to its employees, contractors and anyone who was connected to the Chesapeake operation, telling them to show up at this meeting.

The Chesapeake people wore green badges that said things like, "I have a job thanks to the Barnett," and "I support the Barnett and I vote."

The Chesapeake Stormtrooper Brigade arrived well before the meeting's start time. So when citizens of Fort Worth arrived they found the parking lot full and the meeting room stuffed to the point that Fire Marshals had to clear openings by the time the meeting began at 7pm. Estimates range as high as 850 Chesapeakers participating in this Strongarm Tactic.

As the Fire Marshals tried to thin the crowd many decided to leave, saying they did not want to "be surrounded by a sea of green," referring to the Chesapeake badges.

There was a Letter to the Editor in this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram regarding this latest Chesapeake Energy Bad Behavior. Below is that letter....

When’s the public drilling hearing?

I am one of the few residents of Fort Worth who was able to get a seat at the Botanic Garden last Thursday for the public hearing on the city’s proposed gas drilling ordinance.

Witnessing the number of trucks and SUVs in the parking lot, I was encouraged. I was under the mistaken impression that Fort Worth residents were truly interested in an important issue affecting their lives. Imagine my surprise as I was approached outside the Botanic Garden by someone asking me if I was there to support the drilling and attempting to hand me a tag to wear! Entering the building I began to read those wearing the tags.

Then it dawned on me. These are Chesapeake people. But where were the residents of Fort Worth? You know, those civic-minded people who show up at public meetings with the desire to keep our city honest? I finally did see a few residents I knew but learned that several left due to the parking or the implied intimidation by Chesapeake employees.

Being naturally curious, seeing all this activism by Chesapeake, I had to stay to watch the show. I have never seen city officials so rattled by a public meeting. Neither have I heard so many Chesapeake employees making defiant statements to one another over the latest changes in the ordinance.

That leads me to believe that the city Gas Drilling Task Force has written a good ordinance. It was also comforting to see former Mayor Kenneth Barr called into the meeting to assess the PR damage caused by this Chesapeake tour de force.

Notwithstanding, I commend Sarah Fullenwider and Susan Alanis for a job well done under the circumstances. Now, when will we have a real public meeting on the ordinance so important to our community?

— Linda LaBeau, chair, Northcrest Gas Drilling Committee, Fort Worth

Chesapeake Energy's Thanksgiving Gift To Fort Worth

The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year. The downtowns all over America are human gridlock.

Except for Fort Worth. The deadest downtown in America on the busiest shopping day of the year. Which is perfectly easy to understand due to the fact that Fort Worth is the only city in America with a population over 300,000 with not a single downtown department store. No Neiman Marcus. No Nordstroms. No Macy's. No Bon Marche. Not even a Sears or a Penneys.

Now, Fort Worth may be a ghost town during the day of the busiest shopping day of the year, but that night downtown Fort Worth gets really busy with a lot of people on the earlier deserted streets.

People stream into downtown Fort Worth for the annual Parade of Lights. I've been to the Parade of Lights once. It was a very well done, fun parade. Fort Worth does real good parades.

In fact, I've seen more good parades during my relatively short time in Texas than all my years in Washington. Granbury's 4th, Arlington's 4th, the Ennis National Polka Festival Parade, Fort Worth's Stock Show Parade, it being the world's biggest non-mechanized parade. Meaning it's all horses and cows and people. Nothing vehicular pulling anything.

The Official Name for Fort Worth's day after Thanksgiving event is the Chesapeake Parade of Lights, presented by Chase. I guess this means that Chesapeake put up some money for naming rights and Chase bank also paid for something? I don't know. Chesapeake must have made this investment before they fell on hard times with the price of natural gas collapsing and Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon losing a couple billion bucks.

Chesapeake Energy is still paying for billboards, like the one you see above. It is by the Tandy Hills Gas Station were I filled up today for $1.61 a gallon. Chesapeake Energy's propaganda messages are still plastered on Fort Worth buses. All this signage must have been pre-paid.

And, like I said, Chesapeake Energy is going to give Fort Worth a Parade of Lights in about 4 days. I wonder if they will be natural gas powered lights?

Start time? 6pm.
Where? Throckmorton and Belknap Street.
Theme? The Sights and Sounds of the Season.

North Richland Hills Little Bear Creek Park Under Gas Attack

I got email this morning from a North Richland Hills citizen named Barry Thompson. North Richland Hills is north of Richland Hills and is one of the dozens of small towns that make up the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Barry Thompson is fighting to stop yet one more natural gas drilling operation getting ready to do damage to yet one more D/FW park. Yesterday I showed you photos of the current state of the damage done to the Tandy Hills in east Fort Worth.

And now this morning to learn of this latest local city government sneaky operation in cahoots with the drillers, doing their dirty dealings behind closed doors without public input. Shameful.

Below is the email from Barry Thompson....

I am a huge supporter of reforestation in the DFW area and have worked on tree grant programs when I lived in Fort Worth.I am very disturbed by the decision by the North Richland Hills city council to allow Natural Gas Drilling rigs on park property. There is a gas company currently surveying and staking out a very large section of Little Bear Creek Park in the northwest part of NRH. They have flagged many, many mature trees for clear cutting. Many of the trees are native breeds and a large part of them are evergreens planted by the city over ten years ago!

The decision was made with virtually no notice to the public other than what is required by law - posting a public hearing date in the paper. Therefore not one resident spoke when the issue came up to vote ... no one knew about it!

We are currently organizing, passing out flyers and getting petitions signed before a drilling permit gets signed. I have also been talking to John Pistick and members of the Parks and Recreation department for NRH but nobody seems too interested in stopping this activity. Is there anything you can do to help us? Is there anyone in this area that could be an advocate for our cause?

Thanks in advance for your consideration, if you have any suggestions that would help us fight this please let me know!

Sincerely,
Barry Thompson

The Sky Of Texas is Red Tonight

On the coast you often heard "red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in morning, sailor takes warning." I don't know what a red sky at night means when you live in the prairie, plains zone of North Texas.

What I do know is, tonight's sunset was beautiful. It glowed pink, orange and red, with the blue of the sky filtering through. It's a balmy 66 out there at 6pm. By morning it is supposed to be 38. I suspect that will not happen and I will be happily paddling about in icy water sometime around 7am.

I got gas today at the Tandy Hills Gas Station. It was still $1.61, same as yesterday, when I showed you all a photo of the price. I run one fascinating blog. As my reader may remember, when I get gas I call my mom in Phoenix. And so I did. But I got the answering machine, so I left a gas message. I don't know why my mom was not home taking calls on a Sunday morning. Maybe she's started going to church again. No. That is unlikely.

Chesapeake Energy Disappears From Tandy Hills So I Went Roller Blading

As you can see in the photo of one of the trails at the Tandy Hills Natural Area, it is a cloudy, gray Sunday in North Texas.

Chesapeake Energy's Scott Avenue Rig #2999 has disappeared. All that remains, that I could see, were 2 big bulldozers and a lot of scraped earth.

Just 2 weeks ago this was a bustling operation with a tall drilling tower piercing the sky. The photo on the right is how this location looked 2 weeks ago.

And now, Sunday, November 23, 2 weeks later, all that equipment is gone. That is today's view of the destroyed section of the Tandy Hills on the left. The blue sky of 2 weeks ago is also gone.

When I went over to Scott Avenue I saw that the guard station was gone, with a locked gate in its place. I could see no spot that looked like a capped drill hole. There was something surrounded by orange temporary fencing out in the middle of the forever altered piece of the Tandy Hills. Maybe that's the drill hole, awaiting the next step in the project.

Mother Nature is still standing on Scott Avenue. She is not all that more worn than the last time I visited Her. Someone has added a companion to Mother Nature. It had been connected to the Chesapeake Energy sign. But had come loose. I propped it up again to take a photo. The new poster says, "Save Meadowbrook." Meadowbrook is the neighborhood the Tandy Hills is located in. Above before and after photos of the damaged area, it says "As If We Had A Choice."

After looking at all this environmental mayhem I had need of something aerobic to make myself feel better. It was being quite windy, but I decided to go roller blading anyway, a short distance away, at my regular blading location, Quanah Parker Park. While I was blading I got hit with a big powerful gust that threw me off balance and almost caused a crash.

Mother Nature can be a bitch sometimes.