Oakland Lake Park's Birds & Trees

I stubbed a toe getting out of the hot tub this morning. It is now the same color as the tree you see on the left. The tree is at Oakland Lake Park. I went there to see if I could walk off the pain in my foot. I think walking made it worse.

My one reader may remember that it was at Oakland Lake Park, last week, that I was chased by a pack of wild dogs. That night a nightmare morphed those wild dogs into 6 UGLY FAT WOMEN running after me, looking for dinner. This turned into a 3 day bout of insomnia.

I saw no dogs today except for a hyper dachshund that ran towards me, barking. I don't think I'll have a nightmare about that attack. I hope.

I saw the mutant Goose/Turkey aka Gurkey today. It was still being shunned by the other birds who all flock together. The other birds are very fidgety when you try to get close for a photo, but not the Gurkey. It acts like it hopes you'll let it join your flock.

Among all the extremely colorful trees was one very odd one. My photo skills and crummy camera do not do it justice. The tree has all these deep red berries attached to equally red little limbs stuck to bigger limbs that are not red. It looked artificial, like a big red plastic tree.

Right now it is very windy and in the 70s. The next couple days it is supposed to get below freezing. The colorful trees are likely coming to an end. Could my early morning swimming be coming to an end as well? I doubt it.

What Is In The Barnett Shale Fracking Water?

Interesting natural gas drilling information about the chemicals used in the fracking process is coming out of Pennsylvania.

The upper Delaware region has a natural gas drilling operation underway, drilling into what is called the Marcellus Shale. Here in Fort Worth we call ours the Barnett Shale.

I don't know if Chesapeake Energy is drilling in the upper Delaware region, along with their patented over the top propaganda operation.

While the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection acknowledges that gas drillers may keep their fracking formulas secret, the individual ingredients are public record in Pennsylvania .

So, the Pennsylvania agency supplied a New York newspaper, The River Reporter, with a list of the chemicals used in the fracking process.

The River Reporter asked researchers at The Endocrine Disruption Exchange to analyze the chemicals for their effects on humans and animals.

The results are startling. There are 54 different chemicals used in the fracking process. The researchers broke it all down into charts and graphs representing the degree of health effects.

You can view that information here.

Marcellus Shale drillers claim the fracking process is safe in the Marcellus Shale because the fracking takes place below the water table.

Others say the lined wells have failed in the past, contaminating drinking water.

Here in the Barnett Shale zone, just recently, there were reports of a nursery in Parker County seeing its plants die due to their water being contaminated by a nearby drilling operation. Before that there were reports of a farm family, somewhere west of Fort Worth, the exact location of which I can't remember, having their water supply turn undrinkable, soon after a Barnett Shale natural gas drilling operation's fracking process took place.

I fear there is an environmental disaster of historical proportions in the future for those living above the Barnett and Marcellus and other Shales being drilled and fracked with dangerous chemicals.

Only Child Syndrome & Evil Women

An Anonymous person commented on a Blog I wrote some time back about Only Child Syndrome. He too has been victim of the syndrome.

Anonymous said...

My boss, my boss's boss and one of the assistant's in my team are all only children. They are nice people and I certainly do like them, but they are quite difficult to get on with sometimes in a work context. They get so defensive and possessive! Trouble is, the boss doesn't see that he is messing things up... it is like he can't accept that he has made any mistakes - it is ALWAYS someone else's fault. It is exhausting *sigh*

I came upon a website that listed the "Top 10 Most Evil Women." I don't know how many of the Evil Women were Only Child Syndrome textbook-type cases, but I do know at least one was, she being Mary I of England, the only child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. When Mary became the Queen of England she was able to give full reign to her Only Child Syndrome tendencies. She became known as "Bloody Mary" due to all the Protestants she sent to the gallows, because Mary, the Only Child, believed everyone should be a Catholic like she was. "Bloody Mary's" Reign of Terror did not last long.

It is a good thing that most Only Children do not get into power positions with execution privileges. I've only known one Only Child in Texas. She was a mess. The Only Children I've known in Washington have all fit the stereotype to varying degrees, with the worst being a mental case, with a sense of entitlement, so elevated, she constantly wreaks havoc in her wake and does not even let legal interventions, like jail time, cause her to question and change her beliefs and behaviors.

The first shrink, Alfred Adler, to identify the condition, believed Only Child Syndrome to be a mental disease in need of treatment. Maybe it should be illegal to have only one kid. That'd probably be a hard law to enforce. Or get made into law. Maybe mandatory therapy is the answer to this pressing problem.

Urgent: It Will Be Windy Today In Texas

When I woke up my computer this morning I was greeted by a flashing WeatherBug telling me that an urgent message had been issued by the National Weather Service out of Fort Worth advising that it will be windy today.

Here's the dire warning....

Urgent - Weather Message National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 400 AM CST Mon Dec 8 2008

... Wind Advisory In Effect Today From 8 AM To 8 PM CST...

.A Deepening Low Pressure System In The Texas Panhandle Will Tighten The Pressure Gradient Across North Texas Today. In Addition... Stronger Winds Aloft Will Mix Down To The Surface. This Will Result In Southerly Winds Increasing To 20 To 30 Mph With Gusts To 35 Mph. The Advisory Area Is Generally West Of A Paris..To Canton... To Hearne Line.

I would hazard to guess that today the windmills at the windfarms out in West Texas will be spinning hard and putting a lot of power into the grid.

Speaking of weather, it has not been below 50 here since sometime before noon, yesterday. This should make the pool a bit warmer. I'll know for sure in about a half hour. I hope it isn't windy. The windchill factor is even more chilly when you are in chilly water.

Gas Hits New Low In Fort Worth So I Went Shopping

I've had me a Sunday and it's barely 2:06pm. I got up early, went swimming for a short duration at 8 this morning.

At 11:30 or thereabouts I was in the Tandy Hills zone and saw that gas at the Tandy Hills Gas Station had fallen to $1.44.

Phone call. I've gotta go. Will be back in a bit and continue with this fascinating missive.

Okay, I'm back. It's about a half hour after I had to attend to an "emergency." Like I was saying, gas was $1.44. So I got myself some. And then, as my one reader may remember, when I get gas I call my Mom in Phoenix. No one answered, so I left a message, which was, "$1.44, got to freezing last night, went swimming anyway, talk to you later..."

After I got gas and called my Mom I headed north to Southlake to go to Sprouts Farmers Market. It was the busiest I've ever seen Sprouts. I keep looking for signs of the 2nd Great Depression, but I can find none. I must look harder. I got all sorts of goodies at Sprouts, black grapes, ground buffalo, white cheddar, I forget what all, but it was more than one trip to haul it all in here.

On the way back here I stopped at the North Richland Hills Wal-Mart Supercenter on Davis Boulevard. It's a nice Wal-Mart. Not like my not so nice local Wal-Mart Supercenter. Wal-Mart was super busy. Wal-Mart may be Great Depression proof.

So, that's my Sunday so far, coming up on 3pm. Miss Puerto Rico called a bit ago. She wants me to come over for a libation. Maybe I will, maybe I won't.

Nice temps have returned so I've temporarily returned to wearing shorts. I like it when that happens.

The First Saturday of December at Fort Worth's Botanic Gardens

Fall colors are being spectacular this year in Texas, due to several factors, like low humidity, a drought and no hard freezes. Last week I read that one of the best places to see a wide variety of colorful leaves was Fort Worth's Botanic Garden. The Botanic Garden is located in what Fort Worth calls its Cultural District.

I'd not been to the Botanic Garden since October of 2001, if I remember correctly. So, on Saturday I thought it'd be fun to walk around Fort Worth's best gardens.

There's been a huge new thing added to the Botanic Gardens that is very impressive. It's called the Texas Native Forest Boardwalk. Which describes it well. It's in Texas, it's a boardwalk and it's surrounded by native forest.

The purpose of the Texas Native Forest Boardwalk is to educate kids. In a fun way. It's also designed to be fun and educational for grownups. I'm grown up and I found it fun. There is education and fun off the boardwalk, that is also part of the Texas Native Forest exhibits.

You can walk balance beams, crawl through hollowed out trees and visit a log hotel. On the Boardwalk there are several listening tubes where you can whisper to someone at another section of the Boardwalk.

For me, the coolest thing on the Boardwalk, other than how cool the elevated Boardwalk itself was, was the "Name That Tune" exhibit. There were 10 buttons to push that when pushed a bird would warble. You guess what type bird it was and then lift the flap to see if you are right. The only 2 I had a clue about were the turkey and the owl. The cool part was how realistic the chirping was. It sounded like it was coming out of the trees, in stereo. Very well done.

A slightly weird, yet somehow amusing thing on the Boardwalk was one of the questions posed. As you walk the Boardwalk you come to signs that pose questions. You lift a board to reveal the answer. The slightly weird, yet somehow amusing question was "Do Trees Poop?"

You can see me revealing the answer to the "Do Trees Poop?" question on the right.

The Fort Worth Botanic Gardens has several totally landscaped, not natural, formal type gardens that are very well done. The formal or demonstration gardens are the Japanese, Rose, Perennial, Fuller, Trial, Four Season, Water Conservation and Cactus Gardens.

In addition to the landscaped gardens and the Boardwalk, there are several totally natural, unpaved, for the most part, trails, like the Pecan Promenade Nature Trail and the Sugarberry Nature Trail. One of the 'nature trails' was paved with flagstones, but still managed to be very natural. The flagstoned trail is called the Rock Springs Trail. It's the location of the biggest pecan tree in the Botanical Garden.

So, if you live somewhere within driving distance of Fort Worth and want to take the kids and Grandma to a fun outdoors experience that manages to be good exercise for both the body and the brain, you should haul yourselves to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens.

The Botanic Garden is very easy to find. They are about 1.5 miles west of downtown Fort Worth. You can just follow the signs to the "Cultural District." Or get off Interstate 30 at University and head north on University Drive. You'll soon come to the first entrance to the Botanic Garden. Take the second entrance and it will lead you to the Garden Center where the Conservatory is located.

The Conservatory is like a greenhouse on steroids that contains a tropical garden. The only entry fees charged in the Botanic Garden are for the Conservatory and the Japanese Garden.

Don Young's December Tandy Hills Prairie Notes

REMINDER: Prairie Fest is April 25, 2009. Applications for Exhibitor space are now being accepted. Brave Combo is already lined up as our musical headliner.

Most of you have probably noticed the rather late and colorful autumn tree foliage in north central Texas. Ideal weather conditions are, apparently, responsible for this phenomenon.

One doesn't usually associate vibrant fall color and trees with tall grass prairies, but Tandy Hills Natural Area (THNA) is Unique with a capital "U". Experts have noted that, the range of elevations, soil types and other factors have conspired to make THNA an ecological rarity. They point out that THNA has more botanical diversity in the smallest amount of space than anywhere else in the state of Texas.

Right now, the Oaks, Cottonwoods, Elms and other trees that inhabit the drainages and lower elevations of THNA are at peak Fall color. (The photos were taken just before the recent frost.) The native but invasive Ash trees, now leafless, allow panoramic views of the towering bottomland hardwoods.

December is also a good time of year to appreciate the "Hill" part of Tandy Hills. Over the years, I have attempted, unsuccessfully, to express in words or capture in photographs the essential profundity of the hills. Their soft, grass-covered contours and (mostly) gentle slopes are elemental to THNA. I view them as the essence of the place even more so than the 500+ plant species they nurture. The most reverent sense of the timeworn phrase, "Mother Earth", comes to mind.

These hills are or have been home to a surprising variety of wildlife, considering the proximity to I-30 and downtown. I have personally seen Red Fox, Wild Turkey, Coyote, Wolf, Bobcat, Cottontail Rabbit, Great Horned Owl, Screech Owl, Coopers Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Turkey Buzzard, Roadrunner and many other bird species.

This past October, when Chesapeake Energy completely removed one of the nearby hills, it affected many of us like the death of a loved one. The thought that they also own 50 unblemished acres of the Tandy Hills greenbelt is especially difficult to accept. I'm keeping a wary eye on that hill.

I have a treasured memory from the late '70's of a Red Fox, its long tail fully fluffed, the setting sun catching the red highlights as he scampered up the same, lovely hill that Chesapeake recently obliterated. It is observations and memories such as these that can inspire one to activism.

Come to the meadow - FAST - and catch autumn's fading color wheel and see with your own eyes where the Red Fox once ran free and what words and photos cannot capture: the irreplaceable essence of Tandy "Hills" Natural Area.

DY

"Be as I am a reluctant enthusiast...a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here."
~Ed Abbey

Polar Bear Plunge in Washington & Texas

No. That is not me running into Lake Grapevine in Texas as part of a Polar Bear Plunge.

Instead, it is a group of Polar Bear Plungers running from Matthews Beach Park into Lake Washington in Seattle yesterday. The Polar Bear Plunge was an event hosted by EarthCorps to bring attention to environmental issues and the UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Poland.

Meanwhile, I did my part here, in Fort Worth, to bring attention to environmental issues by doing my regular Polar Bear Plunge into a very cool pool. I got home at 2am, yesterday morning, and was up and in the pool by 8am.

Regarding me being a Polar Bear Plunger, I neglected to mention, in my blogging about Friday's Austin Ranch Christmas Party, that the subject of me getting in icy water came up several times. One amusing lady asked if I was one of those Polar Bear people.

Yesterday I had a great time at Fort Worth's Botanic Garden. I'd not been there in a long time. I think the last time was way back in October of 2001 when friends from up north, Chris and Nancy were here. There was a very cool new addition to the Botanic Gardens and some very colorful foliage that I took pictures of that I'll likely get around processing today.

At midnight it was 39. The low this morning has been 31. It is currently 32.2. I don't see a lengthy time in a pool in my future this morning.

Texas Dude Ranch Christmas Fun

I've gone to 4 or 5 of Miss Puerto Rico's company Christmas parties. Last night's was, by far, the best. Last year's was a disaster. It was held in cramped quarters at a place called Dave & Busters. Basically Dave & Busters is a Gameworks wannabe. The food was real good, but other than that, no one liked Dave & Busters as a Christmas party place.

So, this year it was back to the town of Grapevine to a place called Austin Ranch. On the way to Austin Ranch Miss Puerto Rico and I drove down Grapevine's Main Street. Grapevine is a very well-done tourist town. So, its Christmas lights were over the top. Then we took a left to the Gaylord Texan Convention Center and Resort complex. I've never seen a place with Christmas lights as bright as Gaylord Texan. It out-brighted the brightest of Vegas. And, in the water feature in front of the main entry, Santa was in a power boat pulling his reindeer on skis.

After looking at the Gaylord Texan excess it was time for some Austin Ranch excess. Austin Ranch, obviously, is very Cowboy/Texas themed. Cowboys wander about in full cowboy gear. A huge fireplace warms up one end of the huge room. A stage is in the middle. A bar is opposite the stage. The buffet is in another room, made to look, sort of, like you're entering a saloon.

It was not a full-service bar. The choices were several wines, Shiner Bock on tap, beer in bottles. And Margaritas. The buffet was basically steak and baked potatoes, along with things like asparagus and a stuffed pasta. And real good pecan pie. Before the buffet opened there was a big cracker and cheese table with raspberries and blueberries and other stuff I don't remember. The raspberries were good.

After the food part of the night was over the guy emceeing the thing indicated it was time to play bingo. What fresh hell is this, I wondered? I don't like playing bingo. But this turned out to be fun. And didn't last too long. Next there was this Conga Line thing that didn't end til everyone was in the Conga Line.

After a raffle for the employees, the dancing part of the evening began. Last year, at Dave & Busters, there was no dancing because there was no room to do so and no music. Previous times, at Austin Ranch, very few people danced. And those few who did were just some of the girls having fun.

Last night was totally different. When we arrived an older couple was already two-stepping, quite gracefully. I instantly thought of Dancing With the Stars. What happened the rest of the night convinced me that that show, being top-rated, has changed people's dancing.

At one point some Merengue type music caused a large group to start doing, I guess, Merengue dancing. One guy shimmied out onto the floor to the sound of people applauding. There was spontaneous dancing taking place off the dance floor. At one point, I looked to my right, to the surprising sight of my friend Shelley, dancing with her formerly, not a dancing type of guy, husband. After the Conga Line, another funny friend, Susan, she being a 50-something who says she can't dance, did so, to the slight embarrassment of her daughter.

At one point that awful Macarena song that spawned a dance craze that even Al Gore managed to learn, started up. One of the company execs, along with one other person, did the whole Macarena thing, quite well. I do not have the ability to remember that type thing.

And in the weirdest Dancing With the Stars affected moment, Shakira's Hips Don't Lie song started up. I like that song. I'd just stood up to head to the bar for another Shiner Bock when Shakira started singing. I'd previously told those at my table that I don't know how to dance. Which isn't the truth. Anyway, when I stood up I did a little Hips Don't Lie wiggling. Susan said, you dance good. To which I said thank you.

Next thing I know Miss Puerto Rico and I head to the bar. I started shaking my hips again. There was some clapping and then I turned all Maxsim Chmerkovskiy (dancer on Dancing With the Stars). Only me and Miss Puerto Rico were shaking to Shakira. I'm pretty sure we would have gotten at least one 10 if the Dancing With the Stars judges had been there.

As the evening wore down our group was pretty much the last to leave. We got a really good hint that it was time to go when Happy Trails was the last song played. Followed by silence. Susan went around collecting all sorts of chocolate and stuffed them in my pockets. She also filled her own pockets.

So, that was my night. I didn't get home til 2am. My one longtime reader may remember that just days ago I was having a bout of insomnia that had me getting up at 3am. I got up at 7am this morning, which I guess means I got only 5 hours sleep.

I'm going to Fort Worth's Botanic Garden today. And then to the Fort Worth Stockyards. Photos and video to appear later.

Picasa 3 Sucks

I'd gotten quite used to using Picasa. That's Google's freebie photo management program that does all sorts of good things. I'd use it to quickly process a lot of photos. Picasa made it very easy to crop and to enhance a photo. It'd become one of my favorite programs and one of my most frequently used.

Until today. Picasa is no longer on my computer.

When I closed Picasa, yesterday, a window popped up telling me that an upgrade would be installed the next time I started Picasa.

I took some pictures this afternoon of the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. I took them off the camera and started up Picasa, which, without asking me if it could, began upgrading it. I had no input.

When it finished the upgrade, Picasa re-started. With a whole new look. I instantly did not like it. But went ahead cropping and enhancing the photos. Soon my the Windows Task Manager was telling me that Page File Usage had gone to 100%. And then the overheating fan came on.

I closed Picasa and my computer calmed down.

I then tried to re-start Picasa, but the start up icon said it couldn't find the .exe file. I then saw a new program had been installed. Picasa 3 had replaced Picasa 2 and removed the Picasa 2 files.

There was an un-install option. Since Picasa 3 was worthless to me, I thought maybe if i un-install Picasa 2 would be restored. That did not happen. So, I am now Picasa free.

I need to find a replacement.