Lord Voldemort's Minions & Warm Water

The morning is half gone. Usually by this point in the day I've been on the computer for hours. When I finally got around to waking up this beast, after it had a long sleep, I was greeted with several very demented comments to this very blog.

But, before I get to the dementia, I must mention it's already in the 70s, the overnight low was 67, the high today is supposed to get to 85. So, with three 80 degree days in a row the water in my swimming pool had warmed up a lot from yesterday's morning attempt to swim, which only lasted 2 minutes, at the most. Today the water seemed warmer than the air. I swam for over a half an hour!

And now on to the dementia. When someone comments on this blog I get sent an email with the comment and the option to publish or reject the comment. Usually it is spam comments I reject. Or if someone is spewing tacky profanity.

This morning I got comments from what I believe to be one of Lord Voldemort's Minions in Tacoma. Like I've mentioned before, there are some very Toxic People in Tacoma. This particular Toxic Tacoma Minion sent 4 comments. The first 3 were pretty much repeating the same thing, but with the tone being like the Minion was working itself up into an ever greater state of agitation, as if the Minion kept accidentally hitting the delete button and was getting frustrated at having to write the comment again.

And then I got the 4th comment and figured out what caused the previous three. Lord Voldemort's Minions are not the brightest lights, pretty much bottom feeders. What happened was this Minion typed the comment, hit the publish button and then got frustrated when the comment did not instantly appear. And so the Minion would try again.

And then the Minion figured it out, and wrote the below comment. (I've covered up the profanity with *)

"Oh you rotten little, cowardice ****-bag. How dare you hide behind a "Comment moderation has been enabled. All comments must be approved by the blog author." you ridiculous little half-****, best you hide your true, moronic self from the public view, maybe try doing that with all that you write."

Now that is funny. I'm a coward(ice) hiding behind comment moderation. While this Minion hides behind "Anonymous." With moderating comments allowing me to hide my true, moronic self from public view.

Now, on to the Minion's moderated comments.

Each began with "After my Scrabble defeat I needed to do something where there was some likelihood that I might not fall down......", copied and pasted from the blogging to which the Minion was commenting.

The quote was followed by the following choice excerpts....

Wow. I didn't think you had it in you. Are you kidding me? It is with the best of intentions that I STRONGLY advise you to avoid any further attempt at communicating with what I shall hereto refer to as,"THE REAL WORLD."

Holy smokes, you rotten, ridiculous bore. It is with great sadness and regret, well, not really, that I intend to inform you...that nobody really gives one half of a **** what it is that you are trying to convey.

Wow, no wonder they want to turn you into a canoe, back in Tacoma. People DO love a canoe, but Jesus, I can't see spending a day on the water, even afloat on your sun-cured hide, and being able to catch a fish surrounded by the stink of your insipid gibberish. To you sir, I say,..."Good Day."

Holy smokes, I didn't think you had it in you. That you still believe, after all this time, that there is some lonely, half-witted soul out there waiting to hear more of the insipid gibberish that runs forth from you.

Like a land-locked turtle, that survives solely upon the filthy, waste filled runoff of it's retched, ghetto surroundings, your audience cries," More! More! Without YOU we have NOTHING!" Do not sir, go about in pity for yourself, go about in pity for these lost, and ignorant souls that still, for God only knows what reason, frequent your ridiculous, one-sided ramblings.

Okay, I have to admit, some of the above is almost poetic. Turn my hide into a canoe? A land-locked turtle? Ghetto surroundings? Apparently this Minion reads my blog. Does this make the Minion one of the lost ignorant souls who read this ridiculous, one-sided, rambling gibberish?

Tandy Hills Trout Lily Invitation

This just in from Don Young....

This Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 1 pm, Master Naturalist, Jim Varnum of Farmers Branch, Texas will hold a Trout Lily Walk & Talk at the Tandy Hills Natural Area in beautiful Fort Worth, Texas.

Bring good walking/hiking shoes, water, hat, sunscreen, camera, a notebook and something to eat.

If you want more info you can get call Don Young at 817.731.2787.

Jim Varnum writes a newsletter called "Jim's This and That" devoted to Naturalist information. The latest "This and That" is devoted to Trout Lilies.

Below is an excerpt from the latest "This and That" about Trout Lilies.

What is a Trout Lily?

Spring comes early in North Central Texas. Dandelions and henbit aside, we spot one or two wildflowers by the end of January and a dozen or so by the end of February. But one February bloomer – the trout lily (Erythronium albidum) -- stands out to both the botanist and casual wildflower watcher as a true harbinger of spring. What an odd name -- “trout lily” -- it doesn’t look like a trout! It's also called a dog-tooth violet or fawn lily, but it doesn’t resemble those creatures either. Let's explore this interesting and amazing plant.

About 20 or so years ago I became interested in trout lilies (also called white dog-tooth violet and fawn lily) from Dr. Geoffrey Stanford founder of Greenhills Environmental Center (now Cedar Ridge Preserve). Since then I have scoured and scouted Texas near and far for this interesting plant.

When do Trout Lilies Bloom?

Trout lilies bloom from the middle of February until the end of March. Wow -- that is it for the year. Look in shady spots on chalky or blackland soil for one or two mottled green leaves rising from the leaf litter. (Someone once thought the leaves resembled the speckled trout, thus this plant’s common name). The flower sits atop a short stem or 'scape' about 4-5 inches above the ground. The stem bends over so the flower actually points toward the ground. The flower has 6 floral parts (3 petals and 3 sepals) that are white on the front and lavender on the back. These parts are ''recurved'' -- they curl backwards to resemble a small Easter lily. To get a good view you almost have to lie on the ground. Photographers, gently lift the flower with a pencil or twig, snap your photo and put it back.

How do Trout Lilies Grow?

How trout lilies propagate is an amazing story in itself. Remember the downward-pointing flower? After blooming, the plant produces a few seeds almost at ground level. The seed sends down a root, or bulblet, 3-5 inches underground. Some people believe this bulblet resembles a dog’s tooth, thus another common name for this plant, ''dog-tooth violet.'' For 6 years, the trout lily produces only one leaf and no flowers. In the 7th year, it produces 2 leaves and a flower, which will produce seeds and start this amazing cycle all over again.

In addition to spreading by seed, trout lilies, like many other species in the lily family, can reproduce by sending off underground rhizomes from the bulblet. New bulblets will be produced at the end of each rhizome, and those bulblets can produce their own flower, so many times when we see a patch of trout lilies, they are a colony of plants that all came from the spreading of one parent flower. Imagine trying to propagate trout lilies yourself. Dr. Geoffrey Stanford once transplanted some it took many years to see any results. They exist to today.

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There, if you made it this far you know than you ever thought you possibly could about a flower you've likely never heard of before. See you at Tandy Hills on Sunday!

Getting A Good Poking In Texas, Polly The Parrot & A Heat Wave

That's my pet bird, Polly the Parrot, outside my computer room window, this morning. She'd been walking back and forth on the brick ledge outside the window, looking at me. That was cute, but by the time I got my camera turned on, Polly had hopped to a post on the patio. And wasn't looking at me.

No need to worry, Polly the Parrot and Shirley the Squirrel get along fine.

We've hit 80 again today. Same predicted for tomorrow. The pool was a bit warmer this morning due to the warmer temperatures. I lasted about 3 minutes before I started to worry about my extremities being too traumatized. By tomorrow the water should be quite a bit warmer. I've got the windows in this place open and am contemplating closing them and turning on the A/C for the first time in 2009. Texas weather is so schizophrenic. We'll probably have another ice storm in 3 days.

At noon I went up to Sprouts Farmers Market for my regular Wednesday stock up of good stuff. When I got back here, around 3, and checked my email, I had the answer to a question that had vexed me ever since I started doing Facebook.

That question was, "What does a Facebook poke mean?" Now, I was not long into my Texas exile when I learned what a Texas poke means. Basically a Texas poke can be both a verb and a noun, just like an other often used word that has a "k" in it that describes the same thing. So, with that in mind I was a bit surprised when the first of my large group of 4 Facebook friends "poked" me.

So, I guess it was on this Facebook thing called "The Wall" that I asked Gar the Texan if he knew what a Facebook Poke meant. Gar said he did not know, but the idea of it made him nervous and embarrassed him. I knew what he meant.

Then, this morning I got a Facebook message from someone named Joely Ann, telling me that if I Facebook Friended her that she'd tell me what a Facebook Poke was. And so I Friended her.

Then I got back here and there was a Facebook message from Joely telling me, "Garland is a bit conservative when it comes to poking...he hasn't had the pleasure of experiencing the full FB poke. It's an application that you allow into your world...or you can choose not to (as Garland has). There are the average pokes without animation and there are the PREMIUM pokes with full animation. You can choose to be mean or nice...depending upon your mood. Basically, it's a virtual hug, pinch, slap or kiss...whatever you feel like doing."

She referenced Gar the Texan, so I figured Joely must be one of Gar the Texan's hundreds of Facebook Friends. So, I clicked on Joely's Facebook Profile, which I can now look at because I Facebook Friended her. And sure enough, Joely graduated from the same little high school Gar the Texan graduated from, that being Wink High School. I guess WHS must be in the town of Wink, but I thought Gar the Texan was from Kermit. I do know that Gar the Texan was the top student in his high school class. He had 7 classmates, if I remember right. That is one small school. I probably could have even managed to be the top student, in my class, if the class was that small.

After reading what Joely told me about Facebook Poking I tried to Super Poke her, but it got confusing and so I gave up, so now my Facebook Profile is saying "Durango is trying to Poke someone." That'd be embarrassing if I had 100s of Facebook Friends reading it, but I've actually met only 50% of my 4 Facebook Friends, so I'm pretty much impervious to Facebook embarrassment, unlike poor overexposed Gar the Texan.

When I got to the Super Poke part of my Poking Attempt I saw that today's top Super Poke is "Wishing a Happy Hump Day to..." with a charming animation of a dog doing something unnatural to a fire hydrant. That was the Super Poke I tried to send to Joely that has Facebook saying I'm in the midst of trying to poke someone.

I begin to worry that Facebook may be too complicated for me.

Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup Comments

Like I mentioned a couple days ago, this year's Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup starts in about 2 weeks, on Thursday, March 12, through the weekend.

I have about 3 dozen videos on YouTube. Of those one gets more comments than any other, that being the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup video. People are so opinionated about Sweetwater and those snakes.

Below is a sampling of those comments, and below the comments I'll stick in the YouTube video, again, that they are all commenting on...

chip131313 commented:
out of all the venues to hit,why cant terrorists blow one of these events sky high so we can see a bunch of inbreds losing their skins.good goin morons.lets keep sucking our natural resources,just,like the dirty mexicans.we are no better when we see representations like this.

azyaninvasion commented:
They have Rattlesnake roundups in Sacramento, California too. I just never really been bothered with them getting killed in these events. Rattlesnake meat does taste good and their skins makes for great wallet, boots, and whatever you could make out of them.

muquesko commented:
hay don't kill us rattlesnakes humans kill just as much as we do.

hatchlingcopperhead commented:
just a bunch of toothless hicks getting some kicks out of killing beautiful animals.

gnigged68 commented:
I bet there's going to be some 'an heroes' in the milk pit, lol.

lukeinarizona commented:
lol@3:03...woulda been more entertaining to see it bite the dancing dude to waltz music.

acetharula28 commented:
thats sad i love rattlers. mine arnt a threat to me. just dont mess with them.

thatcaliguy311 commented:
If you have ever had fresh ranch chicken it's close. It depends on how it's prepared. Either way it tastes a little gamey. The meat is firm and flakey. Great tasting lean meat.

jonmarc1980 commented:
Rattlesnake is just another white meat which most people associate with chicken. It has a different flavor. If ever going through Amarillo Tx the Big Texan Steak Ranch (tourist trap) has it on the menu.

HANKEYMAN45 commented:
i bet this would be seen as cruel if they did it with puppy or kitterns or any thing fluffy,,, so why not rattlers!?!?! >:(

I HOPE THAT GUY THATS DOING THE TAUNTING GETS BITEN... (NOT A DRY ONE)

AND GETS KILLED

*may seem harsh... but i am.

jbmorr03 commented:
When a baby gets aborted you Liberal Wackos do flips - are snakes more important that unborn humans?

CroDalm commented:
What a bunch of rednecks.

leotheroach commented:
Rattlesnakes are relatively slow to mature, have only modest litters, and are already adversely affected by habitat destruction and persecution. These events remove thousands of animals, including large numbers of reproductively mature animals. Since rattlesnakes are an apex predator, a sudden decline in their population could have ecological consequences, particularly for the rodents they typically feed on.

dumdeedum2 commented:
I hate hate hate snakes. But this annual event - especially the snake taunting - seems very cruel and unnecessary.

FuzzyLogic0101 commented:
Animal abuse. . .period! These people have no idea what impact on the environment this causes. For that matter the thought never crossed their mind about the environment.

DNR001 commented:
It amazes me how people can spend one day torturing and making a mockery out of some of God's most fascinating animals and wake up and go to church the next day. Not only are rattlesnake round-ups cruel and inhumane, they are also very destructive to the environment. Habitats are thoughtlessly destroyed. Gasoline is sprayed into dens and burrows, driving snakes out, but this also kills many other animals that use them as shelter. Humans use and abuse this snake for their entertainment.

yikeroo3 commented:
Okay, I do not like snakes. This event is very creepy to me.

idn commented:
Pathetic display. Get bitten please.

tjensensandiego commented:
what is wrong with these perverts?

garter10895 commented:
this rattlesnake roundup is a sick sick ****ing thing you all know what causes sickness in food right, its mice and rats, which they eat, and of your worried about them remember that hawks eat them, and this is inhumane, and soon they will shut it down!!!

To which FuzzyLogic0101 commented:
I definitely understand and feel garter10895 anger on this, It's disturbing. I unfortunately live in Alabama where they hold one of these horrid events. It's in Opp, Alabama. The name is about the same size of the town. Morons...

And finally avbiker commented:
jus to say first no they cant use the venom for anti venom its 3 different snakes in one jar and its not steril and its crule lets see how many snakes we can slaughter heres a cool show they could try bring out there inbred hick kids and see how frickin deformed they are thats a good show.

Texas Ups & Downs, Icy Water & Steroid Use Accusations

I've had me a day. By 3 in the afternoon it caused something that rarely, very very rarely happens, in that I passed out for a few minutes in the form of a nap. Very unsettling.

A bit before that, the President of my Fan Club (I think there are now 2 members), emailed me with the shocking accusation that she believes my bloggings have grown more long-winded due to my performance enhancing steroid use in the form of Dragon Speak 10. I deny this shocking accusation. I am naturally long-winded and I've not yet even got the Dragon Speak Voice to Text program totally up and running.

I proudly admit I never win at anything. This was once more true, this morning, when my first game of Facebook Scrabble ended with me thoroughly trounced, something like 566 to 133, beaten by Karen, the Washington Queen of Scrabble. I don't think Facebook liked me playing Scrabble, because now Facebook is saying that due to supposed technical problems Scrabble is not working.

After my Scrabble defeat I needed to do something where there was some likelihood that I might not fall down. I so enjoyed yesterday's mountain biking at River Legacy, after not having been there in so long, I decided to go back and stay longer.

Well, I did not have a wreck. But there were problems. I decided I'd try one of the new sections, a section on which the warning sign simply said "Steep Climbs." How steep could they be, I thought. There are just gullys here, no hills.

Just like with Scrabble and turning letters into words, my topography observations are equally faulty. When I turned on to the "Steep Climbs" trails, I sort of easily made it up the first steep climb. The steep drop off was a bit daunting, then the next steep climb equally so. And then I did the 3rd up and down and barely up again. And then I saw the next drop-off.

No way was I going down that. It was not just steep. It was vertical. And then the next climb was also steep and at an angle. So, I took the wimp's way out and walked my bike back up and down the steep things I'd already biked. It was not easy it was so steep, with the dirt loose in places.

That is a short section of the "Steep Climbs" trail in the picture above. The picture does not give even the slightest idea of how treacherous this was for an elderly biker.

No wonder I later passed out and had a short nap.

I forgot to mention, I went swimming this morning around 8am. I lasted at least a minute. I swam from the shallow end to the deep end and back and decided, if I did not get out, extremities were going to go into frostbite mode. I got in the hot tub and could not feel if it was hot or not. It felt good though.

I'll try again in the morning. I didn't think it felt all that cold. I think it's just that I've not been in the frigid water for over 2 months and I've got to get back re-acclimated and must keep telling myself that it's not as cold as Tacoma last summer, it's not as cold as Tacoma last summer, it's not as cold as Tacoma last summer.

Speaking of Tacoma, I keep hearing from people up there who feel/felt my pain, due to their own pains, to varying degrees, dealing with the one who Gar the Texan has labeled "Lord Voldemort." I have absolutely no idea who Lord Voldemort is. I think Jabba the Hut is more appropriate, but then again, like I said, I've no idea who Lord Voldemort is.

According to one of my sources, anonymous, of course, so take it with the credence an anonymous source deserves, but one of my anonymous sources has told me that law enforcement is once more dealing with Lord Voldemort of the Hut of Jabba, due to theft accusations somehow associated with Fremont. The message was very cryptic, with no details. I believe one of the original probation terms was a prohibition against being where money was exchanged. Which made no sense to me. How is one supposed to go shopping if one can't go where money is exchanged? Or do much of anything for that matter?

The Curious Case of the JFK Assassination Window

It is looking as if today's blogging is all about odd things people are trying to sell in Dallas, first large sums of money to buy a seat in a football stadium and now fighting over a Dallas window.

Okay, I'll admit the window does have some notoriety and fame. I've even looked out this window. Well, looked out where the window(s) in question used to be located.

See, way back in November of 1963 it is believed that a man, buried near where I live, named Lee Harvey Oswald, shot a rifle from a window in a building known as the Texas School Book Depository. It is believed, by many, that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin of John F. Kennedy.

When you visit the museum that now occupies the 6th Floor of the Texas School Book Depository building you can see the window from which it is alleged Oswald shot. You are blocked from directly looking out that window.

When I visited the 6th Floor Museum I assumed I was looking at the actual window that was there at the time of the assassination. I was wrong.

Two Texans, Caruth Byrd and Aubrey Mayhew (are those great Texas names, or what?) both claim to have the original sniper's window from the 6th floor.

A couple years ago Byrd sued Mayhew, claiming that Mayhew's claim to have the real window reduced the value of Byrd's window.

Byrd claims he inherited the window from his dad, Colonel D. Harold Byrd, a former owner of the Book Depository. The son claims his dad, the colonel, had the window removed 6 weeks after the assassination.

Aubrey Mayhew (actually from Tennessee, not Texas) bought the Book Depository from the colonel in 1970, thinking he was going to open a museum. The colonel financed Mayhew's purchase, Mayhew defaulted and the colonel re-took possession in 1973.

Mayhew claims that while he held the building he had the assassin's window removed.. The men Mayhew hired to remove the window have signed affidavits attesting to the fact they believed it to be the sniper's window.

Previously a judge has ruled that Mayhew does not own the window, but that judge also did not rule that Byrd did own it.

What a lot of confusion over a window. Byrd has tried a couple times to sell his window on E-Bay, with no success. Currently he is saying he wants to maximize the value of his window so he can sell it and build a wildlife refuge.

Mayhew says he does not want to sell his window, that his goal is just to muck things up and confound potential buyers, thus discouraging any sale.

Mayhew has finally gotten around to hiring a lawyer, previously he had refused. The trial was supposed to start on Monday, without Mayhew having a lawyer, but now that he has hired representation, the trial has been postponed til March 16 to give Mayhew's lawyer time to figure out the case.

I love a good brouhaha over a window.

Dallas Cowboys Season Tickets Are Affordable (For Whom?)

The Dallas Cowboys put a full page ad in today's Dallas Morning News letting readers know that the Dallas Cowboys are making it easy for Cowboys fans to buy season tickets.

Under the top of the ad, where it says, "A seat in the new Dallas Cowboys stadium costs less than you think," below the picture of one of those affordable seats the ad says...

Dallas Cowboys season tickets are affordable. Who says you can't afford Dallas Cowboys season tickets? You can purchase a season ticket in the most advanced stadium in the NFL, including the seat option, for less than $1,300 a year.

Financing options to fit your budget. We're making it easy for Cowboys fans to purchase season tickets with financing options that let you pay in easy installments. Right now, you can get an upper level sideline seat (seat option and tickets) for a one-time down payment of $1,558 and then $1,298 a year.

A seat you own. Keep it, sell it, will it. Owning a Dallas Cowboys seat option comes with exclusive rights and privileges. You can keep your seat, sell it to the highest bidder, even put it in your will. It's part of history and you own it.

See what happened when we told people they could have a Dallas Cowboys season ticket for less than $1,300 a year. Exclusive video at dallascowboys.com/seat.

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Where do I start? A seat you own? You keep? You can sell? You can will? Built on land taken from people by using the worst case of eminent domain abuse in American history? Sitting in a seat where such an abuse took place, how can you be certain that when the eminent collapse of professional sport arrives, that some even greater eminent domain abuser isn't going to come along and condemn your seat, to build, I don't know, maybe a Six Flags expansion.

How did the Cowboys determine that this seat price was affordable? Affordable to whom? I'm guessing affordable to those who can afford them, the number of which is likely dwindling.

Also in the morning paper Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones was quoted as saying he hoped to break the attendance record for a Super Bowl when the new stadium hosts that event in 2011. To break the record Jerry Jones is going to remove the arm rests from those affordable seats you are buying and squeeze your seats closer together so more seats can be crammed in.

So, it would seem that Jerry Jones is retaining ongoing eminent domain rights to those seats you people are buying and are thinking you own. Like property. Maybe the contracts stipulate that the armrests are not included in the seat.

Endorphin Addiction Worsens At Tandy Hills & River Legacy

I need to get this monkey off my back. This addiction to endorphins is wearing me out. By tomorrow morning it will get worse. My pool is back open. I was last in it 6 days before the Winter Solstice. We are now about a month from the Spring Equinox. It would seem this should mean the water is warmer than when I was last in it.

Before noon, after sitting too many hours in front of this computer, I went to the Tandy Hills again and ran up steep hills. That quickly gets the endorphin fix happening.

That's the Tandy Hills tower known as the Fort Worth Needle, in the picture at the top. It's really tall. It makes me dizzy to stand under it and look up. Part of that dizziness may have been due to having run up the hill to get under the Needle.

There's a library a short distance from my abode. I went there about 3 this afternoon to get some books. Reading too many books is the other monkey on my back addiction that is taxing me.

When I left the library I decided, why I do not know, craving more endorphins, maybe. For whatever reason, I went to River Legacy Park. I had not biked the mountain bike trails there in a long long time. I don't know why.

It has been so long that several new trails have been added. I've never seen the River Legacy Trails in such good shape. New bridges have been added. Bypasses and shortcuts have been added. Real good signage has been added.

One section is called "Fun Town," for Experts. There is a red skull and crossbones on the sign. Fun Town had some really steep drops and some really steeply banked turns. I should wear my helmet. The River Legacy Trail used to be so tame. Not anymore.

And there were a lot of bikers there this afternoon. Word must be getting around, River Legacy has some really good mountain bike trails in really good shape.

I only went one time around, that's about 5 miles. My bike was making a weird squeaky noise. I knew it'd been too long since I'd greased all the moving parts. So, I cut it short and went to Wal-Mart and got some grease and some new bike shorts.

I see a return to biking and swimming in my immediate future. Weather permitting.

The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea

Usually, if I blog about something in this venue, in some way it is some how some thing to do with Texas. But in this particular blogging the only connection to Texas is it's a book I read in Texas.

By James Brady. Not the James Brady of Reagan Press Secretary Assassination attempt infamy. No, this book was written by the James Brady of Parade Magazine interview fame. Among other things.

I've read more books about wars than I can remember. The Civil War, World War II, the Vietnam War, the Iraq Wars I & II, the Cold War, the War of 1812, the Revolutionary War. I'm likely forgetting a war or two.

I've read war related memoirs before, like Albert Speer's Inside the Third Reich and Spandau: The Secret Diaries. But something about this book by James Brady was striking a chord with me that I didn't quite figure out til the end.

The thing that made this book especially interesting was that unlike other books about wars, that I've read, this one was written by a guy describing the war as he experienced it. And James Brady writes very well and spares no detail, some of which was a bit eyepopping. Details of the likes you don't see in movies.

I don't know why the Korean War is now referred to as the "Forgotten War." I hadn't forgotten about it. I was led to reading the James Brady book after watching a very well done documentary about the Korean War on The Military Channel.

After reading a lot of books about wars, and particularly after reading books about the current Iraq War I've decided all wars have a lot of very stupid things happen, bad decisions, bad leaders, some worse than others.

After watching The Military Channel and after reading articles online about the Korean War I've decided General Douglas MacArthur was a terribly irresponsible general who's good reputation, at the time, was pretty much a function of the way the press covered him, and a whole lot of ignorance. MacArthur was an Only Child with classic Only Child Syndrome symptoms. He should never been put in command over the lives of men.

Anyway, it's off to the library in a bit to find something to read. I think maybe a biography of Douglas MacArthur might be interesting.

The 2009 Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup

It is only 18 days until the Annual Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup. Plenty of time to make plans to head west if you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone, or whatever direction you need to head from your location to reach the eastern fringes of West Texas where the town of Sweetwater is located.

The weekend will officially kick off on Thursday, March 12, 2009 with the Rattlesnake Review Parade through downtown Sweetwater. That evening, you can attend the Miss Snake Charmer Pageant held in the Sweetwater Municipal Auditorium at 7:00pm.

The doors will open at 8:00am Friday March 13, 2009 for the 51st Annual Sweetwater Jaycees World's Largest Rattlesnake Round-Up, with snakes being weighed in at 7:00am that morning at the Nolan County Coliseum. Catch one of the snake handling demonstrations and be sure to try some deep-fried Western Diamondback Rattlesnake meat.

Now, I have not, myself, sampled deep-fried Western Diamondback Rattlesnake meat, or any snake meat, for that matter. The idea sort of disgusts me. When I saw the deep-fried Rattlesnake, the big sharp bones really sealed the deal in making it unappetizing. I don't care how much it supposedly tastes like chicken.

There are a lot of people who think rounding up rattlesnakes is a wrong thing to do. What amazes me is that there are so many of the slithery reptiles that each year there seems to be a fresh supply waiting to be rounded up.