Tandy Hills Flowers & the First Snakes of 2009

When I got back here a bit ago I checked email before I checked blogging and there was an email from Michael Moore. I'm pretty sure this is not the Michael Moore of movie-making fame. Mr. Moore emailed to thank me for mentioning the Tandy Hills frequently, saying he appreciated my efforts to make people aware of its beauty and accessibility.

I don't know if it's irony or coincidence, but I was on my way to blogging about today at the Tandy Hills when I read Mr. Moore's email.

When last I blogged about the Tandy Hills I mentioned an exotic yellow flower that had sprung up, pre-spring. Today a tree had bloomed with white blossoms. That's one of the blossoms in in the picture above. It looks like the blossom of a fruit tree, like a cherry tree, but I don't think I've ever seen any fruit in a tree in the Tandy Hills.

Regarding the beautiful, bright, exotic yellow flower that is blooming now on the Tandy Hills, a kind soul informed me that this wildflower is called a dandelion. What an exotic name for an exotic flower. Exotic and edible.

As for the first snakes of 2009. I have never seen a snake while hiking the Tandy Hills. But this afternoon I had to be in Arlington at 2. That was concluded faster than I'd anticipated, so I decided to pedal the River Legacy Park mountain bike trails, hoping to maybe get a picture of the Wild Boar Herd.

I saw no Boars today at River Legacy, but I did see 2 snakes. They were very little. I've no idea what brand of snake they were, but neither rattled and both looked perfectly safe, due to being so little.

Another Killer Bites The Dust In Texas

In what I think was the 2nd Texas Execution this week, yesterday we gave the Lethal Needle to a 38 year old man who, in 1991, shot and killed a 63 year old Houston man named James Adams during a bungled burglary.

The latest execution was reported in the Dallas Morning News on page 4 of the A section in a column of little blurbs under the heading "BRIEFS".

Every time I read of one of these executions I think "and OJ went free". Well, free until he finally did something that got him put behind bars, that being his own botched burglary, that fortunately did not include someone getting murdered.

Sirhan Sirhan, who murdered Bobby Kennedy, is alive in a prison somewhere, I assume in California. Sirhan killed Kennedy and wounded 5 others in the process. It was a political assassination affecting a presidential election. And he still lives.

While I'm not totally against capital punishment, I am not a fan of the way it is so arbitrarily executed. In Texas we seem way too cavalier, and sometimes careless, about who gets the Lethal Needle. We have had innocent people put to death here, exonerated post-humously via DNA evidence. Or improved analysis tools.

As in a couple years ago a man who was executed for setting his house on fire, killing his family, was found to be innocent after Texas killed him. Can you imagine losing your family in a fire, then being falsely accused of setting the fire, then sitting for years on Death Row, waiting for Texas to murder you? And then doing so? Who got the Lethal Needle for that murder?

I think this state should really start erring on the side of caution, rather than err on the side of killing innocent people. And when the Great State of Texas does decide it needs to kill someone, the news of that killing should be on the front page of every newspaper in the state.

Like it is in the other states that execute people.

Horoscopes & Northwest Nuttiness

Unlike Nancy Reagan and Gar the Texan I really don't put a whole lotta stock in Horoscopes, beyond some slight entertainment value. And, unlike those two, I certainly don't arrange my existence around how the stars are aligned.

But, every once in awhile the daily Horoscope for my sign, that being Leo, can be spooky. Then again, just by chance, if you read enough random things, something is going to resonate with ones own reality.

So, my Horoscope for today is, "New information shows who was telling the truth and who was not. Get your informants to keep talking and the entire story comes out."

Okay, for several weeks now I've been getting emails and comments, to this blog, regarding "things" in Tacoma and Seattle. I have not been publishing the comments and haven't known what to make of what these "informants" are telling me. As in, am I reading truth, or not? Nor have I been able to figure out the motivation for ferreting this information to me. Some of the time I think I'm being manipulated by someone using me to get at some one who's ire we share in common. But I'm thinking that's assigning a way too Machiavellian cleverness that just isn't warranted by the nature of the instigating aggravation.

Trouble is, I really have no direct contact with anyone in Tacoma who might shed some light. So, the easiest thing for me is to be both intrigued and to basically ignore the incoming information. Maybe I should quit ignoring and print it all and see if a pot somewhere starts to boil, or fizzles.

It's a perplexing conundrum. Maybe tomorrow's Horoscope will point me in the right direction...

Boars, Boots and Barbed Wire: The LaSalle County Wild Hog Cook-Off & Fair in Cotulla, Texas

Yesterday I blogged about seeing Wild Boars at River Legacy Park. This morning "Fort Worth Guy" sent me a comment telling me about a Wild Hog event in Texas. And that the Wild Boars do make good eating.

I think the event that "Fort Worth Guy" is talking about must be the LaSalle County Wild Hog Cook-Off & Fair, down in Cotulla, Texas. Cotulla is on Interstate 35, about 80 miles south of San Antonio.

It is a short notice, but the Hog Cook-Off takes place very soon, as in the 2nd weekend of this very month, that being March. The same weekend as the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup. And just like the Rattlesnake Roundup, the Hog Cook-Off Fair starts Thursday, March 12 and runs through Sunday, March 15th.

The Rattlesnake Roundup is a closer drive for me than the Hog Cook-Off. But, eating pig sounds far more doable than eating snake, so the Wild Hog Cook-Off would be worth the extra miles to me.

According to the Wild Hog Cook-Off website, the cooking gets real wild, with Hog Cookers from near and far matching hog cooking wits with their own special recipes, including showing off their hog cooking showmanship and presentation skills.

There are also cowboys showing off their presentation skills in one of the wildest rodeos in South Texas. The cowboys do their cowboy thing with both wild hogs and cattle.

Looking at the Wild Hog Cook-Off website it appears there is a lot to see and do at this event, including a carnival. One of my favorite things about Texas is how well done small town events like this are, as in, if you have never gone to one, you really should.

The 2009 Wild Hog Cook-Off & Fair theme is so totally Texas...."Boars, Boots and Barbed Wire."

Texas Wild Boars & Texas Wild Boors

A few days ago I'm sure you remember me mentioning mountain biking at River Legacy Park and coming upon a guy who, among a lot of other things, told me that he'd seen a herd, or whatever their grouping name is, of Wild Boars.

I knew there were Wild Boars at the Fort Worth Nature Preserve. I've been biking at River Legacy for years. I've seen plenty of Bobcats, Armadillos, Squirrels and Snakes. But no Wild Boars.

So, today, my very first time back at River Legacy, I'm at the first new section, where I avoid the "Steep Climbs" option and opt out for the "Bypass." I was hearing noises rustling the ground cover, like a lot of really big squirrels. You often hear squirrels.

I stopped pedaling and what do I see? A big group of Wild Boars. They were on the move. I think they heard me coming. I was not quick enough to get a picture, so I Googled for "Texas Wild Boars" and found the picture you see above. I saw no baby boars in the group I saw today, but they looked just like the ones in the picture.

They did not look cute like the Pigs I've seen on a farm. These look sort of like ugly no-neck monsters that moved funny. They reminded me of someone I used to know.

I was curious about the Wild Boars so I Googled for info. Apparently Wild Boars wander all over Texas. While farmers see them as crop damaging Pigs, others see them as all natural free ranging pork. The Texas Wild Boars are thought to be a hybrid mix of Russian Red Boars and Domestic Pigs. Supposedly chefs all over the country are seeking out Wild Boar due to lean, natural, exotic meats being popular with foodies.

Texas Wild Boars are caught and shot all over the state. Some say that the unique environment of Texas brings a unique taste to the pork with the meat being fuller flavored with a sweet nutty taste.

Who knows what garbage those Wild Boars might be eating in Texas, is what I thought. Who knows what causes the "exotic" flavor.

And now on to the Texas "Boor" part of today. So, after seeing the Wild Boars I pedalled on. A couple miles later someone was coming up fast behind me. I let him by. It was the guy I'd never seen before last week, who had told me about the Wild Boars I'd never seen before.

As he passed by he started talking to me and kept talking as I pedalled behind him. I slowed down to let him drone on into the distance. About a quarter mile later he was stopped on the trail, admiring a bit of trail work, which is where I'd seen him the first time. At that time he'd told me all about 2 trail vandals. On and on he went. Today he started in telling me the same stuff, as he very slowly pedalled ahead of me. Unlike the first encounter I provided no feedback. Finally he must have realized I was not listening to him or he realized this was the guy he'd told the same stuff to, a couple days prior.

The trail guy popped a wheelie and sped off at a high speed. When I came to the trailhead I saw he was busy yapping away at some fresh listener. So, that's my tale of Texas Boars and Boors for the day.

World's Biggest Butt: Part III---The Hunt In Texas

Sometime ago I was at my nearby Wal-Mart Super Center. As I took a turn onto a different aisle I found myself looking at the biggest butt I'd ever seen. It was astonishing.

So, I blogged about it. I've mentioned before that I'm amazed at how many people from all over the world are looking for information and pictures of the World's Biggest Butt. Every single day.

Look at my FeedJit stats and you'll see what I mean. Sometimes the number is real high, as if there is a meeting of the Big Butts Fan Club and they are all Googling "world's biggest butt" at the same time.

And for some reason my blog is about #3 on the list.

I have developed a new habit of always having my camera with me. I'm having about a 95% rate of not forgetting it. If I come across that astoundingly big butt at Wal-Mart again, I want to be able to photo-document it for all those world-wide who are looking to see such a phenomenon.

I think I've mentioned before that I find the obesity epidemic to be troubling and perplexing. I don't think enough resources are put into finding out why people do this to themselves. Someone commented on one of my bloggings that it is as if the person has put himself into a jail cell made of their own body.

I like that jail cells analogy. So many overstuffed fat cells that your own body imprisons you. It's like being permanently tethered to 300 pounds, or more, of ball and chain.

One thing I have made note of, and found, well, disgusting, is if you are (un)fortunate enough to spend enough time with an obese person to observe their feeding habits, it quickly becomes clear how they end up being heavier each day than the day before.

It is like there are no brakes on the food shoveling. I've seen an obese person order tartar sauce to dip french fries in, and then lick the tartar sauce container dry. When you watch an obese person, during their feeding period, it's clear one of the problems is caused by how they speed up the amount of food they shove in their mouth. It's like feeding a wood chipper, complete with noisy sounds. The mouth is busy chomping, while the hands are getting ready the next deposit into the food disposal.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to Wal-Mart today, both to buy a couple things. And to do some Big Butt Photo Hunting.

LOST & The Tandy Hills

I guess today is going to be an all about Tandy Hills day on my blog. It started of with news of a new Brush Bash next Saturday, followed by wondering what the story was behind the long gone Fort Worth Cattle Drive Restaurant that was located at the western edge of the Tandy Hills. And then to be informed that the Fort Worth Cattle Drive Restaurant started out as Luminaria, a Mexican Restaurant.

So, continuing on with today being all about the Tandy Hills.

LOST is a TV show on ABC, a lot of which is set on a tropical island with a lot of mysterious confounding stuff. Like underground stations, pipelines, abandoned vehicles and strange industrial looking installations. And there are also some normal looking houses straight out of suburbia on the island in LOST.

So, what does the Tandy Hills have in common with LOST? Besides also having some normal looking houses in the area. Well, the Tandy Hills is also sort of lost in time. It's a wild, natural area. Where unnatural things have gone on in its past. Like you'll be walking along and you'll come to a large metal grate in the ground. There are a lot of those.

On LOST there are monsters that you hear, but don't ever see. When walking in the Tandy Hills, at certain locations, you are greeted by very loud barking noises, but you never see where they are coming from.

On LOST there are rusted out vehicles that used to run on roads the jungle long ago reclaimed. While walking the Tandy Hills you come upon long abandoned vehicles that drove on primitive roads being reclaimed by Mother Nature. Today I came upon a long abandoned pickup. I've no idea how it came to be in that location. It's like the monster on LOST had thrown it there.

As the people lost on LOST slowly explored the island they learned they were not its first visitors. They'd discover things, like power lines going to an underwater station and other things that indicated men had been there before. Or were still there. When you walk around the Tandy Hills you see a lot of signs that it has not always been a natural area, like the aforementioned roads and big pipes.

On LOST the island has a lot of beautiful vegetation. So does the Tandy Hills. In a month or so it will get downright colorful. It's already being a bit colorful. While I've not been able to locate a Trout Lily, today I saw a very exotic yellow flower that was extremely delicate and put off an interesting scent. That's the yellow flower found at the Tandy Hills today, at the top.

On LOST there are abandoned industrial looking buildings, making humming noises. You come upon the same type thing when walking around the Tandy Hills. On LOST it was the Dharma Initiative that built all the humming industrial looking buildings. I don't know what initiative built the humming industrial looking buildings that you see when you walk around on the Tandy Hills.

The Fort Worth Cattle Drive Restaurant

On my first visit to Fort Worth, a hot August back in the 1980s, I stayed at what was then a Ramada Inn west of the Beach Street exit from I-30.

Just east of that location, in what I now know as the Tandy Hills, there was a restaurant on top of a hill, facing west towards downtown Fort Worth.

When I moved to Fort Worth that restaurant was closed and with its rundown appearance it appeared to have been closed for a long time.

I figured that that restaurant pre-dated the building of the Interstate, with the new road blocking easy access to the restaurant. I also speculated that the restaurant might have dated back to the Prohibition era, with its high location giving a view in all directions, so that a Speakeasy could hide the booze when the cops came raiding.

A few weeks ago I was hiking the Tandy Hills and came upon an Old Man with a Cane. I asked him about the restaurant. He said he'd been to it a couple times, back in the 1970s. He thought the name was Calamity Jane's.

So, I Googled for a Calamity Jane's restaurant in Fort Worth. No info. Then I tried "old restaurant hill I-3o fort worth" or something like that. This brought up a restaurant on Ben Avenue called Fort Worth Cattle Drive Restaurant. Clicking on the first of the dozens of results I knew I had the right one, due to the map.

That's the Google Earth satellite view of the restaurant's location in the picture above. The restaurant was to the left of the parking lot at the end of the road.

Now, here's where it gets weird. There are dozens of restaurant listing type websites which list Fort Worth Cattle Drive Restaurant as if it where still in existence, with most of them wanting me to write the first review of this long dead restaurant. And to post a photo of the restaurant.

The only actual info I found about the Fort Worth Cattle Drive Restaurant is that it was built in the 1970s and though it was highly visible to drivers on I-30, people had trouble figuring out how to get to it. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

This restaurant died well before the Internet became the monster it is today. Why would so many websites list this dead restaurant as still being and alive?

And what's the real story about it. Was the Fort Worth Cattle Drive Restaurant really born in the 1970s? Or did it pre-date the Interstate and the Internet? The Old Man with the Cane thought it'd been there a long time due to its old wild west style. But then he also thought it was named Calamity Jane's, so who knows how reliable his memory is.

Ironically, years before I discovered how great the Tandy Hills was for hiking, I found my way to Ben Avenue to check out the site of the then demolished restaurant. The foundation was still in place, so you could figure out the layout. It had a water feature that you walked across via a bridge to enter the place. The Old Man with the Cane told me the restaurant had a large outdoor patio.

If the restaurant were still alive today that large outdoor patio would be looking at a nice view in the distance and a not so great view close-up, because it would be looking down on Chesapeake Energy's notorious Samuels Avenue Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Site.

So, do any of my one or two readers know anything about the Fort Worth Cattle Drive Restaurant?

Tandy Hills Brush Bash: Phase 2

Those of you who Bashed Brush a couple Saturdays ago and those of you who are Brush Basher Wannabes, you have another chance to help restore the Tandy Hills Natural Area to its natural state this coming Saturday. This will be your last opportunity to Bash Brush this season.

As in Saturday, March 7. From 9am til 3pm. The Brush Bashers will congregate at the un-natural playground area at 3400 View Street.

The Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area, which is now officially a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation, will be providing morning tea/coffee/pastries and water.

To comfortably Bash Brush you'll want to bring gloves, work clothes, sensible shoes, hat, sunscreen (assuming it's not cloudy) and a picnic lunch.

So, join the army of volunteers and have a fun Saturday celebrating another historic day on Fort Worth's best prairie.

Need more info or want to confirm you'll be Bashing Brush? Call Don Young at 817.731.2787.

The Depressing First Day of March In Texas

It's the first day of March. I only a bit ago realized this. February only had 28 days this year. I wrote 71 posts on this blog in February. The novelty of blog spewing wears a tad thin. Perhaps I'm experiencing Seasonally Affected Disorder (SAD) due to this frigid weather.

That is the bright, chilly view from my computer room window this Sunday afternoon coming up on 5. It froze last night. It is only 53 right now. I didn't feel like doing anything aerobic in Arctic temperatures today, and so I didn't. Except, I did do the pool this morning, but I don't think it was aerobic.

I've been getting some very bizarro communications from the Tacoma zone that I don't quite know what to do with. On the one hand, if I think what I'm dealing with is mental illness, which I pretty much do, then I should tread lightly. If on the other hand, if what I'm dealing with is more of a pathological malignancy, then maybe I should go the route I enjoy most, that being using words as a tool. Or just ignore it, for the most part, which has been the path I've taken so far.

It saddens me how twisted people can get themselves, so much self-inflicted. I think I'm being more saddened than usual due to that weather affected SAD problem I mentioned previously.

Speaking of sad. Yesterday, on the way back here from hiking in the Tandy Hills, I saw this guy, looked to be in his late 20s, early 30s, on a bike, pulling a trailer like thing on which was packed big bundles of stuff covered with plastic. I figured it was all that he owned, homeless, trying desperately to get somewhere.

The day before that I was waiting in a parking lot in Arlington, by the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium, when I saw this youngish kid, late teenager, early 20s, walking with an odd gait across an open field. He saw me, came towards me, I thought oh oh.

When the kid got within earshot he said something like "pardon me sir, me and my little brother are starving, do you....". I cut him off, told him I only had a credit card, no cash. That was a lie. I'd just seen a couple bucks in the cubby hole. The kid's face had the look of a meth-head, a look I'd seen only once before, up in that notorious town I've mentioned before, that being Tacoma.

When I cut the kid off he said something like, "Thank you sir, God bless you." Now that sort of made me feel guilty. Maybe the kid was one of the unfortunate thousands left homeless when Jerry Jones took their homes in the worst case of eminent domain abuse in American history so that he could build a $billion plus stadium to play football in a few times a year.

It does seem a bit sad and maybe ironic, that in Arlington, in the shadow of that humongous new stadium, there is a young kid, begging for money, because he and his little brother are possibly hungry.

At what point in the Great Depression 1.0 did "Brother, can you spare a dime?" and apples being sold for a nickel become symbols of the misery? We're not getting near that point in the Great Depression 2.0, are we? I hope not. But I'm not all that hopeful.