The Sun Has Returned To Texas, But Not To Napoleon

That's my computer room view, this Sunday afternoon coming up on 4.

After what has seemed like weeks of gloom and doom in the form of gray sky, cold air. And rain. The gray is gone, the sky is clear and we hit 65 today.

I see swimming in my future, in the morning, as my SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) symptoms begin to slowly evaporate.

With temperatures in the 70s my favorite trails should dry out fairly quickly. We got none of that catastrophic type flooding, this bad weather bout, that can close parks and trails for long periods.

During lunch I watched Napoleon's disastrous invasion of the Russian Empire that ended quite badly with his troops freezing in the horrendous Winter of 1812, made extra cold, we know now, due to several volcanoes spewing enough ash to block enough sun to cause global cooling.

So, I guess it could be a lot worse and I probably should count my blessings and whine less about a couple gray days and a little rain blotting the usually clear Texas sky.

Going to Church at Overeaters Anonymous

I was on my way to church, I mean Wal-Mart, to get a ham, this latest gray day in Texas, when I came upon a sign for a group I should probably join before I balloon up to Macy's Parade Float size.

Speaking of Big People, Wal-Mart sure is the go-to joint if you want to see that sort of thing.

I did not previously mention it, but last week outside Sprouts Farmers Market I saw a butt on a woman that was even more astonishing than the one I mentioned seeing at Wal-Mart a couple months ago.

I know I promised I get photo documentation the next time I saw such a thing, and while I had my camera with me, there was no opportunity to surreptitiously snap a picture without being real uncouth. Sprouts is not the sort of place were Big-Butted people shop. I suspect this lady was coming out of one of the other businesses next to Sprouts. But likely not the Spa.

The thing that made the Sprouts Big Butt so noteworthy was it was attached to a very good-looking blonde lady who was very well-proportioned, except for a butt that looked as if 2 enormous balloons had been stuffed into her extremely stretched pants. I watched her climb up into her Ford pickup. I could see her Big Butt had her head hitting the roof. She wasn't very tall, so that was interesting.

As long as you've got me on the subject of Big Butts again, once more, this morning when looking at my FeedJit stats I saw there was an amazing number of people from all over the world coming to my blog by searching for the World's Biggest Butt. And once more the Big Butt searchers seemed to search in clusters.

Why is there such a world-wide interest in seeing the World's Biggest Butt? It's a conundrum I regularly ponder, particularly if I don't have anything better to think about, which right now should be lunch, which is going to be macaroni and cheese, fish sticks and broccoli salad. I'm trying to put on enough weight so I can join Overeaters Anonymous.

Trinity River Vision to Turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South

That is a view of False Creek in Vancouver, British Columbia. That's in Canada. False Creek is where Vancouver's Expo 86 took place, leaving a renovated old industrial zone in its wake that has become a very successful part of a very successful, beautiful city.

Why in the world is False Creek on my mind? Well, there was a letter to the editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, this morning, about the Trinity River Vision, that referenced the project's design being modeled after a similar project in Vancouver.

Well, the first time I read about Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision in the Star-Telegram, that first article actually said that the Trinity River Vision would transform Fort Worth into being the "Vancouver of the South." I am not making this up.

I'd already grown fed up with the Star-Telegram's tendency to hype something ridiculously, but this was a new low, this was worse than when the Star-Telegram claimed over and over and over and over again that an extremely lame, extremely little, now long failed, "market" was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place, and public markets in Europe. And would be the first public market in Texas.

It was called the Santa Fe Rail Market. Not only did it bear no resemblance to Pike Place, not only was it not the first public market in Texas, it wasn't even the first public market in Fort Worth! And even more bizarre, there is a public market in Dallas, the Dallas Farmers Market, that anyone visiting from the Northwest always remarks does remind them of Pike Place! But with much easier parking.

When I first read that the Trinity River Vision was going to turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South I thought to myself has no one from that paper been to Vancouver? Just like I thought has no one from the Star-Telegram been to Pike Place? The only thing I can think of that False Creek and the Trinity River Vision have in common is they both involve water.

Anyway, below is the letter to the editor about the Trinity River Vision from this morning's Star-Telegram.

More details on the TRV, please

City leaders say there is no money to renovate our existing but neglected Heritage Park, touted for its grand view of the historic confluence of the West and Clear forks of our Trinity River. At the same time they eagerly continue to support a nonexistent vision.

The Trinity River Vision proposes to destroy the natural confluence of the Trinity to develop commercial property in its place where canals, bridges and a lake will require massive earth moving by the Army Corps of Engineers to prevent flooding just below the bluff where the Tarrant County Courthouse stands.

Descriptions have been vague, but recently a brochure produced for TRV explained that the canals and bridges are modeled after a project designed in Vancouver, B.C., a part of the hemisphere that has almost nothing in common with Fort Worth in the way of climate, culture and water supply.

The TRV brochure reports two trips by TRV advisors to Vancouver to visit the football field-sized model of the Trinity River Vision Central City project. The bypass channel and flood gates of the model demonstrate protection of more than 2,400 acres of neighborhoods possibly subject to flooding in uptown Fort Worth as a result of the channel and associated levees.

J.D. Granger, executive director of the TRV Authority and son of U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, was quoted in part as saying, “We’ve been able to make minor modifications in the design that will save us millions in erosion maintenance costs.”

Let us please learn more about projected maintenance costs and possible flooding. In times threatening depression and drought, when our president asks us to eliminate earmarks, we must know the facts to act wisely and responsibly.

How much taxpayer money is being spent to fund the Trinity River Vision, and how many millions do we guess it will take to finish and maintain it? Residents of Fort Worth deserve a full and open accounting.

— Betty W. Fay, Fort Worth

After Days Of Deluge The Texas Rain Has Stopped

Today is Saturday. It is Day 4. Or is it 5? Of gray sky and cold. This morning the rain finally stopped.

Making it possible to venture outside without getting too wet. So, I put on several layers and pulled my worn out gray stocking cap over my ears and set out into the bracing cold.

Village Creek Historical Natural Area or Natural Historic Area, I never remember the name right, seemed like the place to go. If the creek had not flooded enough to close the park I figured it would be moving a lot of water.

But, to my surprise, the creek had not even gotten high enough to flood over the bridges. Another surprise, surprising because I think I come to this park fairly frequently, but it could easily be a month since I've been there, regardless of how long it's been since I've been there, it has been long enough for Arlington to build a new viewing platform, replacing the old one that had been destroyed by brutal Mother Nature. The new platform looks built to last awhile.

It was while on the old platform that I saw one of the most disturbing things I've seen since I've been in Texas. I was pedaling my bike. I saw a couple guys on the platform intensely looking at something in the water. So, I stopped to ask what they were looking at. They pointed to a large herd of Water Moccasins swimming amongst the turtles.

That may have been my first Texas snake sighting. As the years of my exile in Texas have grown in number, along with my visits to this park, I've seen Copperheads, Rattlesnakes and my one and only Garfish. The Garfish is by far the most disturbing thing I've seen in Texas.

As you can see in the first picture above, it is starting to get green here. The green along the trail in Village Creek Park today reminded me of being in a Washington Rain Forest, the combo of the fresh green and everything being wet.

I had one moment of an optimistic feeling that blue skies may one day return when the clouds opened up for a second or two, letting me have a brief glance at what the sky in Texas used to look like.

I've blogged about Village Creek before. It's a fascinating story that's part of American and Texan History.

Non-Stop Rain, Flooding, Tomato Soup & Baseballs In Texas

Three days in a row of gray skies with over 24 hours of non-stop rain. And it's cold. Just a few degrees colder and this rain would be snow.

The view in the picture is heading east on Pioneer Parkway, around noon, on the way to Fry's Electronics to get a little digital recording device to use to catch a culprit.

The recorder can record hundreds of hours of talking. It's such a little thing. But who can listen to hundreds of hours of talking just to catch a culprit?

After Fry's my Mexican Restaurant plan was aborted due to time restraints. That and being so close to Sweet Tomatoes. Before getting to Sweet Tomatoes I remarked that it seemed ironic that Tomato Soup was never one of their soups of the day. Well, today it was. Best Tomato Soup I've ever had.

After Fry's I dropped a culprit off for an appointment and then went to the Wal-Mart Supercenter across the street, that street being Randoll Mill, across from the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. I was only in Wal-Mart for a few minutes. The walk in and out was very wet and cold.

Leaving Wal-Mart I saw an interesting view of the new stadium with the Wal-Mart in the foreground. This particular Wal-Mart has giant baseballs adorning the outside of the building and on the walls along the parking lot. The baseballs are due to the fact that the place where the Texas Rangers play baseball is a short distance away. But not nearly as close as where the Dallas Cowboys will soon try and play football.

So, when are some footballs going to be replacing the baseballs on the Wal-Mart? There was a big sign at the Wal-Mart entry today saying some Dallas Cowboy football player I've never heard of was going to be there for a couple hours in a couple weeks.

After Wal-Mart I went to Barnes and Noble. There I overheard a pair of distinguished looking gentle ladies discussing how all the bridge and road construction on I-30 has been hard on business. They seemed quite concerned. The mood in Barnes and Noble always seems a bit funereal to me, particularly this one, particularly today.

With all this rain I worry that one of my favorite Tarrant County rabble rouser politicial sorts will be looking at her backyard nervously, with it being recently restored to its pre-flood damage glory, and with way too much rain falling. And with nothing having been done to fix the problem that caused the killer floods the last time we got way too much rain here.

While nothing has been done to fix that real problem, we are moving ahead with fixing a non-problem by building an un-needed river diversion channel, a little lake and some canals in a lofty project called the "Trinity River Vision." I think it got some earmark bucks in the budget that just passed. But no earmark money to fix the Haltom City flood problem. That has actually killed someone. And done a lot of damage.

Tandy Hills 4th Annual Prairie Fest: April 25

In a little over a month the wildflowers should be doing their colorful thing, hopefully under blue skies and moderate temperatures, while the 4th Annual Prairie Fest takes place on April 25 at the Tandy Hills.

I went to last year's Prairie Fest. It was a much bigger deal than I expected. With very good music, very good food. And beer.

This is the Greenest Festival in Texas, with solar panels producing electricity. (if the sun cooperates)

There is no admission fee to the Prairie Fest. That means it's free. You will need to pay for food and beer. Dancing is also free.

If you are interested in being a sponsor or an exhibitor or vendor go to the Tandy Hills website and you'll find the information you seek, including more information about this year's Prairie Fest.

Below is a YouTube video I made from my visit to last year's Prairie Fest.

Another Cold Gray Winter Day In Texas

That is the dismal view out of my computer room window, this morning, coming up on 10.

Today's predicted high is 38. Today's predicted low is 38. I don't recollect ever seeing the predicted high and low being the same before.

No wonder I've fallen into the worst bout of SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) since last summer in frigid Tacoma.

This bout of SAD is so BAD that I've not been outside in over 24 hours, except to pick the paper up off my front porch.

About 10 last night the power was knocked out for about 10 minutes for no obvious reason. It wasn't windy, there was no lightning striking.

Blue sky is scheduled to return by Sunday.

In the meantime I'm going to make myself go to Arlington, to go to Fry's Electronics to get a digital recording device and go somewhere for Mexican food for lunch. Mexican food is a good antidote for SAD. Especially if the salsa is HOT.

A Flood Of Fresh Texas Organic Eggs

I tell you, things are being strange here this wintry day in Texas. I'd barely finished blogging about organic cigarettes, vodka and apples when there was a knock on my door.

It was neighbor Lou. I don't believe I've mentioned neighbor Lou before. Lou has chickens. Of the egg laying sort.

That bout of warm weather, we had going, that had me back in the swimming pool and color starting to sprout out, has come to a rude, abrupt end.

But the warm weather stimulated Lou's hens to go into an egg-laying frenzy. Make that an Organic Egg Laying frenzy. So, now I have 4 dozen Organic Eggs in addition to my Organic Red Delicious Apples.

All the shades of brown of those 48 eggs is a pretty nice color scheme. Have I mentioned before that brown is known as my signature color? I learned this long ago when a nurse I called the Fat Lady said to me "brown is your signature color." And so it is.

Smoking Organic Cigarettes & Apples In Texas

I was at Sprouts Farmers Market yesterday for my weekly stocking up on fresh stuff. Among the fresh stuff I stocked up on was apples. Fuji Apples from Washington were $.69 a pound. So were Organic Red Delicious Apples from Washington.

So, I got some Organic Red Delicious Apples. But the non-organic Fujis seem more delicious than the Delicious. To me Red Delicious apples are best when they are barely off the tree. Which is not an option in Texas.

I don't recollect ever purposely buying something organic before. It's long seemed like just one more marketing gimmick.

And then this afternoon I was reading this week's FW Weekly and saw the ad you see here. For Organic Cigarettes. The song "Isn't It Ironic" comes to mind.

The cigarette brand is "Natural American Spirit." Made with 100% Organic Tobacco, the only cigarette made with 100% Organic Tobacco.

So, if you are trying to live a healthier lifestyle you might want to switch to organic cigarettes. I know I'm thinking of making it my first step to a healthier lifestyle. To help you get started living better and healthier you can go to the Natural American Spirit website and find your way to free samples. You'll have to verify your age first. It's a very sophisticated age verification method.

Due to weather related issues I have not been out of the house to do something healthy, all day. That very rarely happens. I think I'll go to the liquor store to see if I can find some Organic Vodka to go along with my Organic Cigarettes and Organic Red Delicious Apples.

Fort Worth Convention Center Omni Hotel Balcony

If I remember right, I've mentioned previously that I think there is one very odd part of the new Fort Worth Convention Center Omni Hotel that makes the building look very weird, that being the huge balconies that are cantilevered out from the high rise part of the structure, looking, from a distance, like scaffolding.

Previously I speculated that these open balconies were a disaster waiting to happen, just like the whirlpooling Water Gardens that the hotel looks down on were a disaster waiting to happen. Something or someone is going to fall off one of those balconies sometime.

Anyway, I was driving by the convention center last Saturday, driving down Lancaster Avenue to check out the new lighting feature I'd read about. When I got by the new hotel I looked up and saw humans on one of the balconies for the first time.

So, I pulled over and took a picture. At the time it seemed like the thing to do. But then I forgot about it til today.