Yvonne's Big Butt

Like I said in the previous blogging, I was fixin' to blog about Yvonne's Big Butt when I got distracted by the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. I'd been looking at my FeedJit stats to see how many of the most recent 50 visitors to my blog had come looking for the World's Biggest Butt.

Every day there are dozens upon dozens of people from around the world looking for the World's Biggest Butt. I have my camera with me all the time due to my promise to get a picture the next time I see one like the Big Butt that I originally blogged about that causes all these people to come to my blog.

Among the most recent 50 blog visitors only one came looking for the World's Biggest Butt. Okay, I looked again, in the last couple minutes a couple people have arrived looking for the World's Biggest Butt. The Biggest Butt searchers often come in clusters. Same with those seeking help in dealing with one of mankind's most vexing vexations, that being dealing with Only Child Syndrome.

I saw one yesterday, a really Big One (Big Butt I mean, not a Big Only Child). At Wal-Mart, again. It was a cashier. I could not believe that lady could stand there all day checking out stuff with that huge butt cantilevered out so far behind her. It seems like that'd give a person a back ache, always having to lean forward so your butt doesn't cause you to topple backwards.

But, once more couthness stopped me from whipping out my camera.

Yvonne, however did not practice similar restraint, so she sent me an email, telling me that she keeps hearing about those big butts, but I've yet to show any. So, she decided to send me one. Yvonne claims, quite emphatically, that it is NOT her in the photo.

I believe her.

Another Guy Sees a Dallas Cowboy UFO Stadium

I was fixin' to blog about Yvonne's Big Butt and wanted to see how many people had come to my blog in the last couple hours looking for the World's Biggest Butt, when I saw that instead of looking for Big Butts people are coming to my blog looking for info about the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium.

When a lot of people read what I think about that new stadium, particularly when they watch my video of the eminent domain destruction of homes and apartments I get really ignorant comments that are so bad they're funny.

So, I looked at the FeedJit stats to see if I could figure out why the sudden jump in the number of people looking for Cowboy Stadium info. All I could find was a forum where a guy shared his opinion of the new stadium after seeing it in person. And he said "one guy told me to check out this website." With the link going to my blog.

I have said a time or two that it isn't gonna be pretty when the stadium opens and the national press describes it. The guy below sort of confirms that. He zeroed in on the same things I've said. That being that it looks like a huge UFO plopped down in a poor American neighborhood. The juxaposition of that ultra-modern structure with rundown houses, apartments and retail is real tacky. And, unlike the dumbclucks who comment over and over again how this stadium is going to be an economic miracle bringing new restaurants, motels and other business, despite nothing like that happening where the old Dallas Cowboy Stadium sat in Irving, the fact is, so far, the new stadium has not caused any new business to be spawned in the area, near as I can tell.

Here's part of what Floaty44 wrote....

Was helping a buddy of mine move back home from Mississippi to Boise-and got a chance to see the Cowboys new stadium a few days ago...and had to laugh out loud- First of all-It looks like a UFO

Second- I question the stability of the stadium. Those new 1/4 mile trusses come to a single point on the end- with no support.They are just sitting on embedded concrete with one single steel bar connecting it all....and that's it.

I really would have my personal safety in mind when it came to playing under that new video screen that's gonna weight some 3 million + lbs

Third...Jerry has actually built the new stadium right next to a cheap Walmart. Yeah-I know Walmart has taken over the world since driving 2400+ miles in 4 days-But come on Jerry-That was the best place you could come up with?

If you watch the DallasCowboys offical new stadium fly by videos- you get the impression it's gonna be in an open space....with beautiful trees.....plenty of parking.

Which is nothing of the sort. It's gonna be surrounded by cheap convenince stores.

Talked to quite a few people about the stadium..and got really mixed reviews.

Some people, like myself, don't understand why they had to cram it right next to Six Flags theme park and Walmart.

Others seem to think it's OK

But I never got the impression people were "wowed" by it.

One guy told me to check out this website....

2009 Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival

In less than a month downtown Fort Worth gets really busy with the Main Street Arts Festival, starting on Thursday, April 16, ending Sunday, April 19.

The Main Street Arts Festival is the one and only thing I've been to in Fort Worth that is better than any similar thing I've been to anywhere else.

Well, there is the Fort Worth Stockyards. They are definitely the best Stockyards I've ever seen.

But the Main Street Arts Festival, it is something about which the Star-Telegram could actually use its making towns far and wide "green with envy" verbiage and have it actually be possibly true for once.

The Main Street Arts Festival is not some flea market on steroids. Actual artists come from all over America to display their work here. Some of it is very expensive. As in thousands of dollars type expensive. The Festival is sort of like going to an outdoor museum. With music stages and food.

From the Official Main Street Arts Festival website...

BREAKING NEWS: Headliner entertainment announced! MAIN ST. now ranked #3 Fine Arts festival in the U.S.! The MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival hosts tens of thousands of people annually during the four-day visual arts, entertainment and culture event. MAIN ST. showcases a nationally recognized fine art and fine craft juried art fair, savory food, live concerts, performance artists and street performers on the streets of downtown Fort Worth. The net result: fun!

There are only a couple vexing things about the Main Street Arts Festival. With the loss of the huge Tandy Subway parking lots, it is not as easy as it used to be to find parking in downtown Fort Worth.

The other vexing thing is this festival uses the coupon method for buying food and drinks. You wait in a line to buy coupons at 50 cents each. Then you wait in another line to buy something. This was the first event I'd ever been to where the use of American currency was not allowed and had to be exchanged for another currency, that being coupons. The State Fair of Texas uses the coupon method, too.

A lifelong Texan explained the reason for the coupon method. Apparently it is difficult to find Texans willing to work at these food purveyor jobs who are able to make change. So, coupons simplify the process. I suppose coupons also make it more difficult to steal. Although the State Fair of Texas had a coupon stealing scandal a couple years ago.

Anyway, if you haven't been to it before, and you live in the D/FW zone, you really should experience the Main Street Arts Festival. Unless you have a strong aversion to big crowds. I'm planning on going this year. I met a lady from Austin at the Fremont Sunday Market last summer, during my period of indentured servitude, who is an artist at the Main Street Arts Festival. I told her I'd see her there this year. I always do what I say I'm going to do. Usually.

Pantego Bi-Centennial Park

I had to go to my bank today, that being Washington Mutual, aka WaMu aka now swallowed up by Chase Bank. The closest WaMu is about 4 miles north, but I didn't want to go in that direction. The next closest WaMu is about 5 miles east. I wanted to go in that direction.

So, I did.

But on the way I got distracted and found myself on a different road than I had intended. This had me taking a left onto a side street to get me where I wanted to be. I had not gone this way before.

The street went by an interesting looking park. I decided to make my deposit and then come back and check out the park.

It is called Pantego Bi-Centennial Park. I assume it opened in 1976. But it looked way newer than that. All over the park there are little statues like you see in the pictures. There are paved trails and bridges across a flood control channel. Or maybe it was a creek lined with cement.

There is a playground for kids and a covered exercise workout area for bigger kids and grownups. The workout area had several stations with directions on what you were supposed to do. It looked like way too much bother to me. So, I just admired the effort and continued walking. That is the covered workout area under the green roof in the background of the picture on the left.

It is getting harder and harder to avoid Texas Wildflowers. They are getting closer to being everywhere. The pink ones the name of which, I think, has primrose as part of it, is one of the earliest to show up and the longest to last. Pink seems like such an un-Texas color. It's a Red State, not a Pink State.

When I was leaving the Pantego Park I didn't think there was enough of a draw to bring me back. Maybe if I was looking for a real nice covered picnic table on a hot day. But, when I exited the parking lot I saw the park continued, along the flood control channel/lined creek, with a trail snaking along into the distance. It looked like it might be a roller blading possibility.

But, that will need to wait for awhile. We are heading into some stormy weather. It's likely going to be very wet for a few days.

Flying Half Mast in Arlington's Veterans Park

Why were the flags flying at half mast today in Arlington's Veterans Park? No one at the park knew. I thought the U.S. flag could be flown at half mast only at the orders of the President?

As you can see it is a windy, cloudy day here in Texas. We are building to a BIG Storm, which is supposed to hit by tomorrow morning.

Eat What You Want Pay What You Want At Potager

An interesting new restaurant called Potager has opened in Arlington near the University of Texas at 315 S. Mesquite. I mention that address because the article about this place in this morning's Dallas Morning News neglected to mention where this place is located.

What makes this restaurant interesting is not what is on the menu, though the menu does sound good, what makes it interesting is how you pay for what is on the menu.

I'll copy a blurb from Potager's MySpace page which will tell you about how you pay for what is on the menu....

BECAUSE FOOD IS SO PRECIOUS, we don't want you to waste any. We're different from other restaurants where food waste runs rampant and food portions are ridiculous. At Potager, we would like you to ask for only as much food as you know you can eat--you are more than welcome to come back for more--but please, don't waste it. As a result, we have no set price for our meals.

THAT'S RIGHT, we trust people. You ask for how much you want; we ask that you pay what you feel is a fair price for it, keeping in mind that that plenty of love, talent and great ingredients have gone into the preparation of your food each and every day. We want everyone to be able to afford a wholesome and delicious meal, reconnecting with food in a way made almost obsolete in this era of fast food restaurants and cheaply made take-out.

Currently this pricing method does not seem like it's being a very good business model. According to the article in the Morning News it is currently costing Potager's about $8 per customer, while the customer's are paying about $7 each.

Shopping For Info About The Shoppe

Anonymous does a lot of commenting on my blog. I think Anonymous is a Greek name, but I'm not sure of that. I also get comments from Stenotroph-omonas. That name sounds Greek to me, too.

This morning Anonymous commented about a blogging I wrote last year about the State Fair of Texas. In that blogging I mentioned the Western Washington State Fair, which is pretty much the State Fair of Washington, also known as The Puyallup (pronounced pew-al-up, the Puyallup are a Pacific Northwest Indian Tribe).

When I mentioned The Puyallup I also mentioned a band that I always made a point of making sure I heard, due to the band being very entertaining. The band's name was/is The Shoppe. They are/were from Dallas.

Anonymous's comment was about The Shoppe, commenting, "Hi, I agree with you about The Shoppe at the Puyallup. They were always fun to watch. They haven't been around for a few years. Do you know where they are?"

Well, I don't know where they are. The last time I went to The Puyallup was some time in the 1990s. I don't remember if I saw The Shopped that time or not.

When I Googled "Dallas band The Shoppe" all I got was an E-Bay auction of a The Shoppe LP album. For those of you reading this who are under 30, an LP album is what music used to be put on prior to CDs. LP's were these big vinyl circles, usually black, that had grooves in which a needle vibrated, turning the grooves into music. Yes, it was a very primitive method for listening to music.

So, does anyone in my current D/FW zone know what became of The Shoppe? Did they ever play at the State Fair of Texas? The Shoppe is/was better than anything I've heard at the State Fair of Texas. It wasn't just the music. They also did very good banter.

Sunday at River Legacy Park

It's Sunday, so I went to River Legacy Park to pedal the mountain bike trail.

I seem to be a creature of habit with little derivation.

Swimming at 8 this morning. Another tiresome habit.

At River Legacy, today, unlike the last time I was there, I saw some wildlife. A lot of humans, hiking and biking, including Blonde Bobbi. Sunday at River Legacy seems to be one of Blonde Bobbi's bad habits too.

I had 2 snake encounters today. One was quite big. The other likely had only recently hatched. Neither were of the venomous sort. But the big one moved real fast. It is unsettling to see a snake move real fast. I don't understand how they can get so much speed out of that slithering motion.

I tried to slither across my Tacoma sister's floor once, so as not to set off the motion detectors. It took me forever to slither across the floor, and then by the time I got to the door, it had taken me so long, I forgot about the alarm and opened the door to get the paper. All sorts of mayhem quickly ensued. I probably should have been embarrassed about all that mayhem, but it all seemed amusing to me. Although, I did think my sister demanding DNA proof that we are actually related to be a bit rude.

It is almost 80 here today, so, when I got back here, a jump in the pool in my biking shorts seemed to make sense. There are good reasons why the approved attire for swimming is either skinny dipping or a swimming suit. Using my biking shorts as a swimming suit brought up all sorts of issues we need not discuss. Suffice to say, I will not make that mistake again.

We are heading into several days in a row of possible severe storms. This happens every Spring in Texas. I suspect I may hear my first tornado siren of the year this week.

In the meantime I'm trying to write the story of the Travails of Tootsie Tonasket. But it is convoluted and very confusing, thus taxing my ability to make sense of it. So, the story stays in draft mode. For now.

$25,000 Reward for Information Leading to the Arrest...

A few days ago I mentioned seeing a couple billboards that were unusual, or seemed unusual to me, that I see when I drive to the Tandy Hills. One is the Dr. Kim Lap Band Billboard that I already mentioned. The other is the one you see above.

This "$25,000 Reward" billboard has been up for quite a long time. I assume that must indicate no arrest has been made. I don't know the details of this murder, or remember anything about. There are a lot of murders in the news when you live in a metro area of around 6 million people.

I'll see if I can find anything out about this murder....

Okay, now that I've read about it, my memory is refreshed. This case has shown up on "America's Most Wanted." Early in the evening of December 9, 2007, 68 year old Marianne Wilkinson's doorbell rang. She opened the door and was shot 3 or 4 times. Neighbors heard the shots.

Marianne's family said she had no enemies and that there was nobody who would want her dead. The random nature of the murder shocked the community and had people afraid that a murderer was at large, randomly ringing doorbells and shooting people.

And then a neighbor of Marianne's came forward saying she believed that she was the intended victim. The neighbor had gone through a very acrimonious divorce due to a lot of money being involved. The neighbor lived in a house very similar to Marianne's, with a very similar address in the same housing community.

Police came to the conclusion this was a murder for hire that had gone badly awry.

Months passed and a handgun was found that proved to be the murder weapon. But tracing registration records showed the gun belonging to people deceased. Police also got shell casings, along with the gun. That lead them from Texas to England, where a forensic scientist named Dr. John Bond had developed a method for removing fingerprints from metal surfaces, even surfaces that had been wiped clean.

So, police now have fingerprints. Now they are looking for the right fingers. If you can help the police find the right fingers you could be $25,000 richer. I know that's nothing like an AIG executive bonus, but it'd still buy a few groceries in these troubled times.

Tandy Hills: Visual & Verbal Poetry From Don Young

Prairie Notes: March 21, 2009
Vernal Equinox

Field report-

I was so busy yesterday, preparing for the 4th annual Fort Worth Prairie Fest, that I forgot to look up when the center of the Sun crossed the equator in the celestial sphere at 8:44 am CDT. The vernal equinox has come and gone. Dang! I hate it when that happens.

The winds of mid-March whistle through the TV towers above Tandy Hills like the ghosts of Indians past. The trees are adorned with kites and plastic bags. A pair of Screech Owls have arrived, testing the mettle of scurrying field mice. Tiny-legged Ground Skinks are on the move again, "swimming" like quicksilver through the mysterious world underfoot.

A Cooper's Hawk, sliced overhead yesterday, reminding me of who rules the air around here.

Learn more about the birds of Tandy Hills in Tom Steven's excellent, Tandy Hills-Stratford Parks Ornithological Assessment.