Another Sunny Sunday in Texas

That's the Sunday morning view from my computer room window. Unlike yesterday's foggy dark gray, blue sky has returned, just in time to prevent another outbreak of SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder).

Which means I was wearing my sunglasses during this morning's swim.

Yesterday about 5 pm WeatherBug started chirping with a National Weather Service storm warning, saying a line of Thunderstorms was advancing on the D/FW Metroplex from the west, with big hail and winds up to 7o mph. But, nothing happened here. Not a drop of rain, gust of wind or streak of lightning.

I think I'll pedal my bike on the Trinity Trails today. Maybe going all the way from Gateway Park to the Stockyards. Yeah, that sounds fun.

Fighting Mad Over Texas Gas Drillers

Don Young wants to have a lynching. Here's why....

To heck with Tea Parties. We need a "hanging party" (metaphorically speaking) for a few environmental criminals and the bought off politicos who do their bidding.

This is serious folks and it's spreading all over the USA.

Brett Shipp of WFAA-TV pulls back the veils on the latest chapter of criminal activity in Texas. Where's a cop or a governor when you need one??? Somebody get me a rope.

DY

A North Texas Rancher named Robert Crowell claims Texas gas and oil regulators are turning a blind eye to toxic waste seeping into the Brazos River north of Abilene. The Brazos River is a source of drinking water for millions of Texans. In Stonewall County, where Crowell's ranch is located, the water is kept flowing by the huge Seymour Aquifer, which runs underneath Crowell's Ranch.

Crowell says petro waste is seeping into the aquifer. The waste comes from an abandoned gas processing plant, leeching lead, benzene, mercury, arsenic and PCBs into the ground and eventually the Brazos River.

Read Brett Shipp's WFAA-TV entire expose', with photo evidence and video.

Foggy Fort Worth, Texas Wildflowers & Oakland Lake Park

I already told you it is foggy today here in Fort Worth, as in real foggy. You can barely see beautiful downtown Fort Worth in the picture I took on the drive to Oakland Lake Park for a much needed nature walk.

Large areas of Oakland Lake Park are now covered by wildflowers. This means the grass does not get mowed. Which made walking in wet vegetation a bit unpleasant, so the paved path had to be used.

I got a couple good pictures of newly blooming wildflowers I'd not seen yet this year.

I called my mom and dad in the Phoenix zone while I walked because I got gas on the way, and as my one longtime reader, Tyler, may remember, when I get gas I call my mom and tell her how much it cost.

But, the parental units were not home. Or were not answering their phone. So, I called my sister who is also in the Phoenix zone. She entertained me while I did my nature walking.

I learned my oldest sister and my ex-wife were visiting, along with Ginger, she being another Washingtonian and that they'd taken a road trip south to Tombstone and Bisbee, then east to New Mexico and Silver City, then north to Sante Fe, then west back to the Phoenix zone.


Made me want to go on a road trip. It's been awhile. I'm thinking there is a good chance I'll be road tripping soon, heading west to the Phoenix zone to visit the aforementioned parental units and my sister and nephews and maybe my brother. Then head north to the Seattle zone, then back here via Montana, then south through Wyoming and Colorado.

While we are suffering in the 60s here, with that heavy fog, my sisters in Phoenix were basking in the 80s. But the wimps think it's too cold to get in the pool.

I can't believe I'm related to those people.

Foggy, Drizzling North Texas Saturday

That's a look at how foggy it is here this morning. Yesterday we had a typical Pacific Northwest winter rainy day and now this morning it's a typical Pacific Northwest foggy fall day.

And drizzling like being at the ocean.

Living in that type naturally moisturizing climate is one of the reasons people in the Pacific Northwest have such youthful healthy skin, compared to some of the weather/sun ravaged examples of epidermis I see in these parts.

Unfortunately, I have now lived in this skin ravaging climate long enough that I am starting to lose my Pacific Northwest naturally moisturized healthy youthful skin. I figure another ten years and my nickname will be Leatherface.

It being a Pacific Northwest type fall day today, I decided to have a Pacific Northwest type breakfast, that being French Toast with blackberry preserves, hash browns and sausage. I guess the only Pacific Northwest thing about that breakfast is the blackberry part.

I don't know if it'll dry out enough to be able to go on a salubrious hike today. My physical therapist, Dr. L.C., was concerned yesterday that being housebound might have a deleterious effect on my well-being. Well, I did manage to go swimming in the rain, yesterday, and in the drizzle this morning. I prefer swimming in the rain to the drizzle.

My Two Texas Cents Worth From Wal-Mart

My one reader, in Tyler, Texas, may remember me complaining about Wal-Mart's Thieving Milk Scam. Two weeks ago I bought a gallon at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in North Richland Hills. A huge sign spelled out $1.98 a Gallon. But the milk rang up at $2.00.

And then a week later it happened again, at my nearby Wal-Mart Supercenter. And now, this afternoon, at that same Wal-Mart, same thing.

That's today's receipt with 2 pennies on it.

So, today after I paid 2 bucks for milk that Wal-Mart had led me to believe cost $1.98, as I walked past Customer Service I saw there was no line. Okay, it's worth it to me to go through this aggravation, I thought to myself.

Afterall, when Wal-Mart or Krogers or Albertsons make a pricing mistake they refund what you paid. Sort of their penalty for first off, having the price wrong, and second off, the customer taking his time to fix it.

It took the befuddled Minimum Wage Moron about a minute to process what I was saying. I told the MWM that this same price mistake occurred at other Wal-Marts. I asked if the prices are controlled from some central location, like the dark dungeons of Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. She told me that that is the case and that mistakes are constant.

The MWM then proceeded to hand me the 2 pennies you see in the picture. To which I said, "Has the policy changed? I thought you got the price refunded if Wal-Mart made a pricing mistake."

Not anymore she told me. Only if the mistake is over 3 dollars.

Huh?

Has Krogers stopped the refund policy too? I've long noticed Krogers no longer has a sign touting the refund policy. Now with Krogers and its constant mistakes, that could get expensive.

I'm guessing the fast and loose pricing mistake policy may be a Texas thing. This is not exactly a consumer protection friendly state.

I don't know if it is still the case, because I've not lived there for 10 years, but in Washington, I am pretty certain it is still true that you can call the State Attorney General's Consumer Hotline with a complaint such as, "I've bought a gallon of milk in 3 different Wal-Marts with the priced marked at $1.98 but ringing up at $2.00."

A few years back K-Mart, in Seattle, got assessed a $1.5 million fine after agents found multiple chronic pricing errors.

The reason for the refund policy, such as exists in Washington, is it gives the stores a very good incentive not to make mistakes. The reason such mistakes are seen as possibly criminal, in other, more enlightened states, is due to the way it rips off the consumer. You see something on the shelf and make the decision to buy it based on what you believe the price to be. Then at checkout, if you are buying a lot of stuff, you may not even notice it rang up wrong til you get home, or maybe never notice.

How is it that Wal-Mart has been system-wide making this milk pricing mistake for weeks? Am I the first to complain? It's very easy to think two cents don't matter. But how many gallons does Wal-Mart sell a day? Enough to make two cents add up to serious money? Two cents may not sound like much, but it's a 1% increase in what I thought I was paying.

Why is it that all the time I've been shopping at Sprouts Farmers Market, a place where I buy way more than I ever do at Wal-Mart, or used to at corrupt Krogers, has never made a mistake? One thing, I think they pay their help well, as in they are all very good. When you check out at Sprouts you see a sign touting Sprouts philosophy of doing business. It's easy to see that they are true to what Sprouts spouts.

Another grocery store where I buy a lot and where there has never been a price mistake is at Hong Kong Market in Arlington's Chinatown. Even though we don't speak the same language, the checkout people are always so polite and efficient.

So, the problem has to be a function of the corporate culture of the store. And its management.

With Wal-Mart dropping the refund if they are wrong policy, and Krogers likely having dropped it, as well, I'm guessing this is why the pricing errors have now gone epidemic. Maybe it's part of the reason why Wal-Mart was one of the few non bleak retailers in the previous quarter.

Well, there you have it. I'm done whining now. For now.

America, Britain & Texas Got Talent

If you've not yet heard a word about Susan Boyle, you have now. Millions have been hearing Susan Boyle, around the world, ever since last Saturday when she appeared on Britain's Got Talent.

America has its own version of the British talent show. Simon Cowell is a judge on the British version.

The Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, Alma, auditioned for America's Got Talent. And then the next year she was asked to audition again. But, the foolish producers did not put Alma on the show. I think if they did the same thing would happen to Alma as what has happened to Susan Boyle.

The YouTube videos of what happened on Saturday in the UK have all had the embed option disabled. But, if you go to my TV Blog you'll find a link to the video. Trust me, it's worth it.

A Rainy, Stormy Thundering Friday In Texas

That's the view from my computer room window this morning. It's looking like a typical Pacific Northwest winter day out there. But this is April in Texas. I should be seeing clear blue sky.

The rain is falling northwest style. Slow. Not the heavy Texas downpour style rain I've grown to like. If we have a few days in a row like this I fear I will slip once more into a very SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) state.

Obviously there will be no biking or hiking by me today. But I did get in my early morning swim. I like swimming in the rain. There was no thunder booming at that point in time. I don't think I'd like being in the pool with lightning flashing over head.

The storm arrived much later than predicted, so I was able to watch Survivor without it being interrupted by annoying Bad Weather Reports.

Thunder has been booming off and on for several hours. One lightning flash was so bright I was momentarily a bit blinded. Maybe it was the simultaneous LOUD BOOM that got my eyeballs vibrating and not the flash.

I'm being perplexed by a Blog Stalker from Tyler, Texas. Tyler keeps going back and forth from this blog to another blog. Why? We do not know. This has been going on for days.

God, Gar the Texan & the Founding Fathers

It has perplexed and baffled me for quite some time why I have so many people happening upon my blog and so few seem to have discovered the extremely well-considered Random Ramblings of Gar the Texan.

Even more perplexing to me is how many Americans are so totally ignorant of their nation's actual history. The "Don't Believe in God" billboard has brought a lot of the ignorant crud out of the mud.

I'm afraid if some of the ignorant people were to learn what our Founding Fathers actually believed they would be so horrified they'd feel like they had to leave the country, because it was not the country they thought they were living in.

Gar the Texan, today, has done his usual excellent job of elaborating on a subject, this time he is elaborating on the actual beliefs of our Founding Fathers, people like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, George Washington and, even, though he was not a Founding Father, Abraham Lincoln.

Now, this research by Gar the Texan is particularly impressive due to the fact that it is only recently he discovered that some interesting things went on before he was born. He now seems to have evolved into some sort of history buff.

The Tandy Hills are Alive with the Sound of Color

With just a little more than a week to go til the Prairie Fest the Tandy Hills are coming alive with color. I'd not been to the Tandy Hills since last Saturday's Bus Ride Adventure, the day before the Easter Deluge rendered hiking a muddy pursuit, but apparently convinced a lot of Texas wildflowers that it was time to wake up and do their annual job.

Like the one in the first picture. Is that not a unique looking piece of work by Mother Nature? It looks like it's talking to you.

I saw at least 5 new wildflowers today that weren't showing on my last visit. I was unable to get decent pictures of some of them due to it being very windy with the flowers refusing to pose in a semi-static position.

Speaking of that wind. Apparently we are supposedly going to be having some heavy duty storming in the coming hours. In spring that can mean big baseball size hail, heavy rain, high winds and tornadoes.

Which will likely wreak havoc with my TV viewing, which tonight only consists of Survivor. I'm sure it will be interrupted, at key points, at least twice to tell us that the Doppler Radar has spotted a small circulating cell somewhere within a 250 mile radius of the D/FW Metro Zone and that that rotating cell has the potential to develop into a tornado, but fear not, they are monitoring the situation for us and will break in with developments as the rotating cell continues rotating.


I did not go to a Tea Party last night. I now regret it. My Physical Therapist, Dr. L.C. (who's advice I continue to ignore, as in I went swimming this morning and then went hiking), went to the Tea Party at La Grave Field and said it was a lot of fun.

La Grave Field is this little hobbled together baseball park that the Fort Worth Cats play in. It's a minor league team. Fort Worth is the biggest city (over 700,000 population) in America with a minor league baseball team. I think that's pretty cool.

The Fort Worth Cats are in something called the Central Baseball League. Big ol' Fort Worth plays against towns like Robstown, population 12,849 and their team, the Coastal Bend Aviators. And Harlingen, population 58,300 and their team, the Rio Grande Whitewings. And Edinburg, population 38,900 and their team, the Edinburg Roadrunners. And Alexandria, population 46,000 and their team, the Alexandria Aces. And Amarillo, population 172,400 and their team, the Amarillo Dillas. And Springfield, (that's in Missouri, I think) population 142,200 and their team the Ozark Mountain Ducks.

Well, you get the drift. Fort Worth has proudly won their league's world series, or whatever it is called, a time or two. But with no citywide celebration, as far as I know.

Don't Believe in God? Part 2

A couple days ago I blogged about the "Don't Believe in God?" billboards that have been sprouting up all over America, including the part of America I am in right now, that being the Dallas/Fort Worth zone of Texas.

In that blogging I copied an embarrassingly erroneous letter that was in that morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Now. I think it is wrong that that paper prints such letters from people who so clearly are, well, a bit dim.

And then I got a comment to the blog regarding that letter, saying it was an excellent letter. That comment was so convoluted I didn't feel the need to shoot the fish in that particular barrel.

Gar the Texan then commented on that comment, wondering why I didn't shoot the fish.

Well, in this morning's Star-Telegram three new letters to the editor shot the fish in the barrel for me. Below are those letters....

First Amendment freedom

Thomas T. Risher asks, “What is the world coming to when you see billboards that ask, ‘Don’t believe in God? You are not alone’ ”?

I can tell him exactly where the world is coming to; it’s coming to freedom.

Apparently those of us who recognize that the founders created a government not founded on religion will always have to remind those who want to rewrite history that “one nation under God” and “In God we trust” were not written by our Founding Fathers and are not part of our founding documents.

In 1797, many years before either of these phrases were written, a treaty was approved unanimously by the U.S. Senate and signed by President John Adams that contained the following words “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

Risher accuses me of mocking our Founding Fathers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I have a profound respect and an enduring admiration for our Founding Fathers, in part because they created a government that gives me the freedom of speech to put up billboards and freedom of religion so I don’t have to sit in church on Sunday next to a religious bigot.

— Terry McDonald, Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason, Grapevine

What is truly disturbing is how confused the letter writer is about history. America was not and has never been “founded on God.” The original Founding Fathers recognized the folly of using religion to create government. The one reference to religion in the Constitution is Article 6: “[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

The other great founding document is the Bill of Rights, whose First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech ... .”

How about a deal? If the writer will remove every religious reference from public view (which I have always found somewhat offensive), I’ll talk to McDonald about removing the billboards.

— Charlie Rodriguez, Arlington

I read a lot of nonsense in the letters to the editor, but I can’t not respond to Risher’s letter. He asks how we can allow billboards with an atheistic message.

Easy — it is the law. Not only is it not an affront to the Founding Fathers, it is the fruition of their work.

I’m sure Risher considers himself a patriot, but I consider his attitude of constitutional freedoms only being for citizens who share his beliefs to be the worst form of betrayal of our Constitution and its authors.

I am a Christian and a veteran. I served to defend the Constitution that the writer obviously does not comprehend — and his right to spew nonsense publicly, just as the atheists have the right to spew publicly.

— Eugene Chandler, Arlington