KFC KGC For Free

I do not know what I did that causes me to get an email once a week from The Colonel. I don't remember the last time I had Kentucky Fried Chicken.

In Cedar Hills, that's a town on the southern border of Dallas, there is a Kentucky Fried Chicken Buffet. That is likely the last place I had Kentucky Fried Chicken.

There is a town in the middle of Wyoming, named Rawlins, that has a KFC Buffet. I'd stopped there several times. It was very well run. Til the last time, that being in July of 2001.

I was driving myself up to Washington for my mom and dad's 50th Anniversary party. The first night I stayed in Pueblo, Colorado. That morning, as I got back on the road, I thought I should be in the Rawlins, Wyoming KFC Buffet zone by 1 or 2. As I got to the Rawlins exit I saw the KFC Buffet freeway exit sign. As I neared the KFC I could see it was real busy, so was McDonald's, there was a line out the door of the Subway. All the fast food places were packed. This may have been the first time I'd been in Rawlins at the height of tourist season.

And during the height of tourist season the Rawlins KFC Buffet is shut down. I can't tell you how disappointed I was, well, actually, I can. I was very disappointed. And hungry. I ended up going in a grocery store to find something to tide me over til I got to Little America, this oasis in the middle of nowhere when you cross Wyoming on Interstate 80.

I just remembered, I've also come across 2 other KFC buffets, have been to one in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma at least twice and once to one in Hays, Kansas. The Hays, Kansas one was nice and big, as in 2 stories with a stairway to the upper eating area.

So, back to the email I got today from The Colonel. It informed me that this coming Monday, that being April 27, KFC is giving out free samples of its new Kentucky Grilled Chicken. I've already read reviews of the new grilled version which were quite positive. I'd walk a mile for a free piece of chicken in these troubled economic times. Fortunately, for me, I have a Kentucky Fried/Grilled Chicken right across the street from me.

Prairie Notes: April 24, 2009--What's in a Name?

A timely, day before the 2009 Prairie Fest, message from Don Young. With video...

Many of you know that the late author and environmental crusader, Edward Abbey, is the spiritual godfather of Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area (FOTHNA). Ed is best known for his account of Utah's canyon lands in his 1968 non-fiction classic, Desert Solitaire and his 1975 eco-activist-comic-novel, The Monkey Wrench Gang. Those two works bookend Ed's driving themes of gut-level appreciation and dutiful activism in support of our dwindling wild and special places.

Abbey wrote about many such places around the world including, prairies. In his semi-autobiographical 1988 novel, The Fool's Progress, he describes a road-trip from Tuscon, Arizona to his birthplace in Appalachia. Along the way, while passing through prairie country, he wrote the following:

"Prairie Country - and was there ever so gentle and undulant female and sweet a word as prairie. French derived from the Latin prataria, a meadow."

Undulant meaning here, a rising and falling motion, like waves of windblown grass and, in the case of THNA, the namesake hills. Female, meaning ... well, Ed was a ladies man, but I think he meant the protective and nurturing instincts more commonly associated with the childbearing species. I dare say that Ed would appreciate the undulant characteristics of the Tandy Hills greenbelt and applaud our unyielding efforts to nurture, protect and preserve it and all Texas prairie.

"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself."

Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

Please keep the mission of FOTHNA in mind when you visit Prairie Fest this Saturday, April 25th. We want you to have a good time at the fest, and we also need you as a Friend, throughout the year. Please take a moment and watch the video below.

Special NOTE:

Dr. Joe Kuban of Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth is a long time advocate for the preservation of THNA. He is local example of a hero who cares a great deal about protection of the wild and special. My hat is off to the valiant Dr. Kuban.

Read Joe's compelling story in a recent Fort Worth Star-Telegram report.

Special NOTE #2:

Read more about Prairie Fest in the current issue of Fort Worth Weekly.

Come to the meadow April 25th and find the spirit of Ed Abbey and Joe Kuban calling out to you.

DY

The Texas Search For The World's Biggest Butt: Part 5

Ever since I blogged about seeing the biggest butt I'd ever seen, that big butt being spotted in my local neighborhood Wal-Mart, I've been amazed over and over again at how many people all over the world are looking for the World's Biggest Butt.

And just like the search for help in dealing with Only Child Syndrome, the search for the World's Biggest Butt seems to go in streaks.

For who knows what reason, this morning the Big Butt search seems to be in high gear, with one of the searchers seeming to morph the Big Butt search with Only Children Syndrome by searching for "big butt syndrome."

I did not realize the big butt phenomenon was a syndrome.

Looking at the various Big Butt search strings is interesting. In addition to "big butt syndrome" in the latest 50 blog visitors we have people looking for "world's biggest butts," and "the biggest butt" and "who has the world's largest butt" and "the world's biggest butt" and "the biggest butt in the world" and "bigbutt blogspot" and "huge butt blogspot" and "america's biggest butt."

I'm pretty sure I've seen one of America's Biggest Butts. If only I had my camera with me at the time.

Hot, Swimming, Hiking in a Bad Mood in Texas

The exercise endorphins are not doing their job today. Why I do not know.

I think, maybe, I may need to quit paying such close attention to the news. It's depressing. Usually, if anything, I am overly optimistic. But not right at this moment. Maybe I had a bad nightmare last night that I am not remembering.

The morning swim went well, but when I got out of the water I didn't feel all that energized. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that for the first time this year the air temperature was warmer than the water.

I got some bug bites yesterday. At least I assume that's what the red spots have been caused by. Maybe my foul mood is the result of insect venom being injected into me.

I continue to be made to feel dumb by two Washington women who keep beating me at Scrabble. I think they must be somehow cheating. Maybe I need to get the Scrabble for Dummies book.

At noon I did the usual hike around the Tandy Hills. Actually it was not the usual. At the top of each hill I was winded and had to bend over, hands on knees, to catch my breath. It was not being quite a Gar the Texan level of the vapors, but close. I think my blood sugar level was real low. I was really craving a non-diet Coke.

One thing did brighten my spirits a bit whilst hiking the Tandy Hills. That was all the Buttermilk Primroses I was seeing. Those bright yellow flowers almost make me feel as good as seeing the Redrock of Utah. Utah Redrock has a very mysterious, I dunno, borderline mystical effect on me. Goes back to the first time I saw it and it's been that way every time since.

That's what I really need. A road trip to Moab and some mountain biking on trails surrounded by Redrock and the best works of Mother Nature.

In the meantime I'll just stare at Buttermilk Primroses. And feel forlorn.

Saturday's April 25 Wildflower Love-In in Texas

This week's FW Weekly's Metro section has a nice article about a feisty Fort Worth pup that has grown up. That pup must be a prairie dog, I guess, because the article is about this coming Saturday's Prairie Fest, when the Tandy Hills will come alive with the sound of music singing to the wildflowers and a lot of people.

I did not know, til reading this article, that the first Prairie Fest took place on Don Young's front yard with a gathering of about 400 pissed-off environmentalists.

This year the City of Fort Worth is finally getting around to embracing the festival, which Don Young calls a "wildflower love-in."

At Prairie Fest there will be the aforementioned music, tours of the prairie and green power exhibits, plus food and beverages, including beer. There will also be around 20 landscape artists painting pictures of the landscape.

If the sun cooperates, the festival will be solar-powered.

Read the FW Weekly article here. Watch a video of some Triggerfish Prairie Fest music from last year, singing about losing paradise to a parking lot, below....

Confessions of a Texas Drug Addict

I've got me some major monkeys on my back. Real bad habits. I seem to regularly add a new bad habit.

My only drug addiction used to be coffee. Every morning. Laying on the floor, reading the morning paper and drinking coffee. And getting all perked up. Hence the addiction.

Years passed and the coffee addiction seemed to be all I needed to keep me perky.

And then I discovered endorphins. Endorphins are some sort of feel good chemical that gets released when you stress your body aerobically. After some experimenting with various methods of delivering the chemical, I found that hiking, biking and roller blading, for about an hour a day, were enough to keep me happy.

But, eventually, I realized I was addicted. If I don't get my fix, like today, I get edgy, I can't focus, I feel tired.

Like I did today. So, about 4 in the afternoon I took off to River Legacy Park to get my endorphin fix on the mountain bike trail. It was HOT. In the 90s. Felt good. First shirt off, biking, day of the year. You can see by the shadow of me taking a picture, above, that it is late in the day. The later afternoon light makes the green of the River Legacy woods look almost spooky. I liked it.

I pedaled a bit over 10 miles. I did the new section, once, that being the new section I mentioned yesterday, during my sad tale of a flat tire and a bobcat encounter. Today I was able to see that that new section's mile of twist and turns actually only gains you about 20 feet when it joins the existing trail. Yesterday I guessed 50 feet. It'll be a nice addition once it gets broken in.

I saw no wildlife, except for humans, today. No snakes, wild boars, bobcats, armadillos or squirrels.

I just realized I forgot to mention my other drug addiction. The post-coffee morning swim in cold water. I believe the jolt of the cold releases adrenalin, which in turn releases endorphins, which in turn causes me to start the day off feeling way better than just having that morning coffee perk going on.

I fear today may be a precursor for a VERY HOT SUMMER. I escaped Texas last summer during the only period that went over the 100 degree mark. Maybe I'll escape the heat again this summer. It just won't be in Tacoma. That's for sure.

Texas Heat Wave Sprouts on Target

That's a look at my current state of weather, via WeatherBug, from about 10 minutes ago. As you can see we are nearing 90 with the high today getting to 95.

I have not turned on the A/C in here. Yet. I did run the A/C in my vehicle when I drove up to Southlake at noon.

Swimming, this morning, was very pleasant.

I fixed the flat tire on my bike before the torrid temps arrived. But, I don't know if I'm ready, yet, to venture out and ride the newly tubed bike in this heat. That and I've got other stuff to do.

In Southlake I went to Sprouts Farmers Market, like I usually do on Wednesday, pathetic repetitive creature of habit that I apparently am. It was extra warm in Sprouts. Maybe due to way too many people being in there.

On the way back here from Sprouts I dropped in on the Super Target that sits with its back to the Super Wal-Mart where I first got a gallon of milk that was supposed to cost $1.98 but for which I was charged the outrageous price of $2.00. Looking at my blog stats, I can now see I am not alone. Others are looking for the reason why Wal-Mart is being odd with their milk price.

The reason I went to Super Target was to return a vegetable oil sprayer that did not work. At Super Target you walk into what at noon appeared to be a practically empty store where the employees out number the few customers. Unlike at Super Wal-Mart, at Super Target you walk up to Customer Service and you are instantly acknowledged and helped. It took all of 20 seconds to get my money refunded.

I then told the Super Target Customer Service person about my recent experiences with Super Wal-Mart Customer Service and the bizarre milk price scam. She was appalled. I told her I'd blogged about it a couple times. She asked for and wrote down my blog address. Unlike the minimum wage morons that Wal-Mart mans its Customer Service with, this Super Target young lady seemed quite sharp.

Sprouts today was also a good customer service experience. I must have bought at least 30 different items. As always, not a single price mistake. And super fast, efficient, checkout.

So, now does the title of this particular blogging make sense? Texas Heat Wave Sprouts on Target. Makes sense to me.

Texas Accents Among Other Accents

When I first watched and listened to the Super Viral Susan Boyle YouTube video (if you have not seen this, stop reading this blog now and go watch it) I thought it was interesting how Susan spoke in such a thick Scottish accent that she was a tad hard for my American ears to understand. And then she started singing and the accent went bye-bye and the voice of an angel appeared in its place.

And then, after she was done singing and the audience calmed down enough for the judges to speak, I was struck by how different the English accent is, when well-spoken, from the more flourish-free American accent of Americans from some regions of America, like the Pacific Northwest.

Some versions of the English Accent, as spoken in the UK, are very easy to listen to. Is it called High English? I don't know. But it is easy to understand, unlike Cockney English, which can be funny to hear, but hard to understand.

Now, there are some regions of America with strong accents. Like Brooklyn. Or Boston. Or the South.

There are many variations of Southern Accents. Wikipedia has an interesting article on the subject. Even within a specific Southern Accent there are variations, like different types of Texas Accents.

There is an extreme version of the Texan Accent that I really have trouble understanding, almost as bad as Boomhower on King of the Hill. And then there is the lilting, warm honey Texas Accent that I can never get enough of listening to.

Gar the Texan is from the Midland-Odessa West Texas zone, same as where George W. Bush grew up. They have similar Texas accents, though Gar the Texan's can ebb strong and weak, particularly strong if he is having a case of the vapors. Gar the Texan is very articulate. When he uses polysyllabic words he pronounces them correctly, and thus sounds Texan and smart. With an accent.

Now, George W. Bush is not the most articulate man on the planet. When George W. pronounces a polysyllabic word he often gets it wrong. Such as when he tries to say "nuclear." I think the Texas Accent, combined with the mispronouncing, may have been part of what caused many to perceive George W. as not the brightest light ever to glow in the White House.

There are a lot of versions of English accents. I find the Canadian version very unpleasant. I think this may be partly caused by having lived most of my life near the border, with access to Canadian TV and plenty of Canadians. The Canadian Accent has this way of sounding as if they are inflecting everything they say with a self-doubting tone, even without adding "eh" to the end of virtually every sentence. It comes across, to my ears, as sounding insecure and unsure about what they are saying.

Some English Accents are so easy to listen to, like Australian. How does one accent variant end up sounding Australian and another Canadian? Canadians live mostly within 200 miles of America. Why have we not rubbed off on them more in this department? Well, to be fair, which is not my long suit, some Canadians do lose the annoying accent when they become American actors, like Michael J. Fox.

I find the Hybrid-English Accents very easy to listen to. Like Italian-English, they sound so charming. I can't think of any of the hybrids that don't sound like music to me. Russian-English, good thing. I like the Mexican-English Accent. Or any Spanish Speaking-English Accent, for that matter. Middle Eastern-English Accents sound good, with plenty of variations. Indian-English, as in the nation, not the Native Americans, can sound a bit insecure, like Canadian Accent, but the lilting, sing songy way of speaking Indian-English is quite pleasant to listen to.

As for Native American-English, it comes in a lot of versions. I have heard all sorts of Indian-American accents and have liked them all. Very easy to listen to. I once spent an hour talking to a Navajo at Monument Valley in Arizona. I can still remember his soft easy Navajo-American Accent. A lot of Native Americans pretty much lose any accent. That is particularly the case with a lot of Pacific Northwest Native Americans.

Why are there so many Indians and Indian Reservation Lands in Washington and so few in Texas? What did you Texans do with all the Indians?

Okay, I have started to digress. Time to stop talking about accents.

Wal-Mart's Milk Price Is Still Wrong

It seems like weeks now since I first blogged about Wal-Mart's Supercenters having big $1.98 signs above their milk, with that same $1.98 price repeated on the shelves for each type of milk, whole, 2%, 1% or skim.

I last bought milk last Friday, and blogged my two cents worth, along with a picture of the two cents I got for complaining to Wal-Mart's misnamed Customer Service.

It was on that day I learned why Wal-Mart is now making a lot of pricing errors. Because they no longer have a motivation to be careful, due to dropping their refund policy when they are caught making a mistake.

I do not know if it is true, or not, but one local told me the Texas State Legislature changed the law regarding pricing mistakes, removing the refund penalty that had provided a motivation for stores to not mislead their customers by putting one price on the shelf and charging another price at checkout.

Scandalous.

And now, today, Tuesday, 4 days after I last got milk at Wal-Mart, I did so again. This time fully expecting it to still ring up at $2, but this time I was armed with my camera to take a picture of the big $1.98 sign. The other picture is, obviously, today's receipt. Unlike last Friday, I did not go to Customer Service to get my two cents. There was a line. I wouldn't have bothered even if there had been no line. I was hungry and wanted to go home and make tacos.

I wonder how much money those 2 extra pennies, or 1% surcharge, has added up to for Wal-Mart.

Flat Bobcat Encounter at River Legacy Park

Well, I've had me a day. I got up well before the sun did today. That had me in the pool early. About 11 I decided to try and ride the River Legacy Park Mountain Bike Trail. I figured it's been enough days since Friday's rain, that it should be dried out.

The first time around was uneventful, wildlife-wise, except for one brief encounter with a skinny green snake.

Somewhere between the 3 and 4 mile mark I came upon a turn off to a new trail. I'd just been there last week and saw no sign of this new trail. The trail twisted and turned, tracked back and forth, I had no idea what direction I was going. And then after about a mile of slightly slow going, due to the new trail not being broken in yet, it rejoined the original trail. I think I maybe gained 50 feet after twisting and turning around for a mile.

On the second time around I quickly came upon the biggest, as in overweight type big, guy I've ever seen on a mountain bike. No, I did not get a picture. I asked if I could pass. He was pleasant. I don't see how that guy could manage some of the ups and downs.

About a mile later my front tire suddenly went wobbly. It quickly went totally flat. It was not long before the Big Guy came up behind me. I was surprised. I think he'd taken shortcuts. He offered to help. I said thanks, but I'm just gonna walk it out. There are those shortcuts, I figured it'd be about a mile of pushing the flat tire. I was right.

About a minute after the Big Guy's offer of help, I came upon my first bobcat in a long time. He was a big one. He did not seem too nervous about me. I talked to him and he seemed to be doing some sorta growling thing. I was able to get my camera out and take a lot of pictures. Eventually he slowly walked away from me as I continued to snap pictures. He only walked about 10 feet, to sit in the shade of a small tree.

So, I ended up going about 7.7 miles with my bike today, with 1 mile of it being on foot. I did not like being on foot. It is a very warm day. The sort of very warm spring day that brings out the snakes, like Copperheads. It is not easy to spot a snake in the grass. Especially when it is tall green grass.