Morning Morning Thunderstorm in Texas

That was the view out my patio door this morning about 6. Biggest Thunderstorm in a long time. It is now 4 hours later and it's still booming out there.

About an hour ago I got a direct hit that had this place rumbling like an earthquake. I'd not felt anything quite like it since my last earthquake, which would have been sometime in the last century.

I've never had any luck getting a picture of a lightning bolt before, til this morning. The strikes were coming so fast and furious it was easy.

I think I've mentioned before that I like to go swimming early in the morning. There are plenty of things taller than the swimming pool that lightning would strike first, so it seemed pretty safe to go swimming during a raging Thunderstorm. When you are already totally soaked by a downpour, the pool feels like relief from the cold.

I suspect there will be no hiking, biking or roller blading today. And for several days to follow if the weather forecast is correct. Which it seldom is.

Drinking Beer In Texas

Regarding Saturday's Prairie Fest at Tandy Hills Park some moronic imbecile opined about the price of the festival's beer with the following remark...

"At Prairie Fest some of the happy people may have been happy due to the beer and wine they may have consumed, but I doubt it. Beer was $3 a bottle. That's $18 a six pack. That's too much to pay for beer."

Which prompted someone with a more reasonable point of view to comment with the following...

Your comment about the beer was surprising considering the fact that a beer at Main Street Arts Fest went for about $5. a pop. We keep the prices lower than any other local fest AND we keep the beer quality higher AND we keep it icy cold AND it's served by gorgeous women (and a few hunky guys). No Coors, Miller or Bud here. Best of all, all of our beer income goes back to the park, as our non profit status requires. Additionally, we all work for love, including me all the volunteers who served the beer. No one draws a salary. Give us a break.

Sunday Mountain Biking With The Kids At River Legacy Park

It is taking some getting used to to get in the pool with the air temperature being warmer than the water. This is making the water feel cold, unlike going swimming in the middle of winter. I'm sure I'll adjust.

It has been a windy, cloudy Sunday here in North Texas. I went to River Legacy Park to pedal the mountain bike trail around noon.

There were a lot of people doing the same thing today. I tell you, this trail is getting way too popular. That's a good thing. I saw no wildlife today, except for humans. I saw one family of mountain bikers. You don't see that all that often. I wish I'd grown up in a family of mountain bikers. But that would have been impossible, because mountain bikes had not been invented when I was growing up. I did have a cool bike though. I think it was called a Sears Stratoliner. It had 2 speeds which you switched by back pedaling fast, but not hitting the brake. Very high tech.

I went two times around for a total of about 11.5 miles. At about the 9.5 mark it started to rain. I had to plot my escape strategy if the rain went into Texas Downpour mode. I figured I was about 1.5 miles from a paved trail. In Texas there are areas where if rain meets dirt it makes this incredibly sticky glue-like mud. That is the sort of dirt that is at River Legacy. Walking on it can quickly add 5 inches to your height. Which quickly turns me into potential NBA material.

The new section of trail, which I first pedaled only days ago, has now been ridden enough that it's been smoothed over and you can now pedal fast on it. I like the new section. I did not like it when I first pedaled it, mostly due to, I suppose, the need for it to get broken in.

So, that's been my exciting day. Oh, I forgot to mention, the second picture is of the new section of trail. It was so dark in there the flash went off.

To those who have never been to Texas, does it being so green surprise you? I remember before I moved here, I went to see the X-Files Movie, I think that's actually what it was called, in Seattle. The party with whom I went to the movie was not approving of the move to Texas. When the X-Files Movie started it was in a suburb of Dallas, with the Dallas skyline in the background. It was all brown and desert-looking. I leaned over to my fellow movie watcher and said it's not really like that, it's really green with a lot of trees. She said, yeah, sure.

Four months after I moved here the party in question came for a visit. It was April when that visit occurred, so it would have been very green, but I do not recollect bringing up the X-Files Movie moment of skepticism about the greenery of Texas.

America Celebrates Texas Seceding Again?

Apparently the rest of America has heard that Texas, well the governor of Texas, this guy named Rick Perry, who is mostly known for his good hair, is thinking it might be a good idea for Texas to secede from the Union. Again.

That really didn't work out all that great for Texas the last time they seceded. But then again, had they not, we would have Five Flags Over Texas. And that just sounds silly.

One of my very best Texas Humor Providers, Yvonne, sent me a funny YouTube video this morning that was inspired by the talk of Texas seceding again. This video maker seems to think this is a good idea.

Now, if you are a Texan, this little video might make you cranky because you might think Texas is being made fun of. Because, well it is. There are a lot of rather cranky comments to this video that are pretty funny. I can't print most of them due to my aversion to having profane spewing on my blog. You can go here and watch the video and be able to read the comments, or just watch the video below, without the comments, except for the one I copied below, because it was profanity free.

Like it or not, we are and will all remain Americans. Texas just can't handle being made fun of...it's just how they are. What you people are doing here is basically what makes the rivalry between sports teams so rampant.... I bet you are both sports fans? Avid? There isn't much going on in sports right now so this is filling the void. Go do something constructive for both of your respective communities, and don't brag about it. Have a good night USA! Liberals: The US Flag is now owned by U

Tempting Eve & Naked Women in Dallas

Several years ago a scandal erupted here in Texas that became national news, of the snicker at something goofy in Texas genre. There was this nice little town north of Dallas called Pilot Point, a town that had attracted some creative artist sorts. The town also had its fair share of very prudish sorts. The two sorts went into conflict mode when the town's police and mayor gave an artist who had painted a mural of Eve being tempted with an apple, by God, a deadline to cover Eve's bare breasts. Or else.

Soon after that scandal erupted I was at Fair Park in Dallas and saw the statue in front of the Women's Museum and noticed she wasn't wearing much clothing. It struck me as ironic that no one was concerned about this work of art, with demands to cover her breasts, while a few miles north bare breasts were unsettling some people.

Years ago I webpaged Fair Park in Dallas, including the statue in front of the Women's Museum and the Pilot Point Naked Eve Scandal.

This morning I got the funniest feedback in a long time, from Jane Doe, all in high umbrage mode over what she felt were tacky, ignorant, arrogant, remarks, on my part, regarding that statue in front of the Women's Museum. I'm impressed Jane Doe could whip up so much agitation over this.

Below is Jane Doe's Feedback to my Eyes on Texas website...

I found your comments regarding the Women’s Museum in the Dallas State Fair Grounds to be very tacky, ignorant, and arrogant. For generations women have been excluded from history books, professional careers, and politics. Gender prejudice has been prevalent throughout our country’s history and despite this; many women have prevailed in their strength and courage. Although in the last century women have gained many rights and liberties, they still hold minority in government, executive positions, and world affairs. According to the 2007 US Census Bureau, women with a Bachelor’s Degree or higher earned on average 73% of the earnings of men with a Bachelor’s Degree or higher.

In response to your tacky comment regarding the statue near the front of the museum, I believe that your need to take a moment to review the characteristics of the world’s masterpieces before making such an arrogant statement. David by Michael Angelo is one of the most renowned masterpieces in our world’s art history. The statue stands 424 cm high and is an image of a young, unclothed male. The image is considered a tribute to masculinity and biblical history. The young male statue stands completely exposed, with his genital area in clear view. People do not view this statue with cheap eyes and no one considers this statue to be a homage to the world’s population of male exotic dancers (or rather “stripper” in you uneducated literary language).

All this considered, I think it only appropriate that we appreciate the under acknowledged heroines of our nation, and admire them for both their intellectual and spiritual beauty. I am very saddened to encounter an individual as narrow-minded as you. I hope that you find the courage to expand your horizons and open your heart to new areas of growth. As President Obama said, “I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.”

Sincerely,
Your concerned equal rights humanitarian,
Jane Doe

The Wind Blows, The Rain Holds: Prairie Fest 2009 A Huge Success

Well, I remembered (after a reminder) that today was the Prairie Fest and I managed to spend a couple hours at it, unlike last week's Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival, which I forgot to go to.

Prairie Fest appeared way bigger than last year. I met Prairie Fest organizer, Don Young, for the first time. I said something about it being way bigger than last year. He told me it was 30% bigger. I don't know where that figure came from, but to my eyes there were at least twice as many people and way more cars parked on side streets, streets that did not have cars on them last year.

I did not get to hear the band Trigger Fish this year. I listened to the Blackland River Devils. That's another thing. Last there were just a few people listening to the band, this year there were a lot of people listening. Now that you've got me thinking about it, I'm guessing Prairie Fest more than doubled in size this year.

I took a lot of pictures and shot some video. It was very windy today. At one point I watched a canopy get blown apart. I quickly got out my video camera, and that quickly turned into me being asked to help. So I did. That quickly spun out of control as the wind continued to batter the tent. Eventually Don Young was called in to help get the destruction under control.

I'll get around to making a YouTube video later. Making videos is not the funnest thing for me. The novelty has worn off. I'm sort of a klutz at taking video. I'll have it in pause mode when I think it is in record mode, or vice versa. It's frustrating. And then this morning I finally figured out, after over a year, why the video does not seem as sharp as it used to, not that it ever was all that good. I somehow had it on manual focus, which overrode the auto-focus.

A lot of kids were having fun at the Prairie Fest today. I saw way too many dogs. I don't get why people bring dogs to things like this. Kids I understand, but not dogs.

That's the band I got to listen to this year, calling themselves the Blackland River Devils. Last year's Trigger Fish plays ol' time Rock 'n Roll, I knew the genre. I think the Blackland River Devils played sort of bluegrass country music. I'm not sure. It's not one of my few areas of any remote sort of expertise.

As the Blackland River Devils were warming up this little kid was having a real good time dancing in front of the stage. He was quite a good little dancer. But, when the real music started up he stopped the dancing and just listened. He probably started up dancing again when I wasn't paying any attention.

I got a call telling me I had to come take a picture of this booth where you could make these little dirt balls that contained wildflowers seeds, that you could then deposit on the land like a Texas Johnny Wildflowerseed.

The landscape painters were seeming to be having a bad time of it due to the high wind. It appeared that a lot of them had taken a break. I don't blame them. It was real windy.

This landscape painter had a more elaborate setup to protect her from the elements. But there was little protection from the wind.

A couple ladies manning a booth promoting a project I have promoted before, that being returning Heritage Park, in downtown Fort Worth, to its original glory.

These little cars looked sort of silly. I think they were called Passions. I'm not sure. I thought it'd be real uncomfortable inside, but instead I was amazed at how roomy it was, as in Cadillac type roomy. With no back seat and a little trunk. I'm guessing these are going to be very popular. Once the Great Depression II ends in another decade or so.

Finally, I got an answer to what the mysterious short metal fence that was added to the play area of Tandy Hills Park, months ago, was for. Apparently it was put there so cool looking Texas red white and blue type flag banners could be hung, along with a Prairie Fest sign.

There were quite a few kids in interesting garb wandering about. I think they were promoting some sort of performance thing of some sort. Or maybe they were being Prairie Fairies. I don't know. I guess I could have asked, but I really wasn't all that interested.

Prairie Fest attracts an interesting demographic that you don't see at most of the Texas events I've gone to. Let's just say the percentage of pickup trucks was very low, the percentage of small cars was very high. Walking back to my vehicle I saw 4 Prius's. And several little bitty Honda cars, the name of which I do not know. This felt more like walking through a Seattle parking lot than a Texas one.

At Prairie Fest you see a way lower percentage of overweight people than you do at most other Texas events. And the people, for the most part, were seeming happy and having a good time. Well, that's actually what it's like at pretty much any Texas event I've been to. At Prairie Fest some of the happy people may have been happy due to the beer and wine they may have consumed, but I doubt it. Beer was $3 a bottle. That's $18 a six pack. That's too much to pay for beer.

The Bedford Blues & BBQ is Back

I just got email from David W. letting me know that the Bedford Blues & BBQ is back. Bedford is one of what are known as the mid-cities. Those being small towns that are part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and are in the middle zone between the two big towns.

Usually Bedford is lumped together with Euless and Hurst.

If my memory is serving me correctly, and of late it has been very faulty, I believe the Bedford Blues & BBQ was a casualty of 9/11, when insurance costs went way up for events like this.

I know the Bedford Blues & BBQ was a popular, well attended event that I never attended.

The Bedford Blues & BBQ takes place Labor Day weekend, more precisely, September 5 & 6.

You can get more details, like directions and who's going to be singing the Blues by going to the Bedford Blues & BBQ website.

Blindsiding Fort Worth's Mayor Mike Moncrief

If you are a fan of Survivor you are also likely a fan of what is known as a blindside. That's when someone expecting to win is voted out of office, I mean, voted out of his tribe. A blindside is particularly satisfying if the one blindsided has been arrogant, cocky and way too sure of himself.

Fort Worth will soon have a mayoral election. Very very very few people vote in Fort Worth's mayoral elections. This basically leaves the decision as to who will be mayor up to the Ruling Junta, also known as the Fort Worth Oligarchy.

The current mayor of Fort Worth, Mike Moncrief, is running for mayor again. The natural gas industry wants to keep him in office. Mayor Moncrief has vested interests in the various companies drilling for gas that the city tries to regulate. In other parts of America this is what is known as a conflict of interest. Such things can have a person in all sorts of trouble, elsewhere.

I'm currently reading a book called Honor Killing, by David Stannard. It's about the infamous "Massie Affair" that riveted America in the early days of the Great Depression. The "Massie Affair" brought out in the open all sorts of bad things that had become accepted in Hawaii, which was then pretty much an isolated outpost.

As I read the sad details of how the Oligarchy that ruled Hawaii, acting in their own selfish interests, to the detriment of the majority, who were all minorities, Native Hawaiians, Philipinos, Japanese and others, I thought of how things are done here in Fort Worth.

At one point the Honolulu Ruling Junta decided a place called Waikiki would make nice beachfront property. So, without a vote of the people, including the people who had built elaborate fisheries and farms on this land, a primitive method of eminent domain was used and a beach, now famous, was made.

In Fort Worth a primitive form of eminent domain is being used to take property to build a lake, some canals and an un-needed flood diversion channel in a project called the Trinity River Vision, that the people of Fort Worth have not been allowed to vote on.

Mike Moncrief has 2 men running against him in this election, Clyde Picht and Louis McBee. Because so few people vote, Moncrief is expected to win again. In 2004 McBee filed an ethics complaint against Moncrief, regarding the Cabelas Scandal, to no avail.

Moncrief did not attend a League of Women Voter's debate last week, saying he was too busy doing the city's business, like an hour later, being in the same building as the debate, to help open a remodeled gallery. It would seem that more pertinent city business would be being brave enough to participate in a candidate's debate.

I'm thinking it's time for the citizens of Fort Worth to act like they live in a grown up city and get out and vote to blindside Mike Moncrief. And then start demanding to be allowed to vote on whatever fool thing the Ruling Junta comes up with, be it a Santa Fe Rail Market or a fake lake or subsidizing a convention center hotel or a sporting goods store.

I'm voting for Clyde Picht.

An Accidental Death in River Legacy Park

Due to circumstances beyond my control I was not able to go swimming early this morning. I'll attend to that necessity in a bit. But a late afternoon swim is just not the same thing.

I've been feeling a bit sub-par the last day or two. This morning my physical therapist, Dr. L.C., who usually tells me I over-do it, this time told me to get out and get that monkey off my back. I interpreted this to mean that I should go do something aerobic. And so I did.

I pedaled a couple times around the River Legacy Mountain Bike Trail. It was fun. The only wildlife I saw, besides humans, were 2 snakes, one of whom I ran over. I was going fast around a blind corner and before I could avoid it, I ran over a snake. I feel bad about it. I don't think I'm guilty of snakicide, due to the fact that there was absolutely no pre-meditation. However, I may have been slightly negligent, due to the fact that I was going awfully fast, it was a blind corner, I should have been more careful.

I am willing to plead guilty to involuntary snakeslaughter. It was a colorfully marked snake. Of what type, I have no idea. Both snakes, the one I killed and the other, were small. The snake I did not kill was a bright green one. I think they are called tree snakes.

The primroses were all over the place at River Legacy today. They may be my favorite Texas wildflower. They were the first I ever saw, back in spring of 1998, driving in from the west and seeing all these delicate, colorful flowers on the roadsides, starting south of Amarillo.

Tomorrow is Prairie Fest 2009. I hope, unlike last week's Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival, I remember to go. I'm also supposed to go to some Chinese Tai Chi World Celebration thing in south Arlington tomorrow. But that's in the morning. And some of the people participating in that are also going to Prairie Fest, so somehow, I should have enough reminders to remember. I hope.

Acceptable Littering In Texas

Around noon I was on my way to River Legacy Park to go mountain biking. As I headed to the I-30 entry a pickup passed me. It being that blue pickup you see in the picture.

I took me a few seconds to get my camera out when I realized I wanted a picture. I was stopped at the light, waiting to take a left on to the freeway, as the pickup sped away.

I'm engaging in all that exposition to explain why I did not get a better picture. Why did I want a picture of this, you probably can't help but wonder. Well, this pickup was engaging in one of my Pet Texas Peeves.

In Texas some people use a very primitive garbage disposal method. They load their litter on to the bed of their pickup, or flatbed trailer. And then drive around while the wind blows their garbage away. In this case it was a lot of white paper material.

From all the pickups in that one picture you might conclude there are a lot of pickups in Texas. You would be correct.

I really don't understand the littering mentality in Texas. Despite all the "Don't Mess With Texas" signs, plenty of people do a lot of messing. I'm sure the vast majority of Texans are not litterers. Maybe it's because there are so many Texans the odds are you're going to have way too many messing it up for everyone else. Maybe that is why, relative to Texas, Washington and Oregon seem so litter-free. But when you get to Southern California it gets a bit messier, not a Texas-level of mess, but messier than it is further north.

I really think an increase in fines and sentencing litterers, caught in the act of using the Texas Garbage Disposal Method, to weekends on road clean-up crews is the way to go.

That and how about more and better public service anti-litter ads like I've always seen in Washington. I'm sure most of those Texas Litterers have a TV, and if the message is repeated often enough, eventually the Litterbugs might see the light.

It's worth a try. I certainly did not like all that white paper litter flying at me today. It's really windy here today. By now all that white paper litter is likely spread over a several county area. Maybe this actually is an efficient litter disposal method.