A Warm Saltwater Beach, Mountain Peak, Roadtripping & Woeful Me

My favorite Blogging Co-Conspirator has caused me to think of being at a beach of late. Though I may get in water in the form of a swimming pool, like I did real early this morning, as in crack of dawn early, I can not remember when the last time was that I was at a saltwater beach, with the water warm enough to swim.

But, as much as the thought of saltwater beach swimming makes me want to get out of this landlocked zone and see some open water, even worse, of late I have found myself writing about roadtrips I've gone on in the past.

That is causing me to dredge up some rather fond memories, which is causing me to want to go on a roadtrip real bad. I have not been on a long roadtrip since July of 2001 when I drove, solo, from Fort Worth to Seattle for my mom and dad's 50th. And back.

I can't even remember the last time I've been out of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. That's pathetic. I occasionally used to take a short roadtrip up to Ada, Oklahoma to see one of my best friends, dating all the way back to early grade school. But last summer she moved back to Washington. I now know no one in Oklahoma, as far as I know.

All this thinking about roadtrips and looking at old pictures is also making me want to go on a real hike on a real mountain. Just like how I can't remember the last time I've been out of this Metroplex, I can not remember the last time I hiked up a real mountain. The picture at the top is me laying on top of Hidden Lake peak, looking down at Hidden Lake. This is deep into the North Cascades. When you get high in the Cascades you see this phenomenon called "The Sea of Peaks," where there are so many mountain tops, extending as far as you can see, that it looks like whitecaps on a rough sea.

I guess last summer's hike at Mount Rainier sort of counts as hiking on a mountain. But not really. As in no mountain top got reached. No Sea of Peaks was seen.

Today I'm taking a short roadtrip up to Southlake and Sprouts Farmers Market. And then maybe this afternoon I may take an even shorter roadtrip to River Legacy Park to pedal the mountain bike trail. It is now dried out from our recent deluge. All this beach, mountain and roadtrip talk has me feeling a bit depressed. I need an endorphin boost.

Tattered American Flag At Wal-Mart Again & Rush Limbaugh

What is it with Wal-Mart and the U.S. Flag? The flag at my neighborhood Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market was all tattered today.

Maybe that's the new style of the flag, sort of to better symbolize the current tattered state of the United States.

Earlier today I mentioned I woke up feeling agitated. When I was biking today I figured out why.

First off, I no longer am reading a daily paper. I had not thought about it, but I'm really getting a lot less news. One would think that would make me less agitated. But more often than not, what I read in the paper was just interesting, it didn't agitate me.

So, here's the problem. I've been reading more books. I think it may be my choice of what I read that gets my agitated. A couple days ago I finished The Zapruder Film: Reframing JFK's Assassination by David R. Wrone. I was already of the opinion that Lee Harvey was a patsy. This Zapruder Film book sealed the deal. That and actually seeing the Zapruder Film.

After the Zapruder Film book is when I really made a bad choice and started reading When Giants Fall: An Economic Roadmap for the End of the American Era by Michael J. Panzner. This is a very new book. The author details in excruciating detail how big the trouble is that America is supposedly in. The book is so recent it covers the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG Bailouts. The guy predicted, accurately the next problems that cropped up.

By about page 80 I'd grown so tired of the doom and gloom naysaying that I decided to go back to my previous point of view, that being that America has weathered some rather tough times before and has always come out okay. The guy lost me when he went into all the future conflicts, as in wars, America will be facing, dealing with the new Superpowers of China, India and Brazil.

So, that guy had me agitated. And then there is Rush Limbaugh. Back when he was not on the opposition side of things, I found him pretty amusing most of the time. I don't often agree with him, but I enjoyed listening to him spew his bombastic, well-spoken version of reality.

And then Obama gets elected. That turned Limbaugh nasty. At times the rhetoric seems so inflammatory, to me, that it's almost like the man is inciting an insurrection.

It's so bad that I worry that Limbaugh may be poisoning the mind of some nutjob who decides to turn all John Wilkes Booth on us, demented into thinking he is saving America from a president who, Limbaugh says over and over again, is the most extremely radical leftist socialist ever to lead America. That and he repeatedly claims this or that thing Obama says or does is incompetent. And he repeatedly refers to Obama as Barry and the Messiah.

I can only take listening to Rush Limbaugh for about 15 minutes anymore til I tire of it.

Village Creek, Interlochen Canals & Turtles

We have not yet had enough dry days in a row to make my favorite mountain bike trail ready to ride. This meant that my biking energy today had to be spent an the trail closest to me, that being Village Creek Natural Historic Area.

I don't think I've mentioned it before, but the trail runs along the western edge of the Interlochen neighborhood. Interlochen is known for putting on over the top lighting displays at Christmas, drawing big crowds and causing traffic jams.

I believe the Interlochen Canals were made as some sort of land reclamation project that won national acclaim, in ancient times, long before I came to Texas. There is a historical type marker explaining the gestation of the Interlochen Canals, but my ever worse memory is not remembering the details right now. I'll try and remember to take a picture of the historical type marker the next time I'm there.

When I first saw the Interlochen Canals I thought it looked to be the coolest place to live that I'd seen in Texas. You can take your boat to visit the neighbors. Or walk. I don't know what is wrong with the water, if anything, but I've never seen anyone swimming. But, why swim in a canal when you have a pool?

It is semi-hot today, in the 80s. Which means the turtles that live in the Village Creek Pond were having themselves a good time sunning their hides on a log.

Usually they are a bit skittish as soon as they detect an intruder. But today they let me get out my camera and take several pictures.

Durango Roadtripping & Swimming

This morning I was able to have my first early morning swim in two weeks. The temperature got down to 55 by the time dawn broke this morning. So, for the first time this year, the pool water was warmer, by far, than the air.

I finally found a name I didn't dislike for my new blog. The image I used was a picture taken on the road that leads to Monument Valley in Arizona, taken looking out the windshield of my van at the same scenery that was on the cover of the van's manual.

I've only been doing the new blog for a few days. Yesterday I was pleased to see that Google had indexed the blog. And this morning I was pleased, again, to see that someone came to the blog due to doing a Google search for "The Loneliest Road in America."

I do have something vexing me about my new blog that I don't understand. A couple days ago I burned a feed for both the new blog and my TV blog. Overnight both had subscribers, with the TV one having 12 and the new blog having 15. I can look at my FeedJit stats and see that I've not even had 15 visitors to the new blog, so how can there be 15 subscribers. That makes no sense. It perplexes me.

Speaking of perplexing, Gar the Texan has taken off for Italy again. I'm sure a lotta hilarity will ensue. If you didn't read about his Italian misadventures from a couple weeks ago, go here, and you'll find the links. The most amusing tale was the 5 hour train ride to Rome with a woman who would not shut up.

The early morning swimming has me feeling agitated. Maybe it's something else causing the agitation. I did have some exhausting nightmares last night due to being overstimulated by the season finale of 24. I'm fairly certain I did not sleepwalk last night. But I can never be sure about that.

Veterans Park, Chinatown & Roses

Today I needed some Chinese fixin's, which everyone knows means I go to Arlington's Chinatown to the Hong Kong Marketplace.

And since I was in Arlington, obviously I went hiking at Veterans Park before getting Chinese fixin's.

Veterans Park had way too many guys, today, with nothing better to do than play Disc Golf. This makes it a bit hazardous at times as spinning discs randomly fly through the air.

I've only been hit once. And it didn't hurt too bad. I did get a bruise though. But I bruise easily, so that bruise was no indicator of the brutality level of the spinning disc blow.

Someone had vandalized the sign that asks people to "Stay Off the Wildflowers," scratching out the "Off" word, replacing "Off" with "On."

In the Xeriscape Garden part of the park, roses were busy blooming and putting off a lot of rose odor. It smelled real good.

That's one of the roses in the picture. Okay, I'm absolutely no good at identifying flowers. I'm almost 100% that this was a rose. It smelled like one. Or what I think a rose smells like.

Writing this blog right now has taken up way too much mental energy. I'm going swimming.

Texas Secede! And Other Nonsense

The "I vote to SECEDE" baseball cap that I ordered weeks ago finally arrived on Saturday, in plenty of time for 4th of July Tea Parties. Click here to go to a website where you can get your own Texas Secession stuff, like t-shirts, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, key rings and aprons.

The goofy governor of Texas, Rick Perry, caused a nice big brouhaha when he mentioned the Texas Secession option at a Tea Bag Party awhile back. This week's FW Weekly's cover article is a very amusing take on what Texas will be like after it gets out of the Union for the second time.

Apparently 31% of Texans believe Texas has the right to opt out of the United States, with 19% of Texans wanting secession to happen.

A few weeks ago I opined that this would be a bad thing because Five Flags Over Texas sounded wrong. I was wrong, the title for this week's FW Weekly cover article is "Seven Flags Over Texas." I'm real bad at math. I subtracted a flag when I should have been adding one. Seven Flags Over Texas does not sound as wrong as Five Flags Over Texas.

Click here to read a Texas Secede FAQ.

Sunny Sunday & No Earthquakes In Texas Today

We have had a return to a sunny blue sky and very pleasant temperatures here in the Fort Worth zone of North Texas.

It is only 73 out there right now at about 3 in the afternoon. Windows open, no need for A/C. A rare, perfect Texas Sunday.

As far as I know we have had no aftershocks from the earthquake that rattled us yesterday. I did feel the earth move today, but it was not an earthquake.

Yesterday, due to it being a Pacific Northwest in winter, slow dripping and wet day, I was housebound. Around noon I un-housebounded myself and went the the Village Creek Historical Natural Area to commune with nature via a walk.

I saw no wildlife today, except for an unusually large number of humans of great diversity, big, small, old, young, feeble and fast. The fast humans being a pair racing way over the park's 10 mph speed limit. I was walking along in the spot you see in the picture, lost in my thoughts, enjoying the tweetering of the birds, when the bikers came up behind me. It was the "on your left" that startled me, and then I turned to see 2 guys on rocket bikes heading right at me. I think I jumped, because the first guy said, "sorry."

I realize I contradicted myself in the above paragraph, first I say I saw no wildlife and then I mention birds. I saw a squirrel or two, too. I should have said I saw no interesting wildlife, like snakes, armadilloes, garfish or turtles.

Now I've gotta go change the logo and name of my new blog. I'll probably change my mind on this name too.

Durango's Old T-Shirts

Yesterday I blogged about my new blog, Durango World America, and the fact that I'm not liking that name all that much. I ended up with that name due to the process you go through when you create a new blog, with one name choice after another getting rejected due to the name already having been taken.

I got a couple suggestions for blog names.

Mr. Twister suggested "Durango's Old T-Shirts." Okay, I'm not really getting it, but I think it's funny.

Then the ubiquitous Anonymous had several suggestions, How 'bout "Durango Does America"? Or "Durango's Been There, Done That... And Lives to Tell About It"? "Durango Jones.."? "Durango's From SEE to Shining Sea"?

And then Chipper chipped in with, "I like the Durango World America name. Keep it."

Is Barnett Shale Drilling Causing Texas Earthquakes?

Yesterday I blogged about yesterday's earthquake here in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex zone.

A couple people commented on the earthquake, one of whom experienced the quake. One of the comments speculated on whether the recent quakes are being caused by the Barnett Shale Gas Drilling. And then I got an email from Don Young on that very subject.

First I'll copy the comment from cd0103, who felt the quake, then the other comment, then the email from Don Young....

cd0103 has left a new comment on your post "North Texas Rocked By Minor Earthquake":

We lost power when it hit, it was very strange. Had a "thunderclap" that wasn't. I didn't think anything about it until a waitress downtown told me the same thing.

unclejerry.net (http://unclejerry.net/) has left a new comment on your post "North Texas Rocked By Minor Earthquake":

I didn't feel the earthquake we had today but saw it's effects. I had just made breakfast and had walked to the tv to turn it on and I heard this knocking noise on the wall coming from where my desk is. It had started rocking into the wall and my laptop screen was also rocking back and forth like I had bumped into it. It was really strange looking but only lasted a few seconds. I went ahead and finished breakfast and then got on twitter and noticed that a few local people had posted questions wondering if we had just had an earthquake.

This one was slightly bigger than the one we had in October but with the first one it seemed to make more noise and rattle the dishes, things I didn't notice with todays quake.

Oh well, I just hope we don't ever a "big one" as the houses and buildings in north Texas aren't designed to withstand quakes like they are along the west coast.

I've also heard some people make comments wondering if the recent quake activity could have anything do to with all the oil drilling that's been going on around the metroplex the last couple of years. Think that could have anything to do with?

And now Don Young answers the question regarding the role "all the oil drilling" may have to do with the quakes....

After today's (5/16/09) 3rd earthquake in the Barnett Shale region in less than eight months, I think my attached message from August, 2007 bears repeating.

While vacationing recently in Marfa, Texas, I stumbled into a bookstore seeking shade and ran across an interesting book titled, Texas Earthquakes.

I thought to myself, We don't have earthquakes in Texas! The concept seemed counterintuitive. The authors of the book know better. Opening the book at random to page 70, I read the following:

"Three human activities that commonly induce earthquake activity are:

1) Injecting high pressure fluids into rock formations beneath the earths surface.

2) Withdrawing large amounts of fluid or gas.

3) Construction of reservoirs and lakes."

Until very recently, the first 2 items have occurred only in remote parts of the state, away from densely populated areas. The Barnett-Shale play and subsequent fracing technology have changed all that.

According to the Texas Railroad Commission, in the year 2000, there were less than 10 gas wells in Tarrant County. Today, there are more than 1,000 with many more planned and thousands more in the immediate vicinity.

I'm not suggesting there is a serious risk from earthquakes in Tarrant County, there are far more serious risks from drilling, but, expanded gas drilling and injection wells in the north Texas region have moved us into uncharted territory.

To paraphrase Paul Harvey, "One fine day we may know, the rest of the story."

Click here for more info about Induced Earthquakes.

Durango World America Gradually Takes Flight

Okay. I started a new blog a few days ago. It is being sort of fun and a bit more bother to write this blog than my others. Mostly because it is not just spewing opinion, which is easy and takes little time, but it is about real places and real experiences and thus needs real facts.

Not that real facts are some sort of difficulty for me, there is no denying it takes more time to make sure you've got the info right.

So, with this blogging thing, the process comes in stages. First off, you make the blog, or website, or whatever content you are putting on the Internet.

And then the challenge becomes causing people to find your blog or website or whatever you've put on the Internet.

With the blogging thing it is sort of a video game trying to get Google and the other search engines to index the content. Since I started this new travel/tourist type blog I've been appalled at the goofy ads Google has been generating.

And then today, about 4 or 5 days into starting this blog, Google got the ads right and I'm all stoked that this new blog is going to be a fun, rewarding thing.

I'm thinking roadtrip, with camera and laptop. And wireless Internet connection.

In the meantime, I really need to do some re-thinking on this Durango World America blog name. I keep waiting for it to grow on me. But how long do I want to wait?