Memorial Day Pizza

When my physical therapist, Dr. Layla, read on my blog that I was having pizza for Memorial Day she sent out an urgent query, wondering what had been done to Durango. Due to Dr. Layla's erroneous belief that pizza is not health food.

I beg to differ with the doctor. She is always telling me I get way too much exercise and that I eat way too many fruits and vegetables and other healthy stuff.

But, for Dr. Layla to assume the consumption of a pizza is a fall off the health food bandwagon, well, it just makes me question her credentials and wonder if she might not be just some sort of quack pretending to be a physical therapist.

My Memorial Day Pizza was a whole wheat pie. Covered with a tomato paste base. Tomatoes are rich in lypocene. There was a chopped up red pepper on the pizza, also rich in lypocene. BBQ chicken breast was the meat product on the pizza. Other vegetables included green pepper, onion, garlic, broccoli, spinach, green and black olives, fresh tomato (more lypocene) and mushrooms. On top of all that was a smattering of low fat Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Now, how can any legitimate doctor not see that this was one very healthy pizza? It perplexes me.

Memorial Day Moms, Humidity & Pizza

I've only got a few minutes before my Memorial Day pizza comes out of the oven. It is 84 and very humid here this afternoon. We had some rain overnight, hence the humidity. It seems sort of counter-intuitive to be baking a pizza in a 400 degree oven while you're running the A/C.

I was up before the crack of dawn again, which means that once again I went swimming as the sun came up. This seems to be a good way to start the day.

Due to the rain, the Tandy Hills would not have been hikeable today, most likely, so a walk around Oakland Lake Park substituted. A lot of people were there having their Memorial Day picnic.

I called my mom while I walked. Even though I didn't get gas. My one long time reader may remember that I call my mom whenever I get gas to tell her how much it cost. Yesterday I got email from my mom and dad telling me how much their Phoenix gas cost. I figured this was a hint that I'd not called with a gas call in awhile.

Yesterday I got two Facebook messages from long ago high school friends telling me they'd lost their moms and how it hard it was on both their dads. That was sort of odd to hear that from two people on the same day. I think that was what motivated me to make a non-gas related call to my mom on Memorial Day.

That's been my exciting Memorial Day. It started with an urgent cry for help from my Favorite Blogging Co-Conspirator. She finds the most interesting ways to mess things up. I find it quite enjoyable fixing them.

And now it's time for pizza.

Charlie Company Memorial in Fort Worth's Botanic Garden

Last Fall I walked all over Fort Worth's Botanic Garden looking at the Fall Foliage which was being particularly colorful. Tucked away, way off the beaten path, I came upon a lonely, neglected memorial.

It being Memorial Day I thought I'd tell the story of this Fort Worth Memorial to Charlie Company.

Way back in August of 1967 an 18 year old soldier named James David "Shorty" Haas sent a letter home from where he and his group of fellow U.S. soldiers were hunkered down deep in the steaming jungles of the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

The troops were war-weary, had suffered months of sleep deprivation and constant enemy fire. They were getting discouraged. The letter James Haas sent home asked for some sort of encouragement, some token of acknowledgment to raise the morale of his comrades.

Somehow the letter soon found its way to DeWitt McKinley, the mayor, at the time, of Fort Worth. He was touched by the simple humility of the hometown soldier caught in the throes of war, asking for nothing but a glimmer of hope.

The mayor and the people of Fort Worth responded. In September, Fort Worth's answer to the letter began to arrive in Vietnam. Duffle bags stuffed with cookies, cakes and letters of support arrived weekly. Among the many letters sent to the soldiers was one proclaiming that the City of Fort Worth had officially adopted the soldiers, formally known as Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade.

For the soldiers, this flood of reassurance came at a particularly difficult time. One soldier later commented, "You have no idea how that compassion turned us around."

Thirty-four years later, on July 6, 2001, 21 surviving members of Charlie Company met in Fort Worth's Botanic Garden to again say "Thank You" to the people of Fort Worth. Sadly, among the missing, was James David "Shorty" Haas, who's letter had touched so many.

President Obama's Wolf T-Shirt

Apparently a black t-shirt, sold on Amazon.com, that has 3 wolves howling at the moon on it, has gone viral, which means a lot of people are ordering this t-shirt, some, I suppose, due to the hype that wearing the t-shirts gives a guy magical women attracting powers.

I assume the photo of President Obama wearing one of the wolf t-shirts is not faked. The photo is on the Amazon page that sells the t-shirts.

Below is an amusing comment from a guy who wore his wolves howling at the moon t-shirt to Wal-Mart with magical results....

This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened. After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called methh. I told them no, because they didn't have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn't settle for the first thing that comes to him.

I arrived at Wal-mart, mounted my courtesy-scooter (walking is such a drag!) sitting side saddle so that my wolves would show. While I was browsing tube socks, I could hear aroused asthmatic breathing behind me. I turned around to see a slightly sweaty dream in sweatpants and flip-flops standing there. She told me she liked the wolves on my shirt, I told her I wanted to howl at her moon. She offered me a swig from her mountain dew, and I drove my scooter, with her shuffling along side out the door and into the rest of our lives. Thank you wolf shirt.

Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women.

Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the 'guns'), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark.

The World's Biggest Butt In Trafalgar Square

Well, I think I may have solved the "World's Biggest Butt" mystery. I've mentioned many a time how people come to this blog by Googling various search strings which had me thinking they were looking for the biggest human butt in the world.

But, this morning I learned that the UK is in the midst of campaign to get smokers to dispose of their cigarette butts properly, rather than dropping the butts on the ground.

Apparently a lot of pounds are spent every year picking up cigarette butts dropped all over England.

So, to publicize this anti-butt dropping campaign, the World's Biggest (Cigarette) Butt was constructed on Trafalgar Square in London.

I wondered why so many people, all over the world, thought somehow that there would be photo documentation of the biggest human butt, I mean, how would that info be gleaned? But, looking for a photo of the biggest cigarette butt in the world after you heard mention made of it, I guess that makes sense.

I don't know when the World's Biggest Butt appeared on Trafalgar Square or if it is still there.

Big Butts, Ugly Women & The Hippie Hollow Nude Beach

I've mentioned before how there are strange patterns of search strings that bring people to this blog. The last couple days, once again, it's been a world-wide search for the "Biggest Butt in the World," that people are looking for more than anything else.

From the blog stats I can see that people in Saudi Arabia have a big butt fixation.

This morning I saw three people came to this blog after Googling something like "insomnia caused by ugly fat woman." I thought to myself, why would my blog come up with that search string? So, I typed "insomnia caused by ugly fat woman" into the search window and was appalled to see my blog comes up as #1 when someone searches for "insomnia caused by ugly fat woman."

I'd forgotten I'd blogged on this subject after I had a nightmare of being chased by several scary, ugly, fat women. The scary, ugly, fat woman, who was the source of the nightmare, bears an uncanny resemblance to the guy in the picture.

I'm likely going to have an insomnia episode tonight due to this subject being brought back to the forefront of my consciousness. I hope it doesn't turn into another sleepwalking trauma.

Speaking of traumas, I can see people are looking for info about Hippie Hollow, likely looking for something different to do this Memorial Day. If you've never gone to a nude beach, this might just be the different thing to do that you are looking for. If it weren't such a long drive to Hippie Hollow I might go there on Monday. Nothing I like better than communing with nature.

Which means I think I'll go pedal the mountain bike trail at River Legacy Park today.

Wal-Mart's Institutionalized Thievery Strikes Again

Yes, I realize my one longtime reader is rolling her eyes and thinking he's not going to go on about Wal-Mart sucking again, is he?

Why, yes I am. Earlier this month I blogged several times about how Wal-Mart, system-wide, was charging $2.00 for a gallon of milk, when their shelf price signs had it at $1.98. After the 3rd or 4th time of being overcharged 2 cents, I went to Customer Service, assuming the longstanding practice of totally refunding the price of a mistake was still in play, but instead I just got my 2 cents worth back. And the satisfaction of blogging about it.

I then got a very long comment from some guy who I found out later has a Wal-Mart Sucks Blog. He referred to Wal-Mart's pricing scams, which have become chronic, as Wal-Mart's Instituionalized Thievery.

Yes, I know I said I wasn't going to shop at Wal-Mart anymore, but, other than Sprouts, where am I to go? Sprouts is 12 miles north. I'm not going to go there every time I need something. And today I needed bread. I got only 6 items. Of the items, the bread was the only item I had noticed what the price was.

I usually get Wal-Mart brand whole wheat bread. For a long time, for some reason, Wal-Mart wasn't stocking their Wal-Mart brand whole wheat bread. They substituted locally made Mrs. Baird's whole wheat bread for the same price, that being $1.47. Mrs. Baird's whole wheat bread is usually $1.78.

Today the Wal-Mart brand whole wheat bread had gone missing again. And once again, there was Mrs. Baird's in its place, with $1.47 once more as the price.

But, when I checked out, the bread scanned at $1.78, a 31 cent difference. I know you're thinking if I went to the bother of going to Customer Service to get my 2 cents worth I certainly would do that again to get a whopping 31 cents. Well, you would be wrong. Even though there was no line in Customer Service I wasn't going to waste time to get a measly 31 cents.

I have other ways of making Wal-Mart pay for their Institutionalized Thievery...

Looking for Hogs, Studs & Suds at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie

I noticed this billboard a couple days ago, driving back from hiking the Tandy Hills. From the quick drive-by glance I could tell it had something to do with Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie. That's a horse race place.

It was the Hogs, Studs, and Suds part that perplexed me. Hogs I figured were motorbikes. Suds I figured was beer. But Studs? The party with me was certain Studs referred to the guys and their Hogs. I suggested that Studs must refer to horses. It being a horserace track, that seemed logical. I was told that not all racehorses are Studs, that some are Fillies.

I don't know farm talk so I had to ask what a Filly was. Maybe the Lone Star Park only races Studs. It being Texas that makes sense. I did not know there were girl race horses. Perhaps I should doubt the rectitude of my source.

I Googled "Hogs Studs Suds Lone Star Park" and still don't know what the "Stud" part of the sign refers to. But I did learn on Memorial Day you can pay $5 to get in the park ($3 kids 4-12, under 3 free). When you are in the park apparently you get to experience "the richest day of Texas Thoroughbred racing on Lone Star Park Million Day."

I don't know if that means there is a million dollar prize, or what. Being at Lone Star Park for Million Day you have a chance to win a Harley-Davidson Motorcycle, hence the Hog part of the sign. You'll also have the opportunity to get quite drunk, sampling more than 100 microbrews at the Studs and Suds Micro-Brew Festival. So now we know why Suds is on the sign.

But why Studs? A band called Professor D will play during the festival at the Courtyard of Champions. Maybe Professor D is the Stud.

Tandy Hills, Wildflowers, Hamburgers & Broccoli

It's 3pm, 84 degrees, windows closed, A/C running. It's Saturday, so I did my usual Saturday thing and went hiking on the Tandy Hills.

I don't know what happened but I lost a couple hours this morning. This had me in the Tandy zone way later than usual. Being later had it also being hotter, as in today I was sweating like a Fat Pig in a sauna.

The first thing I did when I got back here was to jump in the pool. The water was way cooler than the air. Which was a good thing.

The Tandy Hills are being about as green as they are going to get before gradually returning to being brown. Last week's rain seems to have caused a fresh crop of wildflowers to bloom. I thought they'd passed their peak, but today the prairie was being real colorful again.

Big Ed did not like my abridged version of his long-winded Lake Powell fish story that I blogged about this morning and put on my Durango Roadtripping Blog. I thought I improved the story. Well, at least made it so it couldn't be used as a sleep aid.

I'm hungry, I must go eat a hamburger now. With broccoli.

Lake Powell Fish Catching Passive Aggressiveness & Scarborough Faire

In my email inbox this morning I found a long-winded tale, by Big Ed, tall taling about catching a single solitary fish at Utah's Lake Powell during a houseboating trip.

The tale was way too long to use as a blogging, so I re-wrote a much shorter version and put it on my Durango Roadtripping Blog. A blog which is starting to seem way too much like being back in school doing homework. So many facts to check on.

Also in the inbox this morning was something from my Favorite Blogging Co-Conspirator that can only be thought of as being cruel. She knew I was lamenting over wanting to go on a road trip or hike up a real mountain or swim at a saltwater beach, hopefully combining all three. So, what does Miss Sassypants send me? A picture of Fort Walton Beach where she spent several days lounging recently.

If that's not passive-aggressiveness, I don't know what is.

There is no saltwater beach in my future today, but I did go swimming, again, this morning at the crack of dawn. That is a pathetically weak substitute. Maybe I'll go for a long walk on the beach at Lake Grapevine today, which is another pathetic substitute, but at least it's a beach and if it's windy there'll be waves with whitecaps.

This weekend and Memorial Day is your last chance to go to Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival for the year. I've only been to the Faire once, several years ago, but that day and its aftermath had a lingering effect. It's been awhile since I've gotten a death threat, so that's a good thing.

80 degrees. Time to shut the windows.