Flashing Stop Signs With Freshwater Seafood & A Blogging Moment Of Silence

I was observing a Blogging Silence in memory of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

To find myself appalled to be getting emails and one phone call asking if I am all right.

Yes, I am all right. I got up at a reasonable time this morning. I went swimming after the sun had lightened up the place. And then the morning was consumed by website nonsense and doing a background criminal check for Tootsie Tonasket regarding yet one more boyfriend of dubious character.

It was well past noon before I got away from the computer. I decided to walk around Oakland Lake Park. There is a stop sign I always see on my way to Oakland Lake. It is solar-powered. You'll likely need to click on the picture to make it bigger to see them, but I can tell you there are flashing red lights around the perimeter of the sign. Why? I do not know. It's a 3 way stop. 2 of the 3 stop signs have the solar-powered flash lights. It's not a particularly busy or hazardous seeming intersection.

And then at Oakland Lake Park I saw yet another of the signs I've mentioned before, those ones that tell you that there is a fish consumption advisory for this body of water. I had not noticed, previously, that the sign directed me to a State of Texas website. To a website about seafood. Doesn't seafood come out of saltwater? Not a polluted landlocked lake?

So, I followed the sign's directive and visited the website to find no mention of freshwater fish. The verbiage mentions oysters, clams, mussels, scallops and crab. I am fairly certain none of those can be caught in Oakland Lake. I have no idea what "molluscan" is. Below are the words one reads when one goes to the website one is advised to go to....

The mission of the Seafood and Aquatic Life Group is to protect the consumer from disease or other health hazards transmissible by oysters, clams, mussels and scallops and crab meat produced in or imported into Texas. The Seafood and Aquatic Life Group also protects recreational fishers from disease or contaminants found in fish and other aquatic species caught in Texas' lakes, rivers, bays or nearshore state waters. We carry out this mission by classification of shellfish growing areas, certification of molluscan shellfish shippers and crab meat processors, and testing tissue samples from fish and seafood harvesting areas.

It is 99 right now, heading to a predicted high, this Friday, of 102. It was 95 with a Heat Index of 100 when I went walking at Oakland Lake. It did not feel particularly hot. A breeze blew, there are trees with some shade.

But, as I walked I realized in less than a month it will be a year since I flew up to Tacoma to spend a month feeling so cold, in so many ways. I realized today, as I walked comfortably in the heat, that by the time I flew up north last July 20 I was so used to being out in the extreme heat. I keep my A/C at around 80. And that feels cool. The temperature never got to 80 my entire time I was in Washington last summer. I remained cold the entire time I was up there.

I remember towards the end of my stay one of Washington's most obese residents, wearing a coat of at least 400 pounds of insulative blubber, called and asked how I was feeling. I said I was feeling cold. Because I was. That bloviated gasbag had the gall to tell me I had had plenty of time to acclimate, that I was not the only skinny person in Washington and that I only complained about being cold to get attention. Which was pretty much projection from a person who constantly engaged in attention getting behaviors. I said something like, "oh yes, I feel so good now, I'm getting attention because I'm cold." Geez, I'm glad I'm rid of that idiot.

Michael Jackson & Farrah Fawcett: A Pop King & Queen Gone

I turned on the TV during lunch to find myself quickly feeling sad to learn that Farrah had died. This was not too shocking to me. Farrah's condition was well known. I liked Farrah Fawcett a lot, going back even before her Charlie's Angels days, when I first saw her in the bizarre movie Myra Breckenridge.

And then in the last hour to first hear Michael Jackson had gone into cardiac arrest, then a coma, then when I click on a news website I see that the King of Pop is dead.

I'm sad about Farrah due to thinking she really was one extremely special woman who suffered a miserable last couple years. I'm feeling bad about Michael Jackson due to thinking what a sad life he lived. He had no one who could tell him no. No, Michael, you do not need to have your face altered, you look fine.

Sad day. Hopefully this bumps the governor of South Carolina off the TV screens.

Wink Delivers A Texas Christmas In June

Christmas was pretty bleak this year in Texas, not that I'm complaining. When it comes to Christmas, I'm pretty much Jewish. I've never been a fan of the holiday. Am always glad when it's over. I don't send anyone a Christmas card. I may get a card or two. I don't buy anyone a Christmas gift or mail anyone anything. I don't think anyone mailed me anything this past Christmas. I may be remembering wrong.

So, imagine my surprise upon going to the Post Office today and opening the P.O. Box to find a note telling me a box too big to stick in the box was awaiting me at the service counter.

There was no line, I walked up and handed the nice Post Office Mail Lady the note and she soon came back with a BIG BOX. The return address on the BIG BOX was Wink, Texas. Wink is the West Texas where Jammin Mole resides and Gar the Texan used to reside til he was asked to leave town. I think there were issues with his mullet style hair, what we in the Pacific Northwest call a Pocatello Doo, due to people in that isolated Idaho town having a fondness for the mullet style.

Anyway, I digress. So, I hauled the BIG BOX to my vehicle, got back here and with great struggle, in the 100 degree heat, managed to get it inside to air-conditioned comfort. I was so thrilled at the unexpected surprise BIG BOX that I decided I had to photo document this rare moment. The first picture, above, is the BIG BOX.

I studied the intricate wrapping and taping on the BIG BOX a long time to figure how best to open it. Eventually I decided on a course of action involving a knife. Soon after that I was lifting a variety of objects out of the BIG BOX. I arranged some of the objects to facilitate a photo.

In the BIG BOX there was a real cool Roy Orbison t-shirt, from last weekend's Roy Orbison Festival. There was a book. A cool little cowboys card. And I don't mean Dallas Cowboys, I mean little boy cowboys. And then there was a bird house in the BIG BOX. With the shape of Texas carved on one side. And a business card so I can arrange to have the Roy Orbison Museum opened for me next time I'm in Wink.

The above is on the bottom of the bird house, confirming that the BIG BOX came from Jammin Mole. I was pretty much 100% certain of that, but this confirmed it.

The Roy Orbison t-shirt was an X-Large. I was afraid it wouldn't fit. But as you can see, it fits. It's also really really long. Like a night shirt. If I was a pajama user this might be a nice substitute on a cold night. That's the Wink Birdhouse that I'm holding.

So, I've really been having myself one HOT BIG DAY in Texas. Up before 3 in the morning, swimming in the dark, virtually going to New Braunfels and the Schlitterbaun, hiking at the HOT Tandy Hills and getting a Christmas present in June from Wink.

I am so looking forward to tomorrow. I'll be looking at Austin. And hopefully wide awake sometime closer to the crack of dawn. See you then, or maybe sooner.

Other Natural Hikers At Tandy Hills Natural Area Today

Incoming from Don Young. I do not know if the event DY describes occurred before, after or during my noonish hike at the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

Regardless, below is what also went on at the Tandy Hills today......

Debora and Don Young led a prairie tour today at THNA for a group of 18 enthusiastic folks from around the Metroplex enrolled in a Permaculture class. The class was organized by Meadowbrook resident and Prairie Fest volunteer, Kirsten Huber, who helped kids make seed-balls at Prairie Fest.

The Permaculture Design Certification Course instructor is Illinois resident, Wayne Weiseman. Read more about Wayne and the course in the attached document.

This is the first time a Permaculture course has been offered in the Fort Worth area. The Permaculture ethic exemplifies the essence of what it means to "go green". We should all be grateful to Kirsten for her passion and vision that made this happen. Fort Worth and planet Earth are better off thanks to her effort.

Hot Tandy Hills Natural Area Hiking

I would think I would be a bit tired by now, having been up since sometime before 3 this morning. But I feel fine.

I made my virtual trip, as planned, this morning, to New Braunfels and Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort. I found out later I also need to go to Austin. I thought I'd already done that, but I hadn't.

Then around noon, with the temperature approaching 100 it seemed like a good time for some heavy duty sweating, so I went to the Tandy Hills Natural Area. Again.

Yesterday. Or was it the day before, the light bulb finally came on and I realized I'd made a mistake by blogging so often about my search for the planet's most overly developed backside, which led to way too many people, from all over the world, coming to my blog for no good reason.

Well, another light bulb finally came on regarding bloggings in which I mention what clothes I am wearing or not wearing for a particular activity, like hiking the Tandy Hills Natural Area. Now, the ads that those bloggings generate are not as worthless as the ones generated by the search for the over-sized derriere, but still, I decided to cease at once mentioning certain keywords that brought me certain type blog visitors.

This should have dawned on me before, due to a lot of people come to this blog via searching for info about Austin's Hippie Hollow, it being a rather free-spirited location on Lake Travis. That one I don't mind so much, but when I see that this blog now Googles #1 when someone looks for info about a certain type of hiking, with Texas in the search string, well I don't want to be the #1 info source for that, even if it is just in Texas.

I really need to start thinking things through better before I create these little nuisances for myself.

Anyway, back to today's HOT hiking. I wanted to know how much water I lost today, so I weighed myself before I left. 176. I drank two 16 ounce bottles of water while hiking. When I got back here and weighed myself again, I was at 173. Which would seem to indicate I contributed 5 pounds of moisture to the humidity while hiking up and down hills today.

So, I'm glad I followed my physical therapist, Dr. L.C.'s advice today, and went hiking at my usual time, rather than yesterday's late afternoon jaunt which she felt wreaked havoc with my sleep pattern. I should learn to always follow doctor's orders...

Texas Skinnydipping In The Middle Of The Night With A Fort Worth Water Report

I think I may be going to have myself one ultra-hellacious day today. I woke up about half past 2. I was fairly certain I was not going to fall back asleep. So, at 3 a.m., I got up.

I checked email, read the news, saw the Scrabble Queen of Washington had played 3 words, so I played 3 words.

I got bored preparing for this morning's virtual trip to New Braunfels and Schlitterbahn, so a bit before 5 it seemed like a good time to go for a relaxing skinnydip.

The air temperature is 80 this morning. The pool was warmer than the air. Even though we are currently suffering with a Level Red Pollution Alert, I saw stars twinkling above me. That is not the moon behind me in the photo, it's a big round light.

On the way out of the pool I got the mail. There was one odd thing in the mail. A bi-lingual publication from Fort Worth. The 2008 Drinking Water Quality Report. In a city so pinched for money it has cut back library hours, this seemed an odd thing to waste money on. On page 2 under "A Message from the Water Director" there is a full color photo of the "Water Department Leadership Team." Why didn't they save a few bucks for the city by foregoing the color photo?

Also on page 2 of the "Water Report" it says "Mailing this report to our customers is a federal and state requirement. It also is posted on our website."

In all my years of drinking water in Washington I never received an annual "Water Report." Did this federal mandate come along after I moved to Texas? Or is this a mandate that only applies to places that get their water from sources that require extensive treatment?

I have long found it a bit disturbing that the drinking water here comes out of reservoirs that are also used for recreation, like boating and swimming. Where I lived in Washington, Mount Vernon, the drinking water came out of a reservoir that was totally closed off to human access by a chain link fence.

It's a puzzlement. I can see that so far today, I'm being all about water.

100 Degree Naked Tandy Hills Hiking In Deadly Air Pollution

In the photo you are looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, as filtered through a Level Red Air Pollution Alert, viewed from the western side of the Tandy Hills, near the I-30 freeway.

This afternoon I was feeling cooped up and cranky. I'd been to the Kemah Boardwalk, near Houston, virtually, this morning. After that I went north to Southlake, non-virtually.

The past two days I did get in my morning swim, but yesterday the 100 degree plus outdoor oven had me not feeling it, or wanting to feel it.

By early afternoon my physical therapist, Dr. L.C., was telling me, despite the warnings from the National Weather Service that the elderly should not go outside in this dangerous air, that she thought I had to, or my crankiness could turn ugly.

So, sometime after 4 in the afternoon, with Mother Nature heating it up to 101, I took off to the Tandy Hills Natural Area to be natural. I wore cooling mesh shorts, not my usual cargo shorts, because my intention was to try the Naked Hiking thing again. I knew there was absolutely no chance that there would be any other idiot in this 6 million person Metroplex, so deranged, as to be out hiking in killer temps in killer air, so there was no more chance of running into another human, whilst sans outerwear, than there is where I am right now.

I gotta tell you, I've decided there is something to this skinnyhiking thing. I ended up hiking for well over an hour. I did not overheat. The only time I broke out into rivers of sweat was when I stopped to get a drink or look at something.

Abrupt subject change.

We appear to be building to a possible storm. There has been one short burst of hail and some wind. High temperatures wreak havoc with stability, both weather-wise and mental-wise.

Tomorrow morning I think I'm heading to New Braunfels and a place called Schlitterbahn. That should be interesting. Jammin Mole has volunteered to do some of the driving and buy some gas. I told her that was not necessary.

See you tomorrow.

Lunch Spoiled By South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford

Last Thursday was the first I heard of the disappearance of South Carolina's governor, Mark Sanford. I'd turned on the Rush Limbaugh show, on WBAP, to find Mark Davis was subbing for the day. Rush Limbaugh can get on my nerves due to what he's ranting about, but I find him pretty funny. Mark Davis quickly gets on my nerves due to his overly affected speaking manner grating on my ears.

So, I only listened long enough to hear Mark Davis go on about the mystery of the missing governor of South Carolina.

So, I got back here a bit after 1. It was Wednesday, so I'd been up north, in Southlake, and yes, as usual, I went to Sprouts Farmers Market. I got back here, made lunch, sat down, turned on the TV, hoping to see how Iran was doing.

Instead all the cable news stations were covering, what seems to be being characterized as, the Mark Sanford Scandal. He had somehow led people to believe he was off for some solitude, hiking the Appalachian Trail, when in reality he was down in Argentina, crying for 5 days with his Argentinian mistress, who is also married.

Apparently the affair has been going on for years, with Sanford and his wife working on the problem the past 5 months or so.

All the cable stations were either covering Sanford's news conference, or commenting on it. Evidently, recently, another Republican, this one a senator from Nevada, fessed up to an affair. Some of the commenting was along the line of what dire doom does this epidemic of cheating husbands do to the Republican party?

What bugs me is I don't care if some politician has an affair. Unless that affair somehow messes up with his job, or he is engaging in the affair by somehow abusing the power of his office. With all the serious stuff that should be focused on and debated, going on and on about some poor guy's stupid infidelity, is just wrong.

I was so annoyed it gave me a headache. I don't know if Sanford's affair indicates a character problem, like John Edward's tacky affair did. Edward's revealed himself to be a shallow, self-centered, insensitive bad man. His political career is over. I found myself liking this Sanford guy, listening to him confess to his bad boy behavior.

John F. Kennedy was a serial adulterer. He was all over the place, from Marilyn Monroe to Judith Exner, she being a mob boss girl friend. Now, I think JFK's behavior was not a good mark on his character, but did it have anything to do with how he did his job? I don't think so.

If the JFK era were like it is now and it became public fodder that he was busy boinking Marilyn Monroe, while Jackie was shopping in NYC, well, it'd be non-stop scandal blather on all the news stations, eventually the JFK/Marilyn Scandal would grow so HUGE that JFK would have been forced to resign to restore calm to the country.

Had that happened, JFK would not have been in Dallas that fateful day in November. Lee Harvey Oswald would not be buried in my neighborhood. And Marilyn Monroe would likely be alive today, having married Jack, after he and Jackie got divorced. I suspect even John Jr. would still be alive, due to his dad still being alive to advise him that he was too scatter-brained to be an airplane pilot.

Okay, I realize what I've just done with my circuitous stream of consciousness rambling. I've just made the case that airing all dirty linen is for the greater good in the bigger scheme of things. That really is not the conclusion I had intended to come to.

Revisiting Garfish In Texas Lakes

Someone named Julie sent me an email regarding a blogging I'd written about garfish encounters in Texas lakes. How Julie found my email address, I don't know. It must be on my blog somewhere. Why Julie didn't send her message as a blog comment, I also don't know.

The end of Julie's email had the following dire warning about her message...

This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. This information is intended to be read only by the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, you are on notice that
any review, disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete or destroy any copy of this message.

Okay, one of my hobbies is being a scofflaw and a bad boy, so I'm gonna be a bad boy and copy Julie's nice message below. And below that a YouTube video of a garfish, so you non-Texans can see what we put up with when we go swimming in one of our garfish/water moccasin infested lakes. I put the link to the blogging to which Julie refers, in her message below....

Hello –

About a year ago, a coworker of mine (who was also exiled to Texas for a period of her life) told me about her first experience with a gar fish. She said it was so enormous it was hanging off the back of someone’s pickup truck. Thinking she was exaggerating, I looked up photos and was HORRIFIED that something like this exists! How is it that people aren’t talking about this fish all day long, every day? Shouldn’t it at least have a show dedicated to it on the Sci-Fi channel?

Anyway, I was revealing the existence of the gar fish to a friend and we came across your blog while looking at scary photos. A hilarious entry – thank you for helping me illustrate the horrors of Texas waters to my friend. (Though I have to say I did end up siding with the fish after watching the video - yikes.) I’m not much of a blog reader, but I am truly enjoying yours and will continue to check it out. Just thought I’d let you know, since you probably get nasty comments from weirdos all the time.

Thanks again, and keep writing!

Julie

Did Barnett Shale Drilling Lead To Burleson Woman's Fatal Accident?

On Tuesday, June 23, 2009, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that a Burleson woman, Megan Porter, 24, died at the scene of where her Chrysler Sebring ran head-on into a tractor trailer, about 5 miles south of Cleburne, on Farm Road 1434.

State troopers arrived at the wreck at 7:20 pm, Monday.

There was no mention made in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram regarding what the tractor trailer was hauling or why it was on a Farm Road.

Meanwhile, also on Tuesday, June 23, 2009, the Cleburne Times-Review reported that on Monday, the same day as the fatal wreck, Johnson County Commissioners voted to close County Road 426 to truck traffic. The closed section runs from County Road 317 to Farm-to Market Road 3136, in an area known as the Midway Community, where about 25 families live.

An area resident was quoted as saying, "We’re asking the commissioners to eliminate the gas-related water trucks from using the road as a cut through to the highway. It’s a danger to the residents; the road wasn’t built to handle that kind of traffic; and the damage is going to cause the county to spend more money to repair the road.”

Another area resident told the commissioners he had counted 36 trucks traveling the road from 7 - 8:30 a.m. Monday. The resident said, “Some were going the speed limit; some were not. I’ve been challenged by trucks several times. There’s no shoulder to speak of to pull off on.”

Another resident, living at the end of the road, said gas-well trucks use the road to access a well site and frequently back up onto his property to turn around.

There was no mention made in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article regarding gas-well truck danger leading to Johnson County road closures.

And there was no mention made in the Cleburne Times-Review article on road closures regarding the fatal head on collision between a truck and a car in Johnson County.

Strange.