I Am All A Twitter In Texas

Yesterday Twister put Twitter on my mind. I'd been intending to check out Twitter after it seemed to be playing such a role in the recent Iranian upheaval.

Well, it is easy to set up a Twitter account. It is not quite so easy to figure out why in the world this Twitter thing is so popular.

Twitter marks the 3rd time I've been baffled by the popularity of one of these social networking devices. The first one was MySpace. When I first saw MySpace I was appalled at what a junked up mess most of it was. MySpace lets its users customize their MySpace space, thus allowing people with absolutely no sense to make ridiculous noisy messes.

And then there was Facebook. Facebook is like Twitter. It is always asking you what is on your mind. Which seems so absurd, due to the fact that if you are reading "what is on your mind?" then that is what is currently on your mind. Facebook has this message system where you get sent a regular email with the message. But you can't reply via your regular email method, you have to log into Facebook and reply.

From what I've seen of it, Twitter is way simpler than MySpace or Facebook. There are no photo albums. As near as I can tell all Twitter consists of is people writing short descriptions of what they are doing. Or thinking. Or thinking of doing.

Due to the name I'm suspicious that some cynical savvy guy came up with Twitter just to see how low the lowest common denominator really is. As in how many Twits are out there, hence the name. It sorta speaks volumes that the #1 Twitterer is Ashton Kutcher with a couple million people following his utterances.

By this morning I was stunned to see I already have 4 followers. All spam.

Here is what one of my Twitter followers spammed to me....

"@durangotexas and you have a cute asian follower. she wants to tell how you to make a lot of money. her last name is spammalot."

I already have a cute Asian follower, named Wee Cheng. I don't need anymore. I'm sure anyone reading this will want to be one of my legion of Twitter Followers, I think you can do that by going here.

Happy 4th Of July America

That's the Statue of Liberty, in Dallas, at Fair Park. She is smaller than her sister in New York City, but still casts an impressive shadow as she towers over the Red, White & Blue.

Texas Hot 4th Of July Hiking With No Fireworks Or Orcas

The red, white and blue of the stars and stripes were providing the best color on the prairie this afternoon at the Tandy Hills Natural Area. That's the flag waving in the slight breeze on its pole high atop Mount Tandy.

I slept in to the unprecedented hour of 7 this morning. This had me in the pool way later than usual. Which pushed breakfast off til 10, which pushed going hiking off til 1, giving the air plenty of time to get HOT, which it did.

It was 98 when I left here to go hiking. By the time I got back here I jumped in the pool. I didn't care that I was in my hiking cargo shorts. I wanted to get wet from something other than being drenched in sweat. This morning when I went swimming the pool was warmer than the air. By this afternoon that condition had reversed, which was a good thing.

It is the 4th of July. I have not heard a single firecracker. Texas is such a repressive state. Due to running their Indians out of the state, or killing them off, Texas has only 2, very small, Indian Reservations. In my old state of Washington we liked our Indians and made them our friends. The Indians help Washingtonians participate in the 4th of July by providing fireworks supply areas, with names like Boom Town. Boom Town is huge. It is run by the Tulalip Tribe. The Tulalip also have what may be the best casino in Washington. I liked the big Orca out front with the giant Indian getting ready to spear a salmon. Just a sec, I'll see if I can find a picture I took of the Orca.

That picture took way too long to find. The Tulalip Casino is, for want of a better word, cool. You've got that splashing Orca, the Tulalip Indian spearing giant salmon, a lot of water, sound effects, and when you walk into the casino there are waterfalls on either side of you. Inside the casino the effect is that you are underwater, in an aquarium. I've been told the buffet is really good. The slightly nearby Swinomish Casino, just a few miles from my Washington abode, had the best seafood buffet. Oysters just like mom makes them.

In my old neighborhood, known as Thunderbird, in the town known as Mount Vernon, all the streets are named after tribes. I lived on Pawnee Lane. Pawnee connected to Apache. (Go here for a virtual visit to where I used to live, where you'll see my cat Hortense reading the morning paper with me and the deepest snow in all my years of living up north) In the valley in which I lived, Skagit, there are several tribes, the Skagit, the Samish and the Swinomish. The Skagit Valley tribes have nice reservations. Two of the tribes have built casinos in the valley. The little valley I lived in has 2 huge casino complexes. There are none of those anywhere in Texas.

The Washington casinos are not like those goofy ones up in Oklahoma where it's like a pretend casino, the Washington casinos are just like what you find in Nevada, minus topless girls and strip shows. And free drinks.

Anyway, the tribes in Washington make a lot of money selling fireworks. Tonight my old neighborhood will become like a war zone. It was fun to watch and would go on for hours. One group would launch a display, then another would try and out do them. The area where my house sat was heavily wooded with huge fir trees. I was ready with a hose should a firework go awry. I had several land on my roof, which was flat. No fires ever started though.

So, what was I saying, oh yeah, in Washington, by now, I would have been hearing firecrackers going off for days. With today almost non-stop, with all hell breaking loose once it got dark.

When I moved to Texas, the first location was in far north Fort Worth, with the mailbox in Fort Worth and the house in Haslet. We all anticipated a very wild 4th. We were in Texas, for gawdsakes, everyone packs heat here, they're big on their cowboy, wild west past. So, as the sun began to set, we sat outside waiting for something to happen. There were a few random noises, but we were all in WTH? mode. Now I live deeper into the urban zone. I suspect I will not hear a single firecracker tonight.

What happened here that has these people so stifled? Was there some sort of silent coup that took away some basic freedoms that the rest of America enjoys? It perplexes me. It would likely really perplex a lifelong Texan if he/she were to find him/herself in my old neighborhood tonight.

4th Of July Murder Attempt & Facebook

No. Those are not horses in Texas in the picture. They are horses in Eastern Washington, somewhere near Winthrop in the North Cascades.

It has been several months, maybe as many as 6, since I got on Facebook. I'd grown tired of hearing "Facebook" and not knowing what it was. To check it out I had to create an account. I did so, not using my real name, but accidentally sending out these friend request messages to people who's name I recognized.

Of those, Karen eventually figured out who I was, after exhausting pretty much every name in our high school annual. Since Karen friended me a few others figured out who I was and friended me, or figured out who I was and put me on their "don't friend" list.

Getting in touch with some people has been interesting, because some are, well, interesting. Like Karen, near as I can tell she is constantly on the go. Hawaii one week, Canada the next, back and forth over the mountains. (that is Washington-speak, meaning to go east of the mountains, which is also Washington-speak, meaning to cross over the Cascades via one of the mountain passes)

Awhile back I was surprised to learn Karen was a biker chick, as in she rides a Harley with her biker dude husband. They just got back from riding the Harleys up to Whistler in Canada. That is one treacherous road, in a car. You couldn't get me to ride it on a motorcycle. I've only been on a motorcycle twice. Both times did not go well.

And then yesterday I learned Karen does something even more adventurous than being a biker chick and it is also something you couldn't get me to do. Later this month a group of ten people, plus 20 horses and mules and judging from pictures of last year's wilderness expedition, several dogs, will ride horses on mountain trails to some distant campsite, starting the trek somewhere near Winthrop.

I have been hiking in the Cascades and have seen people on horses high in the mountains. It always looks dangerous to me. As in some of those trails are steep with very steep drop offs. I've had nothing but bad luck with horses. The last time I was on one it tried to kill me. Nine years ago on this very day, that being the 4th of July. I won't elaborate on how the horse tried to kill me, suffice to say I believe it was part of a very nefarious murder attempt that went awry.

Another thing I learned via Facebook was that Beth is now a TV and movie star, well, she's on a TV show, one of my favorites, that being LOST. And she's been in a movie. I've watched TV before and have seen a movie.

And then there's Cheryl, she with a daughter all grown up and in videos and films. I watched a very intriguing film starring Cheryl's daughter last week. It was one of those daunting foreign film type movies, deep with meaning that requires deep thought to understand it. Deep thought is not my forte.

Karen also has a daughter who has done an interesting thing. As in being the youngest person, male or female, to climb the highest peak on all 7 continents.

It seems like there were other interesting thing I've learned via Facebook, but I'm drawing a blank now.

Texas Train Troubles, Strange Fruit, Wal-Mart & Obesity

That's an annoying very slow train that slowed my return home after walking around Oakland Lake and going to the Beach Street Wal-Mart. Which would make this the Beach Street railroad crossing.

A lot of trains run through this D/FW Metroplex zone. This one had people, myself included, u-turning to an alternative route. A lot of cities and towns have over or under passes to deal with trains, with little towns and rural areas being the only places where a train crossing can stop traffic. In Arlington there is not a single crossing that is not blocked when a train runs through town. Since this has always been the norm, people here think this is just the way the world works.

Wal-Mart was a zoo today. People are such sheep. 4th of July. There was a line of 3 at the shortest self-checkout. The girl ahead of me had only two items, cat food cans, and a humongous rumpus (can't use the "B" word). When she went to pay she was 2 pennies short. She asked me if I had 2 pennies. I did not. She asked others. They did not. I was getting out my debit card to pay the 2 pennies when a nice lady gave the big rumped girl 2 pennies.

Speaking of big rumps. Today whilst walking around Oakland Lake Park, at 96 degrees, and feeling fine due to a chilling breeze, a new obesity theory occured to me. The most obese person I have ever personally known is about 5 foot 4 and, I would guess, about 600 pounds. Unlike most obese persons, this one was not sedentary. She actually was quite active. Going up and down stairs, walking, doing all sorts of physical activity.

A 600 pound person who is active is constantly doing heavy duty exercise. I can't imagine walking around Oakland Lake carrying 400 pounds in weights. I could not do it. But some obese people do. They develop an incredible musculature to haul all that heft. So, under all that blubber there is a very strong person.

I don't think you could be obese in a hot climate, like it is here, if you lived without benefit of modern conveniences, like air-conditioning. Your body's metabolism would rebel in the heat, stifling your appetite, wanting to burn off the overheating layer of fat. Just like a body's metabolism would try to get a skinny person to put on more fat in a cold climate.

So, if my theory is correct, back before A/C, I'm guessing Mississippi was not the fattest state in the nation. Nor was Texas as fat as it is now. I'm guessing New York, Washington, Colorado and Alaska were way fatter than the states of the south. It is air-conditioning that has made people fat. In this climate in Texas most of the fat people do not go outside, their bodies do not know they live in a HOT climate, so their metabolism allows them to lard on the lard.

This Obesity Theory of mine could be tested by moving 10 morbidly obese people to this climate, keeping their indoor thermostats no cooler than 82 and having them outdoors for at least 2 hours, daily, in the HEAT. I'm guessing the pounds would melt away.

That sure is what happened to me. If I remember right I was about 200 pounds overweight when I moved here. I'm 178 now. It melted off effortlessly.

I did see 2 interesting things at Oakland Lake Park today. One was this weird looking fruit like thing growing in a tree. What is it? Anyone know? The other was very ironic. Just as I was musing about obese people, and HEAT, a large, but not obese, woman came jogging, slowly towards me. I was impressed. I would not jog in 96 degrees. Walk fast, yes, jog no.

So, that's been my day before the 4th of July in Texas, swimming after the sun came up, weird fruit at Oakland Lake Park. an overly busy Wal-Mart, train troubles and an Obesity Treatment.

Seattle's SLUT & Texas SLUTs

There is talk here in Fort Worth of building a short street car trolley type line from, I think, downtown to what is called the Cultural District. Fort Worth has so much culture they had to designate a district to put it in.

I've noticed over the years there is a lot of talk about a lot of things here in Fort Worth. Mostly it's of the all Hat and no Cattle type. That is Texas-speak meaning to Talk Big, but get nothing done.

For years I've been hearing about Fort Worth ruining the confluence of two forks of the Trinity River to make a little lake and some canals. All that's happened with that project is some hapless souls have had their businesses taken by eminent domain, leaving a part of Fort Worth looking forlorn as the buildings await removal and water covering where they sat.

Every once in awhile one of Fort Worth's Hats does turn into Cattle, that then gets slaughtered. Like when Fort Worth, with big misleading hoopla, opened this thing called the Sante Fe Rail Market, promoting it as being modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market, public markets in Europe, and elsewhere, and being the first such market in Texas. All of which were BIG LIES, the reality being it was a teeny little food court type thing bearing no resemblance to Pike Place or any other successful operation.

Seattle got a new streetcar line that started running on December 12, 2007. Fort Worth sent a delegation to check it out awhile back. Seattle's new streetcar line is called South Lake Union Streetcar, but the locals took to calling it South Lake Union Trolley. SLUT for short. Attempts to get the locals to quit called the streetcars the SLUT have failed. I think the story goes that it was originally officially named South Lake Union Trolley, then when the unfortunate acronym was realized, Trolley was changed to Streetcar, but it was too late, SLUT had stuck.

I doubt Fort Worth will get its own version of a SLUT. But there have been SLUT type transport systems in Fort Worth and Texas in the past. From 1908 til 1948 the Texas Electric Railway ran from Dennison to Waco, linking small Texas towns to the big cities, like Dallas and Fort Worth.

There were Interurban lines, like the Texas Electric Railway, all over the country. But, gradually universal ownership of cars put the lines out of business. It is sort of ironic that all those cars, jamming roads all over the country, is causing a return to the past.

Seattle's SLUT line has been successful beyond predictions, with over a half million people on board during the first year. There were many who did not think new streetcar lines in Seattle was a good plan. But the SLUT has been so successful the Seattle city council voted in support of creating a larger multi-line Seattle streetcar network, extending to Ballard, the University of Washington, Seattle Center, First Hill, Capitol Hill and the Central District.

One big difference between building something, like a streetcar trolley system in Seattle, and doing so in Fort Worth, is in Seattle they have what is known as a public debate. Then they have what is known as a public vote. As in the new First Hill Streetcar line to the First Hill and Capitol Hill neighborhoods was approved and funded as part of Sound Transit Proposition 1, approved by voters in November of 2008.

In Fort Worth the people have not been allowed to vote on a likely boondoggle called the Trinity River Vision that will give the city a little lake, some canals and an unneeded flood diversion channel. The Vision is that of the good ol' boy network that controls Fort Worth. Conducting public business in this manner, with no public votes, is called doing it "The Fort Worth Way."

Some Fort Worth people are realizing there might be a better way to get things done than "The Fort Worth Way". But their numbers are few and their chances are slim.

HOT Dizzy Texas Hiking With Leaks A Nurse & Skywalking

That's the 96 degree noontime view of my water bottle and the Fort Worth Skyline from midway up to the summit of Tandy Mountain in the Tandy Hills Natural Area, which was being very natural today.

No wind, not even a little breeze, total dead calm.

From the time I got up this morning I've been being light-headed and a bit dizzy. My blood pressure is low. Walking around in the near 100 degree heat did not make me dizzier.

I have this same problem every year around this time. Due to the heat I eat less and drink more. More water. I start dropping weight. I try to eat more, but still the weight drops. It's vexing. But not too vexing.

On my Roadtripping Blog this morning I blogged about the Grand Canyon Skywalk. I knew about this thing, but I really didn't know all that much about it. I thought it was a big horseshoe shaped thing that stuck out over the canyon with a floor of glass that you walked all over. There is a floor of glass, but the glassed walk is just the perimeter of the horseshoe, the inside of the perimeter is open air. The walls and floor of the Skywalk are made with glass 2 inches thick. 2 inches? I found this information unsettling. You can read all about the Grand Canyon Skywalk and watch a video of its grand open by going to my Roadtripping Blog.

Speaking of me being dizzy. Here's an example. Yesterday I blogged about a video of Beavers Bend and Broken Bow Lake in Oklahoma. I said click here to watch the video. But the link went to the World's Biggest McDonalds, up by Tulsa. I must make these type mistakes all the time. I only caught this one by pure fluke.

A nurse from, I think, Missouri, emailed me asking if she could be a guest blogger. Her last names is Jones. Maybe she thinks we are related. I told her to send me an example of a blogging. Ms. Jones has not sent me one yet.

Anyone else out there want to be a Guest Blogger? Some Texas thing that would fit on this blog? Or maybe you'd like to spew your opinion about some TV thing that I'd put on my TV Blog? Or maybe you've got a good story for my Roadtripping Blog. I'm a stickler for spelling and grammar, sorta, but don't worry about that, those type woes are easily fixed.

I see Jammin Mole has commented on my Cockroach pets. Maybe Jammin would like to expand on her Roach experiences in a full blown Guest Blogging. But why would she? Jammin has her own blog.

There was still color on the prairie today, in the form of diehard wildflowers, surviving the 100 degree HEAT. The purple flower in the closeup, above, looks like it should wilt fast, but those delicate looking wildflowers have been persisting for quite some time now. I do not remember seeing these wildflowers last year. This was supposed to be a bad wildflower year. Early on that seemed to be true. But then they seemed to rebound, sprouting new stuff. In the other flower picture you see what the closeup flower looks like in relation to the rest of its section of the prairie.

It is remaining fairly green here in North Texas, despite the drought. I don't know how much longer that will last. The things staying green, I mean.

My latest local water leak, which had created a minor lake I had to wade through to cross one of my frequently used sidewalks, has now been fixed. If they could only harness the water of all the leaks the drought would be no problem. Or so it would seem. Then again, I'm dizzy, what do I know?

Return Of The Cockroach And Other Troubles

That's Clarence my pet Cockroach.

My one longtime reader may remember I was invaded by a herd of Cockroaches a few months ago.

Eventually an Exterminator was brought in. Everything had to be removed from the kitchen and then the spraying began. The herd of cockroaches then came out of hiding. Death did not come quickly.

I was told that the spray, water-based, would retain its deadly punch for about a month, killing any Cockroach babies that were in egg form when the extermination took place.

Well. They are back. Not in large numbers. Yet. I'd never seen a Cockroach before I saw Texas. They are the strangest insects. It's like they are smart. They are so good at defensive maneuvers when I go after them. I've gotten real good at offensive maneuvers countering their defense.

Sometimes the Cockroaches seem to have special teleporting powers. A couple days ago I lifted up my TV remote to aim it at the TV and a Cockroach jumped off the end of the controller. How did it get there? The remote sits on a glass topped table that is cockroach proof. The TV room is far removed from their home in the kitchen. It's very vexing.

Just a couple minutes ago I dispatched one trying to use the toaster. I'd barely completed that task when suddenly there was one on the wall where seconds before there was nothing. How could it get there so fast? That one got dispatched too.

I guess I should call in the Exterminator again. But that's such a lot of bother. And it really is a good, challenging hunting exercise, killing the little devils. I have a couple insect eating lizards living in here. Apparently they don't like to eat Cockroach. I imagine the shell is tough to digest. Sometimes you can step directly on a Cockroach, yet when you lift your foot it scurries away, apparently unharmed.

So, that's been my exciting day in Texas, so far, this bright, sunny, HOT Thursday. In the pool after dawn and killing Cockroaches. Life can't get much better than this.

Bonnie & Clyde In The Fort Worth Stockyards

It seems like I recently blogged about Bonnie & Clyde murdering cops in Grapevine. I don't remember why this was on my mind. I remember searching for a picture of the notorious pair.

No. That is not Bonnie & Clyde in the picture. That is Gar the Texan and his future wife. They are in Booger Reds Saloon, in the Fort Worth Stockyards, looking at the huge rear of a buffalo sticking out of the wall above the bar, with the buffalo's head sticking out the east wall of the H3 Ranch Restaurant next door.

The young lovers are sitting on bar stools with saddles as seats. Above them, in the Stockyards Hotel, is Room 305, also known as the Bonnie & Clyde Suite, because Bonnie & Clyde spent some time there during a break in their crime spreeing.

I forgot to mention, at Booger Reds you can get yourself a bucket of Buffalo Butt Beer. It's the best Buffalo Butt Beer I've had anywhere.

We celebrate all the criminals who have made Fort Worth home. Our Downtown Square, or what some uncultured people might call a bunch of parking lots, is named Sundance Square, because Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid found safe haven in Fort Worth's Hell's Half Acre.

I believe you can currently stay at Miss Etta's Place in downtown Fort Worth. Miss Etta was the girlfriend of Sundance, or was it Butch? Maybe both.

You can drink adult beverages at a lounge in Fort Worth named after Lee Harvey Oswald, called the Ozzie Rabbit Lodge. What other town can make that claim? Or wants to.

During Prohibition Fort Worth had a very thriving organized crime business, centered mainly on the Thunder Road section of the Jacksboro highway, which is a bit north and west of downtown. All sorts of crime, from murders to rigged poker games to bootleg booze to a lot of hookers, thrived in this part of Fort Worth. I believe Hell's Half Acre had been cleaned up by the point in time when America foolishly tried to stop the flow of alcohol. So, the bad boys were already gone from that locale when Thunder Road became the new Hellish part of Fort Worth.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the new thing I learned today, that being that Bonnie & Clyde slept at the Stockyards Hotel and may have done some drinking from the same bucket of Buffalo Butt Beer as me.

Texas Pottery & Sculpture Guild Press Release

If you have a strong hankering (that is Texas speak meaning desire) to meet me, that might happen at a special "Meet the Artists" wine and dessert reception taking place Friday, July 10, at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center.

The Texas Pottery & Sculpture Guild's bi-annual "Sizzling Summer Sale," is scheduled to take place the aforementioned Friday, from 5-9 pm, and on Saturday, July 11, from 10 am - 4 pm.

The Fort Worth Community Center is located at 1300 Gendy Street. That is in Fort Worth's Cultural District, near the National Cowgirls Museum and Hall of Fame.

There will be artists from North Texas, featuring functional and decorative artwork. There will be a silent auction benefiting the Texas Pottery & Sculpture Guild and the Emergency Artists Support League. There will also be a raffling of a distinctive teapot.

Okay, I've done my community service duty as part of the Fort Worth Coalition of Bloggers Bettering Fort Worth. I was sent the above information as a press release for my consideration. I considered it and decided to release it.