I Found My Lost Step-Nephew Today

I've been keeping a closer eye on my webstats ever since last month's hacking incidents. One of the stats generated is a list of external links to my website. It's a long list. I often find interesting things from the stats, like the picture you see here.

Or, I may find someone hotlinking to one of my photos. That is a big no-no with me. I have a way of dealing with this that amuses me. Sometimes the fools go months without realizing the photo they hotlinked to has been changed.

Now, today's interesting thing from the stats started when I saw my sister-in-law Jill's name in a link on the list. I can click on any of the links on the list and go to the website that is linking to mine. I did so to see that it was a link to a family history website I made years ago. It was linking to a genealogy list. Also on the Jill page was a link to her son's website.

That is the son in the photo. His name is Drew. He is my step-nephew. I am not sure that is the correct term. I've only met Drew once. My brother was not yet married to Drew's mother. I drove my brother and Jill down to my sister's Lake Cushman cabin so Jill could meet my mom and dad for the first time. On the way to Lake Cushman we dropped Jill's youngest daughter, Jaime, off at UPS in Tacoma to spend time with her brother.

After we left Lake Cushman we went back to Tacoma and out to dinner with Drew and Jaime. I liked Drew. He had a well developed sense of humor. Reading his personal info on his website I learned he transferred from UPS up to Skagit Valley College so that he could be close by to deal with family problems. Now, I do remember Drew living at my brother and Jill's new house and I knew there were problems. I did not know Drew moved back to deal with them. I did know he was one of the problems, at least in a couple people's opinion.

I did not know Drew got his SVC degree, then transferred to Washington State. I knew he moved down to San Diego and lived with one of my best friend's from high school's kid. That kid got married recently. I saw a photo of Drew attending the wedding on her husband's blog.

On his website I also learned that at some point along the way Drew took off, by himself, to backpack in Europe for 3 months. I also know, not from his website, but from my mom, that his sister Jaime lived with Drew in San Diego where she went to law school, I think, maybe the law school was elsewhere. I do know she is now a lawyer working as in intern in D.C.

I heard from someone, somewhere that my brother and Jill had spent a lot of time in San Diego helping Drew either buy or fix up a house for him and his girl friend.

I saw Drew on one of my Facebook friends Friend's List. I asked what the connection was. I think I got an answer, but I'm not remembering it right now. Earlier today I was reading in Men's Health that this type memory problem is an early sign of Alzheimers.

I remember the day I met Drew and Jaime, when we were at the restaurant and my brother was being a bit of a bore by being overbearing, when I had Drew and Jaime alone I said something like, "I can sure tell you kids like my brother a lot." Drew said, "He makes mom happy, that's all that counts to us." I said, "Well, I'm a really great uncle. You can ask my nephews, they'll confirm that." To which Drew said, "Yeah, we've already heard that."

I drove Drew back to UPS and that is the last time I ever saw my step-nephew. That was over 10 years ago.

9/11 Eight Years Later

This day, 8 years ago, remains so vivid in my memory it does not seem like it was that long ago.

I got a call that morning from someone in Dallas, telling me to turn on my TV, that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. I knew the caller was in the vicinity of the Dallas World Trade Center, so I assumed that that was what had been struck by a plane.

I turned on my TV seconds before the second jet crashed into the New York City World Trade Center tower.

I was shocked. As soon as I realized this was an attack of the most outrageous sort and not knowing how bad or extensive it was, I started calling friends and relatives on the west coast to tell them to get out of bed and turn on their TVs. The only one who was already up and watching was my sister Jackie in Marysville, now living in Arizona.

I did not tell any of those I called why they needed to get up and turn on their TVs. When they asked I just said, "Trust me. You need to get up and turn on the TV."

The days after 9/11 were very strange. I remember going to Wal-Mart and the mood was so somber, like people were in a state of shock, which I guess they were. I remember driving by the McDonald's by Six Flags Over Texas and there was this semi-old guy standing on the bed of his pickup waving a flag back and forth. I wondered how long he'd been doing that. When I drove by 2 hours later he was still standing and waving the flag.

Bonnie & Blog For Fort Worth Hipsters

I did not know there were any Fort Worth hipsters til I got an email this morning informing me that there is a new blog in town, it being one for the hipsters in Fort Worth.

The email said that ever since West & Clear shut their Fort Worth blog down we in Fort Worth have been clamoring for a good Fort Worth blog.

I haven't noticed any clamoring, but, I haven't been looking for any clamoring, so there could have been some clamoring that I did not hear.

Like I did not know that there is going to be a HUGE protest march in downtown Fort Worth tomorrow, called, I think, 9/12. My therapist, Dr. L.C. kept asking me if I was going to be there on Saturday. I had no idea what she was talking about, but since that is often the case I didn't get around to asking what she was talking about til the 4th or 5th time she mentioned it.

I don't like going to a protest march. I always end up getting arrested. And, with this one being in Fort Worth, the Gestapo Storm Troopers will likely be out in full force, armed with tasers and whacking sticks to shock and whack anyone who dares to cross the Fort Worth Gestapo's very thin, feeble line.

Anyway, back to the new Fort Worth blog for Fort Worth hipsters. It is called Bonnie & Blog. It is written by a pair calling themselves Bonnie & Clyde. The real Bonnie & Clyde of bank robbing murder fame, stayed in Fort Worth at the Stockyards Hotel during a break from their crime spree.

I don't think I'm a hipster, so the hipness of the Bonnie & Blog blog was likely lost on me. It seems like a nice blog with a lot of information about Fort Worth, including the Hip Pocket Theater. The Hip Pocket Theater is likely full of Fort Worth hipsters.

A Big Bag Of Lettuce & Feeling Fall At The Tandy Hills

I've had me a day. Up real early, swimming before the sun brightened things up. Hours fiddling with HTML.

I escaped at noon for some aerobic therapy at my nearest recovering Texas prairie, that being the Tandy Hills Natural Make You Feel Better Area.

A hint of fall was in the breeze and the leaves on the trees. The green is starting to show some signs of the upcoming major color change when all turns vivid shades of yellow, orange, red and brown.

While I hiked I had a good talk with myself about this hell I am living and what I need to do about it. I came up with no good plan. I'll talk to myself some more tomorrow if I can find the time.

A couple months ago, around when the 4th of July caused explosions all over town, some of those explosions occurred on the Tandy Hills, starting a fire that burned the prairie. This is good for the prairie. It kills off the unnatural stuff. In theory, anyway. Today, when I walked by the charred area, I saw something a bit surprising. We are months past the prime of wildflower season. Yet somehow some wildflowers have popped out of the burned ground, sprouting yellow blooms. It is a miracle of nature. Or something like that.

Since I was in the neighborhood, after I was done with my aerobic medicine, I went to Town Talk and found the best bargain yet. A giant 10 pound bag of spring greens salad fixin's mix, or whatever it's called. For only $2. And it appears to be way fresher than what I've bought in a grocery store previously. This will be a big challenge to consume all that salad material.

Finding Lynden Washington & My Real Dutch Name

This morning I was looking through the files that are published in my durangotexas.com domain. I came upon one I'd forgotten about.

Way back in 2002 I somehow found myself, here in Texas, causing a family reunion to happen 2,200 miles away, in Lynden, Washington. If I remember right the thing started with me being a smart ass to my cousin, sort of calling her bluff.

From that point on it sort of spun out of control, resulting in July of 2002, with relatives, from all over the country, making their way to Lynden for the biggest family reunion my relatives have ever had.

Because relatives were coming from all over, I was getting asked questions about things, like motels and RV parks, I decided to make a few webpages about Lynden. With a lot of Lynden links. Those webpages were made in the now antique framed website method.

So, this morning I re-did the Lynden pages and linked them to my other webpages about Washington. I thought this would be a daunting task. But it only took about a half hour. I never estimate these type things, time-wise, correctly.

Lynden is about 5 miles south of the Canadian border. The population of the town consists mostly of Dutch descendants. My ancestors came over from Holland in the 1890s. They kept moving evermore westward, looking for a decent place to live. Eventually they heard from other Dutch people about the state of Washington, where, on the west side of some tall mountains, it reminded them of Holland.

My great grandpa was sent to scout out this place. When he returned to his mom and dad, that being my great great grandpa and ma, he convinced them they had to move to Lynden.

Which is how it came to be, when I was growing up, that we went up to Lynden pretty much every weekend, to visit my grandmas and aunts and uncles and cousins. My Dutch grandma died in 1994. My un-Dutch grandma died in 2004. I have not been to Lynden since 2002.

I remember my Dutch great grandma. Tillie. She was married to my great grandpa, John, the one who scouted out Lynden. He died before I was born. If I remember right, great grandma Tillie died in 1962. She had a Dutch accent and taught us some Dutch words. Like brookies. That is Dutch for undies. My great grandma was a masterful knitter, I remember getting sweaters, mittens, hats. I can still remember how happy she would be to see us kids, and how happy we'd be to see our great grandma.

The Dutch side of my family had a naming tradition that had the eldest boy of the eldest boy named either John or Cornelius. That's the American version. The Dutch version is Jan or Cornelis. My great grandpa, John, was the oldest son of an oldest son named Cornelis. Great grandpa John's oldest son, my grandpa, was named Cornelius, nicknamed Neil. My grandpa's oldest son is my dad, named John, nicknamed Jack. I am my dad's oldest son. My mom and dad caused a family scandal when they did not name me Cornelius. They thought that was a horrible name to saddle a kid with. When I learned what I was supposed to be named I told my mom and dad I would have liked that name. It fits well with my last name. Much better than the plain name they came up with.

By the way, that is Lynden's famous windmill, on Front Street, in the picture at the top.

Adolf Hitler Comes Back To Life To Attack Obama For Encouraging School Kids

I saw this Hitler YouTube video on Texas Sharon's blog and felt compelled to share. It is quite amusing. Well, amusing if you've been thinking the right wingers have gone into nutjob land with their bizarre over reaction to President Obama's TV speech to school kids where he had the audacity to suggest that kids work hard to do well in school.

I first heard the nutjobbers acting all wacky doodle over this earlier in the week on the Mark Davis' WBAP radio talk show. He was acting all livid. I could not figure out what Obama was going to do in schools that had Davis so outraged. I had to wait til I got back here and look at Fox News online and eventually deduced that it was the seemingly innocuous TV talk to kids that had Davis foaming at the mouth.

Anyway, the above YouTube video nails the absurdity of making so much ado about something so minor.

My Little Sister's Brady Bunch Expanding Tacoma Tribe

My little sister is a lawyer. She works for the state in Olympia, driving there from Tacoma. One would think this would keep her busy. But, somehow she finds time to take care of two poodles, named Blue and Max. Well, actually Max is part poodle and part who knows what. Blue is a purebred pedigree with a very condescending, dominating attitude towards Max, even though Max is about twice as big as Blue.

Blue and Max have been going through a period of medical problems requiring multiple surgeries. Both are recovering well. But they are still being restricted in their movements.

Prior to my visit (for a month) last summer, my sister had taken in a couple of foster kids, Emilie and Abby. Emilie and Abby had gone to live with their grandparents by the time I arrived. That month last summer was the longest I've spent with my little sister since she was a little baby. I had no idea she was so tightly wound. I always thought she was like me. Easy going, with a highly evolved sense of humor and a tolerance for differences.

Instead, things like repetitive noises, or even the soothing sounds of a waterfall, could set my sister's last nerve on edge. And she's very particular. She has some sort of watering fetish. Even though she lives in the wet northwest, she pours absurd amounts of water on plants that don't need so much. I pretty much grieved for the poor drowning tomatoes I watched struggling so hard to stay alive under the daily flood of too much water.

I used to grow huge tomato plants that produced huge red tomatoes, when I lived in Washington.

I also used to BBQ a lot. I have all sorts of BBQ techniques to get chicken nice and brown and BBQed. Or pork chops totally smoky and well done. Or steak flipped over and over again til it's perfectly BBQed. When I was at my sister's I was forced, against my better techniques, to grill steak at an extremely high temperature and forbidden to flip the meat. The predictable result. Burnt steak. After the burnt steak incident I refused to BBQ chicken unless I was allowed to BBQ it my way. I did so, and when it turned out tasty I was asked to BBQ chicken again, using my perfected technique.

If only I'd been able to save the tomatoes.

So, after seeing what a tightly wound operation my sister's house is, I could not fathom how kids were added to that mix.

And then she got Evie. Everyone loves Evie. Evie does look like a fun kid. She's about 2 years old and reads at an 8th grade level and regularly wins legal debates with my sister.

Then a couple weeks ago a little boy, Marley, was added to the mix. Marley looks to be about 1 or so. Marley arrived right when Blue and Max were having really bad woes.

And then last week Trey was added. Another little boy, the same size as Marley. So, now the boys outnumber the girls for the first time in that house. I think this is a good thing. There was a distinct need for more testosterone in that abode.

You should have seen my little sister trying to use power tools to do something simple like remove a screw. She suffered the humiliation of me doing it for her.

Humiliation? Yes. The basic Zeitgeist whilst I was in that house was that I was inept at all things, constantly having shortcomings pointed out to me. It was exhausting. I regularly have nightmares about those drowning tomatoes.

Walking & Fishing At Village Creek Natural Historic Area

Village Creek Natural Historic Area is more historic than it is natural. It is the location where one of America's biggest Indian villages existed, prior to Texans moving into the neighborhood.

Indian Village was an agricultural, trading center where various tribes converged to exchange goods. These tribes were rather peaceful. Til invaders starting causing trouble for them.

As you can see, we are still green here in north Texas. This grass is not irrigated. I don't know why it is still green. Other summers, by this time of the year, nearing fall, all would be brown. But, despite the ongoing drought there is still a lot of green out there.

I saw something at Village Creek today that was both cute, yet a little disturbing. A stroller, with baby inside, was parked on the north dam bridge. Two kids sat on the dam bridge, dangling their feet over the edge, while their mom, I assume it was their mom, held a fishing pole out over the water.

It was at this precise location I saw my one and only Garfish. And my one and only Water Moccasin. Both at the same time. The Garfish was on the side of the dam bridge where the mom was fishing, the Water Moccasin was on the other side. What if mom hooked a Garfish? The water is so murky you can not see what lurks beneath the surface.

I watched The Grapes of Wrath last night. I wondered if in these troubled times mom was trolling for fish to feed her 3 kids? The kids did not seem hungry like those poor kids in The Grapes of Wrath. And they seemed to be having a real good time fishing with mom. There are no do not eat the fish warning signs that I've seen along Village Creek. I can not imagine it being a good idea to eat anything caught there, though.

Emery Orto Is Too Fat To Fly Southwest Airlines

That is Emery Orto and his wife, Clara, holding their Southwest Airlines tickets.

Emery and Clara had flown to Las Vegas from Chicago's Midway Airport, 4 days prior to this picture being taken.

Emery and Clara had no problem on the flight to Las Vegas, but after 4 days of Vegas buffets, when Emery tried to return home, Southwest Airlines would not let him leave because he had become too fat to fly.

Emery is about 6 feet tall and weighs around 350. So, he is a big guy. But too fat to fly? I know women who are way fatter than Emery and they are allowed to fly. However, I do not know if they buy extra seats to hold their girth, or not. Or if they try to fly on Southwest Airlines.

Emery says, "I was halfway down the ramp to my airplane when the woman who took my boarding pass grabbed me and asked if I could sit in an airplane seat with the arms folded down."

Southwest Airlines customer size policy says, "The armrest is the definitive gauge, as it serves as the boundary between seats."

Emery said, "I told her, yes, I could sit with the arms down and that I had flown many times and never had a problem. The airline employee then told me, 'You're not going to fly on this plane today.' I said, 'What did you just say?' and she said, 'You're not flying on this plane today.'

"I asked the woman why she was embarrassing me and humiliating me in front of all these people waiting to get on the plane. I admit that I was upset. I didn't threaten anyone, but I raised my voice so that I could be heard."

Emery was told he was being belligerent, "And that's when the airline employee called her female supervisor, who arrived with four male employees. She told me that if I didn't leave I would be arrested. I shut up right away when I heard that, except that I asked if we could get our baggage that was on the plane, and we were told not until we found our way back to Chicago."

Emery and Clara asked if they could at least get their medications out of their baggage. They were told, no.

A spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines claims Emery was given the option of buying an additional seat, next to his seat, for half price. Clara said that this was not true, that no such offer was made.

Emery and Clara walked the terminal, not knowing where to go, when they stopped another Southwest Airlines employee and asked him for help.

"I explained the situation to him and he told me I didn't look too large to fly. This was a really nice man, and he basically took us by the hand and brought us through the airport to a United Airlines reservations desk."

According to Emery, the reservations agent at United took one look at him and said he wasn't too large to fly.

"They had two seats available for $400 each, and I said, 'Praise the Lord.'"

The United plane took the pair of beleaguered Southwest Airlines victims to O'hare International Airport where they had to find ground transport to get them to Midway Airport where their car and baggage was.

In a parting shot, Emery said, "We're 62 years old, and I couldn't help thinking how even older people would deal with this problem. I've flown to New Orleans, Miami, Los Angeles and never had a problem. I never even had to use seat-belt extensions. And if they have a policy, why not follow it and let me try to sit in the seat with the armrests down? They never let me do that."

Well, it seems to me Southwest Airlines has some explaining and apologizing to do. Along with offering the Ortos a free trip, or two.

A Concerned Citizen In Arlington Fears Jerry Jones, The Dallas Cowboys & Arlington May Try To Steal Her Home

Over the past 4 or 5 years I've gotten a few messages from those directly affected by the abuse of eminent domain that was perpetrated in Arlington, with the city in cahoots with Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, to force thousands from their homes, destroying hundreds of homes and apartment buildings and businesses.

The City of Arlington, via Mayor Chuck Cluck, has said there will be no more use of eminent domain in Arlington for the Dallas Cowboys and their stadium. It took awhile, but those who helped Jones perpetrate this, well, crime, came to realize, to many observers, it gave Arlington a big black eye.

This morning I heard from a Concerned Arlington Citizen, worried that Jones has his sights on her husband's old family home and the land it sits on. I told the Concerned Citizen from Arlington that Arlington has said no more eminent domain use to get land for the Cowboys. I assume this to be true. I know that Jones has had to buy land for more parking lots the old-fashioned way, by negotiating a deal with the owners, rather than forcing them out via eminent domain.

I have seen the property that Jones is buying for more parking lots. You can see there are a couple holdouts, with most of the land razed, the holdouts stand out.

All those people remaining in that area used to live in a fairly quiet neighborhood. Now a gigantic, futuristic space ship, that looks totally out of place, has plopped down as an unwanted neighbor, making the residents nervous and feeling insecure in their homes.

The Concerned Citizen from Arlington feels Jones will get his due when he stands before God and hears "what you did to the least among you, you did unto me." And then shoves the man to hell.

Below is the message from the Concerned Citizen from Arlington (and Rome) Texas...

We have heard that Jones and his cowgirls want more land near the stadium for parking, even after buying out and bulldozing homes on Webb Street near the stadium, very recently. We live very close to the stadium about a block from it, in my husband's old home - the one he grew up in and of course don't want to see our old street turned into an ugly parking lot. However, if we have to move we will, but only for the right price for our home and land. Do you know if there are any more plans for the acquisition of more land for parking?

We hate the stadium and all that it represents - greed, selfishness, power and corruption. In my opinion Cluck, the chicken man, (you know, cluck cluck, it's what chickens do) should be in jail along with the rest of the Arlington City Council, and as for Jones, well he'll get his some day, either before or after he stands before GOD to be judged.

Concerned citizen, Arlington/ROME, Texas