We Are Getting More Bullets In North Texas As Ammo Supply Increases

A headline in this morning's Fort Worth Star Telegram caught my eye, the headline being "After almost a year, ammo shortage starting to ease in in Dallas-Fort Worth."

I had no idea we were suffering from an ammunition shortage. I know I've got all the bullets I need for my guns, because I own no guns.

Reading the article I learned it was not just us in the D/FW Metroplex who are having trouble keeping our arsenals supplied, it's a national problem.

Seems that when the Democrats came back to power those who insist on having their own little private armies got panicky that the Democrats would enact stricter gun control laws, or outright bans.

And so those who feared not being adequately armed stocked up on assault weapons and ammunition, thus creating the shortage. Gun owners bought 9 billion bullets this year, up from the usual 7 billion.

That is an awful lot of bullets. When the demand for ammo went way up, those who manufacture bullets were caught by surprise, unable to quickly meet the increased demand. This caused the price of ammunition to go up. A box of bullets that used to cost $15 went up as high as $39 per box. The price has come down from its high as the supply of bullets has increased.

I think I'll go to Guns R' Us today and get myself an assault rifle and some ammo.

Don Young Gets Moody About The Tandy Hills

I got an email this morning from Don Young, waxing poetic about the Tandy Hills. It motivated me to go there, again, today, even though I was there yesterday.

There were several beautiful photos included in the email. I used the one that looked like the prairie was looking today. It continues to perplex me that I have lived in my current location for about 8 years and only 2 years ago discovered the Tandy Hills Natural Area. I would guess that the majority of the people of Fort Worth have not set foot on the Tandy Hills. Their loss.

Prairie Notes #35
September 27, 2009

The Many Moods of Tandy Hills Natural Area

This is a quickie "Notes" to remind you that right now the weather is nearly perfect for late afternoon hikes along the (too) many trails at Tandy Hills Natural Area. The trails are mostly dry after the extended rains of last week. The prairie has suddenly come alive, not unlike the Spring.

Tandy Hills is not a typical prairie. The variety of elevations resulting from the hilly terrain gives THNA a variety of moods. You can go from a wide-open, prairie view up on top to a deep woods experience in just a few hundred steps. There are bright, sunlit meadows with panoramic views and shaded alcoves where you can disappear from the mad, mad world. Creek-hiking and exploring is yet another way to experience Tandy Hills. You may have to bypass the occasional pool but that's part of the fun. These pools are where the local wildlife come to drink.

>>> Bring the kids. >>> Tandy Hills is a great place to see and learn about plants not commonly found in Fort Worth. You can see grass as high as an elephant's eye. There are cottontail rabbits hopping along most trails. THNA is also a fossil hunters paradise, especially in the creek bottoms. (But please don't overdo it.) Don't forget to look up, either. THNA is great for bird-watching. Bring your binocs, camera, notebook and always bring drinking water.

Come on in and let yourself and the kids off the leash for awhile. THNA is open for business pleasure.

DY

The Tarrant County Arlington Dallas Cowboy Stadium

Around noon I was exiting Interstate 30 at Cook Road, heading to Wal-Mart and looking east towards Dallas when I saw the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium sticking up above the trees.

There has been some muttering in Arlington over various incidents of various people making reference to the Dallas Cowboy Stadium in Dallas.

I don't know if there were people in Irving, that being the location of the former Dallas Cowboy Stadium, who got upset when Irving was left out in some reference to the Dallas Cowboy Stadium in Irving. When the Cowboy Stadium was in Irving it was very close to Dallas, you could see the Dallas skyline from the stadium, the Dallas city limits were just a short distance away and the stadium sat in Dallas County.

The new Dallas Cowboy Stadium is not in Dallas County. It is in Tarrant County. Fort Worth is the county seat of Tarrant County. Arlington does not border the town of Dallas, there is another town between Arlington and Dallas, that being Grand Prairie.

The new Dallas Cowboy Stadium is visible from all sorts of Tarrant County locations. I don't know if the stadium is visible from any Dallas locations. Maybe you can see it from Reunion Tower or some other Dallas downtown skyscraper.

I've not read of any Dallas people being annoyed that the stadium for their football team is not in their town. I have read, a time or two, of Dallas people pleased some other town got hoodwinked into putting up the money for their new stadium. It really is a sweet deal for Dallas. Except for having to leave Dallas to watch the home team play a game.

Had the new stadium been built at Fair Park, as some proposed, before Dallas refused to fund it, you would have been able to travel to a game via the new DART Green Line, saving $40 on parking. Arlington has no mass transportation of any sort. Fort Worth has an excellent bus system and I believe Fort Worth is running buses to Arlington on game days.

I wonder if Fort Worth had been the town hoodwinked into funding the new stadium if that would have upset Dallasites?

The Astounding World Of Tomorrow

One of my Washington corespondents sent me this amazing amusing look into the future.

Atlanta Housewives Hog My TV Blog & Cause Odd Comments

The comments I get to my blogs and Eyes on Texas website are borderline scary at times. People with thinking disorders add to their scariness due to being so sure of themselves, with absolutely no ability to question the premise of their scary thinking.

About a year ago I thought it a good idea, at the time, to start a Durango TV Blog. Even though I don't watch all that much TV. I thought Google ads might do well on a TV Blog. I was right about that.

In November of 2008, or thereabouts, Bravo started up a new iteration of their Real Housewives franchise, it being The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I found the show amusing and blogged about it several times. For reasons, not clear to me, Google indexes my bloggings about the Atlanta housewives mostly at #1 for way too many search strings.

So, whenever the Atlanta housewives are on, my TV blog catches fire, which it really did big time on Thursday, due to one of the housewives, Kim, going on about her married boyfriend she calls Big Poppa. I'd blogged, a year ago, about Big Poppa, his real identity and had a photo of him.

When the TV blog catches fire it gets thousands of visitors a day. Almost all looking for Atlanta housewife info. In addition to the search for Big Poppa, people are looking for the dirt on housewives named NeNe and Lisa. If you go to my TV blog's FeedJit Stats you will see, on any given day, how many people come to it due to those Atlanta housewives.

So, about a year ago someone sent me court records about NeNe. And photos of her "real" house. I blogged this. Easily 90% of the people who come to my TV blog come there because they are looking for a photo of Big Poppa or info about NeNe's and Lisa's house and bankruptcy woes.

The blogging about NeNe's bankruptcy and house woes has had 24 comments, including one today from someone who has a bit of a reading comprehension problem and misunderstood who did what regarding finding info about NeNe.

I'll copy the commenter, Mel's, comment below. My usual impulse is to fix the punctuation and spelling errors, but I'll leave them be. I'll just take out the profanity.

Wow, the fact that you have that much time on your hands is really sad. I mean, seriously...to take 5 minutes of of your day to read a blog is one thing...to actually take the time to drive and locate someones house is another! Can anyone say stalker?

I watch the Real Housewives every week. You know why? Because its entertainment! TV! "Reality" or not, its on to entertain us! As for Nene financial state...who cares? really? how is it hurting you?

First and formost...how many of you own your on home? If you have a morgage- hun, its not your house, its the banks! I have seen Kim and Sheree throw their so called wealth around often during the two seasons. Buying UGLY expensive jewelry. While I have heard Nene say on several occassions to spend wisely cause we're in a recession! (See when Nene and Dwight go shopping to decorate her new home) Which is smart thinking no matter how rich or poor you are. You dont get rich by spending all your money!

Do you haters actually dislike Nene cause she does not fit your stereotype of a person with money? Because you actually want to be her, in her position? And to the OP, since you are so good at researching things, why dont you go research a good therapist. Cause thats the scary stalker type stuff!

Saturday In Texas With Big Bugs, Fallen Tents, Tandy Hills & Town Talk

That monster bug in the picture almost stepped on me today when I was deep into my oblivious relaxation mode whilst hiking at the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area.

I have no idea what type bug this alien looking creature is. Unlike my pet cockroaches, it remained calm while I looked at it and posed politely for me without moving very much.

There are still wildflowers busy blooming on the Tandy Hills. Did I just not notice them last Fall? Or were they not there? North Texas has remained so green this year, maybe that is why there is still color on the prairie.

The solo tent that had been standing tall in the Tandy Hills Tent Campground was collapsed today. I don't know if the collapse was caused my Mother Nature or vicious vandals.

After walking through the Tandy Campground, my hike was over. I then headed to Town Talk where I found all sorts of good stuff. I got a totally natural organic chicken, bananas, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cherry tomatoes, Provolone and Bleu cheese, green peppers, organic Delicious apples from Yakima in my old home state of Washington and I forget what else.

Some of the food cooked this week on Top Chef perplexed me because I did not know what it was. One of the perplexations was over Shepherd's Pie. So, I Googled it to learn that what the Brits call Shepherd's Pie my mom called Hamburger Pie. So, I made Hamburger Pie this morning. It is in the oven as I sit here clacking at the keyboard.

It smells real good and I am real hungry. As well I should be, I've burned up a lot of calories today, starting the day, early, with an extra long amount of time in a nice cool pool, then there was that hiking I think I mentioned, followed by exhausting shopping.

It is time to eat now. Come over if you're hungry.

A Rattlesnake Bridge & The Sweetwater Texas Rattlesnake Roundup

I don't know where the pedestrian overpass bridge in the picture is located. I found it while looking at my webstats on a website that had linked to a picture of mine of some artwork up in Oklahoma City at Bricktown.

The website was all about bus stops and pedestrian bridges being designed as works of art. I did not see it at first, that the pedestrian bridge in the picture is one big rattlesnake.

I do not think I would have realized it was a rattlesnake had not someone commented that they thought the Rattlesnake Bridge looked tacky.

Maybe this bridge is out in Sweetwater, Texas. A perfect fit for the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup. If the bridge in the picture is not crossing Interstate 20 in Sweetwater, I think the town should get right on a project to build their own Rattlesnake Bridge.

FBI Stops Jordanian Illegal Alien From Blowing Up Dallas Skyscraper

That is 19 year old Jordanian Hosam Maher Husein Smadi and the Fountain Place tower in Dallas in the picture. Smadi was in a Dallas courtroom yesterday, in front of a federal magistrate, due to being accused of attempting to blow up the Dallas skyscraper.

Smadi was arrested by the FBI yesterday after he attempted to blow up the 60 story tower using fake explosives supplied by the undercover sting operation.

The FBI had been monitoring the illegal alien, Smadi, for more than 6 months.

Undercover agents, speaking Arabic, connected with Smadi in the little Texas town of Italy, about 45 south of Dallas. To the undercover fake Arabs, Smadi pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and verbalized the desire to kill Americans, saying, "I want to destroy targets, everything that helps America on its war on Arabs will be targeted."

Smadi thought the undercover agents were an al-Qaeda sleeper cell. He told agents he came to America for jihad, to target military recruitment centers, eventually switching to American financial centers as his target.

Smadi was arrested yesterday after he parked a Ford Explorer in the garage of Fountain Place. In side the SUV was a fake bomb, supplied by the FBI. Smadi thought he could detonate the bomb via a cell phone. He parked the Explorer and got into another vehicle with one of the FBI agents, who drove Smadi several blocks away.

The agent asked Smadi if he wanted earplugs to mute the noise. Smadi did not want ear plugs, he told the agent he wanted to hear the blast. Smadi then dialed the number that he thought would set off an explosion. Instead the only explosion Smadi heard was the noise of FBI agents taking him into custody.

It would seem that the FBI and CTU, or whatever the federal counter-terrorism unit is called, is doing a real good job, post 9/11. Plots in Denver and New York have also recently been thwarted.

I hope there are no un-thwarted plots being hatched. The Party Pass Riot on Sunday would have been a real good opportunity for a real bad deed, when police gave up and lifted the barricades, letting the masses stream in to the Dallas Cowboy Stadium.

Yesterday Dallas Cowboy officials said they do not intend to curtail the number of Party Passes, despite the riot and Arlington Mayor Cluck's request that the number be limited to 10,000. The Cowboys spokesperson claims they are working on ironing out the issues that caused Sunday's melee.

Grab 'n' Go See A Bikini Clad Coffee Maker In Washington

Yesterday, or was it the day before, Gar the Texan emailed me, concerned about a 71 year old Fort Worth man who had been harassed by the Fort Worth Gestapo for working in his backyard, naturally.

Gar the Texan seems to have become being quite a crusader when it comes to instances where the police act with a heavy hand where clothing is concerned.

Read the following news blurb regarding the Espresso Stand that got Gar the Texan's attention, written before the Espresso Stand found itself in trouble...

EVERETT -- It's a fad that's picking up steam in Snohomish County's hyper-competitive coffee market.

Espresso drive-through stands with bikini- and lingerie-sporting baristas are popping up from Monroe to Edmonds.

In the past year, at least six of these java joints employing provocatively dressed young women have opened in the county.

A few owners of these roadside stands say business is so brisk, they're hiring more employees and have plans to open new locations.

"I brought a touch of Vegas back to Washington," said Bill Wheeler, who opened Grab 'N' Go Espresso on Highway 99 just south of Everett last year.

Wheeler says he aims to soon operate a dozen stands in Washington and Nevada, including one with male baristas in tight Speedos and bowties.

Sometimes wearing little more than pasties and bikini bottoms, the scantily clad baristas at Wheeler's stands have scores of well-tipping customers.

Now, what happened after the above was written is, apparently, there were a large number of citizen complaints to the police regarding untoward behavior at the Grab 'n' Go, unlike the incident with the Fort Worth 71 year old man, where there had been no complaints to the police, before a policewoman on a bike decided to chase an old man into his house.

The police went undercover at the Grab 'n' Go, as part of their extensive investigation during which police learned the 5 Washington state baristas charged customers to touch their breasts. This led to the 5 being charged with prostitution, because charging money for such a thing falls under the city of Everett's definition of prostitution.

The Everett Herald's investigation into the Grab 'n' Go operation discovered the women were charging up to $80 to strip down while making lattes and mochas.

During their tough 2 month investigation detectives saw the women lick whipped cream off each other and pose, au naturel, for pictures.

Should these not be capital punishment type crimes? And what are those who paid for these behaviors being charged with?

I know that before he married a very strict German, Gar the Texan used to frequent establishments here in Texas were money was paid to women with little clothing to do special dances. I don't think there was any coffee product as part of the deal. Texas is so much more liberal and liberated than that repressive state I used to live in.

Battle In Seattle & G-20 Pittsburgh Protests

I turned on the TV to see what appeared to be a lot of agitated people. They were being agitated in Pittsburgh. Some of their agitation was due to getting hit with tear gas and pepper spray.

Apparently a few hundred malcontents were making their way from a Pittsburgh park, to the location of the G-20 Summit. President Obama touched down in Air Force One a few minutes ago. I don't know if he is off the plane yet. I turned the TV off before Barack got off.

The Pittsburgh Protesters are a mixed up group of groups with various causes. There is even a group of Buddhist monks among the tear gassed and pepper sprayed.

If the protesters are unable to disrupt the G-20 meeting, their plan, according to what I heard on MSNBC, is to go around town doing damage to businesses like Starbucks and McDonald's.

When I heard about the protesters going after Starbucks I remembered the Battle in Seattle. That Battle took place in November of 1999. If you'd asked me 3 hours ago where I was in November of 1999 I would have said I was in Washington. But I was in Texas when the Battle of Seattle took place, watching live on CNN and getting eye witness reports from people in Seattle, including a very panicked Wanda who was watching the Battle from high up in the AT & T tower. She watched in horror as her favorite Starbucks was destroyed. She was trapped in her building well into the night. Eventually police came to the rescue.

Realizing the Battle of Seattle took place in November of 1999 made me realize I moved to Texas in December of 1998, not 1999. Meaning I have been in exile here a year longer than I realized. I remember being up in Seattle a month after the Battle. There was still a lot of damage to be seen, but most of the mess had been fixed.

Watching the Battle in Seattle, from here, was one of my strangest experiences since I've been in Texas. Another happened in 2001 when I was watching CNN, around noon, when Breaking News said a big earthquake had struck the Northwest. CNN had footage of a panicked Bill Gates stopping in the middle of a speech, fires and a lot of damage. I remember calling people in the northwest and getting a message saying "an earthquake has struck the area you are calling, phone service is temporarily disabled." Or something like that.

Anyway, below is a YouTube video about the Battle in Seattle, the movie...