Big Tex Takes DART Green Line To The State Fair Of Texas

That is Big Tex waiting to get on a DART train at Mockingbird Station. Big Tex is heading to the State Fair of Texas where he stands tall all day long and talks to people.

To get to the Fair, Big Tex will need to switch to the DART Green Line at Pearl Station. The Green Line will take Big Tex directly to the State Fair.

Before getting on the DART train Big Tex went to Kroger where he bought a combo ticket to the Fair. For $16 Big Tex gets a ticket to the Fair and a Round Trip transport on DART.

For those not familiar with Dallas, DART is Dallas Area Rapid Transit. Dallas has about 50 miles of light rail. Each year seems to bring more miles of DART. There are currently 3 DART lines, the Red Line, the Blue Line and the Green Line. The Green Line will currently take you to the State Fair of Texas. By 2010 the Green Line will take you beyond the State Fair.

The Orange Line is under construction. It will take riders to Irving and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

The Dallas Morning News has a video of Big Tex going to Kroger and riding DART to the State Fair of Texas. You'll really want to be sure and watch it.

Being Vulgar In Texas While Twittering

Yes, I know it's vulgar to talk about money. Being vulgar has never really been something I've spent much time worrying about.

Anyway, I don't know what's causing it, for sure, but today is not even over and I've somehow broken my ad revenue record in both the total of all sources and in the total from this very blog you are reading right now.

The only variable that has come in to play, of late, is I finally figured out how to use Twitter. Is Twitter driving traffic to my websites and blog? According to the Bit.ly website I use to shrink URLs, for Twitter, those Bit.ly links have been clicked on oodles of times. However, those oodles of clicks do not show up in my other stats, such as FeedJit or my Google Webmaster stats.

It is very perplexing. But I'm finding it amusing. Just doing the Twittering is addictive, sort of. You have only 140 characters to get your message across. Doing so makes you have to come up with some clever editing. This uses the same part of my brain that does not get all that much use that Scrabble strains. I suppose this type straining is a good thing. It's like exercise.

A Difficult Pink Wildflower Blowing In The Cold Wind At The Tandy Hillls Natural Area

I saw a wildflower I'd not noticed before, today, coloring up the Tandy Hills Natural Area. I set the camera on macro mode and tried 28 times to get a sharp focused closeup picture. The result on the left was the best of the 28 attempts.

I think the ethereal, translucent petals of the pink wildflower made it difficult for the camera to focus on it.

We are in the midst of another cold front chilling us here in North Texas. It is only 77 right now, a couple hours past noon.

I'm continuing to be perplexed by Twitter. Ever since I started Tweeting with a webpage link as part of the Tweet, with those webpages being either one of my blogs or my Eyes on Texas website, well, my stats have gone way up. But, I have no way of telling if this is being caused by Twitter.

Above is one of the 27 pictures of the pink wildflower that managed to look somewhat ghost-like. Today slight coolness in the breeze blowing over the Tandy Hills made me remember last winter, hiking the Tandy Hills in sweatpants and running up the hills to try and get warm. Those cold days will soon be here.

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.