Sunday At The Fort Worth Water Gardens & Hell's Half Acre

That's the new Omni Convention Center Hotel as seen from the Water Gardens located on the south end of the Fort Worth Convention Center. I have grown used to the goofy big balconies sticking out. When you take in the entire complex of the Convention Center, the Hotel and the Water Gardens it is quite an upgrade to downtown Fort Worth.

I had not been to the Water Gardens since it re-opened after safety fixes were installed after the tragic drowning of 4 convention goers in the Active Water Pool.

The Active Water Pool was seeming way too active, to me, today. The steps down to it were a bit slippery. The first time I saw this I was both impressed and surprised. Impressed because it looks so cool. Surprised because it looks so dangerous.

The only changes that I could detect were new signage, with warnings not to swim or play in the water. I believe there are new shut off systems if someone falls in the water.

I'm a fan of goofy signs. This one at the entry to the steps down to the Active Pool says, "It is unlawful for any person or pet to swim or wade in the water features of The Water Gardens." The warning is repeated in Spanish. But not in any language that a pet might understand.

A small memorial to the 4 who drowned overlooks the Active Pool. The Water Gardens were designed by architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee. According to a sign I read at the Water Gardens they were "designed to be a playground for the senses. Surrounded by over 500 species of plants and trees, the main areas of the park, that being the 3 pools, the Mountain, Central Square and the Theater, were created as micro-environments for the people of Fort Worth to enjoy and explore."

You can see how easy it would be for a kid to fall into that pool. And for a dad to jump in to rescue his kid. Or to trip and fall into the pool. The Fort Worth Water Gardens cover a 4 and a half block square area of about 4 acres. Every minute 19,000 gallons of water are pumped through 10 miles of pipes, flowing past 7 miles of retaining walls.

The small steps down to the Active Pool and back up are a bit dicey when trying to pass someone on the narrow steps.

Can you imagine standing at this view and watching a dad try to rescue 3 kids? And all 4 disappearing. Terrible. I'm glad it's been re-opened and I trust that it is now safe. Now if only Fort Worth could fix Heritage Park at the other end of downtown.


The Water Gardens and Fort Worth Convention Center are located in an area that used to be known as Hell's Half Acre. That being a notorious red light district which was a favored destination of thousands of cowboys, buffalo hunters, railroad workers and all sorts of other sorts eager to wash off the trail dust and have themselves a good time. To satisfy that demand Hell's Half Acre had a lot of Saloons, Dance Halls, Gambling Dens and Bordellos.

The Fort Worth Good Ol' Boy Network of the day tolerated the illegal activities, just like the same Good Ol' Boy Network does today, in Fort Worth, because of the importance of Hell's Half Acre to the town's economy. Hell's Half Acre gave Fort Worth a reputation for being a rowdy frontier town that brought in the famous gamblers of the time, like Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp. Outlaws like Sam Bass, Eugene Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid spent time in Hell's Half Acre. Modern day Fort Worth has even named part of its downtown after one of the notorious Hell's Half Acre outlaws, by calling several downtown parking lots Sundance Square.

I'll end our look at Fort Worth's Water Gardens with a picture of the Quiet Pool. You walk down to the Quiet Pool. Walls are all around you with water dripping down the walls. It is very quiet, peaceful and serene. Hard to believe this used to be known as Hell's Half Acre.

Fort Worth Birds Grounded By Downpour While I Get Wet

You are looking through my rain covered windshield at some birds seeking shelter from the rain by perching themselves under one of the overpasses at the I-820/I-30 Mixmaster.

I was heading to Wal-Mart to get coffee. When I pulled into the parking lot I saw a lot of umbrellas. I decided to use mine so as to avoid getting totally soaked.

The umbrella kept part of me dry, but my long pants were too long and the water was too deep, so the pants served as a water wick sucking up rain.

Right now, looking out the window, the only thing I see falling is a few leaves. This may just be a temporary respite, though. It still looks dark and menacing out there.

Way Too Much Rain Falling In Fort Worth

That is the Sunday morning 10 o'clock dreary downpour view from my patio window, looking south. It rained all night. It's rained all morning.

But the National Weather Service has not issued any Flash Flood Warnings. I guess I don't know that for sure. What I do know is WeatherBug has not started chirping with a warning from the National Weather Service.

I heading out in it in a bit. I'm out of coffee.

This afternoon the plan is to go to downtown Fort Worth. I hope the drenching stops by then.

I've not heard from the Haltom City Fossil Creek Watching Association since yesterday morning. This concerns me.

Showing Steve Some Snow On Mount Baker While Dodging Raindrops In Texas

Yesterday I blogged about hiking up Mount Baker with my ex-sister-in-law Cindy. I was a little surprised she was engaging in such an activity because Cindy was not much of a hiker when she was my sister-in-law. And the hike from Schreiber's Meadow to the south slope of Mount Baker is a very strenuous climb. Which means Cindy is in real good shape.

I know there is no way Cindy's first husband, he being my brother, could hike that hike.

Steve A, from Keller, here in Texas, is familiar with Washington and its environs. Steve commented on yesterday's Mount Baker picture saying, "Mount Baker needs snow! It don't look right with just dirt on that ridge..."

Well, I have never been on the Railroad Grade with snow on it. I don't think it'd be hikeable then. Cindy sent me some more pictures last night, including the one here, that shows that Mount Baker does still have some snow, well, ice, on it.

It is a typical Pacific Northwest winter day today, here in North Texas. It rained all night. I went swimming this morning in a downpour. It is 61 degrees out there this Sunday morning at 9 and still raining.

Hiking Up Mount Baker With My Favorite Ex-Sister-In-Law & Spencer Jack

I like all my brother's ex-wives. If I had to pick one as my favorite (this is safe to do because none of them read my blog) I'd have to pick Cindy as my favorite former sister-in-law.

Yesterday I blogged about missing this time of year in Washington because September and October are when the hiking gets good. Freezing temperatures have killed the bugs, the snow is melted in the high country, wild mountain blueberries are ripe for the picking.

That is Cindy on what is called the Railroad Grade. It is a glacier carved moraine on the south slope of the Mount Baker volcano. Mount Baker is behind Cindy. If she turned around she would see steam coming out of the volcano's fumarole.

I think the last time I hiked this particular hike was with Cindy's youngest, my nephew Joey. I long ago webpaged that hike up Mount Baker with Joey, along with other Mount Baker pictures.

It has been a few years since Joey and I went hiking. Joey is now an uncle with a nephew of his own, named Spencer Jack, thought by many to be the cutest kid on the planet.

When Spencer gets a bit older I'm guessing Joey is going to have fun taking him to some of the places I used to take Joey.

But, Joey, if you are reading this, don't take Spencer Jack up Sauk Mountain in a snowstorm. I am still haunted by that worst incident of me putting a nephew in danger while having fun.

Joey, if you are still reading this, Spencer is almost the age when I used to take you and your cousin, Christopher, to what you kids called the Bunny Park, in Anacortes, and you'd try to trap rabbits. Never successfully, but the rabbit traps you two came up with were very well done.

Tandy Hills Cure Backaches

My back is no longer aching. I took it to the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area for a walk around noon. The first mile or so was a bit dicey and then the pain seemed to just melt away and I was back walking normal.

It is October 3, a couple weeks into Fall. Leaves are starting to turn and for some reason, this year, wildflowers continue to pop out and color up the Tandy Hills.

Today it was large herds of big yellow flowers that have sprouted up. Are these some type of Sunflower? I have no idea.

It was clear and in the 60s when I took my backache cure. It is still in the 60s, but it is not longer clear. Now it is raining.

Texas Twittering About Real Atlanta Housewives

My TV Blog is on fire again. Once more due to those annoying Real Housewives of Atlanta. By fire I mean that the blog is getting 50 visitors every 15 minutes or so.

Yesterday the total was the highest ever. Today's will likely be more due to this week's episode having a lot to do with the crazy Kim character and her affair with a married man, who she now claims to be engaged to, she calls Big Poppa.

Almost everyone who comes to my TV blog comes looking for a photo of Big Poppa. Go here to the FeedJit stats and see what I mean. The blogging they are being directed to was written almost a year ago.

Today the percentage of those on my blog searching for Big Poppa, is down a bit due to the sad news that one of the Atlanta Housewives, Kandi Burruss' fiance, known as A.J., nickname for Ashley Jewell, died from head injuries sustained in a brawl outside an Atlanta strip club.

I blogged about A.J., then Twittered about it. I learned a couple weeks ago that this causes people to come to the blog. It took me a long time to figure out what Twitter was useful for.

Oh My Aching Back Paining Me In Texas

Anyone who has ever had their back go out on them knows what I mean when I say there are few things worse.

When I got out of bed yesterday I could barely stand up. This got better as the day wore on. A long walk helped.

The worst type backache is where something snaps and the back is totally out. That has not happened this time.

My back used to go out on me fairly regularly, like once every couple years. It has only gone totally bad on me once in Texas, early on in my exile, when I was mowing the lawn on a riding lawnmower and I reached forward to pull a lever.

Instantly went out on me. That time took around 6 months to totally recover. I have had short bouts of aching back syndrome, since, but not where my back turns totally dysfunctional on me. I suspect I will quickly recover from this bad back bout.

I thought swimming might help, so I did so this morning. Felt much better afterwards. I'm going to limit the amount of time I spend clacking on this keyboard today. I think too much keyboard clacking may be a contributing factor to back pain.

Google's Word Captcha-ing Is Annoying Me

My Google Account is driving me buggy. A couple weeks ago, for no reason apparent to me, rather than let me quickly log in, Google would randomly insist I get past one of those annoying Word Captcha things to enter the account.

Trouble is it takes 4 or 5 tries to get a Word Captcha that I can figure out. Like the one you see here. The first letter I can make out for sure is an 'o'.

The Word Captcha's that Google uses on their Blogger comments, if that wonderful feature is enabled, well those ones are easy to read. Facebook pops up a Word Captcha once in awhile. They are easy to read.

I have not encountered Word Captchas before of the sort I'm dealing with on my Google Account. It's very aggravating.

The Grand Canyon Is Following Me

Way too frequently I'll hear something on TV or the radio. Or read something. Or be talking on the phone, which happened today. Or get an email, which also happened today, in which something is verbalized that causes me to think if I heard that 10 years ago my imagination would have been unable to conjure a scenario in which it made sense.

Like an email I just got from Twitter.

I just realized the previous sentence is yet one more example. Just 5 years ago I would have assumed Twitter must be a person who emailed me. But, today's email, from Twitter, said in the subject line "The Grand Canyon is now following you on Twitter!"

The Grand Canyon following me? On Twitter? Instantly makes sense to me in 2009. In 1999 I would have thought the message to be nonsensical gibberish.

When I was talking to my mom today she asked me if I got the picture of an arch they texted me. In 1999 the verb "texted" would have sounded like a mistake. I remember long ago when cordless phones became popular my mom told me she thought they were a passing fad. Now 25 years later my mom and dad are using ultra cordless phones, called cell phones, to send pictures.

What a world. By the way, the National Parks of America is also following me on Twitter.