Happy Thanksgiving Y'all From Fort Worth Texas

Yes, that is me running away from you in the pool this Thanksgiving morning. It was 41 degrees. I did not last too long in the water. It is supposed to get in the 70s on Saturday.

I'm hoping some of that heat gets into the water.

Last Thanksgiving I went to Zorro's Buffet for turkey. This year I'm cooking the bird myself. I think Thanksgiving last year may have been the last time I've been to Zorro's.

Time goes by so fast. This is the time of year that fast forwards to Christmas, then New Year's Day.

The Christmas lights start turning epidemic tomorrow. I'm going to try and see the lights at Interlochen this year. Did not get around to it last year. The Interlochen neighborhood puts on the most over the top Christmas displays I've ever seen. The throngs of viewers require traffic control.

When I get back from the Tandy Hills, this afternoon, the turkey should be done. If I've done the calculations correct, which is a bit of a concern because high level mathematics is not one of my strengths.

Fort Worth's Mayor Moncrief Changes The Name Of The Trinity River & Orders It Dyed The Color Purple

Okay, I admit I am not much of a spectator sports fan. I've watched a game or two over the years, but it is not something I regularly do. I prefer to play, rather than sit and watch others play.

So, I don't pay all that much attention to who wins what. This can leave me woefully ignorant of who is doing well in whatever sport.

As in, I had no idea that Fort Worth had a football team that is ranked #4 and is undefeated, that being Texas Christian University, aka TCU. Apparently TCU has never been in a BCS bowl game and due to their ranking they likely will get their first invite.

I did not know that 2 weeks ago Fort Worth initiated a "Go Purple" campaign. Evidently purple is TCU's school color. TCU's team mascot is something called a Horned Frog.

Now here is where it gets really weird.

Fort Worth's corrupt Mayor Mike Moncrief, a man who loves to help people pollute, announced on Wednesday that a section of the Trinity River that runs through Trinity Park will be dyed purple Friday morning.

And the Trinity River will be renamed "Horned Frog River" for the duration of the football season.

The wondrous powers of being a Fascist Dictator. You can order the arbitrary coloring and renaming of a river.

Tarrant Regional Water District and Streams and Valleys employees have been working on a non-toxic purple dye that will not affect water quality or harm fish, turtles or birds.

Huh?

Isn't just the act of turning river water purple harming the quality of the water?

And, how are we to trust that this purple dye is totally non-toxic? Are these not sort of the same people who used to claim the Barnett Shale natural gas drilling was non-toxic til proven otherwise?

It would seem there are better ways of showing support for the local football team than turning an already troubled river into the River Purple.

David Kicked Goliath To The Freeway In A Fort Worth Freedom Victory

That's another look at Carter Avenue, this Thanksgiving Eve of 2009. The people of Carter Avenue have good reason to celebrate a very happy Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Using the greatest power an American has, the use of their free speech, the people of Carter Avenue fought back against Chesapeake Energy and the corrupted elected officials of the city they live in.

And won.

I'd barely hit the publish button on this afternoon's blogging about Carter Avenue, and its flag celebration, when I got a comment from my favorite commenter, the ubiquitous Anonymous.

I'll copy that comment below, and below that I'll add what Anonymous suggested, that being lines from the National Anthem. The lines I found most appropriate are from the seldom heard last verse of the Star-Spangled Banner.

First the comment from Anonymous and then the National Anthem....

Well put, Mr. Durango. It would have been a shame if you, the unofficial chronicler of life around what the locals generally call Eastern Hills (thus a high school with that name), had not made your mark on this pretty significant--if not historic, in terms of all this invasion by the gassers and their gassing fields and gassing equipments--occasion. I agree with you that those American flags express everything that is positive regarding this whole fight--for life and death, literally. Maybe these people are thinking of the lines from the National Anthem. Maybe you could print the words and let your readers reflect and compare what the song said and what has occurred on Carter Ave., one small battle in a long war against tyranny and inhumanity (maybe that's where the ever strong Mother Nature comes in). But truth, justice, and the American way certainly would sum it up pretty well also. David kicked Goliath to the freeway might also be approppriate.

"O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause. it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

Big congratulations to the people of Carter Avenue. You have scored a huge victory for Fort Worth. In the end, good always triumphs over evil. Eventually. Hopefully.

Warning High Pressure Pipeline Sprouting Giant Weeds In Fort Worth

After I checked out the massive Carter Avenue flag display, and Mother Nature, I went north on Beach Street. Yesterday it looked like maybe the gas drillers had cleaned up the mess they'd made, well, actually damage they had done to the Trinity River Levee.

So, I thought I'd take a look.

As I walked towards the rutted damaged levee area I thought I saw someone working on the damage, pushing something. Was it a grass seeder I wondered?

No. It was a kid wheeling his fishing gear down to the river's edge.

The damaged levee remains damaged.

On the way back to my vehicle I walked a bit north to check out these giant weed-like plants I've noticed before, like mutant corn stalks. As I got closer I saw a WARNING sign.

High Pressure Petroleum Pipeline. How this relates to the mutant weeds I have not a clue. But, whatever those giant plants are they were making the oddest noise, like clicking and popping. It took me a couple minutes to figure out there were a lot of birds in the weeds making the noise.

So. Anyone know what the giant weeds are? Is it sorghum?

Truth, Justice & The American Way Celebrated With Flags On Carter Avenue

Some time after 2 this afternoon an email came to my attention from a reliable source, let's call him Fort Worth's Deep Well, telling me that he'd been asked by another reliable source to tell me I should drive down Carter Avenue.

I always do what I'm told to do. Usually.

So, I stuck my camera in my pocket and hopped on my trusty steed and headed towards Carter Avenue, having no idea what I would find there.

I thought maybe a Thanksgiving Eve Block Party was underway, celebrating the news that Chesapeake Energy is backing off on their threat to run non-odorized natural gas through a pipeline running under the homes along Carter Avenue.

As soon as I turned off Beach Street on to Carter Avenue I saw flags, lots of American flags, in front of every home on Carter Avenue,
then more flags when I turned left on Sanborn Street, flags all the way to Mother Nature on Scott Avenue, a monument that continues to weep over the damage done to the Tandy Hills by Chesapeake Energy.

How has Mother Nature lasted so long? Has it not been 2 long hot summers and 2 long cold winters that she has sat there? She looks no worse than the last time I saw her, maybe as long as a year ago.

Back to the flags. Was this the people of Carter Avenue celebrating that the American Way had worked? That truth, justice and doing the right thing had prevailed. That they had used the power of their freedom of speech to let other Americans know about the threat being directed at Carter Avenue?

Following the American flags down Carter Avenue leads you to Mother Nature. That has to mean something....

Microsoft Extreme Wednesday Morning Suckitude In Texas

I've not often jumped on the Microsoft Sucks Bandwagon.

Til last night when Bill Gates rudely woke me up by taking control of my computer, again, against my will. And restarted it.

Yesterday afternoon I saw that there was yet another round of security updates to prevent someone horrible from taking control of my computer (like Microsoft does).

I read the details of the updates, saw one was irrelevant to me, de-selected it and hit the cancel button.

Now, I know I can somehow disable these Microsoft XP automatic updates, I think. But, I also know that it's likely a wise plan to do the updates. But, I really do not think I was in imminent danger of attack. I should have been allowed to install and re-start when I wanted to.

DOOM Presents The 3rd Annual Kennedy Assassination Race In Dallas November 28

It is not easy to disgust me with a display of bad taste. Like what Adam Lambert did on Sunday at the American Music Awards didn't disgust me, instead I was sort of embarrassed for him and his incredibly bad judgment.

Now the poster you see here, that does disgust me due to the extreme display of bad taste. I don't know who or what DOOM is. I do know DOOM convinced the Oak Cliff Bicycle Company in Dallas to display their race poster that says...

DOOM PRESENTS 3rd ANNUAL KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RACE, NOVEMBER 28, 1PM at GLENCOE PARK.

I assume it is bikes being raced.

What does "AFTER ALL, IT WAS YOU AND ME" mean? Again, I don't know.

I'm not alone in finding this poster to be a very bad thing. It has generated a lot of comments on the Oak Cliff Bicycle Company website. From reading the comments I think I gleaned this is a bike race, with one of the comments coming from the guy behind the DOOM poster, Alain, who writes a very long reply to Galen, explaining his rationale for the poster. You can go to the link to read what Alain had to say for himself. Below are some other comments...

The poster and, indeed, the whole idea is in very poor taste. I take it the folks behind the Assassination ride didn’t live through that terrible time.

---

While I understand this flyer may be deemed offensive to many, our intention is to promote cycling and cycling events in our community. Period.

---

Oh, I understand now. It’s like if I lived in NYC and owned a bungee jumping equipment store. OK, I want to promote bungee jumping, so I organize a 9/11 Twin Towers Memorial Bungee Jump, and on my flyer, I have pictures of the poor souls jumping to their death from the Twin Towers. Wow, what a great idea! It would really drum up support for my store and bungee jumping, wouldn’t it?

---

In my mind, this poster is a symbol of so much that is wrong with our society. It is a reflection of how so many people, especially those of Gens X and Y, have become numb to images of graphic violence. From video games to movies, these young people have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of scenes of exploding brains, steaming entrails, and other gratuitous gore. It also expresses that desire to shock people’s sensibilities, just for the sake of being shocking.

Thanksgiving Turkey Trot In Dallas

Two Dallas Thanksgiving traditions take place tomorrow. I may participate in one of them, that being the Turkey Trot. The other tradition is the Dallas Cowboys always play a Thanksgiving Day Football Game.

Tomorrow Dallas is going to try and beat the Oakland Raiders in Arlington. Dallas never plays football in Dallas, which means Dallas never plays a home game. Dallas played football in Arlington this past Sunday. Tony Romo was slightly hurt. Four days is not much recovery time between games. Or so I would think.

Tomorrow's Turkey Trot in Dallas started way back on Thanksgiving of 1968. I believe that the original race ran from White Rock Lake to downtown Dallas. The current version of the Turkey Trot starts downtown at the Dallas City Hall and runs an 8K or 5K route in the downtown zone. Why the run is not around White Rock Lake, I do not know.

Back in 1968, in Dallas, there were few runners, that fad had not hit this part of the country yet. Now, 41 years later, the Turkey Trot, officially known by its sponsor's names as the Capital One Bank Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot, is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, race of its sort in America.

Over 37,000 runners, 15,000 spectators and 2,000 volunteers will be joining me at the Turkey Trot.

Running should work up a good appetite for a big feeding of turkey and other goodies tomorrow. See you in Dallas.

Alma Sends Me From Texas To The Ukraine For Kseniya Simonova's Incredible Ukraine's Got Talent Performance

I have long known that when Alma, the songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, sends me something she thinks is good, via email, to trust Alma's instincts.

Alma may get a bit testy at times, on Facebook, for instance, confusing some of my other Facebook friends, who don't know Alma. And so don't know that Alma is a good-hearted sweety-pie, very smart, very talented. And with one of the best senses of humor and good taste it has been my pleasure to encounter.

So, just seconds ago I watched a YouTube video Alma sent me. It was a jaw dropping video experience, the best since Susan Boyle shocked me on Britain's Got Talent.

And, as coincidence would have it, this YouTube video, that Alma sent me, is the Ukraine's winner of their version of Britain's Got Talent.

A very good looking Ukrainian, Kseniya Simonova, uses a light box, dramatic music and incredible sand painting skills to artfully make an interpretation of Germany's WWII invasion of Russia, and occupation of the Ukraine, that is so powerful it drives many in the audience to tears.

I have never seen anything like this. Thanks Alma....

Cable Gate & The Tandy Hills Blue Flags Mystery

I had not been back to the Tandy Hills Natural Area since our recent bout of rain here in Fort Worth. I figured we'd been dry long enough that the Tandy Hills would be dried out.

I was wrong. They were muddy spots. But, not too bad, so I was able to go up and down 2 hill climbs over and over again til the endorphins kicked in.

I was in desperate need of an endorphin fix. Being an endorphin addict and in dire need of a fix is not a good thing. I don't get an endorphin fix from swimming in the morning. That's more some form of aversion or shock therapy.

A couple weeks ago I was perplexed whilst hiking the Tandy Hills when I saw a couple small blue plastic flags on a spike stuck in the ground. Today I saw another pair.

What is the purpose of the unnatural plastic flags being stuck on the Natural Tandy Hills?

My way to the Tandy Hills today was from the playground main trail entry that goes by Fort Worth's most recent exhibit of stunning public art. As I left the grass/lawn zone, on to the trail, I was puzzled by big lumps of mud, some basketball size. What could have left those, I walked and wondered? There were a dozen, maybe 2 dozen, of these big lumps. From where were these lumps extracted?

And then as I neared the first trail junction, off the main trail, I started seeing tire ruts. Who is driving a 4 Wheeler on the Tandy Hills Natural Area? And leaving ruts? The ruts went no further than you see in the picture. You are looking south, back towards the playground/public art zone.

Are the ruts and the blue flags another Billy Hill antic?

And why is there no Cable Gate across the main entry trail to the Tandy Hills, blocking vehicles? Up by the tower, known as the Fort Worth Needle, there is a Cable Gate. This in a location that sees few vehicles. And then you start down the trail from the Needle and come to an intersection that has another Cable Gate across the trail that goes down the hill to the north. If you go down the trail to the south you will find another Cable Gate blocking the trail at the junction that goes north. Why these Cable Gates and none at the main entry where the rutting took place?

It's all very perplexing.