Breaking Out Of My Texas Rut With Arlington Veterans Park Easter Egg Hunting & Disk Golfing

I didn't find any money today at Veterans Park. The last time I was there I found 17 pennies. That was the best thing that happened to me that week.

When I drove into the Veterans Park parking lot it was quickly obvious something was happening. Soon I saw a giant Easter Bunny. An Easter Egg Hunt had just taken place.

This caused me to wonder if Easter was tomorrow. I'm oblivious to such things. I subsequently found out that Easter is not tomorrow.

When I reached the spot where I had my 17 penny windfall I found no money. But I did find a Golf Disk. Veterans Park has a Disk Golf Course. There were no Disk Golfers to be seen.

So, I now have a Disk Golf Disk in my possession. I've seen a lot of people over the years throwing Golf Disks. It looks easy. Like throwing a Frisbee. However, I was not able to cause the Golf Disk to fly very far. Two tries later I was tired of Disk Golfing.

Earlier today I mentioned that someone had told me I was in a tiresome rut and needed to do something different to break out of my tiresome rut.

I feel that finding and throwing a Golf Disk qualifies as doing something different. But I still feel stuck in a tiresome rut.

I did have one other exciting thing happen today. I was cooking some burger material in a frying pan. And roasting oven-baked fries in the oven. A sort of pleasant smoky smell was wafting about. I thought it was coming from inside the oven, looked there, saw nothing unusual.

After the burgers were done I lifted the frying pan off the thing that gets hot, the name of which I'm not remembering right now, and found a large chunk of burned paper towel. I guess I'm lucky it did not go to flame. How it got so black and did not catch fire, I don't know. And why did I see no smoke? I was sort of distracted, due to worrying about that tiresome rut thing, maybe there was smoke. But the smoke alarms did not go off.

Maybe I should check the smoke alarm batteries.

Leaving My Texas Rut To Fly Over Camano Island In Washington

No, in the picture you are not looking at the Pacific Ocean from a Hawaiian Island. You are looking at Puget Sound from a Washington Island named Camano.

This morning someone with whom, in the distant past, I frequently drove, told me I was in a rut and needed to take a Roadtrip.

That sounds like a reasonable prescription to me.

But, I don't see that happening today, so instead I flew up to Washington via Google Earth to fly over Perry Mason's sister, Lori's, house on Camano Island.

From Perry Mason's sister's house you can see the Olympic Mountains and Mount Baker. Mount Baker is a volcano. One of 5 in the Washington Cascades. Mount Baker last erupted some time in the 1800s. Here in Texas we don't have to worry about mountains blowing up, we just have to worry about manmade things blowing up, like natural gas pipelines.

I could see Mount Baker from my house in Mount Vernon. I miss seeing mountains.

I miss a lot of things.

A short distance from PMS's house is Ustalady Point Park. We are looking west from Ustalady Point in the picture.

This morning, back in Texas, my therapist, Dr. L.C., seems to be enjoying being a Drama Queen, arguing with Elsie Hotpepper. Why can't people try harder to just get along?

Meanwhile back to Washington, I'm worried about Tootsie Tonasket and people not getting along in her world, which seems to be driving Tootsie to drink. That's not good.

So, it's another Saturday in my Texas rut. It's a warmer Saturday than the last one, which saw snow falling.

Sticking The Wild Woman Of Woolley In My Mustang's Trunk

Earlier today I mentioned the Wild Woolley Woman, Miss CVB, and her resemblance to her beautiful daughter.

So, I told Miss CVB that I'd recently come across some ancient photos of her teenage years. Today I had to scan a bunch of documents, so I figured, since I was doing some scanning, the first thing I'd scan was some evidentiary photos of Miss CVB, back when she was still Miss CV.

That is my first car in which Miss CV is trunk sitting. It was a 1965 Mustang Fastback. If it were still alive today it would be worth a small fortune.

I bought my Mustang in October of my Senior High School year. A lot of fun was had in that car.

I've been feeling a bit homesick for Washington lately, the scenery, the clean air, the good weather, the people. Washington is like living in a theme park. In Texas there is a nearby theme park that I can go to, Six Flags Over Texas, that I don't like. In Washington I could go a few miles east and be in the mountains, a few miles west and be on a saltwater beach.

In Washington I had so many favorite places to go hiking within a 25 miles radius. The Tandy Hills is nice, compared to other choices in my current Texas locale, but the Tandy Hills would not be hike worthy if they were nearby where I lived in Washington. I doubt they'd even have any trails. Why would they?

So, why is Miss CV in the trunk of my car? Well, we were wild kids. Miss CV was practicing for going to see a drive-in movie. She'd hide in the trunk and then once I was safely parked she'd climb through the panel door that opened from the trunk. We ended this practice after being caught at the drive-in in Bellingham. It was a little embarrassing.

I can't remember for sure if the car next to mine is Miss CV's or Miss Beth's, aka Miss Oahu's? If I remember right Miss CV had a Mustang and Miss Beth had a Cougar. I suck at identifying cars. If forced to guess I'd guess it is Miss CV's Mustang, mostly because I can tell the cars are sitting on her driveway.

The passage of a lot of time has dulled a lot of what I'm able to remember. The aforementioned Miss Beth wrote something in my annual about never forgetting a moonlit night at Bay View. I had no memory of what she was talking about. But, Miss CV claims this references an incident where it was real warm, with myself, Misses Beth and CV at Bay View, late, feeling like going swimming, but with no swimsuits, going swimming in our underwear. It bothers me because one would think I would remember this.

In the black and white picture I think me and Miss CV were up in the North Cascades, maybe. I remember having a picnic and pulling out the easy to remove back seat to use to sit on.

Okay, enough time spent on Nostalgia Road.

My Foul Mood And A Wildflower Blooming In Texas On The Tandy Hills

I am having one of my rare why do I bother days. Someone recently told me that Peckish and Durango were synonymous. I had to look up Peckish to see that Someone was right.

Today my therapist, Dr. L.C., is in one of her men are way too difficult moods, something to do with cats being easier to herd. I am not sure if I am among the difficult to herd, or not.

My dear Mom mailed me a lot of vacation house rental info, sent March 15, that I did not get til today, because today is the first day I've gone to the Post Office in awhile. The house rental info is for Perry Mason's little sister, Lori, who is up in Washington. I love convolutions. So, now I guess I'm mailing my mom's house rental info to Washington.

Speaking of my dear Mom, today I heard from my Mom's youngest, my little sister, the shyster, I mean, lawyer. Little sister is having a major back woe, something called Piriformis Syndrome, which causes the Sciatic Nerve to be pinched, with a lot of pain being the result.

Made me feel bad reading my little sister's description. I'd emailed her to remind her of a Running Challenge, that is 17 years old, and which is triggered on her next birthday, which is April 13. This Running Challenge takes place at Washington Park in Anacortes in Washington. Late summer is the earliest my little sister thinks she might be up for the Running Challenge.

Meanwhile, I am currently Sore in Texas due to the Twister Push-Up Challenge. I believe I overdid it, because I'm sore from the waist north. This may be due to that slippery mud sliding incident on Wednesday on the treacherous Tandy Hills, but I doubt it.

Speaking of which, due to my foul mood of feeling foul, I went to the Tandy Hills today, hoping they'd be dried out and I could strain my bad mood into oblivion. Well, the Tandy Hills were still muddy, but I was able to get off the trails and cross country it for the needed mood elevation.

It is hell being addicted to endorphins.

A couple signs of Wildflowers finally starting to show up, including that pink wild flower you see at the top. The Texas Wildflowers are being really late this year. Something to do with the long cold Winter?

One of the most ubiquitous Texas Wildflowers is the State Wildflower of Texas, the Bluebonnet. I saw Bluebonnets on Wednesday, and again today, but not on the Tandy Hills, but in the yards of homes by the Tandy Hills. How does that happen?

Wild Woman of Woolley Nightmares While Sleeping In Texas

I had a nightmare last night that had the Wild Woman of Woolley, Miss CVB, in it. (I had not noticed before, til just typing it, that CVB are in that exact order on the low row of the QWERTY keyboard)

A couple days ago Miss CVB sent me a picture of her daughter. That is her in pink. It seems recent in my memory, but it was long ago, that I saw Miss CVB's daughter, in person. She was just a baby.

I'll spare you the rest of my memory on this subject. Suffice to say that Miss CVB's daughter puts me in mind of Miss CVB all those years ago.

So, last night, I'm having a nightmare. I was back in the Skagit Valley. At the Mount Vernon Mall. It's dark. I run into Miss CVB, well, actually, at that point in time she was Miss CV. I asked if she wanted to go have pizza. Sure, she said.

So, we go in this dark pizza joint, sit at a table, I go order pizza, then go back to the table to find Miss CV missing. I figure she had to go do something but would be right back. So, I sit. I do not wait well, but I continued waiting. Eventually I realized Miss CV was not coming back. I then woke up.

After that I could not go back to sleep. I started obsessing over the Mount Vernon Mall. There were two malls in Mount Vernon, one on each side of College Way, on the east side of I-5. These malls were built in the 1970s. Then torn down in the 1990s and replaced with more modern strip malls. I think.

And that's what kept me awake. Trying to remember what replaced the 2 malls. I could remember Albertsons and Ernst on the south side and a huge Safeway on the north side. And, awhile after that, a Wal-Mart. But then I go blank.

I do recollect being back in Mount Vernon, after I moved to Texas, for a funeral, staying at the Day's Inn in Mount Vernon and roller blading from the Day's Inn all over the Wal-Mart and Safeway parking lots. But, I can't remember what was there besides those 2 stores and a Jamba Juice joint.

I wonder if I am exhibiting early Alzheimer's and what the Freudian implications are of last night's Miss CV nightmare? If any.

Falling In Texas With Other Pains At Fort Worth's Fosdic Lake

I think I mentioned that I talked to Elsie Hotpepper this morning. Elsie was not long out of bed. I think she was only half awake and not at all recovered from the previous night's shenanigans, which somehow left Elsie's voice about 2 octaves lower than normal and her Texas drawl about 2 octaves lower, as well.

And then I heard from my therapist, Dr. L.C., grilling me about why I'm getting up so early. Dr. L.C. does not sounds as raspy as Elsie Hotpepper.

I don't know why my therapist is now concerned with when I get up in the morning. Yesterday it was concern about how late I have lunch. I tell you I live with an Orwellian level of Big Brother monitoring. It's very stifling.

To get temporary relief from feeling stifled, around noon, I went to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdic Lake. My quest to find Oakland Lake remains a quest. As you can see, in the picture, it was not being even remotely sunny when I was out walking.

I ended up only slightly sore from yesterday's fall. The slip and slide incident was not painful, unlike last week's ankle twisting fall by my mailbox. There seems to be an epidemic of falls and backaches among those I know.

My little sister is out of commission with an aching back. The Scrabble Queen of Washington is currently in back pain. Perry Mason's little sister, Lori, took a bad fall while gardening. Elsie Hotpepper falls regularly during her nightly shenanigans. Tootsie Tonasket took a tumble, on Sunday, whilst trying to chase a deer from her garden.

I'm sure I am forgetting some aches and pains. But, you know who you are.

Buying An ALDI Bag While Finding Pool Treasure & Recovering From Yesterday's Texas Storm

Yesterday when I was in Hurst I went to another of the newly opened ALDI Food Markets. I did not have my ALDI bag. I didn't get much and only needed one bag. On my first ALDI visit the ALDI checkout person told me you get one ALDI bag free, extras cost a dime each.

So, imagine my shock when I looked at my ALDI receipt, later, to find I'd been charged a dime for an ALDI bag, plus a penny tax, for a grand total for the ALDI bag of 11 cents.

Now, to most people 11 cents is no big deal, but to me 11 cents is a significant percentage of my daily income.

And then something happened this morning that is like some fortuitous sign from above that my lifelong bad luck is about to change.

Just as I was about to step into the pool, as I looked down to take my first wet step, what do I see? A dime and a penny. Here I'd been fretting about being charged 11 cents for that ALDI bag, to find myself, this morning, mysteriously reimbursed for my loss.

It is the dawn of a new lease on the future or something like that.

Meanwhile, Elsie Hotpepper left me an urgent text message last night, insisting I call her at once. I did as ordered, but it was after I found my 11 cent windfall, that I saw the text message. I called Elsie. I can't tell you what Elsie needed to talk to me about. Suffice to say it had something to do with the fight against corruption in the Eminent Domain Abuse Capital of the World, Tarrant County, Texas.

And then I had another surprise this morning. Last night the Queen of Wink blogged about her recent trip to San Antonio and made mention of the fact that she and I had discussed one aspect of that trip, that being going to see a doctor about getting Pamela Andersonized. I naively thought this was a private matter.

But then again, of late, I've had to bear witness to an ongoing discussion regarding my personal pectorals, including reading a comment, this morning, from the just mentioned Queen of Wink, where she verbalizes her opinion and personal experience with the issue in question.

Anyway, here's hoping I find some more treasure laying on the ground today. But I won't be treasure hunting on the Tandy Hills. We had a bit of a storm here yesterday that dropped some water. It did not downpour for too long. I had only one close lightning strike. I experienced none of the predicted strong wind gusts.

A Potential Texas Tornado Storm Brews While I Slip On A Fort Worth Mudslide

Something wicked this way comes. A big storm is brewing. It is heading in from the northwest. By that I mean northwest relative to my location, not the location from whence I moved over a decade ago.

The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Alert. Wind gusts to 60, with 2 inch hail. The conditions are such that tornadoes can form from rotating supercells.

I love weather talk. The view in the picture is looking northwest at the incoming storm, after I got back here a little after 5.

On the way back here, after a late in the afternoon hiking on the Tandy Hills, I heard the radio alert about the incoming storm. And mention made of the fact that in a couple days it will be a decade since the killer tornado that struck downtown Fort Worth.

That was my first tornado storm. I lived in the town of Haslet at the time, at the north end of Fort Worth. I was heading to meet up with someone at UNT in West Fort Worth. Ahead I saw an eerie wall of greenish gray clouds. I did not realize at the time I was looking at the wall of clouds that produced the tornado.

I got a call from the person I was heading towards meeting, telling me she was stuck in a basement, due to a tornado. I retreated to my domicile, which was soon to be struck by a barrage of the biggest hail I've ever seen. Between the thunder and that hail it was about the noisiest thing I've ever heard.

Oh, about the mudslide. Hiking the Tandy Hills today I parked by the tower at the top of Tandy Mountain. This put me on trails I'd not been on since the recent deluge. I was heading down a trail and took a grassy detour, due to the trail being muddy. Suddenly I slipped and went sliding down the hill for a short distance.

This covered the entire back of me with mud, and my right arm and hand. I was a mess. Which is ironic, because just hours before, my therapist, Dr. L.C., emailed me saying, simply, "You're a mess." She is very psychic that way. Although her timing is often off.

I don't believe there will be any bruises or aches from this latest mishap.

Now it's time to batten down the hatches and prepare for losing power. By hatches I mean shut the windows.

Fort Chesapeake Guards Tarrant County College While J.D. Granger Drinks Beer

I was heading east on Harwood Road in Hurst around noon when I saw what you're looking at in the picture.

Those of us who live in, well, with, the Barnett Shale, know what this is.

Those outside the Barnett Shale Severe Contamination Pollution Hazardous Zone of Occupation might think this looks like a modernized version of an old Wild West Fort.

If it were, this would be Fort Chesapeake, due to it being a Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale natural gas drilling site. The wall is put up to muffle the disturb the peace sounds these operations emit.

This particular drilling site is near a couple apartment complexes, some businesses and is located on what I believe is Tarrant County College land. I vaguely recollect reading there was a gas drilling operation on college land. The open land, on which Fort Chesapeake sits, continues to the east a short distance, to where the college campus buildings are located.

With all this open land, I could not help wonder why Tarrant County College did not choose to simply expand at this location, rather than spend 100s of millions of dollars trying to build a downtown Fort Worth campus, which was aborted, prior to finishing, in order to move the downtown campus to the aborted Radio Shack headquarters.

Way too many things get aborted in downtown Fort Worth. Or so it seems to me.

New buildings could have been added and a lot of buses bought to transit students in from around the county for a fraction, I would think, of what the Downtown Fort Worth Tarrant County College boondoggle cost.

On to a totally unrelated note, well, it is related in that it involves something in Tarrant County.

So, last night there was a meeting in a church, a public meeting, held to let the public have input into the Riverside Park wetlands abatement part of the Trinity River Vision. At least that is what I think this was about. What I know for sure, because I read it in the Star-Telegraph (please note, that is Telegraph, not Telegram), that the meeting went bizarrely awry.

The infamously nepotistically benefitting son, J.D. Granger, of Fort Worth's favorite corrupt congresswoman, Kay Granger, was in attendance.

J.D. Granger did not speak at this public meeting. I don't know if J.D. did not speak because he was over medicated with his favorite adult beverage, or what.

I got the picture of J.D. knocking back a Shiner from the Star-Telegraph. For those of you not in Texas, a Shiner is the State Beer of Texas.

You can read all of what the Star-Telegraph's Eagle Eye Reporter had to say here...

I Need To Get Out More & Visit The Top 100 Things To See In The Dallas Fort Worth Area

A couple weeks ago the Dallas Morning News had an article listing the Top 100 Places to Go in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex area that one needs to experience to be a well-rounded Metroplexer.

Well, it is often said I don't get out much, which must be true, because I have been a Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplexer for over 10 years and have not been to too many of the places on this list of 100.

The List of 100 is divided by category. I'll go through the categories one by one to get an idea of how badly I need to get out more.

ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICTS

Belt Line in Addison
Bishop Arts District
Mockingbird Station
Snider Plaza
Stockyards National Historic District
Sundance Square
Uptown/Knox-Henderson
West End Historic District

Well, I have been to the Fort Worth Stockyards, Mockingbird Station (to ride the DART train), Sundance Square and the West End Historic District. I don't know that I have been to Addison, let alone to Belt Line in Addison, whatever that is.

MUST-SEES

Dallas World Aquarium
Dallas Zoo
Fort Worth Zoo
The French Room
Louis Tussaud's Palace of Wax and Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek
Medieval Times
McKinney Avenue Trolley
Mustangs of Las Colinas at Williams Square
The Old Red Museum of Dallas County History and Culture
Pioneer Plaza
Reunion Tower
Southfork Ranch
White Rock Lake

Well, I've been to the Fort Worth Zoo. Was not favorably impressed. I've walked among the sculptures at Pioneer Plaza. I've seen the similar Mustang sculptures at Los Colinas. I've pedaled my bike around White Rock Lake many times. I've driven by the Palace of Wax and Ripley's and Medieval Times, with no desire to enter. I've ridden by the Dallas Zoo on the DART train. I've driven and walked along Turtle Creek. I've seen the McKinney Avenue Trolley, Reunion Tower and Southfork Ranch. I have no idea what the French Room is.

MUSEUMS

African American Museum
Museum of the American Railroad
American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum
Amon Carter Museum
Cavanaugh Flight Museum
Crow Collection of Asian Art
Dallas Holocaust Museum
Dallas Museum of Art
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
Frontiers of Flight Museum
Kimbell Art Museum
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Museum of Nature and Science
Nasher Sculpture Center
National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame
SMU Meadows Museum
The Women's Museum

I am very uncultured. I have only been to the Amon Carter Museum, the Modern Art Museum and the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science. I've stood outside the Women's Museum at Dallas Fair Park, same with the Kimball Art Museum, the National Cowgirl Museum and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. I'm pretty sure just standing outside a museum does not let me count it has something I have seen.

HISTORY

Chestnut Square Historic Village
Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park
Dealey Plaza
Fair Park
Grapevine Vintage Railroad
John F. Kennedy Memorial
Log Cabin Village
Owens Spring Creek Farm
Sixth Floor Museum

Shouldn't Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum be counted as the same thing? These type lists always seem to have to pad to get to their anointed number. Actually, the John F. Kennedy Memorial is right in the area of Dealey Plaza, too. I've driven by Log Cabin Village in Fort Worth. Nothing I'd be drawn to visiting. I've seen the Grapevine Vintage Railroad, or Tarantula Train, in both Grapevine and at the Fort Worth Stockyards. No desire to ride that train.

ARTS AND CULTURE

Bath House Cultural Center
Dallas Center for Contemporary Art
Latino Cultural Center
McKinney Avenue Contemporary
Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center
Texas Sculpture Garden

I've had no art or culture since I've been in Texas, apparently.

NIGHTLIFE

IV
PM Nightlife Lounge
Absinthe Lounge
Billy Bob's Texas
Deep Ellum Entertainment District
Gilley's Dallas
Ghostbar
Havana Social Club
Inwood Theatre
Lee Harvey's
Loft 610 lounge
White Elephant Saloon

I have no night life, I guess. I have been to Deep Ellum, in Dallas, but not at night.

NATURE AND OUTDOORS

Arbor Hills Nature Preserve
Cedar Hill State Park
Cedar Ridge Preserve
Dallas Arboretum
Dinosaur Valley State Park
Fort Worth Botanic Garden
Fort Worth Nature Center
Fossil Rim Wildlife Center
Heard Natural Science Museum
Katy Trail
River Legacy Park
Texas Discovery Gardens
Trinity River Audubon Center

Apparently I am a Nature & Outdoors type guy. In addition to the places I have links to I've also been to Cedar Hills State Park many times, to hike, bike, swim and picnic.

SPORTS AND RECREATION

Dr Pepper Ballpark
Eisenbergs Skatepark
GameWorks
Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie
Malibu SpeedZone
Mesquite Championship Rodeo
Metroplex BMX
Pizza Hut Park
Rangers Ballpark
Six Flags Over Texas
Six Flags Hurricane Harbor
Texas Motor Speedway
Texas Motorplex
Zero Gravity Thrill Amusement Park

It seems I am not much of a Sports & Recreation guy. I've been to Six Flags twice. Did not care for it. I've been to one baseball game in the Ballpark in Arlington, to watch Seattle beat the Rangers or the Rangers beat Seattle, I don't remember who won. I used to live by the Texas Motor Speedway, so I know what and where that is. I've driven by Lone Star Park, I think horses race there. Gameworks is on this list? It's in the Grapevine Mills mall.

SHOPPING

Dallas Farmers Market
First Monday Trade Days in Canton
Galleria Dallas
Ikea Frisco
Neiman Marcus Downtown Dallas
NorthPark Center

I'm not much of a shopper, so I'm surprised I've been to 3 of the Shopping places on this list, with the third being Galleria Dallas.

OFFBEAT

The Cockroach Hall of Fame
Mary Kay Cosmetics tours
Mrs Baird's Bakeries tours

I'm guessing whoever made this list of 100 got to 97 and needed 3 more to make it to 100, hence this Offbeat add-on.