April 7 At Whole Foods Market Arlington Spend Money Save Prairie

On Wednesday, April 7, the Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area (FOTHNA) will be the recipient of a 5% Community Giving Day at the Arlington Whole Foods Market.

On that day FOTHNA will receive 5% of April 7's Arlington Whole Foods net sales.

FOTHNA volunteers will be on location, from 10am til 7pm, to share information about FOTHNA and to promote the April 24 Prairie Fest.

The Arlington Whole Foods Market is at 801 East Lamar Boulevard. Exit I-30 at Collins Street. You'll find Whole Foods a short distance north, at the intersection of Collins and Lamar.

The KFC Double Down Is Real! No Fooling On April Fool's Day

When this came into my email box this morning my initial reaction was YUK. Two slabs of Kentucky Fried Chicken making a sandwich with cheese and bacon.

I thought KFC was going a healthier route, what with their Grilled KFC and other less greasy options.

The email from KFC had links to Twitter and Facebook that also promoted this KFC Double Down Real Deal.

Also a link to the KFC website's Double Down page, complete with a countdown to when you can buy your first Double Down on April 12.

So, with "no fooling" in the KFC email's subject line it dawned on me that this was an April Fool's Day joke.

But, now, I don't know. It's a pretty elaborate joke, if it is.

From the KFC website, "The rumored KFC Double Down sandwich is REAL and it's coming April 12th! This one-of-a-kind sandwich features two thick and juicy boneless white meat chicken filets (Original Recipe® or Grilled), two pieces of bacon, two melted slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese and Colonel's Sauce. This product is so meaty, there’s no room for a bun!"

The Double Down comes in two versions – Original Recipe® or Grilled and the nutrition information is below.

Sandwich	Calories	Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)
KFC Original Recipe® Double Down	540	32	1380
KFC Grilled Double Down	460	23	1430

How can all that fried goodness be only 540 calories?

So? April Fool's Day Joke? I don't know.

I listened to Rush Limbaugh for a short while today, while driving, and caught the tail end of him saying, I think, that he does not do April Fool's Day Jokes anymore due to the disheartening number of people who don't realize that it is the 1st of April and that they are being pranked.

I don't often empathize with Mr. Limbaugh, but on this serious April Fool's Day Joke issue, he and I are in total agreeance.

I hope everyone is having a Happy April Fool's Day. My favorite holiday of the year...

Viva Durango Vegas Adios Durango Texas

If all goes according to plan I should be seeing the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada sign sometime on Monday.

That's right. I'm finally leaving Texas. The moving van is supposed to be here sometime this morning. Loading today, exiting tomorrow, heading west via I-20.

First stop will be in Wink, to pick up a Queen. Leaving Wink Saturday morning.

Then on to Phoenix to see my parental units. Leaving Phoenix Monday morning. Las Vegas about 6 hours later.

I have an apartment waiting for me. I rented it via a website. It's got a nice pool. Due to the past couple days being so HOT, this first day of April had my Texas pool water finally warm enough that I swam for over a half hour this morning. Maybe I will get one more Texas swim in, Friday morning.

Saturday, April 24, the Queen of Wink and I have an appointment at the Elvis Wedding Chapel. From Texas, Elsie Hotpepper and my former fiance, Miss Puerto Rico, plan to attend. My therapist, Dr. L.C., will not be in Vegas due to disapproving of these moves. What a sourpuss.

I'm assuming my mom and dad will be in Vegas on the 24th. This should please the Wild Woman of Woolley, formerly known as Miss CVB, now known as Betty Jo Bouvier. Most people insist I not use their real names on my blog, but the former Miss CVB, yesterday, told me she does not care to be known as Miss CVB and prefers I use her real name. I tell you, you just never know. So that makes only Elsie Hotpepper and Betty Jo who's real names I use. I don't know if Betty Jo Bouvier is going to be in Vegas on the 24th.

I got a call a couple days ago from that former friend of mine from Tacoma who traumatized me the last time I suffered through a month in that fair town. Lulu (not her real name) apologized, quite profusely, for her bad behavior while I was in Tacoma and since. She also told me she has lost over 500 pounds and can once more board a plane. So, Lulu will also be in Vegas on the 24th. That should be interesting.

Well, I've got a lot of work to get done today, including going on my last hike on the Tandy Hills, before leaving Texas.

This may be my last posting to my Durango Texas blog. My new blog will be Durango Vegas. Viva Durango Vegas. Adio Durango Texas.

Last Day Of March HOTTEST Day Of The New Year In Fort Worth

It is past 5. I think we've hit our high for the day. The temperature did not make it to the predicted 88 high. It didn't even make it to the Anonymous Confederate's predicted high of 84. Almost though.

At 83.2 this is the HOTTEST day of the new year. I think it portends well for a HOT summer. Last summer was not all that HOT. Only a few days over 100.

My first summer in Texas was my HOTTEST summer in Texas. If I remember right there were something like 40 days over 100.

The Wild Woman of Woolley, Miss CVB, reports it is only 48 in Woolley. Woolley is in Washington. How do those people live in such a cold climate?

Due to the temperature finally getting back to what it is supposed to be in Texas I stayed in the pool for a long time this morning. That was a really good thing.

I was in the North Metroplex zone for a few hours today. That pushed my daily strenuous hike off a few hours. I returned from that a bit after 5.

All in all, a very good day. I'm happy being semi-HOT, windows open, ceiling fan spinning. No A/C running. Weather perfection.

Sarah Palin & The Anonymous Confederacy Of Dunces

Way back on November 29, 2009, I blogged about Sarah Palin, the Confederacy of Dunces and the bizarre incident where the mayor of Fort Worth, Mike Moncrief, attempted to dye the Trinity River purple.

Yesterday I got several bizarrely dunce-like Anonymous comments to various bloggings, which were just a tad off. Well, actually, more than a tad.

This morning in the Dallas Morning News there was a letter to the editor about Sarah Palin which brought to mind the Confederacy of Dunces.

I'll copy the letter below, and below that, a YouTube video I've posted previously which shows a bunch of Anonymous dunces being dunce-like regarding Sarah Palin...

Why This Palin Mystique?

The Republicans must have taken leave of their collective minds to keep listening to this charlatan, Sarah Palin. A group that wouldn't let someone mow their lawn without a thorough background check has been duped by someone with fewer skins on the wall than the average mayor of a small U.S. city. Oh, wait! That's what she was five years ago.

Her public appearances are nothing but conservative rabble-rousing, have little substance, consist of right-wing talking point generality-speak (tax cuts, less government, blah, blah), and yet she holds sway over these people like some messiah.

If she weren't physically attractive, her 15 minutes would have been up long ago. She wouldn't even last 15 minutes in a political/foreign policy debate with a community college poly-sci teacher, much less President Barack Obama or former President Bill Clinton -- yet her handlers have her somehow blindly criticizing the president on every issue.

Going rogue? Oxford's dictionary defines rogue as an unprincipled, undisciplined, stray, irresponsible member of a group of otherwise acceptable specimens in a social setting. What a gorgeously ironic title for Palin's book -- no doubt totally lost on her, I'm sure.

Bret Davis, Forney

Does Hell Have No Fury Like A Fort Worth Congresswoman Scorned?

I got a couple comments from Anonymous this morning. I thought I might turn the comments into Blogging Fodder, so I did not hit the "PUBLISH" button on them.

That and there was a sort of not niceness to Anonymous that I figured if you want to be not nice, do so not as Anonymous.

One of the Anonymous comments was to this morning's blogging about the hell of experiencing the fury of a scorned woman.

The other Anonymous comment was to the blogging of a day or two ago where I indicated I was Fed Up with Texas and was plotting my escape and return to civilization.

One of the things I mentioned being Fed Up with was Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision and the corrupt way this vision has been foisted on Fort Worth. I mentioned Fort Worth Congresswoman Kay Granger and her boy, J.D., who she had installed, though he had no qualifications to do so, to run the $1 billion TRV project.

Prior to the blogging about being Fed Up, I'd blogged in more detail about Kay Granger and the Trinity River Vision and Kay Granger's efforts to solve the flash flooding problem in the Haltom City watershed zone, with legislation requiring the installation of weather radios in new trailers.

If I remember right I heaped a good dose of SCORN on Congresswoman Granger in those bloggings. I believe I used the word "loopy."

I'm thinking the 2 Anonymous comments I got today, regarding scorned Texas women and me leaving Texas, came from Kay Granger or one of her minions.

In the Fed Up Anonymous comment Anonymous indicated that it was great that I was leaving Texas, advising me to leave soon and to be careful not to let the door hit me on the butt.

Very original.

Anonymous also opined that, I'll quote this one directly by copying and pasting, "I feel sure that the average IQ of both Texas and the state you move to will both increase."

It was when I read the loopy comment, between the quotation marks, that it looked to have Kay Granger's earmarked fingerprints all over it. The poor woman has no clue she makes no sense. It's sad really that the Fort Worth Oligarchy uses such a person as a puppet.

The Scorned Woman comment was something like go back to Washington and leave Texas women alone.

I'd forgotten, til today's Anonymous comments jarred my memory, that I got a comment a long time ago, with the person not being Anonymous, but instead claiming to work for Congresswoman Granger. Obviously I've no way to verify such a thing. An inquiry to Granger's office only generates gibberish responses.

Anyway, that long ago comment was in reaction to me making a rather obvious joke about the little train that runs through Fort Worth's Trinity Park.

I'm sorry I have felt compelled to scorn Congresswoman Granger, but her fury really does not seem all that hellish to me. Maybe when we have our dinner date I'll get to experience the Full Fury.

I'm all atwitter in anticipation at experiencing some Hellish Loopy Fury.

We Are Having A Texas Heat Wave For The End Of March

This afternoon I saw WeatherBug, on my computer, hit 80 for the first time in 2010. Also for the first time in 2010 I have the ceiling fan spinning above me.

Maybe the Texas I've experienced the 10 years previous has returned and I won't have to depart this state seeking a better climate more conducive to mitigating the myriad woes fracturing my fragile health.

Then again, the return of warm temperatures may have heated up the air, but it sure has not cleaned it up. I'm still breathng air contaminated by who knows what, spewed by the thousands of natural gas wells that have been poked into the Barnett Shale in Texas, including one right across the street from my abode.

When you leave Texas, via motorized transport, heading northwest, it's about when you cross into Colorado that the air starts smelling fresher. By the time the motorized transport crosses the Cascade Mountains into Western Washington the air smells like Christmas trees and seems to sparkle. That sensation does not last long.

89 for the high tomorrow. That is only 11 shy of 100. Can Level Red Ozone Alerts be far behind?

A New Road Ruts Up Fort Worth's Tandy Hills With Sewer Seepage Making A Green Belt

I parked by the tower on top of Mount Tandy today. As I drove in a lady was exiting with her dog. After I parked and disembarked I saw a group of 4 exiting the park. This, thus was the biggest crowd I've seen at this location. I tell you, hiking the Tandy Hills is getting super popular.

As is, apparently, driving on the Tandy Hills. The road ruts you see in the picture run along side the main trail that runs into the Tandy Hills off View Street.

I thought maybe a Fort Worth Parks crew had been busy rutting up the place so that they could haul out the bags of trash collected by the Tandy Hills Trash & Brush Bashers a couple months ago.

I had previously made note of the deteriorating condition of the black trash bags. Black plastic and the sun do not get along well together.

By the time I got to where the new road ended I could see the black trash bags were still sitting on the ground.

The Tandy Trash Bags look like they are melting. A truly astonishing amount of trash was found littering up the hills and stuck in bags. It'd be a real shame to see all that hard work wasted.

I saw something a bit odd today that has sprung up quickly with the un-springing of Spring.

The picture does not do it justice, but what you are looking at is a lush, thick, section of tall, deeply green, grass. Currently, by far, the greenest spot on the Tandy Hills. See the flat object in the picture? That is a lid that says "Sanitary Sewer" on it.

Last Fall I was in this exact spot after a heavy rainstorm. Material was oozing out of the Sanitary Sewer lid. It appears that whatever oozed out did an excellent job of fertilizing this little area.

As you walk about the Tandy Hills you come across evidence of its pre-natural days before it became the Tandy Hills Natural Area. I didn't realize the sewer pipes that run under the park were still being used, til I saw the oozing.

So, that's been some of my Texas rut today, finding ruts on the Tandy Hills. That and I heard from one of those scorned Texas women I mentioned earlier. I think it may have been Kay Granger, calling herself Anonymous.

Hell Has No Fury Worse Than What Happens If You Scorn Some Texas Women

William Congreve was an English playwright and poet. Born January 24, 1670, died January 19, 1729.

Congreve wrote his most famous play, The Mourning Bride, in 1697.

The Mourning Bride is known for two turns of phrase that are fairly universally known, though the passage of time, with centuries of repetition, have slightly altered the famous phrases from the words written by Congreve.

The first famous phrase was spoken by Almeria in Act I, Scene 1, saying "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast." In modern times this is often changed to "Music hath charms to soothe a savage beast."

The change to beast makes sense to me, the changing of has to hath, less so.

And then there is the most famous thing Congreve ever wrote, spoken by Zara in Act 3, "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."

Time has changed Congreve's words to "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

I have eye-witnessed the behavior, a time or two, of scorned women. The fury is not a pretty sight. I've seen it a time or two in Washington, three times in Texas. The Texas scorning is out of proportion to the time I've spent in Texas, compared to Washington.

The fury of a scorned Texas woman, at least in my experience, is far more hellish than a scorned Washington woman. I know my sampling of scorned women, in either state, is not large enough to be able to make any sort of statistically significant conclusion.

Suffice to say, in my experience, I'd rather experience the hell of a scorned Washington woman that a scorned Texas woman. Most Washington women do not pack heat.

Getting Caught By The Richland Hills Texas Red Light District

I found a fun surprise this morning in my mailbox. A letter from the City of Richland Hills, Texas Red Light Photo Enforcement Program.

Also known as the Richland Hills Revenue Enhancement Program.

It was a little surprising to see a closeup picture of my license plate.

On the "Notice of Violation," under the picture showing the plate image, it says, "To view a video and the before and after pictures of the violation, please go to www.photonotice.com. Enter City Code: RCHLD."

Photonotice.com is run by Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc. in Phoenix, Arizona.

I logged into Photonotice.com, after entering the city code, the notice number and the license plate, and watched the video. Til I watched the video I could not remember being in Richland Hills and having the opportunity to run a red light.

With the video refreshing my memory I remember a couple weeks ago I needed to be at a specific location in North Richland Hills, at noon. That day, when I left my abode, I could see my usual route to North Richland Hills, I-820, was not moving. So, I took surface streets north.

This had me eventually on Highway 183, which I learned, from the Notice of Violation, is also known as Baker Boulevard. Baker Boulevard had few vehicles on it that day before noon. The red light running took place at the intersection of Baker and Vance Park. Whatever Vance Park is. I recollect where the red light was run, it was like there was a stoplight with no real crossroad.

The memory of the lack of a real crossroad is reinforced by viewing the video and the picture above.

So, what's the deal here? Does Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc. send agents out to cash hungry towns and sell them on the idea of installing red light traps to tempt drivers to ignore the seemingly unnecessary red light?

I must return and take pictures of the scene of the crime.

In the meantime, be careful out there. Big Brother is Watching.