Handling Toxic Tacoma People While Buffered In Texas

I was having myself a fine time yesterday, a good day.

Until sometime around 5 in the afternoon.

I got hit with a dose of Toxic Tacoma. I thought I'd done a pretty good job of isolating the Tacoma Toxins, beginning when I returned here, August 20, 2008, thoroughly contaminated, with the worst bout of Toxic People Poisoning I'd ever been subjected to.

I thought the Firewalls and Filters I'd employed had isolated me from the Tacoma Toxins, until a couple months ago, when the worst of the Tacoma Toxic People reared its Ugly Head in a Toxic Intrusion into my Texas World.

And then, yesterday, I learned that the Toxic Intrusions have been far more nefarious, diabolical, insidious and twisted than my weak imagination had thought possible.

I know no Toxic People in Texas. Most of the people I know in Washington are not Toxic. I need to figure out how to eliminate the Tacoma Toxicity once and for all. Right now I am coming up blank as to how to do so.

If you Google "Toxic People" you come up with an awful lot of useful information. The last time I blogged about Toxic People I got a lot of comments thanking me for bringing this subject up, as it came as a revelation, to some, that one can identify this syndrome and eliminate it from ones life, that to not do so is like letting a malignant cancer continue to grow, without doing all you can to kill it.

One of the Toxic People websites had a list of the 4 main Toxic People traits....

1. Muckrakers: These negative spirits live to drag up old painful events and then revel in the anger, resentment, or bitterness that such unhappy memories hold. Stay away from any spirit, in others or in yourself, that wants you to dive into some suffering over what happened in any past moment.

2. Mud Slingers: These malicious spirits pull themselves up by pulling others down. They love to gossip, criticize, judge, and denigrate anyone who ever had the misfortune of spending time with them. The only loyalty these denizens of the unconscious worlds have is to their own pain, which they feed by involving everyone they can in their mud slinging.

3. Swamp Dwellers: There is a group of mired spirits that thrive on low vibrations, and that require a human instrument to play out their endless dark dissonance. Easily recognizable, these misfortunate forces serve up dreadful mental pictures of past and future events for the sake of the unnatural reactions they produce. Ignore these corrupted spirits and they must take their evil speculations elsewhere.

4. Life Haters: These dark spirits perpetuate their hold on the human soul by resisting the beautiful gifts of life. They trick us into commiserating with their complaining, cruelty, and irritation because without our unconscious consent, these chronically conflicted spirits can't spread their poison.

Okay, I must ponder how to best handle the muckraking, mud slinging, swamp dwelling, life hating Toxic Tacoma People. Nuclear Option?

Dallas Cowboy Owner Jerry Jones Drunk & Dissing On Video

My favorite Dallas Cowboy and World Class Eminent Domain Abuser, Jerry Jones is, apparently, a big fan of being intoxicated in public.

However, somehow Jerry Jones missed the memo warning about the modern era's ubiquitous cell phones with video capability.

Evidently, Jerry Jones is a big fan of getting tipsy and then socializing, as evidenced by video evidence, acquired via cell phone, of some choice Jerry Jones verbiage dissing Tim Tebow and Bill Parcells.

I have no idea who Tim Tebow or Bill Parcells are. I think I've mentioned before that I am neither a Cowboy or a Cowboy fan.

Jerry Jones uses a well know profane word that begins with an "F" to refer to the new Dallas Cowboy stadium. I thought that was interesting.

I did not find an embed option for the Jerry Jones cell phone video, but you can listen to it here.

And below is a transcript...

Jerry Jones: Romo was a miracle.

Other guy: It was a miracle, wasn't it?

Jerry Jones: He almost never got in, and he almost was gone. Tebow would never…

Different other guy: What if you were the Jaguars or — would you just, just draft him and sell f**king jerseys?

Jerry Jones: That's the only reason I brought in Bill Parcells.

[Laughter]

Jerry Jones: [Inaudible. Sounds a little like, "Sell mammoth f**kin' rake," whatever that means.]

Jerry Jones: Bill's not worth a s**t. I love him.

Different other guy: I know you do.

Jerry Jones: Not worth a s**t, but I wanted — they were on my ass so bad. J's gotta have a yes man. So to get this f**kin' stadium, I need to bring his ass in.

Different other guy: What, you, you wouldn't take Tebow in the third round?

Jerry Jones: Why? He'd never get on the field. I can't get him out there.

[Laughter]

Jerry Jones: I can't get him out there.

Today I Was A Creative Anachronism Walking With Alligators At Arlingtons's Village Creek Natural Historic Area

My little sister, the lawyer, is lawyering me this afternoon, hitting me with multiple affidavits, well, emails, documenting the fact that something I opined impossible, in Texas, due to the use of polysyllabic words, does actually exist in Texas, in near epidemic proportions.

That being groups belonging to the Society of Creative Anachronism.

I had blogged about a gang fight I witnessed on Saturday at Veterans Park in Arlington. My little sister told me that the gang fight appeared to be a herd of Creative Anachronism Nerds.

Looking at the various Texas Society of Creative Anachronism websites my little sister directed me to, I can see, as is the case, 99.54% of the time, my little sister, appears to be correct. Those Veterans Park Nerds were Creative Anachronisms.

And in another Arlington Park, Village Creek Natural Historic Area, where I went walking today, I saw no nerds sword fighting.

But, I did see something disturbing from the viewing platform that looks out over the Village Creek Pond. I had barely begun my overlooking when a big splash startled me. Whatever did the splashing was quickly back in the water.

After a few more splashes I finally spotted the splashing critter. It appeared to be brownish, long and round. Like an eel.

I was unsettled.

A few minutes more and I saw a big form, long and think, moving beneath the water. I stared in disbelief too long, not thinking, til it was too late, to turn on my camera.

Then another big splash to my left. So, now there were two large critters. The second one I got a much better look at. It appeared to have scales.

What could this be? I'd been leaning towards alligator til I saw the scales.

I'd also considered that it might be a Garfish. My one and only Garfish encounter had been in Village Creek. Garfish are eel-like, with a head like a Gator.

In the first picture, at the top, is my best attempt at catching the critter. You can see part of it, out of the water, on the right side of the middle of the picture. The second picture is the same view, with the critter back in the water.

I left the overlook with no idea what really had been churning up the water. So, I'm going to go with alligators, til proven otherwise.

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World In Fort Worth Texas

Saturday night, recovering from my fist fight with my bedroom wall, I watched Turner Classic Movies Essentials. On Saturday the movie was Judgment at Nuremberg.

Judgment at Nuremberg is a fictionalized account of the Nuremberg trials, yet based on facts. In this movie the really bad Nazi boys have already met their fate with the hangman. It is a group of Third Reich judges who are being judged in the Judgment at Nuremberg.

There is a scene in the movie where Spencer Tracy is pondering the conundrum of how it is that good men can be corrupted, by the state, to the point of going along with doing bad deeds.

Spencer Tracy recollects how, in the small town in America in which he had been elected to be a judge, it was made well known to him that there are certain people in town who are off limits from judicial scrutiny.

Sort of like how Fort Worth's Mayor Mike Moncrief seems to be safe from judicial scrutiny, despite being on the take to the tune of 100s of thousands of dollars a year from the Barnett Shale natural gas drillers operating in Fort Worth.

Or how some judges operating in the Barnett Shale zone, seem to be taking their orders from the local Nazi equivalents, that being entities, like Chesapeake Energy, running rough shod over Texas citizens, abusing eminent domain, to take property to force non-odorized, high pressure, natural gas under homes, via pipelines, which have been known to explode.

Stanley Kramer directed Judgment at Nuremberg. Judgment at Nuremberg was released in 1961. In 1963 Stanley Kramer released It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. It seems to me that this could have been used as the title for Judgment at Nuremberg.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World would be a great title if any latter day Stanley Kramer shoots a movie about the corruption in North Texas, with the focus being on the Eminent Domain Abuse Capital of the World, that being Fort Worth and Tarrant County, with all the willful ignoring of all the dire data, now pouring in, about just how bad and how dangerous all the bad toxins are that are being spewed into the Barnett Shale atmosphere, courtesy of all those Bad Boys who operate in cooperation with Fort Worth's corrupt mayor and the corrupt city government he oversees. And the corrupt Texas agencies which are supposed to oversee safeguarding the public safety. But don't.

Where is the FBI in this Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World I'm living in? Where is the EPA? Why are criminals exempt from being punished for the crimes they commit in the Eminent Domain Abuse Capital of the World?

I've said it before and I'll say it again

I don't get it.

Waiting For Texas Wildflowers While Taking A Virtual Trip To The Skagit Valley Tulips

The wildflowers have been slow to bloom this Spring in Texas. While the wildflowers are blooming, Texas is at its most colorful. And then the wildflowers fade away and basic drab returns.

It is harder to cultivate flowers in this climate than my former Western Washington climate. Which, I suppose is why you don't see big flower displays and giant hanging baskets hanging from posts along downtown streets like you do in Washington.

Right now, in my old home zone, the Skagit Valley, the 27th Annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is underway. It runs from April 1 -30. Around a million tourists will descend upon the Valley during the festival. This past weekend the throngs caused bad traffic jams, backing up on to Interstate 5, in Mount Vernon.

Helicopters monitor the Tulip Traffic flow. You can take bus alternatives to get out to the fields. The Tulip Festival does a pretty good job of keeping the traffic flowing, but at times the system gets overwhelmed.

The Skagit Valley is one of the most fertile, productive agricultural areas in the world. All sorts of fruits and vegetables grow there. In recent times tea fields have arrived. I believe this is the only location in America that grows tea.

The Tulip Fields were brought to mind because last weekend Perry Mason's little sister, Lori, drove her dad up to the Valley to take in all the color. This caused Miss Tess, former Valley Girl, currently in Northern California, to ask Lori if she'd taken any pictures. Like me, it'd been a few years since Miss Tess had seen the Tulips.

Ironically, I was in the Skagit Valley, April of 2008, but we did not drive out into the part of the flats were the Tulips bloom. Did not even cross my mind. However, I did go to the cool new Farmer's Market, that is part of Miss Tess's family's agricultural operation. That is where I learned tea is now grown in the Valley, with the Sakuma Brothers venturing over to Japan to see how to go about cultivating tea leaves.

After reading Tess lamenting Lori's lack of photo documentation, I took a virtual trip to the Skagit Valley and took some pictures. I then put them on my Washington Blog. If you have Google Earth, on your computer, you can take yourself on a virtual trip to the Skagit Valley and click on a lot of Tulip pictures.

While you do that I'm having myself another cup of Sakuma Brothers Skagit Valley Tea.

I'm homesick.

Fort Worth's #1 Boondoggle & Haltom City's #1 Bully

Monday morning of this week in Texas is starting off nice, pleasant temperatures, blue sky, no fist fights with my bedroom wall in the middle of the night.

Really, can't get much better than that.

And the Fort Worth Star-Telegram had 2 good letters in its Letters to the Editor section this morning. I makes for an additional oomph to the start of a good week when Monday has 2 good letters to read.

In the first, Clyde Picht, well known Fort Worth activist with an active conscience and common sense about everyone's favorite Fort Worth Boondoggle. In the second letter, Ray Ecklund takes Chesapeake Energy to task for its overbearing behavior in Haltom City. Haltom City, also known as The Flood Capital of Texas.

First Clyde, followed by Ray.........

Hometown boondoggle

LOL (laugh out loud) as those who text would text. Mitchell Schnurman ( Star-Telegram, March 20) took a swipe at Keller for its financial unraveling due to an expensive public-private economic development and a TIF (tax increment financing) district that is falling short.

A few choice quotes from Schnurman's column: The "taxpayers never expected to be on the hook for anything," "... more public-private partnerships fail to live up to their billing ...," "brick-lined streets, bike and walking trails, a small lake and a sprinkling of public art" and "... TIFs across Texas that have not performed as they expected to."

Hello Mitch! Walk up the street a few blocks and view the landscape that some would like to turn into Trinity Uptown. Everything wrong in Keller will be wrong in spades with Trinity Uptown. Some of those deficiencies are already apparent. Like how a $320 million project now will cost almost $1 billion.

Having seen Congress in action lately, we aren't likely to get enough money for a brick sidewalk unless it's renamed Trinity ACORN.

So come home, Mitchell, and let Keller stew in its own juice. Write about our homegrown boondoggle that has gone from bad to worse and is going to get a lot worse yet.

-- Clyde Picht, Fort Worth

Shame on Chesapeake

Tuesday, we were given a political rally by a multibillion-dollar corporation trying to run over our hometown. Chesapeake spared no expense. They would have us believe that Haltom City's elected leaders were slowing their company's grand scheme to make us all rich. We should storm City Hall on Chesapeake's behalf.

"If they don't vote right, vote them out," Chesapeake Vice President Julie Wilson said. Chesapeake should be able to do as they please.

They presented themselves as benevolent big brothers just trying to help individuals. What an insult. They acted like we were poor, uneducated and uncaring about our city. They expect Haltom City residents will take a few small potential dollars to overthrow our government. They want us to think that our elected leaders -- our neighbors whom we chose to lead us -- suddenly do not have our best interest at heart.

I don't like bullies. This is my hometown. Don't forget it!

-- Ray Ecklund, Haltom City

A New Blue Flower Blooms & A Crowd Looms On The Sunday Tandy Hills

A new blue flower was coloring up the cloudy, gray Tandy Hills today. Last time I was on the hills it was the very blue Bluebonnets that made their first Tandy appearance of the year.

Is this new blue boy a Periwinkle? I did not have any botanist wannabe with me today to identify the flora.

I really was in dire need this Sunday of the salubrious effect of being at Fort Worth's best place to stand, that being the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area.

Last night I got in a fight. Sort of.

In a variation of one of my sleepwalking episodes, I got into an altercation, possibly inspired by yesterday's gang fighting that I watched at Veterans Park. In the middle of the night I was in the middle of one of my ongoing nightmares, when I took a punch at my adversary.

And then woke up to discover my adversary had been the wall by my bed. So, once more I am recovering from bloody knuckles.

Tootsie Tonasket went hiking with me today on the Tandy Hills. When I told her about last night's Wall Altercation, Tootsie advised me that I should not go to be without wearing protection. Like boxing gloves. I suppose that is good advice.

Another odd thing, spotted on the Tandy Hills today, occurred when I came back into view of View Street and saw a lot of cars parked there. Usually there are not a lot of cars parked.

Barely off View Street, about 20 feet from the cable fence at the park's edge, this group was pondering something, as if on some sort of nature walk. I thought to myself, go deeper into the park, you silly people, there are wildflowers in there. But, I politely kept my thoughts to myself and drove away.

Typing is being painful due to my banged up right hand. I wonder why I punched the wall with my right hand? Because I am left handed.

Hiking Arlington's Sherwood Forest With Wildflowers, Dangerous Ravines & Sword Fights

You are looking at the Sherwood Forest of Veterans Park in Arlington. I used to hike the back trail in Veterans Park, frequently, but have not done so in a long, long time. Until today.

A short distance from the location in the picture there used to be a thick log bridge that the trail used to cross over a ravine. A treacherous crossing for the acrophobic. It appeared a flash flood had flushed the thick log bridge downstream about 50 feet.

The thick log bridge has been replaced by a very narrow log. My balancing skills are not sufficiently evolved that I felt like risking crossing the ravine on that skinny log.

Eventually I found another path to the other side. An adventurous crossing that required some minor gymnastic ability, along with being willing to take a leap of faith and grab a branch on the other side.

It all worked out. The backwoods of Veterans Park is a fairly convoluted maze of trails. I've long wondered how these came to be. Some are like trenches. At one point in time the Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association (DORBA-mountain bike trails) tried to build trails, but that effort did not last long.

I have been troubled for weeks due to the absence of my favorite Texas Wildflower, it being possibly the most prolific of the wildflowers. Previous years it had long made its appearance by this point in time.

It is a hardy little devil. Usually showing up early and lasting well into May. In fact, it was the first Texas Wildflower I ever saw, coming towards Dallas/Fort Worth, via Highway 287, though Amarillo, these pink flowers were soon lining the sides of the highway.

Eventually I had to stop for a close up look. This would have been early May of 1998, an exploratory trip to see if the move to Texas was something I might consider. If adequately bribed.

Yesterday on the way to the Tandy Hills I saw my first cluster of the formerly missing wildflower. Today, at Veterans Park I saw more, and took the picture you see here. Last year I learned the name, but my age-related memory shortcoming is preventing me from remembering, except I do think I correctly remember that Primrose is part of the name.

The other interesting thing I saw today was once more there seemed to be some organized gang fighting going on. It appears that a group of nerds get together, some in costumes, to have sword-like battles, only the swords are like padded baseball bats. It is quite a strange spectacle.

It appears the bigger guy on the right is being a bit of a bully to the littler guy on the left. But, the little guy on the left seemed to be enjoying himself, so I felt no real need to intervene to stop a bully.

I'm big on being a Bully Stopper these days.

So, that's part of my exciting Saturday in Texas. Two bouts in the pool, bailing on going to the Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival, Catfish viewing at Cho Saigon Market, treacherous ravine crossings, padded sword fights, wildflower viewing and a stop at ALDI Food Market.

Catfish Hunting At Cho Saigon Market In Arlington's International District

Yes, those are Catfish in the picture. No, that is not a picture of Catfish that I took while on a Catfishing expedition.

I don't know if Catfish is the State Fish of Texas. But I suspect it may be.

The Catfish in the picture are in the live fish tanks at Cho Saigon Market in Arlington's Chinatown. Well, probably more accurately, it should be called Arlington's Vietnamtown.

Or maybe just call it what Seattle renamed its Chinatown to, long ago, and say Cho Saigon Market is in Arlington's International District. That makes sense. Just across the street is another market, with that one specializing in Middle Eastern products.

There is a lot of live seafood available at the Cho Saigon Market. Including Dungeness Crab. $9.99 a pound for Dungeness Crab. I used to get Dungeness Crab for free by driving a few miles west and sticking a crabpot into Puget Sound. Paying $9.99 a pound for such a thing just seems wrong to me, like when I see blackberries for $1.99 for a teeny container.

A suspected Self-Anointed Catfish Expert (SACE) told me that the Cho Saigon Catfish were Mud Cats. As opposed to Channel Cats. Something to do with the long whiskers indicating they had been bottom feeders. This came up when I speculated that these Cho Saigon Catfish might not have that disgusting mud taste that permeates a lot of Catfish.

I chose not to buy a Cho Saigon Catfish, even though Cho Saigon makes it very convenient. They'll give you the fish in at any of 6 stages you prefer. I think Step 1 is hand it to you live, then the Steps go through various stages of butchering the fish, with Step 6 being they'll fry what they've butchered for you.

Held Up By Zebras & Rams At Fossil Rim Wildlife Center By Glen Rose Texas

A comment from Mister Twister brought Fossil Rim Wildlife Center to mind.

I do not remember in what year my December visit to Fossil Rim took place. I know it has been several years. I also know that Fossil Rim Wildlife Center remains the funnest thing I've done in Texas.

At the Fossil Rim Visitor's Center you have an opportunity to buy feed for the critters. It is a good idea to have food. The critters expect it. Like this herd of Zebras. The Zebras plot to halt the traffic flow and then walk along extracting treats from the stopped vehicles.

When I came upon some of the critters I quickly rolled up my window. Like when I saw an Ostrich quickly stick its head in the vehicle in front of me. I could see the people inside the vehicle jump out of the way. When the Ostrich pulled its head out, it had something in its beak. What, I do not know.

Towards the end of the trail through Fossil Rim I ran out of food to bribe the critters with for safe passage.

This became problematic as I drove down a steep hill after seeing some Cheetahs. A herd of some type of Ram was holding up traffic as the various Rams solicited treats. When I told the Ram, in the picture, I had nothing, he/she stuck its tongue out at me.

The hills in the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center are the steepest I've driven on in Texas. One steep hill leads from an area called the Overlook. There are many things to see and do at the Overlook, including the Overlook Cafe, which had a very good Overlook of the valley below, hence the name.

If you have not been to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center and you live within easy driving distance, you really should go, especially if you have kids. It is only between 60-120 miles from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, depending on where you live in the Metroplex.

After I webpaged my Fossil Rim experience, Fossil Rim sent me a Season's Pass, plus a couple guest tickets. I never got around to using them. For years now I've wanted to go back and shoot video.

If you want to visit Fossil Rim Wildlife Center you can find all the information you might want to know by going to the webpage I made of my one and only visit.