Spread The Big White Puffy Wildflower By Burning The Tandy Hills To The Ground

Due to my recently diagnosed Endorphin Addiction, my therapist, Dr. L.C., insists I get a minimum of one hour of strenuous aerobic endorphin stimulation a day, within approximately 8 hours of my morning get up time.

This usually works out to being around noon.

Today at noon I was stuck up in Hurst and not in any situation where acquiring endorphins was possible.

Before heading to Hurst I somehow managed to break my blogging record. 11 bloggings on 5 different blogs. This one I'm currently typing will be #12 for the day. It's the endorphin stimulation that causes this excess verbiage. It can not be stopped.

I got back here about 2. Then about 3 I took off for the Tandy Hills. I had a reason to be in that area. Today I entered the Sanatorium via the View Street main entry. This took me by the section of the prairie that was burned black last summer, due to a 4th of July related firecracker attack.

The current condition of that burned off area is a testament to the fact that wildfires on the prairie are a good thing. That is the formerly burned off section in the picture at the top. Less than one year later, this small area is likely the lushest, most varied, greenest, thickest, healthiest spot on the Tandy Hills.

I say, burn the whole place down. In a controlled way, of course. We could make it a Big 4th of July event. Firetrucks in place to keep the fire from spreading out of the prescribed burn zone. Volunteers in place to tamp down the fire, if the need arises.

Somehow I can't see this happening. But what a much healthier Tandy Hills prairie it would make.

I saw a new wildflower today. That is what I am assuming it was. Until correctly identified I am calling it the Big Puffy White Wildflower. It is the size of a large grapefruit. I saw only one.

I've had myself a day, today. I just got a message from the Scrabble Queen of Washington. I think I am off to play Scrabble now.

Comments About Adrian Murray & John Basham For Tarrant Regional Water Board With Fresh Marty Leonard Nonsense

This morning I was freshly amused by letters to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram regarding the May 8 Tarrant Regional Water Board election. I've opined, previously, that letters in support of challengers, Adrian Murray and John Basham, seem genuine and original, while letters in support of Jim Lane, and particularly, Marty Leonard, seemed contrived, phony and a shill-like propaganda product.

This morning there was only one letter regarding the Water Board election and it was another Marty Leonard one that reads as if it comes from the same pen. I won't bother copying this Marty Leonard letter, since like I've said, they are all basically the same letter.

Today's letter's choice line was, "Marty is a Fort Worth native with a strong commitment to our city."

Is that not a compelling argument to vote for this woman?

Meanwhile, previous bloggings about the Water Board election got a couple of comments in support of Adrian Murray and John Basham, this morning, that sound as genuine and real as the letters to the editor in support of the Dynamic Duo, do.

Those two comments below...

alicialany said...

AHH Jim Lane... isn't he the same Jim Lane, an attorney, who is responsible for the city of Forest Hill going down the tubes, why yes, yes it is. We don't need anymore lawyers running the government and we certainly don't need to be reading glowing editorials for Jim Lane written by other lawyers (Smith). Time to stand up people! Vote them out and vote Adrian Murray and John Basham, they are patriots and good men who will look out for the citizens.

Andrea K said...

I am voting for Adrian Murray and John Basham. I know these two honorable men and they will listen to the citizens of Tarrant County and protect the citizens property from being stolen for eminent domain. Too often the government just does what it wants without regard for the taxpayers. (for instance, outsourcing the contract to a company out of state) Adrian and John will respect the taxpayers' wishes. Vote for Adrian Murray and John Basham!
___________________________________________

Let me see if I can write a Marty Leonard type endorsement letter...

To the Editor:

There is no one alive in Texas who has done more to assure that Texans have had the water needed to nourish our families and keep them clean than Marty Leonard. Marty Leonard is the reason the rest of the world is green with envy over the water of Texas.

Under Marty Leonard's visionary leadership the lives of untold thousands of Texans have been vastly improved.

Marty Leonard has expanded the role of the Water Board to include providing new parkland for the citizens she works so hard to serve. Marty Leonard is instrumental in directing the Tarrant Regional Water Board's visionary leadership role in the Trinity River Vision which will protect our citizens from floods for decades, saving lives and providing a recreational opportunity unparalleled in the known universe.

In addition to all Marty Leonard has done during her wise stewardship she has also done many other good works, including regularly giving homeless people shelter in her modest west Fort Worth home.

We can not afford not to re-elect Marty Leonard to this very important position so that she can guide us through the coming years of growth, working hard to save our water and find a fresh supply from Oklahoma.

Durango Jones
Fort Worth, Texas

The Scrabble Queen Of Washington Takes Mercy On A Good Ol' Texas Boy

Scrabble is pretty much the only thing I've found that I like about Facebook. The rest of Facebook seems to manage to only be slightly less annoying than that has-been, MySpace.

I think I've said before that playing Scrabble has exercised part of my brain that usually lies dormant and has somehow amped up my already fairly well-amped ability to quickly spew words.

If I don't find some Scrabble games to play in the morning, whilst I eat breakfast, it really starts the day off on a bad note for me.

Fortunately, the Scrabble Queen of Washington is quite good at reliably providing me my Scrabble stimulation. To a lesser degree, the Scrabble Princess of Eastern Washington, Tootsie Tonasket, does a bit less stimulating, Scrabble-wise.

I think, lately, the Scrabble Queen of Washington has been taking mercy on me and is not using so many big point words, thus letting me win a game or two. I appreciate that.

Photo Of Saturday's Murdered Fort Worth Freeway Bull

That is, supposedly, a picture of the bull that was murdered this past Saturday after it somehow got onto Interstate 30, in my neighborhood, managing to tie up traffic on both sides of the freeway as it ran in a panic.

I thought this took place in daylight. Maybe the picture was taken after dark, with the crime scene still in place and the bull not yet taken to the morgue.

This does not appear to be a very big bull. It looks more like a deer than a big ol' bull.

I have yet to read where the bull came from, how it escaped and how it came to be running down the freeway. Or who the owner is.

Many people are wondering why, since Fort Worth is known as Cowtown, a more appropriate way of stopping the bull, like a cowboy on a horse wielding a lasso, was not used to get the scared bull under control.

I believe some shots were taken with tranquilizer darts, to no avail, which led to bullets being used.

This is the second, or is it third, instance of a bovine creature running amok here in Fort Worth within the past year.

We really need to make it less easy for bulls to get on the freeway, here in Fort Worth, when they get into escape mode. Other towns seem to do a better job of keeping their livestock penned up and off their freeways.

Today's Tandy Texas Technicolor

Yesterday's Thunderstorm with its accompanying rain did not muddy up the Tandy Hills, to my great relief. I was in dire need of the salubrious effects of being one with nature via hiking the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area.

One thing the rain of yesterday did seem to do was irrigate the wildflowers enough to cause them to color up the place to a level not seen by my eyes in these parts before.

Yesterday on the Tandy Hills I ran into a nice lady walking her two dogs. She is a lifelong Texan, originally from the Amarillo zone, who told me this year's wildflowers are the best she's seen in these parts, in her memory.

The picture I took today of the top of Mount Tandy wildflower field looks sort of like a Van Gogh watercolor. At least to my artistically untrained eyes.

7th Haven Fort Worth Crazy Naked Person Job Opening

My best new news source, C.D. Conn, she being who told me about the Naked Billboard Man who was terrorizing Fort Worth's Cultural District Zone yesterday, just now sent me this picture advertising a job opening.

I assume 7th Haven is on Seventh Avenue, somewhere in the aforementioned Cultural District. That goofily named district is changing and growing so fast I'm way behind on knowing what's there.

I wonder how much 7th Haven is willing to pay to someone willing to be a Crazy Naked Person on their sign? I would not mind working on my all over tan if the pay were sufficient.

We are back under a bright blue sky, again, here in my zone of North Texas.

I guess I'll go work on my tan on the aptly named Tandy Hills in a bit. I don't think it rained enough to have created a muddy problem on the hills.

Tarrant Regional Water Board Early Voting Ends Today

Once again there were letters to the editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about the current Tarrant Regional Water Board member election candidates.

And once again a letter in support of Adrian Murray and John Basham sounded real while a letter in support of Marty Leonard sounded contrived, phony and shill-like.

My favorite line in the pro Adrian Murray/John Basham letter is, "Taxpayers, why stand ye here idle when your money is being thrown down the river?"

To me the silliest line in the pro Marty Leonard letter is, "Marty has given so freely of herself, thousands of North Texans have a better life."

Both letters in their entirety...

Tarrant water board

No City Council since Chuck Silcox and Clyde Picht, no Commissioners Court and no Chamber of Commerce has sounded the war tocsin against the near-billion-dollar Trinity Uptown boondoggle. They're all asleep in Fort Worth. Even now comes another surprise, a new version of an expensive bridge to nowhere.

Taxpayers, why stand ye here idle when your money is being thrown down the river? Elect Adrian Murray and John Basham to the Tarrant Regional Water District board. Just as St. George of old slew the dragon, Murray and Basham are pledged to slay this Trinity Uptown tax-eating monster, the mother of all eminent domain earmarks. Victory is in view! Oh the joy!

-- Don Woodard Sr., Fort Worth

For years, Marty Leonard has unselfishly served our community in so many ways, including leadership roles at Baylor All Saints Medical Center, the United Way, the Lena Pope Home and the Tarrant Regional Water District board. Because Marty has given so freely of herself, thousands of North Texans have a better life.

During her tenure, the water board has added 400 acres of parkland in Tarrant County. The board received the state of Texas' highest award for water conservation programs, and there has been no increase in the tax rate of 2 cents per $100 valuation of property.

Today, the water board is actively pursuing obtaining water rights in Oklahoma that would sustain our water supply and growth for decades. We are fortunate to have Marty Leonard as a guardian of our most precious resources. We need her experience and dedication to secure our future.

-- Scott and Lynda Dally, Aledo

Incoming Storm Gets Naked Man Off Fort Worth Billboard

Minutes ago I returned from the downtown Fort Worth zone and checked my messages to see an email and a blog comment mentioning a Naked Man who had tied up an area of West Seventh Street while police and firemen tried to talk him into getting off a billboard and putting on some clothes.

The Naked Man caused a traffic mess for the Montgomery Plaza Shopping Center.

I did not detect anything interesting going on or see a crowd of Naked Man watchers when I was in the downtown Fort Worth zone.

The billboard the Naked Man was walking on was a We Buy Ugly Houses one on one side, with a Fort Worth Zoo one on the other side, with the message being, "Visit a Museum Where The Art Looks At You."

Police tried to talk the Naked Man down with various tactics, including saying he could talk to his mom and girlfriend. The Naked Man hollered that his family had been murdered.

No, they are right here, wanting to talk to you, the police hollered back.

The naked man started being naked on the billboard when the sky was still blue and the temperature in the 80s. What finally got him to the ground was the incoming gusty storm.

When the Naked Man, known only as James, hit the ground, police put handcuffs on him. And a pair of shorts.

I wonder what one gets charged with for being naked on a billboard in Fort Worth? Capital offense?

UPDATE: Barely seconds after hitting the publish button my Naked Man Source sent me much better pictures than the one I originally used.

Monday In Fort Worth With Gusts & Trucks Blocking Trails

The Fort Worth Water Crew was back on the Tandy Hills today, with 2 big trucks and a fun looking little vehicle that looked like a golf cart on steroids.

The trucks blocked the trail as I came down from Mount Tandy. After I made my way around the trucks I saw a supervisor looking guy supervising. I asked him what was going on.

He told me they were running a video camera through the pipeline, looking for breaks. The Water Supervisor guy seemed like a pleasant sort, pleasantly laughing when I opined that basically they were a Roto-Rooter operation on steroids.

I guess I am liking that "on steroids" cliche today.

I got an email from Don Young this afternoon, titled "A Short Tale of Shenanigans". I used to blog these type emails til I realized they were already blogged on the FW Can Do website. You can read it there. Trust me, it is worth your perusal.

I like that shenanigans word. Last week, when I first saw what I thought was something nefarious going on on the Tandy Hills, shenanigans was the word that came to mind, along with a few others.

I saw a new yellow wildflower today. It sort of looks like the one I have said is my favorite. This new one is smaller.

We seem to be working up to doing some storming here, currently with big gusts of wind. I don't know why I feel compelled to add "of wind" to identify what is gusting. Isn't wind the only thing that gusts?

Anyway, it's being very gusty. I hope I don't lose power. Again.

Adrian Murray John Basham Campaign Signs Disappearing

You're looking at one of the few remaining Adrian Murray/John Basham Tarrant Regional Water District Board campaign signs left standing.

I won't disclose the exact location of this sign so that it might escape being kidnapping by nefarious miscreants.

I learned of the nefarious miscreanting yesterday via the following....

The large 4' x 8' campaign signs for Adrian Murray and John Basham are quickly becoming collector items. Eager collectors have been snatching them up in the week prior to the election and the once abundant signs are disappearing from vacant lots and roadsides all across the district.

The most prominent and well-known collector is life-long Fort Worth native, heiress and well-known spinster Marty Leonard, who has personally gathered up 50 of the sought-after signs. Ms. Leonard, who coincidentally is the incumbent in the seat both Murray and Basham are seeking, said her actions in taking the signs should not be interpreted in any way as an attempt to interfere with their campaign.

"Quite the contrary," she explained when reached by phone at her $2.4 million mansion in Westover Hills. "It's plainly obvious that these young men are superbly qualified, certainly more so than either me or Jim Lane. Their victory in Saturday's election is a fait accompli and I'm merely trying to save them all that time next week picking up their campaign signs. This way they can get right to work cleaning up the mess we have made at the water board."

Ms. Leonard went on to explain that the large signs will make a shrewd investment. "May 8, 2010 will go down in history as the day corruption in this city finely began to be cleaned up and these are the men who will do it. Only 100 of these signs were ever produced and I've got 50 of them. They'll be worth a pile of money one day."

Asked if she had any concerns that removing an opponent's campaign signs before election day is illegal and ethically immoral, Leonard stated, "Practically everything we do at the water board is illegal and ethically immoral. It's a hard habit to break."