The Mystery Of The Missing Queen Of Wink

Have you seen these Eyes in Texas? They belong to the Queen of Wink.

The Queen of Wink has gone missing. The last I heard from the Queen was a text message on my phone. Sent from a Doctor's Office.

Last weekend the annual Roy Orbison Festival took place in Wink. There has been no report on the festival on the Queen of Wink's blog.

Some have speculated that maybe the Queen of Wink is despondent over not winning this year's Pretty Woman contest at the Roy Orbison Festival. I highly doubt this would cause any despondency in the Queen of Wink due to she being Wink's most well known pretty woman, even though not this year's official Roy Orbison Pretty Woman.

The Queen of Wink has also gone missing from Facebook. I think the last I have seen of her on Facebook was mentioning looking forward to going to a possibly Mafia run Italian run restaurant. I don't know where this restaurant is located, likely Midland or Odessa. I don't think Wink has an Italian restaurant.

I've emailed the Queen of Wink and called. To no avail. I would send a text message, but I don't know how to do that.

If the Mystery of the Missing Queen of Wink does not resolve itself in the next 24 hours, I think I'll call the Wink Police and ask them to do a welfare check, or whatever you call it when the police go check on someone.

The Mystery of the Missing Queen of Wink is very perplexing.

Sunday Morning Looking Out My Computer Room Window & Thinking About Last Night's Fight At Miss Puerto Rico's

You are looking at the last Sunday of June view from my computer room window, looking out at my bedroom balcony.

As you can see, it is a blue sky Sunday. Currently, at 9:48:25 it is 84.3, heading into the high 90s. We have yet to have a 100 degree day this summer in my zone of Texas.

I don't know why, because it has not been cooler, but my pool water was refreshingly cooler this morning. Or so it seemed.

Last night I was over at Miss Puerto Rico's. The view from her balcony reliably provides entertainment, particularly on Saturday night, as humanity in various forms passes by on various forms of transportation. Including walking.

We witnessed a rather heated confrontation between a guy, who was being very stylish by wearing his pants down below his underwear, and a plus-sized gal who did not seem to have sufficient material to cover her assets properly.

After about 10 minutes of hollering and shoving a Fort Worth police cruiser cruised by and stopped. The officer calmed the combatants and then continued on his way. I did not have my camera with me, which is very rare, so I could not photo document the droopy drawer and floopy boob fight.

I don't know if I'm going to go get aerobic on hills today. Swimming for an hour seems to provide a bit of an endorphin fix.

I'm making Chinese food for lunch today. A stir fry of turkey, red peppers, broccoli, onion, garlic, celery, cabbage, ginger and duck sauce, with spring rolls and brown rice. Lunch will be around 1. Don't be late.

HOT Hill Hiking & Fort Worth Train Traffic Vexations

It was 95 when I hit the Tandy Hills sometime around 3 this afternoon. A breeze was busy blowing so it did not feel too HOT.

And those big, puffy, cotton ball clouds took turns blocking the sun, which brought some HEAT relief.

I only hill hiked for about 45 minutes. When I had had enough I headed to the Beach Street Wal-Mart Supercenter. When I was stopped at the Randol Mill Road light, by Town Talk, I saw a slow moving freight train was blocking access to Wal-Mart.

So, I figured I'd go stand in the Town Talk cooler and maybe find something new, even though I was at Town Talk yesterday. Well, I found nothing new. I did cool off, and then left.

The train was still blocking Beach Street.

I did not want to get stuck in a train jam, and I needed to be at a particular location by 4:30. So, I headed back south on Beach Street and headed to an alternative Wal-Mart on Meadowbrook.

Now, what's bugging me right now is how can a large city, like Fort Worth, population over 700,000, allow trains to block major roads? Why are there not overpasses, or underpasses? Arlington is worse when a train comes through town.

The little town I lived in in Washington, Mount Vernon, had train tracks running north and south through town. And there were some roads that were blocked by the trains. But, Mount Vernon had at least 2, maybe 3, non-blocked alternatives, as in roads that went over the railroad tracks. And maybe one that went under, if I remember right.

I can't think of ever being stopped by a train in Seattle. I know a large part of the Seattle train tracks are underground in a tunnel, thus creating no traffic problems. You can get stopped by a train along the Tacoma waterfront, but, like Seattle, and unlike Fort Worth, there are ways around the train, overpasses and underpasses. And bridges.

I know part of the problem, here in Fort Worth. And Arlington, is the railroad tracks and roads were put in place long before so many people clogged up the place. And infrastructure adjustments have not kept pace with the population growth. So, freight trains slowly make their way across the Dallas/Fort Worth zone, wreaking havoc with the flow of traffic.

With the locals, apparently not realizing it doesn't have to be this way.

It's very perplexing.

Snorkeling Topless in Austin's Barton Springs Pool

No. That is not me snorkeling in my swimming pool. The snorkeling took place down in Austin, in Zilker Park's Barton Springs Pool.

Barton Springs is a man-enhanced natural springs. In the 1920s Austin dammed the springs to create a bigger swimming hole. And added sidewalks and other park-like features.

In the 1940s a bathhouse was added.

You can go swimming in Barton Springs Pool all year long. Just like my pool. Only Barton Springs stays warmer. The temperature ranges from 68 in winter to almost 72 in summer.

Admission is free from November til the Ides of March. A fee, ranging from $1 to $3, is charged from mid March til October. Barton Springs is open from 5am til 10pm. The admission fee starts getting charged at 8am. That gives early birds 3 hours to swim before paying that big entry fee.

On Thursdays Barton Springs Pool closes from 9am til 7pm for cleaning. Once a year Barton Springs is closed for several weeks with the floodgates fully opened so the pool totally drains for heavy duty cleaning.

Barton Springs closes during heavy rain due to Barton Creek being prone to flooding and overflowing the diversion dam.

Barton Springs, in addition to swimming and snorkeling, also provides a nice sunbathing zone on the green slopes that surround the Springs. And, with it being in liberal, free-spirited Austin, topless sunbathing is permitted for both genders.

You'll need to go to another Austin location, Hippie Hollow if you feel the need to go both topless and bottomless.

Watch the YouTube video below to see what it is like to go snorkeling in Barton Springs. Notice the big eel that is snorkeling with you in Barton Springs Pool...

A Bright Texas Saturday Morning Walking With My Neighborhood Lizards

This morning my right knee felt the need to go on a nice, easy walk. So, I decided to do something I've rarely done.

As in, take a walk around my neighborhood.

I saw some wildlife. One of which was a little Chihuahua. It was a cute Chihuahua. It looked like that Chihuahua who recently won an Ugliest Dog in the World Contest, in a total travesty.

A short time after seeing the cute Chihuahua I came upon an equally cute pair of lizards. The two lizards were about 3 feet apart, facing each other on the trunk of the tree you see in the picture.

I don't know if this was some sort of territorial facedown. Or a mating ritual. I watched the 2 lizards for about 5 minutes and then gave up waiting for something to happen.

I have seen more lizards of various sizes this year than all my previous years in Texas. Do lizards thrive on the increase in air pollution?

There is a slight plague of wild plum trees in my neighborhood. I have seen locals picking the plums. Apparently they make good jam. But, it seems most of the plums end up on the ground, making for some careful walking to avoid getting shoes stuck with sticky stuff.

It's noon. Time to make some lemonade, BBQ some burgers, mash some spuds and cut up some watermelon.

Saturday Morning Looking At Me From My Computer Room Window Swimming

You are looking at the Saturday morning zoomed view from my computer room window of me getting wet in the pool.

We are back with completely clear of clouds blue sky again, after Thursday's and Friday's thunderstorms.

I pooled for over an hour this morning. It's a pleasant way to start the day.

I'm wandering around taking pictures of a construction project this morning.

I'll be wandering around the Tandy Hills, today, late in the afternoon. That's my current plan. Subject to change.

BBQed burgers, garlic mashed spuds and watermelon is on the menu for lunch. Don't be late. The burgers will quickly be gone.

Friday Afternoon Texas Thunder Booming

Around 3, this afternoon, thunder started booming again.

Last night's thunderstorm was the first in a long time. I don't remember the last time I heard Texas thunder boom two days in a row.

Due to a lot of trees, I do not have a very wide view of an incoming storm from inside my abode.

So, when the thunder started booming I went over to Miss Puerto Rico's balcony, hoping to get a picture of a lightning bolt.

But, while I continued to hear thunder booming, I saw no bolts. After about 10 minutes I gave up the hunt for an elusive lightning bolt.

But, as you can see from the view from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony, the sky was in stormy mode.

Now, an hour and a half later, coming up on 5, calm has returned. For now.

Quanah Parker Park Big Oak Tree & Homeless Shelter

The sky started to drip as soon as I got out of here, intending to go to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdic Lake. And then on to Town Talk.

Instead I went to Quanah Parker Park which is on Randol Mill Road, which is the same road Town Talk is on.

The dripping at Quanah Parker Park was significant enough to have caused unwanted wetness. I walked through the drips til I got under a big oak tree.

I'd not paid attention to the Quanah Parker Park big oak trees before. They must be the Texas equivalent of Old Growth trees.

With the old growth oaks likely born well before Quanah Parker was born to his Anglo mom, Cynthia Ann Parker, who'd been kidnapped by the Comanche when she was 9, eventually becoming one with the tribe and hooking up with the Comanche chief Peta Nocona, then giving birth to Quanah, who became the last great Comanche chief.

And a major legend in these parts, with all sorts of places named after him, like Quanah Parker Park and Parker County, where July 10 the Parker County Peach Festival will take place. After he helped settle the Comanche people on the Kiowa/Comanche/Apache Reservation in what is now Oklahoma, Quanah Parker became a wealthy rancher, often visiting Fort Worth to conduct business. He had 5 wives and 25 children. Many Texans and Oklahomans claim to be related to Quanah Parker.

I saw something troubling at Quanah Parker Park today. A hapless soul was using the covered picnic area as a homeless shelter. At least that was the assumption I made.

It's time for lunch now. I made an Eggplant casserole type thing with Parmesan and Mozzarella. With oven-fried chicken breast and watermelon.

I'm hungry. Talk to you later.

A Cloudy Friday Morning In Texas With Tattoos

You are looking at the Friday morning view from my computer room window. The morning view does not look all that much different from last night's thunderstorm view, but it is not storming this morning, cloudy, but not storming.

And only 79 degrees. Brrrr. Not quite cold enough to light up the furnace. I do not remember opening windows this time of year in my previous Texas summers.

It is not currently raining, but the forecast is for a 30% chance of some more thunder and precipitation. It likely won't happen. Yesterday's storm was not in the forecast.

Betty Jo Bouvier, she being the Wild Woman of Woolley with badly burned hair, is currently in San Francisco consuming Rice-a-Roni and Jello. I do not know if this is related to the burned hair.

Another Washington friend of mine has really gone off the deep end. By deep end I mean out of character behavior. I shan't name this individual, but I will tell you what she did and is doing. She painted her nails black. Now, that really is not all that deep endish. But, after the nails went black she got several tattoos.

I am not a fan of tattoos.

And what is the reason for this Wild Girl stuff? Well, the now tattooed, black nailed Washington girl is taking off on a 4 day Harley trip. Yes, that is correct, the tattooed, black nailed, leather wearing Wild Girl is a Biker Chick. Riding with a gang of other Harley riders.

Speaking of walking on the wild side, I don't know where I'm going to get my endorphin fix today. Last night's rain may have muddied up the Tandy Hills. Then again, the hills were so parched they likely were able to swallow up a lot of water. I guess I'll find out.

The Thunder Is Rolling Thursday Night In Fort Worth!

That is the Thursday at 7 in the early evening view from my computer room window. You can not hear it, due to my picture taking skills not including audio ability, but right now Thunder is Rolling.

LOUD.

Real LOUD.

It is raining hard with a bit of hail tossed in the mix.

And windy.

This was totally not predicted by our weather predictors. And WeatherBug is silent. Worthless. I need to remove WeatherBug from my computer.

Today, at noon, looking north, from Arlington, I could see a heavy rain squall in the distance, creating a strange vertical line in the sky. So, I knew rain was possible today.

But. What is happening out there right now is a drenching. A major downpour. The first in a long, long time.

I turned off the A/C and opened my windows. I'm loving the noise and the smell of the rain. And the loud booms of the thunder.

The rain is coming down in sheets now.

I must go now, and prepare to batten down the hatches.