Walking Fosdic Lake With Tootsie Tonasket & Baby Turtles

Last Saturday I was walking around Fosdic Lake, talking to Tootsie Tonasket, when I came upon a big turtle evacuating the lake.

This Saturday I was walking around Fosdic Lake, talking to Tootsie Tonasket, and I came upon another turtle evacuating Fosdic Lake.

Today's lake evacuee was a little turtle, obviously a pre-turtle puberty, so he was not off on some mating mission like I thought last week's bigger turtle might have been.

So, what's happened? Did the turtles get the memo that there are bad toxins in their home?

It's sort of disturbing seeing turtles out where they probably should not be.

Tootsie Tonasket was being particularly amusing today. I think she may have been being giddy because her zone of Eastern Washington is finally getting some hot temperatures. As in the 100s.

This morning I blogged about Winthrop. That's not a person, it's a tourist town near where Tootsie lives. I asked Tootsie when she was last in Winthrop, curious was I about what's changed since I was last there, at least 10 years ago. Tootsie had been in Winthrop in the past year, having burgers on the deck of one of the riverside restaurants.

Other than that, Tootsie did not have a lot of information for me about Winthrop.

I just got an emergency call from Miss Puerto Rico. She is out of ice. I guess I'll go cool her down.

J.D. Granger's Mom, Kay, Wants You To Cover Your Butt

That is the mother of J.D. Granger holding up a shirt in the picture.

J.D.'s mama is Fort Worth Congresswoman Kay Granger. Kay was born January 18, 1943. She looks very good at 67 years old.

Then again, I'm making that shallow judgment based on one photo that may have had some re-touching work done to it. I've not see Kay Granger in person, that I recollect.

Why is Miss Kay holding a t-shirt that advises "cover your butt"?

Is Miss Kay giving this shirt to her son? Advising J.D. that he should cover his butt regarding likely upcoming woes with the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle?

J.D. was in need of a job, so his mom decided to give the voters of Fort Worth a civics lesson and show them what nepotism is. Though he had no experience in running a big project, Miss Kay got J.D. put in charge of running the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

This is a good paying job. I don't know if J.D. had a good paying job before his mama got him this one.

I also don't know why this little act of nepotism has not been an issue among Miss Kay's colleagues in Washington, D.C.

Is it because those in Washington, D.C. know that Fort Worth is in a protective bubble, immune from the laws that govern the rest of America, making nepotism perfectly okay, where having outrageous conflicts of interest, such as with the Mayor of Fort Worth, Mike Moncrief, who makes over $600,000 a year from his holdings in the various Barnett Shale gas drillers poking holes in Fort Worth, is not understood to be criminal behavior?

Maybe Miss Kay is giving "Cover Your Butt" t-shirts to all people in positions of governance in the Fort Worth/Tarrant County zone. Like those who oversee Tarrant County College and its various boondoggles. And Fort Worth's mayor and all his minions. And of course all the Trinty River Vision Boondoggle good ol' boys.

I'd even like one for myself. There are plenty of times when I need to "cover my butt". Like right now.

Early Saturday Morning With The Parker County Peach Festival & My Supposedly Expired Fort Worth Library Card

The sun was just starting to light up the place when I stepped out on the patio this morning. As you can see, it is cloudy.

A lot of rain fell Friday afternoon at my location. With one extremely close, extremely loud, lightning strike.

The Parker County Peach Festival is today in Weatherford. I have gone to the Peach Festival twice. I don't think I'll be going today.

I've had some more vexation with the Fort Worth Library system. Last night I went to renew a book that is due today. The website would not let me renew.

Because my library card expires on July 12.

Why would my library card expire? All the years I lived in Mount Vernon, in Washington, my library card never expired. I think I've had this Fort Worth library card less than 5 years. It's not like a driver's license where they need to check my eyesight to make sure I am still able to read.

So, we have a town that cuts back library hours due to budget woes, yet wastes time and resources to re-issue library cards which are functioning fine?

Unlike my driver's license or a bank card I see no expiration date on my Fort Worth library card.

Very perplexing.

Getting Soaked By My Second Texas Downpour Of The Day

At noon I got soaked by a downpour on the Tandy Hills. Around 4 I left here, heading to a store to buy some stuff. When I got a view of the horizon I saw a wall of the blackest clouds I think I have ever seen.

I did not take a picture because the wall of black was in the direction I was heading. I figured I'd get a better picture option.

I was wrong.

I was soon in the black, getting hit with a heavy, torrential downpour.

I got to my destination. Ran in. Got my stuff. The noise inside was very loud. On leaving the store there was a cop standing guard. I asked if he was providing umbrella service. He had the gall to suggest I turn my baseball cap around so the bill could provide some protection from the rain.

I got back here to the wet view you see through my windshield, in the picture.

I made a run for it, got back behind closed doors and removed everything wet. I am now drying out for the second time today.

I woke up the computer to see email from Elsie Hotpepper asking if I'd dried out yet. Referencing the Tandy Hills soaking.

I called my mom today because I got gas, and as my one reader knows, when I get gas I call my mom. Mom was jealous of our chilly weather. And rain. She is eagerly awaiting a predicted monsoon rain to hit the Valley of the Sun, also known as the Phoenix area.

I am now seeing flashes and hearing thunder boom.

I am ready for this wet weather to return to the Pacific Northwest, where it belongs. And for Texas to get back to being reliably dry and HOT in summer. It is only 72 out there right now. If the rains stops I'll be opening the windows again.

Getting Soaked On The Tandy Hills & Confused At Chase Bank

That is not the early morning, dark view, from my patio. No, it's the noon view, looking north, on the Tandy Hills.

Hiking the Tandy Hills did not go well today. On the drive there a couple raindrops hit my windshield. But I did not think a rainstorm was imminent.

As I often am, I was wrong.

About 15 minutes into hiking it started to rain. And then it really started to rain. I then started to run. Then I had to stop running because the rain had made the trail slippery. I had not experienced that on the Tandy Hills before.

By the time I made it back to vehicular cover I was drenched.

Next stop. Chase Bank to make a deposit in the ATM. I usually make a deposit via the drive-thru, but I was wet, was in a hurry.

As I sat on Beach Street, waiting for the light to change to green, so I could turn left to the bank, I kept watching a guy in a pickup spend way too much time at the ATM, with a lot of interaction between him and the ATM. I sat there wondering what that guy's problem was.

The light changed just as the pickup finally pulled away from the ATM.

When I pulled in, beside the ATM, my first problem was I could not find any deposit envelopes. I've made a deposit at Chase via this means before, with the check stuck in an envelope.

After a couple minutes of being baffled, I decided to shove the bank card in the reader slot. That did not go well. Previously the ATMs simply took the card and gave it back when the transaction was completed. I kept getting an "unable to read card" message.

Then I realized it was now like swiping the card at a gas station. So, I quickly swiped it through the reader. After several more failures, success, now being asked to enter my PIN.

The PIN part went easy. Then I pushed the "deposit" button. I get told I can enter up to 25 checks into the check entry slot.

Huh?

A door opens, I stick in the check. I've not been asked to enter the amount of the deposit. I was getting very frustrated.

The ATM tells me it can not read the check, to please re-enter it correctly. I looked at the example on the ATM screen. I tried again. Still wrong. After I don't know how many attempts I was successful.

The ATM told me it had accepted a check deposit and said the amount and asked that I confirm it. Or reject the deposit if I wanted the check returned to me.

Next confusion was asking me what type receipt I wanted. I think there were 3 options, one of the options was a receipt with a photo image of the deposited check. I chose the just give me the damn receipt with the current balance on it option.

After what seemed another minute, the receipt showed up.

The next time I attempt to make a deposit in a Chase ATM I'm assuming I'll have an easier time of it. I hope.

I wish Washington Mutual had not had its meltdown. Their ATMs were so easy to use.

In Texas With A Hippie & Wee In Singapore

I went to school with the hippie in the picture, Tommy N.

Back then Tommy was a really skinny kid, a self-described socially misfitted geek, before geekiness turned cool.

I'd not heard anything about Tommy in years.

Til, this past week, when I heard from long lost Tommy N. and long lost Wee Cheng in Singapore.

I'm not much of a fan of Facebook, but I have sort of enjoyed some of these re-contacts caused by Facebook. Because it's interesting.

Wee now has 2 boys. Yesterday they helped Wee make sushi.

Wee asked me if I have any plans to visit Asia soon. And then asked me when it was she first invited me to Singapore. I told Wee it was way back late in the previous century.

Wee is a yoga instructor now. And has designed a line of yoga bags that she sells on the Internet.

As for Tommy N.

Well, those of you who remember him from our school years will likely be surprised to learn Tommy did a long stint in the navy, serving 6 month tours on the Kitty Hawk and Carl Vinson aircraft carriers. Plus submarine duty.

Tommy started being an electronics whiz way back in grade school. He continued to amp up his whizness after he got out of school. By the time he got out of the navy he had the electronics skills to work in Las Vegas and Reno as a slot machine fix-it guy.

At some point in time Tommy reproduced. A boy named Adam. And then Adam reproduced, thus turning Tommy N. into a grandpa.

I know no details regarding Tommy N.'s apparent hippie era. Except for the fact that it had to have taken place well after the hippie era heyday in the late 1960s.

Up Before The Texas Sun Again Thinking About Betty Jo Bouvier Not Being Memorable Among Other Things

Up early again. You can see there is some illumination beginning to light up the view from my patio. Not enough illumination, yet, to tell if we are under a cloud cover.

The Fort Worth police officer, who suffered bad head injuries in yesterday's chase/crash, remains in critical condition. It is now known the injured officer lost control of his cruise moments after he joined the chase.

The 2 motorcyclists who had been chased from Mansfield managed to successfully escape capture.

I thought that only happened in the movies.

I'm feeling bad this morning about Betty Jo Bouvier suddenly feeling like she is not memorable. This due to one singular instance of forgetfulness, by one individual, due to who knows what? In reality, Betty Jo is really quite memorable, even before she became the Wild Woman of Woolley.

Switching subjects to the weather. I had my windows open all night and the A/C off. In July. In Texas. Something ain't right about that. Meanwhile, last night, from an island in Washington, I got an email from a HEAT sufferer, so dismayed she was shouting in all CAPITAL letters about the HEAT.

Washington is scheduled to cool down by tomorrow. Texas is not scheduled to cool down tomorrow. Or the day after tomorrow. Or the day after that.

A Trip To The Post Office Finds A Fort Worth Police Officer Critically Injured In Chase

I left here about 3, this afternoon, heading to the library and post office. As soon as I had a view of the horizon I saw helicopters hovering over the freeway.

By the time I got to the library I could see traffic eastbound on Interstate 30 was not moving.

I was at the library all of a minute. As I left Miss Puerto Rico called to tell me she'd never seen so many police cars. She was over by Taco Bueno. Which is by the post office.

Driving past Taco Bueno, on Handley Road, I saw two police cars blocking entry to the freeway. Handley makes a bend past the post office. Around the bend I saw where the trouble was. Cars were backed up on Handley at the site of the problem.

As I joined the traffic jam I got out my camera and turned it on. The police cruiser you see in the picture came into view.

The car looked bent, as if it'd wrapped around the tree that appears to be coming out of the car.

This was the end result of a high speed chase that began in Mansfield. The Tarrant County Sheriff's Department had a house under surveillance due to it being a suspected Meth Lab House.

A couple of motorcylists left the house. The police began their pursuit. Fort Worth police were asked to join the chase, after which the crash occurred, just a short distance east of the I-30/I-820 Mixmaster Exchange.

The police officer was critically injured in the accident when his car slammed into the tree you see in the picture.

I have long been of the opinion that police chases of this sort should only be allowed for the most serious and dangerous of crimes. The police and public should not have been in this type danger chasing suspected drug dealers on motorbikes.

In my opinion.

No word yet if the police caught the motorcyclists they were chasing.

Fort Worth Flock Of Fosdick Baby Ducks & Their Car Baby Seat

You are looking at a little flock of Fosdic Lake baby Fosducks and their Baby Duck Mama, today around noon at Oakland Lake Park.

The Baby Duck Mama and her brood seemed to have exited the Baby Seat you see in the foreground, to head to the lake for lunch.

Why would someone leave a Baby Car Seat sitting next to a lake? Why would you haul the car seat all the way from your vehicle and leave it sitting on the ground in this location?

There were not very many birds on Fosdic Lake today. Have a lot of them flown north for the summer?

This morning I learned that the Texas Department of State Health Services has determined that eating fish caught in the Trinity River in 8 Texas counties, including Dallas and Tarrant, could lead to health issues, due to the river being so contaminated with chemicals, like dioxins and PCBs.

But, there is no health risk to swimmers, the state warning advisory said.

Huh?

Who in their right mind would go swimming in the Trinity River? It is usually a very muddy river. There are snakes and turtles who call that river home. And giant garfish.

I saw a guy swimming in the Trinity River once as I crossed the river on the Randol Mill Road bridge east of Beach Street. I was so astounded I stopped on the bridge to stare. And confirm it really was a guy swimming. He had on a wetsuit. Not that that made it seem any more doable.

The state also advises against eating fish caught in Fosdic Lake. I don't know if the Fosdic ducks are safe to eat. As you can see the Baby Fosducks were leading their mom on a food hunting expedition, occasionally finding something tasty to eat. Likely laced with dioxins and PCBs.

I thought dioxins and PCBs were banned a long time ago.

Fort Worth Forecast 89 & Showers, Seattle Forecast 95 & Blazing Sunshine

Currently coming up on 11 in the morning it is 81 here in Fort Worth, heading to a predicted high today of 89. With showers.

Meanwhile, up in Seattle, coming up on 9 in the morning, it is 69, heading to a predicted high of 95. With Blazing Sunshine.

Here in Fort Worth we have this vexation called humidity which leads to a thing called the Heat Index. Currently thought the temperature is 81, it feels like 86.

Meanwhile, up in Seattle, there is not much of a humidity problem, so, somehow with the temperature being 69, it feels like 67. Is this the Anti-Heat Index? I don't know.

Below is the Seattle forecast, taken from the Seattle P-I. Note the amusing weather descriptors, "Blazing sunshine", "Sunny record-tying heat", "Mostly sunny, not as warm", "Beautiful with sunshine".

Meanwhile, our Fort Worth weather descriptor is pretty much "Chance of Showers" until 7 days from now when we get "Mostly Sunny".