Fort Worth Playboy Hash Is #1 Tandy Hills X Suspect

I tell you, there is an underworld of things that take place here in Fort Worth about which I know nothing.

Apparently there have been 648 Fort Worth Runs, alternatively known as Fort Worth Hash. I guess.

On Saturday people gathered at the infamous parking lot, just off Beach Street, on the north side of the Trinity River, where I had fun encounters with gas drilling operatives awhile back.

These people were gathering for the Fort Worth Playboy Hash. To play you come up with $5 Hash Cash. The reason you do this, according to the Fort Worth Hash website, is because of Beer-n-Blondes.

Hashers were asked to wear their skimpiest playboy attire, as in, lingerie, pajamas, bunny tails, blonde wigs, bath robes, well you get the idea.

The website announcement also says "yes, porn will make an appearance on trail!"

And that tacos and other goodies would be provided to munch on.

I am a little confused as to when the Hash Run took place. The gathering began at 5:30pm. But, on the announcement, under "Fort Worth Run No. 648," it says, "End of twilight: 9:06pm," Does this mean the running, I mean, hashing, takes place after dark?

Just minutes ago, Stenotrophomonas reported that when he hiked the Tandy Hills, on Friday afternoon, he saw none of the white powder. By Saturday afternoon, Stenotrophomonas saw the white powder.

The picture at the top shows two X's, well, what I am now calling Hash Marks, that I did not see yesterday, because I did not walk that section of trail.

The Tandy Hills Trails are about 1.25 miles from the Beach Street Playboy Hash meeting location. So, did a group of skimpily clad people make their way south on Beach Street, cross the freeway, then find their way to the Tandy Hills where they wandered the trails looking for white spots and hash marks?

Don Young seems to always know everything that is going on on the Tandy Hills. I'm guessing he was a participant at this event. Or the organizer.

I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you, that I was not invited, what with me regularly hiking the Tandy Hills whilst skimpily clad.

105 At The New Tandy Hills Shrine With More Mysterious X's

I managed to get a decent picture of the New Tandy Hills Shrine today. I think a momentary passing of a cloud may have made the light work, so the rocks showed up.

I don't know what the theme is of the New Tandy Hills Shrine, what it symbolizes, if anything, or who is lining up the rocks.

It is yet one more Tandy Hills mystery.

Like those white X's, marking spots, that I mentioned yesterday. I came upon another of those today.

I also heard from the Ubiquitous Anonymous last night, about the mystery of the white X's.

I'll blog about what Anonymous told me in my next blogging. Suffice to say, bikinis were involved.

Which makes me think that Anonymous is Twister. Because Twister keeps track of anything bikini-related within a 50 mile radius of his location.

As you can see in the picture, due to all the rain we've been getting here, in formerly dry North Texas, the grass is an unnatural, for July, shade of green. Usually, by July, grass is a nice shade of brown.

Brown is my signature color. Or so I have been told. So, I like it when the green grass turns brown.

As I pulled away from Tandy Mountain, today, and turned on the radio, I heard the radio weather lady say it was currently 93, with the high humidity's Heat Stress Index making it feel like 105. I had not heard the Heat Index referred to as the Heat Stress Index before.

I did not find the HEAT all that stressful today. You just have to put yourself in the frame of mind that you are walking in a natural sauna and that doing so is a very healthy behavior. While you drink copious amounts of water.

A Cry For Help From Another Only Child Syndrome Victim

A long time ago I blogged about Only Child Syndrome. Little did I know there were so many people out there being perplexed by bad Only Child behavior.

I have gotten a lot of comments on this subject, some from people who are really having a hard time dealing with the syndrome and some from Only Child Syndrome Deniers.

Now, I have never ever suggested that all Only Children develop the syndrome, any more than I would suggest that all Little Men develop Little Man Syndrome.

This morning Anonymous told me her Only Child Syndrome woes and asked for tips on how to deal with the syndrome.

If I were Anonymous I would walk away. The case of Only Child Syndrome you are dealing with is only going to get worse. They can stifle their impulses only so long.

The Only Child Syndrome blogging to which Anonymous commented has dozens of comments now. This is not the only Only Child Syndrome blogging with dozens of comments. I think the only thing I have blogged about that has received more comments is when I brought up the extremely controversial subject of the Wink Sinkholes. Who knew what a brouhaha that subject would brew?

Anyway, below is what Anonymous had to say about her case of Only Child Syndrome...

This blog was enlightening. I have been in a relationship with my boyfriend for two years and everything seemed fine up until 6 or so months ago.

I knew from the start he was an only child, but I guess the honeymoon phase was so great, none of what you are talking about showed.

Then he started acting up, getting upset with me and going silent on me just because of I refuse to do what he wanted.it was baaaaaad. he'd totally cut me off like I had never existed and it would be so humiliating, especially if it was in public.

These 'mood swings' have become worse. If he's upset, he can cut me off for a week, no communication whatsoever. The amazing thing is that when he 'returns' its all rosy again. Until I 'refuse' to do what he says then he goes on a complete stink. I am a typical middle kid and such stuff is exhausting and quite irritating, especially because I AM THE GIRL IN THE RELATIONSHIP!!!!

Anyways, I love this man, he is amazing most of the time, makes a big deal about what is important to me. I appreciate all that, but if I don't make as much noise as he'd like (e.g. his birthday, etc), he goes sulky on me.

I feel like I shouldn't give up on him just yet (you must all think I am crazy) because he is a good man, I have no trust issues with him (very rare) and I see long term with him, and I love him.

Oh and he has such wonderful parents, they like me and if any of the attention they give me is half of what they give him - it's slightly (but nicely, lol) suffocating to say the least. His mom even told me at the start of our dating that he has weaknesses - that he can keep silent for extended periods, guess I was forewarned.

Are there any tips on how you can help these people??

Tuesday July 13 In Texas Is Off To An Inauspicious Start

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 is not off to an auspicious start. Though, as you can see, via the morning view from my patio, the sky is semi-blue. That is better than gray and threatening rain or worse.

But, it is that picture where the day turned inauspicious. When I went to take the picture off the camera nothing happened. Usually this is pretty much a very fast process.

I tried a variety of things to make it work. But it didn't. Usually when I turn on the camera after plugging in the USB connector it is all automatic from that point. But, not this morning.

I tried manually starting up the camera reader. But my computer acted as if it did not exist. So, I went with the old standby of restarting the computer.

When the computer was starting to shutdown for the restart, I finally woke up enough to look for the obvious. As in, I had not plugged the USB connector all the way in.

Problem solved.

For weeks I have been being nagged by Adobe Reader to install an update. The nag messages said a restart may be needed. So, I put it off.

After the computer restarted, after the camera debacle, a new version of the Adobe Reader nag message popped up. This one detailed what the update did. And said no restart was needed.

So, I installed the Adobe Reader update.

And when it was done installing an Adobe Reader message popped up telling me that for the Adobe Reader updates to become effective I needed to restart my computer.

Do I really need Adobe Reader? I think maybe not.

I think it is time to go swimming and hopefully turn this inauspicious day around.

Why Is X Marking Tandy Hills Spots With Apples & Flash Floods?

I had not set foot on the Tandy Hills since several days ago, Friday, I think, when I was caught in and thoroughly drenched by a downpour.

Today at noon I did not see much of a drenching threat, so I returned to the Hills, not alive with the sound of music, unless you consider the out of control noise making of mating cicadas to be music. I don't.

I parked at the top of Tandy Mountain, under the Fort Worth Space Needle. The first thing I noticed was the New Tandy Shrine has hugely expanded.

The Old Tandy Shrine was a tribute to all the various types of litter you could find hiking the Tandy Hills.

The theme of the New Tandy Shrine I have not yet figured out. It consists of dozens of rocks, in a line about 30 feet long. Attempts to get a decent picture of the New Tandy Shrine have not worked out, likely due to my poor photographer skills.

Right from the top of Tandy Mountain, today, I noticed odd little piles of some white substance. Lime maybe?

Where the trail down Tandy Mountain reaches its first junction an X in white had been made to mark the spot. Why? Continuing on, taking north option at the junction, at the next trail junction, near the Tandy Falls sewer manhole, another X marks a spot. That X is the X you see in the picture.

As I continued my hiking I came upon a few more white marks, but no more X's. Why are a couple white X's marking spots on the Tandy Hills, I can't help but wonder?

We have had ourselves some rain of late. This has caused a flash flood. Or two.

Today I was not too shocked to see that the well-engineered bridges that the Fort Worth Water Department had installed across a pair of Tandy Creeks had suffered some major damage from flash flooding.

I have wondered a time or two about the history of the Tandy Hills. As in way back in the late 1800s. Was there a ranch or two on the hills? You see signs of such things. The old remains of what may have been a picket fence, that type thing. Did the Chisholm Trail run through nearby?

Today, as I was walking a trail I have walked dozens upon dozens of times, I looked up to see something I don't think I've ever seen on the Tandy Hills before.

Edible Fruit.

In the form of what appeared to be apples. I was unable to get close enough to ascertain for certain. I had to use my camera's zoom to get a closer look.

The fruit tree is in a semi-flat area of the Tandy Hills. Other trees near the fruit tree looked as if they also might be fruit trees. Was this the orchard of a long gone ranch?

I wonder if there is a history of Fort Worth book, of some sort, in the Fort Worth library. I'd go see, but my library card has expired and right now it seems like way too much bother to go un-expire it.

Jack In The Box Catches Miss Puerto Rico's Counterfeit $20 Bill Operation

Thursday Miss Puerto Rico was on a fast food run for her co-workers. First stop was at Taco Bueno. Miss Puerto Rico called me as she waited in the drive-thru to tell me she was looking at more police cars than she ever remembered seeing.

This turned out to be part of a police chase gone very bad.

Little did Miss Puerto Rico know, at the time, that she was about to have herself a major run-in with the law.

Miss PR's next fast food stop was at the Jack in the Box at I-820 and John T. White/Bridge Street Road.

Jack took Miss PR's order through his Box. Miss PR pulled up to the pay for your food window. Handed the Jack in the Box moneytaker a $20 bill, with the moneytaker, who I believe was the manager, hollering, "Stop cooking that order, she gave me a fake $20 bill."

Miss Puerto Rico was very embarrassed. The Jack in the Box workers were quite rude.

So, Miss PR showed up back at work with only the Taco Bueno food.

This happened on a Thursday. Friday morning Miss PR was barely at work when a detective showed up to grill her about her counterfeiting operation. Sometimes American ways can unsettle Miss PR. This would be one of those times. Luckily a co-worker interceded, somewhat.

Eventually, after a lot of questioning, the detective decided to let Miss Puerto Rico remain free. For now.

So, I find this entire scenario very troubling. I accept the fact that there has always been counterfeiting. And it's a bad thing. However, the U.S. government estimates that less than 1/100 of 1 percent of U.S. paper currency is counterfeit.

Miss Puerto Rico acquired her bogus $20 bill at her bank's ATM.

It was only the first use of that bogus $20 bill, when spent by the counterfeiter, that a crime took place.

After that, the bogus $20 was in circulation, just like any other $20 bill, you know, the ones printed by the government.

Jack in the Box could have given Miss Puerto Rico her Jumbo Jacks and then sent the bogus $20 bill out with another customer, or deposited it in the bank. No harm done. Or am I missing something?

It seems like a HUGE waste of resources to go after someone like Miss PR to investigate her for counterfeiting. I mean, how likely is it that a counterfeiter is going to use a fake bill to buy some fast food, with the counterfeiter knowing, likely better than most, that the bill is going to be checked?

Which leads to another question. You can't spend a $20 bill these days, in most places, without the felt pen type test being done to it. So, to safely spend a bogus $20 bill, you'd need to use it at a self-pay type place or flea markets and garage sales. This seems like an awful lot of bother to go through for some petty transactions.

The counterfeiters must have some means of getting the bogus bills into circulation, with the counterfeiters making money on it somehow.

It's very perplexing. I really think Jack in the Box owes Miss Puerto Rico an apology and a couple free Jumbo Jacks. She was a victim. Not a criminal.

Now, if you are worried that you may have a wallet full of bogus $20 bill, something called WikiHow has a webpage with an awful lot of steps you can go through to check the validity of your money.

Seems easier to me to just use a debit card.

A Blue Texas Monday With A Captured Barefoot Bandit

As you can see, from the view from my patio, it is a very blue Monday, currently, at my location in Texas, this second Monday of July.

I was dead tired real early Sunday. So, I went to bed before the sun did. And then got out of bed, this morning, before the sun did. Well, more accurately, I got up about the same time the sun did.

I have a lot of blogging fodder that should provide me some entertainment today. I hope.

Washington's notorious Barefoot Bandit, Colton-Harris Moore, was finally caught. Somehow managing to steal a plane in Indiana and fly it all the way to the Bahamas, where, eventually he was recognized, police called, with his capture after a high speed boat chase. When caught and arrested, Colton was still barefoot.

I did not know the Barefoot Bandit had been captured til Betty Jo Bouvier told me, suggesting it might be good blogging material. I'll get around to that later on my Washington blog.

But, before that, I believe it is time for my extremely salubrious early morning swim. You are welcome to join me. Monday's are clothing optional.

Wal-Mart & Its Possibly Criminal Bad Business Practices

I was having me a good Sunday. Long swim this morning. The successful, 2nd try, concocting of hummus. Another adventure with the Chase Bank ATM, which went better than the last one. A call to my sister in Phoenix, that started with talking to my brother-in-law, then talking to my sister while I walked in Village Creek Natural Historic Area.

And then, needing lemon juice, I went to the Eastchase Wal-Mart Supercenter in Fort Worth where I experienced the Wal-Mart Sucks Problem.

I had not experienced Wal-Mart Sucking for awhile.

But, today I got 6 items, in addition to the lemon juice.

One of the items was a box of 6 bars of soap. I knew the total for what I was buying would be about 11 dollars. When the checkout girl said it was $15 something I knew a mistake had been made. I hit the final button on the debit card thing.

She gave me the receipt. I quickly saw the soap had been added twice. The checkout girl told me she only saw it show once when she scanned the soap. I saw that too on the display facing the customer.

She told me I had to go to customer service to get my money back. In Wal-Mart, customer service is what I believe is known as an oxymoron.

I waited in line for maybe 5 minutes, had to sign a slip of paper, then money was returned to me. No, apology, no sorry for wasting your time, nothing.

As I left it occurred to me that this was a very wrong thing that had happened. I only bought a few items. What if I had a cartful, buying a couple hundred bucks worth of stuff? Would I have noticed something ringing up wrong?

It seems to me that taking extra money out of my bank account, by whatever means, is what is known as stealing. Yes, I got my money back. But I did not get the time stolen from me back.

And what about those people who don't notice that Wal-Mart has stolen from them? With them Wal-Mart succeeded in stealing extra money from their bank account.

I think it is HUGELY wrong that you have to go to customer service to get your money back in this type scenario. There should be someone who's only purpose is to take care of such supposed errors. And have the error quickly investigated to make sure there is not some sort of systematic mistake going on, like when Wal-Mart was not ringing up the correct milk price, system-wide.

I think until proven otherwise merchant errors of this sort should be treated as a criminal act no different than shoplifting.

But, until that happens, all I can do is blog about Wal-Mart sucking. I am not alone. Google "Wal-Mart Sucks" and you'll see what I mean.

2010 Parker County Peach Festival's Record Breaking Crowd With Bumper Crop Of Perfect Peaches

Well. The one day Parker County Peach Festival is over for another year. Ever since I made a webpage about the Parker County Peach Festival it causes the biggest one-day spike in my web stats.

And now that I've added a blog to the mix the same is true of the blog.

Both times that I've gone to the Parker County Peach Festival it was not a good year for peaches. And the temperature both times was in the 100 range.

This meant I spent a lot of time walking through the cooling misters, seeking shade under awnings, or seeking refuge in air-conditioned stores.

This year's bumper crop of high quality, extra juicy, extra sweet Parker County peaches, combined with perfect temperatures in the 70s and 80s, made for a huge crowd in Weatherford on Saturday.

Usually around 35,000 will show up to shop the vendors and have some peach ice cream, peach salsa, peach cobbler, peach smoothies, peach juleps, peach limeade and all sorts of other peach things, including just eating a fresh peach.

Saturday's Parker County Peach Festival attracted a crowd estimated to be in the 50,000 people range. I probably would have enjoyed being part of the plus-sized crowd. Maybe next year.

Up Late This Second Sunday Of July Thinking About Hummus & Going Swimming

You are looking at the view from my patio this, the 2nd Sunday of July. As you can see the sun has arrived and is lighting up the place, which is a good clue I slept in past dawn today. This does not happen too often.

It did not rain in copious amounts yesterday for the first time in a few days. I'm hoping the unseemly, out of the ordinary, extra wetness is done for the summer and we can dry the humidity out of the air and return to a more pleasant desert-like outdoor experience, instead of the current sauna bath.

A couple days ago I blogged about the Tex-Mess I made of trying to make hummus. Yesterday I threw my remaining garbanzo beans in the slow cooker, thinking slow cooking them would have a better result that my first attempt.

Last night Alan commented on my hummus making debacle with really good suggestions that make me think my second attempt will turn out better. Originally I had said there would be no second attempt at hummus, but, ironically, even though I somehow managed to make cement hummus, it is still quite tasty and I have been eating the stuff.

I am heading to the pool in a bit for a long long swim. What happens after that, this second Sunday of July, I have no idea.