Up Way Before July 15's Cracking Of Dawn In Texas

It was dark enough this morning to see stars twinkling when I stepped outside to take a picture of the view from my patio, way before the arrival of the July 15 sun.

I woke up around 4 and knew there was no more sleeping to be had.

Yesterday as I sat on a picnic table at Oakland Lake Park, looking out at peaceful Fosdic Lake, enjoying the chirping birds and the cicada symphony, I sketched out a lot of webpage stuff.

Being outdoors, enjoying Mother Nature, is very conducive to the creative process. Or so I have found. I think this may be part of the reason for my daily addiction to aerobicizing myself at places like the Tandy Hills. Which I will do today.

It is only 79, right now, at half past 5 in the morning. My windows are open. I suspect they will not be open for long. It is going to another HOT day, today, in the Fort.

Sitting On A Fort Worth Picnic Table Pondering Mel Gibson & Other Things

With it being nearly 100 and with me already having had sufficient aerobic stimulation, early this morning, via swimming, plus I found myself doing a lot of walking in Hurst today, I decided to forego my daily constitutional of a vigorous walk.

Have I ever mentioned my walking inspiration is President Harry S Truman. He was a big advocate of a daily walk. When he was President, and after, Harry amused himself by giving press conferences while walking, forcing the news guys to try and keep up with him.

Today I needed to do me some pondering. So, I decided to go to Oakland Lake Park and sit on my favorite picnic table and do some pondering, writing my pondering on a notepad. What I'm
pondering is upgrading my Eyes on Texas website. I spend little time on it, yet it renders returns far in excess of the blogs I spend more time on. Hence the need to ponder.

When I got to my pondering spot I was a bit vexed to see a gang of hoodlums, well, teenagers, who looked to be up to no good. They were within earshot of my favorite picnic table. And I could smell whatever it was they were smoking, which was sort of ruining the fresh air thing I was going for.

That is my favorite picnic table on the right. A drainage ditch runs under it. Maybe the proper terminology is little creek, not ditch.

After about 10 minutes of enduring the hoodlums I decided to drop my no walk decision and walk to the other side of Fosdic Lake. There I found a peaceful picnic table in the shade. And a lot of birds of various feathers flocking together seeking relief from the heat in the shade.

Despite the HEAT there were quite a few people out enjoying it. The wind made the HEAT totally easy to take, particularly when under shade. As I sat and pondered I saw one couple arrive in a bright red car. As the female half exited the car I could tell she was in tiff mode. Not shouting, but she was giving him the talk to the hand signal. I watched them go their separate ways, then him come back looking for her, not realizing she was sitting on a bench on Fosdic Dam.

As I watched all these people having fun, in various ways, at Oakland Lake Park, like the guy fishing with his dog, and the BBQers, it occurred to me that every single one of the people I saw was way happier than Mel Gibson.

Mel Gibson could be anywhere he wanted to be in the world. He has the resources to do anything he wants. Instead he is profoundly unhappy and possible insane. Have you listened to the Mel Gibson tapes? They are ear popping.

I have been exposed to a ranting psychotic a couple times. Sadly the same person was doing the ranting both times. And I exposed myself to that again? That does not speak well to my judgment. Anyway, that ranting that I was subjected to only lasted about a half a minute. Mel Gibson goes on and on and on. Why is he not in jail?

Gar The Texan's Labor Day Bachelor Pad Party

You are looking at an artist's rendering of Gar the Texan's pad in Flower Mound, Texas.

Between now and Labor Day rumor has it that Gar's pad will be turned into Gar the Texan's Bachelor Pad.

Gar has invited a herd of Winkites and Kermitics to stay at his Bachelor Pad over Labor Day Weekend.

I am just a bit sketchy as to why so many West Texans are coming all the way to Gar's Bachelor Pad in Flower Mound, from Wink and Kermit, on Labor Day Weekend.

I am guessing it has something to do with Gar the Texan's reputation for being a wild party boy when he is in bachelor mode, with Labor Day being the first holiday after Gar's return to bachelorhood.

I've invited myself to Gar's Labor Day Bachelor Pad Party.

The largest number of Winkites I have been around at once is two. I am a little worried about how well I'll manage to negotiate a couple dozen Winkites. I don't know if I've ever had social intercourse with a Kermitic. Well, I think, maybe, Gar the Texan might count. He moved from Kermit to Wink, if I remember right. I guess that would make him a partial Kermitic, with a heavy dose of Wink.

Near as I can tell the Queen of Wink is the one who organized Gar the Texan's Labor Day Bachelor Pad Party. The Queen of Wink is good at organizing things.

I'm assuming there will be adult libations and a poolside BBQ. Do we need to bring swimming suits? Or is skinny dipping the swimming mode at a Gar the Texan Bachelor Pad Pool Party?

I suppose those type details will be made plain when the Queen of Wink mails out the invites to Gar the Texan's Bachelor Pad Labor Day Weekend Pool Party.

A Wednesday HEAT Advisory For North Texas From The National Weather Service

The drinking morning coffee morning view looks cool this Ides of July Wednesday. And cool it slightly is, with the temperature in the chilly 70s.

But that won't last, the chilly I mean. The National Weather Service has issued a Heat Advisory for today, with the temperature in the high 90s made even hotter with the humidity making the temperature feel like it's in the 100s.

I won't be doing any noontime hiking today, even though I do so enjoy a good aerobic sauna. I'll be up in Hurst around noon.

I'm thinking I'll wait til the HOTTEST part of the day, somewhere in the 3 to 4 in the afternoon zone, to go spend an hour in the Texas natural sauna.

In the meantime, the sun has totally lit up the place. So, it is time for my morning swim.

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.