Looking At The Village Creek Alligator Pond & Pondering What I Need To Do To Get More Obese

It is around noon in the picture, where you are sitting on a picnic table with me, looking at the Village Creek Natural Area's Alligator Pond.

This formerly was an area where water flowed, but something has diverted the water flow, which has caused the previously big pond to slowly get choked with green growing things.

A couple months ago, before the pond became almost totally choked, I was almost 100% certain I spotted 2 small sized alligators snapping out of the water. At what they were snapping, I do not know.

I saw no alligators today. The only critters I saw were 2 humans. I howdied the humans. One was an ornithologist. That means she was staring intently at birds in the trees. She reminded me of Jane Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies.

None of the birds she was staring intently at seemed nearly as interesting as my new pet lovebirds, who are still sitting out on a branch by my patio, still cooing. I have named them Albert and Alice, after an infamous pair of Washington lovebirds.

I cooked a big batch of beans overnight in the slow cooker. I thought I'd turned it off in the middle of the night, but what I'd actually done was set it on low. Consequently the beans were very well cooked by this morning. I amped up the big pile of cooked beans with other good stuff.

I am working on making sure I have a steady caloric stream so that I stabilize this weight loss thing I've got currently going on. I know it is caused by too much activity, too much energy expended to stay cool. And the heat sort of stifling my appetite.

As a consequence of this perfect storm of metabolic forces, I am now skinnier than I was 2 years ago when I was in Tacoma, shivering constantly due to my lack of sufficient insulative adipose tissue. I was so jealous of all the obese people up there who did not have the shivering problem. But, I just could not bring myself to eat what the obese eat in order to achieve that obese goal.

As in, I have never eaten a doughnut with multi-colored sprinkles on it, ever. And I do not intend ever to do so. I don't care how skinny I get. No doughnuts with multi-color sprinkles for me.

And now it is time for the Bean Concoction I made this morning, along with baked cheesy bread. My goal is to fatten myself up by the chills of winter, so that I am swimming pool ready.

A Pair Of Texas Lovebirds Living On My Balcony

This morning I was hearing no annoying cicada mating calls, but I was hearing some up close dove cooing. I do not know if dove cooing is a mating call. I do know it is less annoying than a cicada cacophony.

After I came back from swimming, putting my swimming suit out on a chair on the patio to dry, I looked up to see a pair of lovebirds had taken up residence on a branch very close to the balcony railing.

I thought they'd fly away by the time I got my camera.

I was wrong. Not only did they cooperatively pose, the pair has remained perched in the same location all morning.

All the rain in recent times has turned the usually hot and brown climate of North Texas sort of sub-tropical, with way too much humidity, a lot of lush greenery. And a lot of birds happily chirping.

I think I'll take off in a bit, going to the Post Office to mail a letter to my favorite Auntie, that is months overdue. And then on to Village Creek Natural Historic Area for a walk in the shade with the Ghosts of all the Indians who's lives were ruined and made miserable by invading undocumented illegal aliens called Texans.

I never tire of repeating that "invading undocumented illegal aliens called Texans" line.

The Last Sunday Of July In Texas Thinking About Las Vegas & Crazy People

In the picture you are out on my patio looking at the last Sunday dawn of July 2010. The days of July 2010 seem to have disappeared very quickly. And now there are only 7 left.

We are almost downright chilly this morning. Only 76 degrees out there.

The water in the pool was noticeably cooler yesterday. Which was a good thing. It had been bordering on being too warm and losing its refreshing quality.

I hear no cicadas making their mating noise this morning. I don't know why they have to make so much noise going about that particular business. What if humans behaved similarly? It would be very unseemly.

Yesterday I saw fresh evidence of the mental illness of a nutcase I am so well rid of. I'm embarrassed I ever tolerated this particular individual. But, I guess I'm glad I have a tolerant nature. Up to a point. What is befuddling is that, apparently, there are others who do not see the obvious absurdity of this particular idiot's pathological lying. Even though, in the past, these particular others have made obvious, via joking about it, their awareness of this particularly peculiar idiot's peculiarly particular warps. Very perplexing. Yet, somehow, somewhat amusing.

Okay, enough with being cryptic.

I learned yesterday that rooms are costing over $500 a night at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. At Luxor, where I only paid $69 a night when I was last there, rooms now go for over $150. The last time I stayed at Excalibur, with my oldest nephews, I paid $49 a night. Excalibur is currently $129.

Buffets used to be a cheap loss leader to keep you in the casino losing money gambling. No more. No $5.99 lunch buffets. More like $16.99 at the cheapest.

The price rise in Las Vegas seems far ahead of what would be accounted for by the nominal inflation we've experienced the past 10 years.

Perplexing. But even though it's perplexing, I am in the mood for a Vegas trip. And the Rio buffet. I don't care if it's now over 20 bucks.

Walking & Talking To The Queen Of Wink At Fosdic Lake About Going To Las Vegas

I was walking along, singing a song, around Fosdic Lake at Oakland Lake Park, when I decided to try and call the Queen of Wink.

Again.

Once again I got voice mail. I don't bother leaving a message.

Anymore.

And then, just as I was passing a sitting opportunity, my phone rang.

It was the Queen of Wink calling back. From Wink. So, I sat at the sitting opportunity and talked to the Queen of Wink til my phone started making rude noises at me.

Before my phone started making rude noises I had a long discussion with the Winkitian about Las Vegas. This long discussion about Las Vegas made me want to visit that town. I've not been to Vegas since April of 2006. And that was only to switch planes.

For some reason I am very very tired. And a bit headachy. Had I gone saloon hopping with Elsie Hotpepper last night I would have an explanation for being very very tired and a bit headachy. But, I have no explanation for my dire condition.

I must cease blogging now.

Hiking & Biking In Washington With Jeremy & My Other Nephews

You are looking at my nephew Jeremy, aka JR, sometime in August, back in the previous century, on a suspension bridge across a glacier melt creek, on the Schrieber's Meadow trail up Mount Baker, in my old home state of Washington.

Jeremy and several others were taking me on a hike for my birthday. I don't quite remember how that came about, because this is a rather difficult hike and most of these people were not hikers.

When we reached the suspension bridge Jeremy balked. It took a lot of convincing to get him to cross it. In the picture you are looking at Jeremy's triumphant crossing on the way back down the trail. Obviously he had conquered his fear.

As you can see it was a very foggy hiking day. We only made it to the base of Mount Baker, did not make it as far as the Railroad Grade, that being the moraine carved out by a glacier. If Jeremy had a problem with that suspension bridge he really would have hated the Railroad Grade.

That would be me sitting on a log going through my backpack, with my little sister on the left.

I had a lot of mountain fun with Jeremy and my other nephews when I lived in Washington. I remember a cross country skiing adventure with Jeremy's older brother, Christopher, on the east side of Mount Baker, we got high up on some logging roads and had a very adventurous descent.

A time or two I took my nephews on adventures where I think I may have been not exhibiting good uncle judgment. Like one time nephew Joey and I hiked to the top of Sauk Mountain in the Skagit Valley in a snowstorm. It was very icy. Anyone reading this who knows Sauk Mountain is likely cringing at the idea.

I remember just recently Joey's mom emailed me pictures of herself at the top of Sauk Mountain. She told me Joey told her he and I had done that hike. I told her not to ask Joey about the details of that hike because it'd likely lead to me getting scolded, even though the statute of limitations had run out.

My nephew adventures became known as Nephews In Danger after I made a Christmas calendar using pictures of our adventures and called it Nephews In Danger.

In the picture where Christopher and Jeremy are holding chunks of ice, we'd hiked to the Ice Caves, which you can see behind the nephews. This is a yearly phenomenon that you access from the Mountain Loop Highway north of Granite Falls. The snow melts and forms these big caves. There are enter with caution signs. I think entry may now be banned due to there having been a death or two due to falling ice. But, if it's way below freezing, the danger is minimal. So, we explored the Ice Caves.

The best adventure I ever had with Jeremy and his brother took place in September. The snow had melted off the parking lot at the end of the road that leads past the Mount Baker Ski Area. From that parking lot you can easily walk out on Mount Baker. Or climb to the top of Tabletop Mountain. Or hike a number of other trails.

We hiked to the top of Tabletop Mountain, where I took my all-time favorite picture, the original of which I have been unable to find, which perplexes me very much.

That is Mount Shuksan behind Jeremy and Christopher. Christopher is looking south towards Mount Baker. Jeremy is contemplating throwing a snowball at me.

You get to the top of Tabletop Mountain via a series of switchbacks. As a kid I had a memory of seeing this and it looking so strange, seeing people walking up this mountain.

As the years passed I would think of this and think it was something I had imagined. And then, well after I was on my own, I was back at Mount Baker. And there I saw what was what I thought had been an imagined thing, but it was real.

Hiking to the top of Tabletop Mountain, with Jeremy and Christopher, was the first time I had done so. As you might guess from the name, the top is very flat. At the western side it slopes down and is covered with ice, also known as a glacier, or at least very heavy snow.

That is Jeremy watching his brother go over the edge of the ice/snow/glacier. Christopher had not anticipated, nor had I, how fast that slope would shoot him down the slope.

He asked me about 10 times if he should do it. I saw no real danger. When he shot out so fast and went so far, I was a bit worried.

But then it looked fun. So Jeremy and I followed his brother, with Jeremy first and me following down the glacier. That is Mount Baker that Jeremy is body skiing towards.

When I lived in Washington Jeremy also went bike riding with me frequently. I remember one fun time when Jeremy and his cousin, my nephew Joey, rode our bikes from Tracey Owen Park at the south end of Lake Washington, on the continuation of the Burke-Gilman Trail, all the way to the St. Michelle Winery. Where we locked up our bikes and took the tour.

Another memorable bike ride with Jeremy and his brother was from Larrabee State Park on Chuckanut Drive, pedaling the Interurban trail into Bellingham. This bike trail is an old train route. It is adventurous in a couple places. Jeremy balked. But then un-balked. This trail ends at the Alaskan Ferry Terminal in Fairhaven.

As we were leaving the ferry terminal, a cop pulled us over.

We were given free ice cream tickets to reward us for wearing our bike helmets. So, we went to the ice cream shop in Fairhaven and had ice cream cones.

I really do miss Washington sometimes. Like now. And. I miss my nephews sometimes. Like now.

I remember when I moved to Texas my sister telling me she thought it might be hard on Jeremy not to have me to call up, to come down, and do stuff with him or talk to about what's on his mind.

I remember my mom and dad being here in Texas, October of 2001. The Afghan Invasion was underway. We were driving along and for some reason we called Phoenix, where by then my nephew and his brother and parental units had moved. Jeremy answered, he was home alone. This was being the first time in his living memory his country had gone into war mode. It made him understandably nervous.

I did not see Jeremy again in person until February of 2004. And then again in April of 2006.

I need to go to Phoenix.

Celebrating Goober Twin Birthdays While Thinking About Saloon Hopping With Elsie Hotpepper While Cicada Mate

You are looking at the very deep blue view from my patio a little before the sun fully rose this next to the last Saturday of July 24.

It being July 24 it is the Happy Birthday of the Goober Twins, Big Ed and Wally. Big Ed is 47, while Wally turns 67 today. Due to some sort of complicated genetic difference the twins aged at different rates, starting from the time they were birthed, decades ago.

I thought about going saloon hopping with Elsie Hotpepper Friday night, doing the hopping in her Bartmobile. But, I was too tired for a long night of Hotpepper saloon hopping.

Maybe I'll be more energetic tonight.

I was not the only one in my D/FW Metroplex zone of Texas to make note of yesterday's storm causing a quick 20 degree temperature drop that was quite refreshing. Steve A was pedalling his bike in the Alliance/Gateway zone when the temperature drop hit him.

Steve A's bike speedometer/odometer has a thermometer. I did not know that was an available option. It's like me and cell phones. I've fallen way behind the times.

It is only 78 out there right now at about half past 6. Something has gotten my herd of cicadas all riled up. I've seldom heard them in such a mating frenzy. The Angelina Jolie/Marilyn Monroe/Elizabeth Taylor (in her prime) cicada equivalent, must be being busy flirting in the Magnolia trees that surround my pool.

The cicadas have now gone dead silent, replaced by birds tweeting. A bug must have gotten lucky with Jolie/Marilyn/Elizabeth.

The sun has now almost totally lit up the place. Time to go swimming for an hour or two.

A Late Friday Afternoon Texas Thunderstorm Rumbled In After I Got Back From Wimberley

This afternoon I took a virtual trip down to Texas Hill Country, to Wimberley.

Soon after I was done with my Wimberley trip the sky began to darken. Soon after the sky darkened I started to hear thunder rumbling in the distance.

You are looking at the view from my patio soon before that dark cloud started sending down an awful lot of water, along with some lightning bolts.

Upside of this latest storm, it dropped the temperature from the 90s down to the 70s. So, off with the A/C, open with the windows.

The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Watch for my zone of North Texas. I don't think it rained enough to do any flash flooding, at least in my location.

Oh oh, I thought the storming was over, but a big boom just rattled my cage. I saw no flash, but the strike had to be close to rattle my cage that much.

I've heard from the Queen of Wink. She'd gone missing. Again. Due to both technical electronic issues and due to going undercover, once more, in her ongoing San Antonio Top Secret Operation.

Schizophrenic Tandy Hills Hiking With Yellow Fuzzballs

It was in the high 80s when I hit the Tandy Hills before noon today. It was a very schizophrenic day, hiking temperature-wise.

With the wind being in minor gust mode I was hiking along, enjoying a bit of a Wind Chill Factor. Then the wind would stop and the Heat Index would kick in. It felt like going from the low 70s to the low 100s, back and forth, over and over again.

I have been churning out webpages of late. This is something I'd not done much of in awhile. I was a bit rusty at first, but then my memory of HTML kicked in and I eventually reached hyperspeed about 2 days ago.

Betty Jo Bouvier opined, again, that I need to go to Phoenix, to see my mom and dad. And my youngest nephew. My youngest nephew has been on my mind again today. His name is Jeremy, with a middle name of Ryan. So, he has always been JR. Though I've always called him Jeremy. I don't remember ever calling him JR, but everyone else does.

I was in Phoenix for 10 hours in February of 2004. My mom and dad had not yet moved to Phoenix. This was the first I'd seen Jeremy since 2001. We all went to a happy hour at some Phoenix place before going to an In and Out for my best burger ever and then sticking me back on a plane.

While at the happy hour place Jeremy and I went out to the parking lot and took turns on his skateboard. Jeremy asked me if I'd come to his high school graduation that June. I said I would. But I didn't make it. I felt guilty about that at the time. But, I don't recollect getting a graduation announcement. I likely did, though, I just don't remember.

I've no idea what the name is of the yellow wildflower I snapped a picture of today. Yellow Fuzzball? Frizzy Yellow Green Balls?

A HOT July 23 Morning Thinking About Swimming & My Nephew's Heart

As you can see from the July 23 morning view from my patio the majority of the sky is blue with a little wispy cloud action.

I opened my windows in the middle of the night. A cooling breeze blowing in from the outdoors is so much nicer than the A/C blowing cold.

It is not 7 am yet, and already 80. Almost time to close the windows.

I did not go swimming yesterday due to my attempts to try and break free from my repetitive habits.

This morning I've decided that breaking free of my repetitive habits really is not high on my priority list. So, I'm going swimming in a few minutes.

My sister called me last night and told me the details of my youngest nephew's heart condition. I felt a lot better after talking to her. What an ordeal they have been through.

I do not recollect if I've previously mentioned my disdain for the medical business. My one and only up close and personal experience with that business was shocking, disgusting, appalling, maddening and turned me, long ago, into one who thought the entire business needed a complete makeover.

My nephew's experience with the medical business completely reinforced my extremely negative opinion of how that business operates too much of the time.

It's time to go swimming now.

I have no idea where I am going to take a virtual trip to today.

Walking The Bayous Of Village Creek Thinking About The Big Thicket & My Nephew's Ticker

No, you are not looking at a bayou somewhere in the wild wonderland of the Big Thicket National Preserve out in East Texas.

What you are looking at is a bayou in Arlington called Village Creek, located in Village Creek Natural Historic Area. This area should be named Indian Village Creek Natural Historic Area, but the Indians were wiped out of their village and out of the area's name by incoming undocumented illegal aliens called Texans.

This morning, like I said earlier I would, I took a virtual trip to the Big Thicket. Interesting part of Texas. UNESCO designated Big Thicket as a Biosphere Reserve. There are 85 types of trees, over 1,000 flower plant types, almost 300 types of birds and, disturbingly, more than 50 reptile species. Including alligators.

Leaving Big Thicket, I got gas on the way to Village Creek. So, naturally, I called my mom to tell her I got gas and how much it cost. I talked to my mom during the entire walk under the Village Creek trees.

My mom had 2 family news items. I found one upsetting, the other not so much. The not so upsetting news was mom told me one of the incoming Tacoma Twins is a boy. I've not quite figured out if this incoming boy will be my nephew. Or not. It's very confusing.

The upsetting news was also nephew related. My youngest nephew, one of 2 who lives in the Phoenix zone, in his young 20s, is having heart problems. Going to a doctor quickly had my nephew sent to a heart specialist. He's been fitted with some device to help control the rapid heart beating while tests are being done to figure out what is wrong.

My mom was a tad sketchy on details, so I called my sister, but got no answer. It's so strange. I've got all these out of shape, semi-old, unhealthy relatives, about whom it would not shock me to hear a heart problem had developed, but to be told that my ultra-skinny, skateboarding, easy-going, youngest nephew has something wrong with his heart, well, that just does not seem right.

I'm thinking for several reasons, I need to take a trip to Phoenix.