Washington Mountain Cowboys & A Returned Iraq Soldier

No. That is not a group of Texas cowboys huddled around a fire somewhere in the Piney Woods region of Texas.

These particular cowboys and cowgirls set up camp about a week ago in the North Cascades of Washington State, after a 4 hour horse ride from their launch pad somewhere near Winthrop at the eastern end of the North Cross State Highway.

The cowgirl closest to the camera is also known as the Scrabble Queen of Washington. There is no Wi-Fi deep in the Cascade Mountains, so I had a brief respite from getting beaten at Scrabble.

Speaking of Washington girls, but not of the cowgirl sort. Today I called Miss McP. I'd not been able to reach her for quite some time. Miss McP moved to Oklahoma about a month before I moved to Texas. We have known each other since we were little kids. And at one point in time we shared a domicile.

Today Miss McP answered her phone. Only to say she could not talk right then because she was getting off a plane in Denver, to get on another plane to fly to North Carolina. She said she'd call me back when she made it to her next gate.

So, Miss McP did call back and we talked until she had to board her next plane. The airport was being very noisy, but I did manage to learn that Miss McP is flying to North Carolina to see her son who has returned from a year in Iraq. This was not his first tour of duty in Iraq. Also in North Carolina are Miss McP's 3, or is it 4, grandkids.

To me it seems very wrong to send a kid, with 3 or 4 kids, to Iraq. I think if a president decides, or in the Iraq case, deciders, that we need to invade some random country for specious reasons, that that president can only do so if his own kids, who are old enough to be in the military, are enlisted and sent to the war zone along with the thousands of other kids the president is sending off in harm's way. This type caveat might have a sobering effect on the judgment of a president who might not otherwise think all that soberly.

Of course, this type rule would not apply in World War II type war situations.

I must go play Scrabble now. And then have lunch.

The Return Of The Texas Moon With Incoming Rain & Lovebirds

The sun somehow got up before I did, this last Thursday of July. When I made it out to my lit up balcony I was pleased to see that some of the light was being provided by the long missing moon.

I have my windows open, again, this morning. It is only 73 degrees cold right now at about 7 in the morning.

I am skipping my morning swim today for a variety of reasons.

Betty Jo Bouvier is thinking about blogging, but is reluctant due to the erroneous notion she does not have anything to blog about. Betty Jo is known as the Wild Woman of Woolley. She frequently has accidents involving explosive fires. She tours California wineries on a Segway, is currently in wedding planning mode, obsessively shops for shoes and yet somehow thinks she does not have anything to blog about.

My lovebirds, Albert and Alice are out on their branch, cooing. I think they are being happy because the cicadas are not making any noise. That and the birdseed I left them on the table on my patio. The Queen of Wink gave me a Texas-themed birdhouse last year. Maybe I should set it on the table for Albert and Alice to take up residence.

The National Weather Service amped up our chance of rain to 60% for today. Yesterday we had a 30% chance of getting wet. About 4, yesterday afternoon, the temperature did suddenly drop about 15 degrees and a few drops of water did fall. But not enough to get anything wet. At least in my location.

Having Myself A Good Time Overheating On The Tandy Hills

You are looking west towards the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, from a vista high atop one of the many Tandy Hills, today, the last Monday of July, at approximately noon.

Right now, at about 2 in the afternoon, it is 93.6, with the high humidity Heat Index making it feel like 100.

When I went hiking, to get my much needed endorphin fix, it was barely 90 with the Heat Index making it feel like 97.

To me it felt like 110. Or HOTTER. There was no wind, and so no Wind Chill Factor to counter that vexing Heat Index.

Today I overheated, even while running four 18.9 ounce bottles of water through my personal radiator.

I do have to say, the metabolic process that causes water to ooze from every pore, to ooze until it's like you've become one big moving water leaker, well, it really is like being in some natural sauna/steambath.

Very addictive.

But, today, I did overheat. And now I'm back under the protective cover of air-conditioned comfort.

Tarrant County Divided Way Elects Chesapeake Energy Propaganda Minister Maleficent Julie Wilson

Interesting incoming email from Don Young with shocking news about the Tarrant County United Way and one more example of the Chesapeake Energy Blitzkrieg Takeover of Tarrant County and its environs......

OMG! Julie Wilson, The Most Hated Woman in Fort Worth, has been elected to the Chair of the United Way Campaign in Tarrant County (Fort Worth) for 2010. That's right, the Joseph Goebbels of Chesapeake Energy, has bought her into the top charity in the USA.

That is Herr Wilson out of uniform in the picture.

This woman has done more to destroy the natural world in north Texas than all the urban sprawlers of the past 20 years, combined. Evil is the word that comes to mind, Nazi-style. If you are a fan of old Disney movies, Maleficent, from Sleeping Beauty, might ring a bell.

If this makes you mad as Hell you may want to email, Tim McKinney, President and CEO of United Way of Tarrant County:

As for me and my house, not a penny will go to the UW as long as Julie Wilson is involved.

Press Release from United Way of Tarrant County

Betty Jo Overheats In Washington While I Am Cool In Texas

As you can see, sitting out with me on my patio, the last Monday of July is dawning with a slightly muddled blue sky.

That muddling blue likely will turn more gray later today. The prediction is for a 30% chance of rain. Usually that seems to mean it will rain. More often than not, rain with extreme prejudice, accompanied by gusts of wind and strikes of lightning.

It is 79 this morning, so I've got my windows open again.

Meanwhile, up in Washington, Betty Jo Bouvier, the Wild Woman of Woolley, spent the weekend in the south Puget Sound zone, in Puyallup, where Betty Jo apparently overheated.

This is what Betty Jo had to say about her HEAT misery, "Well we survived the hot weather of our trip. I would have liked to have died. It was something like 85 or 86 degrees. Ugh. It is still muggy out at 9:35. I think it is about 68 degrees right now, feels pretty good though."

68 degrees? If it got that chilly here I'd feel compelled to either turn on the furnace or burn some logs in the fireplace.

My pet lovebird doves, Albert and Alice, are back on their home branch, cooing away, again this morning. Albert and Alice seem to get real happy when the sun returns for one more day. I know that is how I feel about it too, but I do no cooing.

Rick Wants To Know About A Wink Texas Roy Orbison Sign

It really is with some slight reluctance and a little trepidation that I bring up a Wink, Texas potential controversy.

It seems just about any Wink related subject can erupt into controversy, spinning off in the oddest directions.

The worst case being the brouhaha that erupted over a totally innocent question about the Wink Sinkhole. Eventually that brouhaha led to the entity known as Fubbolu making clear what a twisted, demented, hypocritically strange nutcase she is.

I don't know if today's blogging about a Wink subject is brouhaha worthy. I suspect not.

A guy calling himself "rickvandiver" commented on a posting from way back in June of 2009 about Wink's Roy Orbison Festival.

"rickvandiver" commented, "How can Wink have a sign that says original homesite of Roy Orbison when he was born just south of Vernon in the Greyback community?"

Now, I think I do not need to go to Wink's go to source for all matters pertaining to Wink, that being the Queen of Wink, to answer this question.

Wink is not claiming that Roy Orbison was born in Wink. Wink is correctly claiming that Roy Orbison lived in Wink. And so the Winkites have erected a primitive sign at the location of the Orbison homesite.

I think it may be the use of the "original" word that is a bit confusing.

The Wikipedia blurb about Roy Orbison and his stay in Wink and his eventual departure from the town is a bit amusing. But I don't know if ardent Winkites will find it so.

From Wikipedia...

"Roy Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas, the middle son of Orbie Lee Orbison, an oil well driller and car mechanic, and Nadine Shultz, a nurse. Both were unemployed during the Great Depression, so the family moved to Fort Worth for several years to find work, until a polio scare prompted them to return to Vernon. To find work again, the family then moved to the town of Wink in West Texas. Orbison would later describe the major components of life in Wink as "Football, oil fields, oil, grease and sand", and in later years expressed relief that he was able to leave the desolate town."

I think I've heard Wink native, Gar the Texan, describe Wink in a similar manner, that he was relieved to leave the desolate town.

I really don't see how modern day Wink is all that desolate. Kermit is close by. Odessa and Midland are a short drive from Wink. In Roy Orbison's day there was nothing to combat the desolation, like TV, the Internet or cell phones. So it really was desolate, in Roy's day, I suppose.

I really don't get what Gar the Texan was complaining about, regarding Wink being desolate, since much of the Wink desolation had ended by the time Gar the Texan became a practicing Winkite.

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.