Hot In Fort Worth Cold In Seattle

The above is from this morning's Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Those are tourists on the deck of a ferry in Seattle's Town Lake, known as Elliott Bay. Elliott Bay was not built by the good ol' boy network that runs Seattle, because Seattle does not have a good ol' boy network that runs it. Elliott Bay is not the result of a bizarre public works boondoggle that the public did not vote for. Elliott Bay is provided by Mother Nature as part of Puget Sound, which is part of the Pacific Ocean.

This morning's article in the P-I was lamenting the unusually cold summer the Puget Sound area is experiencing. Apparently yesterday was very foggy until sometime around noon, when the sun managed to burn off the fog.

Two years ago, at about this exact date, I was up in the Seattle zone realizing I'd made a HUGE mistake in planning to stay for an entire month. At this point in time I still had 17 days to go before my scheduled escape back to sanity. I was so disgruntled I tried to get an early flight back, but in my confused, disgruntled state I was not thinking all that clearly and did not realize how easy Southwest Airlines would have facilitated my escape, til I told my Phoenix sister of my desperation when she called the day of my escape to ask how happy I was to be escaping.

The summer month of 2008 I did not bring cold weather clothes with me. I only had one pair of long pants. No sweat pants. No long underwear. No long sleeved shirts. No coat.

After about 2 weeks of watching me shiver my little sister took pity on me and came home with a coat she bought me at Costco. It is a wonderful coat. I wore it to bed nightly to help stave off the shivering. It helped.

This morning in Texas it is 80, heading to a high of 105. My air conditioner is currently keeping the interior temperature at 82. In Seattle the temperature this morning is 58, heading to a high of 75, 7 degrees colder than my air conditioned temperature.

The Stars Are Not Twinkling & The Moon Looks Orange This 3rd Day Of August In HOT Texas

I slept in this morning, til slightly past 5, unlike yesterday when I got up slightly before 3.

When I stepped outside and looked skyward I saw no stars twinkling at me. I know there are no clouds, I don't know why there was no twinkling.

You are looking at the star-free early morning view out on my patio, from just a few minutes ago.

I suspect the lack of stars twinkling may be related to something the National Weather Service was being alarmist about yesterday, that being air pollution and a Level Orange Air Pollution Alert.

Though the stars do not seem to be twinkling this morning, a piece of the moon was, twinkling with a slight shade of orange. Is this where calling the bad air pollution "Level Orange" comes from? There does seem to be an orangish tint to the horizon when the air pollution here goes into alert mode.

The sun has yet to show up and it's already 80. It is going to be another HOT one today in the Fort named Worth.

Trying Not To Break The New Speed Limit At Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historic Area

The temperature has gone over 100 again. With not much of a breeze. I've been up since 3 this morning. I went swimming well before the sun showed up. I liked swimming under the partial moon.

By 11 I was in the mood for a walk in the shade. It was only 96, or thereabouts, at that point in time. I decided to go to Village Creek Natural Historic Area, because there is a lot of natural shade there.

Upon arrival I saw a new sign. Listing TRAIL RULES. One of the rules is "SPEED LIMIT 10 MPH."

See that sign a short distance from the new sign? If you click on the picture to see the bigger version you'll see that that second sign, on the lower left, says "20 MPH speed limit on trails."

I think Arlington is setting up some sort of trail speed trap. With the trail cops, with their radar guns, ready to ticket anyone moving faster than 10 mph on the trails.

Or this is a silly mistake that one would think someone would have noticed?

Other than the sign faux pas, it was an uneventful walk through the Village Creek Natural Historic Area zone. As you can clearly see, in the picture, I did not overheat today.

Don Young emailed a recipe for Creek Plum Tarts yesterday, using plums picked from trees growing on the Tandy Hills.

There is some sort of fruit tree shedding some sort of fruit at Village Creek. The fruit looks like it my be a Wild Cherry. Or maybe it's a Wild Plum. I'll go look at Don Young's plum pictures and be right back.

Well size-wise Don Young's Tandy Hills Creek Plum look the same as the Village Creek fruit. But the color is different. With the Village Creek fruits being a deep red. I did not sample one of the possible Village Creek Wild Cherries because I thought it odd that birds did not seem to be eating them. And no ants were working on the ones that were on the ground.

Would a park that can't make up its mind about its trail speed limit be growing poison fruit trees? Likely not.

Up Way Before The Texas 106 Degree Sun This 2nd Day Of August

I was real tired real early Sunday night. I think going for a second swim during the HOTTEST part of a very HOT day did me in.

So, going to bed early got me up early, as in very early, this 2nd day of August. I've been up since 3.

It is now half past 4. I have a while to go before the sun starts to turn the light on.

Looking down at the pool this morning it looks real inviting. I think I'll turn off the lights and go swimming under the moonlight.

Overnight the National Weather Service seems to have decided to turn up the temperature for today and tomorrow. To 106.

106 seems to be getting into the territory of being seriously HOT. Then again, yesterday it was 119 in Baghdad. So, it could be worse.

Walking Arlington's Veterans Park Maze & Seeing A Touching Memorial Plaque

I went to Veterans Park in Arlington on my way to Arlington's Chinatown. Well, more accurately it is more Vietnamtown than Chinatown.

There were a surprising number of disk golfers out playing that odd game. Surprising because it is rather HOT.

I opted to walk through the Xeriscape/Natural Trail area, which is heavily shaded. The trails are a bit of a maze, there are boardwalks like you see in the picture, rock bridges, big rock pavers, little creeks. And it is slightly hilly.

Veterans Park really is a gem of a park. Part is heavily, and beautifully landscaped. With about half of the park being pretty much totally wild with great trails running through through the wilderness.

True to its name, Veterans Park is one big memorial to veterans, with a big centerpiece memorial with a statue of a soldier overlooking names of those who died in the various American wars going all the way back to the War of Northern Aggression, also known as the Civil War.

Today I saw a new memorial plaque, set into the cement foundation of a bench donated in memory of a soldier.

The soldier's name is Glenn "Dale" Hicks, Jr. A Sargent in the U.S. Army. Killed in Action in Iraq. August 25, 1982 - April 28, 2007. Son, Big Brother, Friend.

Only 25 years old. Killed in Iraq. In America's first pre-emptive war, brought on by bad intelligence in more ways than one.

Had America not been caught in the quagmire known as the Vietnam War I doubt I would have been in Arlington today getting Asian groceries. After that war's bad end America gained a lot of very industrious new immigrants, one of whom owns the store I was in today in Arlington's Vietnamtown, the Saigon Cho Market.

Saigon no longer exists as the name of a city. It's now Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh was a fan of Thomas Jefferson and America's democracy til we botched our budding friendship with the man after World War II.

Condolences to the Hick's family. And kudos to Arlington for Veterans Park. If you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metro Zone you should pay this park a visit. That includes you, George W. Bush.

103 In The Middle Of The Afternoon On The First Day Of August In Texas

As you can see, we have hit 103, as predicted, well, actually, the latest prediction for today is it will hit 104.

And the dreaded HEAT INDEX is back, making it feel like 106. Yes, those 2 degrees make a huge difference.

Adding to the HEAT the National Weather Service has issued one of those pollution alerts, of the Level Orange sort. The elderly, like me, are supposed to avoid exertion where you might find yourself breathing too much of the polluted air.

That snoopy Betty Jo Bouvier used her Wild Woolley Eyes to see what book I was reading that I said I was embarrassed to admit to. How rude.

I got halibut yesterday at Town Talk. Moving to Texas really caused a big hit to my seafood consumption. I used to be able to drive about 10 miles and put out a crab pot and get me some fresh dungeness crab. Or if the tide was low, dig me some clams.

I do not recollect when last I had halibut. Back when my mom and dad lived in Washington my dad caught a halibut in the San Juan Islands zone of Puget Sound that weighed over 180 pounds. My dad fought the fish for about an hour before a guy in another boat assisted with the capture. I've got a picture of my dad and that halibut somewhere. I believe it was in the local newspaper.

I've heard of catfish getting caught in Texas lakes that are quite heavy. But, if you've ever had fresh halibut, cod or salmon and then taste catfish for the first time, well, it is really shocking that anyone finds catfish edible, particularly the muddy-flavored variety. What does a catfish eater think the first time they taste real seafood? It's perplexing.

Below is the Fort Worth Forecast for the next 7 days. It's HOT!

103 The Predicted High In My Zone Of Texas For The 1st Day of August

I aimed my camera towards the pool again this morning, instead of towards the sky. You may be able to intuit from the fact that there appears to be more light than yesterday's photo of the pool, that on this first day of August I slept in til about the time the sun woke up.

The National Weather Service is claiming that the next couple days will be the HOTTEST of the year, so far, with today hitting 103.

Currently, at a little before 7 in the morning, it is a relatively chilly 78.9. So, even though today may end up being the HOTTEST day of the year, currently I have my windows open and my A/C off.

I'm not quite sure what I am doing today. I think I may go to Chinatown in Arlington. And I have a couple more places I want to virtually visit on the Texas Gulf Coast.

101 Texas Degrees While Visiting Fosdic Lake, Port Aransas, Harlingen, Corpus Christi, South Padre Island & The Brazosport Area

As you can see, on this the last day of July, we have hit the predicted temperature of 101. The HEAT has melted the humidity out of the air, so there is no Heat Index saying the temperature feels hotter than it is.

I had intended to get outside and make my way to the Tandy Hills around 3. But, there was little breezing going on, and the sun had already heated it up out there to 100, so I decided to go to my favorite reading spot at Oakland Lake Park and read for awhile, while glancing up at Fosdic Lake.

It seems every Saturday there is something happening at the Oakland Lake Pavilion. Today it was some sort of party, part of which involved smacking a pinata hanging from a tree.

A surprising number of Texans were out in the HEAT aerobicizing. But, not wimpy me. I was under shade enjoying reading. I'd tell you what book I'm reading, but it's sort of embarrassing, so I won't.

I was in need of a peaceful break because the morning had been spent virtually visiting the Texas Gulf Coast. I went to Port Aransas, but did not see the Songbird of the Gulf Coast, Alma Squillante.

The furthest south I made it was to Harlingen. Cool town with a lot of palm trees and parrots. I also like Corpus Christi. I need to move back near saltwater.

I enjoyed South Padre Island. I can see why this is where Elsie Hotpepper heads whenever she gets a hankering to find a new husband.

And then, heading back north, almost to Galveston, I visited the Brazosport Area, where good fishing and beaches can be found, but I caught none and did no swimming.

I did have a really good swim really early this morning though. And likely will have another one tomorrow morning on the first day of August.

Getting HOT On The Last Day Of July In Texas While Thinking About Deception Pass

We are looking down at my pool, from my patio, in the picture. As you can see the sun has not yet arrived on this last day of July. I think I'll head down to the pool in a bit for a moonlit skinnydip.

We are scheduled to hit 101 today in the temperature department. But right now, before the sun shows up to heat up the place, it is only 80, so I've got my windows open and cooling this place.

If I were up in my old home state of Washington today I would be heading out to Whidbey Island to Deception Pass State Park for the picnic party celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the opening of Deception Pass Bridge.

Deception Pass State Park was my Tandy Hills when I lived in Washington, either hiking from Rosario to the lighthouse or parking by the bridge and hiking up Goose Rock. Great hiking with great scenery the likes of which I've not found in Texas.

I hear the birds starting up their morning salute to the arrival of the sun. It's like each morning they are so surprised that the sun has shown up again that they burst into a chirping celebratory cacophony.

It's time to go join the birds and chirp at the sun while I swim.

Getting Hot Adding Balls To The Tandy Hills Shrine On Top Of Mount Tandy

The Tandy Shrine at the top of Mount Tandy in the shadow of the Fort Worth Space Needle continues to grow. It is now way larger than the original Tandy Shrine, at maybe, currently, 50 feet long.

Today I saw a pile of golf balls artfully arranged at the west end of the Tandy Shrine. A long line of rocks leads to the artfully arranged golf balls that sit right at the east entry to the Tandy Hills Natural Area, under the cable gate.

I am guessing that there is some clever symbolism regarding the rocks and the golf balls that escapes my limited imagination.

And that I may have ruined the clever symbolism, today, when I added another pile of golf balls, putting the pile on top of a disk golfing disk.

I don't know what was different about today than yesterday and the day before yesterday, but today I was in the mood to get really HOT and reap the salubrious benefits of enjoying the Tandy Hills Sauna/Steambath.

I got what I wanted, oozing what seemed like gallons of water, but was likely not as voluminous as it seemed.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to heat up to 101. I don't know if I'll be in the mood for the Tandy Hills Sauna/Steambath tomorrow.