Up Early In Texas Gazing Skyward At Orion & Earthward At A Hot Tub

The night sky was dark and clear when I looked upward from my patio this Tuesday morning of September 14. The Orion Constellation, something I have not seen in years, was clearly overhead.

I aimed my camera skyward and zoomed in to the max on Orion. My feeble photographic skills, or my camera's feeble abilities, were not sufficient to capture Orion.

So, I backed off the zoom a bit and aimed the camera earthward, towards the hottub.

The sun has now arrived and is in the process of lighting up the place. Which means I will be heading towards that hot tub shortly.

The birds are not doing their usual early morning tweet and greet when the sun arrives. This may be a bad omen of a bad day to be. We'll see.

An Early Evening Bike Ride With The Alligators & Jackrabbits At Fort Worth's Quanah Parker Park

I had myself a frustrating, annoying afternoon, all computer related.

On the way back here from the Tandy Hills today I saw that Quanah Parker Park has re-opened, recovered from that recent Hurricane Hermine unpleasantness which had flooded the park, forcing its closure.

So, about 6 o'clock I got the urge to roll. And so I did.

Quanah Parker Park is the park closest to my abode. A couple miles distant. Or less. The paved trail winds through Trinity River floodland. Obviously. The trail circles around a large pond. That pond has been re-charged by the recent flooding.

You can see the flood rejuvenated pond in the picture above, with the sun starting to make its slow move to set. I would not be too shocked if an alligator or two has taken up residence in the Quanah Parker Park Pond.

Due to there being a big supply of rabbits to feed on.

I've not seen so many rabbits scurrying about since years ago in Washington Park in Anacortes in Washington.

Years ago, when my nephews, Joey and Christopher, were about 7, they decided they were going to catch one of the critters at what they called Bunny Park. I think their trap was inspired by a cartoon. Basically a stick holding up a box, with the stick attached to a long string and the trap baited with carrots.

Those two played rabbit hunters for well over an hour before they finally gave up and just started chasing them. Last time I was in Washington Park, in 2004, I saw no bunnies. I'd heard there had been a bunny removal program due to the numbers growing too big.

I biked the Quanah Parker Trail for about an hour, back and forth between the Quanah Parker Park parking lot and Chesapeake Energy Operation, at the west terminus and then back to the trail's end, at the east end.

By the time I was done the sun was in full retreat.

We are looking west, obviously, in the picture, from the Quanah Parker Park parking lot, at a line of trees above the Trinity River with the sun hanging above, along with some clouds.

I think I may make a habit of this evening bike ride thing. It seems quite salubrious and fits in with my plan to get in better shape and live a healthier lifestyle.

Hiking The Hot Tandy Hills And Thinking About Drinking The Drink Of The Gods

I seem to be spending much of today not following lines too well. I need not elaborate.

Except to say, today on the HOT Tandy Hills I went rogue, off trail, golf ball hunting. This is a popular Tandy Hills sport.

I found none. I also found no snakes. Eventually I went back on-line and got on one of the proper Tandy Hills trails.

This morning someone named Dr. Watson popped up on my computer, uninvited, with my computer telling me that Dr. Watson needed to go away due to violating some computer rule. Then my computer wanted me to let it tell Microsoft what the nefarious Dr. Watson had been up to. And so I did.

Today I have altered course to initiate a more healthy regimen. I am hoping this change in regimen helps me regain my health. As part of my healthy regimen my adult beverage of choice is "The Drink of the Gods."

Mate.

The national drink of Argentina. It is full of anti-oxidants and is supposed to give me more mental clarity, less stress and feeling exhilarated. I am very excited about the possibility of feeling more exhilarated and having more mental clarity. I am already fairly stress free.

There was a good breeze blowing on the Tandy Hills today, but it is still being way too humid out there.

It Is Another Early Monday Morning In Texas With Eleanor Grigby & Alligators

The bright white light we are looking at this morning from my patio is not the sun arriving to light up the place. The bright white light is a bright white light lighting up an Albertson's parking lot.

However, the sun is scheduled to arrive soon and drown out the bright white Albertson's light on this early Monday morning of September 13. I hope.

I had odd dreams last night. Very calm odd dreams. Mostly involving Eleanor Grigby arriving to provide me rescue from being stuck in a house with people I did not want to be stuck with. And then the Eleanor Grigby rescue itself starting to be something from which I needed rescue.

I saw YouTube video on the DORBA (Dallas Off-Road Bicycle Association) website last night of the incoming flood at River Legacy. The YouTuber had walked into the park as the flood waters rose. At that point in time the barrier I saw yesterday must not have been in place, because I did not see how one could get around that barrier.

The water in the YouTube video was surprisingly clear. There were an amazing number of fish of various sizes. The YouTuber made the point, in text, that this is how an odd collection of fish and critters end up in the River Legacy Park ponds. Like an Alligator Gar, or two, may be left behind by this latest floods. Or an Alligator of the reptilian sort, or two.

I don't know why, but the River Legacy Flood YouTuber opted to disable the embed option on his videos. So, I can't show them to you here.

On a totally different, yet somewhat related subject, in the next week a Trinity Trash Bash will take place. This is when a large group of volunteers picks ups ton upon ton of trash lining the Trinity River banks. The recent flood has turned this into an extremely daunting task.

The sun has arrived. I am going swimming now.

Returning To Village Creek To Find A Mud Flood.

My biking plan today was to first checkout Village Creek Historic Natural Area in the unlikely chance the park was open. If it was, I'd go biking there.

Village Creek Historic Natural Area is still closed due to flooding.

So the plan became to drive to River Legacy Park to see how securely the entry is being blocked. The last time River Legacy flooded I parked at a nearby park and biked into the flooded zone, as did many others. That day was also a Sunday.

But on this flooded Sunday the entry to River Legacy Park makes entry not possible. That and a park employee in a white pickup is at the entry.

So the plan went to last resort mode. Drive to Interlochen and park where the Village Creek Natural Historic Area paved trail morphs into the Bob Findlay Linear Park Trail, which I learned today is called Pioneer Trail. I figured if the creek had gone back were it belongs, flowing under, rather than over the dam/bridge, I could pedal into the park, getting easily around the gate.

Well.

The final resort mode needed another adjustment. Village Creek is still flooding over the dam/bridge. The creek has largely receded, leaving behind an incredible mess that I suspect is going to take awhile to clean up.

In the picture above you can see water flowing over the dam/bridge in the background, with a huge pile of mud in the foreground. That mud covers the paved trail with what looked to be 3 or 4 feet of mud and debris.

The mud and debris did not smell too good.

Quite a different look than what I saw on Thursday, with what looked like a swollen river.

Where does all this mud come from? I am not sure, but I think Village Creek flows from Lake Arlington. Lake Arlington is not very far away. What got eroded to make so much mud? Is someone somewhere missing a yard or two?

My Twitter Username And Password Are Not Getting Along

I've decided I am not smart enough to understand Twitter.

At one point I thought I had a gestalt and finally got what the point of Twitter is, sort of instant micro-blogging that serves a purpose at certain rare times. Like if there is some disaster, earthquake, terrorist attack, Twitter can be a source of legit information.

For awhile I thought Twitter was being useful in driving traffic to my websites and blogs. I have since disabused myself of that notion.

Yesterday I tried to log into the Twitter account for my Roadtripping Blog. I was told the username/password don't match. After a couple tries the annoying Captcha thing was triggered.

I gave up and took the "lost your password?" option. Twitter then sends an email in which you click a link and reset your password, which in this case was the same password Twitter said did not match.

And then today it happened again. I reset it again. And then Twitter kept insisting on putting the username in the username field of one of my other Twitter accounts. When I tried to type over the wrong username, Twitter kept changing it back. Twitter or some other bogeyman. I choose to blame Twitter.

So, I am thinking, for me Twitter is a big waste of time, doing all those Tweets things with bit.ly, to really no good purpose that I can be sure of.

Up Late Sunday Morning In Texas Worrying About Alzheimer's

It is Sunday morning. When I looked out my bedroom window I was appalled to see that the sun had gotten up way before me. I hate it when that happens.

I stayed up late watching the replay of the 9/11/01 events on one of the cable news stations. It was oddly mesmerizing.

While I was watching I had a very troubling moment that seemed like some sort of onslaught of Alzheimer's indicator.

I could not remember who was vice-president when George W. was president.

And then Dick Cheney was on the screen, telling his story of the evacuation of the White House.

How could I not remember that Dick Cheney was Bush's vice-president? Memory blocked due to being painful?

Yesterday when I crossed the Trinity on the Beach Street bridge, I saw the river had receded quite a bit. It is still running over the dam/bridge that makes Trinity Falls, but just barely, and the falls is back falling.

I think I may attempt a bike ride today, maybe on the Trinity Trails. But, before that happens, I am going swimming. As in, right now.

Thinking About Tubing The Clear Water Of The Tandy River With Snakes In The Trees

You are looking at today's crystal clear water of the Tandy River, as clear as the Guadalupe or San Marcos River. Very inner tube floating worthy.

Unfortunately, in about a half mile, maybe less, the crystal clear water of the Tandy River joins up with the Trinity River, which is currently a popular inner tube floating recreational destination for those with an aversion to doing their inner tube floating in crystal clear, debris-free water.

It was only 88 when I took off for some Tandy Hills hiking today, with the 68% humidity making it feel like 105.

To me it felt way HOTTER than 105. I was totally soaked by the time I made it back to the relative comfort of an A/C cooled vehicle. The Town Talk walk-in cooler today was too cool, due to being too wet. I won't be doing anymore middle of the day Tandy Hills hiking until the humidity turns reasonable again.

I had an unsettling moment on the Tandy Hills today. My one long time reader may remember me mentioning my aversion to snakes. I am much less averse than I used to be. Multiple encounters with various snakes, including some of the venomous sorts, like rattlesnakes and copperheads, with no dire result, has made me less nervous about snakes.

I remember way back when I first discovered the Tandy Hills I assumed the hills must be infested with snakes. I remember emailing Don Young and asking about Tandy Hills snakes. He allayed my worry.

In all my Tandy Hills hikes I had only seen one snake, that being a little skinny green snake.

Until today.

I was going down the north option at the junction with the trail that comes down from the top of Mount Tandy, where the Fort Worth Space Needle is located. Halfway down that hill I heard loud noises, like some big critter rustling leaves.

I stopped hiking and tried to see what was making the noise, expecting to see an armadillo, or maybe the rumored Tandy Hills fox.

Suddenly I saw a snake. A big snake. Slithering up a tree. Slithering up a tree fast. I reached to get my camera, got it turned on. Which takes all of 2 seconds. In those 2 seconds I lost sight of the snake.

On my last look at the snake, before the camera debacle, there appeared to be at least 6 feet between its head and its tail. A 6 foot long snake slithers on the Tandy Hills. If there is one, there is another. And they climb trees. Fast.

I guess I'll start carrying my snake stick when on the Tandy Hills, til cooler temperatures slow the slithering beasts down.

Recalling 9/11 From My Patio Prison Cell In Texas

I am up well before the sun, looking out from the bar of my patio prison cell on September 11, 2010.

It seems so recent, but in a couple hours it will be 9 years since I got a call from Big Ed in Dallas, telling me that he just saw a plane crash into the World Trade Center.

I thought he was talking about the World Trade Center in Dallas and the plane must have been heading to or from nearby Love Field.

I do not ever remember being as shocked as I was that morning when I turned the TV on right when the second plane was hitting the second tower, in New York City, not Dallas.

I sat stunned at what I was seeing. When I realized that America was under attack I decided I should wake up people on the West Coast. I don't remember who I called first. I do remember waking up Wanda and Wally, in Seattle. All I said was you need to get out of bed and turn on your TV. By the time I called my sister, who now lives in Arizona, she was already awake and about to go tell my mom and dad what was happening.

So much has happened since 9/11 of 2001, much of it bad. In the days that followed that day, 9 years ago, if someone had predicted that 9 years later Osama bin Laden would still not be captured and that America's President's name in 2010 would be Obama, well, that would have seemed very unlikely.

I hope 9/11/2010 is a very very uneventful day today.

If the sun ever lights up the place I'm heading to the pool.

Getting Stuck With Goatheads Sends Me To Tandy Falls

I did not intend to go to the Tandy Hills when I left here today. Instead I went to Oakland Lake Park to ride my bike.
That did not go well.

I figured I could pedal across the grass to get around where the sidewalk was being worked on. The first instance of getting around the sidewalk workers took me way out in the grass.

Soon I saw brown things stuck to my front tire. I slammed the brakes, fearing the brown things were dreaded goatheads.

I pulled a brown thing out of the tire. It was a dreaded goathead. I pulled 15 to 20 of the dreaded goatheads out of the front and back tires. I carried the bike about 100 feet to hopefully goathead-free cement and street pedaled til I could access the paved Oakland Lake Park trail without crossing goathead infested grass.

After a little over 2 miles of pedaling I was over it. Since the top of Mount Tandy was just a short distance away I decided to go take a picture from the top of Mount Tandy of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, free of those angry dark Hurricane Hermine clouds.

I assumed I would only be able to walk to where I could take a picture, with beyond that being real muddy. I was wrong. I heard noises like the Fort Worth Water Boys were back, noises like engines revving, air brakes popping and walkie talkies. I thought there was no way trucks could be driving the Tandy Highway dirt road.

I took the downhill option to the right that leads to Tandy Falls. Figuring eventually mud would put a stop to my hiking. I was wrong. Again.

As you can see, water is roaring over Tandy Falls today in copious amounts. There was plenty of evidence that during the Wednesday tropical downpour a huge amount of water was roaring over Tandy Falls. I kept hearing truck noises and people talking on walkie talkies. I decided to see if I could walk on Tandy Highway without growing taller due to mud sticking to me.

I kept expecting to see trucks. I got to the first creek that the Water Boys had plugged during their recent operations. The flooding had done a good job of eroding the plug. And for some reason crime scene tape had been added.


I continued on past the crime scene to the next creek crossing. There was no crime scene tape there. The creek was running nicely through the hole left where the culvert pipe had been yanked out. After successfully fording that stream, and not finding myself mired in mud, I decided to take a right and head up to the top of a Tandy Hill, still drawn by hearing voices on walkie talkies and engine noises.

I got to the top of that hill and decided to hike no further, due to it being a bit muddy in either direction. That and I'd already gotten more exercise than I had intended.

Turning around and heading back down the trail I'd just hiked up, I saw the orchid-like flower you see in the picture. 10 days in to September, 2 days after torrential rains and the Tandy Hills is still sprouting colorful wildflowers.

I never did figure out where the walkie talkies and engine noises were coming from.