Foggy Sunday Swimming In Fort Worth

It is a foggy Sunday, this morning in my zone of North Texas. I suspect the fog is due to yesterday's rain.

The sun is currently trying to pierce through the fog. The birds are in welcome the sun tweet mode, with a sort of air of panic in their tweeting. I suspect the fog makes the birds nervous, what with fog being a bit unusual in these parts. Some of the younger birds may never have seen fog before.

Just opened my blinds. It is lit up out there enough to see that this is the thickest fog I've seen since I've been in Texas. This is on the ocean where-is-that-foghorn-coming-from-to-help-me navigate thickness of fog.

When I took the picture of the foggy pre-dawn view from my patio, I picked up my swimming suit and towel to find that the fog has completely re-dampened them. Which means I must search for a dry alternative swimming suit. And then go swimming. As in right now.

I can not recollect the last time I went on a foggy swim.

Another Trinity River Litter Flood In Fort Worth

That is the Trinity River you are looking at. Those are not white birds floating on the Trinity River that you see in the picture. That is litter you are looking at.

Rain fell in copious amounts last night, finally ceasing sometime past one this afternoon. I grew tired of being cooped up inside, like a stereotypical winter day in the Pacific Northwest, so, around noon, I drove the short distance to Quanah Parker Park to take a walk under an umbrella.

Quanah Parker Park is on the southern banks of the Trinity River.

The Trinity River flooded a few weeks ago, courtesy of Hurricane Hermine, with the highest water I've seen since I've been in Texas. That flood left an astonishing amount of litter on the Trinity's banks in its wake.

One would have thought that North Texas had been power washed clean of litter from the Hermine Flood.

One would have thought wrong.

The Trinity River is back in flood mode, likely not as severe as the previous flood. But, I was appalled and astonished at the amount of litter and debris floating down the river today.

Where does all this junk come from and how did the litter supply get replenished so quickly?

I made a video of the Trinity River Litter Flood. You can watch that below. Make note of what you see floating by at the 1:27 mark. It appears J.D. Granger lost something...

Free Admission Today For Fort Worth's Cultural District Museums

I met a Texan this week who spent 7 years exiled in Seattle working for Boeing. She hated the cold, wet weather. Today in Texas she is experiencing her Washington nightmare, because this rain dripping on us today is like a typical fall/winter day in Western Washington.

I don't know if it will let up enough to go on a walk.

I could go to Fort Worth's goofily named "Cultural District" and do some free museum walking today. This particular Saturday is National Museum Day.

So, today the "Cultural District's" 8 museums are free of admission charges from 10am til 5pm.

And the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, aka "The T" is providing free transport between the museums in the "Cultural District."

I have never been to the Kimball Museum. I've not been to the new Science and History Museum. Nor have I been to, nor had much desire to see, the Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. I have been to the other museums in the "Cultural District."

I think. I know my favorite has been the Amon Carter Museum. And I really like the architecture of the Modern Art Museum. The art, not so much.

So, maybe I will take off and join the museum throngs today for some cultural walking.

Hacking My Way Through The Grass At Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park

It is looking like I won't be hiking, biking or walking anywhere today, due to a lot of rain coming down this Saturday morning. Combined with lightning, strikes of which cut my morning swim short.

Last night, about an hour before the sun left for the day, I went to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdic Lake.

I don't walk much on the paved trail at Oakland Lake Park, other than to get across Fosdic Lake Dam. I like walking on the grass.

A couple weeks ago I aborted walking at Oakland Lake Park, due to the uncut grass, and instead went to the Tandy Hills.

Last night I was surprised to see that the grass at Oakland Lake Park has still not been cut. It is now basically a hayfield awaiting harvesting, as you can see in the picture.

My guess is that the grass is not being cut due to cutting the grass not being in the city budget for August and September, due to the fact that normally the grass is not growing, not green, but instead, totally brown by mid-summer.

It was in the city park's budget to do a lot of, what seemed to be, unneeded cement work, to the paved trail at Oakland Lake Park, in August and September.

And now one needs a machete to walk on the grass at Oakland Lake Park.

Up Late Saturday Morning After State Fair Of Texas Deep Fried Frito Pie Nightmares

I was up late last night, which caused me to get up late this morning, well after the sun got up, as you can see by looking out with me from my bedroom window.

It is Saturday, today and Sunday are days when one is supposed to sleep in, if one is in being conventional mode. Which I usually am not in.

Rain came down hard during the night, accompanied by flashes of light and booming thunder. This disturbance did not last too long.

The State Fair of Texas got off do a dry start yesterday in Dallas. There were long lines waiting to try Deep Fried Frito Pie. There were no reports this morning of public intoxication due to Deep Fried Beer or Deep Fried Margaritas.

Last night, before I got dark, I felt the need to walk. So I went to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdic Lake. I did not like what I found there. More on that later.

In the meantime, I am going swimming.

On The Way To Village Creek Noting That Chesapeake Energy Had Nothing To Do With Killing Wapato Lake

Coming up on noon I was worn out from spending too much time in San Antonio.

I decided to take off to the River Legacy Park Mountain Bike Trails.

On the way I changed my mind and instead headed to the Village Creek Natural Historic Area and Bob Findlay Linear Park Pioneer Park Trails, to oxygenate my tired brain by bi-pedaling at high speed.

On the way to Village Creek I take a left from Cooks Lane on to Brentwood Stair Road. At the northeast corner of that intersection there is a Chesapeake Energy pond that is somewhat the same color as the pond you see in the picture.

The pond in the picture is Wapato Lake in Tacoma. When I was in Tacoma, summer of 2008, Wapato Lake was in the news, due to a chemical mistake. The intention had been to add something to kill the algae and clear the lake's water. Instead too much chemical was added, which had the effect of making Wapato Lake ultra-clear.

And murdering all the fish that lived in the lake. And revealing a stolen car. Or two.

No fish have died in the Chesapeake Energy pond. It is a manmade pond. I don't know how many birds have landed in the Chesapeake Energy pond and had themselves a what the hell moment right before they died.

The past few weeks a pump sits beside the Chesapeake Energy Brentwood Stair Pond, with a black pipeline running from the pump to Cooks Lane. You see the black pipeline on the west side of Cooks Lane, but I've not figured out how it gets across that road, from the pond.

I have also not figured out if water is being pumped in or out of the Chesapeake Energy Brentwood Stair Pond.

I do know for certain that Chesapeake Energy had nothing to do with the Wapato Lake disaster.

Morning Of September 24 After Spending The Night Behind Bars Under The Texas Stars

You are looking at the view, early in the morning of September 24, soon after I woke up from my night of sleeping under the stars, behind the bars of my patio.

I do not remember the last time I spent a night outside with no cover. This may be the first time in Texas.

Spending the night outside, in Texas, does not quite have the same appeal as spending a cloudless night outside in Washington. Texas has a more interesting collection of critters that have the potential to disturb ones night's sleep.

However, none disturbed me last night. No lizard or snake slithered into my sleeping bag. No cockroach walked across my face, that I know of. No bug bit me. No squirrel checked me for nuts.

Today, the State Fair of Texas starts up in Dallas. Every year I intend to go to the fair. It's a really big state fair. But every year, but two, since I have been in Texas, the days to go to the state fair dwindle down, without me managing to arrange to attend. This year I am going to make an effort not to let the state fair days dwindle down to none.

I really want to have myself some Deep Fried Beer and a Deep Fried Frito Pie. I think this may help with my ongoing attempt to gain weight.

In the meantime I think I will go swimming, which really does not help with my weight gain program, since it burns calories, rather than add them. It's a conundrum.

The Mysterious Tandy Hills Baseball Cap

Except for going swimming early this morning I was trapped indoors until I escaped, finally around 5 this afternoon. Around 3:30 I tried to log in to Facebook to play Scrabble to exercise the dormant side of my brain.

But, Facebook was in system crash/down mode. I then blogged about the Facebook woe and a couple minutes after that I found that my blog was on fire with hits from distraught Facebook users all over the world.

I really don't get the attraction of Facebook. Except for Scrabble. Did these people who are so dependent on Facebook not have an email network before Facebook came along?

Anyway, when I escaped here I went to Town Talk and got sushi and then headed to the Tandy Hills to do me some hiking. It was very breezy and very pleasant.

Tandy Shrine II has now had a baseball cap added to its eastern horn. I do not know if this is some sort of tribute to the Texas Rangers, or what.

Above you can see the newly added baseball cap on its horn perch. This new shrine has survived several days now, without toppling over.

I pay no attention to baseball unless I happen upon it accidentally. One of those accidents happened yesterday when someone told me that the Texas Rangers are doing well and are heading to either the World Series or the playoffs or both. And that Seattle beat the Rangers a couple days ago, which was a bit of a damper, due, apparently, to the Seattle Mariners being a bottom dwelling losing team.

I have gone to a Texas Rangers game, a few years back. They were playing Seattle. I was more interested in checking out the Ballpark in Arlington. I think I lasted til the 7th inning when I could take it no more.

It is time for some sushi now. You can get sushi at the Seattle Mariner's Safeco Field ballpark. Can you get sushi at the Ballpark in Arlington?

September 23 Facebook System Crash Upsetting Users World-Wide

UPDATE: As of 4:12pm, United States Central Time, Facebook is back working from this location.

I needed a break from too much time spent making webpages, so I went to see if anyone of my Scrabblers had Scrabbled on Facebook.

When I clicked on Facebook's login I got the hourglass wait icon and went off to do something else. When I got back I saw the "This webpage is not available" message you see here.

So, I then Googled "Facebook Down" to learn that Facebook has suffered a system-wide crash, this Thursday, September 23. I suspect a cyber attack from someone who finds Facebook annoying and symptomatic of the dumbing down of the entire world.

Apparently Facebook being in malfunction mode has Facebook's users in a panic all over the world, being deprived of using Facebook's highly evolved methods of communicating, users are having to resort to using Facebook's mutant cousin, Twitter.

I think what I will resort to, rather than Twitter, is going on a bike ride.

The 2nd Day Of Fall With A Full Moon Shining Bright Over Texas

No need to wait for the sun to arrive to light up the place this second day of fall of 2010. As you can see, a full moon is sitting on the roof next to my chimney, which only last night erupted with a rainbow.

That chimney sees a lot of celestial activity.

I was cranky last night after a sudden downpour ruined my attempt to go on a sunset bike ride from Gateway Park, in search of some salubrious aerobicized solitude and Fort Worth homeless people.

When I got back here I saw my DVR was in record mode. So, I watched Survivor, followed by Hell's Kitchen. Hell's Kitchen was especially hellish last night.

Being overstimulated by an especially hellish Hell's Kitchen had me up til past midnight, last night, reading a book I got whenever it was I went to a Fort Worth library and successfully found it open.

The book is "For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago." The Leopold/Loeb murder of Bobby Franks is a rather well known crime, from way back during the Roaring 20s. But, the movie version did not really tell the real story, in all its shocking horror. Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 "The Rope" did not even use the real names of the killers. I believe there is a second, later, movie version, that may have been more accurately based on the real story.

As far as I know I've only known one sociopath of the ilk of Leopold/Loeb. That particular sociopath has not killed, as far as I know, her particular sociopathic bend is the "Thrill of Thieving and Lying," which has gotten her in trouble with the law a time or two, with a conviction or two and some jail time.

I like the True Crime genre. Particularly books telling the story of a crime from a different era.

The sun is almost due to arrive. The birds should already be in tweet mode. I may be miscalculating the time of the sun's arrival. It has been getting later every morning since sometime way back in June.

Going swimming is in the immediate schedule, followed by being a webpage making machine all morning long til my easily worn out brain needs a rest.