Snakes & Wildflowers Coloring Up Fort Worth's Tandy Hills

The first of October is tomorrow. On this, the last day of September, there are still wildflowers coloring up the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

Today it was the pink wildflower you see in the picture that decided it was the right time to bloom.

Until this year I had never seen a snake on the Tandy Hills. And then months ago I saw a skinny green snake slithering on the Tandy Highway.

Then a month or so ago I saw a 6 foot long snake slither up a Tandy Hills tree.

And now, today, I saw a gun-metal gray snake about 3 feet long, sunning itself. This snake was doing its sunbathing on the trail that is the first right after the first right on the main trail off View Street.

I did a little foot stomping which woke the snake from its sunbathing slumber and got it slithering out of my way.

It is not very warm today, low 80s. I don't know how cold it has to get for the reptiles to get in slow motion mode.

And what is behind this epidemic of snakes on the Tandy Hills?

The Trinity River Vision Is Underway With A Lot Of Signs

A couple days ago I was biking the Trinity Trails when I came to a detour sign, with the trail blocked. The day after I saw the detour sign I was driving on Northside Drive when I saw a sign telling me that the Trinity River Vision was underway.

At the time I did not make any connection between the Trinity Trail detour and the Trinity River Vision.

Last night I biked the Trinity Trail again, with my goal being to take a picture of the sign you see above. I did not know, when I started last night's bike ride, that I was going to find myself right in the middle of the Trinity River Vision in "progress." For want of a better word.

I was amazed and a bit appalled at the amount of signage the Trinity River Vision has installed along the Trinity Trails. I lost count of the number of detour signs.

Like the detour sign above, pointing left. Do you see any other option? Straight ahead was up a steep bank. To the right was an erosion barrier. The paved trail clearly takes a turn. Why the detour sign? How much money did all this signage cost the flush with cash Trinity River Vision? This was not the only nonsensical detour sign on the trail.

There were also multiple signs from the Trinity River Vision asking to be pardoned for making a mess.

Above we are looking at some of the mess the signs are referring to, looking out at a new lake next to the Trinity River. I do not believe this is the touted Town Lake that is the centerpiece of the Trinity River Vision. This new lake has paved trails around it. The trails connect to the existing, pre-detoured, Trinity Trail, but currently access to these new trails is blocked. Hence the detour.

Another view of the mess and new lake or pond or whatever it is. That thin line of blue you see on the far side of the "lake" is the Trinity River.

Yet one more nonsensical TRAIL DETOUR sign. With the next sign seeming even more nonsensical, as you can see below.

Why is the Tarrant Regional Water District sticking a sign on the Trinity Trail saying "NOTICE TRAIL MAINTENANCE TO BEGIN"?

This sign was east of the area where the Trinity River Vision is making its mess. Even though this sign was outside of the mess zone, there is yet one more Trinity River Vision detour sign ahead, which you can see above the "C" in the Tarrant Regional Water District sign.

Who got the sign concession deal with the Trinity River Vision and the Tarrant Regional Water District? Another one of Kay Granger's kids?

Getting Wet Against My Will Courtesy Of Gas Drillers & The Trinity River

In the picture I am standing under the pipe tunnel I showed you a couple days ago. The pipe tunnel transports water, over the Trinity Trail, that is being sucked from the Trinity River by Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers.

When I saw this operation a couple days ago it was still being assembled. Last night the operation was in operating mode.

Above you see the water sucking pump's thick straws sticking into the Trinity River. The Trinity River is running real low, surprisingly low, after running high as recently as last Saturday.

Above you are looking at the point of this particular blogging. Water leaking across the Trinity Trail from the pipes sucking water from the Trinity River.

I do not recollect seeing any billboards admonishing the gas drillers to check for leaks, like the multiple billboards suggesting that citizens fix their leaky toilets.

What totally annoyed me about the Trinity River leak on to the Trinity Trail was the fact that, as I biked over it, my bike tires flipped spray from the leak directly on to me.

I choose not to join J.D. Granger in his Trinity River Inner Tube Expeditions. I do not want Trinity River water on me. I did not appreciate having Trinity River water spraying on me last night.

With the Tarrant Regional Water District so concerned about wasting water from the Trinity River, I can't help but wonder how they monitor the water being sucked from the river by the gas drillers? I suspect there is zero monitoring going on.

But, the TRWD Toilet Police are ever vigilant.

Up Late On The Last Day Of September In Texas

Looking out my bedroom window with me you can see I am up after the sun on this, the last day of September of 2010.

I overdid the bike riding last night, pedaling more miles than I had intended, which had me staying up late, watching Survivor and Hell's Kitchen.

With Hell's Kitchen over stimulating me due to all the shouting, with the over stimulation having me reading til the sleep impulse kicked in, some time well after midnight.

I have only blogged 1 of the 3 pieces of blogging fodder I acquired on last night's bike ride. I will try and get to the other 2 this morning.

In the meantime I am not going swimming this morning. Cutting the swimming will get me back some of the time I lost by not getting up at my usual early hour.

I do believe I will escape from here some time around noon to hike on the Tandy Hills. They should be dried out by now. I hope.

Trinity Falls Dries Up And Spawns A Potentially Dangerous Whirlpool

I saw something on Northside Drive yesterday that caused me to want to ride my bike, tonight, from Gateway Park to get some pictures. Well, I got way more than I intended. I am not referring to pictures, I am referring to blogging material.

The thing I went to check out on Northside Drive will have to wait til tomorrow to be blogged about. Along with another thing I came upon tonight that thoroughly disturbed and disgusted me. No, it was not an increase in the number of Homeless People. It was something worse. As in an unwanted dosing with Trinity River water.

The thing I am blogging about right now, that I saw on tonight's bike ride, was profoundly disturbing.

As you can see in the above picture the falls over Trinity Falls, outside Gateway Park, is no longer falling. The Trinity River has fallen so low that the river is now flowing through a channel under the dam/bridge.

No big deal. That is what you are thinking, aren't you?

Well, look at the next picture and think some more.

A very big, very noisy whirlpool forms when the Trinity River runs low at this location. This impoundment of the Trinity River is used as a boating location, with a boat launch tethered on the north side of the dam.

Recently the Trinity River Vision, in conspiracy with the Tarrant Regional Water District, has been leading people to believe that it is safe and sane to go inner tubing, and swimming, in the Trinity River.

A few years ago Fort Worth suffered a horrible tragedy when 4 people drowned in the Whirlpool feature at the Fort Worth Water Gardens. Fixing this problem, and paying for resulting lawsuits, cost Fort Worth a lot of money.

In the aftermath, in a bizarre overreaction, Fort Worth's swimming pools, like those in apartment complexes, were forced, by the city, to do totally unnecessary alterations to their water circulating systems, to supposedly prevent similar tragedies to what occurred in the Water Gardens.

Meanwhile, in the Trinity River, it being a river now in competition with the Guadalupe and San Marcos River as a destination inner tubing venue, there is a HUGE WHIRLPOOL swirling. I suspect each of the Trinity River dam/bridges have similar HUGE WHIRLPOOLs swirling during this low water period.

Somehow that whirlpool I saw swirling tonight seems way more dangerous than anything I've seen swirling in any Fort Worth swimming pool.

This is very perplexing to me.

In Texas Dipping In To Chilly Water On The Next To Last Day Of September

Morning of the next to the last day of September, 2010, dawns bright and semi-chilly at 60 degrees.

I heard from the outgoing Washingtonians last night as they made Amarillo by evening. They did not eat the 72 ounce steak at the Big Texan Steak Ranch.

And now I've heard from Amarillo this morning as the outgoing Washingtonians head out of Texas heading into a bright red morning sky.

I watched a smart phone demonstration yesterday that has me now seeing why I might want one. Previously I thought a smart phone seemed like a lot of bother.

Yesterday, when I left Mercado Juarez, I headed west on Northside Drive, wanting to see if I could make sense of something I saw the day previous while biking the Trinity Trails. My curiosity was more than satisfied by what I saw. It will require another bike ride on which I hope to get some good pictures.

In the meantime I am going swimming in some chilly water.

Incoming Washingtonians Having A Fine Time Getting Lost In Fort Worth Looking For Mexican Food

It was like a leg of The Amazing Race, trying to follow route directions, but getting hopelessly lost, for the pair of Washingtonians navigating to meet me for lunch at Mercado Juarez, in Fort Worth, today.

Relying on their phone-based GPS location locator, the address for Mercado Juarez was entered. The incoming Washingtonians were on I-287, heading north.

The GPS should have told them to continue on 287/35, exit at Northside Drive, and head west 1/4 mile to Mercado Juarez.

Instead, the GPS had the Washingtonians exiting from 287 on to Commerce, heading in to downtown Fort Worth, then taking a right on Main Street, heading north to take a right on Northside Drive.

Mercado Juarez is a bit hidden by trees when you come at it from the west. So, the pair of Washingtonians drove right past where they were to meet me, continued on, under the freeway, which should have been their exit zone and then proceeded to head east, into a Fort Worth neighborhood.

I was then called, just as I was exiting 35, on to Northside Drive. From what I was initially told, I thought they were to the west, so I said I'd head towards them. But, as I kept getting more information, I was totally confused as to where they could be.

I was told they'd driven under 287. Huh? In my mind, that had them far north, forgetting that at the Northside Drive location the freeway is 35/287, til 287 splits off and heads towards Amarillo.

When I realized what was meant by 287, I realized they were east of the freeway. I told them to head back to the freeway, that I was coming towards them. I was barely under the freeway when the Washingtonians came into view. I then followed them to the Mercado Juarez parking lot.

All in all, it was a great episode of mis-direction.

It was great seeing the Washingtonians. I'd not seen them in a long time. Both were looking very good. We had a great lunch and fun visit. And then it was time for them to program their GPS to try and guide them to Amarillo. I gave some verbal directions and hoped that that helped.

Like many Washingtonians, this pair takes their boat with them wherever they go. Texas was no exception to that rule.

Due to their traveling incognito, I did not want to take a picture of the Washingtonians. But I did snap a picture of them pulling back on to Northside Drive, on their way to 287/35.

When I was a Washingtonian I never pulled my boat behind me. My boat was an inflatable raft.

Woke Up By Audio Ads & Computer Woes So I Went Swimming

I was up way before the sun this morning. I did not get around to taking a picture of the morning view from my patio til well after the sun lit up the place.

The past 3 days I've been plagued by a bizarre computer invasion where random audio ads interrupt what I am doing. Ironically, I have only recently been running anti-virus software and now that I am, this is the first seriously annoying thing I've had to deal with.

Last night the audio ad woke me up at 1 in the morning. I shut the laptop lid to kill it. When I woke up the computer this morning it went into non-stop ad mode. Researching the woe, yesterday, I knew to look at what processes were using up the CPU. I saw explore.exe was the culprit. Killed it. Killed the ad.

I then ran two scans, one of Malaware Bytes and one of Microsoft Security Essentials. MSE found something called FakeYak. Malaware Bytes found two other bad things. Just yesterday neither found anything.

So far, all is working well. But, I don't trust it.

I just heard from my incoming Washingtonians. They have made it through Houston's morning traffic and are heading north on I-45. Expected arrival a bit before noon. We'll see how that works out.

While my computer was being scanned I went swimming. The water temperature has dropped significantly in the past couple days. I'm finding it hard to believe I get in that water all through the winter. But, I have photo evidence indicating I have done so.

Biking Fort Worth's Trinity Trail With Homeless People And Water Pumpers

I took a sunset bike ride out of Gateway Park tonight, on to the Trinity Trail. It was quite a bit chillier than the last time I pedaled the Trinity Trail. In the picture above I'm at the end of tonight's bike ride, standing on the dam/bridge that makes Trinity Falls, looking west, under the Beach Street Bridge, across the Trinity River, at the Fort Worth Mixmaster.

Before I saw the sun set I pedaled west about 6 or 7 miles. At one point I was surprised to see big trucks ahead. They left a cloud of obnoxious dust as they cockroached out of sight. And then I came upon part of what the occupants of the trucks were working on. A big new water sucking operation on the Trinity River. The biggest water sucking pipes I've seen yet. That is the pump below.

Practically every day I am annoyed by a billboard admonishing me to save water by getting a water saving toilet. Do all the water wasting toilets in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex "waste" as much water in a year as these water sucking operations "waste" in a day?

I pedaled under the I-35 bridge, across the Trinity, for another half mile or so. I wanted to take a picture, if I could, of the Mercado Juarez Cafe on the north side of the river. I found no vantage point that afforded the opportunity to take a good picture, this was the best I could do, with the Mercado Juarez being the white building, on the left, surrounded by trees. I am currently scheduled to meet a pair of incoming Washingtonians at the Mercado Juarez tomorrow. I had been erroneously informed that this was to take place today.

A short distance past where I took the picture of Mercado Juarez I came to a surprise. The Trinity Trail is being upgraded, with new cement. It does not seem all that long ago that the current trail was opened. A cement trail will be an improvement. I could not figure out how the detour worked, up over the levee, or what? So, I turned around.

When I turned around I saw, hovering above the Trinity River Levee, a mountain of pavement debris. I assume this mountain is made up of the old, now replaced Trinity Trail. What is it with making these type piles here? The mountain of litter where the Gateway Park trail joins the Trinity Trail is still in place, weeks after being built.

I thought I was done with this blogging. I forgot to mention tonight's homeless people. There was a group of 6 or 7 under the Riverside Drive Bridge. This was a co-ed group. They seemed quite settled in, with blankets and sleeping bags. They will need the blankets tonight.

So will I.

Gar The Texan's Birthing Trauma At Turner Falls Park In Oklahoma

I was looking on my computer for pictures of Fort Worth's I-30/I-35/I-287 Mixmaster to no avail when I came upon a folder full of pictures from Turner Falls Park.

Turner Falls Park is one of my favorite places I've been to in Texas. Only it is in Oklahoma. A short 60 miles, or so, north of the Red River border.

The crystal clear water of Honey Creek is what falls over a cliff, making Turner Falls. Turner Falls shares tallest waterfall in Oklahoma honors with a waterfall called Natural Falls. Natural Falls is in Natural Falls State Park in the Ozark Mountains part of Oklahoma.

In Turner Falls Park you will find the aforementioned waterfall and crystal clear creek. You will also find the remains of a castle, some caves, some cliffs to climb on, trails to hike and cabins and campsites to stay in.

In the picture, above, you are looking at Gar the Texan trying to relive his birthing trauma by climbing through a hole in one of the Turner Falls caves. I do not remember if Gar the Texan got stuck, or if he successfully birthed himself from the cave. I do remember being very surprised that Gar the Texan was being so adventurous, at great heights, with nary a sign of a case of the vapors.