A Full October 22 Moon & The Texas Rangers May Get In The World Series Today

You looking at the full moon last night from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony.

Viewing the passing humanity from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony can be entertaining. Last night was particularly loony, maybe due to the full moon.

Will the moon still be full and causing lunacy tonight? When the Texas Rangers might possibly win one more baseball game, thus putting them in the World Series for the first time?

I don't think I will be in attendance for tonight's game.   I may go over to Miss Puerto Rico's and listen to the cheering.

It is already October 22. Time is zooming. I don't like this phenomenon.

Village Creek Natural Historic Area Is Carpeted In Leaves

As you can see, a lot of leaves have fallen on the trail in Village Creek Natural Historic Area. The leaves made a satisfying crunch noise when walked over.

I do not remember Pacific Northwest leaves being crunchy when walked over. I do remember Pacific Northwest leaves being wet and slippery.

I had me a frustrating morning of annoying little problems. Mostly computer related. I was in need of something relaxing, hence a nice, slow pondering walk in one of my favorite parks in Arlington.

I've always thought that the first freeze of the fall had to happen for the leaves to start falling. We have definitely not had a first freeze of the year here in Texas, I say, as cold air from the A/C blows down on me. I must be remembering wrong about the leaves going into heavy duty fall mode after the first freeze.

Or maybe Texas trees are designed differently than Pacific Northwest Washington trees.

Global Warming Is Heating Up My Pool

I am really shaking up my regular routine this morning. So, no, that is not the sunrise view from my patio this October 21 Thursday morning.

What you are looking at is the sunset view from last night from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony.

I am on cat sitting duty while Miss Puerto Rico is out of the country and back on her home island.

I am starting to become a believer of the global warming concept.

Last year. And the year before, I remember that by the 1st of October it was a bit bracing to get in the swimming pool. I could last 10 to 15 minutes before retreating to the hot tub. We are currently over 2/3rds through October and the water in the pool is not yet bracing. I have had no impulse to escape to the hot tub.

I think I'll do some hill hiking on the Tandy Hills today as part of my ongoing program to reduce my girth so I don't have to have lapband surgery.

Following Edible Arrangements Across The D/FW Metroplex

Today I was in Southlake. While I was in Southlake I went to Sprouts Farmers Market. I got a lot of good stuff. More Ruby Red Grapefruit and Fuji Apples from Washington.

On the way back here I turned off Davis Boulevard to head south on Precinct Line Road to ALDI Food Market. All the way down Precinct Line Road I was behind the truck you see in the picture.

A truck delivering Edible Arrangements of fruit. With a personalized license plate that says, "DO FRUT." Why the license is missing an "I" I do not know.

I took this as yet one more omen that it is a good idea to make an obesity blog. When I was behind the Edible Arrangements truck, this made sense.

An earlier obesity blog omen caused me to make the obesity blog this morning. It is not yet ready for prime time. The new blog's name is DurangObese.

At the time I made DurangObese, that seemed clever. Now, not so much.

Oh well. I am stuck with it now.

It Is October 20 & The Texas Rangers Are 1 Game Away From Being In The World Series

As you can see, standing with me out on the patio, we have a little cloud action on this, the morning of October 20.

It is a relatively balmy 63 this morning. I am waiting for the sun to add a bit more brightness before I take my morning pool dip.

The Texas Rangers are only one game away from being in the World Series. I do not detect the level of mania here of the sort that infected the Pacific Northwest the year the Seattle Mariners were in the playoffs for the first time. I think the New York Yankees were involved at that time, too. Or maybe it was a California team.

If I recollect correctly, and I likely don't, the Texas Rangers are doing much better than the Seattle Mariners did. I think the year was 1995. Maybe later. Maybe earlier. I am almost 100% the Seattle Mariners were never only one game away from being in the World Series.

I do remember that the Mariners were making noises about leaving Seattle due to not liking playing in the Kingdome. But the voters turned down funding for a new ballpark. And then the Mariner's miracle season happened, coming from way back, winning game after game and then getting in the playoffs and suddenly there was political support all over the state for funding a new ballpark. And thus Safeco Field was born.

I remember big crowds greeting the Mariners at Sea-Tac upon their returns to Seattle. Are big crowds going to greet the Texas Rangers at D/FW International Airport? The Kingdome could not hold all the people who wanted to watch the Mariner's playoff games. Huge numbers of fans stood outside the Kingdome during the games. Was a Jumbotron set up for them to watch the game? I don't remember.

Since I have been in the D/FW zone I don't think any of their professional sports teams has done well. Maybe the Dallas Mavericks basketball team has won a championship. But I don't recollect it. I know the Dallas Cowboys have been way more hapless than the Seattle Seahawks ever since I have been here. And yet they still call themselves "America's Team." America likes winners. I don't think the Dallas Cowboys is America's Team anymore, if they ever really were.

It is bright out there now. Time to go swimming.

No Rain On The Tandy Hills While I Check Out The Original Shrine

It has been awhile since I accessed the Tandy Hills via the top of Mount Tandy.

The Tandy Shrine has tripled in size. Tires have been added. And a kid's toy lawn mower. And 2 black plastic garbage bags, stuffed full. I did not look in the garbage bags.

I think I may be overdoing it in my quest to try and get in shape for running The Amazing Race with the Queen of Wink. I am feeling more than a little exhausted.

The rain that was forecast to fall today, has not arrived. Nor have clouds. I was hoping a good rain would clear the air of whatever is polluting it, that is making my eyes burn.

It is 84, right now, at almost 4 in the afternoon. The pool was noticeably warmer this morning. It should be even warmer tomorrow morning. If I muster the energy to find out.

Speaking of morning, this morning, before 6, there was a very loud boom. I expected to hear sirens, but did not. I've asked others if they heard the big boom. Others have. All say it sounded like a big explosion.

I just got interrupted by Miss Puerto, calling to confirm tomorrow morning's exit to Puerto Rico plan. I hope it all goes drama free with no police involvement.

It Is A Dark But Not Stormy October Morning In Texas

It is a dark, but not yet stormy October 19 morning. I was awakened an hour or two ago by a very loud boom. It was not thunder. More like a shotgun blast.

Today the prediction, from weather forecasters, is for a 30% chance of wet stuff hitting the ground. My prediction is we will stay dry today in my zone of North Texas.

A few days ago Betty Jo Bouvier sent me a video showing the Seattle skyline growing from the 1950s to a new skyscraper due to be open for business in 2011. Before the video zooms in to the new skyscraper the perspective is from out in Seattle's Town Lake, known as Elliott Bay.

You can go watch the video here. Click the "Full Screen" option on the lower right. Then you'll be able to see the Space Needle pop up in 1961. Seeing the Kingdome pop to life and then death was sort of sad. That building had a very short life span.

I wonder what a similar video shot from the location of Fort Worth's future little Town Lake, showing the evolution of Fort Worth's skyline would look. Sort of sleepy, I suspect.

Anyway, it is being sort of warm this morning. 67 out there while I wait for the sun to provide some illumination so I can see my way to the pool.

No Rain Has Fallen But The Trinity River Is Rising

I showed you this same view of the Trinity River on Saturday. At that point in time the sandbar was way bigger. Today, crossing the Beach Street Bridge over the Trinity I saw that the river has risen.

How can that be?

We have had no rain. Though some is predicted to fall tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow.

The river has risen so much it is about to re-float some inner tubes that have been dry docked. Maybe J.D. Granger is reading this in time to send out a rescue team to get the inner tubes before they go back into float mode.

I turned around from the inner tubes, and slowly disappearing sandbar, to look east to the Trinity Dam/Bridge, to see a white pickup truck sitting on the middle of the dam, above where the whirlpool was whirling strong before the water went low. I figured due to the rising water, the whirlpool must be back.

A white pickup truck. My one longtime reader knows I have a really bad history with white pickup trucks. So, I decided to bike on down to the truck and see if I could find myself in some sort of interesting situation.

Oh. It is a Tarrant Regional Water District white pickup. This seemed a bit less nefarious than an Express Energy Services white pickup.

A guy with some power tools was doing I do not know what. He was on the phone with someone, sounding a bit concerned. I thought if I stopped by the truck, with the worker guy right there, that I might get to ask what he was doing. But, he never got off the phone. I stood there taking pictures for a couple minutes and then continued on my way.

Even though the Trinity River was quite a bit higher than it was on Saturday, the whirlpool had not returned. I do not think any water was making it through the dam. Thus the rising water on the one side of the dam and shrinking water on the other side. This must be what the Tarrant Regional Water District guy was working on.

On Saturday I saw that DANGER sign on the next dam upriver, saying that "maintenance was in progress." No similar sign was on the Trinity dam outside Gateway Park.

Interesting to me that we have a river here that you, apparently, can turn on and off. Except when it is in flood mode.

The only other river I have lived up close to was the Skagit River in Washington. The Skagit River really does not have the off and on feature that the Trinity River has.

Except.

There is a really rugged, wild section of the Skagit beneath Gorge Dam. If you are having fun playing in that section and you hear sirens, you need to make it quickly to high ground, due to water being released. If you have seen the movie, Parallax View, you have seen how scary the Gorge Dam can be. The Trinity River seems fairly benign in comparison.

Except for those J.D. Granger inner tube floats.

I Was Ordered To Stop By The Fort Worth Bike Gestapo In Gateway Park Today

It has been awhile since I have run into Fort Worth Police in Gestapo mode. So, I guess I was due.

Around 4 this afternoon I went to Gateway Park, intending to bike to the Trinity River for a photo opportunity.

As I pulled into the Gateway Park parking lot, the one by the rugby fields, accessed via the entry from Randol Mill/East 1st Street, I was startled to see a swarm of dozens of Fort Worth cops on bikes.

This created a very odd scene. It was some sort of instructional situation. I had no idea Fort Worth had so many bicycle cops.

There was bike cop activity all over the parking lot. It was a pain to drive through it.

Upon my return from the Trinity Trail a van drove on to the parking lot. This had the cops hollering "car" over and over again. Even though it was a van.

So, I loaded my bike up and decided to exit via the road that runs around the perimeter of the parking lot. This seemed the logical exit to me.

I was following the pair you see through my windshield. Make note of the group in the distance to their right.

As I got to that group I slowed way up, expecting the Gestapo to get out of my way.

Instead, one of the Fort Worth Gestapo actually raised his hand in what looked like the Heil Hitler Nazi salute and ordered me to STOP.

I did so, whilst giving the guy a what the hell shrug of my shoulders look.

I really did not know where to go to get out of there. A barrier runs the length of the parking lot. You can see that in the picture at the top. I had to get around that. But at the other end of the barrier was the Gestapo Group you saw in the first picture.

I decided to turn around and see if I could get through that other Gestapo Group.

I was successful.

Now, I'm thinking, this is a public park. I had every right to expect to drive in and out without my egress and ingress being impeded on by the Fort Worth Gestapo on two-wheelers.

If a group of civilians took over a Gateway Park parking lot in this manner and ordered a Fort Worth Gestapo police car to stop, what do you think would happen?

Now, this particular parking lot has a gate. The Gestapo could easily have closed that gate. I would have been perfectly happy to park in the more distant parking lot and peacefully pedal through the parking lot with the swarm of Fort Worth Bike Gestapo. They were creating a hazard in that parking lot, which I feel they had no right to create.

Someone should have ticketed them.

Hiking The Tandy Hills With A Bird Cacaphony

That is Tandy Hills Shrine II you're looking at. I managed to get a semi-decent picture of the rusty cable that I found added to the shrine on Saturday.

Why was this rusty cable on the Tandy Hills, I can't help but wonder?

Rain is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I hope it arrives in sufficient quantity to wash the air clean of whatever is polluting it right now that has my eyes itching so bad.

There was a lot of bird racket today on the Tandy Hills. This seemed unusual to me. What had all the birds chirping so much? I really don't see all that many birds flying about the Tandy Hills. Today it was like a bird convention was in town and it was being held in the Tandy Hills.

I am likely going to be pedaling out of Gateway Park to the Trinity Trail again this early evening. I saw something I wanted to take a picture of as I crossed the Beach Street Bridge today.

I have heard from Elsie Hotpepper. She is claiming she is not pouting.