Me & My Shadow On The Tandy Hills With More Four Loko

That is me and my shadow on the Tandy Hills again, on this Sunday Halloween in Texas. I tried anew to find the mysterious Witchey Tree, to no avail.

I saw no snakes today. A variety of birds was singing a pleasant cacophony of melodic tweeting. I saw no human on the hills today.

But, I did see a blimp. But not on the Tandy Hills. The blimp was hovering over the Ballpark in Arlington and the Cowboy Stadium. I could not tell if it was a Goodyear blimp. It seemed an odd thing to see, making clear how close the Ballpark/Stadium District of Arlington is to my location, and to the Tandy Hills.

I think Game 4  of the World Series starts up some time after noon. And the Dallas Cowboy's game starts up well after the World Series game starts. Today will be Arlington's biggest test of moving traffic in and out of the play zone.

Due to the extremely pleasant temperature, all my windows are open. I have heard no cheering coming from the east. I hope this does not mean that the Rangers' fans are having nothing to cheer about today.

I found another empty can of Four Loko today. This one was way to the west of the ones I found yesterday, stuck on limbs on the Tandy Highway. Today I took one of those Tandy Highway Four Loko cans, stuck a stick in it, and stuck it on the Tandy Shrine at the top of Mount Tandy.

With the Four Loko can on a stick I was able to read the ingredients. Caffeine, Taurine, Guarana and Alcohol. Hence the name. Four things to make you loco.

Who is wandering around the Tandy Hills, slurping down these potent beverages and leaving the cans behind? I think we can eliminate me, Stenotrophomonas and Don Young as suspects.

Halloween 2010: Legend Of The Tandy Hills Witchey Tree Update

Don Young promised a Halloween Update on the Witchey Tree. That Update arrived as promised.

To re-cap for those unfamiliar with the Witchey Tree...

Legend has it that back in the 1960s, that being the period of Don Young's formative teenage years, the Tandy Hills was used as a sort of Lover's Lane, by natural spirits of that era.

One hapless couple on a very, for them, hapless Halloween of, let's say, 1968, drove down what is now the main trail from View Street to the Tandy Hills.

Looking for a place to park his VW van, the male half of the couple mis-judged the hills and found himself careening down one of the western hills, out of control.

The van smashed into a tree, seriously damaging it. The girl half of the pair was decapitated, the boy seriously injured, dying within a few years, some say of both a broken body and a broken heart.

The van was left to rust, as it was deemed too difficult to tow it out of the Tandy Hills. There are several vehicle corpses on the Tandy Hills.

The damaged tree continued to live, but was all disfigured. It became known as the Witchey Tree. Some considered it haunted.

Over the years Tandy Hills foliage grew up and made access to the Witchey Tree and van difficult.

On this Halloween of 2010, Don Young had the sad duty to report that the Witchey Tree has died. The weird growth that had sprouted from its decapitated trunk lived for over 40 years.

On another note, sort of related, the Friends of the Tandy Hills Natural Area website has had a makeover. Check it out. And you'll be able to read all of today's Prairie Notes #47: Vote the Environment, including shocking news about the possible demise of the Prairie Fest and more about the Witchey Tree demise.

Up Early On Halloween Morning With The Texas Rangers First World Series Win & Promises Of A Haunted Update

You are looking out my bedroom window at a pre-dawn view of Halloween on a Texas Sunday morning.

It did not get as close to freezing last night as the night before, and is a relatively balmy 52 out there right now. Swimming should not be as shivering an experience this morning as yesterday.

The Texas Rangers have now won their first World Series game, beating the New York Yankees 4 to 2, last night in the Ballpark in Arlington. If Texas wins again today, the series will be tied.

Don Young took umbrage at the notion that I might have been questioning his credibility regarding his tale of the haunted Witchey Tree. An important Halloween update on the haunted tree is promised for today.

I see the sun has decided to arrive. The birds seem particularly excited about its arrival today.

I don't know which I want to do tonight. Go Trick or Treating? Or be bored out of my mind watching baseball?

Hiking The Tandy Hills With Snakes & Four Loko

Hiking the Tandy Hills is such an educational experience for me. Often in very unanticipated ways.

Like today.

In several locations in the Tandy Hills someone has decorated a branch with an empty beverage can. It was a can unfamiliar to me.

I examined one of the cans, up close, to see the beverage was called Four Loko. 23 1/2 ounces with 12 percent alcohol mixed with Guarana and Taurine, which are stimulants. I think caffeine might also be in the mix. Which is also a stimulant.

When I was back at my computer I Googled "Four Loko" and was surprised to learn it was in the news.

Not in the news due to being overly consumed on the Tandy Hills, but for being overly consumed at two Universities on opposite sides of the country.

New Jersey's Ramapo College and Central Washington University, in Ellensburg, in my old home state.

Central Washington University is where I graduated from. It was strange to Google for info and have that college pop up. Pop up due to nine freshmen requiring hospitalization after drinking Four Loko, along with other booze.

I need to go to Wal-Mart to get milk in a bit, along with a returning of some books to the library, which, miraculously, is open. I am going to look for Four Loko at Wal-Mart.

I forgot to mention. The picture above of the Four Loko can was taken on the Tandy Highway. As soon as I stuck the camera back in my pocket, two humans popped in to view. Startling me. Human encounters are rare on the Tandy Hills.

I chatted a bit with the humans. I think I startled them too. It was a guy and a girl pair of humans. This was their first time on the Tandy Hills. And they were new to the area. I told them they were going to have a lot of fun figuring out the maze of trails and finding all of them.

Before the human encounter I had another snake encounter. I was not fast enough, again, to get a picture. This snake encounter was near the bottom of the south trail that takes you down Mount Tandy to the Tandy Highway. It was a green snake, with darker green markings, about 2 feet long.

Ironically, just yesterday, when I hiked the wild west side of the Tandy Hills, I did so because the temps were cool, thus, I erroneously thought, slowing the movement of any slithery reptilian creatures. I do not hike on the wild west side of the Tandy Hills when it's HOT.

The temperature was 70 when I left here to go hiking. So, I guess I learned today that cold-blooded snakes can move fairly fast at a lower temperature than I realized.

My Ex Searching For Me & Sending Me Wiener Dog Halloween Jack O' Lanterns

Seconds ago I saw incoming email on my second monitor, subject line: "Your Ex Has Searched For You."

Obvious spam. I know for certain my "Ex" is not searching for me, because she already knows where I am.

In fact, just this morning my "Ex" sent me the cute picture you see here, of Bean the Wiener Dog and her Halloween Jack O' Lantern.

Bean has a sister named Rosie the Rat Dog. I don't know why I did not get a picture of Rosie with her Jack O' Lantern.

Maybe Rosie was a bad girl this year and did not get her annual Jack O' Lantern.

Rosie and Bean have a new sister, whom I have not met. Her name is Tillie. I believe Tillie is also a Dachshund, aka Wiener Dog.

Did Tillie not get a Jack O' Lantern either?

Shivering After Swimming While Wondering How The Duo Bush First Pitch At The Ballpark In Arlington Texas Rangers World Series Game Works

It is the day before the last day of October. I think that makes tomorrow Halloween.

As you can see, looking out my bedroom window, today is a nice weather Saturday morning, unlike last Saturday, when tornadoes touched down in my neighborhood, lightning struck, thunder boomed, rain drenched and my bike was stolen.

It was in the low 40s when I went swimming this morning. It is over 2 hours later and I am still sort of shivering.  I do not remember having a shivering episode, like this, previously.

Unless I count the time I learned a certain someone referred to me as her second husband. Thinking of that can still cause a shiver.

The Texas Rangers need to beat the San Francisco Giants today or they will be behind 3 games to 0 in the World Series. If the Rangers lose today and tomorrow then it will still be able to be said that the Texas Rangers have never won a World Series game.

Today's game starts around 4. This means I need to get my Tandy Hills hike in early, so as to be able to be at the Ballpark in Arlington in time to see the Bush's throw the first pitch. I think that is today. How do both Georges throw the first pitch? Can't there only be one first pitch?

I must go find some more clothes to put on. Or take another extremely hot shower.

Hiking The Wild West Side Of The Tandy Hills Searching For The Witchey Tree

Today I hiked the wild west side of the Tandy Hills. A location on the hills much less traveled.

I don't think I've been on the west side of the View Street main trail since January 2, when dozens of Wild Women and Manly Men, including the Queen of Wink and Princess Annie, went on a big group hike.

It is easy to find oneself off trail, meandering through the prairie, on the wild west side of the Tandy Hills.

This is the part of the Tandy Hills where Don Young claims a van went out of control, back in the 60s, killing a young woman and leaving her boy friend crippled. I may have that backwards. I have never been able to find the remains of the van or the witchey tree

Don Young seems to be a fairly credible guy, but on this Tandy Hills Legend of the Witchey Tree Halloween Story he seems a tad sketchy.

I have received some more confusing Halloween information. Sunday, October 31 is Halloween in most of the civilized world. But, due to it being a Sunday, and Dallas/Fort Worth being the Buckle of the Bible Belt, the pagan ritual of Halloween can not be practiced on Sunday, so, unless one is a practicing pagan, one does ones Halloweening in D/FW on Saturday.

I don't know how credible my latest Halloween source is. But, it sounds plausible to me. I think, just to be safe, I will do my Trick or Treating on Saturday.

Is It A Happy Halloween Day In Texas?

I got up late, due to sleeping well, under covers for the first time in a long time, due to the temperature dropping to only 9 degrees above freezing last night.

I have not skipped my morning swim in awhile. This morning I am skipping it. Not due to the semi-icy conditions, but due to the fact I am running late.

There were 2 Happy Halloween emails in my inbox this morning. Does this mean today, October 30 is Halloween?

I'm thinking I am of the erroneous notion that Halloween is on the last day of October, not the day before the last day.

I think I will go to the Tandy Hills again today. I currently have no bike ride option. I liked hiking in the chilly air yesterday. Today it should be even chillier.

UPDATE: I have been informed that today is October 29, not October 30. And that Halloween is also not today, but is on Sunday, October 31. So. I have 2 days to get my Elsie Hotpepper costume ready.

Fort Worth's Tandy Hills Is Finally Getting A Sanitary Sewer Line

In the picture you are looking north on the Tandy Highway, under the canopy of the Tandy Forest in the Tandy Hills Natural Area, today, around noon.

Prior to noon today I heard from my #1 Informant about all matters Tandy. I'll refer to the Informant as DY.

DY sent me a PDF file containing disturbing information that seems to indicate the Tandy Highway is about to be disturbed, again, by the Fort Worth Water Department.

550 feet of 50 year old 6-inch clay pipe is going to be replaced by 8-inch PVC pipe.

I am a little unclear as to where this pipeline is located.

The PDF document says the location of the proposed sewer line parallels a portion of the dedicated road right-of-way which is located adjacent to an old road access for the park. Is that old road access referencing Tandy Highway?

A trench, 4 to 6 feet deep, will be, well, trenched. The City Forester (a Fort Worth city position I'd not previously heard of) has reviewed the alignment and says there will be minimal to no impact on trees in the park.

I like the subject line at the top of the document, saying in part, "Recommendation for the use of parkland for the installation of a sanitary sewer line."

Is the existing sewer line unsanitary?

It is going to be interesting to see what a big mess this turns into.

On a totally non-sanitary sewer related note. The mysterious 20 foot, or longer, metal cable, that on Tuesday had migrated part way up Tandy Mountain, has now disappeared.

It Is Almost November & I Am Shivering From The Texas Cold & The Rangers Losing Their First World Series Game

It is the morning of October 28, which means it is 4 days until November. And Christmas is less than 2 months away.

We are rapidly approaching my least favorite time of the year.

I think it got down in the 40s last night. The pool was the coolest it has been since last winter. I stayed in it for quite a long time. And now I'm shivering as I type.

The Texas Rangers did not win their first World Series game last night.

Elsie Hotpepper sent me a link, this morning, to a funny local (to Texas) TV report from whatever the name is of the home ballpark of the San Francisco Giants.   Didn't it used to be Candlestick Park? What became of Candlestick Park?

On Sunday we will be having Perfect Storm conditions in Arlington. For the first time both the Ballpark in Arlington and the Cowboy Stadium will be full of fans at the same time. Plus, due to it being the Halloween time of the year, I suspect Six Flags Over Texas will be open too.

I have not had confirmation that Miss Puerto Rico made it successfully back to Texas.  She had 3 different airports, on the way back, in which she could have had herself an incident.

Lunch is at 1. Barbecued pork chops. Don't be late.