Fort Worth's George's Specialty Foods Closes To Challenge Chesapeake Attempt To Abuse Eminent Domain To Steal Their Property

I was looking through FW Weekly a few minutes ago, in the restaurant section, when I saw an ad for George's Specialty Foods, it being a Greek type place in West Fort Worth on White Settlement Road.

In the ad, George's Specialty Foods is telling its customers that they are closed for the purpose of challenging Texas Midstream, which is an alias of the evil entity known as Chesapeake Energy, on the process of eminent domain being abused to take their property.

I'd not heard of this latest Chesapeake abuse of eminent domain in Fort Worth.

So, I Googled "George's Specialty Foods Chesapeake Eminent Domain."

I found nothing.

Is Chesapeake trying to run a non-odorized natural gas pipeline under George's property? Or take land for a drilling site?

Does the George Family know what sort of living hell fighting Chesapeake Energy can bring down on them? Chesapeake may order its stoolies in the city government of Fort Worth to run a few Gestapo Raids on their store, like what was done on Carter Avenue when one of the bravest Texans in Fort Worth  fought back when Chesapeake tried to ram a non-odorized natural gas pipeline under his home.

Does the George Family know you can not fight this in court? Because you will be trying to have a fair fight in what is a corrupted courtroom. Where judges blatantly lie and mislead and always side with Chesapeake and its City of Fort Worth lapdogs. If you aren't careful you might even find that Chesapeake has finagled a bogus lawyer to represent you, without your knowledge, which will lead to all sorts of pain trying to untangle the mess.

So, does anyone know what Chesapeake is up to, abusing eminent domain to steal the George family land? When a well known local restaurant closes in protest, why is this not news in the local newspaper of record? Oh, that's right, I forgot. There isn't one.

Two Miles To Waco On The Tandy Hills With Elsie Hotpepper In Trouble Again

Looking at that road sign, on the left, in the lower right part of the picture, one might think we are looking at a skyscraper in Waco, 2 miles away.

But, what we are actually looking at is a road sign on I-30 telling you that the I-35 exit to Waco is 2 miles ahead.

And that skyscraper is one of the more unfortunate looking ones, viewed from the Tandy Hills, that make up the skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

It was a beautiful day looking at the beautiful skyline today on the Tandy Hills. Perfect temperature. No need for a coat.

Town Talk had lots of good stuff today. I got a couple containers of yellow grape tomatoes, a pork roast, smoked provolone, feta cheese, big whole wheat hamburger buns, veggie burgers, sweet potato chips, shrimp, salmon and cod.

You can quit worrying about Elsie Hotpepper, who had been missing since Thanksgiving. I heard from her this morning, simply saying, with no details, "In trouble..."

I have no idea what Elsie has done this time to get in hot water. It's always something.

A Cold Saturday Morning In Texas Wondering Who Elbowed President Obama Requiring 12 Stitches?

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at my pool, early on the Saturday morning of November 27.

It is currently 35 degrees out there, the same temperature that currently has Seattle shivering.

We do not seem to be getting down to the predicted lows, which for this morning was supposed to be 26.

35 degrees means I will not be getting wet in the pool this morning. My current requirement for doing so is the 24 hour average has to be 50 degrees, or above.

I was surprised this morning to read that President Obama suffered a blow to the head that required 12 stitches in his mouth zone. The explanation is this injury occurred during a day after Thanksgiving basketball game.

This seems suspicious to me. Is someone playing a friendly game of basketball with the President of the United States going to play so aggressively that an elbow plants itself on the President's mouth? Where was the Secret Service during this worst attack on a U.S. President since John Hinckley shot President Reagan?

Who owned the elbow that smacked the President? Was First Lady Michelle in the game?

The Return Of The Shadow Of The Tandy Thin Man Minus The Salvation Of The Queen Of Wink

Mother Nature removed yesterday's cloud cover, bringing back the blue sky of Texas, which allowed for the return of the Shadow of the Tandy Thin Man today.

Hiking the Tandy Hills was not a windy, chilly fun time, today, unlike yesterday's Thanksgiving Day, cold, blowing, hard hike.

Last night's first freeze of the year appears to have knocked the leaves out of a lot of trees. Maybe the trees were already naked of leaves yesterday and I did not notice. But, I don't think so.

The freeze has made the remaining leaves all the same color, for the most part, sort of a very burned reddish brown.

I heard from the Queen of Wink this morning. My one longtime reader may remember me mentioning that the Queen of Wink called me a couple weeks ago to tell me she was coming here for Thanksgiving.

Anticipating the Queen's arrival, I then proceeded to prepare complex Thanksgiving plans to have a Turkey Day Buffet, totally Royal Worthy.

So, imagine my shock to get an email, this morning, from the Queen of Wink, telling me, the day after I expected her at my Turkey Day Buffet, that she had enlisted in the Salvation Army on T-Day, and that, and I quote, "Looks like I didn't make it to Fort Worth, huh? Maybe for the Christmas break."

Yes, I can see myself going through the Living Hell of preparing a Royal Feast. Again. On Christmas. Only to find out the day after Christmas that the Queen has again enlisted in the Salvation Army.

Well, at least Elsie Hotpepper showed up, as expected, at my Turkey Day Buffet. And, WOW, can that skinny girl eat. Methinks she has some sort of freakish high metabolism.

Speaking of Elsie Hotpepper, I've not heard from her since she left the Turkey Day Buffet. I know she did not leave here to go saloon hopping, because I do not think any saloons were open on Thanksgiving. Maybe Elsie is busy doing some Black Friday mall hopping.

I gave in to the chill this morning and turned on my furnace for the first time since last winter.

A Cold Black Friday In Texas Recovering From Overeating & Worrying About North Korea's Insanity

Looking out my icy window on the early morning of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, November 26.

The low did not go as low as the predicted 27, at my location, but it did freeze at 29.

My Turkey Day Buffet went well.

But, I am sort of out of buffet practice due to the extreme infrequency of going to all you can eat buffets. So, even though I did not eat as much as I would have when I was in training for over eating, I did eat too much, almost to the discomfort point.

I forgot to mention my mom called on Thanksgiving Eve. Mom and dad were not going to be home on Thanksgiving, due to heading south to my brother's, in Maricopa, hence the Thanksgiving Eve Happy Thanksgiving call.

I don't know if I want to attempt doing the swimming thing this morning. The novelty has sort of worn off. I know for certain I will not be participating in Black Friday.

I'm feeling nervous that the insanity known as North Korea may be about to go over the edge.

A Cold Tandy Thanksgiving Day Hike

Yesterday I did not go hiking on the Tandy Hills, despite the inviting 83 degrees of heat.

Today, as in Thanksgiving Day, I had a couple hours to spare before the turkey was ready to spring from the oven, so I decided to go for a Tandy Hills hike,

As you can see I am wearing a lot of clothes, which is not my Tandy Hills norm. The excess clothing was necessitated by a temperature of 37 with a steady wind causing a Wind Chill Factor of 27.

I should have been wearing gloves.

This morning, upon waking, the temperature was 50. By the time I went swimming it was 45 and very windy. Swimming this morning was the strangest yet. Due to being warm the past few days the water was quite a bit warmer than the air temperature. This made the water easy to get into.

But, I assumed the water would quickly chill me and I'd have to bail after a few minutes. Instead, within a minute I realized I was going to be able to stay in it as long as I wanted. So I had myself a nice long swim this morning.

I thought when I exited the pool the wind and chill would quickly have me shivering. But that did not happen either.

I am almost 100% certain that tomorrow morning the water in the pool will have become significantly colder than it was this morning.

I have 45 minutes to go before the bird comes out of the oven. The doorbell is ringing. I need to go now. Talk to you later....

Happy Thanksgiving From Cold Texas

Well, it is now Thanksgiving Day, November 25. Looking out my window this morning you can see the view is a bit frosted. Courtesy of a big temperature drop from yesterday's high of 83 degrees.

When I woke up my computer this morning, at a quarter to 7, it was 50. It is now 45. The temperature is scheduled to drop throughout the day, eventually landing somewhere in the 27 degree zone.

I have a big bird ready to shove in the oven. If my calculations are correct it should take about 5 hours to have the turkey in ready to eat mode.

I think I may have overdone the swimming yesterday. It came as a bit of a surprise that the water temperature was so swimmable, so I stayed in it a long time. I suspect this will not be the case when I get back in the water this morning.

Have yourself a Happy Thanksgiving Day. And if you are coming to my Turkey Day Buffet, don't be late.

83 Degrees In Fort Worth On Thanksgiving Eve With A Long Afternoon Swim

As you can see, the temperature has reached a semi-HOT 83 today. With the National Weather Service in Drama Queen mode over wind. Yes, it has been very windy all day long.

Today I did not make it a record-breaking 12 days in a row on the Tandy Hills. I'm not sure if this lapse was due to Don Young causing me to realize the total futility of me trying to get in shape.

But, that realization of the futility did not stop me from going swimming this afternoon in a daring break from my predictably boring pattern of doing the same thing over and over again at the same time.

Due to the 83 degrees the pool water was warmed up enough that I was in the pool for well over a half hour. I do not foresee the same thing happening tomorrow, what with the low expected to be 27.

I've got my Thanksgiving Day Turkey Buffet well under control. Cranberries cooked and chilling in the fridge. Pumpkin Pudding cooling, along with Cherry Pie. Whole Wheat/Red Pepper Stuffing ready to stuff the bird. Bird thawed.

Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation

From the time the Indians cooked turkey for the Pilgrims until October 3 of 1863, America celebrated Thanksgiving Day. But not on the same day.

Then, in the midst of the Civil War, a well known magazine writer, Sarah Josepha Hale, sent a letter to President Lincoln in which she suggested that Lincoln have "the day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival. You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritative fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution."

Mr. Lincoln apparently agreed with Ms. Hale and so the President issued one of his many Proclamations. Lincoln loved making Proclamations. Lincoln's Secretary of State, William H. Seward, penned the Proclamation, which Lincoln then signed, forever making the last Thursday of November a National Day of Thanksgiving and Praise.

Below is Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation....

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward, Secretary of State

The United Nations Picks Fort Worth As One Of The Top Five Most Positive Cities In The World

Well, just in time for Thanksgiving, this morning I learned I have yet one more thing to be thankful for.

And that would be the fact, apparently, that I am living in one of the Top Five Most Positive Cities in the World.

That's right, Fort Worth is one of the Top Five Most Positive Cities in the World.

If this is not some sort of Apocalyptic Warning that the World is in trouble, I don't know what is.

This accolade was not bestowed on Fort Worth by some bogus self-serving Washington, D.C. lobbying group, like when Fort Worth was picked as one of America's Most Livable Communities, setting off city-wide celebrations by those who did not know better.

No less an esteemed body than the United Nations has determined Fort Worth's positivity. Some agency of the UN called The United Nations NGO Voting Academy, made up of highly respected United Nations NGOs, like Sister Cities International, Rotary International and Pathways to Peace determine what towns are positive.

What is an NGO? I have no idea.

All the Large Community Finalists, in the Top 5, are American Cities, Atlanta, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Kansas City and Phoenix.

Of the Small Community Finalists 3 out of 5 are American, Ashland Oregon, Coral Springs Florida, Darlington England, Macon Georgia and Trier Germany.

Phoenix is a Top Five positive town? Isn't that where they are demonizing Mexicans who have crossed the border to work?

Atlanta? Have the United Nations NGO's not watched The Real Housewives of Atlanta?

I can understand Ashland, Oregon being picked as positive. Ashland is a very tolerant town. You can wander around Ashland with no clothes on and no one gets all negative on you, for the most part.

Fort Worth is the Big Doozy on this list. Fort Worth is one of the world's most positive towns? Fort Worth has a corrupt mayor, on the take to the total tune of millions of dollars to the Barnett Shale gas drillers poking holes in his town. Fort Worth's mayor fired the city's ethics board when they finally had the backbone to stand up against the city's ethics problems.

Fort Worth positive? This is a town where the city allies with gas drillers against the people to conspire to try and put non-odorized natural gas pipelines under people's homes, using Fascist Gestapo-like raids to intimidate those who fight for their right to speak out against having a dangerous pipeline run under their home.

Fort Worth positive? This is a town that regularly uproots citizens from their property, using eminent domain in conspiracy with big business, like what was done to get Radio Shack its now defunct corporate headquarters. And is currently being done courtesy of Fort Worth's myopic Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Fort Worth positive? This is a town with America's 15th Most Dangerous Neighborhood.

Fort Worth positive? This is town that can't keep its libraries and swimming pools open.

Anyway, I'm sure there are other less than positive things about Fort Worth that are not quickly coming to mind, right now.

This really is the goofiest thing I've seen in awhile. You can read more about the Positive Communities on the CelebratePositive website.