An Early Start To The Day After Valentines Day In Texas After A Night Of Nightmares

I woke up well before the sun on this 3rd Tuesday of the 2nd month of 2011.

I had myself a rough night of disturbing, as in real disturbing, nightmares.

The picture looking through the bars of my patio prison cell is a perfect metaphor for how I'm feeling.

Trapped.

And I don't know why.

Due to the return to reasonable weather I've sort of amped up my aerobicizing and yoga-ing. And have consequently got myself feeling a bit sore in way too many places.

I think the being sore in way too many places may have contributed to last night's insomnia and nightmare bout.

This morning I am going to go have myself a long soak in that hot tub you see in the picture. That may help what ails me.

Climbing The Fort Worth Space Needle Atop Mount Tandy & Valentines Day Lunch With Elsie Hotpepper

You are looking at the Fort Worth Space Needle, high atop Mount Tandy on the east side of the Tandy Hills Natural Area, today, about an hour before noon.

When I drove up to the Mount Tandy summit I saw a lot of pickup trucks and men scurrying around the Space Needle.

A thin cable was running from about half way up the tower to a winch on the back of one of the pickups.

I wondered how that thin cable got half way up the tower. I watched for awhile to try and figure out what was being done.

Whatever those guys were doing it had several guys yelling back and forth in a storm of colorful cussing, the likes of which I'd not heard since the last time I talked to Elsie Hotpepper.

I gave up after about 5 minutes and took off hiking. The trails were a bit muddy in places. I prefer trails not to be muddy.

An hour or so later I was back under the Fort Worth Space Needle.

I've got to say, looking up at that thing makes me dizzy. I'm a bit of an acrophobe, even when I'm on the ground.

But, what I now saw, really made me dizzy, well, queasy.

Two guys, more than half way up the tower.

In the photo at the top, you can see where these guys were on the tower, by finding the black spots halfway up the tower. That would be them.

As I drove away I had no clue what these guys were risking life and limb to do. Whatever it was, it sure had them being a bit hot tempered.

Speaking of being a bit hot tempered. My Valentines Day lunch at Esperanza's, with Elsie Hotpepper, was fun. Absolutely no colorful cussing.

When Elsie got back to work she emailed asking how lunch was. I replied that I am out of practice for eating that much. To which Elsie replied, "Me too. And I am sleepy!!"

It's all those tortilla chips. And rice. And beans. That is way too much carbo-loading when you aren't used to it.

The Esperanza's Chile Cheese Relleno was really good today. I'd not had a Chile Cheese Relleno since way back in September of last year when I met the Scrabble Queen of Washington and her husband, JR, at Mercado Juarez for lunch.

When I lived in Washington my favorite Chile Cheese Relleno came from the restaurant closest to where I lived. Los Arcos. So named because it was in a building that shared space with an Arcos gas station. It was at this restaurant I learned to like pico de gallo and cilantro. Later the restaurant expanded to be a night club, with the owner soon indicted for some bad behavior, with Los Arcos being no more.

Being a Valentines Day Melancholy Baby Today In Texas Thinking About Washington

I am being a Melancholy Baby today.

In the picture you are looking at my house in Mount Vernon.

Well, actually, what used to be my house in Mount Vernon. It was sold in 2002.

The house was built in 1985. I lived there from then til I moved to Texas in December of 1998.

When I moved to Texas it was to a house I had not seen with my own eyes. I'd only seen pictures.

This morning's melancholy has me feeling a bit homesick for Washington. I think what got me started on the melancholy thing was Betty Jo Bouvier's weekend stay in Leavenworth, an Alpine Bavarian type village set on the eastern side of the Cascade foothills

There are no Alpine villages in a mountain setting in Texas.

There is a town called Alpine, in Texas, in sort of a mountain-like setting, down in the Big Bend Country Region of Texas. But, it is no Leavenworth.

I'm thinking if I still had a house up in Washington, I would move back. Having a place waiting for you to move in, makes the moving thing way easier.

When you live in Western Washington you are close to mountains and ocean beaches. If you're in the mood for a total scenery change it is a relatively short drive over the Cascades to Eastern Washington, with its more desert-like climate, turned green in a lot of locations courtesy of the Columbia River's many dams and reservoirs.

Going over to Eastern Washington in summer and fall you can get yourself all kinds of fresh fruit.

Where I lived in Washington it was about a 20 mile drive, to Anacortes, to get on a ferry to go to the San Juan Islands or Canada.

In Washington I lived about 40 miles from another country. Vancouver was just a bit further north than Seattle was south.

The San Juan Islands is in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. Meaning the islands get way less rain than you get if you are closer to the Cascade Mountains. The New York Times recently had a list of the 41 places in the world you need to go to in 2011. The San Juan Islands was #2 on the list.

When I lived in Washington I took living in one big theme park for granted, because it was what I'd always known. Only when you move away, and return for a visit, do you really see real clear, for the first time, just how special the Pacific Northwest is.

The scenery, the tall trees, the air smelling like Christmas trees, all the fresh produce, some growing wild, like blackberries and blueberries.

The fresh seafood.

I could drive about 15 miles and catch fresh dungeness crab and dig horse clams. I lived 2 miles from the Skagit River. You can easily catch salmon in the Skagit River. Or any of the Washington rivers. And eat the fish you catch. Unlike the polluted waterway I currently live about a mile from called the Trinity River.

In Texas my big hiking thrill, which I will likely do today, is to hike some short hills. In Washington I could see the Mount Baker volcano from my living room. It was a short drive to hike up a real mountain. It was a short drive to hike up all sorts of mountains.

Well, I better get going if I want to get a hike in on some Texas hilly scrubland called the Tandy Hills Natural Area, so I can make it to my Valentines Day lunch at the appointed time.

I Am Sure I Will Be Having Myself A Happy Texas Valentines Day Today With A Chile Relleno

Looking out my viewing portal, this second Monday of the second month of 2011, I can see that Valentines Day in my zone of Texas is looking to be a very nice day.

Blue sky and already 13 degrees above freezing, heading to somewhere in the 70s.

I was very relieved, this morning, to learn that Betty Jo Bouvier made it back home, to find she had not been burglarized while escaping the drippy, gray Western Washington Winter, for the less drippy, less gray Eastern Washington Winter in Leavenworth.

I am going out for lunch with my Valentine today at my favorite Mexican restaurant.

Esperanza's.

In the Fort Worth Stockyards zone.

Esperanza's is owned and operated by the Joe T. Garcia family. Chile Relleno is my favorite Mexican food. It is via a Chile Relleno I judge how much I like a Mexican restaurant. Joe T. Garcia's and Esperanza's are my favorite Chile Relleno locations.

Wikipedia's info about my favorite Mexican food...

The chile relleno, literally "stuffed chile," is a dish of Mexican cuisine that originated in the city of Puebla. It consists of a roasted fresh poblano pepper (a mild chili pepper named after the city of Puebla), sometimes substituted with non-traditional Hatch green chile, Anaheim, pasilla or even jalapeño chili pepper. It is stuffed with melted cheese, such as queso Chihuahua or queso Oaxaca (traditionally), or picadillo meat made of diced pork, raisins and nuts, seasoned with canella; covered in an egg batter or simply corn masa flour and fried. Although it is often served in a tomato sauce, the sauces can vary. There are versions in Mexico using rehydrated dry chiles such as anchos or pasillas.

The sun has now completely lit up the outdoors. So, it is time to go swimming now. Talk to you later.

My Windows Are Open In Texas On A Balmy Sunday Thinking About Going To Leavenworth In Washington

In the picture we are in the Fosdic Forest at Oakland Lake Park, in Fort Worth, looking north through the forest at a blue sky and a blue Fosdic Lake.

I ran the A/C while driving today.

My windows are currently open. It is 74. Ice Storms and Blizzards and Sub-Zero temperatures, with all the associated trauma, is slowly fading from memory.

I think I may now begin to reverse the gained poundage that has been caused by too much sloth, due to too much time spent in involuntary homebound imprisonment.

Just got an email informing me that Elsie Hotpepper is still pouting over being revolting.

My  mom called me last night while I was temporarily separated from my phone. I called back on my way to visit Fosdic Lake. No answer. My dad has made a very poetic answering machine message that never gets old, with a very clever rhyming of phone and tone.

I can't say who, because he or she does not want the burglars working his or her town to know he or she is over in Eastern Washington at my favorite tourist town, Leavenworth.

I suspect the Leavenworth visitor is likely back home, or soon will be.

I have not been to Leavenworth since one month before the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks.

I remember one very fun winter visit to Leavenworth, snow on the ground and one shopkeeper being totally loopy, giving stuff away. We thought she was under the influence of some mind altering substance.

I can't remember what it was she was giving us. T-Shirts? Souvenir mugs? Darn my failing memory. This was in the mid 1990s, fifteen years ago, give or take a year. And already I've forgotten details.

I'm hoping this return to pleasant weather means winter is over in Texas.

A Sunny Sunday In Texas Thinking Of Going Swimming Without A Bikini

As you can see looking out my viewing portal, the second Sunday of the second month of 2011 is a sunny Sunday.

And this is the first day in a long time that has not started off below freezing. It is a relatively balmy 38 degrees out there right now.

For the first time since the Super Bowl there was no fresh Dallas Cowboy Super Bowl Scandal news this morning that I noticed.

I heard from the revolting Elsie Hotpepper this morning. She seems still to be in revolution mode.

I also heard from the Scrabble Queen of Washington, who is currently holding court in Hawaii. She told me of an encounter with an "Earth Muffin" who was celebrating the "Queen of the Sea Month." Earth Muffin and Queen of the Sea are two concepts I had not heard of before. Apparently the Earth Muffin was wearing the world's teeniest bikini.

I think I'll go swimming now. But not in a bikini.

The Warm Shadow Of The Tandy Hills Thin Man Returns With Tootsie Tonasket & a Revolting Elsie Hotpepper

The Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man returned today to the Tandy Hills.

Wearing no coat. Overdressed, with long pants on. It is currently 65, with my windows open, in formerly frigid Fort Worth.

And, according to the forecast, below, you can see we are heading into a week in the 70s. I suspect a dip in a swimming pool is in my future in the coming days.

This morning I sent a Facebook message to one of my Washington  Facebook Friends, Mrs. Dirtwash*, to make an inquiry regarding my favorite sister-in-law, who I'd not heard from in awhile. A short time later my favorite sister-in-law called.

We talked for an hour.

My favorite sister-in-law is technically my ex-sister-in-law, but the reality is, she really is the only sister-in-law I've ever had, in a meaningful way. I've not really known any of my brother's subsequent wives.

My favorite sister-in-law is my grand nephew, Spencer Jack's, grandma.

On the way to the Tandy Hills, Tootsie Tonasket called. I think I've mentioned previously that Tootsie Tonasket is a bit of a drama magnet, surrounded by small town soap opera antics.

It is a tossup between Tootsie Tonasket and Elsie Hotpepper who is the bigger Drama Queen.

Currently Elsie Hotpepper is very mad at me because she told me she needed a revolution. I then told Elsie something like you really don't wanna be any more revolting than you already are do you, so why would you need a revolution?

And that is the last I've heard from Elsie Hotpepper. And below you can see we are about to become almost as hot as a hotpepper...

*Some names on this blog are changed, slightly, to protect the identify of those who need their identities protected..

The Texas Dawn Of The Second Saturday Of The Second Month Of 2011 Is Abraham Lincoln's & My Little Sister's Birthday

The second Saturday of the second month of 2011 has dawned at 32 degrees with a nice clear blue sky heading to a possible high in the 60s today.

Today is the birthday of the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln. It is also the birthday of My Great Little Sister, Jackie.

I spoke to my Great Little Sister last week and I know she told me what she was doing for her birthday, but my ever worse memory did not record what that was. I have a vague recollection either Las Vegas or a cruise was involved.

Each morning seems to be bringing fresh fodder to the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Seating Scandal. The City of Arlington released pages of emails which made it clear that Arlington building code inspectors were not happy with the temporary seating and how the Cowboys people were handling the problem.

I had the longest phone talk in over 2 and a half years with a Tacoma person last night. I learned all sorts of interesting things.

The big Fort Worth news in this morning's Star-Telegram is that Downtown Fort Worth is getting a grocery store.

Oliver's Fine Foods.

Downtown Fort Worth is currently the only city in America with a population over 500,000 without a downtown grocery store or department store.

I am not going swimming this morning.

Back On The Tandy Hills While Green With Envy Thinking About How Fort Worth Impresses America

I parked on top of Mount Tandy today to go do some cross country hilly trail hiking. I figured the trails would still be muddy, and they were, but making my own mud-free trail worked out fine.

In the picture we are to the south of the top of Mount Tandy and the Fort Worth Space Needle, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

I have not viewed the stunning skyline of beautiful Downtown Fort Worth from the Tandy Hills since before ESPN arrived on one of the Sundance Square parking lots to broadcast Super Bowl coverage to the world to change the world-wide image of Fort Worth forever.

Unfortunately that did not quite work out the way Fort Worth boosters hoped it would. Unless the hope was to change the world-wide image of Fort Worth to being a snowy, icebound location.

This morning, it was in the news that polling showed that the national image of Arlington went from 73.7 percent of America having no impression of Arlington, prior to the Super Bowl, to having even less of an impression, at 74.4 percent, after the Super Bowl.

That is not impressive.

I can't help but wonder if the same polling company that polled about the Super Bowl city, Arlington, also polled about Dallas and Fort Worth.

I really don't think any reasonable person would argue with the proposition that a much higher percentage of Americans have some impression of Dallas than they do of Fort Worth.

When I am on the road, out of Texas, and asked where I'm from, I say Dallas, because people know about Dallas. When I lived in Washington and was on the road, and asked where I was from, I usually did not say Mount Vernon, or the Skagit Valley. I'd say I was from Seattle, because people know about Seattle and where it is.

I'd guess a very high percentage of Americans have an impression of Dallas, J.R. Ewing, JFK, Cotton Bowl, a recognizable skyline, among other things.

I'd guess, if polled, the percent of Americans who have an impression of Fort Worth would be closer to the percentage of Americans who have an impression of Arlington.

Or lower.

Afterall, Arlington has Six Flags, the Ballpark in Arlington and the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Those 3 things would seem likely to have left an impression on some Americans as being associated with Arlington.

But, the only thing in Fort Worth that is remotely iconic and is associated with Fort Worth is the Fort Worth Stockyards. The Stockyards would seem to be the only Fort Worth thing that might give Fort Worth a possibility of having made more of an impression on America than Arlington.

Methinks Fort Worth could do some work on making itself more known to the rest of America. Like the town could arrest its mayor on corruption charges. Or have big protests on the Sundance Square parking lots demanding Regime Change.

I am constantly appalled at my bad memory. I'd forgotten that Fort Worth was recently the Envy of the Nation because a Fort Worth school won the Rose Bowl. I'm sure that really amped up the national impression of Fort Worth as being a very impressive place.

I think Fort Worth's best hope to make a national impression may be through the good works of the Fort Worth savior, J.D. Granger, and his Trinity River Vision.

When the Trinity River Vision finally opens for business I am sure it will be the talk of the nation.

If not the world.

The Fort Worth version of San Antonio's Riverwalk will likely once more make Fort Worth the Envy of the Nation, with cities and towns, far and wide, Green with Envy.

I'm done now.

Texas Twitter Tweeting Brought Me The News That Egypt's Hosni Mubarak Has Stepped Down As Egypt's President

Today is the second time Twitter was where I learned of some big news deal. I don't remember what the previous instance was, but I'll likely remember today's.

The Tweet that caught my eye and had me turning on my TV was "President Mubarak has stepped down as president of Egypt."

Reading the Tweets about Egypt stream into Twitter is borderline addictive.

Some of the Twitter Tweets....

"My sisters and brothers in Egypt: I am American. I am a father. I am a Jew. I weep in joy for you."

"Dammit. All of us at work want to see Egypt coverage, but THE MAN has blocked all video streaming. I need a mini TV at my desk"

"And the people of Egypt have spoken...we celebrate with Egyptians!"

"Soooooo proud of Egypt."

"This just in: "Hosni Mubarak steps down as President of Egypt. Cable news networks have simultaneous orgasm."

"Breaking: Omar Suleiman announces that Mubarak has resigned."

"17 days to take down a 30 year regime."

"Mubarak has stepped down as president. Egypt liberated and no bloodshed which is good."

"Congratulations, Egypt!!! The determination and ferocity of the people inspires billions around the world...now who's next?"

"Mubarak-ectomy is COMPLETE!! the monster is OUT!! Long live Egypt. Long live Egyptian youth!! ya rab yehmeekom le mar."

"My officemate from Egypt has commenced squealing in celebration. Congratulations Egypt, Mubarak is gone."

"Only took him 2 weeks but he finally got the message."

"Ahh Egypt. Welcome to the world of unrestrained capitalism. Sorry, democracy, I meant democracy."

"Well done Egypt! How about you come here and work on Cameron?"

"Soooo now Egypt is under military rule? I'm going to hold off my bottle poppin for a bit."

"Touchdown! Do a little dance. Drink a little wine. Get down tonight! Congratulations! Egypt, Love you sooooo much!"

"Good for you Egypt! But be vigilant. We kicked out our Mubarak only to have him replaced with Mwaibarak."

"Congratulations, Egypt, you showed me how the power of the people can triumph."

""Brothers & sisters of Egypt, you have given the world the most precious gift: the belief that ultimately right will prevail. Desmond Tutu."

"Mubarak has gone. Egypt is free. The trouble is only just beginning."

"Uninstalling dictator.....99% complete."

"You did it Egypt...the whole world is watching you, and is standing with you. Tonight the Liberty Bell is ringing loud & clear in Cairo."

"For the 1st time in Egypt's history we have an ex-president!"

"Governments should work for their people, not the other way around. Egypt proved that. Well done."

"America liberates Iraq from dictator, installs democracy: Americans angry. America doesn't remove dictator from Egypt: Americans angry."

"Tunis. Egypt. May Iran be next..."

"Egypt becomes free on the same day Lady GaGa releases Born The Way. Conincidence??? I think not."

"Unbelievable!! He's gone! Scenes of jubilations in Tahir. I will never forget this moment."

"Please wait while uninstalling rest of dictators of the world."

"Yeahhh! One less crook in power. Egypt is free! Great example that should contaminate other societies where dictators rule!"

"Egypt conquered. What next? Saudi Arabia?"

"Knowledge is power! People of Egypt have spoken. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win-Ghandi."