We Are Having A Heat Wave In Texas But No Sunburns

It is Friday coming up on 5 in the afternoon in North Texas. Currently we are 4 degrees shy of 90 degrees.

I've got the ceiling fan spinning and am thinking of turning on the A/C for the first time this year.

If this was July and I was in the Northwest at 86 degrees, the locals would be in full whine mode over the horrible heatwave overheating everyone.

A couple days ago I read on Mr. Galtex's latest blogging about the Galtex's visit to Seattle, among his ponderings of things to consider regarding the idea of moving from Fort Worth to Seattle, was that he would be perpetually pale.

A glimpse from Mr. Galtex's Blog...

It rains in Seattle. It's generally not a heavy rain, just a drizzle, but it's enough to get you wet. We never broke out an umbrella, although we used the hoods on our coats a lot. If we lived in Seattle I would lose my tan and become very pale.

Every April in Texas we close up the windows and turn on the air conditioner, and it stays on until October. In Seattle, anything over 80° is considered a heat wave, even in August. Few residences have air conditioning.

I must disabuse Mr. Galtex of an erroneous notion. I have not had a single sunburn since I moved to Texas. In Washington I seldom survived a summer without getting sunburned badly at least once. In Texas my face remains suntanned year round, lesser so in winter. In Washington, in summer, I would get suntanned all over. Front, back, legs. In Texas all that gets tanned, in summer, is my back, face and arms.

Why is that?

Well, In Texas you can stand to be out in the sun at 100 degrees or more for an hour at the most. In Washington on a sunny summer day you can easily stay outside all day long, thus absorbing a lot of sun rays. If it's rainy on the west side, I could go east of the mountains and stay at Sun Lakes State Park for 4 days and come home suntanned.

In Texas, in North Central Texas, there really are no beaches where you would want and go spend a day. In Washington I had the pick of 100s of miles of beaches, on saltwater and lakes, where the day could be spent, outside, where you could have a fire and roast weenies. I can't imagine spending a day at a Lake Grapevine beach, with a fire, in July.

So, Mr. Galtex, when you and Gail move to Seattle, by the end of your first August, you will likely find yourself darker tanned than you've ever been. And then by October that will have faded to pale, until the next June, when you can begin the darkening process again.

Another big difference regarding suntans in Texas and Washington. I have seldom slathered on sunscreen in Texas. In Washington if I knew I was going to be out in the sun, I would slather on the SPF 30.

Today The Tandy Hills Beer Tree Popped Out Its First Beer Bud Of The Year

The Tandy Beer Tree near the top of Mount Tandy has sprouted its first bud of the new year.

The Tandy Beer Tree is within a few feet of where I was attacked by swarms of fire ants, yesterday, mad at me for getting on the ground to take a picture of a bluebonnet.

The red sores on my arms are worse today. But they don't itch. I'd forgotten about them and did not notice that I looked diseased til I saw the spots whilst taking a shower, post swim.

Speaking of swimming this morning. The air was heated to 65. I could not tell if the water was colder or warmer than the air. But it was very refreshing, so I stayed in it for a long time.

The air was heated to 74 when I hit the hills at noon, with the Heat Index making it feel like 79. It seems like only yesterday we were shivering with the Wind Chill Factor, here in North Texas. I think I prefer getting hot due to the Heat Index, than chilly due to the Wind Chill Factor.

I was startled by a four legged creature soon after I took the picture of the Tandy Beer Tree. I was kneeled over, tying my left shoe, when suddenly a collie dog ran up behind me. I had my whacking stick with me. I think the dog thought I was about to whack it because it started doing some sort of aggressive dance. Soon its owner came into view and controlled the beast.

It is time for lunch. Spaghetti and shrimp. With corn.

Up Late On The 3rd Friday In Texas Thinking About Making Waves & Tornadoes Hitting Comanche Peak

I slept in again past the arrival of the sun.

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell you can sort of tell it is another blue sky day in North Texas on this third Friday of March.

When I checked on the news this morning via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Morning News, Seattle P-I and Skagit Valley Herald I expected to see big headlines about bombs being dropped on Libya.

Yesterday the UN gave approval to a no-fly zone over Libya and stopping Gaddafi's aggression by whatever means needed, with action expected within hours. So, I was surprised to see very little mention made this morning of Libya. Let alone bombs dropping.

There was a big article in the Star-Telegram letting locals know that the Comanche Peak Nuclear Plant is a much better designed facility than those in Japan which are currently in trouble. With the Comanche Peak Nuclear Plant supposedly designed to withstand getting hit with a worst case tornado.

No mention was made of the Comanche Peak Nuclear Plant's ability to withstand a 9.0 earthquake. Or a tsunami.

Speaking of tsunamis. I think I'll go and make some waves now. It's 65 this morning. This should make for some semi-pleasant swimming.

The First Bluebonnet Of 2011 Coloring Up The Tandy Hills Caused Me To Be Viciously Attacked With Dozens Of Wounds

Today is feeling like it is being the hottest day of the new year. It was definitely the hottest day of the new year on the Tandy Hills today. I think it was almost 80.

I entered the Tandy Hills from the top of Mount Tandy today. As I was walking along I thought to myself  that I should be seeing wildflowers. Thinking that by this point in time, a few days before the start of spring, in years past, there would already be wildflowers.

But, all I'd seen, so far, this year has been a purple flower I saw for the first time a couple weeks ago, on the Tandy Hills and a bright yellow flower at Oakland Lake Park.

As I was hiking the currently mostly colorless Tandy Hills I wondered if maybe the harsh winter had dealt a death blow to the Texas wildflowers this year. A time of year which is my favorite part of the year in North Texas. The usually drab landscape puts on a show of color for several months, usually with some colorful thunderstorms to add a soundtrack.

Well, on the way back up Mount Tandy today I saw the blue beauty you see above, which I'd walked right by without noticing on my way down Mount Tandy.

A bluebonnet. The State Flower of Texas. The harbinger of spring and the start of wildflower season.

You may be wondering what that is on the left.

Well, that is me. The underside of my right arm to be more precise, with the narrow part being my wrist, which is connected to my right hand.

See the red bumps?

Well. To take the picture of the bluebonnet I had to get real close. With the camera set in macro mode. I pretty much got down on the ground, on my knees, leaning on my arms to take the picture.

It is not a wise thing to get on the ground in Texas without first carefully examining the ground you are are getting down on.

Today I was not wise, which is not the first time I have been un-wise in Texas.

I had kneeled down over a fire ant nest. I quickly had dozens of the little beasts on me. I thought I'd brushed them off before they could do their burning thing. I thought wrong.

I felt no stinging, I saw no signs I'd been stung. But by the time I got back here both arms had developed dozens of fire ant hot spots.

I am almost sure I will recover from this latest attack by Mother Nature. I am willing to do some suffering to get a good picture.

The 3rd Thursday Of March In Texas Thinking Of Lethal Injections, Drinking Wine & Going To The Fort Worth Zoo

I woke up after the sun did, this morning, on the 3rd Thursday of March.

I had myself a night of nightmares.

Few details, of which, I remember. Except for the fact that the nightmares took place in Washington and involved a lot of high steep mountain drama.

I did not manage to go on my daily walking/hiking constitutional yesterday. I am feeling the lack of that stimulation this morning. I think endorphin withdrawal may be as bad as withdrawal from something like heroin.

Speaking of drugs. This morning I was shocked to learn that Texas has run short of the drugs it uses in its lethal injection cocktails the state uses for its many executions. The state has had to come up with a new mix of drugs in order to be able to successfully kill Cleve Foster, with that execution scheduled for April 5.

In other drug related news, the West Coast, Hawaii and Alaska's drug suppliers are running low on potassium iodine due to panicked people depleting the stocks due to fear of a radiation cloud arriving from Japan, with potassium iodine possibly preventing thyroid cancer caused by radiation exposure.

I learned yesterday during the 15 minutes I can stand listening to Rush Limbaugh that the Bulgarians are claiming that drinking red wine is as beneficial in preventing radiation caused thyroid cancer as potassium iodine.

So, I got several boxes of really red wine yesterday and have been taking a medicinal dose ever since. So far, no thyroid cancer, near as I can tell.

Change of subject from cancer, drugs and wine.

Yesterday the Fort Worth Zoo had a record breaking crowd due to it being half price Wednesday and Spring Break Week for area schools.

This had me thinking would it not make sense for the Fort Worth Zoo to make it Half Price Spring Break Week? It seems as if they would get way more visitors than what crammed into the zoo on Wednesday. And in the end make way more money.

Change of subject again.

It is 65 degrees outside according to my supposedly accurate temperature information source. I am well past my usual morning swim time, but rather than bail on the swimming, due to the balmy temperature, I am heading to the pool now.

Talk to you later.

Fort Worth's Paradise Center Scandal Now Has A Blog

My bloggings about  Fort Worth's Paradise Center Scandal have generated a lot of comments.

The comments from the shills of MHMR, and its CEO Jim McDermott, have been mean-spirited, slanderous, inarticulate and at times sort of nasty.

Which is what thuggish bullycrats do.

Just this morning I hit the publish button on a comment from a little girl named Elizabeth. Elizabeth was responding to how the MHMR thuggish bullycrats had characterized little Elizabeth in one of the comments.

You can read Elizabeth's comment and the original blogging that generated it by going to "The Paradise Center Scandal Has Me Mad As Hell At Fort Worth" blogging on this blog.

Or you can go to the new Paradise Center Scandal Blog/Website where some of the explanatory scandal bloggings have been replicated, along with the original comments.

I have reason to believe some interesting developments lay ahead in the Paradise Center Scandal.

Up Way Too Early On The 3rd Wednesday Of March Thinking About Swimming & The New Paradise Scandal Blog

As you can see looking through the bars of my patio prison cell on this 3rd Wednesday of March of 2011 I am up well before the sun and it is very dark out there.

It is now a couple hours later and the sun  has arrived.

I can not yet tell if it is a blue sky day in North Texas or if we are overcast.

I am able to determine that it is 56 degrees out there.

So, I will be going swimming in a short while.

I felt inclined last night to be trending towards a likely bad bout of insomnia. So, I stayed up til I got sleepy making a new blog.

I made a new blog so the victims of the Paradise Center Scandal, and the MHMR Bullycrats victimizing them, have a concentrated location to discuss their issues.

The new blog is called, appropriately, "The Paradise Center Scandal."

I am out of here, now, for scandal-free morning swim.

Looking At The Forlorn Skyline Of Dull Downtown Fort Worth While Thinking About How To Compile The MHMR-Gate Scandal

In the picture we are on the Tandy Hills looking west at the forlorn skyline of the dull downtown of Fort Worth, Texas.

As you can see, today at noon, the forlorn skyline of dull downtown Fort Worth is under a gray, hazy sky. It has brightened up a bit since noon.

Usually I describe this view as looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Then a couple days ago, someone asked me if I really think the Fort Worth had a beautiful downtown with a stunning skyline.

Or was I being sarcastic?

I thought the sarcasm was obvious, but I guess I need to start using my sarcasm font when the sarcasm is not sarcastic enough for easy discernment.

The Tandy Hills hiking was nice today. Not too hot, not too cold.

Despite yesterday saying I wouldn't, this morning I braved the 8 degrees of freezing temperature and went swimming. Just like yesterday, due to the air being way colder than the water it made it almost seem like a heated pool.

Change of subject to the MHMR-Gate Scandal.

A "Sick-n-Tired Employee," of the Paradise Center or of MHMR asked me....

Mr. Durango,

Could we suggest that you, if feasible, combine all the various postings and comments about this foul smelling scandal in one section or something like that so that we and the public could examine more closely this major scandal?

Well, this is a blog, I don't really have the ability to arrange the blog postings. It doesn't work like a website. I suppose I could webpage the various bloggings and postings. But that would take some time to do. I'll think about it.

The Skinny Dipping Shadow Of The Thin Man On A Cold Texas Morning On The Ides Of March

In the picture that's the Shadow of the Thin Man in skinny dip mode, well before the arrival of the sun on the Ides of March, the third Wednesday of March.

It is currently only 8 degrees above freezing. I have not decided if I want to attempt jumping in that aqua-marine oasis you see glowing below me.

I had a sort of rough night of nightmaring. Shock treatment via cold water would likely be a good treatment for the currently foul mood I am in.

In the worst of last night's nightmares I was back in Burlington in the house I grew up in. All sorts of things were wrong. And then I walked in my bedroom to find that enormous entity I call Fubbo. I immediately tried to remove her from my bedroom, but due to the enormous heft I was unable to budge the behemoth.

It was horrifying.

First Convenience Bank Is Not Only Not Convenient It Is Worse Than Inconvenient

In late February I blogged my disdain for First Convenience Bank and my realization I'd made a mistake opening an account there.

The issue at that time was my payment from Google that had been issued, but had not shown up in my account.

Eventually it showed up.

I opened the First Convenience account due to not liking how Chase Bank operated, changing the terms of my account with Washington Mutual.

So, before the Google incident, I'd told Big Ed I thought First Convenience would be convenient. So, he opened an account. About a week later he went to deposit a large check. He was told it would take 9 days to clear. The check was drawn on Wells Fargo, so Big Ed decided to forego First Convenience and open a Wells Fargo account.

Big Ed had opened the First Convenience account with just a $10 deposit. After he'd activated the debit card it did not work. The checks from First Convenience never arrived.

So, today Big Ed was in Wal-Mart and decided to get his 10 bucks back. And what does he learn? The debit card that never worked for him had worked for someone else. On the 23rd it was used to attempt to charge $75 and on the 26th it was used to attempt to charge $51.

First Convenience did not let these charges go through because Big Ed had not approved overdraft protection.

But, even though those charges did not go through, First Convenience charged Big Ed's account $2 for each charge attempt. So, his $10 had become $6.

He was given a number to call to get the other $4.

Now, why was Big Ed not notified of these 2 charges on his card? He was in the bank 2 days after the first charge was made on the 23rd, trying to deposit that check. Why was it not mentioned at that time that a $75 charge had been attempted on the account.

How did this happen? Big Ed was never able to use the card. It did not work. But someone else used the card's numbers, a card which had never been used, successfully, by Big Ed, to try and steal $126.

Why would the bank, today, not treat this like a serious matter. Big Ed told the bank guy that it would appear this would have to be an inside the bank problem.

Who do you call in Texas when you have a bank fraud deal like this?