Up Before Dawn Looking At The Remains Of The Super Moon & Thinking About Last Night's Murder

I was up well before the sun this morning, on the 4th Tuesday of March.

I did not see the Super Moon the night the Super Moon did its Super Moon thing a couple days ago.

This morning as soon as I stepped outside to check out the windy morning view I saw a big glowing white orb hanging above the trees, looking quite full.

I do not know if it was the almost full moon that brought on the lunacy of last night's disturbing nightmares.

It may have been watching a CBS crime procedural show that was last night's nightmare generator.

In the nightmare I murder someone for what seemed to be a good reason at the time. And then from that point in, in the nightmare, it is a series of ongoing attempts to cover up that bad thing I had done. With the cover-up ending up being more bad behavior.

The scope of this nightmare was cinematic, as if I was living in a horror movie of my own making, playing inside my sleeping head. I don't know who I murdered. I do remember, quite clearly, that at the time, for some reason, the person deserved to die.

I need to quit watching TV past my bedtime. Clearly it overstimulates my already overstimulated imagination.

Even though it is being quite gusty this morning, I don't think the whitecapping waves will keep me from having a pleasant morning swim. It is 64 right now with the Wind Chill Factor making it feel like 58 with those winds from the south blowing in at around 25 mph.

The Tandy Hills Sprouts A New Wildflower With Me Pondering Fort Worth's Various Scandals

A couple wildflowers made their first appearance of the year on the Tandy Hills today. With one of the two being the pink wildflower you see on the left.

It was very cloudy and windy when I hiked the hills around noon. There was no Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man today.

But now, 3 hours later, shadows have returned, with the removal of most of the clouds.

Change of subject.

The Paradise Center Scandal is wearing me down. I thought when I made a blog, just for the Paradise Center Scandal, that the comments would go there. Instead there are a lot of nasty con and nice pro comments still coming to this blog. As well as the new one.

Yesterday someone called Jessie Girl commented on the the Paradise Center Scandal blog, to a blogging titled "Scandal Madness Fan is Appalled at the Lack of Civility and Decency of the MHMR Cons," asking "Just one quick question. What is the scandal? I'm confused."

I thought way back on March 4 County Commission Gal did a pretty good job of breaking down the MHMR-Gate/Paradise Center Scandal.

In many ways the Paradise Center Scandal is a worse scandal than Watergate. No one was actually hurt in Watergate, except for the perpetrators of the break-in and those who tried to cover up the crime. In the Paradise Center Scandal you have actual victims who have suffered damage due to the perpetrator's bad, likely illegal, behavior.

Unlike Watergate, the city where the Paradise Center Scandal took place has no real newspaper of the Washington Post sort.

And Fort Worth definitely has no Woodward and Bernstein in town doing any sort of investigative reporting regarding the wanton wrongdoing perpetrated by MHMR of Tarrant County.

Maybe the Washington Post could send a reporter or two to Fort Worth. In addition to learning about the Paradise Center Scandal the rest of America would likely find it interesting that Fort Worth has a mayor who has made millions of dollars from the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers poking holes all over the town of which he is mayor.

Maybe the Washington Post could find a way to explain to the people of Fort Worth what a conflict of interest is.

After telling the story of Fort Worth's corrupt mayor the Washington Post might want to tell the rest of America about Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision and explain what nepotism is to the people of Fort Worth.

I would think the rest of America would be a bit surprised to learn that their tax dollars are helping fund a huge, unneeded public works project.

And that Fort Worth's Congresswoman Kay Granger's son, J.D., was given the job of running this huge public works project, a job for which he had no qualifications.

But those who practice what is known as 'The Fort Worth Way" figured it would make the congresswoman beholden to them if they gave her son a job, with Ms. Granger getting behind sending some earmark money to help fund Fort Worth's unfunded Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Unfortunately for the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, that earmark funding method is not working out too well.

Meanwhile, J.D. Granger has been having himself a real fine time on the public's dime, with fine dining, junkets, parties, expensive hotel rooms, a steady supply of liquor and all sorts of other perks.

I wish my mom was a congresswoman so she could get me a cool job with lots of booze and broads.

Not really.

The 2nd Day Of Spring In Texas Running Low On Catfish

I am up early this 2nd day of Spring on this 3rd Monday of March.

It is 65 degrees outside right now. That makes that blue oasis you see in the picture a tempting target.

Last night's booking of a flight to her home island for Miss Puerto Rico turned out to be as annoying as I expected. I actually found myself having to say "shut up if you want me to do this."

I have wanted to tell that girl to shut up for years. It felt very good to do so.

The Fire Ant damage to my arms seems to have drastically improved overnight.

I am not sure if it is good news or bad news, but in the news this morning I read that the catfish supply in Texas is drying up. Due to cheap catfish imports, the high price of corn and low market prices having made catfish farming a less than profitable operation.

Maybe the catfish shortage will get Texans to try other seafood and discover that catfish does not taste at all good compared to good seafood.

Like cod, red snapper, salmon, crab, clams, lobster and just about everything else that grows in the sea and does not taste like mud.

The sun has arrived. It is time to go swimming.

Hiking The Tandy Hills With Tootsie Tonasket On The First Day Of Spring

Tootsie Tonasket, the #1 Squaw of the Tonasket Tribe in Washington, hiked the Tandy Hills with me for over an hour, this fine First Day of Spring Sunday.

In the picture we are looking west from the top of Mount Tandy at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Now this is amusing. I tried to put (sarcasm) stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth (sarcasm/), but since using <> is HTML, it was removed, because (sarcasm) is not legit HTML code, I'm guessing. 

As you can see, it is a semi-cloudy blue sky day in North Texas. What you can not see is the air is currently heated to 76 degrees.

I have heard no reports of earthquakes, ultra high tides or any other calamities caused by the Super Moon.

I am expecting some personal calamity later this afternoon when I go over to Miss Puerto Rico's to book a flight for her off the mainland, back to her home island. It seems like I just did this. Miss Puerto Rico is out of here, April 13. April 13 falls on a Wednesday, not a Friday.

With Miss Puerto Rico's history of flying woes, I do not think it would be a good idea for her to fly anywhere on a Friday the 13th.

I am growing a bit tired of my Fire Ant caused diseased looking arms. I never had much of an acne problem during the years some people did. I feel like I'm sort of getting to experience that which I missed during my formative years. Maybe I need to go get myself some Clearasil.

That is Tootsie Tonasket, on the right, in her formal tribal attire. I think this may have been at the annual Tonasket Days Celebration, but I'm not sure.

I think I'll go for another swim.

And then go over to Miss Puerto Rico's for some aggravation.

The Dark 3rd Sunday Of March Morning In Texas With No Super Moon In Sight

Looking at the sky through the bars of my patio prison cell I can see no super moon. I do see clouds.

It is already the 3rd Sunday of March. Time flies way too fast.

My Fire Ant injury seems to be a bit better this morning.

Yesterday, at Town Talk, the Town Talk ladies were all concerned about my diseased looking arms. One Latina lady told me I needed to rub a salt solution on the bites.

I didn't follow the salt solution advice, but I did put aloe vera and an anti-biotoc ointment on the pustules.

I am a little nervous over this whole bombing Libya deal. Muammar Gaddafi may be a crazy man. When you box a crazy man into a corner there's no telling what he might do.

The sun has now arrived. Which means it is time to go swimming. Talk to you later.

Looking At A Dry Tandy Falls Thinking About Fort Worth's Paradise Center Scandal Madness

We are mighty parched in these parts. By parts I mean North Texas.

Tandy Falls is now Tandy Dry Falls. Looking at the picture you would never guess that a couple months ago this was a roaring waterfall.

Change of subject.

I am in a bit of a foul mood today. I am sort of annoyed at the people of Fort Worth.

Well, some of the people of Fort Worth.

When the Paradise Center Scandal erupted over a month ago I thought this was such an obviously wrong that even this justice-challenged part of America would get that a BIG WRONG was done. And insist it be fixed.

In all my years of doing the blogging thing I've never been inundated with as many comments to various bloggings as I have been over the Paradise Center Scandal. I thought I'd move it all to a Paradise Center Scandal Blog, but a lot of the commenting is still coming in to this blog.

What really annoyed me today were incoming comments from MHMR "cons."

Cons is the term one of today's sane commenters used. As in pros and cons, with the Paradise Center and Teresa Davis being the "pros" and the MHMR people and their little man leader, Jim McDermott, being the "cons."

I would hope, but know it won't happen, that "con" in this case will eventually come to also mean "convict."

Just minutes ago I got a long comment from Scandal Madness Fan.

The first sentence is an indicator that there are decent people in Fort Worth who can tell the difference between right and wrong....

"Wow, the lack of civility and decency shown by the commenters against (the "cons") this Teresa lady and her small but brave group of people leaves me and my family wondering what has happended to these cons to make them so hateful."

Good question. Methinks mental illness may be running rampant in the Mental Health Mental Retardation Tarrant County Agency.

But, then again, I have reason to think there is some sanity inside that organization. Someone claiming to be inside the MHMR organization has been sending me info. Including one very damning email written by MHMR CEO Jim McDermott.

I have been sort of confused as to what to make of much of what I've been sent. It all sort of wears me out.

Which makes me think I'm going to go swimming and not think about it for awhile.

I'm On My Third Day Of Recovering From A Brutal Fire Ant Attack

You are looking at a close-up, macro view of the current state of the Fire Ant attack on my right arm.

The right arm is way worse than the left. By this morning the red bumps had formed white pustules that make it look as if my arm is covered by a real bad case of acne.

I've not had a zit in decades.

 I've now learned that Fire Ants bite only to get a grip on your skin so they can then inject a sting from their abdomen that contains a toxic alkaloid venom called solenopsin.

For most humans Fire Ants are a painful sting, with a sensation similar to being burned.

I am not like most humans, apparently, I felt nothing and still feel nothing.

I have learned the white pustule can get infected, if scratched. I've had no impulse to do any scratching. A topical steroid hydrocortisone cream and aloe vera helps. Or taking antihistamines. I'm taking nothing.

Some people have a horrible reaction to a Fire Ant attack, due to allergies, causing severe chest pain, nausea, bad swelling, trouble breathing and slurred speech.

Where I got stung I saw no Fire Ant mound. It was likely located elsewhere, with me getting burned by Worker Ants. The Worker Ants are sterile females who do all the work of the ant colony, like building the nest, taking care of the babies, running the Fire Ant defense system and hunting for supplies for the colony.

I suspect I was attacked by some supply hunters.

The Fire Ant nest is ruled by a Queen. The Queen has up to 8 sub-Queens who's job it is to flee the nest if it is attacked, so a new colony can be built with a new Queen. The Queen's main job is to make babies. The Queen can live 6 or 7 years, popping out around 1,500 ant eggs a day.

The Queen is one very busy Fire Ant. She basically spends her day getting serviced by Male Drones. The Drones mate with the Queen and then die. Their average lifespan is 4 days. The Males are born, reach puberty, reproduce and die within 4 days.

Someone suggested that the reason I don't feel the burn of the Fire Ants is the same reason I don't feel the cold of the pool.

Maybe I am just insensitive.

The Headless Shadow Of The Skinny Dipping Texas Thin Man Up Early The Third Saturday Of March Thinking About Getting Fat

It is 65 this 3rd Saturday of March at a little past 7. I have the ceiling fan spinning and the windows open. Birds are making an awful racket out there, announcing the arrival of the sun.

I intend to have myself a very long swim this morning.

This morning I learned that the people of Tarrant County are too fat. Shocking news.

In something called the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Project, Tarrant County Public Health found that 66 percent of Tarrant County adults are overweight or obese.

I don't know why the county had to go to the bother of conducting some big surveillance project to figure out this is one fat county.

Just park yourself at any random Tarrant County Wal-Mart and count 100 people and you will likely come close to 66% (or more) appearing to be grossly overweight.

I remember the last time I drove myself back to the Northwest. July of 2001. I crossed the border into Oregon at Ontario. That is a town in Oregon, not the Canadian province. I went in the Ontario Wal-Mart. I was immediately struck by the way it appeared the people had had the air let out of them.

That same people appearing deflated phenomenon occurred again when I flew to Seattle in February of 2004. I had not been back to the Northwest since July of 2002. So, that was over 2 years of seeing a lot of fat Texas people.

I got picked up at Sea-Tac and then brought to the Pioneer Square zone of Seattle to go to a gallery. I was struck even more than the time in Ontario, that it appeared the people had had the air let out of them.

There are way way way too many balloon people in Tarrant County.

Change of subject.

I also learned today that Fort Worth city officials are recommending that one of the victim's of the Rainbow Lounge Gestapo Raid lawsuit case be settled out of court by offering the head injury victim $400,000. The man was injured when Fort Worth staged a bizarre Stormtrooper like raid on the Rainbow Lounge, it being a newly opened gay bar. This Gestapo Raid caused Fort Worth international embarrassment.

For, I think, the second. Or third. Time that year.

Change of subject again.

I've not heard from Elsie Hotpepper in awhile. And then this morning I get an email in which Elsie asks, "You have been quieter than usual, I am not the only one who thinks so...are you ok?"

Now, that is just bizarre. How have I been quiet? It is Elsie who has been quiet.

I tell you, sometimes some people just perplex me.

Which makes me want to go swimming. Right now.

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.