Up Early After A Long Texas Night Thinking About Mississipi Floods, Arnold & Maria's Marriage Woes And Getting Stuck In A Trunk And Shoved Off A Pier

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell it appears I am basking in a serene shade of blue this second Tuesday of May, already almost one third through the month, on a fast track to the 4th of July.

Each morning's Mississippi River flood news is worrisome. A few weeks ago we had the worst tornado outbreak since some time in the 1920s. And now the Mississippi is flooding at its highest level since some time in the 1920s.

My one and only time in Galveston I was told the water was usually not so murky, but was being muddy due to the Mississippi River being in high discharge mode.

In other discharge news, Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger have separated. I suspect, after he ceased being governor of California, Arnold was spending too much time at home getting on Maria's nerves.

In a total change of subject from flooding rivers and marital woes, last night I had my first bout of insomnia in awhile. I did not manage to fall asleep til well after midnight. Eventually I did slip into peaceful slumber mode, complete with cinematic nightmares.

Last night I think I may have been overstimulated by watching CSI: Miami on demand. I think it was the season ender. Horatio was badly wounded by a gun shot, and then watched one of his CSIers, the cute brunette (I can never remember names) get shoved in a trunk, with the car then rolled off a Miami pier, with the CSIer in the trunk feverishly trying to get cell service.

I have a great fear of being shoved in a trunk and rolled off a pier, so no wonder I had myself an insomnia bout.

I guess I will go for my morning swim now and see if I can cool down from my current super-heated state of being.

Getting HOT With Elsie Hotpepper Today On The Tandy Hills

Elsie Hotpepper got back from Vegas on Mother's Day.

This morning Elsie called and asked if she could go hill hiking on the Tandy Hills with me today. And then out to lunch.

And so Elsie trailed the trails after me today, taking pictures.

The post-hike lunch at the Mexican Inn was okay. I am not a fan of their puffy chips. They remind me of Fritos.

It was HOT on the hills with Hotpepper today. It is currently a little after 3 and almost 90 degrees. Windows closed, A/C running, ceiling fan spinning.

Speaking of fans spinning. I think the fan on my computer may be acting up. This does not please me.

It's always something.

Drinking Water Comes From The Trinity River Basin So Jump On In The Great Trinity River

Apparently Fort Worth's White Knight went to Fort Worth's Mayfest on the Trinity River this past weekend where he saw the sign you see here.

The White Knight then put his picture of this sign on his Facebook page's "Wall" with the comment...

"BS fest at Mayfest. Seriously, encouraging people to swim in the Trinity Cesspool is cynical at best, downright dangerous at worst. Is there anything the TRWD won't do to promote their billion dollar heist?"

You reading this who do not live in this heavily polluted zone of the planet, TRWD is the initial way of saying Tarrant Regional Water District. TRWD is in cahoots with TRV, that being the Trinity River Vision, often referred to as the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, to do what many believe to be serious damage to the Trinity River and the area it flows through, by taking down the current fault-free levees and replacing them with an un-needed flood diversion channel and a little pond known as the Kay Granger Puddle.

All in a massive billion dollar public works project, that is abusing the perfectly legitimate concept of eminent domain, that has never been approved of in a public vote and is actually a massive public works project to benefit private business.

The propaganda sign you see above was likely paid for by your tax dollars, along with all the other propaganda signage TRWD and TRV seem to like to be constantly foisting on the public in their ongoing ever more feeble attempt to justify what they are doing.

But, telling people to jump into the Trinity River because "Our river is great!"???

That is just grossly and grotesquely irresponsible.

Drinking water may come from the Trinity River Basin. Treated drinking water. But treated drinking water is not what is in the Trinity River as it flows through Fort Worth. The Trinity River has enough toxins and contaminants in it that fish caught in it are not safe to eat.

Alligators have been known to swim in the Trinity River.

Alligator gar swim in the Trinity River. Alligator gar are big fish with nasty sharp rows of teeth.

Snakes swim in the Trinity River.

Including J.D. Granger and his flotilla of Happy Hour Inner Tubers. I hope they've all had their tetanus shots.

Up Before The Sun The Day After Mother's Day Thinking About Fort Worth Politics & The FW Light Rail Transit System

The Shadow of the Skinny Dipping Thin Man got up real early on this second Monday of May.

I talked not to a single mother yesterday on Mother's Day.

Actually, technically, the above sentence is not quite true because I did talk to Alex yesterday and Alex is a single mother. But that is a different meaning of 'single mother' than was intended in the second paragraph.

Don Young, via FW CAN DO, has endorsed Cathy Hirt to replace the corrupt regime of the current Fort Worth mayor, Mike Moncrief.

A couple days ago the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy did an easy assessment of the FW mayor's race, which goes sort of as follows.

If you think everything in Fort Worth is hunky dory then Betsy Price or Jim Lane are you choices, with Betsy leaning to the R side and Jim to the D's. If you think the Trinity River Vision is a boondoggle and that the Moncrief regime has been a corrupt nightmare for Fort Worth then Cathy Hirt and Dan Barrett are your choices, with Cathy leaning to the R side and Dan to the D's.

The 5th guy in the race, I can't remember his name, is irrelevant.

Speaking of FW. I read this morning that the regional light rail system and express bus service which was expected to expand light rail to FW by 2023, as part of the Sound Transit 2 package approved by voters in 2008, will not meet its expected timeline due to tax revenue being down due to the recession which began soon after voters approved the light rail expansion.

Oh, I'm sorry, I'm probably confusing locals by referring to FW getting light rail and the voters approving of the project. No, the FW I am talking about is Federal Way in Washington, not Fort Worth in Texas. Everyone knows that the citizens in Fort Worth are not allowed to vote on public works projects. Everyone also knows there is no regional transit plan in the D/FW Metroplex zone.

I need to go swimming now and cool off.

Will The Fork In The Tandy Trail Take Me To The Metric System Or Kava Kava Tea

When I came to the fork in the trail, on the Tandy Hills today, that you are looking at in the picture, I was momentarily confused as to which fork to take.

Head north? Or head west?

A perfect metaphor for my current perfectly bad mood.

I called my mom, when I hit the hills today, to do the Mother's Day thing. Mom was not home. So, I left a Happy Mother's Day message on their old-fashioned, non-cell phone answering machine.

I could have called mom and dad's cell phone. But that always seems not to work out too well. Usually they are on the road when I call their cell phone. My mom can't see the phone. My dad has to answer it and then give it to my mom. This has accident potential written all over it. So, I don't call their cell phone.

I have no idea why, but last night I found myself reading the Wikipedia article about the country called the United States of America.

Til I read it in Wikipedia, I did not know that soon after the Civil War, in the 1870s, America's economy became the world's largest and has remained so ever since. With China scheduled to become #1 by, I think, 2016.

I also did not know, til I read it in Wikipedia, that America is one of only 3 nations that have not adopted the metric system. America still uses British Imperial Units, like miles, yards and Fahrenheit degrees. Burma and Liberia are the world's other two metric system holdouts. America is in good company.

I remember decades ago learning the metric system because this would soon be the law of the American land. But, that law has not come to pass.

I remember when Canada switched to the metric system. Buying gas by the liter was confusing. As were the speed limit signs saying things like speed limit 100 KPH. That sounds so fast. And 85 kilometers sound so much further to the border than 52.8165 miles. 32 degrees Fahrenheit seems so much warmer than 0 degrees Celsius. 10 liters of gasoline for $10.12 sounds like a much better bargain than $10.12 for 2.65 gallons of gas.

Anyway, I have never been at all good with math, so for me, it is a good thing America has never switched to the metric system. Even though the metric system seems logical. Isn't the American currency method sort of metric?

I've got sun tea outside brewing a big container of kava kava tea. I'm hoping this will have a salubrious soothing effect on me when I drink some later.

Happy Mother's Day To Mom & All You Other Mothers

That is my mom and dad, first week of 2009, at Fair Park in Dallas, with my dad texting and my mom telling my dad what to text.

As the years have passed I've realized more and more how blessed I was in the mom and dad department.

I've long been told I was in a Leave it to Beaver type family situation. I have never seen it that way.

Growing up I thought everyone had a mom who made them breakfast, packed a lunch and that all families always had dinner together at the dinner table.

Several times a week clothes would show up on my bed, ironed and folded. It was my job to put them away.

Each of my siblings, and myself had a job to do at dinner. I set the table and cleared it. My brother and oldest sister alternated as to who washed or dried the dishes. I took out the garbage.

My love of a long roadtrip came from both my mom and dad. No matter what happened they were unflappable. I remember our first trip to California and Disneyland. Less than 30 miles into our trip the trailer had a malfunction. My dad took the broken part off, we drove into the next town south, had it welded, drove back to the trailer and were soon on our way, with my mom making us ham and cheese on homemade potato rolls as we drove along.

We had another vehicle problem that trip. This occurred in Hollywood. Mom and dad had the car worked on while me and my brother had fun exploring Hollywood for hours. Several years later my Mustang's clutch went out after leaving Paramount studios and a TV show taping. We spent the night in a service station parking lot, calmly waiting for morning. It all worked out. Just like things always did with my mom and dad. I learned from them to stay calm and make the best of whatever it is that has happened.

I remember a flat tire in Death Valley, 5 miles from our destination of Stovepipe Wells, where I had reservations. Some in my traveling party of 6 got all stressed out. Over a flat tire. All I thought was worst case scenario, we walk 5 miles to Stovepipe Wells and get help. There was no cell phone service in Death Valley at that point in time.

Another thing I learned from my mom is how to cook. Before I left for college my mom insisted I learn how to make 6 things. I was a bit resistant, but mom told me I would be grateful later. She was right. I can't remember all 6 things, but some of them were beef stroganoff, beef and biscuit casserole and basics like how to cut up a chicken and oven bake it.

I remember getting lessons on how to iron clothes. I've never made use of those lessons. I don't think I own an iron.

Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to mom and all you other mothers out there.

Mother's Day Morning In Texas Thinking About Casinos & Oysters

Stepping outside with me in the picture, to retrieve my swimming suit, you can see that Mother's Day morning in my zone of Texas looks like it might be a bit stormy.

But, stormy is not in the Mother's Day forecast for my zone of Texas. Currently it is 70 degrees, heading to a predicted high of 91, with a Mother's Day Sunday of some sun and breeziness.

We've been having ourselves an awful lot of breeziness in these parts.

Yesterday, during my afternoon swimming session, there were whitecaps on the pool, not to the level that surfing was possible, but at one point a big gust of breeziness sent my towel flying from its resting location on a lounge chair.

I don't know what I'm making mom for Mother's Day lunch. Maybe that Ivar's Clam Chowder I got yesterday at Town Talk. My mom makes the best Clam Chowder. Better than Ivar's. Mom likely won't care for Ivar's Clam Chowder.

I mess fresh seafood. Where I lived in Washington, in the fertile Skagit Valley, I was a short distance from getting myself fresh dungeness crab, oysters, clams, salmon, all sorts of goodies from the sea.

A few miles west of my abode in Mount Vernon there's the Swinomish Casino. The Swinomish Casino has the best seafood buffet I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying. The Swinomish Casino buffet's oysters are made the way my mom makes them.

In Texas we don't have casinos. Texas ran most of the Indians out of town, with very few remaining. I don't see why Texas would have any better luck stopping the Indians, who remain, from opening casinos, than other states have had. I don't think the Washington tribes have ever lost a court case against the state, whether its over casinos or fishing rights.

I think I may have heard of one or two tiny Indian casinos in Texas. Or attempts to open one.

In the little Skagit Valley, in Washington, an area way smaller than Texas, both the Swinomish and Skagit Indians have big casinos. I just read that the Swinomish are adding a big hotel to their casino complex. I think they've already added a marina. I thought they already had a hotel. Maybe this is an additional hotel. I know the Skagit's casino already has a big hotel attached to it. I've been in that one.

I really don't see the harm in casinos. I am not a fan of the gambling part, but I am a fan of the other entertainments to be found in a casino.

I'm going swimming now and think about all the other things missing in Texas.

Viewing Tandy Hills Art Installations & Thinking About Ivar's Puget Sound Style Clam Chowder

This Saturday at noon I entered the Tandy Hills from View Street for the first time since the Prairie Fest, two weeks ago.

All that remains from the Prairie Fest is some orange markings on the grass and the art installation you see in the picture.

I know, post Prairie Fest that I read what this art installation was called or was supposed to signify.

But, my pathetically bad memory, combined with my pathetic case of AADD, has rendered that memory missing.

I think the forest of stick phalli, arranged in a circle, was signifying the fertility of spring. Maybe. Was it called "The Fertile Spring?" I wonder how many years this art installation will remain standing?

I saw today that the Tandy Hills Bamboo Teepee art installation is down to only 3 poles. If it loses one more pole that teepee is coming down.

I had an encounter with a coyote today. I was coming down a hill, it was heading up. It saw me and quickly turned around and ran off. I had no chance to take a picture. I have now encountered both a coyote and a roadrunner on the Tandy Hills.

After hiking like a maniac on the HOT Tandy Hills I took my HOT self to Town Talk, just like I do every Saturday.

Today I saw something at Town Talk that there was no way I was not buying. "Estilo Puget Sound Sopa de Almeja Con Tocino Receta del Restaurante Ivar's," it says on the package. Along with "Ivar's Since 1938." And "Acres of Clams."

Ivar's is a Seattle institution. Ivar was a restaurateur who had a famous Seattle waterfront restaurant, which in his later years, he greatly expanded, opening Ivar's in many locations. Wikipedia has an article about Ivar Haglund.

Why Ivar's is selling clam chowder in packaging in Spanish and where it is being sold is a mystery to me. Well, I know it is being sold today at Town Talk, but where did Town Talk get it? When Town Talk gets a new thing, like this, at checkout they give you a piece of paper with the directions on how to cook it.

The title at the top of the instructions says, "INSTRUCTIONS FOR IVAR'S PUGET SOUND STYLE CLAM CHOWDER."

You reading this in the Puget Sound zone, did you know there was a Puget Sound style clam chowder? I sure didn't.

Fort Worth's Boss Hogg Jim Lane's Latest Mailing Where We Learn Of His Troubles With Breast Cancer, Brain Surgery, Reproductive Woes & A Kid In His Terrible Twos

Yet one more big advertisement from Fort Worth's Boss Hogg, also known as Jim Lane. Jim Lane is trying to replace Mike Moncrief as Fort Worth's mayor.

Jim Lane is a member of the Fort Worth Ruling Oligarchy. The FWRO has already announced its choice for mayor, making the announcement in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram via their Editorial Board mouthpiece.

The FWRO's chosen one is Betsy Price.

Why Jim Lane continues to spend what must be a small fortune on his huge, color, slick campaign ads is a mystery to me.

The most recent Jim Lane mailing is twice as big as the previous ones. It is one big piece of paper, folded in two.

When you unfold the mailing you see, on the front page, Jim Lane without his cowboy hat, wearing a white t-shirt with a lot of pink on it. There is also a picture of Jim Lane wearing his cowboy hat while staring at "The Moving Wall" replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall when it was in Tarrant County.

Under the picture of Jim Lane staring at the wall there is a letter from a soldier in Iraq.

The reason why Jim Lane is wearing a pink t-shirt has to do with Jim Lane and his wife, Janet's, support for a local breast cancer support group called "Andrew's Angels."

We learn one of the reasons Jim and Janet support a breast cancer support group when we flip the ad over to page 2.

Page 2 is a replica of an article from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram with the headline being "Surviving breast cancer and a dangerous brain operation, Janet and Jim Lane are excited for the future of their family and all families in Fort Worth."

In the article we learn that it was Janet, not Jim, who is a breast cancer survivor. While Jim had a dangerous brain operation.

We also learn that Jim and Janet got married 9 years ago. Since Jim is now 65 that would make him 56 when he married 40 year old Janet. I'm calculating Janet's age from info gleaned in a sub-headline in the Star-Telegram article that says "At age 46, Janet underwent a double mastectomy in September 2008."

Soon after they got married Jim and Janet tried everything they could think of to get in the family way. Years of hard work had Jim doing a lot of praying. A short paragraph on all this praying from the article...

"I started wartin' God," he said. "I prayed and prayed, morning, noon and night."

What in the world is wartin' I am wondering?

So, Janet had breast cancer, Jim then found out he had something called a Chiari malformation. This required brain surgery where the surgeon discovered Jim had the thickest skull he had ever operated on.

Jim and Janet's little boy, Jake, is only 2, which I guess we can extrapolate from that that after years of trying, cancer and a brain operation, Jim and Janet finally got pregnant.

That is sort of impressive.

Little Jake sounds real precocious. The article ends with the tale of Janet's keys going missing multiple times, with Jake finally confessing to being the culprit, saying, "I can't help it. I'm in my terrible twos."

What 2 year old knows of the concept of the terrible twos? I suppose at other times Jake excuses his bad behavior by saying, "I can't help it. I'm an only child."

Now, doesn't Jim Lane sound like he'd make a fun mayor for Fort Worth?

The First Saturday Of May Thinking About Osama Bin Laden's Home Movies

The first Saturday of May appears to have dawned with a clear blue sky. Even though the sun only recently arrived it has already heated it up out there to 67 degrees, heading to a predicted high of 88.

Tomorrow the predicted high is only 6 degrees short of the century mark.

This morning's Osama bin Laden new news is he made home movies whilst in his sanctuary compound. These are going to be released for the world's viewing pleasure.

Let's just hope none of the bin Laden home movies are of the Paris Hilton sort. That man was a prolific breeder with his multiple wives. I'm sure it got really boring in that Pakistani compound at times.

I've noticed that when Osama bin Laden returned to being the top news story that many of the news sources changed the spelling of his first name from Osama to Usama. I suspect this was done due to the first name similarity of Osama and Obama.

Poor ol' tongue-tied Rush Limbaugh has been having himself a terrible time mixing up Osama and Obama. If only Osama had been Usama from the start, pronounced, You-Som-A, there would be none of this chronic mix up with Obama.

I think I will go swimming now and try my best not to think about Osama bin Laden, Rush Limbaugh or home movies.