The Air-Conditioned Outdoor Cool Of The Dawn Of The 2nd Sunday Of August In Texas

I'm looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at a very inviting pool on this 2nd Sunday of the 14th morning of August.

Already we are almost at the mid-point of August. September is rapidly approaching.

23 days in to September Fall of 2011 begins, soon followed by cooler temperatures.

We got a reminder of what cooler temperatures are like on Saturday. And of what rain is like. The high on Saturday was in the 85 degree zone.

Our respite from the HEAT apparently will be short lived. Even though the dawn of the 2nd Sunday of August is cooled to 79.5, the day is scheduled to be heated to an almost HOT 99.

I think I will go take my Sunday morning swim now, while the water is still way warmer than the air.

Drinking $200 Margaritas With Naughty Schoolgirls While Helping A Stripper With Her Tuition & Riding Elephants

If I remember right I think I have mentioned previously that I am a fan of the ads I find in Fort Worth Weekly.

I have never been to the Mule Pub. Looking at the ad it appears that the Mule Pub is way too expensive for my tastes.

I can not imagine paying $200 for a Margarita. Even if the Mule Pub is the "Home of the $200 Margarita."

And "World Famous."

But it was not the expensive cocktail that intrigued me about this particular ad. What intrigued me was trying to figure out what message the photo of the two elephants in the ad was supposed to convey. Is the ad suggesting if you consume one of those $200 Margaritas that you will soon be frolicking like those elephants?

It's very perplexing.

The other ad in this week's FW Weekly that caught my eye was the ad for Buck's Cabaret.

Buck's Cabaret's ad commands "Attention All Sugar Daddies."

And then says "Buck's Cabaret Presents the First Annual Back to School Naughty School Girl Party..."

Bucks asks ad readers to "Join us and help a stripper pay her tuition."

Apparently, according to the ad, "The Naughtiest School Girl Will Win a $1000 Scholarship from Buck's Cabaret."

The Naughty School Girl Party is on Thursday, August 25. This conflicts with that Thursday's Rockin' the River Inner Tube Happy Hour Float.

I am torn as to which of these events I will attend. I do like to help a stripper get through school. But I am also a huge fan of getting wet in very dirty water.

Enjoying A Naturally Cool Saturday In North Texas While Fishing, Walking & Town Talking

Swimming in the rain this morning was a wonderful thing. The air was heated to a temperature somewhere in the mid 70s. The water in the pool was quite a bit warmer than the mid 70s.

I have no idea what the temperature was of the raindrops that kept falling on my head.

The rain dropped for several hours. At the current point in time, a bit past 3 on this Saturday, it is only 84.2.

I went to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdic Lake and visit the Fosducks again today. The Fosducks, recently traumatized by the HEAT, today were ducking in the lake, out in full force, paddling all over Fosdic Lake,

The cool temperatures brought out a long of anglers, angling for fish one is warned not to consume. The fishermen seem to have themselves a real fine time.

Yesterday when I walked around Fosdic Lake, talking to my mom, my mom asked me if I could find out if a high school classmate of mom's was still among the living. A few minutes ago I Googled the classmate's name and then called mom to tell her where the classmate can be found.

This had me thinking back to 1962 and the World of Tomorrow in the Seattle World's Fair Century 21 predictions of the future. The video phones predicted in 1962 were huge clunky things. Certainly not mobile. 1962 saw nothing like the Internet in the future.

So, in 2011 I am walking around a lake in Texas, not tethered to a land line, talking to my mom in Arizona, in a long distance call that adds not a penny to my phone bill, with my mom asking if I can find out if a friend of hers from long ago is still alive. Then via this invention called the Interet I use this thing called Google to quickly find the answer to my mom's question.

If the World of Tomorrow told people at the Seattle World's Fair that a searching thing called Google would be a really big deal in the 21st Century, people would have giggled.

After Fosdic Lake was done with me I did my regular Saturday thing and went to Town Talk. I thought Oakland Lake Park was a lot busier than usual, attributing the activity to the sudden cool weather. I have never seen Town Talk so busy as it was today. I had trouble finding a parking spot.

I imagine most of North Texas is likely out and about enjoying the natural air-conditioning.

It won't last. Tomorrow we are scheduled to be back over 100.

Swimming In The Rain Chilled To 74 Degrees In Formerly HOT Texas

When I woke up this 2nd Saturday, 13th Day of August I heard an unfamiliar sound. I thought something had gone wrong with the fountain by the pool and it was spewing way more water than it should be spewing.

I looked out my primary viewing window and what do I see?

Rain hitting the window.

I stepped outside on to my patio prison cell to retrieve my swimming suit and take a picture of the falling drops. My limited photographic skills sort of captured the falling rain.

I must say, a warm summer rain falling on my parched skin was very refreshing.

Apparently the rain started falling around 6 this morning, accompanied, in some locations, by lightning and thunder.

I have my windows open for the first time in a long time. It is only 74.9 degrees out there right now. That is over 6 degrees cooler than I usually have my A/C set to.

I think I will go swimming in the rain now. Have not done that in a long long time.

The Trinity River Vision Updates Rockin' The River Live On The Trinity

I don't know who pays for the slick 4 page, full color brochures the Trinity River Vision mails to my mailbox every once in awhile.

I'm sure the taxpayers are not footing the bill for this particular extravagance.

The primary focus of this latest TRV mailing seems to be the raging success of the Trinity River Vision's Rockin' the River Live on the Trinity Summer Tubing & Music Series.

Who could have guessed, back when the Trinity River Vision was first being seen, that by summer of 2011 so much progress would have been made in remaking the Trinity River that thousands of Texans would come from far and wide to float in that formerly polluted river.

Or, as the TRV Brochure puts it...

The response to Rockin' the River - Live on the Trinity has been astonishing. The event has grown to attract more than a thousand people from all over North Texas at each concert, and continues to grow as more people hear about the good times being had on the river.

Well, that is impressive. More than a thousand people. From all over North Texas. Coming to Fort Worth because they've heard of the good times to be had on the river.

And then there is this blurb from a TRV minion...

"We are just happy to be able to provide the public with a fun and free event where they can come get in the cool water and enjoy some great music," said Shelby Lyon, a TRVA staff member who helped coordinate the series. "People really seem to be having the time of their lives out there, and that's what it is all about."

Now, that is just about the saddest thing I've read this week. People are having the time of their lives floating in a polluted river? And that is what the TRV is all about? Providing the public with fun, free events? Was this what was envisioned when the Trinity River Vision first saw its vision?

The brochure has some other information besides touting the tubing. Like the TRWD sponsoring of an "Our River, Our Children" Art Contest. Near as I can tell this is some sort of propaganda operation filling young minds with visions of boondoggle grandeur.

Then there is a blurb about new mountain bike trails in Gateway Park. I've not seen these new mountain bike trails. The blurb also mentions that phase two will add five miles of trail which will include an elevation gain of 250 feet. With spectacular views of downtown. Since there is currently very little elevation gain in Gateway Park I can not help but wonder how this spectacular view is going to be acheived.

A big headline announces that "Cobb Park Construction is in Full Swing!" Apparently this is a centerpiece for the southeast Fort Worth renaissance.

The brochure includes an invite to the TRV Education Center where you can gain an in-depth understanding of the difficult to understand project.

We also learn that the Trinity River Vision Master Plan was recognized for Development Excellence by getting a coveted 2011 CLIDE Award from the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTGOC).

On page 3 of the brochure, there is a picture of JD Granger, Jennifer Harnish, Rachel Navejar and Shanna Cate at the NCTGOC luncheon.

I think I remember seeing JD and Shanna checking in to a Dallas hotel. I wonder if that was where the NCTGOC luncheon was held?

The back page of the TRV brochure is pretty much like the front page, devoted to Tubing the Trinity, with 9 photos of people doing the tubing.

Walking With My Mom Around Fosdic Lake While My Nephew David Goes Boating

Today I talked to my mom during my noonday constitutional walk around Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park.

No. That is not a kid in a boat on Fosdic Lake in the picture.

Boats are banned on Fosdic Lake. I assume because the caustic chemicals in that hazardous brew might eat a hole in a boat.

I talked to my mom the entire time I was walking, so my camera never left my pocket to take a photo documenting today's walk with the Fosducks around Fosdic Lake.

The lake in the picture is in my sister in Chandler, Arizona's backyard. That is my nephew, David, boating under the waterfall.

It seems a sad thing that a kid in Arizona can go boating in a backyard lake, while kids in Fort Worth have no public pools to swim in when it is very very HOT. And the town's lakes have signs warning that swimming and boating is not allowed.

It is currently over 100 degrees, again, according to my Weather Underground source. 100.9 to be precise.

I am starting to grow a bit tired of always being so HOT.

North Texas Days In A Row Of 100 Or Higher Ends At 40

You are not looking past the bars of my patio prison cell at the dawn of 42 Days in a Row of 100 Degrees or more in North Texas.

The official temperature measuring station at D/FW Airport did not go over 100 yesterday.

Which seems odd to me, due to the fact that yesterday, when I went walking in the shaded jungle of Village Creek, I thought it was the HOTTEST day yet. I'm guessing it must have been very very humid, thus feeling very very HOT.

Officially, the recorder had the temperature climbing to 96 by 3 in the afternoon, yesterday. Then dipping to a chilly 84, then bouncing back to 97. I did experience the odd drop in temperature around 3. I think I mentioned that yesterday. I did see some of what appeared to be thunderclouds.

But I heard no thunder. Apparently locations as close as downtown Fort Worth did hear the clap of thunder and felt a few minutes of rare rain dropping.

So, the record of 42 Days in a Row of 100 or higher, set in 1980 remains. 2011's total of 47 triple digit days is in 4th place. The record number of 100 degree days was also set in super HOT 1980, at 69.

We are scheduled to start being heated to 100 again on Saturday, with 100 degree days into the foreseeable future. I suspect we may still break a 1980 record, this year of 2011.

In the meantime I am going swimming.

Taking My Cane On A HOT Walk With The Village Creek Ghosts

I got out my walking cane and used my senior citizen's pass to take the bus to Village Creek Natural Historic Area today.

I felt like communing with the wise elderly spirits of Indians long gone.

You can not tell it by today's picture taken via the Village Creek photo mirror, but it was being horribly HOT in the noon time frame today. HOTTEST HOT yet.

The HOTTEST HOT yet had my cold tapwater feeling HOT. Previously the cold tapwater had warmed to being warm, but never HOT.

I called my mom on my way to Village Creek to wish mom a Happy Birthday, due to the labor my mom went through today, all those decades ago, to deliver a very little me to the world. Mom was not home to receive her Happy Birthday call.

So, I left a voice mail.

As you can see via the picture of the Village Creek Jungle, the jungle is beginning to show signs of lack of water, as in, drought strain. Leaves are falling as if it were Fall. Green is turning brown.

Tomorrow if we hit 100 it ties the all time record for days in a row getting that HOT. Something has happened in the past hour or two that has me thinking that the 1980 record may not be broken.

We have dropped a lot of degrees in the past hour or two. As in it was over 100 when I wilted with the Indian ghosts, but it is only 84.7 now, at half past 3. Clouds have arrived. Along with a forecast for some possible storming....

An outflow boundary continues to push southward across North Texas with scattered thunderstorms to its north. The boundary could reach a Comanche to Ennis to Greenville line around 4 PM. Look for north winds of 15 to 30 mph and temperatures falling into the 80s behind this boundary. Rain and thunderstorms just north of I-20 to the west of Fort Worth will continue to follow the boundary southward this afternoon. These will move across Eastland...Earth... Hood... Somervell and Johnson counties by 5 PM. Gusty winds...heavy rainfall and dangerous cloud to ground lightning will occur from the strong thunderstorms. Rain and isolated thunderstorms along the Red River counties east of Gainesville will continue to spread east and southeast through 5 PM. This rain will spread through Collin... Hunt...Delta and Hopkins counties by 5 PM. Elsewhere...it will remain hot and dry with temperatures in the upper 90s and lower 100s under mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies. Heat advisory in effect until 9 PM CDT this evening...

It Is A Happy 47th Birthday Today In Durango Jones World

I have been getting emails and Facebook messages this morning wishing me a Happy Birthday. I checked my biographical information to see if it is my birthday today. Apparently it is.

Today, using the patented Durango Age Calculating Formula I calculated I am 47 years old. The Durango Age Calculating Formula adds ones Chronological Age to How Old One Looks to How Old One Acts and then divides the total by 3.

As you can see in my high school senior photo I have always looked way younger than my chronological years. I believe I was 17 when my senior photo was taken.

I have always been told that as I got older I would come to appreciate my freakishly youthful appearance. I guess I do. But it does get tiresome, at times, the few times I purchase an adult beverage, to get asked to prove I am old enough to do so.

Last October my mountain bike was stolen. This was about a week after I had my last mountain bike wreck. It was not a bad wreck, but it wrenched my right foot, a pain which took a long time to go away. I took the bike wreck, followed by the bike theft, followed by the foot pain to be an omen that I was too old to be riding a bike.

In the picture you are looking at me on my first mountain bike, pedaling the streets of Eugene, Oregon, wearing a very stylish bike helmet.

Being at the ripe old age of 47 it is hard to remember all the people I have met over the years in the various places I have met people.

Sometimes memories are too painful to remember. Or to forget.

I don't remember the name of the girl in the picture. It seems like maybe the last name was Figenbaum. My mom would likely remember.

I have always liked being outdoors. This likely explains why at my now semi-advanced age of 47 my skin is leathery. Or is it just tanned?

My enjoying playing in the sun years began in Eugene. Summers are hot in Eugene. Not Texas HOT, but hot.

I think in the picture on the left I am working on my garden.

I have always liked to plant stuff and watch it grow. Not so much in Texas, though. Growing stuff in Texas is a daunting task. You might run low on water. Or get a plague of locusts.

Elsie Hotpepper emailed me a few minutes ago asking what my Happy Birthday plans are.

I have no Happy Birthday plans. Except to call my mom and wish her a Happy Birthday for birthing me.

The August 11 Morning Of Day 41 Over 100 In North Texas

My internal lights came on at right about the time the sun arrived to light up the 11th day of August.

It is yet one more clear blue sky morning in North Texas, currently chilled to 82.7. This chilly temperature gives my air-conditioner a slight break from its cooling duties.

Unless a Blue Norther Arctic Blast arrives today it will be Day 41 in a Row of 100 Degrees or more, as measured by the official temperature monitoring station at D/FW Airport.

The record numbers of days in North Texas of 100 or more is 42. The current temperature prediction for tomorrow, Friday, the possible Day 42, is 99 degrees. That is the prediction from the Weather Underground. Other predictors are predicting 100 for tomorrow.

I suspect the other predictors are going to end up predicting correctly, with Friday being the record tying day 42 in a row of 100 or more. With the record broken on Saturday, at 43. Followed by several more days in a row over 100.

All this temperature talk has made me HOT. So, I think I will go swimming now.