Monster Wildfires Scorching Texas During Worst Drought Since The 1950s

In the picture you are looking at the current headline on Fox News online, in the early Labor Day evening.

Monster wildfires are scorching Texas.

Today, a wildfire burning near Austin killed 2 people and destroyed about 300 homes. This particular wildfire is advancing across parched ranch land, unchecked, on a 16 mile front. So far this fire has burned 17,500 acres.

Texas is in the midst of the worst drought since the 1950s.

So far, during this bad bout of wildfires I have yet to smell the burn of a single fire. The smoke from the Possum Kingdom Lake fires, burning to the west of my location, has not reached my olfactory senses.

Several years ago we had a bad wildfire outbreak in North Texas. I remember getting quite familiar with that acrid odor.

I recollect driving back to the D/FW Metroplex from the east and wondering what the strange black wall was that seemed to be advancing on D/FW.

It was the smoke from a massive wildfire.

I have never seen these parts of the planet as parched as they are right now. I've never seen the Tandy Hills looking like a tinderbox, like it is right now.

I suspect before we finally get some fire damping precipitation we are going to have a bad wildfire too close to the D/FW Metroplex, generating a wall of smoke and that awful acrid odor I really don't want to be smelling.

First Photo Of Layla Caraway Accepting GRNRFF Award For Up A Creek

On of my sources who was in Glen Rose for the Labor Day Weekend Glen Rose Neo-Relix Film Festival sent me this photo of Ms. Layla Caraway receiving the coveted Grand Prize Award in the Conservation Category.

I think I may have already mentioned the film that won the award at the GRNRFF was a Trinity River Improvement Partnership (TRIP) documentary titled "Up A Creek."

You can watch Up A Creek in 4 parts on this very blog. If I remember right at the end of the documentary, when the credits scroll by so does the name of this very blog. I think some photos I took of Trinity River litter may have been used in the documentary. I may be wrong about that.

You can also watch Up A Creek on TRIP's website.

If I had the energy to do so, I would re-watch Up A Creek to see if the part is still there where Adrian Murray makes remarks about Fort Worth's lack of a real newspaper playing the role of Fifth Column (referring to the Star-Telegram) when the term Mr. Murray was intending to use was "Fourth Estate."

However, I think a case could be made that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram does sort of act as a Fifth Column when it comes to how it looks after all the interests of the citizens in the area it covers.

Or doesn't look after all the interests of the citizens in the area it covers.

The Star-Telegram definitely does not play a Fourth Estate role in Fort Worth.

Snail Hunting On The Cool Windy Tandy Hills With Lobster Tacos & Jalapeno Progress

On Saturday on the Tandy Hills I came across a bottle full of frozen water, sitting on ground heated over 100. With no humans seen.

The next day that bottle was gone.

And today, about a foot from where that bottle sat, there was a white snail shell stuck to a thick stalk of prairie grass.

I have seen snail shells on the Tandy Hills ground, previously, but never stuck on a grass stalk. I would seem that something like a snail must not have an easy time dealing with a drought.

It was barely 80 when I hit the Tandy Hills today a little after noon. Wind frequently gusting over 20 mph provided a nice wind chill factor. Making today the coldest day on the Tandy Hills in a long, long time.

I rather liked it.

The pool, this morning, bordered on cool. And had me wondering how it is that I manage to go swimming all winter long, as long as it is above freezing.

Labor Day lunch was Lobster Tacos. With Extra Sharp White Vermont Cheddar. Lobster Tacos may be my new favorite. I was not much of a lobster fan when I lived where there was a lot of fresh seafood available, with lobster not being among the fresh seafood one could fetch from Puget Sound.

I have never made tacos using Dungeness Crab. Methinks Dungeness Crab Tacos would be really tasty.

I made Jalapeno Progress today. No, Jalapeno Progress is not some Mexican food item. What I meant is I made progress via having a successful Jalapeno chopping experience. Meaning, I did not have a burning a super-sensitive area incident after chopping a Jalapeno.

In my simple world I have to make note of the little things to have any sense that I'm making some progress somewhere.

Up A Creek Was Not Up A Creek At The Labor Day Weekend Glen Rose Neo-Relix Film Festival

A fairly reliable source informs us that Up A Creek won the Grand Prize in the Conservation Category at the Labor Day Weekend Glen Rose Neo Relix Film Festival.

Up A Creek is a Trinity River Improvement Partnership (TRIP) documentary in which Ms. Layla Caraway shares her nightmare experiences with Texas flooding, and the aftermath, where Ms. Caraway has tried to get those who should know better to focus their attention on the real flooding issues of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, instead of an un-needed flood diversion channel, a little lake and a forest of magic trees.

Taking the prize at GRNRFF I'm guessing it is now on to the Telluride Film Festival (next year, I think this year's took place this weekend), the Sundance Film Festival, then, of course, the Academy Awards, where I will accompany Ms. Caraway while she accepts the Oscar.

Seattle has a rather big film festival. Maybe we'll be going to that one too.

Glen Rose is a dinosaur-centric town in Texas near Dinosaur Valley State Park, hence the Neo Relix name for the Glen Rose Film Festival.

A Semi-Chilly Labor Day In North Texas With Lobster Tacos

I am up well before the sun on this 5th day of September, looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at an outer world currently heated to 70 degrees.

I had been led to believe, by the temperature predictors, that this morning would be chilled to 61.

This morning the temperature predictors are predicting that the low for this first Monday of September will be 56. With the high being only 83.

I suspect I will have temperature disappoint again today.

Currently I have my windows open. No A/C running, with windows open. Labor Day is starting off nicely.

I have no idea what I am doing this particular Labor Day, besides going swimming now that the sun has begun its daily illumination process, then likely enjoying the chilly air on the Tandy Hills. After that I'll be making my usual Labor Day Lobster Tacos. I will not be going to Town Talk today. Town Talk is closed for Labor Day.

Below you can see the chilly temperature predictions for my zone of North Texas for the next 5 days.

The Color Purple Surviving The Tandy Hills Heat While I Talk To My Mom & Worry About A Tacoma Sociopath & Another Texas Governor Becoming President

I took it as gospel, the temperature prediction for today, of no higher than 88.

However, according to the Weather Underground, it is 95, currently, and was 90.4 when I left air-conditioned cool for the outer world HOT.

But, a very strong breeze blew away some of the heat and made the hill hiking quite pleasant today on the very brown Tandy Hills.

The low tonight is still predicted to be 61. I'll believe that when I feel it.

Virtually all color, of the wildflower sort, has disappeared from the Tandy Hills, except for the persistent, hardy, purple guy in the picture.

This morning, when I found my phone, I saw my mom and one of my favorite Tacoma Dwellers had called me last night.

I got gas on my way to Wal-Mart this morning, so, after I got gas, I called my mom, like I always do. It was 8 in the morning, Phoenix time, when I called.

Arizona, south of the Grand Canyon, does not believe in Daylight Savings Time.

My mom was sounding very chipper. Chipper enough to go shopping, virtually, in Wal-Mart, with me.

I have not called the Tacoma Dweller back, yet. She'd emailed me a month or two ago saying she was going to call me because she had a question for me. But, she didn't call and I forgot about it.

I hope the Tacoma Dweller isn't calling me to tell me some new weird thing regarding one of Tacoma's most notoriously accomplished sociopaths. It's been around a decade since that particular sociopath did jail time for her sociopathic deeds. I always expect to hear of some new bad behavior, due to the fact that that particular sociopath's pathic paths have had no treatment, as far as I know, except for multiple drugs that somewhat mitigate some of the sociopathy.

Ted Bundy is another infamous Tacoma sociopath. Obviously it can get much worse than simply stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars and leaving an elderly relative destitute, when you are one of Tacoma's practicing sociopaths.

My dad's big sister, my favorite Aunt, has been mailing me articles about Rick Perry. The title of one is "Texas' Wild Tea Party." In the margins of that article my aunt wrote "I have been meaning to send you this epistle, since I read it. I can only ask----why do you live there!?"

My favorite aunt lives in Eastern Washington, south of Othello, near the Columbia River.

I got another letter from my aunt yesterday with another Rick Perry article. Apparently my aunt is on a quest to understand, as are a lot of people, who Rick Perry is and why he is being taken serious as a presidential candidate.

I had to confess to my aunt that it is a total mystery to me. I also did not understand it when Perry's predecessor was taken serious as a presidential candidate.

Come 2013 are we going to start another 8 years of an ex Texas governor being president?

I think I just shuddered.

The First Sunday Of September Has Dawned With A Pleasantly Cold Temperature

I am up well before the sun this first Sunday of September. That blue oasis in the picture is looking inviting.

Mostly due to the fact that right now I am overheating. Even though the A/C is running and a fan is spinning overhead.

I do not know why I am overheating. I'm sort of feeling like I may be in the throes of some sort of ailment.

Currently the outer world is the coldest it has been in a long time. Only 75.4 degrees. I should open my windows.

We are heading to a relatively chilly high today, supposedly, of 88. Tonight's low, again supposedly, is supposed to get down to 61. I will definitely have my windows open.

But before I open the windows I guess I will go swimming before it gets too cold to comfortably do so.

According To Cat's Paw Theory CatsPaw Is A Tool Of Gar The Monkey Boy

In the past 24 hours, give or take an hour or two, the entity known on the Internet as CatsPaw has come to the defense of the entity known on the Internet as Gar the Nerd, over and over again.

Most of CatsPaw's Gar the Nerd defending has had to do with his mullethead hair-do and his nerdiness. Both of which, apparently, CatsPaw is attracted to.

Well.

The person who goes by the name "Anonymous" made a very interesting comment to a blogging blogged a couple hours ago....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Mysterious Ice On The Saturday Tandy Hills & CatsPaw's Nerd Comments":

CatsPaw has a meaning beyond La Fontaine's fable. See Staub v. Proctor Hosp., courtesy of the U.S. Supreme Court.

It did not take much Googling to learn that a Cat's Paw is a "tool" or "one used by another to accomplish his purposes." According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary.

La Fontaine's fable, to which Anonymous refers, refers to a French poet, Jean de la Fontaine (1621 - 1695) who wrote a fable called "The Monkey and the Cat." In that fable a rather unscrupulous monkey persuades an unsuspecting cat to fetch chestnuts from a fire. Whilst fetching the chestnuts the cat's paws get burned, while the monkey profits from the cat's efforts, gulping down the chestnuts.

Staub v. Proctor Hospital, to which Anonymous refers, refers to a Chicago court case in which Vincent Staub sued Proctor Hospital after he felt he was unfairly fired. Somehow his case involved invoking the Cat's Paw Theory.

Below is a blurb of legalese from the case......

The Cat's Paw Theory is a way of proving discrimination when the decisionmaker is admittedly unbiased; under the theory, the discriminatory animus of a nondecisionmaker is imputed to the decisionmaker where the former has singular influence over the latter and uses that influence to cause the adverse employment action.

Now, I know to a brilliant know-it-all, like Gar the Nerd, I am Purveying the Obvious with this explanation of CatsPaw's Internet moniker, but to ignorant me it was not obvious, so I appreciate Anonymous for alleviating me of my obvious ignorance about this aspect of the CatsPaw subject.

Mysterious Ice On The Saturday Tandy Hills & CatsPaw's Nerd Comments

I saw no one on the Tandy Hills today.

However.

See that plastic bottle in the middle of the picture? The bottle was at the end of small patch of prairie that looked as if its grass had been removed.

The bottle was full of water. That was frozen. It was around 92 degrees when I hit the hills today. The ground was warmer than 92 degrees. And yet this bottle of water was mostly frozen.

On the way to the Tandy Hills I got a call from a damsel in an elevator in distress in Glen Rose. Apparently the damsel had been expecting to see me in Glen Rose today.

I got lobster today at Town Talk. Among other things. Saturday at Town Talk was very busy, again, with the parking lot almost full.

Earlier today I answered a question about why a particular individual was known as a nerd. Then, when I woke up my computer and checked email there was incoming from CatsPaw, with a photo attached, regarding nerds.

CatsPaw said "Re: Nerds Because there's no way I can put it in comments.:)"

How rude.

The Dawn Of The 1st September Saturday Shows No Sign Of Tropical Storm Lee Or Nerds

Looking skyward through the bars of my patio prison cell at a perfectly clear North Texas sky on the first Saturday morning of September I see no sign of Tropical Storm Lee.

However, Tropical Storm Lee has caused a revision of the scheduled temperature level in the coming days. As in, currently Monday is scheduled to be heated to an almost chilly 83.

83 is almost as chilly as this Saturday morning's current temperature of 81.8. I don't know if the swimming pool will be very swimmable at these cold temperatures.

Speaking of a nerdy fixation on a singular subject. Like the temperature.

Yesterday someone curious asked me what qualified Gar the former Texan to be re-monikered as Gar the Nerd.

Well.

Let us look at the Wikipedia definition of Nerd....

Nerd is a term that refers to an intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit. Nerds are generally considered to be awkward, shy and/or unattractive by most. Thus, a nerd is often excluded from physical activity and considered a loner by others, or will tend to associate with a small group of like-minded people.

They typically appear either to lack confidence or to be indifferent or oblivious to the negative perceptions held of them by others, with the result that they become frequent objects of scorn, ridicule, bullying, and social isolation. Some nerds show a pronounced interest in subjects which others tend to find dull or boring, or just simply too complex and difficult to comprehend, or overly mature for their age, especially topics related to science, mathematics and technology. On the opposite end of the spectrum, nerds may show an interest in activities that are viewed by their peers as stupid and immature for their age, such as trading cards, comic books, television programs, films, role-playing games, video games and other things relating to fantasy and science fiction. Nerds are often portrayed as physically unfit and either obese or very thin.

It is almost as if Wikipedia interviewed Gar the Nerd for their definition of Nerd. The only thing missing was a picture of the boy at the height of his mullet glory days.

It is now that time of the morning when I get cold in water. Talk to you later.