The First Texas Sunday Of October Is Only 27 Degrees Above Freezing

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world on the 1st Sunday of October I can see that Sunday is starting off sunny.

If history repeats, as it often does in this parched part of the planet, this Sunday will continue to be sunny all day long.

Due to the extreme drop in temperature, as in this morning it is only 27 degrees above freezing, I slept under covers for the first time in months. In my brand new bed.

I slept well.

I flipped open my phone this morning to learn that Elsie Hotpepper had called me last night while I was trying out my new bed, wanting me to meet up with her at the Ozzie Rabbit Lodge.

Earlier in the Saturday evening I was out by the pool when my mom called. This was not a gas related call. It was a relative news call.

Yesterday made two days in a row my mom had called me. This is unprecedented. I am not complaining. I know an awful lot of people who would love to get a call from their mom. Or dad. Or both.

I'm going to go swimming now. And not take my phone with me.

Dragging Myself To The Tandy Hills In Search Of Horse Apples & Henry David Thoreau

After Don Young's rather pointed suggestion that I drag myself to the Tandy Hills, I did as instructed about 2 hours after being told to do so.

As I dragged myself around the Tandy Hills today I looked at what I was looking at with Henry David Thoreau in mind. Also due to Don Young's extreme mentoring influence.

The Great North Texas Drought has caused a lot of death and destruction on the Tandy Hills. And elsewhere in this parched part of the planet.

But there is still a lot of greenery, as you can see in the picture above. Big green trees near the now dry Tandy Falls.

The big green trees had me thinking back to hiking under even bigger green trees on the hikes I'd go on in Washington, often in the Cascades, sometimes over on the Olympic Peninsula, or out on islands in the Puget Sound, like hiking the trails of Deception Pass State Park.

This had me remembering one huge difference between hiking in Texas and hiking in Washington. A lot of the big green trees in Washington are evergreens; fir, pine and cedar trees. Fir, pine and cedar trees are quite odoriferous. So, when you hike a Washington trail, til you get above the treeline, it smells like Christmas. At times blackberries, wild blueberries and wild flowers will add to the odoriferousness.

I can't really recollect hiking on a Texas trail and thinking to myself that that sure smells good.  Unless someone is barbecuing nearby. Now that smells good.

A few days ago I learned that the Osage Orange Horse Apple tree is indigenous to this part of the planet, a native to North Texas that eventually was spread to other parts of America. This had me wondering why I've never seen any Osage Orange trees on the all natural Tandy Hills.

This Is Not A Horse Apple

Just as I was wondering about the absence of Tandy Hills Osage Orange trees I saw a lime green Horse Apple looking object in the distance.

I was about 20 feet distant from the "Horse Apple" when it became clear I had not uncovered evidence of a Tandy Hills Osage Orange tree.

Since we are on the subject of Tandy Hills foliage and fauna. Well, actually, we were not on the subject of fauna til now.

A couple days ago, at Village Creek Natural Historical Area, I saw a small armadillo. I've not had many armadillo sightings at Village Creek the last couple years. And no snakes. I've long thought a massive flood a couple years ago may have wreaked havoc with the armadillo and snake populations of Village Creek and River Legacy Park.

I have seen snakes only a couple times on the Tandy Hills. And unlike Village Creek and River Legacy, the Tandy Hills snakes have not been of the rattlesnake, copperhead or water moccasin variety.

And I have never seen an armadillo foraging on the Tandy Hills. It seems like this would be a nice location for the little guys. Maybe some armadillos could be imported to keep the Tandy Hills Roadrunner company.

I'm Being Urged By Horizontal Grandeur To Drag Myself To The Tandy Hills As Soon As Possible

It is the first day of a new month. The first day of a new month means Don Young's Prairie Notes will arrive in my emailbox. Which is what happened at 9:41 this morning.

The title for Prairie Notes #58 is "Horizontal Grandeur."

Horizontal Grandeur is not available, yet, for viewing on the Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area website.

Below is a blurb from the start of this month's Prairie notes, a blurb which ends with Don Young urging me to drag myself to the Tandy Hills as soon as possible. I always do what I'm urged to do....

Just days before Henry David Thoreau died from tuberculosis in 1862, he dragged himself from his sick-bed for one last walk. The ever-curious Henry had to see what was new outside after a rainstorm the previous night. He described in his journal some patterns made in the sand by raindrops. Then he recorded the final line of his journal:

"All this is perfectly distinct to the observant eye, and yet could easily pass unnoticed by most."

Amen, Henry. Despite an epic drought, there is still plenty to observe across the horizontal grandeur* of Tandy Hills Natural Area. Not as much as normal, by a long-shot, but still there to the searching eye. With water in short supply, it seems like everything at Tandy Hills is searching more keenly than usual.

A single Monarch butterfly dances around the prairie, searching for an elusive bit of pollen; the silent, gliding of a Cooper's Hawk searching for anything that moves; prairie grass roots, searching deeper and deeper for moisture; and me, searching for solitude, inspiration and a photo-op or two.

With the advent of the Autumn Equinox on September 23, the days are noticeably shorter and the evenings cooler. A little rain shower on the night of 9/29/11 and a cool front is bound to liven up the prairie. I urge you to follow the lead of our friend, Henry, and drag yourself to Tandy Hills, ASAP.

DY

The First Day Of October Dawns Chilly In Texas

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell on the first day of October does not look all that much different than it did on the last day of September.

What you can not see via a picture is how cold it is in the outer world in my location right now.

55 degrees. That is 45 fewer degrees than the 100 of a couple days ago.

I suspect the pool may be a bit bracing this morning.

I got gas yesterday and forgot to call my mom to tell her I got gas. So, my mom called me last night. I guess that will teach me to remember to call my mom when I get gas. My mom was sounding quite chipper last night.

I'm going swimming now. I expect to be shivering in about a half an hour.

Solo Tandy Hills Hiking Observing The Tandy Hills Roadrunner Bonding With The Tandy Hills Trojan Horse & Other Mysteries

I am having one of those rare days where I feel as if someone has sucker punched me in the gut.

Which is a tad disturbing, because no one has sucker punched me in the gut.

It has been over 3 years since I've been metaphorically sucker punched in the gut.

Hiking the trails of the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium, today, put me in a less sucker punched frame of mind.

Speaking of sucker punches, this week's Fort Worth Weekly Best of 2011 issue made no mention of the Tandy Hills this year. Or the Prairie Fest. In years previous the Tandy Hills has been mentioned as the Best Place to Stand. And the Prairie Fest as Best Outdoor Festival, or something like that.

Today whilst I was hiking the Tandy trails I pondered why so few people avail themselves of the pleasure of Tandy Hills hiking. Fort Worth has a population of over 700,000. While it is true that over half of the population is over weight and thus not really drawn to hiking up a hill, that still leaves around 350,000 people able to do so.

I know of no other big city in America with a big, wild, natural zone so close to its downtown.

If something like the Tandy Hills existed a couple miles east of Seattle's downtown I can guarantee the hills would be alive with the sounds of people enjoying the natural world. During the hiking season in Washington's Cascades you can go to any of the dozens upon dozens of mountain hiking trails and find a lot of people hiking. And that's after driving a long distance to get to a trail head.

Even as I type, Washington's Maxine W. A. Milling is hiking with a group, over Cascade Pass, to Stehekin, to spend a few days at Courtney Ranch.

With there being so very few hiking type options in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex zone one would think the Tandy Hills would get a lot of visitors.

Before the novelty wore off, I'd drive to places like Turner Falls Park in Oklahoma and Dinosaur Valley State Park. And twice to Enchanted Rock State Park, just to have a semi-good place to go hiking.

And on another Tandy Hills note, I had myself a real cute encounter with the Tandy Hills Roadrunner today. As I was ascending Mount Tandy the Tandy Trojan Horse that I mentioned a couple days ago came into view. I then saw that the Tandy Hills Roadrunner was looking curiously at the Tandy Trojan Horse.

When the Tandy Hills Roadrunner saw me the speedy bird took off running over the hill.

There was no sign that any of last night's thunderstorm deluge dropped any water on the Tandy Hills. I wonder if the Tandy Hills Roadrunner is still drinking at Don Young's birdbath. I have never found the mysterious water barrel that Don Young and his cohorts installed in some hidden location on the Tandy Hills.

Don Young used to be Fort Worth's Best Watchdog. This year Don Young has been in the news a lot, doing a lot of Watchdogging. But, somehow Don Young was supplanted as the Best Watchdog in Fort Worth Weekly's Best of 2011 compilation, supplanted by Kevin Buchanan and the North Central Texas Communities Alliance.

Very perplexing.

Meth Whores Can Live In Peace At Fort Worth's Ozzie Rabbit Lodge

If I remember right I have previously mentioned that I'm a fan of the goofy ads I find in Fort Worth Weekly.

Fort Worth Weekly is a free tabloid that serves pretty much as Fort Worth's only legitimate newspaper.

Legitimate in the sense that Fort Worth Weekly actually does investigative journalism, acting as a much needed Fourth Estate in this ill-served, hard-hitting journalism-wise, parched part of the planet.

If I remember right, in addition to having previously mentioned being a fan of FW Weekly's goofy ads, I've also previously mentioned the Ozzie Rabbit Lodge.

This week's Ozzie Rabbit Lodge ad in the Best of 2011 Fort Worth Weekly edition lets us know that the Ozzie Rabbit Lodge is the only place Punks, Bikers, Hipsters, your Grandpa, Cowboys & Meth Whores can live in peace.

Meth Whores?

Elsie Hotpepper is definitely not a Meth Whore, but the Ozzie Rabbit Lodge is often the Elsie Hotpepper starting off location for a night of saloon hopping.

For those of you who don't know Fort Worth history, Ozzie Rabbit was the nickname of Lee Harvey Oswald, a nickname given to Lee Harvey by his fellow marines, before Lee Harvey left the marines to go be a communist in the Soviet Union.

For those of you who don't know American history, Lee Harvey Oswald is Fort Worth's most famous alleged assassin. He is alleged to have assassinated President John F. Kennedy, in Dallas, as the JFK motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza, way back on November 22, 1963.

Lee Harvey was then assassinated himself a couple days later by a guy named Jack Ruby.

About the same time John F. Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery (in Washington, D.C., not the Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Texas) Lee Harvey Oswald was laid to rest in the Rose Hill Memorial Burial Park, a short distance from The Ozzie Rabbit Lodge.

Way back when Lee Harvey Oswald was allegedly aiming that rifle out of a 6th Floor Book Depository window I doubt it crossed his mind that almost a half century later he would be buried walking distance from a bar named after his nickname.

A Cold Front Arrives For The Last Day Of September & The First Day Of The State Fair Of Texas

As you can see in the picture the sun has begun its pre-dawn sky glowing process on this last day of September.

With today being Friday, September 30, over at Fair Park, in Dallas, the State Fair of Texas begins. That means I have til October 23 to make it over to Dallas for the state fair.

Had the State Fair of Texas opened yesterday it would have been one HOT first day of the state fair.

Yesterday we hit 100 for the 71st time in 2011, breaking the temperature record for September 29, which had been 99 degrees, set over a half century ago, in 1953. Yesterday was also the 4th latest 100 degree day. The latest it has ever reached 100 in this parched part of the planet was on October 3 of 1951.

Last night this parched part of the planet also had a thunderstorm. I saw a lot of lightning strikes and heard a lot of thunder rolling, but not much rain fell. Maybe more rain fell in other locations.

Last night's thunderstorm brought in a cold front, dropping the temperature last night. The lows for the next few days are scheduled to be in the 50s.

The sun is now providing sufficient illumination to allow me to find my way to the pool without needing a flashlight. So, I'm going swimming now.

Fort Worth Weekly's 2011 Best Free Spirit, Watchdog & Old Guy Was Not Me

Fort Worth Weekly Best Of 2011 Edition

While Elsie Hotpepper and I were foraging for Horse Apples today I got a call telling me I needed to get this week's Fort Worth Weekly, with it being the annual "Best Of" issue, as in "Best Of 2011."

I usually find this type thing a bloated ad magnet. That and I rarely know the person, place or thing the Reader's or Critic's choices choose.

So, I got this year's Best Of 2011 and thumbed through it, and just like I thought would be the case, most of the choices were unknown to me.

However, there were a few I recognized, particularly on a couple pages in the "People & Politics" section.

For instance, I have met the Critic's Choice for Free Spirit, Layla Caraway. Personally, I think Ms. Caraway is more of a Watchdog than a Free Spirit. I think Elsie Hotpepper should have gotten the Best Free Spirit of 2011 accolade.

Kevin Buchanan was the Reader's Choice for Watchdog. I may be remembering wrong, but wasn't Kevin Buchanan a big proponent of Fort Worth's failed Streetcar to Nowhere Plan? That doesn't seem very Watchdoggy to me. The Critic's Choice for Watchdog was North Central Texas Communities Alliance.

My view of NCTCA is the group has very good intentions. I don't know how successful the group's Watchdogging is. However, there is this other group I would have picked as the Best Watchdog of 2011 had I been the critic making a choice. I would have picked the Trinity River Improvement Partnership (TRIP).

TRIP was sort of recognized in the "Culture" section in the Locally Made Film category, where the Reader's Choice was the award winning TRIP documentary, Up a Creek. The Critic's Choice was a locally made film I've not heard of called Pioneer. Apparently Pioneer has also won awards.

Another of the few names I recognized was Clyde Picht. The Critic's Choice for "Old Guy." I manned a booth for awhile with Clyde Picht at this year's Prairie Fest. I liked him. But, I did not think of him as an Old Guy.

In the "People & Politics" section and the "Culture" section Durango Jones and the Durango Texas blog were picked as the Reader's & Critic's Choice by no one in any category. What a shocking omission.

Granny Grassroots' Harping Harp

Also left out of being the Best of Anything in 2011 was another person I met at this year's Prairie Fest, who co-manned a booth with me for much longer than Clyde Picht, that being the entity known as the Granny Grassroots.

Granny Grassroots, while not the Best of Anything in 2011, according to Fort Worth Weekly's Readers and Critics, did place a large ad in the FW Weekly Best of 2011 edition.

Methinks Granny Grassroots would also have been a good choice as Best Free Spirit of 2011.

Watch Granny Grassroots' video below and you'll see what I mean by free spirit. Who but a free spirit would haul her harp to the Trinity River to sing a song to the litter as it floats by?

Harvesting Horse Apples Today With Elsie Hotpepper At The Village Creek Osage Orange Tree Orchards

Getting Ready To Take A Bite Of A Horse Apple

A couple days ago I mentioned that the big green ball you see in the picture has perplexed me ever since I moved to Texas. I long ago had been told it was a "Horse Apple" but that was all I knew about it.

So, I asked if anyone could kindly alleviate me of my "Horse Apple" ignorance.

Alien Engineer and CatsPaw kindly did some ignorance alleviating by informing me that the Horse Apple comes from the Osage Orange tree, also known as Bois D'Arc. And that the wood of the tree was used by Plains Indians to make bows. And that cockroaches hate Horse Apples.

So, due to now knowing more details I was able to look up Osage Orange tree to have even more of my ignorance about this subject alleviated.

The fruit of the Osage Orange tree is filled with sticky white latex goo which smells slightly like oranges. Hence the name. However, the tree is not at all closely related to citrus trees. The fruit smells sort of edible, but, even though it is not poisonous in the kill you type of poisonous, eating it will most likely cause you to vomit.

Most trees bear fruit which is eaten, with the seeds being dispersed by whatever ate the fruit, thus expanding the orchard of any particular tree. However, no known animal is known to eat Horse Apples.

Gray Area Shows Historical Location Of Osage Orange

It is theorized that the Osage Orange tree may be a relic from the days of dinosaurs, with dinosaurs like giant ground sloths, mammoths and mastodons

A lot of dinosaurs roamed over Texas when those big reptiles ruled the earth. The dark gray area of the map shows the historic location of the Osage Orange tree in the Red River drainage zone of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

In modern day America, and parts of Canada, the Osage Orange has widely naturalized.

In the American prairie states Osage Orange trees were often used as windbreaks, hence one of the other names the tree is known by, "Hedge Apple."

This is thanks in part to one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Great Depression New Deal fight the Dust Bowl plans. The WPA (Works Progress Administration) project called the "Great Plains Shelterbelt", starting in 1934, by 1943 had planted 30,233 Shelterbelts with over 220 million trees.

The wood of the Osage Orange tree is very dense, heavy, close-grained, and appropriate to its name, colored yellow-orangish. The wood is highly valued for uses valuing strength that resists rotting. Like the aforementioned bows. Other uses are fence posts, tool handles and insulators.

Used as fuel, the Osage Orange wood has the highest BTU content of any wood, making it burn very hot for a very long time.

And just like CatsPaw so kindly informed me, Horse Apples are sometimes used to shoo away cockroaches. Other arthropods also have an apparent aversion to Horse Apples.

Today Elsie Hotpepper went walking with me on a Horse Apple hunting expedition through the Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Osage Orange tree orchards. I got myself a half dozen Horse Apples, like the beauty I took a picture of which you see above.

The Horse Apples are now strategically placed in my kitchen to make life a living hell for any cockroaches plotting a home invasion.

After A Good Night's Sleep The Next To Last Day Of September Dawns Early

In the picture we are looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at the ground 30 feet below on day 29 of September, the last Thursday of the 9th month of 2011.

Dawn has cracked with the sky heater currently heating the outer world in my location to 72 degrees, heading to a high of 95 today.

I don't think Mother Nature got the memo that Summer is over in this parched part of the planet.

Which means the water in my pool should be at a pleasant swimming temperature this morning. I will find out if that is true in about 5 minutes.