A Cold Wind Making Waves On Fort Worth's Fosdic Lake With Escaping Fosdic Turtles

I was less than a minute in to walking around Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park today when it became obvious that shorts and a t-shirt were not sufficient outerwear to keep me warm.

In the noon time frame the air was chilled to the upper 50s with a very strong wind blowing.

All this new air blown in from the north has cleared up my allergy woe.

The Fosdic Ducks did not seem to mind the wind and the cold. The Duck Flock was in full frolic on the lake mode.

I was concerned about the Fosdic Turtles. Having enjoyed such a long HOT summer and then to be hit with this extreme overnight chill, I thought the turtles would be traumatized.

And then I saw a herd of turtles sunning themselves on a log. And after that I saw the guy you see in the picture above, well out of the lake, heading east as fast as his cold-blooded reptilian legs could carry him. He stopped walking when I stopped to take pictures. I advised the turtle that he should head back to the lake, that where he was heading was trouble and a road.

As I walked away from the turtle I saw that he had listened to me and was making a U-turn, heading back to the lake.

As you can see, the wind was making waves on Fosdic Lake today, but not quite strong enough to make whitecaps. I don't know that I've ever seen whitecaps on Fosdic Lake. I have on Lake Grapevine.

53 Degrees This Morning In Texas While I Think About Occupying Wall Street & Downtown Fort Worth

The sun is just starting to bring light to this dark spot on the planet on the morning of the 18th day of October.

At some point in time after the sun stopped its lighting duties for the day strong winds arrived, soon followed by lightning, thunder and rain.

And cold.

It is only 53 degrees at my location right now.

Switching subjects from being cold to Wall Street.

I really don't get the whole Occupy Wall Street thing. And other towns being occupied. What do these occupiers want to happen that they really think can happen. Judging be the HUGE numbers of occupiers they must be convinced something can come of all that bother.

And then this morning I was reading my old hometown newspaper, the Skagit Valley Herald, to learn that little Mount Vernon has been occupied. I'd been reading about Seattle being occupied by thousands of occupiers, but Sunday was the first time Mount Vernon got occupied.

A blurb from the Skagit Valley Herald...

About 40 people participated, waving signs that read “Protect the commons,” “Support American jobs now” and “War is the enemy.”

On Columbus Day, a banking holiday, I heard on the radio that Fort Worth had an occupying group occupy some where in downtown Fort Worth. Fort Worth, population over 700,000 had about a dozen occupiers. Mount Vernon, population 28,000 had 40 occupiers.

I have no clue what to conclude about relative occupier numbers in various towns.

A Remodeled Tandy Teepee With A Texas Ranger Baseball Cap Wearing Tire Winning The World Series

It was nearing 80 when I parked on top of Mount Tandy today to hike the Tandy Hills. Today may have been the last day requiring no shirt for the year, with the arrival, tomorrow, of a blast of cold air from the north.

The Tandy Guerrilla Artist has been busy.

The last time I walked by the Tandy Bamboo Teepee I noticed that the bamboo poles that had been laying helter skelter on the ground had been arranged in a stack.

Today I found the Tandy Bamboo Teepee restored to its original glory. 7 or 8 poles have joined the triangle of poles that had been the Tandy Bamboo Teepee for many months.

Changing the subject, slightly, from Bamboo Teepees to my failing health. Lately I've mentioned, I mean, whined, a time or two about my allergic/asthma woes, combined with my aching arm joint woes.

I am pleased to be able to say that today both woes are a lot better.

Yesterday, Betty Jo Bouvier shared with me multiple speculations as to what might be causing my aching arms. Betty Jo suggested it might be arthritis, fibromyalgia, gout, or, what she believed to be the most likely cause, old age and its accompanying decrepitude.

Changing the subject from Betty Jo's diagnoses to the Tandy Hills Guerrilla Artist.

The mysterious Tandy Tire, that appeared a month or two ago, seemingly out of nowhere, has now been moved to the creek bed, due west of the most major creek crossing on the Tandy Highway.

I think it was trying to lift the Tandy Tire, months ago, that was the start of my aching arm woes.

The Tandy Tire is now wearing a black baseball cap. Does this have anything to do with the Texas Rangers being in the Super Bowl, I mean, World Series, again? Am I remembering right? Did the Dallas Mavericks win the NBA championship this year? If the Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl would that be the first time ever one metro area won the trifecta of professional sports championships?

I don't pay much attention to the NFL, but I can't help but notice that the Dallas Cowboys are not doing well and there is a lot of scorn heaped upon Tony Romo. I met Tony Romo, in Dallas, in person, several years ago. He was a likable guy. Apparently being a likable guy has little to do with throwing a football successfully.

Going Swimming On The 3rd Monday Of October Before An Arctic Blast Arrives

You are looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at the morning of day 17 of October.

The 3rd Monday of the 10th month of 2011 is starting off with a clear blue sky.

Soon, apparently, according to the weather gurus, north winds will begin to blow, with Tuesday's high getting only in to the 60s. With overnight lows in the lower 40s and maybe even down to the upper 30s.

Brrrr.

On a non-weather related note. I'd not heard from the Paradise Center lately, but I did this morning. Things are going great for the PC People. Rumors of Paradise Center closing are false. But, Paradise Center will be moving to a new and improved location. I will try and get around to being more detailed about what's up with the Paradise Center later today on the Paradise Center Blog.

In the meantime I'm going swimming before the winds from the Arctic arrive and make that activity uncomfortable.

A Sunday Walk To The Village Creek Bayou With Eerie Sightings Of Migratory Buzzards

I wanted to go to Pantego today, to ALDI, to get some food. The Village Creek Natural Historical Area is on the way to ALDI.

So, I stopped to walk along Village Creek under the giant oak trees and gaze out at the peaceful serenity of the now full of water Village Creek Bayou.

Life has returned to the formerly dry bayou. Life like turtles. Where did the turtles go when there was no water?

I've really had myself a tiresome past week. It began with some relative revelations first brought to me whilst I was walking along Village Creek. And continued with continuing relative revelations throughout the week.

By Saturday I had had enough with the relative revelations. Making today the first day in a week relatively free of relative revelations.

And don't get me started on the cryptic i-Phone messages I've been getting from Elsie Hotpepper today about migrating buzzards and eerie sightings.

The 3rd Sunday Of October Dawns Late

I am up well after the sun on this 3rd Sunday of October, as you can clearly see via my primary viewing portal on the world.

And no, my late awakening is not due to being out late saloon hopping with Elsie Hotpepper.

It is 31 degrees above freezing this morning at my location.

The allergic asthmatic misery that has been plaguing me of late seems to be a bit better this morning. I hope this improvement is a trend and not just some small lull in the ongoing storm.

My ongoing joint pain misery also seems a bit better this morning.

That's enough whining for now. I think I'll go swimming now and then do some more whining.

My Favorite Ex-Wife's Touchdown Tossing Cousin Dylan With Cheers From Ms. Sheffield & Comments About The Weasel J.D. Granger

Dylan Sheffield Catching Or Throwing A Football

I heard from my favorite ex-wife this morning, again, telling me, again, about the football exploits of her cousin, Dylan Sheffield, quarterback for the Wichita Falls Coyotes, who has an amazing knack for throwing an awful lot of touchdown passes.

A couple weeks ago my favorite ex-wife called to tell me that Dylan had broken the Texas State Record for most yards passed in a Texas High School Football Game.

Yesterday, Friday, which is the state sanctioned day for high school football games in Texas, Dylan made, I think, 7 touchdown passes.

I do not know if 7 touchdown passes is another Texas State Record. 7 seems like a lot of touchdown passes to me. But, I must admit, I am not much of a football aficionado.

In a totally un-related note, someone with the same last name as Dylan made a non-football related Cheer today in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Cheers & Jeers section.

Cheers: To Layla Caraway, Bob Lukeman and TRIP for winning the Conservation Award at the Glen Rose Film Festival! If you are concerned about out-of-control spending by your government or what's happening with your water, watch Up a Creek. Together, we can make a difference.
-- Debbie L. Sheffield, North Richland Hills

What a world of coincidences I live in. The Layla Caraway, whom Ms. Sheffield references, is the lady I mentioned when I blogged about Wednesday's TRIP Trinity River Vision Discussion Forum as the "star of Up a Creek" who informed me that J.D. Granger had weaseled out of being on the forum.

Since J.D.'s Wednesday Weaseling I have learned he previously weaseled out of a Fort Worth Republican Women's Club meeting at the Colonial Country Club and he weaseled out of a League of Women's Voters taping at the Fort Worth Intermodal Center.

Clearly the pattern, prior to J.D.'s Wednesday Weaseling, is that J.D. weasels when the event has the word "Women" in the event's name.

The only woman J.D. might have had reason to be scared of, who was part of Wednesday's Forum, was the formidable Gayle Reaves of Fort Worth Weekly, who was the only woman on the stage, being one of the 3 Society of Professional Journalists asking the questions.

If I were J.D. Granger I would have weaseled. I wouldn't want Gayle Reaves asking me any questions. Like I said, she is formidable. So is Layla Caraway. But she was not on the forum. However, like I said, she also is formidable. And I would not want her asking me questions either.

Checking Out The Watering Schedule At The Tandy Hills Today While Not Picking Any Good Strawberries

Lawn Whisperer Water Schedule Sign

The past couple weeks I've noticed signs popping up on lawns in various locations. I knew the signs had the Lawn Whisperer on them, but I'd not had a chance to see one of the Lawn Whisperer's signs up close til today when I parked on View Street to hike into the Tandy Hills hoping some sanatorium time would help mitigate some of what ails me.

Does anyone actually take this Stage 1 Watering Schedule serious? Is there some Water Gestapo monitoring people's water use?

Chesapeake Energy got into trouble with the City of Arlington due to some bad water behavior involving the fracking of one of their gas wells.

Methinks a lot of people distrust the water info the local official water info purveyors purvey, with the percentage of total consumption the Tarrant Regional Water District claims is used for fracking, just does not seem to be reasonable to most reasonable people. Claiming something like 68% of water goes to keeping lawns green while the millions upon millions of gallons of water used for fracking only amounts to a couple percent of total water used.

Anyway, hiking the Tandy Hills made me feel a little better, with the aerobic activity causing some endorphins to enter my blood stream and slightly alleviate the pain in my aching joints. Doing some heavy breathing also seems to have slightly improved this allergy/asthma thing I've got going on.

I got strawberries today at Town Talk. When am I ever going to learn that the strawberries with the name Driscoll's on the box, from California, do not taste like what I expect a strawberry to taste like? I have not had a real strawberry since July of 2008, when I was in Washington.

The Ides Of October Dawns Polluted Semi Deep In The Heart Of Texas

I'm appalled it is already the Ides of October. Day 15. The 3rd Saturday of the 10th month of 2011.

Time flies ever faster and I don't like it.

I also do not like the air that I breathe. I seem to be becoming evermore stuffed up with every passing day. Nasal spray intervention seems to be increasingly ineffective.

As you can sort of tell via the view from my secondary viewing portal on the world I am up about the same time as the sun this morning.

I think the diminished oxygen intake caused by my diminished air flow due to my diminished nasal passages is causing me cerebral pain in the form of a mild headache.

I am hoping a return to what I hope is a dried out Tandy Hills has some sort of restorative effect on me. But, before that I am going to see if going swimming has some restorative value.

Talk to you later.

Pat B. Wonders What Exactly Are J.D. Granger's Daily Responsibilities?

I got an email this morning from Pat B. asking me questions about the Trinity River Vision due to Pat B. being unable to find answers to questions via info searching.

Below is Pat. B.'s email....

Mr. Durango,

About six months ago my mind started wandering, as it often does, and I somehow became really interested in this TRV project. I have found it really difficult, even with extensive surfing of the net, to find much of any useful info and really not much info at all, considering the amount of money being spent. Several times during my searches I am led to your blog, which is helpful in that I find I am not the only person curious about what is going on with this project.

I wish I had known about the TRIP meeting at the Botanical Garden, because I would have loved to attend.

It seems strange to me that we are obtaining and demolishing properties to make room for some investor to build their restaurant or whatever there. Can you point me in the right direction to get my questions answered? 

I would especially like to know what work is being done presently, what with Kay Granger's earmarks drying up.

Also what exactly are J.D. Granger's daily responsibilities? We seem to be paying him a pretty hefty salary to organize tube parties in the nasty Trinity.

I grew up living on the shores of Lake Worth and spent many days in that mud hole and I still wouldn't put my pinkie toe in the Trinity. Sorry off subject. Seriously, I would like some answers, but can't seem to find out where to get them. 

Enjoy your blog BTW.

Thanks for your time,
Pat B.

Well, Pat B., I can sort of answer some of your questions.

I have no idea what J.D. Granger's responsibilities are, for which he is well paid. I do know they do not include appearing at public forums devoted to trying to understand what is being done to the Trinity River.

I don't believe any building was demolished to build Tim Love's new Woodshed restaurant. I don't even think it is on the land that encompasses the Trinity River Vision zone. I believe the Woodshed is upriver, on land controlled by the Tarrant Regional Water District. The TRWD oversees, or is part of, or is somehow involved with the Trinity River Vision. But, it must be a loose association, because TRWD board member, Jim Lane, was unable to convince J.D. Granger to join him on stage, on Wednesday, at the Trinity River Vision Discussion Forum.

If you drive Northside Drive between I-35 and Main Street you will see some of the Trinity River Vision Underway. And some parts of the project completed. Like the very important, very necessary Cowtown Wakeboard Park, referred to by some as the Cowtown Waterboard Park, for some torturous reason.

If you go here you will see some pictures I took on September 10, 2010 of what was going on then with the Trinity River Vision along Northside Drive.

If you go to Gateway Park by the Fort Woof Dog Park you will see some excellent Trinity River Vision signage explaining what the Trinity River Vision sees for Gateway Park.

The Trinity River Vision is quite good at signage. And brochures. The Trinity River Vision also has a well made website. I suspect you might not be able to find answers to many of your questions, though, on the Trinity River Vision website.