The 4th Tuesday Of November Dawns Dark After A Night Of Bad Insomnia

You might guess, via looking at the picture of my primary viewing portal on the outer world, that I am up well before the sun on this 4th Tuesday of the next to last month of 2011.

What you can not tell from the dark view is that it was one rough night of bad insomnia in Durango World.

Around 10 last night thunder began rumbling. The thunder continued rolling until sometime after 1 this morning.

After the thunder was turned off, with the return of peace and quiet, I was unable to fall asleep until some time after 4 this morning. And that only lasted til a little after 5.

So, I gave up on sleeping and got up and made coffee.

It is 47 degrees currently, at my location. I think the 24 hour average was above 50. I don't know if I have the energy to attempt swimming. I'll decide that after the sun decides to arrive for the day.

Walking Around Fort Worth's Fosdic Lake With Ducks While Looking For The Missing Elsie Hotpepper

Fosdic Lake Fosducks

I do not recollect walking around Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park, previously and so many birds. In addition to the quacking Fosducks there were a lot of birds in the trees.

Collectively all the Fosdic birds were making quite a lot of noise.

The atmosphere was being very hazy in the noon time frame. As I drove west towards my walking destination the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth was barely visible through whatever it is in the air that was reducing visibility.

It was 47 degrees in the outer world when I left my abode. When I finished my salubrious walk around Fosdic Lake as soon as started the engine of my motorized transport device rain began hitting the windshield. Not in copious amounts, but sufficient to require activating the windshields water removal device.

I did not go swimming this morning because I did not think the 24 hour temperature average was 50 degrees or above. It is 52 degrees, currently, in the middle of Monday afternoon. I don't think by tomorrow morning the 24 hour temperature will be 50 or above. Maybe I will try swimming anyway.

Has anyone heard from Elsie Hotpepper? I've not heard from EH since Saturday.

Alma, The Songbird Of The Texas Gulf Coast, Taught Me How To Successfully Peel A Hard-Boiled Egg

Blowing On A Hard-Boiled Egg

That sort of looks like me, in the picture, doing something to a white object.

But it is not me.

I think I've made mention previously of the fact that Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, currently crooning in various venues in Port Aransas, daily emails me a lot of good, funny, useful stuff.

I do not remember if I've made mention previously of the fact that I like to cook. I enjoy the process. To cook efficiently you have to juggle multiple issues. Having good cooking tools is helpful.

The one thing about cooking that has always vexed me, til now, is hard-boiled eggs. Sometimes they peel easy, sometimes they don't. I've Googled for tips on how to easily make easy to peel hard-boiled eggs and met with very limited success.

And then, a couple days ago, Alma emailed me a link to a YouTube video showing how to successfully peel a hard-boiled egg.

I watched the video and thought there was no way this would work.

The instructions were to boil the eggs at a soft boil, covered with 2 inches of water, for 12 minutes. Then cool the eggs. Then make a hole in each end of the egg. Then blow through a hole, popping out the egg, shell-free, at the other end.

The instructions also called for baking soda to be added to the water to raise the PH level. I had no baking soda when I tried the blow hole method of peeling an egg.

Without the baking soda I still had the easiest time ever of getting the shell of a hard-boiled egg. Previous to trying this I thought if the egg actually did pop out that it would be difficult to catch the flying egg. This turned out to be a non-issue.

Below is the YouTube video Alma sent me.....

The 3rd Monday Of November Dawns Cold & Cloudy While Fort Worth Visionaries Enter Their 4th Decade Of Visioning

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell we can sort of see that the dawn of the 3rd Monday of the next to last month of 2011 has dawned with clouds covering this parched part of the planet which I inhabit.

It is currently only 46 degrees in the outer world at my location.

I will not be going swimming this morning.

Changing subjects from my favorite subject, the weather, to something else.

I have long been a fan of goofy stuff I read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The Star-Telegram, to you reading this who are not in Texas, is what passes for a newspaper in this part of the world.

This morning, in the Star-Telegram...

In January, hundreds of "visionaries" will begin the yearlong process of designing the fourth, 10-year master plan for downtown Fort Worth.

Downtown residents, business and property owners, civic and government leaders and representatives from surrounding neighborhoods will be asked to participate in so-called visioning sessions conducted by Downtown Fort Worth Inc.

The process has worked well in the past, so Andy Taft, president of Downtown Fort Worth Inc., a nonprofit advocacy group that oversees downtown, decided to continue it.
The past three plans are responsible for much of how downtown looks. "The last strategic plans were very well-received," Taft said.

Hyde Park at Ninth and Throckmorton streets, the redesign of Burnett Park off Seventh and Lamar streets, the new design of the bus passenger shelters, Molly the Trolley and parking improvements are examples of some completed projects.

"More cities than not go through elaborate planning," Taft said.

Do I really need to make any mocking comments about this? I don't think so. It pretty much mocks itself.

Walking & Talking With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Thinking About Fred Jackson & Bubba's Sex Change

Village Creek Kids Looking For Turtles

I don't know what happened to the 80 something degrees those weather predictors predicted for today. It was 65 when I went swimming this morning. Now, at around an hour past noon that number has reversed and it is now 56 degrees in the outer world in my location.

The forecast is still forecasting Thunder and Rain and has added tomorrow, Monday, as a wet, electrical day.

I went to one of my favorite walking locations, the Village Creek Natural Historical Area, today. On Sunday's there are a lot of people enjoying walking and playing with the Indian Spirits that inhabit the Historical Area, including the two little kids and their dad you see in the picture.

Changing the subject now to football.

Village Creek is in Arlington. Arlington is where the Dallas Cowboys play football. A couple days ago I blogged about NFL Films wanting to use some of my photos of the destruction caused by the worst abuse of eminent domain in American history. The person who contacted me from NFL Films told me they were doing a story on Fred Jackson and his boyhood home that had been lost to the Cowboy bulldozers. I had no clue who Fred Jackson was or why NFL Films would focus on him.

And then I heard from JJ..........

JJ has left a new comment on your post "A Cloudy Cold Tandy Hills With The Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal Back Haunting Me": 

Hey Durango, Fred Jackson is playing a key role in the success of the NFL's Buffalo Bills. He was born in FW but grew up in the Arlington neighborhood that was located in and around the current Eminent Domain Abuse Stadium. Could be an interesting story, especially considering all the odds that this guy had to overcome in order to compete at the highest level, especially his small stature + playing in a tiny college, not picked by any NFL team, etc. 

Changing the subject from football to running around Christmas lights. A couple days ago I mentioned Cori asking me if I thought it doable to do a group run past the Interlochen Christmas lights. This morning I heard from Bubba with an alternative suggestion...

Bubba has left a new comment on your post "Walking With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Think About Running Past The Interlochen Christmas Lights With Cori": 

Cori and his fellow runners should consider the Diamond Loch area in Haltom City and North Richland Hills. The decorations are on a smaller scale but comparable to the way overcrowded and tiny streets in Interlochen. Plus the said neighborhood is right off of loop 820 and Ruff Snow, with lots of parking/staging in nearby parks and schools and churches. And the streets are very wide and thus much safer for walkers/cyclers/runners. BTW, who is Cori and co. running from?? Do they need some good hiding places, too? 

Bubba has turned Cori from a girl into a guy. That's disturbing.

The 3rd Sunday Of November Dawns Dry & Warm In This Parched Part Of The Planet

The view from my primary viewing portal on the world is not frosty this 20th morning of the next to last month of 2011.

The sun is up on the 3rd Sunday of November, currently heating the outer world in my location on this parched part of the planet to a balmy, for this time of year, 68 degrees.

I have the window open of my primary viewing portal. I believe this to be unprecedented at this point in time in the rapidly approaching Winter.

We are in Day Two of the rain predictors predicting rain.

So far, at least where I have been, total dryness has prevailed. Currently I'd call what hovers above to be light cloudiness. Not as stormy looking as yesterday morning.

MKB's Computer Screen

A few days ago we got to the edge of freezing. This put what appeared to be frost on my primary viewing portal. I took a picture of the frosty window.

Later that day I was scrolling through all the babble on Facebook when I saw a picture that looked familiar.

My favorite Tacomaite, MKB, had taken the picture of my frosty window and turned it into the background on her computer screen, so she could have a window in her windowless cubicle at work.

It is now time for me to venture into the outer world and find my way to a swimming pool to have a very pleasant swim in very pleasant temperatures.

On The Windy Tandy Hills Missing Elsie Hotpepper While Getting Vertigo From The Leaning Tower Of Tandy

The Stunning Skyline Of Beautiful Downtown
Fort Worth From High Atop Mount Tandy

In the picture you are on top of Mount Tandy, looking west towards the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, at a few minutes after noon.

The wind was blowing quite hard on the Tandy Hills today, blowing from the west.

Looking up at the tower, known as the Fort Worth Space Needle, made me dizzy with the tower seeming to sway.

The wind was so strong the the tower was bending to the east, making the eastside support cables slack, while the ones on the westside were pulled tight. Seeing this made me wonder if these type cables ever snap. And what happens to such a tower if a tornado passes by.

The Leaning Tower Of Tandy

Looking up at the tower, and the clouds racing by it making me dizzy, made me think of Carlotta Camano and her bout of Vertigo she told me about yesterday. My only experience with the subject of Vertigo, previously, was the Hitchcock movie of that name, with Jimmy Stewart plagued with Vertigo.

Changing the subject from Vertigo to Elsie Hotpepper.

Ms. Hotpepper had been missing for a couple days. But, she was supposed to meet me on top of Mount Tandy today to go for some salubrious hill hiking.

But, upon arrival on top of the mountain, there was no Hotpepper. I called the Hotpepper Hotline, but got no answer.

So, I did my hill hiking solo.

Then, an hour or so later, I was in Town Talk when the phone rang. It was Elsie Hotpepper wanting me to now meet her at The Point on Lake Worth for a hamburger, and, I assume, some Happy Houring. No mention was made of not showing up on top of Mount Tandy. And I did not ask. And I did not go to The Point.

Changing the subject from the erratic Elsie Hotpepper to my favorite subject.

The weather.

So far the predicted rain has not fallen on any of the locations I have been at. It was in the 70 degree zone when I did my hill hiking today. It is 77 right now at a little after 4.

I stayed in the pool for a long time this morning. The water will be even warmer tomorrow morning.

The 3rd Saturday Of November Dawns With A Stormy Sky Over Texas

You can not tell via the picture view through the bars of my patio prison cell that a cloudy stormy sky is hovering above on this 3rd Saturday, Day 19, of the next to last month of 2011.

It is currently being heated to 65 degrees in the outer world at my location on this parched part of the planet.

If the weather predictors are predicting correctly, by the end of today this parched part of the planet should be less parched than it is at the present moment.

Supposedly there is a 75% change of rain today, along with Thunderstorms. More so tomorrow.

The temperature high today is predicted to be 74 degrees. Tomorrow is scheduled to get into the 80s.

These balmy temperatures should have that aquamarine thing you see in the above picture warm enough for a pleasant swim this morning, hopefully without incoming lightning bolts. I think I will go do that right now.

Walking With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Thinking About Running Past The Interlochen Christmas Lights With Cori

Otherworldly Red Leaves In
 Village Creek Natural Historical Area

Even though it was only 42 degrees at the time I did so, I did get in the pool this morning. For a short time. And then I retreated to the hot tub.

On my way to Pantego to the ALDI Food Market today I stopped for a walking with the Native American ghosts who haunt the Village Creek Natural Historical Area in Arlington.

Since I last walked with the ghosts the red leaves you see in the picture appeared. My photographer skills do not do justice to how other worldly this plant was looking today.

The paved trail through the Village Creek Natural Area takes you to the Interlochen neighborhood, widely believed by many who live in this parched part of the planet to be the location of the best Christmas lighting displays in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.

I don't know if it ironic or coincidental, or both, but the first email I saw upon waking up my computer, upon my return, was a comment from Cori asking me about Interlochen.....

cori has left a new comment on your post "Interlochen Christmas Lights Map & Directions": 

Durango!
I am thinking about setting up a little group run with my friends through a Christmas lit neightborhood and interlochen seems to be the best one around, but do you think they would let us in, and would there be too much traffic? I'm not sure of the set up with the sidewalks and what have you. 

Let me know your thoughts and you're of course invited! 

I can not remember the last time I went running with Cori through a neighborhood lit up for Christmas. I don't see why this would not be doable. One would need to find a place to park and assemble outside the Interlochen zone and then jog right past the police directing the traffic.

It has been a few years since I've toured the Interlochen Christmas lights. I think the last time was with Miss Puerto Rico. Those Interlochen lights will be lit up a week from today, that being the day after Thanksgiving.

The Cold Morning Of The Third Friday Of November Thinking About Snow & Ferris Wheels

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell the morning of the 3rd Friday of the next to last month of 2011 I can see the sky is clear, I can feel the wind is blowing.

And it is cold.

As in 41 degrees.

I don't know how warm it got yesterday so I don't know if the 24 hour temperature average meets my 50 degrees of above criteria that allows for getting in that turquoise body of water.

The most outrageous thing I read in the local news today was the story of a mom going to pick up her kid at a Fort Worth day care to be told that her daughter had been complaining of sore ears. When the mom looked at her kid's ears she saw they had been pierced and had earrings dangling from them. A day care assistant had pierced the kids ears.

Now, where this gets outrageous, to me, is the piercer was not immediately fired, the police did not treat the piercing as a crime and instead called in Child Protective Services to investigate the day care center.

Bizarre.

Switching the subject from bizarre Fort Worth news to Western Washington news.

A slight chance of snow is in the forecast for the Puget Sound lowlands today. There is no slight chance of snow in the forecast today for the lowlands of my zone of Texas.

In other interesting news from Washington, a big Ferris Wheel with air-conditioned gondolas has been approved to be built on Pier 57 on the Seattle waterfront.

Pier 57 is the pier with the carousel, so a Ferris Wheel will fit in nicely. I believe the wheel will be at the end of the pier, likely sticking out over the water. If I remember right, Pier 57 is near the bottom of the Pike Place Hillclimb, near the aquarium.

I wonder if when the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle finally clears its vision if piers will be built out onto the little lake that is part of the vision? I doubt there will be any ferry boats taking people across the lake.

Below is a short YouTube video of Pier 57....