The First Morning Of March Roars In Like A Meek Lion

Stepping outside to check out the outer world from my secondary viewing portal on this first morning of a new month it appears that March has roared in like a very meek lion.

A very meek lion chilled 5 degrees colder, at 50 degrees, than the last morning of February.

50 degrees has me thinking I may not go swimming this morning. Yesterday's swim was a bit on the bracing side.

In about 3 weeks the Vernal Equinox should arrive. By that point in time I should be back being able to reliably get my early morning swimming aerobic stimulation again. I hope.

Changing the subject once again from the sublime to the ridiculous.

I read this morning that up in my old home state Ron Paul is fussing with the Republican party of King County, that being where Seattle is located, over something to do with Saturday's caucuses.

I'm thinking Ron Paul is likely appealing to a lot of Washington's inordinate number of extremely free-spirited wacky thinkers.

If Ron Paul wins the Washington caucuses is this embarrassing for Washington? I suspect a maybe on that question.

What I do know for sure is if I was currently residing in Washington I'd be going to my Republican caucus on Saturday and voting for Ron Paul. He so reminds me of the crazy uncle I always wish I'd had.

On The Tandy Hills Finding A Football, Underwear & Armadillo While Wondering About Elsie Hotpepper Wanting To Be A Snake Charmer

Mysterious Shorts, Underwear & Football

Today on the Tandy Hills I went where I seldom go. I parked on View Street, which had me heading to the hills via the View Street Trail.

At the first trail junction I headed west instead of my regular east.

The west side of the View Street Trail is more heavily wooded, more primitively trailed, more easy to get a bit lost and way less visited than the not visited all that much east side of the View Street Trail.

At one point the trail I was on pretty much petered out at a creek running crystal clear water. I crossed the creek and came upon an odd scene.

A football and black jockey briefs on the ground, with a pair of shorts hanging above them on a bush.

Why would anyone carry a football to this isolated location, then take off and leave their shorts and underwear?

Is This The Remains Of An Armadillo?

A short distance from the football I came upon another perplexing sight.

A few days ago I mentioned that I had never seen an armadillo on the Tandy Hills and suggested some of that particular State Animal of Texas should be imported to the Tandy Hills.

Well.

Today I came upon what looked to be the remains of the shell of an armadillo. I don't know what else it could have been if it is not an armadillo.

Changing the subject from one of my favorite Texas animals to one of my favorite Texans, Elsie Hotpepper.

Today I had to deliver sad news to Elsie Hotpepper. For who knows what reason Elsie had her heart set on entering the Miss Snake Charmer Pageant in the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup.

I did not enjoy delivering to Elsie the heartbreaking news that she did not have time to register as a student at Sweetwater High School in time to qualify for the Miss Snake Charmer Pageant.

Maybe next year.

Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup Weekend Kick Off Is Thursday March 8 With The Rattlesnake Review Parade

Serving Up Deep-Fried Rattlesnake At
The Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup

Lately I have noticed an uptick in the number of comments to my YouTube video of the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup.

This due to the fact that the Roundup takes place, annually, the second weekend of March.

I thought I had just updated the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup info on my Eyes on Texas website.

But I had not.

Yet one more example of how fast a year zips by.

Below is the 2012 Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup info so you can find out when you need to be in Sweetwater for the Miss Snake Charmer Pageant and other Roundup events....

The Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup weekend will officially kick off on Thursday, March 8, 2012 with the Rattlesnake Review Parade at 4pm through downtown Sweetwater. That evening, you can attend the Miss Snake Charmer Pageant held in the Sweetwater Municipal Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. The doors will open at 8:00 a.m. Friday March 9, 2012 for the 54th Annual Sweetwater Jaycees World's Largest Rattlesnake Round-Up with snakes being weighed in at 7:00 a.m. that morning at the Nolan County Coliseum. Catch one of the snake Safety demonstrations while you are at the Roundup and don't forget to try some deep-fried Western Diamondback Rattlesnake meat.

The Last Day Of February Pondering The Sublime & The Ridiculous

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world on this last day of the second month of 2012 it does not appear any of the predicted precipitation precipitated overnight.

The landscape at my location is dry.

I also heard none of the predicted lightning strikes last night.

Currently tomorrow's first day of March is predicted to roar in like a semi-HOT lion with the predicted high being 81 degrees.

Changing the subject from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Mitt Romney won both Republican primaries yesterday.

Newt Gingrich tried to explain to the zealot Rick Santorum that he was comprehension challenged when Santorum said a 1960 JFK speech made him want to throw up. Gingrich praised the speech.

Next up for the Republicans is Saturday's Washington caucus. My one and only time of going to a Washington caucus was the year Clinton ended up getting elected. I voted for Paul Tsongas at my caucus.

I hope, on Saturday, the Washington Republican caucus does something interesting, like giving the win to Ron Paul.

Enough of the ridiculous, I'm going swimming now. What with it being a balmy 55 degrees at this point in time this morning.

A Very Particular Texas Lady With A Chunky Monkey Mind

I know a young lady here in Texas, a lifelong Texan, who likes Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey Ice Cream.

She claims eating Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey Ice Cream calms her mental chatter one spoonful at a time.

A few weeks ago I took a picture of this very particular Texas lady. When this very particular Texas lady saw this picture she told me to erase it because it made her look fat.

I was shocked.

I told this very particular Texas lady that the picture did not make her look fat, that it was all the Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey Ice Cream she has been eating, a spoonful at a time, that has given her a Rubenesque Kardashianish Bootiliciously Bodacious Bodunkadunk.

I thought this very particular Texas lady would appreciate being told she had developed a very nice Rubenesque Kardashianish Bootiliciously Bodacious Bodunkadunk. Some people pay a lot of money to get those things.

But, I have long learned that some people just can not take a compliment, no matter how nicely it is delivered.

Getting Endorphins With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts While Making Pipeline Inspections

Walking with the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area was my choice today of where to go to get myself some endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

A few drops of precipitation precipitated on me whilst I was getting endorphinized.

The pipeline across Village Creek, that you see in the picture, is a short distance south of the Village Creek Blue Bayou. A side trail, off the soccer field, leads to the pipeline dead end.

I have no idea what flows through this particular pipeline. It looks a bit flimsy, with its span supported by cable attached to its mid-section.

Changing the subject from flimsy pipelines to something else.

I have not heard from my favorite Chunky Monkey today. I do not know if I should be concerned and consider issuing a BOLO. Or not.

Did Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price Shoot Congresswoman Kay Granger At The Party In Fort Worth?

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price's Pirate Entourage

I did not see the scene on the left when I was at Saturday night's The Party In Fort Worth, held in Fort Worth's private party club, the taxpayer paid Fort Worth Convention Center.

The only person I can identify, for certain in the scene, is Fort Worth Mayor, Betsy Price, who seems to be packing heat, which she appears to be firing in the direction of a pirate who appears to be, possibly, Fort Worth's notorious Congresswoman, Kay Granger, also known as Queen Earmark.

If that is Queen Earmark getting shot on the right, would that make the pirate standing on the left Fort Worth's poster boy for nepotism run amok, Kay's baby boy, J.D.?

All I know for sure is this is the first instance of a Fort Worth mayor engaging in gunplay in downtown Fort Worth since Fort Worth's former mayor, Mike Moncrief, shot up downtown Fort Worth with his fellow gun nut, Texas Governor, Rick Perry, in shots seen around the world.

The Next To Last Day Of February Thinking About Rick Santorum Throwing Up Over JFK

I stepped outside to take a photo from my secondary viewing portal on the outer world on the next to last day of the second month of 2012 to feel a light drizzle descending upon the earth at my location on the planet.

I heard a short rainstorm dripping down in the middle of the night. More of that is scheduled for today, along with some possible electric storm action.

Currently, with the nuclear sky orb having arrived to do its daily heating duties, the outer world is warmed to 60 degrees at my location, according to my computer based temperature monitoring device.

Changing the subject from my favorite one to one of my least favorite subjects, that being the current American presidential election process.

I may be wrong, because I often am, but I think Republican Rick Santorum may have shot himself in the foot by repeatedly saying that a speech made by JFK in the 1960 presidential campaign made him want to throw up.

Opining that an opinion in a speech made over a half century ago makes one want to throw up sounds very un-presidential to me.

JFK was a Catholic addressing the issue of the proper place for religion in the American political system. Rick Santorum, a fellow Catholic, thinking he should be the 2nd Catholic elected president, does not seem to understand the point JFK was making.

If Rick Santorum gets the Republican nomination I suspect it will cause me to do something I did not think I would do again. As in vote for Obama.

The Sun Sets Bright Orange This Monday Night In Texas

I exited my local neighborhood Sam's Club this early evening to see the setting sun casting a bright orange glow. It looked like what photos I've seen of nuclear bomb detonations look like. Which I guess makes sense since the sun is a non-stop nuclear explosion a long ways away.

I don't recollect ever seeing sunsets of this type whilst I watched the sun set in Washington. Does the special mix of air pollutants we are blessed with here in Texas contribute to the colorfulness? I have no way of knowing, but I suspect so.

Balmy temperatures this early evening. 66 degrees. I have my computer room window open.

Was That A Trout Lily I Saw Today On The Tandy Hills Along With A Man In Black?

This May Be A Tandy Hills Trout Lily

I have not gone on any of the annual Botanist led Trout Lily Nature Hikes on the Tandy Hills, so I am not certain I know for sure what a Trout Lily looks like, but I think this wildflower I saw today on the Tandy Hills may be one of the elusive Trout Lilies.

This particular bloom was located beside the trail that leads up the hill to the south of the Tandy Bamboo Teepee Grotto.

Signs of springs are starting to add color to the currently mostly brown Texas prairie.

I think we may be heading to a very good Texas wildflower season. If you have not visited Texas before and you want to see the state when it is being its most colorful, make your way here the coming Spring.

In addition to the alleged Trout Lily I had another unusual siting today on the Tandy Hills.

Tandy Creek Roaring Over Tandy Falls

As I hiked down Mount Tandy I saw on a distant trail another human. A Man in Black. I do not know who the Man in Black managed it, but somehow by the time I got my camera out to take a picture of the surprising amount of water flowing over Tandy Hills, the Man in Black suddenly was on the north side of the falls.

I howdy-ed the Man in Black, which is proper Texas trail etiquette. The Man in Black howdy-ed me back. And continued on his way, surprisingly via the still very muddy, formerly raw sewage flooded, Tandy Highway.

I then climbed the steep trail that leads west to the View Street trail. A short time after that I was surprised to encounter the Man in Black again. That was one fast moving Man in Black.

Changing the subject from the Man in Black to something else.

I think some armadillos should be moved to the Tandy Hills. It does not seem right that I've seen dozens of armadillos over the years at River Legacy Park and the Village Creek Natural Historical Area, but never a single armadillo on the Tandy Hills.