My First Day In Arizona With A Double Filet-O-Fish & Lost Bets

Desert Mountains East Of Phoenix

In the picture I am about 30 miles from being on the ground in Phoenix. It'd been about 3 years since I've seen scenic scenery of the mountain sort.

I was surprised by the big lake to the east of Phoenix. I later learned it was called Lake Roosevelt. Washington has a Lake Roosevelt on the Columbia River behind Grand Coulee Dam. I saw no dam that accounted for this Lake Roosevelt.

I had no annoying incidents flying US Airways today. Except for the fact that the last time I flew this airline it was still US West and then, in addition to something to drink, they also threw you a bag of something to open up and eat.

Hiking Through Sky Harbor Airport

Today was my first time experiencing the new thing, to me, of ordering small morsels of food and paying for it with a credit card swiping device.

This was also the first time I've flown since virtually every airline, except Southwest, charges to check in a bag. This charge to check in a bag seems to have caused people to try and take too much on board, which resulted in the overhead bins getting too full and causing those with wheeled on carry-ons to be told they had to check in their bag.

I said earlier today that my only walking today would likely be via the long hike through an airport. This turned out to be true. So far. The Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport helps speed up the walking with a moving sidewalk. At the end of the moving sidewalks I had to do some auto-walking en route to the baggage claim area.

When I finally saw the baggage claim area I also suddenly saw my mom and dad and sister. Soon my sister was driving us out of the Phoenix Airport. My sister said it was the biggest airport in the world. I did not disabuse my sister of this notion because I'd already been humiliated by saying that Susan Lucci had never been on Dancing with the Stars. My sister made a bet with me on this issue and then quickly used her smart phone to prove me wrong.

McDonald's Is My Kind Of Place

The loser of the Susan Lucci bet has to get into my sister's swimming pool. Methinks this may have been what is known as a sucker bet, with my sister, apparently, not knowing that me getting in a pool this time of year is no problem at all.

After we finally left the world's biggest airport my sister drove us all over looking for a place to eat.

I have to say, one thing has really struck me, so far, every where I go in the Phoenix zone the land is landscaped. Every intersection, every freeway exit, everywhere. It is such a contrast with a certain other area of the Southwest with which I am familiar that does not even landscape the freeway exits to its top tourist attraction.

Eventually my sister found this really cool restaurant called McDonald's. My sister told me all the McDonald's with which she is associated have been re-tooled into the slick ultra modern type one she took me to today.

Heavy Traffic In The Desert Outside Phoenix

I had a Double Filet-O-Fish. With some other things. One of which was a Mango/Pineapple Smoothie.

Soon after we left McDonald's, we left civilization and passed through desert that is Indian land. Eventually this led us to Sun Lakes and my mom and dad's place, which is where I am now.

It is rather warm. I don't know if air conditioning exists in this part of the country. I suspect it does, but it is not running at my current location.

I just checked. It is currently 84 degrees at my current location on the planet. The location I left a few hours ago is currently 74 degrees.

I think I'll take a walk around the grounds and take some pictures of palm trees, citrus trees and cactus.

The Ides Of March Dawns Warm & Humid In Texas

I am looking out my primary viewing portal on this 15th morning of the 3rd month of 2012 being very beware of the portentous date that is the Ides of March.

On this day, over a couple thousand years ago, in 44 B.C. to be precise, Julius Caesar was stabbed to death, from 23 knife pokings, by a conspiratorial group of Roman Senators.

Even though our current American Senators and Representatives are held in low regard due to their partisan squabbling, I guess we can take some solace in the fact that the politicians who represent the American Empire are better behaved, for the most part, than the politicians who represented the Roman Empire.

Changing the subject from assassinating Romans to the weather.

It is currently 68 degrees and humid at my location. It is 56 degrees and not humid at the location I will be located at in about 8 hours.

I have no idea what I will be seeing via the view from my primary viewing portal on the outer world tomorrow morning. Maybe a cactus, palm and blossoming orange tree.

The sun is now arriving to begin its illumination duty. This means it is time to go swimming one more time before I depart for a colder climate.

One Last Walk With The Keechi Creek Indian Ghosts Before I Relocate To The Sonoran Desert

Today was the last day for awhile for me to walk with the Indian Ghosts who haunt the Keechi Creek Natural Historical Area, formerly known as the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

Currently the Keechi Creek Blue Bayou is being the Keechi Creek Green Bayou.

Today is being cloudy and humid in North Texas, at 76 degrees.

I think I will leave this humid zone for awhile and go spend some time in the Sonoran Desert.

Tomorrow I think my only hiking may occur via walking through airport terminals.

I got gas today on my way to walk with the Indian Ghosts, so I called my mom and dad to tell them I got gas and how much it cost. My mom told me I could have waited and just given them this important information tomorrow in person.

I had not heard from Elsie Hotpepper today til just seconds ago when she informed me that she had no clue. I have no clue what Elsie has no clue about.

The 2nd Wednesday Of March Dawns Warm In Texas Cooler In Arizona

The shadow of the soon to be skinny dipping thin man is up early on this 14th day of the 3rd month of 2012.

With about a week to go til spring I have my computer room window open this morning. It is currently 66 degrees outside at my location.

I see a long swim in my future this morning.

Spencer Jack and his dad are flying to Phoenix today. I don't know if I will be seeing them until a Friday BBQ at my sister's house in Chandler.

I keep forgetting to inquire if I should bring cool weather clothes with me to Phoenix. This morning I realized I could just check the Phoenix weather and draw my own conclusion. As you can see, it is colder, currently, in Phoenix, than it is in Fort Worth.

And Fort Worth's 5 Day Forecast is a bit warmer than the Forecast for Phoenix. I don't think I will shivering in Phoenix, though, unlike summer in Tacoma.

Ths sun is starting to provide its daily illumination service. It is time to go swimming.

Walking Today In Quanah Parker Park Listening To The Quanah Parker Comanche Blues

Today was the first time I've been back to Quanah Parker Park since I've been reading Empire of the Summer, a very excellent book about Quanah Parker and the Comanche tribe.

Over the years there have been many times when I have arrived at Quanah Parker Park and stepped out of my motorized vehicular transport to be surprised by the mournful sounds blaring from a solo saxophonist.

Today was the first time this year I have heard the Quanah Parker Park solo saxophonist.

I think the tune being played today may have been the Quanah Parker Comanche Blues.

Today, looking at the sign commemorating Quanah Parker at Quanah Parker Park, I could not help but wonder if, at some time during his raiding career, Quanah Parker parked his tribed at the location on the Trinity River which is the location of the park named after him.

One of Quanah's Parker relatives lived a short distance to the east of Quanah Parker Park, in the now, long gone, town of Birdville, near the now, long gone, Bird's Fort, which was located at the northern edge of the east side of River Legacy Park in Arlington.

When Quanah Parker finally gave up the fight and moved to the Comanche Reservation near Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he quickly worked hard to adapt to American ways.

Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, he being the man many think was the best Indian fighter of all the American Indian fighters, was the man who was finally able to get Quanah Parker to give up the fight.

The sign telling the short version of the story of Quanah Parker, in Quanah Parker Park, mentions that he became friends with President Theodore Roosevelt and Charles Goodnight.

The sign neglects to mention Quanah Parker's surprising friendship with Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, which began soon after Quanah's Comanches surrendered.

Mackenzie wrote letters on Quanah's behalf to Quanah's mother's relatives. It was Mackenzie who found out and told Quanah that his mother, Cynthia Ann and sister, Prairie Flower, were dead.

Quanah wanted to learn the white man's ways, asked Mackenzie to help him, and so Mackenzie did.

Quanah Parker Wearing
Business Suit & Tophat

In the years that followed, those who met Quanah Parker were at times startled by his refined good manners. Quanah would explain he was taught how to be like a white man by Colonel Ranald Mackenzie.

The Parkers rebuffed Quanah's initial attempts to make contact with them. I do not know, yet, if in later years, after Quanah Parker became widely respected in the Anglo world, and due to wise investments, the wealthiest American Indian, if the Parkers accepted Quanah and his offspring into their clan.

Are any of Quanah Parker's descendants leaders in today's Comanche Tribe, I can't help but wonder.

The 2nd Tuesday Of March Is Starting Very Early

Looking at the very very dark view from my primary viewing portal on the outer world on this 2nd Tuesday of the 3rd month of 2012 you might guess I am up way before the arrival of the illuminating sky orb.

You would be guessing correctly.

I woke up a 4 this morning and was unable to re-slumber myself.

Just a couple days ago 4 in the morning was 3 in the morning, prior to getting the great benefit of saving daylight time.

Three mornings from this morning I will likely be waking up in a place where daylight is not saved.

I don't know why they don't save daylight in Arizona. Maybe it is because they have so much of it. Not all of Arizona refuses to save daylight. North of the Grand Canyon is on Utah time. Utah does save daylight.

This morning, well before the sun arrives to begun its solar heating duty, it is 62 degrees at my location. Yesterday we got into the 80s.

These balmy temperature would seem to indicate I am going swimming this morning. I may not wait until the arrival of natural light.

See You At Prairie Fest 1 Saturday March 31 On The Tandy Hills

Previous to today I thought that due to the fact that I will be a thousand miles distant on the occasion of the first of the 3 part Prairie Fests of 2012, that I would not be able to do any March Prairie Festing.

As I so often do, I thought wrong.

I had erroneously thought that the Prairie Fests were happening on the next to last Saturday of March, April and May.

However, I have now learned, from the Don of the Tandy Hills, that the Prairie Fests will be happening on the final Saturdays of March, April and May.

So, I should be back in the D/FW Metroplex in plenty of time to do myself some Prairie Festing.

I like the changes made to the Prairie Fest. Having vendors and displays seemed an awful lot of bother, to me, for a one day event, with that event being very vulnerable to weather calamity.

That, and last year I really did not like the vendor calamity I found myself in when I found myself helping man the TRIP booth, when suddenly, in mid Prairie Fest, I am told it is time to dismantle our booth. And so I helped doing so, hauling all sorts of heavy things, like building blocks, through the festival grounds.

At one point I lost control of my building blocks and almost did serious damage to a young lady sitting on a hay bale.

To this day I do not know what the reason was for the sudden TRIP evacuation from the Prairie Fest. I tend not to ask questions, with it much easier simply to follow orders when being told what to do by a dominant female who packs heat.

Taking A Spring Break At Fosdic Lake With Comanche Braves, Duck Feeding & New Restroom Facilities

A Fort Worth Park Gets Indoor Plumbing

I was really pleased today to see some solid progress indicating that the City of Fort Worth is taking huge steps towards bringing its parks into the modern era.

Specifically, modern restroom facilities have been built near the Oakland Lake Park picnic pavilion.

What an upgrade!

Can running water be far behind? Imagine the luxury of being able to wash your hands after using the fancy new restrooms. Or being able to use running water to help facilitate a pleasant picnic.

With progress like this it is a wonder to me why so many people don't understand how it is that Fort Worth makes the rest of the world Green with Envy.

Comanche Braves Scouting Fosdic Lake

Yesterday I mentioned that I am enjoying reading S.C. Gwynne's Empire of the Summer Moon, about Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the Comanches.

I am very impressionable and easily influenced by what I read.

Which may explain why, when I saw the scene in the picture above, I thought I was looking at a pair of Comanche braves on their Mustangs on a scouting expedition in preparation for a raid on Oakland Lake Park.

This marked the first time I have ever seen horses in Oakland Lake Park. From whence did they come? Who has horses corralled in this residential area? Could these Comanche braves be living under the Tandy Bamboo Teepee? Do these two horses account for the rash of horse hoof prints that have appeared all over the Tandy Hills' trails?

Fosduck Feeding Frenzy

Authentic Comanche built their teepee lodges out of Lodgepole pine logs, not bamboo. I suspect the Tandy Bamboo Teepee is not Comanche in origin.

There were dozens of kids on the loose, playing around Fosdic Lake today, in Oakland Lake Park. What is the holiday, I wondered?  March 12? Why are kids out of school?

Eventually I asked and learned it is Spring Break.

A mom and dad and little kid had the Fosducks in a feeding frenzy, today, as you can see in the last picture. I do not think the Fosdic ducks migrate north for the summer. They are too well fed whilst living in Fosdic Lake.

The 2nd Monday Of March Dawns Late With A Blue Rain-Free Sky

Looking at the outer world through the bars of my patio prison cell, via my secondary viewing portal on the outer world, it appears that the nuclear sky orb is well on its way to doing its daily illumination duty on this 2nd Monday of the 3rd month of 2012.

At Day 12 we are rapidly approaching the Ides of March.

I think I can type, without fear of once again being wrong, that over a third of March has now passed into history.

Now that we are on Day 2 of Daylight Saving Time I remember it is this particular time switch that I do not like.

Last night I found myself still up and about past midnight. Which had me up, this morning, after the sun.

If I find a one hour time change discombobulating, I suspect a 17 hour plane ride, to the west, that had me crossing the International Date Line, out in the mid-Pacific, would really have me messed up.

I won't be going swimming this morning. It is too late for that. That and it is also too cold.

My Regular Sunday Walk With Arlington's Keechi Creek Indian Ghosts Wondering If Buffalo Hump Visited Village Creek While Exploring The Empire Of The Summer Moon

The last couple days of rain has caused the Village Creek Natural Historical Area, aka Keechi Creek Natural Historical Area, to suddenly turn into a green jungle rain forest.

I had myself a very pleasant walk through the Keechi Rain Forest today.

I am currently reading the most interesting book I've read in a long while.

EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON: Quanah Parker and the RISE and FALL of the COMANCHES, the Most POWERFUL INDIAN Tribe in American History, by S.C. Gwynne.

There are many reasons why this book is interesting, one of which is the areas talked about in the book are often areas of Texas with which I am familiar. Like locations of Indian Villages back in the days when there were still Indian Villages before the Texans evicted the natives in a primitive version of eminent domain abuse which in later years the Texans would perfect into a world class art form.

I'd heard of Buffalo Hump prior to reading Empire of the Summer Moon, but I thought he was a fictional Comanche chief made up by Larry McMurtry in some of the books in his Lonesome Dove series, like Comanche Moon and Man's Walk.

Buffalo Hump was born in the late 1790s, died in 1870. He was a powerful War Chief of the Penateka Band of the Comanche.

Buffalo Hump's Comanche name was Numu Tekwapu. This name transliterated as Po-cha-na-quar-hip. What this meant in English embarrassed the prudish Victorian Texans, so they took to calling Numu Tekwapu, Buffalo Hump.

What could Buffalo Hump's Comanche name possibly have meant, that Texans did not want to make a name for it, you can't help but wonder, can you?

The Comanche meaning of the name, which the Texans did not want to Americanize, was "erection that won't go down".

I suspect Buffalo Hump had many wives.

Some historical events, in Texas, have remained in the collective memory, like remembering the Alamo. Others have been largely forgotten. Like the Council House Fight and what followed the Council House Fight, that being Buffalo Hump's Great Raid of 1840.

Buffalo Hump was so mad about being betrayed by the Texans, at the Council House Fight, that he organized a big war party of Comanche, which he led from the north of Texas all the way past San Antonio to the Texas Gulf Coast, where the city of Victoria was attacked and the shipping port of Linnville was destroyed.

Buffalo Hump and the Comanche made off with a huge bounty of goods and horses. It was a long trek back to the safety of the Comancheria Nation.

The Great Raid of 1840 became legendary, until the legend faded from the collective memory.

Is Texas State History a required course to take to graduate high school in Texas, I can't help but wonder? In Washington, freshman year, you are required to take Washington State History. At least that was the case when I was in high school.

Washington does not have a lot of history, compared to Texas. There is no Alamo to remember in Washington. There was the Pig War between the United States and the British Empire, fought, primarily, on Washington's San Juan Island.

A pig was the only casualty of that conflict.

To pass Washington State History, among many bits of knowledge, you are required to know all of Washington's counties and their county seats. Washington has only 39 counties. Texas has 254 counties. I suspect no one in Texas can name every county in Texas and its seat.

I've known several Texans who matriculated through the Texas education system. I remember asking one of those Texans if she knew where the headwaters of the Trinity River were. She did not. I looked it up and found out. I have since forgotten.

I think I remember mentioning previously being appalled that Gar the Texan, he being a fairly intelligent, albeit somewhat poorly educated product of the Texas education system, expressed great surprise that Fort Worth was so named due to having started out as a fort. A small fort that was called a camp at its inception. I recollect no curiosity, from the incurious Gar the Texan, as to the source of the Worth part of the Fort's name.

I do not remember if I ever asked Gar the Texan if he knew what happened at the Alamo.

I suspect Gar the Texan has Comanche blood in him. He has the Comanche traits of being short and scrawny, with a big head covered by a mop of black hair, with a doleful, squinty gaze, along with the taking of multiple wives and possibly being benefited by Buffalo Hump syndrome, which would explain the ability to juggle multiple girl friends at once.

Speaking of Fort Worth, I must get around to sharing the story of Quanah Parker's mom, Cynthia Ann Parker's arrival in Fort Worth, after being kidnapped from her Comanche tribe by well meaning, murderous Texans on a rampage, who killed her husband, Peta Nocona, then grabbed Cynthia Ann and her baby, Prairie Flower, while Quanah and his baby brother, Peanut, escaped, never to see their mom or sister again.