Thanks To The Miracles Of Modern Communication I Know Theo's Mom Is Out Of Surgery

That is my nephew Theo in green, in his backyard, collecting eggs in last Saturday's Easter Egg Hunt at his house in Tacoma.

This afternoon I was driving to pick up a new bike when  my phone lit up, saying "MaPa". When I call my mom and dad I call on the "AzMaPa" number.

Incoming on the "MaPa" number meant something was up.

I flipped open the phone and said the standard hello. My mom asked me if I'd talked to anyone up north. I said I had not and asked why, what's wrong?

Apparently my little sister, Theo's mom, called my mom today, describing terrible pain. My mom told my little sister to get to a doctor. When my little sister went to the doctor the doctor sent her to a hospital to have her appendix removed before it burst.

After talking to mom I called my big sister, she being my other sibling still in Washington. I talked to my big sister awhile and then she got a call from the hospital.

I was walking around Wal-Mart when the phone text thing made its noise. It was a text message from my big sister telling me my little sister was out of surgery.

All this had me thinking our modern world and its ease of communicating sure does make it a small world after all, just like Disneyland predicted decades ago.

I Am Back In The Bike Saddle Again On Texas Trails

My New Bike

My K2 bike, that I bought in 2002, was stolen in October of 2010.

When my bike was stolen, after me being back biking for a very short time, after an over a year bike hiatus, I decided to give up on biking til I moved to a more bike friendly location.

Today I changed my mind and got a new bike.

Bike technology seems to have improved over the past decade. No longer do I have caliper brakes, I now have disc brakes.

The suspension seems a bit different than my former bike, but other than that, for the most part, it feels like I've not long been out of the saddle.

When I got the K2 bike a decade ago I had a few problems adjusting to it and getting it to feel right. This new bike feels right already.

Methinks I shall be having some fun pedaling to locations I've not seen for over a year. Pedaling by the Cowtown Wakepark perhaps. Or to the ends of the River Legacy Park trails.

A Good Friday Hike On The Tandy Hills With Wildflowers

It was a Good Friday to be hiking on the Tandy Hills today. I drove to the top of Mount Tandy, around noon, gambling that sufficient time had passed to dry the hills to hikability after Tuesday's Tornado Deluge.

I was in dire need of some endorphin therapy, that I can only get via some good aerobic stimulation.

Swimming does not seem to provide me enough aerobic stimulation. I need my hiking.

The wildflowers are now coloring up all over the Texas prairie.

Like the big yellow ones you see in the picture. These may be my favorite of the Texas Wildflowers. These yellow beauties were sprouted out all over the Tandy Hills today.

I think there may have been yet one more Tandy Hills sanitary sewer malfunction, caused by Tuesday's rain. The Tandy Highway has fresh truck tire ruts mucking up the road. I did not walk where the previous malfunction occurred to see if there was any evidence that a new river of untreated unsanitary water had been flowing.

I felt real good going up the hills today. Apparently I am completely recovered from that which recently ailed me, which I believe I acquired courtesy of my favorite brother-in-law.

Usually, at least a couple times a month, I get worried about Elsie Hotpepper being missing. Currently I am not worried about Elsie Hotpepper. But, I am concerned about 3 people up north in Washington. Carlotta Camano seems to have gone missing. And yesterday I learned that Betty Jo Bouvier and Honey Lulu hitched a ride to Seattle.

I do not think it is safe for young beauties, like Betty Jo Bouvier and Honey Lulu, to be hitchhiking. Particularly in Washington, with that state's history of breeding serial killers. Unlike Elsie Hotpepper, neither Betty Jo Bouvier or Honey Lulu pack heat, courtesy of a concealed weapon permit.

The 6th Morning Of April Dawns Chilly With Possible Irritation From Chesapeake Energy Fracking Flowback

This morning, the 6th morning of April, we are looking at the outer world via a rare look from my tertiary viewing portal.

When this day ends already 20% of April will have passed in to history.

Of late, each morning is colder than the morning previous, as if we are on a slow slip back to winter.

This morning, with the sun fully arrived and providing both light and heat, it is only 22 degrees above freezing. The high today is currently scheduled to get 22 degrees warmer than the current temperature of 22 degrees above freezing.

In other words it is currently 54 heading to a high of 76.

Overnight my brief respite from the eye irritation caused by the bad air pollution that plagues North Texas ended.

I had to resort to eye drops in the middle of the night to attempt to abate the eye woes. I have also begun reaching for one of my many bottles of nasal spray with increasing frequency.

Speaking of annoying air pollution, Chesapeake Energy is denying it, of course, but a lot of people in Arlington are claiming to be made miserable from fracking flowback.

Read all about it in Texas Sharon's Bluedaze article, Chesapeake Energy sickens Arlington residents again with fracking flowback operations.

I don't know if my breathing and eye woes are being caused by any Chesapeake fracking flowbacking. I do know I reside very close to two Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale holes in the ground.

I guess I will put goggles over my suffering eyes and go swimming now before it gets any colder.

Fosdic Lake Was Serene Today Walking With My Sister With Nary A Nipple

Fosdic Lake

My sister went walking with me around Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park today.

This was the first time my sister has gone walking with me since we climbed to the summit of Piestewa Peak two Fridays ago.

This was also the first time I've talked to my sister since she got very very sick the day after I left Arizona. Whatever it was that ailed us, I did not have it very bad, only 2 days of a really bad headache and not feeling my usual energetic self.

My sister was bedridden and lost 8 pounds during her bout with the mysterious ailment.

Again today there were a lot of people enjoying Oakland Lake Park. Have the locals finally figured out this is a nice place to enjoy what passes for fresh air in this polluted part of the planet?

Fosdic Lake was looking particularly serene today, with nary a ripple.

When I first typed ripple I typed nipple. Is that a typo or a Freudian Slip?

The Fosducks were seeming sedated. Usually the ducks waddle off if I get too near. Today they did not seem to care. I think the ducks may have grown fond of the humans because so many show up to give them duck food.

The Dawn Of April 5 Is Chilly & Calm In Texas

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world on this 5th morning of April, as the sun starts shining some light, it appears the sky may be void of clouds.

It is very chilly this morning, only 23 degrees above freezing, heading to a scheduled high of 76 today.

This is almost like the return of winter.

With no chance of snow.

However, Tuesday's storms dropped a lot of ice balls.

A lot of ice balls hit hard on American Airline's planes, grounding a lot of them. Will there be a hail damage sale of pitted planes?

I think I'll put on my insulated swimsuit and go swimming in the icy pool now.

Taking A Trip With TRIP To A World Of Whimsy & Confusion

I mentioned earlier that the TRIP (Trinity River Improvement Partnership) website was back conscious after spending several weeks in a coma.

The TRIP website has not been restored to its full original glory, but, at least you can now watch the award winning documentary, Up a Creek.

When the TRIP website went comatose I was asked if I could help revive it. I asked basic questions like who is the host? Where is the server? Who registered the domain?

I could get no answers. I used WHOIS to find out the domain's name servers had been changed to point to a server in Karlsruhe Germany.

I tried to help, really I did, but everything I got told was really goofy.

Like...

I can give you what info I have to possibly get us back up and going.  But as of now, it appears that our webserver was compromised by a hack that made us an unwilling node of a botnet that attacked Facebook.  Fun stuff.  

Webserver hacked? By an unwilling node of a botnet attacking Facebook? Huh? Was it Al-Qaeda?

I then said if the webserver/host was hacked then the webserver/host should take care of the problem. But, no one seemed to know who or where the webserver/host was.

And then there was this....

The server is rebuilt, I have installed Wordpress. All the settings should be the same. Let me know what I can do to help, I was able to download files, but without a database structure, they are almost useless. We can use those files to copy and paste old information, but the table structure needs to be recreated. I do have all the graphics, and that should help, let me know if I need to send them to someone. I assume that we'll need to re-upload all the files we have via FTP. Being unfamiliar with the architecture of server file systems, I don't know if you can just re-upload everything you have and it'll all be in the right place or what. (I wish I could be more help). Will the host provide any support? This seems to be a lapse in security on their part.

I agree with the last sentence. But that first sentence? The "server is rebuilt"? No one knows where the server is, but it has now been rebuilt? How do you rebuild a server? I have no idea. Files were downloaded, but without a database structure they are useless? Unfamiliar with the architecture of server file systems?

I've been making websites since the early 1990s. None of this stuff I was being told made any sense to me. At one point I said if I got the FTP login info I could easily make a simple website with the movie on it. I was then sent FTP login info. That did not work.

I still don't know what happened to the TRIP website that caused this woe. TRIP's domain's Domain Name Server (DNS) now points to a server in Wayne, United States. That info comes from WHOIS. Where is Wayne? I've no idea. The domain's name servers are still coming from Germany.

This experience with TRIP reminded my of a painful experience that started in 2004 when I made a website for an elderly man in Tacoma. The elderly man did not understand websites or the Internet. But he was full of ideas about what he wanted. A lot of it was pure fanciful magic. And there was a fixation on making font sizes too big. Among many other annoying fixations.

When a new product was added to the website, rather than just sending me the URL, the elderly man would send me an email that said something like "type in 'Dotties cottage chocolate bunny', then click on the 4th item on the list (meaning the Google search results), then click on 'chocolate', then go to the 5th page and get the picture of the 7th bunny from the top."

I am not exaggerating.

In 2006 I was sort of relieved when I got an email from the elderly man in Tacoma telling me he'd decided to have a local guy work on his website. That local guy totally messed up importing the webfiles. The website remains messed up to this day. And looks really outdated. I get some sort of poetic justice pleasure from this.

Now that the TRIP website is back working I hope someone somewhere can figure out who the server/host is, who has control over the domain and the real reason why the TRIP website went comatose.

One more thing, the TRIP domain expires on October 14, 2012. Someone somewhere needs to figure out who registered the domain and get it renewed before the expiration date, or it will go comatose again. But, I will know the reason why, this time.

Admiring The Chocolate Trinity River While Worrying About The Daily Don Young Attacks

That beautiful chocolate brown body of water you are looking at in the picture is the Trinity River flowing by Quanah Parker Park today.

Yesterday's storming did not drop a lot of rain, so the Trinity is not overflowing like it does when it goes into flood mode, covered with an astonishing volume of litter.

The Trinity River was on my mind earlier today when I saw that the dead TRIP website has been revived. More on that later. Maybe.

Regarding yesterday's tornado storms, Don Young sent out an amusing email sort of on that subject...

A few very nice people from around the country have emailed asking if I survived Tuesday's tornado attack around Fort Worth. Thankfully, the storm went around my home. Nothing but heavy rain struck my house. With roughly 25,000 gas wells in the vicinity and a rogue's gallery of corrupt officials and formerly legitimate organizations attacking me daily, a few tornadoes are no big deal. You haven't heard the last from FWCANDO.

These daily attacks on Don Young must cease at once. I saw Don Young's "natural" landscaping on Saturday.  I think the local moronic minions may be attacking Don Young's tall grass any day now, if they have not already done so.

Today Don Young also emailed his April Prairie Notes.

I'd link to the April Prairie Notes, but they aren't up yet on the Friends of the Tandy Hills Natural Area website.

What I can tell you about the April Prairie Notes is you need to go to the Star-Telegram's Spring Snapshots Photo Contest and vote for Don Young's 4 Tandy Hills pics. The Star-Telegram does not make it easy to vote for a pic.

I think yesterday's storming, with its lightning strikes and tornadoes, amped up the amount of negative ions ionizing the air of North Texas. I am breathing easy, as if I was back in Arizona. I have not touched any of my many nasal sprays since yesterday's storm blew past.

I know it won't last, but I am going to enjoy breathing free in Texas while I can.

The 4th Day Of April Dawns Chilly & Free Of Texas Tornadoes

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at one of my favorite destinations on the 4th morning of April the outer world appears calm and the sky appears to be mostly clear of clouds.

All indicators indicate today should be a tornado free day in Texas.

Tornado free and cold. The temperature is currently only 25 degrees above freezing, heading to a relatively chilly high today of 73.

It seems a bit of a miracle to me that all that tornadic action twisting through the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex zone yesterday did not result in anyone being killed. I've not even heard of anyone being badly injured. Truck trailers were tossed into the air like matchsticks, but no humans, apparently, were tossed.

Yesterday I mentioned hearing on the radio that a tornado had touched down in the Ballpark in Arlington. This caused someone named Anonymous to make a comment...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Mom & Big Sister: I Am Still On The Ground In Texas Waiting To Ride A Tornado To Oz": 

The safest place to be in Dallas during tornado happenings would have to be the football stadium. As they rarely have touchdowns.

I'm guessing this is supposed to be a reference to the Dallas Cowboys. But the Dallas Cowboys do not play football in Dallas. They play next door to the Ballpark in Arlington in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Maybe Anonymous is suggesting the Cotton Bowl in Dallas  is the safest place to be in Dallas when tornadoes are in town.

Right now I'm thinking the safest place to be is my swimming pool. So that is where I'm going to go right now.

Mom & Big Sister: I Am Still On The Ground In Texas Waiting To Ride A Tornado To Oz

In the picture it is about 5 in the afternoon, heading east on John T. White Road. If the clouds were not wreaking havoc with visibility, I would be seeing the Dallas Cowboy Stadium, popping up on the horizon.

Today is the first BIG Texas Storm I've experienced in what seems a long time. Til today it had been a long time since I've heard tornado sirens.

I believe the tornado sirens I heard today were due to the tornado that struck an Old Folk's Home south of Lake Arlington, blowing apart one wing.

At my location I had some thunder action and a few big balls of hail that made a lot of noise. And some heavy rain.

My mom was watching the coverage on CNN which made it sound as if the Dallas/Fort Worth area was being obliterated by an onslaught of killer tornadoes. I assured my mom that it was not as bad as it sounds.

I was barely off the phone with my mom when my big sister called. By big sister I mean oldest sister. My big sister had also been watching CNN, up in Washington. My sister told me she'd seen video of semi-trailers being blown away by a tornado.

At that point in time I'd not seen any video of blowing semi-trailers.

So, after I finished talking to my big sister I turned on CNN.

Well, CNN did make it sound as if we were in the throes of a major emergency, using phrases like "Breaking Emergency News."

I then saw the video of the flying semi-trailers. It did look scary.

I heard on the radio, a few minutes ago, that a tornado touched down on the ball field in the Ballpark in Arlington. I find that a bit hard to believe.

However, when my mom called I did tell her that one of the tornadoes was following a path that took it by Six Flags and the motel they stayed in when they were last here. So, I suppose that tornado could have visited the Ballpark in Arlington.

And this just in from Elsie Hotpepper, relating to Arlington...

Explain this to me, from my experience declaring a disaster is done by the Governor.  Arlington's mayor made his own declaration?? 

Well,  Elsie, isn't Arlington's mayor still Chuck Cluck? Isn't Mayor Chuck Cluck known for running around like a chicken with his head cut off? And for being part of the worst abuse of eminent domain in American history. You really expect him to know the proper protocol for declaring a disaster area?

Anyway, it seems the storms are over at my location. Til the next time.