Riding Tonight With The Packs Of Bikers At River Legacy Park

I was back to Arlington to River Legacy Park tonight to bike to the 7 miles marker at the far east side of the park.

My secondary motive (primary motive is to try and get in shape) for biking along the Trinity River tonight was to take a picture of the bridge built a few years ago across the Trinity River, connecting the park to both sides of the river and extending the paved trail for several new miles.

I wanted to use a picture of the River Legacy bridge in a blogging where I am intending to opine about a new pedestrian bridge in Fort Worth across the Trinity. But, that blogging will need to wait until tomorrow.

This gives us all something to look forward to.

Back to tonight's bike ride. Once again I was surprised and impressed at the number of Texans out biking, walking, blading and playing.

One change I am sort of ambivalent about.

I don't remember biker packs in years previous biking the River Legacy trails. Tonight I encountered 4 different packs of bikers, pedaling fast, all close together, single file. The biggest group passed me, or met me, 3 times.

I have never understood the attraction of biking in a pack. It'd make me nervous. Each of the packs was very courteous, announcing their high speed passing.

I'm really liking my new bike. Every time I've had a new bike previous there have always been issues requiring a return to the bike shop. So far, no issues.

On The Colorful Tandy Hills Getting Ready For Saturday's Prairie Fest X3 Part 2

Tandy Flowers Growing Wild

I think my plan to get in shape to swim in the waters off South Padre Island is coming along fine. Today's amped up Tandy Hills hiking went particularly well.

As you can see, via the picture, the wildflowers are being particularly wild this year, along with a lot of overly exuberant, equally colorful butterflies.

I arrived at the park on View Street to see what I thought was a big eco-friendly solar powered grass trimmer mowing  the lawn. I assume in preparation for Saturday's Big Prairie Party.

It seems like just yesterday I went to Prairie Fest x3 Part 1, but come Saturday, that Part 1 part was already a month ago.

I got an email from the Don of the Tandy Hills, a couple days ago, with the schedule for Saturday's Prairie Party....

Prairie Fest x3 on April 28 . . . 

- Dallas Area Kitefliers Organization will be coloring the sky above Tandy Hills
- Kites for sale at the festival by, Fun Family Kites
- Plein air painters will be setting up easels on the prairie
- Food Factory science hikes for kids 9 - 12 (see website for details)
- Native Plant Society of Texas plant sale
- Grammy-award winners, Brave Combo, performs with Brazen Bellies (see full stage schedule below)

Stage  Schedule (4/28):

4 PM  Darrin Kobetich  (Six straight years at Prairie Fest)

5 PM  The Ackermans  (Six straight years at Prairie Fest)

6 PM  Fort Worth Scottish Pipes & Drums

6:30 PM  Brave Combo w/ Brazen Bellies

The Final Wednesday Of April Heating To 93 Degrees Today In Texas

The view is blue from my primary viewing portal on this final Wednesday of April.

But the sky is not totally blue. Big puffy white clouds are blotting out some of the blue.

At 65 degrees it is already semi-warm this morning.

The temperature predictors are predicting a high of 93 today. I don't think we've gotten into the 90s yet this year. I may be forgetting a HOT previous day in 2012.

I am skipping my regular morning swim this morning. This is a regularly scheduled morning swim skip. I tend to overdo that which I do, so I have to not do every once in awhile.

I must attend to something important for Elsie Hotpepper now. I'll talk to you later when I have more time.

On The Tandy Hills After A Morning With The Unstoppable Woman

The Re-Erected Bamboo Tandy Teepee

The Unstoppable Woman called this morning which led me to having way too much fun with website issues.

The Unstoppable Woman, to which I refer, is not Elsie Hotpepper.

Now that you've got me thinking about the Unstoppable Elsie Hotpepper, I realize I've not heard from her today. I was too consumed with the other Unstoppable Woman to realize Elsie Hotpepper has gone missing again.

I needed a break from the Unstoppable Woman issues so I took myself to the top of Mount Tandy and had a real fine time walking up and down 8 hills. I figure if I keep doing this type behavior eventually I will get in shape.

I was pleased to see, today, that the keeper of the Bambo Tandy Teepee has re-erected the fallen Teepee.

The mystery of the pile of bamboo, deep inside the Tandy Hills, and the erection of the Bamboo Tandy Teepee has never been solved.

It is a little warm today at 82 degrees. According to my temperature source the humidity has the real feel of the temperature being 87 degrees. 87 degrees is bordering on HOT.

I need to make a phone call about the Unstoppable Woman. I guess I will quit procrastinating and do that now.

The Last Tuesday Of April Dawns With No Favorable Or Unfavorable Opinion About Fort Worth

Looking at the outer world from my secondary viewing portal on this final Tuesday of April, it appears my views is being increasingly blocked by increasingly bigger green foliage.

I don't recollect Texas ever looking as green as it does currently, at any other point, during my exile from the Evergreen State.

Speaking of the Evergreen State, this morning I read something called Public Policy Polling ask the question "Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of (various cities)?"

The title of the article let's you know which city was at the top of the list, "Seattle tops popularity list of U.S. cities".

Two Texas towns are on the list, those being Dallas and Houston. More people had a favorable opinion of Dallas than they did of Houston.

I don't know why these pollsters did not ask if those being polled had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Fort Worth.

But I can hazard a guess.

That being the pollster likely only asked about cities about whom the majority of Americans might have an opinion.

And not ask about cities about whom most Americans know nothing.

Fort Worth might want to ask itself why most Americans know nothing about Fort Worth. It is a question worth pondering in the city that makes America Green with Envy.

It is currently 54 degrees. Time to go swimming before it gets any hotter.

An Evening River Legacy Bike Ride With A Blue Trinity River & New Veridian Trails

The Trinity River Runs Blue Through Arlington

No, that is not the boarded up boardwalk in Fort Worth's Gateway Park you are looking at in the picture.

It is the un-boarded up boardwalk in Arlington's extremely well maintained River Legacy Park.

That blue body of water you see surrounded by lush, green vegetation is the Trinity River.

Somehow, after leaving Fort Worth, the Trinity River is scrubbed of its greenish/brown murky color and cleaned to a glistening blue.

I don't think J.D. Granger's Magic Trees are yet in place to account for the river cleaning.

A couple weeks ago I biked the trails of River Legacy and opined my surprise at the number of people having fun in various ways on the trails, mid-day. I wondered, at that time, how big the crowd was in the evening, or on a weekend.

Well, tonight I learned the answer.

There are an incredible number of Texans getting off their collective big rears and having themselves a real fine time enjoying the perfect weather and Arlington's near perfect park.

I like to leap to big conclusions from very little evidence, so I'm going to leap to the big conclusion that many Texans have tired of being among the biggest people in America and are doing something about it.

The Blocked Paved Trail To Veridian

No wonder Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington have not lately shown up on any list of the Top 20 Fattest Cities in America.

And then there's the Huffine's Veridian project mysteries, due north of River Legacy Park.

Tonight I learned that the trail in the making that leads out of River Legacy Park, to Veridian, has now been paved.

In the earlier blogging about this development Anonymous wondered how access would be controlled at the connection between the public park and the private development.

Well, tonight I think the answer was found. Four orange pillars block access.

What I am curious about is where was the public meeting where the subject of allowing this connection between this private development and this public park was discussed with the public getting to have input?

I had a strong impulse to toss the four orange pillars into the brush and pedal the new trail.

I resisted the impulse.

I really do not like myself when I resist impulses.

My Whacking Stick Saves Me From A Vicious Tandy Hills Dog Attack

In the picture you are looking north, on top of Lost Sunglasses Ridge, on one of the Tandy Hills, today in the noon time frame.

Last year, at this point in time, the Tandy Hills were showing signs of stress to the vegetation, due to the Great North Texas Drought.

This year, at this point in time, the Tandy Hills are showing signs of a prairie being well provided with a sufficient supply of water.

It is getting to the point that there is some vegetative encroachment at some locations on the trails. I do not like vegetative encroachment. I've been avoiding the rain forest like zone one reaches on the north side of Tandy Falls, due to the claustrophobic tunnel-like effect of all the greenery.

Changing the subject from healthy vegetation to an unhealthy canine encounter.

One is supposed to keep ones dog on a leash whilst hiking the Tandy Hills.

Some people do not keep their dog leashed, due to the fact that their dog is well behaved, like Olive the Prairie Dog.

But some people let their dog off leash, even though they know the dog is not well-behaved.

Today, a semi-elderly gentleman was hiking the Tandy Hills with two dogs. Two un-leashed dogs. One of the dogs rushed at me in attack mode, with the semi-elderly gentleman trying to get the vicious dog to return to his control.

I am always armed with a whacking stick when I am out and about in the wild. As the dog took a lunge at me I gave it a sound whack with my whacking stick and it ceased its vicious attack.

When the dog ran back to the semi-elderly gentleman he put the vicious dog on a leash, and also leashed the non-attacking dog.

I can not imagine how a semi-elderly gentleman can feel okay about hiking in a place like this with a dog whose behavior is bad. What if I'd been a little kid the dog tried to attack?

I hope the whacking I gave the dog was sound enough to discourage it from any future vicious attack attempts.

The Next To Last Monday Of April With Theo Tiptoeing Through The Skagit Valley Tulips

It appears, judging from the view from my secondary viewing portal on the outer world, that the next to last Monday of April has dawned with yet one more clear, blue sky morning in Texas.

Currently heated to 18 degrees above freezing, heading to a high of 74, today, if the temperature predictors are correct with their predicting.

Yesterday I mentioned that I bailed on the Hurst In-N-Out due to their being way too many people trying to get a burger.

My eldest nephew, Spencer Jack's dad, then commented to that blogging about In-N-Out, saying that his burger joint, the Fidalgo Drive-In, in Anacortes, was similarly flooded with burger maniacs, due to extremely nice weather and extremely HUGE crowds of tourists in the Skagit Valley due to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

Theo Tiptoeing Through The Skagit Valley Tulips

Yesterday I saw via the Blue and Max blog that my nephews and niece, David, Theo and Ruby had visited the Tulip Festival this past weekend. I don't know if they went to the Fidalgo Drive-In.

Blue and Max took some cute cute pictures of the kids in the tulips, one of which you see here. That is Theo checking out what a tulip smells like.

In the background those big mounds in the distance are something you don't see in Texas. They are called foothills. As in foothills of the Cascade Mountains. The white patches you see high up on the foothills are called snow.

Enough about tulips. I see the temperature has dropped another degree, to 49, since I woke up my temperature monitoring device. I must go swimming before it gets any colder.

Chisholm Park Fishing While Not Easily In-N-Out In Hurst Today

Fishing In Chisholm Park

I went to Hurst today with 3 destinations in mind. ALDI Food Market, In-N-Out and Chisholm Park.

I'd not been to Chisholm Park before. It is the biggest park in Hurst. Chisholm Park has a fishing lake, a big aquatic center, covered picnic pavilions, ballfields, paved trails, big parking lots and a lot of people having fun in the park on this very pleasant Sunday in April.

On a sign by the lake I read "A Freshwater Fishing License is Required For Anglers 17 Years Old and Older (unless born before Sept. 1, 1930)."

Apparently if you are older than 82 you don't need a fishing license, if I am parsing those words correctly.

Chisholm Park regularly stocks the lake with fish. Largemouth Bass, Channel Catfish, Rainbow Trout and Sunfish Species. The Rainbow Trout are stocked only in the colder winter months because that particular breed of fish does not like the temperature of Texas lakes in summer.

Plenty Of Places To Toss Your Bones In Chisholm Park

Judging by the dozens of people I saw fishing there must be a lot of fish to be caught to sustain that level of fishing optimism.

I saw something in Chisholm Park I'd never seen before. Each of the picnic pavilions, each with a large BBQ pit, were ringed with 8 angled garbage cans.

I was completely bum puzzled and bamboozled til the engineer, Big Ed, figured out that all the angled garbage cans were likely in that configuration to facilitate the easy tossing of bones during a BBQ eating frenzy.

I saw a group of 3 people working on a big BBQ. It smelled real good.

After smelling the BBQ I was hungry. So, it was off to the newly opened Hurst In-N-Out Burger joint.

Well, no luck at In-N-Out.

In-N-Out was over run with customers. There were In-N-Out traffic directors, splitting the incoming cars, with one line going the dine-in option, the other the drive-thru option. There were dozens of cars in the drive-thru. The In-N-Out traffic directors led incoming dine-in customers to a parking spot.

I got led to my parking spot and proceeded inside. I figure this would be like my recent In-N-Out experience in Tempe where it appeared to be really busy but there was no line due to how efficient In-N-Out is.

Well, the Hurst In-N-Out appeared to be very efficient, but there was a line, a long one, almost out the door. And a lot of people were standing waiting for their order number to be  called.

I decided to bail.

I liked Chisholm Park. Since it is so close to ALDI, I'll be back. And I'll try In-N-Out in Hurst, again, when it quits being over run by burger maniacs.

The Sunny 4th Sunday Morning Of April

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world on the 22nd morning of April I see no lizards.

I like my morning views to be lizard free.

At 20 degrees above freezing, this morning is warmer than yesterday's morning.

I read this morning that due to Saturday's extremely pleasant weather the crowd was HUGE at the Fort Worth Main St. Arts Festival.

So, I think it was a good thing I did not go yesterday and experience human gridlock.

I think I'll go swimming now before it gets any hotter. I am 100% certain the pool will be free of human gridlock.