Walking With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Calling My Mom & Thinking About Washington Park In Anacortes

I had myself a fine walk with the Native American Ghosts who haunt the Village Creek Natural Historical Area today, along with a lot of other people, many of whom seemed to be in celebrate Happy Mother's Day mode.

Including a family group of all females, with one pushing, what must have been mom and grandma, in a wheelchair.

I called my mom whilst sitting at a picnic table overlooking the Village Creek Blue Bayou. I got the answering machine and left a Happy Mother's Day message.

That phone call took place a few feet to the south of where you are looking at in the picture. That vertical log rising from the ground was the remains of what appeared to be a tree, possibly struck by lightning. I am no forensic lightning strike investigator, but that is what it looked like to me.

Speaking of wheelchairs, I heard from a mother, Betty Jo Bouvier, this morning. For Mother's Day Betty Jo's kids were taking her to Washington Park in Anacortes to walk the loop. Betty Jo agreed to this if she got wheeled around the loop in a wheelchair.

For non-Washingtonians reading this, Washington Park is on a peninsula on Fidalgo Island, at the west end of the town of Anacortes. It is a very hilly park, with steep cliffs, tall evergreen trees and a lot of saltwater views. Miles of hiking trails take you all over this park. There is a big campground and a lot of picnic locations. And a paved road, the loop, that takes you to a high point where you get a panoramic view of north Puget Sound. And on a clear day you might see Mount Rainier, way to the south.

Where I lived in Washington, in Mount Vernon, it was about 20 miles to the east of Washington Park. I frequently drove there to hike and jog, back when gas was well under $1 a gallon. Ferry boats, and other boats, coming and going, pass by you as you sit on the Washington Park beaches.

One time I was enjoying the view and suddenly the surface of the water started acting odd. A submarine came to the surface. That was unsettling. The Trident Submarine Bangor Base is further south on Puget Sound, on another peninsula, named Kitsap. Trident Submarines are disturbingly large.

At my current location there is nothing like Washington Park within 100s of miles. No matter which direction I look I will see no mountains, or saltwater, or tall evergreen trees. And there is no chance a submarine will startle me coming to the surface at any body of water at my current location. An alligator or water moccasin, yes, submarine, no.

Below is a YouTube video that gives you an idea of what Washington Park is like. And why I get homesick, when I see images of my old home zone, at my current beautiful scenery challenged location......

Happy Mother's Day To All The World's Mothers

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. Mother's Day is May Day 13, the second Sunday of the 5th month of 2012.

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world I see a bright blue sky. But no matter what direction I look I see no mothers.

My own mother is about 1000 miles to the west. I must remember to make a non-gas related call to my mom today.

Yesterday we had an election here in North Texas. I did not vote. I was not aware of anything I needed to vote for. Or against.

The only local race I am even remotely curious about is whether or not Glen Bucy got elected Constable. There was no mention of who won or lost any Constable races this morning in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, that I was able to find in the election coverage.

The Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy had a bizarre focus on the Glen Bucy Constable race that did not make much sense to me. I don't know what function a Constable performs. I know you don't have to be a cop to be one.

I think it is time for me to go swimming before it gets any later or hotter.

Buster Keaton's The General Will Be On The Tandy Hills During Prairie Fest x3 Part 3

I did not get the memo from the Don of the Tandy Hills, about today's Rahr Brewery Friends of the Tandy Hills Natural Area Day, til 11 this morning.

The FOTHNA Day at Rahr Brewery took place from 1, this afternoon, til 3.

So, I did not have sufficient notice to rearrange my busy schedule in time to go to FOTHNA Day today.

But the other memo I got today from the Don of the Tandy Hills, about another event, gives me plenty of time to rearrange my busy schedule.

That other event is Prairie Fest x3 Part 3, Saturday, May 26, 2012.

Movie Night on the Prairie.

The movie is Buster Keaton's classic, The General.

• Movie start time is approximately 8:45 pm.
• Seating is on the grass in front of the stage.
• Food & Beverage by Chadra Mezza & Grill, Good Karma Kitchen and The Wiener Man.
• Nature Hikes and Live Music from 4 - 8 pm at Prairie Fest x3.
• Admission is FREE to Prairie Fest and Movie Night.

The Wikipedia article about The General says, in part....

The General is a 1926 American silent comedy film released by United Artists inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase, which happened in 1862. Buster Keaton starred in the film and co-directed it with Clyde Bruckman. It was adapted by Al Boasberg, Bruckman, Keaton, Charles Henry Smith (uncredited) and Paul Girard Smith (uncredited) from the memoir The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger.

The film, an adventure-epic classic made toward the end of the silent era, received both poor reviews by critics (it was considered tedious and disappointing) and weak box-office results (about a half million dollars domestically, and approximately one million worldwide) at its original release, but is now considered by critics as one of the greatest films ever made. However, because of its huge budget ($750,000 supplied by Metro chief Joseph Schenck) and poor box office, Keaton lost his independence as a film-maker and was forced into a restrictive deal with MGM. In 1955, the film entered the public domain (in the USA) due to the claimant's failure to renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.

The General on its initial release fared poorly in both box office and critical reaction. Variety reported of a theater in which it played, "after four weeks of record business with 'Flesh and the Devil', looks as though it were virtually going to starve to death this week." It goes on to say that The General is "far from funny" and that "it is a flop." New York Times reviewer Mordaunt Hall stated, "The production itself is singularly well mounted, but the fun is not exactly plentiful", and "This is by no means so good as Mr. Keaton's previous efforts." The Los Angeles Times reported that the picture is "neither straight comedy nor is it altogether thrilling drama" and goes on to state that the picture "drags terribly with a long and tiresome chase of one engine by another." It was one of Keaton's worst pictures at the box office.

Keaton considered it to be the best of all his movies. Audiences and critics would later agree with him, and it is now considered a major classic of the silent era.

In 1989, The General was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It made it into the registry in the first year it was enacted, along with such films as The Best Years of Our Lives, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Gone with the Wind, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Sunset Blvd.

In a 2002 poll of critics and filmmakers on the best films ever made, critic Roger Ebert listed it on his top 10. It is also on his list of Great Movies. It was ranked number 1 in a list of the 100 greatest films of the silent era by the website silentera.com.

Orson Welles stated that Keaton's The General is "the greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made."

At my very ripe old age I only recently learned how good silent movies can be. And how funny Charlie Chaplin is, when I discovered Chaplin's Modern Times and City Lights, long considered to be great films, really are great films. I recently watched Chaplin's The Kid and found it to be another great film.

So, I am sort of looking forward to being under the stars, sitting on the Texas prairie, watching Buster Keaton's classic, The General, in a couple weeks.

Below is a movie trailer for The General...

Rush Limbaugh & Gar The Texan In The War On The Sanctity Of Traditional Marriage

I swiped the above from Facebook, from the aforementioned, in the previous blogging to this current one, Southern Belle, Miss Connie. I thought it was amusing.

Rush Limbaugh is such a blowhard. But, he also is amusing. At times.

Mr. Limbaugh's somewhat hypocritical opining about Barack Obama's alleged war on traditional marriage put me in mind of Gar the Texan's recent blog posts where he opines about his level of approval of North Carolina voters approving an amendment to their state's constitution that makes it a law in that state that only a man and woman can get married.

I can't help but wonder how that works if someone gets a sex change and then finds someone to marry them of the now opposite sex? Is that spelled out in the amendment? Maybe North Carolina will need to amend the amendment.

I'm not sure how many ex-wives Gar the Texan has. Minimally, I know of three. There may be more. I can see how having multiple ex-wives would drive someone to be a big supporter of anything that preserves the sanctity of traditional marriage.

Gar the Texan has really quaint ideas about how the government should mind its own business, as if minding everyone's business isn't the government's business.

So far the government has not stopped Gar the Texan from marrying any of his wives. The government did not even say no when Gar the Texan wanted a license to marry a German. I think the government was very irresponsible in this particular instance.

Hometown By Handlebar Solves A Fort Worth Mystery While I Walk Around Fosdick Lake In Oakland Park

Durango Texas Fosdick Lake Photo

Last night I got an email from one of my favorite Southern Belles, Miss Connie, asking me if I'd seen what she was showing me in the email, that being the latest posting in the Hometown by Handlebar blog, with the referenced blog post titled Pocket Lakes.

Miss Connie mentioned that she did not remember how she came to find this particular blog, thinking it was either via me, or Facebook.

I told Miss Connie that I also did not remember how I came upon the Hometown by Handlebar blog.

Now here is where this turns disturbing. It was only a week ago, Friday, on May 4, that I blogged about the Hometown by Handlebar blog, after someone named Anonymous had commented on a previous blog post, with that comment containing the link to the Hometown by Handlebar blog.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Making A Prairie Note Of Tandy Hills Prickly Pear Cactus": 

Excellent Fort Worth history website:http://hometownbyhandlebar.com/ Good photography too.

How do I manage to be so senile that I did not remember something from only a week ago? Very disturbing.

When I first mentioned the Hometown by Handlebar blog I agreed with Anonymous's assessment that this blog had good photography. And writing. Much better than mine on both counts.

Hometown by Handlebar Fosdick Lake Photo

The superior photography was confirmed today when I took a photo of the same scene that was at the top of the afore-mentioned Pocket Lakes post.

The Pocket Lakes post solved a mystery that has bum puzzled me for quite some time.

From Hometown by Handlebar...

Fosdick Lake in Oakland Park was named for Edwin E. Fosdick (buried in Greenwood; see inset), who in 1909 bought the land to build a country club. But his seventy-five-member Inverness Club failed. The city took over the property in 1927. The CCC or WPA may have built the stone shelter house.

The signage at the Fosdic Lake location calls the park Oakland Lake Park. Other signage mentions Fosdic Lake. Note the quote from Hometown by Handlebar spells Fosdic with a 'k' on the end. Apparently this is the proper spelling, since that is how the namesake's name is spelled on his tombstone in Greenwood Cemetery, as seen via the above referenced inset.

Methinks Fort Worth needs to fix the park signage, by removing lake from the name. And add the 'k' to Fosdick.

From this day forth, when I go to where I walked today, I will say I walked around Fosdick Lake in Oakland Park.

The 2nd Saturday Of May Thinking About Avoiding Flesh Eating Bacteria In Risky Rivers

Looking at the outer world from the perch of one of my favorite viewing portals it appears the 2nd Saturday of the 5th month of 2012, May Day 12, has dawned with a partly cloudy sky.

A lot of rain poured down yesterday, with heavy downpours after the sun disappeared for the night, along with a lot of lightning strikes and booming thunder.

I won't be going to the Tandy Hills today for my regular Saturday hill hiking.

I will be going swimming this morning.

Speaking of swimming. I got an amusing comment from someone named Anonymous, this morning, on the subject of getting wet in the Trinity River...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Hopefully Rockin' The River Live On The Trinity Is Back Bigger Than Ever With Beer & Free Coolers": 

In your Poop-A-Thon video from last year...were they playing Whiskey River... or Risky River? Neil Young's river song is more appropriate! "Down by the river, I shot my baby". Had to I guess. She was probably foaming at the mouth. 

I had not read, until this morning, the awful details about that girl in Georgia who is fighting for her life after flesh eating bacteria entered her body after being injured by a failed zipline cable. She's already lost one leg, will likely lose her hands. She'd been kayaking down a river when the ziplining across the river took place.

Did the flesh eating bacteria come from the river? Has the Trinity River been tested for flesh eating bacteria? Is there a test for flesh eating bacteria?

I think I will go swimming now in what I hope is a pool free of flesh eating bacteria.

Hopefully Rockin' The River Live On The Trinity Is Back Bigger Than Ever With Beer & Free Coolers

Earlier today I learned I am going Over the Edge with Elsie Hotpepper this coming September. And now this afternoon I've learned I have something else to look forward to.

That being that this summer the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Rockin' the River Inner Tube Happy Hour Floats are back bigger than ever.

Meaning this summer the Floating with the Feces starts Thursday, June 7 and every Thursday there after, until August 9, with the exception July 5, when there will be no Feces Floating due to that Thursday being the day after the 4th of July.

This year the TRVB will be providing no free inner tubes. But the TRVB will rent you a tube for $5. Or you can BYOT. You are forbidden to bring your own alcoholic beverage or a cooler to contain alcoholic beverages. But the TRVB will sell you a can of beer for $2.50 and provide you with a free cooler to float your beer in.

I do not know if you have to buy a can of TRVB beer to get a free cooler.

The below specifics were gleaned from the official TRVB Rockin' the River informational page...

Elsie Hotpepper is refusing to put on her bikini and go kayaking with me among the Feces Floaters. Maybe CatsPaw will put on her bikini and go floating with me.

Recently people got sick from e.coli from contact with water in the Oklahoma River. Oklahoma City has banned swimming in the Oklahoma River or any Oklahoma City lake or river.

I know the TRVB makes the Trinity River Feces Floaters sign some sort of waiver before letting a person get  in the river.

But, I can not help but wonder what sort of threat/risk assessment has been done by the TRVB. As in, it is logical that there is a 1 in a certain number of instances, of a person getting in the Trinity River, that they are going to drown, get bit by a water moccasin, bit by an alligator, bit by a gar fish or get deathly sick from e.coli or flesh eating bacteria.

Has the TRVB bought insurance to protect Fort Worth from the inevitable law suit that would arise should someone get hurt or die do to this foolishness?

Fort Worth foolishly lived with the risk of someone drowning in the poorly designed whirlpool in the Fort Worth Water Gardens. Four people died before that engineering mistake was fixed. How much did this cost Fort Worth?

How much will it cost Fort Worth if someone dies while Rockin' the River?

Instead of risking Rockin' the River, why not hold these events in one of Fort Worth's clean water swimming venues.

Oh.

I forgot. There are none.

And that fact is the real problem that should be addressed, rather than Rockin' the River all summer long.

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle needs to have an adult in charge of the operation, instead of having it operate as the private playground of a corrupt congresswoman's playboy son.

Below is a video I made of my visit, last summer, to the first Rockin' the River, just to get you in the mood to do some Feces Floating in less than a month....

Going Over The Edge In Fort Worth With Elsie Hotpepper

I learned this afternoon that this coming September 15, 2012, Elsie Hotpepper and I will be going Over the Edge in Fort Worth, rappelling down the Pier One Imports Corporate Headquarters building that was taken over by Aubrey McClendon to be used by Chesapeake Energy as the operating center from which to run Chesapeake's shadow government of Fort Worth.

It is 4 months until September. I don't know if, all things currently considered, Chesapeake Energy will still be operating in September.

If you want to rappel down the Chesapeake Energy building you can register here.

There are 4 registration levels. TOP ROPE for $10,000. HIGH FLYER for $6,000. DYNO for $2,500. HANG DOG for $1,000.

The higher the level the more you get for your money. For $10,000 a TOP ROPE gets its organization's logo on all promotional materials, including post event videos, the DFW website, brochures, posters, emails, print ads and e-newsletters. Their logo on the back of all participants t-shirts. Their logo on all event signage. Four people going over the edge. Choice of rappelling time. Choice of your team name. Chance to buy additional rappel spots at a special discount price. A complimentary photo, video and commemorative t-shirt. And recognition in DFWI annual report.

For $1,000 HANG DOG gets one reserved spot to go over the edge, video and commemorative t-shirt.

Clearly TOP ROPE is a much better bargain than HANG DOG.

From the Over the Edge website...

Sign up for "Over the Edge"– and Rappel down a building in Downtown Fort Worth! Get a whole new view of Downtown Fort Worth during this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience big thrills and excitement! If you want to live on the edge, this is your chance! Go as a solo climber, or sign up a representative from your organization. Pool your money and "toss your boss." Or give this unique experience as a gift for the thrill seeker in your life.

Toss your boss? Once in a lifetime opportunity? Didn't Fort Worth's now ex corrupt mayor Mike Moncrief go over the edge last year? Does this once in a lifetime opportunity mean that by next year Chesapeake will likely be defunct, making this coming September your last opportunity to rappel down the building while still owned by Chesapeake?

I am very stodgy about this type thing. To me rappelling down the side of a building sounds like about as much fun as floating in an inner tube in the Trinity River. But, Elsie Hotpeper wants to go over the edge, so I guess I won't be a killjoy about this.

Walking To Pre-Lunch At Sam's Club Before Getting Soaking Wet

Woman Escaping Sam's Club Under Bumbershoot

Today, during my regularly scheduled walking/hiking time, rain was raining down. I was in no mood to shield the rain with a bumbershoot, so I went to Sam's Club and let Sam's roof keep me dry.

At Sam's Club I had a tasty pre-lunch of chicken-fried steak, sausage, kolaches and blueberry muffins. The pre-lunch helped fuel my Sam's walk.

About the time I was ready to leave Sam's, a downpour started pouring down, with extreme velocity, causing an almost concussive effect. A very loud throbbing.

Shoppers trying to escape Sam's waited under cover for the rain to abate. I got tired of waiting for the abating and made a run for it. Got totally soaked, but the running got me some endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

Now, hours later, it is no longer raining, the sky has partly cleared, the temperature is only 68, I've got my windows open, birds are chirping.

And I'm dry.

Changing the subject from being dry to something else.

You know how some old people are set in their ways and get all crotchety when someone does not agree with some foolish thing the old person believes? I've had that type experience today. Only the person with the erroneous beliefs is not all that old. It occurred to me that this person spews what this person thinks in the same manner that a hyper-religious sort proselytizes their beliefs with absolutely no consideration of the possibility that what they believe may not be believed by others. Or just simply wrong.

No, this person I am referring to is not Elsie Hotpepper. She is crotchety though, currently refusing to go kayaking with me in the Trinity River.

May Day 11 Postponing Going To Fort Worth's Trinity Uptown Drive-In Movie Theater

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world on the morning of May Day 11 the sun is not visible due to being shielded from my eyes by a layer of clouds.

There is evidence in the form of puddles that indicates some precipitation precipitated overnight. I did not hear any rain pitter pattering on my windows.

Due to the rain related potential mud issues I won't be doing any hill hiking today on the Tandy Hills. I am not a fan of muddy hiking.

I also won't be doing any swimming this morning because my pool is currently being shocked.

I don't know what my means will be today of acquiring some endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

I learned in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, this morning, that I won't be able to watch a movie at Fort Worth's new Trinity Uptown drive-in movie theater as soon as I thought I would. The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's drive-in movie theater construction it taking longer than originally planned. Apparently problems arose regarding drainage, parking lots and landscaping.

J.D. Granger, he being the genius project engineer behind much of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, is fine with the delay. He just wants the project done right, no matter how long it takes.

When the Trinity Uptown drive-in movie theater opens it will be interesting to see if it will be as huge a success as the Cowtown Wakepark.