Listening For The Sound Of Music On The HOT Tandy Hills

In the picture you are looking north on the Tandy Hills, about 4 hours before the hills come alive with the sound of music.

And people.

But, the hills were people free, except for me, in the noon time frame today.

Prairie Fest x3 Part 3 starts up in about an hour.

I am currently not in a very festive mood.

I talked to my mom this morning. My mom tasked me with the task of calling a cousin I've not seen in decades. I don't like making cold calls.

Elsie Hotpepper may or may not go see The General tonight at Movie Night on the Prairie. I am experiencing Elsie Hotpepper type ambivalence on The General viewing too.

The hill hiking was highly humid today. The temperature was in the upper 80s, but felt way HOTTER due to that vexing humidity problem.

I know today's Prairie Fest event is solar powered, including solar powering the movie projector. What I don't know is if there is solar powered air-conditioning. I suppose one could consider wind to be solar powered air-conditioning. I know the wind blowing on the hills today had a pleasant cooling effect at times.

Tonight Is Movie Night On The Prairie At Prairie Fest x3 Part 3

Sometime this coming summer the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle will see the first new drive-in movie theater open in America in decades.

If you can not wait til summer to watch a movie under the stars head to the Tandy Hills Natural Area, today, to Prairie Fest x3 Part 3, where tonight is Movie Night on the Prairie.

The movie tonight on the Tandy Hills is the Buster Keaton classic, The General, a movie Orson Welles considered possibly the best movie ever made.

I don't know if Orson Welles verbalized this opinion before or after he filmed Citizen Kane.

• 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.

See you tonight at the movies!

What Is Happening At My Neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Natural Gas Drilling Operation?

The past couple days I've been perplexed to the point of bum puzzlement wondering what is going on at my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas hole in the ground.

Bulldozers have moved a lot of dirt. Pipes and equipment have been moved in.

Along with an outhouse.

The most curious looking thing is the metal wall you see behind the bulldozer.

There have been many a gas drilling location where I wonder how they can run a pipe to carry the non-odorized natural gas that pops out after a successful fracturing.

The Scott Avenue Chesapeake Energy operation turned notorious with its proposed pipeline route along Carter Avenue. That turned into quite a brouhaha, including protests in front of the Tarrant County Courthouse.

How will the gas from my neighborhood Chesapeake operation be moved? To the south is an Albertsons with a stripmall of other businesses. To the east is Loop 820. To the north, as you can see in the picture, is storage units and an apartment complex. To the west is another apartment complex.

How is the gas going to leave my neighborhood Chesapeake Eneergy operation?

Walking Around Fosdkck Lake Thinking About Relative Issues & My Youngest Aunt

In the picture you are looking at Fosdick Lake in Oakland (Lake) Park, through a heavily vegetated area.

Speaking of heavily vegetated areas, the layer of slimy looking green vegetation that has covered a large area of Fosdick Lake in recent weeks, appears to have shrunk.

It was not very hot when I went on a walk. Somewhere in the 80s.

Prior to going walking I was up in Hurst this morning. On the way back from Hurst I talked to my Arizona sister. We've have had a couple relative issues come up in the past 48 hours that has me feeling a bit melancholy.

I last saw my youngest aunt, she being my mom's little sister, back on August 11, 2001, one month before the infamous 9/11 date. My youngest aunt was at my sister's in Kent for my mom and dad's 50th Anniversary. August 11 is not my mom and dad's anniversary. The actual date is August 6. Hiroshima Day. August 11 is the birthday of my mom and dad's eldest son, which is how I remember what date it was I last saw my youngest aunt.

My youngest aunt was a marathon runner, but eventually stopped running when arthritis arrived. My youngest aunt was always a blond and always reminded me of Doris Day.

I was very surprised to get a call from my mom the night before last telling me that my youngest aunt is ailing bad, she'd had cancer and now Alzheimer's and is not expected to live much longer.

Then yesterday my youngest sister and I were exchanging emails in which the health of another relative was talked about. About 7 I was on Facebook and got a message from someone in Washington telling me that that relative had died the night before. I then called mom and dad to tell them.

I tell you, you have to live for today, not hold grudges and be sure to realize every time you see someone may be the last time you see them. Then act accordingly. I had a great time with my youngest aunt the last time I saw her. Our senses of humor are similar.

I remember my youngest aunt asking me why in the world I moved to Texas. I then asked my youngest aunt why in the world she moved to Alaska.

Buffer from relatives was her answer.

Which is where I learned that phrase.

Hot On The Tandy Hills Thinking About The Possible New Fort Worth Cowtown Wakepark Lake Public Swimming Hole

In the picture you are on the Tandy Hills, looking north, across the I-30 freeway, at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth and its 4, or 5, short skyscrapers.

Currently the outer world at my location is heated to 92 degrees, with the Heat Index, meaning humidity, making it feel like 97.

To my delicate heat sensibilities it felt way HOTTER than 97, today on the hills.

I may have gotten myself a much needed dose of aerobically induced endorphin stimulation, but I also had myself an unneeded steambath.

Soon, I hope, the humidity will dramatically lessen and the steambath will turn into a much more pleasant sauna.

My swimming pool is currently disabled, so there was no swimming this morning. The water had to be drained in order to replace a burned out light bulb. Without a functioning light bulb the pool does not glow with the appropriate level of blue brightness in the nighttime darkness. The pool is currently slowly refilling. I do not know if it will have enough water in it for an appropriate swim tomorrow morning.

Speaking of swimming.

This coming weekend is Memorial Day Weekend. Usually thought of as the start of summer, even though the summer solstice is not til June 20.

FW Weekly has its annual Summer section in this week's edition. The Summer section is full of fun ideas of things to do during the HOT time of the year.

I could not help but notice that I saw no ads for the notorious Cowtown Wakepark.

Has the Cowtown Wakepark already met its easily predicted fate of going out of business?

If so, methinks, since the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle already wasted money building the Wakepark Lake, that that lake should be turned into Fort Worth's first public swimming hole. I'm sure it would not cost a significant amount of the Boondoggle's nearly billion dollar budget to figure how to install some aerating fountains and other methods to clean up that little lake's water to make it palatable for humans.

Why, the Cowtown Wakepark Lake, cleaned up, might even make a sane place to hold J.D. Granger's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats, free of any alligator, gar fish, water moccasin, nutria, turtle or floating feces dangers.

A Closed Flimsy Gate Kept Me Out Of Quanah Parker Park Today

Do Not Run In To This Flimsy Gate

This has been a very discombobulating Wednesday day in May. I think much of the discombob-ulation came from a bad bout of nightmares last night, the worst of which had me waking up kicking a wall.

I had a long swim, early this morning. That helped mitigate some of the discombobulation.

And then, after swimming, I had a couple hours of doctor related discombobulation up in Hurst. I am not a fan of doctor related discombobulation.

Due to all this discombobulation I was not much in the mood to overheat getting endorphins from overly strenuous aerobic stimulation. So, no hills for me today.

Sometime after 3 I headed to Town Talk to get pork ribs for my Memorial Day BBQ. I got enough pork ribs to feed a lot of pigs.

On the way to Town Talk I thought a short walk at Quanah Parker Park might be a good thing, what with the temperature being so HOT (93) and a strong wind blowing.

But, upon arrival at Quanah Parker Park I found the park still closed by a flimsy gate blocking access.

This seems a bit dangerous to me. The flimsy gate is only about 15 feet from the turn off from Randol Mill Road. Not expecting a park to be gated, I can see how one could easily plow into this flimsy gate. Why is there no STOP sign on this gate, like I see when Village Creek Natural Historical Area is closed due to flooding?

Orange Cones Close Fort Worth Park

Quanah Parker Park has been closed ever since our last bout of rain.

Today, I walked past the closed flimsy gate, past the orange sign that informs anyone getting past the flimsy closed gate that the right lane is closed ahead.

I walked til I saw what was causing the closure.

It appears that a bit of erosion has eroded a little bit of the ride side of the road.

This would seem as if it were something easy to fix.

Fort Worth needs to get this fixed immediately, lest the town fall even further down in the rankings of America's big towns and their parks.

The Trust For Public Land ParkScore Project Ranks Fort Worth Better Than Los Angeles But Worse Than Dallas

The Trust for Public Land is a conservation group that claims to be America's leader in creating city parks and raising money for local conservation. The Trust for Public Land conserves land for everyone to enjoy as parks, gardens, and other natural places.

There is a section of the Trust for Public land website devoted to their ParkScore Project.

Part of the ParkScore Project ranks America's 40 Largest Cities and their Park Systems.

The ParkScore Project rates cities in three areas: park access, which measures the percentage of residents living within a 10-minute walk of a park; park size, including the city's median park size and the percentage of total city area dedicated to parks; and services and investment, which factors in playgrounds per 10,000 residents and park spending per capita.

None of the big towns in Texas ranked in the Top 10. Austin managed to be in the Top 20. Austin has some mighty fine parks. I would have guessed Austin would have ranked higher. But, Austin was tied with  Long Beach for the #20 spot.

Phoenix fared only slightly better than Austin. Having recently enjoying the fine parks of Phoenix, I am surprised Phoenix is not in the Top 10.

Dallas came in at #21. With the sister city of Dallas, Fort Worth at #24.

Fort Worth was ahead of Los Angeles, which was #25. The only park I remember being in in Los Angeles is Griffith Park. And the La Brea Tarpits. And Disneyland. But, Disneyland is not in Los Angeles.

All the towns in the Top 10 are on either the East or West Coast. Except for Sacramento, which is a bit inland. I think Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia may be a bit inland, as well.

Below are the ParkScore Ratings...

1. San Francisco
2. Sacramento, Calif.
3. (tie) Boston
3. (tie) New York
5. Washington, D.C.
6. Portland, Ore.
7. Virginia Beach, Va.
8. San Diego
9. Seattle
10. Philadelphia
11. Albuquerque
12. San Jose, Calif.
13. Denver
14. Chicago
15. Baltimore
16. (tie) Kansas City, Mo.
16. (tie) Milwaukee
16. (tie) Phoenix
19. (tie) Long Beach, Calif.
19. (tie) Austin
21. Dallas
22. Detroit
23. Las Vegas
24. Fort Worth
25. Los Angeles
26. Atlanta
27. (tie) El Paso
27. (tie) Columbus, Ohio
29. Nashville
30. Houston
31. (tie) Tucson, Ariz.
31. (tie) Memphis
33. Oklahoma City
34. Jacksonville, Fla.
35. San Antonio
36. (tie) Indianapolis
36. (tie) Mesa, Ariz.
38. Louisville, Ky.
39. Charlotte, N.C.
40. Fresno, Calif.

Memorial Day Weekend With Turner Falls Park, Tandy Tumbleweeds & Prairie Fest x3 With Buster Keaton's The General

Tandy Tumbleweed Wannabes

The hill hiking was a little HOT today on the Tandy Hills, what with not much of a wind blowing.

Currently we are once more under the specter of an Air Quality Alert. I don't know how alarmed I should be about this alert.

Currently the thermometer is measuring the temperature at 87 degrees, with the lack of wind and the humidity making the real feel of the temperature 10 degrees warmer, at 97.

Wildflower season is now past its prime, on the Tandy Hills. Instead of a vast array of colors, currently the color scheme on the prairie is mostly shades of green.

Today I came upon the forest of big bushy weeds, you see in the above picture, looking like possible tumbleweeds in the making. I don't think we grow tumbleweeds on this part of the planet.

A few minutes ago I realized that this coming weekend is the Memorial Day Weekend. I realized this when I looked at my Google stats and saw a lot of hits on Turner Falls Park. Then I looked at my calendar and saw that this coming Monday, May 28, is Memorial Day.

Part Three of Prairie Fest x3 is this coming Saturday. This may be the biggest Memorial Day Weekend event in North Texas. When the sun goes down on Saturday it will be Movie Night on the Prairie, with Buster Keaton's The General being view under the stars.

I may be there with Elsie Hotpepper.

John Kent Sets The Record Straight Regarding Fort Worth's Skyscraper Situation

In the picture you are looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

The current population of Fort Worth, according to Google Public Data is 741,206.

Regarding beautiful downtown Fort Worth, over time I may have made remarks along the line of downtown Fort Worth is the smallest downtown of any town in America with a population over 500,000.

Or downtown Fort Worth is the only downtown in a town with a population over 500,000 with no downtown department store. Or a real grocery store.

Or the skyline of Fort Worth is the most nondescript skyline of any town in America with a population over 500,000.

And, somewhere on my enormous Eyes on Texas website I apparently said Fort Worth has the fewest skyscrapers of any city in America with a population over a half million.

The fewest skyscrapers remark provoked John Kent to give me some Eyes on Texas feedback...

Hi,

Was browsing your site when I ran across this sentence:

The Tower's major facelift has turned it, arguably, into Fort Worth's most attractive skyscraper, admittedly a narrow field of competition since Fort Worth has the fewest skyscrapers of any city in America with a population over a half million.

For sure, Fort Worth is embarrassingly bereft of tall buildings. However, El Paso, San Jose, Tucson, Memphis – all cities with more than 500,000 people – are even more skyscraper-deprived than Fort Worth.

Even San Antonio, with more than 1 million residents, is barely on par with Fort Worth in the skyscraper domain. There’s the Tower of the Americas, at more than 600 feet, but then you have just one building over 500 feet, compared to Fort Worth, which has three buildings over 500 feet. Both cities have three buildings over 400 feet. San Antonio has three more 300’+ buildings than Fort Worth; Fort Worth has three more 200’+ buildings than San Antonio. Just sayin’.

Also, downtown Fort Worth now has a grocery store.

Thanks for listening.

John Kent

Fort Worth's Polluted Fosdick Lake Got Me Thinking About A Pig War & Cod Fishing In The San Juan Islands

The Ick was in full force in Fosdick Lake today. The layer of slimy looking green vegetation has grown thicker and more widespread since my last visit to Oakland (Lake) Park.

Today I saw many turtles on logs, diving into the slime when I got too close. So, the turtles are doing okay with the Ick in Fosdick. Or so it seems.

And I saw one guy fishing.

Casting a hook through that layer of thick green gunk to try and catch a fish that you are advised not to eat, seems real odd to me.

I've never been much of a fan of fishing, except for enjoying, a time or two or three, jigging for cod out in the San Juan Islands.

The San Juan Islands are in Washington, an archipelago of 172 islands, six of which are big enough to be inhabited and accessed by Washington State Ferry boats.

The San Juan Islands is where one of America's least deadly wars took place.

The Pig War.

A pig was the only fatality in the Pig War.

The modern day San Juan Islands are known more for being a big tourist attraction than the location of a war. The San Juan Islands are in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, thus getting way less rain than a place like Seattle gets.

I am almost 100% certain that the San Juan Islands were not the result of a public works project run by a corrupt congresswoman's unqualified son. I don't think nepotism is legal in Washington.