A Blue Melancholy Monday Brewing Tea While Channeling My Inner Abraham Lincoln

In the picture we are looking at my swimming pool hours after I got wet in it this morning.

You can not tell it by looking at this picture, but it is a clear sky, blue Monday in North Texas.

I am also blue this Monday. With a bout of my chronic melancholy. Bouts of chronic melancholy are just one more thing I have in common with Abraham Lincoln, along with being tall and lanky, with a scraggly beard and the frequent wearing of a stovepipe hat.

I think I had myself a sleep walking incident last night. The evidence of this is that this morning the patio blinds were open, with the patio door slightly open. Both are closed when the sun goes down.

Currently I am leaning towards the idea of returning to the Tandy Hills today to see if the Tandy Turtle is still stuck in its little puddle.

I am also leaning towards the idea of going up to Washington this summer. On July 20 it will be 4 years since I last flew north. I have 2 new nephews and a niece I have not yet met, who I am told are a lot of fun.

I've got some sun tea busy brewing out on the aforementioned patio. In the brewing mix are ginseng, green tea, chamomile, spearmint, lemongrass, blackberry leaves, orange blossoms and rosebuds.

I am hoping this potent herbal mix will give me some temporary relief from my chronic melancholy.

Happy Father's Day, Dad

There are only two days of the year when my dad answers my mom and dad's landline phone. His birthday and Father's Day.

I made the requisite Father's Day call a few minutes ago. As expected, my dad answered the phone.

My mom is having Thanksgiving for Father's Day. As in turkey dinner. I was invited, but I don't think I'll make it.

The father of two of my nephews will make it to mom and dad's for turkey dinner.

The father of my other two nephews is currently not in Arizona, he is up in Washington. I assume my brother will be seeing my nephews today, one of whom is a father, as in Spencer Jack's dad.

Spencer Jack's father emailed me a couple days ago asking for my mailing address because Spencer Jack wanted to send me some artwork.

I never noticed til this very moment that father is made up of two words. Fat and Her.

That is a picture of my dad, above. It is not a recent picture. I believe it is my dad's high school graduation picture. But, I'm not 100% certain of that. I think my dad was 15 when World War II ended. That would likely date this picture as having been taken in 1947 or 1948.

All my life I've been told I look like my dad. I don't see the resemblance.

On July 26, 2002, a date that lives on in infamy, I attended the biggest family reunion in my family history. This took place at the Lynden fairgrounds. Most of the people in attendance I had no memory of having met before. More than once someone who I did not know would say something to me like "you don't have to tell me who's kid you are." It was unsettling.

Anyway, Happy Father's Day to all you dads in the world.

A Surprising Father's Day Reptile On The Tandy Hills

Today I saw something on the Tandy Hills that I never expected to see on the Tandy Hills.

I was making my way across the escarpment above the currently dry Tandy Falls when I looked down at the small puddle below the dry falls and thought I saw a watermelon in the water.

And then I realized it was no melon, it was a really big turtle.

At first I thought the turtle was dead, and then it looked at me and shook its head. The turtle did not pull inside its shell, or quickly move, like the Fosdick Lake turtles do, usually, when I get in their vicinity. I guess this guy was already in water, that, and there really was nowhere for it to run to.

To get to the location beneath dry Tandy Falls this turtle must have journeyed south from the Trinity River, crawled through the culvert through which Tandy Creek flows under the I-30 freeway and then waddled its way to the Tandy Escarpment, where it found it could go no further.

I hope we get rain soon to freshen the turtle's little puddle with some new water. This did not look like a very happy turtle.

Texas Mountain Bike Trails Taught Me How To Lube My Bike Chain In Under 4 Minutes

Thursday evening I biked the Gateway Park mountain bike trail for the first time and blogged about it.

Someone with the very unusual name of  ".." made a comment that led me to ..'s website, Texas Mountain Bike Trails.

Below is what .. had to say....

.. has left a new comment on your post "Tonight I Heartily Biked The Gateway Park Mountain Bike Trail": 

Good to see you back on the bike! 

Gateway Park is a pretty popular bike trail out here but I have noticed fewer riders at most of the trails lately. I think that is because the heat has really started to set in.

Stop by the site sometime at www.texasmountainbiketrails.com and say hi! 

I stopped by the site, but I did not say hi. I'm shy about saying hi.

The Texas Mountain Bike Trails is a very good website. Lots of useful info.

I was a little surprised when I clicked on DFW Trails to see that Gateway Park was not on the list. The DORBA trail in Cedar Hills State Park is also not on the list.

At another location on the Texas Mountain Bike Trails website there is a list of the Top Ten Mountain Bike Websites. The DORBA website (Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association) is on that list of Top Ten Mountain Bike Websites, with .. saying, "The Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association is one of the biggest mountain bike clubs in the US and I am happy to call it my home club."

Being ..'s home club makes it a bit surprising that the club's namesake DORBA Trail in Cedar Hills State Park is not on the list of DFW Mountain Bike Trails.

I was surprised at how many of the listed DFW Mountain Bike Trails I've pedaled. Of the 15 trails on the list I've rolled wheels at Dinosaur Valley Sate Park, Erwin Park, Horseshoe Trail, L.B. Houston Nature Trail, Northshore Trail, River Legacy Park and Tyler State Park.

Tyler State Park is about 80 miles east of the east edge of the DFW Metroplex zone. I am appalled to think back on it and realize how far I used to drive to go mountain biking.

I drove east to Tyler State Park several times, with the first time being just a month after my Texas Exile began. I remember being totally amazed how much this hilly part of Texas reminded me of Western Washington. I remember verbalizing my surprise, at finding a real mountain bike trail, to a Tyler State Park biking Texan. He asked where I was located in Texas. I told him I lived in Haslet, north of Fort Worth. He then told me there were a lot of mountain bike trails in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area. I thought this guy was nuts. I quickly learned he was not nuts.

When I moved to Texas I brought my mountain bike with me, but, I thought to myself, and mentioned to others, that my mountain biking days were over, now that I'm moving to a part of the planet with no mountains.

Tyler State Park is not the farthest I've driven to ride my bike since I've been in Texas. I drove down to Waco more than once to mountain bike the trails in Cameron Park.

At least twice I drove north, past a town called St. Jo, to a private mountain bike trail park, just south of the Red River and Oklahoma. I can not remember the name of this place. I do remember there were several miles of bumpy gravel road after I left pavement and arrived at my destination.

Texas Mountain Bike Trails is on Facebook.

New Green Grows On The Dried Out Burned Tandy Hills While Rosie The Rat Dog Looks For Gold In The Yukon

For an hour or two, during the pre-dawn darkness of Friday morning, a lot of rain fell at my location.

I went to the Tandy Hills today expecting to find a muddy prairie. I figured I could navigate the main trail in from View Street and have myself a little walking time.

Well.

I don't know if any of Friday morning's downpour poured down on the Tandy Hills. I found no mud no matter where I hiked on the hills.

So, I was able to have myself some good endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

In the picture you are looking at some green sprouting from the burned area that was torched a few weeks ago by a lightning strike or an arson.

Changing the subject from arson to the Yukon.

Rosie the Rat Dog and her Entourage have made it to the capital of the Yukon Territory, Whitehorse. You can go to Rosie the Rat Dog's Alaska! Blog to see what things Rosie is seeing and doing in the Yukon. Things like milk, gold and beer. To me the Yukon Territory looks very cold.

Up On A Pedestal With The Veterans Park Soldier Thinking About Going To Trader Joe's & Other Aggravations

Due to last night's heavy rain, I decided Veterans Park in Arlington was a good, likely wet-free, walking option. That and I wanted to go to ALDI.

I would have rather gone to Trader Joe's, in Fort Worth, which had its Grand Opening today, but a madhouse was expected, with parking problems.

When I arrived at Veterans Park and saw the memorial, I saw a young lady on the pedestal where the soldier who guards the memorial stands.

I do not know what this young lady was doing with the soldier, but it appeared very odd to me. Some girls just go gaga over any man in a uniform. Or so I heard. Somewhere.

I've had an odd day. One of those odd days where one aggravation after another clears up. The biggest aggravation to clear up has been aggravating me since February. It involved Facebook, AT & T, M-Qube and a local entity which I will now refer to as Buzzard Electronics, because the Customer Care person at Buzzard finally took care of the problem.

I kept avoiding blogging about my aggravation with Facebook, AT & T, M-Qube and Buzzard Electronics, and was right on the verge of doing so, using the actual name of Buzzard Electronics, because I felt I'd given them plenty of time to take care of the problem.

I will get around to blogging about this aggravation, because it is an aggravation that I know has aggravated a lot of people.

Another aggravation that got cleared up today was confusion over a contract.

Another aggravation was a malfunction of my air-conditioning system. The air-conditioner system repair people fixed that aggravation while I was out and about today.

Changing the subject from my chronic aggravations to something else.

Rosie the Rat Dog and Entourage are now far enough north on the Alaska Highway that darkness does not arrive til after 10. The latest update on Rosie the Rat Dog's Alaska! blog has some really good photos of what it looks like to drive the Alaska Highway. And a lot of bears.

And there is one photo of that famous location on the Alaska Highway where thousands of stolen signs have been erected. Rosie found one with my name on it.

Friday Morning Texas Thunderstorms Have Put Me On Flood Alert

You can not see via the view from my secondary viewing portal on the outer world that lightning is striking this Friday morning, half way through the month of June.

I did not get many hours of sleep last night. I don't know what time it was I started hearing thunder booming. It was strange. I heard thunder, sort of constantly, but saw no flashes of lightning.

The lightning free thunder went on for quite a long time.

And then all hell broke loose. A downpour arrived simultaneously with a lightning bolt with the thunder boom also simultaneous. It felt like the lightning struck right outside my window. This was then repeated several times.

Sleeping was not possible.

I see, via my computer based weather monitoring device, that the National Weather Service has issued a Flood Alert.

When I went to bed last night I did not know that a thunderstorm was in the forecast. And now I have to be alert about a flood.

This is all very stressful.

I think I will go swimming now and try to alleviate some of my stress.

Tonight I Heartily Biked The Gateway Park Mountain Bike Trail

Gateway Park Trail Above Trinity River Cliff

Tonight I went on my first mountain bike trail ride in a long long time.

Yesterday I saw the Gateway Park mountain bike trail and thought it looked fun.

Easy and fun.

Well, it did turn out to be fun. But, easy? Not so much.

The Gateway Park mountain bike trail is a one-way single track. The trail starts off easy, twisting and turning through a dark woods. At times I felt like I was in a tunnel.

After several minutes of twisting and turning I exited the woods to a paved trail, following an arrow back to the mountain bike trail. Once more I was meandering a twisting and turning trail through a dark woods. I was liking it a lot.

And then, suddenly I found myself pedaling beside the Trinity River, with the river about 50 feet below, with the trail running along the edge of a cliff that drops to the river. This seemed treacherous to me.

My photo of this does not remotely capture what this cliff-side trail actually looked like.

I was still dealing with the surprise of finding myself pedaling at a cliff's edge, above a raging river, when suddenly I came to a steep drop off.

It has been a long time since I biked down a steep drop off.

Biking down the steep drop off went well, but, I was not prepared for the steep climb that followed. I almost made it to the top of the climb when I ran out of steam and had to jump off the bike. This type maneuver can go badly wrong. This time it did not.

That first steep up and down was followed by several more, some with twisting turns mixed in, and some off camber turns.

It was challenging.

Eventually the roller coaster section ended and I was back to more sedate trail, like I enjoyed at the start of tonight's ride.

All in all, I was quite impressed with the Gateway Park mountain bike trail.

Who makes these trails? And how do they make them? It seems to me to be quite the feat of engineering.

It would seem, judging by the fact that I only saw 4 other bikers tonight, that the D/FW mountain bike community has not discovered this trail. It took awhile for the River Legacy mountain bike trail to draw the crowds that now regularly fill the parking lot. In many ways, I thought the Gateway Park trail was funner than the River Legacy Park trail.

I will be back. But, not tomorrow. And probably not the day after tomorrow.

Today I Learned About The Murder Of Fort Worth's Burwell Christmas Evans

I know I've mentioned what I think is Fort Worth's best blog previously, a time or two, that blog being Hometown by Handlebar.

Almost daily I'm impressed and amazed at the stories this Bloggerman, Mike Nichols, tells.

Mike Nichols is making Fort Worth, past and present, seem so interesting methinks the City of Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce should be paying this guy.

Today's Hometown by Handlebar is yet one more instance of yet one more piece of Fort Worth history, unknown to me, til today. A sad tale of a bad crime of the sort that could be in our headlines today, but this happened way back in the same century the Civil War took place in.

Have I mentioned before that one of my majors, in college, was history? History has always been my favorite subject.

The title of today's Hometown by Handlebar blogging is Once Upon a Crime: “Woe, Woe, Woe”

Below is the first paragraph...

Burwell Christmas Evans was born on December 25, 1844, in South Carolina. When the Civil War began he was a student at the Citadel military college. Just sixteen years old, he enlisted. After the war in 1872 he headed west. He settled in Fort Worth and opened a dry goods store downtown. In 1876 he offered customers something new: On the second floor of his store he opened Fort Worth’s first respectable theater. Illuminated by kerosene lamps, such noted entertainers as humorist Josh Billings performed in the theater upstairs. And on its stage Madame Rentz’s Female Minstrels brought the cancan to Cowtown. Ew la la, y’all.

Click here to continued reading to find out all about the woeful crime...

Anonymous Animal Encounters With Giant Purple Flowers On The Tandy Hills

Today I came upon some new color brightening up the Tandy Hills in the form of the giant, purple orchid-like bloom you see in the picture.

It was slightly warm, in the mid 80s, when I hit the hills today to get some much needed endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

Coming up a hill I was startled by a large animal running across the path ahead of me. I only saw it for a flash and have no idea what it was.

Giant roadrunner? Scrawny coyote? Cougar? Bobcat? Olive the Prairie Dog?

I don't know. It was fast and long gone by the time I got to the top of the hill.

Currently, back in air-conditioned comfort, the outer world is being heated to 92 degrees, as measured by a thermometer device, with the humidity having the air feeling like it is 102 degrees.

I have a relative issue or two that weighs on my melancholy mind. For some reason watching the re-boot of Dallas heightened my melancholy feeling. Why? I have no idea.

I was up early this morning and in the pool shortly after the sun arrived.

I don't think I'm getting enough exercise, so this evening I think I will check out the mountain bike trail at River Legacy Park that was looking fun when I saw it yesterday.