Walking Around Fosdick Lake With The Don't Litter Signs Littering The Park

Don't Litter This Sign

Today by the time of my mid-day constitutional the temperature had not yet reached 90. And a good wind was blowing. So, with it being semi-chilly I decided to go for a walk around Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park.

There is some shade whilst walking around Fosdick Lake, but nothing that rises to the shade level of the Village Creek Natural Historical Area .

I think it was the last time I walked around Fosdick Lake that I made mention of the dozens of litter barrels that litter the park, with signs pasted on the litter barrels saying "Don't Litter - Put it in the Can! Keep Fort Worth Beautiful."

Well,  a lot of the "Don't Litter" signs have peeled off the litter barrels and are now littering up the park. Like on the Fish Consumption Advisory warning sign you see above.

I think anti-litter signs blowing around and littering is what may be an example of irony.

I'm not sure though, I am a very bad judge of irony.

I have not seen much litter in the litter barrels that litter up Oakland Lake Park. Not that I've looked in many of them. Many of the litter barrels littering up Oakland Lake Park are near the playground areas and the picnic tables.

Please Empty This Can

There is one lone litter barrel on the east end of Fosdick Dam, not near any picnic tables or playgrounds. That particular lone litter barrel is full of litter, so full it is spilling out and over the dam.

I think a lone litter barrel overfilled with litter in a park littered with "Don't Litter" signs may also be an example of irony. Again, I am not sure.

What was also ironic, to me, was the fact that this over filled litter barrel was missing its "Don't Litter" sign. Apparently people don't like to put litter in barrels with a sign advising them to do so. But, they'll go out of their way to fill, to the point of being overfilled, a litter barrel with no Don't Litter sign.

I suspect by the next time I walk around Fosdick Lake the Fosdick Dam litter barrel will be empty.

Thinking About Going To The Arctic Circle While Walking With The Indian Ghosts Who Haunt Village Creek

Me In Village Creek Miiror

That is not me being reflected off some polished stainless steel on the Alaska Pipeline in the picture.

You'll have to go to the Rosie the Rat Dog Alaska! Blog to see what's reflected on the Alaska Pipeline in a blogging titled Pipeline Pleasure.

Yesterday Rosie made it to the Arctic Circle. That has not been blogged yet. But I've seen photo documentation sent via email.

UPDATE: Rosie has now blogged about getting to the Arctic Circle in Survival of the Fittest. Apparently there was an incident with a bear and an outhouse.

Yesterday my regular daily walking constitutional was disrupted, like it often is, by a doctor's appointment in Euless.

So, today, despite an hour in the pool this morning, I really was in need of breathing in some polluted outdoor air.

I went to my preferred location when the temperature approaches 100 in either real temperature or real feel temperature, that being the shaded trails of the Village Creek Natural Historical Area in Arlington.

Today is not being dead calm, which means a good steady wind kept the steambath effect in check.

I am almost 100% I have mentioned, previously, my fondness for goofy sign verbiage. There is a good chance I've mentioned the goofy Village Creek sign verbiage before.

Today I looked at the sign again and was struck by the goofiness of "Firearms and hitting golf balls are PROHIBITED."

I guess that means you can not enter the park packing heat, but you can enter the park with your golf club and balls, as long as your don't hit your balls.

"Please deposit litter in trash receptacles."

Now, if this Park Rule was not on this list would people just be tossing litter all over the place, rather than in the garbage cans, I mean trash receptacles, located throughout the park?

"Alcoholic beverages are prohibited by ordinance."

Why not simply say "No Alcoholic Beverages Allowed"?  If you're going to mention something is prohibited by ordinance, shouldn't the specifics of that ordinance be cited?

"Please keep glass containers off soccer field."

There's a soccer field in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area?

"Parking in designated areas only."

As far as I know, there is only one parking lot for the Village Creek Natural Historical Area. It is located off Dottie Lynn Parkway. Is there another parking lot I don't know about, hence the pluraling of areas?

I see via my computer based temperature monitoring device that we have gone over the century mark, again, at my location. I think that is 4 days in a row. I don't remember how many days it takes to break the record.

Another Hot Day In Texas Trying To Be Informed Instead Of Just Opinionated About Oxford Commas

At almost 4 in the afternoon it is only 101 degrees at my location. I think that is colder than it was at this time yesterday.

It is windier today than the past couple dead calm days, with that wind blowing slightly counteracting the 31% humidity, making the Real Feel of the temperature only 105.

I don't know what has happened to me this year. I've somehow become a temperature wimp. Where years previous I enjoyed get HOT under the noonday sun, acclimating to the HEAT. This year, so far, that is just not working for me.

This could be yet one more age related malady.

Speaking of which, I'd not read Gar the Texan's blog in awhile, so I'd not been updated on Gar's latest bloggings about Gar and his interesting opinions about religion and politics. Or his many medical maladies. I visited Gar the Texan's blog after seeing the following amusing slogan on Facebook, which made me think of Gar the Texan.

So, after being reminded of Gar the Texan's obfuscated opinionizing by a slogan on Facebook, I went to Gar the Texan's blog to learn that he is finally getting one of his many ailments operated on. That and in a blogging following the medical update he opined some of his religious and political opinionizing that has the effect of making me wince and feel slightly embarrassed for the boy. Then I remember from whence he came, that being the dusty little West Texas town of Wink, where history was taught by the football coach, if at all.

Reading Gar the Texan's fractured prose reminded me of something else I was amused by today on Facebook, courtesy of CatsPaw.

CatsPaw is a real stickler for grammar. Make the mistake of improperly using a word like "who's" and you will learn this first hand if you are on Miss CatsPaw's radar screen.

I've been perplexed times previous by how not having a comma in front of an 'and' can change the meaning of what's being said.

I don't think I've heard of the Oxford Comma before today, which really is a sad indicator of how ignorant I really am.

Now when someone like Gar the Texan commits this sort of communicative grammar confusion, saying that he invited Washington and Lincoln, who are a pair of Rhinos, when he meant to say he was inviting a pair of Rhinos, plus Washington and Lincoln, well, Gar the Texan chronically claims the reader has a reading comprehension problem, never considering that his bad grammar might be the actual problem.

And now back to our main subject.

The temperature.

Earlier today I blogged about Rosie the Rat Dog getting cold in an Ice Museum somewhere by the North Pole area of Fairbanks, Alaska.

A couple days ago Rosie blogged about having to run the RV's a/c because the temperature was in the sweltering low 80s.

Checking the current temperature in Fairbanks, I don't think Rosie is needing to run the RV's a/c at this point in time.

Actually I don't think Rosie the Rat Dog is currently in her RV. I believe that at this point in time the Rosie the Rat Dog entourage has left the Mother Ship, somewhere in the Fairbanks zone, and is heading north in the SUV to the Arctic Circle.

Did I just use an Oxford Comma? I don't know. I've already admitted I'm ignorant.

This morning it crossed my mind how amazing modern communication is. Daily tracking someone's roadtrip, via email and blogging. Daily getting photos of the ongoing trip.

Is this societal progress? Or not? I'm not sure. But I am enjoying the virtual Roadtrip to Alaska.

Rosie The Rat Dog At The North Pole With Ice Museum Appletinis

I am finding the Rosie the Rat Dog Alaska! Blog to be very educational.

For instance, I had no idea there was a McDonald's at the North Pole. I knew Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus lived at the North Pole, but I had no idea the town was candy cane themed, including the McDonald's.

I also had no idea the mosquitoes are really as big in Alaska as they have always been rumored to be. I saw photo documentation of the North Pole and Big Mosquitoes in Rosie's blogging titled I'm a Believer.

I do not know, for sure, what Rosie and Entourage are believing. Is it that Santa Claus is real? Or that the mosquitoes in Alaska are enormous?

I think it was after visiting Santa Claus at the North Pole that Rosie directed the RV towards Chena Hotsprings. Apparently the water in the Hotsprings was too hot for the girl's delicate constitutions, so they left the hot water and went to the Chena Hotsprings Ice Museum.

In Rosie's blogging titled The Thirsty Brrrr! the Ice Museum looked pretty cool. In more ways than one. The girls had to wear provided parkas to keep warm in the chilled to 20 degrees museum.

Apparently there is overnight lodging in the Ice Museum for only $600 per person. You are provided a caribou fur blanket. But there are no restroom facilities. I am almost 100% Rosie did not stay overnight in the Ice Museum.

The Ice Museum has a chilly bar where Appletinis are served in a carved from ice cocktail glass.

From the photo documentation it appears one drinks ones Appeltini bare handed. Seems like one would get cold.

In my current location, where the outer world is heated to 90 degrees an hour before noon, being in an Ice Museum having an icy Appletini sounds like a real good thing. Someone should open an Ice Museum in North Texas.

106 Degrees In Fort Worth But It's Hotter In Phoenix & Way Cooler In Tacoma In More Ways Than One

Coming up on 5 in the afternoon on this final Tuesday of June, at my location, according to my computer based temperature monitoring device, it is feeling like 116 degrees in the outer world.

My air-conditioner seems to be running non-stop.

Heading up to Washington is sounding even more appealing today than it sounded yesterday.

Currently, in Tacoma, at the same time it is 106 at my location, it is 43 degrees cooler in Tacoma, at a chilly 63.

When I last stayed at my sister's in Tacoma I was first assigned the basement bedroom as my location. I soon dubbed this the Arctic. A few days later I found myself on the top floor and found it quite a pleasant temperature.

I dubbed the top floor the Tropics and asked if it were at all possible if I could move from the Arctic to the Tropics.

Permission was  granted.

The Tropics, at that point in time had a pair of high tech window air-conditioning units installed. The digital temperature read-out on those A/C units would show numbers like 79 or 81.

The fulltime residents did not understand why I was not turning on the A/C, what with it being those high temperatures of 79 - 81. I don't think it was believed when I said 80 was what I had my A/C set to, at home, in Texas.

I have been informed that the area of my sister's house I called the Tropics is now cooled by a heat pump which renders it so comfortable that it is no longer the unused in summer Tropics. The basement, however, remains pleasantly frigid and is still known as the Arctic.

Right now the Arctic basement is sounding really pleasant.

I don't know if the living quarters I lived in at my mom and dad's in Arizona in March is currently livable. I believe it was not part of the central air that cooled the rest of the house.

Currently it is 106 at my location in Texas, 109 in Phoenix and 63 in Tacoma.

I would think that my sister's former Tropics zone is currently not needing to have much of its heat pumped.

I wonder how come Phoenix is having something called an Excessive Heat Watch? While in Fort Worth and North Texas we don't have to watch for excessive heat? Instead of watching for excessive heat, in Fort Worth, we have an Air Quality Alert.

Very perplexing.

Getting Cool In The Shadiest Place I Know

It was 94 degrees, feeling like 103, when I left air-conditioned comfort to get myself some bi-pedal motion in the outer world.

I went to the shadiest place I know that is within 3 miles of my abode, the being the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

I was not alone in the shade seeking today. Being under big green trees makes the real temperature feel way cooler than 103 degrees.

I think I may have had a sleepwalking incident last night and got myself in a fight, because I have been feeling sucker punched in the gut all day today.

Last night I got gas, so I called my mom.

I told my mom we'd had our first 100 degree day the day before. My mom told me they'd had, I think the number was 38, days over 100, so far, since the return of HOT temperatures to the Valley of the Sun.

Currently the outer world at my location, at 2 in the afternoon, is being heated to 102, with the humidity supposedly making the temperature really feel like 114.

The hottest real temperature I have ever been HOT in was 121 at Badwater in Death Valley.

My two oldest nephews and I were in Las Vegas. I was told conditions were such that Death Valley might break its temperature record that day. I asked the nephews if they wanted to drive to Death Valley for some record breaking heat. So, it was off to Death Valley we went, but no temperature record was set that day.

I don't think we'll be setting a temperature record today, here in North Texas. Apparently the current record for this day was set back in 1980 at something like 112 degrees.

101 Degrees Is Making Me Think It Is Time To Head North & Leave HOT Texas For A Spell

The time "Now" is referencing in the screen capture from my computer based temperature monitoring device is a few minutes ago, approximately 3:30 in the afternoon of this HOT final Monday of June.

I am not adjusting to the high temperatures as well as I usually do. I think it is the humidity causing this adjustment problem.

I canceled my daily endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation of the hill climbing walking sort, deciding that an extra long swim this morning was sufficient.

Apparently the air has become dangerous to breathe in the D/FW Metroplex, with the National Weather Service issuing an Air Quality Alert. I read somewhere today that ones lungs could get burned by too much ozone in the air we are breathing in this polluted part of the planet.

Just as I was lamenting to myself my woeful state of misery I got an email from my sister in Tacoma asking, "So, are you really coming north? I hear we are going to get summer, sometime."

I can not remember another time during my long exile in Texas when heading north sounded more appealing.

To breathe air without worrying about getting an ozone burn. To breathe air that is scented with evergreens and saltwater. To breathe air that is regularly scrubbed clean by rain. To pick a berry growing wild. To pick a berry growing in a field. To pick an apricot, cherry, peach and apple growing in a tree. To climb a mountain. To watch a big wave crash to shore. To gaze deep into unpolluted, clear water.

Yes, heading north is sounding like a mighty fine idea.

I Got Nothing At Fort Worth's Trader Joe's Except A Parking Lot Headache

Hunting For A Trader Joe's Parking Space

Well, I have now been to Fort Worth's Trader Joe's.

First off, let's talk about the parking.

The Trader Joe's parking lot is too small. The parking lots of the enterprises around Trader Joe's have big NO TRADER JOE'S PARKING signs. Along with a warning that violators will be towed.

I exited the Trader Joe's parking lot and eventually found street parking. I'd say half or more of the vehicles parked to shop at Trader Joe's were parked on the street.

The last time I was in a Trader Joe's was in 2004, in the Seattle zone. I don't remember which of the towns south of Sea-Tac International Airport was the location of that Trader Joe's. Maybe it was the town of Sea-Tac. I'm starting to lose my memory of place names in Washington. Like right now I'm drawing a blank as to the names of the towns near the airport. Federal Way, that's one I remember.

Damn age related memory loss.

Changing the subject from my memory loss back to Trader Joe's.

I left the Seattle zone Trader Joe's having bought a lot of goodies. I left the Fort Worth Trader Joe's having bought nothing. Several of the items I bought in the Seattle zone Trader Joe's were put in my basket after sampling a free sample at various sampling locations in the store. I remember several cheeses, crackers, bread, all into the basket after a sample.

Trader Joe's 19 Cent Bananas

The Fort Worth Trader Joe's has a "Sampling Station." I did no sampling. It appeared the sample was peach salsa. I knew I did not want peach salsa, so no need to sample.

I also bought no bananas. Bananas at Trader Joe's were 19 cents each. I'm not used to buying bananas via anything but the per pound method.

The Fort Worth Trader Joe's is a lot bigger than the one I went to in the Seattle zone. I would have thought with a full parking lot and cars parked on the street that the store would be human gridlock.

As you can see in the picture, it was not human gridlock.

There also were no lines at the checkouts. I'd read the checkout lines were long back when the Fort Worth Trader Joe's opened. I wonder how nightmarish the parking situation was at that time?

When Costco came to the D/FW Metroplex, the first one opened in Fort Worth. I was very happy to learn of this development. Costco is one of the things I greatly missed, that I was used to regularly going to, whilst being a Washingtonian.

I remember going to the Grand Opening of the Fort Worth Costco and being very disappointed. It had been Texasified. Walking in to the Fort Worth Costco I was visually assaulted by dozens of horse saddles. And Remington statues. There was no sushi, no coffee roaster, none of the Costco things I was missing.

Trader Joe's Fort Worth Stockyards Mural

Then a Costco opened in Southlake, a more Yankee-fieed area of the D/FW Metroplex. The Southlake Costco was much more like a Washington one, than the Fort Worth one.

Still no sushi though.

Nothing I saw in the Fort Worth Trader Joe's made me think it'd been Texas-ified.

Though there is a mural of the Fort Worth Stockyards on the wall at the back of the store.

Turn Around To Not Drown While You Are Rockin' The Trinity River

Pedaling on the Trinity Trail on the downriver side of the Rockin' the River zone, I saw an orange boom spanning the river.

I assumed the orange boom was in place to keep Rockin' the River Inner Tubing Happy Hour Floaters contained within the pollution-free safe to swim in section of the Trinity River.

A short distance downriver from the orange boom I saw two signs I'd not seen before, one sign on each end of the big arch of the Main Street Bridge that spans the Trinity River.

STEEP DROP AHEAD
TURN AROUND
DON'T DROWN

Sounds very dire. I had no recollection of ever seeing a steep drop on the Trinity River in this location, so, of course I was curious.

On the right you are looking at the Main Street Bridge. And the warning signs. The Main Street Bridge is also known as the Paddock Viaduct. It was built in 1914. The first bridge in America to have self-supporting arches of concrete.

I do not know if being the first bridge in America to have self-supporting arches of concrete made the rest of America green with envy, or not.

The bridge was named for B.B. Paddock. He was a Fort Worth mayor and newspaper editor.

I know these things because I read them on a plaque stuck to a big rock near the bridge. On the south side of the bridge, that's the right side in the picture, there is a State of Texas Historical Marker that goes into more detail about the bridge. I came upon this Historical Marker years ago whilst exploring the area around the now sadly defunct Heritage Park

That drop off does not look all that dire, not that I'd want to go over that mini-Niagara Falls floating on an inner tube.

I wonder if a Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floater went over the falls, thus prompting the installation of the orange boom and the TURN AROUND DON'T DROWN warning sign?

The Monday Morning Blues Starts A HOT Week In Texas

Above is this morning's 6 day forecast courtesy of my computer based weather monitoring device. As you can see we are already heated to 81 degrees, with the humidity making it feel like 91. What you can not see is it is not yet quite 9 in the morning.

What is the meaning of that other then a HOT sun symbol on Friday? It looks dire.

My computer based temperature forecaster says it will get to 102 today. A few minutes ago I heard on the radio that 105 is the prediction. Either way, it's going to be HOT.

Yesterday the official temperature station for Dallas/Forth Worth, that being D/FW Airport, officially registered our first 100 degree day of the year.

I think I will escape the heat this morning by going to Trader Joe's and Sprouts Farmers.