West Nile Virus Has Reached Epidemic Level In North Texas

I was aware that for several years now the West Nile Virus has been being delivered by the Culex species of mosquitoes to humans all over America.

I had no idea til this morning that the number of incidents of West Nile Virus cases in North Texas has now reached an epidemic level.

Dallas recorded the first West Nile Virus death of the year, in America, within the past week.

West Nile Virus comes in varying levels of seriousness, with the most serious being the neuro-invasive virus version, which attacks the body's nervous system.

When I was reading about this mosquito caused epidemic I thought to myself that I do not recollect having a single mosquito bite all my years in Texas.

So,  what do I see on my face upon my return from the pool this morning? Well, it looks like a mosquito bite.

I do not remember a spring, summer or fall, in Washington, where I did not get mosquito bites.

I remember my first year in Texas, being in a Home Depot, in March, appalled at an invasion of what we called waterbugs. These round bugs that were attracted to light and sort of killed themselves ramming into the light, leaving a pile of waterbug corpses on the ground.

The lady at Home Depot told me the bug situation gets much worse as we get closer to summer.

I was mortified. Thinking the Texas bug invasion was going to be much worse than the annual insect invasion in Washington.

Well, I was relieved that, except for a plague of locusts, the insects in Texas are not as annoying as those in Washington. Except for cockroaches. I never saw a cockroach til I moved to Texas. But, I find cockroaches to be the most entertaining insect I have ever met. And they don't bite.

In Washington, in the Puget Sound lowlands, you would get plagued by annoying horse flies, in addition to mosquitoes and other flying biters.

Til the first freeze of the coming winter you can not go hiking in the Cascade High Country without covering yourself with bug spray, lest you find yourself covered with biting deer flies, whose bite hurts real bad.

I just checked the insect bite I got on my face in the pool this morning. It seems to have faded. I don't think it was a mosquito bite from a West Nile Virus Culex species of mosquito.

The majority of people who get bit by a West Nile Virus carrying mosquito develop no symptoms. People over 50, with weak immune systems, and people like Gar the Texan, who are prone to attacks of the vapors, are at risk of developing the disease.

Biking With The Indian Ghosts Who Haunt Village Creek While Thinking About Chief Joesph

Today I am sort of copying my favorite Fort Worth blog, Hometown by Handlebar.

So, in the picture, those are my bike's handlebars, no where near my hometown, which is a couple thousand miles distant.

My handlebars are on the deck that overlooks the Blue Bayou in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

Riding a bike for my mid-day constitutional is a lot less HOT than walking or hiking

Currently the outer world, according to my computer based temperature monitoring device, is being heated to 93 degrees, with the 45% humidity making the temperature really feel like 100.

Being in a HOT place makes me think about being in a cooler place. The Pacific Northwest is a much cooler place than the HOT place I am in right now.

I read on Facebook, this morning, that the Pacific Northwesterner known as Debbi Downer, is taking a long road trip from Pasco, in Eastern Washington, to Lake Wallowa, in Oregon. I think the distance from Pasco to Lake Wallowa is something like 70 miles. Debbi Downer characterized this as a long roadtrip vacation.

Lake Wallowa is at the heart of the land stolen from the Nez Perce Indians, an act of theft which led to one of the most epic battles of the Indian Wars, with multiple skirmishes, over a distance over 1,000 miles, as Chief Joesph attempted to lead his tribe to safety in Canada.

Chief Joesph and the Nez Perce were never allowed to return to the valley that was their home.

In the modern era area of Wallowa Lake there are many historical monuments making note of the history that took place in this location.

Chief Joesph died on September 21, 1904. According to his doctor, Chief Joesph died of a broken heart.

After he surrendered Chief Joesph made many attempts to right the wrong that had been done to his people. Chief Joesph traveled to Washington, D.C. three times, pleading his case to three presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1879, William McKinley in 1897 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1903.

Chief Joesph spoke out repeatedly, in poetic language, about the injustice of American policy towards native people.

Chief Joesph was widely admired, even by his old adversaries, like General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Chief Joesph's most famous words were the speech he gave at the time of his surrender. They may be the most famous words ever uttered by a Native American...

"I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohulhulsote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are, perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more, forever."

When Are The Bloggerman & Catwoman Going To Camp Bowie Bingo?

Almost every week since Camp Bowie Bingo opened for business I have had the good intention to make a visit.

A couple weeks ago the Camp Bowie Bingo Mistress, Miss Teresa, informed me I could visit Camp Bowie Bingo to check it out and take pictures without needing to play Bingo.

I have also had the good intention to visit the new location of the Paradise Center, but have not made it there.

This morning I saw a comment on the Paradise Center Scandal blog from X-Cowtowner chastising me and the Catwoman for not playing bingo.

This is what X-Cowtowner had to say.......

Say, Bloggerman. When are you and the Catwoman gonna go play bingo at that new Camp Bowie Bingo so you can take pictures and tell used readers living far away your impression of the venue?? You've always been really good about reporting what you had experienced. You've done plenty of reporting on the excesses, incompetencies, and corruption that are part and parcel to living in your area of Texas {and my place of birth}. How about a positive and uplifting report about these courageous Americans? 

I am fairly certain that the Catwoman X-Cowtowner refers to is CatsPaw.

I did make an attempt to go to Camp Bowie Bingo on its pre-Grand Opening practice night. But, I drove up and down Camp Bowie Boulevard unable to locate Camp Bowie Bingo. I understand there are now signs marking the location so easily confused people, such as myself, can find the place.

Camp Bowie Bingo has a website where you can find out when and where to go play bingo. Camp Bowie Bingo is also on Facebook, where you can find up to date Camp Bowie Bingo info.

Hiking The Warm Tandy Hills Thinking About Living In A Police State While Almost Stepping On A Giant Snake

The outer world was almost chilly when I did some hill hiking on the Tandy Hills today, starting my climbs around noon.

Even though the humidity was almost 90%, a pleasant breeze kept me from overheating, too much.

Much of what used to be green on the Tandy Hills is currently turning into various shades of brown. I particularly like the tall sticks of brown foliage you see in the picture. I don't remember what these looked like while they were still colorized.

Have I ever mentioned my two biggest concerns that concerned me when I moved to Texas?

Snakes and the HEAT.

Growing up in Washington I was never a big fan of summer. I did not like HOT weather. In Washington that meant  temperatures in the 70s. Low 80s was a heat wave.

Even though I did not like HOT weather in Western Washington, I did like to go to Eastern Washington (East of the Mountains, in Western Washington lingo) in summer.

Eastern Washington is sort of like North Texas, only more scenic with bigger rivers, fruit orchards and canyons. And it does not get as hot as North Texas.

I don't recollect ever being East of the Mountains with the temperature over 100. I do remember being East of the Mountains and having snake encounters.

That may be where my fear of snakes was amplified. One time whilst staying at Sun Lakes State Park my brother and I were out exploring when a park ranger came up and warned us we should go no further because there were a lot of rattlesnakes just ahead. I don't think til that moment we were aware of rattlesnakes being a possibility.

That is not a Sun Lakes State Park rattlesnake you are looking at in the picture.

That is a Tandy Hills snake that I almost stepped on today.

I'd just crossed dry Tandy Falls, heading south, lost in my thoughts about living in a Police State, when I almost stepped on that slithery monster. He (or she) was about 5 feet long. I took several pictures, was going to get around the monster by walking behind it, when suddenly the snake turned its head and started slithering towards its tail and then off the trail into the brush.

Snakes can move alarmingly fast.

I have no idea what brand of snake this guy was, except for knowing, for certain, it was not a rattlesnake.

With this incident I will likely be back in overreacting to sticks and roots mode again, til the memory of almost stepping on this big snake fades.

A Big Drop In Temperature Should Bring About Some Tandy Hill Hiking

As you can see via the graphic generated via my computer based temperature & weather monitoring device it is a bit chilly this Monday morning coming up on 11 o'clock.

There appear to be a collection of clouds providing some direct sun relief.

And there is some wind movement.

I suspect some hill hiking on the Tandy Hills is in the near future for me.

Speaking of hill hiking. Rosie the Rat Dog has updated her Alaska! blog for the first time in days. Rosie and her sisters have been staying in a Dog Spa whilst their humans have been hill hiking inside Denali National Park. Apparently Rosie's humans did a big no-no in camp and got a severe reprimand from a Park Ranger.

Speaking of reprimands, something unfortunate happened to me yesterday in Arlington. I am sorting out the facts before I go through the pain of blogging about it.

I did an hour in the cool pool this morning, staying on the OMG Diet that I did not know I was on til a couple days ago.

Walking The Boardwalk In Arlington's Veterans Park Worrying About Getting Too Skinny

I took a walk on the boardwalk at Veterans Park this morning on my way to Arlington's International District.

The maze of trails that is part of Veterans Park's Xeriscape Garden is heavily shaded and thus quite a bit cooler than being out from under shade, where the sun has direct contact, with no intervention.

The Xeriscape Garden shows locals how to landscape with plants that grow well in the Texas heat whilst requiring less water than plants that aren't as well suited for this harsh climate.

Speaking of this harsh climate, currently it is only 91 degrees, with the humidity making it feel like it is 101.

I found out a couple days ago that without knowing it I have been on the Six Weeks to OMG Get Skinnier Than All Your Friends Diet.

I wondered why I was getting so skinny with seemingly no concerted effort towards that end. Now that I know that the morning swimming, among other things, was making me skinny, I increased the amount of time I've been pooling in the morning.

I hope I don't get too skinny.

A Pleasant Saturday Tandy Hills Hike With My Arizona Sister Til My Mom Interrupted

It looks like the trail I am on on the Tandy Hills leads directly to the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Looks are deceiving in this instance.

Even though it appears that wild prairie continues all the way to downtown Fort Worth, that really is not the case, for the most part.

Is there any other town in America, with a population over a half million, with such large chunks of undeveloped land so near its downtown?

My sister, who is usually in Arizona, rode with me to the Tandy Hills today and then went hill hiking with me til my mom interrupted. At that point my sister left me to enjoy the steam bath alone.

My sister is currently planning to leave Arizona on August 14 to go see our nephews, David and Theo and niece, Ruby Jean. However, my sister may move her flying date forward for two reasons. One is to escape the furnace blast HEAT of the Valley of the Sun. And the second one is that the twins, Theo and Ruby, are looking so darn cute she can't wait to see them.

I am sort of looking forward to seeing David, Theo and Ruby. It's been many years since I have gotten to use my highly evolved uncle skills on new nephews. And I have never ever gotten to use my highly evolved uncle skills on a niece.

And I can't remember the last time I provided piggy back service.

Walking Around Green Fosdick Lake With The Brown Fosducks

Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park has grown greener since my last walkabout in that location.

After that last Fosdick walkabout and finding myself being appalled at the green color of the water I wondered how it was that Green Lake, in Seattle, was not green from pollution, with Green Lake being in a much more densely urbanized zone.

When I blogged about this green lake issue in a blogging titled Trying To Keep From Getting Dirty By Practicing Good Habits When I Walk Around Fosdick Lake the irony of me comparing green Fosdick Lake to a lake called Green Lake, flew right over my head, til now.

The Fosducks seem to be happy with their green lake.

My camera did not quite capture how cool the coloring was on the brown duck you see in the picture. Multiple shades of brown.

Brown is my favorite color. I've been previously accused of brown being my signature color. Apparently a lot of what I wear is brown.

It was 87 degrees when I went walking with the ducks, with the humidity making it, supposedly, feel like 99. However, a good wind was blowing across the lake, which really did not feel at all HOT.

Get A Peach Julep Saturday At The Parker County Peach Festival In Weatherford

Tomorrow, Saturday, July 14 the Parker County Peach Festival takes place in the area around Weatherford's historical Parker County Courthouse square.

The festival opens at 8am and closes at 5pm.

You can find all the info you need to find your way to the Parker County Peach Festival on my Eyes on Texas website.

I've been to the Parker County Peach Festival twice. Both times were not good years for Parker County Peaches. I've been told this year's crop is a good year for Parker County Peaches.

The Parker County Peach Festival is BIG. It seems to me to be an awful lot effort for a one day festival that is only open for 9 hours.

There is a $5 admission charge. You get a lot of free entertainment for your 5 bucks.

It will be HOT tomorrow. The Parker County Peach Festival has several walk through misters to help you cool down. Along with Peach Juleps, Peach Ice Cream and likely some other cool Peach Products that I am not remembering right now.

The Peach Julep is non-alcoholic. You will need to bring your own whiskey to make the Peach Julep fortified. I don't know if Weatherford and Parker County is wet, dry or damp.

For you reading this who live in a state where Prohibition long ago ended, in Texas some areas are still totally in Prohibition mode, as in dry. Others are damp, as in you can buy wine and beer. Others are totally wet, like Fort Worth, where you can buy beer, wine and whiskey and any other type alcoholic product.

In Fort Worth you can even attend Happy Hour Inner Tube Floating events in the Trinity River. Fort Worth is a very liberal town.

See you tomorrow at the Parker County Peach Festival.

Maybe.

A Little Lady From Vietnam Made Waiting In A Long Texas Line Less Annoying

Yesterday, while I was aggravated regarding the Third World backwardness of the Texas Driver's License Renewal process, I did what I usually do when I'm aggravated, as in do my best to turn the lemon into lemonade.

I was helped in the lemonade making process by the funny people I was in the Soviet-style line with.

I just ended a sentence with a preposition. I should have said funny people with whom I was in line.

Somewhere around the hour mark, in the slow moving line, the Little Lady behind me said something regarding when she moved to Texas from Oklahoma. This Little Lady had had me laughing for an hour at that point. And she laughed heartily at my attempts at being amusing. I always appreciate it when people laugh at my attempts at being amusing.

When the Little Lady said she'd moved from Oklahoma I wondered to myself if she was Native American. But, one does not directly ask such things. At least I don't.

Soon after the one hour mark a guy came up to the Little Lady and said something to her in a foreign language. She replied in a foreign language. I thought it might be Cherokee or Choctaw or Comanche.

So, I asked the Little Lady what that language was that she was speaking.

Vietnamese, she told me. Vietnamese? You're from Vietnam asked I?

Yes, she said, she got to America in 1975.

1975? She confirmed the year with a nod.

You escaped on a boat? Yes, she replied.

Did you already speak English when you were in Vietnam? No, she said she had to learn English fast once she got to America.

But, you speak perfect English, with no accent, said I. She thanked me for that remark and others around us then chimed in with their amazement at her perfect English.

She said when the war ended, with the north taking over, the people she was a nanny for quickly had to escape, taking her with them. She did not have time to tell her mom. She got to America and began writing letters to her mom. It took 9 years, in 1984, for the Little Lady from Vietnam to hear back from her mom, that her mom now knew she was safe, in America.

When the Little Lady from Vietnam arrived in America she was placed in holding camps at forts in Arkansas, and then Oklahoma, waiting for a sponsor. Eventually, in what year, I did not ask, a Texan in Arlington became her sponsor.

I think a lot of Texans in Arlington must have become sponsors, which is why Arlington has such a large Vietnamese community.

Six years ago, the Little Lady from Vietnam was able to return to Vietnam, to Danang, to see her mom for the first time in 31 years.

I asked if Vietnam had changed a lot from the way she remembered it.

She said she'd become so spoiled by life in America that Vietnam was a bit of a shock to her. No air-conditioning was one shock. The Little Lady from Vietnam said she did not like how unsanitary Vietnam was, and that she was shocked to see men urinating at the side of the road as she toured the country. The Texan in line behind the Little Lady from Vietnam chimed in with, oh, I see that here in Texas. I then said, I've done that myself in Texas.

The Little Lady from Vietnam  had a very hearty laugh, which erupted frequently. How do you get another language's humor and be funny yourself in that other language?

The rest of the time in the long line, waiting to get our ticket to get in the next line, moved real fast after all of us around the Little Lady found out she was a Boat Person from Vietnam.

After we got our tickets the Little Lady from Vietnam and I figured out how to answer the questions on the small print form we had to fill out. The first question was are you a United States Citizen. The Little Lady from Vietnam read that question and said I'm working on it.

I think the Little Lady from Vietnam should be granted citizen status with no further delay.

The United States took in around 823,000 Vietnamese after 1975.

Many of those Vietnamese have become very successful Americans.

I suspect all those successful Vietnamese Americans have probably paid more in taxes, in the years after 1975, than what the United States spent on the Vietnam War.

I have no idea what point I am trying to make.