A Sunny Sunday Once Again Pedaling Past A Gateway Park Armadillo Corpse

Swimming, this morning, was uneventful, except for the fact that the water seems to be being unnaturally cooler than the air.

Mountain biking at Gateway Park was uneventful, today, with nothing striking me with an urge to get out the camera to take a picture.

I was not pleased to see that the corpse of the murdered Gateway Park armadillo has not had a proper burial. The corpse has been moved a couple feet, no longer resting in peace on the paved trail that leads to the mountain bike trail.

A few minutes ago, mid Sunday afternoon, I stepped outside to retrieve my swimming suit from the pool patio and took a picture of the extremely sunny Sunday view of the outer world at my location on the planet.

We have not yet reached the 100 degree mark, this sunny Sunday. I suspect that will occur within the next 2 hours.

Yesterday I was more than a little surprised to learn that my parental units, unbeknownst to me, last week, escaped the Arizona heat by driving to Montana, with a drive through Yellowstone National Park on the way.

Why my parental unit's sudden roadtrip surprised me is because just a couple days before their departure I was told that they were in no condition to escape the Arizona HEAT by driving to a cool place, like Bend, Oregon, for example, even though they had a very good reason to drive to Bend, Oregon.

Tomorrow is my mom and dad's 61st Anniversary. It is easy to remember my mom and dad's anniversary because it is the same day that Hiroshima got nuked. I guess they couldn't wait til December 7 to get married, and so August 6 became the day.

Back Taking A Tandy Hills Steam Bath With My Sister From Arizona

In the picture you are on top of Mount Tandy, looking west across the wagon train trail that leads towards the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Yesterday I mentioned that I thought I might not be able to get vertical this morning after the unexpectedly severe pounding that the River Legacy Park Mountain Bike Trail administered to my delicate self on Friday.

Well, I suffered no aftereffects from yesterday's pounding. I think I had my longest swim of the swimming season this first Saturday morning of August.

Today I returned to the Tandy Hills today for the first time in awhile. A good cooling breeze was busy blowing, which made the HOT hill hiking pleasant. I'd forgotten how good one can feel after a good Tandy Hills steam bath.

My sister from Arizona was along for the hiking today. We had some relatively annoying subjects to discuss, some of which left me relatively annoyed.

Changing the subject from the Tandy Hills, and being relatively annoyed, to the park on the other side of the I-30 freeway.

Yesterday Don Young's August Prairie Notes arrived in my emailbox. I was enjoying reading the Prairie Notes when I came to Part 5) Death at Gateway Park. I was surprised when I got to the second paragraph of Part 5, to see what the first paragraph was leading up to.

I'll copy and paste Part 5 below in its entirety.....

5) Death at Gateway Park

Before Interstate-30 was created in 1957, the Tandy Hills expanded north all the way to the winding Trinity River and the heavily wooded riparian habitat that is now dotted with natural gas wells and adjacent to Gateway Park. Despite the busy highway and park facilities, a variety of wildlife still roams the area searching for food, water and shelter. Sometimes they come into contact with a brutal and dangerous predator known as, Homo Sapiens.

The blogger, Durango, recently reported finding a Nine-banded Armadillo shot to death at Gateway, apparently for the hell of it. This beautiful and mostly harmless animal is also the Official Texas State Small Animal. It angers me to see any member of our wildlife community, already stressed out by habitat destruction and fragmentation, slaughtered for sport. If you've got the stomach for it, Durango's blog report is here:

I Returned To Gateway Park Today & Mountain Biked To A Fort Worth Murder Scene

The latest Prairie Notes always eventually show up at this location, where you can read the entire Prairie Notes #68.

Changing the subject from Prairie Notes back to my sister in Arizona. My sister's eldest, he being my 3rd eldest nephew, is arriving in the D/FW zone on August 16. He will be here until August 20. He is in the D/FW zone in preparation for his best friend's wedding in September. Which means my nephew will be making a trip to Texas two months in a row.

Lewisville is where my nephew's best friend is located. I can not remember the last time I've been in Lewisville. My route, from here, to there, would take me through the under construction Grapevine Funnel remake, being remade into being, I think it is called, the D/FW Connector.

The D/FW Metroplex is not quite as easy to zip around in as is the Phoenix Metroplex. Which makes sense because the Phoenix area road system seems to be much more efficient than the D/FW area road system, which is sort of understandable, with the D/FW zone cramming 634 people into each square mile, while Phoenix is only cramming 252.9 people into each square mile.

These statistics may be a bit skewed due to the way metropolitan areas are measured. Something to do with the entire county a city sits in is counted in the metro area's size. Arizona has huge counties. Texas has small counties. Only two counties, Pinal and Maricopa, make up the Phoenix metro area, while 13 counties, Collin, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Ellis, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Palo Pinto, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant and Wise county, make up the D/FW metro area.

The Phoenix metro area of those 2 counties is 16,573 square miles, much of it uninhabited.

The D/FW metro area of those 13 counties is 9,286 square miles, most of it inhabited and ill served by mass transit.

It will be a very daunting task for me to find my nephew in this densely populated part of the planet.

The River Legacy Mountain Bike Trail Took Me On A Gut Wrenching Roller Coaster Ride Today

Wood Bridge Over Log

I went to River Legacy Park today to get my daily endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation on the River Legacy Park Mountain Bike Trails.

I may have overdone it and got myself way too many endorphins.

Many miles have been added to River Legacy's trails during my sabbatical from biking. I'd discovered some of the new miles of trails on previous visits. I discovered more miles today.

My first unexpected surprise came soon after passing the EKG zone, where the steep hills are out of my skill range. There was a new fork in the trail. I took the new trail. All was going well when I came to a fork in the new trail. One fork was a red arrow, the other blue.

Blue usually means its the wimpy boy route. Red usually means its the manly man route.

I routinely, at my advanced age, take the blue, wimpy boy route.

Well, almost immediately after the I made the choice to go the blue route I could see both routes went up a very steep hill, with the red route being way steeper. I made it part way up the blue route before having to make an emergency evacuation from my bike.

From that point on, for I don't know how long, I was on an up and down roller coaster, which I was able to handle, even with my meager mountain biking skills.

Eventually I was back on familiar trail, soon I came to another junction; take the South Prairie Loop or the Bypass.

New Loop To The Left Bypass To The Right

I opted for the South Prairie Loop, because that is what I've always done, ever since that loop came into existence.

The South Prairie Loop is out of the woods and out in the open.

And then I came to something new on the South Prairie Loop. A bypass, which was the Old South Prairie Loop, or follow the Loop arrow to continue on to the new continuation of the South Prairie Loop.

All was going fine and then the trail became a bit forested, which is not very prairie-like. I soon found myself on another roller coaster ride, with some adventurous twists and turns. Eventually the New South Prairie Loop returned to the Old South Prairie Loop and all was familiar again.

Back on familiar trail I eventually came to what you see in the picture at the top. A wooden bridge over a fallen log. Did I have the technical skills to pedal my bike over a wooden bridge over a fallen tree?

If you guessed yes, you guessed correctly.

I don't know yet know how badly I beat up my delicate body parts today. I'll probably find out tomorrow, with the first clue being waking up sore, barely able to get vertical.

Or I may be just fine. I'd put my betting money on me being just fine tomorrow morning, back in the pool for another hour long swimming bout, just like this morning.

A Crash Course In Texas Weather Has Me Worried That My Windows May Crack

I stole the Texas Weather map you see here, this morning,  from Gail Galtex, on Facebook.

I thought it was amusing and very accurate.

Particularly the Four Seasons. January, when it is just a little hot, Summer when it is a lot hotter, Summerer when it is really HOT and Christmas, when sometimes there is snow on the ground, but usually sort of hot.

There were be no snow on the ground on this part of the planet on this 3rd day of August. It is already 88 degrees and it is still morning.

Today the temperature predictors are predicting the outer world air will be heated to over 100 degrees, again. That same prediction is being predicted for the days that follow, into the predictable future.

A possible Hurricane Ernesto is brewing out in the Atlantic. Maybe Ernesto will bring some relief. Or make matters worse.

In addition to the Texas Weather Map, Gail Galtex also reported that the extreme heat had cracked her big picture window that faces south, the cracking occurring after day after day of the window catching the full brute force of the unrelenting sky heater.

Gail Galtex did not reveal if, after the big picture window got sun cracked, her air-conditioned air rushed out through the crack, replaced by HOT outer world air.

None of my big picture windows get directly assaulted by the damaging solar rays. I don't think I am in any danger of getting cracked. I sure hope not.

I Was Forbidden To Ride My Horse On The Gateway Park Trails Today So I Mountain Biked Instead

It was back to Gateway Park today in the noon time frame to excessively exercise via high speed pedaling of my mountain bike crank on the twisting, turning, up and down, Gateway Park mountain bike trails.

I am trying to drastically amp up my amount of exercise and amp down my calorie consumption in an attempt to shrink before I strap myself into an airplane seat.

I am shrinking, but not very fast. I want my flying pants to be baggy on me once again. This is a lofty goal.

I thought about riding my horse on the Gateway Park mountain bike trails til I saw the signs warning me not to, with a number to call if I had any questions. Why would I have any questions after the sign clearly states "NO HORSES ON TRAIL"?

Why would anyone want to ride a horse on these trails? I have to duck, at times, on my bike, due to the low lying foliage.

There are also signs in Gateway Park informing park visitors that they are not allowed to pasture their animals in Gateway Park. Has there been a problem with people bringing in their cows to graze?

I think, sometimes, that some people get way too sign happy at this location on the planet. Pedal or walk the current state of Fort Worth's Trinity Trails and you will see prime examples of this bizarre phenomenon.

It was only 95 when I went biking today. Now, at around 3 in the afternoon, as you can see via info gleaned from my computer based temperature monitoring device, it is now 10 degrees HOTTER, at 105.

A few more degrees should be added to the 105 before the sun starts to reduce its daily heating efforts on this 2nd day of August.

When the temperature is this HOT, is it really necessary to add "HEAT ADVISORY" to the temperature info?

Gar The Texan's World Has Become A Black Narcissistic Solipsistic Place

I was on Facebook and got the important update that Gar the Texan has renamed his blog. I can't tell you how excited I was to see what the new name was.

But, when I clicked on Gar the Texan's blog I saw no new name. All I saw was a big world with a guy in black laying on the world.

I commented on Gar the Texan's blog that I saw no new name. Within a minute or two, Gar the Texan commented on my comment and added the missing name. Which is currently sort of the version you see above.

Gar's World is the new name. With originally a subtitle of  "The tales and opinions of a narcissistic solipsist (or a solipsistic narcissist). This was quickly changed, again, losing the part in parentheses.

I believe it will quickly grow tiresome keeping track of these awesome changes to Gar the Texan's blog.

I somehow thought Gar the Texan was going to change the black color scheme, due to all the feedback he got from his legion of readers, telling him the black color scheme reminded them of some sort of "Adult" website.

I'm not one to make recommendations to anyone about much of anything, but if I were, I would recommend changing the color of "Gar's World" from its current, almost invisible color, to white.

I Returned To Gateway Park Today & Mountain Biked To A Fort Worth Murder Scene

I was more than just a little unsettled to come upon a brutal murder scene today in Gateway Park.

A likely psychopath shot and killed the armadillo you see in the picture.

I saw multiple gunshot wounds. Doing a forensic examination of the crime scene I was able to determine that the armadillo was first shot about 20 feet from where it died. I made this determination due to a pool of blood, with a trickle of blood leading to the final resting place.

At what time of the day would anyone feel free enough from prying eyes to feel like they could discharge a firearm in a Fort Worth city park and murder an armadillo?

The armadillo is the Official State Small Mammal of Texas. Is murdering one of the Official State Small Mammals of Texas a capital offense in this state? If not, I really think it should be.

The animal kingdom in Gateway Park was acting odd today. Maybe in reaction to the armadillo murder. I saw only one squirrel acting squirrelly. Usually it is dozens of squirrels acting squirrelly.

Previously I'd not seen a lizard in Gateway Park. Today I saw at least a half dozen, all of whom were acting squirrelly. As I pedaled towards the lizards they'd be looking away from the trail, and then right before I reached it, the lizard would turn around and run across the trail right in front of me, forcing a brake application. Over and over again, like the cute reptiles had a death wish.

The lizard behavior was unsettling. Not as unsettling as the murdered armadillo, though.

It was a good thing to be back on my bike again, after having totally recovered from the bout of soreness that had had me cutting back on doing much of anything that was too physically stimulating, which pretty much left me with walking, swimming and doing yoga, while I recovered.

Mountain biking, when the temperature nears 100, is totally doable. Between the shade and the cooling self generated air movement, one keeps almost cool. Until one stops.

Currently the outer world at my location is heated to 105, while really feeling like 111. We have a couple hours to go before the air starts to cool down. I suspect a temperature record is going to be set today.

The Final HOT Day Of July In Texas Thinking About My Nephew David In A Copter & Gar The Texan Up A Creek

You are looking at a very rare early afternoon view from my secondary viewing portal on the outer world on this very last day of July.

As you can see there is nary a cloud in the sky. What you can not see is the outer world is currently heated to one degree under 100.

I was in the cool pool for over an hour this morning, very early, due to being up and awake since 4 this morning.

I am feeling a bit beat up, for various reasons, making me in no mood to get in a better mood by getting myself my regular endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

I did go walk around Wal-Mart, though, during my regular walk time, due to needing bread and coffee.

Changing the subject to something else.

I'd not subjected myself to reading Gar the Texan's blog in awhile. He'd been promising a major upgrade with a new title and, I hope, a change to the current color scheme.

Gar the Texan is always really sparse with details, but, I was able to glean that last week he flew up to Idaho with his current unnamed Gal Pal. I hope this one speaks English.

Gar the Texan was pleased to wake up in Idaho to find the temperature was only 8 degrees above freezing and to see a deer in the backyard. When I lived in Washington I grew tired of the deer who terrorized my foliage, particularly my fruit trees.

Apparently Gar the Texan had never seen a deer before, in the wild, and this has led him to conclude that living in Texas all his life has been a big mistake. That and he discovered that other parts of the country have these things called brew pubs, in abundance.

At one point during his Idaho visit Gar the Texan paddled some sort of boat device on the Salmon River for several miles, which, if I understood correctly what I was reading, somehow caused a case of the vapors, which had Gar the Texan seeking out an Emergency Room at a hospital.

Like I already said, Gar the Texan is always very very sparse with details and corroborating photographic evidence of what his sparse details describe.

Changing the subject again, this time to my nephew David.

That is David in the picture, holding on to the controls of a helicopter in Olympia.

David and his twin siblings, Theo John and Ruby Jean, were in Olympia on Saturday to visit a cool park, the name of which, or why it is cool,  I do not know.

After visiting the cool park they stumbled on an event called Touch a Truck. David got to check out a firetruck, dumptruck, ambulance, police car, a couple buses, a bread truck, a semi and a lot more, including the helicopter, which technically is not a truck, but does haul stuff.

Theo followed his big brother on most of the trucks, whilst Ruby watched.

It has been a long time since I had fun playing with little nephews. I've never played with a little niece. I got to have some fun with my nephew, Spencer Jack, in March, in Arizona, I forgot about that, so it hasn't been all that long since I had fun playing with a little nephew.

I hope my uncle powers remain strong. I've been out of practice. It's likely like riding a bike, a skill you master once and don't forget.

UPDATE: One of David, Theo and Ruby's parental units has explained why the Olympia park they played in on Saturday was cool and that the name of the park is Yauger Park.

Quoting the parental unit's description of Yauger Park, "It’s cool because of the giant and super fast slides!  It also has swings, a toddler climbing toy, ball fields, skate park and plenty of room to run around."

That does appear to be one gigantic piece of playground equipment. Other pictures documenting the park's coolness showed the gigantic slides. I want to play in Yauger Park.

Rosie The Rat Dog's Grizzly Bear & Sarah Palin Encounters In Alaska

Rosie the Rat Dog and her entourage have now made it to the Valdez zone of Alaska.

The latest entry on Rosie's Alaska! Blog has some really good pictures of grizzly bear encounters, like the one you are looking at here, in a blogging appropriately titled "Stay in your car."

The only place I've been where I had dozens of bear encounters, none of them grizzlies, was at Stehekin, on Lake Chelan, in Eastern Washington.

Rosie's pictures of all sorts of critters having a salmon feeding are something I don't recollect seeing before.

I also do not recollect ever seeing a picture of my sister paddling a kayak so close to a glacier before.

Does my sister not know that in summer glaciers break off humongous chunks of ice that are known as icebergs? And that it is likely a bit dangerous to get too close?

What with all the bears, moose, dodging icebergs and visiting Sarah Palin in Wasilla, I am appalled at all the dangerous situations to which Rosie the Rat Dog is leading her entourage.

Looks fun though.

White Energy Pickups & Other Quanah Parker Park Puzzles

On Saturday, driving west on Randol Mill Road, on my way to Gateway Park and Town Talk, I noticed an odd thing going on in Quanah Parker Park.

There were several white pickup trucks on the grass near the Quanah Parker Park Pecan Tree that is some sort of heritage tree, or some such distinction.

I saw orange construction type fencing, but could not make out what was being done to the park from my vantage point from the road. I figured I'd check it out later, but then forgot about it til today.

So, after I cooled off by walking around Fosdick Lake I drove to Quanah Parker Park.

Well, as soon as I entered the park I knew something hinky was going on. I'll get to the hinky thing in a bit.

Upon close perusal, the area fenced in by the orange netting appears to be some sort of raised road bed, made of what looked like beauty bark, leading from the Quanah Parker Park parking lot to the edge of the bank above the Trinity River.

I am fairly certain I have made mention, many a time previous, regarding my aversion to white pickup trucks. Particularly if any combo of words that includes the word "energy" is on the white pickup truck.

Upon arrival at the entry to Quanah Parker Park I saw two white pickup trucks, both of which had the word "energy," among other words, painted on them.

I took the picture of the two white pickup trucks when I was leaving Quanah Parker Park, a zoomed view through my windshield.

That yellow barrier you see on the road is a metal grate covering 3 water pipelines. The 3 water pipelines run into the park for a couple hundred feet and then terminate. It appears more pipes need to arrive to complete the connection to the Trinity River so the water sucking can begin.

What this has to do with the raised beauty bark road, I have no clue. There are many access points to get to the river prior to the Quanah Parker Park parking lot and its new orange netting lined beauty bark road.

How is it that trucks with the word "energy" on them can put up an obstruction like this in a public park with no signage explaining what is going or, with no permits displayed?