Spencer Jack & My Favorite Ex-Sister-In-Law Have Me Feeling Like Rip Van Winkle Hiking Up The Mount Baker Volcano

In the picture you are looking at my Super Nephew, Spencer Jack, and his grandma, she being my favorite ex-sister-in-law, Cindy.

I call Spencer Jack my Super Nephew because I can never remember if the right relation term is grand nephew or great nephew, but since Spencer Jack is a super duper nephew, Super Nephew seems to work for me.

Lately it seems not a day goes by when I don't get reminded of the speed by which time seems to be passing me by.

I often think I have some sort of Rip Van Winkle complex. Like I took a long nap and 20 years disappeared.

In the picture, judging by the evidence of other pictures, which I found on Facebook, via Spencer Jack's dad, I think Spencer and his Grandma are hiking to Mount Baker, via the Schrieber's Meadow route.

Here is where the Rip Van Winkle thing kicks in. I think the last time I hiked to Mount Baker, via Schrieber's Meadow, was with Spencer Jack's uncle, my nephew, Joey.

If I remember right Joey was 13 when we hiked up Mount Baker. Spencer Jack is currently 5 years, 4 months, 4 weeks and 2 days old. I got that precise age from Spencer Jack's infrequently updated blog.

In less than 8 years Spencer Jack will be the same age his Uncle Joey was when Joey and I did some mountain climbing up a volcano.

Back when Spencer Jack's grandma was still my sister-in-law, I never would have imagined there would come a day when she would turn into a mountain hiker.

Joey, if you are reading this, in about 8 years it is your uncle duty to take Spencer Jack hiking up Sauk Mountain during an icy snowstorm. And in about 10 years it is your uncle duty to take Spencer Jack to Las Vegas to get stuck for hours on top of the Stratosphere Tower, in addition to passing for 21 at the Hard Rock Casino and getting overheated in Death Valley.

Avoiding Fun Town In River Legacy Park While Looking For Herds Of Little Wild Pigs

I was back at River Legacy Park in Arlington, today, to subject myself the the myriad maze of mountain bike trails.

In the picture you are looking at my handlebars looking at the sign pointing the way to Fun Town. That is a red skull and crossbones on the right on the sign. Next to the directional arrow, that points the way to Fun Town, is the word "EXPERT."

In mountain biking terms, to me, the word "expert" means "young daredevil." The entry into Fun Town is a near vertical drop. Not my idea of a fun bike ride.

Today I avoided the perilous juncture that got me way too close to young daredevil territory last Friday.

I am being a bit perplexed about not seeing any wildlife whilst pedaling the River Legacy Park mountain bike trails. I used to see a lot of armadillos, bobcats, snakes and herds of little wild pigs. I may have seen a squirrel today. I heard no birds chirping. Or cicadas. The deep woods was being deadly silent. That just does not seem natural to me.

Happy Mom & Dad's 61st Wedding Anniversary, Sad Hiroshima's 67th Atom Bomb Anniversary

On this date, August 6, 61 years ago, 6 years after the United States of America hastened the end of World War II by exploding an atom bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, my mom and dad got married.

A date which lives in infamy, along with other dates which live in infamy.

The last time my mom and dad had an anniversary party was on August 11, 2001, a month before another date which lives in infamy.

The 2001 anniversary party was held on August 11 due to the same reason such a party would be held on this August 11, if there were to be a party, this year, that reason being that in 2001, just like 2012, August 6 was a Monday, with the following Saturday being a day when it was convenient for people to make their way to an anniversary party.

None of my relatives, except for my two oldest nephews, knew I'd driven up to Washington for mom and dad's 50th.

I have not driven up to Washington since then.

The first couple years of my Texas exile I drove back and forth to Washington 5 times.

I got back to Texas a couple days before 9/11 in 2001. I guess I blame 9/11 for stopping my roadtrips to Washington. Why 9/11 caused this, I have no idea.

Even though flying became a big pain, post 9/11, I have flown back to Washington 6 times since that infamous date.

My mom and dad's 2001 50th anniversary party took place at my sister's house in Kent. This is the sister who is currently lost in Alaska, with no one having heard from Rosie the Rat Dog and her entourage for days. The last we've heard from them they were in the Valdez zone, where they were having multiple encounters with bears.

I do not know where my mom and dad are today. On Saturday I was told that at that point in time they were somewhere in Utah.

Happy Anniversary, mom and dad. Sad Anniversary, Hiroshima.

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.