I Did Not Ride Tether Or Pasture My Animals In Gateway Park Today

Today my handlebars are pointing at a goofy sign in Gateway Park, located midway between the entry to the FWMBA Mountain Bike Trail and the Corpse of the Murdered Armadillo.

The Corpse of the Murdered Armadillo sounds like a good title for an Agatha Christie mystery. I can't remember the last time I read an Agatha Christie mystery. I enjoyed them when I was a youngster, decades ago.

On the sign it says, "NO RIDING TETHERING OR PASTURING ANIMALS."

All shouted in capitals. With no commas.

And then the message is repeated in Spanish, but not shouted in capitals, but with commas, "No Se Permite Equitacion, Amarrar, O Pastoreo De Animales."

I guess people who speak Spanish must be the culprits pasturing their critters in Gateway Park. Apparently there are no Spanish speaking dog owners who bring their dogs to Gateway Park, because the DOG OWNERS part of the sign is not repeated in Spanish.

Have I mentioned previously how happy I am to have re-gained the ability to be bi-pedaling? I think the reason I trended towards being obese was due to the drastic reduction in calorie burning caused by the long breaks from bike riding. I have trended towards obese during both time periods when I have been bike-free in Texas.

In Washington I had way more ways to be active than I do in Texas, so lacking bike riding, like during the Washington cold and wet season, which is about 9 months of the year, did not cause me to trend towards being obese when I lived in Washington.

I don't know what it is that causes me to so easily gain weight in this state. For me, Texas is fattening. There should be a warning label somewhere.

Sharon Wilson's Freedom Of Speech Under Attack By Range Resources & The 2nd Republic Of Texas

I knew that Sharon Wilson and her Bluedaze blog were being harassed by a 2nd Republic of Texas agency called Range Resources. I figured the harassment would go away due to it being so wrong.

I seem to chronically make naive assumptions about current life in Texas.

Sharon Wilson bravely blogged, in a blogging titled My deposition with Range Resource was not what I expected about the 6 hour inquisition to which she was subjected.

When Rick Perry successfully led Texas to secede from the American Union, for the second time, there were those who warned that American liberties, like Freedom of Speech, would be in jeopardy.

Who would have guessed that the 2nd Republic of Texas would so quickly turn into a repressive totalitarian state?

I am so glad I decided to keep dual citizenship after Texas seceded, so I can plea for help from the American Embassy if Texas moves to stifle my Freedom of Speech.

No wonder, when Texas seceded for a second time, the rest of America said good riddance.

But, I think if this repressive state gets any more repressive, with more crackdowns on Freedom of Speech, there may come a groundswell in the remaining 49 states, with pleas to liberate Texas and restore Liberty to the repressed citizens of the 2nd Republic of Texas.

Taking A Tandy Hills Steambath With Gourmet Cooking Using Butter, Bacon & Parmesan

I was back on the Tandy Hills today.

In the noon time frame, at my abode's location, a good strong wind was blowing, with clouds blocking a lot of the solar radiation, which had the outer world not even heated into the 90s.

I drove to the top of Mount Tandy, exiting my vehicle to feel a semi-strong wind blowing, but also feeling solar radiation  directly hitting me, with very little cloud intervention.

In the picture you are looking north at some of the aforementioned clouds, hovering above a Tandy Trail.

A lot of people enjoy a sauna or a steambath, or both. I don't understand why more people don't experience the natural sauna steambath that you get on the Tandy Hills, and other outdoor locations in HOT North Texas.

Getting HOT and steamy whilst getting some endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation usually has me feeling really good.

Which is what happened today. A wonderfully salubrious sauna steambath.

The last couple mornings I have gone into awake mode very early, as in around 4 in the morning. This had me going to bed really early last night. And getting up really early again this morning. I think this is what is known as a vicious cycle.

Changing the subject from vicious cycles to something else.

Long ago I knew this person who fancied himself both an artist and a gourmet chef. The reality was, he was neither.

I remember this gourmet chef being so proud of a concoction he made with spaghetti noodles, butter, bacon and Parmesan.

Over the years this has been a low level running joke amongst some of my acquaintances, as in what doesn't taste good with butter, bacon and Parmesan in the mix?

So, today I decided to make a healthier version of the gourmet chef's pièce de résistance.

I cooked up 2 packages of whole wheat spaghetti noodles, sauteed an onion and whole bulb of garlic in a stick of butter, with diced green and red peppers, baked and crumbled a package of low sodium turkey bacon. Mixed it all together, with a lot of Parmesan and what a shock.

It was good. Really good.

The whole stick of butter was likely the least healthy ingredient. But butter tastes so good.

Fort Worth Voters Did Not Approve A $134 Million Streetcar Transit Ballot Initiative

I did not realize, til this morning, whilst reading the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in an article titled How the streetcar construction is already changing First Hill, that Seattle has a new streetcar line under construction.

In the following blurb from the P-I article there is a line the likes of which I've never seen in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Voters approved the streetcar as part of the Sound Transit 2 ballot initiative in 2008. When the $134 million project is finished in 2014, the streetcar line will have 10 stops linking Capitol Hill, First Hill, Yesler Terrace, the Central Area, the International District and Pioneer Square. It also will connect First Hill and hospitals such as Harborview, Swedish and Virginia Mason with Sound Transit's Link light rail.

Can you spot the line to which I refer, the likes of which I've never seen in the Star-Telegram?

If you spotted "Voters approved the streetcar as part of the Sound Transit 2 ballot initiative in 2008," then you spotted correctly.

If I remember right Fort Worth somehow snagged something like 25 million federal dollars to build a very short streetcar line to nowhere. A streetcar was brought, by the Trinity River Vision, to downtown Fort Worth, to show the locals what a modern streetcar looks like. If I remember right that streetcar exhibit came from Portland, Oregon.

Fort Worth did not go ahead with building that streetcar to nowhere.

Voters in Fort Worth are rarely allowed to vote on any of the public works boondoggles that plague this part of the planet.

Such as the billion dollar Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. Never voted on by Fort Worth voters. The TRVB is a recipient of federal earmark money, courtesy of Fort Worth's corrupt congresswoman, Kay Granger, whose unqualified son, J.D., was installed to run the TRV Boondoggle, to please Kay and keep those federal dollars flowing.

Fort Worth has a population of some 758,736 people, living in a town covering 298.9 square miles.

Seattle has a population of some 620,778 people, living in a town covering only 142.5 square miles.

With Fort Worth being a bigger town than Seattle, in more ways that one, don't you think it is high time Fort Worth puts on its big city pants and starts acting like a grown up town, putting public works proposals to a public vote instead of letting a good ol' boy (and girl) network run this town?

Trust me, you get much better results when the public is on board with a public works project. Just check out some of the public works projects completed or under construction, in Seattle, to get an idea of how that works.

Pike Place Market, re-built courtesy of a public works project called Forward Thrust. Woodland Park Zoo, rebuilt courtesy of Forward Thrust. The Kingdome (now dead) built courtesy of Forward Thrust. Lake Washington clean, courtesy of Forward Thrust. I am forgetting some of the thrust of Forward Thrust.

Seattle Link light rail, it being a public works project, the result of a public vote.

Seahawk Stadium and the Mariner's Safeco Field, the result of public votes.

While Fort Worth can not figure out how to replace its ancient Will Rogers Coliseum.

Seattle built a coliseum in the early 1960s, as part of another massive public works project called the Seattle World's Fair. The Seattle Coliseum was built decades after Fort Worth's ancient Will Rogers Coliseum and is now considered not up to par for NBA basketball, which is part of the reason Chesapeake Energy's Aubrey McClendon was able to steal the Sonics and move them to Oklahoma City.

Seattle is currently working on replacing the Seattle Coliseum, known now as Key Arena, with a new basketball arena. I suspect Seattle will have a new NBA team in its new basketball arena well before Fort Worth manages to replace Will Rogers Coliseum. And if Fort Worth does ever manage to replace Will Rogers Coliseum it is highly unlikely the public will be allowed to vote on the project.

Because that is just not the Fort Worth Way.

The image at the top is from the Seattle Streetcar website.

Tuesday Afternoon Chills After I Did Not Go Over A Cliff At Gateway Park Pedaling Past The Park's Armadillo Corpse

The sun had not yet heated the outer world to over 100 degrees, today, when I pedaled past the Gateway Park murdered armadillo corpse, on my way to the entry to the FWMBA mountain bike trail.

Due to trees and underbrush providing a thick jungle-like canopy, the almost total shade makes for a totally non-HOT mountain biking experience in Gateway Park.

On Saturday, when my sister who lives in Arizona went hiking with me on the Tandy Hills, she was lamenting about the lack of shade trees along her walking paths in the desert she calls home.

Shade is a good thing.

In the picture above you are looking over my handlebars at the Trinity River. Usually my digital camera somehow turns the Trinity River water into a color that makes it look much more appealing, and blue, than it actually looks.

I don't know what made the difference, but today my digital camera managed to accurately capture the actual slimy green color of the Trinity River, in its current state of being perfect for a bacteria-laden inner tube float.

In the picture it appears I am at the Trinity River's edge. In reality my handlebars are at the edge of a cliff about 40 feet above the river. Pedaling fast on the Gateway Park FWMBA mountain bike trail, if one were to make a wrong turn, at a key point, one might find oneself flying into the river.

As I sit here typing I've been noticing the temperature plummeting, as measured by my computer based weather monitoring device. In a very short time we have gone from being over 100 to a slightly chilly 88, supposedly with light rain, as you can via the graphic below. I must step outside and see if I feel chilly and slightly dampened.

Well, stepping outside I could feel the chill, but I felt no light rain. But, clouds have arrived and I can see where rain might be currently falling on parts of this great metropolis.

This has been a rather rapid invasion of clouds. When I was in the outer world a couple hours ago, at Gateway Park, I don't recollect seeing any clouds.

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.