Today I Am Being Very Patiently Mechanical

Today I am enjoying the joys of being a pseudo mechanic.

Being a pseudo mechanic started early this morning in pseudo bike mechanic mode. It was my bike's flat front tire that needed a replacement tube.

When I replaced the bike's back tire's tube it turned into a bit of an annoying adventure. The front tire tube replacement was much less annoying. And not much of an adventure.

Coming up on noon I decided to take the freshly fixed bike on a ride.

When I turned the key to ignite the device that ignites my bike's vehicular transport's engine, it did not ignite.

Dead battery.

Lifting the hood I saw the battery is less than 3 years old, with a 3 year replacement guarantee plastered on the battery, with the date of purchase, 11/09, also plastered on the battery.

I am awaiting Allstate to arrive to jump start the bike carrier. Then I hope to drive the bike carrier to the location I purchased the battery, Walmart, and get a free replacement. It will be interesting to see how that works out.

Allergy Woes Whilst Hunting For Inner Tubes In Texas

You are looking at the September 18 early afternoon view from my patio viewing portal on the outer world.

I had a rough night, last night. Allergy misery. I managed to have a bout or two of actually sleeping.

Soon after the sun was up, so was I. I thought a dip in that turquoise water you see in the picture might be a good thing.

It was.

The allergy woes, currently, seem to be a low ebb. I've not felt the urge to medicate for hours.

Changing the subject from one type of feeling flat, to another type of feeling flat.

Several days ago I found that the front tire on my bike had gone flat. I was at Super Walmart that very day and found Super Walmart not being too super. All sorts of tire tubes were available, many in obscure sizes I'd not seen before. But none in the 26" mountain bike size, which is usually the size there is the largest supply of, likely due to there being the biggest demand for that size.

This morning I went to the store on the opposite side of the I-30 freeway from Walmart, a store called Target, to return a failed bike bag and to see if Target had a bike tire they wanted to sell me.

Target had way fewer tube choices than Walmart. There were a couple of the Schwinn variety with the slimed, no flat feature. I put one of those slimed no flat tubes on my bike's rear tire when the new tube went flat the day after I bought the bike. It was really difficult to stick the slimed tube in the tire. I did not want to go that route again.

After the Target tube disappointment I drove to the other side of the I-30 freeway to go to the aforementioned Walmart because I needed a jalapeno for the re-fried beans I was slow cooking, and some other stuff.

Upon entering Walmart I headed first to the tire tube area. There was a fresh supply of tubes. Many still in obscure sizes, plus many with the slime, no flat feature.

Then I noticed all the tubes boxes said "Schrader Valve" on them. Does Walmart sell any bikes with tubes using a Schrader Valve? My bikes have always used Presta Valves. My only experience with a Schrader Valve was on someone else's bike, with the person having a lot of woes with his tire tubes.

As I stood forlornly looking at Walmart's tube selection I saw there was one non-Schrader Valve choice. A  Bell brand tube, which was the correct 26" size, Presta Valve. But with that annoying supposed flat preventing slime in the tube.

I decided to buck it up and not risk this being my only chance to ever find a replacement tube that works and and so I got myself a new slimed tire tube that I am dreading installing.

I think I will drag my bike into air-conditioned comfort to perform the operation. But not right now.

Notes From The Underground About Potentially Explosive Fort Worth Pipelines

A couple weeks ago I mentioned getting a letter from Chesapeake Energy in which I was informed that Chesapeake Energy would be installing a gas pipeline to carry gas from my newest neighborhood gas pad to wherever it is gas goes.

Chesapeake Energy neglected to mentioned that this would be non-odorized, as in totally natural natural gas, that would be passing through the pipeline by where I live.

The pipeline insertion operation has been underway for days now. The operation is a bit noisy and messy.

That is part of the pipeline operation you are looking at in the photo above. With pipeline waiting to go underground, laying on the west side of Bridgewood Drive in Far East Fort Worth.

This morning Don Young email blasted some Notes from the Underground which blasted the surprising number of surprising places, in Fort Worth, that pipeline is proposed to be stuck underground to carry non-odorized natural gas.

Fort Worth has more gas pads (by far) with more fracking (by far) inside its city limits than any other city in the world. We in Fort Worth are very proud of this, even though it does cause other towns, far and wide, to be Green with Envy. Fort Worth is very self-conscious about its tendency to cause other towns to be Green with Envy.

You can read Don Young's Notes from the Underground on FWCANDO. Below is the first paragraph of what the Underground wants you to know....

What do the following high-profile locations in Fort Worth, Texas have in common? - Forest Park (FW Zoo, miniature train, sports fields, Log Cabin Village) - Sycamore Park (Sports fields used by public and Texas Wesleyan University) - Gateway Park (FW Dog Park, sports fields, bike trail) - Trinity Park (Duck pond, picnic sites, playgrounds, concert site) - 7th Street corridor (Cultural District, museums, shops, cafes, high-rise apts.) These are just a few of the heavily-travelled places where large diameter, natural gas pipelines have been buried underground in recent months. These pipelines, servicing dozens of new gas wells in the area are filled with explosive, UN-odorized natural gas, straight from the padsites. This is what Barnett Shale frackers do while waiting for the inevitable rise in the price of natural gas. Build pipelines. Lots of them. In a densely populated city. Population: 758,738+. Right under your noses and right under your feet. It gets better... Jaw-dropping as it may seem, Chesapeake Energy is currently installing a NG pipeline along Lancaster Avenue, right downtown, that services a single Chesapeake gas well (Westgate padsite). Lancaster is one of the busiest thoroughfares in town. The U.S. Post Office, T&P railway station, Fort Worth Water Gardens, I-30 and numerous offices, apartments and hotels straddle the pipeline, just a few steps away.

No Fog Shrouded Fosdick Lake Today While I Choke Up From Allergic Overload

This morning when I woke up my computer, my computer's weather monitoring device was flashing red, warning me that heavy fog would be making for some limited visibility today.

Well, I saw no fog, not even semi-fog, nothing foggy at all.

I did see some skybound cloud action though, such as what you see via the picture taken today from high atop Fosdick Lake Dam in Oakland Lake Park.

Changing the subject from the lack of fog in the outer world at my location to my own personal interior fog.

Yesterday the allergic woes that have vexed me, off and on, for a week or more, returned to vex me again, with a vengeance.

A combo of factors combined to cause me to think I may have experienced my first ever panic attack.

Yesterday I made really tasty chicken tacos for lunch. I ate too many really tasty chicken tacos. After I was over stuffed with too many chicken tacos an allergic attack set in, making breathing very difficult. Made worse, I think, by my congested lungs being impacted by my congested digestive system.

I thought to myself, is this what drowning feels like? It was not possible to sit without feeling like gasping for air.

So I paced.

Then, even though it was raining, I paced outside. Pacing outside, in the rain, quickly abated the congestive issues to the point where I no longer felt like I was drowning.

Today, on the way to walk around Fosdick Lake, my respiratory system again went into malfunction mode, but quickly recovered once I started walking.

Saturday afternoon, after hiking the Tandy Hills, I got back here and went swimming. That went well, til I laid down on a lounge chair. My respiratory system quickly went into fail mode, so I quickly got vertical and raced back to my Saline Nasal Spray for some relief.

Miss Puerto Rico has year round allergic woes. Miss Puerto Rico called me a couple times on Sunday. But I was in no condition to talk. When I returned from Fosdick Lake I ran into Miss Puerto. I asked if her allergy woes have gotten worse lately. She said they had. She takes prescription meds to medicate her allergic woes.

My allergy treatment meds are all of the over the counter sort. I am currently a mess, but I'm fairly optimistic that I will return to my respiratorical norm before needing to resort to getting medical attention and prescription meds.

I think I will go swimming now and hope not to have a repeat of Saturday's nightmare.

A Previously Unnoticed Mysterious Tree Formation In The Rainy Village Creek Natural Historical Area

I did not realize rain had been falling til the sun arrived to light up the outer world at my location this morning. I don't know when the rain started, but I do know it continues, still, midway through Sunday's afternoon.

Today's rain has not been a typical Texas rain. Instead today's rain has been the stereotypical Pacific Northwest type rain that happens for much of the fall, winter and spring. A non-stop slow rain that goes on and on for days.

I carried a bumbershoot with me today, unopened, because the rain was not falling in amounts sufficient to require its use.

With all this rain talk you are probably thinking you are looking at a picture of a rain forest, because the picture does sort of look like a rain forest.

A rain forest needs moss. I have seen no moss in the forest in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

I have seen fungus though, like today, on the stump in the middle of the picture. I do not see how it is I never noticed this tree/stump combo before, til today. The tree/stump combo is located just a short distance from the Dottie Lynn Parkway parking lot. What makes this tree so noticeable, and odd, is that stump in the center of the picture.

That bent tree trunk is supported by the stump. How this came to be, I do not know. Was the tree blown over on top of what is now that supporting stump? It was the stump, which is now dead, on which the big fungi grows.

Speaking of fungi.

Yesterday I got around to viewing the Innocence of Muslims YouTube video that has made some mad Muslims madder than their regular Muslim madness level.

The video is so ridiculously stupid I put it on my TV blog. Click the link in the paragraph above and see if it makes you mad. It likely will not, make you mad, unless you are an easy to make mad Muslim.

The Muslims that it has been my good fortune to know have been very easy going, tolerant, kind and peaceful. Just like the majority of Muslims. It is that fringe mad Muslim group that causes that religion all its bad PR.

On The Tandy Hills Hunting Prickly Pears With 72 Avocados

Tandy Hills Prickly Pear Cactus Without Pears

I woke up at 4 this morning, and have been awake ever since. I should be more tired than I am.

The arrival of colder air, with air replacement brought by the wind that arrived with the colder air, and the slight amount of rain scrubbing the dirty air, has not removed from the air that I breathe whatever it is that causes me to go into spasms of allergic reaction.

All was fine, today, til, after swimming this afternoon, post Tandy Hills hiking and lunch, when, upon finishing with swimming, I was peacefully relaxing on a poolside lounge when suddenly my breathing tubes ceased working,  forcing me to use my oral orifice to acquire oxygen.

I do not like being a mouth breather. I have a very strong aversion to mouth breathing and mouth breathers. This has been a lifelong aversion and is part of my matrix of aversions under the general heading of being averse to slobbiness in any of its many forms.

If I am not making much sense I beg your pardon and ask that you realize my cerebral bloodflow is likely being impacted by my breathing woes.

I hiked the Tandy Hills today with my harvesting bag in hand. It is that time of year when I harvest Prickly Pears from the Prickly Pear Cactus, so I can make Prickly Pear Jam to put in the Christmas Boxes that the multitudes enjoy getting from me.

Okay, the only part of the above paragraph that was actually true was I did hike the Tandy Hills. I don't harvest Prickly Pears, make jam or send anyone a Christmas Box.

I just wanted to see how gullible you are. Were you gullible and wondering why you have never received a Christmas Box from me?

I did notice an absence of Prickly Pears on the Prickly Pear Cactus today. Maybe someone has come along and harvested them.

Speaking of harvesting.

I had some good harvesting at Town Talk today. But what am I going to do with a case of Avocados? 72 very big Avocados. I like Avocados. I like Guacamole. But, 72 Avocados?

I also harvested some very big yellow peppers. But not a case. Only 6.

Walking In The Rain With A Laboodle (AKA Labradoodle) On Top Of Fosdick Dam

When I left my abode this late morning to drive to the top of Mount Tandy, about a mile to the west, a very light drizzle began to moisten my windshield, but not in an amount copious enough to require the motorized window wiping device to be activated.

When the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth came in to view I could see that rain was falling that short distance further to the west.

So, I bailed on the Tandy Hills and turned left off Oakland Boulevard, rather than right, and went to Oakland Lake Park, instead, to walk around Fosdick Lake.

When I exited my vehicle the light misty drizzle had grown a bit less light. It reminded me of being on a Pacific Ocean beach in winter.

In the picture you are looking up at the massive earthen structure known as Fosdick Dam. On top of the dam, in the center of the picture, you can see a lady and the top of her dog.

When I passed the lady and her dog and did the requisite howdying, I remarked to the lady that that was a very cute doggy. I said I'd not seen a dog that looks like that before. I said he looks like he is part poodle. The lady then told me that the dog was a Laboodle. Made sense, it had the yellow coat of a Labrador, but it was curly, like a poodle. The face looked like a poodle. But this was a big dog, like a Labrador.

There were more people jogging around Fosdick Lake today than I've ever seen any time previous. I think the chilly weather, with natural cooling misting, causes people to want to run.

I soon found myself running, something I rarely do. I started to run because it started to rain. The pleasant drizzle morphed into your basic run of the mill rain. Not of the downpour sort, but with enough volume to render one quickly all wet.

Driving back to my abode I expected it to be wet here, but no, I am still dry. I must live in some sort of rain shadow. Maybe I'm in the rain shadow of Mount Tandy.

The Calm Before The Storm Of The Second Friday Of September

You are looking at my mid morning balcony view of the swimming pool and stormy sky on this 2nd Friday of September, Day 14.

It is only 63 degrees right now in the outer world at my location. The predicted high for today is only 76, with lightning strikes and possible rain also predicted.

So far I've seen no lightning striking or rain dripping.

I had myself an allergic meltdown last night. This morning that seems like ancient history.

I think the wind that has moved in with this cold front has cleared the nasty allergens out of the air. I hope the nasty allergens remain cleared out of the air. I do not like nasty allergens in the air that I breathe.

Speaking of nasty things in the air.

That Chesapeake Energy gas pipeline that I mentioned a few weeks ago, after I got a notice from Chesapeake kindly informing me they would be sticking a pipe in the ground in my neighborhood, is now underway. The operation was a bit noisy yesterday. No noise today.

I have my windows open to let in the cool breeze. The only noise I am hearing through the open windows is the sound of vehicular traffic, every once in awhile. Very peaceful. I think this may be the calm before the storm.

Almost Getting Wet From Rain At The Village Creek Bayou While Not Having A Camp Bowie Bingo Hot Dog

In the picture you are looking south across the east end of the viewing platform that overlooks the sometimes blue bayou in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

When I left my waterproof shelter, a half hour before noon, I'd just heard a voice on the radio say that rain was falling in Tarrant County, with up to a couple inches of wet stuff possible.

I was not long into my walk with the Village Creek Indian Ghosts when I felt a little moisture hitting a spot of exposed epidermis.

By the time I got to the sometimes blue bayou, multiple drops began falling, with ever increasing velocity. I decided to fast walk back to the waterproofness of my vehicular transport. However, by the time I got to waterproofness, the dripping had ceased.

And now, coming up on 3 in the afternoon, it appears the clouds have thinned, the sun is back shining. And I have not seen 2 inches of rain. Maybe it is still to come.

Changing the subject from non-existent rain to something else.

Yesterday evening, when I drove to West Fort Worth, my intention was to check out the new Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Bridge, which I did, then go to TCU, which I did, then go to Paradise Center's Camp Bowie Bingo, which I did not.

I did not get out of TCU til it was almost 9 o'clock. Too late to head further west to Camp Bowie Bingo. I think I am destined, somehow, to never get to have a Camp Bowie Bingo hot dog.

A Walk Across The Trinity River On The Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Bridge

Yesterday in the early evening, prior to going to TCU (Texas Christian University, for you non locals) I went to Trinity Park to check out the newly opened for business Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Bridge.

In the picture you are looking at the new pedestrian bridge, that thin shallow arch of white, below the 7th Street vehicular bridge.

From a distance the new bridge looks good. Up close, not so much.

The landscaping around the new bridge is a work in progress. The bridge itself appears to be a finished product, albeit a bit perplexing.

I could not figure out why the rails between the top rail and the bridge deck were so crooked, rather than paralleling the top rail. This made the bridge look, well, sloppy.

And why is a plastic pipe laying on the left side of the bridge deck? It appears to serve no purpose. Why is there an orange traffic cone at the top of the bridge? You can barely see this, in the picture, at the top right of the bridge deck.

Above you are looking at what the Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Bridge leads to, across the Trinity River from Trinity Park. Is this what is meant when someone says, of a bridge, that it is a bridge to nowhere?

As for Trinity Park. I was really liking Trinity Park yesterday. There were a lot of people engaging in a lot of activities. It is a busy park, and very well kept by the City of Fort Worth park people responsible for the park's upkeep. Unlike Oakland Lake Park, in east Fort Worth, the grass in Trinity Park is mowed, and is actually grass, not weeds gone wild.