Running Gateway Park Orienteering In The Forbidden Zone With Geo-Cachers

In the picture you are looking at the Forbidden Zone in Fort Worth's Gateway Park. In the center of the picture a teenager is running west, while I head east.

I have never seen so many people in Gateway Park engaging in so many different activities as I saw today, on this last Saturday of October of 2012.

I knew something was up when I pulled into the parking lot zone and saw a lot of school buses and groups set up under canopies, with food and drink, among other things, being provided under the canopies.

Soon I started seeing dozens upon dozens of kids wearing green North Texas Orienteering t-shirts. Others were in camouflage gear.

My intention today was to get me some extra endorphin inducing aerobic activity by running, but I was feeling like a big, lumbering lug when I started to run. I think it may have been the excessive amount of clothing needed due to it being cold that may have thrown me off my running game.

As I made my way through the Forbidden Zone I came upon multiple groups of two or three doing the Orienteering thing. I came upon one kid doing the orienteering solo. He said, "Excuse me, sir," as if he wanted to ask me something. I asked if he was lost. He said he was not lost, but he never said what he was excusing me for.

I came upon an older lady bent over doing something. When she saw me she acted embarrassed and explained that she was geo-caching.

I came upon a group of guys playing a strange game that involved underhand throwing of what looked like mini-bowling balls.

In addition to these out of the ordinary activities I also ran into many examples of people doing things I usually see in Gateway Park, like mountain bikers, disc golfers, walkers, skateboarders, dog walkers, plus soccer and baseball games.

The attraction of orienteering eludes me, but those doing the orienteering sure seemed to be having themselves a real fine time.

After I was done with Gateway Park I did my regular Saturday thing and went to Town Talk. I got a lot of produce today. 3 big heads of Romaine lettuce for a buck, 2 big heads of cauliflower for a buck and a half, 4 bunches of cilantro for a buck and 8 big oranges for a buck. In the non-produce realm I got 2 cases of yogurt for 3 bucks each.

What was I thinking? Getting 3 big heads of Romaine lettuce?  That is a lot of salad.

Did Godzilla Torch Big Tex?

On Facebook this morning I saw the above new explanation as to what set Big Tex on fire at this year's State Fair of Texas.

I've not read anything about any investigation into what caused Big Tex to go up in flames, other than it was some electrical malfunction. I have not read anything about why it was that Big Tex was constructed of such flammable material.

And what about the children? It had to be traumatic for a little kid at the fair, gawking at Big Tex, listening to him talk, watching him wave his arm and then to suddenly see Big Tex start to smoke, then burst into flames.

Fairgoers can get fairly close to Big Tex. On my last visit he was surrounded by a train and landscaping and a fence. When Big Tex burned up did the crowd run? Or did the conflagration happen so suddenly that Big Tex was toast before there was a chance to run away from the flames?

Is anyone suing the State Fair of Texas for traumatizing their little kid with a flammable Big Tex? How about those people who were stuck high in the air, on a Midway carnvial ride, for hours, on the same day Big Tex died?

A Cool Saturday Morning Swim With Betty Jo Bouvier Celebrating Her Birthday In Seattle

I did not realize  the temperature was scheduled to get to one degree above freezing this last Saturday morning of October 2012.

I did realize the air had done some serious chilling when at some point during the night I found myself seeking extra warmth under blankets in my slumber chamber.

Knowing that the water in the pool would be significantly warmer than 33 degrees I went swimming this morning. The water was cooler than yesterday but not yet cool enough to trigger the shiver reaction.

Unless the temperature gets well above 50 today I will not be getting in the pool tomorrow morning. I see we are currently scheduled to reach a high of 60 today, with the low tonight being 36. Even if the temperature does reach 60 the water in the pool will be cooler tomorrow morning than it was this morning.

Today is Betty Jo Bouvier's birthday. Happy birthday Betty Jo.

I shan't say how old Betty Jo is today, as that would be impolite. Suffice to say that today is a significant anniversary of the day Betty Jo turned 39.

Betty Jo is celebrating her birthday by spending the weekend in Seattle where multiple surprises have been planned for her. I hope one of the surprises is a ride on the Seattle Great Wheel so I can get another first hand account.

Taking A Trip To Mexico Via The El Rancho Supermercado In Fort Worth

This morning when I went for a swim it was 49 degrees. The water was a lot warmer than the air.

The temperature continued to get colder after the sun began its daily rise, eventually bottoming out at 46 before beginning to get hotter, with it currently being a not too balmy 53 in the middle of the last Friday afternoon of October of 2012.

In addition to a long swim and some other things, this morning I was reading this week's FW Weekly and came upon this week's Chow Baby column.

Chow Baby is sort of a restaurant review column written in an amusing manner. This week's article was titled Tortillas Flat. About two places where tortillas could be found near the border of Haltom City and Fort Worth, near the Belknap/Beach Street  intersection.

One of the places mentioned by Chow Baby was the EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADO. Chow Baby described the Supermercado as being as if all the Mexican products had seceded from Central Market and opened their own grocery store.

I figured this Supermerado place would have a website. I figured right. It's a really noisy website, playing Mexican music. I could not find the off button.

At the El Rancho website I learned that Fort Worth is not the only place where an EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADO is located. There are 5 in Dallas, 2 in Austin, 1 in Lewisville, 1 in Cockrell Hill, 1 in Arlington and even 1 in Odessa, conveniently located for the Queen of Wink.

Re-reading Chow Baby's words of wisdom I see she says the Beach Street store is #23 in the chain. I guess that means there are more EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADOs than what I saw on their website.

So, with it being so cold that going on a walk or hike or bikeride did not seem all that enticing, and after having had myself plenty of endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation from swimming this morning, I decided to go to the EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADO on Beach Street. Turns out it is not all that distant from Town Talk, just a short distance north of the Beach Street Walmart Supercenter.

I rather liked the EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADO, though I did not find a lot to buy there. It felt like a trip to Mexico. The same type Mexican music that blares from their website also blares in the store.

The EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADO has a big bakery with Mexican baked goods. My previous experience with Mexican baked goods has been that they look way better than they taste.

There is a restaurant that looked to have the Mexican food regulars, although I'm not sure about some of it because it was all in Spanish. I think tongue may have been on the menu. The dining room is nice and rustic with picnic tables.

At the Tortilleria (tortilla making operation to you non-Spanish speakers) I got myself a big batch of freshly made, still very hot, whole wheat tortillas.

Since the EL RANCHO SUPERMERCADO is so close to places I regularly go to, I will likely be back, if only for the fresh tortillas.

Drops Of Rain Dampened Bike Riding Today Before The Northern Front Invaded North Texas

Today around noon my handlebars were on the paved trail in the Bob Findlay Linear Park, which trails past Arlington's Interlochen neighborhood.

To get to the Bob Findlay Linear Park one pedals the paved trail which runs through the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

Today, a few minutes into pedaling, rain drops started falling on my head. And other places in addition to my hatless/helmetless head.

The rain was not falling in copious amounts. But with the clouds looking as if they could go into major level weep mode at any moment I cut the bike riding short today.

Currently, at some point in time between 2 and 3 in the afternoon the outer world is being heated to 77 degrees at my location. Around 3 a Northern Front is scheduled to march into the D/FW zone drastically dropping the temperature into the 40s.

I am fairly certain I will be under blankets tonight in my slumber chamber.

Looking outside it appears the Northern Front may be invading earlier than predicted, with sudden gusts of wind. So far, at least according to my computer based temperature monitoring device, the temperature has not yet begun to plummet.

Spencer Jack's Jack-O-Lanterns Are Ready For Halloween

Spencer Jack Working On His Pumpkins

Earlier in the month I made mention of the tragic smashing of my great grand nephew, Spencer Jack's, Halloween pumpkin.

I have received multiple inquires regarding the current state of affairs regarding Spencer Jack's Jack-O-Lantern situation.

Well, I am pleased to report that Spencer Jack's favorite girl friend, Brittney, took him back to the pumpkin patch, where Spencer Jack found himself two new pumpkins.

One big, one little.

I do not remember painting pumpkins during my pumpkin carving, Jack-O-Lantern making, years. This must be a new thing the younger generation has added to the Halloween pumpkin carving tradition.

Below is the finished result of Spencer Jack's 2012 Halloween Pumpkin Jack-O-Lanterns. I am assuming that after the picture was taken Spencer Jack moved the pumpkins back inside the house so as to avoid a repeat of the previous smashed pumpkin tragedy.

Why are carved pumpkins called Jack-O-Lanterns I am sitting here wondering? Yes, I know I can end the wondering by doing some Googling. I have a tendency to wonder about something and then remember the answer is easily found.

How Does Mitt Romney Survive His Embarrassing Gaffes Without Becoming A National Laughingstock?

Years ago, back in the 1970s, I remember being appalled whilst watching a debate between the current president, Gerald Ford and a peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter, when President Ford informed America that he did not think that Eastern Europe was dominated by the Soviet Union.

Just a few years prior to Mr. Ford saying this, the Soviets had invaded Czechoslovakia in the most recent example of the Soviets keeping an iron thumb on the communist satellites the Soviets occupied after World II.

How could an American president say something this stupid I sat and wondered?

Mr. Ford lost the election.

During the 2008 election campaign, at one point during the campaigning, a tornado struck a town, where in the Midwest this occurred I no longer remember. This was a killer tornado, causing multiple deaths. Barack Obama repeated, multiple times, in multiple venues, that over 10,000 had died in this tornado. I remember being appalled and thinking how can a man, running for president, not intuitively know that over 10,000 people dying in a tornado would be the worst natural disaster in American history, and not intuitively know that the over 10,000 had to be a mistake?

This gaffe never became a big deal.

Barack Obama won the election.

Before he dropped out of the 2012 campaign for the Republican nomination, at one point Herman Cain said that we can not allow communist China to acquire nuclear weapons. How can someone running for president not know that China has had nuclear weapons since the 1960s?

Recently the 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, made clear he did not know that passenger jets had pressurized cabins, and windows rolling down is not possible.

And then you have Romney stupidly making the non-point that America has fewer ships in the Navy than it did in 1916.

And he would fix that.

That bonehead whopper should have been a sufficiently bad enough gaffe to have the man on the fast track to being laughed out of the race, in my opinion. How could a man running for president not understand that America's navy now has these things called aircraft carriers, that the era of naval powers having big flotillas of boats is long gone?

Methinks someone who thinks he is qualified to run for president should have a fairly well developed knowledge of geography. Particularly if that someone is going to participate in a debate about foreign affairs.

How could Mitt Romney be so geographically ignorant that he could assert, in a debate about foreign policy, that we can not allow an Iran dominated Syria, because that would give Iran a direct path to the sea?

How could Mitt Romney not know that Iraq is between Iran and Syria?

How could Mitt Romney not know that Iran already has a path to the sea, since Iran is situated on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and on Iran's northern border is the Caspian Sea, though landlocked, this is the largest landlocked body of water on the planet?

In elections in years gone by I think a candidate saying as many embarrassing things as what have come out of Mitt Romney's mouth would not have a chance of America taking a chance on such a potential buffoon.

Then again, I sort of think collectively us Americans have dumbed down and have collectively lost a lot of our critical reasoning ability. What other explanation is there for much of the Republican nonsense being taken seriously by anyone?

The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars are not even remotely distant memories, the bungling, the Intel failures, the misinformation, the bad strategy. And now we have this relatively minor incident in Libya, with some Republicans, led by their Top Boob, Rush Limbaugh, making claims that the Obama administration's handling of the Benghazi incident is worse than Watergate.

Worse than Watergate?

Have I mentioned I think some of these people are ignorant morons? Rush Limbaugh is very glib, and can be amusing, but his education ended at high school. Education is important. As is the result of a lack of education.

A Snake Free Walk With The Indian Ghosts Who Haunt The Village Creek Natural Historical Area

Village Creek Blue Bayou

Yesterday I think I overdid it with the running around Crystal Canyon looking for shiny objects, because this morning when I got vertical in my slumber chamber, after a long slumber, I found myself to be a bit sore.

I took a dose of ibuprofen and a long swim, both of which I think may have contributed to feeling less sore.

When the time of the day came around for my regularly scheduled salubrious endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation I opted to not be very stimulated, so I drove to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to walk with the Indian Ghosts who haunt the historical area.

The Village Creek Blue Bayou is slowly being choked with vegetation. Years ago when I first saw this bayou it was more like a big open pond, with little vegetation. I remember roller blading on to the now replaced wooden viewing platform and asking a couple guys what they were looking at.

Water Moccasins, I was told.

It was a group of 5 or 6 reptiles in the water making a minor snake boil. This was very early in my getting adjusted to living with a lot of snakes in the natural world, so seeing all those snakes sort of unsettled me. In the years since I've learned that it is likely these were not Water Moccasins, but instead some other group of water snakes, without a venomous bite.

Miss Puerto Rico returns from her home island today, arriving in the D/FW zone a bit after 8, after a long day of flying, going from San Juan to Washington, D.C. to D/FW.

I think I may have forgotten to check in on Miss Puerto Rico's mentally ill cat, Tasha, yesterday. I probably should go do that right about now.

Running Around Crystal Canyon Searching For Shiny Objects

In the picture you are looking at the Shadow of the Crystal Canyon Thin Man, today, around noon.

The sun was shining around some clouds whilst I was doing some salubrious endorphin inducing aerobic activity running around the Crystal Canyon Natural Area's trail a few laps.

I thought maybe with the sun shining on the canyon that the illusive crystals might be doing some glistening.

I saw no glistening. Except for the sweat beads glistening on my personal epidermal layer.

My computer based weather monitoring device just started flashing red. When I clicked on SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT I read the following...

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

in effect until Monday, Oct 22, 2:30pm.

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR... WESTERN COLLIN COUNTY WESTERN DALLAS COUNTY EASTERN DENTON COUNTY EASTERN TARRANT COUNTY

AT 124 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED THE LEADING EDGE OF GUSTY THUNDERSTORM WINDS EXTENDING FROM PILOT POINT TO FLOWER MOUND TO FORT WORTH...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

WINDS WILL SHIFT ABRUPTLY FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHWEST BEHIND THIS LEADING EDGE OF GUSTY WINDS. WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 40 MPH FROM THE NORTHWEST WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGH 230 PM. THE WIND SHIFT WILL PRECEDE THE ONSET OF SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS BY 20 TO 30 MINUTES.

THE BRIEF PERIOD OF GUSTY WINDS WILL AFFECT DFW AIRPORT BY 145 PM... ARLINGTON BY 150 PM...AND MCKINNEY...PLANO...AND DALLAS LOVE FIELD BETWEEN 200 PM AND 215 PM.

Well, it is almost 2:30pm, so the above WEATHER STATEMENT is about to become ineffective. I have seen some wind gusts and a little bit of rain has fallen. But, no thunderstorm action.

Enough about the weather, now back to Crystal Canyon.

The above info is gleaned from one of the informative signs in the Crystal Canyon Natural Area. That verbiage sure makes it seem as if one should expect to see some crystals whilst one traverses this natural area's topography.

The next time I go running around the Crystal Canyon Natural Area maybe it would help if I brought my magnifying glass with me.

Today The Fort Worth Space Needle Looked Like It Was Falling On Me & A Field Of Tandy Hills Broken Glass

That is the Fort Worth Space Needle high atop the summit of Mount Tandy you are looking at in the picture.

Today when I looked up at the Space Needle the clouds being blown fast past the Needle creating the illusion that the tower was falling towards me. This caused a very strong vertigo dizzy type reaction to my sense of balance.

Those of you who are familiar with Space Needles in other towns in America who are wondering if there is a revolving restaurant and observation deck at the top of the Fort Worth Space Needle.

Well, the answer to that question is no.

There no elevator to the top of the Fort Worth Space Needle. There is a ladder that reaches the top and I have seen a human climb all the way to the top of the Fort Worth Space Needle. Looking at that also made me dizzy.

According to the local air environment reports there are a lot of allergens blowing in the North Texas breeze, making for conditions where asthma sufferers may be doing some heavy duty suffering. I have not made note of any increased problem with my respiratory system. When I read that the allergen level had gone real high I was a bit concerned I was in for a repeat of my recent bout of allergic misery.

A couple weeks ago I came upon a red branched bush in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area that had me wondering why I'd not noticed it before. Today, whilst hiking one of the Tandy Hills' trails, that I've hiked too many times to count, I came upon a large field of broken glass just a few feet off the trail.

That is the field of broken glass you see above. How is it I never noticed this before? All the broken  glass did not look as if it were a recent arrival to the Tandy Hills

I am really beginning to think I am not a very observant wanderer.

Swimming was very pleasant early this morning. It was so warm last night that in the middle of the night I turned on the A/C. A warm night made for a sort of warm pool.

Midway through this next to last Sunday of October it is 85 degrees with the humidity making it really feel like 89. Methinks I shall go for a rare Sunday afternoon swim and try and work on my exercise deficit.