Taking A Walk Around My Prairie Free Neighborhood Whilst Lamenting The Loss Of The Super Bowl Buffet

With the temperature barely above freezing, with a wind chill factor having the barely above freezing really feeling way below freezing, I bailed on my plan to drive to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to ride my bike and instead decided to take a walk around my neighborhood.

My neighborhood is a bit hilly, the same hills that make the Tandy Hills hilly. Only my neighborhood hills have had the prairie removed from them and a lot of pavement added to the former prairie, which facilitates easy walking.

About a month ago I was sad to notice that the restaurant closest to my abode had closed.

The Super Bowl Buffet.

Chinese Asian All You Can Eat is how the sign on the side of the former restaurant describes the cuisine.

For years I was a buffet aficionado. While I was a buffet aficionado the Super Bowl Buffet was my favorite Chinese food buffet I'd ever been to. That covers a lot of Chinese food buffets.

I would guess I buffeted at the Super Bowl Buffet several dozen times before I found that I no longer enjoyed over eating.

A couple days ago I noticed boards were being installed over the Super Bowl Buffet's windows, making it look even more forlorn.

When I first moved to my current location the Super Bowl Buffet was a Black Eyed Pea restaurant. I only ate there once. Had the turkey dinner. It was good, but I never went back. I don't remember how long it was after the Black Eyed Pea closed that the building re-opened as a Chinese buffet. The original name was not Super Bowl Buffet. I don't remember the original name. Maybe it was something like Asian Super Buffet.

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit of a loss at the closing of the Super Bowl Buffet. I hope me not being a regular customer anymore was not too much of a contributor to the restaurant's close.

Prairie To The People At Prairie Fest 2013

I like the poster for this year's Prairie Fest. I also like the "Prairie to the People" slogan. I found the below blurb on Facebook a few minutes ago...

It's now official. Prairie Fest is alive and well and is coming April 27 to your local prairie: Tandy Hills Natural Area. Music; Wildflower Hikes; Food & more. One day only. Don't miss it!

Last year's Prairie Fest came in 3 parts. I only made it to Part 1.

Time flies by so fast. It was way back at the 2011 Prairie Fest that I had myself a fine time in a booth with Elsie Hotpepper and Granny Grassroots. And others.

Checking Out River Legacy Park's Natural Petroleum Pipeline Overlook

River Legacy Park Trinity River Bridge

Today I was taking a Sunday walk in River Legacy Park, when, unbeknownst to me, the Seattle Seahawks were already in the process of ending this year's attempt to make it to the Super Bowl again.

It was barely one degree above freezing when I left my abode to drive to Arlington to walk along the Trinity River in River Legacy Park.

I was adequately attired to prevent the bone chilling wind from chilling my bones. I think this is the first time this winter I have been neither under or over dressed for the dire elements.

It does not seem all that long ago that I biked the River Legacy Park trail to check out the Huffine's Veridian development.

River Legacy Park Nature Overlook

However, enough time has passed that there was sufficient time for a wide swath of park land to be clear cut with a petroleum pipeline installed beneath the clear cut swath.

In the picture you are looking at a Nature Overlook located at the west end of the River Legacy Park north parking lot, accessed off Collins Street.

The brickwork at the Nature Overlook has embedded information informing you about the critters you might see as you look out over the Nature Overlook.

See that unnatural looking white stick sticking up in the natural area you look at from the Nature Overlook?

Below is a closeup look at that unnatural looking white stick.

Yes, you guessed correctly, the aforementioned wide swath of clear cut parkland cuts right through the natural area viewed from the Nature Overlook.

River Legacy Park, over the years, has fussed over kids making unauthorized BMX bike trails at one specific location in the park.

I imagine a really humongous fuss must have been made over this clear cut through the River Legacy Park natural area. It seems a bit more destructive of park land than some kid's BMX bike trails.

The Seattle Seahawks Lost Hours Before I Cancelled My Pre-Super Bowl Party

In the screencap you are looking at an updated Seattle Post-Intelligencer, updated with the news that the Seattle Seahawks are not going to be in this year's Super Bowl.

I only managed to watch about the last minute and a half of today's game.

My favorite football fanatics, Sampson & Delilah, neglected to tell me that today's game started way earlier than last week's game, leaving me with the erroneous notion that today's game was going to start at 3:30, just like last week's game.

With me not knowing there was a football game to watch, I took off to River Legacy Park, near as I can tell, about the time the game was starting.  Had I known I could have had the DVR record it.

I did not get back to my abode til around 2, made lunch, turned on the TV. Watched part of a movie. Then went to set the DVR to record what I thought was a football game starting at 3:30. I could not find the football I was looking for.

And then I saw the game, already being played. Almost over. With Seattle behind, 26 to 20.

Then with about a half a minute to go, Seattle scored a touchdown, that seemed to stir some controversy. After the controversy was settled, Seattle scored an extra point, going ahead by one.

Then, Atlanta thew the ball a couple times and then scored a field goal and the lead. With a few seconds to go, which seemed to take minutes, Seattle seemed almost about to maybe score again. But that did not happen before the end of game buzzer sounded.

Now, what am I to do with the supplies I bought for my pre-Super Bowl Party that is now not going to happen?

Hoping The Seattle Seahawks Beat The Atlanta Falcons Today So They Can Win The Super Bowl

Sampson (on the right) & Delilah

In the picture you are looking at the football fanatic fans known as Sampson & Delilah.

That is Delilah on the left. I like the sound of Sampson & Delilah better than Delilah & Sampson, which really has no ring to it.

You might have guessed that Sampson & Delilah were football fanatics, without me telling you that, due to the Seattle Seahawk logo Sampson & Delilah got tattooed to their right cheeks.

Sampson & Delilah are my go to source for info about the ongoing quest of the Seattle Seahawks to make it to this year's Super Bowl.

However, I somehow got a bit of my Sampson & Delilah info erroneously misconstrued, because I was harboring the misconception that if Seattle beat the Washington Redskins last Sunday, which they did, that Seattle would have to win only one more game, that being today's game playing the Atlanta Falcons, and then it'd be on to the Super Bowl.

But, yesterday, Sampson & Delilah disabused me of my erroneous notion by informing me that Seattle has to win today and then beat one more team before I have to head up to Seattle to be the party coordinator for the annual Sampson & Delilah Super Bowl Party.

I have not been to a Sampson & Delilah party in years, not since some point in time in October or November of 2005. And that party was at the next door neighbors of Sampson & Delilah, not at the S & D abode. It was at that party I learned I was able to throw darts quite accurately, and that something called a Long Island Iced Tea is not the type Iced Tea I was used to drinking in Texas.

Speaking of adult libations, there will be no repeat of last Sunday's Durango cocktails at this week's pre-Super Bowl Party.

The snacking for this week's pre-Super Bowl Party will be Cheese Quesadillas and Shrimp.

My Search For Fort Worth Stairs To Step Took Me To Oakland Lake Park Today

A couple days ago at Oakland Lake Park I was surprised by how easy it was to run up the steps you see in the picture. I assume step running had become easier due to the increase in my aerobicizing over the past several months.

So, today, with precipitation intermittently precipitating, I decided to return to Oakland Lake Park and get me some aerobic stimulation via stair climbing.

There are three other step climbing options, in addition to the one you see in the picture, all close together, in Oakland Lake Park. I step climbed all 4 today, multiple times, and then I was off to Town Talk where I saw the Tamale Kid, but did not have him asking me if I wanted any of his mama's tamales.

There are not a lot of locations, in this elevation variation challenged  part of the planet, where you find a lot of stair steps taking you to a much higher elevation. I actually can not think of any.

A long time ago, to be precise, August of 2004, I found myself staying in an apartment in Tacoma, overlooking Stadium High School. Stadium High School is so named because of its football stadium, it being a natural football bowl, with a lot of seating. And a lot of steps.

I saw guys making the treacherous climb to break in to Stadium High School's stadium in order to run up and down the steps.

After watching the stadium stair steppers step stairs for several days I decided to give it a try.

It did not take me long to realize I was not in as good a shape as the other guys I saw doing stair stepping.

I remember back when I was a devoted jogger, being in Reno, getting in my jogging exercise by running up the stairs of the Circus Circus tower. I don't remember how many floors Circus Circus had. I do remember the towers are tall.

The buildings in downtown Fort Worth are not very tall. I wonder if there is access to the stairway in any of them?

Snapping Village Creek Turtle Pictures While Basking In The January Sun

Today, it appeared the temporary return of pleasant temperatures had a lot of people communing with the Indian Ghosts who haunt the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

And the Village Creek turtles came out of hiding to enjoy themselves some sun basking.

The Village Creek turtles are way more skittish than the Fosdick Lake or Veterans Park turtles.

By the time I snapped a picture, a lot of the turtles had jumped into the water.

The turtles do not have very many more hours left to enjoy feeling warm. Rain and a return to freezing is on the way to this location on the planet.

Contemplating Throwing Fubbo The Hut Off Fosdick Falls With Grandpa Gar Going Bang Bang Boom Boom

Fosdick Falls in Oakland Lake Park

I was not too surprised today to see that the deluge of the past couple days has Fosdick Lake's Fosdick Creek roaring over Fosdick Falls in Oakland Lake Park.

The volume of water falling was not quite sufficient to make the earth tremble, but is was sufficient to make a good strong water falling noise.

Shorts and a t-shirt were not quite sufficient outer wear coverage today. The temperature was, allegedly, in the mid 50s. But, a strong wind, and clouds blocking the sun, made for some chilly outdoor aerobicizing.

Changing the subject from chilly Fosdick Falls to Fubbo the Hut.

I am feeling real bad about Fubbo the Hut. Well, not exactly bad about Fubbo, but bad about what Fubbo is doing to yet one more innocent victim of Fubbo the Hut's irrational, neurotic wrath.

Fubbo is claiming that Tacoma's Connie D has somehow betrayed Fubbo by somehow helping me do something imaginary to Fubbo the Hut.

I have referenced a time, or two, an entity I refer to as my "Tacoma Informant."

Well, this is actually more than one person. And they are not really informants. It's more a thing where I will get asked something, for instance, "Do you know what Fubbo did to Jon Bob?" I then will ask one of my Tacoma Informants who the hell Jon Bob is and if they know what Fubbo did to them.

I believe Fubbo the Hut is convinced Connie D is my Tacoma Informant and the blog commenter who calls herself  "Tacoma Girl."

Fubbo the Hut is making up all sorts of twisted lies regarding this, and is insinuating that she feels in danger, scared of what Connie D and me are going to do to her.

This is all quite unsettling.

And totally horrible to be doing to Connie D, who has never talked to me about Fubbo the Hut. Connie D Facebook friended me years ago, which I assume is the source of Fubbo the Hut's paranoia.

As for my "Tacoma Informants". None of those, who I refer to as such, actually lives in Tacoma. One is in Puyallup, one is in Seattle, with another one in Snohomish.

Changing the subject from the sick subject of Fubbo the Hut to something more normal.

I learned today that Gar the Texan is getting married, yet again. I assume that this time the wife will be able to speak English. I really think being able to communicate would be useful if one wants to be married to someone.

It is not all that much of a surprise to learn that Gar the Texan is getting married again. I have lost track of what number this will be. Wife #4? Or is it #5?

The surprising news, from Gar the Texan, that I learned today, is that he is about to become a Grandpa.

How can Gar the Texan be old enough to be a Grandpa?

Maybe Gar the Texan is just being tricky, leaving out a detail or two. Like maybe the new wife has a Grandkid, which would make Gar the Texan a step-Grandpa, upon marrying the new wife.

And on one more Gar the Texan note, before I shut up, a couple weeks ago Gar blogged about Seeing Red, which had to do with his fixation on redheads. The blogging included the video you see below, Beth Hart singing Bang Bang Boom Boom. This song has become, for me, what I believe is called an Earworm. Meaning I can't get Bang Bang Boom Boom out of my head. It's very addictive...



UPDATE: I forgot to mention that Tacoma's Connie D is not the same as the Texas Connie D. These are totally different people, who have the same first name and last names which start with the same letter, that being "D".

My Neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Red Boxcar Mystery

This morning I walked to Albertsons to get this week's Fort Worth Weekly.

On the way to Albertsons I walked by my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Pad Site.

In the past month or two there have been some additions added to my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Pad Site.

A week or two after I'd blogged about the lack of any fencing around this particular gas installation, fencing showed up. Then a few trees were planted around the perimeter.

In the past week or two a couple house trailers showed up. Along with the red boxcar-like structure you see in the center of the picture.

When the sun goes down really bright lights light up the area of the red boxcar. You can see the bright lights to the left of the red boxcar.

At night you can see what looks like exhaust smoke coming out of the red boxcar.

Can anyone enlighten me as to what is going on with that red boxcar? And why it requires workers to move in to house trailers to monitor whatever it is that is needing monitoring?

Another Day Of Non-Stop Rain In North Texas Blissful In A Soft Cotton Comfort Cloud

I'd almost forgotten what a stereotypical winter day is like in Western Washington.

My current location in North Texas has reminded me of what non-stop rain is like. I think we are approaching 24 hours of rain,  with no end of the dripping in sight.

I gleaned the "Rain expected to continue throughout the day" blurb from this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

I woke up this morning thinking my month plus bout of ailing with minor flu-like symptoms had abated, almost totally. Since then the abatement seems to have somewhat lessened.

I had myself the best night's sleep in I don't know how long last night.

On New Year's Eve my bed suffered a major malfunction which resulted in it turning very uncomfortably lumpy in way too many spots.

So, yesterday I got myself a new bed.

The new bed is like being held in a soft cotton cloud of blissful comfort.

The constant pitter patter of raindrops hitting my window and the occasional rumble of distant thunder added to the peacefulness of my slumber chamber.

I'm thinking if I start getting a more reliable good night's sleep I might find myself being less grumpy. I can only hope.