I Did Not Ride A Recumbent Bike With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Today Before The Super Bowl

No, that is not me on a recumbent bike.

All sorts of things slowed me up this 1st Sunday of the 2nd month of 2013.

So, I exited my abode intending to skip my regular salubrious endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation acquired via walking, running, hiking or biking and instead just go to Walmart to get some Super Bowl Party supplies.

Including an air bed.

But, when I exited my abode, and was hit with a very good feeling outer world, I decided to go for a walk with the Indian Ghosts who haunt the Village Creek Natural Historical Area in Arlington, before going to Walmart.

I saw six recumbent bikers biking with the Indian Ghosts today. I have never understood the attraction of recumbent biking.

Among the things that slowed me up today was getting caught up in an instant message texting frenzy with Frita Fremont. Frita was doing her frenzied instant messaging from Seattle, but I do not know if Frita Fremont was at the Fremont Sunday Market at the time.

Frita claimed I was acting all outraged in text message mode. Something to do with using a lot of exclamation points. All I was exclaiming was my bewilderment as to why Frita was inquiring about very very personal information, such as asking me what my shoe size is.

I do not believe I have ever asked anyone what their shoe size is. Or had anyone ask me mine. I shuddered at the impertinence, alarmed as to what followup questions would be asked if I allowed this particular line of questioning to continue.

Changing the subject from my mysterious shoe size to Walmart.

The store was a zoo. I suspect I was not the only one getting last minute Super Bowl Party supplies.

My Super Bowl Party menu is sweet potato chips, oven-fried chicken breast strips, coated with my proprietary whole wheat coating with 7 secret spices, oven-roasted garlic, olive oil red spuds, guacamole with cranberry, raspberry and pomegranate juice Sangria being the healthy libation.

I must figure out how to blow up an air bed now....

Going With Frita Fremont To Gateway Park To Mountain Bike Ride

This 1st Saturday of the 2nd month of 2013 is the first time my handlebars have been back on a mountain bike trail in quite some time.

For weeks, it seems, either ailing with respiratory woes, or the air being way too cold, has left me with no desire to do any pedaling.

But, today, with me feeling fine and the temperature in the 60s, I took off to Gateway Park to ride the Fort Worth Mountain Bike Association (FWMBA) trail.

It is beginning to become just a bit spooky how many times, of late, I leave my abode to find my mobile telecommunication device making its incoming call noise, to discover it is Frita Fremont calling.

I am starting to wonder if Frita has me under some sort of surveillance. Perhaps a satellite view letting her know when my motorized vehicular transport is in motion. Frita is quite the Smart Phone guru. Is there some sort of spy app tech geeks can avail themselves of?

Whatever the explanation is for Frita's uncanny calling, Frita talked me all the way to Gateway Park, with one short intermission to get gas.

I usually call my mom when I get gas, but due to the fact that I had to cut Frita off, in mid soliloquy, I said I'd call right back after I was done pumping.

I called back a couple minutes later which had Frita exclaiming that I was a fast pumper. I really did not know what to say, so I simply agreed that I am a very fast pumper.

I was very pleased at how well the bike riding went. I must have been pedaling at a high rate of speed, due to it seeming as if I reached various landmarks very quickly.

Now that I am back in bike mode, I must make a habit of it again.

When I was done spinning my non-motorized wheels, I spun my motorized wheels to Town Talk. I thought it would be exceptionally busy today with Town Talkers stocking up for the Super Bowl. However, I suffered no being crushed in a crowd sensations.

I think I am totally ready for my Super Bowl Party.

Now I just need to go to the bother of finding out who is playing. I know Beyonce is doing the halftime show. I am not a fan. I do not think I could name a Beyonce tune. I would prefer it be Nicki Minaj. Now, that would be some reliable entertainment. She could start by taking off with her catchy Starship song.

I currently have my computer room window open.

It gets old, this weather pattern in Texas in winter, a few days cold, a few days not cold, a few days running the furnace, a few days with the windows open.

Up In Seattle Mount Rainier Comes Out For Fort Worth's Galtex's In Search Of Uwajimaya

In the picture, in the foreground, you are looking at the Seattle Seahawk Stadium, behind the Seahawk Stadium you are looking at Safeco Field, where the Seattle Mariner's play baseball, behind that you are looking at Mount Rainier, where a volcano erupts every once in awhile.

Fort Worth residents, the Galtex's, are currently up in Seattle.

This morning I purloined the Mount Rainier picture from Gail Galtex when I saw it on Facebook.

When the Galtex's first visited Seattle a March or two ago, I opined that they would be very very lucky if the Mountain, as in Rainier, made an appearance. Well, they were lucky, an appearance was made.

And now, with the Galtex's in Seattle in the middle of Winter, I opined that they would be very very very lucky if the Mountain, as in Rainier, made an appearance.

Well, yesterday, the Mountain came out.

I suspect this has something to do with the upbeat natures of Mr. and Mrs. Galtex spreading sunshine wherever they go.

The Galtex's have been getting 'what to do' suggestions from natives, or former natives, familiar with what to do in the Seattle zone. One suggestion was to drive over Stevens Pass to Leavenworth.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it to Seattle in time to provide taxi service.

I have two new suggestions.

One is ride the Super Ferry to Bremerton. It does not cost too much to walk on. Unless the fare schedule has changed since I was a Washingtonian, you pay only one way. A Washington Super Ferry is way bigger than the ferry you might be able to use to cross Fort Worth's Pond Granger if that lake ever floats anything.

Suggestion number two is to go to Uwajimaya. I saw on Facebook that the Galtex's have already been all over Pioneer Square, which is an actual square, unlike Fort Worth's Sundance Square.

Uwajimaya is in what is now known as Seattle's International District. When I was a kid this was known as Chinatown. Seattle's Chinatown was not nearly up to the par of the Chinatowns in San Francisco, Vancouver or Los Angeles. I don't know if that is why the name was changed to the International District. Or maybe it was some politically correct thing to be more inclusive with the other Asian cultures.

If the Galtex's have been watching Top Chef: Seattle they have seen Uwajimaya  a couple times when a couple chefs went food shopping there.

Mr. and Mrs. Galtex, if you are reading this, it is very easy to find Uwajimaya . You can take the transit tunnel to the last station, that being the International District Station. Or walk from Pioneer Square to the Seahawk Stadium. There you will see the Union Station train building. Near there you will see a pedestrian bridge across the train tracks. Cross the bridge, on the other side you will come to a plaza and should see Uwajimaya.

In Uwajimaya you will find the best food court I have ever been to. Nothing like this exists in the D/FW Metroplex. Nor does anything like Uwajimaya exist in the D/FW Metroplex. Not that I've seen, anyway.

Hope the Mountain comes out for you again today!

Due To Danger You Must Not Smoke At My Neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Gas Pad Site

Today I opted out of driving anywhere for my daily salubrious endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation and instead, once again, took a walking tour of my neighborhood.

Soon upon leaving my abode my mobile telecommunication device made its incoming call noise. It was Frita Fremont. I'd not talked to Frita for a couple days.

So, Frita walked and talked with me til I got to my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Pad Site and saw a picture I wanted to take.

I told Frita I'd talk to her later, stuck the mobile telecommunication device in one pocket and took my digital photo taking device out of another pocket to take the picture you see above.

I am sure this sign has been stuck to this fence for quite some time. But I had not made note of it til I saw it whilst talking to Frita.

DANGER? NO SMOKING? PELIGRO? NO FUMAR?

What causes the DANGER? Is there some possibility that non-odorized natural gas may be leaking, un-detected, and thus pose an explosion risk?

Does the DANGER cease at the fence? Is there no DANGER across the street, at Albertsons? How about due west, at the apartment complex adjacent to this DANGER zone?

Non-odorized natural gas runs from the DANGER zone under the parking lot of the apartment complex due west.

If there is a chance of a leak causing a DANGER at the gas pad site, requiring a warning sign, why are there no NO SMOKING warning signs above the pipeline that runs under the apartment's parking lot?

I tell you, living in the Barnett Shale is very perplexing...

The First Freezing Day Of February Has Me Wishing I Was Lost & Found In Warm Washington

I am seeing a clear blue sky view from my pool patio this first day of the second month of 2013.

A clear blue sky with the ground level chilled to below freezing this morning, currently heated, about an hour before noon, to a couple degrees above freezing.

Mr. and Mrs. Galtex have escaped freezing in Texas to see what it is like to be in Seattle in the middle of winter. Currently they are reporting seeing the sun through the clouds.

Checking the Seattle temperature I see the Galtex's are about 10 degrees warmer than if they were still in Fort Worth.

This morning is the Grand Opening of Washington's newest store, that being the Lost & Found Thriftique in Tacoma's Stadium District. I do not know if the Galtex's are attending the Grand Opening. I was hoping to, but complications prevented that from happening.

One of the proprietresses having a proprietary interest in the Lost & Found Thriftique is Tacoma businesswoman, Connie DB, aka The Original Tacoma Lulu.

The Original Tacoma Lulu is a smart, amusing Lulu with exquisite good taste. With a funny, cute kid named George.

I don't know where I am going today for my daily dose of endorpin inducing aerobic stimulation. Are the Tandy Hills dry? Maybe I will check and see.

Is The U.S. Postal Service Criminally Neglectful Delivering Parcels In Fort Worth?

Way back last year, on December 21, I blogged  The Post Office Is Very Sorry They Missed Me.

The mail delivery person had left a note in my mailbox telling me a parcel was not able to be delivered.

Despite there being parcel delivery boxes next to where my mailbox is located.

I followed the instructions on the note to request re-delivery via the USPS website. I made this request twice, both times getting an email telling me the re-delivery request had been received.

I stuck a note inside and outside my mailbox telling the delivery person to put parcels in the locked parcel box or deliver to my door.

No parcel was delivered.

I subsequently learned the undelivered parcel was a box of Christmas cookies mailed from Seattle. The person who sent those cookies checked with the USPS tracking system which told her the parcel had been delivered.

When, in reality, the parcel made it as far as my mailbox, without being delivered.

After three weeks of waiting for the parcel to be delivered I mailed a letter to the Postmaster of the Poly Station Post Office on Rosedale, that being the Post Office where undelivered parcels are kept.

In my letter to the Postmaster I detailed the problem, including scanned images of the postcard left by the delivery person, and the messages from the USPS website.

I have not heard back from the Poly Station Postmaster.

In my letter to the Poly Station Postmaster I pointed out that since the Postal Service failed to deliver the parcel, I thought a refund was owed to the sender.

Now that I have had time to think about this outrageously bad service from the US Postal Service I am thinking the problem may be much worse and much more systemic than one might think.

As I have already said, this type failure to deliver has happened multiple times.

One would think that a Postmaster, upon learning of such a failure, via a well-articulated letter from a customer, would investigate, would get back to the customer.

Perhaps with an explanation and an apology. And the undelivered parcel.

Is there something more sinister going on here? Corruption at the local level of the US Postal Service?

Are postal delivery persons failing to deliver parcels and then purloining them? This would not be the first time this type theft has occurred in the US Postal Service system.

Which is why it strikes me as a bit damning that the Poly Station Postmaster chose to ignore my complaint letter. Wouldn't a person legitimately acting in a position of responsibility take this type thing very very seriously and want to get to the bottom of it? And fix the problem?

Does not taking money from a parcel sender in Seattle, and then failing to deliver, not constitute some sort of act of theft? A theft of both the money paid to mail the parcel and the possible theft of the parcel itself? Particularly when that failure is not addressed when a complaint is made?

Why would a Fort Worth Postmaster not be concerned when a detailed complaint about multiple failures to deliver is made by a customer? Is ignoring such a complaint not just another failure to deliver?

Since making a complaint to the local post office accomplishes nothing. And making a complaint to the USPS website is also fruitless, I guess my only remaining avenues of complaint are to send a letter to the Postmaster General of the US Postal Service.

And to blog about it.

Yeah, I'm sure that will get results.

Walking Around Fosdick Lake With Turtles And A Wounded Muscovy Duck

The return of semi-warm temperatures, it is currently 64, mid-afternoon, had the Fosdick Lake turtles sunning themselves like a convention of preening South Padre Island bathing beauties, today, in Fosdick Lake in Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park.

Fosdick Lake looks very crystal clear blue, in the picture.

Photographs can be deceiving.

My eyes did not take the same picture of this scene when they looked at it.

In addition to the turtles there were also a lot of Fosducks enjoying the semi-warm outer world. Plus a number of humans.

A week or two ago I was at Fosdick Lake and talked to a nice lady who was feeding the ducks. She pointed out one duck who was badly injured, limping with a hurt duck leg. I'd seen this duck many times over the years, calling it a Lulu Bird, due to it looking like an odd morphing of a turkey and duck, like it was some sort of genetic mutation.

The last time I mentioned the Lulu Bird someone named Anonymous kindly pointed out to me that it was actually something called a Muscovy Duck. It did not take much Googling to discover that Anonymous was correct.

Today the Muscovy Lulu Bird was out of the water, very close to where I last saw her. Sitting at the base of the steps that lead to the Oakland Lake Park Pavilion.

The Muscovy Lulu Bird was trembling. I cut her a wide berth so as to not worry her. What injured the Muscovy Lulu Bird's leg, I wonder? Did the same type cruel person who murdered a Gateway Park armadillo, harm this duck? It would seem humans are the only predators who might harm such a creature.

Is Someone I Know A Major Creeper?

I am a big fan of strange coincidences.

For a day or two I have been trying to figure out the strange coincidence involved in the meeting between Gabby Goathead and a group of Secret Service Agents using the codename Goathead.

And then just minutes ago it crossed my mind how badly I would like to be totally rid of a creep or two, when I got an email from Stop The Creeps with the subject line asking Is someone you know a major creeper?

The body of the email follows, minus the two links, which I removed, because they appeared to be some sort of email address phishing attempt....

Local Arrest Records are Now Posted Online

We have the technology to find out virtually anything you want about anyone you want, at anytime, online, now.

See if there is danger lurking in your neighborhood. You can never be to safe or to sure.

Would you be interested in finding out what our background check says about you?

___________________________________

I really don't know all that many people who have arrest records, that I know of. I can only recollect one person I have known who has spent time in jail and under house arrest.

The last link in the email tells me to "Enter your name or someone else's name to begin."

I suspect if I entered a "name to begin" I would be quickly asked to provide credit card info to proceed from the beginning.

I know if I entered my name nothing would come up. Nothing as exciting as being arrested, tried, convicted and jailed has ever happened to me. I do not think I would react well to being strip searched and locked up.

I am thinking I must come up with a better idea than looking up arrest records to rid myself of major creeps being creepy......

Walking With My Mom While Singing Happy Birthday In Gateway Park

In Texas, a time or two, I have heard someone say something along the line that "if you don't like the weather in Texas, wait 10 minutes and it will change."

I am likely not even close to the correct wording of what it is I have heard Texans say about the Texas weather. But, I am close to the sentiment.

Yesterday morning it was 70 degrees when I went swimming soon after the sun arrived, with the outer world cloudy, warm and windy. This morning I did not go swimming, because it was 41 degrees and windy.

But, as you can see, via the picture, on this next to last day of January, the clouds have mostly evacuated.

That is not a lake you are looking at in the picture. It is the Trinity River, looking west, viewed from the Gateway Park trail that trails along beside the river.

My mom went walking with me in Gateway Park today.

I called my mom on the way to Gateway. This was not a getting gas related call. It was a Happy Birthday Mom call.

My mom's birthday, as long as I can remember, has been on the next to last day of the 1st month of the year.

My mom claimed, today, that when she called me a couple days ago that she invited me to today's birthday party. That sort of seems familiar.

Later today, my sister, favorite brother-in-law, favorite nephews CJ & JR, brother and favorite sister-in-law, plus an extremely distant relative, who does not speak the same language I speak, and likely a few others, will be helping my mom blow out the candles on her birthday cake.

I Have Been Instructed To Watch Severe Thunderstorms While Being Advised About Wind

This afternoon the temperature kept rising, nearing 80, to the point where I turned on the A/C for the first time in 2013.

And now, an hour after turning on A/C, it is back again dormant, because, as you can see, we have quickly chilled to only 25 degrees above freezing.

Brrrrr.

The most recent National Weather Service Alert has the thunderstorming ceasing by 5.....

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS VALID UNTIL 5 PM CST THIS AFTERNOON FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS

IN TEXAS THIS WATCH INCLUDES 14 COUNTIES

IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS

BOSQUE COOKE CORYELL DALLAS DENTON ELLIS HAMILTON HILL HOOD JOHNSON LAMPASAS MCLENNAN SOMERVELL TARRANT

THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...ARLINGTON... BURLESON... CLEBURNE...  CLIFTON... COPPERAS COVE... DALLAS... DENTON... ENNIS...  FLOWER MOUND... FORT WORTH... GAINESVILLE... GATESVILLE...  GLEN ROSE... GLENN HEIGHTS... GRANBURY... HAMILTON... HICO... HILLSBORO... LAMPASAS... LEWISVILLE... MERIDIAN... MIDLOTHIAN... OAK TRAIL SHORES... THE COLONY... VALLEY MILLS... WACO AND WAXAHACHIE.