Mountain Biking Gateway Park While Maxine Makes Me Homesick For Goose Rock

Since today is Saturday I did what has become my Saturday habit of late, as in I took my handlebars to Gateway Park to do some mountain bike pedaling.

I had myself a fine time pedaling today, rotating my wheels for over an hour.

And then it was on to Town Talk where my treasure hunting was not too successful today.

This morning I got an email that made me a bit homesick. The email was from Maxine. Maxine lives upriver in the Skagit Valley of my old home zone. Maxine is in training for her annual hike over the Cascade Mountains to Stehekin.

Maxine's hiking training today is taking place on Goose Rock in Deception Pass State Park. The trails of Deception State Park, including Goose Rock's trails, were sort of my Tandy Hills equivalent when I lived in Washington.

It was a longer drive to get to Goose Rock than the 4 mile drive from my abode to the Tandy Hills.

If Goose Rock existed at my current location I think it would likely be called Goose Mountain. And it would be a major tourist attraction because there would be nothing like it for hundreds of miles in any direction.

In about 3 hours the Tacoma Wedding of the Century will be taking place. Two  months ago if you'd asked me I would have said I would be at this event. I also got invited to a Train Wreck today in my old home town of Burlington.

This morning Betty Jo Bouvier asked  me which event I was going to be attending, the Train Wreck or the Wedding. I told Betty Jo I would be attending both in spirit.

I think I made the right decision in deciding not to fly north to Washington at this point in time. I got an email  this morning that reminded me of what a hotbed of crazy Tacoma is.

The temperature in Tacoma right now is 69 degrees. Transpose those two numbers and you get the temperature right now in Fort Worth, as in 96 degrees.

I believe today's Tacoma wedding is an outdoor deal at something called the Japanese Pavilion in Point Defiance Park. At 69 degrees I would have been a shivering mess.

TxDOT Gives Playboy 45 Days To Remove A Marfa Bunny On A Stick

When I read this morning that the Texas Department of Transportation was giving Playboy 45 days to remove an unlicensed road side advertisement I figured it must be some sort of hideous eyesore that had generated a lot of complaints.

And then I saw a photo of the "advertisement."

The "advertisement" is the iconic Playboy bunny logo on a stick.

Playboy considers this to be a roadside art display. The name of this art display is Playboy Marfa. Which might lead one to correctly guess that Playboy Marfa is in the Marfa  zone of the Big Bend Region of Texas.

This roadside art was created by New York artist, Richard Phillips, working with Playboy's creative director of special projects, Neville Wakefield.

In addition to the Playboy bunny on a stick, the art installation includes a 1972 Dodge Charger sitting on a tilted concrete platform.

TxDOT claims Playboy does not have a license for outdoor advertisement in Texas.

Playboy claims they have not violated any laws and will work with TxDOT to try and alleviate TxDOT's concerns.

What I am wondering is why is there such a shortage of common sense in Texas public agencies? And they are known by initials. TCEQ, TRWD, TxDOT, FWISD.

Does that Playboy bunny on a stick look like an advertisement to you?

If this "advertisement" is meant to generate publicity, well, Playboy has done a good job, with help from TxDOT, turning this into yet one more national story that makes Texas appear even goofier than it actually is.

Walking With The Fosducks Thinking About Going To Tomorrow's Tacoma Wedding Of The Century And The Olivergate Scandal

The idyllic scene you are looking at, in the picture, was seen by me a couple hours ago at Oakland Lake Park.

The body of water is Fosdick Lake.

No one has ever been able to locate Oakland Lake in Oakland Lake Park.

Today the Fosducks were being shade seeking ducks. The Fosducks were not being skittish today, cooperatively posing, rather than quickly waddling to the water.

The turtles, however, were being excessively skittish today. I think, what with the turtles being reptiles, that they get more frisky when their blood gets HOT. Today I startled a big turtle of a different brand than the ones I usually see in Fosdick Lake. The big turtle was out of the water, but ran into the lake and disappeared before I could get my camera out of its pocket.

A month ago if you'd asked me where I was going to be today I would have likely said I would be in Washington.

Tomorrow, the Tacoma Wedding of the Century takes place.

I am usually expected to make a surprise appearance at such events, what with my well known penchant for surprise appearances. But, for this event I was told I had to precisely indicate whether or not I would be in attendance, with no surprises tolerated.

Apparently the caterer needed to know exactly how many slices of pizza to make.

I had made most of the arrangements necessary to enable being an unexpected wedding guest. I'd arranged airport pickup, a place to stay, transport, and other things I'm likely not remembering right now.

But, it was not to be. So, tomorrow, likely to my everlasting regret, I will miss the Wedding of the Century.

I'll go to Town Talk instead.

And on a totally different note, go to  the Star-Telegraph, note I typed Star-Telegraph, not Star-Telegram, to read an editorial from the Fort Worth Business Press regarding the TRWD Olivergate Scandal titled Outrageous. Infuriating. Unacceptable.

What is also outrageous, infuriating and unacceptable is the fact that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has printed nary a word about the TRWD Olivergate  Scandal.

A Bud Kennedy Float Clarification Regarding Arlington's 4th Of July Parade

Yesterday when I blogged about Arlington's 4th of July Parade I mentioned that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy was on a float.

I have had a question or two from a person or two which indicates to me that I somehow left the impression that Bud Kennedy was a parade float.

That is an erroneous impression.

Bud Kennedy was on a parade float that had the words "Arlington Citizen Journal" on the front of the float. I think I saw "Fort Worth Star-Telegram" somewhere else on the float, which would seem to answer another question I  have been asked, as in "Why is Bud Kennedy in this parade?"

In the picture above Bud Kennedy is the man in blue holding his hands in the air.

I think Bud Kennedy would make an excellent Wheelin' Elvi.

Arlington's 4th Of July Parade With Marching Bands, Belly Dancers, Wheelin' Elvi, Zombies And A Waving Bud Kennedy Float

I guess some sort of 4th of July patriotic fever got hold of me this morning whilst in the midst of my morning swim that had me deciding that I wanted to watch Arlington's 4th of July Parade for the first time since July 4, 2001.

I remember that 2001 parade as being one of the most impressive parades I'd ever seen. The 2001 parade took place just over 2 months before 9/11.

I wondered what changes in this parade I might notice, post 9/11 and over a decade later.

One big difference I noticed early on in the parade. That being the Macy's Parade balloon size character you see in the picture above. That being the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy waving on top of a float.

Bud Kennedy was following the Wheelin' Elvi. The Wheelin' Elvi were quite amusing. There were a lot of Elvi Wheelin.'

The above guy really is a dead ringer for Elvis.

One of the charms of the Arlington 4th of July Parade is it appears that just about anyone who wants to be in the parade gets to be in the parade, like the unicyclers above and the parade entry below.

Another impressive element of the Arlington 4th of July Parade is the level of participation of Arlington schools. Multiple high school marching bands, cheerleaders, drill units, football teams. The following set of pictures are of various schools and their various parade entries.

And then there was my favorite school entry. The Native All-Star Football Classic float. I have no idea what the Native All-Star Football Classic is.

As the Native All-Stars passed by me and the natives saw my camera aimed at them, the group did this synchronized "And How" thing with a wave.

Emblems of America seemed to be the theme for this year's Arlington 4th of July Parade. Above is a float celebrating Yellowstone National Park, with the banner saying "Emblem of American Genius - World's First National Park."

At one point something happened overhead that caused everyone, those in the parade and those watching the parade, to look skyward.

Above you can see people looking up to see what was making the loud noise.

What caught everyone's attention was several groups of airplanes flying overhead in formation. It was an impressive thing to see.

The above was the Babe's parade entry. As in Babe's Chicken. Best fried chicken I've ever had. I've only been to the Roanoke Babe's, never to the Arlington Babe's. When the Babe's bus passed a snarky parade watcher was overheard saying, "And people say Arlington has no public transit."

Whenever anything to do with America's military passed by everyone sitting stood. Some saluted. Many yelled thanks. I do not remember this being the way the parade viewers reacted back on July 4, 2001, prior to 9/11 and two tiresome wars.

The next three military parade entries are examples of that which stirred people's patriotic fervor.

No one stood and saluted the entry below, though I did hear a guy say, "God bless them..."

The white sash under the crown, below, says "Arlington Queen of Queens." I have no idea what this means. Is this the mother of multiple Arlington Queens? She seemed to be quite happy being the Arlington Queen of Queens.

And then you have the bevy of belly dancers, led by the belly dancing queen you see below.

You have to admit that the above is the most patriotic belly dancing outfit you've ever seen.

And, now, the final picture from today's Arlington 4th of July Parade is of something I definitely did not see in 2001, and is something that seems to have infected America's popular culture, for reasons inexplicable to me.

Zombies. Multiple Zombies. With the guy above being the most disturbing of the Zombies.

All in all, I enjoyed Arlington's 2013 4th of July Parade. I arrived well after the parade had begun, easily found parking near the parade's half way mark and found my viewing spot moments before the parade arrived at that location.

Previously, after watching a Texas parade I have opined that Texas towns put on the best parades I have ever seen.

Today, in my old home zone of the Skagit Valley, the big parade for the 4th of July takes place in Sedro-Woolley, it being part of the Loggerodeo celebration. Maybe the Loggerodeo parade has changed since I last watched it, but I do not remember the Sedro-Woolley High School band marching in the parade. Or the cheerleaders. Or the drill team. Or the football team. Let alone any of the other local schools participating.

Photo Documentation Of Gar The Texan & One Of His "Secret" Wives

A couple days ago, in a blogging, I mentioned that Gar the Texan was taking one more step towards his goal of breaking Mickey Rooney's multiple marriage record.

In that blogging I made note of several of Gar the Texan's "wives".

Including the "wife" known as The Vibrator and the "wife" known as The Very Big Girl.

Gar the Texan then denied that The Vibrator and The Very Big Girl were legal wives, claiming they were more of a common law type deal. And that he was still on extremely good terms with The Vibrator.

Yesterday I think I mentioned Gar the Texan's Olympic marriage record again, which caused Gar the Texan to comment with the following....

Gar has left a new comment on your post "The Old Man & The Fosdick Sea Feeding Ducks":

This will be the third legally binding type thing.

Third time's a charm and all.

The Very Big Girl is actually some invention of yours which you have picture evidence of only because she was sitting at the bar next to me.

I'm now kind of concerned about you going up to two strange ladies asking if they'd allow you to take picture of them feeding their Fosducks. 

Do they realize that pictures can be legally used in the court of Durango? 

I do not think it speaks well of Gar the Texan's character that he so cavalierly dismisses his relationship with The Very Big Girl.

That is she, The Very Big Girl, in the picture above, sitting next to her common law husband in Booger Red's Saloon in the Fort Worth Stockyards, smoking a filterless Camel between glugs of Buffalo Butt Beer.

You can see how affectionate The Very Big Girl is towards Gar the Texan, in the picture, where she sucks a drag off her cigarette while positioning her right hand to goose her "husband".

I remember when that goosing took place Gar the Texan jumped off his bar saddle and squealed like a stuck pig.

Looking at this photo it is interesting, to me, to note how much The Very Big Girl looks like the next Gar the Texan wife, that being the German. The Very Big Girl looks like the German with about 80 pounds of air pumped into her.

I found out today that Gar the Texan was having trouble finding someone willing to be the Best Man at his latest wedding. I'm thinking it is sort of a Cry Wolf thing that makes it hard to find Best Man volunteers.

So, to fill the Best Man role Gar the Texan contracted with an Indian service, as in Indian of India the nation, not Indian, as in Native American, that provides wedding props, like a Best Man.

So, an Indian, if I am understanding it correctly, who will call himself Ed, because that was the name of Gar the Texan's best friend from his grade school years, will play the role of Gar the Texan's Best Man. This pseudo Ed will be flying in from Bangalore, India.

This has to be rather expensive to fly someone to Texas all the way from India, for something like this. I would have been willing to pretend to be Gar the Texan's Best Man for a fraction of the cost....

Almost Going Over A Cliff In Gateway Park The Day Before The 4th Of July

Those are my handlebars, once again, high above the Trinity River in Fort Worth's Gateway Park, not quite going over a cliff, on this Wednesday day before the 4th day of July.

Tomorrow, for the 4th of July, all I am certain that I am doing is making chicken tacos.

There has been some talk, today, about me attending the FW 4th, viewing the festivities from the air-conditioned VIP tent.

How do you air-condition a tent, I can not help but wonder?

Twice, since I have been in Texas, I have watched a 4th of July parade. Those being the Arlington 4th of July Parade and the Granbury 4th of July Parade.

Texas small towns put on parades the likes of which I never saw when I lived in Washington. In both the Arlington and Granbury 4th of July Parades the town's high schools participated. The high school bands marched, the cheerleaders cheered, the football teams rode floats.

Unless it has changed since I last saw Sedro-Woolley, Washington's 4th of July Parade, there will be little involvement by the local  schools.

The biggest problem  I have had with watching a Texas 4th of July Parade has been the fact that the temperature is a bit warm. With little shade.

The Old Man & The Fosdick Sea Feeding Ducks

The Old Man & The Fosdick Sea was back floating on his unique fishing barge today in Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park.

I think if I were to fish on a fishing barge such as this I would opt not to be wearing long pants.

The July Arctic Blast is still keeping the outer world temperature far below normal in normally HOT north Texas.

The overnight low at my location was 62. It was in the 70s when I went walking around Fosdick Lake and it is only 84 degrees, right now, in the middle of the afternoon of the second day of July.

I think I have mentioned that my mom and dad were in Bend, yesterday. Bend, Oregon, that is. Yesterday I thought mom's visit with her sister was not going to happen, due to logistical problems. But, last night those logistical problems were taken care of, which had mom and dad visiting my Aunt Mike this morning.

Aunt Mike did not recognize my mom and dad. But, they had a pleasant visit. Alzheimer's is a cruel disease.

Meanwhile I have heard from Gar the Texan  regarding his upcoming legally binding contractual partnership to a new wife. Previously I mentioned that it seemed that Gar the Texan was trying to break Mickey Rooney's wife total record.

However, Gar the Texan is now claiming, if I'm understanding correctly, that only three of his "wives" have been legally binding contractual partnerships requiring a divorce proceeding to be wife-free. I guess that must mean the Vibrator and the Very Big Girl were Texas Common Law type wives.

Now, back to today and Fosdick Lake. Soon after watching the Old Man & the Fosdick Sea fishing I came upon the charming scene below.

A mom and little girl feeding the Fosducks.

I asked if I could take their picture because they were being so darn cute. The little girl excitedly gave me permission. While her mother seemed a bit wary.

A Board Walk With My Sister In Arlington's Veterans Park

I was not bored walking the Veterans Park boardwalk today in Arlington.

This Arctic Blast which has returned natural cold air to North Texas, temporarily, is quite refreshing.

My sister who is usually in Arizona, but is currently in Idaho, went walking with me today.

Yesterday I mentioned my sister had a vehicular malfunction whilst driving to one of my other sister's wedding in Tacoma. I had been misinformed by my parental units that my sister was stranded in Twin Falls.

Instead my sister, and nephew, CJ, are stranded about 140 miles northwest of Twin Falls, in Nampa, Idaho. It was the air-conditioner that malfunctioned, with the repair to be made by this afternoon.

Meanwhile my mom  and dad arrived in Bend, Oregon much earlier than I, and my cousin, had anticipated. And so, my cousin was out of town, so, as far as I know, my mom did not get to see her sister. That will now need to wait for the return trip to Arizona.

Have I ever mentioned that Arlington's Veterans Park is an extremely well done park? With modern restroom facilities, with  no outhouses  to be seen anywhere, unlike that which is the park design aesthetic of the town to Arlington's west.

In Veterans Park there are locations where one can not tell one is at the heart of a 6 million plus people metropolitan zone, such as the location above with the gnarled tree, with green trees as far as one can see.

Veteran's Park has miles of paved trail, a boardwalk and landscaped walkway through a garden, a  Xeriscape, miles of unpaved, wooded trails, a music pavilion of the real permanent sort, again, unlike the design aesthetic of that town  to Arlington's west and many other amenities that add up to being a park a city can be proud to have in town.

Among the Veterans Park amenities I forgot to mention is the Veterans Park Memorial.

At the base of the Veterans Park Memorial there are memorial bricks honoring soldiers from American Wars all the way back to the Mexican-American War.

There are Civil War bricks from both the Confederate and Union side of the War of Northern Aggression. Choctaw Code Talker bricks, Spanish-American War bricks, plus bricks from all the wars of the previous and current century, World Wars I & II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, Iraq War, War in Afghanistan and likely other wars I'm not remembering right now.

I  can not be the only one who notices that America seems to get into a lot of wars.....

An Arctic Blast Brings Temperatures 30 Degrees Above Freezing To Formerly HOT North Texas

This morning it was only 30 degrees above freezing when I woke up my computer to monitor the weather for the day.

It is now 35 degrees above freezing at about 3 hours since the sun showed up today to being its heating duty.

I do not remember, previously, having my windows open, in Texas, in July. But, they are open this morning on this 1st day of the new month.

The pool was much warmer than the air this morning. That does not happen too often.

I do not know how long this unseasonably cold Arctic Blast is scheduled to continue. If the temperature predictors are correct with their prediction, we are only going to be in the 80s the next couple days in this formerly HOT part of the planet.

It is currently HOTTER up in my old home zone of Washington than it is in formerly HOT Texas.