A Walkabout In My Neighborhood Finds A Stuffed Recycle Bin Plus A Water Leak & Wildflowers

This 2nd Sunday of the 11th month of November I decided to forego my regularly scheduled drive to a hiking, biking or walking location to instead take one of my irregularly scheduled tours of my neighborhood.

A couple months ago the big Recycle Bin you see in the picture appeared at the Havenwood apartment complex on Boca Raton Boulevard.

Multiple times since this Recycle Bin appeared I have noticed it being filled to the bursting point.

In addition to being a littering eyesore this would seem to defeat the purpose of having a Recycle Bin.

I know several people who live in the Havenwood Apartment complex. This complex is on both sides of Boca Raton Boulevard, with a couple hundred units. The above is the one and only Recycle Bin, requiring quite an effort for many of the residents to get to the recycling location.

And now, today, one of the tenants, who I talked to whilst doing my picture taking, told me that the residents are being charged $1.95 a month for the privilege of recycling, which they are currently prevented from doing due to the Recycle Bin not being able to accept Recyclables.

Continuing on with my tour of my neighborhood I walked towards Albertsons.

I know here in North Texas we have no shortage of water, so leaks are no big deal.

Apparently.

The above leak has been leaking for weeks, maybe months. One loses track of time. This watery view is looking east on the aforementioned Boca Raton Boulevard. Albertsons is to the right, with the newly relocated Italy Pasta & Pizza restaurant straight ahead, with its Grand Opening balloon sitting on its roof.

The leak is leaking in copious amounts, at what appeared to be the rate of water leaking being at the level of a kitchen faucet wide open. This likely amounts to quite a few gallons of water down the drain per hour, per day, per month.

Not everything I saw on my neighborhood walk today was disturbing. There was nothing disturbing about the patch of orange wildflowers I walked by soon after leaving the stuffed Recycle Bin. Maybe Fort Worth's renowned horticulturist, CatsPaw, can identify this colorful  beauty....

A Saturday Tandy Hills Hike Where A Fort Worth Hoodoo Still Stands

I had not been on the Tandy Hills since last Saturday's hill hiking. I was pleased to see, on this 2nd Saturday of November's hill hiking that the Tandy Hills Hoodoo is still standing.

When I first mentioned the Tandy Hills Hoodoo I pondered that it likely would soon see the same fate as the infamous hoodoo in Utah's Goblin Valley State Park, which fell to marauding hoodoo hoodlums posing as Boy Scouts.

Steve A opined that the Texas Tandy Hills Hoodoo would likely not meet the same fate as the Utah hoodoo because there are not many Mormons in Texas, that being a reference to the fact  that the rogue hoodoo destroying Utah Boy Scouts were Mormons.

Anyway.

Perfect hiking conditions on the Tandy Hills today. With only me and one other hiker to be seen. Very perplexing.

After getting in some good hill hiking it was off to Town Talk for my regularly scheduled treasure hunting.

Today the best thing I found at Town Talk was a case of Siggi's pomegranate passion fruit yogurt, plus rabbit food in the form of lettuce and carrots. Just remembered, Angus Beef Chipolte Monterey Jack burgers and whole wheat Matzoh crackers to help nourish the Jewish side of my nature.

National Brothers Week Has Me Wishing Nephew Joey A Happy Birthday While Wondering About Spencer Jack's Seattle World's Fair Mug

This morning's 2nd Saturday of November blogging will be relatively un-annoying with relatively nothing about this particular blogging having anything to do with Texas, other than the fact that I am currently typing in Texas.

This morning I saw on Facebook, via Miss Martha, that currently, supposedly, we are celebrating "National Brothers Week".

I had not heard of this and thus have not been celebrating this particular special week.

I do have a brother. My brother is 13 months younger than me. My two oldest nephews are my brother's kids, those being Spencer Jack's dad, my favorite nephew Jason and Spencer Jack's uncle, my favorite nephew Joey.

Speaking of Joey. And who isn't? Tomorrow is Joey's birthday. Happy Birthday, a day early, Joey.

I remember like it was yesterday, driving south from Bellingham to United General Hospital to see the newly born Joey for the first time.

This morning my aforementioned brother's eldest, he being the aforementioned favorite nephew Jason, emailed me a couple photos. I was a bit surprised by what I saw in these two photos.

Okay, it is not all that surprising seeing Spencer Jack with a hamburger. I have no idea what is on the plate next to the hamburger. What surprised me was Spencer Jack's drinking glass. From the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Which would make Spencer Jack's drinking glass over a half century old.

On one of my mom and dad's kid-free visits to the Seattle World's Fair they bought souvenir glasses. These were insulated thermos glasses. The glasses were different colors. Mine was turquoise.

This is what Spencer Jack's dad had to say about this particular glass and the below photo....

"Aunt Jackie's 1962 Seattle World's Fair mug in Spencer Jack's Lego room next to his Lego Space Needle with a Lego Monorail track in the background."

I have no idea how Jason and Spencer Jack came to have possession of my sister Jackie's Seattle World's Fair glass. I had no idea any of these glasses, now antiques, still existed.

A few weeks ago Jason put on Facebook a video of Spencer Jack operating the four trains running on various tracks on his elaborate railroad system. While the four trains chug along, the Seattle Monorail autopilots around Spencer Jack's virtual town.

I wanted to turn Spencer Jack's railroad engineer video into a YouTube video, which I could blog, but Facebook, thwarted me in that effort.

Before hitting the publish button, I have to say, one more time......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEY!

The 2nd Friday Of November Getting Warmed Up In A Texas Hot Tub

No. What you are looking at on the left is not one of the water features in the newly opened, oddly named, Sundance Square Plaza.

What you are looking at is a noonish look at the water feature known as a hot tub, to which I quickly escape when the water in the pool is too cool.

Which it was this morning. Too cool.

I did my regular morning run into the pool, swam to the end, and quickly decided I needed to make a hasty retreat to the hot tub.

I don't know why I had such a chilly reaction to the cool pool this morning. The temperature average the last 24 hours has been above 50 degrees, thus meeting my usual  temperature criteria for finding the pool doable.

I think the problem I am having with the water temperature, compared to the same time last year, is that I have lost some of my insulating layer of adipose tissue. Basically I am skin, muscle and bones, without much fat to provide insulation from the cold.

The next few days the temperature average is scheduled to increase. I will likely continue my morning cool dips, likely ending up in the hot tub. A morning dip in the hot tub is not as enjoyable as a swimming dip in the pool, but, it's better than no dip at all....

A North Texas Frost Advisory Has Me Searching For My Long Underwear

I'm not exactly sure why, but for some reason I decided to bail on my daily morning swim habit this morning.

Bailing on swimming may have had something to do with the temperature being chilled to 42 degrees in the outer world at my location, with the wind making the wind chill factor making it really feel like 31 degrees.

As in one degree below freezing.

And then there is that FROST ADVISORY you see via my computer's weather monitoring graphic.

The artificial heat producing system came on in my abode at 4 this morning when the interior temperature dropped to 65 degrees. I don't remember the last time the artificial heat producing system came on in the middle of the night in my abode.

With approximately 44 days to go til the start of winter I am thinking today's Big Chill on the first Thursday of the 11th month of 2013 is a chilly preview of the coming few months.

Today I am going to go on a search for my long underwear. I know it has to be in here somewhere.....

Visiting Quanah Parker Park's Monster Pecan Tree Before Doing Some Town Talking

What you are looking at on the left looks sort of like a Tree Monster, reaching out to grab me with its big arm limbs.

But, looks are often deceiving. That is not a Tree Monster, what it is a monster tree, of the pecan type, in Fort Worth's Quanah Parker Park.

This is a special pecan tree with a special designation as a Heritage Tree. I really don't know what that means, but I read in on the informational signage by the big tree.

My morning swim in the currently cool pool lasted less than a half hour, with only one hot tub warming retreat. Even though the air is cooler than the water in the pool, I decided to brave the chill, bundling myself up in long pants and a sweatshirt, to drive to the Quanah Parker Park parking lot, parked to have myself a very short walk before I decided I was not sufficiently attired in insulating outerwear, so I bailed on the walking and drove on to Town Talk.

I made today's semi-rare Town Talk visit due to being out of yogurt and cheese. Of late Town Talk has been in low supply mode of both. But, today I got two cases of Chobani Greek Yogurt, one case mango, the other orange vanilla. My two favorite flavors. Plus I got two blocks of Tillamook extra sharp cheddar along with two blocks of extra sharp white cheddar.

So, I am well stocked with yogurt and cheese, so we  can all stop worrying about me starving....

Sundance Square Plaza Redundancy Along With Goofy Propaganda Puffery & Other Questions

Sundance Square Plaza Photo by Mr. & Mrs. Galtex

On the left you are looking at fountains spouting in the oddly named Sundance Square Plaza.

When I hear Sundance Square Plaza the word 'redundant' comes to mind.

Redundant and goofy.

There are reasons some well known downtown public spaces are not known as Times Square Plaza, Westlake Center Square, Pioneer Square Plaza, Trafalgar Square Plaza or Dealey Plaza Square.

Well, you get the point.

The newly opened downtown Fort Worth public plaza is featured on the cover of this week's DFW.com Ink Edition, along with an article titled Hip to be Squared.

Before I got to the article I learned via the cover that the newly opened downtown Fort Worth plaza cost  $110 million. I don't remember funding for this project being voted on in any sort of bond election. So, I am curious, how was this $110 million financed?

DFW.com is a Fort Worth Star-Telegram production, hence the overblown Chamber of Commerce type propaganda puffery the Star-Telegram is known for, in this article.

Regarding the long standing mystery of there being no square in Sundance Square the Hip to be Squared article included these three paragraphs....

“We get the ‘Where is Sundance Square?’ questions. ‘How do I know I’m in this place that people are talking about?’” says Johnny Campbell, Sundance Square president and CEO. “So we ask them where they are. They say, ‘I’m at Third and Main.’ We say, ‘You’re standing right in the middle of it.’”

That’s long been the mystery of Sundance Square. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, “There is no square there.”

And yet, Sundance Square has become as emblematic of Fort Worth as the Stockyards. A magnet for retail, restaurants, entertainment and people-watching, Sundance Square is one of the main reasons Fort Worth is regularly recognized among the nation’s best downtowns.
Really?

Sundance Square has been as emblematic of Fort Worth as the Stockyards? Who, other than Fort Worth locals, has the slightest idea of what Sundance Square is? Did not the article just mention the fact that this non-existent square has long been a mystery?

This mysterious, non-existent square is one of the main reasons Fort Worth is regularly recognized among the nation's best downtowns?

Really?

Classic Fort Worth Star-Telegram propaganda.

Who is it that is regularly recognizing Fort Worth's as one of the nation's best downtowns?

No one I know, outside of Texas, knows anything about downtown Fort Worth. The only thing I ever have mentioned to me is people knowing of the Fort Worth Stockyards.

How many people would the Star-Telegram have to randomly call, outside of Texas, asking the persons called what the person knows about downtown Fort Worth before, finally, after a million or two phone calls someone says, "Well, Fort Worth is regularly recognized among the nation's best downtowns."

How many million people would the Star-Telegram have to randomly call, asking the person called if they know what Fort Worth's Sundance Square is, before the person called answered, "Well, that's that mysterious non-existent downtown square that has been perplexing visitors for decades."

Why must the Star-Telegram, in its various forms, always resort to this type nonsensical propaganda puffery?

There are plenty of reality based good things one can say about downtown Fort Worth. Instead of pretending that downtown Fort Worth is on the nation's radar screen, why not focus on why downtown Fort Worth is a national non-entity that is not on the nation's radar screen, rather than pretend that is it nationally known and recognized?

This type propaganda is very perplexing. And sort of embarrassing....

The First Wednesday Of November Brings A Big Chill To North Texas

Currently we are at the mid morning point, a bit past 10am on this first Wednesday of the 11th month of 2013.

At this point in time, at 49 degrees, the outer world at my location is being chilled seven degrees chillier than when I had myself a fairly fine time swimming this morning, with only one warming up retreat to the hot tub.

The air is being blown from a northwest direction with sufficient velocity to have the wind chill factor having the already chilly air really feel as if it is 41 degrees.

Brrrr.

41 degrees is only nine degrees above freezing. I suspect I will need to find myself another blanket by the time I get horizontal tonight.

In a couple hours I think I will take myself on a walk around Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park. The briskness will likely be even more refreshing than this morning's swim.

No Sunny Texas Towns On List Of Top 101 Cloudy Towns

When someone compiles a Top 101 type list of towns ranked by some criteria as being the top, best or worst at something, usually at least one Texas town shows up on the list.

However, today a Top 101 Towns type list was in the news with nary a single Texas town making the list.

I first saw this made mention of this morning whilst checking news online to learn that Bellingham in my old home state of Washington was #1.

Bellingham is a very cool college town. But, it did not rank #1 for being a cool college town.

Bellingham ranked #1 for being the town  in America, with a population over 50,000, having the lowest average amount of sunshine per year. As in, in Bellingham it is only sunny 35% of the time.

The top 15 towns, on the list of 101, were all in Washington. Washington towns continued to show up as I scanned the list of 101 to its end. I would have thought at least one Oregon town would have been near the top of this list.

The first Oregon town to be listed was the town I was born in, Eugene, which is supposedly sunny 47.5% of the time. In my memory Eugene is always sunny, but that is likely because I only remember being in Eugene in summer. My mom and dad moved me back to Washington when I was 4, so I have no actual memory of living in Eugene.

So, this is a good list for sunny Texas to not be on.

Spencer Jack's dad, my favorite nephew, Jason, sent me a link via email, subject line: no sunshine here today. Text in email saying FUD-- Thought you'd find this interesting --FNJ.

The link was to an article on city-data.com titled Top 101 cities with the lowest average sunshine amount (population 50,000+).

Today, in usually sunny Fort Worth, Texas, we are experiencing the type weather that can go on for day after day after day after week after week after month in Western Washington.

None of the towns in my old home zone of the Skagit Valley are on this list because no Skagit Valley town has a population over 50,000.

It has been 24 hours since I have seen blue sky at my current location. Blue sky is scheduled to return tomorrow.....

Thinking About Moving Into The Village Creek Treehouse

A treehouse has appeared in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area which was not in  residence when my mom and I walked with the Indian ghosts this past Sunday.

Or, maybe the treehouse was there and I was too focused on talking to my mom to notice.

The issue of when this treehouse appeared is not what I am curious about.

What I am curious about is why this treehouse has appeared and who is living in it?

And how did this treehouse get erected so high up in the tree?

I've long thought I'd like living in a treehouse.

One of my cousins, long ago, built the most elaborate treehouse I have ever seen. It was Tarzan worthy. That treehouse spanned multiple trees with the various parts of the house accessed via somewhat scary rope bridges.

Changing the subject from treehouses to something else.

I did not go swimming this morning for the first time in quite awhile. When I  looked out my window at the outer world everything looked wet. The temperature had averaged above 50 for over 24 hours and was 56 when the sun arrived, but the overcast dreariness just sucked the swim right out of me.

Coming up on the middle of the afternoon, very little of the predicted rain has dripped, so far, at my location. And I have heard no thunder booms.

Due to the volume of water squirting through the Village Creek Dam Bridge it appeared that in the noon time frame water must have been precipitating somewhere.

Below is a look at the water rushing today in Village Creek....