The Tandy Hills Hoodoo Has Been Resurrected

For the first time in a week, and the first time in 2014, the Tandy Hills were my hiking location this first Saturday of the New Year, prior to my regularly scheduled weekly treasure hunting visit to Town Talk.

Supposedly, tomorrow, frigid air of the sub-freezing sort returns to North Texas. Today the outer world is currently heated to 64 degrees at my location.

The balmy temperature had me back in shorts and t-shirt with the speedy hiking creating an additional warming sensation.

Today I was very pleased to discover that the Tandy Hills Hoodoo has been resurrected in all its precarious, rocky, balancing glory.

Tandy Hills Hoodoo II appears to be a bigger formation than its original iteration.

We'll see how long Tandy Hills Hoodoo II lasts before falling victim to rogue Mormon boy scouts.

The conditions on the Tandy Hills are currently just about perfect, as in perfect weather, trails in good shape. Yet, I saw no other hikers today. Very perplexing.

I got my biggest supply of rabbit food yet, at Town Talk, today. Two cases of Fresh Express salad. A case of Spring Mix and a Baby Spinach case. I also got tomatoes, cauliflower and a case of apple cinnamon Power yogurt. And other stuff I am currently not remembering.

What I am remembering, right now, is the lunch gong just sounded and I am hungry....

Miss Puerto Rico's Windows 8 Computer Drove Me To Indian Ghost Walking

This morning Miss Puerto Rico gave me a headache.

Well, that may be a bit unfair. Because, actually, it is Microsoft that gave me a headache.

Around noon I decided I needed to visit my favorite Indian ghosts for some anti-headache therapy. So, I drove to Arlington to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to walk in the forest of spindly trees, currently de-nuded of foliage.

Last week Miss Puerto Rico tracked me down to tell me she bought a new laptop that she was having trouble with, asking me if I would help. I said I would help and then forgot about it. Yesterday Miss Puerto Rico tracked me down again, desperate now for laptop help, because she wants to take it to her home island with her in a few weeks.

This morning, early, Miss Puerto Rico knocked on my door, laptop in hand, handing it to me.

A couple hours later I turned on this laptop, entered the password and was soon understanding why Windows 8 has been a debacle for Microsoft.

Even before I had possession of the laptop I figured the woe was being caused  by Miss PR not understanding she needed to connect an Ethernet connection to the laptop in order to access the Internet. That clue came from Miss Puerto, in her charming island accent saying something about Microsoft won't let her check her Yahoo email.

So, I plugged in an Ethernet connection. That went all sorts of sideways, with all my U-Verse devices suddenly not working. An hour or two later I had the U-Verse devices back working. I then connected to U-Verse wi-fi- to find that Miss Puerto Rico's computer was no longer not cooperating.

Now I have to show Miss PR how to connect to her wi-fi connection. The language barrier is going to make this a difficult task.

I sure can see why people have been vexed by Windows 8. As soon as I got Miss PR's computer Internet connected, Microsoft started suggesting it be upgraded to Windows 8.1. I did not feel like taking that journey. I will leave it to Miss Puerto Rico to take care of that upgrade.

On the plus side of Windows 8, I quickly got used to the touch screen enabled aspect of it, working like a tablet or smartphone.

It is well past mid-afternoon and I still have a headache....

CNN's Spots In Texas & Washington Spotted Accuracy

If I remember correctly I have mentioned previously the fact that in all my decades of living in Washington, reading the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, I don't remember ever catching the P-I doing some erroneous reporting.

And then I moved to Texas, to a location all new to me, where I subscribed to, before I realized it was not a real newspaper of the sort I was used to reading, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

I have lost track of how many mis-reportings and mis-representings I have read in the Star-Telegram since I have been in Texas. Blurbs mis-describing new park trails on more than one occasion. Misrepresenting a lame food court called the Santa Fe Rail Market as being the first public market in Texas, with it being modeled after public markets in Europe and Seattle's Pike Place Market. Or the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle initially being described in the Star-Telegram as being a project which would turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South.

Anyway.

Last night I was reading CNN's  online "news" website and came upon an article titled "50 State, 50 Spots for 2014".

CNN is a credible news source. Isn't it? The CNN blurb about the Washington "Spot" made me question the veracity of the other CNN state's "Spots".

The Washington "Spot" is what you see above. A photo of the San Juan Islands, with the accompanying blurb saying...

"A short ferry ride from Seattle takes you to the stunning San Juan Islands. The islands have wonderful restaurants and outdoor activities but the stars are the 80 or so endangered Southern Resident orca whales living wild around the islands and in the Salish Sea. See these amazing mammals in their natural habitat."

First off there is no ferry route that takes you from Seattle to any of the San Juan Islands. If there was such a route it would be the longest in the Washington State ferry system. It is over 70 miles from Seattle's Elliot Bay to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. So, even if such a ferry route did exist, it definitely would not be a "short ferry ride".

Second off, all the San Juan Islands do not have restaurants. You will find restaurants on San Juan Island, mostly in the town of Friday Harbor, and on Orcas Island, at the ferry dock and in Eastsound.

Third off, no pod of orcas is in any sort of permanent residence in the San Juan Islands zone. Yes, you can see Orcas there, if you are lucky. I only had this happen once, whilst fishing with my mom and dad. Suddenly we found ourselves surrounded by a pod of about 30 of what we then called Killer Whales. It  is true these are amazing mammals to have swimming around you. They look very friendly, not like killers.

Fourth off, Salish Sea? I lived within 20 miles of the San Juan Islands for decades and have no recollection of this Salish Sea of which CNN speaks. Straits of Juan de Fuca. Yes. Rosario Straits. Yes. Salish Sea? Ain't ringing a bell.

So, with CNN thoroughly discredited regarding the info regarding its Washington "Spot" what about the Texas "Spot"?


The Texas "Spot" is San Antonio. I have only been to San Antonio once since I have been in Texas. I was very impressed. The most impressed I've been by any of the big Texas towns.

The CNN blurb about San Antonio says...

"Originally built in the 1930s, the original, iconic San Antonio River Walk has been expanded by eight miles.  The city's beloved River Walk, one of the most popular spots in Texas, wanders through the historic downtown connection historic sites, restaurants and shops."

Well, I am not familiar with the San Antonio River Walk in the way I am with the San Juan Islands, but I have to wonder if the River Walk was actually originally built during the Great Depression. Also, I can't help but wonder if it is not more accurate to say that the River Walk has been expanded to eight miles, not by eight miles, with, I am assuming, that eight miles referring to the current length of the River Walk.

With CNN now thoroughly discredited, not quite to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram credibility level,  but still discredited, where do I go for credible online news?

FOXnews.com?

2014 Is Off To A Cold Start In Texas

As you can see, the New Year of 2014 is off to a cold start in my part of the planet.

24 degrees with the wind blowing strong enough to make those 24 degrees feel like 10.

Brrrr.

My walk to and from my hot tub hydrotherapy session did seem a bit chilly this morning.

Yesterday, on the first day of the new year, the temperature in the outer world at my location managed to get into the 70s, briefly, which is why I was surprised to discover this morning that the natural air-conditioning had gone into overdrive overnight.

While I am in a deep freeze deep in the South, up North, at my old home location of Mount Vernon, Washington, the outer world there is currently, relative to me, a balmy 43 degrees, while at my mom and dad's location in Arizona they are even hotter than Mount Vernon, by one degree, at 44.

I think I may try and brave the brisk cold and have myself some brisk hiking on the Tandy Hills today.

Frigid Happy New Year From Texas Without Manly Men & Wild Women Hiking

The temperature was a degree or two above freezing when I went for my first hydrotherapy session of the New Year of 2014, this morning.

Almost freezing, hence the combo hot tub and steam bath hydrotherapy.

(Miss Julie, please note my correct use of the hence word, thus proving I am teachable...)

This morning, on the Tandy Hills, the 5th Annual Manly Men & Wild Women Hike the Hills event is underway.

I attended the inaugural Manly Men & Wild Women Hike. I quickly found out I was not manly enough to keep up with the hiking speed demons who attend this event.

The Queen of Wink and Princess Annie were a Wild Woman (and Girl) at that first Manly Men & Wild Women Hike.

The Queen of Wink and Princess Annie were also quickly exhausted by the brisk pace, and so we discreetly absented ourselves from the grueling hiking to go on a much more slow paced drive around the D/FW Metroplex, eventually ending up at a Sweet Tomatoes in Arlington.

I am appalled that it is 5 years since I hiked the hills with the Queen of Wink and Princess Annie.

Time really does fly when you are having yourself a really fine time. I guess.

For 2014 I have no New Year's Resolutions of any novel sort. Just the regular type New Year's Resolutions, like lose 20 or 30 pounds, hoping the weight loss might rid me of those man boobs you see above, floating in the hot tub.

If I was not so overweight, carrying so much extra adipose tissue, I might have considered driving to the Tandy Hills this morning to go on the Manly Men & Wild Women Hike, with some hope that I might be able to keep up with the brisk pace....

Spencer Jack's Early 2013 New Year's Eve Party

A couple minutes ago incoming emails from Spencer Jack's dad, he being my favorite nephew, Jason, brought me some early west coast New Year's Eve celebrating.

The first email included a video, with the email's subject line being "Spencer Jack Welcomes 2014."

The second email was simply subject lined with "Happy New Year" and included the picture you see here of Spencer Jack at his, apparently, early New Year's Eve Party.

To view one of Spencer Jack's dad's iPhone created videos I have to convert it to a YouTube video.

You can view that video below to witness for yourself Spencer Jack's raucous New Year's Eve Party, including a pre-mature countdown to the New Year of 2014.

When I was Spencer Jack's age, and younger, and older, til I was a teenager, heavy drinking was part of the New Year's Eve celebrating, in that it was the one time of the year when my parental units would let us get HUGE quart-sized bottles of sugary pop. This seemed like a real special treat, way back then.

I recently learned via that recent New York Times deal that went viral which identified where one was from, accent-wise, by answering a lot of questions, that calling carbonated beverages "pop" identified me as being from the Pacific Northwest.

In Texas "pop" is called "soda" or Dr Pepper.

Below is the aforementioned YouTube video of Spencer Jack ringing in the New Year of 2014, well ahead of the rest of America....

The Last Day Of 2013 Taking A Village Creek Indian Ghost Litter Walk

My waking hours on this last day of 2013 began before the sun arrived.

Soon after the sun arrived I left my artificially heated abode to venture into the freezing outer world to have myself some salubrious hydrotherapy via hot tub immersion.

Though I was tempted, after I started getting too hot in the hot tub, I resisted the temptation to take a quick cooling dip in the way too cool pool.

Post hot tub, on my way to ALDI and Walmart to take possession of my New Year's Eve Party materials I decided to have myself a short walk with the Indian ghosts who haunt the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

It was a good walk. The last time I walked with the Indian ghosts I did not cross the dam bridge that leads to the Village Creek Blue Bayou, because I wanted to walk to Interlochen to get myself  a Christmas decoration photograph.

That Interlochen walking day I did get told about the appalling litter jam that had piled up behind the south Village Creek dam bridge.

That litter jam was still piled up today, more than a week after the deluge downpour that caused it. I'd not seen the litter jammed up quite this bad at this location after any of the previous floods that have flashed through this location.

How do so many empty bottles of various sizes manage to get into this creek? I believe Village Creek flows from Lake Arlington, a short distance away. How does this much litter get going with the flow over such a short distance?

Very perplexing.

And now it is time for lunch....

The Next To Last Day Of 2013 Brought Me Happy Holidays Greetings From Sunny Arizona

On this late afternoon, of the next to last day of 2013, what to my wondering eyes appeared in my mailbox?

My favorite late Christmas card of this Very Merry Holiday Season.

My mom has been wanting almost daily updates, since a week ago today, regarding the non-arrival of a tardy Christmas card from my mom and dad.

I thought it was mom and dad's missing card in the mailbox when I found the card you see on the left.

And then, when I returned to my abode, from my mailbox trek, I found my mom had used the convoluted Google phone message method to leave an email. That email was garbled into gibberish, due to a blue screen of death issue, and so I called my mom and dad to quickly learn that the missing Christmas card had been returned to Arizona.

My mom then had me tell my dad my address so it could be confirmed that they had the correct address.

They did. Have the correct address, including the correct zip code.

And now here is where it gets odd. The Christmas card in my mailbox, that I found this afternoon, from my Arizona sister, well that card was addressed with the wrong zip code, that being 76124, rather than the correct 76112. And yet that card arrived successfully, whilst my mom and dad's card, with the correct address zip code, was returned to Arizona.

Now, regarding that Christmas card from Sunny Arizona. I am guessing you can likely guess who my mom and dad and sister are in the picture. You may have trouble guessing who the other three characters are.

My mom told me that my Aunt Ruth thought the character sitting next to my mom was my brother Jake.

No. That is not my brother Jake. That is my nephew Christopher, aka CJ.

CJ is about half as old as my brother Jake.

That would be my favorite brother-in-law, Jack, with his right hand on eldest son, CJ's, right shoulder, which would make my nephew Jeremy, aka JR, aka Whitey, next to his mom, she being my favorite sister, Jackie.

Don't they look like a fun group of relatives? I think I should have myself a relatively fun visit to Arizona sometime soon in the coming New Year.....

It Does Not Take A Dutch Boy To Plug A Fort Worth Leak

For months, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, a leak has been spewing what looked to be dozens of gallons of water an hour from a break near the fire hydrant at the north entry to my neighborhood Albertsons' parking lot, with the leak running downhill on Boca Raton Boulevard to the nearest storm drain, from whence the water can make a journey to the Trinity River.

So, I guess it's not like this massive water leak has gone to waste.

However, what with all the yammering, locally, about water shortages and droughts, it strikes me as odd that such a leak would be so noticeably flowing for such a long time.

I came upon the repair underway during my regularly scheduled inspection of my neighborhood on this final Monday of the year of 2013.

Instead of the deluging flow which I've been appalled by for months, today the deluge is slowed to a mere trickle, not making its way all the way to the storm drain.

I wonder what the value was off all the gallons of water which flowed from this leak? I wonder how much the repair will cost, compared to how much the lost water cost?

It seems to fiscally ignorant me that it would likely be financially prudent to repair a leak of this sort as soon as it is discovered, which, in this case, was the day the leak spouted, months ago....

Photo Documenting Playing Bingo With My Grandma Vera

Recently, in a blogging titled Please Come See Me I mentioned my Grandma Vera.

Yesterday, for reasons I am currently not remembering, I was looking for a photo of myself on a Lake Powell houseboat being in Captain of the Ship mode.

I have that photo in print form, in a frame, but can not find the original hard copy, in digital form.

Way back in the early digital age, the 1990s, entities, like something called Seattle Filmworks, would offer to process ones photos, with the processing adding the newfangled digital image option, on floppy disks, in addition to hard copies.

I have multiple Seattle Filmworks floppy disks on which, I believe, the photo I seek, exists.

Unfortunately, computers which have floppy disk readers are currently only located in Old Folks Homes and the Smithsonian.

Whilst looking for the aforementioned photo I came upon one of my aforementioned Grandma Vera, at a bingo parlor in Ferndale, Washington.

I was talked into going bingo-ing with Grandma Vera a time or two. In the picture above that would be me taking a "selfie" of me and Grandma. To take this "selfie" I was using my first digital camera. It being a now outdated antique Casio camera which burned through batteries and occasionally took a good picture if the light was right.

Grandma Vera did not like having her picture taken, which may explain why she is looking a bit grumpy. Or maybe the bingo caller was not calling the right bingos.

Grandma Vera would play six bingo card at once. I could barely keep up with two, with multiple incidents of Grandma pointing out me missing a bingo. Or whatever the correct terminology is.

Grandma Vera was a regular fixture at various Whatcom County bingo parlors. On this particular bingo outing the bingo-ers included my mom, a couple of my sisters, along with all four of my nephews.

At some point during the bingo-ing the bingo announcer announced that "At the Vera table today Vera has four generations with her, her daughter, her grandson, granddaughters and four great-grandsons."

We were all requested to stand and acknowledge the clapping of the bingo-ers.

I do not believe it was my Grandma Vera bingo-ing experience from whence my aversion to bingo came and hence why I have not accepted any of the bingo invites I have received since I have been in Texas, because, as I remember it, I had myself a mighty fine time playing bingo with Grandma Vera....