Did I Find A Rocky Hoodoo Homage To The Eiffel Tower Today On Fort Worth's Tandy Hills?

It is a miracle. The Tandy Hills Hoodoo has been resurrected once again. That would make this 3rd Saturday of 2014's Hoodoo erection, Tandy Hills Hoodoo III.

To my critical eyes this latest Tandy Hills Hoodoo is the most impressive feat of rock engineering yet.

Was the builder going for a rock homage to the Eiffel Tower in Paris?

Or  is this a rocky tribute to a plump legged woman with bumpy bosoms ?

Speaking of a plump legged woman with bumpy bosoms. I had myself an encounter with one, today, along with her three less plump and bumpy cohorts and their three snarly dogs.

Four humans and three dogs may be the biggest non-Prairie Fest group of people I have ever seen on the Tandy Hills.

There is something currently in the air which is causing me periodic sneezing episodes. And irritating my eyes. The dust in the air as I drove by the gigantic Chesapeake Energy operation on Randol Mill Road, on my way to Town Talk, made the air that I breathe worse.

Speaking of Town Talk, I did not have a lot of treasure hunting luck today. I was hoping to find some more Soyrizo. But it was all gone. I got some colby cheese, carrots, orange and yellow peppers, yogurt, whole wheat tortillas and a big bag or Tostito tortilla chips for tomorrow's Seattle Seahawk pre-Super Bowl game party.

Other than the breathing bad air issue I am feeling mighty fine, overdosed on endorphins due to my new found ability to easily run up the Tandy Hills. Very aerobically stimulating.

Time to consume food. The lunch gong just sounded....

Yahooing Before Abdominizing On Fort Worth's Tandy Hills

I doubt if my one longtime blog reader can guess where I am standing in the picture.

Behind me, about three times taller than me, is the Mount Tandy Tower, also known as the Fort Worth Space Needle.

With this added information you should be able to guess that I am standing on top of one of the Tandy Hills, on this mighty fine 3rd Friday of 2014.

I opted to do some Tandy Hill hiking today so as to avail myself of Vitamin D acquisition via exposing my epidermis to bright sunlight, in addition to getting myself a good dose of endorphins via aerobic stimulation.

I was late in getting to the hills today.

This morning, pre-noon, I was talking to my Arizona sister when incoming email informed me I needed to make a change to a website. That soon turned into a time sucker with me being unable to connect to the website's server via FTP. It's a Yahoo issue. Why would anyone have their website on Yahoo servers?

My sister told me my favorite  nephew Christopher, aka CJ, is flying up to Seattle on Saturday to attend the Seattle Seahawk pre-Super Bowl game on Sunday. And then flying back to Phoenix after the game.

A couple days ago I asked Betty Jo Bouvier if she had attended a game yet in the new Seahawk Stadium. She had not. But, her neighbor had, telling Betty Jo that he would never attend again, because even though you pay for a seat you are not allowed to sit down because everyone in the stadium stands up yelling the entire game.

CJ's mom, aka my sister, told me today that she'd been to one game in the new Seahawk CenturyLink Stadium. She was able to set down because she was watching from the McDonald's luxury booth.

I have attended only one NFL game, years ago, in the now long gone Kingdome. I hated it. I was so far up in the stands the players were little figures running around in the distance. This was before the invention of giant TV screens, so basically there was nothing to watch.

I attended a Seattle Mariners game in the Kingdome a couple of times, with one of those times being enjoyable. For the same reason my sister liked her one time being in the new Seahawk Stadium. I was in the Kingdome's McDonald's luxury booth. I thought that luxury booth was quite luxurious. I understand the new luxury booth in the new stadium is even more luxurious.

Changing the subject from sports to something else.

I had myself a good hot tub hydrotherapy session this morning. Lately I wake up a bit sore in my mid-section. The hot tub hydrotherapy alleviates the soreness.

Why am I sore in my mid-section you are wondering but are too polite to ask.

Well, apparently someone, who I will not identify, thought my mid-section had grown too flabby and so this un-identified person Christmas gifted me with an Abdominizer device. I ignored the Abdominizer device for a week or two, miffed as I was that someone would give me such a thing.

And then I started doing some abdominizing. The abdominizing has gone on now for about three weeks. My aforementioned mid-section area, also known as ones core, constantly feels like it has been excessively exercised. I'd not made note of any great change, except for the soreness, and then a couple days ago someone rudely, out of the blue, blurted out, "Why do you suddenly have a six pack?"

I had no idea what was meant by "six pack" so I Googled the phrase to find a lot of beer advertisements.

Anyway, I think maybe I need to back off a bit on the Abdominizer, even though the constant soreness, while being a bit of a pain, also sort of feels good. It's very perplexing....

Watching American Idol In Austin Wondering Why Fort Worth Gets Left Out

That is Harry Connick Jr. holding an immigrant from Pakistan, currently residing in the Texas town called Houston, holding the Pakistani American in Austin, in the season premiere of the latest iteration of America's pop star generating factory called American Idol.

I, along with millions of others, bailed on last year's American Idol. I don't know who won.

The combo of Mr. Connick Jr., Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban being this year's judges made for a vastly improved American Idol viewing experience, so far.

Harry Connick Jr. is very amusing. Jennifer Lopez reminds me of another Puerto Rican, Miss Puerto Rico, sweet-natured and very easy on the eyes. And Keith Urban is just about my favorite Australian.

So, the auditions started off in Boston and then moved to Austin. Keith Urban wore a "Keep Austin Weird" t-shirt to help with the "Keep Austin Weird" movement.

The capital of Texas is a very attractive town, looks good on TV. I've visited Austin several times since I have been in Texas. Austin sort of reminds me of Seattle, sort of.

So, watching American Idol in Austin last night got me wondering why in the world the American Idol auditions have never come to Fort Worth.

If I remember right the American Idol auditions have come to Dallas, previously. The American Idol auditions have been to towns all over America, to all the major west coast towns, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. American Idol has been all over the east coast, as well. And all over the hinterlands, to places like New Orleans and Memphis and Chicago.

So, why in the world has American Idol never come to Fort Worth? Is not the biggest American Idol winner of all time, Kelly Clarkson, sort of a hometown girl?

Do the American Idol producers not know that Fort Worth is currently internationally renowned as a music venue, what with having one of the world's foremost waterfront music venues in the form of Panther Island Pavilion, located on the scenic, crystal clear Trinity River?

I am fairly certain Fort Worth must have a venue where American Idol auditions could be held. Maybe in that flying saucer looking building that is part of the Fort Worth Convention Center.

Usually the judges sit in a spot with a window behind them looking out on a scene that represents the town they are in. In Fort Worth this might be a bit difficult......

On The 3rd Thursday Of 2014 Walking Around Fosdick Lake Thinking About Moving To A Scottsdale Condo Tower

If you are guessing you are looking at the backside of Fosdick Lake Dam in Oakland Lake Park in Fort Worth, Texas, you would be guessing correctly.

Fosdick Dam is reputed by some, well, by me, to be the world's most eco-friendly dam, what with all those trees you see growing out of the dam.

Yester morning I skipped my regularly scheduled hot tub hydrotherapy session. I don't remember why I skipped. It may have been temperature related.

This morning I did not skip my regularly scheduled hot tub hydrotherapy session.

After feeling full of salubriousity after the hot tub hydrotherapy I called my mom and dad. Mom answered the call, which is the norm. I had called yesterday and got the answering machine. I asked my mom where they'd gone to when I called yesterday. My mom did not remember.

Mom told me my favorite nephew Chris, aka CJ, he being my oldest Arizona nephew, sold his house in Tempe and has moved to a condo tower in downtown Scottsdale. Downtown Scottsdale would be an extremely nice place to live. I can not think of a D/FW Metroplex equivalent. The closest I can come, in Texas, is San Antonio, if there were a condo tower on the River Walk.

The walk around Fosdick Lake bears some resemblance to San Antonio's River Walk, what with both involving water.

As you can see, the Fosdick ducks enjoy swimming around the Fosdick Fountain. I do not recollect previously seeing as many ducks as I saw today on Fosdick Lake. A whole lotta quacking going on.

I saw multiple instances of the blue harbinger of spring you see below, sprouting from the Oakland Lake Park grass.

I wonder if renowned Fort Worth horticulturist, CatsPaw, can identify this blue beauty?

All in all, I am having myself a mighty fine time on this 3rd Thursday of 2014.....

The University of Southern California Attempt To Institute Initiatives & Referendums In Texas

Ever since my first exposure to a Texas election I wondered why there was always so little to vote on.

No Initiatives.

No Referendums.

No Propositions.

I do remember when Arlington used eminent domain abuse to take the land to build a new Dallas Cowboy Stadium on and that the voters in Arlington were allowed to vote to tax themselves to help pay for part of that particular Jerry Jones monument to bad taste.

Spending most of my years living on the west coast I thought the democratic process of Initiatives and Referendums were a universal practice in democracies.

I recollect more than once being in California during an election period and being amazed at the number of ballot issues generating signage all over the state. Same with Washington, to a lesser degree.

In Washington a motivated citizen can initiate getting an Initiative on the ballot if that motivated citizen can get the required numbers of voter signatures on a properly worded petition. This type thing can occur at the city, county and state level.

I recollect back in the 1990s a Seattle taxi driver got enough signatures put a Proposition before the Seattle voters to tax themselves a $1 billion to build an extension of the Seattle Monorail.  The voters approved this measure. After that voter approval other Seattle voters caused 4 or 5 followup Monorail votes which eventually killed that particular project.

The Seattle Monorail votes are a good example of how democracy works in democratic parts of the world.

This Seattle Monorail vote type thing, being stored in my memory bank, is why I find things like the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle to be so bizarre. Bizarre because the public has never been allowed to vote on this pseudo public works project.

A week or so ago, in a blogging title Miss Anonymous Suggests I Brave The Outer World Frigidity To Skate On Thin Ice I mentioned this Initiative type issue, saying...

Speaking of Panther Island. Is there any mechanism in this non-democratic part of America for a voter to use a petition to get an issue on a ballot?

That question brought a comment with an answer....

Blogger Steve A said...
Texas does not have Initiatives or Referendums. The Republican Party supported getting this, but have gotten strangely silent on the whole subject as they gained power. Maybe it'll get "hot" again if Wendy Davis became governor. See this link. http://www.iandrinstitute.org/Texas.htm

That link from Steve A goes to an interesting website, based in the aforementioned California, which details the long history of the struggle to institute democracy in Texas in the form of legalizing the Initiative & Referendum process.

Below is the history of the I & R struggle in Texas.....

IRI

Initiative & Referendum Institute

at the University of Southern California 

The founders of the Texas initiative and referendum movement were two ministers: Rev. A. B. Francisco of Milano and Rev. B. F. Foster of Galveston. Also important in Texas I & R leadership before 1900 was Judge Thomas B. King of Stephenville, county judge of Erath County.

The movement was slow to catch on in Texas. By 1912 Congressman (later U.S. Senator) Morris Shepard had declared himself in favor of I & R; in 1913 the legislature passed a bill allowing I & R as an option for home rule cities and a state constitutional amendment providing for statewide I & R.

The latter amendment would have required more petition signatures to put an initiative on the ballot than were needed in any other state: 20 percent of the number of ballots cast in the previous election. When the amendment was put on the ballot for voter approval in 1914, voters rejected it, to the delight of I & R advocates, who believed that they could get the legislature to pass a better version. They were unable to do so.

After a hiatus of more than half a century, Texans' interest in getting statewide I & R was revived when Californians approved their electrifying Proposition 13 tax cut initiative in 1978. Leading the movement was Republican State Senator Walter Mengden of Houston, who had pushed unsuccessfully for I & R at the state's 1974 constitutional convention and in the legislature until his retirement in 1982. Within a month of the California vote, Governor Dolph Briscoe and gubernatorial candidate William Clements had announced their support for statewide I & R.

Clements reiterated his commitment once elected, telling the legislature on 25 May 1979: "I have made it absolutely clear to everyone that if I do not get I & R passed, I will call a special session." But Clements failed to keep his promise. Leading the opposition was the Houston lobbyist James K. Nance, whose law firm represented such major corporate clients as Union Carbide, DuPont, Houston Power and Light, Pennzoil, and United Texas Gas Transmission.

In 1980 the state's Republicans put an I & R measure on their May 2 statewide primary election ballot, and party members endorsed it by a seven to one margin. Initiative advocates lost a strong ally when Senator Mengden retired, however, and the effort for statewide I & R seemed to be running out of steam. Nevertheless, Texas Republicans put the I & R question on their primary ballot again on May 6, 1982, and party voters favored it by a five to one margin.

However, when George W. Bush was elected Governor in 1994, he allowed the state’s Republican Party to remove the pro I & R plank from the Party’s platform and replace it with an anti I & R platform. This change effectively ended any chances of I & R being adopted in the state for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, state I & R activist Mike Ford – founder of the group Initiative for Texas – has pledged to continue the fight. His group has been instrumental in educating the citizens of Texas about the importance of the I & R process.

Texans For Government Transparency File Federal Lawsuit Against Tarrant Regional Water District

Incoming email from Mr. JAB informing me that "We filed the Federal lawsuit against TRWD this morning." The email came with two PDFs attached, with one of those PDFs being the Texans for Government Transparency Press Release, converted from PDF to text, which you can read below....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 15, 2014

Citizens File Lawsuit Against
 Tarrant Regional Water District and Board

Cite Unconstitutional Practices in Election Process

(Fort Worth, Texas) ‐ Four concerned Tarrant County citizens have taken action against the Tarrant Regional Water District and its Board of Directors in regard to the unlawful extension of term limits. The Board is attempting to extend the terms of its elected Directors beyond the maximum four‐year term allowed by the Texas Constitution by refusing to hold elections in 2014.

“I filed this lawsuit because the Board has gone too far this time. They have a long history of unethical behavior and the fact is they are violating the Texas Constitution,” said Rev. Kyev P. Tatum, Sr.

The Tarrant Regional Water District Board (TRWD) currently includes elected‐officials Victor W. Henderson, Jack Stevens, Marty Leonard, Jim Lane and Mary Kelleher. Ms. Kelleher is not implicated in the actions giving rise to the lawsuit and has publically stated the TRWD is constitutionally required to hold an election in 2014.

The lawsuit contends that “Article XVI, Section 30 of the Texas Constitution plainly and unambiguously provides that no TRWD Director may serve a term in excess of four years. Thus, an election must be held at the end of each term, or the term limitation is rendered meaningless.”

The timing of the lawsuit is imperative due to the upcoming Uniform Election Date on May 10, 2014. At this time, the four‐year terms of Jim Lane and Marty Leonard will expire. According to Texas Election Code § 3.005(c)(2), February 28, 2014 is the last day to order an election on the Uniform Election Date on May 10, 2014 and the last date a candidate for TRWD may apply for a place on the ballot. The candidate filing period opens on January 29, 2014, a mere 14 days from now.

“It’s really quite simple. The ending of a term requires an election and TRWD’s refusal to call a required election deprives the Plaintiffs of their constitutional right to vote,” said attorney Matt Rinaldi. “The TRWD’s position is dangerous precedent. They can’t refuse to hold an election and establish an indefinite term for Directors any more than Congress can refuse to hold a presidential election to establish an indefinite term for the President,” continued Rinaldi.

“The right to vote is a fundamental political right. I’m doing this to protect the interests of all residents,taxpayers and voters of Tarrant County,” said Rev. Tatum, Sr.

Reverend Tatum is a member of Texans for Government Transparency, a watch‐dog group of volunteers dedicated to making government transparent and more efficient. The organization is an established non‐partisan group with broad support from concerned citizens whose priority in Ft. Worth is to clean up the water in the Trinity River.

Texans for Government Transparency is a non-profit human rights organization focused on bringing transparency and accountability to government, while protecting the privacy and civil rights of the citizens of Texas.

Texans for Government Transparency

8551 Boat Club Road Suite 121

Fort Worth, Texas 76179-3674

www.TFGT.org

The Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo Plus The World's Biggest Non-Mechanized Parade Is This Week

I was in Albertsons yesterday evening and came upon the poster you see on the left. This was the first I realized that the annual Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo time of the year is here again.

In the time flies department it seems like only yesterday I was convinced I was going to make it to the 2013 Stock Show Parade.

However, I did not make it.

I do not remember what events, if any, conspired to keep me from getting myself to downtown Fort Worth to watch the Stock Show Parade.

I have seen many extremely well done parades since I have been in Texas. The Stock Show Parade may be my favorite. I have watched this particular parade twice.

I think the thing I like about the Stock Show Parade is the fact that it is totally non-mechanized, billing itself as the biggest non-mechanized parade in the world.

I have no idea if it is true that the Fort Worth Stock Show Parade is the biggest non-mechanized parade in the world, used to, as I am, to not blindly trusting Texas propaganda.

How have I managed to miss any pre Fort Worth Stock Show promoting til last night's poster discovery?

The Stock Show starts up in only three days, on January 17, with the Stock Show Parade taking place the day after the opening, Saturday, January 18.

I have no current urge to haul myself to downtown Fort Worth on Saturday to watch the Stock Show Parade for the third time.

I have until February 8 to haul myself to Fort Worth's Cultural District to the location of the Stock Show & Rodeo, to make my second visit to that event, but, I currently have no strong current urge to do that either.

Currently all my urges are at a very low ebb....

A Mighty Fine Hike On The Tandy Hills On The 2nd Tuesday Of 2014

In the picture you are high atop Mount Tandy, in the Tandy Hills Natural Area, looking across the wagon train trail which heads west towards Where the West Allegedly Begins, at part of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

I had not been on the Tandy Hills since Mother Nature's last Friday natural moisturizing event.

Today on the Tandy Hills there was no sign that any natural moisturizing had recently taken place, which you can clearly see via the parched landscape you are looking at in the picture.

I must say, I had myself a mighty fine time doing some mighty fast hill hiking today. Definitely my best hill hiking of 2014.

I do not remember when I've seen the Tandy Hills in such perfect condition, trail-wise, as today. Scenery-wise, well, it's a bit brown, definitely not the scenic wonderland which will occur in a couple months when the hills become alive with the color of wildflowers.

I started off the day with my regularly scheduled hot tub hydrotherapy session. With the outer world chilled, this morning, to 37 degrees, I opted to not engage in any cool dips in the too cool pool.

I look forward to that day which will arrive in a couple months when I will again be able to get my daily hydrotherapy in the no longer cool pool....

Looking At A Blue Bayou Overlook Thinking About Chorizo Salivary Glands, Lymph Nodes & Fat

Usually when I am overlooking the Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Blue Bayou Overlook I am standing on the Overlook overlooking the Blue Bayou.

Today I opted for a different view of the Blue Bayou, looking north whilst standing on the paved trail looking at the Blue Bayou Overlook and the Blue Bayou it overlooks.

The temperature in the outer world at my location is once again being quite pleasant. Not yet as high as yesterday's 70 degrees of pleasantness, but still, quite pleasant.

Yesterday's high in the 70s warmed up my still cool pool enough to facilitate my longest pool dips of the new year, this morning, taking two cool pool breaks from my regularly scheduled hot tub hydrotherapy.

Changing the subject from hydrotherapy to lunch.

On Saturday, at Town Talk, I got myself a product called Soyrizo. Today I made Soyrizo Burritos for lunch. Opening the Soyrizo package I was advised to read the info on the flip side of the label. I was just a bit appalled by part of what I read....

WHAT IS SOYRIZO?
SOYRIZO is a tasty Mexican Sausage called Chorizo. Instead of using the traditional salivary glands, lymph nodes and fat, SOYRIZO is meatless, made with healthy NON GMO soy beans, without the fat and calories of Beef or Pork Chorizo.

Yikes! The Pork Chorizo I have been buying at Town Talk, for months now, was made from salivary glands, lymph nodes and fat? The Town Talk Pork Chorizo did not seem all that fat. And the list of ingredients only indicated the meat was pork, no mention made of what particular pork parts.

Well.

I have to say, the Soyrizo was a tastier Chorizo than the Town Talk Pork Chorizo. I'd buy it again. I likely will not be buying the Town Talk Pork Chorizo anymore, unless I am able to determine it is not made from salivary glands and lymph nodes.

Yes, I'm a picky eater.....

Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup Advocates Do Not Want A Texas Ban On The Gassing Of Rattlesnakes

Vendor With Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup Wares

Fairly frequently I get an email asking me about my rattlesnake products. More often than not the inquiry comes from the UK or Germany.

Usually it is a rattlesnake rattle or skin that the inquirer is seeking.

The inquirer inquires because they search for rattlesnake info and that search brings them to my webpage about my one and only visit to the annual Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup.

That webpage usually comes up at the top, or nearly so, in info searches, hence the inquiries based on the false assumption that I have something to do with rattlesnakes.

I routinely politely explain that my only connection to rattlesnakes is having webpaged my one and only visit to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup.

Last year some guy from Europe, who heads some protect the endangered wildlife group, somehow came to the conclusion that I was some sort of advocate for the mass murder of rattlesnakes. He sent me a lot of very earnest information before I was able to make him understand I am not a mass murder of rattlesnakes advocate.

Today I was emailed information about the fact that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is currently holding meetings around Texas seeking input regarding the concept of banning the use of gasoline fumes to force rattlesnakes from their homes and into transports which bring them to a rattlesnake slaughterhouse, like the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup.

The Sweetwater Rattlesnake Rounduppers are already reacting to this threat to this snake murdering practice, which many consider to be barbaric, by opining about all the good the Roundup does for Sweetwater. Raising money, feeding people, buying them Christmas gifts, giving bikes to eight good students.

What I find amazing is the fact that year after year after year, for over six decades, the rattlesnakes breed in numbers prolific enough to support this annual Roundup in the Sweetwater neighborhood.

If there was not an annual Roundup and murder of Sweetwater area rattlesnakes would the area be over run by rattlesnakes?

Below is the video I made of my one and only visit to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup. This was the first video I ever made, hence the odd opening credits part. I'd only come into possession of the camcorder which shot this video about two weeks before driving the 200 miles west to Sweetwater.

This is the first video I ever YouTubed and it has had more views than any of my other YouTube videos.  And the most comments. The comments are not pretty, for the most part. Very angry, very profane comments.