Today I Looked For Brush To Bash At Tomorrow's 6th Annual Tandy Hills Brush Bash

Yesterday the outer world at my location was chilled to sub-freezing. Today, on this last day of the first month of 2014, the outer world at my location is being heated to almost 40 degrees above freezing.

And so I thought it a good idea to toss the long johns and put on my hiking shorts to go have myself a mighty fine time inducing endorphins with some fast hill hiking.

In the picture you are looking at a fallen tree which has been obstructing the trail which leads from Tandy Falls, west, to the location of the former Tandy Hills Hoodoo, for months now.

Tomorrow, Saturday, February 1, 2014, the 6th Annual Tandy Hills Brush Bash takes place from 9 am til 2 pm. You can find the Brush Bashers via View Street. If you want to Brush Bash among the things you might want to bring are gloves, sturdy shoes, a sun-blocking hat, water, lunch, tarps and a small wagon or wheel barrow. There will be coffee and tea available to keep you caffeinated.

I do not know if the above trail blocking log is scheduled to be bashed. I suspect not.

Continuing on with today's hill hiking.

At one point I was hiking down a hill when I heard loud noises coming from the direction of a creek bed. The noises were too loud to be a foraging bird or squirrel.  As I got closer to the creek bed the noises grew louder. I readied my whacking stick and prepared to defend myself against a possible mountain lion, bobcat or rabid road runner.

And then a pair of humans popped out on the trail. A young lady and an older gentleman. Dad and daughter? Grand-dad and Grand-daughter? I didn't ask. I just howdy-ed them and continued on my way.

Happy Birthday To My Mom On An Extremely Breezy Next To Last Day Of January In Texas

That is my mom you are seeing in the picture. I am fairly certain the body of water behind my mom is the Pacific Ocean.

However, that body of water could be the Atlantic Ocean, with the photo taken when my mom and dad had their first long roadtrip, back before they were blessed with multiple offspring.

Today is my mom's happy birthday. I must remember to call.

You can sort of tell that my mom is bracing against a strong wind.

I just returned from a walk in the outer world at my current location and found myself bracing against a strong, cold wind. With no ocean visible. Plenty of fog-like dust though.

I am almost 100% certain I will be seeing my mom and dad soon. Maybe in March. My last visit to Arizona was in March. That seemed to be a not too hot not too cold time of year in the Phoenix zone. Due to my relative allergic woes I will need to wait til the dreaded BS-LS allergen has blown north from Arizona before I land in that state.

Emergency TRWD Board Meeting Attempts To Boot Board Director Mary Kelleher

I stepped away from my computer for only an hour and returned to find multiple emails telling me that a fresh eruption of madness is erupting in Fort Worth. Well, at the Tarrant Regional Water District Board Meeting in Fort Worth.

What have these people done that is so bad that they are going to such extreme measures to try and keep it covered up? Will the Star-Telegram report this latest TRWD Board arrogant act?

Fort Worth 4pm January 29, 2014:

BREAKING NOW...

In a hastily called emergency TRWD Board Meeting at 3pm today... The TRWD board voted to have Director Mary Kelleher removed from executive sessions.

KELLEHER IS REFUSING TO LEAVE!

As you know she filed a suit two weeks ago seeking TRWD documents and data in her role as a Director. The TRWD board and management have continued to withhold the requested information since her landslide election last May.

Director Kellher also requested, in the court filing, depositions from TRWD GM Jim Oliver, TRWD Records Director Nancy King, and TRWD Board President Vic Henderson.

The board decided to vote Director Kelleher out of executive session so they may secretly discuss hiring a special counsel to defend against the records release to Director Kelleher. The management and board also want to keep from giving depositions under oath on why they continue obstructing Director Kelleher's job.

Today PDFing Syndrome Sent Me Up Fort Worth's Stairway To Heaven In Oakland Lake Park

On the left you are looking at Fort Worth's Stairway to Heaven, leading skyward from the west bank of Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park.

My search for Oakland Lake remains futile, after something like six years of searching.

I did not have my regularly scheduled hot tub hydrotherapy session this morning. The sub-freezing temperature was too sub for my delicate temperature sensibility.

By mid-morning I was suffering from a mild case of a misery known as Too Much PDFing Syndrome, so I took a break to go visit the Fosducks and do some high speed stairway climbing to a strain sufficient to aerobically induce natural endorphin sedation.

The flock of Fosducks was very odd today.

The Fosducks were split into two flocks. One flock was in tight formation circling the Fosdick Fountain. A larger flock huddled near the east bank of Fosdick Lake, going in the water, en masse, upon my arrival.

Above you can see the aforementioned east bank Fosduck flotilla escaping from me. As this occurred something very odd happened. As in a cacophony of bird-like tweeting bearing no resemblance to the quacking noise ducks are supposed to make. I heard nary a quack.

Perhaps the extreme cold does something to a duck's quack box, causing the noise made to turn high-pitched.

Anyway, I had myself a mighty fine time walking with the tweeting Fosducks today.

Escaping PDFs By Taking An Un-Natural Walk With Arlington's Village Creek Indian Ghosts

I had myself a sub-freezing hot tub hydrotherapy session this morning which proved to be more therapeutic than is the norm. If I remember right the outer world was heated to 21 degrees at that point in time.

After the hydrotherapy session my thinking synapses had themselves a tiring workout, thanks to 28 PDFs I had delivered to me yesterday. 28 PDFs that need to be converted in to 28 web pages. And then the 28 web pages have to be converted back into 28 PDFs, then added to an existing catalog of PDFs before being stuck on a thumbdrive, all due to be done before a Trade Show next month in Houston.

If Elsie Hotpepper is reading this Elsie is likely empathizing with my degree of pain due to Elsie knowing better than anyone my extreme aversion to PDFs.

So, needing a break from the PDFs, combined with the fact I'd not visited the Village Creek Indian ghosts in what seems like a long time, combined with the fact I needed milk, a product easily acquired near where the Indian ghosts do their haunting, at ALDI, I drove to Arlington to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to have myself a mighty fine time enjoying the mighty brisk air.

I may have wondered about it before, but today it seemed like a fresh wonderment when I wondered  why this particular Arlington park has the word "Natural" attached to it.

The "Historical" part of the name, that I get, due to the fact that this park was the location of one of the largest Indian villages in North America, before incoming Texans used a primitive version of eminent domain abuse to evict the inhabitants.

But why "Natural"?

In the above photo you can see two things which are not "Natural". That being the paved trail and the power line poles. A large swatch of the "Natural" area is taken up by power lines. Power lines are not all that "Natural". Or so it seems to me.

There are other un-natural things in this "Natural" area.  Such as big cement blocks sticking out of the ground in a couple locations which vent some way too natural odors from the sewer pipeline which runs under the "Natural" area.

Then there is the Village Creek Blue Bayou overlook. I like the overlook, but it is not very "Natural" what with being made with some sort of plastic product made to look like wood.

Anyway, I enjoy my walks in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area, even though some of what I see is not very "Natural".

And now it is time for lunch. Pizza. From ALDI.

The Last Monday Of January Blows Cold In North Texas With Extreme Mountain Cedar Tree Pollen Allergic Misery

It was not freezing this morning when I had myself a last Monday morning of January hot tub hydrotherapy session. But the temperature was 33, with an extremely speedy wind making the temperature really feel as if it was frozen way below freezing.

Nonetheless I had myself a mighty fine, albeit breezy, time hydrotherapy-izing. I had some soreness from Sunday's overdoing of the high speed hill hiking on the Tandy Hills which seemed to be quickly abated by the hydrotherapy.

When I woke my computer up this morning I quickly found that some websites were having issues. Facebook was one. Another was the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

An hour or two later the misbehaving websites were back working and so I was able to learn, via AccuWeather, accessed from the Star-Telegram, that the Pollen Counters have returned the Pollen Level to EXTREME. No mention was made of the EXTREME level being caused by the dreaded Texas Hill County Mountain Cedar, but I assume that is the Tree Pollen culprit being referenced.

With the dreaded Tree Pollen level back being EXTREME, after a three day break, I, so far, am not having a return to the EXTREME respiratory woes which began about a week ago today. I suspect my relief may be short lived, which is the norm for any relief that manages to come my way.

Looking at the picture above, looking west through the metal spears which, for the most part, keep malicious forces from penetrating my security zone, you can not tell how windy that wind is blowing out there. I had a ski band ear covering device installed, plus two hoodies, long underwear, several top layers under the two hoodies. And still cut short my neighborhood inspection due to excessive shivering.

Relief from the cold is scheduled to arrive in a couple days, followed by relief from the EXTREME Tree Pollen a couple days after the cold leaves town.

I must try and remember where I put my extra blankets. Tonight the low is supposedly going to get quite low, as in the teens  low, so I'll likely need some extra blanketing. Or three dogs.....

Sampson & Delilah Turned Me Into A Homesick Melancholy Baby Today

This Sunday afternoon has me feeling like a Melancholy Baby.

Sort of homesick.

Yesterday I was told that Sampson and Delilah were taking a roadtrip this weekend. This morning I learned the destination of the roadtrip was the Swinomish Casino and Lodge in my old hometown zone of the Skagit Valley.

Sampson and Delilah posted a couple photos today, on Facebook, taken from their location in the Swinomish Casino Lodge and Resort's RV Park, which I have swiped, without permission.

In the first photo you are looking northeast, towards the Cascade Mountain foothills, with the Mount Baker volcano being that white thing sticking up on the middle left side of the picture. The water you see is saltwater. Padilla Bay if my memory is correct.

Make note of how clear the air appears to be. I miss clear air, that smells good. Fellow Washington exile, Steve A, has asked, more than once, regarding all the tree covered mountains and hills of Washington, pertaining to the Cedar Fever Texas woe, "What makes Mountain Cedar pollen worse than Western Red Cedar pollen?" It is a perplexing question.

In the next purloined Sampson and Delilah picture we are looking slightly northwest at a couple of the islands sticking out of the bay. I don't remember if that is still Padilla Bay. There are a lot of named bays in the Puget Sound zone. My memory is starting to fail regarding Washington geography. Is this considered the Straits of Juan de Fuca, north of Puget Sound? I can't remember where Puget Sound ends and the next named body of water starts up, let alone its name.

The Swinomish Casino was about 15 miles from my abode in Mount Vernon. To the left in the above picture, which is west, in another 10 miles, or so, you come to Anacortes. Anacortes is the town where Spencer Jack's dad, my nephew Jason, has a restaurant called the Fidalgo Drive-In.

Speaking of Spencer Jack's dad. One of the reasons I am feeling a bit melancholy is I got email from my nephew this morning telling me he was thinking of burning up some frequent flier miles by coming to Texas in early February. Spencer Jack's dad was last in Texas nine years ago, way before there was a Spencer Jack. I am appalled that that is nine years ago. Time flies. I felt bad explaining this was a not a good time to come to Texas.

Looking at these Sampson and Delilah pictures has me thinking how extremely different Skagit County is from the county I am currently in, Tarrant County in Texas.

As you can see, via just a small glimpse, Skagit County has some rather scenic natural water features. Tarrant County has some man made lakes, a polluted river, creeks prone to flash flooding and a bizarre plan to make a fake lake and build an unneeded flood diversion channel.

Speaking of channels. There is a marina at the Swinomish Casino. There is also a channel. Called the Swinomish Channel. I believe the Swinomish Channel is manmade. I know it is a connection between two bays and that the scenic tourist town of La Conner is on the channel.

The total population of Skagit County is 118,222. The total population of Tarrant County is 1,809,034. The total area of Skagit County is 1,920 square miles. The total area of Tarrant County is 897 square miles.

So, Skagit County is more than twice the size of Tarrant County, with a population less than one-fifteenth the population of Tarrant County.

And yet, all of Skagit County is served by public transit, known as Skagit Transit.

From the Skagit Transit website, this blurb....

"Our goal is to provide high quality public transportation that meets the needs of the citizens of Skagit County at the least cost to the taxpayer contributing to the county's economy and quality of life."

How come it is no ones goal to provide high quality public transportation that meets the needs of the citizens of Tarrant County I am sitting here wondering? And somehow it is someone's extremely goofy goal to provide the citizens of Tarrant County a Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, which no one has voted for?

Another stark difference between Skagit County and Tarrant County is the existence of casino resorts. There are two. In addition to the already mentioned Swinomish Tribe's operation the Skagit Tribe has the Skagit Valley Casino Resort.

Whilst living in Skagit County I would visit the Skagit Tribe's casino more frequently than the Swinomish Tribe's Why? Nothing to do with gambling. It was the Skagit's buffet, usually at lunch, that I frequented. However, for seafood, the Swinomish Casino's Two Salmon Cafe was my favorite. So good. With pan-fried oysters just like mom used to make. And no catfish, ever.

I purloined the below image from the Swinomish Tribe's website about the aforementioned Two Salmon Seafood Buffet.

Before the Washington Tribes won their battle with the state over casinos it was a novelty for me to go to Nevada, usually Reno. It seemed so exotic, all those noisy slot machines. It took awhile for the Washington Casinos to get to being totally Nevada-like.

Unlike Texas, Washington did not use a primitive form of eminent domain to evict its Tribes. There was some hostility, early on, but for the most part relations between the natives and the newcomers were fairly cordial. Hence the name of Washington's biggest town being Seattle, after Chief Seattle, well, Sealth. It is why a lot of Washington place names are native based.

Unlike Texas, Washington has multiple Indian Reservations. During the 60s and 70s and 80s the Tribes got themselves some good legal help that helped them win court battles against the state, over and over again, over things like fishing rights. And their rights to a high degree of sovereignty on their tribal lands. And to open casinos.

The income from the Tribe's casinos  has noticeably improved conditions on the tribal lands. I remember when the Swinomish Reservation was an extremely impoverished, depressing thing to see, back decades ago in the previous century. That extremely impoverished depressing thing to see no longer exists in 2014.

I really think I need to move back to a progressive, liberal, well-educated location. I must try and figure out how to make that happen.....

Reading Cryptic Hieroglyphics On The Martian Surface Of The Tandy Hills With A Lower Cedar Fever

On the left you are looking at the old wagon train trail which heads west to where the west is alleged to have begun, at a trio of the skyscrapers which make up the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

I had had myself such a mighty fine time hill hiking yesterday that I decided to try for might fine time hill hiking part II today.

Turns out this was the right thing to do because I did have myself a mighty fine hill hiking time today.

My primary reason for returning to the hills today was because I wanted to enjoy the outer world in semi-balmy temperature mode before frigidity returns to North Texas tomorrow.

I was not alone hiking the hills today. I had myself an interesting conversation with a lady hill hiker of well-seasoned vintage. We both lamented the allergy woes which are currently causing lament across a wide swath of Texas.

Today the Pollen Predictors had predicted a drastic decrease in the amount of the dreaded Cedar Pollen and its resultant Cedar Fever plaguing this part of the planet. I do seem to be experiencing noticeable improvement in my air intake system.

The lady hill hiker of well-seasoned vintage told me she heard that the return to cold, tomorrow, would also bring with it a fresh increase in pollen allergens.

Today I had a longer bout of hill hiking than is the norm. Over an hour with eight hills climbed at fast speed. Doing this is very aerobic, though I can get a bit winded by the time I reach a hill summit, due to that vexing, aforementioned, allergy woe.

I made a big loop over the Tandy Hills, starting on the summit of Mount Tandy, crossing the Tandy Escarpment past Tandy Falls, then up the trail which leads to the View Street trail and the Fallen Hoodoo.

Just a short distance from the Fallen Hoodoo I came upon the first instance of the white chalk trail markings I mentioned yesterday.

I do not know what the above cryptic hieroglyphics mean. The one on the right points west at a big E. The one on the left points south at a big T.

I went the big E direction and headed west.

I have never noticed it before, but in some of my photos of the Tandy Hills the topography bears a remarkable resemblance to photos the Mars Rover has sent back of the Martian surface, except for the white hieroglyphics.

I don't think I will return to Mars, I mean, the Tandy Hills, tomorrow. I think I will take a cool tour of my neighborhood instead, a neighborhood which does not look like modern day Mars, but which probably looks like Mars looked when it was still in industrial wasteland mode before becoming a planet devoid of living organisms.....

In Fort Worth Learning Why Austin's Cedar Fever Makes Me Sick

I finally have a name for that which has vexed my breathing apparatus this past week.

Cedar Fever.

I learned this via Mrs. Galtex via a posting and link on Facebook.

Mr. and Mrs. Galtex returned to D/FW on Wednesday from one of their frequent Portugal visits.

This is what Mrs. Galtex had to say, in part, about their return to Texas...

"Mr. G is not doing too well right now, as the cedar pollen count was sky high on Wed when we flew back to Texas. He immediately started sneezing and sniffing once we landed at DFW and went outside."

Mr. and Mrs. Galtex moved from Austin to the North Texas zone of Fort Worth to escape the dreaded annual Cedar Fever attack.

The link Mrs. Galtex Facebooked went to Jeffee Palmer's Now and Thenadays blog to a blog post titled  Austin Makes Me Sick!!! which gave me a lot of info I lacked about this Cedar Fever from which I have been suffering.

Below is a blurb from Austin Makes Me Sick!!! Read the blurb then click the link to read the rest of the story about this living hell known as Cedar Fever....

The number one reason not to live in Austin is CEDAR, specifically the pollen that cedar trees produce resulting in the truly abominable cedar fever. “Cedar is juniperus ashei,” allergist Dr. Eric Schultz told a local television reporter recently, “It’s one of the worst allergens, or most potent allergens on the planet. Here in central Texas it’s rampant, especially in Austin.”

You might think I’m talking about a runny nose or some sneezes here and there. Again, you’d be wrong. It’s far beyond that.  For weeks you can be plagued by sore throat, amazing phlegm production, a nose that won’t stop running, watery, itchy eyes, intermittent sneezing attacks, and ultimately a hacking cough. 

White Arrows On The Tandy Hills Point Me To A New Hoodoo Before Going To Town Talk

On Monday I shivered my way through a frigid Tandy Hills hike, not adequately attired for the extreme cold.

Today, the final Saturday of the first month of 2014, I returned to the Tandy Hills adequately attired in shorts and t-shirt.

Adequately attired I still managed to get quite warm with the high speed hill hiking, what with the temperature being nowhere near freezing, more like 30 degrees above freezing.

For the first time in a long time I parked on View Street and hiked the west side of the View Street trail. I soon came upon an arrow on the ground made from a white chalk substance.

The white arrow was soon followed by big white chalk dots. By the time I came to the second arrow it occurred to me that I was likely on the marked path of the recent Manly Men Wild Women hike.

I was pleased to find all the west side trails to be in better shape than I'd ever experienced them. And for the first time I managed to not need to backtrack after a trail petered out. This discovery today greatly increases my hiking range when I'm on the Tandy Hills.

In addition to finding new trails to hike I found a new Tandy Hills Hoodoo. That is the new Hoodoo that you see above. This new Hoodoo is in a more isolated location than the Hoodoo at the north end of the View Street trail which has been destroyed and resurrected several times.

Soon after finding the new Hoodoo I came upon that which you see below which looked to be a Hoodoo in the making, with what looked to be a stick cross sticking out of the pre-Hoodoo rubble.

I guess it is fairly obvious that I had myself a mighty fine time hiking the Tandy Hills today. And then it was on to my regularly scheduled Saturday visit to Town Talk.

I had some good yogurt luck at Town Talk today. Got a case of Chobani black cherry and a case of Cascade Fresh marionberry, hubcap-sized whole wheat tortillas, a giant bag of cabbage already chopped up for cole slaw, two bags containing a total of 24 whole wheat hamburger buns, six big avocados and other stuff I am not remembering right now.