Walking Around Fort Worth's Fosdick Lake With A Smart Phone Making Me Feel Less Stupid

After 24 hours, give or take an hour or two, using a smart phone is not making me feel as stupid as it made me feel yesterday.

My only real remaining vexation is I don't see how people manage to type text on a touch screen so rapidly.

I am a total fumble fingers when it comes to typing on a touch screen. I can not detect it getting better with practice.

Today I took the first phone "selfie" of myself, which became a new vexation in addition to the typing text vexation.

It is easy to aim the phone at oneself. What is not easy is holding the phone with one hand whilst trying to touch the take a picture part of the touch screen.

I do not think taking "selfies" is going to be something I'm going to be doing with any regularity.

Years ago, way back in the last century, my first digital camera was a now antique Casio brand taker of very bad photos. That camera's one novel feature was one could spin the lens around and aim it at oneself, which I used to take pictures of myself at some special places.

Just a sec, I'll go find one of those antique Casio "selfies" I took way back in the previous century.

That is Delicate Arch in Arches National Park in Utah behind me in the "selfie". I do not remember who that is standing beside me.

I forgot to mention, in that photo at the top, that is Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park in Fort Worth, Texas behind me.

I'd had myself a mighty fine time on my regularly scheduled hot tub hydrotherapy session this morning, enjoying the sub-freezing air. When the noon time time rolled around I felt the need for a walk in the then semi-chilled air.

Very pleasant.

I don't think I've ever seen so many Fosducks in Fosdick Lake before. I think I said the same thing the last time I saw the Fosducks. The duck population appears to be in the 100s. That is a lot of ducks. I forgot to bring them any duck food today, but there were a couple other humans who were more considerate than I, tossing vittles to the throng of quackers.

Back to the subject of the smart phone. Yesterday I could not figure out how to get a photo off the phone and on to my computer, other than the convoluted method of emailing it to myself. I figured there had to be a better way. I figured correctly.

A little Googling told me to plug the provided USB cable into the phone then open "Notifications".

Notifications? I had no idea what that was. Additional Googling told me to swipe the screen from the top to bring up "Notifications". After doing so I saw the notification that a media device was attached.  A folder opened which was just like the way I used to get pictures off my old Olympus camera.

So now I'm thinking I'm not going to be hauling my digital camera with me all the time, because the phone is now a suitable backup should a photo op arise unexpectedly.

Just remembered, I need to go check in on a Puerto Rican cat I am babysitting....

Today A Smart Phone Has Been Making Me Feel Really Stupid

I don't know why I find it slightly disturbing that if I don't do some blogging by some point in the afternoon I start getting emails asking me if I am okay.

I thought I had done some blogging today. But then when I was asked a couple times about my state of okay-ness I remembered it was on another blog I'd blogged, not this one.

Today started off cold and stayed cold. Despite the cold I had myself a pleasant hot tub hydrotherapy session this morning, with one quick dip in the cool pool to cool down from the too hot hot tub.

A visit to a doctor mid morning in Hurst threw me off my usually tightly scheduled schedule today. That had me doing a walk around my neighborhood today around noon, where I found myself walking into my neighborhood cell phone store where I got my first smart phone.

Figuring out a smart phone has had me feeling stupid for hours now. I don't remember the last time I felt stupid for hours. Usually the feeling stupid bouts only last a few minutes, not hours.

After I got the phone I walked to Miss Puerto Rico's to do a cat check and call the island to learn that my cat sitting duty has been extended to March 7.  From Miss PR's I called my mom and dad and sister in Arizona to give them my new phone number. All I got were answering machines.

Later I was driving to Walmart and tried to call the Tacoma Connie D. Somehow my mom answered. I have no idea why my smart phone did something this stupid. I suspect user error.

Mom told me they called me back using the number I'd left on their answering machine, but some woman they did not know answered. Apparently the last two digits were difficult to understand in the voice mail I left. From mom I learned the reason why my sister was not answering her home phone was because she is in Vegas celebrating her first husband's sister's 50th birthday.

When I got back from Walmart I decided to see if I could figure out how to take a picture and send it to someone. How difficult could that be? I take pictures all the time and send them all over the world.

So, I took the picture you see above, of the beautiful view from my patio outlook on the world.

Due to my smart phone stupidity I thought the USB cable that came with the phone somehow transferred photos to my computer. So, I plugged that cable into the phone and my computer. The computer recognized a new device, did some install thing, but nothing happened. Several minutes later I figured out that the USB cable was charging the phone's battery and had nothing to do with photos.

It took me awhile to find where to  find the photo I'd taken. At one point during this process I found myself watching short videos of myself making all sorts of disgruntled faces. Apparently I had turned on the video camera whilst fiddling with the camera section of the smart phone.

Eventually I found something to click on which brought up all sorts of options of where to send the photo I'd taken. One was emailing the photo. I thought, how hard can it be to email the photo to myself?

Well.

I have never been a text messenger. Typing an email address into the smart phone was painfully excruciating. None of my digits seem to have a good level of dexterity when it comes to hitting a  key on a touch screen. Just figuring out how to add the @ to an email address was very challenging to this particular smart phone challenged person.

Eventually I successfully entered my primary Google account info and somehow did some auto-sync function which also suddenly popped up what looked like an email with the above photo in the body of the email. After some more excruciating email address typing with multiple errors and re-dos, I  successfully sent the photo to myself.

I suppose eventually I will get used to using a smart phone.

Maybe....

I Am Innocent Of Being A Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup Butchering Murderer

If I remember right I have mentioned previously that I get a lot of email about rattlesnakes and the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup due to a webpage I made of my one and only visit to that Roundup in, I think, 2002.

This time of year the volume of rattlesnake email picks up because the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup takes place the second weekend of March.

The emails basically come in two flavors. One flavor being those asking me how they can purchase some of my rattlesnake products and the other flavor being those taking me to task for murdering innocent rattlesnakes.

Today's email about rattlesnakes was of the taking me to task for my rattlesnake murders flavor, a screencap of which you are looking at above, with the text of the message below...

Dear Sir or Madam,
I understand you people have an annual event known as rattlesnake roundup and that a great deal of unnecessary suffering and crulety occurs.  It seems to me that this is out of place in a civilised society and that it might be an idea for you to find something else to do in your free time.

There must be any amount of things you could be involved in rather than butchering snakes.  Might I suggest you get a life rather than destroying it.

Yours sincerely.
Chris Penfold.

Most of the anti-rattlesnake murdering emails come from the UK, near as I can tell. I don't know if "crulety" is the Brit way to spell "cruelty" or if "crulety" is a word whose meaning I do not know. And is it a Brit thing to put a period after ones name when one is using ones name in signature mode?

And then there was this one from a lady not wanting to buy any of my rattlesnake products, but instead wanting to know if I buy the rattlesnakes and where she should take the rattlesnakes she has caught in order to sell them....

Hi! I was needing some information on the rattlesnake round up. Do you purchase rattlesnakes? If yes, then what does someone who has caught rattlesnakes need to do and where do they need to take them?

Thank you,
Victoria Urteaga

And then there is this one, another chastising me for being a rattlesnake murderer. These type messages all seem to come from the same boilerplate....

Dear Sirs,
I understand you people are involved in an annual snake killing event known as roundup that takes place in your part of the world, ie. Southern States.  How about showing some compassion for once in your murdering lives?

Signed.
George Ashley-Cooper

The Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup has grown rather controversial, in other parts of the planet, like the UK, and also here in Texas.

I don't know for sure that this year's Roundup will take place in Sweetwater.

I Googled "Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup" to find my webpage about the event to be in the #1 spot, ahead of the official Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup website. I checked on the official Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup website and saw it has not been updated with this year's Roundup info.

Has the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup been cancelled?

Finding Campsites On The Tandy Hills

This morning during my hot tub hydrotherapy session the session was held under a sky covered with fast moving clouds. No wind was blowing on the surface, at my location, which made it seem odd and oddly hypnotic watching the fast moving clouds, high above.

The clouds are being blown in in preparation for the predicted precipitation that is predicted to arrive later today or at least by tomorrow morning.

With rain incoming I thought it sounded like a good idea to get in one more high speed hill hiking session before the arrival of mud.

So, I drove myself to the summit of Mount Tandy, on the east side of the Tandy Hills Natural Area and hiked to the west side of the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

A short distance from the cable fence which marks the boundary on the west side of the Natural Area I came upon the abandoned campsite you see above. The abandoned campsite looked to have been recently lived in, judging from what looked to be fairly fresh burned remains of a campfire.

To the north of this abandoned campsite, a few hundred feet, I came upon the remains of another abandoned campsite.

The first abandoned campsite was fairly close to Ben Street and not a long haul over difficult terrain to get to the spot where one was hauling in ones camping material. The second abandoned campsite was more secluded and would have entailed a lot of effort to haul in ones camping material.

I'm assuming these were the campsites of homeless people.

Last April a Fort Worth cop showed up just as I was ready to leave the summit of Mount Tandy. The cop asked me if I'd seen any homeless camps in the east side of the Tandy Hills. I told the cop that the east side was not a likely location for homeless camps, but that I'd seen campsite setups on the west side of the trail that leads into the park from View Street. The cop told me there had been multiple home break-ins in the area and he thought it might be homeless people doing the break-ins and using the Tandy Hills as their hangout.

This seemed unlikely to me.

I have never noticed a "NO CAMPING" sign anywhere in the Tandy Hills zone. Is it some sort of crime to do so?

Today Marked My First Successful Biking Of The Entire Gateway Park Mountain Bike Trail

That squiggly line you see on the drawing on the left represents Gateway Park's mountain bike trail.

Til today only one time previous did I roll my wheels over the entire trail. That one time previous did not go well. As in I had a lot of trouble with a lot of what seemed to be, at that point in time, steep climbs and trick curves.

After that first bad experience when I biked the Gateway Park trails that biking would entail about a third of what you see on the map.

My initial pedaling of the Gateway Park trails was soon after I got a new bike, which I got after about a two year biking hiatus followed my previous bike being stolen.

On Friday I was very surprised to discover that the more difficult parts of the River Legacy Park mountain bike trails, that I have avoided ever since the Gateway Park initial experience on the new bike, were now a piece of cake.

By piece of cake, I mean easy. Easy and fun.

So, today I decided to take my new helmet and roll my wheels over all the Gateway Park trails that you see on the map.

And once again I was very surprised. That which vexed me previously was another of those piece of cake experiences today.

Above my handlebars are pointing towards a section of the trail which you see represented in the middle part of the map above.

Gateway Park is only about four miles from my abode, slightly further than the Village Creek Natural Historical Area in Arlington and half the distance to River Legacy Park.

Methinks I will now be having myself a mighty fine time frequently getting aerobicized on the entire Gateway Park mountain bike trail.

Endorphins are addictive. They really should be regulated by the FDA.....

Miss Puerto Rico Has Returned To Puerto Rico So I Am Back On Cat Sitting Duty

On the left you are looking at yester evening's half hour before sunset view from Miss Puerto Rico's lookout on the outer world.

At the point in time I was looking out on the outer world from Miss Puerto Rico's Miss Puerto Rico was boarding a plane in Charlotte, North Carolina for the final leg of her latest return to her home island.

Seems like I was on catsitting duty just a week or so ago, because, well, I was.

The day Miss PR flew out of town, a couple weeks ago, the air was freezing with snow falling and the roads slippery. That day was about as bad as winter gets in Texas. And now, just a short time later the weather has turned almost summer-like, rendering sitting outside looking at the view from Miss PR's to be a non-chilly, enjoyable experience.

It is a sad reason Miss Puerto Rico returned to her home island a week after returning from visiting her mom and dad for a week. Miss Puerto Rico got one of those calls no one wants to get, with that call telling her that her mom had passed away. At 88 years Miss Puerto Rico's mom had lived a long, happy life.

Last night I think Tasha, she being the cat who I am babysitting, was in mourning mode, because a couple times she had bouts of very mournful, loud, meowing.

Usually Tasha acts irritated that I have invaded her space, but lately she has been being more friendly, coming out of her hiding space to see me. I think this may because she knows I'll give her one of her special treats.

Currently, unless plans change, I am on catsitting duty til March 4.

I Saw No New Hoodoos Or Meerkats Today On The Tandy Hills Before Treasure Hunting At Town Talk

Heading West On The Trail Back To Ben Street

That is not a Tandy Hills Hoodoo you see rising from the steep trail you see in the photo on the left. That is a human appearing to be imitating a meerkat. Why this human was appearing to be imitating a meerkat I do not know. I thought it would be rude to ask.

For the first time ever I parked on Ben Street on the west side of the Tandy Hills Natural Area for my bout of endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation via fast hill  hiking.

The trails on the hills on the west side of the Tandy Hills seem to be steeper than the hills on the parts of the Tandy Hills I usually hike.

All in all I had myself a mighty fine time hiking the hills today.

There was one major disappointment though.

No new Hoodoo.

After an hour, give or take a minute or two, I was off to Town Talk for my regularly scheduled Town Talk Treasure Hunt.

Today I got to bags of Clementine oranges, Wasa crackers, extra sharp cheddar cheese, Etorki hard sheep's  milk cheese, a ham, chicken legs, organic prepared horseradish, tomatoes, cabbage, sauerkraut and other stuff I am not remembering right now.

What I am remembering right now is I am hungry and it is time for lunch....

Having Myself A Mighty Fine Time In Arlington Biking The River Legacy Park Mountain Bike Trails

Today I returned to River Legacy Park in Arlington for the first time since I got my bike's wheels rolling again.

Today also was the first time I've rolled my wheels on all the trails I used to roll my old bike on.

The couple times on the River Legacy Park mountain bike trails with my new bike I have avoided a long section of trail due to the fact that I had trouble on a couple of the climbs  with my old bike, as in trouble with the thing that holds the gear mechanism in tension going slack at the worst possible time, pretty much throwing me off the bike.

I'd been feeling very mountain bike worthy of late at Gateway Park, so today I decided to once again roll over the climbs that vexed me at River Legacy Park.

This was a good decision. I was surprised at how well the new bike handled that which the old bike balked at. At one point I made a mistake and took the wrong option at a junction, going the red arrow way, with the red arrow indicating the trails had an extreme challenge or two. It was at the bottom of an extremely steep drop I realized I was on an extreme trail. And then I was further surprised to find I was easily able to pedal up the next extremely steep climb.

This had me wondering if I am now able to handle the EKG and Fun Town sections. I tried EKG when it first opened, years ago, and quickly had to bail. Later I walked the EKG section and about had a heart attack due to the steep climbs and getting confused by the maze of trails.

When River Legacy Park first allowed the building of a mountain bike trail  the initial trail was a bit boring, few climbs and drops. It was one convoluted four mile loop. I would pedal the loop three times to get in 12 miles. It was sort of boring, twisting and turning and having to pay close attention to avoid hitting trees.

And now, years later I don't know how many loops have been added. Five? Six? Seven? There are loops off of loops. Loop bypasses. Loop connections where you can take a shortcut from one loop to another.

Several sections of new trails have been added since I last pedaled River Legacy. I have no idea how many miles of trail there now are. It would not surprise me if the miles totaled 20 or more.

And then there was the new signage, which you see in the photo at the top, where my handlebars are indicating, by pointing to the left, that that is the direction they wanted to go.  That would be the Prairie Loop to the left, with the Prairie Loop Bypass to the right.

Every few hundred feet there are the 911 signs you see in front of my handlebars. Each 911 sign had its own location identifier, as in the one above is PL 5, which I assume means Prairie Loop 5.

I have been on the River Legacy Park trails when an emergency medical team has been in the process of rescuing someone. Most notoriously a few years back in the aforementioned EKG section where a woman was injured due to wrecking on those treacherous trails.

These 911 signs seem to be a real good idea to me. The River Legacy Park mountain bike trail  system has grown so big, with so many junctions and trail options that I can see where it would be very difficult to explain to the 911 rescue people from whence you need rescuing.

More than once I have helped a confused hiker who found him or herself disoriented a few miles into the trails. Methinks it would be a mighty fine idea to add directional arrows pointing the direction back to the starting point parking lot. Useful both to bikers and hikers.

I suspect I shall be returning to River Legacy Park again soon. I have never seen the trails in such good shape. And the weather currently is being wheel rolling perfect. That will likely change in the near future...

Global Warming Has Me Swimming In February In Formerly Chilly Texas

Even though the outer world was only heated to five degrees above freezing, this morning, for the second morning in a row, I had myself a mighty fine time swimming in a slightly too cool pool, photo documented on the left.

Due to the pool being slightly too cool I did cycle in a couple hot tub hydrotherapy sessions.

I have not seen any info anywhere explaining what it was that was in the air yesterday which hugely diminished visibility for several hours. No reports of big wildfires or dust storms.

The reason a cool pool bout was doable the past couple mornings is because the average temperature for the past couple days has been well over 50, despite this morning dip to near freezing.

Today is supposed to be another warm one, if the temperature predictors are correct in their prediction.

So, with the sky being a clear blue and the outer world getting warm, I am heading to Arlington to River Legacy Park to attempt to roll my wheels on the mountain bike trail, start to finish, for the first time since I got a new bike.

By start to finish I do not mean all the trails. I stay off the scary sections that are beyond my pedaling capability.

Some Mysterious Force Left Me Feeling Powerless In Texas Today

Being powerless wreaked havoc with my finely tuned schedule today.

Before I became powerless I had a mighty fine time during my hot tub hydrotherapy session which became more of a cool pool session when I discovered the pool was no longer too cool to stay in it too long.

About a half hour before noon, about five minutes before leaving my abode, with the summit of Tandy Hills as my destination, the power went out.

As soon as I had a good view of the outer world I could see and feel what might be causing problems with the Texas power grid. As in, extremely windy with strong gusts.

As I was driving west on Bridge Street, at the point where the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth usually comes into view, today I saw nothing, due to a haze of smoke or dust or something else.

From the summit of Mount Tandy, looking west across the old wagon train trail which leads to where the west begins, that being the aforementioned downtown Fort Worth, you can see that the bevy of Fort Worth skyscrapers is ghosted out by whatever it was that was blotting out the sky.

Despite the questionable air that I was breathing I had myself a good time doing some high speed hill hiking.

After I finished with the hiking and drove back towards my abode I could see the power outage had spread, with more traffic lights not working and stores dark. I re-entered my abode about a quarter past one. I was hungry. I was not the only one who was hungry with no way to make lunch.

After many minutes of hemming and hawing I took off with a neighbor or two to Walmart to get ourselves picnic fixings so as to have a picnic lunch with the Indian ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

I don't remember when I last had a picnic. Maybe it was way back in August of 2008, at Bay View State Park, in Washington. That picnic was not a good experience. Today's picnic was a good experience.

And when I got back to my abode the power was back on, which was also a good experience.