Viewing The New Tandy Hills Hoodoo Before Finding Prickly Pear Syrup & Jalapeno Bacon

The first Saturday of March and a new Hoodoo has risen on the Tandy Hills.

This latest resurrection of the Tandy Hills Hoodoo is the most complicated, delicately balanced Hoodoo I have seen yet.

I suspect this latest Hoodoo will not survive tomorrow's predicted incoming freezing thunderstorm.

The air was heated to just a degree or two below 80 when I did my hill hiking today. Hot enough to require hiking in sans shirt mode.

Absolutely perfect hiking conditions, weather-wise and trail-wise. And yet I saw only one other human today hiking the Tandy Hills.

And that only other human I saw today hiking the Tandy Hills, I brought with me.

If a semi-natural area like the Tandy Hills were located 4 miles west of downtown Seattle, well, it'd be underwater, but if Puget Sound did not exist those Seattle hills would be teeming with healthy humans enjoying the outer world being heated to summer-like temperatures on the first day of March.

It is bewildering to me why more locals do not avail themselves of experiencing the Tandy Hills on a day like today. Do a lot of locals think the Tandy Hills are unsafe for some unfathomable, to me, reason?

In addition to the resurrected Tandy Hills Hoodoo today I came upon a pair of rock constructions I'd not previously seen.

The above rock formation sort of looks like a meerkat is standing in the center of a circle of rocks. But, that is not a meerkat, it is a long skinny piece of rock stuck vertical in to the ground.

I have no idea what the work of rock art below is depicting. In person it looked like maybe it was supposed to be a face, with the two vertical sticks on the left and right sides being earrings. Maybe?

So many art installations on the Tandy Hills and so few people viewing the works of art.

Very perplexing.

Moving on it was on to Town Talk. Once again way too busy, with a parking lot run out of spaces and long lines at all the checkouts. Methinks Town Talk may be needing to expand. I know of a large empty former Kroger that would make a very convenient Town Talk location.

For me.

I found some interesting stuff today at Town Talk. Prickly pear syrup was one interesting item. Will this be good on waffles? I found a big, 6.5 pound can of Pacific Northwest purple plums, all natural, no sugar, canned in Salem, Oregon. Got a big block of something called Dubliner cheese, imported from a place called Ireland, plus a whole, all-natural, chicken, spinach & herbs tortilla wraps and a couple packages of minimally processed, no artificial ingredients, no preservatives uncured smoked jalapeno bacon made from pork raised without antibiotics or growth hormones.

Jalapeno bacon? By tomorrow morning l'll likely know if jalapeno bacon is a good thing, or not....

Winter Weather Advisory Has Texas Back Freezing & Slippery On Sunday

In my previous winters in Texas I do not remember a winter with as many WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY notifications from the National Weather Service as we are experiencing this winter of 2013-14.

On Friday the high got to 84. Today, the first day of the 3rd month of 2014, the high is predicted to again get in the 80s.

And then tomorrow, Sunday, we are back in the deep freeze with a low of 19.

Sub-freezing with lightning.

Are all these cycles of HOT & COLD wreaking havoc with confused plants?

With thunder likely clapping in the morning I suspect Sunday will not see a repeat of this morning's hot tub hydrotherapy session and its accompanying duo dips in the slightly cool pool. Nor will there be a Sunday repeat of last Sunday's Gateway Park mountain bike ride.

But, today will see some high speed hiking on the Tandy Hills before treasure  hunting at Town Talk.

Below is the National Weather Service's latest winter weather advice.....

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM TO 9 PM CST SUNDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR FREEZING RAIN...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM TO 9 PM CST SUNDAY.

* LOCATION...THIS STATEMENT IS FOR THE COUNTIES OF YOUNG...JACK... PALO PINTO...PARKER...TARRANT...DALLAS...ROCKWALL...KAUFMAN AND VAN ZANDT.

* TIMING...RAIN WILL CHANGE OVER TO FREEZING RAIN AS TEMPERATURES DROP BELOW FREEZING DURING THE DAY ON SUNDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL DROP BELOW FREEZING SUNDAY MORNING OVER NORTHWESTERN PARTS OF THE ADVISORY AREA...AROUND MIDDAY SUNDAY OVER THE METROPLEX...AND SUNDAY AFTERNOON OVER EASTERN PARTS OF THE AREA.

* ACCUMULATION...A TRACE TO A FEW HUNDREDTHS OF AN INCH OF ICE ACCUMULATION IS FORECAST.

* MAIN IMPACT...LIGHT FREEZING RAIN WILL COAT BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES WITH A GLAZE OF ICE. TRAVEL MAY BECOME HAZARDOUS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF WINTER PRECIPITATION MAY CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SLIPPERY ROADS AND PLAN ON SOME TRAVEL DELAYS.

A HOT Last Day Of February In Texas Biking Arlington's River Legacy Park Mountain Bike Trails

This morning when I had my regularly scheduled hot tub hydrotherapy session the outer world was being heated to 41 degrees at my location.

Now, with now being a few minutes past three in the afternoon of the last day of the second month of 2014 the outer world has added 40 degrees to this morning's 41, with both my computer based temperature monitoring device and my smart phone temperature monitoring device telling me we have hit 81 degrees.

This can't be healthy for living organisms, this back and forth with the temperature extremes that seems to have become the Texas norm.

However, even though we froze for a few days, after the last hot spill, the freezing has not seemed to have affected the incoming spring greening up process, as witnessed by the picture you see here of my bike's handlebars looking at a lot of green whilst sitting on a River Legacy Park mountain bike trail.

Yes, I had myself a mighty fine time, again, today rolling my wheels for a mile or two or twelve in River Legacy Park.

Judging by all the fellow wheel rollers I saw today the River Legacy Park mountain bike trails have grown quite popular.

A busy day on these trails used to occur only on Saturday and Sunday. Today an Arlington mountain bike cop was on the trails.

Issuing tickets to those not wearing the required helmet?

I have no idea.

I was not stopped for any mountain bike trail infraction. I think my only possible trail ticket generator might be for pedaling too slow, judging by all the speed demons who asked to pass me.

During the couple minutes it has taken my to type this blogging we have added two more degrees to today's totaling. 83 degrees. At my old home location in Western Washington this would be considered a horrific heat wave.

In Texas 83 degrees presents a pleasant opportunity to open the windows....

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....