Hiking The Tandy Hills Had Me Wondering Why ESPN Is Covering Arlington's Final Four Basketball Games From Fort Worth

On the left you are on the Tandy Hills, looking west, across a sea of green, to where the west begins, looking at the stunning skyline of what has been scientifically determined to be the best downtown in the United States of America, the downtown of Fort Worth, Texas.

This weekend, a town a few miles to the east, Arlington, Final Four basketball games are being played in the Dallas Cowboy Basketball Stadium, also known as AT & T Stadium.

While the basketball games are being played in the football stadium which the voters of Arlington voted to abuse eminent domain and tax themselves to build, ESPN is doing its Final Four basketball coverage from Fort Worth's Sundance Square Plaza, in what used to be a parking lot, before Fort Worth decided a plaza really should be added to Sundance Square and thus end, for all time, the mystery of the missing square which confused Fort Worth's few tourists when they saw directional signs pointing the way to the non-existent Sundance Square.

Why is ESPN broadcasting from Sundance Square Plaza rather than the plaza which is in beautiful downtown Arlington? If I remember right the Arlington venue is called Founder's Plaza. That plaza is very well designed, with a covered stage, water features and is bigger than Fort Worth's downtown plaza. Plus the Arlington plaza is walking distance to where the basketball games are being played, that is, if one enjoys a slightly long walk.

I would think the good citizens of Arlington, who voted to help pay for the giant silver spaceship, would feel a bit cranky that ESPN has not located its broadcast operation in their town, rather than Fort Worth.

Maybe no one thought to show ESPN Arlington's downtown plaza.

Changing the subject back to something that makes sense.

As you can see, the latest iteration of the Tandy Hills Hoodoo appears to be the most precarious balancing rock piece of artwork yet.

Hiking the Tandy Hills today was a bit chilly. I sped up my already fast hill hiking to help facilitate getting warm.

I came upon a scene I'd not seen before on the Tandy Hills.

West of the Tandy Hills Outdoor Auditorium benches, near where a trail leads to the hills from View Street, I came upon a pair of what looked to be parental units with a brood of a lot of kids. The kids looked to be of a similar size, so I suspect this was not a family unit, so brood is likely the wrong word to use.

The group was sitting off the trail, on the ground, having a picnic. I howdied the group as I walked by, then as I descended the trail to the west it occurred to me that they might not be aware of the bench seats available a short distance to the east.

I am very wary when I get grounded on the Tandy Hills, like when I get down on the ground to take a Hoodoo picture. I check for fire ants and other insect vermin before I ground myself. My worst fire ant episode ever happened on the Tandy Hills whilst taking a photo of a wildflower.

Since it is Saturday, after a bout of hill hiking, I was off to Town Talk for some treasure hunting. Found nothing noteworthy today. Unless one counts two pounds of Welch's strawberries as noteworthy. 50 cents a pound. That sounds cheap to me. And they actually sort of taste like strawberries. Also got a small block of Romano cheese. I guess that is slightly noteworthy. The rest of what I got was rabbit food. And yogurt.

A couple days ago, or maybe it was yesterday, Mr. and  Mrs. Galtex went Town Talk treasure hunting. On Facebook Mr. Galtex had this to say about that....

We went on our weekly treasure hunt at Town Talk Foods and found Uncle Oinker's Gummy Bacon. (Farm Fresh Flavor!) I'll wait until Durango tries it before we buy some.

Well.

I looked all over for Uncle Oinker's Gummy Bacon to no avail.  I asked a couple of the Town Talkers if they still had Uncle Oinker's Gummy Bacon, also to no avail.

I've learned with Town Talk that some good stuff will only be available for a very short duration. The Galtex's should have taken a Gummy Bacon risk, while they had the chance.

Speaking of Mr. and Mrs. Galtex, and who isn't? That pair of jet setters is currently in Boston because Mr. Galtex likes to fill himself up with cream pie and lobster rolls and because Boston's Wilbur Theatre  is where Mr. Galtex can laugh at his favorite funny man, some guy I've never heard of named Brad Morris.

I have never been to Boston, so I don't know what cream  pie is. I do know what a lobster is, but I don't know what a lobster roll is.

My ignorance about so many things used to vex me, til Google came along...

Texting My Mom Because I Got Gas While Elsie Hotpepper Said Little To Me While Ghost Walking

What with a cool breeze having blown in from the north, following Thursday night's storming, I attired myself in cool weather attire, as in long pants, to go have myself a post storm commune with nature with the Indian ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

Elsie Hotpepper made an appearance whilst I was communing with nature today, but she was of very few words.

Prior to ghost walking I got gas. Usually when I get gas I call my mom and dad. But, now that I've finally learned to do that phone texting thing I texted the parental units with that important gas information and a weather report, concluding with "The sky is back blue."

To which my parental units texted back saying "The sky is always blue here."

That big tree  trunk you see above, which has fallen over the paved trail which leads to one of the Village Creek NHA picnic areas, just narrowly missed landing on me.

If by narrowly missed one is marking time by the vast span of geological time.

I did not see much storm action last night at my home zone location. Village Creek did not seem to be running a lot of extra water. The only damage I saw was the aforementioned downed tree.

This morning's bout in the pool was interesting. Due to the air being chilled to around 46 degrees, for the first time this year, that I can recollect, the water was significantly warmer than the air. Even so, I did have myself two hot tub hydrotherapy sessions.

I forgot to mention the successful arrival of the package I was angsting about, earlier in the week. Amazon delivery tracking turned out to be very accurate. At something like 9:39 Wednesday the tracking said the package was out for delivery. About a quarter after four, that afternoon, I walked to the mailbox and found the package. When I got back to my computer I logged back into the Amazon delivery tracking to see it now said something like "Delivery Completed: 4:18 pm".

Sort of spooky.

Somehow Amazon figured out I want a Chromebook, so now Amazon Chromebook ads follow me around the Internet, and this morning, via email, Amazon told me the new HP Chromebook is available for my buying pleasure.....

Fishing With Gertrude The Goose In Fort Worth's Fosdick Lake

Thunder did some booming at my location in the mid morning time frame, along with a short burst of heavy rain.

Prior to the booming I had a long swim in the no longer too cool pool.

In the noon time frame, with no thunder booming, I decided to use my mechanized mobile transport device to go to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdick Lake and enjoy being battered by the strong wind gusts.

Soon after I began my walk around Fosdick Lake I came upon the bucolic scene you see above. A guy fishing with his pet goose, Gertrude.

Years ago, in a Washington raspberry field, I  was attacked by a mad goose. Ever since then I keep my distance from geese.

Until one suffers a goose attack one does not realize how strongly those goose beaks can bite.

Why has a rope been strung from the railing of the bridge which crosses the Fosdick Dam Spillway?

I could think of no reason why someone would go to the bother of doing this.

This morning someone named Anonymous asked me, via a blog comment, if I was senile. I don't remember the last time I was asked if I was senile. Not remembering the last time I was asked if I was senile may be yet one more sign of senility. The person named Anonymous was asking me if I was senile due to some controversy over a bluebonnet which I did not understand, likely due to me being senile.

Leaving the subject of my senility and returning to Fosdick Lake.

As you can see, the Fosdick Lake turtles were enjoying today's balmy humidity, while not letting the gusts of wind bother them.

Being senile I sometimes forget to eat lunch. But, this would not be one of those days, because the oven just beeped, indicating I need to eat....

Google Has David Hasselhoff Visiting Spencer Jack In Arizona

A few months ago Google added an odd feature to Google accounts.

The Google+ Auto Awesome feature.

An awesome feature which makes no sense and which I don't know how to get rid of.

Previous to today all the Google+ Auto Awesome photos have occurred when I have blogged a photo of an icy snowy scene, usually from one of the ubiquitous ice storms which plagued this part of the planet last winter.

Google+ Auto Awesome would take my perfectly innocent winter scene photo and add falling snow flakes to it.

Really not all that awesome.

When Google does this awesome thing I see the notification "bell" in the upper right of the home screen of the Google Account has turned red, thus indicating I am being notified about something. That is how I learn that an Auto Awesome photo has been added.

Added to what? I really don't know.

This morning's Auto Awesome photo from Google made absolutely no sense, and was not even remotely awesome, adding David Hasselhoff to a photo of Spencer Jack which I had blogged yesterday.

Now, had Google added falling snow flakes to the scene of Spencer Jack in Arizona, well, that might have sort of been slightly awesome.

But, David Hasselhoff?

Running Into A Gateway Park Brush Pile Mountain Bike Trail Block Today

For weeks now Fort Worth city park people have been in Gateway Park emulating the Fort Worth park due south of Gateway Park, on the opposite side of the I-30 freeway, with that park being the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

By emulating I am referring to brush bashing. The Tandy Hills has an annual one day brush bashing event.

Like I already said, Gateway Park's brush bashing has gone on for weeks, with none of the brush that has been bashed leaving the park.

Instead the Gateway Park bashed brush has been left in a wall of brush piles, which as you can see, above, blocking my handlebars from rolling my wheels on this section of the Gateway Park mountain bike trail.

I am almost 100% certain that eventually the wall of Gateway Park bashed brush will be removed. Or struck by lightning making a big bonfire.

Other than the obstructing piles of brush I had myself a mighty fine time biking in Gateway Park today.

By the time I had had enough wheel rolling tiny pricks of invisible moisture were hitting me. Eventually, by the time I was back driving my motorized transport, the tiny pricks had turned to actual raindrops requiring activating the windshield wiping device.

This morning marked the first time this year I was able to have a long swim in the no longer too cool pool without having to resort to warming up in the hot tub, which means I had myself a cool hydrotherapy session this morning.

The USPS has yet to deliver the a/c adapter I ordered on Saturday. The tracking info from the Amazon website tells me the package left the seller on Monday, arrived at various locations of the carrier, making it to Dallas last night at 9:23, then arriving at the Fort Worth carrier location at 6:38 this morning, with "Out for Delivery" beginning at 9:26 this morning.

The package has been "Out for Delivery" for over four hours now. I expect it will arrive any minute now....

April Fool's Day Bluebonnets & Hoodoos Sprouting On The Tandy Hills While I Wait For An Amazon Adapter

I mentioned previously that I'd spotted bluebonnets blooming on Sunday on the Tandy Hills, but that I got distracted by the Hoodoo proliferation and forgot to take a picture of the first bluebonnets of the year that have appeared before me.

Today I was back on the Tandy Hills, and even though I was once again distracted by Hoodoo proliferation, today I did not forget to take a bluebonnet picture.

Isn't that shade of bluebonnet blue a wonder to behold?

What with today being the first day of April, also known as April Fool's Day, Mother Nature appears to have decided April 1 is a good day to start coloring up the Tandy Hills, in anticipation of the 2014 Prairie Fest the last Saturday of the month, as in April 26.

In other words I saw other wildflowers blooming today, in addition to the bluebonnets.

I came upon three new Hoodoos today, including the one you see below.

The Hoodoo above has sprouted on the trail which leads from Tandy Falls to Hoodoo Central at the end of the trail which leads to the Tandy Hills from View Street.

How many new Hoodoos will have sprouted by the time the Prairie Fest arrives? I'm thinking a  Hoodoo Building Contest might be a good idea. Some sort of grand prize for whoever manages to erect the tallest Hoodoo by some certain time.

Then again, a Hoodoo Building Contest might not be such a good idea, causing a lot of rock re-locations might upset the delicate Tandy Hills geological balance.

This morning I had the longest swim so far in 2014. It felt quite salubrious. Combined with an hour of fast hill hiking I think I may be getting my daily exercise requirement met. That and about a month ago I learned of this thing called doing a Plank. A month later and you could use my abdominal zone as a primitive washboard.

On Saturday I bought an a/c adapter from Amazon, paid extra  for expedited shipping. I got an email on Monday telling me the adapter had been shipped. Today I logged in to track the shipment to learn the adapter is being delivered by the USPS. And is expected to be delivered by Friday, by 8pm.

That is expedited shipping?

On Friday I got a Christmas card, delivered to my mail box by the USPS, postmarked December 19, 2013.

I am not optimistic about this incoming adapter from Amazon...

For His Spring Break Spencer Jack Has Relocated To Arizona

Last week my mom informed me that Spencer Jack was flying his dad, who is also my favorite nephew, Jason, and his favorite girl friend, my potential favorite niece-in-law, Brittney, to Phoenix to visit Spencer Jack's great grandparental units, also known as my mom and dad.

This morning, when I woke up my computer I found photo documentation from Spencer Jack's dad, photo documenting Spencer Jack in Arizona, posing in his great grandparental unit's front yard.

As you can see, my mom and dad have a very low maintenance yard with very little grass in need of mowing.

The photo documents were not accompanied by any explanatory verbiage.  However, I think I can tell the second photo was taken in the interior of Spencer Jack's great grandparental unit's abode.

I  can identify most of the people who are looking at me in the photo. On the far left we have the aforementioned Brittney, next to Brittney is Spencer Jack's dad, then my mom and dad. I am not sure who is next to my dad, but I'm guessing it is my favorite brother-in-law, Jack. I am guessing next to Jack, in the white helmet, with no discernible chin, is Spencer Jack's very special aunt Clancy, with Spencer Jack standing next to Clancy, appearing to be taking a picture. Then coming up the other side of the table we have Spencer Jack's grandpa, also known as my little brother Jake, who is currently way bigger than me, then my favorite sister-in-law, Jill, and next to Jill, my favorite brother-in-law Jack's first wife, my sister, Jackie.

I have no idea why there are so many bottles of bottled water sitting on the table. My mom and dad have filtered tap water that I found to be quite drinkable.

Rolling My Wheels Through A Gateway Park Carpet Of Green Serenaded By A Bird Symphony

I drove my handlebars back to Gateway Park today to have myself a mighty fine time rolling my wheels on the Fort Worth Mountain Bike Association's mountain bike trail.

As you can see, via the carpet of green, spring is really starting to get sprung, although wildflowers continue to be in scarce supply at my location in North Texas.

However, yesterday I did see a few bluebonnets coloring up a little bit of the Tandy Hills. I'd intended to photo document yesterday's bluebonnet sighting, but I got distracted by the discovery of proliferating Hoodoos.

I don't know if the temperature is yet sufficiently warm enough that I need to be on the lookout for slithering reptiles, as in snakes in the grass, when I'm  stopped in a lush location like you see in the picture.

In a month or two I think my level of snake wariness will be amped up if I am still opting to roll my wheels at this location.

Today something had the bird population chirping a symphony. It was non-stop. Like Mother Nature was playing a Sounds of Nature CD featuring birds.

This morning I had either my 5th or 6th swim of the year in the no longer too cool pool. My hot tub hydrotherapy sessions have been of much shorter duration of late. In other words, I think swimming season has arrived for those of us who do not require our swimming water to be heated to an un-naturally warm temperature...

Apparently I Am Usually Of Medium Intelligence But I Actually Have Less Than Half A Brain Advertorially Speaking

A couple days ago, after reading the latest edition of Fort Worth Weekly, I mentioned that I was a bit appalled at some rather ridiculous verbiage I read in the usually reliably not ridiculous Fort Worth Weekly.

I mentioned this in a blogging titled Today I Learned Fort Worth Has Been A Model For Other Cities Its Size & Larger.

The verbiage which I thought to be rather ridiculous was...

"Fort Worth has been a model for other cities its size and larger for the last several years and coupled with the growing local food movement, Fort Worth has been ranked as the most livable city in the United States."

I think anyone who has been to both Fort Worth and any of the other cities in America, Fort Worth's size or larger, can figure out what I thought was rather ridiculous.

Well.

Someone calling him or herself Anonymous, who apparently usually thinks me to be at least of medium intelligence, thought I did not have half a brain after reading what I wrote about that which I thought to be rather ridiculous. Anonymous expressed his or her opinion in a  blog comment....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Today I Learned Fort Worth Has Been A Model For Other Cities Its Size & Larger":

Durango, you are usually as least medium in intelligence, but here you've dropped a bit. This is an ADVERTORIAL. What that means is that ALL COPY is written either by the advertisers or for them. So choose your criticism of the media better. This is meaningless fluff that media like the FW Weekly throws out there. Anyone with half a brain knows it means nothing. To criticize this ADVERTORIAL is the same as criticizing an ad for a restaurant that says they have really great food and you should come to eat there. Get it? 

Above you see the cover of the publication in question, with the words "Eats 2014 Annual Local Food Guide". Also on the cover, clearly readable in red and white, is "Fort Worth Weekly" indicating this to be a Fort Worth Weekly publication, billed as a guide to local food.

So, this really was not a guide to local food? But instead some sort of advertisement revenue generator?

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

Though I must admit I was a bit perplexed by the part of the NOSH on THIS "advertorial" which went on about the growing local food movement. There really is not a lot of agricultural production in the local zone.

To the left is the entirety of the part of the publication which contained the verbiage I thought to be ridiculous. Note that this verbiage appears above the Fort Worth Weekly editorial publisher info that appears in, well, Fort Worth Weekly.

The paragraph which contains the ridiculous verbiage is written as if it is words coming from Fort Worth Weekly. Not some advertiser's shill.

This is not an Advertorial.

For Anonymous to suggest this verbiage is not to be taken serious, that it is no different than a restaurant ad that touts itself as having really great food, is well, I'm thinking Anonymous is sort of exhibiting less than low intelligence, representative of the thinking of someone with less than half a brain, to use the charming Anonymous type vitriol.

And would the Anonymous restaurant analogy not be more apt if Anonymous had said the Fort Worth Weekly advertorial verbiage was no different than a restaurant ad saying said restaurant was a model for other restaurants of its same size and larger and that the restaurant has been ranked as the best in America?

Wikipedia has an interesting article which may enlighten Anonymous as to what an Advertorial actually is. One paragraph from that article might be slightly instructive...

Advertorials differ from traditional advertisements in that they are designed to look like the articles that appear in the publication. Most publications will not accept advertisements that look exactly like stories from the newspaper or magazine they are appearing in. The differences may be subtle, and disclaimers—such as the word "advertisement"—may or may not appear. Sometimes terms describing the advertorial such as a "special promotional feature" or "special advertising section" are used. The tone of the advertorials is usually closer to that of a press release than of an objective news story.

So, there you go, that's the take from me, a person with half a brain, barely functioning with medium intelligence, on this serious subject....

Finding New Hoodoos On The Tandy Hills While Hearing From Betty Jo Bouvier About The Oso Landslide

I think other than on a Prairie Fest day today I saw more people on the Tandy Hills than I ever recollect seeing before.

Among those people was a pair of twin young ladies lamenting that they wish they'd arrived earlier, due to thinking it was too HOT at that point in time. I told them I was not HOT and suggested that they might be cooler if they copied me and also went topless. They said they would consider my suggestion.

Barely 70 degrees is not too HOT at this location on the planet.

A pair of guys said they were feeling sort of lost. I told them not to worry, they'd find their way back to civilization.

And then there was the mom and dad and young daughter combo I came upon in the main Tandy Hills Hoodoo zone.

The mom and daughter of the trio was having fun constructing the new Hoodoo you see above in the foreground.

That is the latest iteration of the original Tandy Hills Hoodoo you see behind the new Hoodoo, at the end of the trail at the crest of the hill.

Continuing on, on one of the trails which heads uphill from the Tandy Bamboo Tepee Grove, another new Hoodoo has sprouted. That would be the other new Hoodoo below.

I wonder how many Hoodoos now stand on the Tandy Hills? I suspect I have not discovered all of them.

Changing the subject from a potential rock slide to an actual rock slide.

I heard from Washingtonian Betty Jo Bouvier this morning. Betty Jo is one of the Wild Women Of Woolley, which indicates Betty Jo lives in the Skagit Valley in the town of Sedro Woolley. Sedro Woolley is close to the town I grew up in, Burlington, and close to the town I lived in before I moved to Texas, Mount Vernon, which also makes Sedro Woolley close to the Oso Landslide disaster.

Betty Jo mentioned the Oso Landslide disaster in a way both personal and interesting. I will copy, in part, what Betty Jo had to say.......

"I am sure you read about the huge slide in Oso. That is beyond horrible. Did you happen to read about the little girl spear heading a cause to support the families and workers??? She is my former neighbor, a 10 year old girl. The whole family is behind the cause. They have 5 kids and home school. They were all down at Walmart yesterday collecting donations and $$. I brought them all hot cocoa. When I went to buy it at Starbucks, the lady started to ring it up (over $30) and then she said,..."it is on me."  How nice!!! (that is after she knew I was taking it to the people at Walmart)..."

Betty Jo Bouvier, one of the kindest, sweetest, funniest people I have ever known.