Thunderstorming Thursday In Texas While I Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee Again

On the left you are looking west through the bars of my patio prison cell at what appears to be a threatening sky.

The sky appears to be threatening because it is being threatening. Threatening to send lightning bolts to the ground, along with downpouring rain.

The sun had yet to arrive this morning when I detected a brief flash of light. Many seconds later I heard a distant boom.

By the time of my regularly scheduled morning swim arrived I was counting 10 to 15 seconds between flashes and booms, so I felt fairly safe from a zapping.

Soon after getting wet big drops of rain started plopping into the pool. I like swimming in the rain when the rain is not in big drops mode. I  was not enjoying swimming in the rain this morning.

After I saw a flash and counted only 5 seconds before I heard a boom I decided to get out of the pool.

Changing the subject to something else.

I just glanced over at my second monitor to see incoming email coming in, one of which in the subject line says "Martha looks 20 years younger. Did she get a face lift?"

Are we talking about Nurse Martha here? If Nurse Martha looked 20 years younger she'd look like a teenager.

Changing the subject again.

I had planned to go walk with Arlington's Indian Ghosts today, prior to going to ALDI. However, stormy weather may alter that plan.

Speaking of Indian Ghosts, yesterday I started re-reading Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown. If you have never read this book you really should.

Pondering Pleasant Air Pollution From Big Blooming Magnolia Tulips

Today, with it being Wednesday, this is my regularly scheduled day to walk up the hill to Albertsons to not find this week's Fort Worth Weekly, I did so in the noon time frame and found that once again FW Weekly had not yet arrived.

Like I said, I walk up a hill to get to Albertsons. Not a Tandy Hills level of hill, but an incline, nonetheless.

From the vantage point of the Albertsons hill I looked back to my abode, to the canopy of trees surrounding the swimming pool to see that the top of the pool's two magnolia trees blooming with multiple tulip-like white flowers.

When I am in the pool I can not see the tops of the magnolia trees, but those multiple tulip-like white flowers make their presence known by polluting the air with a pleasant fragrance.

When I returned to my abode zone I checked out the magnolia trees, up close, to see if I could see the blooms at the top of the trees. That effort was futile, but I did manage to get a  picture of one of the low-hanging magnolia blooms.

When I was a youngster there was a magnolia tree in our backyard. My mom always called it a tulip tree. Today that had me wondering if that was just my mom's nomenclature, or is tulip tree a common nickname for a magnolia tree?

One thing I know for sure is that a tulip tree tulip puts off a pleasant perfume, while tulips don't, not that I have ever smelled, and I have tiptoed through plenty of tulip fields, never noticing anything remotely fragrant.

I don't know if tulips grow in Texas. I don't think I've seen one here. So, it is unlikely locals would call a magnolia tree a tulip tree.

Enough with the serious magnolia issues. I am burned out from too much typing, which has made me hungry, which is good timing because the lunch gong just went off....

Will The Heritage Conceptual Plan Improve Or Destroy The Fort Worth Stockyards?

Among my Facebook friends are a couple guys who contribute much to the preservation of that which needs to be preserved of the historical sort in Fort Worth.

Lately the object of historical preservation concern has been the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historical District.

I have long opined that the Fort Worth Stockyards is the best tourist attraction in the D/FW Metroplex, and that the Fort Worth Stockyards are the only part of Fort Worth which is remotely unique, as in not found elsewhere.

I have also long opined that it seems to me that the city of Fort Worth, as in the town's city government, does not do enough to improve the Stockyards.

Although, I must admit, during the course of my time of observing the Fort Worth Stockyards there have been many improvements. Things like artwork of the sculpture sort. Improved amenities for visitors, like more seating spots, more shade and misters.

And the tacky carnival rides have long been gone, replaced by a nice looking hotel.

However, there are many things about the Fort Worth Stockyards which could use some fixing. The long abandoned New Isis Theater eyesore comes to mind. Along with other abandoned buildings which have long been boarded up. Really, would it not take just a little effort and not much money to make those abandoned buildings look worthy of a National Historical District?

Back to those aforementioned Facebook friends. Lately they have been talking about the controversial private development known as the Fort Worth Stockyards Heritage Conceptual Plan.

You can check out a power point presentation of that plan by clicking the link in the above paragraph.

When I checked out the plan I was a bit surprised to find that it is a much more ambitious plan than I realized. I thought the idea was just to develop the big open space to the east of Billy Bobs.

Well, the open space to the east of Billy Bobs is just one part of the three part plan, with that east of Billy Bobs part of the plan being called the Stockyards North District. That district includes stores, restaurants, offices, a hotel, an entertainment lounge, with all of this centered around three acres of something called Festival Green.

Another district of the plan is called the Marine Creek District. This is to the south of the existing Stockyards and includes activating the mule barns, whatever that means, plus more stores, restaurants, 250 parking spaces and office space.

The third district in the plan is the Swift-Armor District, that being the area to the east of the existing Stockyards which I have long called the Stockyard Ruins.

The Stockyard Ruins, I mean, Swift-Armor District will include more office space, a hotel, more restaurants, two residential areas, a parking garage with 450 spaces, along with surface parking with 500 more parking spaces.

Will the Swift-Armor District preserve any of the Stockyard Ruins? I hope so. I'd never seen anything like the Stockyard Ruins before I moved to Texas. They look like photos I've seen of war zones. Like Berlin at the end of World War II.

The concern over the Fort Worth Stockyards Heritage Conceptual Plan is that the actual concept of the plan may not pay proper homage to the actual heritage of the Fort Worth Stockyards, possibly destroying that which makes the Stockyards unique.

From what I have seen of the plan and what with my limited understanding of it, I can sort of get behind the Stockyards North District part of the plan. I'm not so sure about the Marine Creek District part of the plan, and I really don't like the Swift-Armor District part of the plan, unless it somehow preserves some of the Stockyard Ruins.

What I really think will happen is this plan will peter out and never happen, just like the countless failed attempts to restore the New Isis Theater to its former glory.....

Today Heavy Rain Blocked Me From Access To Arlington's Village Creek Indian Ghosts

At some point in time during the middle of the night I woke up to find myself feeling a chilly breeze which felt like the air-conditioner in chilling mode.

However, the air-conditioner was not running, but the ceiling fan was spinning and unbeknownst to me the temperature in the outer world had plummeted into the 60s.

Brrrrr.

As I lay awake, shivering, in the distance I heard rumbling. As the rumbling grew closer I started to hear the pitter patter of raindrops hitting my windows.

Soon flashes of lightning and booms of thunder flashed and boomed pretty much non-stop til after the sun arrived, struggling to bring light through the dense cover of black clouds.

By the time the time of my regularly scheduled swim arrived the lightning had ceased striking, but the rain continued dropping. And so I had myself a mighty fine time swimming in the rain this morning, with the water in the pool feeling significantly warmer than the air for the first time this year.

Around noon I drove to Arlington to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to find access at the west entry blocked by the gate with its "Closed Due To Flooding" sign.

So, I drove to the east access to the Indian Ghosts, in Interlochen, where I soon saw that Village Creek really was in flood mode, as you can see above.

More rain is in the forecast, along with chilly temperatures, as in, currently, past noon, the outer world is heated to only 71 degrees at my location.

Again. Brrrrr.......

Charging Chesapeake Energy With Fraud & Racketeering Has Not Happened Yet In North Texas

Yesterday Elsie Hotpepper sent me a link to info about Chesapeake Energy being charged with fraud and racketeering in an article in wfmj.com titled Chesapeake Energy charged with fraud and racketeering.

The first paragraph of the article...

LANSING, Michigan - Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has filed racketeering and fraud charges against the Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy Corporation for allegedly victimizing private land owners across northern Michigan.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth, which became the world's first experiment in massive urban drilling under the Reign of Terror of former Fort Worth Mayor, Mike Moncrief, who did Chesapeake Energy's bidding to the extent that during Moncrief's reign Chesapeake acted sort of like a shadow Fort Worth city government, complete with its own "city hall" in the former Pier One Imports headquarters.

As a stark indicator of how far Chesapeake has fallen since it was in bed with Mike Moncrief, Fort Worth has joined other North Texas towns in suing Chesapeake Energy over Chesapeake's shady dealings.

However, the local legal moves against Chesapeake are civil suits, no local prosecutor has charged Chesapeake with fraud and racketeering.

And, on a sort of related note, regarding Fort Worth's former mayor, this morning I found the following in my email inbox....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Visit To The Garden Of Eden In Texas May Be In My Future Later This Month":

And Now for Something Completely Different:

Former Fort Worth mayor Mike Moncrief dressed up like Carl Spangler from the movie, Caddyshack:

http://fwtx.com/snapshots/best-of-2014-party/92952/3460

Clicking the above link brings us to the photo below....

A Visit To The Garden Of Eden In Texas May Be In My Future Later This Month

On the left you are looking at a picture of the Garden of Eden.

The Garden of Eden is located in Kennedale.

Kennedale is a town south of Arlington in the state of Texas.

Less than a year ago the city of Arlington invaded Kennedale with a SWAT team sent to attack the Garden of Eden.

You living in Free America, where the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are still the law of the land, probably have a difficult time with the idea that within America's borders there are areas which are ruled like a Police State, where individual's rights are trampled, where property can be stolen by subverting the legitimate concept of using eminent domain to take property for the public good, such as building a highway, school or hospital.

In the Dallas/Fort Worth Police State Zone eminent domain can be abused to take people's homes to build a sports stadium or a parking lot for a mall or to build an un-needed flood diversion channel for a public works project the public has never voted for.

If you are not familiar with the crimes against humanity committed in Arlington to build Jerry Jones a new football stadium, well, you can read all about it on my Eyes on Texas Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal webpage.

So, why am I harping on this subject today?

Well, a few minutes ago on Facebook, via Allen Patterson and the Tarrant County Libertarians, I read the following interesting information about the Garden of Eden, which also included a poetic reference to the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal....

Back in August of 2013, the city of Arlington TX conducted a full-blown SWAT raid on Quinn Eaker's organic farm and community - The Garden Of Eden.

It was a drug raid, thinly disguised as a response to zoning violations. Arlington's henchmen took mothers away from nursing babies. The raid lasted for 10 hours. The SWAT team found "17 blackberry bushes, 15 okra plants, 14 tomatillo plants ... native grasses and sunflowers," and nothing else. Quinn Eaker got a citation for "improperly stacked firewood" and was ticketed for a lingering traffic citation.

In response to this absurd violation of property rights, the Tarrant County Libertarian Party is running Quinn Eaker for the Texas House of Representatives! (District 96)

We're getting together with Quinn and his extended family on Sunday, June 22nd, at 3:00 p.m. 7325 Mansfield Cardinal Rd, Kennedale, TX You'll get to see the farm, meet the family, and around 6:00 they will serve up some of their famous organic food.

What people do on their own property is no one else's business. Quinn Eaker doesn't live his life in the way that most of us do, although our lifestyles are far more likely to harm him than vice-versa. (And please remember that Arlington is the city most opposed to "Open Carry", and the city that took property from landowners by force, bulldozed the houses, and built The Temple Of Jerry Jones on the spot of their theft.)

Come get to know this fascinating young man and support his candidacy for Texas House. Sunday, June 22nd, from 3 til 7, at "The Garden Of Eden" 7325 Mansfield Cardinal Rd, Kennedale, TX.

_________________________________

I am not a big fan of attending these type things due to my tendency to quickly get bored. However, I'm thinking a visit to the Garden of Eden on June 22 might be interesting enough to hold my interest.....

Not Going To A Wet Fort Worth Gateway Park Fat Tire Festival On The 2nd Sunday Of June

I did not get the memo telling me that rain was on the menu for this 2nd Sunday of the 6th month of 2014.

Not getting the weather memo had me being a bit surprised this morning when I looked outside to see an angry sky full of what looked like thunderclouds.

A half hour later, after consuming my regular morning coffee fueling, the clouds had begun crying, not hysterically so, but steadily.

So, I had myself a mighty fine time swimming in the rain this morning.

In the picture you are standing in the rain on my patio, with my camera under its protective Popabrella aimed at the aforementioned swimming location, with the also aforementioned clouds overhead.

I hope today's rain does not wreak havoc with the Fat Tire Festival taking place at this very moment in Fort Worth's Gateway Park.

My plan for today was to roll my wheels on the Gateway Park mountain bike trails, rolling past the festival.

Enough rain has hit the ground, I think, to render the mountain bike trails possibly a bit muddy. So, no Gateway Park for me today.

Unless I change my mind.....

The HOT Tandy Hills Counteract To Too Much Singapore Slinging Prior To Town Talking

I stayed up too late last night due to a Polynesian themed party which featured party favors with names like Singapore Sling and Mai Tai, which turned out not to be the healthy type fruit smoothie type libation I prefer to consume.

This morning I was in a strange location when the sun woke me up. Eventually I made my way to my regular morning location, that being the swimming pool where I tried to swim off the Polynesian grogginess to limited success.

Breakfast of whole grain waffles smothered in butter and prickly pear syrup along with a big dollop of scrambled eggs seemed to have a salubrious effect.

By the time noon rolled around I rolled the wheels of my mechanized transport device to the summit of Mount Tandy to do some HOT hill hiking.

In the picture we are looking west across the old wagon train trail which leads to downtown Fort Worth, the stunning skyline of which you can see in the distance, barely sticking up above the horizon.

The temperate was a degree shy of 90 when I did my hill hiking. A good breeze blew, so I had myself some wind chilling.

The Tandy Hills Hoodoo was a pile of rock rubble today. Tragic.

Eventually I decided I had had enough of the Tandy Hills Sweat Lodge and drove to my next destination.

Town Talk.

Today my Town Talk  treasure hunting turned up broccoli, fried chicken, smoked turkey legs, carrots, tortillas, whole grain mini-bread loafs, red peppers, grapes and wasabi edamame.

The wasabi edamame should be the final cure for too much Polynesian fun.....

Lamenting Not Having Oodles Of Uncle Fun With David, Theo & Ruby

In the picture you are looking at Theo and Ruby rolling their brother David's luggage through Sea-Tac airport.

David was returning from Arizona where he had been visiting relatives of the aunt, uncle, cousin and grandparental unit sort.

You can go to the Blue & Max Adventure Poodle blog and see oodles of pictures of David having fun in Arizona doing things like swimming with his cousin CJ, playing pool with his grandpa, playing ninja turtles with his grandma, bowling with his uncle and cousins and cheeseburgering at McDonald's.

I have never met David, or his brother and sister, Theo and Ruby.

For a variety of reasons, with the primary one being the fact that David, Theo and Ruby live over two thousand miles from my location, it is highly unlikely the trio will ever know me as their uncle.

From what I've seen, via photos, and reports I've had from first hand observers, David, Theo and Ruby are oodles of fun.

Why have I taken to so frequently use that "oodles" word of late? I have no idea.

I think it is about time to take off for the Tandy Hills to have myself oodles of fun doing some fast HOT hill hiking. And then maybe go to Town Talk.

Lamenting No Rockin' The Trinity River In Dallas While J.D.Granger Delivers For The River In Fort Worth

This past Thursday marked the return of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's, I mean, Panther Island Boondoggle's World Famous Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in Fort Worth's crystal clear Trinity River.

More on that later in this blogging, but first I must mention that this morning I learned via an article in the Dallas Observer titled 10 Dallas Places We'd Like to See Host Concerts that there are some people, well, at least one, that being the writer of this article, who wants to close the river floating gap between Fort Worth and Dallas.

On the list of 10 was #5, which you see screencapped above and copied below...

5. The Trinity River Basin
Fort Worth is way ahead of Dallas when it comes to making the banks of the Trinity a legitimate destination for concerts, drinking and various forms of revelry. Screw the city council, screw the naysayers. Let's take advantage of the dry summer conditions and get a stage up between Fuel City and the Oak Farms Dairy for some serious, urban park-style entertainment. If it rains and floods a bit, grab some inner tubes and let's float this sucker. Get your tetanus shots first, and then stop worrying. There's a fancy bridge for a nice backdrop and it doesn't always smell that bad. Let's close the Trinity-As-Entertainment gap that lies between us and the Panther City, Dallas!

The only part of the above which sounds to me like a good idea is the tetanus shot suggestion. Methinks White Rock Lake would be a much better location in Dallas for Rockin' the Lake Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats.

Which leads me to change the subject and ask, why is swimming not allowed in White Rock Lake? It always looks so inviting, to me, swimming-wise, certainly more so than the Trinity River.

Now, changing the subject back to Fort Worth's Rockin' of the Trinity River.

This morning someone named Anonymous made a couple comments regarding an aspect of Thursday's Trinity River Inner Tube Float....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Walking With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Through A Flurry Of Snow & Snake Concerns":

J.D. Granger sighting at Rockin' the River:

http://www.dfw.com/2014/06/06/898726/pics-rockin-the-river-june-5-2014.html

Photos #68 and #74 include Master Granger. 

That is the #74 photo of Master Granger to which Anonymous refers, below, with that being Master Granger on the left.

Another person named  Anonymous, or maybe the same one, made another comment regarding the above photo....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Walking With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Through A Flurry Of Snow & Snake Concerns":

#74...needs a bra.

Well.

Looking at the photo I can see why Anonymous has made the bra suggestion, but as a full-figured fellow myself, I take umbrage at someone making such a rude remark....