Today I Learned I Would Rather Die Than Move From Artistic Fort Worth To Dallas

A blogging yesterday resulted in an interesting comment from someone with the gender neutral name of Anonymous...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Stormy August Sunday In Texas With Lightning Strikes, Thunder Booms & Wandering Birthday Cards":

Fort Worth, the tiny burg of family, food and Frogs and their fatuous fixation with Dallas:

10 Fort Worth Stereotypes That Are Completely Accurate

The link in the Anonymous comment went to a webpage on some sort of real estate entitie's website with that webpage listing 10 supposed Fort Worth Stereotypes. The list had a lot of typos and even more dubious claims, but, all in all, I found it amusing.

You can click the 10 Fort Worth Stereotypes That Are Completely Accurate to read all ten stereotypes, plus some very amusing comments.  Below I have gleaned 8 of the 10 stereotypes, followed by me commenting about each stereotype and then some of the more choice comments....

1. Fort Worthers Would Rather Die Than Move To Dallas

Call Fort Worth a suburb of Dallas and, if looks could kill, you’d be dead in a Texas second. The only thing the two cities have in common is an airport that shares their names.

I currently live in Fort Worth. I would not rather die than move to Dallas. I like Dallas. Dallas reminds me of Seattle, except for the lack of scenery in Dallas.

3. Everyone In Fort Worth Is Fiercely Loyal To Kincaid’s Hamburgers

Kincaid’s is widely considered to be the best bite in Fort Worth and, dare we say it, possibly the entire Dallas Metroplex area. People in the Fort have enjoyed double cheeseburgers with everything and lemonades for generations.

Okay, in the number 1 stereotype the claim is that calling Fort Worth a Dallas suburb can get you a killing look, while in the #3 stereotype we refer to the "entire Dallas Metroplex area"?  Not Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex Area? Kincaid's is widely considered the best bite in Fort Worth? And all of D/FW? I have had two Kincaid's burgers during my over a decade stay in D/FW. I was not impressed. Not at all.

4. Fort Worthers Are All A Little Horny… When It Comes To Horned Frog Football, That Is

In Fort Worth they know to Fear the Frog and the will convince the rest of the nation just how intimidating they are the only way they know how—by fighting until hell freezes over then fighting on the ice.

Fort Worthers? The above contains a couple of the aforementioned typos. Convince the rest of the nation to fear the Fort Worth Frog? Really? I really hate to be the bearer  of sad tidings, but I  don't think the rest of the nation pays much attention to Fort Worth football.

5. People Here Are A Whole Different Breed Of Racing Fans

The Texas Motor Speedway is one of many badges of honor that Cowtowners take very seriously. Racing pride is all over town. You can find local’s favorite driver on bumper stickers, in windows and liberally applied across all apparel.

Fort Worth's racetrack is one of many badges of honor? Really? What are the other badges of honor? Cowtowners take their racetrack very seriously? With racing pride all over town? I have never noticed this racing pride all over town. The local's have a favorite driver? On their bumper stickers, windows and clothes? I am sure I would have noticed such a thing if it existed.

6. People From Fort Worth Are Fortified Authentic Texas

Talking to folks around Fort Worth is like taking a step into a time machine and waking up in the good old days when being down to earth friendly was standard and politeness was a virtue.

If the above is a subtle way of saying Fort Worth is a bit backwards, I guess I can agree with that stereotype.

7. Fort Worth Is Full Of Dare Devils

For all their laid-back qualities, Forters are as wild and untamed as the Western roots they hang their hats on. “Hey watch this” may as well be their motto because it gets dropped on the daily.

Forters? Again a typo renders the above a bit confusing. The only Fort Worth dare devils I can think of are those foolish enough to get wet in the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats.

8. And They’re Real Ropers

School is closed during the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, not to pay tribute to all the hard-working cattle wranglers, but because otherwise everyone, faculty included, would be absent anyway. The event is legendary and every year about the time that talk of the last ride starts dying off the countdown for next year begins.

School is closed during the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo? Who knew? I really don't think this stereotyping stereotyper has actually been to the Fort Worth Stock Show if he or she actually thinks it to be anything legendary. While the State Fair of Texas, in Dallas, now I can see where one might, maybe, legitimately attach the legendary label to that event.

9. People In Fort Worth Are All Artists At Heart

Fort Worth boasts one of the world’s largest epicenters of the arts, and that is something that wouldn’t be possible without a huge community of avid art enthusiasts. Whether it’s frequenting the five iconic museums in the heart of the Cultural District or experiencing art first-hand at the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Fest, people in the Fort take supporting the arts to a whole new level.
Oh yes, I have seldom seen a big city with more of an artistic aesthetic than Fort Worth. Just look at the beautiful way Fort Worth landscapes the exits from its freeways, like the exits to the Fort Worth Stockyards, for instance. I really don't think any other big city in America landscapes exits to its tourists attractions in such an attractive manner as Fort Worth.

Then there is Heritage Park at the north end of downtown Fort Worth. That park is really representative of the Fort Worth artistic aesthetic.

Fort Worth boasts one of the world's largest epicenters of the arts? Why is this valuable information being kept from the rest of the world?

Five iconic museums? Again, I hate to be the bearer of sad tidings, but the only thing in Fort Worth which remotely approaches being iconic, as in recognized elsewhere, is the Fort Worth Stockyards sign, which sort of clues people in other parts of the world that this is in Fort Worth, due to the town's name being on the sign.

Five iconic museums? I doubt 95% of Fort Worth natives could name five of Fort Worth's museums. Let alone the rest of America.

And now, some of the amusing comments....

Someone said, "And y'all forgot Amon Carter's famous quote: Fort Worth is where the West begins, and Dallas is where the East peters out! :)"

To which someone else replied, "Amon Carter was provincial and ignorant and kept his head in the sand in Fort Worth."

Regarding Fort Worth burgers someone said, "Kincaids sucks. You guys have it wrong on that. And while it's way better than mcdonalds, it is substandard compared to several other places in town. Rodeo Goat may be new, but it is by far the best burger in Cowtown. And if you want a traditional burger at a long time FtW institution, look no farther than Fred's Burgers, much better atmosphere there as well."

A former Fort Worthian said, "I left Fort Worth in 1970. I now live in Dallas. I am always baffled by the hateful things people from Fort Worth say about Dallas. Natives from Dallas don't say such hateful things about Fort Worth. Fort Worth folks seem to have an inferiority complex. I doubt that I would ever move back to Fort Worth. I have friends in Fort Worth who turn their noses up at me when I say I live in Dallas. Some even refuse to visit, because I "defected" from Fort Worth. Fort Worth is a nice place to visit, but Dallas has so much more to offer. I don't think most residents of Dallas think there is much of a contest."

Another commenter had another comment about burgers, racing and football, "#1 is true. Kincaid's hamburgers are tough and overcooked. Charlie's burgers are much better. I don't know a single person that has ever roped a bull. We're not all stuck in the past, there are no more daredevils here than anywhere else, NASCAR is stupid, and TCU football sucks. Other than those things, great list. Thanks for perpetuating an ignorant series of stereotypes."

And then, regarding what to call the natives, "We are not "Fort Worthers", we are "Fort Worthians." Other than that, no real complaints."

A Stormy August Sunday In Texas With Lightning Strikes, Thunder Booms & Wandering Birthday Cards

This 3rd Sunday of August is being a stormy one at my location, that being the tiny burg of Fort Worth in a state called Texas.

There was some slight brightening in the dark sky when I entered the outer world this morning to make my way to the pool. Due to the time, as calculated by my clock, I believe this was soon after sun rise, but no sun was visible through a thick cloak of clouds, other than the slight brightening.

Seconds after getting in the pool lightning began to strike, thunder began to roll and rain began to pour.

In other words I had myself a mighty fine time swimming in the rain this morning, along with some very special Mother Nature sound effects.

In the picture we are looking at the post swim view of the pool and the storm clouds as seen from my elevated patio vantage point.

Yesterday I got a bit drenched trekking to the mailbox for my daily search for a missing card from my mom and dad. That was a totally unexpected drenching which felt very good. However, the wet card search was to no avail.

Searching for a missing card from my mom and dad is an annual event which begins on August 11 when I call my mom and dad to wish them a happy birthday, due to that day being the day their eldest was born. Each year I say, "Happy Birthday" to which my mom  asks "Did you get a card?" To which I annually reply "No".

After it is established that no card had arrived this signals the beginning of a week of queries inquiring if the card had arrived yet, with me always saying I'll call (or text) if it arrives. On Friday mom called, whilst I was driving, with the latest card query.

Somehow the missing card issue had compounded itself due to random phone calls from a foreign sounding voice somehow leading to the suspicion that the caller had somehow come into possession of the missing card.

And then yesterday, Saturday afternoon, my phone lights up with an incoming call from mom and dad. I answer to hear my mom ask "Guess what?". I then said, "I dunno, the missing card arrived back in your mailbox in Arizona like it does every year?".

To which my mom asked "How did you know?"  I did not reply that I made that educated guess because this happens every year.

This year's addressing problem and resultant failed delivery was due to forgetting that an address needed  a number, as in "701". Apparently in a big city simply having a person's name and the name of the street the person lives on is not sufficient information for a successful card delivery.

Every year the missing card gets stuck in a new envelope and re-mailed. It is once again in transit to Texas. Maybe with a full address on the envelope this time.

But, we will not know that until the card arrives...

Apparently A New Version Of The New ISIS Is Threatening To Come Soon To Fort Worth

In the past week or two direct threats to America  have been made by the idiotic barbaric miscreants who have co-opted the relatively sane religion of Islam, whilst Blitzkrieging across Iraq, delusionally thinking they are establishing a medieval caliphate while brutalizing an already brutalized Iraqi population with the worst brutality yet, far out-doing anything of which Saddam Hussein was ever accused.

Or did I miss, among the bogus Bush claims, such as the claim Saddam was hiding weapons of mass destruction, that Saddam also had the heads of little kids chopped off to be displayed in Iraqi city parks?

I know I am totally ignorant about all things political, particularly anything going on anywhere else in the world, but I know I could more willingly get behind the idea of sending in American troops to save little kids from barbaric head chopping monsters than I could get behind the idea of sending in the American troops to rid Iraq of imaginary weapons of mass destruction.

I digress.

So, the leader of the band of barbarians that was calling itself ISIS, before shortening the name to IS, threatened that the barbarians would be visiting America soon, places like New York City and Washington, D. C.

No mention has been made, that I know of, by the barbaric leader of the ISIS barbarians, of a threat to come wreak their warped, sicko brand of havoc on Fort Worth.

However,  today I saw evidence that maybe the ISIS barbarians are much more long term planners of murderous mayhem than anyone has credited them with being.

And that Fort Worth is a target.

How else can one explain the existence of a building in the Fort Worth Stockyards called the New ISIS Theater?

With the New ISIS Theater's billboard threatening, in very fractured English, "COIG ON THE NEW EW ISIS".

Which I translate to be saying, "COMING SOON THE NEW NEW ISIS".

So, the new ISIS is coming soon to Fort Worth? That should put Fort Worth on the national and international radar screen for the first time in its history.

But, I don't think this will likely make other towns, far and wide, green with envy.....

Rolling My Wheels Under A Mysterious Giant Glass Orb In Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area

As you can clearly see I am standing under the mysterious giant glass orb which hovers above a curve in the paved trail in Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

Underneath the mysterious giant glass orb a sign has been installed which says "Village Creek Selfie Photo Op Location".

I may have made up that thing about the selfie sign.

I had myself a mighty fine HOT bike ride with the Village Creek Indian Ghosts today.

Upon arrival at Village Creek, as I was unloading my bike, an Arlington Animal Control Officer arrived in his truck which holds captured critters. Usually it is captured possums I see get released, which is what happened today. Four of the creepy critters. I see this happen so often at this location, it must happen other times when I am not there.

I can not help but wonder how many possums have been released in this natural historical area.

Do possums eat snakes? I rarely see snakes in the Village Creek zone anymore. Years ago I regularly had encounters with all sorts of snakes, including venomous sorts like copperheads.

Upon leaving Village Creek my usual destination of late is ALDI. That was not the case today. My destination was Walmart. Midway to Walmart my phone made its incoming call noise. I could not get to the phone in time to answer it. At a stoplight I found the found the phone and saw it was my mom and dad calling. I called back as I waited for the light to turn from red to green.

As I called back the phone made the incoming call noise again. I got all bum puzzled, but eventually figured out how to answer it, as I was trying to call out. It was my mom, calling a second time.

Every year my mom and dad send me a birthday card. Just about every year the card goes on an adventure that has it not arriving in a timely fashion, which then gets my mom all concerned as to the whereabouts of the tardy card.

I have not checked the mail yet today, so I do not know if the tardy card has arrived.

What I do know is it is now time for lunch....

A Walk Around The Fort Worth Fast Food Ghetto I Call Home

The Fast Food Ghetto I Call Home

I've been a bit too busy of late, and so being sedate and staying near my home zone has more appeal than it usually does.

Translation.

I did not feel like driving anywhere  today to get my regularly scheduled bout of aerobic stimulation with its resultant endorphin bliss.

I was already sort of blissed out due to yet one more early morning  pool bout.

So, today I decided to take a walk through the part of my neighborhood I call the Fast Food Ghetto.

My local FFG took a bit of a hit during the Great Recession. We lost the Super Bowl Buffet, Jim's Pizza and Church's Chicken.

The Super Bowl Buffet was my favorite Asian buffet. I mourned its loss.

In addition to some fast food joints we also lost Metro Liquor, which was located next to Albertsons. I did not mourn the loss of Metro Liquor.

My local Fast Food Ghetto zone is showing many signs of the recovery from the Great Recession. The former Church's Chicken is being turned into a Dickey's Barbecue Pit. I was standing in front of the incoming Dickey's when I took the picture above.

In that picture we are looking at the newly remodeled Wendy's and to Wendy's right, the newly opened Taco Casa.

Upon opening Taco Casa was instantly very popular. Taco Casa has dual drive-thru lanes. I'd not seen that before. I went inside Taco Casa to check out the menu. It appears everything on the menu has ground beef in it. And a lot of cheese. It must be good, there was a double line of vehicles outside and inside all tables were occupied.

The Wendy's remodel gave it a futuristic look. The interior is also futuristic, including an  imaginary fireplace. Last time I was at Fort Worth's booming West 7th restaurant mecca zone I was surprised to see the Wendy's there is still old style. It needs to be updated.

Also in the Fast Food Ghetto, next to the soon to open Dickey's, is Dan's Seafood. To the east of Wendy's we have our neighborhood KFC, which I noticed today is getting spruced up. East of KFC there is a Braum's.

One can get burgers, ice cream and groceries in Braums. I have never been in Braums.

Sadly, the recovery from the Great Recession has not seen a return of the Super Bowl Buffet. The building in which the Super Bowl Buffet was located has now been taken over by Italy Pasta & Pizza.

I can not remember the last time I enjoyed myself pigging out at a Chinese buffet. Where have all the Chinese buffets gone?

A Walk Through The Tandy Hills Jungle With Multiple Hoodoos & No Cicadas

Due to the Hoodoo, well, actually, Hoodoos, you can likely guess that I was back on the Tandy Hills on this 13th day of August.

Have I been on the Tandy Hills already in August? I don't remember.

I headed to the hills today because the relatively chilly temperature in the low 80s had the concept of getting some endorphins via aerobic stimulation sound appealing.

Early this morning I had already had some endorphin acquisition via a long bout in the pool, starting soon after the sun arrived to share illumination duty with a very big  moon.

As you can see there were duo Hoodoos at Hoodoo Central today on the Tandy Hills.

One short stubby Hoodoo with a taller Hoodoo tower towering over the stubby Hoodoo.

I prefer my Hoodoos to be tall, rather than stubby.

The last time I was on the Tandy Hills I was surprised by a new Hoodoo erection on the east side of the hills.

That east side Hoodoo still stands, as you can see above. Have we not had any Hoodoo toppling winds of late?

One thing I noticed today was no cicada noise.

Cicada noise is a good sound effect for a jungle, which had me missing the cicada insect symphony in the video below of today's hike through the Tandy Hills jungle zone.

I Can No Longer Trespass On Fort Worth's Chesapeake Plaza Or Ride The Fort Worth Subway

Today I decided to take one of my semi-regularly scheduled walks around my neighborhood, with Albertsons my eventual destination.

The NO TRESPASSING VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED sign you see on the left has perplexed me for quite some time.

To the east, up the hill to the right of the sign, sits my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy gas pad site.

I have not seen a No Trespassing sign at the Chesapeake gas pad site. So why is there a No Trespassing sign on this vacant lot?

Speaking of Chesapeake Energy. The big Chesapeake news of the day is that Chesapeake Plaza is no more in downtown Fort Worth.

Earlier in this century Pier 1 Imports built a corporate headquarters the company could not afford. So, Pier 1 Imports sold the corporate headquarters it could not afford to Chesapeake Energy, after which Pier 1 Imports leased space from Chesapeake.

At the height of its corruption of the Fort Worth city government, during the reign of gas industry lapdog, Mike Moncrief, Chesapeake Energy pretty much ran a shadow city government out of the building it bought from Pier 1 Imports.

Chesapeake Energy has now fallen on hard times and is selling off assets, including the building it bought from Pier 1 Imports. Chesapeake sold the building to a Houston real estate company named Hines. Hines has renamed Chesapeake Plaza as the Pier 1 Imports Building.

Chesapeake Energy will now lease space from Hines, joining Pier 1 Imports as renters in the building each once owned.

What is the deal with corporations based in Fort Worth building corporate headquarters which soon upon completion the corporation finds out the corporation can not afford?

The worst case of this phenomenon is obviously the Radio Shack Corporate Headquarters fiasco, which eventually morphed with the Tarrant County College downtown campus boondoggle, which had the college buying the Radio Shack Corporate Headquarters to turn into a college for which the building was not designed.

If I remember right Radio Shack now rents space from Tarrant County College in the corporate headquarters Radio Shack could not afford.

American Airlines is based in Fort Worth. It never occurred to me, til now, that I have no idea where the American Airlines Corporate Headquarters is located. Is it out near D/FW airport? I know Fort Worth somehow manages to gerrymander all the way to the south entry to the airport.

Downtown Fort Worth lost a lot when it went along with the Radio Shack Corporate Headquarters fiasco. Eminent domain was abused, tax breaks were given.

But worse than eminent domain abuse and shady tax breaks was the loss of big, free parking lots at the north end of downtown. Along with the big parking lots also lost was the world's shortest subway line. The subway made it so easy to get to the heart of downtown Fort Worth by parking at one of the parking lots and then hopping on the free rickety old subway car that deposited you inside the Tandy Tower.

I seldom go to downtown Fort Worth anymore, what with parking being a nuisance. Before the destruction of the Tandy Subway I frequently frequented downtown Fort Worth. At that point in time a vertical mall actually existed in the Tandy Tower. With an ice rink. I don't think enough people live in downtown Fort Worth for a vertical mall to survive.

Even now, well over a decade later, not enough people live in downtown Fort Worth for the downtown to have a grocery store. Or a department store. Fort Worth's is the only downtown in America, in a town with a population over 500,000, with no department store or grocery store.

Fort Worth's somewhat sleepy downtown would likely be more lively if the Tandy parking lots and subway had not been killed.

What a stupid mistake for a town to make....

Rolling My Wheels In Fort Worth's Gateway Park After A Happy Birthday Mom Call

On this day in August, many decades ago, in a town in Oregon named Eugene, my mom and dad's first baby boy was born.

Which is why on my way to Gateway Park today I called my mom and dad to wish them a happy birthday, well, more my mom, since mom did most of the work on this day, long ago.

I'd not rolled over the Gateway Park mountain bike trails in well over a week, as in, I think, two Saturday's ago.

As you can see, via my favorite photo op location in Gateway Park, the sky is currently mostly cloud free, despite the forecast today for thunderstorms.

With rain.

Yesterday in the afternoon a thunderstorm popped up, with lightning bolts and thunder. But no rain hit the ground at my location. That struck me as odd. I suppose the air is so overheated that falling rain evaporates before it hits the ground, hence the extreme humidity.

Early this morning I was pool bound for almost an hour. I think  that is a record, pool time-wise. And then in the noon time frame I rolled my bike's wheels more miles than any time previous in Gateway Park.

The result of all this excessive aerobicizing is I am currently in a state of Euphoric Endorphin Bliss. Also known as EEB. I do not recollect the last time an EEB  bout was a  blissful as this current EEB bout.

If anyone wants to annoy me, with minimal repercussions, now would be a good time do so, whilst I am in EEB mode....

Celebrating Elsie Hotpepper's Birthday In Arlington On A Village Creek Bike Ride With The Indian Ghosts

Today I celebrated Elsie Hotpepper's 29th birthday the way I celebrate all of Elsie Hotpepper's 29th birthdays.

That is by driving to Arlington to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to roll my wheels with the Indian Ghosts who haunt this location on the planet.

On the way to Village Creek I needed to get gas. After getting gas I did something I'd not done in awhile, as in call my mom to tell mom  I got gas and how much it cost. That and the temperature. We always compare temperatures.

No one answered the mom and dad phone, so I left a message saying I got gas that cost $3.19 and that the temperature was nearing 100.

In the above picture my handlebars have stopped under the shade of a tree near the Village Creek Bayou Overlook. I stopped at this location because I remembered another call I needed to make. That call was not gas related. It was coffee related.

I noticed something just a bit disturbing as I zipped along the Village Creek paved trails. Only a third of August gone and leaves are beginning to fall, a harbinger of the coming fall when all the leaves fall.

I was not the only person aerobicizing today with the Village Creek Indian Ghosts. I saw multiple bikers and walkers and joggers. The heat and the humidity left me a bit dizzy when I rolled my last. I don't get how anyone manages to jog in this HEAT in the midday time frame.

I was feeling a bit light-headed by the time I got to ALDI to get some needed vittles. I was so light-headed I did not realize I'd re-installed my t-shirt incorrectly. I was in line to buy my ALDI stuff when an inquiring lady behind me asked if I knew my shirt was on backwards. I said I did not know this and inquired as to why the lady thought my shirt was on backwards. She then informed me that one does not often see pockets on the backs of t-shirts.

I was planning to go rolling on the Gateway Park mountain bike trails tomorrow. I may re-think that plan....

A 10th Day Of August Elsie Hotpepper Happy Birthday

Elsie With Her Trademark Hotpepper

Years ago, way back in the first decade of this century, there was an incoming email or blog comment, my failing memory can not quite remember which, but the name of the emailer or blog commenter was instantly memorable.

Elsie Hotpepper.

In the years since I have received and sent a lot of emails and text messages to Elsie Hotpepper.

Way back when I first heard from Elsie Hotpepper, and for quite a while after I first heard from Elsie Hotpepper, I thought Miss Hotpepper was an elderly lady. I recollect way back then helping Elsie with something with me thinking what a nice young whipper snapper I am, helping this elderly lady navigate something technical.

I do not know for sure why I figured Elsie Hotpepper to be an octogenarian. Maybe it was the well-composed, articulate, properly punctuated, grammar error free nature of the Elsie emails which had me thinking she was of an older generation.

So, imagine my surprise upon first meeting Elsie Hotpepper in person. I think this occurred either at the Tarrant County Courthouse, the Fort Worth Stockyards or the Ozzie Rabbit Lodge.

I was expecting to meet a little old gray haired lady walking with the assist of a cane when this very young lady walked up to me and introduced herself as Elsie Hotpepper.

I was speechless.

Years later I found myself in a public location with Elsie Hotpepper, manning some sort of information booth, when a guy walked up to chat about the information we were dispensing. At some point this guy said something to Elsie Hotpepper like "it's cool you are doing this with your dad."

Elsie Hotpepper looked at me and I think we laughed simultaneously. The guy who made me Elsie Hotpepper's dad seemed perplexed.

Anyway, today is Elsie Hotpepper's 29th Birthday. Which means Elsie Hotpepper has a few years to go before she becomes that old lady of my imagination.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELSIE HOTPEPPER!!!!