Won't You Please Help Me If You Can I'm Feeling Down?

This morning I found myself saying "One thing for sure, those days are gone, nowadays I'm not so self assured, now I find my mind has changed, help me if you can, I'm feeling down".

Or something like that.

I thought the words coming out of my mouth sounded familiar, then I realized I was channeling 1965 and the Beatles.

Help.

I've decided Help is my new theme song. Partial lyrics below, full song even further below, via YouTube...

Help, I need somebody
Help, not just anybody
Help, you know, I need someone

When I was younger, so much younger than today 
I never needed anybody's help in any way 
But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured 
Now I find, I've changed my mind, I've opened up the doors 

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being 'round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you, please, please help me? 

And now my life has changed in, oh, so many ways 
My independence seems to vanish in the haze 
But every now and then I feel so insecure 
I know that I just need you like I've never done before 

Won't you, please, please help me?
Help me, help me

____________________________________

Speaking of the Beatles and the ways someone can lose face with me.

Years ago I knew a native Texan, born, raised and educated in the Lone Star State, who went to a Beatles tribute concert after which this person, via his blog, opined how surprised he was at all this incredible Beatles music he'd never heard before.

Huh?

I recollect being totally bum puzzled, how anyone on the planet would not be aware of the Beatles  and the impact they had on America and the rest of the world.

I remember expressing my bum puzzlement to the Texan, asking him something like how could he be unaware of the greatest band of the rock and roll era?

The Texan then lost more face by saying something like a greatest band judgement would be  totally subjective, said as if he thought he was making a valid argument.

To which I replied that it is pretty much universally acknowledged that the Beatles are the greatest band of the rock era. I pointed the individual to the Wikipedia article about The Beatles, hoping this would educate the boy.

The Texan then lost more face by making one of those typical dissing Wikipedia remarks, along the line that one can not trust what one reads in Wikipedia due to anyone being able to contribute.

To which I told the Texan to simply look in any other encyclopedia or similar information source and he'd be reading the same thing. Or simply Google "best rock band in history".

The first paragraph of the Wikipedia article about The Beatles...

The Beatles were an English rock band that formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they became widely regarded as the greatest and most influential act of the rock era. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later experimented with several genres, ranging from pop ballads and Indian music to psychedelic and hard rock, often incorporating classical elements in innovative ways. In the early 1960s, their enormous popularity first emerged as "Beatlemania", but as the group's music grew in sophistication, led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, they came to be perceived as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the era's sociocultural revolutions.

And now the aforementioned YouTube video of Help.....

April 25 Historic Tandy Hills Prairie Fest Photo Op

Interesting incoming email from one of Olive the Prairie Dog's housemates, Don Young, about an opportunity to be in a photograph with a horde of North Texas fractivists at the 10th Anniversary Tandy Hills Prairie Fest, next month, on April 25.

The email in its entirety, plus I added Don Young's email address at the end, to help facilitate that RSVP request which is also at the end of the email...

Greetings north Texas Barnett Shale fractivists-

For the past few years I have dreamed of gathering all north Texas fracktivists together at one place and time for a group photo. But the tremendous growth of the movement since 2004 made the the possibility of that happening somewhat daunting.

But I like to dream big, so....with the 10th anniversary of Prairie Fest coming on April 25, the time is right. Are you in?

Why Prairie Fest? As some of you know, Prairie Fest began in 2006 as the first major public event / protest / festival / push-back to bring attention to threatened gas drilling at Tandy Hills Natural Area in Fort Worth. State Rep. Lon Burnam was the keynote speaker. The term, "fracktivist" didn't yet exist but the goal was the same. Keep drilling out of our neighborhoods and raise awareness of the impacts and dangers.

In 2004, a small group of concerned neighbors started the group, Friends of Tandy Hills. We were NIMBY's. After the first ever public protest against fracking and a few key reports by Jeff Prince in the Fort Worth Weekly, Friends of Tandy Hills morphed into FWCANDO (Fort Worth Citizens Against Neighborhood Drilling Operations) and our small group connected up with others in the Barnett, both urban AND rural. Next thing you know, a corp of international media was knocking on my door and a guy named Josh Fox was sleeping on my couch, taking notes about a little film project. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then.

With notable exceptions, victories in the Barnett have been few and far between but, ten years later, awareness has never been greater. Participation in push-back against drilling and fracking is at an all-time high. Organizations and individuals not on-board in 2006 are now leading the charge. Tandy Hills is well protected. Prairie Fest, a solar-powered event, has helped demonstrate the importance of connecting with and protecting the natural world. Friends of Tandy Hills have sponsored field trips for thousands of kids. The tide is turning.

Please join me at Prairie Fest on April 25 for a group photo to celebrate 10 years of fighting the fracking monster. It will be a rare opportunity to meet and make connections with fellow fractivists. A professional photographer will capture the moment. Exact time of photo will be announced soon. I'm making a list of participants so please, spread the word and....

RSVP email

Elsie Hotpepper Is Sad On American Pi Day While I Celebrate With Tuna

This second Saturday of March, one day before the Ides, it is a mostly blue view through my patio prison cell bars.

It is a half hour to go til noon and already the outer world is being heated to near the mid 60s.

Only six days to go til we reach the Vernal Equinox, March 20, the start of Spring.

I am ready to be HOT.

Today is Saturday for most of us, but for Elsie Hotpepper I learned, this morning, that today is Sadurday.

I learned this via an Elsie Hotpepper text message this morning which said "Now I am sad."

Near as I can tell this Hotpepper sadness has something to do with a communication problem.

I really do not see how anyone could possibly be sad today, what with it being American Pi Day.

The Wikipedia article about today's special day confused me. From the paragraph, below,  from that article, I glean that America is the only country in the world that has Pi Day today, due to our contrary dating method, with that being, I guess, one more instance of America going its own rogue way, like not using the metric method or measuring the temperature in Celsius, like most of the rest of the world does.

The date 3/14/15 at 9:26:53.58979... followed the sequence of pi to all digits, using the month/day date format system of dating. If April had 31 days, the holiday would be celebrated in almost all of the world on 31 of April, as USA is the only country that uses the month-day date system.

I first learned today was Pi Day via Facebook, via a Fort Worth skier currently skiing the mountains in the Breckinridge zone of Colorado, who posted that in a pre-Pi Day celebration, last night, he and his ski group had mixed berry pie. And that today, on the actual Pi Day holiday, Pecan Pie would be the Pi Day pie.

I will not be having myself any pie for Pi Day. I will have tuna instead....

Happy Friday The 13th Fellow Paraskevidekatriaphobes

Friday the 13th is not particularly happy at my location today, that is if one happiness is dependent on not being under a gray cloud filled sky that is dripping wet.

I am not a superstitious sort, though, just as I typed that, I did recollect I do seem to knock on wood with some regularity.

The Wikipedia article about the serious subject of Friday the 13th is informative.

For instance, while the number 13 has been associated with bad luck for a long time, combining 13 with Friday is a relatively new superstition, with some confusion as to what got people thinking Friday the 13th is a bad thing, but the idea took hold early in the previous century.

Anyway, with the sky continuing to drip I think I will open my umbrella before exiting my abode to go on a walk under a ladder after spilling some salt and breaking a mirror while looking for an upside down penny to pick up near a black cat....

In Fort Worth Searching For The Wilderness Camp On The Stella Rowan Prairie

The photo you are seeing here would seem to indicate I was back on my favorite prairie in the Texas Prairie and Lake Region today for the first time in several weeks.

Looking across the Texas prairie at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth one might think I was hiking my regular Texas prairie hiking zone, that being the Tandy Hills.

One would be thinking wrong if one was thinking I was hiking the Tandy Hills today.

What you are looking at is the view of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth from the south, looking north; the view from the Tandy hills of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth is from the east, looking west.

The Fort Worth prairie I was hiking on today is known as the Stella Rowan Prairie. I had not heard of this prairie until I happened upon it by accident this morning.

This morning I volunteered to drive Big Ed to an eye doctor appointment, due to the fact that Big Ed currently has trouble driving due to something called cataracts which are in dire need of being operated on.

I dropped off Big Ed at his appointment and then proceeded to check out my location. Soon I saw a  sign that pointed to something called the Wilderness Camp. That sounded intriguing. What type Wilderness Camp might there be in this bustling modern American city where the west is thought to have begun, I wondered to myself?

Following the Wilderness Camp sign soon led me to the sign you see above which had informed me I was looking somewhere on the Stella Rowan Prairie for the Wilderness Camp.

I soon found myself hiking down a long hill, eventually crossing a creek, with the trail dead ending at what I assume was the Wilderness Camp, though no sign indicated such.

The only reference to Wilderness is that which you see here, that being signage informing wilderness seekers that the WILDERNESS AREA CLOSED FROM DUSK UNTIL DAWN. And to do NO DUMPING.

One finds that closed from dusk to dawn sign only after one has gone the distance to reach the wilderness. So, since one would have reached the wilderness is not the wilderness actually open? And really, how is it actually possible to close a wilderness, what with it being a wild zone?

Anyway, I had myself a mighty fine time today hiking in a wilderness and on prairie I had never heard of before.

I doubt I will be back. Big Ed can ride the bus for any future eye doctor appointments at that location.....

Have You Ordered Your Limited Edition Texan Washingtonian T-Shirt Yet?

A few minutes ago I was scrolling down through Facebook and came upon the "Sponsored Post" you see here.

It seems Facebook is getting real good at targeting ads at a specific Facebooker.

Apparently 190 of these "Living in Texas but from Washington" t-shirts have been sold.

I had no idea so many Washingtonians were living in the Lone Star State.

I figured it was only myself, Big Ed and Steve A, from Washington, living in Texas.

If there are 190, or more, of us Washington Exiles, in Texas, maybe we should form some some sort of support group. Maybe a Facebook page.

A support group would likely be a great help in dealing with the culture shock for any new incoming Washingtonians feeling bum puzzled by that which they are experiencing that is so different from the America they knew up in the far northwest.

I know I would have found a support group of fellow Washingtonians helpful early on in my exile in Texas. I probably would have adjusted to the culture shock more quickly if things like The Fort Worth Way had been explained to me way back when I first starting thinking something was not quite right with so many things in so many ways in the new town in which I found myself living....

A Middle Of The Night AccuWeather Wolf Cry Over Possible Fog

Last night I was peacefully horizontal when around 3 in the morning my phone made its incoming message noise.

I opted to ignore the incoming message noise the first time it woke me up, figuring I'd quickly fall back into being peacefully horizontal.

About three minutes later the phone again made its incoming message noise.

I thought to myself this must be something serious with someone desperately trying to get a message to me.

So, I got myself vertical and went searching for the phone. The hunt did not take long.

I woke up the phone and quickly saw the urgent messages were both from AccuWeather, a photo image of which you see here.

Why would this AccuWeather thing think it a good idea to send out two messages in the middle of the night alerting hapless sleepers that a Dense Fog Advisory was in effect?

What is one to do with this advice in the middle of the night?

And now hours after the sun arrived with its incoming illumination possibly impacted by dense fog, I have seen nothing remotely foggy.

I must figure out how to disable fog alerts on the phone before the next instance of AccuWeather crying wolf....

A Tardy Texas Celebration Of National Grammar Day

I did not know until this morning, via Facebook, that grammar had a special day called Grammar Day and that this special day was celebrated last Wednesday, March 4, to be precise.

I do not know how such an important celebration passed by my radar screen without notice.

Apparently National Grammar Day has been observed in America on every 4th of March since 2008.

National Grammar Day was instigated by the founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, Martha Brockenbrough.

I admit I find the careless use of bad grammar to be a bit annoying, with some of that annoyance coming from the fact that many of the bad grammar users seem not to care to learn how to correct their bad grammar.

I also must admit that I have accidented into a bad grammar incident a time or two. I remember one mortifying incident where I typed "your" when "you're" was obviously the word I should have typed.

I've known an individual for whom the misuse of  "your" and other grammar mistakes is like a fingerprint, identifying her when she thinks she is being anonymous.

In tardy celebration of National Grammar Day below you will find a collection of amusing grammar memes I found Googling this morning....

I really do not think one accidental typo type misuse of "your" indicates someone is an idiot. I do, however, think chronically making this mistake is a strong indicator of a very low IQ.

Yikes, I think that is true of me. I do make a judgement about someone if they use bad grammar, as in I devalue whatever it is they are trying to incompetently say. Meanwhile I am 100% judgement free when it comes to race, creed, color or gender.

The same people who don't get how it is that "your" is not the word they should be using likely will not get what the above comma is doing.

That same "your" type grammar confuser likely will not get the above comma either. Usually when a person is grammar challenged the problem is not just one chronic misuse, like "your".

Woman and women come to mind.

I recollect one grammar challenged person's verbiage using a line, directed at a single female, typing "I am sure your a fine women."

There you go. Above is another classic example of the type word those challenged by "your" also mess up.

I wonder how many hunters thought the above sign was giving them permission to hide in the bushes whilst hunting pedestrians walking the trail?

One would think the above makes the point clearly enough that one of those "your" challenged, I mean "you're" challenged, sorts would finally figure it out.

Finally we come to my favorite grammar meme I found this morning...

Wading My Stir Crazy Skinny Self To Miss Puerto Rico's Rainy View

This day in Texas would be one to make me homesick for my old home zone if I were missing a stereotypical Western Washington winter day of dark clouds and slow rain with extreme dampness.

Seems like only yesterday, but I think it was Friday, I took a blue sky photo of the view from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony.

What you are looking at here is the view today, a few minutes ago, from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony.

No, I did not use what is known locally as Luenser filter to distort what my eyes were really seeing. I don't know how to use such a filter. The above is what my camera saw with no help from me except to turn it on, aim and push a button.

It felt good to put on a raincoat and go for a walk under the dripping sky. I'd not done such in quite a while, sans bumbershoot.

I was feeling a bit stir crazy, cooped up, mostly from way too many hours of seeing meta-tags, viewports and misbehaving DOCTYPE declarations.

Changing the subject from misbehaving DOCTYPE declarations to something else.

Today I got on the scale for the first time in awhile. I'd noticed of late that any pair of pants I put on are extremely comfortable, with my favorite pairs requiring severe belt cinching to keep the pants aloft.

Well.

I do not remember when it was I realized I had once again put on too much weight. But it was well over a year ago. At that point in time I got on a scale, struggled to look down over my swollen gut to see the scale read 217.

That's pretty heavy for a short guy like me.

So, today I got on the scale and was easily able to read the reading with no swollen guttage getting in the way. That reading read 179.

Just a second, I must get a calculator, challenged as I am at high level math.

217 - 179 =

Found the calculator.

38 pounds. There are almost 40 pounds less of me than when I was a swollen blimp.

Don't ask me how I managed to lose so much weight. It ain't like I've been on a diet. I do eat nutritiously though. And I don't indulge. When I found I'd become a blimp I did cease buying things like butter and peanuts.

I am a bit concerned that the pool is going to feel more cool to me than when I was better insulated. I suppose I will adjust...

A Day Late Happy 8th Birthday To Spencer Jack

Yesterday was my one and only great nephew, Spencer Jack's, 8th birthday.

This morning when I checked in on my email I found that last night Spencer Jack's dad had emailed me with an account of Spencer Jack's 8th birthday, including some not too subtle humble bragging about Washington's balmy weather.

The subject line of the email: March 7th:  a special date in the Jones family tree

The message in the email in its entirety...

Spencer Jack Jones turned 8 today.

Born  3/7/07 at 3:06 p.m.   Making Jones family history as the first official 'great' nephew.

He woke me up this morning shortly after 6 a.m., despite going to bed very late the night before.

He was very excited to celebrate his arrival anniversary.

Soon Spencer convinced me that sleeping in wasn't an option. We looked out the bedroom window and realized it was another sunny 60 degree warm Washington winter day.

We both quickly showered and dressed and were out the door. I grabbed my camera for a photo of Spencer on his 8th year on earth in the Skagit Valley.

With sunglasses in hand, almost a Skagit Valley necessity these days, we parked the car and watched the sun rise over the Skagit River.

Beautiful sunrise.

Spencer had plans of meeting a few of his classmates for a fun Saturday birthday party event at a newly opened trampoline gymnastic type of kid center in Bellingham.

He was so looking forward to such!

He just had one unpleasant thing to do prior to that. That would have been his Saturday morning indoor soccer game. He fights sports a lot. And prefers other activities. But he knew he had to go.

I was more than amused after dropping him off at such, when I got the news that Spencer had been officially 'kicked out' of his soccer game today by the referring official.

I don't believe he was the first of the Jones family be asked to leave a sporting event. Maybe just the youngest.  

I have personally witnessed his Grandpa being tossed from a game. And have heard stories of his great youngest Aunt being asked to leave as well. And I do believe that there is a few stories of your dad arguing balls and strikes with umpires over the years.

Nonetheless, Spencer doesn't argue with umpires.

His dad just forgot to make him wear his shin guards to the game. Which means he couldn't play today.

He wasn't upset at all. He may forget them next week.

This kid has different priorities. This week, he was selected by the school to spend a day at the Skagit Valley College to participate in their 'young authors' program.

This dad is proud of his 8 year old.

I suppose learning how to write my advance him in the world a little more than kicking a ball.

But just like Spencer, I think a little different than most.