Today Mr. Ed Took A Bloody Bad Tandy Tumble

The Tandy Hills turned bloody today for Mr. Ed.

I think I may have mentioned previously that I usually excuse my way out of taking Mr. Ed anywhere where being coordinated, direction-wise and other-wise, is an asset.

The last time I agreed to take Mr. Ed on a Tandy Hills hiking expedition he got lost.

I did not witness it, due to being on the opposite side of the hills, but today Mr. Ed apparently took a spectacular tumble on the trail which heads west from Tandy Falls, resulting in bloody knees, butt bruising, face lacerations and hand palm cuts.

Mr. Ed only agreed to have the hand palm cuts photographed for documentation purposes.

Mr. Ed may be being extra clumsy due to having impaired eyesight, scheduled to be fixed early in the morning of October 2 via cataract surgery.

Speaking of clumsy. I have gone hiking and biking with some clumsy people. Gar the Texan comes to mind.

The last time I ever went mountain biking with Gar the Texan he had one of the most spectacular bike wrecks I have witnessed. It was on the Horseshoe Trails at Lake Grapevine. We were pedaling merrily along when suddenly Gar the Texan lost control on a downhill section. He flew over the handlebars, did a roll, rather gracefully gymnastically, I must admit, and then came to a stop. He was quite shaken, with this putting an end to that mountain bike ride.

I just realized not only was Horseshoe Trails the last place I mountain biked with Gar the Texan, it was also the last place I mountain biked with Mr. Ed. Mr. Ed was pedaling merrily along when somehow the bottom of his shorts got hooked on the bike pedal, ripping the shorts, causing a wreck. This put an end to Mr. Ed's mountain bike riding. The bike went into isolated seclusion in Nurse Martha's garage.

Tomorrow I think I will go jogging in Arlington at the Village Creek Natural Historical Area, alone, except for the Indian Ghosts.....

The Tallest Non-NYC Skyscraper In The World Was Built In Four Years 100 Years Ago

A couple days ago, in a blogging about the Dallas skyline being the best in the world, somehow mention was made of Seattle's Smith Tower.

Regarding Seattle's Smith Tower, Mr. Steve A made a comment...

Steve A has left a new comment on your post "This Morning I Learned The Dallas Skyline Is The Best In The World":

Speaking of the Smith Tower, according to "Eccentric Seattle," it was the tallest building in the world outside of New York City at the time it was built. Even including NYC, it was the 4th tallest. Even it was built quicker than the FW bridges. 

I did not know the Smith Tower was the tallest building in the world, outside NYC, when it was built. I did know the Smith Tower was the tallest building west of the Mississippi until a taller building was built in Kansas City in 1931.

The Smith Tower remained the tallest building on the West Coast until the Space Needle came to town in 1962.

The Smith Tower is a 38 story, 489 foot tall tower.

Steve A's comment caused me to decide to add the Smith Tower to our popular series of bloggings about feats of engineering which took four years or less to complete.

For those new to the program, we are looking at feats of engineering which took four years or less to complete due to our utter amazement that America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle is building three simple little bridges, over dry land, with a four year construction timeline, connecting the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

As you can see via the graphic above, gleaned from Wikipedia, the Smith Tower began to rise from the ground in 1910, completed in 1914. I am terrible at math, but that seems like a four year construction timeline to me. To build what was then the tallest skyscraper in the world, other than those located in New York City.

The Smith Tower has a very good Smith Tower website, where you can learn all about the Chinese Room, the observation deck and see an interesting illustration where you see what the Smith Tower looked like when it was the only skyscraper in town. And what it looks now, dwarfed by its new neighbors.

I found a Seattle skyline image that shows you the Smith Tower and its new neighbors.

The Smith Tower is that structure at the far right of the photo. As you can see, even at 489 feet, it is a midget next to the new kids on the block.

As you can also see, the Space Needle is at the far left, a distance away from the downtown Seattle skyscrapers. Way too many photos of the Seattle skyline indulge in what we in Fort Worth call the Brian Luenser effect, as in distorted images that give a false impression.

Most photos of the Seattle skyline make it look as if the Space Needle is the tallest structure, and that Mount Rainier is hovering real close.

Are any of Fort Worth's skyscrapers as tall as the Smith Tower? I have no idea.....

Jogging Around Fort Worth's Fosdick Lake With The Duck Whisperer

When I arrived at Oakland Lake Park today to jog around Fosdick Lake the Shady Lady you see here was sitting in the shade of a leafy tree being a Duck Whisperer.

When the jogging was over the Shady Lady was still in Duck Whisperer mode, which is when I took the picture you see here, with the Shady Lady using hand gesturing, along with whispering to make the ducks do her bidding.

That and eat her birdseed.

Decades ago, when I first developed a jogging habit I remember it did not go well at first. I could run only a block or two. I kept at it, and even though it is a long time ago, and my memory may be faulty, I'm fairly certain within a relatively short time running a block or two turned into a mile or two or three or more.

Well, today I was very surprised to find myself jogging all the way around Fosdick Lake without stopping to catch my breath. I jogged the perimeter of the park, mostly on grass, not the paved trail. And then when I got to Fosdick Dam, where a cool breeze was blowing off the lake, I switched from jog mode to run fast as I can mode the length of the dam.

This jogging thing causes an endorphin dose which seems much stronger than I get from hill hiking or mountain biking. It is that endorphin dose which can make something like jogging addictive. Hours later and I am still in a good relaxed mood.

This morning the pool was cool for the first time in a long time. I don't know how cold the temperature dipped to overnight. I suspect somewhere in the 60s. Cold enough to chill the pool water. I prefer the cool pool to the too warm pool that multiple days above 100 creates.

This morning Mr. Steve A made a blog comment which has pointed me to yet one more feat of engineering completed in four years, or less. I will likely wait til tomorrow to add this to my popular series of bloggings about feats of engineering, usually bridges, built in four years or less.

For those new to the program, this look at feats of engineering completed in four years or less is in response to the embarrassing fact that America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle, is currently building three simple, little bridges, over dry land, to connect the mainland to an imaginary island, with a  four year construction timeline.

The latest blogging about a feat of engineering built in four years or less will not be about a bridge. It will be about a skyscraper.

This Morning I Learned The Dallas Skyline Is The Best In The World

No explanation is needed to explain that what you are looking at here is the internationally recognized stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, as seen from the old wagon trail that heads west from the top of Mount Tandy to where the west supposedly began.

This morning whilst listening to The Bert Show on the radio Bert out of the blue said something about some international survey had picked the Dallas skyline as the best in the world.

Bert seemed a bit bum puzzled by this, naming off some other cities one might think would be more recognized, like New York City or Paris. Actually I think Bert only mentioned Paris, because I recollect thinking to myself does Paris have an internationally recognized skyline other than that big tower that towers high above all that surrounds it.

Soon after learning from Bert that Dallas has the world's Best Skyline I Googled "Dallas skyline" to quickly learn that this skyline survey happened a year ago, some joint operation between USA TODAY and something called 10Best picking the Best International Skyline.

If this was a USA TODAY operation would that not tend to skew the results to being American skylines, I thought to myself. Then I clicked the link to the 10Best article about the Best International Skylines to see the entire Top Ten.

1. Dallas
2. Chicago
3. Rio de Janeiro
4. Toronto
5. New York
6. Washington, D.C.
7. St. Louis
8. Hong Kong
9. San Francisco
10. Seattle

What about Tokyo? Vancouver? Sydney? Kuala Lumpur? And no town in Europe has an internationally recognized skyline?

And what about Fort Worth? How can Fort Worth not be on this list? Show a photo of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth to just about anyone in the world and they are going to instantly be able to tell you what town they are looking at, what with its iconic tower and skyscrapers.

From the USA TODAY 10Best article let's look at the skyline photos used for Dallas and Seattle and the accompanying explanatory blurb.

"Dallas became initially identifiable by the opening credits of an infamous '80s TV show," says expert Preston Kissman. "The contemporary Dallas skyline tells a story of big banking, big oil, big money, and the occasional big bust." James Adams add, "Dallas has continued to stay flashy. Controversially, it has done this not with the height or style of its newest architecture, but rather through an internal race to adorn its existing and new icons with colorful interactive lighting that cannot be ignored."  

Where is this view of the skyline of Dallas looking across what looks like a big lake? Or is that the Trinity River? That is not the iconic view of the Dallas skyline as seen on the infamous soap opera's opening credits. You need to shift the view to the left for that, so as to get a more straight on look at the Reunion Tower.

And now the #10 Best International Skyline.

Mt. Rainier appears in the distance, looming behind the cosmopolitan Seattle skyline, giving this city a connection with the outdoors that's as refreshing as a cool breeze," says our expert Preston Kissman.  The Space Needle adds to the list of reasons this USA skyline is beloved and identifiable. 

Visit downtown Dallas and you really do not see much water, certainly not the view you see in the Dallas skyline photo above.

Visit downtown Seattle and you are surrounded by water. Elliot Bay and Puget Sound to the right, in the photo, Lake Union to the left, Lake Washington further to the left. Yet we see no water in this photo of the Seattle skyline. If you visit Seattle you also will not see the Space Needle towering over the skyline like you see above, because the Space Needle does not tower above the skyline. I think you have to be on Queen Anne Hill and use a telephoto lens to create what is known as the Frasier view of downtown Seattle. The structure to the far right of the Space Needle is now known as Key Arena. During the World's Fair it was the Washington State Pavilion.

I think it was likely the Seattle World's Fair that amped up Seattle's world wide recognition. At that point in time, 1962, the Smith Tower and the Space Needle were the tallest structures in town. There were no skyscrapers. A few years after the World's Fair ended what was then known as the Seafirst Tower became Seattle's first modern skyscraper. It looked a bit ridiculous, standing all alone. It was quickly referred to as the Box the Needle came in.

The Seafirst Tower was not alone for long. By the end of the 1960s Seattle had a skyline of skyscrapers.

Maybe Fort Worth could host a World's Fair. Wouldn't that be something? Maybe to celebrate the completion of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision, also known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, if that much needed economic and flood control development is ever completed.

Then again, a World's Fair does not always bring about earth shaking changes to the town it takes place in. San Antonio had a World's Fair a few years after Seattle's, with the San Antonio World's Fair also featuring a tower with a rotating restaurant, I think, at the top. I don't think many people world-wide recognize the Tower of the Americas and associate it with San Antonio.

Vancouver had the last successful World's Fair in North America, way back in 1986. Vancouver was left with some remarkable structures, one of which is now a cruise ship terminal, but nothing that has become an iconic symbol of Vancouver. Vancouver is on the world's radar though, maybe not so much for its recognized skyline, but for hosting the aforementioned successful World's Fair, that and hosting a successful Winter Olympics.

Maybe Fort Worth could make a bid to host a Winter Olympics, have a successful hosting, and thus gain itself some international recognition. Yes, I can really see that happening. Just like I can really see America's Biggest Boondoggle coming to any sort of fruitful fruition....

Does Mike Huckabee Serve Bigoted White Christians Only?

I saw that which you see above on Facebook. I do not know if any of this collection of signs came from Texas. Only one of these signs identifies the state, that being the sign on the lower left, with the sign saying....

NORTH CAROLINA LAW

White Patrons Please Seat From Front

Colored Patrons Please Seat From Rear

NO SMOKING

While there is still plenty of stupid bigotry spewed by stupid bigots in these United States of America, it is just a little encouraging to realize it used to be a lot worse.

Then again, currently we have presidential wannabes, like Mike Huckabee, spouting incredible stupidity, such as being so stupid he thinks the Supreme Court's Dred Scott Decision, from way back before the Civil War, is still applicable, and that modern America is ignoring that decision, just like modern Americans should have the right to ignore the SCOTUS ruling on marriage equality.

Why has Mike Huckabee not been laughed out of contention?

And then there is Donald Trump. A couple of the above signs make Mexicans the bad guys. Just like Donald Trump currently does. While I don't think The Donald has suggested Mexicans should not be allowed to eat in American restaurants, what has come out of The Donald's mouth regarding Mexicans is some pretty ugly verbiage.

Anyway, the above signs sort of give some encouragement that stupid bigotry has been somewhat toned down, with the vast majority of Americans embarrassed by such stupidity.

But, as evidenced by the ongoing Kim Davis debacle, though a minority, it is clear there are still way too many bigoted Americans too stupid to realize, or understand, that they should be embarrassed...

Jogging With A Village Creek Indian Ghost On My Shoulder Looking For An Enchanted Rock

I had myself a mighty fun run today with the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

I stopped briefly at the Village Creek Giant Round Mirror to take a picture of me taking a picture.

In the picture you can clearly see one of the Village Creek Indian Ghosts hovering slightly above my left shoulder.

I am being more than a little surprised at how quickly I have gotten myself back in jogging mode.

Running really is about the most natural exercise a human can do. We are engineered to run. Way back, eons of evolution ago, humans had to be able to run in order to escape from whatever was giving chase, or chase whatever one wanted to cook for dinner.

I estimate today's jogging ran for about 3  miles. I don't jog non-stop. I take walking breaks.

A couple years ago I tried to re-start jogging, but my feet were quickly sore and my knee joints were not liking it. I thought maybe I was becoming arthritic. That ailment runs in the family. So I abandoned that attempt.

I've been sort of surprised that I've had no aches or pains or strains from this new bout of running. I suspect the reason is I was already in good shape due to biking and hill hiking. But, I was doing both back when I aborted my former attempt to re-start jogging. It's perplexing.

Anyway.

When I was done running with the Indian Ghosts I sat myself at a picnic table and called my mom. I forgot to call when I got gas a couple days ago to tell mom it was $1.89. Before calling I usually send a text message to the phone my dad monitors, texting "you kids home and by the phone?". To which my dad replies "yes" or "no".

So, today I nixed the pre-ma call text message, due to being out in the bright light of the sun rendering it more difficult to see so I called the mom and dad landline directly. Mom answered on ring two.

My ma is still in recovery mode from the recent melanoma surgery, trouble sleeping, still painful, but was sounding quite chipper and perky today.

I think this is the weekend one of my PNW friends, Maxine, is hiking over Cascade Pass to Stehekin. Washington's wildfires had been wreaking all sorts of havoc with the hiking plans. But, the wildfires have died down, for the most part, so I'm assuming the Cascade Pass option was back on, rather than the back up, take the Lady of the Lake to Stehekin, option, an option with all sorts of logistic problems.

Maxine's weekly Cascade hiking tales have me thinking it would be fun to once again do the semi-mountain hike closest to my current location, that being the hike to the summit of Enchanted Rock, down south in Texas Hill Country.

In the meantime I'll probably visit the Tandy Hills tomorrow. They ain't no Cascades, or Enchanted Rock, but one takes what one can when and where one can.....

Natural Air Conditioning Has Arrived In Texas

As I sit here shivering on this second Sunday of September I saw that which you see here on Facebook this morning.

Currently the temperature is not even in the 80s, hence even greater excitement. Currently the temperature is barely into the 70s at 73.

Over night the low was somewhere in the 60s.

Windows are open, no ceiling fans are spinning.

The long HOT sizzling summer seems to be fizzling in to fall.

I suspect there shall be a HOT day or two to come, before the Iceman Cometh in a couple months.

In the meantime I am going to go on a cool jog with the Village Creek Indian Ghosts today.

The Shadow Of The Tandy Hills Thin Man Enjoying Cool Hill Hiking With Beef Stroganoff

Yes, that is the Shadow of the Tandy Hills One-Armed Thin Man you are looking at here.

It is Saturday, with hill hiking the Tandy Hills being my fall back aerobic activity when I can't think of anything better to do to acquire much needed endorphins.

Even though rain fell a couple days ago, I encountered nothing muddy today on the hills. The drought-caused fissures in the trails shrunk a little, post-rain.

The biggest trail improvement I came upon today was the log which, for years, has blocked the trail that leads from Tandy Falls, north to the View Street Trail, has been chainsawed into oblivion.

I do not remember the last time hill hiking was done at such a pleasant temperature as today. Barely 80. With a strong wind.

The only hill hikers I saw today, besides my own shadow, were a young couple with a couple dogs. I encountered them twice. On the second encounter I opined as to what a perfect day it is being, almost cold. To which the guy of the pair said it's almost like a Texas winter day. To which I agreed, saying something like, yeah, those Texas winter days that are not in ice storm mode.

Town Talk is no longer my go to place when I go to the Tandy Hills on Saturday. My new Town Talk visit policy is I go there if I am already in the neighborhood, I don't drive out of my way to go to Town Talk. But, if I am on Beach Street and am driving by, I will stop. Maybe.

I read on the Town Talk website that a new owner took over in 2013. I wonder if that is what has caused the changes, with so much less treasure to be found when one goes treasure hunting at Town Talk.

Having said that I must admit I have been liking the Italian sausage and whole wheat pita bread I got the last time I was at Town Talk, a couple weeks ago.

It is now time for lunch. Beef Stroganoff. I've been feeling Russian lately....

Remembering 9/11 Fourteen Years Ago Put Me In A Foul Mood Today

Before you read any further, be warned, I am in a foul mood and I am about to let my stream of consciousness flow, with no clear idea where that flow is going to go.

How can it already be 14 years since 9/11 became yet one more date which will likely live on in infamy?

I do not know why it annoyed me, well, except, maybe, due to the craven obviousness, but this morning, on Facebook, I found the multiple exhortations from various Friends to "Never Forget", "To Always Remember", with multiple variations of such, most with the twin towers burning and an eagle part of the image, to be annoying.

Do we really need to be advised to never forget and to always remember something which is etched forever in the memory of us who were alive that shocking morning?

I will never forget getting a call from Dallas, telling me the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. I knew the caller was calling from near the Dallas World Trade Center. So, I assumed it was the Dallas World Trade Center we were talking about.

I turned on the TV just as the second plane hit the second tower, not in Dallas, but in New York City. I sat staring at the tube, shocked. When I realized both towers had been hit I realized this was no accident, that America was under attack.

I then began waking up people on the west coast, telling them they needed to get up and turn on their TVs.

Oddly, all these years later, many of those I called that morning no longer live on the west coast. The number of people I would call on the west coast, now, in a similar circumstance, has dwindled to a couple nephews and a few others.

I digress.

I thought maybe going jogging and the resulting endorphins might shake me out of my foul mood. So, I drove a couple miles west to park on the Quanah Parker Park parking lot.

Before I started running I walked under the shade of one of the world's biggest pecan trees and took the picture you see above. Big trees ooze negative ions which make one feel good, like how the negative ion spewing ocean makes one feel.

The Quanah Parker Park big pecan tree did not have that salubrious negative ion effect on me today. Maybe it takes a forest.

So, I continued on with the jogging.

As I ran along my thoughts drifted to being annoyed at what has happened after 9/11, after George W. Bush informed those who knocked down the towers that they would be hearing from all of us soon.

What the world ended up hearing from us ain't pretty.

After 9/11 America invaded Iraq for reasons which should be investigated, in a much more needed and much more valid investigation than the absurd Republican fixation on Benghazi, with the perps who instigated the crime, tried, convicted and jailed. Iraq is a country which had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, the invasion eventually left not only Iraq destabilized, but the entire Middle East in worse shape than it was pre-9/11.

The country we pseudo-liberated is now largely taken over by a terrorist group from hell. A group which has beheaded who knows how many innocents. Which executes young boys for watching soccer. Which rapes women, turning them into slaves. Throws suspected gays off roofs  and commits atrocity after atrocity which has mortified and horrified the world.

Yet little has been done.

We invaded a sovereign nation, toppled its ruler, had him executed, eventually left that nation in an unstable condition, hence the rise of ISIS.

And now with ISIS, a scary threat far worse than Saddam Hussein ever dreamed of being, who presented no real threat to the U.S. or the world, in this century, due to being de-fanged after the first Iraq War, the supposedly civilized part of the world is basically doing nothing, in a meaningful way, to put ISIS out of the world's misery.

Where are the UN Security Council meetings on ISIS?

So much was lost in so many ways in the taking down of Saddam Hussein,  who presented no real threat. And then something comes along, ISIS, that is not a potential threat, but is an actual real present threat.

And nothing is done, for the most part, except  for drone strikes and some attempts by the Iraqis and Kurds to push ISIS out of their territory.

It's like how the world dithered while Hitler's madness fed on itself as he took over one area after another until he went too far by invading Poland.

I really don't know how anyone can think back on that day 14 years ago and not be appalled by what has been wrought in the aftermath. Not exactly the happy ending the world and America had in 1945, when only a little more than three years after America entered World War II the fascist menace to the world was exterminated.

Somehow it seems that putting an end to the terrorist/ISIS menace should be a much easier task than taking down the Nazis and the Japanese.

Instead the world dithers......

Fosdick Lake Fishing & Stair Climbing Pondering A Mysterious Geyser With Precarious Water Tank Painting

When I exited my abode a little after 11, this morning, to drive to Oakland Lake Park, the temperature was 81, the air felt pleasant, leading me to think I was going to have myself a mighty fine time running up and down the Fosdick Stairs and across Fosdick Dam, without overheating.

Well.

Fosdick Lake is only about three miles west of my abode. Somehow in those three miles the temperature jumped almost 10 degrees, causing HOT shock when I exited the air-conditioned comfort of my vehicle.

HOT, with no air moving and humid, extremely humid, due to the copious amount of rain which fell yesterday.

As you can see above, being a little warm did not stop the Fosdick Fishermen from doing their shady angling, under the sun blocking protection of a couple shoreline trees.

As you can also see above, the mysterious Fosdick Geyser continues to burble non stop. The Fosdick Geyser first appeared a couple years ago, at that point in time it was erupting in full fountain mode. Then it disappeared for a long time, and then re-appeared as a burbling geyser.

I have yet to learn how it was the Fosdick Geyser went into eruption mode, suddenly appearing, with no plumbing work in evidence, leading to the eruption.

As I ran around Fosdick Lake today the newly painted big blue water tank I have mentioned previously kept coming in to view. From the Fosdick Lake angle the tank looked totally painted, but I kept seeing what looked like a person, on top, standing, never moving.

On the drive away from Fosdick Lake, when I was on the opposite side of the tank from the Fosdick  Lake view, I stopped to take a picture.

One guy was standing at the very top, secure behind what looked like a circle of fence. The other guy was painting. You can not see it in the picture, but the guy painting was tethered to a rope that was attached to something inside the circle of fence.

My empathy acrophobia kicked in watching the guy doing the painting.

I could not figure out how the paint was being delivered to the stick that the painter was using to apply the paint. And how was the Fort Worth logo applied? The logo is on the other side, as well, that being the view from Fosdick Lake.

Soon after the blue water tank disappeared from my rear view mirror I got gas.

$1.89 a gallon at Exxon on Randol Mill Road and 820. I need to call my mom......