The Tired Shadow Of The Tandy Hills Thin Man Looking For Little Caesar's And A Greek Pizza

That is the Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man you are looking at here, with his walking and snake whacking stick in upright position.

This morning whilst in the pool, well before dawn, I swam in the darkness and thought to myself I really do not get enough exercise.

Hence today's return to the Tandy Hills. My last time trying to hike the hills was on Saturday. That attempt was aborted due to rain.

I had myself a bad bout of insomnia last night. I never nodded off til well past midnight and then woke up over and over again due to scary nightmares, with the same nightmare starting up again every time I fell back asleep.

Basically the short version is today I am an exhausted, yawning mess.

Yawning is a rarity for me. It is sort of embarrassing. During one of today's yawning bouts I fear I troubled the person I was talking to, due to an assumption being made that I was bored. And so yawning. I think I had explained to this person that I was sleep deprived, but I'm too tired to remember.

Anyway, the hill hiking went well. By the time I hiked back to the summit of Mount Tandy I was feeling rejuvenated.

Pizza is baking in the oven.

A couple weeks ago, at Town Talk, I found myself some oversized whole wheat pitas. I then discovered the pitas make excellent pizza crusts.

Pizza is so easy to make I don't know why anyone would go the bother of having Domino's deliver one of their bad pizzas. Or Papa John's.

Now if Little Caesar's delivered and if the Little Caesar's in Texas had the Greek Pizza like the Little Caesar's had in Washington, well I would find myself having a pizza delivered, every once in awhile. How come the Little Caesar's Texas pizza menu is so, well, bland?

Anyway, the pizza bell just rang. I'm both hungry and very sleepy.....

Maclura Pomifera Almost Knocked Me Out Today Jogging With Indian Ghosts

That is a Maclura Pomifera you see me holding. More on that later.

Today, as I rolled along on my way to Arlington to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area for my regularly scheduled Sunday jog with the Indian Ghosts who haunt this location, I had the radio playing loud.

The vehicle has six speakers, so sound sounds like it is coming from multiple directions. As I waited for a light to turn green suddenly sound seemed to be coming out of my jogging pants pocket.

After a few seconds of being puzzled by the sound I realized it was my phone. I struggled to extract the phone from the pocket. By the time I freed the phone and touched the screen I think I rejected the call. I then saw the rejected call was from Spencer Jack's dad, he being my Favorite Nephew Jason.

I got to Village Creek and text messaged Jason explaining the phone answering debacle and that I was about to go jogging for a few miles.

Shortly before taking the picture you see above the phone made its incoming text message noise. I stopped jogging under some shade to soon find myself reading the following text message from the aforementioned Jason...

Having lunch at the Reading Railroad Terminal Market. The Amish lunch makers apparently don't work Sunday's, so I had to settle for an antipasto salad. Off to the Wanamaker building to hear the organ. Call back after you have completed your marathon training, if desired.

As I read Jason's text message I was almost clobbered by that green thing you see me holding. This is the time of year these delicious looking pieces of tree fruit fall to the ground. Maclura Pomifera is this fruit's fancy name. It is also known as Osage orange, horse apple, hedge apple, bois d'arc, bodark and monkey ball.

Monkey ball?

I gleaned this monkey ball info from the Wikipedia article about the serious Maclura Pomifera issue.

When I was finished with the jogging, which, incidentally, went well today, and was back in air-conditioned vehicular comfort I called Jason. The call went to voice mail. I left a message, then headed for home. A mile later Jason called back. Sounds like he's having himself a mighty fine time in Philadelphia, going to museums, visiting Benjamin Franklin's grave, having lunch (yesterday) with some friendly Amish Dutch girls and other stuff I am not remembering.

Spencer Jack's Dad & Favorite Uncle's Philadelphia Visit With The Pope

Just yesterday I asked Spencer Jack's dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason, aka FNJ, if he was planning on seeing the Pope when the Pope came to town.

FNJ said no to the Papal visit.

So, what do I find in my incoming email this afternoon?

A photo of Spencer Jack's dad with the Pope.

In addition to the photo of the Pope there was another photo, with that one being FNJ with what looks like the Liberty Bell behind him.

The text in the email said....

Toured the Liberty Bell, not covered in snow, this afternoon with FNJoey after taking a picture with the Pope.

So, if FNJ is in Philadelphia apparently he took his little brother, he being Spencer Jack's Favorite Uncle and my Favorite Nephew, Joey, aka FNJ2, along.

I didn't think one was allowed to get as close as FNJ appears to be to the cracked Liberty Bell.

And why are there no pictures of FNJ2?

The Liberty Bell photo appears to be a selfie, taken by Jason of himself and the cracked bell. The Pope photo does not appear to be a selfie, which might indicate FNJ2 took the picture.

Two days ago FNJ implied, with tricky verbiage, that the next day he was heading over the newly re-opened North Cascades Pass, driving by Liberty Bell Mountain, to check out the remains of the Eastern Washington wildfires.

Below is the part of the original Liberty Bell text message which did not seem to indicate it was to Eastern Pennsylvania FNJ was heading....

Heard the east is much warmer. 85 degrees daytime high. Looking forward to such. As I am going to visit Liberty Bell tomorrow. Wish me a safe journey. Will for sure share new photo documentation of the Liberty Bell, and post the Eastern Washington devastating fires. -FNJ

I am guessing that FNJ thought he would be able to take some Eastern Washington wildfire photos whilst flying over them. That plan may have gone awry due to cloud cover or the route not flying over anything burned or burning.

Anyway, I guess I really don't know where FNJ and FNJ2 are. I am fairly certain I know where FNJ3, my Favorite Nephew Jeremy, is, as in somewhere in the Phoenix metro zone, likely Tempe.

I wonder if Jason invited the Pope to visit Spencer Jack's school in Mount Vernon. Spencer Jack's school is called Immaculate Conception. I am almost 100% this is a Catholic school. I know it's not Lutheran....

A Wet Tandy Hills Leads To America's Biggest Boondoggle In Gateway Park

From looking at this picture the one regular reader of this blog might guess I went hill hiking on the Tandy Hills on this next to last Saturday of September.

Well.

No hill hiking happened.

In this view we are hiking on to the Tandy Hills from View Street, looking north. The summit of Mount Tandy is to the right.

Soon upon arrival the rain that was already dripping at my home location had begun to arrive at the Tandy Hills. So, I decided to abort and continue on to Gateway Park, and then Town Talk.

I entered Gateway Park via the Beach Street entrance. This brought me to that which you see below.

The last time I visited the above location I saw that the boarded up boardwalk overlook eyesore had been mostly removed. Now it appears construction of the new overlook is underway.

I walked down the closed paved trail to see if the new trail bridges were yet built. Well, some sort of cement foundation has been laid. And further along I came to new paved trail, replacing the paved trail  that had been damaged for years by a flooding Trinity River.

All this Gateway Park construction is part of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision, also known as America's Biggest  Boondoggle.

Near where I parked there were two signs. The  first of which had information on it I'd never seen associated with anything to do with America's Biggest Boondoggle.

A project completion date. As you can see above the sign says SCHEDULE COMPLETION DATE DECEMBER 2015. Seems that they'd need to get real busy if this is to be finished in December.

Below is a close up look at the sign you see in the upper right of the above picture.

Some people who are not from around here think I make up that long name for America's Biggest Boondoggle. As you can see above that sign pretty much covers it all, Trinity River Vision-Central City Uptown. The only part missing is the newest name for The Boondoggle, Panther Island.

Town Talk was a bit of a bust, again. Cheese, buns and tortillas. That's about it.

Is Spencer Jack's Dad In Eastern Washington Or Eastern Pennsylvania?

I am confused.

Yesterday I made mention of a text message I'd received from Spencer Jack's dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason, also known as FNJ.

In that text message FNJ seemed to indicate he was heading to Eastern Washington, yesterday, to check out the wildfires. FNJ mentioned the North Cascades Pass back being open. And FNJ said he'd be visiting Liberty Bell.

Liberty Bell is a mountain one drives by on the North Cascades Pass highway.

Yesterday morning FNJ posted a post on Facebook with a picture of a Liberty Bell replica. This led to some confusion as to FNJ's location.

And now this morning, rather than photo documentation of the Eastern Washington wildfires, FNJ emailed me a selfie photo of himself standing in front of what looks to be Liberty Hall in Philadelphia.

Hence me being confused....

Solving The Mystery Of Spencer Jack's Dad's Liberty Bell Location With The Republican Debate

This morning when I woke up my phone I found a couple text  messages from my favorite nephew, Jason, he being Spencer Jack's dad and my favorite ex-sister-in-law's eldest son.

Soon after reading my FNJ's text message I saw that which you see here, on Facebook. A posting from the aforementioned FNJ.

To that post my favorite ex-ex-sister-in-law's favorite mountain hiking partner, Michele, asked Jason "where are you".

The photo in Jason's Facebook post might suggest he is Philadelphia, or in California, at Knott's Berry Farm.

Jason's second text, which he sent last night, might provide a clue as to the why of the Liberty Bell photo. Below is that text message in its entirety....

Howdy --- FUD must be in his horizontal position. Fires in Eastern Washington subsided and North Cascades  Pass is open thanks to much needed rain in the area. We did not have an Indian Summer. Cold and rainy tonight! Furnace on. Heard the east is much warmer. 85 degrees daytime high. Looking forward to such. As I am going to visit Liberty Bell tomorrow. Wish me a safe journey. Will for sure share new photo documentation of the Liberty Bell, and post the Eastern Washington devastating fires. -FNJ

Translating a few terms in FNJ's text message. FUD is Favorite Uncle D. Horizontal position means in bed. Liberty Bell is a mountain one drives by when one crosses the North Cascades Pass from Western to Eastern Washington.

FNJ is heading to Eastern Washington to get some natural heat at a temperature about what I set my A/C to. Currently, well before noon on this Friday morning the outer world is chilled to 81 at my location, heading to a predicted high today of one degree under 100.

FNJ's first text message said....

Thought I'd see some Trump blogging this morning. Did my FUD not watch the 3 hour long entertaining debate?

I watched. For awhile. I did find it entertaining. For awhile. But, after awhile it gets a bit annoying listening to a group of grownups spout so much ignorant nonsense. Methinks Lincoln would be appalled at what now passes for Republicans. Teddy Roosevelt would likely also be appalled.  Now that you are making me think about it, Dwight Eisenhower would likely be appalled. I think even Barry Goldwater would be appalled and embarrassed by some of the irresponsible things spewed by too many Republicans.

Is that a good enough debate take, FNJ?

Oh, I forgot to mention Trump. Well, I find him amusing. He sure is living proof that just about anyone can become a billionaire. Apparently being smart, well educated and well mannered are not requirements. In Trump's case it helped that he got help due to inheriting his dad's real estate business. Or was it dad's money? I forget.....

Jogging With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts

Pre ALDI today I went jogging in Arlington at the Village Creek Natural Historical Area, that being an area known for being haunted by the Ghosts of Indians who were massacred at this location by eminent domain abusing invaders who eventually called themselves Texans.

I did not feel a strong Indian Ghost presence today.

I stopped at the Village Creek giant mirror, installed by the Arlington park people to serve as a selfie photo enabler.

Maybe the giant mirror has other purposes as well, like letting someone see what is on the other side of a blind corner.

So, I took a picture. When I transferred the picture from my phone to my computer I saw something hovering near me that I did not see in person. That being a ghostly looking apparition clinging to my left arm. I cropped the picture and doubled  its size to get a better look.

Seems like just a couple days ago I took a picture of the giant mirror with a ghostly presence hovering above me. I think the Indian Ghosts know I am a friendly sympathizer and thus are getting closer to me.

Well, enough of that nonsense. The lunch bell just chimed. Sour cream chicken enchiladas, among some other good Tex-Mex stuff.

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.