A Long Wait In Euless At The Dr Pepper Star Center With Fuzzy Fish Tacos

Today I decided I would photo document what I look like when I have grown tired of waiting for someone to return.

Elsie Hotpepper has been giving me selfie taking lessons.

I don't see that the lessons have brought much improvement. I always look the same. Apparently tiring of waiting causes no alteration in my demeanor. Basically it seems I always look grumpy.

Anyway, I was doing the waiting at the Dr Pepper Star Center in Euless. I don't know if that is what the entire huge sports complex is called, or just the ice hockey arena.

I swiped the phone awake and sent a couple text messages, then checked Facebook. Then the phone made a noise which caused me to look at the part of the phone that points out things, like if you are wi-fi connected. The phone told me I was wi-fi connected. How could that be, I wondered? I tapped on the wi-fi connected part of the screen to see a long list of active wi-fi spots, with my phone connected to the "open" City of Euless wi-fi.

So, does the city of Euless have city-wide wi-fi? Or was this just a Starcenter thing?

Whatever the answer, discovering I was connected to wi-fi made the phone much more useful for time passing. I watched a YouTube video or two. Listened to the part of the Nixon/Dean Cancer on the Presidency tape that I had not yet completed. Watched a few Facebook videos.

I was engrossed in video watching when the party I had been waiting for showed up. The time was coming up on an hour past noon. I was hungry. A Fuzzy's Tacos was nearby. Fish tacos sounded like a good lunch plan.

Fuzzy's Tacos fish tacos not being as good as Taco del Mar fish tacos is the most important thing I have learned today.

A Visit To Miss Puerto Rico's Babies With Belly Baby Belly Up & Hissing

This morning Miss Puerto Rico told me that the Babies were missing me because I had not visited in well over a week.

So, this afternoon I made the long trek to the home Miss Puerto Rico has made for her Babies.

When I got past the security check I hurried down the hall so as to shut off access to the hiding place under Miss Puerto Rico's slumber pad, due to the fact that when I last visited the Babies, Bella, also known as Belly Baby, hid under the bed and could not be coaxed out.

Today I could not find Belly Baby, at first, so I visited her sister, Coco.

After about 10 minutes Belly Baby made her presence known.

With a little effort I was able to pick up Belly Baby, who, I must say, has grown a bit bigger since I last picked her up. If she gets much bigger I fear I will risk putting my back out lifting her.

Belly Baby was very cooperative taking selfie photos, about a dozen, the best of which you see above.

I think Belly Baby was intrigued by the noise the phone made when a picture was taken. That and she seemed to really like looking at herself on the phone.

After we finished the photo session I continued my ongoing, so far futile, attempt to get Belly Baby to purr. Her sister I can get to make noises of contentment, but no such noise from Belly Baby.

And then I flipped Belly Baby belly up. Previously she liked this, wrapping her front legs around my arm, then blissfully, I thought, closing her eyes. But not purring.

But, today when Belly Baby went belly up, about two seconds later, she hissed at me like a lioness about to swallow its prey. I quickly disengaged from close contact with Miss Hissy Fit. I thought when she was back grounded Belly Baby would run away to one of her hiding places. Instead she slowly walked a few feet away and sat herself down under her favorite chair, staring at me, as if saying, you aren't done with me yet, are you?

Well, I was. Done with her for today. For the most part.

When Coco left me she hopped up on Miss Puerto Rico's Lazy Boy. Soon after Belly Baby hissed and hopped off me, Belly Baby left her under the chair refuge spot to hop up and join her sister on the Lazy Boy.

Now that both Babies were on one chair I got hold of their mouse on string toy and got them fighting over that. Then we had a bout of chase the laser light and then it was time for me to leave.

All in all it was a good visit with the Babies, but I really don't think they miss me all that much, well, I'm sure Belly Baby does not miss me, maybe Coco does, a little.....

Jogging Around Fosdick Lake Before Fall & Yom Kippur Arrive

The first day of Fall falls upon us tomorrow, along with Yom Kippur.

I will be celebrating the Autumnal Equinox by driving to Euless for my regularly scheduled monthly doctor appointment.

I have not decided how I will be celebrating Yom Kippur tomorrow.

Today I celebrated the day before Yom Kippur and the start of Fall by driving to Oakland Lake Park for a HOT jog around Fosdick Lake.

92 degrees when I arrived at the lake, according to my vehicular temperature monitoring device. My phone argued with the vehicle, with the phone claiming the air was cooler, at 91.

Dead calm, no wind chill factor.

I was not the only one jogging around the lake. One of the fellow joggers was a rather large lady in some sort of head to toe sweat suit.

Literally.

I asked her how she could stand the long pants and long sleeves. Her  reply told me it was her sweat suit, you know, to help her sweat.

I forgot to mention the tree above, rising next to the white egret, looking out at the sputtering Fosdick Fountain. That tree must not have received the notification that Fall begins tomorrow, because that tree has already turned on its Fall leaf color.

I think I will go Google Yom Kippur now, since I don't actually remember what this particular Jewish holiday is for. All I remember of Yom Kippur is one of the Israeli/Arab wars is called the Yom Kippur War, due to that war starting on Yom Kippur.

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.