Happy New 2016 Year From Texas

Happy New Year from Texas.

No. That is not last night's downtown Fort Worth fireworks erupting when the clock struck midnight a few hours ago.

What you are looking at is the downtown Seattle fireworks erupting when the clock struck midnight on the West Coast.

I have never seen the Space Needle lit up in this manner.

I did not make it to New Year's Day on the West Coast. I was peacefully slumbering well before that.

I did not even make it to the Central Time zone crossing into 2016 before being in peaceful slumber mode.

I did manage to stay awake long enough to see the New Year arrive on the East Coast.

I think the last time I managed to remain vertical all the way into a New Year was that New Year's Eve which turned in to 2000.

That New Year's Eve started out at the Fort Worth Stockyards, in the saloon in the now long gone Spaghetti Warehouse. By about 10 the party moved to downtown Fort Worth. This was back when parking was easy in downtown Fort Worth, before the Radio Shack debacle destroyed the world's shortest free subway ride taking riders from acres of free parking to the heart of downtown Fort Worth.

I used to frequent downtown Fort Worth much more frequently back when it was easy to find parking before Radio Shack and inept Fort Worth planning ruined it.

The downtown Fort Worth New Year's Eve 2000 celebration was the best such thing I have ever witnessed.

It's been 16 years, but if my memory is serving me correctly, images were projected on the side of one of Fort Worth's few skyscrapers. Eventually the countdown happened and then fireworks erupted from various rooftops. It was a spectacle. Very well done.

I suspect last night's celebration in downtown Fort Worth was well done as well, with the celebrating centered on the location where Fort Worth now has a town square after decades of confusing the town's few tourist by having signs pointing to Sundance Square, where there was no square or plaza. Just a lot of parking lots, one of which finally did become a square, goofily, redundantly named Sundance Square Plaza.

Anyway, Happy New Year. I suspect 2016 will be a very good year.....

Belly Baby & Coco Being Perfect Cat Models

I think I may have already mentioned the fact that a couple days ago I was tasked with taking some modeling photos of Miss Puerto Rico's babies, Bella and Coco, to send to Florida to be made part of a photo collage to be sent to Puerto Rico to Miss Puerto Rico's papa for his happy birthday.

I had a Cat Modeling session two days ago which did not result in very good  pictures. Coco was not cooperative in that she kept pulling a blanket over her head.

The morning after the blanket pulling incident another photo taking attempt was made, with the intention being that Miss Puerto Rico would be in the photo with both babies. However, upon my arrival for the photo session both babies ran into hiding.

It was then decided to use the pictures I'd taken the day previous. I sent the best of those to Florida, but I did not like what I sent.

So, today I scheduled another modeling session. There was no hiding today. Both babies were very cooperative, posing together, responding to my posing cues.

The photo above has been sent to Florida. I do not yet know if it has been received. In the photo that is Bella, also known as Belly Baby, on the left, which would make that Coco on the right.

A Muddy New Year's Eve Tandy Hills Hoodoo Hike

It has been such a long time since I've taken a picture of the sort you see here that my one blog reader has likely forgotten where and what this is that you are looking at here.

Well, this is a Hoodoo located at Hoodoo Central at the north end of the View Street trail on the Tandy Hills in beautiful Fort Worth, Texas.

Til today it had been over a month since I'd done any hill hiking. I believe the last time was on Thanksgiving. On that day there were no Hoodoos seen.

Today there were a surprising number of people trying to hike the Tandy Hills.

Trying?

Yes, trying, and then bailing. The trails have not dried out from our recent Goliath Storm unpleasantness. Much muddiness, with some trails completely submerged. I did a lot of cross country, trail-free, hiking to get around the wet zones.

Is the Manly Men Wild Women Annual New Years Day Hike still on for tomorrow? I don't see how that would work out well. Maybe I am wrong about the MMWW Hike date and it's a week from tomorrow, when the hills may be a bit more dried out.

Til today it seems like it's been a long time since my eyes feasted on the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, known far and wide, well, locally, by a few, as the Best Downtown in America.

Nothing seems to have changed with the Fort Worth skyline since I last saw it.

The view you see above is looking west from a location close to the aforementioned Hoodoo. I saw something from this location I'd  not seen before.

Gateway Park is on the north side of the I-30 freeway, with the Tandy Hills Natural Area on the south side of the freeway.

With the foliage greatly diminished, for the first time ever from this vantage point, I saw a section of the Gateway Park paved trail. It looked to be new trail, maybe a section which did not exist before, where paved trail damaged long ago by the Hurricane Hermine flood is being upgraded by America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Well, the lunch gong just sounded. I must excessively fortify myself nutritionally so as to have plenty of energy for tonight's New Year's Eve Festivities....

Finding A Big Package From Washington On My Way To Miss Puerto Rico's

For several days now incoming emails have been tracking the journey of a large packaged shipped via USPS from Washington.

Yesterday an email announced the package made it to Dallas.

This morning an email indicated the package was on its way to Fort Worth.

Around noon an email said the package was on the final leg of its journey and would arrive soon.

About three this afternoon I exited my abode to head over to Miss Puerto Rico's to take the photo you see above, documenting the return of blue sky for the first time since that Goliath Storm nightmare descended upon us.

When I exited my abode I found a note from the mailman indicating he was sorry I was not home and thus able to accept delivery of the package. I checked me email and found no notice telling me the final destination had hit a snag.

I knew the mailman was still in the area. After about a minute I found him and asked if he'd tried to deliver a package to my address. He had, said he, about 30 minutes prior. Claimed he knocked on the door, with no answer. I asked if he'd hauled that big package all the way to the door. He said no, he had not, that he'd learned when the package is big to knock first and just leave a note if no one is home.

Huh? Wondered I. You walk to the door with that note filled out and ready to leave if no one answers the knock? And if someone answers the knock then you make your way back to your delivery truck to get the package?

Well, unlike a few years ago, the past several years I've had no problems with the mailman delivering packages, rather than leaving a note on the door or in the mailbox, necessitating driving to the post office to retrieve the package.

So, all is well which ends well. As you can see below the package is now inside my abode, unopened.

I know what is inside the package. I am a bit apprehensive to open it. It cost the shipper $36.97 to send this from Washington to Texas. Which would seem to indicate that that which is inside the package is something one is not able to purchase in Texas.

And, a couple minutes after getting the package into my abode one final email from the USPS arrived informing me that the package had been received by an individual.

Me thinks there still is a bit of a clinker in the delivery method of the USPS. It's that final leg of the journey that seems to have going awry potential....

Checking Out Fort Worth's Mallard Cove Park Artworks & Bridges

Gooseneck of Mallard Cove Park

Around noon I had to deliver some paperwork to an office in what is called the Grammercy Building, located along the frontage road which runs east of I-820 from John T. White to Randol Mill Road.

Since I was in the neighborhood, after the paperwork delivery, I opted to head east on Randol Mill Road to Mallard Cove Park, for the first time since the park was flooded a month, or so, ago.

The beautiful work of art you see here must have been installed since my last visit, or maybe I simply did not notice it before. I do not know what the work of art is called.

Gooseneck, maybe?

Judging by the fact that Fort Worth spent about a million bucks on a piece of structural art which looks like a garbage can, or the ruins of a water tower, I'm guessing this substantial looking Mallard Cove Park Gooseneck work of sculptural art cost likely somewhere in the couple hundred thousand zone.

Continuing on past the Gooseneck I eventually came across a bride over Mallard Cove.

I do not know how much this feat of bridge engineering cost or how long it took to build. I don't even know if it was built over water, or built during a drought when Mallard Cove shrinks to puddle size. I do know that there was no Star-Telegram article touting the appearance of the piers which support this Mallard Cove bridge.

Walking with the Mallard Cove ducks did not last long. Too cold, despite multiple layers of outerwear, including an ear covering thing I have used whilst skiing. I fear it will be another year before I feel the outer world heated to above 70.....

Why Shut Bud Up Via Facebook?

I think it was yesterday I came upon that which you see here, a Facebook page titled Shut up Bud - the Star-Telegram Boycott Page.

The BSTBP Mission Statement....

Dedicated to exposing the Fort Worth Star Telegram's liberal bias and conservative attack dog, Bud Kennedy. Encouraging FWST subscription cancellations.

Oh, where do I begin? Well, first off I will say I like Bud Kennedy. I do not think Bud Kennedy should shut up. And I will also say this Boycott the Star-Telegram Facebook effort is a bit ridiculous, in the same way most of those who spout Tea Party nonsense sound ridiculous.

This Facebook page is dedicated to exposing the Star-Telegram's liberal bias? I have lived where the local newspapers of record are liberal type publications. The Star-Telegram is not a liberal type publication. Bud Kennedy is a conservative attack dog? I think whoever wrote that might want to do some editing, because I don't believe Bud Kennedy is even remotely to be tarred with the conservative label. I assume the writer was intending to say that Bud Kennedy is a dog attacking conservatives.

Now, I can totally get behind criticizing the Star-Telegram and suggesting subscribers cancel, but not due to Fort Worth's pitiful newspaper of record having a liberal bias. But because Fort Worth's pitiful newspaper of record does such a poor job with investigative journalism and being the advocate of those who are not the rich and powerful.

An example, or two. The Star-Telegram totally ignoring the Pulte Wall of Shame. Or the Star-Telegram not coming to the defense of hundreds of victims of a greedy landlord's 30 day eviction notices.

And then there is the way the Star-Telegram acts like a Chamber of Commerce cheerleader booster of America's Biggest Boondoggle, that slow motion pseudo public works project which has been ambling along for most of this century, with little to show for the effort, ramrodded by the totally unqualified son of a local congresswoman, J.D. Granger.

A liberal progressive newspaper of record in one of the modern democratic locations in America would have been all over the corrupt nepotism which gave J.D. Granger a job for which he had zero qualifications, particularly after nonsense like inner tube floating beer parties in the polluted Trinity River became one of The Boondoggle's many dubious "products".

An embarrassing Tea Party-esque post from the Shut Up Bud Facebook page....

Of course Bud conveniently ignores that the biggest racist in America today resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The current resident there exploits identity politics to deliberately create racial division in order to win elections. But Bud is more concerned with a republican precinct chair from Arlington. Oh gosh it just occurred to me - Bud is doing the same thing as Barack - he is just a hack opinion writer so isn't as good at it. Shut up Bud.

Oh yes, imagine that, Bud ignoring something that does not exist, as in the biggest racist in America is living in the White House. How do the numbskulls who spout this type nonsense not realize how stupid they sound? And how out of touch they are with the majority of America, and the World?

And then there was the following embarrassingly dumb Tea Party-esque post....

Sigh - here we go again. Bud doubling down on the liberal narrative and talking points on the Syrian refugee issue. It's not Christian after all if you're not willing to expose your family to potential terrorists. Obama created this refugee crisis when he drew a fake line in the sand, and didn't back up his idle threat. Where's that column Bud you worthless jackass?

Oh yes, the "liberal narrative". Obama did not back up his "idle threat"?  I guess those have been imaginary airstrikes hitting ISIS.

It seems to me that most of those who try and make "liberal" a dirty word can not come even remotely close to defining that which they disparage. Ask one what a "liberal" is and you will either hear crickets or idiotic ignorant nonsense.....

My Phone Is Telling Me It Is Snowing At My Texas Location

When I woke up my phone this morning, sometime between 5 and 6, the screen thing which indicates what the weather is doing showed snowflakes falling from a dark sky.

Hours later the screen thing which indicates what the weather is doing shows a brighter sky with snowflakes still falling.

However, in the real non-phone world, I have seen no flakes falling.

A short walk around my neighborhood did indicate that some snow had fallen during the dark hours, with the evidence being what appeared to be snow accumulation on windshields.

The temperature is currently 4 degrees above freezing. Two days ago I had myself a mighty fine morning swim, with the temperature increasing throughout that day, to a high near 80, spawning tornadoes.

I tried to go jogging this morning, but quickly aborted the attempt. I was dressed more to go skiing than jogging. I decided multiple layers of outerwear does not facilitate jogging.

I think this cold nonsense is scheduled to last for the rest of the year. I need to locate my ski pants and see if I can still get in them....

All Hail Breaks Loose With Texas Goliath Storm Thunder Booming

No, those are not icicles you see dangling from a tree. It is not yet cold enough to make icicles.

But it is cold enough for the ongoing Goliath Storm to drop a big deluge of marble-sized hail at my current location about 40 miles west of where tornadoes yesterday wreaked havoc on the Dallas side of the D/FW Metroplex.

Hail falling in copious amounts is even noisier than my memory of how noisy an earthquake is, as in a real earthquake caused by shifting tectonic plates, not a fracking earthquake, which from reports I have heard are not all that noisy.

Thunder just started up booming again. I'm ready for this storm to take an exit. And for HEAT to return. The outer world is still 10 degrees above freezing at my location, but it feels so COLD.

Below is video of All Hail Breaking Loose a few minutes ago....

Washington Comes To Snowy Sun Bowl & Stormy Heart Of Dallas Bowl

I saw that which you see above this morning in the online version of the Seattle Times.

Yesterday Spencer Jack's dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason, text messaged me asking....

Are you going to the Big Game today?

To which I replied that since I knew of no Big Game the answer to the question is no. And then asked where the Big Game was.

To which FNJ replied....

The Big Game is the Heart of Dallas Bowl with the UW Huskies.

So, it was that Cotton Bowl game that puzzled me weeks ago when I first heard of it, wondering why the UW Huskies would be playing in such a game. I texted my puzzlement to which FNJ replied....

The Cougars also played in Texas yesterday. It snowed where they played. Kinda bizarre that two WA football teams both travel to Texas to play in bowl games.

The Cougars are the Washington State Cougars. WSU and the UW play a game every year called the Apple Bowl. I did not think either team had themselves a good season, so why are they invited to bowl games in Texas? I did not know where the Cougars got snow bowled, so I asked FNJ if the bowl was in Amarillo, to which he replied....

El Paso.

The Sun Bowl in El Paso, where it snowed? I think that is known as ironic.

Did a lot of Washingtonians make the trek to Texas for these bowl games? I can't imagine doing so. I saw no mention made of either game in my local Texas online news sources.

Hot Texas Day After Christmas Swim Put Me In Smile Mode

This morning when I woke up my temperature monitoring device I was surprised to see that device telling me the outer world was being heated to 74 degrees. I confirmed this information via my phone's temperature monitoring device.

74 degrees meant the 48 hour average was well over 50 degrees, thus rendering the pool as swim worthy as a Western Washington lake in summer.

Thus I had myself a mighty fine time in the pool this morning. On the day after Christmas. This is unprecedented.

Yesterday I took a quick dip in the pool so as to take a Santa photo. When Elsie Hotpepper saw that photo she commented that if I had been smiling in that photo she would have had it printed and framed. People telling me to smile really irritate me. Because, if I felt like smiling I would probably do so.

Anyway, today I did not have my Santa cap on in the pool. But, I did my best effort to smile for Elsie Hotpepper. I suspect she is not going to be printing and framing this photo.

If I remember right, and I sometimes do, Thanksgiving morning was the last time I had myself a long bout in the pool. That was followed by jogging and later hiking on the Tandy Hills.

This morning, post-swim, I did go jogging. That went well. But, I have no inclination to go do some Tandy Hills hill hiking.

Both hiking the Tandy Hills and going to Town Talk have faded from my regular activity list. With the Tandy Hills it has been mostly weather related reasons that have not had me hill hiking. With Town Talk the place had become not the enjoyable treasure hunt it was when I first discovered it.

And all my favorite checkers seemed to have disappeared, replaced with newbies who don't already know the answer to the debit or credit question.

That and I got burned by two cases of what I thought were coconut yogurt, but turned out to be inedible pseudo yogurt made from coconut milk.

Yuck.