Driving Miss Daisy Searching For Jeremy While Navigating Around South Mountain

Yesterday began soon after dawn with the Miss Daisy Uber Taxi Service delivering my favorite brother-in-law, Jack, to Dobson's Ranch, site of a housing development of one of America's notorious criminals, last name Keating.

Jack was not in Dobson's Ranch for any nefarious criminal activity, but instead to make his ride connection to Prescott, site of a Pickle Ball Tournament, where he is paired with his first wife, whilst staying in a replica of the Bates Motel.

A few hours later Miss Daisy had her driver drive her to Tempe, to find her grandson Jeremy, to visit his jungle backyard which serves as a sort of Arizona Noah's Ark. We failed in our quest to find Jeremy's jungle.

Failing the Jeremy finding quest Miss Daisy directed her driver to drive to South Mountain. Eventually we made it high above Phoenix where I used my phone to take one of those rare, for me, selfie photos.

Another view of the same selfie scene, but without me in the view. South Mountain Park is the largest city park in any city in America. The drive up and down the mountain is a fun roller coaster of ups and downs and twists and turns.

South Mountain is home to a forest of saguaro cactus of various sizes and shapes. I dodged scorpions and rattlesnakes to get the cactus selfie closeup you see here.

When we left South Mountain Miss Daisy directed me to head west, rather than east. West heads away from civilization. Soon we were in an agricultural zone growing cotton and other such stuff, with irrigation ditches flowing a lot of water on both sides of the road.

Even though Miss Daisy directed me to go west, soon Miss Daisy decided maybe we should have gone the other direction. I opted to continue west, countermanding Miss Daisy's directions.

Eventually we came to a highway which headed south. Around South Mountain. This seemed a logical direction to go. A few miles later we entered the Gila River Indian Reservation and passed a casino.

Soon after passing the casino Miss Daisy announced we were on Riggs Road.

Riggs Road is the road which leads back to Miss Daisy's home location in Sun Lakes. Riggs Road runs east and west, not south and north. I informed Miss Daisy of this fact.

A few miles later Miss Daisy announced that she was now certain we were on Riggs Road. I tried to gently tell Miss Daisy that this was impossible, that the road sign says we are on Beltline Road.

A few miles later the mile marker said 2.0, which indicated we were 2 miles from some sort of junction or road change.

Imagine my shock as Beltline Road took a bend to the east and when we hit mile marker 0.0 the road name changed from Beltline to Riggs.

There are some who insist Miss Daisy has serious memory lapses. I have notice such lapses myself. And then I have an incident like this knowing we were on Riggs Road thing and I get confused as to how bad mom's, I mean, Miss Daisy's, memory actually is.

Oh, a few hours later we found Jeremy. He showed up at grandma's to watch the Arizona Diamondbacks lose again. Neither Jeremy or I have seen the Diamondbacks win. We are watching those D-Backs likely lose again tonight. Miss Daisy is slow cooking one of her recovered pot roasts...

Palm Tree Trimming With Sun Lakes Lady Fun Floaters & Mom's Curfew

Ever since I have been in Arizona, for what seems like a month, but has only been three full days, mom has been tasking me with all sorts of tasks I am not used to being tasked with.

Such as this morning I was tasked with helping mom crack a strong box so we could see what my dad had locked strongly in the box, accessible only via a key hidden where key seekers could not find the key which they might be looking for to gain access to the locked strong box.

Once we succeeded in cracking the strong box we found nothing too surprising. Well, there were the two two dollar bills my dad had secreted in his wallet. And I found a document or two I told mom to set aside because I thought David, Theo and Ruby's mom might want to have them for framing purposes. Such as the document which mustered dad out of the service way back in the early 1950s.

Yesterday mom tasked me with using dad's chainsaw to trim the fronds from the palm trees. It was a bit tricky figuring out how to shimmy my way up the tree's trunk, with the chainsaw dangling from my belt. Eventually I figured it out.

The palm tree trimming photo documentation you see above is not actually me in the tree doing the trimming on that particular palm tree. That is a tree trimmer I saw whilst in the pool this morning with what remains of the Sun Lakes Lady Fun Floaters.

Only Beverly currently remains from last June's Sun Lakes Lady Fun Floaters. The Queen of the Floaters, Jacqui, is currently up north, in Washington, enjoying the natural air conditioning. Beverly did not know the location of the other Fun Floaters, including Ann and Phyllis, who have been mysteriously missing for weeks.

Today mom gave me permission to only be gone for two hours. Yesterday apparently I created a panic by being gone for over three hours. And not answering my phone. I do not seem able to get mom to understand I seldom answer my phone. Or I don't realize the phone has been summoning me, which was the case yesterday when mom made her worried call.

I am enjoying the relatively chilly Arizona temperatures, barely in the low 100s. Last June when I was in Arizona it was actually HOT, as compared to now, with the temperature at that point in time going over the 120 mark multiple times. We are currently chilling into the 80s over night, which is making the pool cool. I don't know when it gets cold enough to kick in the solar heaters...

Sad Washington Departure Leaving David, Theo & Ruby Behind After Blackberry Milkshakes

My week in Washington began with a boisterous arrival greeting from nephews David and Theo and niece Ruby.

On Tuesday my week in Washington ended with a somber departure from David, Theo and Ruby.

Especially Theo, who you see in front of me.

If there are a cuter trio of kids on the planet, I would like to meet them.

Eventually I will return to Texas with a thumbdrive bursting with material from Washington, material in the form of photos. Along with material consisting of my impression of what I was seeing when I was in Washington.

I will likely wait til I am back in Texas with a computer connection to the world, with which I am more familiar, before I blog that aforementioned material.

Suffice to say, though the reason to be there was a sad one, I had the best week I have had in a long long time, this time, in Washington.

On Tuesday, on the way to the airport, David, Theo and Ruby took me to Tacoma's Theo Foss Waterway. An area I will later photo document and refer to as the Tacoma Waterfront Vision (a vision which you can actually see, with no weeds or rusted re-bar or polluted water or drunken inner tubers) unlike another town's vision, which few sane people are seeing. Tacoma's real vision has an actual real signature bridge, built over actual real water. What a concept.

But, I digress.

Back to my last day in Washington.

After we left Tacoma we stopped in Fife at the Pick Quick Burgers Drive-In for burgers and blackberry milkshakes, and views of Mount Rainier.

With the sky finally clear of smoke the Mountain came out spectacularly on my last day in Washington, including a direct overhead view as my flight to Phoenix routed over the Rainier summit. I will save the full mountain view for later. Suffice to say, for the first time ever, I saw the Mount Rainier summit, and could make out markings of some sort at the summit, which you can sort of see below.

I arrived in Phoenix with a thud.

Literally. To use my nephew David's favorite word.

The plane landed with a jolt worthy of a theme park ride. A few people screamed. I was not one of the screamers. But the lady from Terlingua, next to me, was.

I was surprised as I exited the Sky Harbor security zone to suddenly see my mom and sister Jackie, sitting, waiting for me. Mom had walked her walker in from the parking lot, a couple elevator levels below or above. I'm not sure. I was sort of too tired to pay directional attention.

Wednesday morning I went swimming with what remains of the Sun Lakes Ladies Swimming Club. Most have let Arizona, temporarily, for cooler climes. Yesterday, post swim, I drove mom and Jackie to Maricopa to see Penny and to have ourselves a McDonald's feeding.

Today mom and I boxed up a lot of dad's stuff and took it to Goodwill. Then we went on a long drive to Coolidge, a town right next to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. We did not go see the ruins. I've heard there is not a lot to see. That they are sort of ruined. Which would seem to me what one would want ruins to be.

Eventually we made it back to Sun Lakes, where I left mom, to go to my current location, my sister Jackie's house, which I have all to myself, because Jackie is up north, in Prescott, playing in a Pickle Ball Tournament. Tomorrow mom and I return to my current location, that being sister Jackie's, at six in the morning, to chauffeur Jackie's first husband, Jack, to Dodson Ranch, so he can pick up a ride to Prescott, where he Pickle Balls tomorrow.

I am enjoying Arizona. But this is not the scenic wonderland of natural air conditioning, large bodies of water, and towering mountains, which is the reality in Washington.

Mom and I are making BBQ Ribs tonight. I have never seen three freezers so stocked with frozen stuff as what currently exists at my mom's abode....

Ruby Slotemaker Finds Road With Her Name On It

I think I may have mentioned I might not get back to a computer for about a week. But then whilst going through photos taken the past several days I came upon this one which quickly became my favorite.

And thus felt like sharing.

Slotemakers and a Jones or two from across the country were in Lynden Saturday August 12, converging at one in the afternoon at Lynden's Monumenta Cemetery.

Prior to one in the afternoon my little brother, Jake and I left Birch Bay and headed to Lynden to check out a thing or two or three, like our grandma's houses, and the old Slotemaker farm and Slotemaker Road.

I sort of thought I knew the way to Slotemaker Road. My little brother was more confident than I that he knew the way. And so we headed south across the Nooksack River.

And then proceeded to drive many miles in a futile search for the Slotemaker Farm and its namesake road. Eventually I asked Google "Slotemaker Road Whatcom County Washington". Google proceeded to be worthless, giving me a list of Whatcom Country history links. Then I called my little brother's eldest, Jason.

Jason was of no use because his dad had gotten us so convolutedly confused Jason could not figure out how to tell us how to get to Slotemaker Road from our extremely lost location on what turned out to be the wrong side of the river.

We decided to give up on our Slotemaker Road search and proceed to the cemetery, planning to ask Uncle Mooch the way at some point in time.

Asking Uncle Mooch proved unnecessary, because after we left the cemetery to head for Aunt Judy's Ruby consulted something called Siri on her iphone, with Siri telling Ruby how to direct her vehicle to Slotemaker Road.

Meanwhile my little brother and I had trouble finding Aunt Judy's after we left the cemetery. We mistakenly thought we were following someone who was also going to Aunt Judy's. We once again called Jason to ask if he knew the way to Aunt Judy's. Jason sort of patiently told me Aunt Judy clearly gave us all directions. But your dad and I were not listening, was my excuse to Jason. Jason then walked us through how to get to Aunt Judy's. Eventually we saw Jason holding his phone in front of Aunt Judy's.

A few minutes later I found myself talking to a relative who told me she first met me when I was two months old. That lead to me calling mom after which a group conversation ensued, having mom in virtual attendance.

And then Ruby triumphantly arrived, freshly returned from finding Slotemaker Road.

A couple hours later we left Aunt Judy's and followed Ruby the what turned out to be short distance to Slotemaker Road.

On the north side of the Nooksack River.

Which is how the above photo was taken of me trying to help Ruby continue the family tradition of purloining Slotemaker Road signs for display in our various home locations....

Birch Bay Sand Castles With Theo, Jake, Cindy & Uncle Mooch

I have not been near a computer since last Friday. I have a back log of blogging material and photo documentation of that blogging material.

But I may not get around to having fun reducing that back log of blogging material for about a week.

Tomorrow I head south from the Great Pacific Northwest, to the HOT Valley of the Sun, to spend a week with my mom.

I have been a little busy since last Tuesday. Yesterday, Sunday, was my first semi day of rest.

Sunday brought about a scenario the likes of which I could not have imagined what could possibly bring about such a scenario, if you had suggested such a scenario, say, two, five, ten or twenty years ago. That being what you see above. Me, my brother Jake, and my favorite ex-sister-in-law, Cindy, walking on the tidal flats of Birch Bay,

The day began with a long awaited visit from Nurse Canecracker and Betty Jo Bouvier. I have known few people as long as Nurse Canecracker and Betty Jo, who delivered me a bag full of Northwest goodies, including smoked salmon, raspberry jam, sourdough bread and dozens of Canecracker cookies. Eventually Nurse Canecracker and Betty Jo took me to a seaside seafood joint where we had seafood in the form of cod in various iterations. The feeding was fine, but visiting Betty Jo and the Canecracker was excellent.

In the afternoon Theo, David, their uncle Jake, mama Kristin and myself headed to the beach with the goal being to build a sand castle whilst the water was in tide going out mode. The day before we had had ourselves a mighty fine time defending a giant sand alligator from the incoming tide.

We were in mid sand castle building when Spencer Jack, his dad, Jason, and grandma Cindy showed up. Spencer helped with the castle building for awhile and then opted to join Ruby in the pool, leaving just the original castle builders to continue building.

Eventually the tide grew close. Soon we had to fight to defend our castle. It is always a losing effort. After we surrendered we retreated to an interior space where we found Spencer Jack, Jason, Cindy and others. We had ourselves a fine time visiting and enjoying grandma Cindy's special Northwest type brownies.

After Spencer Jack decided it was time to head home Theo convinced me to go swimming with him and Ruby in the pool, not the bay. We did so for what seemed a long time. I quit first. Upon returning to the condo I opened the door to find the place filled with a fresh supply of relatives, including the infamous, much revered, Uncle Mooch.

We all had ourselves a might fine time visiting Uncle Mooch and the rest of the clan. Ruby had herself a lot of fun with Mooch's grandson, Kwan, dismantling my former bed and turning it into a giant fort.

The Mooch Gang left sometime after midnight, my time. After that Theo and David talked me into going back into the bay to experience what David calls 'bio-luminescence'. We armed ourselves with a flashlight and made our way to the bay. All we need say about this part of the day is we did not get wet enough to see the water glow.

I slept well last night. This morning we ventured to the rooftop for some scenic view photos of the remains of yesterday's sand castle. And then soon it was check out time. The drive back to Tacoma did not have the traffic jam nightmares of the sort which made miserable the drive north on Friday. In Seattle we left I-5 to go to Dick's by the Seattle Center and then drive by the HUGE Amazon campus, largely under construction. Ruby and I got out for a quick photo op at the giant Amazon spheres, then we continued our quick tour of way too busy downtown Seattle.

More on Seattle and the past few days, later. This may be my last time on a computer for several days.

Point Ruston Ruby, Theo & David Surrey Survey Of Tacoma's New Waterfront Development

Last night David, Theo and Ruby took me on a roll along the Tacoma waterfront via a surrey with a fringe on top, powered by Fred Flintstonish pedal power.

For several years now I have been hearing about the incredible development which has come to the north end of the Tacoma waterfront, at Ruston, the site of America's biggest Superfund cleanup, cleaning up the toxic residue left from the Asarco copper smelting operation which operated during many years of the previous century.

I remember when the Ruston Asarco zone was an industrial wasteland. Driving through a narrow tunnel, coming out the other end to see the giant Asarco smelter chimney towering like a grimy Space Needle.

That tower came down several decades ago, in a spectacular explosive demolition similar to the fate of the Kingdome a few decades later. The site was cleaned of its lead and copper smelting pollution. And left a sort of wasteland.

And then at some point late in the last century some building action began. There was a slight stall due to the Great Recession, but now, in 2017, that old Ruston industrial wasteland is a boom zone known as Point  Ruston.

A waterfront development on steroids. Both the north and south ends of the Tacoma waterfront have boomed since I last saw those locations, way back in 2008.

Tonight, a Thursday, Point Ruston was busy. as was the rest of the Tacoma waterfront. Lots of people walking, blading, biking and surrey pedaling the waterfront promenade. A huge free parking lot garage makes it easy to visit the Point Ruston Asarco boom zone, along with what were a lot of other people. A giant hotel is under construction to accommodate the incoming visiting tourists who need accommodating.

Normally I would make mention of the fact that this HUGE development has taken place without using or abusing eminent domain. Without hiring the son of a local congressperson to motivate the local congressperson to secure federal funds to fund the development. With this Point Ruston development developing because private developers saw an economic opportunity and so HUGE sums of money, private, non-taxpayer money, is fueling this development.

And did I mention this is a waterfront development, which already has a promenade along the waterfront?

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, Texas...

But, I don't have time to elaborate on how progress actually occurs in modern parts of America, and how it stymies in backwards, non-modern parts of America, because I have to get ready to head north towards Canada, to Birch Bay.

But before I go, some more photos from last night.

Ruby took the wheel for awhile. Ruby was a good driver, though David got a bit nervous when the steering took us to what looked to be a dropoff into Commencement Bay.

Here Theo took the wheel. Theo was a wilder driver than Ruby.

After an hour, give or take a minute or two, of rolling around in the surrey with a fringe on top, we parked our vehicle and proceeded to seek something to eat. Ruby wanted pizza, but the pizza place had a half hour wait. The burger joint also had a long wait.

Eventually we found a seafood joint with not a too long wait. I do not remember the name of the seafood joint. We had halibut and chips, calamari, fried jalapenos and a blackberry/rosemary/lemon concoction which was quite tasty.

Many of the feeding stations had outdoor dining options, such as you see above, both ground level and rooftop.

While we were pedaling our surrey with the fringe on top we came upon the above tugboat, docked, with people in dressed nice mode getting onboard. A half hour later the tugboat floated by. As you can see Point Ruston, and the Tacoma waterfront features a large urban lake. Only in Washington this is called Puget Sound.

Our last Point Ruston stop was at the Ice Cream Social, where we joined a long line waiting to quickly get some real good ice cream. Above you see Theo, me and Ruby waiting for Mama Kristin to deliver the goods. I have a pair of nephews with elevated refined palates. David likes calamari, Theo likes lavender ice cream, for example. Meanwhile, Ruby's tastes are less exotic, though last night Ruby did get a bit wild and crazy by trying some blackberry ice cream.

Below is a video from last night, in which you will eventually see David, Theo and Ruby, and me, dodging shots of water in a big free spirited, no restricted hours, water feature a town in Texas should have checked out for emulation purposes before installing a pitiful similar thing in their equally pitiful little downtown development pretentiously called Sundance Square Plaza. I did not make note of any pretentious name for the plaza with the Point Ruston water feature...

Riding Tacoma Waves With David, Theo & Ruby

For today's mid-day Tacoma fun David, Theo and Ruby waited til after Lego Camp to take me to Kandle Park to do some wave pooling along with a lot of other wave poolers.

We had a mighty fine time along with Mama Kristin.

In addition to this Tacoma public pool, with its big wave making machine, along with a wading pool and other water features, like a giant water dumping bucket and water machine guns, there are other Tacoma public pool parks. One of which has a lazy river.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, Texas. Where it gets HOT.

Oh, why bother?

But it does make one wonder how it is one area of America can be so, well, advanced, progressive, modern, dynamic,and socially advanced while another area of America can be, well, not so much.

I took the above picture when we were leaving. Kristin took a lot of other pictures whilst we were wave pooling. I will likely share those later if we can figure out how to get them off Kristin's phone to my phone to this computer.

Other than the wave surfing my most amusing moment of the pool time was when a school girl friend of Theo's asked him if I was his grandpa.

Another amusing moment came when Theo and I were at the deep end, near where the waves generate, when a little girl wearing a flotation device asked if we could help her get to shore. She was very grateful when we got to where the waves were crashing at the end of their run.

We wave pooled for a couple hours, then had a picnic on the grassy knoll overlooking the pool, then it was off to Proctor to try out a new gelato joint.

In a couple hours we're heading to the north end of Tacoma, to Ruston, to see the results of a real public works project with a real dramatic water feature, a massive development which solved a real environmental issue.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth. Again, why bother?

PHOTO UPDATE:

Swan Creek Blackberry Mountain Biking With David, Theo & Ruby

That is my niece, Little Miss Ruby, you see pointing at me from her outdoor art studio. I was in the kitchen, looking out. Soon Ruby sent her brother, Theo, in to inform me it was time to go mountain biking on the Swan Creek Mountain Bike Trails.

A few minutes later David, Theo and Ruby helped me load the bikes on which they had spent the afternoon performing maintenance tasks, after we went on the Tacoma Walmart's hyperdrive grocery cart ride hunting for a bike tire pump, among other bike-related items.

A few hours before the smoky sun set for the day we arrived at Swan Creek Park. After consulting the trail signage Ruby directed us to warm up on the roller coaster Pump House trail. We all did so until David sustained a minor injury which took him out of biking action, temporarily.

Leaving David and Mama Michele behind, Theo lead Ruby and me off into the wooded forest of Swan Lake Park.

We made our way back to Mama Michele and the recuperating David. Soon thereafter we began picking blackberries. A lot of blackberries. It almost seemed as if Ruby could eat her weight in blackberries.

Soon we exhausted the easy pickings of the Swan Lake Park blackberries, so we headed to the Tacoma Community College blackberry patch where we filled enough containers with enough blackberries to make a cobbler or two.

After we finished picking blackberries we got gas, but did not call grandma. We did get some ultra fancy ice cream products of which I was soon tasked with completing the consumption of two out of three of the ultra fancy ice cream products.

Soon we were driving through Taco Time where we loaded up on natural burritos, fish tacos, chicken quesadillas and Taco Time tater tots.

Today David, Theo and Ruby are taking me swimming where there is a giant wave making machine. Then this evening the trio is taking me to Ruston to the site of America's biggest Superfund site, which has now been turned into Tacoma's most popular residential destination, along with multiple other attractions, one of which is taking a bike powered carriage tour of Ruston.

America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known at the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, has not reached the point where enough digging has been done to discover the site is a badly polluted area in dire need of being a Superfund site. With the potential to be America's Biggest.

That would be impressive for Fort Worth, to morph America's Biggest Boondoggle into America's Biggest Superfund site, which would make America's Biggest Boondoggle even a bigger boondoggle...

INCOMING ADDITIONAL PHOTO DOCUMENTATION

With Sheriff Help David, Theo & Ruby Find Their Uncle

Well, I arrived right on time yesterday in Seattle.

Most of the ride north was over a carpet of fluffy clouds.

Flying into and out of the Dallas/Fort Worth zone I was surprised at how green the landscape was looking.

A few hours later I looked out the window to see I was crossing over the Columbia River, from Oregon to Washington. The clouds were mostly gone, the sky was clear, free of the smoke I was expecting.

Then a few miles later a haze began to appear. Eventually I could not tell what I was flying over. The Cascade mountains? What? Usually I see the Washington volcanoes popping up above the rest of the mountains. Yesterday nary a mountain was to be seen through the thick smoky haze.

As we descended to Sea-Tac I could tell we were coming in from the south. Unlike Texas, the landscape of Western Washington was not looking evergreen. Instead brown seemed to be the dominant color, both on the ground and in the sky.

Soon upon landed I texted "The Uncle Has Landed".

A few minutes later I walked out of the security area where I soon found myself attacked by three Washingtonians, watched over by a Washington Sheriff escort.

Those three attacking Washingtonians were David, Theo and Ruby. That is the attack you see photo documented above.

A few minutes later I jokingly asked who was gonna carry my bags for me. Theo quickly grabbed one, then David the other. I felt a little bad that the two nephews were doing such heavy lifting, but they did not seem to mind.

On the ground the smoky haze turned out not to be too annoying, except for the diminishing of visibility.
.
Soon I-5 came into view. Stalled traffic jam for miles. The onboard navigators, David and Theo, used their traffic monitoring device to determine it would take a long time to get to Tacoma from our location.

So, Ruby suggested we go to Southcenter to Duke's to wait out the traffic congestion. At Duke's we had ourselves a mighty fine selection of seafood, including alder smoked salmon, dungeness crab and hail caesar salad. And the best french fries ever.

After Duke's David, Theo and Ruby took me to Legoland, I mean, the Lego Store. We got ourselves some Legos, then headed back to I-5 where traffic was flowing fine til we got to Fife, so we exited and took the scenic route back to Tacoma.

After a few minutes at the home location, where the home security chief, Eddie the Poodle, gave me a thorough checkout before giving his approval, we then walked to Ruby's Annual Potato Fry Party, via wide sidewalks, with a grassy landscaped area between the sidewalks and street.

At the Potato Fry Party I met a lot of people. No selfie type photos were taken, because, you know, that is so outdated and just not done in polite company.

I had some interesting conversations at the Potato Fry Party, Texas oriented questions. I shall save that for a future blogging, perhaps after I return to Texas.

Today when David, Theo and Ruby get back from Lego Camp we are going to work on our bikes. I hope that goes well...

Heading North To The Smoky Pacific Northwest Without Elsie Hotpepper

Last week when the news of how bad the smoky haze which has descended upon Washington from Canadian wildfires became known to me I figured by the time I arrived late this afternoon that the bluest skies I have ever seen, along with hills the greenest green, would have returned.

However, last night Mount Vernon amateur meteorologist, Miss Linda, told me the choking smoke has gotten worse. Currently the Pacific Northwest has the worst air pollution in America

For illustrative purposes I found the photo you see here, via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Known as the P-I, along with the Seattle Times, for you reading this in Fort Worth, these are what are known as real newspapers, covering real news, and  practicing a practice known as investigative journalism.

For instance if that tower you see through the above haze had started being constructed, with a four year construction timeline, and if that construction stopped shortly after starting, a few feet above ground level, the local newspaper journalists would investigate and let their readers know what was causing the problem.

Meanwhile in an American backwater called Fort Worth...

Visit Fort Worth's Infamous Graveyard Of Broken Promises.

For the next couple weeks Internet access for me is going to be a bit erratic. I am not hauling my laptop with me for the first time in a long time.

Tonight my nephews David and Theo, and niece Ruby, are taking me to a Potato Fry Party. I may take pictures. I may blog those pictures later tonight. I really have no idea at this point in time.

This morning I arrive at D/FW for an almost three hour wait to catch a plane heading to Seattle. I do not know if Elsie Hotpepper is going to use her TSA Homeland Security credentials to get past airport security to come find me and take me to McDonald's for lunch.

I suspect Elsie will bail on lunch, which is her norm...