Alma Sings Sunset Sounds In Port Aransas

Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast sent me a cool picture this morning that I felt compelled to share.

In the picture Alma and her conga drummer, Luis, are playing at Sunset Sounds at Patsy Jones Amphitheater at Roberts Point Park in Port Aransas.

That is the Lydia Channel behind Alma, with a big freighter going through the channel. While Alma was singing and Luis was drumming Mother Nature was blowing gusts up to 52 mph.

Below is Alma's America's Got Talent YouTube Audition....

Swimming In Potholes In Fort Worth

Another beautiful morning in Fort Worth.

This new swimming at the crack of dawn is being a real good thing.

Speaking of cracks. We have a lot of cracks in the pavement here in this zone of Texas. And potholes. And leaks. Sometimes all three at the same time.

Yesterday, when I turned on to View Street to go hiking at the Tandy Hills, I saw a lot of water spewing from yet one more water pipe leak. The leak ran into the park, eventually finding its way to a usually dry creek bed, turning the dry creek into an active flow moving a lot of gallons of wasted water per second. Appalling in a zone where water is something you don't want to be wasting.

On the road by where I live there are several potholes that are caused by water leaks. The potholes get filled with asphalt, like they were yesterday, and then the water gradually erodes the asphalt away and the pothole returns. There seems to be no effort to find the source of the water leak.

This problem seems to have turned epidemic in some areas of this town. I've read the water delivery infrastructure is ancient, in some places, and in need of replacement. This must be the case with the View Street leaks.

So, that's my day so far, swimming at dawn and being perplexed by leaking potholes.

Dallas/Fort Worth Level Orange Ozone Alert & Yellow Wildflowers

Despite being under a Level Orange Air Ozone Alert here in Fort Worth, I decided to risk doing damage to my lungs and other vital organs by going hiking at the Tandy Hills Natural Area at noon.

That's the noon view of beautiful downtown Fort Worth's stunning skyline. The air does not look very dirty, to me, in Ol' Dirty Town, today. Maybe it's invisible air pollution.

The Tandy Hills wildflowers seem to have had a resurgence, there was a lot of color on the ground today, including a big yellow flower that looked sort of sunflower/daisy-like.

Today whilst hiking it occurred to me that the Prairie Fest powers that be should have an Easter Egg Hunt during the Fest. With eggs on the trails, only, so that the little buggers don't go traipsing on the prairie grass. Eggs all over the park, with a couple golden prize winning eggs. Or something like that. You wouldn't want really little kids on the trails so there'd need to be their own special egg hunt on the grass somewhere, but kids 10-18, they'd be old enough to hurry along the trails looking for eggs, with some over exerting parents stumbling to keep up.

My backache woe is totally gone, hiking was good, semi-HOT, requiring that clothing be minimalized, and starting yesterday, even though it gets few visitors, so far, I have gotten the type feedback I was looking for to validate I was on the right track, so the new Durango Roadtripping idea is working out.

Bald Heads, Back Aches, Mountain Biking, Swimming, Hiking & American Idol

Yeah, that's me with my newly shaved bald head and a backache. Yesterday I said I was going to Sprouts Farmers Market around noon and then going to River Legacy Park to go mountain biking in the late afternoon.

The mountain biking did not happen. I believe I had over done a yoga stretch and my back muscle rebelled. The rebellion took place while I was in Sprouts pushing a cart full of fruit and vegetables. I believe my back seized up in what is known as a spasm. It hurt.

Having my back go out on me is the worst. I'd rather recover from a painful surgery than a backache. The pain I was feeling, that came in bursts, was the pain I've felt before that leads to my back going out. So, I was not pleased.

I got out of Sprouts and made it back here, took some ibuprofen and did the stuff I've learned to do to thwart this type disaster.

By the time I sat down to watch American Idol, a half hour after the show started, my back was feeling no pain. It did not take me long, fast forwarding through boring parts, before the DVR was caught up to being live with American Idol. I grew bored waiting for commercials to end.

So, I offed it and went to bed. It didn't matter to me who won the thing, but I was a bit surprised this morning to see that Adam Lambert was not the winner. It seemed like he'd been already crowned months ago.

By morning, no back woes, up way before dawn, in the pool as the sun came up.

But, fresh woes, WeatherBug just went off with a Level Orange Air Pollution Alert. This means if you are old, infirm, have breathing problems or just hate air pollution that you should avoid breathing today. I hit bingo in at least 2 of those categories.

I wonder if this Level Orange thing should stop me from going hiking the Tandy Hills today. Probably not.

Seas Of Peaks & Midland Flatlands

Like I said earlier today, when you get high in the Cascades you see this phenomenon called "The Sea of Peaks," where there are so many mountain tops, extending as far as you can see, that it looks like whitecaps on a rough sea.

The young lady from Midland, whom I mentioned on my Roadtripping Blog, had asked me if I knew of any waterfalls within 2 hour roadtrip distance from Dallas/Fort Worth, commented on "The Sea of Peaks," saying...

"The pic of you lying on the flat rock over looking your beautiful descriptive simile of white caps on the sea...makes me feel like I'm on the seashore of endless worlds...truly inspiring and if doesn't want to make a body move...I don't know what will...:)"

I've driven by Midland, Texas a time or two, both heading west and east. Flatest, most mountain-free stretch of land I've ever seen. But there are sort of mountains within easy driving distance of the flatlands of Midland. The Young Lady who has never seen a waterfall went to those mountains a few days ago and blogged about it.

In the picture above those are some of "The Sea of Peaks" as seen from the Mount Pilchuck Lookout. Mount Pilchuck is pretty much in the Cascade foothills on the far west side of the Cascade Range. From the summit, on a clear day, you can see the Seattle skyline, Puget Sound, Mount's Baker, St. Helens, Rainier, Adams and others.

Click here to seem more Cascade Mountain pictures, including some of me taking my nephews on Dangerous Adventures that their parents knew nothing about.

LOST Facebook TV Star Friend

Just moments ago I blogged my sad lament about wanting to be at a beach, on top of a mountain or on a roadtrip. Actually combining all three would be great.

After I finished my sad lament I saw I had a Facebook message. When I logged into Facebook I saw the online chat thing was open. My one longtime reader may remember me mentioning a few days ago the pleasant surprise of getting Facebook Friended from a high school classmate, which then led me to learn she is now a TV and Movie Star. The TV part being on LOST.

Her message to me in the chat thing was commenting on me being up at 4am and saying I must be an early riser. I suspect I have some time setting wrong, because I was not up at 4am, though I did get up before dawn today.

I then saw on that Facebook Wall thing, or whatever it is called, that Beth had added some more pics for LOST fans. My favorite was the pic with Sayid. The one with Hurley is cute too. There were pics with Dr. Jack Shepherd, Danielle, the French Woman, Walt and I forget who else.

Like I've said before, I've never had a TV Star Facebook Friend before. Let alone one asking me if I'm an early bird. It's got me all atwitter. And wondering why nothing exciting ever happens to me, like being on a TV show? I suppose one must make some sort of effort for such a thing to happen. Making an effort has never been one of my outstanding traits.

A Warm Saltwater Beach, Mountain Peak, Roadtripping & Woeful Me

My favorite Blogging Co-Conspirator has caused me to think of being at a beach of late. Though I may get in water in the form of a swimming pool, like I did real early this morning, as in crack of dawn early, I can not remember when the last time was that I was at a saltwater beach, with the water warm enough to swim.

But, as much as the thought of saltwater beach swimming makes me want to get out of this landlocked zone and see some open water, even worse, of late I have found myself writing about roadtrips I've gone on in the past.

That is causing me to dredge up some rather fond memories, which is causing me to want to go on a roadtrip real bad. I have not been on a long roadtrip since July of 2001 when I drove, solo, from Fort Worth to Seattle for my mom and dad's 50th. And back.

I can't even remember the last time I've been out of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. That's pathetic. I occasionally used to take a short roadtrip up to Ada, Oklahoma to see one of my best friends, dating all the way back to early grade school. But last summer she moved back to Washington. I now know no one in Oklahoma, as far as I know.

All this thinking about roadtrips and looking at old pictures is also making me want to go on a real hike on a real mountain. Just like how I can't remember the last time I've been out of this Metroplex, I can not remember the last time I hiked up a real mountain. The picture at the top is me laying on top of Hidden Lake peak, looking down at Hidden Lake. This is deep into the North Cascades. When you get high in the Cascades you see this phenomenon called "The Sea of Peaks," where there are so many mountain tops, extending as far as you can see, that it looks like whitecaps on a rough sea.

I guess last summer's hike at Mount Rainier sort of counts as hiking on a mountain. But not really. As in no mountain top got reached. No Sea of Peaks was seen.

Today I'm taking a short roadtrip up to Southlake and Sprouts Farmers Market. And then maybe this afternoon I may take an even shorter roadtrip to River Legacy Park to pedal the mountain bike trail. It is now dried out from our recent deluge. All this beach, mountain and roadtrip talk has me feeling a bit depressed. I need an endorphin boost.

Tattered American Flag At Wal-Mart Again & Rush Limbaugh

What is it with Wal-Mart and the U.S. Flag? The flag at my neighborhood Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market was all tattered today.

Maybe that's the new style of the flag, sort of to better symbolize the current tattered state of the United States.

Earlier today I mentioned I woke up feeling agitated. When I was biking today I figured out why.

First off, I no longer am reading a daily paper. I had not thought about it, but I'm really getting a lot less news. One would think that would make me less agitated. But more often than not, what I read in the paper was just interesting, it didn't agitate me.

So, here's the problem. I've been reading more books. I think it may be my choice of what I read that gets my agitated. A couple days ago I finished The Zapruder Film: Reframing JFK's Assassination by David R. Wrone. I was already of the opinion that Lee Harvey was a patsy. This Zapruder Film book sealed the deal. That and actually seeing the Zapruder Film.

After the Zapruder Film book is when I really made a bad choice and started reading When Giants Fall: An Economic Roadmap for the End of the American Era by Michael J. Panzner. This is a very new book. The author details in excruciating detail how big the trouble is that America is supposedly in. The book is so recent it covers the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG Bailouts. The guy predicted, accurately the next problems that cropped up.

By about page 80 I'd grown so tired of the doom and gloom naysaying that I decided to go back to my previous point of view, that being that America has weathered some rather tough times before and has always come out okay. The guy lost me when he went into all the future conflicts, as in wars, America will be facing, dealing with the new Superpowers of China, India and Brazil.

So, that guy had me agitated. And then there is Rush Limbaugh. Back when he was not on the opposition side of things, I found him pretty amusing most of the time. I don't often agree with him, but I enjoyed listening to him spew his bombastic, well-spoken version of reality.

And then Obama gets elected. That turned Limbaugh nasty. At times the rhetoric seems so inflammatory, to me, that it's almost like the man is inciting an insurrection.

It's so bad that I worry that Limbaugh may be poisoning the mind of some nutjob who decides to turn all John Wilkes Booth on us, demented into thinking he is saving America from a president who, Limbaugh says over and over again, is the most extremely radical leftist socialist ever to lead America. That and he repeatedly claims this or that thing Obama says or does is incompetent. And he repeatedly refers to Obama as Barry and the Messiah.

I can only take listening to Rush Limbaugh for about 15 minutes anymore til I tire of it.

Village Creek, Interlochen Canals & Turtles

We have not yet had enough dry days in a row to make my favorite mountain bike trail ready to ride. This meant that my biking energy today had to be spent an the trail closest to me, that being Village Creek Natural Historic Area.

I don't think I've mentioned it before, but the trail runs along the western edge of the Interlochen neighborhood. Interlochen is known for putting on over the top lighting displays at Christmas, drawing big crowds and causing traffic jams.

I believe the Interlochen Canals were made as some sort of land reclamation project that won national acclaim, in ancient times, long before I came to Texas. There is a historical type marker explaining the gestation of the Interlochen Canals, but my ever worse memory is not remembering the details right now. I'll try and remember to take a picture of the historical type marker the next time I'm there.

When I first saw the Interlochen Canals I thought it looked to be the coolest place to live that I'd seen in Texas. You can take your boat to visit the neighbors. Or walk. I don't know what is wrong with the water, if anything, but I've never seen anyone swimming. But, why swim in a canal when you have a pool?

It is semi-hot today, in the 80s. Which means the turtles that live in the Village Creek Pond were having themselves a good time sunning their hides on a log.

Usually they are a bit skittish as soon as they detect an intruder. But today they let me get out my camera and take several pictures.

Durango Roadtripping & Swimming

This morning I was able to have my first early morning swim in two weeks. The temperature got down to 55 by the time dawn broke this morning. So, for the first time this year, the pool water was warmer, by far, than the air.

I finally found a name I didn't dislike for my new blog. The image I used was a picture taken on the road that leads to Monument Valley in Arizona, taken looking out the windshield of my van at the same scenery that was on the cover of the van's manual.

I've only been doing the new blog for a few days. Yesterday I was pleased to see that Google had indexed the blog. And this morning I was pleased, again, to see that someone came to the blog due to doing a Google search for "The Loneliest Road in America."

I do have something vexing me about my new blog that I don't understand. A couple days ago I burned a feed for both the new blog and my TV blog. Overnight both had subscribers, with the TV one having 12 and the new blog having 15. I can look at my FeedJit stats and see that I've not even had 15 visitors to the new blog, so how can there be 15 subscribers. That makes no sense. It perplexes me.

Speaking of perplexing, Gar the Texan has taken off for Italy again. I'm sure a lotta hilarity will ensue. If you didn't read about his Italian misadventures from a couple weeks ago, go here, and you'll find the links. The most amusing tale was the 5 hour train ride to Rome with a woman who would not shut up.

The early morning swimming has me feeling agitated. Maybe it's something else causing the agitation. I did have some exhausting nightmares last night due to being overstimulated by the season finale of 24. I'm fairly certain I did not sleepwalk last night. But I can never be sure about that.