The Freezing Last Saturday Of 2010 In Texas

There is frost on the roof this morning, with this morning being the last Saturday of 2010, which makes it one week til X-Day and 2 weeks till 2011 arrives.

Last Christmas, here in North Texas, we had a white one, with about a foot of snow on the ground.

Currently a White Christmas is not in our forecast, but weather changes rapidly here, so one can not say no Xmas snow for sure, I suppose.

With it being only 30 degrees out there I am not too strongly drawn to the swimming pool.

I had no notable nightmares last night that registered in my memory. And I have seen no signs of sleepwalking.  My feet are not hurting so I do not think Betty Jo Bouvier stomped on me last night.

I foresee a cold hike in my future today, with a possible visit to Town Talk, what with Saturday being my favorite day to go there.

Eggplant Parmesan and Shrimp is currently on the menu for lunch. Which will be ready to eat around 1:30. Don't be late if you expect to eat.

According To Forbes The Lone Star State Dominates America's Best Cities For Young Adults

I saw an article in the Seattle P-I this morning that was interesting.

The title was "Seattle a top city for twenty-somethings? Not so fast, says Forbes."

Seattle does self-deprecating, as expressed in its newspapers, in a way I've never, or rarely seen in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I can't imagine why that is.

Really, I can't.

One of the lines in the P-I article says, "Seattle is a good place for young people, according to Forbes Magazine. Just not quite as good as practically every city in Texas."

Seattle ranked high, along with New York City for what Forbes called "Hipster Scenes," assigning a city a Coolness Rank and Nightlife Rank. Seattle was in 3rd place in Coolness and Nightlife. But, cost of living brought its score down, along with NYC.

In the Forbes article a sub-heading says "The Lone Star State Dominates."

Here's a blurb, "....uber-hip Austin is the best place to live if you're in your 20s and searching for a town filled with peers, good job prospects and fun things to do. The central-Texas metro, known both for a bustling tech community and a trendsetting music scene, ranks first on our list of America's Best Cities for Young Adults."

Houston ranked #2, Dallas #6 and San Antonio #9, hence the Lone Star State dominating line.

New York City came in #3, Chicago #4, Denver #5, Seattle #7 and Atlanta #8.

Seattle and NYC took a hit in the Forbes ranking due to their median age being older than other top ranked towns, with all the Texas towns ranked, being in the top 5 for the youthfulness of their median age.

Salt Lake City was ranked the most youthful. This must be a function of the Mormon tendency to over-reproduce.

I've never been to Minneapolis-St. Paul. That town came in at #38 out of 40 towns ranked, in terms of its nightlife.

I did not look at the entire list to see if Fort Worth showed up. It is well-known, in Fort Worth, that downtown Fort Worth is the liveliest downtown in Texas. It's true. Some magazine said so once....

No Shadow Of The Thin Man On The Tandy Hills Today While Recovering From Betty Jo Bouvier Stomping On My Foot

There was no Shadow of the Thin Man on the Tandy Hills today, due to there being no bright sun present, due to a grayish vapor of unknown origin covering the sky.

This morning I read one of the saddest things I've read in awhile. That being Gar the Texan's tale of the cruise from which he just returned.

It reads like a romance novel, not that I have ever read a romance novel, but it's what I except one to be like.

Gar the Texan's romance novel is the story of a lonely boy, sailing solo, staring into glass after glass of adult libations, singing karaoke, trying to get into crew parties with attempts to buy a crew uniform and finally having an emotional breakdown with an old lady who had also lost her spouse and was sailing solo.

All while on a quest to learn where Macedonia is.

Now, let us leave Gar the Texan and return to the Tandy Hills. It was cold on the hills today, requiring 2 layers of long sleeved shirts, plus a windbreaker with a hoodie, which I needed to use to block the cold wind.

I have been having a sore foot woe for several weeks now. I don't know what I did to cause this woe. The right foot is the biggest pain.

In last night's nightmare, which I mentioned earlier today, the nightmare where I found myself driving in Afghanistan with Betty Jo Bouvier in heavy duty harping nag mode. Well, what I did not mention was that when we got to Kabul and got out of the car, Betty Jo stomped on my right foot real hard, paining me deeply.

It was very strange how my real life pain became part of the nightmare, with Betty Jo making it worse.

Today on the Tandy Hills that right foot was hurting the worst ever. And then after about a half mile the pain abated like it always does.

Tonight I intend to keep the dangerous Betty Jo Bouvier out of my nightmares, if I can.

Sleepwalking In Texas While Driving In Afghanistan With Betty Jo Bouvier

We are looking out at the morning of the 3rd Friday of the last month of 2010. Only 14 days to go til the end of this current holiday season's excessive joy.

I had a rough night of nightmares last night. The nightmares had way too much action going on.

I think there may have been some sleepwalking involved.

Because one of my pillows was outside this morning, sitting on a table on the patio. I did not know this til I looked out the window to take the picture you see here and saw the pillow.

I do remember one of my nightmares.

Betty Jo Bouvier, the Wild Woman of Woolley, and I were on The Amazing Race. The task was to drive ourselves from Kandahar, Afghanistan to Kabul. We were provided with AK-47s in case we ran into any Taliban. It was a nervewracking drive to Kabul, with Betty Jo complaining all the way, blaming me for getting her stuck on this ridiculous race.

I woke up exhausted.

I have no idea what I am doing today, except for being absolutely certain there will be no driving in Afghanistan.

Standing On A Cliff Looking At The Shadow Of The Tandy Hills Thin Man

You are looking at the Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man, with the shadow being cast on the base of the currently dry Tandy Falls, with the Thin Man standing on the escarpment over which the Tandy River flows, making Tandy Falls, when water is available.

I was last on the Tandy Hills on Tuesday. On that day it was warm and I was overdressed. Today it was not warm and I was almost underdressed, with only a long sleeve t-shirt on top. But it turned out to be just a bit chilly at the start. I soon warmed up.

Unlike this morning's quickly aborted attempt to go swimming. By the time I made it to the end of the pool it was clearly obvious that I needed to quickly make my way back to a warm place.

Usually that warm place would be the hot tub. But its thermostat is still in malfunction mode. The malfunction was discovered when the water was so hot one could have easily slow-cooked a turkey in there.

Speaking of hot. Someone Anonymous commented on a blogging on Tuesday about Elsie Hotpepper's Elf duties, commenting that Elsie was HOT. I shared this information with Elsie, who then said something like, "Too many people up to no good. I don't like it."

Some people just can't take a compliment. I guess HOT Elsie Hotpepper would be one of those people.

Thursday Morning In Texas Thinking About Going Swimming With Ethyl Benzene, Methyl Pentane and Zylene In The Water

It is 39 degrees out there this 3rd Thursday of the last month of 2010. Looking out my window this morning, with no wind blowing, the pool looks inviting. I think I'll accept the invitation.

We got well into the 70s yesterday, maybe even into the low 80s. I'm sure that had a warming effect on outdoor water.

This morning Texas Sharon had a disturbing blurb about a Flower Mound girl in who's blood Barnett Shale Natural Gas well fracturing chemicals have been found.

The chemicals found in the teenager's blood were Ethyl Benzene, Methyl Pentane and Zylene.

Did the girl get the poison from drinking water or breathing air. Or both.

Are we all doomed?

Fort Worth's Field Of Dreams Aborted Streetcar Is Making Some Citizens Cranky

I have heard there are quite a few locals quite upset that the Fort Worth City Council aborted the Fort Worth Streetcar pretty much well before conception was allowed to take place.

All that had happened towards building a Fort Worth Streetcar was a study to look into the idea if conceiving a Streetcar Baby was a good idea. And if Fort Worth should accept the proposal and marry itself to a long range plan to grow a bigger family of streetcars.

This was an arranged attempt at marriage, gone about all backwards from the modern American way of conceiving a plan and then birthing it to fruition.

Apparently the Fort Wort Streetcar Debacle has caused a schism in town, with some young people and business owners, located south of downtown, sending out emails trying to bring about a boycott of Sundance Square.

For those of you who don't know Fort Worth, Sundance Square is a collection of downtown Fort Worth parking lots. The parking lots are under the control of the Sundance Square leader, Ed Bass. The Sundance Square people try to spin Sundance Square as a downtown revitalization project that revitalized downtown Fort Worth, with Sundance Square actually being a multi-block area of downtown, not just parking lots. But, to those who has been to other downtown's squares, the only thing in downtown Fort Worth that resembles a square is the downtown Fort Worth parking lots.

From what I have seen, over my years of being here, Ed Bass is behind a lot of questionable things about downtown Fort Worth. Which the locals don't find questionable, instead they act all grateful. acting as if they are Ed Bass' serfs, greatly grateful for the great things he deigns to bestow upon them.

That they have never learned, or been taught, to bestow upon themselves. Such as vote to fund a new performance hall, or museum, or public square, or streetcar, or anything.

As a person who came from an area without the Fort Worth style of relying on the kindness of supposedly philanthropic benefactors to do good things for my town, I early on found the reliance on the Bass Family to be detrimental to the health of Fort Worth.

Like it was some sort of modern era company town.

To my outsider's eyes, the Bass Performance Hall is nothing to be pleased about. It does not fit its surroundings, is not set back from the street, is across from a Barnes & Noble and kitty corner from a big pub that sits on one of the Bass parking lots.And it has two totally incongruous giant angels stuck to its sides blowing on big horns.

Other examples of the Bass taste in architecture in downtown Fort Worth are equally bad. All of which I am certain Howard Roark would happily blow up if he could.

And Ed Bass was behind thwarting what may have been Fort Worth's first actual iconic structure recognizable to the rest of America and the world, that being the now thwarted downtown Tarrant County College.

Many blame Ed Bass for being behind the Fort Worth Streetcar being aborted. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. I doubt Ed Bass is wrong all the time and I think he may have been right to think Fort Worth is not ready for streetcars.

Streetcar systems work in densely populated urban areas where a lot of people live and work. The downtown Fort Worth area and the areas to the north and south of downtown are not densely populated areas where people live and work. It is rather telling that there is no grocery store in downtown Fort Worth, or north of downtown Fort Worth or south of downtown Fort Worth, in the area of the proposed streetcar.

There were some who thought, "build it and they will come." Methinks that is wishful of the same sort as those who thought build the Santa Fe Rail Market and they will come.

I think Fort Worth sent out task forces to study other town's streetcars. I believe a task force went to Seattle to look at Seattle's South Lake Union Trolley known as SLUT. Did they not notice how filled in the served by the SLUT was? How many people were working and living within the area served by SLUT? Did they not ask which came first? The SLUT or the people?

Did they not notice how heavily used Seattle's bus system is? Did they not go into downtown Seattle's bus/rail tunnel and see the cavernous stations teeming with people and buses and trains with lots of riders?  Do they not notice how underused Fort Worth's buses are? How many people ride Molly the Trolley a year?

And, did they check out the ridership statistics on the SLUT? Even though it serves a much busier area than that where the Fort Worth Streetcar was proposed to run, the SLUT's ridership is less, per day, than the Fort Worth Streetcar's projected daily ridership.

In my opinion the day Fort Worth can no longer afford to have huge parking lots in its downtown core, due to the value of that land being so dear, is the day streetcars become viable in Fort Worth. Until that day building a streetcar line would be based on wishful thinking and waste a lot of money, hoping that if you build it, they will come.

Like a Field of Dreams. Only that Dream worked.

Almost 80 Degrees In Texas In Mid December Causing Me To Think About Rush Limbaugh & Millard Fillmore.

77 degrees at 3 in the afternoon this December 15 at my location in Texas.

I've got my windows open. Again. I was running the A/C while driving today up in Hurst. Yesterday I was running the vehicle's heater.

I do not remember opening my windows or running my vehicle's A/C in December in Texas, previously.

Maybe I am remembering wrong.

I listen to Rush Limbaugh for a few minutes every once in awhile.

Ex-President Millard Fillmore, who after getting kicked out of the presidency and the Whig Party, later ran for president on the Know Nothing Party Ticket. The Know Nothings were strongly anti-immigration. I don't know if going on and on about global warming being s hoax was part of their platform, way back then.

But if radio had been around in the 1850s, that being Millard Fillmore's time on the planet, and I was around to listen to it and Know Nothing Millard Fillmore had a talk radio show, I would listen to it just to be entertained by the astonishing buffoonery on display. Just like I do when I listen to Rush Limbaugh for a few minutes.

Yesterday Limbaugh was going on about the record breaking cold temperatures at his location in Florida being proof that there was no such thing as Global Warming. I think a listener, or someone, may have pointed out to him that the actual issue is Climate Change.

I am wondering if Mr. Limbaugh were located in my location how would he spin it being a warm almost 80 degrees today in Texas, with December windows open?

Ironically, with it being short wearing, possible shirt off temperatures, I don't think I am going to be doing any hill hiking today. Just not in the mood....

In The Middle Of December Thinking About The Texas Holiday Trail Of Lights & Interlochen

We are already about half way through the last month of 2010.

I was up late last night and up late this morning. A very rare occurrence.

Looking out the mid morning view from my window it appears to be yet one more blue sky Texas day. Rapidly approaching 60 degrees.

At one point last evening some dancing activity occurred. Shakira's Hips Don't Like started an involuntary reaction that has plagued me previously. That song turns me into a 21st Century Fred Astaire.

I got a comment from someone Anonymous verbalizing the opinion that I should alleviate my lack of Christmas Cheer by heading out to the East Texas Piney Woods Region to follow the Texas Holiday Trail of Lights.

That particular trail takes you to towns like Nacogdoches and Marshall and Jefferson where you see a lot of bright lights and Christmas displays.

I don't need to drive all the way out to the East Texas Piney Woods Region to see bright lights and Christmas displays. All I have to do is drive about 3 miles to the east to the Interlochen neighborhood to see bright lights and Christmas displays.

The Texas Holiday Trail of Lights link will take you to info about that particular trail. The Interlochen link will take you to info about Interlochen and maps directing you to the location.

I need to go take some Ibuprofen now. I'm having chest pains....

Elf Elsie Hotpepper Spreading Christmas Cheer To Me With Cheesecake, Key Lime Pie & Coconut Cake

As you can see, Elsie Hotpepper is in Elf Mode today. Before I say anything else, I must say, Elsie is not going saloon hopping in Elf Mode.

Elsie is out and about, today, bringing Christmas Cheer to those in short supply of Christmas Cheer.

That would include me.

My normal state of mind is pretty much Cheer-Free, but during what is commonly known as the Holiday Season, my Cheeriness really hits a low ebb.

This begins some time after Halloween and then begins to abate quickly following January 1 of the New Year.

This means I have about 17 more days of feeling fairly Cheerless.

I did experience some small amount of personal Christmas Cheer last night, at Gaylord Texan, partaking of desserts, which is something I usually do not partake of. But the few things, in Desert World, that I actually like, were present at Gaylord Texan.

I had what may have been the best Cheesecake I've ever had, topped with several types of berries. Then there was Key Lime Pie. Just a small slice of that. And Coconut Cake. I had never had Coconut Cake before, til I discovered this place called Sam's Buffet, about midway between Dallas and Houston. Gaylord Texan's was at least as good as Sam's.

This morning, when I got on the scale, I was mortified to see I have ballooned to 212 pounds. I'm so fat I likely will have no problem getting in the pool when I get around to doing that again, what with this nice layer of insulative lard I've added, keeping me warm, that will also likely let me float like I've got my own built in air mattress.

I have long envied Fat People regarding their advantages whilst playing in water. And now, thanks to a couple months of overeating, I am one of them.

I think it's time to go eat my nightly bag of tortilla chips with melted cheese.