Up Late After Being Up Late Watching The Texas Rangers Win A World Series Game & Emmanuel Kelly

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell you can tell, on this next to last Friday of the 10th month of 2011, that it is yet one more clear sky morning in Texas.

It is 20 degrees above freezing. I am almost 100% certain I am not going to go swimming this morning.

Apparently the Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals last night to tie the World Series at one win a piece. I now know, for now, these games are being played up in St. Louis.

I have not acquired tickets, yet, to go to a World Series game when it comes to the Ballpark in Arlington.

This morning Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast sent me a YouTube video. If you are feeling sorry about your sad lot in life, watch this video to put things in perspective....

Hiking The Tandy Hills Without Moammar Gadhafi Haunting The Planet

Giant Tandy Tire Number Two

Today is the first time I've gone hiking on the Tandy Hills without the malevolent presence of Moammar Gadhafi being on the planet.

I did not notice the absence of Moammar Gadhafi making the Tandy Hills any more peaceful than its usual peacefulness.

The way things are going for corrupt, evil dictators I think if that were my business I'd be doing some quick reforming to try and save my sorry hide.

Methinks the former dentist who's dictates dictate to Syrians is the next dictator toppler.

On a totally different from dictating note.

I came across another GIANT tire on the Tandy Hills today. Actually it was on the Tandy Highway, not a Tandy Hill.

For quite some time, I'd not walked the stretch of Tandy Highway that runs from Tandy Falls to the south trail that runs to the top of Mount Tandy. It was on that section of highway, between those two landmarks, that I came upon the GIANT tire, you see in the picture, blocking the road.

The temperature today has gone from being a few chilly degrees above freezing to one degree shy of 70. Near perfect.

4.6 Magnitude Supposedly Rare Texas Earthquake Shakes San Antonio This Morning

4.6 Magnitude Quake 50 Miles South of San Antonio

Texas seems to be constantly shaking from earthquakes.

Yet each time we feel the earth move here in Texas it seems I read how rarely Texas has earthquakes.

In the past few years I have experienced earthquakes centered in all directions all around me.

But, I have not felt the earth move.

I often felt the earth move, at times quite violently, when I lived in the shaky state of Washington.

This morning, at 7:24 am, an area about 50 miles south of San Antonio got popped with what the U.S. Geological Survey says was a 4.6 magnitude earthquake.

The earthquakes that have rattled my immediate vicinity have been puny little shakers. Most people seem to credit the Barnett Shale gas drillers and their fracking cracking with causing the local quakes.

A 4.6 level quake is a bit more serious. If you were at the epicenter of a 4.6 quake you'd be feeling a lot of motion and likely hear a lot of noise.

This morning's Texas quake was centered near the town of Campbellton. Faint tremoring was felt as far away as downtown San Antonio. The shaking was strong enough in San Antonio that a downtown federal building was briefly evacuated.

And once again, the earth has moved in Texas, where earthquakes are rare, with me not feeling it.

Shivering 10 Degrees Above Freezing On Day 20 Of October After Texas Rangers Lose Game 1 Of The World Series

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the world you can not tell it is only 10 degrees above freezing out there.

Not windy. But cold. I am taking a morning off of my usually morning swimming ritual.

It seems like only yesterday I verbalized being appalled that it was already day 20 of September. And now it is already day 20 of October. Which has me appalled.

It is only 11 days until the biggest holiday of the year.

Halloween.

After Halloween we get on the fast track to the dreaded, by me, Holiday Season.

I think the Holiday Season should be like the Olympics and Presidential Elections. Held only every 4 years.

The first game of the World Series of 2011 is history. The Texas Rangers lost. I could not tell from my brief glancing at info about the game if it was played 8 miles from my abode, in the Ballpark in Arlington, or if it was played in St. Louis. I suspect it was in St. Louis because I saw the Star-Telegram had an article singing the praises of the new St. Louis baseball park.

Controversial Texas Nerds With Tandy Hills Sinkholes

It has always been controversial to mention sinkholes on this blog. Usually because Gar the Texan Nerd usually turns the sinkhole into a bizarre controversy.

But, I believe Gar the Texan Nerd is currently out of the country due to his newly diagnosed Asperger's Syndrome having him on his 6th Caribbean cruise of the year.

So, I think it is safe to assume I can mention a sinkhole without it turning into a controversy courtesy of Gar the Texan Nerd.

Today on the main trail that leads to the Tandy Hills, from View Street, I came upon what looked like a sinkhole in the making. Currently I do not believe there is any danger of falling into this abyss, but I would not want to come upon it on a hike in the dark. I think a major tripping might be the result.

The recent rains have caused some new little wildflowers to sprout out. Adding a little color to the currently browned hills.

I am liking the cool temps. It is only 65 right now. I think it was 61 when I headed for the hills.

The pool ended up being more pleasant this morning than yesterday morning, even though the air temperature was colder, with it being in the 40s. The difference was yesterday morning it was real windy. This morning it was not windy.

I need to send out a BOLO (Be On Look Out) for Elsie Hotpepper, who has gone missing again. I'll put out the BOLO and then have lunch. Spaghetti sauce with mushrooms and salami over brown rice, with fresh asparagus.

Which reminds me, Top Chef Texas starts up soon.

Did Rick Perry Embarrass Himself At Last Night's Entertaining Las Vegas Western Republican Presidential Debate?

The early morning sky of the 3rd Wednesday of October is glowing clear and blue, which you can clearly see looking skyward through the bars of my patio prison cell.

I watched the Republican Presidential Debate last night, which overstimulated me and made me want to go to Las Vegas.

I don't think I've been in Las Vegas since 2005.

I've never watched a Presidential Debate with so much amusing bickering as I heard last night.

I don't know if my opinion is shared by anyone else, but to me, it appears Rick Perry is in way way way over his head. He seemed, to me, to make a big fool of himself. He even got the audience booing at him with his stupid harping about Mitt Romney supposedly being an illegal alien enabler.

Ron Paul makes a lot of sense a lot of the time. And then sometimes he says something fruitcakey. I can not think of a specific right now.Maybe one was the Wall Street occupiers should be occupying the Federal Reserve instead.

I don't know how many people watched last night's Vegas debate. If millions upon millions were viewing I suspect Newt Gingrich will be taking a jump in the polls, while Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann continue to plunge.

On a totally non-political note. Last night we got down into the 40s for the first time in a long time at my location on the planet, as you can see via my computer generated weather graphic.

My going swimming rule, that I adopted during our last swimming season, is that swimming is doable if the 24 hour temperature average is 50 degrees or above.

I am fairly certain the temperature has averaged 50 degrees, or above, during the previous 24 hour time period. So, I am going swimming now. I will let you know later how that worked out.

Updating the Cotton Bowl's Red River Rivalry Between Texas & Oklahoma

The Red River makes up part of the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma. Every year the University of Texas Longhorns play the University of Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas in a football game known as the Red River Rivalry.

This Red River Rivalry game takes place during the State Fair of Texas. Googling for Red River Rivalry info I think I gleaned that this year's Red River Rivalry game has already taken place, with OU beating Texas, 55 to 17.

Clearly I pay little attention to football. So, why am I bringing up this Red River Rivalry? Well, apparently I have blogged about the Red River Rivalry previously. And erroneously.

Today a guy named David Fussell kindly alleviated me of my erroneousness. This is was Mr. Fussell had to say...

Love your blog on the State Fair of Texas! One inaccuracy though. The blog states:

The Red River Rivalry in the Cotton Bowl will soon be history. It will become the Red River Rivalry in the Dallas Cowboy Stadium in Arlington. 

The presidents of both universities have emphatically stated that the Red River Rivalry game between Texas and OU will NEVER leave the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park.

The current contract runs through 2015, and all parties involved are in negotiations to extend the contract long-term. 

Thanks!

The link in the message went to my Eyes on Texas webpage about the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal. Which had me scouring that overly big webpage looking for the error. When I could not find it I emailed Mr. Fussell and asked if this error was on a blogging. It was. Rather than try and find that particular needle of a  blogging in this haystack of a blog I decided to just blog about my error.

Googling for info about the Red River Rivalry I found that at one point in time I was correct in saying the game was moving to the new Cowboy Stadium.

In February 2007, the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic let it be known the game would move out of Dallas to Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, in 2010.

This threat to move the game to Arlington got Dallas Mayor Laura Miller to champion a bond referendum to greatly expand and improve the Cotton Bowl. In November 2006 Dallas voters passed a $30 million bond issue to improve the stadium. The City of Dallas and the State Fair of Texas kicked in an additional $20 million.

By April of 2007 Mayor Miller was able to announce that Texas and Oklahoma had agreed to keep playing in the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park though 2015.

Well, I'm glad that is all cleared up. So, what happens after 2015? Methinks that Red River Rivalry should stay in Dallas. Arlington's Cowboys Stadium has nothing like the State Fair of Texas to add to the overall fun.

A Cold Wind Making Waves On Fort Worth's Fosdic Lake With Escaping Fosdic Turtles

I was less than a minute in to walking around Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park today when it became obvious that shorts and a t-shirt were not sufficient outerwear to keep me warm.

In the noon time frame the air was chilled to the upper 50s with a very strong wind blowing.

All this new air blown in from the north has cleared up my allergy woe.

The Fosdic Ducks did not seem to mind the wind and the cold. The Duck Flock was in full frolic on the lake mode.

I was concerned about the Fosdic Turtles. Having enjoyed such a long HOT summer and then to be hit with this extreme overnight chill, I thought the turtles would be traumatized.

And then I saw a herd of turtles sunning themselves on a log. And after that I saw the guy you see in the picture above, well out of the lake, heading east as fast as his cold-blooded reptilian legs could carry him. He stopped walking when I stopped to take pictures. I advised the turtle that he should head back to the lake, that where he was heading was trouble and a road.

As I walked away from the turtle I saw that he had listened to me and was making a U-turn, heading back to the lake.

As you can see, the wind was making waves on Fosdic Lake today, but not quite strong enough to make whitecaps. I don't know that I've ever seen whitecaps on Fosdic Lake. I have on Lake Grapevine.

53 Degrees This Morning In Texas While I Think About Occupying Wall Street & Downtown Fort Worth

The sun is just starting to bring light to this dark spot on the planet on the morning of the 18th day of October.

At some point in time after the sun stopped its lighting duties for the day strong winds arrived, soon followed by lightning, thunder and rain.

And cold.

It is only 53 degrees at my location right now.

Switching subjects from being cold to Wall Street.

I really don't get the whole Occupy Wall Street thing. And other towns being occupied. What do these occupiers want to happen that they really think can happen. Judging be the HUGE numbers of occupiers they must be convinced something can come of all that bother.

And then this morning I was reading my old hometown newspaper, the Skagit Valley Herald, to learn that little Mount Vernon has been occupied. I'd been reading about Seattle being occupied by thousands of occupiers, but Sunday was the first time Mount Vernon got occupied.

A blurb from the Skagit Valley Herald...

About 40 people participated, waving signs that read “Protect the commons,” “Support American jobs now” and “War is the enemy.”

On Columbus Day, a banking holiday, I heard on the radio that Fort Worth had an occupying group occupy some where in downtown Fort Worth. Fort Worth, population over 700,000 had about a dozen occupiers. Mount Vernon, population 28,000 had 40 occupiers.

I have no clue what to conclude about relative occupier numbers in various towns.

A Remodeled Tandy Teepee With A Texas Ranger Baseball Cap Wearing Tire Winning The World Series

It was nearing 80 when I parked on top of Mount Tandy today to hike the Tandy Hills. Today may have been the last day requiring no shirt for the year, with the arrival, tomorrow, of a blast of cold air from the north.

The Tandy Guerrilla Artist has been busy.

The last time I walked by the Tandy Bamboo Teepee I noticed that the bamboo poles that had been laying helter skelter on the ground had been arranged in a stack.

Today I found the Tandy Bamboo Teepee restored to its original glory. 7 or 8 poles have joined the triangle of poles that had been the Tandy Bamboo Teepee for many months.

Changing the subject, slightly, from Bamboo Teepees to my failing health. Lately I've mentioned, I mean, whined, a time or two about my allergic/asthma woes, combined with my aching arm joint woes.

I am pleased to be able to say that today both woes are a lot better.

Yesterday, Betty Jo Bouvier shared with me multiple speculations as to what might be causing my aching arms. Betty Jo suggested it might be arthritis, fibromyalgia, gout, or, what she believed to be the most likely cause, old age and its accompanying decrepitude.

Changing the subject from Betty Jo's diagnoses to the Tandy Hills Guerrilla Artist.

The mysterious Tandy Tire, that appeared a month or two ago, seemingly out of nowhere, has now been moved to the creek bed, due west of the most major creek crossing on the Tandy Highway.

I think it was trying to lift the Tandy Tire, months ago, that was the start of my aching arm woes.

The Tandy Tire is now wearing a black baseball cap. Does this have anything to do with the Texas Rangers being in the Super Bowl, I mean, World Series, again? Am I remembering right? Did the Dallas Mavericks win the NBA championship this year? If the Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl would that be the first time ever one metro area won the trifecta of professional sports championships?

I don't pay much attention to the NFL, but I can't help but notice that the Dallas Cowboys are not doing well and there is a lot of scorn heaped upon Tony Romo. I met Tony Romo, in Dallas, in person, several years ago. He was a likable guy. Apparently being a likable guy has little to do with throwing a football successfully.