A 12/12/12 Pappy Happy Birthday Greeting From Texas To Arizona

Today, December 12, 2012, 12/12/12, is my dad's Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday, Pa.

The last time I saw my dad was March 25 of this year. An hour or so before heading to the airport I helped my Pa plant something called an Easter Egg Bush, or something like that.

I never remember to ask if the Easter Egg Bush every bloomed any Easter Eggs.

In the picture you are looking at my sister, on the left, and my dad on the right. Hidden behind my dad is my mom, making it look like my dad needs a haircut.

If I remember right the name of the town whose restaurant we were sitting in, was Surprise. I may be wrong about that. It's been over 9 months, which is a long time for me to accurately remember anything.

I do  remember I had a cheeseburger. And that the cheeseburger was not as good as the one I would have in Tempe, at an In N Out Burger, the next day. I think it was the next day.

A couple months ago if you had asked me where I would be today I would have said I would likely be in Arizona, going to my dad's Happy Birthday Party, today.

However, my annoying awareness of some relatively annoying duplicitousness had me not in the mood to book a flight to Arizona at this point in time.

I must remember to call Arizona today. My mom will be insisting my dad answer all incoming calls, with those calls likely to be Happy Birthday calls.

I hope my mom also insists my dad has his hearing aid turned on.

A Three Dog Night At 22 Degrees With CatsPaw Suggesting I Go To Hell With My Damn Character Verification & Gar The Texan's Cliches

Global Cooling deniers can't deny that it is cold in Texas this morning, well, cold, at my location in Texas. I don't know if the entire state is cold. It's a really big state.

22 degrees. Temperature prognosticators are prognosticating that today will be the coldest day of the year. According to my calculations there are still 19 days to go in this current 2012 year, so I don't know how those temperature prognosticators can be so confidently prognosticating that we won't be having an even colder day before 2013 arrives.

Al I know for sure was last night was a Three Dog Night in my bed, and with having zero dogs I had to use 4 thick blankets to keep warm.  I don't like running the furnace or A/C at night, but by about 4 in the morning I gave in and turned on the artificial heat.

Speaking of artificial heat, I got an amusing comment from the always amusing CatsPaw, to a blogging from yesterday, in which CatsPaw sort of told me to go to hell...

CatsPaw has left a new comment on your post "This Afternoon Myrtle Had Me Wondering Where The Hell Matt 2012 Is":

I noticed that Matt visited Detroit on his travels. Given the name of his site, I hope he had time to travel an hour or so west to Hell, Michigan. 

Or maybe that's a trip for Durango. You can go to Hell – get pizza and a beer at the Dam Site Inn and stop in at Hell in a Handbasket country store. Be sure to check the weather report so you don't disappoint Gar.

And hey, that damn character verification IS going to have me telling you to go to ... you know. 

CatsPaw, I turned off that damn character verification this morning. So, far, 3 hours later, no return of the evil Russian spam comments. The last time I turned the damn character verification off the evil Russian spam comments returned pretty much instantly.

In her comment CatsPaw mentioned Gar the Texan and his reliance on my ubiquitous weather  reports,  which brings up the Gar the Texan subject, which is almost always difficult.

Yesterday, or maybe it was the day before, in a blogging titled A Frigid Walk With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Pondering The Problems Of The Troll Known As Gar The Texan I made mention of the fact that I thought the reason Gar the Texan's bloggings might be less than well received by those who receive such things was the fact that almost 100% of his verbiage is a cliche.

I feared mentioning this to Gar the Texan might cause him to go into verbal gridlock, like the time I casually mentioned that I could not help but notice that he almost exclusively talked about himself when engaged in what purported to be a conversation. I believe this resulted in weeks of Gar the Texan not speaking while he tried to figure out what to say that was not talking about himself.

I probably should have also  mentioned to Gar the Texan that I well understood why he talked so much about himself, due to the fact that he is just so darn interesting, which is the reason I don't talk about myself, that being because I am just so darn un-interesting, and am totally aware of this fact.

Who Needs Mistletoe When You're This Cute?

Just when I think I've totally run out of Happy Holiday material, in comes incoming email, from Spencer Jack's dad, with a picture of Spencer Jack that gives me material for yet one more Happy Holiday Themed blogging.

Speaking of Mistletoe.

I don't recollect ever seeing Mistletoe growing on any trees in Washington.

In Texas I see a lot of Mistletoe growing on trees.

A couple years ago I helped a couple ladies harvest Mistletoe at Veterans Park in Arlington. This vaguely seemed like something we should not have been doing.

I am drawing a blank right now, age-related memory shortfall, but somewhere in the past couple days I saw a lot of Mistletoe exposed on a recently made leafless tree.

Was it on the Tandy Hills? In River Legacy Park? At Oakland Lake Park? Looking up at a tree whilst swimming? I don't remember.

I'd box up some Mistletoe and mail it to Spencer Jack, but, according to his shirt, he does not need it.

This Afternoon Myrtle Had Me Wondering Where The Hell Matt 2012 Is

This afternoon I did my daily Facebook check and saw one of those "Confirm a Friend" notifications. The friend in question was Myrtle. Myrtle is not Myrtle's real name. Myrtle is the name Myrtle and I used to disguise our secret communications from prying eyes, way back late in the last century, while I still lived in the State of Washington.

After I confirmed that Myrtle is indeed a friend of mine I clicked on Myrtle's Facebook link and soon found myself looking at photos of Myrtle. And others. Myrtle has not aged a minute since I last saw her. If anything there appears to be some age reversing. I suspect this is not the result of any sort of surgical intervention, but is instead the result of living happy and traveling the world.

I saw that Myrtle had a link to a YouTube video, a "Where the Hell is Matt? 2012" YouTube video.

I recollect really liking the first Where the Hell is Matt" video, years ago. Well, actually, not that many years ago because I put that Where the Hell is Matt video on my blog, just like I have done with this latest Where the Hell is Matt video.

Matt in the Where the Hell is Matt video is Matt Harding. I Googled Matt Harding and read the Wikipedia article about him. I was curious where he was from, since the last city visited in the Where the Hell is Matt? 2012 video is the town of Seattle in Washington.

From the Wikipedia article I learned there are 5 Where the Hell is Matt videos, with Seattle being the last town visited in 3 out of 5 of the videos.

Via Google I also learned Matt Harding has a website all about Where the Hell is Matt.

On Matt's website I saw the following....

Above it says if the map says "Seattle," Matt is home. I am guessing this would seem to indicate that Matt Harding lives in Seattle. I wonder if he is any relation to Tonya?

A Frigid Walk With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Pondering The Problems Of The Troll Known As Gar The Texan

Village Creek Bayou Cold Ducks

The wind had the air feeling bone chilling cold today whilst I walked with the Indian Ghosts who haunt the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

The temperature was a degree above freezing. The gusty wind had me feeling way underdressed, what with nothing covering my ears or fingertips.

The Village Creek Bayou had a lot of ducks floating in it today.

Big cold ducks.

 I was able to get one shot off at the ducks before most of them took to frightened flight.

Changing the subject to something else.

This morning I was surprised to learn, via that observant observer who calls himself Gar the Texan, that the weather and all its related variants is all I ever talk about.

I did not realize this til Gar the Texan pointed it out to me.

In that same informative blogging I learned that Gar the Texan has been trying to get a rise out of people with what he calls "trolling." I think by "trolling" Gar the Texan means he was trying to aggravate people by being aggravating.

Apparently, in Gar the Texan's words, this "trolling" experiment has been an "epic fail."

Gar the Texan is really good at being aggravating. Unfortunately, I don't think he realizes when it is he is being aggravating, hence the trolling failure.

Ever since Google refused to have its ads on Gar the Texan's blog, due to his extremely provocative content, the boy has been thrashing about trying to find that magical formula that causes one blog to gain traction whilst another does not.

I suspect Gar the Texan figured out how to check his blog's Alexa Ranking and was mortified at the result.

I have long wanted to give Gar the Texan a really good tip, but then refrain because I fear hurting his really delicate feelers. But now I'm thinking, delicate feelers be damned, I am just going to give Gar the Texan this really good tip that I've stopped myself from giving due to the hurting delicate feelers worry.

Google and all the search engines like original content. It's like the thing they like the most. Gar the Texan uses way too many cliches. Cliches are seen as non-content by the search engines. If you write a blogging where 50%, or more of it, are made up of cliche phrases, that blogging is not going to be indexed well by the search engines.

In Gar the Texan's most recent blogging, he makes it sound as if he has little of interest going on in his existence, outside of what happens at his job, which he refuses to talk about.

But, Gar the Texan has lots of things he could talk about, outside of his job, and maybe even do so without resorting to excessive cliches.

For instance.

Once a month, or more, Gar the Texan goes on a cruise. I would think those cruises would provide all sorts of original, interesting content. But, you would not know if from what Gar the Texan writes about it.

Gar the Texan went to Cabo San Lucas. He wrote about this on his blog, but pretty much all he had to say was that the cab driver gave him free beer on the ride from the airport to his hotel.

I don't recollect reading a word about Gar the Texan's visit to Las Vegas. I suspect this is because he was mortified to learn that Vegas is not like being on a cruise, as in it is not a passive experience, you have to find your own way to restaurants, shows, entertainment, Hoover dam.

I really think the real reason Google fired Gar the Texan was not due to his adult content, but was instead because Google got tired of reading way too much about testing various insulin pumps, with most of the testing expressed using cliches...

29 Degrees Feeling Like 12 This Monday Morning In North Texas With No Big Snow Drifts

29 degrees early this Monday morning, soon after the sun showed up. A wind is blowing, which, apparently makes it really feel like 12 degrees in the outer world at my location.

I will not be going swimming this morning.

It is not big drifts of snow that are making me think making it to the pool would be a lot of bother, it is this extremely cold temperature that suddenly makes swimming seem unappealing.

A week ago we were breaking temperature records in North Texas, records on the HOT side of record breaking. Windows open, followed by A/C chilling.

And now, it would appear Winter has arrived, 12 days before the solstice.

I am thinking my #1 fun today will come from needing to wear long pants and a flannel shirt. Or maybe a sweater. I think I still have a couple flannel shirts surviving from my years of flannel shirts being a necessary part of a Pacific Northwest uniform.

Mount Tandy Politely Returned My Lost Sunglasses

This morning on my way to swimming I reached for my sunglasses and found I could not find them.

Remembering that I'd returned to my abode, Saturday night, after dark, I figured my sunglasses were likely in my vehicle.

I figured wrong.

Then I remembered that as it got dark, on my Saturday night sunset hike on the Tandy Hills, I took off the sunglasses and inserted them in my t-shirt's pocket.

When I got to my vehicle on Saturday night I removed the t-shirt and installed another shirt. I speculated that it was during the t-shirt removal that the sunglasses fell out of the pocket, and due to the fact that some noisy conversing was taking place, I did not hear the sunglasses hit the ground.

I had not intended to return to the Tandy Hills today. But, since I figured that the summit of Mount Tandy was likely the resting place of my lost sunglasses, I would return to see if I could find them.

Finding the lost sunglasses required no looking. As I drove to my regular parking spot I saw the no longer lost sunglasses. That is they, in the picture above, sitting on their overnight resting spot on the summit of Mount Tandy, looking no worse for having weathered a Texas, late Fall, night.

Mountain Biking With The Big Herd Of River Legacy Park Armadillos

I'd pedaled past a couple foraging armadillos on the River Legacy Park paved trail, heading to the western termination of that trail, to then pedal the mountain bike trail, when a blonde lady urgently signaled me to cease with the pedaling.

The blonde lady was excited to tell me she'd been seeing a lot of armadillos, 11 total by the moment she stopped me.

The blonde lady wondered if I knew why there was such a lot of armadillo activity, speculating that maybe they were out in heavy duty foraging mode in anticipation of the incoming scheduled deep freeze, which, incidentally, has begun to arrive, dropping the temperature from the relatively balmy 61, this morning, soon after the sun arrived to light up my morning swim, to the current temperature of 55, at mid-afternoon, as the heat begins to slowly exit as the freeze moves into town.

With possible snow.

On the mountain bike trail I came upon several armadillos, including the one in the above picture. He did not seem to mind me too much, ignoring me getting close, until I tried to have a conversation. That set the armadillo off into run away mode.

Today was the busiest I've ever seen the River Legacy Park mountain bike trail. The mountain bike parking lot was full. It  takes dozens of vehicles to fill up all those parking spaces. I was passed multiple times by bikers speedier than me, including a couple speed demons of the female persuasion.

I highly doubt I will feel motivated to get on my bike tomorrow, what with the temperature scheduled to be well below freezing, with some of that frozen white stuff possible.

Santa You Better Not Disappoint Spencer Jack On Christmas Morning

Spencer Jack's Cookies & Dear Santa Note

The past day or two I ran out of any Happy Holiday material with which to do some Happy Holiday themed blogging.

This morning, on Facebook, via Spencer Jack's favorite girl friend, Brittney, I came upon some fresh Happy Holiday themed material in the form of Spencer Jack's note for Santa Claus.

Spencer Jack is only 5 years old, and already he is one smart cookie. A smart cookie who already knows how to read and write.

I was also able to read and write before I started school. It must be genetic.

Spencer Jack figured out that it was very unlikely that Santa could possibly make all his deliveries, world-wide, by only working the night before Christmas. Spencer figured Santa likely starts making deliveries early in December, so Spencer has been laying out fresh cookies each night, next to his Dear Santa note.

Below is Spencer Jack's note for Santa, detailing what Spencer wants for Christmas. I hope Santa is able to do a better job of deciphering Spencer's list than I am able to do.

If Spencer Jack follows in his Great Uncle's footsteps, by the time he is 7 he will be totally disillusioned with Santa Claus, declaring the entire Christmas enterprise to be a total fraud.

So, to keep Spencer Jack's current Santa illusions alive as long as possible, methinks great effort must be made to actualize whatever it is that is on Spencer's list and make sure these items are under his tree come Christmas morning.

The only thing I can make out for sure that is on Spencer's list is "I WANT A BOUNCY BALL." I have a big bouncy ball that sits in my living room. I suppose I could wrap it up and mail it to Mount Vernon.

Getting Ready For Incoming Snow By Going For A Saturday Night Swim

As you can see, via the 7-Day Forecast, above, currently the forecasters are forecasting snow to be falling on my locale on Monday.

I am anticipating a blizzard.

Late this afternoon I took off to go to the library to get some books and to take my favorite librarian on a sunset hike on the Tandy Hills.

I get so much resistance regarding these type endeavors.

After the watching the sun set on the Tandy Hills, me and my hiker returned to my abode to go for a post-sunset swim.

Well, actually, for reasons I really do not understand, I was the only one who went for a post-sunset swim.

I have now been warmed up from that delightful dip and am now settled in for a peaceful Saturday night, anticipating being snowbound for who knows how long, in about 24 hours.

I have plenty of pomegranates to last the duration.