A Drizzly Swim Before Today's Arctic Blast Blew Cold In To Texas

In the picture you are looking north at the northern part of the security fence which protects me from intruders and helps create the illusion I live in a minimum security prison.

This morning when I woke up my computer I saw that the outer world was being heated to 51 degrees. I was expecting the outer world to be colder, what with the predicted Arctic Blast.

When I exited my abode soon after the sun began its daily lighting job I was surprised to find the path to the pool to be damp. And then I realized a light drizzle was drizzling.

This light drizzle must have been the predicted rain which was predicted to precede the predicted Arctic Blast.

The drizzle was so light I really could not say I was swimming in the rain this morning. I could say I was swimming in a strong wind, making for a wind chill factor that did feel a bit chilly. I did three cycles out of the pool into the warm-up device known as a hot tub before terminating this morning's swimming after about 20 minutes.

By mid-morning the ever more breezy wind had blown away the clouds and brought that aforementioned Arctic Blast to town, dropping the temperature into the 40s, on its way to tonight's freeze.

I strongly suspect I will not be going for my regularly scheduled swim tomorrow morning.

Tandy Hills Hoodoo Destroyed Before Incoming Arctic Blast Deep Freeze

I was shocked today, shocked I tell you, to discover that the Tandy Hills Hoodoo has been destroyed.

Sometime between when I saw the Hoodoo on Saturday and did not see it today, the Tandy Hills Hoodoo was toppled.

I saw no evidence of who it was who may have perpetrated this act.

Was this Hoodoo hoodlumizing behavior the destructive act of yet one more Mormon Boy Scout troop run amok?

I doubt it.

Whoever it was who decided to topple the Tandy Hills  Hoodoo scattered its pieces, making re-assembly by Mother Nature, are whoever it was who brought about the Hoodoo, difficult.

Changing the subject from Hoodoo heartbreak to my favorite subject. That being the weather.

As you can see via the graphic generated by my computer based weather monitoring device, currently the outer world, at my location is being heated to 71 degrees.

But, a BIG CHILL is on its way. An Arctic Blast is scheduled to blast into town tomorrow, bringing with it a low of 29. As in freezing.

When I moved to Texas, way back in the last century,  I remember the first of what were to be many shocks was the shocking weather.

I left Washington with rain downpouring. I arrived in Fort Worth, well, actually Haslet, to the strongest downpour I'd ever seen, with ditches flooding, water puddled in copious amounts. I did not realize Fort Worth and North Texas got rain that made Western Washington's infamous rain seem like a drizzle by comparison.

Arriving to heavy rain was a mild shock compared to what happened next.

A week after my arrival in Texas I was at the now long gone Riscky Rita's in the Fort Worth Stockyards. When I exited my vehicle, in a t-shirt, to walk to Riscky Rita's, the temperature was in the 70s. It felt very warm to my then acclimated to Washington in winter, self.

Whilst enjoying a lengthy visit with the Riscky Rita Tex-Mex buffet I noticed a strong wind had begun blowing. Exiting Riscky Rita's I was shocked to find that the temperature had plummeted, rendering a t-shirt insufficient outerwear.

I remember thinking to myself, I thought I was moving to a warmer, drier climate, and now this?

That night the temperature dropped to 15 degrees. We did not know what to do about the pool's water circulating system, or how to turn off the water to the barn. It seemed a disaster in the making.

But, by morning, all got worst, when I woke up to see the first ice storm I'd ever seen.

It was shocking. I'd never seen anything like it. Everything covered with a thick coat of ice.

A few days later the outer world was back being heated into the 70s. Thus was my introduction to Texas weather......

Reflections On Veterans Day

On the left you are looking at a screencap from a blog post titled Reflections on Veterans Day written by an ex-soldier who is a veteran of the Vietnam War, with a poignantly different take on Veterans Day.

A couple days ago I found myself in an odd conversation pondering what the difference is between Veterans Day and Memorial Day.

The answer was rather easy to find.

Veterans Day celebrates the military service of all who have served. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance of those who died while serving.

Why is Veterans Day on this particular date? I am glad you asked.

Originally Veterans Day was known as Armistice Day, with the armistice being referred to being the ceasing of hostilities in World War I, with Germany's formal surrender occurring on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day a year later, on November 11, 1919, saying...

"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations."

At the end of World War II, a veteran of that war, Raymond Weeks thought it a good idea to change Armistice Day to a day celebrating all veterans of all of America's ubiquitous wars. Mr. Weeks led a delegation to enlist General Dwight Eisenhower's support for the Veterans Day idea.

Eisenhower was onboard with the Veterans Day plan, but it took nine years for Congress to pass a bill establishing Veterans Day officially, a bill signed on May 26, 1954 by the then President Eisenhower.

It being Veterans Day it would probably be a good day to drive to Arlington to take a walk in Veterans Park....

Today I Am Giving Anonymous No Anti-Spam Advice

I thought it amusing that the above Anonymous blog comment made it past the spam filter to the Awaiting Moderation folder.

Amusing because the comment was a spammer asking me if I get a lot of spam responses and, if I do, what do I do to stop it or anything else I might advise as to how to stop this spam problem from driving the spammer mad.

Ironically,  in the past few months the amount of spam has greatly lessened. At its worst I was getting 100s of spam comments a day. Currently I'm only getting a couple dozen spam comments a day.

Below is the spammer's comment as it appeared in incoming email...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Tale Of Two Texas Historical Markers In Arlington": 

Hi, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam responses? If so how do you stop it, any plugin or anything you can advise?
I get so much lately it's driving me mad so any assistance is very much appreciated.

my web blog ... web page

The 'web page' part of the last line was a link to the spammer's website. Needless to say, I did not click on that link. Or include it in this blogging.

A Walkabout In My Neighborhood Finds A Stuffed Recycle Bin Plus A Water Leak & Wildflowers

This 2nd Sunday of the 11th month of November I decided to forego my regularly scheduled drive to a hiking, biking or walking location to instead take one of my irregularly scheduled tours of my neighborhood.

A couple months ago the big Recycle Bin you see in the picture appeared at the Havenwood apartment complex on Boca Raton Boulevard.

Multiple times since this Recycle Bin appeared I have noticed it being filled to the bursting point.

In addition to being a littering eyesore this would seem to defeat the purpose of having a Recycle Bin.

I know several people who live in the Havenwood Apartment complex. This complex is on both sides of Boca Raton Boulevard, with a couple hundred units. The above is the one and only Recycle Bin, requiring quite an effort for many of the residents to get to the recycling location.

And now, today, one of the tenants, who I talked to whilst doing my picture taking, told me that the residents are being charged $1.95 a month for the privilege of recycling, which they are currently prevented from doing due to the Recycle Bin not being able to accept Recyclables.

Continuing on with my tour of my neighborhood I walked towards Albertsons.

I know here in North Texas we have no shortage of water, so leaks are no big deal.

Apparently.

The above leak has been leaking for weeks, maybe months. One loses track of time. This watery view is looking east on the aforementioned Boca Raton Boulevard. Albertsons is to the right, with the newly relocated Italy Pasta & Pizza restaurant straight ahead, with its Grand Opening balloon sitting on its roof.

The leak is leaking in copious amounts, at what appeared to be the rate of water leaking being at the level of a kitchen faucet wide open. This likely amounts to quite a few gallons of water down the drain per hour, per day, per month.

Not everything I saw on my neighborhood walk today was disturbing. There was nothing disturbing about the patch of orange wildflowers I walked by soon after leaving the stuffed Recycle Bin. Maybe Fort Worth's renowned horticulturist, CatsPaw, can identify this colorful  beauty....

A Saturday Tandy Hills Hike Where A Fort Worth Hoodoo Still Stands

I had not been on the Tandy Hills since last Saturday's hill hiking. I was pleased to see, on this 2nd Saturday of November's hill hiking that the Tandy Hills Hoodoo is still standing.

When I first mentioned the Tandy Hills Hoodoo I pondered that it likely would soon see the same fate as the infamous hoodoo in Utah's Goblin Valley State Park, which fell to marauding hoodoo hoodlums posing as Boy Scouts.

Steve A opined that the Texas Tandy Hills Hoodoo would likely not meet the same fate as the Utah hoodoo because there are not many Mormons in Texas, that being a reference to the fact  that the rogue hoodoo destroying Utah Boy Scouts were Mormons.

Anyway.

Perfect hiking conditions on the Tandy Hills today. With only me and one other hiker to be seen. Very perplexing.

After getting in some good hill hiking it was off to Town Talk for my regularly scheduled treasure hunting.

Today the best thing I found at Town Talk was a case of Siggi's pomegranate passion fruit yogurt, plus rabbit food in the form of lettuce and carrots. Just remembered, Angus Beef Chipolte Monterey Jack burgers and whole wheat Matzoh crackers to help nourish the Jewish side of my nature.

National Brothers Week Has Me Wishing Nephew Joey A Happy Birthday While Wondering About Spencer Jack's Seattle World's Fair Mug

This morning's 2nd Saturday of November blogging will be relatively un-annoying with relatively nothing about this particular blogging having anything to do with Texas, other than the fact that I am currently typing in Texas.

This morning I saw on Facebook, via Miss Martha, that currently, supposedly, we are celebrating "National Brothers Week".

I had not heard of this and thus have not been celebrating this particular special week.

I do have a brother. My brother is 13 months younger than me. My two oldest nephews are my brother's kids, those being Spencer Jack's dad, my favorite nephew Jason and Spencer Jack's uncle, my favorite nephew Joey.

Speaking of Joey. And who isn't? Tomorrow is Joey's birthday. Happy Birthday, a day early, Joey.

I remember like it was yesterday, driving south from Bellingham to United General Hospital to see the newly born Joey for the first time.

This morning my aforementioned brother's eldest, he being the aforementioned favorite nephew Jason, emailed me a couple photos. I was a bit surprised by what I saw in these two photos.

Okay, it is not all that surprising seeing Spencer Jack with a hamburger. I have no idea what is on the plate next to the hamburger. What surprised me was Spencer Jack's drinking glass. From the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Which would make Spencer Jack's drinking glass over a half century old.

On one of my mom and dad's kid-free visits to the Seattle World's Fair they bought souvenir glasses. These were insulated thermos glasses. The glasses were different colors. Mine was turquoise.

This is what Spencer Jack's dad had to say about this particular glass and the below photo....

"Aunt Jackie's 1962 Seattle World's Fair mug in Spencer Jack's Lego room next to his Lego Space Needle with a Lego Monorail track in the background."

I have no idea how Jason and Spencer Jack came to have possession of my sister Jackie's Seattle World's Fair glass. I had no idea any of these glasses, now antiques, still existed.

A few weeks ago Jason put on Facebook a video of Spencer Jack operating the four trains running on various tracks on his elaborate railroad system. While the four trains chug along, the Seattle Monorail autopilots around Spencer Jack's virtual town.

I wanted to turn Spencer Jack's railroad engineer video into a YouTube video, which I could blog, but Facebook, thwarted me in that effort.

Before hitting the publish button, I have to say, one more time......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEY!

The 2nd Friday Of November Getting Warmed Up In A Texas Hot Tub

No. What you are looking at on the left is not one of the water features in the newly opened, oddly named, Sundance Square Plaza.

What you are looking at is a noonish look at the water feature known as a hot tub, to which I quickly escape when the water in the pool is too cool.

Which it was this morning. Too cool.

I did my regular morning run into the pool, swam to the end, and quickly decided I needed to make a hasty retreat to the hot tub.

I don't know why I had such a chilly reaction to the cool pool this morning. The temperature average the last 24 hours has been above 50 degrees, thus meeting my usual  temperature criteria for finding the pool doable.

I think the problem I am having with the water temperature, compared to the same time last year, is that I have lost some of my insulating layer of adipose tissue. Basically I am skin, muscle and bones, without much fat to provide insulation from the cold.

The next few days the temperature average is scheduled to increase. I will likely continue my morning cool dips, likely ending up in the hot tub. A morning dip in the hot tub is not as enjoyable as a swimming dip in the pool, but, it's better than no dip at all....

A North Texas Frost Advisory Has Me Searching For My Long Underwear

I'm not exactly sure why, but for some reason I decided to bail on my daily morning swim habit this morning.

Bailing on swimming may have had something to do with the temperature being chilled to 42 degrees in the outer world at my location, with the wind making the wind chill factor making it really feel like 31 degrees.

As in one degree below freezing.

And then there is that FROST ADVISORY you see via my computer's weather monitoring graphic.

The artificial heat producing system came on in my abode at 4 this morning when the interior temperature dropped to 65 degrees. I don't remember the last time the artificial heat producing system came on in the middle of the night in my abode.

With approximately 44 days to go til the start of winter I am thinking today's Big Chill on the first Thursday of the 11th month of 2013 is a chilly preview of the coming few months.

Today I am going to go on a search for my long underwear. I know it has to be in here somewhere.....

Visiting Quanah Parker Park's Monster Pecan Tree Before Doing Some Town Talking

What you are looking at on the left looks sort of like a Tree Monster, reaching out to grab me with its big arm limbs.

But, looks are often deceiving. That is not a Tree Monster, what it is a monster tree, of the pecan type, in Fort Worth's Quanah Parker Park.

This is a special pecan tree with a special designation as a Heritage Tree. I really don't know what that means, but I read in on the informational signage by the big tree.

My morning swim in the currently cool pool lasted less than a half hour, with only one hot tub warming retreat. Even though the air is cooler than the water in the pool, I decided to brave the chill, bundling myself up in long pants and a sweatshirt, to drive to the Quanah Parker Park parking lot, parked to have myself a very short walk before I decided I was not sufficiently attired in insulating outerwear, so I bailed on the walking and drove on to Town Talk.

I made today's semi-rare Town Talk visit due to being out of yogurt and cheese. Of late Town Talk has been in low supply mode of both. But, today I got two cases of Chobani Greek Yogurt, one case mango, the other orange vanilla. My two favorite flavors. Plus I got two blocks of Tillamook extra sharp cheddar along with two blocks of extra sharp white cheddar.

So, I am well stocked with yogurt and cheese, so we  can all stop worrying about me starving....