Checking On The Turtles and Ducks At Fosdic Lake & Burning CDs

It was back to Fosdic Lake to check on the turtles and ducks at Oakland Lake Park today for my doctor ordered aerobic stimulation.

I figured my prefered aerobic stimulator, the Tandy Hills, was likely still a bit muddy from Saturday's rain.

It is a little cooler than yesterday. But for some reason most of the Fosdic ducks were not doing their huddling and circling to keep warm routine. And I only saw one turtle on a log.

The wind was doing a lot of blowing. I think that may have had the ducks having a tougher time huddling in a circle and the turtles not liking the wind chill factor, sending most of them back to hibernate mode.

It was 44 when I did my morning pool dipping. Three cycles of in the cold and then in the hot tub. It's very refreshing, but like the turtles and the ducks, I was not liking the wind.

I got a call on the way to Fosdic Lake. Someone I made a website for, years ago, wanted an auto-run cd of the website, so he could make a lot of copies for a convention. Years ago I figured out how to make auto-run work, but never used it. I figured I must have kept the information somewhere on this computer.

It took a bit of hunting, but eventually I found the info I needed and got the master cd made. I've not burned all that many cds. The first attempt today I messed up. But, I got it done on the second attempt. Now it'll probably be another 5 years before I burn another cd and will have forgotten how again.

Prison Break, Sona Prison & Fort Worth's Stockyard Ruins

You're looking at Panama's Sona Prison in the pictures. Sona Prison is located in the ruins at the east side of the Fort Worth Stockyards.

The Stockyard Ruins were used as a set for the defunct FOX TV show called Prison Break.

A long time ago I'd made a webpage about the Stockyard Ruins. I'd never seen such a thing as the Stockyard Ruins in a city. Visually the ruins are very interesting, as if you're looking at a WWII bombed out city.

Recently there has been talk of fixing up the Stockyard Ruins and turning them into some sort of mixed used development, making the ruins stable and safe. I really can't see that happening.

So, this morning I got an email from a Fort Worth native named Hailey. Hailey, bless her heart, had seen my webpage about the Stockyard Ruins and she earnestly wanted to let me know that the Stockyards Ruins weren't really the site of a Panamanian Prison.

Below is Hailey's email....

Hello,
My Name is Hailey and I am a local resident of Fort Worth [born and raised]. I came across your webpage about the ruins of the stock yards, particularly the ruins of the swift and armor meat packing plant. "And now rumor has it that the Stockyards Ruins are being used as a prison, housing mostly Panamanian prisoners and a few Americans. The prison is called Sona. We discovered the prison on Thursday, November 1, 2007....."

I just thought that you would like to know that this rumored information is completely false. In 2007 The hit TV show Prison Break used the ruins as a set for several episodes, in fact the guard towers that line the edge of the property were erected by the set crew of the TV show and are not actually an original part of the property. The Prison Break producers also used locations in Decatur, Texas, mainly in the old town square. I just though you would like to know that what you saw was the filming of a TV show, not an actual secret prison. =)

-Sincerely
Hailey

Thank you very much for being sincere, Hailey. I appreciate it.

Today At Fort Worth's Fosdic Lake The Turtles Were Not Hibernating But The Ducks Were Huddling

Yesterday when I blogged about finally finding out where the turtles go when it gets cold, future Texas governor, Jovan Gonzales, asked if I knew what ducks did when it gets cold.

I told Jovan, aka Jovo, that I'd seen the Fosdic Lake ducks huddling in a circle and assumed it was to keep warmer.

Well, today, when I went for a much needed walk, I went to Fosdic Lake at Oakland Lake Park and saw 4 groups of ducks doing their huddle thing, even though it was not all that cold, as in the 50s.

When something startles the huddling ducks, they quickly disperse, like they did when the fisherman, in the picture, moved closer to them. But then the ducks seem to simultaneously realize there is no danger, after which they quickly come back together in their huddle, as if drawn by some magnetic power.

As soon as the ducks get huddled, the group starts to rotate. All the duck huddles I've seen rotate counter-clockwise.

It may have been cold enough for the Fosdic ducks to huddle, but it was warm enough for some of the Fosdic Lake turtles to come out of hibernation mode to get some sun on a log.

I only saw 5 turtles that had de-hibernated. The others must not have yet gotten the word that it was no longer freezing.

Today, Fosdic Lake was being home to more birds than I've seen there before, as in 100s of various types of birds. I think word must be getting spread in Bird World that Fosdic Lake makes a good winter home due to all the people who come with bird food.

I Am To Blame For The Gar The Texan Blog But Not The Huffington Post

The 4th Sunday of the new year has seen a return to blue sky, after yesterday's wet unpleasantness, here in my zone of North Texas.

The Sunday blue sky is matching my blue mood.

Yesterday's gray, wet Saturday was one long day of one thing after another. The day started with strange explosive noises I later learned were coming from my noisiest neighbor, that being a Chesapeake Energy gas drilling site.

By mid morning I found I had another flat tire, the second in a week.

The flat tire kept me from the Tandy Hills Brush Bash.

Before I found the flat I'd talked to my mom and learned she'd broken a bone in one of her feet. I got emails from 2 Washington friends telling me about friends with bad cancer, with one of them having the same type brain cancer that killed Ted Kennedy.

Tootsie Tonasket called me around 5 so I could hear her drunken son having a drunken fit, trying to get into her house. I told Tootsie to call the police. I don't know if she did.

Around 7 last night I tripped and banged the top of my right hand against a wall. This morning that hand looks as if I've been in a fight.

A couple days ago Gar the Texan blogged about blogging, the first paragraph of which said, "Durango somehow convinced me to start this little escapade into pain and suffering. And after almost 2 years, I continue to do so (suffer pain)."

So, now I have to carry that on my guilty conscience, that somehow I'm to blame for foisting Gar the Texans' misanthropic ramblings on the world. I feel terrible about this.

And then someone calling himself Whited Sepulchre commented saying, "Gar, The Huffington Post doesn't post as much as Durango. Just thought I would point that out."

Now, that's just not true. I only post about 90% as much as The Huffington Post.

My therapist, Dr. L.C., seems to have gone missing. And right when I need her. So far, even though the sky is blue, Sunday is looking to be another bad day like yesterday. Maybe I can make an effort to turn it around.

My Explosive Neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Gas Drilling Site

Well, it's another Saturday and another bizarre encounter with a white truck. This time it is a Chesapeake Energy white truck, not an Express Energy Services white truck.

All morning long, ever since I was in the pool around 8, I'd been hearing very loud explosion like noises, sort of like an erratic jackhammer, only louder.

Around 10 I was heading to the Tandy Hills to join the Brush Bash and discovered my 2nd flat tire of the week.

Sometime around noon I decided to try and find out what was making the explosive jackhammer-like noise.

It was quickly clear the explosive noises were coming from my neighbor across the street, that being a Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale natural gas drilling site.

I decided to walk to the site and take video of the noise. By the time I was directly across from the site the explosive noise was significantly louder. I was fairly certain there was no one working on the site that was accounting for the noise, due to the fact that the gate was locked. When someone is in there doing something the gate is open.

Now, here's the part where the story turns weird and has me once more seeing a white truck. Just as I turned my camera on a white Chesapeake Energy truck drove up. A tall, lanky guy got out of the truck, opened the gate, and drove in.

After I took a picture I switched the camera to video mode to capture the explosion noises and continued walking towards the gate to the Chesapeake drilling site. Within seconds the explosions stopped, obviously silenced by the guy I'd just seen.

So, what was making those explosive noises? Today's Saturday white truck incident did not seem as menacing as last Saturday's, but those explosive noises seemed plenty menacing.

I did not realize the explosions were going to be so quickly silenced, or I would not have talked at all on the video. You can still hear several of the explosive pops before they go silent.

Where Do The Fosdic Lake Turtles Go When It's Cold?

I have wondered more than once, and mentioned at least once, my puzzlement over where the dozens of turtles who call Fosdic Lake, in Oakland Lake Park, in Fort Worth, home, go when the temperature turns cold, as in below freezing?

Well, this morning I got an email that is purporting to answer that question. I have no idea as to the veracity of what this emailer is telling me, as in some of it sounds a bit far fetched.

The emailer's email was very long and detailed. I'll try a write a distilled version. Here goes...

Turtles who live where the temperatures dip below freezing and where snow may fall have mechanisms to keep themselves alive. They hibernate. Since turtles are reptiles the proper term for deep sleeping is "brumate," as in reptiles brumate, mammals hibernate. But most people use "hibernate" to refer to how turtles get through the cold. So, that's the word we'll use.

Various types of turtles do their hibernating in various ways. Most water turtles go deep into the water and wiggle themselves into some lake bottom mud. As the turtle gets colder its body slows down to the point that eating is no longer neccessary. The turtle's heart slows down to one beat every few minutes.

The turtle stops breathing through its lungs. Due to the slowed metabolism little oxygen is needed. What little oxygen the turtle needs it can get from the water via specialized skin cells that are inside the tail opening.

So, turtles hibernate under water and breathe through their tails. Supposedly a turtle can keep living this way for 2 or 3 months.

I wonder how the turtles are able to tell it's warmed up on the surface?

I was walking around Fosdic Lake on a warm day that had arrived after a deep freeze and the turtles were out having themselves a good time sunning themselves on logs.

The Queen Of Wink Suffering From Serious Virus

Those of you who are fans of the Queen of Wink may be wondering why she is seeming to be a more quiet Queen of late.

Well, her computer has malfunctioned. She believes she was attacked by a malicious Trojan Virus of some sort. This has rendered it impossible to start her computer, even in Safe Mode.

I've had computers go into malfunction mode on me. It's not a good time.

I don't know if you know this already, but the Queen of Wink graduated from Wink High School, that's in Wink, Texas, way out in West Texas, with the 2nd highest grade point average in her class of, I think, 9.

The only person in her class with a higher GPA was Gar the Texan, a fact about which he remains very proud of to this day.

Well, Gar the Texan is some sort of Idiot Savant when it comes to computers. On his business card it says something like "From the Age of 11, I have had an Innate Ability to Understand Computers and Make Them Do What I Want."

Gar the Texan's innate computer ability is so strong I don't think he even went to college, I think he went right into designing software. He gets flown all over the world to fix computers due to his innate ability to make them do what he wants them to do.

So, I'm thinking, if Gar the Texan has any decency left in him he'll call the Queen of Wink and walk her through getting her computer back working. Better yet, drive out to Wink and fix it.

Who Decided To Put Traffic Cones On The Trinity Trail Between Beach Street & Gateway Park?

After hiking, for an hour or so, up and down the Tandy Hills, I headed north to the Beach Street Wal-Mart.

Being on Beach Street I was curious to have a look at the Beach Street/Gateway Park Express Energy water sucking operation.

Yesterday, the paved Trinity Trail (on which, last Saturday, I'd had a muddy confrontation with a White Darth Vader Express Energy Truck) was being cleaned.

Today the "UTILITY WORK AHEAD" sign was still up, and traffic cones still lined the trail from Beach Street to the site of the water pumping. There were two Express Energy trucks at the end of the traffic cones, one was on the levee, above the pumping site, the other was over the edge, backed up right to the pumps.

I saw no utility work being done. I did see the paved trail is now totally mud free, including the thickly muddied area where the Express Energy trucks drove on to the trail.

So, what's going on here? Are the traffic cones being left there to stop Express Energy trucks from driving on the pedestrian "No Motorized Vehicles Allowed" trail? Or are the trucks able to drive right over the cones without hitting them?

Today when I left Wal-Mart I decided to drive back to Gateway Park. I was curious if there was a "UTILITY WORK AHEAD" sign at the Gateway Park entry to the Trinity Trails, that being the pedestrian bridge you see in the picture. Well, all I saw was the final orange traffic cone at the end of the bridge. That's in the picture at the top.

When I took the picture of the bridge I could see there was no longer an Express Energy truck parked on top of the Trinity River levee.

I was curious if the truck over the edge was still there, so I walked to where there is a vantage point looking down on the operation. You can see the truck through the brush in the upper right part of the picture. And a guy in red with a white hat working on the pumps.

There are 2 more pumps sitting on top of the levee.

I think the mud ruts on the "road" down to the pump site must have dried up, if a truck is able to get back out of there without a lot of tire spinning and more muddy rutting and damage to the levee. It's quite steep.

Below is a chronological list of links of bloggings about the Express Energy Service Trinity River Gateway Park pumping operation...

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

New Temporary Buildings Arrive At The Tandy Hills For Tomorrow's Brush Bash

BRUSH BASH UPDATE FROM DON YOUNG:
Unless there is heavy rain the Brush Bash will go as planned. Please arrive between 9 and 10 am. We plan to start work at 10. Lunch break at Noon. Thanks again for supporting Tandy Hills Natural Area.

No, that is not a picture of my latest Outhouse discovery in my popular "Outhouses of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex Series."

I believe these are temporary Outhouses brought in for a special event, which to my mind is the proper use for such things, in contrast with Jerry Jones' mind which thinks surrounding the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium with specially made Dallas Cowboy Outhouses is a good idea.

The special event I believe this pair of Outhouses have been installed for is tomorrow's Tandy Hills Brush Bash.

It is supposed to start being stormy here in North Texas sometime tonight and all day tomorrow. I don't know if the source of the incoming rain is the same storm that is hitting California and today my mom and dad in Phoenix.

I'm sure it will end up being dry tomorrow. I think Mother Nature looks fondly on the Tandy Hills and those who are trying to restore the hills to their old style prairie glory.

Two Natural Wonders I Must See In Texas Before I Die

I got a book a couple days ago titled 1001 Natural Wonders You Must See Before You Die.

When I got the book I wondered how many Wonders I've seen. I figured places like Grand Canyon would be on the list, along with other American National Parks. I was right about that.

I wondered if there would be any Wonders in Texas. The only place I've been to in Texas that I thought might be a Wonder is Enchanted Rock.

Enchanted Rock was not on the list. But 2 other places in Texas are on the list of Natural Wonders. Neither of which have I seen.

One Texas Natural Wonder is Natural Bridge Caverns. This Wonder is located a few miles north of San Antonio.

The other Texas Natural Wonder that one must see before they die is the Basin of the Chisos Mountains. This basin is in the Chihuahuan Desert. The Basin and Chisos Mountains are part of Big Bend National Park.

When I thumbed through the 1001 Wonders I needed to see, I wondered how many necessary to see Wonders were in my old home state of Washington. I figured Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens were likely on the list. I was right about those two.

Other Washington Wonders are the Grand Coulee, Dry Falls, Upper Skagit River and the Columbia River Gorge.

Having both the Grand Coulee and Dry Falls as Wonders makes no sense to me. They are very similar and very close to each other. And Grand Coulee is mostly flooded by Lake Roosevelt, which is not a natural lake, it is the reservoir made by Grand Coulee Dam.

I lived in the Lower Skagit River zone. I don't get having the Upper Skagit River on this list of Wonders. The blurb about the Upper Skagit focuses on the Bald Eagle Preserve, where they hang out to eat salmon that are returning to spawn. I had a Bald Eagle who lived in a big nest, high up in a tall tree in the woods behind my house in Mount Vernon. I don't think I ever visited the Upper Skagit River Bald Eagle Preserve.

No mention is made of the Olympic Rain Forests or the Washington Coast or the North Cascades or any of the other Washington volcanoes, like Mount Baker, which usually accumulates the world's deepest snow each winter.

Lists like this always seem goofy to me when they are covering an area where I know what they are talking about. To get to 1001 Natural Wonders this book does stuff like list Yosemite, then also lists Wonders that are in Yosemite, like Half Dome and Bridalveil Falls and Glacier Point. It does the same thing with other National Parks, like Yellowstone and Bryce Canyon.

Anyway, there must be more than 2 Natural Wonders of merit in big ol' Texas. I've not been to Palo Duro Canyon. Maybe it's a Wonder.

Taking Pictures & Splitting My Pants In Texas

This morning I was given a big, heavy, trophy-like piece of fragile glass to take a picture of for a website.

The website has to do with bricks. So, this morning I tried to take pictures of the trophy in front of bricks. That did not turn out well.

I tried putting it on a ledge with sky as the background. Did not work.

Late in the afternoon, with the sun not being so intrusive, I thought I might get a good picture.

But when the flash went off all sorts of shadows were the result. Turning off the flash the result is you see me, taking the picture, which is the picture you see here.

After the picture taking a picture of me problem, became my latest roadblock, I decided to put the camera on its tripod, set the self-timer, then stand behind it holding a white towel.

That sort of worked. Well enough that a workaround was figured out. I think.

I find my photographer incompetence amusing, so I just felt compelled to share.

I forgot to mention the most amusing part. To set the camera up, and aim it, I had to pretty much lay on the ground. When I lowered myself to that position I heard an awful ripping sound as my shorts split wide open.

I really need to lose some weight. Fast!

Express Energy Service Section Of Fort Worth Trinity Trails Getting Cleaned For Mysterious Reasons

Today after hiking on the Tandy Hills I went to Town Talk. As my one longtime reader knows, that puts me on Beach Street where I can see the current state of the Express Energy Services taking water from the Trinity River operation.

That same one longtime reader may remember me mentioning driving on Beach Street a couple days ago and seeing no notorious White Darth Vader Truck guarding the operation.

So, of course I was curious to see if the Terror Trucks were still gone today.

What I found was just something new to be perplexed about.

When I blogged about my Saturday experience with mafia-like thuggery, I mentioned how badly Express Energy had muddied up the Trinity Trail and rutted up the Trinity River levee.

Today the Trinity Trail was marked off with orange traffic cones and the sign you see in the picture, "UTILITY WORK AHEAD."

The Utility Work appeared to be the cleaning off of the muddied Trinity Trail. I did not get any closer than the sign, so I don't know if it was a City of Fort Worth work crew, cleaning up the trail, burning your tax dollars to clean up after Express Energy, or if it was Express Energy cleaning up after themselves.

There was a White Darth Vader Truck guarding the river pumping site. I saw at least 1 Express Energy goon standing by the truck. I didn't want a repeat of Saturday's fun, so I took my pictures and continued on to Town Talk.

So, why is the muddy mess being cleaned up while Express Energy is still driving a truck to the pump site? I assume they are still driving on the pedestrian trail that says "NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES."

When I was in Town Talk I thought to myself that the only reason to clean up the mess was that the pumping was already over. I could not see the pumps from my vantage point by the Utility Work Ahead sign. I thought, maybe the white truck, by the pump site, was there to clean up the mess and the pumps were gone.

The pumps being gone seemed to be the only thing that made sense of the effort going into cleaning the trail.

When I was done in Town Talk I headed to Gateway Park. I parked by the trailhead that leads to the bridge that crosses on to the Trinity Trails. As soon as I opened my door I heard the pumps.

So, very perplexing. Why is the trail being cleaned while the mess makers are still making messes?

Below is a chronological list of links of bloggings about the Express Energy Service Trinity River Gateway Park pumping operation...

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

Spring Has Sprung In Texas On The 21st Day Of The New Year

As you can see, spring has sprung, in Texas, this 21st day of the new year. The temperature today required minimalist outerwear. Seems hard to believe just a few days ago we were nearing zero in these parts.

I decided to hike "off trail" today on the Tandy Hills. Nicest day of the new year. Perfect. And the air smelled good.

Hard to believe, on a day like today, windows open, outside air blowing in, that that air has dangerous pollutants in it. But, apparently, it does.

My cockroach spray is odorless too, but it's deadly to the cockroaches.

The last time I hiked the Tandy Hills I saw 2 strange spiders. Today I saw the time type spider again. It looks like some sort of mutant combo of a Tarantula with a Daddy Long Legs. I don't know if there are Daddy Long Legs in Texas. Or if that is their actual name, but it's the name I knew for a big, spindly legged spider in Washington.

I did my "off trail" hiking on the west side of the main trail, looking for the illusive Witchey Tree and Death Van. I had no luck.

But, I did see that brush has been cut on the west side, quite a distance from the main trail, in preparation for Saturday's Brush Bash, where the Tandy Hills Manly Men and Wild Women return, once again, this time to haul brush.

Some of the brush that's been bashed is more like logs. It will require some very manly men to haul the logs out of there.

I think I got myself a healthy dose of Vitamin D today. I feared I was on the verge of Vitamin D deficiency related deficiencies developing, but today's exposure to the sun should keep me free of whatever it is that sun deprivation does to a person.

I hope.

No Texas Clouds Booming In My Zone Of Texas Last Night

Yesterday's predicted Two Inch Hail and Tornado Spewing Thunderstorm did not make it to my location.

Instead it was a very quiet night here in my zone of North Texas.

While I was watching American Idol last night there were none of the annoying "important" weather interruptions by hyper-excitable local weathermen. Instead a nice little message was placed in the upper left corner saying this, that or the other place was having some storm action.

I suspect if I'd been watching something on ABC, instead of the #1 show in TV, I would have seen Pete Delkus doing all sorts of drama queening over a slightly rotating cell somewhere in North Texas that had a remote chance of turning into a tornado. Or producing hail.

I just Googled "Pete Delkus" to make sure I had the name spelled right and was surprised to see this very blog come up. I really do not have a very good memory. It was less than a year ago I mentioned Pete Delkus in a blogging, in March of 2009, title "The Texas Clouds Are Booming & Pete Delkus Is Twittering."

Anyway, that's my morning view in the above picture. A nice blue sky.

Stayed in the pool at least twice as long as any previous time this new year. I'd never thought to take the temperature of the pool water before, but did this morning. Took the hot tub thermometer and stuck it in the pool.

54 degrees.

That fits with my operating belief that the pool water temperature pretty much is an average of the air temperature over a 24 hour period. Which means it will be even warmer tomorrow.

I'm off on a photo assignment this morning. With no danger of running into Gestapo Goons.

Waiting In Line At The Fort Worth Public Library

I needed to return books and get some fresh reading material. I'm a reading machine. It's appalling.

The Fort Worth East Regional Library is a short distance from my abode.

Very convenient.

I've liked going to the library since I was a very little kid. I grew up a block away from the Burlington City Library. I was very young when I got addicted to reading kid's books about the Wild West. This gave me a very distorted view of what happened at Little Big Horn that was not fixed til a long time later when I read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.

I digress.

Today when the library came in to view I saw the parking lot was almost full. The Fort Worth Library is very well-used. But the public is very ill-served by the Fort Worth Library, well, more by the City of Fort Worth, which has cut back on library hours and days open.

To my way of thinking cutting back on library hours is one of the last places you want to be cutting back. If you saw all the kids I saw in the library today, after hours, on a school day, you might come to the same conclusion.

Why has none of that HUGE Barnett Shale windfall that fell on the City of Fort Worth been spread on the library? Maybe Fort Worth's saint of a mayor, Mike Moncrief, could donate the more than $600,000 he makes a year from the gas drillers operating in the town in which he is not supposed to do business with anyone where he has a Conflict of Interest, to the Fort Worth Public Library. If Moncrief did this I promise I'll never mention his criminal behavior and need to be jailed and fined, again.

Since the library cutbacks, another thing is bugging me. The Fort Worth Library is the only library I've ever been in where I get stuck waiting in a long line to check out books. This problem has only arisen, near as I've noticed, during the Library Cutback era.

Now, I have seen with my own eyes that there are libraries in Texas that are very efficient and ultra-modern. For instance, the City of Grapevine Public Library has a self-checkout method. This seemed like a very good idea. I have seen libraries on the West Coast with this checkout method. I was pleased and surprised to see this efficiency had migrated to Texas.

But, unfortunately, not to Fort Worth.

First National Weather Service Tornado Alert For North Texas Of The New Year

My mom called me while I was on the way to the library to tell me she'd mailed me something to my P.O. Box. She also told me they'd had a good rainstorm in Phoenix with a much bigger one on its way, which my baby brother had driven through on his way back to Phoenix from San Diego.

I told mom all I've got happening, here, is some big drops hitting the windshield.

And then I got back here to find WeatherBug chirping with the National Weather Service's first Tornado Alert of the new year for North Texas. It sounds like this might be a BIG one. Hail 2 inches in diameter, Thunderstorm wind gusts to 70 mph. Heavy duty Lightning. And I suppose a chance of flash flooding.

I should alert the Haltom City creek monitor about fresh incoming, but I don't want to alarm her. She's had a rough enough week already.

Below is the National Weather Service Tornado Alert for North Texas....

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 10:00PM CST
Sel2
spc Ww 202157

Urgent - Immediate Broadcast Requested
Tornado Watch Number 2
Nws Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
355 PM CST Wed Jan 20 2010

The Nws Storm Prediction Center Has Issued A Tornado Watch For Portions Of Extreme Southwest Arkansas South Central And Southeast Oklahoma North Central And Northeast Texas

Effective This Wednesday Afternoon And Evening From 355 PM Until 1000 PM CST.

Tornadoes, Hail To 2 Inches In Diameter, Thunderstorm Wind Gusts To 70 Mph, And Dangerous Lightning Are Possible In These Areas.

The Tornado Watch Area Is Approximately Along And 80 Statute Miles North And South Of A Line From 40 Miles West Northwest Of Fort Worth Texas To 10 Miles South Of Texarkana Arkansas. For A Complete Depiction Of The Watch See The Associated Watch Outline Update

Remember, A Tornado Watch Means Conditions Are Favorable For Tornadoes And Severe Thunderstorms In And Close To The Watch Area. Persons In These Areas Should Be On The Lookout For Threatening Weather Conditions And Listen For Later Statements And Possible Warnings.

Discussion, Thunderstorms Are Expected To Develop And Intensify Across Part Of North Central TX/South Central OK Along Warm Front In Response To Increasing Dynamic Forcing For Ascent Associated With Strong Upper Trough Approaching From The West. Relatively Steep Lapse Rates Above Moist Pbl Are Contributing To Unstable Environment With Mlcape Of 1000-1500 J/Kg. Effective Bulk Shear Currently In The 35-45 Kt Range Is Supportive Of Supercell Development, And Low Lcl Heights And Sufficient Low Level Shear/Srh Will Enhance Threat For A Few Tornadoes With Discrete Cells That Form.

Aviation, Tornadoes And A Few Severe Thunderstorms With Hail Surface And Aloft To 2 Inches. Extreme Turbulence And Surface Wind Gusts To 60 Knots. A Few Cumulonimbi With Maximum Tops To 450. Mean Storm Motion Vector 25035.

An Arlington Barnett Shale Gas Drilling Operation Disappears While A Nice Lady Breathes A Sigh Of Relief

A few days ago I blogged about a message I got from Lynda, regarding her nice mom's ongoing woes that she attributed to a Barnett Shale natural gas drilling operation, a short stone's throw from her apartment balcony.

When I first talked to Lynda's nice mom it was the noise that vexed her.

And then Lynda sent me the new message telling me about chemical odors that had been wafting into her breathing space, making her mom miserable.

Yesterday Lynda sent me a new message, with good news...

Durango,

Lynda, the nice lady's daughter again...I didn't know if you heard, but the day after you posted this, the gas drilling rig was taken down...I don't know exactly what happened, but it is gone!!

Thank you for all you do.

Lynda

I don't know what the current status of this particular gas drilling operation is. Shut down?

When I first blogged about this gas drilling operation I said I was appalled at how close the drilling tower was to the apartment complex. One of the tenants told me that the rig was 40 yards from the residences. That is 120 feet. Not the 800 feet I thought was the necessary distance.

I think I said something about Arlington having a history of abusing its citizens in their homes.

Did someone go check out this drilling operation and realize it was way too close to where people are living? And order it halted?

Did someone, somewhere, in an official capacity, actually do the right thing for once regarding gas driller bad behavior?

Or is Lynda's nice mom just experiencing a lull, to be followed by water delivery and fraccing?

On a different, yet somewhat related note. Yesterday I saw that there was no White Darth Vader Truck guarding the Beach Street/Gateway Park Express Energy water removal operation.

Did someone, somewhere, in an official capacity, order Express Energy to stay off the paved public Trinity Trails? And to quit trying to intimate citizens walking on the public trail, taking pictures? Did someone alarm the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the damage being done by Express Energy Services to the Trinity River levee? Did someone from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality tell Express Energy to knock it off? Were the Express Energy White Darth Vader Trucks visited by the Fort Worth Police regarding their lawbreaking?

Or was the White Darth Vader Truck, and its goons, just taking a break when I drove by yesterday?

I'm afraid the last possibility is the most likely one, seeings how I don't think anything has happened that has lifted the protective bubble that protects Fort Worth and its surrounding area from being subject to the laws, ethics and sense of right and wrong that guides the rest of America.

A Foggy Fort Worth Wednesday

That is the foggy Fort Worth morning view from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony.

Miss Puerto Rico should now be off the island and waiting in Miami to get on a plane back to Texas. Unless complications have arisen due to the ongoing Haiti Crisis.

I am happy to have my cat caring duties over with.

It was 65 at midnight, 50 something when I went swimming this morning. The balmy temperatures have warmed up the water noticeably. Right now it is already 64, supposedly heading to a high of 75.

It is Wednesday, so I am heading north to Southlake in an hour, or so. I hope I don't have a tire go flat on me.

Taylor Pugh Is Back In Mesquite School With New Hair-Do

Four year old Taylor Pugh was finally allowed back in his Mesquite Floyd Elementary School classroom, after the Mesquite Independent School District Thought & Hair Police approved of Taylor's Princess Leia, from Star Wars, French Braided new hair-do.

Taylor's mom and dad are continuing with their quest to move Mesquite to the Land of the Free, and into the current century, via appealing the district's decision to the State Commissioner of Education.

Surely the Taylor's have lived in Texas long enough to know that the Texas State Commissioner of Education is not all that concerned with education, but likely will be quite concerned about the need to follow orders, I mean rules, without questioning them.

The Mesquite School District's Superintendent, Linda Henrie, actually said that, "Taylor could return to class, with braids, as long as they were close to the head and didn't end in a ponytail or bun. Otherwise, he would have been moved to the school office area or the in-school suspension classroom."

I don't know if the Mesquite Superintendent is aware that her school district is an International Laughingstock. Taylor's case is now a cause on Facebook, drawing 100s of supporters. Taylor's case has generated thousands of blog comments, with the majority in support of Taylor and appalled at the ridiculousness running rampant in Mesquite.

There is at least one petition getting signatures in support of Taylor. I do not know, exactly, what the petitioners are petitioning for. A public vote, in Mesquite, on school policy? A recall of the school board and superintendent?

A protest march is being organized in Austin to pressure the Commissioner of Education to grant the Taylor's a fair hair hearing.

Again, how can people be so naive. You are in Texas. How many "fair" hearings have you ever heard about taking place here?

Logging The Tandy Hills In Fort Worth For The Brush Bash

I did not make it to the Tandy Hills today til late in the afternoon. A flat tire around noon caused me a bit of unwanted adventure, none of which I photo documented, due to my camera not being present.

On the way to the Tandy Hills I had to go to my bank. There's one of those on Beach Street that is on my route, if I take the freeway.

That also let me see the Beach Street/Gateway Park Express Energy water sucking operation. At 4 in the afternoon I did not see a White Darth Vader Truck, with goons, guarding the site. Maybe they finished with their water removal for the day.

Or maybe they got arrested for damaging the Trinity River levee and for driving on the Trinity Trail. Yeah, I'm sure that's why the White Darth Vader Truck was gone. The goons are in jail.

On the Tandy Hills I saw that a lot more logging had taken place, since yesterday, in preparation for Saturday's Brush Bash. Some of the logs looked like they'd make good firewood. I wonder if those are mesquite logs? That'd make a good smelling fire. I have a fireplace that I never use.

We did not get to the predicted 72 today, only to 71. Tomorrow's predicted high is 75. These balmy temperatures have warmed up my pool. I lasted about 10 minutes this morning before I'd had enough.

I got an interesting tidbit of information this afternoon. I'll blog about it tomorrow when I'm back in top operating mode. Right now I'm tired.

Scream At The Sky In Texas

I think I've mentioned, previously, that I like to read True Crime books. And that my favorite author of such books is Ann Rule. Ann Rule lives in the Seattle area. Many of Ann Rule's True Crime Tales have been about Washington cases, with the most notorious being her book about her "friend," Ted Bundy, with the book being Stranger Beside Me.

When one of Ann Rule's tales is about a crime I either remember or have been to the places described, it adds an element that makes it more interesting. I remember reading the Cinnamon Brown story, I think the title was If You Really Love Me. This bizarre story took place in the Los Angeles area. I had recently driven by many of the places described in that book.

Anyway, all that is preamble to this...

When I'm in the library I check out the True Crime section to see if there are any new books. On my last visit I saw one titled Scream at the Sky, by Carlton Stowers. I read the blurb reviews, sounded good, checked it out.

By about page one I realized this story took place in Texas. And once more I found myself reading a True Crime story and being familiar with many of the places being described.

Then, when I was reading last night, til it put me to sleep, the story took a turn right into my neighborhood. The murderer, Faryion Wardrip, had confessed to 3 long time unsolved murders in the Wichita Falls area.

Then Wardrip surprised the detectives by telling them about another murder.

Wardrip was in east Fort Worth where he found another victim, Debra Taylor, killed her and left her body near the intersection of Randol Mill Road and Interstate 820. That's right where I live. There are 3 or 4 liquor stores at that intersection, due to it being on the border of a dry zone. There is also a lot of open land.

I've not finished this book yet. I know Faryion Wardrip got the death penalty. The murders took place in 1984-5. Almost 15 years later a detective cracked the case, using the new DNA tools. His trial took place in Denton. At the start of the trial he plead guilty, which was a surprise to the prosecution. The trial took place after I'd arrived in Texas, but I have no memory of reading about it.

I don't know if Faryion Wardrip has gotten the lethal needle in Huntsville yet.

The Ongoing Battle Against Conflicts Of Interest & Fort Worth Fascism

Ever since I read the FW Weekly cover story "He Won't Pipe Down" about Steve Doeung's heroic battle against the City of Fort Worth and Chesapeake Energy, to save his home from being stolen via yet one more case of eminent domain abuse in Texas, one part of Steve's story bothered me, almost more, than the eminent domain abuse.

When Steve Doeung did not give in to Chesapeake Energy's strongarm pressure tactics and made clear he was going to fight them, the City of Fort Worth sent in a gang of thugs made up of Code Violation Inspectors, accompanied by Fort Worth Police Gestapo Stormtrooper Agents.

Now, there might be those who think it outrageous that I refer to the Fort Worth Police as Gestapo Stormtroopers. Well, it is not outrageous. It is accurate.

The state, in the form of the City of Fort Worth, sent agents to intimidate a person who was rebelling against the state's fascism. Entering Steve's home, writing citations, scaring his daughter with their angry demeanor. Gestapo Stormtroopers is a perfect metaphor.

What I want to know is who ordered the Gestapo raid on Steve Doeung's home? This is a guy who survived the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, made it to America, with the rest of his family, and in an extremely short time has managed to become a classic All-American Hero of the Epic Sort. The idea that this guy would be the victim of Nazi-like terror, while living in the Land of the Free, well, it just aggravates me.

And while he is battling the fascist Fort Worth regime, he is also battling Lyme Disease.

The fact that the City of Fort Worth would use such a tactic is yet one more example of what happens when you have a city government corrupted by Conflicts of Interest. When you have a mayor who is a lackey for the natural gas drilling industry, that is running roughshod over the Barnett Shale region.

Did someone from Chesapeake Energy call up Mayor Mike Moncrief and tell him they wanted him to send in some of the city's Stormtroopers to scare Steve Doeung into submission? How did this raid come about? Did FW Weekly try and find out and ran into yet one more stonewall?

And now, another instance of Gestapo tactics taking place in increasingly fascist Fort Worth. That being my experiences with Express Energy Services. At the end of this blogging I'll list all the links to my bloggings about Express Energy Services.

Saturday's was the worst, where the Express Energy thugs crossed a serious line and committed what amounted to an assault. Saturday morning I'd blogged that I was going to check in on the Express Energy operation and see if I could find the non-existent meters that are supposed to be part of the operation.

I was taking pictures when two Express Energy goons got out of their White Darth Vader Truck. Okay, no harm in that. It is what happened next where a line was crossed. The guys in the truck must have called another guy in another White Darth Vader Truck and told him I have no idea what.

That guy in the second truck came towards me, at a high rate of speed, driving on the no motorized vehicles allowed, public, paved, pedestrian Trinity Trail. I jumped off the trail after the game of chicken had gone too far. At that point I was both mad and a little scared.

I continued walking, taking pictures. That truck quickly turned around and headed back towards me. I was off the paved trail, aiming my camera at him. He stopped about 100 feet from me.

It was obvious to both myself and Big Ed, who was appalled to experience in person, the bizarre incidents I'd been blogging about, that the guy in the truck was trying to intimidate us.

Why? Who gave the order to do so?

The guy in the second truck was not hurrying down the trail to conduct any business with the other 2 guys, that was made clear when he quickly turned around and headed back towards us.

I did not realize, til Big Ed told me later, that the Terror Truck had crossed to the other side of Beach Street and was watching us from the road that runs to the gas drilling operation.

Again why? I have also learned, from a couple of my own agents, that the White Darth Vader Truck is breaking another law by not having a license plate on its front bumper. Are those Fort Worth Code Compliance people and Fort Worth Gestapo Agents going to stage a raid on the Express Energy operation?

No. That won't happen. Thanks to that Conflicts of Interest situation that prevents the law from operating the way it is supposed to operate.

In chronological order below are the bloggings that has Express Energy Services going all Karen Silkwood on me....

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

Too Much Asthma In The Barnett Shale Zone of Texas & One Case In Tacoma

When I got gas yesterday and called my mom in Phoenix, like I always do when I get gas, I was telling mom about some of the nefarious goings on here in the Barnett Shale zone of North Texas, where we have all gone from being Citizens of the Shale to being Victims of the Shale.

I did not tell my mom about my bizarre encounters with Express Energy Services and the goons in their employ.

But I did mention the cancer cluster that is being investigated in Flower Mound, where an inordinate number of kids have leukemia.

I also mentioned the recent revelation that something like 25% of kids in the Barnett Shale zone have asthma, while the average for the rest of Texas is in the 7% range. Clearly something has gone badly amok in the Barnett Shale zone.

But the adults responsible for looking out for the welfare of the area's citizens are not doing their job. Some of the responsible agencies have been co-opted and corrupted by gas industry lackeys, as well as local governments, like Fort Worth's, where a gas industry lackey was installed as mayor and now is on the take, from the gas drilling companies, to the tune of over $600,000 a year,

It seems the rest of America has given up on this area. Not even the EPA seems to have any clout here. So, the bad stuff just keeps happening, like an asthma epidemic and way too many kids getting leukemia. And as far as I know, there is no FBI investigation in to the corruption here, or any other federal investigation. I don't get it. It's very perplexing.

Anyway, at the point I mentioned asthma, my mom changed the subject to Tacoma, where the kid you see in the picture, above, recently had to be hospitalized due to asthma. The little guy is on oxygen. Now, who is this little guy, you can't help but wonder?

Well, his name is David and my mom also told me that David is about to become my new nephew. My little sister is adopting David.

I had not looked at the blog that my little sister's two poodles, Blue & Max, use to convey their adventures and woes to the world, in awhile. But, after my mom told me about David's asthma woes, I checked in on Blue & Max and saw the picture of David in the hospital.

I also saw a picture of my little brother, Jake, holding David. I do not know if this was pre, or post, David being in the hospital. My mom told me my brother and his current wife were up in Washington. He also lives in Arizona. I have not seen my brother since, I think, April of 2006, at the wedding of his oldest son, my nephew, Jason. I was sort of surprised to see that my little brother now looks sort of like a bloated up version of me. With glasses. And very short hair. And an extra chin.

I'd give you the link to the Blue & Max blog, but they've become very security conscious and only let invited guests view their blog. Which is a shame, because it's such a darn cute blog.

Hot Martin Luther King Day Tandy Hills Hike Today In Fort Worth

It's almost 70 degrees, at half past 3 in the afternoon, this Happy Martin Luther King Day in Texas. All this HEAT had me staying in the pool, this morning, for once again, the longest duration of the new year.

I've got my windows open, so that refreshing asthma causing Fort Worth air can waft in and make me sneeze.

I figured the Tandy Hills would be dried out due to all this dryness we've been having. I was a bit wrong. I grew several inches taller as the hiking progressed, adding an ever thicker layer of mud to my shoes. I don't mind being taller, short little guy that I am, but 4 inches taller turns a bit precarious.

I saw a lot of brush that's been whacked in preparation for Saturday's Brush Bash. It looks like a clearcut former forest. Some of the brush went timber right on the trail, like you see in the picture.

Seeing all that Brush waiting to be Bashed had me wondering why a big Brush Bonfire couldn't be the disposal method. Burning that Brush wouldn't add anything worse to Fort Worth air than some of the stuff that is already being added to the air.

Riding Horses In Texas With The Scrabble Queen Of Washington

That is Miss KPF being a cowgirl. I had myself a great time riding horses with Miss KPF, when she visited Texas.

Wait, that may have happened only in a dream. I confuse dreams with reality with alarming frequency.

Miss KPF would make an excellent Texan, as you can tell from the picture, what with her properly wearing a cowboy hat while straddling a horse with authority.

Miss KPF is like a Texan in other ways. Like she's married to this high powered business tycoon who is called J.R.

Okay, I've run out of what Miss KPF has in common with Texans. The reason I'm talking about Miss KPF is I realized something yesterday, that being the she has caused me to be able to spew verbiage at a faster rate. And she has caused an increase in typos.

How can this be, you ask? Well, about a year ago I was curious to see what the fuss about Facebook was all about. To do so I had to create an account. As part of the account set up I was shown names. I thought I was supposed to click on names I recognized. One of them was Miss KPF. I did not realize that clicking on a name sent out a "Friend Request."

Miss KPF sent a message back to me saying "I don't think I know you, we weren't at B-E at the same time." See, I'd not entered accurate info, for the most part. I entered my high school correctly, but not the years I went there. What remains a mystery to me, to this day, is how did Facebook come up with all these names I recognized when I had myself going to that school 10 years later? It's perplexing.

After Miss KPF went through pretty much every name in our class she finally figured out who Durango Jones was. Soon after that Miss KPF started me in on playing Scrabble. At that time I did not realize she was the Scrabble Queen of Washington. Taking pity on me, she has let me win a couple times.

Now, at first I didn't like Scrabble all that much. I had trouble coming up with words. Then one day it sort of clicked. You have to see patterns where you can spell multiple words, that's where the big points come from.

And I'm constantly trying out weird letter combos in the hope that it's a word.

And that is where the increase in typos comes from, I think. I'll type oar when I mean oaf. I'll type boob when I mean boon. I'll type done when I mean down.

Sometimes the typo will still have the sentence sort of making sense. But usually not. I catch most of them before I hit the 'publish' button. But quite a few don't get found til later.

The other thing that I think has happened due to Scrabbling, is I think it exercises the part of my brain that fires the synapses that puts word strings together. I've always been able to pretty easily spew stream of consciousness verbiage. In the past year I've noticed this has changed, as in sometimes I have no clue where a sentence or paragraph is going to go when I start in typing. I just let my fingers fly on the keyboard and check if it makes sense after the fingers quit flying.

That also may be contributing to the typos, as in typing too fast.

Usually I Scrabble while I eat breakfast. This gets my synapses all fired up, with an additional firing up due to coffee. A morning like this morning makes evident to me that I've developed some sort of dependence addiction to Scrabble and it firing up my brain, because this morning there was no Scrabble, because Miss KPF and J.R. are down in Portland.

I won't return to full function til I get Scrabbled. Miss KPF may Scrabble from Portland. She's managed to Scrabble from all sorts of locations, Hawaii, Canada, Seattle, Ocean Shores, Tri-Cities, Leavenworth, Pullman, American Falls, Idaho, I forget where else. Miss KPF is constantly on the move.

So, there's a good chance I'll get a note telling me it's my turn to Scrabble. Maybe I should look for a backup stimulator for when I have Scrabble withdrawal.

Your Climate Killing Idiots Hall Of Shame While The World Burns In Climate Rage

I was sitting here pondering on how unsettling I'm increasingly finding various issues in this zone of Texas I'm living in, where in way too many ways it's still like living in the Wild, Wild Old West, where the "law" was weak and criminals ran amok.

While I was pondering I opened an email from Don Young about some articles in Rolling Stone....

You Idiots!

No, not you, dear reader. Rolling Stone magazine pulls no punches in nailing "the 17 polluters and deniers who are derailing efforts to curb climate change." Among this Hall of Shame is Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon-Mobil who recently bought XTO Energy of Fort Worth, one of the worst polluters in the Barnett Shale. They missed Chesapeake CEO bad boy, Aubrey McClendon, and a few others. But we know who the bad guys are.

See also two other related articles in RS issue #1096.

"As the World Burns"

"Climate Rage"

DY

Dredging & Constructing In Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historic Area

I had not been to Village Creek Natural Historic Area in quite some time.

So, I went there today. With the temperature in the 60s it's very pleasant outside this 3rd Sunday of the New Year. Right now my computer room window is open.

I was quite surprised today when I came to the dam bridge that crosses Village Creek.

Extensive work is being done. A big rock wall has been built to stop the erosion that had been eating away at the river banks and would have soon reached the paved trail.

A sort of diversion channel has been built on the east side of the creek with water being channeled through it. But water still flows through the other tubes that run under the bridge/dam. I couldn't figure out what the purpose of this project was, except for the erosion control.

Maybe this will all help the water flow better and stop the problem that happens when the creek starts running a lot of water and floods over the bridge/dam, leaving a big mess.

It was nice to see a constructive mess today, unlike the destructive mess I saw yesterday on the Trinity River levee, courtesy of Express Energy Services and their thuggish way of operating.

If you look closely at the picture you will see an outhouse up by the heavy equipment. But, this did not qualify for my Outhouses of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex series, due to it being temporary and construction related.

Tasha The Texas Devil Cat Hissed At Me Again Today

I dropped in on Miss Puerto Rico's cat on my way back from my daily constitutional, this time at Village Creek Natural Historic Area.

I think I've had cat sitting duty maybe 6 or 7 times. During the most recent previous cat sitting, back in October, the Devil Cat, Tasha, stopped hissing at me and threatening me with claws if I got too close.

This breakthrough came about due to Tasha, the Devil Cat, liking the treats I was giving her. She actually allowed me to pet her. Slightly. And if I didn't go find her upon entering her house, she'd come find me.

But, today, when I gave her her treats and slightly petted the top of her head, on the 3rd pet I got a huge hiss. I backed off.

The picture clearly shows Tasha the Devil Cat's evil eyes, along with her Hitleresque mustache.

I sat outside on the balcony for awhile, watching humanity pass by. When I came back in, the Devil Cat was where you see her in the first picture, glaring at me from behind her scratching post. I think she was wanting more of her special treats. She got no more. She shouldn't have hissed at me.

I called Miss Puerto Rico while I was sitting on her balcony. I had not heard from her and thought it might be a Haiti related phone service problem. But, the phones had had no problem. Apparently she'd called and left messages, which I did not see til I looked for them.

Speaking of phone calls. I got gas today so I called my mom in Phoenix and told her I got gas and how much it cost. After that we continued talking for way too long, til I got tired of holding the phone to my ear. My mom and dad are planning on coming to Texas again. Seems like they were just here, but it was slightly over a year ago.

Leo the Lion In Texas

Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, currently singing at various venues in the Port Aransas area, regularly emails me good stuff.

Among the good stuff today was a picture of the latest airport security method. It was a photo of dozens of people totally sans clothes, going quickly through security. I won't be sharing that photo with you, because this is a G-Rated blog.

Sometimes Alma sends me things with one of those "you must send this to 5 people" type warnings, lest something bad happens. Like one today, called ACCURATE 2010 HOROSCOPE. This one warned that this is the real deal, not to be ignored, that if I did ignore it I would start having horrible days, starting tomorrow.

And then there was a list of how much good luck I would earn by forwarding the email to a certain number of people. Like 1-3 gets me 1 minute of luck, 33-37 gets me 1 year of good luck, while 38 or more gets me a very lucky life.

So, I looked at what was said about my sign, that being LEO. It was uncanny. I used to know an Idiot Savant who spent way too much time thinking and talking about astrology. Maybe I should not be so dismissive.

Leo the Lion

Great talker. Attractive and passionate. Laid back. Usually happy, but when unhappy tend to be grouchy and childish. A Leo's problem becomes everyone's problem. Most Leos are very predictable and tend to be monotonous. Knows how to have fun. Is really good at almost anything. Great kisser. Very predictable. Outgoing. Down to earth. Addictive. Attractive. Loud. Loves being in long relationships. Talkative. Not one to mess with. Rare to find. Good when found. 7 years of bad luck if you do not forward.

Well, I did not forward this, but I did put it in a blog, does that save me from the 7 years of bad luck? I hope so.

Fort Worth's Tandy Hills Brush Bash Next Saturday With Grand Opening Of Don's Dawgs

The last time I hiked the Tandy Hills, before rain muddied up the place, I saw that a lot of brush had been cut and was laying on the ground, waiting, I assumed, for the upcoming Tandy Hills Brush Bash.

Yesterday I got email from Don Young that confirmed that the cut brush was for the upcoming BRUSH-BASH, which takes place next Saturday.

The most surprising news about the BRUSH-BASH was that a Snack Bar called Don's Dawgs will be making lunch available to those who get hungry and did not bring a sack lunch. And credit cards will be accepted at Don's Dawgs.

Message & Don's Dawg's Menu below...

The City of Fort Worth Parks and Community Services Department has been cutting invasive brush and trees at Tandy Hills Natural Area this week.

Your help is needed carrying the cut material and debris out of the park.

Join your fellow Friends of Tandy Hills to help restore and protect this beautiful 160-acre prairie remnant.

Date: Saturday, January 23, 2010

Time: 10 am – 3 pm

Place: Tandy Hills Natural Area
3400 View Street
Fort Worth

What to Bring: Work gloves, water and a can-do spirit.

Lunch: > > > Bring your own or purchase, on-site, from Don’s Dawgs. (see menu below)

More Information: Contact Don Young at
donyoungglass@earthlink.net or 817-731-2787

See you on the prairie this Saturday.

DY

Don's Dawgs Menu for Brush Bash 2010

Hot Dogs - $3.00
Veggie Dogs - $3.00
Hot Links - $4.00
Nacho's - $3.00
Chili - $3.50

Above items include your choice of toppings. Chili, Cheese, Sauerkraut, Jalapeños, or Chopped Onions.

Assorted Chips - $1.00

Assorted Soft Drinks and Water - $1.00

Hot Chocolate - $1.50
Hot Spiced Cider - $1.50

We will accept Cash/Visa/MC/Discover