Romantic Sap At Oakland Lake Park With Ramon & Gabriella

I am such a romantic sap. I just love that type stuff. Can't get enough of it.

Today by noon I was exhausted. I needed to go somewhere really romantic to rejuvenate myself. The romantic spot closest to me is Oakland Lake Park. I always see so many birds and turtles paired up there.

Parts of Oakland Lake have turned a very unnatural, almost neon shade of green. I should have documented that color with a picture, but I didn't get the picture taking impulse.

Soon after being appalled by the neon green lake water I came upon a romantic message etched on to the sidewalk.

Apparently Gabriella hearts Ramon.

Gabriella wrote, "Always has and always will if one day there (sic) apart he'll always Be in her heart and no man will ever change that or take His place. He will always Be the one and only love of here life!!! Aug. 27, 2009"

I wonder if they are still together?

The State Fair Of Texas & The Big Boots Of Big Tex

Those are the big boots of Big Tex, standing by the Cotton Bowl at the State Fair of Texas. Big Tex is quite tall. And he talks.

The State Fair of Texas takes place at Fair Park in Dallas, running from September 25 til October 18.

I did not go to the State Fair of Texas last year. And the visit the year before was cut short due to physical ailments affecting myself and my co-fairgoer. Despite the pain, I still had fun.

Texas puts on good festivals and parades. At the State Fair of Texas you get both a good festival and a good parade.

The winners of the 20o9 Big Texas Choice Awards have not been announced, as far as I know. I could not eat any of last year's winners. The Best Taste winner was Texas Fried Cookie Dough. The Most Creative winner was Deep-Fried Latte. Then there was Fernie's Fried Chili Frito Burrito, B.W.'s Original Fried Banana Pudding, Zesty Fried Guacamole Bites, Country-Fried Peach Cobbler-on-a-Stick and Mama's Fried Sweet Potato Pie.

It all sounds real yummy.

In the YouTube video below I walk through the State Fair of Texas Midway. You'll likely see some of the food goodies mentioned above and you will hear Big Tex talk...

Canton First Mondays Trading Days & Labor Day

How can it already be September? As I get ever more aged, time seems to get ever more accelerated. Soon it will be the dreaded holiday season.

It's not too early to start in on Christmas shopping. The earlier you start the earlier it will provide a stimulus to the ailing economy.

The first Monday of September is on the 7th, which makes the 7th Labor Day.

The 4 days prior to the first Monday of any month, in Texas, are also when First Mondays Trading Days happens in Canton. That'd be September 3 through 6. I'm thinking of going to First Mondays this weekend. I've not been to Canton for a couple years. It's only about 80 miles east of my location in far east Fort Worth.

I've never seen anything like First Mondays anywhere else on the planet. It is like a flea market, crafts show, art show, antique market, home goods, food goods, all sortsa of goods store on steroids. First Mondays sprawls over a huge area. There is no way you could walk through it all in one day. There are covered arbors with cooling fans with a lot of vendors. Then there are outdoor garage sale type vendors, arranged along a maze of roads. There are permanent non-arbor structures with vendors and food purveyors.

There is no entry fee to Canton First Mondays. You do pay to park. When I was last there it cost $4 to park. There are buses to take you to and from your parking lot, but I've never parked far enough away to warrant a bus.

First Mondays can be very crowded, even though it is huge, there are a lot of people milling through.

People come from all over to go to First Mondays. This makes it a great people watching place. If all the walking makes you weary you can rent an electric cart to drive around the sprawling grounds and to haul your goods back to your vehicle.

Star Telegraph's Way With Words

Several months ago a new blog showed up in town, calling itself "Star Telegraph." I do not know who is behind the Star-Telegraph blog.

Due to how I have, at times, made a little fun of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I have been asked, a time or two, if the Star Telegraph is my blog. It definitely is not. But I wish I'd thought of that name.

Whoever it is who writes the Star Telegraph, he or she or they, have really good taste and a highly discerning eye for clear, high-quality thinking and writing.

Just this past Friday was the following blog post in the Star Telegraph...

A way with words

As usual, we enjoyed Durango's honest opinion about the Trinity River Vision Boondoogle. You will enjoy it, along with the interesting picture.

Read all about it on Durango's blog.

This was not the first time the Star Telegraph showed such good taste in singling out something in this blog. I can't remember when or what, right now, but thought I'd mention the latest.

Why Bother Looking For A Tandy Hills Tarantula?

Some mornings when it is time to get up I think to myself, why bother? Today was one of those mornings. But, I got up anyway.

About 6 I had my regular impulse to go swimming before the sun came up, but that why bother impulse struck, so I didn't bother going swimming.

After I didn't bother going swimming I got an email desperately seeking my help fixing an Internet related problem. My first impulse was to think why bother, but I overcame the impulse and fixed the problem.

After fixing the Internet related problem I thought of blogging, but I had nothing motivating me to blog about, that and I thought why do I bother with this blogging thing? Really? What is the point? Why bother? Even though I felt like not bothering, I bothered anyway and blogged. About what, I do not remember. That was this morning, it is now afternoon. How can I be expected to remember what I did this morning? I suppose I could look, but why bother?

Around noon I was really feeling tired of this hell I'm living. But I really did not feel like going to the bother of going to the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Fortress of Solitude Area to get in my usual mood-lifting, endorphin producing, fast hiking up and down hills.

I sort of thought to myself why do I want to bother feeling better by forcing some endorphins into my bloodstream? Against my negative nature I forced myself to go to the Sanatorium.

After a mile or two of hiking I saw the wildflower you see at the top. It looked unusual to me. By then I started to feel a bit less bothered by the feeling that I didn't want to bother.

I learned yesterday that the last time Martha and Big Ed went hiking on the Tandy Hills they saw a tarantula. I have only seen one of those bugs once since I've been in Texas. It was on a trail in Cedar Hills State Park. Cedar Hills State Park is by Lake Joe Pool near the southwest side of Dallas.

Along side the paved biking/hiking/blading trail, in Arlington's River Legacy Park, there are signs telling you what wildlife to look out for. One of the signs tells you you can find tarantulas in the park. I've seen all the park's wildlife, depicted on the various signs, except for a tarantula.

That's all I feel like bothering to blog about right now.

Facebook Found Out I Know Sarah Palin

Facebook can be entertaining. When I first signed on to Facebook I figured it'd be like MySpace and I'd not like it and see no use for it.

Instead Facebook has me talking to people I've not talked to in in a long time.

Facebook has exercised my lazy brain due to me trying, unsuccessfully, to beat the Scrabble Queen of Washington, known as Scrabble Queen Karen, or SQK. Currently I have a slight lead in one game. That lead won't last.

Facebook is constantly suggesting that this that or another person may be a friend of mine. As you can see in the Facebook screen cap, currently among the many suggestions, is Sarah Palin. Now how did Facebook find out I knew Sarah back during her short stint in school in Idaho? It feels like some sort of Big Brother thing.

Also on the list is my ex-sister-in-law and the namesake of my ex-sister-in-law's grandson, Spencer Jack, with the namesake being my ex-wife, Loretta. How did Facebook know to put Loretta on this list? I have not seen Loretta in over a year. We don't email. How did Facebook know I know Loretta? Even if Loretta and I exchanged emails, that Facebook could somehow snoop, she doesn't use her Loretta name in Internet World. She calls herself Otterpengu.

On the list of possible friends is someone who would, in reality, be on my Enemies List, if I had such a list. How did this person get on a list of my possible friends? We did not go to the same school.

Years ago I made a website for a guy, here in Texas, named Lewis Shallcross. He is on the list of possible friends. I have never even met the guy. His website is not on this computer. How did Facebook make this connection?

Anyway, Facebook is fun and perplexing. And don't get me started on Farmville.

Our North Texas Community

For months Big Ed has been working on what I thought was a blog. I looked at it a few times during it's genesis and it didn't make me cringe as bad as I often do when reading something written by Big Ed. I've only looked at a little of it. It is likely there is something in there that will cause cringing.

Big Ed's blog, or website, I can't tell what it is, I thought it was a blog, but it looks like a website, anyway, it is called Our North Texas Community. It is now ready for primetime.

I see a link titled "We Watch Out For Moms Here." Just the title made me cringe a little.

There is a list of Recent Posts. I see one titled, "What Turns You On?" I don't think I'm gonna click on that one.

The internet has this thing called Alexa Rankings that are sort of like the Nielsen Ratings. Only it is the popularity of a website that is being ranked instead of a TV show. The goal is to get into the top 100,000 of websites. If you do that, you've made it in Website World. It's like having a hit TV show.

Big Ed's Our North Texas Community currently has an Alexa Ranking of just over 500,000. Alexa's stats have Big Ed's visitors staying over a half hour on average.

Of my blogs, the one you are looking at right now has the highest Alexa Ranking, something in the 1,200,000 zone. The average stay of my visitors is under 3 minutes. I get a lot of comments on this blog. Big Ed has gotten 1 comment.

So, now I have yet one more thing to be perplexed about. Alexa Rankings. And our north Texas community.