A Cougar Stalks The Microsoft Campus In Redmond

What is going on with the cougars in Washington? By cougars I'm not referencing the Washington State Cougars, I'm referencing the wild animal type cougars.

A few weeks ago a cougar was trapped in Discovery Park, deep in the heart of the Seattle urban zone. That same day a cougar was killed by a car in Redmond.

And now, also in Redmond, another cougar has been spotted, this time on the Microsoft campus. That is a map of Microsoft's campus, above. Microsoft's campus covers a large area and is heavily wooded with tall fir trees.

How does a cougar makes its way to Microsoft? How did it get past Microsoft security? What is driving the cats to the urbanized zone? Why aren't they living happy in the deep woods?

It's all very disturbing. Ever since a 10 foot alligator was found in my neighborhood I have been keeping a lookout for gators when I walk near the Trinity River. I also keep a lookout for our local type cougars, known as panthers or mountain lions. There have been sightings.

The cougar that was trapped in Seattle's Discovery Park was collared with a GPS location device. I've not read any followup reports regarding that cougar's current location. Maybe it somehow got free of the collar and made its way to Microsoft.

Ecofest In Arlington With Free Trees

I went to Ecofest in Arlington this afternoon. This took place at Founder's Plaza in downtown Arlington. I have to say, what Arlington has done to Center Street and their new downtown is a very good, well done thing. This may evolve into giving Arlington, finally, a real downtown. The cutest thing I saw at Ecofest was little kids playing in the fountain you see above. The fountain only came alive when someone wanted to play with it. Giggling little kids having fun is always a good thing to see.

How often do you go to any sort of 'Fest' and get something free that has any substance? Well, at Ecofest they were giving away FREE TREES. Sponsored by Wal-Mart, as part of Wal-Mart's ongoing program to save the planet. I got 2 FREE TREES. Now I have to figure out some place to plant them. I suppose I could drag a shovel to an obscure corner of the Tandy Hills and add a couple new trees. I wish I could ship them to Princess Annie of Wink, so she could plant them as part of her massive Wink Prairie Restoration Project.

Here you see some of the Arlington Ecofesters busy Ecofesting. Blue seemed to be a popular color among the Ecofesting.

I was informed that after I left the area that music was being played on the stage you see here. Ecofest continues until 10 pm tonight. I suspect if you haul yourself down to downtown Arlington, to Founder's Plaza, tonight, you will be able to hear some good music. And get yourself some FREE TREES. And play in a fountain, if you are feeling child-like.

Trinity Trash Bash Attracts Big Crowd of Trash Bashers

Today was the annual Trinity Trash Bash. An event where thousands of Tarrant County good citizens gather to remove litter from the Trinity River zone. This is a daunting task.

My participation in the Trinity Trash Bash took place at the Beach Street location near Gateway Park. This is the spot I showed you a week or so ago where litter had backed up behind the dam/bridge across the Trinity.

I also showed you a pipeline I discovered sucking water from the Trinity River. Today I saw the pipeline had been moved further away from the river, I suspect so as not to interfere with the legions of litter removers, any number of whom may have mistaken the pipeline for litter.

The first and second picture shows the new route of the Beach Street Trinity River pipeline.

Previously the pipeline would have been behind me, so the above picture gives you a real good idea of how drastically the pipeline has been relocated.

Here we are looking west towards part of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Mixmaster, where Interstates 35W, 30 & 287 come together in an amazing feat of highway engineering. There was a long line of cars parked on the west side of Beach Street. I'd never seen that before. That is an indicator of how many people were involved in this section of the Trinity Trash Bash. I have never seen so many people in this location. If you look closely you can see some of the bags of Trinity Trash that have been collected.

A few of the throngs of Trinity Trash Bashers walking towards the dam/bridge where previously a flotilla of litter clogged the river.

A few of the many boats patrolling the Trinity, on the look out for floating litter. Behind them you can see some more piles of bags of gathered trash that now line the banks of the river, awaiting pickup.

Magic Mushrooms Sprouting In Texas

All previous years during my exile in Texas, by this time of the summer, most everything on the ground is brown. This year green remains the dominant color, as you can see in the picture, looking at a field of grass, today, at Oakland Lake Park.

Saturday started off with sad news when I learned that one of my all time favorite people's dad had died. It had only been discovered around Labor Day that cancer had invaded his liver and pancreas. And now less than 2 weeks later cancer has won yet one more battle in its war against humanity.

In the past few months I've learned of way too many sad things. I call it Facebook Syndrome.

I did not get up til past 7 this morning. It was in the 60s overnight. The water in the pool bordered on being cold. I liked it.

Tootsie Tonasket called me around noon and entertained me while I walked around Oakland Lake Park, including when I took the picture you see above of some giant mushrooms that sprang to life recently in our very damp climate. I don't know if these are edible mushrooms, so I did not eat one.

I'm off to Arlington in a bit, to some event at some new park near the city center of Arlington. I forget the name of the park. Music is involved. Details to follow, with pictures, should the event warrant it.

Scantily Clad Females Marching In Protest In Texas

One of my blogging fodder providers sent me the above picture, along with a couple more this morning. The pictures were sent without explanation. The above photo appears to be a large group of scantily clad females in some sort of protest march following a nice looking convertible car through what appears to be a residential neighborhood. I did not read anything about a protest clogging up traffic anywhere in the local paper, online, this morning.

In the above picture it appears the protesters have moved in doors, with some more scantily clad females joined by what looks to be noisemakers pounding on drums. This looks like a basketball court. I am almost certain it is football season, not basketball season. But, things are done different here in Texas, so maybe they are playing basketball now. For all I know, football is a spring sport here.

Swimming In A Sad State Of Melancholy While Alma Sings & My Little Sister Pseudo Breeds

It was not raining this morning, so there was no flood of mud to navigate through to get to the pool. So, I put my stocking hat on, for the needed warmth, due to it being in the 60s (BRRRRR) and headed to the cold water soon after the sun broke through the cover of gray to light up the place.

My Lincolnesque state of sad melancholy has not lifted, so I continue to spread doom and gloom to all I come in contact with. I can't help myself. Not that I try all that hard.

I continue to worry about my little sister and her apparent attempts to turn her house into a bad sit-com plot, what with the frequently hospitalized poodles, the ever growing brood of little kids and the chronic cases of, what sounds to me like, food poisoning.

I'm also worried about Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, due to her diabetes taking a turn for the worse. An ER visit got her some interventions that I hope make her better.

Despite ailing, Alma is such a trooper she is doing a short show, 7 pm Saturday, at the Port Aransas Inn. Alma's percussion partner, Luis Villarreal, is re-joining Alma to give her some rhythm. I'd go if I were in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, I am about 500 miles away.

Getting Soaking Wet At Quanah Parker Park & Sneezing At Town Talk

Yesterday I showed you the view you see here, in a picture taken the same time of the day as it is right now. Today's same view, at the same time, is minus yesterday's return of blue sky. Or was it the day before yesterday that blue returned? Regardless, the gray has returned, today. With a vengeance. Dropping water in heavy doses.

For days, I have been unable to do my usual daily walking/hiking routine due to a variety of vexations, some weather related.

Today I decided, no matter what, I was going to get outside. My therapist, Dr. L.C. insisted upon it.

Due to time restraints I decided to go to Quanah Parker Park. It is a short distance away on Randol Mill Road. A couple miles further is Town Talk, which I also wanted to go to, to get cheese.

About 2 miles in to the walking at Quanah Parker it started to rain. A soft rain, at first. Then a downpour. Buy the time I got back to my vehicle I was a wet mess. Even so, I decided to continue on to Town Talk and get that cheese.

By the time I was in the Town Talk cooler I'd developed an itchy eyes problem, along with sneezing. I made it real quick in Town Talk, got my cheese, got out of there, got back here.

So, that's my Thursday, so far, of this hell I am living in Texas. I wish you could join me.