My Fort Worth Eyes Are A-Stinging In Dirty Ol' Town

I had my bedroom window wide open all night. This morning my eyes were sort of stinging. When I departed here, about a half hour before noon, and saw a broad view of the sky for the first time today, I thought it was foggy.

I was wrong. It was smoggy.

The first time I remember smog stinging my eyes was during the 1970s in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has greatly improved its smog problem over the years. I did not know until 1991 that Los Angeles has a range of mountains to the west that looks sort of like the foothills to the Cascades in the Puget Sound zone. All previous times the LA foothills were shrouded in smog.

There are no mountains to shroud in smog in the D/FW Metroplex. The closest thing to a mountain is the skylines of Dallas and Fort Worth. They were hazy, really hazy today.

I got an email yesterday from the individual known locally as The Watchdog. A videographer from the Environmental Defense Fund was going to be in town. The Watchdog was asking for any suggestions of examples of Barnett Shale related problems in the Fort Worth zone. All I could think of was the gas driller water pipeline damage to the levee by Beach Street/Gateway Park and the strange Chesapeake Energy pond that holds who knows what chemical stew by the intersection of Brentwood Stair Rd. and Cooks Lane.

Had I known today was going to be producing eye-stinging smog I would have suggested filming the hazy skyline. Or what I saw when headed north to Southlake today. By I-820 and Trinity Boulevard, on the southeast side of the intersection, a gas drilling operation has been going on for some time. Today there were a lot of trucks and a lot of smoke/pollution spewing skyward. That's what you're looking at in the picture at the top.

Is this what has had my eyes burning today? I can't help but wonder.

That aforementioned Watchdog has re-christened Fort Worth from its former nicknames of Cowtown and Panther City. The Watchdog calls Fort Worth, "Dirty ol' Town." I did not see a single cow or panther today. Dirty ol' Town seems much more appropriate.

My eyes continue to sting. Maybe I should shut the window.

Veterans Day In Texas

Veterans Day November 11, 2009

A soldier guards the Veterans Memorial at Arlington's Veterans Park 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year long.

Someone Please Water The Flowers Planted By Volunteers In Fort Worth

Several Saturdays in a row, as I drive by the trail that leads to Quanah Parker Park, I've seen what I thought were un-chained work gangs working off their crimes on the weekend. I've seen the same type buses with similarly clad inmates picking up litter along the Trinity River.

Today when I went to see if jogging was fun, I chose Quanah Parker Park for my test run, mostly because I was curious to see what the un-chained work gang had been doing.

Well, what I found was really weird. First off, there is the sign you see in the picture. "TRAIL WORK VOLUNTEERS."

Okay, so these weren't criminals working off petty offenses, like driving without a seatbelt, while driving slow. The sign is asking for volunteers, Saturday and Sunday, 9am til 2pm, to help plant flowers.

Why? Why flowers in this location. It's about a mile from Quanah Parker Park. Very few people use this trail. In addition to the flowers, chunks of wood had been placed lining the edges of the paved trail. Beauty bark had been spread around, with more big piles waiting to be spread.

The weirdest part of the weird project was 3 signs stuck in the ground where the now wilting flowers had been planted, saying "PLANTED BY VOLUNTEERS PLEASE WATER."

Who did these supposed volunteers think was going to read the signs and water the plants? I had a water bottle with me. I like to help when I can, when asked politely, and the sign did say "PLEASE." So, I chose one of the dying plants and gave it about 12 ounces of water, saving a couple ounces for myself.

Why did they not plant the flowers at Quanah Parker Park where more people might see them. And where water is available?

It is all very perplexing.

And I didn't like jogging.

Up Since 4 Blogging Blogging Blogging Twitter Twitter Twitter

I've been up since 4. I should be cranky but I'm not. I started another blog this morning. The may be some sort of sleep deprivation mistake.

Many months ago I set up a blog that was going to focus on the Pacific Northwest. I did that after I started the Durango Roadtripping one. Well, I was not happy with the results of the Roadtripping blog, so I decided not to bother with the Northwest one.

Some time back I decided to make the blog you're reading, right now, mostly about my experience in Texas, and not mix in stuff like something about TV. So, I started up a TV blog. That one does well. But, I find it not much fun.

Over the past few weeks I started up Twitter accounts that matched the various blogs. I had a Washington Twitter thing going, so I decided to change the Pacific Northwest blog to a Durango Washington blog.

The Durango TV Twitter is very amusing. Not my part of it, that's not amusing at all. It's what some of these celebrity sorts Twitter about, that I find amusing. I wish you could see for yourself, but if I give you my TV Twitter address all you will see is my Twitterings, not the Twitterings of those I supposedly follow.

Keeping track of 4 blogs and 4 Twitter accounts is very confusing to me. I've gotten my identities mixed up a couple times.

I am going jogging today. I used to be a regular jogger. A couple weeks ago I ran into Wal-Mart during a downpour and was surprised at how easily I was able to run fast. I made that same discovery Summer of 2008 at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, and then forget about it when I got back to Texas HEAT.

I'll let you know how the jogging goes.

All A Twitter At The Tandy Hills In Fort Worth

A lone chair is all that remains of what used to be a one tent Tandy Hills Campground. Last month Princess Annie of Wink visited the site of the hobo camp, in the Tandy Hills Natural Area, and left a vase with flowers and 4 quarters.

All is now gone except for the forelorn chair looking north towards Interstate 30.

I still have not been able to find the infamous Witchey Tree or the Death Van. Maybe it was the ghost of the Witchey Tree Death Van that occupied the Tandy Hills Campground.

Speaking of Wink Texas Royalty, this morning I was startled to learn that the Queen of Wink is now one of my legion of Twitter Followers. The Queen is very smart. I'm hoping she'll help me figure out Twitter and if it is useful in any meaningful way. This afternoon I am back on the side of thinking Twitter is useful.

I have now mastered the art of Re-Tweeting. This morning I Re-Tweeted Oprah. Two years ago if you had told me that on this day I would Re-Tweet Oprah, I don't know what scary thing my imagination might have conjured that to mean.

Today I came upon a dad hiking with his kids. You can't tell it from the picture, but I was quite a distance below them, zooming in close with the camera, as they were going down a rather steep section of trail. I heard the kids asking dad if there were snakes. I could not make out his answer. I hope it was no. Because I have yet to see a snake while hiking the Tandy Hills. Or an armadillo. Or a bobcat. I think maybe the Tandy Hills wildlife may have been greatly reduced in population before it became a natural area.

Murder At Hippie Hollow Nude Beach In Austin Texas

Hippie Hollow Park, down in Austin, Austin being the capital of Texas, is the only legally recognized clothing optional public park in the State of Texas.

Austin is about 180 miles south of my Fort Worth location. That's a long ways to drive if I get a hankering to go skinny-dipping. By the time I drove all that way the hankering to skinny-dip would likely have passed.

So, when I get that particular hankering I have to find myself a not legally recognized clothing optional place to dip skinny.

Denniger Bolton has written a book titled Hippie Hollow - Murder on a Nude Beach. The story takes modern day Austin, stirs in murders at Hippie Hollow with a collection of Austin Weird characters, all investigated by an ex-rodeo cowboy, ex-Austin cop, B.B. Rivers, who is Austin's newest private investigator. The book is described as a "wild ride, humorous, irreverent and contemporary. Carlos Castaneda meets Hank the Cowdog."

I don't know how I came upon this Hippie Hollow book. I really need to start taking notes as my memory continues to fade.

Below is a semi-amusing YouTube video about the book and Hippie Hollow. The video is basically a 5 minute commercial. But, like I said, it is semi-amusing....

Technological Neanderthals In Texas

Now this is pathetic.

This afternoon I was over at Miss Puerto Rico's. She showed me some photos on her cell phone that she took on her recent trip to the island to see her mom and dad in Coamo.

That is mom and dad in the picture. In a hospital in San Juan.

So, Miss PR was showing me the pics on her cell phone and asked me how she could get them off the phone and onto her computer where she could print them.

I had no idea how to do this. I use a camera to take pictures, not a cell phone.

And now here is where it gets a bit embarrassing. We can't figure out how to take photos off the cell phone, when I have the bright idea of using my digital camera to take pictures of the pictures on the cell phone. So, the cell phone gets laid on the floor, I set my camera to macro mode and disable the flash and take pictures.

This seems to have worked. But there's got to be a better way. Maybe Miss Puerto Rico should consider getting a digital camera.