A Dark Wednesday Fort Worth Afternoon On The Tandy Hills

I should be tired. I've been awake since about half past 3 this morning.

I waited for the sun to light up the place, this morning, before going outside to the pool. The trip to the pool started off inauspicious when I went to tighten the drawstring that keeps my swimsuit from falling off me and something ripped.

I don't believe this was a weight gain, heft-related clothes ripping incident. It was my favorite swimsuit and it'd long ago reached its natural lifespan.

I was determined to go hiking the Tandy Hills today, because this might be my last chance in awhile, with the incoming return to winter expected to bring freezing rain and a possible ice storm on Friday.

You can sort of tell in the picture, looking west at the beautiful skyline of downtown Fort Worth, around 4 this afternoon, that we have turned very un-sunny here.

I forgot to mention, yesterday, when I was talking about the results of Saturday's Tandy Hills Brush Bash, that the Brush Bashers removed the remains of Annie's Hobo Campsite. I'm sure Annie will be worried when she learns the Hobo Campsite is no more, wondering where the Tandy Hills Hobo will live now.

Remember Brush Bashers and Brush Basher Wannabes, you have another chance to commune with Mother Nature and help Her return part Her Realm to its intended state, by showing up for Brush Bash II on the Tandy Hills at 10 am, Saturday, February 6. Don't forget to bring work gloves.

World's Best Catfish At Tuckers Catfish Haven In North Richland Hills

It is Wednesday, so I went up to Southlake today a little before noon.

On my way back from my first stop in Southlake I went to Sprouts Farmers Market and got a lot of good stuff. I've never seen Sprouts so busy.

Were people stocking up for the upcoming return of winter with its possible Friday ice storm?

On the way back home, after Sprouts, I had been asked by an Anonymous Person to pick said person up at Tuckers Catfish Haven in North Richland Hills.

Why do so many people insist I not put their name in my blog? It perplexes me.

Anyway, I'd been in the Tuckers Catfish Haven parking lot previously. But I had not bothered to look at their sign. I read the sign today and was surprised to learn that in Tuckers Catfish Haven I could get the World's Best Catfish.

I added the apostrophe to World's. For some reason Tuckers does not seem to like apostrophes. It seems like it should be Tucker's Catfish Haven, not Tuckers Catfish Haver. And it should be World's Best, not Worlds Best.

Sorry about being an apostrophe Nazi.

I do not understand why catfish is so popular in these parts. There may be more catfish restaurants in the D/FW Metroplex than any other genre. Even BBQ. To my semi-refined tastebuds, catfish is, at best, flavorless, at worst you can bite into catfish that tastes like the mud the catfish bottom fed from.

The texture of catfish is mushy. Very unappealing. And then the catfish is usually deep-fried with a corn meal coating. Although I have seen catfish grilled in various ways, but none that tasted very good to me.

Usually with catfish you'll get these things called hush puppies. These are little balls of deep-fried cornmeal dough, usually tasting the same as what the catfish is coated with.

So, I guess the thing I've learned today is if I want the World's Best Catfish, which I don't, I need to go to Tuckers Catfish Haven.

Birds Flying North For The Winter With Incoming Freezing Rain In Fort Worth

I do not know if it is another sign of Mother Nature running amok, or what, but this morning, while I was doing my usual pool/hot tub routine, I saw 4 large herds of birds flying in formation overhead.

Three of the four formations were flying north, while the fourth confused formation was flying west.

In the Fall it is quite common to see large formations of birds of all sizes flying south, to the birding zone of South Texas or into Mexico.

I do not recollect seeing big formations of birds flying north this early. Something seems amiss.

Did the birds miss the news that Winter is not over? And that the forecast for Friday is snow, again, in North Texas. What are all these birds going to do as they fly over Oklahoma or Kansas and realize this is way too cold? Do they make a U-Turn and head back to South Texas?

I just went to get the Fort Worth forecast, for any of you birds reading this, and I see our Friday forecast has been changed from snow to freezing rain & freezing drizzle. I'm not sure what the difference is. I am not a big fan of freezing rain or drizzle. I prefer my rain to be thawed and lukewarm.

A Post Brush Bash Hike Over The New Tandy Hills Prairie

I was pleased to learn that almost 8 dozen Brush Bashers showed up on Saturday to Bash Brush on the Tandy Hills as part of an ongoing effort to remove invasive non-native, non-prairie type vegetation, and to rid the Tandy Hills of litter.

I made it to the Tandy Hills today around 3 in the afternoon. That was a very pleasant time to be there. Perfect temperature, no wind, nice blue sky light.

I was amazed at all the bags filled with litter that await removal. I thought Don Young might be exaggerating, a bit, when I read thousands of pounds of debris and litter were removed. I'm guessing multiple tons would not be exaggerating.

And all this was done in 3 and 1/2 hours, including a lunch break!

Tandy Hills 2010 Brush Bash Part II is scheduled for Saturday, February 6. Today I didn't see a lot of brush still awaiting being bashed to the main trail, compared to what I saw, pre-Brush Bash, but there is still a lot of work to be done, hence BBII.

The above picture shows a large section of the newly restored invasive species-free Tandy Hills Fort Worth Prairie, returned to its historical glory.

I learned today that one definitely needs to be wearing work gloves if you want to Bash Brush. I thought I'd drag out what I think was a chunk of Mesquite, today. Big mistake, whatever it was that I tried to drag, it had a thorny aspect to it that was not pleasant.

See you at the Tandy Hills Brush Bash Party February 6.

Another Car Hits A Tree By The Handley Post Office In Fort Worth

I have no clue about the details. All I know is I saw a strange scene this afternoon when I pulled into the Handley Post Office to mail some important documents to the Queen of Wink.

8 or 9 Fort Worth police cars, a couple emergency vehicles, a lot of flashing lights and one dilapidated looking car slammed up against a tree.

That is the tree and the car you see on the right.

I saw no tasering or any other Gestapo-type Fort Worth police behavior, which is why I referred to them as police, in case you were wondering.

What appeared to be a blanket was covering the back of the wrecked car. That seemed odd to me. There was no rush by the emergency vehicles to take anyone to a hospital. Was this a police chase that ended badly? This is the third wreck-type incident I have seen while at the Handley Post Office. Nothing seems unusually dangerous about the road in this location.

It's very perplexing.

2010 Tandy Hills Brush Bash I Huge Success, Brush Bash II February 6

This past Saturday multiple events conspired to keep me from being able to join the Manly Men and Wild Women bashing brush on the Tandy Hills of Forth Worth, Texas.

I've heard from Don Young that the bashing was a huge success, with Brush Bash II scheduled for Saturday, February 6, 2010.

The Brush Bash Report---

About 90 dedicated boys, girls, women and men showed up on a chilly Saturday morning to help restore the prairie at Tandy Hills Natural Area. This diverse team of individuals from all walks of life and throughout the Fort Worth area worked hard and did so cheerfully and with gusto. There was a sense of community and coming together to make a difference in this special place. The transformation of Tandy Hills Natural Area is well underway.

A huge swath of endangered Fort Worth prairie has been cleared of undesirable and invasive plants. Several large trucks hauled it away for composting. Thousands of pounds of trash and debris were removed. The rain forced us to stop at 1:30 pm so there is more work to be done this season. Please join us for round two.

The 2nd annual Brush Bash succeeded with help from the following groups:

--- Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area

--- City of Fort Worth Parks & Community Service Department led by, Michelle Villafranca, and crew

--- Polytechnic High School Key Club, directed by, Mike Beaupre (highly disciplined and motivated group)

--- Boy Scout Troops 12 and 180 (the future leaders of Tandy Hills were well represented)

--- Tarrant County Sheriff's Office, Labor Detail

--- Don's Dawg's owner-operator, Mindy Billings (hot dog's never tasted so good)

A very big Thank You to all!

DY

Another Stunning Scrabble Victory Over The Scrabble Queen Of Washington

Tuesday is off to an auspicious start. I have had another Stunning Scrabble Victory over the Scrabble Queen of Washington.

This now gives me 3 wins over the Scrabble Queen, with around 120 losses. So, in the bigger picture I'm a big Scrabble loser. I don't mind being a Scrabble loser, it's good exercise for my frequently dormant thinking mechanisms, even if losing is my norm.

If only this Stunning Scrabble Victory were some sort of omen of wins to come on other fronts. Sadly, I suspect this win is just an isolated fluke.

Speaking of isolated flukes, today I return to the location of last week's first flat tire. I am hoping to avoid any punctures.

I saw bad news whilst reading the local papers online this morning. Winter is about to return to North Texas. It was in the high 30s when I went swimming this morning, so, I suppose, winter's return may already be here.