Ballad Of The Baker: Is The Baker Hotel In Mineral Wells Really Being Restored?

It has been at least 10 years since I first saw the Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells. Soon after I saw the Baker Hotel I made a webpage about it.

At that point in time there was no other webpage devoted to the Baker Hotel, near as I could tell.  So, for years, my webpage about the Baker Hotel Googled in the #1 spot.

That is no longer the case. There is a lot of Baker Hotel info on the Internet in 2010, including a sort of Official Baker Hotel website.

During the years when my webpage about the Baker Hotel Googled #1, causing people to think I was somehow associated with it, I have lost count of the number of emails I've gotten asking me questions about buying the hotel, who owns it, what I'm asking for it. And the weirdest one, asking me to pick someone up, flying in from Los Angeles, at D/FW Airport, and transport them to Mineral Wells to the Baker Hotel.

Over the decades that the Baker Hotel has sat idle, in ever failing health, there have been many rumors about plans to restore it to its former glory.

It appears that this is finally going to happen. And is actually underway, due to the renovation efforts of someone named Jeff Trigger.

Trigger allegedly has a $52 million budget, which he will spend to re-do and modernize the hotel rooms, restore the grand lobby to its heyday splendor, restore the Baker Hotel's outdoor swimming pool and mineral bath. With an indoor floor dedicated to what made Mineral Wells famous. Its mineral water.

The Baker Hotel renovation project is far enough along that a movie is being made of the effort, called The Ballad of the Baker. The Ballad of the Baker even has a website. That is a snapshot from the website in the picture above. You can go to the website and view videos of the movie trailer and the Baker Hotel renovation.

I feel like taking a short roadtrip out to Mineral Wells and verifying this project is actually underway. I've been burned by this type news before. Like being told, quite earnestly, that the New Isis Theater Eyesore in the Fort Worth Stockyards is being renovated. Years later the New Isis is a worse eyesore than ever.

I hope the new Baker Hotel is able to make a go of it. Will the mineral springs still be able to attract visitors? There really is not a lot going on in Mineral Wells, tourist hotspot-wise, that would seem to draw people, besides the novelty of the restored hotel. Maybe this will turn Mineral Wells into a tourist town, with shops and galleries and good restaurants.

Chilled To The Bone & Starting Fires This Friday Morning In Texas

I don't know how cold it was, air temperature-wise, when I went swimming this morning. I do know, coming up on 9:30, this October 15 morning it is currently 51.

I also know that I stayed a long time in the pool this morning. Apparently this reduced my core temperature. Because, I am currently cold to my core. So much so I felt on the verge of shivering, a verge remedied by putting on a long sleeved shirt. And hooded sweatshirt. And sweatpants. And socks. And wool stocking cap.

I am starting to warm up, so I can begin to reverse this overdressing.

Getting warmer was helped by making Asparagus Soup. Somehow the melting butter to sauté onions part turned so smoky that the smoke alarm felt alarmed. I quickly got that situation under control when a paper towel began burning. Which got the smoke alarm alarmed again.

I believe I shall be going Bobcat hunting on a mountain bike at River Legacy Park. Unless I change my mind. Or catch something else on fire.

A Beautiful Fall Afternoon Hiking The Tandy Hills & Thinking About Asparagus Soup

Being on the Tandy Hills, late in the afternoon, on this particular mid-October day, you can see fall in the foliage. As well as wildflowers still blooming.

I think I may harvest some Tandy Hills oats and mill some homemade oatmeal. I'm sure that must be fairly easy to do.

You are looking north in the picture.

The trees that you see in the distance are on the other side of the I-30 freeway. Looking at this view one would not think, would one, that one is in the heart of America's 4th biggest metropolitan area, a short distance from the downtown of America's (I think) 17th biggest city.

Or that you are in the 15th Most Dangerous Neighborhood in America.

The Tandy Hills, to me, feels pretty much the opposite of dangerous. It seems safe and peaceful. Particularly on as perfect a beautiful day as today has been. Weather-wise.

Other than weather-wise this has not been a particularly beautiful day. Suffice to say I never cease to be amazed at how amazingly inept some humans can be, causing me to marvel that they can safely function well enough to make it through a day. And that these humans reproduce just gives me a shudder for the future.

On a happy note. After I was done with my salubrious Tandy Hills Hiking I went to Town Talk where I found, in addition to loaves of Marble Rye Bread, you know, the type bread Seinfeld stole from an old lady in an infamous Seinfeld episode, I found real good asparagus. I bought several bunches.

I'll be making Asparagus Soup in the morning. You are welcome to drop in for a bowl or two around noon.

My Therapist Diagnosed Me With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

I was certain I was going to be on the Tandy Hills hiking my little heart out at this point in time. But, that will have to wait til later. Lunch will need to occur before hiking can.

I had a very troubling incident occur this morning. This incident had me worrying that it was a symptom of senility or Alzheimer's. Very troubling.

I'll try and explain my sad situation.

Four weeks ago, or maybe five (symptom) the latest season of Survivor started up. I like Survivor. So, I watch it. And then I blog about what I watched, on my TV Blog.

When I went to blog about Survivor, this morning, I found that I could not remember what the first challenge was. Then I could not remember the name of who got booted.

So, I Googled "Survivor Guatemala." I clicked on the CBS link and was very confused to find myself transported back in time to 2005, when Stephanie and Bobby Jon were on Survivor. Then I clicked on the Wikipedia link. Same thing. Survivor Guatemala: Mayan Ruins, or something like that. (symptom)

I then somehow found Jeff Probst's blog about last night's Survivor. Reading his blog I had my answers. And I found something troubling.

Probst was blogging about Survivor: Nicaragua, because that is where the current Survivor takes place, not Guatemala.

So, I looked at my previous bloggings about the latest Survivor. In all of them I called it Survivor: Guatemala. Now the comments I was getting, saying variations of "It's Nicaragua" make sense to me.

I was so troubled by this serious mental lapse that I arranged an emergency visit with my therapist, Dr. L.C.

Dr. L.C. did not take too long to diagnose that I was not senile and that I did not have early onslaught of Alzheimer's.

However. Dr. L.C. did diagnose that I have something called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Apparently I am a frenzy of activity and as a consequence of the frenzying my attention focus can wander a bit. Due to the sad fact that I can spew out verbiage at a fast pace without having to do a lot of thinking about it, I can easily overlook some obvious thing. Like typing Guatemala over and over again when I should be typing Nicaragua.

Dr. L.C. did not prescribe any medication for my ADHD. All she did to help me with my condition was to tell me to take a night off and go saloon hopping with Elsie Hotpepper on Friday night. I really do not see what good that will do regarding problems like Guatemala and Nicaragua. So, I am going to go against doctor's orders on that one and instead simply try and pay closer attention to detail.

I wonder what other whoppers of erroneousness I have floating around that I am oblivious about?

Up Early In Texas With A Chilly 48 Degrees

I decided to really be wild and mix things up this morning. Which means, though I was up before the sun and went swimming soon after the sun's arrival, I did not take a picture of the pre-dawn view and blog about it.

Instead, I am blogging about the post-dawn view from my bedroom window, looking out at another blue sky day in Texas on this, the 14th day of October.

I did not ride bike or hike yesterday, except to walk over to Miss Puerto Rico's to deliver a travel itinerary.

I will over compensate for yesterday's sloth by overdoing some Tandy Hills hiking today. The temperature should be quite conducive for pleasant hiking, with the high today supposed to only get to 76, and with it currently, at almost 9:30, only 16 degrees above freezing, at 48.

No wonder the pool was particularly refreshing this morning. It was almost cold. I guess our Heat Index days are over for the year. The Heat Index making the temperature feel hotter than what the thermometer reads. Now we are in the Wind Chill time of the year, with the wind, right now, making 48 feel like 44. Which is only 12 degrees above freezing.

I probably should close the windows and put a shirt on before I start shivering.

Delivering A Puerto Rican Itinerary While Trying To Nap & Eat A Ruby Red Grapefruit From South Texas

You are looking at the Wednesday afternoon northerly view from Miss Puerto Rico's. I have returned from delivering a printout of the itinerary of the trip to Puerto Rico, which will be several hours under way, a week from today.

I am not providing airport shuttle service. Other arrangements must be made.

I was up a bit early today again. I am constitutionally unable to take naps. For the most part. This afternoon I did have a nap impulse, but nothing came of it.

Around noon I had to be up in Southlake, so, since I was in the neighborhood, I dropped in on Sprouts Farmers Market and got 30 Ruby Red Grapefruit, among other good stuff.

Ruby Red Grapefruit comes from down in the South Texas Plains Rio Grande River Valley citrus growing zone. When you're down in the McAllen zone you can visit Eggers Acres and pick some Ruby Red Grapefruit. The Eggers Family runs a citrus market at the location where their grandpa developed the Ruby Red Grapefruit.

I had myself one of my newly acquired South Texas grown Ruby Red Grapefruit for lunch, along with a Philly Cheesesteak Pizza, BBQed Chicken and Broccoli. The Ruby Reds are one deep red-colored grapefruit. They are sweet enough that no additional sweetening is required. At least for me. I am not a fan of sweet things.

A 4.5 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Oklahoma Near Norman And Is Felt In North Texas

You are looking at the Richter Scale representation of what happened a short time after 9 this morning.

An earthquake.

Around that time I felt the earth move with that familiar vibration I experienced so many times when I lived in the Pacific Northwest.

This morning vibration was of short duration, about 10 seconds. There was none of the roaring noise I've come to associate with an earthquake.

I figured it was a passing large truck shaking the ground.

And then, a few minutes ago I heard from Elsie Hotpepper asking me if I'd felt the earth move in Fort Worth. Now, I am used to Elsie Hotpepper asking me cryptic questions, the answer to which, at times, is difficult for me to come up with.

So, I Googled "Fort Worth Earthquake" and to my great surprise I learned that at 9:06 AM, Wednesday, October 13, a 4.5 magnitude earthquake, at a depth between 3.1 and 4.4 miles, epicentered about 10 miles east of Norman, Oklahoma, 20 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, gave quite a strong jolt, felt as far away as my location in North Texas.

The biggest quake I've ever experienced was a 6.5, with me 60 or 70 miles north of the epicenter.

A couple years before I moved to Texas, where I lived in Mount Vernon went through a series of quakes of the 2 to 3 magnitude, epicentered just a couple miles east, by Big Lake. Those quakes felt real strong. They caused the windows to sort of bulge, made a real loud noise. The Big Lake Quakes cracked the ceramic tile in my kitchen. I remember, for one of them, I was laying on my waterbed. Suddenly it was like I was on the ocean in rough waves.

Usually with an earthquake there are aftershocks. So, far, I have felt none.