Walking The Woodlands

There is one place that I visit about this time every year that is full of wildlife from slithering creatures to bob cats and now I hear, feral hogs. It is the feral hogs that have given me pause. They are dangerous. Still, yesterday, I put on the hiking boots and headed out for my annual trip. It isn't that far away from home, but it is one of those places that few ever travel as a destination. I had one goal in mind.

While the leaves are beautiful and the running water is something I could sit and watch for hours, it is the little things that go unnoticed by most. The crop of acorns are the biggest. The wild berry bushes are loaded. It is just an enjoyable couple of hours where about the only thing you hear is an airplane going over now and then. No horns. No loud talking. And not seeing a single soul with a phone plastered to their ear.

I go this time of year because most of the snakes have already crawled. But, in Texas, that is not always a totally true statement. There has never been a November in Texas where temps have reached 90 -degrees...until this year. We have already had a 94 and a 90 and it's only the 5th. It is forecast  to be 89 today and that could easily move over the mark into the 90 range, even if only for a split second. But snakes like to sun bath, too. So the hiking boots are a must. Wednesday it will only be 54 and the slithering things should not be out at all, but I could not wait to lizard hunt with my camera.

My goal was to find a true Texas lizard. Not a little gecko. I have one of those that greats me on my gate and has even been seen hanging on my wall now and then before I show him the door. Cute but not the type of lizard that I was in search of on this trip.

If

If, indeed, it is an Alligator, this would be the type that I was searching for on this trip.

I have called this before, the Enchanted Forest because the tree trunks are so dark and outlined. Last years trip the colors were more golden and the year before that, they were even a reddish color. Don't know why the same stand of trees changes color so much, but on my next trip to the Arboretum, I'll find out. 

A Long Admired Building Gets The OKAY

Two days ago I drove past a building that I have admired for at least the past 16 years. The architecture is period for 1900's and the mason work is outstanding. Even today, as it nears it's century mark. The street where it sets is in a section of  Dallas where old Victorian houses stand as neighborhoods.

This building, which does have some subtle signs of the Victorian era, is more medival Spain with the arches somewhat more different than traditional Gothic points. Maybe even a bit Moorish with the detail.  But the mixture of brick and coping stones is the eye popper Gothic. The original stone plate above the entry suggest some difference.  The striking date line, which spells out the word, built and then AD 1926, is another give away. Most buildings just date using the year, 1926, and that is that. The builder had vision when this building was designed.

Not this one. My intrigue just burst and  I turned around and parked. The door was open with two ladies sitting on the floor working on an oriental carpet. After an intro, I pointed out that my admiration for that building was long lived. I ask if I could  take some pictures. After a bit, the okay was given. I got the preliminary shots with afternoon sun and went back in to thank the lady for letting me shoot the architecture.  She said, "are you heading out?" I replied that I was but  I ask if it would be okay if I came back on an early Sunday morning and shot in the morning light and she said that her dad would do that, too. It made me feel good that she knew where I was coming from about my keen interest in architecture--especially the older styles that we as a society seem to be tearing down without any thought of what we loose as a culture and a society as a result. 

A prime example sits right next door with a new five store apartment building, one of tens of dozens still going up in Dallas. The building it replaced would have been on that end of a main thoroughfare in the day. So, early Sunday morning will be a senior coffee at McD's and a morning of good light to shoot the balance of the extraordinary elements of spectacular craftsmanship and architecture.

The tile roof is yet another giveaway

Notice the different angle from what is traditional Gothic with the equilaateral points and some lancet but no ogees. HUM! The overlap is just wonderful for Middle Age. I still think that there is some suggestion of influence from India and Middle East. The Taj Mahal arches, maybe. Just a hint or a tad, an ounce, a drop. Okay, maybe a splash!

A mixture, but the brick and coping is still the eye popper!

With Halloween Here, The Race of Holidays to New Years Is On.

Found on a pedestrian walkway across a bridge crossing the Trinity River.

The right hand piece missing in this picture is 50 feet downstream. I would think that the timber flowing downstream during a flash flood broke it off and carried it down stream. You know, concrete can float! From the looks of the timber here, it might even have been these two pieces that broke it away.

See the RV? The guy was from Seville, Spain. His wife and daughter were asleep while he talked and ask questions about the bridges. They are touring the states. Pleasant type of  guy. He spoke very good English, too. 

 As a kid, I always enjoyed Halloween. As I got older then I realized that it was also mom and dad's wedding anniversary, too. Today, the day is marked more toward the latter than for Halloween. For me, as well, it involves more detail to changing the code in the camera for a new month  and to research the past month for total images shot. Although, October is not going to be my best month for shooting by any measure this year.

Working on the site took more time than I had anticipated this time. I have had three doctor's appointments and a visit to see my favorite vampire at the lab. The up side of all that is that my numbers were excellent and my doctor was somewhat disappointed again and he hates not being able to yell at me. I said to him that, "its going to be okay. Maybe you can yell at me the next time." His look was so stern before he cracked up, finally.

I remember an old pharmacist that I worked for in high school that would say, " if I didn't like you so much, I could learn to hate you." I ran across a street the other day that was the same as his full name. That kind of blew me away because his drug stores were 1200 miles from here. I'll have to do some research on that and find out how the developer came by that name for a street. It's possible it could be one of his grand kids or even great grand kids, I suppose. Strange things like that have always been a source of  intrigue  for me.

October has also been a month of things breaking and falling apart. Over the years, I have learned that things like that usually go in cycles and as mom would always say..."it will pass". And she was right. There is an up side to that kind of stuff too. Since Kroger killed off the senior citizens 10% discount, I don't shop Kroger's any longer. Since then I've had one full cycle of core grocery shopping. The results were even more amazing with finding better prices elsewhere. Tonight, I found even more and when I do the core shopping for this coming month, I will be able to do an analysis where I can build a routine upon.

I got a letter from Walgreen's that my insurance for prescriptions were pulling out and with the annual registration of health providers, I'll need to get on that the first of next week and get that set for the coming year. If it isn't one thing, it's another. But, it all works out in the long run.

Snowflakes Fell Briefly

Snow flakes and sleet today for a very light and brief period. The heat got turned on tonight because it's going down to 36 and the house was c-o-l-d! It's six weeks earlier than last year and three weeks earlier than 2015. No pictures today. To cold and to windy. The wind was from the North at 20 with gust up to 35. Last night as the front passed, the DFW airport reported 47 MPH gust at the 01:53 reporting hour. That's a strong cold front.

Here is a beautiful long needle pine under the flight path at Love

White waiting for The Prez! The crosswind was causing a pretty good drift off center.

A Southwest Jet coming home to Love Field.

A Note To KP

Happy Birthday

KP, an amazing son.

on this, your 47th.

 

Nineteen years without you, life has a big void, as large as the universe. 

President Trump's Visit To Dallas Was A Normal Visit By Any President...

except his plane. The icon of our flying president's plane was not the 747-200 Modified, as usual. It was the smaller 757 that the Vice-President uses with tail number 90016. Of course, technically, any plane that the President is on is called Air Force One. But to me, it was just SAM 90016. Because, like what has become the vernacular of nomenclature is the fact that Air Force One is the plane not just the Special Air Mission (SAM) anymore.

My old friend, Elliott Sluhan, Director: Air Force One: The Planes and the Presidents, taught me a lot about the workings of Air Force One. Of course, Elliott passed in 2008. His wife, Mary Ann passed one year to the day afterwords. She had been a special assistant to President Richard Nixon's White House. Both, were an amazing couple. But it was Elliott's photography and documentary films that peaked my interest. Elliott was one of the first that I had photography discussions with and for that time, I will always be grateful.

So, I heard one guy say that this was the longest wait he had ever had for the arrival of a 757! Even the cops pushed us back farther again with this Presidential arrival. Over all the arrivals of Obama, there were some security pushes but never like the one yesterday at Love. But at the tarmar, people were lined up to get autographs and handshakes from President Trump. Obama never had those on the tarmac. Back outside at the end of runway 13L, the push was so bad that it blocked my infamous nose shots and though I understood the reasoning, it did cause me to not even wait for the motorcade and simply came on home to process what shots that I was lucky to get. But, I do know that a lot of people were disappointed that the big 747 didn't show. That plane, the 747 usually carries a full compliment of what we know to be econ class filled with the Press Corp.Without those press people flying with the President why not use a smaller plane for the mid-country flight. I also understand that thinking, too. So, It wasn't President Trump that turned my car around, but the peripheral works that did.

It was a perfect and delightful afternoon waiting for the President's arrival. We are in a period of roller-coaster weather right now. Yesterday was bottom out humidity at 17 % with temps in the low 70s. Today, it is going to be 88 and tomorrow it will be 50 with possible frost at night. If it does frost, it will be again, another early occurring weather phenom this year.

 I had forgotten that Governor Abbott  and his crony the AG, Ken Paxton, were waiting to meet the President for a meeting at Love Field about the Hurricane funding. There was big money from all over the country here, too. Texas politics is almost like having two countries in one. Texas still reminds people that we were once a Republic of our own. And it is not something that has been put on a shelf somewhere to collect dust. It's life is live and active in this state for sure. I had to laugh at the Fox news guys  showing the film clip of  a CNBC  reporter doing a report at "the wall" and on camera behind the reporter  were three illegal aliens coming over the fence into the US. In short, the reporters were saying, "Look, the President was right, we need the wall" while the Boarder Patrol Officer was saying that he sees this many times during the day. For those that don't like the Donald, "Look, he's a New Yorker". New Yorker's were some of my best customers over the years. They look at things different but still come up with the same answer that the rest of America does. It's like me saying here's your 35-cents and you saying here's your 65-cents and we are all talking about a  product you bought for 65-cents  and I'm talking about your  change of 35-cents as we exchange a one-dollar bill. It's all in how we look at a situation and the perception we have from living in different parts of the country. It's nothing to get upset about, really.

So, I came away from Love Field with some pictures. Not as many as before. Still, I am pleased to see the crowds turn out to welcome the President. But I still think that we should go back to teaching Civics in our schools instead of expelling students for dying their hair.We need to understand the basics of  civilization and know our history. We are not some Egyptian Pharaoh who didn't like the pharaoh prior and erased him from buildings, and monuments and basically wiped him out of history.  We need to view history as a moment in time when we thought a certain way or how we have changed as a society since. To wipe it out totally is a distortion of history itself.
 





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Air Force One is not 'the' plane, it's a designation that the President is aboard a SAM flight with that plane's tail number. So, technically, this 757 is Air Force One for today.

My traditional nose shot was altered by the Dallas Police when they moved us back at Bachman Lake. Before, we have been allowed to stand under the runway and shoot. Not today, folks.

The Cormorant's had the best view ever. They are on the ILS landing system tower 7 and seem to be enjoying their view. Right below the sigh that says don't feed the birds for safety reasons. And, parks and recreation moved the geese and ducks than usually hang out below. Now, there are egrets and mud hens (coots) and these cormorants below the tower as planes come in some 50 feet above. Such is life among 4.9 million people in the Metroplex

I Love Them Chickens That Are Laying Those 44-cent Grade A Large!

Over the years, I have seen gas wars, cigarette wars, milk wars, but never an egg war! Actually, it is kind of nice. During the past three months or so, I have not paid over 89-cents per dozen for eggs. Yesterday, I was in Aldi's to pick up salad and bread and they had eggs at 54-cents. Today, I was in another Aldi's for bacon that I had forgotten to get yesterday. This latest Aldi's had eggs for 44-cents. And before you ask, no, the dates were not near expiration. They were for the normal time frame for eggs.

Since Albertson's has purchased Tom Thumb from Randall's or Safeway---which every one it was at the time, they have shared weekly ads and made digital coupons attractive. Now that Kroger's has eliminated my senior citizens discount of 10% I don't mind shopping different stores. Sprouts, Trader Jo's, HEB Central Market, and sometimes Fiesta and El Rio Grande for spices.It's getting to be chili weather and I make a big kettle and freeze individual servings that last me through the winter.  So, between Aldi's and the Al-Thumb boys, eggs have been spectacular!. Fried, poached, hard boiled (eaten sliced up in  salads or deviled) and perfect moist and fluffy scrambled

This was what I was looking at while I ate my Krispy Cream glazed and drank my coffee yesterday.

The berry crop this year is record breaking

I named her Gertrude. She is my favorite out of all the bronze cows in this herd.

. An yes, I have finally nudged  my weight loss off that plateau where it seem to have anchored itself during the early part of the year.

Aldi's had massive-sized premium chicken breast for a spectacular price and I froze them. I'm thinking tonight that I might not even buy a turkey this Thanksgiving and cook a couple of those big chicken breast. With dressing and all the trimmings...it will work for me. Although I have cooked traditional 12-16 pound turkeys before and alternate with ham for Christmas. One year Ham on Turkey day and Turkey on Christmas day and the next year, just the opposite. In fact, having those chicken breast will honor those hens that laid those super cheap eggs!  My breakfast is 600 calories every morning. With black coffee which has no calories. Then, I try to do a 550 lunch and a 450 dinner. Sometimes... I cheap a bit. But all in all I'm pretty loyal to the ole diet. It's not hard with steaming vegetables, both fresh and frozen with a three ounce meat--pork, chicken or wild catch salmon. Any hamburger that I get, comes in a tray at In-n-Out . I've stopped french fries and only do the hamburger thing 2,sometimes 3 times a month. Now, I'm loyal to Whataberger, but they lost me on the price. My next best is In-n-Out. I like the taste, the price and and the drive through, the outside picnic tables or the inside atmosphere reminds me of my high school days and the White Hut burgers that were so good.


So, say a little prayer for them chickens that they can continue to lay them super cheap eggs for us old folk in Dallas and we will thank y'all!