This Time of Year I'm Reminded of Two Things....

The first thing that I am reminded of is don't fall for the pan handler's game. The second thing that I am reminded  of  is don't fall for the pan handler's game because of two things.

Thing Number One.


 Several years ago, maybe ten---twelve years ago--- I was in line at a Sam's Club membership desk. The lady in front of me was adding someone to her business account. The business---panhandlers unlimited. I had been passing this woman at a major intersection on the way to work for a few years prior. When it came time to pay for her membership renewal after adding another person, she pulled out of her bag several envelopes all stuffed with $1bills; $5bills; $10bills;$20 bills. And yes, she had envelopes stuffed with $50 and $100 bills, too. When she turned around an saw me behind her in line, she said something to the effect that she guessed that the cat was out of the bag....chuckling as she walked away

Thing Number Two.


Panhandlers are not always doing what they appear to be doing....panhandling. They can be and sometimes are  undercover cops.  They have been and continue to be crooks scoping out what  you have in your car. Have you ever looked in your rear view mirror in your anxious moments to get away from that 'guilt trip' they cause pulling on your heart string? Don't be surprised to see them giving hand signals to a car along side yours. You might have already been had before you get to your favorite store's parking lot or garage.

And while I am thinking about it, I haven't heard the news cast this year reminding people not to support the panhandlers because of a city ordinance on panhandlers. Did they win their lawsuit, maybe?

I see them all over the city working street medians. Where the city has done away with medians and made double left-turn lanes, the pan handlers became confined to the side walks, not the middle of traffic lanes. It seems to be working much better than an ordinance, anyway. Traffic Engineering 1. City Council Ordinance Writers 0.


I am also reminded of  a friend who was a college professor. He always carried a pocket of 20- one dollar bills. He gave each panhandler a $1 bill. He had a good heart and a good soul. He is also six feet under and the panhandlers he gave the $1 bills to are still standing on the corner today.

I've also watched panhandlers over the years with their little game. You see them coming back from the local C-store or a Mc Donald's with a big plastic cup of soda pop. They set it down behind a sign post, walk to their "post", wait for the lights to cycle one full turn then start down the next line of cars with a limp. Funny thing. Walking back from the C-store, that limp wasn't there.

And, back to the woman with the Sam's Club Business Membership. She  later revealed that her take on a daily basis was a little over $500. Of course, she had a prime spot. Not all intersections are the same for revenue. Intersections that are split  by interstate highways even have "workers". It is their job to stand there all day. How do they report their earnings, I wonder.

 What to do

Each and every one of us have a tender heart. Even the hardened hearts soften this time of year at lease some. The best and the most good comes from the agencies that know how to help those who need help. The Salvation Army's Red Kettles or their cost per meal donations. United Way Campaign  donations can be made through your work.

And Remember what J.P.Morgan said,"  The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are." 


 Some of those panhandlers got somewhere ten years ago. They wave at you each morning and afternoon. Did you decide to state where you are?

 The red shoulder was hanging out at the same tree and location yesterday. That was where he was the day before. The only difference is that his mate, arrived and whizzed right past him. The look afterwards that he had was somewhat comical.I've seen people do the same twist in the neck.

Business as usual overlooking the territory

Check out the neck position after the mate flies by

The mate is in the territory. They are already looking for a nesting sight. Now is the time of year when you have to follow their lead to see where they  settle if you want good images of my baby red shoulders when they branch later on in the season.

On The Last Day of Fall, A Red Shoulder Gave To Me

a chance to get some very unique images of textures. It was on my return trip out that I got to see him fly low and over the the tops of the tall prairie grasses. He was hunting, I am  sure, but do not  know what it was the he was hunting. A mouse, a rabbit, maybe? But, while the images are a bit darker of his face, the feather features and the backgrounds were good for posters.

I was on the DFW HD cam this morning  watching the sunrise. The thought hit me that the sunrise was more like a sunrise on some distant planet---it was really weird in a way, although pretty as could be. Then, this afternoon while I came up on the Red Shoulder sitting on a branch over the road just as pretty as  you please, I shot from the car, then parked and shot from the car again and then got out, walked under the tree, around the tree, crossed the road and shot back at this amazing bird. It was like, okay, I see you and I see your camera and its the holidays and go ahead an take some pictures. I have been seeing him more and more lately. He has also allowed more camera time without flying off. But, as I came back down the run, he took off on that flight over the tall grasses mentioned above. So, I walked down to the edge of the lake and was looking at the reflection in the water. It caused me to look up at the sky and the clouds were doing that strange kind of light as I had seen this morning on the DFW webcam.It's really weird to see how they have been so different and yet, that has duplicated it again within the same day. Strange. I observe a lot of things and have  for way to many years. These are somehow different and more strange. It's just hard to explain. I wish that I had gotten a screen shot of the sky this morning at DFW. Then, I could have compared the two in likeness.

Imagine the middle row of clouds being sunrise yellow and you have the DFW image this morning at sunrise.

Red Shoulder not phased that I was under the tree clicking away.

Cute! I was at a stop sign and saw this. It was just to good to pass up. Creative design and placement without doubt. It's another Red Shoulder, I do believe.

The Search for the Big Live Tree in Downtown Dallas

The mission today was to make the downtown route and see if I could find a big, real Christmas tree. Ft Worth has a beautiful Michigan 45-60 foot downtown in Sun Dance Square and this year is not the first year that a Michigan tree graced Ft. Worth's downtown.

Starting at the center of the universe--that is to say, North Park Center, I made my way down Greenville Avenue through all three sections. Businesses had decorated pretty well. In fact, they looked nice. At Ross avenue in Lower Greenville, I made my way to Washington and cut across into Deep Ellum. While Deep Ellum businesses had decorated-- for the larger crowds that now come to Deep Ellum by day, it was not enough, I though.  It was on to  Commerce Street into downtown to see what I could find. In fact, I didn't even notice Nieman's  decoration if they had any this year.

Much to my surprise, there were a lot of artificial trees that looked the same. Klyde Warren Park, The Plaza in front of City Hall and the Plaza at the Ron Kirk Bridge Deck Park. It was pretty much ditto, ditto, ditto. Except when you got to  Main and one of the cross streets in from of Nieman Marcus where the odd, but comical, but half way interesting  faux tree made of old car tail lights brought traffic into a gawking mode. Imagine that.It was rather pretty in a Holiday Spirit kind of way don't you see.

Looks like a 59 Chevy to me.I remember those tail lights being covered in canvas on the dealer's show room floors. They did things like that back in the day.

Pretty much like city hall and Kylde Warren, this is in the Plaza at Ron Kirk Bridge Deck Park.

The top was nice at Ron Kirk. Didn't get a shot of the Statler's live one and/or where it came from.

After making the block several times I had to make a quick shot from traffic.  The valet services were packed with the holiday brunch crowd fresh out of church services. The image came out pretty well.

When I got to Main Street Park, the distraction was so intense that I actually forgot to look to see if Main Street had a tree. The distraction was across the street on the south side. Low and Behold! there was a good 40 foot live tree. Undecorated, but that didn't matter. The tree was beautiful and I don't even know where it came from.  And I should have guessed that such a tree would be at this particular business. It left Dallas for some 20 years or so then came back into their original building that had been upgraded and still holds tons of history for personalities from an "A" list of Hollywood's "A" listers. The business: The Statler Hotel, of course. I would not have expected anything less. And---once again---they are at the top of the list of class in the Hotel business. They remind me of the old Orrington Hotel in Evanston, Illinois or the Drake in downtown Chicago. The Statler remembered how the little things make all the difference in the world.

Christmas Requires A Lot Of Patience.

As the old adage goes---"over time, photography trains the eye".  An that it does. Yesterday I started this post and if ever there was a writers block, it was during the time I sat at the desk staring at the white page and nothing was flowing in or out of this skull! After a bit, I quickly realized that this was not getting anything done, nor was it healthy for the aging eyes that have been keen and sharp as an eagle for years, but now seem to be showing me it's my turn to have Lazik corrective surgery---maybe! Not so quick. That's another story that is just  in development stages because of the FOX weather lady that took her own life.

So, after taking my time to do my Saturday routine on the computer--Some things I do during the week can't be done on weekends. Gee-- there's another story  More on that later. Where was all this stuff yesterday?

Long story short, I'm walking out the door with 5 celery sticks cut to 5-inch lengths to snack on. No calories---high on fiber--and yum yum full of nutrients! What's wrong with this picture?  Nothing!!

So, I head out and less than a mile, I get a text--Walgreen's has my auto refill prescriptions done. Since I'm in the [do nut] hole--that means they are all free!! But I had just passed Walgreen's and decided to keep going because I could hit it on the way home. The intent was to go to Grapevine for the Christmas Decorations and to check on the  TEX rail train that has been here for just over a year now and is undergoing test runs on the track since the new Terminal B train station will open shortly after the beginning of the year at DFW's TerminalB. DFW is beginning to boom again.

 Frankly, with the dirt that Amazon did on Dallas, I was glad to hear that they were going to Alliance Airport (Ross Perot's Son's little toy) so now the cargo can grow even more without the Jeff factor to worry about. It really was a dirty deal and I am sure that there was the other Paul Harvey side of the story that will come out later in time, but don't string along a group of people trying really hard to make Dallas keep pace on top of the catch up they are still experiencing from the DFW blossoming. Non-the less- with Amazon HQ2 resulting from the acquisition on Whole Foods and with the largest Whole Foods store in the nation sitting at North Park Center and US75 Central Expressway, when they passed up Dallas for Brooklyn then dill out a tidbit to Nashville, then a bigger tidbit to Austin and make it sound like they were sorry to have passed up on Dallas, they announced that they were putting their air hub at Alliance, I knew then that they could care less about Whole Foods. Wait a minute---it's really a basic and simple thing. I've seen a couple of blunders in this mess already and like I have always believed---rejection is God's form of protection. Thank you Lord!

Continuing now on the basic thought---I was cruising down Belt Line Road on the back door way to DFW and Grapevine when I spot this bright and shinning new water park! Where did that come from? So, I had to go on down Belt Line until I could do a left turn and come back . It hit me just as I reached Hillcrest that this was the new Aquatic Center at Fretz Park. The city has been spending a lot of money on things that count. Ten years ago, Fretz Park was a post sign on the corner of Hillcrest and Belt Line that a block down Beltline became the back to Engine House 56. Since then, a new public library has filled in that space and offset on the back of the remaining is a new Recreation Center and now the Fretz Park Aquatic Center which is an amazing asset for the neighborhood.  I was so stunned, that I parked and walked all the way around the Aquatic Center shooting from all the angles. The one at Tennison didn't open on time and this one didn't make it either, but come the season of  2019--look out! these things will be packed!! I don't know how many more were under construction but there might have been a couple more. I'll stay on top of that and see what I can find out. So, the entire block is now ball diamonds, tennis courts, rec center, fire station, library and aquatic center. Patience does pay off!! That a long way from a post sign at the corner 10 years ago.

So---here is the Christmas Present from the City of Dallas to the people of the Fretz Park area Community.

Merry Christmas and may 2019 be a wet slide to ride!!! And people. Please read the signs....

The Grey Slide

The Red Slide

The lockers and bath house and  cabanas. The wading pool is behind the end of it seen here in the foreground. The water was sparking and I'm thinking that parks like Cedar Point on Lake Erie would be lowered with anti freeze floats and chemical to keep the water from freezing. That's one more reason to be in Texas. It's 57 today and 61 tomorrow and the next 10 days looks about the same with no major storms in sight!!!!. Merry Christmas to new Bar-B-Ques found on the patio's with a big red bow!!!.

Read the Signs---Please!!! It may not be a biggie for you, but to others it is.

NB---

To correct Engine House 57 to 56 at Fretz Park and to also correct a typo for language meaning.  12/15/19:22 hours

Poaching at White Rock?

The blue is a human.

Here is the white sack or net

The red cap is also human and seems to carry a bag and is often seen bending over and picking up something.

Three of us witnessed something today that was a bit disturbing. Two--maybe more--people were out on the island at Sunset Bay and they had an item that could have been a white pillowcase--full of something--or a fine mesh net that looked like it was stretched over a pole made from a tree branch. Several times, as they went from the main land mass to the island and around toward Dreyfuss and back in the area behind the stone picnic tables. As, they did, the mallards and cormorants took off en mass in a "flight" attempt to get away from danger. Nearly an hour, this went on as the three, then two of us continued to watch.

The Park Ranger was seen in the park on the West Lawther side but needed to be at Sunset Bay for sure. It was heard mentioned that even if they were picking wild onions, they had no business being on the island. While people do go back there on Kayaks, they too, really shouldn't be there because it is more of a refuge for the migrating birds and when they don't have that refuge, they will leave and go else where. Even birds talk to other birds and word will spread. One day, there will not be any migrating birds at the Rock.

There Is Art Everywhere---

and not only is it in nature, but also in the eye of the beholder.

This afternoon, I put my unloving attitude toward snakes away and took a deep walk into a forest. Although it was overcast and a 13 Knot wind was humming on  wires and etc., the temperature was at  63-degrees F. While tomorrow will be a different story, at least today was suitable for that walk into the woods. I saw birds that I had not seen in a long time. I heard sounding that I have not heard in a long time. The crunching of leaves and branches beneath my feet were really sounds of my childhood. Some of those sound I had not heard in all those years gone by.

The first thing that I noticed was the amount of wood that had fallen and nature was reclaiming in the way that things are intended. Big tree trunks were laid out on the forest floor, sometimes covered with much later fallen branches and limbs. I could not believe that so much wood was being consumed by nature. Yet, when you think about the forest that our Native Americans roamed, they too, would have seen that scene and I wondered how many people will be born, grow up and die having never experienced that sight--that sound--that is so natural for the forest. Actually, it was an emotional experience that I need more of than I first thought. How many times have we all heard someone in a talk or presentation talking about getting in touch with nature?  Well, after today, God willing and my health holds, I plan to do just that again on a regular basis. But the things that  I saw that I have not seen in years brought more hope and renewed faith that I have not experienced in a long time.

The trees are not totally in focus. It seems that the dial gets turned dodging this and that and frankly, I forget to check the focal....that's because I used the auto focus way to long and I made a promise to myself to do more manual focus work this coming year.  

The bird's nest is made up of sting, fishing line, and other materials not so much of nature, but certainly a work of art by a little oriel. Be sure to put this on 100 percent. The detail is amazing.

Here the reclaiming of nature into nature. It's not composting, but it makes new soil none the less.

There were places where the vines were so thick and so much wood lay on the forest floor that it was hard to move one way or another. That's where you need equipment that I didn't have with me. One guy, years ago told me that when he heads into the forest he always puts a pair of pruning shears in his bag. It works great on vines and  small underbrush. I'm going to have to pay a visit to ACE before the next trip in.

Year End Reflection #1 Happy Feet

It's that time of year again and I'm always going to have something to reflect on. This looking glass reflected from the first of the year right up to about an hour before posting this one.

One of the Financial Pundits published an article on a hot topic with me. Kroger's!  I'm still peeved at K-Roger for insulting senior citizens the way that they did. And---I'm peeved at them for poor marketing and lying to customers. I've been shopping at Kroger's since I was 5 years old. That's a long and loyal customer, but loyalty does not mean anything today. Nothing!

My core shopping, as a result of their insult has dropped from $1000 annual saving  to a meer $73.00 through yesterday, 10th of December. In the article, the Pundit came down hard on Kroger's CEO Rodney MC Mullen. In fact, he predicted that MC Mullen was taking Kroger's down the same lane as Sears traveled.  He actually was on point about how Kroger was missing the message and that the share holders were a bit more than just  nervous about the future.

The big insult was that they announced about this time last year that they would be "Retiring"  their senior citizens program. Then, they mentioned that they were going to lower prices. Well, being an old marketing guy and also a very savvy shopper that knows prices on items not at just Kroger's but at the Wall, Aldis, Albertsons--including their purchase of Tom Thumb from Safeway and Randall's and others. I'm here to tell you that Kroger's prices have not decreased. In fact, they have increased. Now, I know why they wrapped their front doors like an ad on the side of the bus. Some, prices were substantially more. My Kroger's got the new remodel (again--they just had one a couple of years ago) but this one flipped the store upside down and rearranged the out side isles, leaving the core isle of groceries basically untouched except a bit squeezed where the outside isles were widened. The only wall that didn't get touched was the meat department where they sell the out of the ball park Nolan Ryan Beef!! Sorry for the pun. Even Nolan got out of Dallas and went back to Houston!

Every year, I buy myself a pair of new house slippers at Kroger's. That is, until this year. The price this year jumped $4.00 over what I normally pay. I liked the slippers that they sold because they are snug and warm and last a full year Then, I buy a new pair and toss the old ones. Well, The K-Roger changed up the supplier like so many other things that they cut out and replaced with brands like Psst! or some dinky slap-in-the-face  brand that not only taste terrible but was not even that cheap. I tried it one time and dumped it quick, never to pick up another package on anything that had that Psst! name on it.

So, I was in Kroger's on Monday. I saw the slippers and went home disappointed on the style change and the price increase. I've tried the ones from the Wall and ended up taking a pair back because they fell apart so when Kroger's had my slippers, I was a happy camper! Until Monday, that is.

Today, when the weekly mailers came. Aldi's (My favorite place to buy groceries since K-Roger started sailing toward the drain) had my slippers. Get this!!! $6.99  I've been paying $10-12  at Kroger's. They go on sale tomorrow!! I will have happy feet this Christmas, after all!

So, the bottom line on this mirror is that the Money Boys are now saying what I have been saying all year about Kroger's. They are headed down the tubes if they don't stop insulting customers, raising prices, trying to do something that isn't working anywhere but at Amazon.

Three Weeks Until 2019!!