Jockeying For Position and Doing A Bit of Railroading To Boot

17 Mar 2020.post update

The Zeph, Amtrak #6, was seen pulling a consist and re-arrangement of normal car order. The usual car behind the second engine is the mail car. Today, it was at the end being the 8th car, not the normal 11 in the consist.

American Coot. Best know for the baseball farm team that is known by its name---The Toledo Mud Hens [1]

Two years ago a squirrel jumped from this plant and knocked seed onto the brim of my fedora. That seed, today has come up in one of my flower pots on the porch and is about two feet tall. It's looking good, healthy and I hope that it blooms this fall just like mom! We will see. And my trees in pots are now about 7 feet tall and have never looked so good. I didn't even give them a dose of my Vitamins this year. That shot two falls ago is still showing results. Originally, I had thought that the bottle was Centrum but looking more closely at the front of the bottle rather than the back ingrediant label, I discovered that it was Mature Multi from Member's Mark. That's Sam's Club brand label like Costco's Kirkland brand. All I know is that it worked better on my trees than it did me! Ha!

So what is so strange about that. Well, First of all it's the Zeph. Secondly, one must remember that the US Mint is in San Francisco. Thirdly, The train also stops in Denver on its way east to Chicago. Guess what? There is also a US Mint in Denver. So, by deduction and past history, The US Mint ships coins from San Francisco and Denver to Chicago. The Zeph ends in Chicago but the Lake Shore Limited starts in Chicago and ends in Boston.Also in Chicago, the Amtrak route can split off the Limited to go southeast, south, and guess what, it has covered all the districts of the Federal Reserve. I love watching trains more than airplanes. The term used when things like this happen is Railroading. The train line is doing a bit of Railroading....that's switching from this track to that track or in layman terms, jockeying around for position to get where it needs to be.

When I was a kid, the little town where I grew up (pop. 1498) had a train station that still carried passengers. I would ride my bike down the hill from where I lived to the station and sit and watch the trains come and go. The first thing that I remember that was the show stopper was seeing a casket taken from the baggage car,placed on one of the old rail carts that were used for luggage, and then, pulled around the train station to a ramp and a waiting hearse of the local funeral director. It was a treasure hunt the rest of the summer and summers that came after that.

There was a nomenclature for that happening that afternoon. It was called the Pullman Express. Funny thing about that was that years later, I was at an airport and watched the ramp rats (not a derogatory term use) bring a casket around and load onto the plane that I would be my flight. It was the second time and second mode of transportation that I had witnessed  human remains being shipped elsewhere. Even later, I knew a funeral director that called the meeting of a plane with a human remains the "Tampa Express". It was a term that meant that instead of the family calling the funeral home where they would have the funeral rite and burial to handle the return of the remains, they would called the funeral home where the death occurred and have the loved one shipped in a casket back home, costing the family hundreds of dollars more than needed. It was snowbirds being sent home and the Florida funeral directors were the winners.

That is when it clicked that business commerce was what made the world turn so to speak. It had me in its grips and over the years, it just gets in your blood and you love every minute of it in the long and the short of career terms.

To this day, I still enjoy watching trains come and go and doing their "railroading". So seeing the less than normal consist of cars and the out-of-position of cars, is an eye catching experience, much like photography that trains your eyes to pick up on things that the average Joe misses.



[1]
The American coot (Fulica americana), also known as a mud hen or pouldeau, is a bird of the family Rallidae.
Thanks to the Cornell Lab's, All About Birds https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/lifehistory

Messed Up Calendars, For Sure!

Well, there are some pretty messed up calendars, don't you know. Some people rely on their calendars more than their own heart beat. Frankly, nothing in life is more important than having a good 'ole heartbeat. I know, there

A record rain on top of a record rain. This very day this was shot found four tornados in the area. The national weather service surveyed today and said that two were F-0s and two were F-1s. One thing for sure, my trees on the porch are loving it! Come July and August, I'll be porting water to keep them from stressing out. I don't need a calendar to remind me of that. 

 are those that will weigh in on both sides of this argument. Be that as it may, I'm not one that gambles on life. In fact, let me leave you with this hot potato.Herd mentality does not create leaders, put you on equal ground or a two-way street. It is a one-way trip to the cliff.

Finding Humor In All Things

Happy St. Patrick's Day to ya

To concur with the health authorities, it makes sense to limit yourself from crowds. I've been doing that the past 20 years!! So, since the life-saving trip to the hospital and the 5 and 1/2 weeks stay in a Batesville Casket Company's off shoot--a Hill-Rom made for hospital and nursing home bed, I don't get out as much as in the before hospital stays time frame. Needless-to-say, getting out has been more difficult of late with record rains on top of record rains. Dallas is now the all time wettest start to this point with over 14-inches plus of rain since January 1.

Yesterday, the rain let up for the first time in a week lone string of nine rainy days. It was time to hit the road to see my favorite time of the year when the song birds are singing, the hawks are selecting their mates and sitting their prettiest in the top of trees and poles. The buds springing out and flowers beginning to bloom will get an old man like me every time. Plus, as an added bonus, seeing  fishermen in their boats up stream on White Rock Creek brings back a lot of memories of my dad. And, if all that didn't make me happy, the sun tried to reappear a few times along the way. My eyes just could not take the brightness---it had been so long since I had seen the sun. I even began to wonder if I was not in Texas any more.

With Dallas getting near 3-inches of rain (officially Dallas got .98 inches because DFW is the official collection gauge for Dallas) the night before. Love Field got the 3-inches, the former home of the official gauge. The water in the streams, creeks and at the lake were near but had been over the banks. Debris was everywhere and rivers of it were moving across the lake with the flow current.

As I went about the route that makes a full circle of the lake, I was looking for the pelicans that migrate here every Columbus Day. Wondering were they might have moved to when these kinds of conditions happen during their stay here over winter, my concern was growing as I covered all the places where they duck (pardon the pun) into during these unusual rearranging of the lakes silt and where sandbars have shifted where the pelicans like to hang out.

Then, out of the blue, it occured to me that there was more missing to this puzzle. The absents of the cormorants and seagulls were also noted. Then, my brain clicked on like a thermostat control (one of my old friends, a shrink, tells me that is called a Eureka Point) and I realized it was the third week of March--the time the pelicans head North again. These birds are social and they stay together. So where the time went is just mind blowing. The pelicans arrived and six weeks later I'm in the hospital. I get out and six weeks later plus 2-weeks for weather confinement and the pelicans are gone!! This season of migration, for the most part, came as it flew out of here almost without notice. 

After the lake's tour it was on to my little grocery store to  get a couple of fill in items. Once again, what's missing? EVERYTHING! The shelves as the news has been reporting were wiped out.
It was an instant live view of what my little store's customers are buying and not buying. The over all customer base did not buy the things I don't buy and they buy every thing that I do buy!!. It was better than listening to the news. This was first hand and live shopping---very live shopping during an unusual start to this year's first quarter. 

Kestrel Hawk aka Sparrow Hawk

Not Blue Bonnets Yet, but these are blue bells!

If you live above the Mason-Dixon Line remember the annual heavy wet snow that falls two weeks either side of St. Pat's Day. Maybe, you will be the lucky one where it didn't fall, because it's coming. The Upper Level Low sitting off the coast of California tossing moisture at the High Sierra's left Truckee with a  foot and a half of snow over night Sunday. It rained on Monday until the temps began to fall again and they got another dumping of snow. Problem is that with the virus alerts no one seems to be flying into the airport but the Amtrak's Zephyr is still pulling a consist of 11 cars. That's pretty normal for the Zeph! But, the traffic to the slopes is down somewhat. However, the ULL system is now moving east so history will show that someone is going to be getting that St. Pat's snow storm! With Brady leaving the Patriots--look out Boston! Mother Nature does dish out Karma ( you know that when you fail to replace the toilet paper and you are the next to use the toilet!). From the looks of the grocery shelves besides toilet paper, a lot of people have experienced some bad karma.Me included.

Two Perfect Spring Days in Late Winter

It was 66 degrees officially at DFW this afternoon. The humidity was 19% (very dry) while the dew point was at 23 . Yesterday was just a tad warmer hitting the mark beyond the 70 degree mark. The sky was that deep blue color that comes with low humidity reading. Days like this are my favorite and my camera likes them too. It is also one of those days that really show me how off target my camera has become from daily wear and tear.

So, after coming in this afternoon, following dinner, it was time to break down the camera and do a bit of maintenance. Sometimes, I get it totally right on the one try. Other times, I have to break it own again and fix some little adjustment that I missed. Last night, a dear friend called and while talking, I mentioned to her that my images seemed a bit off. She had noticed the less than normal images that I shot.Telling her that my images had just not been where they should be and I didn't know if it was from the 5 and a half weeks in the hospital or something else. I'm thinking that it was both and is were the problem has been. I want to try to get some images from the Greenville Avenue St. Pat's Parade before my final upcoming surgery. So I want to get this mirror thing cleared up.

Today, the single seat tickets went on sale for the Texas Rangers home opener in the new roofed stadium in Arlington between the old Ball Park and AT&T Stadium.  I had wanted to be at the game, but opening day will find me fast asleep in the operating room again. Sometimes, lemons don't smell like lemons, but that's okay for me 'cause I like limes better, anyway.

It is my hope to get through the ordeal and recovery (not near as long as the previous one) and the rest of my year will be back to good 'ole bread and butter kind of days. Meanwhile, these are some of the signs of an early spring. While my trees on the porch are a bit slower showing buds and leaves this year, there are new green leaves showing up.

These images will be from both sides of the lake.

near the filtration building

W. Lawther near Westlake

Top of the hill on Dreyfuss Club on E. Lawther.

I am the beginning of everything.....

"I am the beginning of everything,the end of everywhere: I am the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space. What am I?"

It's been a while since I looked through my Einstein Book. If I were back in high school, I would have started my Einstein Book sooner. As it is, I have had one for 41 years. One of the guys that I worked with, once, referred to it as "my bible". In the scheme of things where the bible is referred as truth, I guess that he might have been right since the book is more notes on how to do things, where to look for things, unusual contacts in business etc.,etc. But, I do go to it a lot more since beginning this blog back in 2009.

A Blue Jay sings, looks at the camera, gets a drink of water and flew back into a grove of cedar trees where earlier, he and a Kestler Hawk  had been in an aerial battle for territory.

It wasn't that long ago that I ran across this very riddle that someone had posted. It had come from Pop Sugar. Never-the-less- sometimes, people assume that they are the genesis of things like this. It was for that very reason that "my Bible" was started because in blogging, there are those that like to stick out their chest more than they should. Looking back, I  last saw this (the riddle) in print  from another guy who is a first grade teacher back in January 4, 2018. At any rate, it is a bit of a brain tease and I like those especially, so I pulled out the 'ole "Einstein book" and searched the index. There it was, just where I left it about 9 years prior.

The Leaning Tower fell suddenly Monday, March 2. It caught everyone by surprise. There seems to be no video. One guy did capture two still shots showing two angles of the building in free fall. He had come down to get some shots, but almost missed the two he got.

The Leaning Tower Has A Will Of Its Own

 Painting inquiries can be made direct to the artist:

Live Local Artist

Jerrel Sustaita

livelocalartist@gmail.com

 Thanks to this artist for his permission to publish his work that was hanging on the fence as he continued to work and talk to interested clients.




While I was totally glued to the streaming feed from Fox 4's eggbeater from 10-4 yesterday,  the temperature was in the upper 60s. It didn't matter. It is a mesmerizing time. Leaving the house was the last thought in my mind. So, today, after breakfast and coffee, checking emails and my on-line listings with my agent, it was time to get some fresh and crisp air some ten degrees cooler than the high I missed out on yesterday.

It was off to the bank and then a stop at a church where I vote early.They have the new voting machines which I do not like. There is no privacy anymore. The person next to you can easily look over at your screen for one dislike. I don't mind the touch screen desktops but the privacy issue still bothers me. The second issue is that I do not like having my back to all the other voters. It's just one of my little annoy factors.

Then, it was off to go back down to Uptown to see another live afternoon of watching the wrecking ball bang against the  Leaning Tower.  It took a few laps around a block to finally get a parking spot. This was the first time that I had gotten close to the action. But the turnover of people with cameras, video recorders and iphone-type cells was even more than I had seen on Sunday.

I was talking to one guy that was telling me that his wife was mesmerized by the process. That seems to be the word of the day because several others were talking about how mesmerized they were about the tower.  I found that most interesting.

Earlier, while talking to the man who's wife was at a spot in the fence where she could get a good shot, we were talking about stress points. I remembered when Texas Stadium was imploded, the building fell but the buttresses on the outside of the stadium didn't all go down, leaving about 3 or 4 to be taken down like the leaning tower. He had ask me about the buttresses. They transfer stress from the weight above and distribute it down to the ground.The point is, if the crane operator swings the ball at one of the stress points, everything about is coming down. About the time that I was leaving, the crane operator hit one of those stress points and about three floors fell. If he hits one of those stress points (load bearing) I believe that the top two or three stories will topple. It's only a matter of time, but I don't know  what the other OSHA factors are about wrecking ball a 11-store core of a building.

 Here is your chance to have a lasting memory of this mesmerizing event.The local artist that painted these on site is provided at the top of this post. He has facebook, twitter and instagram accounts where you can follow him and his other works

Hand painted canvas by an Urban Artist,see contact info at top of article.

Here are some more with the artist talking to a client.

The wrecking ball at 5600 pounds is controlled by OSHA on a site like this.

Snakes are Crawling Already Around North Texas Lakes So Be Careful

Everything has been about a month early so far this year. After seeing the first red bud tree in full bloom during the middle part of January, it was obvious that nature had pushed up its spring schedule and speed for some reason. As in the past, it opens up a lot to observe and pay more attention to what stands out. It also points the way to watch where you step and what you lean up against. Snakes are in the trees as well as crawling out of their dens. Some will give birth almost immediately out of den while others will look for mates to breed with. The key factor to remember here is that for those who are new to the area, don't go walking through new green grass in your flip flops.Some baby snakes bites are as dangerous as their parents, so look down while you are walking or standing. So far, what I've seen crawling are mostly water snakes which give birth early. Every year the hospital ER's will be reporting the snake bites so yes, they do happen year after year. The rattlesnakes in West Texas are already producing larger numbers that in years past.

Out side of beginning with a few words of caution, the stand out tree this season so far, besides the traditional red buds, seem to be the tulip trees. The blooms are outstanding. The annual Mardi Gras Parade in  Oak Cliff kicks off this weekend and of course, the troops of little green men with bagpipes and drums will soon be parading down Greenville Avenue with that party mode gleam twinkling in their eyes.

The Dallas Blooms gets underway the last days of February, all of March and into the first week of April at the Dallas Arboretum.

Last couple of days to get those selfies in. The wrecking ball and crane begin to swing Monday at 0900 hours on Dallas' Leaning Tower. ( which is actually the core elevator and stairwell section of the old Affiliated Computer Services Building on Haskell Avenue at North Central Expressway aka US 75 aka President George Bush. To me, it's overkill.[ George Bush Turnpike, George Bush Expressway, on Bush Street. and George H W Bush turnpike.]

Tulip trees are outstanding this year, especially on the larger trees

The first crawl I have seen this season. But there are many many more out there already. Look down at your feet and watch where you step. Leaning up against the trunk of a tree isn't to be ignored either. You might find one crawling onto your shoulder. I was reminded of that last season watching a pair of hawks in their nest.  Luckily, someone saw the snake about a foot away from my head and called out.