At the George Bush Presidential Library & Museum

The nature trails that surround the Library and Museum on the south side of the main building, covers the area from North Central Expressway on the East to the George Bush Avenue on the western side, shows new trails that have been cut and some bridge work seems to have been done in some areas, along with a couple of new memorial areas where contributors have paid for new benches. The Rory Meyers Meditation Garden is a neat little area with twin benches.

The main things that is more important here is that after the hard freezes in February that have killed a number of plant species have done little or no damage at the trails landscape. Flowers were blooming; trees had blossoms and buds. Last fall was a stunning nature adventure in University Park. 

Happy Easter Everyone!

 My second day back and I was able to walk 4 miles topping yesterday by a full mile. So, in two days, I have made it back to half of my daily totals. It's been a long journey for me to get back to full strength. Then, I remember it took 30 units of blood to get to the point were I could even begin to think about doing what I just did today in miles. 

I have long loved Downtown Garland even before they moved the old houses, rail station and Pullman car.

Returning on the road to recovery

 Today, the first outing since the last hospital stay, I walked three miles. It felt good. I had no pain. While I don't want to overdo it in any way, still, three miles on the first outing is much closer to my old 7-10 miles a day where I had been. While out, with only my phone camera, I got a great shot of tree pollen in full bloom. Tomorrow, I might head back to where I took the shoot of the bloom with the big camera. Had I had the big camera with me today, I had the opportunity to capture a great shot of a couple of Blue Jays. At one time, I could only shoot Blue Jays at a cemetery. They had a thicket along a creek bank and there were dozens of them. Interesting bird, really. 

The only thing that I haven't figured out just yet is how I can get to the National Cemetery. Sunday mornings were a great time to chance some real life Road Runners on the  chase of lizards. Plus, early mornings on a hill side overlooking all the white crosses is one of the most tranquil places that I can recall. The only other time that I have felt that Tranquility was on one foggy morning and a like hillside in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Driving through the cemetery and battlefield, while eerie as could be, it was a sense of time travel back into the days of the Civil War without all the bloodshed. I will never forget that experience. Later on, my son, shared his thoughts with me about how it had moved him emotionally, as we drove through the battlefield that foggy morning. It would not have been the same without the fog and that eerie feeling it had  given off.

First Sighting of the Year

 This afternoon, while sitting on my porch, I saw the first Monarch butterfly of the year on its way north from Mexico. This will be a new generation that will come back this way as a third generation in fall on its way to the mountains of northern Mexico where it will winter.

The size of the wing span was very large. It was every bit as large as a black swallowtail, upwards of 3-3 1/2 inches across. The color was about as bright was I have ever seen on a Monarch, too. Now, that I know they have made it this far on the central flyway, I'll start watching the reporting stations to see how they progress North. The Great Lakes are still getting snow and that could be a problem in their migration.

Update on Texas Blue Bonnets

 The Blue Bonnets are showing signs of a bumper crop this year after the hard freeze of winter. The State Flower is still expected to peak the end of March thru the mid-April. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is a trusted information center on Blue Bonnets. The Indian Paint Brush are Orange and white and can be found in areas along Texas Highways like the Blue Bonnets.

Portals Do Exist Somewhere and I Might Have Found One

Tuesday two weeks ago,  I went to bed like I always do. Basically it's an old habit from the Great Lakes days. Being on Eastern time there, the news is on at 11 p.m.  That's where my world went crazy. Crazy as in I woke up on the floor and the Fire and Rescue were trying to communicate with me through solid walls. I do remember telling my self, this stuff must stop!! The next thing is that they are stretchering me out of the house. Arriving at my hospital, it soon had flashbacks that this trip was different than the last two, but very very much like the first trip at the end of 2019. The next thing I heard was that 15 units of blood had just been ordered. Long story short. I had another massive internal bleed. Story shorter, it was the blood thinner that I had be prescribed over the last ten years. It had done it's job alright, but there was the odds that something like this was going to happen eventually. My cardiologist had said at various times that there wasn't much on the market that could reverse the gastro-doc and the admitting physician bid me farewell having tested me out on clear-liquids and the like to make sure the bleeding had stopped. 

It took me a bit to get my computer working again. It seems that my IP was doing something or were having problems. At any rate, it took me almost 7 hours on the phone to get things back to normal and working with the software that I need for my pictures. One of the first articles that I read on the web was something that I have been following for some time. 

John Ratcliffe, former Director of National Intelligence under the Trump Administration said that, "There have been a lot more UFO sightings than has previously been made public." This was like a pre-curser to the time running out before the Pentagon is expected to  releases its  report by June 1 on UFOs that has been declassified. Last year, the number of sightings had increased to 6,600 world wide. 

I'm not saying that I believe in UFO's. What I am saying is that using the power of math, it really is a matter of National Defense to know what is out there. As the government prepares to release a declassified report on UFOs, now that the well known UFO videos (three, in fact) have been fessed up as an actual happening that took place. The amazing thing that came from the article was the fact that satellites had recorded movements that the military have a hard time explaining.

There may be a reason that the fabled Area 51 is in a ring of mountains in the Nevada desert. Maybe, the portal every one has been looking for, is actually at Area 51??????? Stranger things have happened before.

Second Shot for Covid-19 is done.

 FEMA was running the  first shots and the second shots all from one facility at Fair Park today. It was even more smooth than the first shot that was taken there last month. In fact, a Captain for the Dallas Fire Department administered my second shot right on the shuttle bus. I have no complaints about Dallas County's part or the FEMA part. If there were to be any short coming, it would have to be in the communication portion of their websites and the info about walk-ups vs. drive-thru. There are lots of people who don't drive today anymore and that over site created mountains of stress. It seems that they finally got it worked out and once you could actually make an appointment, things did go very smoothly. Thanks to all the personnel and volunteers at Fair Park and the FEMA crews for a job well done.

Now,  I have one final thing on my list to do and all the pre-storm cancellations and the like, will soon be a thing of the past. Then, it is to be hoped that I can continue to get back out in the field on discovery missions to find new material of the editorial variety. But, most of all, just being out and in nature is the best medicine of all for body, mind and soul. 

I'm going to take a couple of weeks of no doctor's appointments, no itinerary of any sorts. Following a year of mask and social 6-foot observances, plus no power, no water and not even sitting on the porch a bit, I will be glad to see this massive loss of human life, and suffering of families get out of Dodge. 

Let the guy have his cigar.