Step Testing at Fair Park

 With the vast acreage at Fair Park, it becomes a venue for practice.  As I was walking over to the Cotton Bowl I passed a lady that most likely retired was putting on her roller blades. She said she comes to Fair Park to skate because the traffic is more controlled and between the streets and parking lots, she has miles of hard surface for skating.The young man also has vast areas in which to practice his sport. It occurred to me that the people in Santa Monica have been doing this for years at the pier!
I have often wondered why Dallas doesn't spend the money and focus on Fair Park improvements rather than what is being done. Fair Park would be more for the betterment of the entire city population than a few that benefit from some of the other projects. Besides, Fair Park is a jewel in the city's crown. Dart just finished the South end of the Green Line right at the front door to Fair Park.

 There is a massive Ferris wheel that sits idle after the state fair leaves until the following year. There is a cable car system that is there waiting for the next years fair. With the Texas Discovery Gardens, the African American Museum, the Museum of Antique Cars,the Hall of State, the dancing fountains, and the three or four museums that have not moved into their new own new places, let's not forget Music Hall and summer stock or the Cotton Bowl that is still physically  located at Fair Park but actually played in Arlington in the new Cowboy's Stadium.

It's an art



It's a learned skill
It's a sport.



Fair Park is also one of the largest assembled city of art deco with buildings showing corner stones of 1906,1908,1934 (the art deco era) . The midway portion of Fair Park could  run year long.

Denver's Elitch Gardens about as old as Fair Park, is 70 acres. Fair Park on the other hand has 277 acres. There is a bill board atop the Cotton Bowl's gate K that says that 2012  the tallest ride in Texas is coming to Fair Park. Is it going to be available year round once it's here?

 The marketing departments of the convention center, the convention center hotel,Dealey Plaza,Arts District,Deep Ellum,West End, City of Dallas,Parks and Recreation,private developers, Aquarium, Science and Nature at the Perot should be working hand-in-hand with Friends of Fair Park.

It's Not Bah Humbug New Year, but It's Close

As a child growing up in small town America, many things marked the beginning or ending of years. This year, I'm nine, but  n-e-x-t year, I'll be 10, was one of those count downs. Then, it quickly became tax years. Come to think about it......it's still tax years! But, yesterday, while at Fair Park, old memories came back that seemed to freeze time for the rest of the day. Well, maybe not frozen, but slowed way down as I saw things that I had not seen in 60 years. Soon, I'll be able to see it again in actual motion and not just sitting in a fenced in museum when the American Railroad Museum moves from Fair Park in Dallas to it's new home in the city of Frisco the old town but new bedroom community North and West of Plano. The engines will travel on live rail there as it was stated in the press when it was first announced that the museum was moving.



As a child, I can recall seeing these stop at our small town' s rail station to let off and pick up passengers.



Then, I recall seeing one of these for the very first time coming down the tracks! As a boy, it was the WOW factor!

So, as 2012 rolled over around the world and finally  struck  midnight here in Dallas, the relevance of time just does not have the meaning that it did when I was nine. That's  why I take each day as it arrives. Happy New Year to those of you that are still counting!

Penn State Arrives at the Cotton Bowl and Fair Park

Today was a perfect "indian summer" day  at Fair Park. There are three museums leaving Fair Park in the coming year, give or take a month or two for the most part. The Women's Museum is closed. The Science and Nature will be moving into their new home at Lamar and Woodall Rodgers in the Ross Peroit Science Center. The added space will be a plus.. And, the fantastic collection of  trains will move to their new home in Frisco,Texas, just up Central Expressway 20 miles or so. Still, there is much at Fair Park to enjoy with Texas Discovery Gardens, Music Hall,the home to Summer Stock; the African-American Museum;Cotton Bowl;Hall of State and a host of other lesser known such as the Antique Automobile Museum. I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of stock so when the time comes, there will be stock of what was once there at Fair Park as much as what is there currently
As I rounded the corner in front of the Music Hall, there was the Penn State Football Equipment semi-tractor-trailer being tailed by an envoy of white cars. So, I walked over to the Cotton Bowl. Here's what I found.

Arriving on the grounds of  the Cotton Bowl at  Fair Park

Good ole man power unloads this truck.

Row,Row,Rowing Out the End of 2011

A rowing club member returns from  a workout.

The number of Rowing Club participants in the Dallas area grows more each and every year. A fantastic sport in its own right, the physical workout is an added bonus.

Christmas Outside at the New Convention Center Hotel

Dallas' new convention center hotel, a 1001-room complex managed by the Omni chain, opened ahead of schedule this past November. It has quickly become a hot-spot for celebs in town for what ever reason. It has also become a hot spot for photo ops at the holidays. White the decoration's twin is on display on 6th Avenue in New York, people in Dallas can still say everything is bigger in Texas.

"Buy Texas" made simple for the Holidays

Going to the Dallas Farmers Market has always been a fun trip. Fresh flowers for the yard and pots, a great Chicago-Style Bistro sandwich, fresh and tasty chocolate fudge, ice cream or an outdoor patio restaurant always makes the trip exciting, But the part that I enjoy the most is seeing and talking with an old friend I meet nearly ten years ago in booth 101 on the corner of shed No.1 and the pedestrian walk. Today, I got to meet a new member of the family and talk with an old friend. That old friend is Jerrell Graham, of R.L. Graham & Sons Produce. The Graham family is well noted for their fresh fruits and melons. They Custom Pack Fruit Baskets. They are also know for their paper shell pecans and fresh berries in season.

So, here is a display of their holiday fruit baskets. The "Buy Texas"campaign to help the local economy was never so easy. Drive down to Shed No. 1 at the Dallas Farmers Market and pick up a fruit basket from the Grahams and support the local economy at the same time. They are open 6 days a week and close on Wednesdays. You will be glad that you did and the Grahams will be glad that you did and "Buy Texas" will be glad that you did. Now, where else can you be so glad that you did??

Making Train Watching More Interesting

MSDS placard UN2078  (Toluene diisocyanate)
White indicates an inhalation hazard or poison
2078 identifies the chemical Toluene diisocyanate
and the 6 in the lower triangle indicates poison/toxic solids and liquids,infectious materials



The placard is at eye level just before the front wheels. It must be posted on all four sides one time.


How many times have you been sitting at a rail crossing as an ever-so-slowly train creeps by.  You  found yourself and your mind somewhere between  Uranus or Jupiter and the deep dark voids of space while you waited for the crossing gates to go up. Well, there is a better way to remain sane, educate yourself and be better informed about the transportation industry; chemicals used to created the goods we use,or sometimes eat, and keep our self and family more safe.

A few months ago, there was a fire in a Waxahachie,Texas firm that mixed compounds for the manufacturing industry. While watching the aerial view from a Dallas television station, suddenly, one could see liquid running out of one side of the building down toward a fire truck. Within seconds, flames followed the liquid and it was a mad scramble for the firemen to get off and out of the truck before it was totally engulfed in fire and eventually,totally lost. As in most situations such as this, fire departments have MSDS or Material Safety Data Sheets on hand. During the reporting of the story, it became rather amusing for me to note that the reporters knew very little about MSDS sheets, if they knew what MSDS sheets were at all. In other words, here is a major story and while you can't know everything about everything.....you should be at lease informed in the basics of industry in the area where you work and live. In this case a rail spur to the plant passed between the plant and an elementary school (which was evacuated eventually). On that spur was parked nearly a dozen tank cars of chemicals used inside that plant with fire burning ever more close to the cars.

Yesterday,while waiting for a slow moving and very long train, this post began to take shape. My camera was on the passenger seat of the car, as it always is when I leave the house. This particular train was going to the only siding that I know that can park such a long train all in one piece until it is broken up and reassembled.later. So, I headed in that direction. Sure enough. There sat the train on a two mile lone siding.

Hazardous Material Placards are required to be on all four sides of a tank car, covered hopper,gondola,box or inter modal container by the Department of Transportation. Placards are Red,green,yellow,blue,white,black and white,red and white,red and white dangerous,orange,white and black stripe. Each differently colored placard identifies the cargo (i.e., red -flammable;green,non-flammable;yellow,oxidizer;blue,dangerous when wet;white,inhalation hazard and poison;black and white,corrosive (acid and caustic);red and white,flammable solid or spontaneous combustible;white and yellow,RADIO ACTIVE  or radiation ;orange,Explosives;white and black strip,Misc. Hazards).

So, watch for the placards as trains go by,note a number or color and when you get home, check it out with the DOT ERG or Department of Transportation Emergency Guidebook, which you can download on the web. You will be amazed, or  minimally amused, at what hazardous chemicals are in your own backyard.  And, if you are one of the young reporters at a major market television station, take one of those Saturday afternoons that isn't to good weather wise and go look around your town where the closest Starbucks is six miles in the other direction. You might get picked up by the networks more quickly than your co-worker. Look at Bob Orr, from WCMH in Columbus,Ohio. His knowledge of the prison system landed him a full time network reporter job for the big CBS eye because he knew what he was talking about when the big story broke!
This posting is heading toward a project for the winter months. The project will be to identify and post as many chemical hazards in the Dallas area as possible. Now, all I have to do is talk my editors into publishing all the placards that I photograph over the winter months.