Deer Tracks in Snow (December 2006)

There aren't too many reruns on TV now, so why not bring the joy of reruns to the blog?

This picture was the only content of my first blog post on December 16. The blog I posted it in now defunct, and I'm stripping it of 4 or 5 posts that will be reused here further on.

This picture was taken not longer after the first big storm of winter, and a lot of the snow had already melted and compacted down.

I figured it would be interesting to run this now that winter is over, and tracks like these are again a common site as the snow melts away.

Thanks to a fellow blogger for early encouragement and participation as I first tried to really figure out blogging, which I started with this photo.

Spring is Coming

I just now found this photo. I knew it was somewhere, but had not been able to locate it yet. It was snapped in the back yard a couple of years ago. It's here as a reminder that spring is coming. Yes, it was a dreadful dreary winter day today.

Little beach at La Jolla Cove

Part of a little beach at La Jolla Cove is seen here. This is a popular beach, and is not very crowded usually. It's also very small: there's not much of it that is not seen in the photo. You can see the sea caves here. This is also a good place to go snorkeling (to see many fish including the Garibaldi) and to see crabs and other creatures in the tidal pools, which are mostly flooded in this photo and to the right. The picture is from a year ago, but we came back in September and spent quite a bit of time here.

The Nazi Boutique

I did a double-take when I saw this sign at a shopping place at La Jolla Cove in California a year ago. I eventally saw the actual entrance and sign for the place: it was really the Mazi Boutique, and I think it was some sort of art gallery.

Has anyone seen any real bad business signs during their travels, vandalized or otherwise?

Lifeguard Box

Back to some randomly chosen photos and comments. This attractive copper lifeguard box is found at the shore in La Jolla, California. I think there is a phone or something inside it. This is one where I recommend clicking to see the large picture for the cool metallic detail. Surf's up!

Hawksbill Sea Turtle

(Another Texas postscriptum)

One more of the sea turtle (the last remaining good one photo other than the video footage). The Hawksbill is a critically endangered sea turtle. "Hawksbill turtles have a wide range, found predominantly in tropical reefs of the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans" - from Wikipedia. In Texas, they are said to be "occasional" visitors on the Gulf of Mexico coast. Shell length can be up to 36 inches. I think this juvenile's shell was more than 1/3 of this length. The Kemp's Ridley sea turtle is another one found in Texas at the Padre Island National Seashore. There was said to be one of these at one of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex's other aquariums. It's supposed to be illegal to disturb them in the wild.

Warm Showers

(a Texas postscriptum)

(cue "Pina Colada" song for sole reason of "getting caught in the rain" lyric) I was warned of hail right after I went to East Texas. I guess I view dramatic weather with less than the fear I should give it, so I was actually curious to see the first hailstorm I'd seen in ages. Maybe that was dumb: I have no idea how nasty Texas hailstorms can be. I still have no idea. I also have no idea what it's like to drive on hail.

There was no hail, but for a bit when I was outside, I was caught in the rain. The rain was warm, which I'd not experienced for a few months, so it wasn't as unpleasant as it could be. Warm rain showers. After that, it was a cloudburst. The kind that shuts off electric traffic signals. No fun there.

I figured I'd add this item because of another blog where some guy's always leaving comments involving warm showers. Hailstorm wisdom and anecdotes are always welcome, even the ones of the "When I was a kid, we once had hailstones the size of volleyballs" kind. I remember hailstones the size of buckeyes or chestnuts. More about buckeyes later.

No sunset photo

part 6:
Sorry, no sunset photo this time. I'll have to take it on faith that the sun shines in Texas. I never saw it, and I do remain doubtful.

Dallas Skyline

part 7:
(cue theme song from Dallas TV show). This photo actually was taken before the aquarium photos, so it is out of order. So be it. The building with the round thing on it toward the right is lit up at night, I believe, making it look even more like a microphone. It's called the Reunion Tower. I've been told that it's kind of scary deep in Dallas, so I didn't want to linger. It was a little cold, and the sky was rather dreary. Overall, however, it was a nice day. This concludes the series of photos. There are some left out, such as some blurry fish pictures (one or two of which might show up later) and one of the Grassy Knoll of "JFK assassination" fame. I have no photos at all from my second day in "the Metroplex".

Sea Turtle

part 5:
This is the lone resident Hawksbill sea turtle at the Aquarium at Fair Park. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this one was about a foot-and-a-half long. I do not know the sex of this one. I hope I remember this correctly: Male sea turtles need good flippers for mating maneuvers, and female sea turtles need good flippers for digging nests for their eggs. This one had a damaged front flipper and a damaged rear flipper, so I guess it's pretty good that it is in the zoo rather than in the wild. One of the reasons described to me for damaged flippers is that seagulls can peck at juvenile sea turtles.

If you click on the picture, you will see some pretty good detail in the much larger photo. Sorry about the flash glare on the left!

His/her tank was in a corner, and he/she seemed fairly happy and active. Just next to the tank was a shark tank at feeding time, and I think there were only two of us in the crowd who looked at the turtle.

This is my lone experience with any sea turtle (and I'm not sure I've ever been near the natural habitat of sea turtles) , so I don't have much to add in the way of past experiences. There is another photo, a side view, below. Just a couple more photos left in this "travelogue" series.

Texas State Motto

part 4:
I figured since my recent entries in the blog were about Texas, I'd change the description to the Texas state motto, regardless of what it was. I looked it up and the Texas state motto turned out to be "Friendship". Just one word, a state motto I'd not heard of before, and I've seen worse state mottos. This one seems to fit, as I met friends and friendly people in both of the main places where I spent my time in Texas. This even included a gas station attendant. Friendly people who were able to put up with my disrupted hearing.

Texas seems to have has a good soul, not like some of the dour places I've been to or those places where there seems to be something ugly brewing just below the surface. There's even a certain favorite city of mine where I hear every once in a while that there is something evil brewing there always.

I tried to find a motto for Dallas specifically, but all I could find was this one: I WANT WHAT I WANT AND I WANT IT YESTERDAY.

Comments are welcome as always. Perhaps something about how friendly some places are or aren't, or about state or city mottos.

Fair Park Aquarium

part 3:
This is the entrance sign for the Dallas Aquarium building at Fair Park. It's not the largest aquarium in the "Metroplex", and it wasn't full of trendy modern chrome and it didn't have a restaurant, but I considered it to be well attended and well stocked. The $4 price was a fair deal, considering aquariums 3 times as large costing at least 3 times more. At my friend's suggestion, I figured it would be a good idea to see a sea turtle, and the Aquarium at Fair Park had one.

Fair Park in Dallas has several attractions. Several other cities have been enhanced by the presence of "leftover" fairgrounds which I have seen in varying degrees in my travels. San Diego features Balboa Park, which was once the Panama-California Exposition (1910-1916). It contains the world reknowned San Diego Zoo. Chicago has museums on the former grounds of the 1893 Columbian Exposition. To find out more about the Columbian Exposition, read "The Devil in the White City". I strongly recommend this book. Fair Park is also the home of the Texas State Fair. It is the only unaltered pre-1950s World's Fair site in the nation.