Hiking The Tandy Hills With Tootsie Tonasket On The First Day Of Spring

Tootsie Tonasket, the #1 Squaw of the Tonasket Tribe in Washington, hiked the Tandy Hills with me for over an hour, this fine First Day of Spring Sunday.

In the picture we are looking west from the top of Mount Tandy at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Now this is amusing. I tried to put (sarcasm) stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth (sarcasm/), but since using <> is HTML, it was removed, because (sarcasm) is not legit HTML code, I'm guessing. 

As you can see, it is a semi-cloudy blue sky day in North Texas. What you can not see is the air is currently heated to 76 degrees.

I have heard no reports of earthquakes, ultra high tides or any other calamities caused by the Super Moon.

I am expecting some personal calamity later this afternoon when I go over to Miss Puerto Rico's to book a flight for her off the mainland, back to her home island. It seems like I just did this. Miss Puerto Rico is out of here, April 13. April 13 falls on a Wednesday, not a Friday.

With Miss Puerto Rico's history of flying woes, I do not think it would be a good idea for her to fly anywhere on a Friday the 13th.

I am growing a bit tired of my Fire Ant caused diseased looking arms. I never had much of an acne problem during the years some people did. I feel like I'm sort of getting to experience that which I missed during my formative years. Maybe I need to go get myself some Clearasil.

That is Tootsie Tonasket, on the right, in her formal tribal attire. I think this may have been at the annual Tonasket Days Celebration, but I'm not sure.

I think I'll go for another swim.

And then go over to Miss Puerto Rico's for some aggravation.

The Warm Shadow Of The Tandy Hills Thin Man Returns With Tootsie Tonasket & a Revolting Elsie Hotpepper

The Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man returned today to the Tandy Hills.

Wearing no coat. Overdressed, with long pants on. It is currently 65, with my windows open, in formerly frigid Fort Worth.

And, according to the forecast, below, you can see we are heading into a week in the 70s. I suspect a dip in a swimming pool is in my future in the coming days.

This morning I sent a Facebook message to one of my Washington  Facebook Friends, Mrs. Dirtwash*, to make an inquiry regarding my favorite sister-in-law, who I'd not heard from in awhile. A short time later my favorite sister-in-law called.

We talked for an hour.

My favorite sister-in-law is technically my ex-sister-in-law, but the reality is, she really is the only sister-in-law I've ever had, in a meaningful way. I've not really known any of my brother's subsequent wives.

My favorite sister-in-law is my grand nephew, Spencer Jack's, grandma.

On the way to the Tandy Hills, Tootsie Tonasket called. I think I've mentioned previously that Tootsie Tonasket is a bit of a drama magnet, surrounded by small town soap opera antics.

It is a tossup between Tootsie Tonasket and Elsie Hotpepper who is the bigger Drama Queen.

Currently Elsie Hotpepper is very mad at me because she told me she needed a revolution. I then told Elsie something like you really don't wanna be any more revolting than you already are do you, so why would you need a revolution?

And that is the last I've heard from Elsie Hotpepper. And below you can see we are about to become almost as hot as a hotpepper...

*Some names on this blog are changed, slightly, to protect the identify of those who need their identities protected..

The Shadow Of The Tandy Hills Fat Man On The 2nd Day Of The New Year

I hauled my bloated carcass to the Tandy Hills today, parked on top of Mount Tandy. I was optimistic that the hills had dried out and were no longer muddy.

As is way too often the case, my optimism had no basis in reality.

Too much mud was quickly adding too many inches to my height.

I don't know what the deal was with the sun and the shadow today, but it appears I have gained a lot of weight since I last saw the formerly thin shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man.

Once I realized I'd picked up some mud, I decided to continue on, since the damage was already done. I had a fairly brisk hike. During most of it I was talking to Tootsie Tonasket, who had gotten me on the phone on the way to the Hills. Tootsie invited me over for Key Lime Pie.

And after that, Aunt Alice invited me over for ham cooked in ginger ale. I don't know if that sounds good, or not.

I realized, whilst navigating the mud, that today is exactly one year since the Tandy Hills Manly Men & Wild Women Hike. An event where about 100 hikers were strung out for miles on the Tandy Hills.

The Queen of Wink and Princess Annie drove all the way from their realm in West Texas in order to hike the Manly Men/Wild Women Hike. However, the hiking soon proved too strenuous for the Queen, when she developed a serious case of the vapors.

To recover from the vapors I drove to Arlington, to Sweet Tomatoes, where we found food. If I remember right, I then drove back to the Tandy Hills with the Queen of Wink and Princess Annie driving off into the sunset. Almost never to be seen again.

A year goes by so fast. And yet so much happens and changes during the course of a year. I'm looking forward to 2012. It's only about 364 days away.

Walking In Village Creek Natural Historic Area & Hearing About Theo John and Ruby Jean

You are looking at Village Creek in Village Creek Natural Historic Area around noon today. It was being a perfect walking temperature.

I called Tootsie Tonasket on my way to Village Creek because she'd left an urgent message asking for some counseling due to a terrifying Wal-Mart experience. I know how terrifying those Wal-Mart experiences can be.

But, I was unable to counsel Tootsie due to Tootsie not answering her phone. No one has heard from Tootsie today. This has Tootsie's legion of Facebook Friends very worried.

Me? Not so much.

When I got to Village Creek Natural Historic Area I called my sister. The one who lives in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler. I'd not gotten an account of Ronald McDonald singing happy birthday to my dad last Sunday, til today.

I also learned that I sort of have a new nephew and niece. My youngest sister, the one who lives in Tacoma and likes to argue and mind other people's business because she somehow feels entitled to do so due to being a lawyer, adopted a little boy named David awhile back. David is a little over 2, I think. He is a redhead.

My sister also has 2 poodles, Blue & Max. Blue & Max used to have a blog. If I remember right I made it for them. Over the years, I've lost track.

When I was up in Tacoma, in July and August of 2008, I was surprised to learn all sorts of things. One of them is my little sister has some sort of disorder where she can not stand repetitive noises. Even noises as benign as the beeps a camera makes. Or the soothing sound of a waterfall. And God help you if you talk louder than the allowed decibel level.

So, I was a little surprised when my sister started taking in foster kids. Kids can be noisy. At one point she had 3 of the little darlings at one time.

Now, my sister, she being the youngest of my siblings, had no experience with what it is like when a newborn arrives. As in it can be very noisy. Off and on all night long. When my little sister was a baby, she was not all that noisy, but the next youngest sister, she being the one who now lives in Arizona, now that was one noisy baby. I can still remember how sleep deprived it made me. I think my grades took a hit. I would have been a 2nd grader. That was one tough year in school. In many ways I never recovered.

Many months ago I was a bit surprised when my mom told my sister was going to be having twins. Now I was told about the baby making plan when I was in Tacoma in 2008. I was even shown photos of the Dutch male participant in the plan. But that plan was thwarted with the arrival of the foster kids.

Or so I thought.

Well, the twins arrived on Thursday, I think that's what my sister told me. She is going up to Tacoma to help in a couple weeks. The twins names are Theodore John Jones and Ruby Jean Jones. I know the Dutch donor, who's picture I was shown, is not the father. With these particular names I am wondering if the donor dad is possibly African-American.

That'd be a first in our family, I think.

I have not talked to my mom since this blessed event. Mom and dad have no current plans to visit their latest, uh, well, grandchildren, I guess is what they are. Nor do I.

My Arizona sister has seen pictures of my new, uh, well, nephew and niece and she's says they are darn cute. I have seen babies barely out of the oven before and they never look cute to me. The twins must be an exception to that.

Tootsie Tonasket Tandy Talking Thinking About Eastern Washington & Coulees

Today I had a gestalt moment of awareness as to one of the reasons I am drawn so frequently to the Tandy Hills.

It reminds me of home.

Tootsie Tonasket got me on the phone as I was driving to the Tandy Hills today. Tootsie lives in Eastern Washington.

Eastern Washington is a totally different landscape from the green of Western Washington. Much of Eastern Washington is desert with rolling hills covered with brown grass in summer.

As a kid I always thought the Eastern Washington hills looked like the upholstery on a sofa. If you removed the trees from the Tandy Hills and just left the current golden tall grass, it would look like the hills of Eastern Washington.

I think when I see the Tandy Hills it touches some deep, buried happy place in my memory. Nothing made me happier, as a kid, than our family camping trips over to Eastern Washington. With my favorite place being Sun Lakes. On the way to Sun Lakes you drive past a lot of rolling brown upholstered hills, but at Sun Lakes you see no rolling hills, due to it being on the canyon floor of the Lower Grand Coulee.

It was cold and windy hiking the Tandy Hills today. It was colder where Tootsie Tonasket was calling from. Yesterday I was on the Tandy Hills in shorts and a t-shirt. Today it was long pants, 2 shirt layers, a windbreaker, a wool cap over my ears. And gloves.

Tomorrow will be colder. I must do a search for my long underwear.