Here, have a Bigfoot Monster riding a dragon

Just A Tuesday

If you don't believe in Bigfoot after seeing this, then you're blind and have definitely drunk too much of The Man's Kool Aid.

The chaparral or roadrunner is one of my favorite birds. A member of the cuckoo family they are predators that kill mice, snakes and lizards and then present them to their girlfriends to show how manly they are.

Zac and a princess play in the mud at Scarborough Faire.

• Medal Of Honor Cat
• Recently I read an article about guys who have lied about military service. They sometimes do this to defraud the government for benefits and sometimes to troll for babes and of course, sometimes it is for both reasons. One guy had a particularly good looking, well adorned uniform on and wasn't out of shape and did not have a goatee etc. He looked at ease in that uniform. I thought, Huh, no wonder he pulled that off for as long as he did. Until  I scrolled down and saw him in a park type setting wearing a boonie hat with the chin strap on! It is weird the things we take note of I suppose but man, there is no way a real vet would have done that- literally Not. In. A. Million. Years.
• There was a story title on a web site I glanced at earlier for an article about a movie star (I think she is anyway) undergoing a root canal. Oh the humanity! Good grief.
• I'm drinking a mix of cranberry and pomegranate juice- with another juice from concentrate. That is what the label says. It is probably just liquidy dregs left over from whatever fruit products they intended to make their real money on by dejuicing.
• I have no idea who Jody Arias is or what she is accused of doing but you cannot turn on any true crime show that they're not talking about her and there is a new headline on every news browser I use every day about her.
• It is hard these days to find any kind of caliber of rounds even nominally associated with a tactical type rifle or pistol.
• I very often misspell these as theses.
• When you hear of a murder-suicide tragedy involving 3 members of the military you can pretty well bet 1 will be female and 2 male. 

Thursday's Thoughts

Rae and elusive American pelican

Permanent anchor used for ropes to climb rock faces in Penitentiary Hollow 

There are lots of things that people enjoy that I do not understand. The vandalism that is called graffiti is  fairly high on that list.

The sun rays through the clouds trick is an oldie but a goody and I like it

I told you

A CCC worker nearly a hundred years ago nearly killed himself building this bench  so some moron could deface it. Really- that is the ONLY reason it was built.

A beaver gnawed on this tree so long ago it rusticated

Coots

Cro Magnon and Neanderthal dudes- you have a long walk ahead of you  my friend

Bigfoot poop

What are they hiding in there- an alien spacecraft, a dead Sasquatch? I wear a foil hat when I go around that way just to be safe.

Vines that grew up through a fence always catch my eye.

• I will let you down. I will make you hurt.
• Sometimes, I can almost reach back and touch that dirty faced little boy named Kevin. I want to apologize and tell him things will sometimes be harder than he ever dreamed- or deserved. I want to tell him he'll see and inflict violence on his fellow man that he cannot comprehend and he'll have to endure emotional pain at the hands of others that no person should have to endure. Death will be a constant companion both professionally and personally. There is so much I could say, but when I see him in that yard in Decatur TX I just want to watch and think, God bless him- such simple times. I just want to watch him play in the dirt with his trucks. And yes, I'd also tell him it is all worth it. When life is good it is a miracle.
• One day I walked around the block with Zac while he rode his bike. The sun was setting and the air was cool. It was perfect, except- I had no one to share those times with. We were broke and things weren't necessarily looking up. I could barely walk, my back was hurting so bad and he didn't want to stop for anything.
• And there was no place I'd rather been. I literally thought, I don't know how anyone could ever kill themselves.
• Recently after a weekend trip to TF I couldn't find my deodorant in my bags when I got ready for work Tuesday morning. That evening I felt rank- it was probably mostly in my imagination but I disgusted myself and assumed I must have been repellent to my patients and nursing buddies alike that day
• I do not know how many times in my life someone I have known well has looked at me like they've never seen me before and said, Wow, you're shorter than I thought you were..
• My most recent Email exchange: Me: You're ridiculous She: No, YOU are ridiculous. Burn! Me: POW- Zing!
• The door to the bathroom is squeaking like mad and driving me crazy- and I don't recall the last time in my life I have been without a WD40 type product in the house.
• One of the negative things about being a guy in the women's world that is nursing is when in meetings and other settings not only does every. single. person. there. besides me feel the need to express themselves and be understood, we have to discuss feelings- those of others and ourselves. I have to take notes,  nod approvingly, appear engaged and intent while offering up fake-ish feelings, suggestions and observations while playing the Meow Mix jingle in a loop in my brain as a diversion.

Monday's Missives

I've waited for years to have the chance at a sunburst with a jet contrail coming into it.

Harvester ants were everywhere- a good sign. We didn't see any but horned lizards love eating these guys

From Dinosaur World, a privately owned venture near the park.

Prevent tree loss- quit putting up signs every 50 feet.

Was kidding about the last quip- their signage is probably appropriate and beneficial. Here a probably young, new to the area beaver had a snack.

Would like to have a better image to show but this one is interesting in its own right. This thing was a crazy shade of red and his pincers sort of a tiger striped pattern. I've never seen one quite like it.

Big Agnes

Pavilion overlooking Paluxy river. Wall this bad boy up and I'd be good to go.

Raaaaaar!

I know who to call when I have some winching work to do that needs to be well lit.

Zac got mad at me

We interrupted a squirrels lunch. When I turned my back Zac started chowing down. Do squirrels have cooties?

For some reason this sign made me laugh.

From trucks placed in front of Rio Brazos restaurant

• We just got back from Dinosaur Valley State Park. If it is still there after Zac and I got through with it ask for site #39 when you visit- it is very nice and well sited for cold or hot weather. It is also near the little playground and close but not too close to the bathrooms.
• Something I had to have known but forgotten- people used to dig the fossil tracks up from the Paluxy and sell them on the roadside for garden focal points and other landscaping. In some places all you can see are the holes the tracks were dug out from.
• Paluxy comes from Biloxi a Siouan tribe/language.
• There is a ban on gathering firewood for the campsites.  The motto is something to the affect, It may appear dead but inside- there is life! That is true, insects depend on the wood and animals depend on the insects but in a 1500 acre park there is plenty of rotten wood for the termites to eat and there is no way people would clean out the whole park of dead wood. My guess is if picking up dead wood was allowed there would be a very predictable area cleaned away from the sites- probably about a 100 meters out from each as people would only go so far away from the sites. As it is now there are tinderbox situations of fuel right where people are allowed to make fires. Also, by bringing in wood from outside there is an increased chance outside pests could be brought into the parks.
• A bit of interesting legalese: nudity is defined on a woman's upper body as the breast being visible from the upper part of the areola down- unless she is nursing.
• I wonder why we are so hung up on that anyway? It seems odd to me, especially on beaches.
• We met a couple from the Netherlands. 
• There is a store out that way- a typical We sell cigs, wine and BEER! store called something like BUBBA'S. I wondered, did that guy when he was growing up in a Lahore Pakistan slum ever dream he would be selling Keystone Light to the yocals along FM 51 in Nowhereville Texas?
• I do not care if there are eleventy billion examples living in the world of the species Bear Grylls eats on his show, every time he does so it  is a waste and that is shameful.
• The lady who runs the souvenir shop is I think 88 years old and has been there for 19 years. She took a one month break when she had a heart attack. She is very sweet and it was oddly funny to me for some reason to hear her correctly pronounce complex dinosaur names.
• I'm sure the person I asked to not read the blob has not been back. It was not too much to ask in my opinion anyway but yeah, my respect level has gone up at least 2 and maybe 3 notches for her. I'm really surprised at the amount of respect I'm assuming she was showing by honoring my request.
• The big dinos on display out front of the DSVSP gift shop are in sorry shape.
• Big Agnes performed admirably. It only took 10 minutes- maybe to put her up. Like any other tent buy the size larger than you need (as long as your not backpacking) and get it when on sale from Campmor. Every order over 49 bucks is free shipping. Buy a tarp to place under the floor. It will be cheaper by a fourth than a footprint, save the floor just the same and be comfortable to walk on.
• The best thing about camping may be coming home and after some delicious Panda Express falling out of a hot tub into a bed with clean sheets.
• Good night world. I love you in spite of yourself.