Sunday Nov 27, 2011  4pm cst  47 degrees and windy

Today we went to the stockyards in Fort Worth.  Every day at 11:30 am and 4:30 pm they run cattle right through the  public streets.. The city of Ft. Worth previously provided the cowboys for this event but it just didn't go smoothly.......fights etc.,      (I guess that was before they had a really tough but fair Human Resourses analyst...that would be Lori)................. so now the Convention Center and Visitors Center  provides these men and women who also walk around just for color and picture taking in between drives.

They only run about a dozen cows and the whole thing only takes about 5 minutes, but it is fun to see.

I wonder that they can run these animals out in public with horns like these.

Longhorns can live about 20 years if well tended and will weigh between 800-1500 pounds.

Ever heard a stray cattle called a maverick?  The term came from a cattleman named Sam Maverick who claimed every unbranded cattle he saw was his.  An unbranded cattle came to be called a maverick.

Neil likes these walkways and fences all around the stockyards because they are made of mesquite which is rough and twisted looking wood but I guess it lasts forever.

You can see Molly, the model for my pin,  under the words Fort Worth here at the Stock Exchange

This is Ft. Worth 's city hall.  

Across the street is the annex which is where Lori works.

It was originally  the gas works and you can still pay your gas bill in this beautiful ornate original office.  I particularly like the ceiling.

but upstairs is all  updated .  This is Lori's office

  This is called the zipper building by the locals.  It was originally a factory for Dickies, the work clothes and belt making company.  Dickies belts were advertised as having a feather edge, thus the feather at the end of the zipper.

The city also bought this building for use as additional office space but the zipper stays. I guess if you were trying to tell someone where to find a certain office and said it is in the zipper building, there would be no question as to which building  they were talking about.

I think the architect of this church was really a bird house designer.

November 22,2011  60 degrees f.  4pm

Today marks the 48th anniversary of President Kennedy being shot.  What stuns me is that I can remember it like it was yesterday. This may be a sign of old age because although I can remember something that happened 48 years ago, I can't remember erasing some pictures that I planned to use on this post. 


Lori took us through her office building

 which is a beautiful old building in downtown Fort Worth but when I was downloading the pics from that day, I just stupidly neglected to push the save button. Gone.  I hope I can sweet talk my way into another tour if I can apologize enough for the mistake.

Meanwhile, Howie has been meeting some new friends at the dog park.  At first he stuck to the fence and looked petrified if another dog came up to  make friends.  He likes people 

but scared of other dogs.  There were some cute doggies there.

Know the difference between a French and an English bulldog?  Me either but take your choice here, there is one each.

There were three varieties of oak trees in the park but look at the different sizes of acorns.  The largest one is called a Burr Acorn.  It would take a pretty good sized squirrel to take that up to his nest.

The dogs behaved beautifully...Neil....not so much.

I wrote before about the old county courthouses where the road goes around the building. Weatherford, the town where we are staying, has some cool stores on the square.  This one I thought was a bread store because it is called Two Heels and a Loafer, but come to find out, it is a shoe store.  

Like the name Hair on the Square.

In the event you have a diseased ankle, there is a foot and ankle specialist.  Never heard of an ankle specialist before.

And if you are not too fussy about your cook, you can get some bread at the Bimbo Bakery.

Actually, Bimbo bakeries are a huge corporation and sell bread under many names, some which you may recognize,(Arnold, Sara Lee, Entermans etc.) but do not have the unfortunate meaning that Bimbo has in the US.

We went to Fry's the other day to buy a simple little thing for the computer and look a the size of this store that has only electronics.  Needle in a haystack.

I hate the looks of this building..It is purposely made to look like it is going to fall over.  Imagine being in this building when a tornado is foretasted....It might blow it straight!

                    Ronald McCowboy


I am in desperate need of cribbage lessons, otherwise I am going to have to buy some larger sized hats for Neil.

11-11-11 Happy Veterans Day   7pm cst   63 degrees f.

 Today we went on a road trip looking at the beautiful  old courthouse squares that are so well preserved and still in use here in Texas.  The late  19th century to early 20th century architecture of these buildings just stands out for two reasons,  one the land is flat so it can be seen from a long distance and two, they are usually the center of town in a square where traffic moves all around the building.  Neil says that is so you  can go to the building but can't stop anywhere to complain about anything..



Along the way, we  found this building in Mineral Wellls:

This is an abandoned 14 story hotel with a great history.  In the 1800's a Judge Lynch, (love that the judge was named Lynch!) built his home in this town but at the time, there was no water and he had to bring water to his ranch from the Brazos river.  He finally hired someone to drill a well and when they got water, the son tasted it and said," Ugh! it tastes awful", but use it they did.  

Mrs. Lynch soon had some relief from her arthritis and attributed it to the water.  Word spread and the water in the area became famous for it's "healing qualities."

Enter entrepreneur T.B.Baker who built this hotel.  It took three years to build.  Somewhere in that time, he became aware of the Hot Springs, Ark. hotel that I put up on the blog  in October.  Baker changed all his plans to make his hotel look much like the Hot Springs hotel. 

  What are the chances that Neil and I would happen onto both of these places?

This is the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs

  Baker's hotel in Mineral Wells opened just 2 weeks after the stock market crash.  The crash didn't seem to make any difference--two trains were hired to bring guests in to enjoy all the amenities such as the swimming pool on the top floor, several baths with the mineral water, 450 rooms, restaurant, bar, beauty shop etc. There were 260,000 square feet of air conditioning.  (I have changed that were to was and back again.  Not sure of the right choice.)

 Mr.  Baker's quarters were the entire 10th floor and the 11th floor was known as the Presidential suite which is said to have a hidden liquor room created during prohibition.  It is also rumored that there was an entire floor for gambling and prostitution.  A young 16 year old elevator operator who knew about this floor  mysteriously fell to his death in the elevator shaft.  His ghost is said to still be seen  in the hotel as well as a little girl who plays in the halls and the ghost of a woman said to be  Mr. Baker's mistress.

The hotel went into receivership in 1933, but no buyer was found and the hotel did not close until 1963 shortly after the Federal Government said that there were no beneficial properties  to mineral water.

All the furnishings are gone, and the building has gone into decline but it is made from concrete with steel reinforcement  and is still basically sound.  There have been people who have tried to buy it ...... most recently in 2002 and 2006 but the estimated cost to renovate is between 25 and 35 million. It's still on the market.

Yesterday's Sandwiches?!!!

 

November 5 2011 Weatherford, Texas  8pm  cdt     57 degrees

Yesterday we went to Fossil Rim animal park which is a park where you stay in your car and the animals are free.  They are free to come and ask for food and you really had better have some.  A few of them, like this cheetah are fenced in.

 Good thing because the rest of them  stick their heads into your car begging for food and I wouldn't want the cheetah to do that.

the fallow deer begging food

his antlers prevented him from getting in but he was really trying to give Neil a kiss as a thank you, I think.

The ostrich begging food but he didn't stay around long enough to get any..something spooked him and he ran away

This is an Aoudad , an African sheep.  How would you like having him stick his head thru your window? 

I took this closeup of his horns because I thought it odd that they are not smooth  but sort of scaly, like growth rings.

This white rhino is not the endangered one, that would be the black rhino.  They have some at the park but you have to take a special tour to see the endangered species. 

but look...what's up with this foot?  Three toes and what is that little finger-like thing?

Glad we didn't have a sun roof.  This was funny because just before the giraffe got there, a lady was standing up looking out the roof, but when the giraffe stuck his head in, she ducked down and is cowering in the seat with her back to the door.

Still, the giraffes were my favorite. 

  No two have the same markings.

I took over 300 pictures but don't worry, these are all I will put up here. I have whittled them down to 30 or so for my Picasa site .  If there is any interest there, the address is'

https://picasaweb.google.com/117773323031898668140/FossilRim

I have not named the animals on the Picasa site, but plan to do that soon.

So it was a great day and we hope to go again to take the endangered animal tour.

November 5, 2011, 9 am cdt 43 degres

Meet my newest best friend, Molly.

We are in Weatherford Texas at a RV park with the unlikely name of Hoofs and Wheels.  People who travel with their horses (!) can corral them here and park their RV  too. We don't need the horse factor but they have Direct TV and internet....once again, very spotty but  do-able.

Matt and Lori took us out to lunch and at place we have been to before and loved...Joe T.Garcia's.   It is a most beautiful garden patio restaurant with Tex Mex food.

 Now to the Molly part.

Lorelei works at the fort Worth city office where they have a pin, the Molly, that they gift  to those who they wish to just offer a special welcome.  As I understand it  they are a  sort of inside  thing and Lori gave one to me.

 It is said to impart the spirit and heritage of Fort Worth.   

Here is the history of Molly as I understand it:

There is a longhorn head sculpture on the outside of the  Livestock Exchange in Ft.  Worth  named Molly.  All the wheeling and dealing done outside where a rumor was passed on but no source wanted to be named,  they might say they got the info from Molly....sort of like "A little bird told me." 

I  am so honored to have that pin.

This is the street that Matt and Lori  live on in their new (to them) house.  The houses are newer bult it reminds me of the street I grew up on with trees lining both sides.  Pretty.

Matt and Lori also have two new dogs, Fippy, a catahoula and Oso a aptly named bearlike dog who is part  mastiff and part Labrador.  He is a huge friendly puppy who can land both paws on your lap and sink you down into the chair about two inches.  He and I became friends instantly, maybe because we both are big and clumsy and basically harmless.

Ever seen an Osage Orange?   Not a variety of orange one would eat, but a fairly common tree here that produces a fruit about the size of an orange, has skin like an unripe orange with acne, and is not edible.  The fruit will make you sick(not kill you) but  the seeds are edible.  The tree, like most everything that grows in Texas, has nice big thorns.

On our way to the Navy Air base in Ft. Worth  but will next post on our trip to one of those zoos where you stay in the car and animals come to see you.  It was fun!