WL Jenkins Park Wish List

WL Jenkins Park - The Bark Park - Skate Park - JC Holloway Park

One of my favorite things to do is walk with my bride and doggies in WL Jenkins Park and the Bark Park.  It's a wonderful place and is used heavily by people exercising, walking their dogs, and running.  I sent this request list to the Parks Superintendent, Scott Johnson this morning:

1.  Probably 5 times a week, my wife and I walk on the trails in Jenkins Park.  Often we carry trash a long ways before we can deposit it in one of the trash cans.  Would the city consider placing a few cans on the trail in the interior of the park along the trail connecting the two parks (JC Hollaway Park)?  I think more people would help keep the park clean if there are more cans.

A speckled King Snake crawls across the trail.  It is harmless.

2. One of the pine trees inside the small dog park needs back-fill around the roots, or the tree will probably die.  There may be others, especially since so many new trees have been planted.


3.  There are large number of cigarette butts, and small debris on the trail behind the skate park, making it look trashy.

Here are the fast results!

4.  The old water fountain stub-out by the bathroom is a tripping/knee gouge hazard.

The stub-out which needs attention.

David Lee at WL Jenkins Park

While we were there, we ran into a friend, the honorable David Lee!  David ran unsuccessfully for City Councilman, but he would be a good one.  We had a real good visit talking about the city and the future expansion of Baker Road and the effect it would have on Crockett Park.
.

Fresh Catfish & Panko!

Big FAT fresh catfish fillets and Panko you ask?  Why yes...  Geeze!  Throw in coconut oil, parsley, Tony Chachere's, salt, and cilantro and what have you got?  Something delicious I tell you.  I browned the fillets in a skillet and then finished them off at 500 degrees in the broiler.  The second secret to success is the tarter sauce.  In my experience, nothing can top Louisiana Tarter Sauce! Now for the proof!

Baytown Texas Annual Water Report 2011

I've been saying it so long I sound like a broken record.  I like Baytown water so much... I had it piped up to my house.  The stuff is delicious!  If you want to bump it up a notch, filter it yourself, but don't think because you buy water in 24-pack plastic bottles that you are getting something special.  Read it for yourself.

Baytown gets a bum rap all the way around is so many ways and usually it is undeserved.   Concerning our water...?   It just don't float.

MIO - the Real Story is Propylene Glycol

My bride and I were asked today if we had tried MIO, the new sweet drink energy enhancer. I did some research on it. I don't think we will add it to our shopping list.

 The reason is propylene glycol.  Propylene glycol, also called 1,2-propanediol or propane-1,2-diol, is an organic compound (a diol or double alcohol) with formula C₃H₈O₂ or HO-CH₂-CHOH-CH₃. It is a colorless, nearly odorless, clear, viscous liquid with a faintly sweet taste, hygroscopic and miscible with water, acetone, and chloroform.

 Propylene glycol is used:

• As an ingredient in the oil dispersant Corexit, used in great quantities during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
• To deice aircraft wings and empennage
• As a solvent in many pharmaceuticals, including oral, injectable and topical formulations (notably, diazepam, which is insoluble in water, uses propylene glycol as its solvent in its clinical, injectable form)
• As a humectant food additive, labeled as E number E1520
• As an emulsification agent in Angostura and orange bitters
• As a moisturizer in medicines, cosmetics, food, toothpaste, shampoo, mouth wash, hair care and tobacco products
• As a carrier in fragrance oil
• To produce polyester compounds
• As a base in deicing solution
• As an ingredient in massage oils
• In hand sanitizers, antibacterial lotions, and saline solutions
• In smoke machines to make artificial smoke for use in firefighters' training and theatrical productions
• In electronic cigarettes, as a vaporizable base for diluting the nicotine liquid
• As a solvent for food colors and flavorings
• As an ingredient, along with wax and gelatin, in the production of paintballs
• As a moisture stabilizer (humectant) for snus (Swedish style snuff)
• As a cooling agent for beer and wine glycol jacketed fermentation tanks
• As a nontoxic antifreeze for winterizing drinking water systems (for example recreational vehicles), and in applications where the used antifreeze eventually will be drained into the soil, water, or a septic system
• As a less-toxic antifreeze in solar water heating systems
• As a solvent used in mixing photographic chemicals, such as film developers
• In cryonics
• As a working fluid in hydraulic presses
• As a coolant in liquid cooling systems
• To regulate humidity in a cigar humidor
• As the killing and preserving agent in pitfall traps, usually used to capture ground beetles
• As an additive to pipe tobacco to prevent dehydration
• To treat livestock ketosis
• As the main ingredient in deodorant sticks
• As an ingredient in UV or blacklight tattoo ink
• As a lubricant in air conditioning compressors
• As a wetting agent, used to determine drying time in paints and coatings
• Used in the beverage mixer Sweet N Sour.

Propylene glycol has properties similar to those of highly toxic ethylene glycol (monoethylene glycol or MEG). (Note: infrequently, propylene glycol may also use the acronym MEG, but as an abbreviation of methyl ethyl glycol - the industry standard acronym for propylene glycol is PG or MPG (monopropylene glycol).) The industrial norm is to replace ethylene glycol with propylene glycol when safer properties are desired.  Source: Wikipedia

Frankly, I will pass on voluntarily putting this in my body....

Baytown Remembers Fallen Texas Heroes 2012

Baytown Remembers Fallen Texas Heroes Click the link to see the slideshow of photographs from the giant fund raiser on Texas avenue for the Portrait of a Warrior gallery, on May 19, 2012. It is going to be a yearly event and was attended by many of hundreds of people, including Major General Jimmie J. Wells.

At least 5 photographers submitted photographs for the slide show and many are part of the wonderful group from the Baytown Photo Club. I am especially grateful to Ren Fitts for the use of his photographs and his constant vigil over veteran's rights,

Also in attendance were Mayor Stephen DonCarlos, City Manager Bob Lieper, State Representative Wayne Smith, Military recruiters, pencil artist Jim McDonnel,Sammy Mahan, Organizer extraordinaire Joni Kelton, Kevin Troller, Justice of the Peace Don Coffey, Professor John Britt, Conrad Garcia Jr., Liz Caldwell, Jane Lee, Elke Meyers, Byrd Reed, Deb Robinson, Janet Albright, Gary Erwin, Richard Hardy, LOST Inc, and of course, Ken "the Dauber Pridgeon.

Ken is painting each and every fallen warrior from Texas who died as a result of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war in Afghanistan.

Many of us were brought to tears listening to Jimmy Smith, father of Jeremy Smith talk about his fallen son and how Ken's artwork has allowed him to deal with it.

Texas Avenue is rapidly becoming the go-to place in Baytown for venues such as this one and I am sure time will prove the renovation costs have been well spent. I talked in length with city councilman Scott Sheley concerning this and he assures me it is a very big positive for Baytown. Many people were personaly involved in making this happen, but I think it would only be fair to throw a big high-5 to Joni Kelton for her part as the MC.  If you don't know that name, you will.  She like Ken and so many others are what make Baytown, Baytown.
.