At my B/P specialist's office in Dallas today (and other observations):

[DemoTex]

1. I was sitting alone in the waiting room for my 1 pm appointment. A very attractive younger woman, 40-ish, walked in and signed in. She came over to the stack of magazines on the table next to me and politely begged my pardon while she rummaged through the magazines. I continued to read my book, "The Cat from Hue."

She pulled out a news magazine (Time or Newsweek) with Al Gore on the cover. She gave me a conspiratorial look and growled, "I sure don't want to read anything about Al Gore," spitting out the name. She threw down the magazine and picked up another, still looking at me as if for validation.

"No?" said I. "Perhaps you should read all about Al Gore. Your Texas boy has totally fucked up this country. If I were you ..."

"Mr. DemoTex, the doctor will see you now."

2. Stopped by the downtown Dallas soup kitchen, The Stewpot (where I used to do volunteer work), to see my buds. At 9 am this morning the facility was jammed packed. "Bu$h economy," a staffer-friend tells me. When I left Dallas in 2004, The Stewpot was reeling from Bu$h. They were overtaxed serving 500 free lunches some days. Record numbers in 2004. Same facility today. Last week they served 690 free lunches one day.

3. Drove through Highland Park. The wealth and opulence is breathtaking. Reality is on vacation. Most of Highland Park (GWB's soon-to-be new address) does not know that The Stewpot exists.

My old 2240 sq. ft. Austin stone cottage, on the SE edge of H-P is gone. The guy that bought from me and tore down the house was standing in the front yard of his new digs when I drove by today. He was glad to see me. He gave me a tour of his newly-completed 6500 sq. ft. contemporary. It IS nice!

4. I'm on my way back east now. I spent less than 10 hours in Dallas. I drove into Dallas this morning from Terrell (on I-20, 30 miles east of Dallas), and I'm back in Terrell tonight.

5. Tomorrow night? Perhaps Meridian and more Gideon. Or Demopolis or Selma.

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. I am sorry that they tore down your old house....

My old neighborhood is zoned against teardowns (and the ex-neighbors are vigilant about too many architectural changes to houses). And that is a good thing.

I would be royally pissed if the house I was brought home to as a baby was torn down. Of course, the 30-by-120-foot lot (30 in frontage) would be difficult to build a trophy house on.

[DemoTex]

2. The house in Dallas they tore down:

Not a good picture, but a great house. Totally redone in 1996. We loved that house. But we, too, sold it.

Edit: BTW, they saved the trees. All of them. Even the smallest crepe myrtles and japanese maples. The new house "L's" around that beautiful live oak in the front.

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. Oh, I knew it was not your Greenville house....

But still sad.

[yardwork]

5. It's so awful that a 2,240 sq. ft. house was torn down.

It's not your fault for selling it. It just shows the bizarre disconnect between the extremely wealthy and everyone else in this country. Most of us were raised in houses smaller than 2,240 sq. ft. Now that's considered way too small by some folks.

Thank you for this post. I can imagine why that woman didn't want to hear about Al Gore. She probably doesn't like what he has to say - makes her much too uncomfortable.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

4. As a reluctant Dallas suburbanite, your tale sickens me

I really, really hate it here and cannot wait to get out. I'm sorry they tore down your house. It sounds wonderful as it was.

[DemoTex]

6. There is a silver lining to the story ..

My neighbor and great friend from across that street dropped out of commercial real estate. He is now the director of a free-phone contact service for the homeless based out of The Stewpot. He is also a true Texas Democrat, a beautiful liberal, and a Christian in the sense Christ might just approve of (his wonderful wife is all of the above, too).

He told me today that they are inches and a few weeks away from having this great neighborhood in Dallas (Northern Hills) declared historic. When that happens, a 3700 sq ft limit and architectural restrictions will kick in. I never thought I'd see that in Dallas.

[Octafish]

7. Come see Highland Park, Michigan, DemoTex.

Please call when you're in Detroit. I'll take you on a tour of Highland Park, along with Hamtramck, one of two cities located within the city limits of Detroit.



There's not much wealth here, anymore.

[DemoTex]

8. I dig that Octafish.

The problem in Dallas (my problem of my own making), is to walk out of The Stewpot and then drive to Highland Park. Very few people see or notice that juxtaposition. I do and I am profoundly affected by it.

BTW: I always assumed that Highland Park in detroit was a wealthy neighborhood. Eh?

[Octafish]

14. I know the Metroplex, a bit, my Friend.

And I know the mindset of the woman in the doctor's office.

I also know that you are aware of the connections between what is happening in the "Two Americas."



You are correct, DemoTex. Until 1987, home of Chrysler Motors, Highland Park, Michigan, once was quite prosperous.



What we need is more of a certain "can-do" spirit.

[DemoTex]

9. Delete dupe

hit the damn button twice

[TomInTib]

10. What the hell is a B/P?

Inquiring minds and all.

Damn, man, we were living in Dallas at the same time (I have a house in Bluffview).

Imagine that.

We could have been dangerous.

But I will take Tiburon, any day.

That's me, across the Bay shot from Sausalito:

[DemoTex]

12. B/P = Blood Pressure

I thought of you today Tom, when I stopped and strolled my old haunts on Knox-Henderson. I remembered your stories about evenings there with the great Molly Ivins.

BTW: Know who live in Bluffview now? Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson. There goesthe 'hood.

[TomInTib]

16. You had to go back to Dallas for B/P?

Shortage of Doctors or what?

[DemoTex]

18. He is a specialist that has followed my case from the get-go.

Way too much money at stake, vis-a-vis my long-term-disability, to change horses in the middle of the stream (although I really wanted to this cycle). Especially if that horse is/was my doc in Greenville, SC.

When my internist in Greenville, SC, told me to take Tylenol and rub Neosporin on a potential MRSA carbuncular abscess last May (it was not MRSA, my derm doc determined through cultures), I fired his ass. He, the internist, asked me what antibiotic therapy I thought appropriate for the staph infection. He believed in letting a staph abscess run its course without systemic antibiotics. Even a carbuncular staph a. abscess less than an inch from the lower spine. She, my great derm doc in Greenville was horrified at that attitude. She put me on Bactrim for eight weeks.

So. I drive 1045 miles, one-way, for a 1.5 hour visit with my B/P guru. I see friends and family. I discover new restaurants (like the wonderful seafood grill on Washington St. overlooking the Mississippi for lunch today in Vicksburg, and the Red Barn for a steak tonight in Demopolis, Alabama). And I collect fodder for my writing.

Life is good on the road.

[TomInTib]

22. What the Hell are you doing with blood pressure problems?

I thought you were a pilot.

Can't you get past that crap?

But, that said, I haven't had a phys in 20 years because I really do not want to know.

Go sweating crap and then get run over by a trash truck.

[DemoTex]

11. One more important observation from Dallas today ..

I saw only one other Prius. Silver like mine, on Royal. But only my Prius had the DemocraticUnderground sticker! My friend and old neighbor, however, is driving a Toyota Highlander Hybrid.

[hatrack]

13. But haven't you heard? The economy is not just strong, it's fundamentally sound!!!!

Larry Kudlow told me so!!!

:silly:

[LiberalAndProud]

15. Why

did the House of Romanov pop into my head?

[DemoTex]

19. That could be an ironic connection ... drop the "V". House of Romano.

I posted here last year that Bu$h had bought the lot ($11 million) in Highland Park where the Romano's, founders of the Macaroni Grill chain and others, had a wonderful house (across the street from Dick Cheney's old digs in Euclid). The house was leveled three years ago or so.

There is a house under construction on that lot now. It is hugh !!!1 Might be Bu$h's, might not. My real estate friends in Dallas can't figure it out. There is another lot, one block away (corner of Euclid and Highland), that also sold for about $11 million and is empty now. One of these two properties, it is almost certain, belongs to George W. Bu$h.

I go with the House of Romano, across from Chez Cheney (where I trained sweet Sirius to poop when we lived 800 yards from Hallismirkin' CEO Cheney).


Sweet Sirius
1993-2005
He loved to poop in Cheney's yard (because he got a liver treat when he did!).

[blogslut]

17. I used to live in Dallas

For a long time I lived in that nasty little enclave just outside of Highland Park. You know it is as Oak Lawn. I lived in Oak Cliff too, right across the street from Marsalis park. I used to take the bus from there into downtown Dallas. :hi:

[DemoTex]

20. I remember Oak Lawn.

Oak Cliff? Near Hobby?

[blogslut]

21. More like

Near(ish) to the old Texas theater. The house Oswald rented was on the street behind me.