Taking A Stand For The Better Angels Of Our Nature

I saw this this morning on Facebook via Bud Kennedy.

As I read this I found what I was reading resonating with what I have been troubled by lately during these troubling times.

Reading this also caused me to think of one of Lincoln's memorable quotes...

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

I can see Hillary verbalizing Lincolnesque words summoning us to the better angels of our nature. I don't even think Trump would understand what is meant by better angels of our nature.

Among what Ms. Kirkendall says in her Facebook post is....

"Sometimes it's important to take a stand for what you believe in no matter the consequences. I believe this is one of those times."

I am in total agreement with that sentiment.

Lately I have verbalized about being disgusted by the racist rantings of one particular Tarrant County Republican and the fact that I long ago removed him from my Facebook Friends list, after being appalled by his racist comments and threats against the president.

At some point I discovered that 12 of my Facebook "Friends" were "Friends" with this racist neanderthal. I verbalized my belief that this amounted to being a "Racist Collaborator" as in it amounts to condoning racism.

On the day I hit the publish button on Eliminating Racist Texas Idiots From Facebook One By One I un-friended 6 of the 12 Racist Collaborators whom I had never actually met or had any real contact with, other than Facebook comments. "Friends" I acquired via the last TRWD Board Election.

Subsequent to my latest blog post about this issue one of the remaining Racist Collaborators on my Facebook Friends list accused me of being a bully regarding this issue.

I was appalled.

How can someone be okay with having any sort of condoning contact with a vile racist of the worst sort, and say I am a bully for finding such to be inexcusable?

I am not a bully. I am an anti-bully.....

Spitting Seeds At The Wichita Falls Watermelon Festival

This last Saturday of July of 2016 I had myself a mighty fine time at the best watermelon festival I have ever been to.

The Wichita Falls Watermelon Festival.

The Watermelon Festival takes place in downtown Wichita Falls at the Farmers Market, with this being the biggest event of the year at the Farmers Market.

I knew going in that free slices of watermelon was part of the festival. I did not know that free cups of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream was also part of the festival.

I had myself many slices of watermelon, but I passed my cup of Bell Bell to a fellow festival goer.

There were a lot of Wichita Fallers in attendance today, making for the best people watching I have had the pleasure of watching in a long  time.

The most entertaining part of today was something I did not think I would find all that entertaining.

That being the Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest. It was very amusing. But, before we get to that, let's look at some other Wichita Falls Watermelon Festival scenes.

As you can see, watermelons were not the only melons at today's festival. The Farmers Market has all sorts of produce available, and other stuff of the crafty arts genre. The large crowd and all that produce gave today, at this location in Wichita Falls, a sort of a Seattle Pike Place Market feel.

The lady above seems to be pondering with extreme gravity the array of vegetables confronting her.

I have seen pumpkins carved artfully before, but never have I seen other fruits and vegetables carved as artfully as this lady was carving.

Well, it is almost time for the Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest.

But, before the spitting can start the above lady and her melons needs to move out of the designated spitting zone.

Each spitter gets three seeds to spit. First up was this guy, spitting the first distance to beat. If I remember right the next up ended up being the winner in the 14 and under category.

This kid was extremely animated with his watermelon seed spitting.

And then we move on to the 15 and above category with this lady who became the distance to beat, spitting, if I remember right, well over 20 feet.

This lady also did a good job of seed spitting. She also got praise for her watermelon themed outfit.

And then we had the winner.

The Master of Ceremonies informed us that this guy won his first watermelon seed spitting contest when he was a fifth grader. When he spit out his first seed it was all over. That seed sailed so far it took awhile, and several seed spotters, to spot it.

44 feet 7 inches.

At the award ceremony the above winner was asked what the secret was of his astounding spitting ability.

Extra hot air was his answer....

Deported Is My Projected Trump Fate

I have had my sensitive delicate feelers hurt a time or two, well, actually more times than I can remember.

But, I do not remember my sensitive delicate feelers being hurt previously to the level my sensitive delicate feelers have been hurt by taking the extensive Trump Score Test only to learn that I AM THE WORST PERSON with a Trump Score of only 301.

And that Trump will have me deported.

Do I get a choice as to my deportation destination? The Sea of Cortez side of Baja California, in Mexico, would be a nice destination. North of the border I have long been fond of Vancouver in the British Columbia province of Canada.

Actually, now that you are causing me to think about it, if the unimaginable actually happens, and the Great Orange Pumpkin actually gets elected, I think I may deport myself....

Bridge Over Wichita Falls Sikes Lake Bayou With Pokemon Zombies

Those familiar with River Legacy Park in the Texas town of Arlington might think, in the photo, we are on the River Legacy Park bridge across the Trinity River, connecting the south side of the park to the north.

Those familiar thinkers would be thinking wrong.

What you are looking at here is the bayou at the southwest end of Sikes Lake in the beautiful Texas town of Wichita Falls.

To take the picture of the bayou we are standing on one of the two Sikes Lake signature bridges built over water by experienced bridge building engineers of the sort Fort Worth's infamous Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision Boondoggle desperately needs to find in order to get The Boondoggle's bridges back in construction mode.

Even before the Pokemon Go madness and its hordes of Zombies came to be, Sikes Lake always has a lot of people enjoying the outdoors. Today that number was bigger than the norm. Along with the usual Pokemon Go Getters an event at the museum had its parking lot full.

Judging from all the parental units, with kids, I assumed some sort of Children's Event was afoot.

In the background, under the tree, are a couple of the aforementioned Pokemon Go Zombies staring at their phones. If I remember right I've shared a photo previously of this location with Pokemon Go Zombies under that same tree.

In the foreground that is not a Pokemon, superimposed on my phone's photo, screen capping me capturing a Pokemon. I don't have that app, or want it. I am assuming figuring it out would tax my limited figuring things out ability.

Walking around the lake was a bit taxing today.Why? I don't know. But, even though the trail runs over mostly flat ground, after a mile or two I felt like I was on mile ten of a twenty mile hike.

This may be an age related malady.....

Visit To The Liberty Bell Eagerly Awaiting Hillary's Philadelphia Coronation Speech

What you are looking at here is known as the Liberty Bell.

No, I am not in Philadelphia eagerly awaiting watching Hillary's coronation tonight.

This particular supposedly totally accurate, including crack, replica of the famous Liberty Bell, is located a short distance south of my abode, on the campus of Midwestern State University.

One is advised not to rock the bell or ring the bell clanger, due to, I assume, the thing being so heavy and potentially dangerous, knocking someone unconscious on the swing back.

I figured someone would need to be inebriated for that to actually happen, but with this being a college campus, likely this might be a possibility.

Adjacent to the Liberty Bell are two well known American documents, engraved and set in stone.

On one side is the complete text of the Declaration of Independence. On the opposite side is the Preamble to the United States Constitution.

I have seldom been at a more patriotic location. Mount Rushmore comes to mind, but I digress.

I read the Preamble and wondered to myself how many modern day nonsense spewers, who regularly vow to support some reactionary nut case who has vowed to uphold our sacred constitution, have actually even read the Preamble, let alone the entire U.S. Constitution?

I suspect most of those, well, illiterate types would not even be able to get through the Preamble without misunderstanding and being confused by what they were reading.

Anyway, I'm having myself a mighty fine patriotic day, so far.....

A Rare Visit To Fort Worth Takes Me Over A New Bridge Over Water

A couple times in the past week I think I made mention of the fact I was going to be in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone today.

I also mentioned that I did not think I would make it to the zone of America's Biggest Boondoggle to photo document the reports I have received indicating the area of former construction of the only one of The Boondoggle's bridges being built, is currently an abandoned ghost town.

Months ago, The Boondoggle's bridge project of building three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, had ground to a halt due to serious engineering design problems.

The Boondoggle claimed their bridge building was a four year project. Longer than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge, over deep, moving, water, and many other feats of engineering around the world.

None of which had as their project director the unqualified son of a local politician. Yes, you reading this in America, Fort Worth is basically a third world banana republic.

In many ways.

But, when you get a Fort Worth public works project out of the control of the local corrupt oligarchy, well, stuff gets built with an efficiency that matches the civilized parts of America and the world.

For instance.

Today I did end up in Fort Worth, near where I used to live in far East Fort Worth. When it came time to head back to the Northwest I opted to take Randol Mill Road west. For a little over a year now an upgrade to that road, between Oakland Boulevard and Beach Street has been underway. This project includes three bridges, with two of those bridges built over dry land which flooded a couple times during construction.

With the main bridge proving a bridge can be built over water in Fort Worth, In this case the Trinity River as it flows out of Gateway Park.

During the construction of this bridge the Trinity River went into major flood mode twice, with one of those floods rising suddenly, leaving heavy construction equipment stuck in mud and under water.

And yet, somehow, today, I was able to drive over that bridge, along with the now almost completed road upgrade, which I must say is going to be a HUGE improvement when completed.

The photo at the top is the view of my steering wheel starting to steer on to the new bridge.

After driving over the new bridge I headed to Watauga for lunch. Prior to that Elsie Hotpepper texted me about doing lunch. But, Elsie did not show up in Watauga.

After lunch I headed Northwest, back to Wichita Falls.

Slightly past Decatur all hell broke loose in the form of a thunderstorm with heavy rain causing a lot of flash flooding. I saw the thickest lightning strike I've ever seen zap down a slight distance to the north of me.

And then I was out of the storm as fast as I had entered it, back dry again.

When I got back to my abode and stepped out of my vehicle, into the HEAT, a pool dip quickly seemed like a good idea. And so it was. I am starting to like the saltwater pool. The saltwater seems to cause extra buoyancy.

Or maybe this is caused by all my excess adipose tissue.

The pool saltwater does not cause a Great Salt Lake type of annoying buoyancy where one feels like a salty cork that could not sink if it wanted to.

Anyway, it's been a tiring day. And now it's about time to watch the democrats being decent humans, as opposed to.....

HOT Walk Over Wichita Falls Sikes Lake Bridge Built Over Water

When I woke up this morning I found myself to be a bit in ache and pain mode. Why I would be in this mode? I don't know.

Did I over do swimming yesterday?

As the morning rolled along the aches and pains seemed to abate, so around noon I rolled my wheels to Sikes Lake to take a walk with the few Pokemon Go Zombies still wandering around this location.

Dead calm. No wind. HOT. I thought the slight cover of clouds might make for some cooling. I thought wrong.

I had myself a mighty fine time in the outdoor sauna, despite the HEAT.

Walking across one of the two bridges which cross Sikes Lake I wondered to myself how long it took to build these signature bridges over water?

I also remembered that I'd yet to hear any report about the current status of Fort Worth's stalled bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland  to an imaginary island.

I will be in the D/FW zone tomorrow. But I don't think I will make it to the location of America's Biggest Boondoggle to photo document the ghost town I have been told The Boondoggle's bridge construction zone has become....

Surviving Alligator Alley On The Wee-Chi-Tah Trail

Sunday I was in Lucy Park, walking beside the Wichita River on the Circle Trail. As I neared the swinging suspension bridge which crosses the Wichita River to an RV Park I saw a pair of mountain bikers on the RV Park north side of the river.

I thought to myself, that must be the illusive Wee-Chi-Tah Trail which I had yet to find, despite looking for it.

I've taken you across the Lucy Park suspension bridge previously, via photo, text and video in a blogging titled Suspense On A Wichita River Suspension Bridge.

So, on Sunday I crossed the Lucy Park Suspension Bridge again, curious to see the trail those two mountain bikers were mountain biking on.

I walked west through the RV Park, looking for a trail. I found none. I walked to the road, thinking maybe the trail directs bikers to the road prior to returning to the dirt trail. I found nothing.

And then suddenly a grizzled old mountain biker popped out of the woods via a slender slice of single track I had not noticed. He biked to me, stopped a second, uttered "this trail is killing me" and then continued on to the east side of the RV Park.

I followed and eventually came to the sign you see above identifying a Wee-Chi-Tah Trail Head and something called Alligator Alley.

I walked a short distance in Alligator Alley. I saw no alligators.

Later, after returning to Internet Access I Googled "Wee-Chi-Tah Trail" and found a couple informative websites.

One was the Wichita Falls city website's Wee-Chi-Tah Off Road Trail page, where the information included...

LOOKING FOR SOME MOUNTAIN BIKE FUN!
Bring the family, friends, mountain bikes and safety gear and try the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail. You'll enjoy 13 miles of challenging twists, turns, descents and beautiful scenery

VOTED THE BEST IN THE STATE
The trail was voted the best urban off-road trail in the State of Texas and is used for the Hotter 'N Hell's challenging Wee-Chi-Tah Mountain Bike and Trail Run.

The Texas Mountain Bikers website had a lot of Wee-Chi-Tah Trail information, and a lot of photos, along with the following descriptive paragraph...

Take the best that every other Texas trail has to offer, throw a little bit of each into one trail system and you’ll end up with the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail. This trail offers everything that makes singletrack fun; narrow, winding, flowing, well-packed, tight sections that require grace to squeeze through, to sweeping sections that allow some nice speed before approaching the next tight switchback or technical feature. You’ll find yourself weaving up and down embankments, even wall riding at one point. You have a thing for whoop-de-doos? No problem. Switchbacks bring a smile to your face? You’re well-covered. Quick ups and quicker, steeper downs? You’ll find plenty. Roots? Log crossings? Sandy sections? Drops? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. You’ll even be crossing a suspension bridge! So what does Wee-Chi-Tah trail lack? Long downhills. But that’s ok; it just means that you won’t find any long climbs, either.

From the Texas Mountain Bikers I learned the Wee-Chi-Tah has several areas where the trail has challenging options, marked via the black diamond method. As in if marked with one black diamond the section of trail is challenging. Marked with two black diamonds the trail is even more challenging.

I long ago learned that when I come to a black diamond trail marker to take the wimp bypass option and avoid the humiliation of having to carry my bike back out from something impossible for me to roll on.

It is currently much too HOT to get adventurous on an unfamiliar mountain bike trail, particularly a trail which is a one-way loop of 13 miles.....

A Wichita Falls Discovery Seldom Found In A Fort Worth Park

This morning I had myself a mighty fine time pooling on this next to last Sunday of July.

Since moving to Wichita Falls I have sort of fallen out of my swimming habit. Why? I don't know.

I did not feel today's swimming gave me a sufficient endorphin dose, so, prior to today's birthday party scheduled for this afternoon, I rolled myself to Sikes Lake to walk with the Pokemon Go Zombies.

In the above photo we are in the sculpture garden zone, looking south. In the distance, under the tree, you can see some of the Pokemon Go Zombies.

Today I noticed something I'd not noticed previously, despite having walked by it multiple times.

That something I had not noticed was what you see above. A modern public restroom facility, with drinking fountains, in a public park.

What a concept.

Every Wichita Falls city park I have been to has had modern restroom facilities with running water. I have not seen a single outhouse.

What a contrast with the town I used to live in.

Fort Worth.

Recently America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision Boondoggle issued its eagerly anticipated quarterly update, letting voters, who were not allowed to vote on The Boondoggle, know what little has been done since the last quarterly update.

In the latest Boondoggle Update we were told about all The Boondoggle has done in Gateway Park, including new restrooms.

When I read that I thought to myself I need to see that to believe it. If new restrooms have been added they sure were constructed quickly. The Boondoggle constructs nothing quickly. I saw no sign of any such thing being built the last time I was in Gateway Park, back in May.

I am going to be back in the D/FW zone on Wednesday. I don't know if I will be able to make it to Gateway Park to see if there are new restrooms. If such a thing does exist I suspect what the "restrooms" actually are are more outhouses, with The Boondoggle's patented cement enclosures, such as The Boondoggle installed at the world's premiere urban waterfront music venue.

It is nice to be back living in a modern American city....

It's The Goober Twins Happy Birthday

Three score and three years ago a Kansan Dust Bowl escapee who eventually landed in the State of Washington brought forth on this continent the two boys you see here, known, by some, as the Goober Twins.

Big Ed and Bigger Wally.

Happy Birthday, Goober Twins!

102 Degrees HOT With Miss Linda Vibrating Me

I knew this day would come. It always does. But this year that day came later than I have come to expect during my time in HOT Texas.

The first 100 degree day of the year.

This afternoon, arriving at Walmart, I saw a time and temperature sign telling me it was 3:22 and 102 degrees.

I then looked at my vehicle's temperature monitoring monitor and saw what you see above, that I was heading east and a confirmation of that 102 degree temperature.

My vehicle's temperature monitoring monitor is part of the rear view mirror. That would be my cell phone and hands you see reflected in the mirror. How the rear view mirror takes the temperature I have no clue.

Speaking of my cell phone, and who isn't? Today I was enjoying being outdoors in a noisy venue when I felt a strange vibration. I ignored the vibration, which was of short duration. Several minutes later it happened again, also of short duration.

An hour or so later I felt the vibration again, of much longer duration. This vibrating instance I was able to reach in my pocket and pull out my cell phone to see that Miss Linda was calling me, and had called twice previous, vibrating me. I did not get control of my phone fast enough to answer Miss Linda's call.

I don't know how I put my phone in vibration mode. It was not too difficult to figure out how to restore it to normal ring mode.

After I took the above temperature direction photo I called Miss Linda back, and got her voice mail.

I suspect Miss Linda was calling to chat about the recent Republican convention embarrassments. Miss Linda and I share a strong aversion to right wing tea bag nut job types and the ignorant nonsense way too many of them spew.

Miss Linda is a lifelong Washingtonian and pretty much my acquaintance of longest duration, going all the way back to first grade. We did grades one through twelve together and the first two years of college.

Not Rockin' Fort Worth's Imaginary Capitol Hill Island

No, Capitol Hill is not the latest name of Fort Worth's Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision Boondoggle.

But, when I saw that which you see here, this morning in the Seattle Times, Rockin' the River was the first thing which crossed my mind when I saw this picture.

In Seattle they call the music playing venue you see here a "Stage". In Fort Worth, a town prone to shallow pomposity, this stage would be called a "Pavilion".

I don't know if exaggeration prone Fort Worth would stretch reality far enough to mislabel a location like Capitol Hill as Capitol Hill Island.

Even though I think maybe Capitol Hill is more of an island than Fort Worth's imaginary Panther Island, where there is no island, but where three bridges used to be under construction, hoping to one day connect the Fort Worth mainland to the imaginary island.

I will be returning to the Dallas/Fort Worth zone on Wednesday. I may make it to Fort Worth's Boondoggle zone to snap some documentation of the ghost town which that bridge building project has apparently become.

Hot Mount Wichita Summit Hike With Buzzing Bugs

Swimming has not been doing it for me, of late, in the endorphin acquisition department, due to not enjoying the new pool as much as the old pool. The new pool does not have much shade, rendering the water and the area surrounding the pool HOTTER than if the majority of the area were under the shade of trees.

And then there is the water temperature issue. I think the temperature of the water has now moved north of lukewarm.

The cold option of tapwater is now lukewarm. Drinking a glass of water now requires ice to be inserted into the glass, unless one likes lukewarm water.

I don't recollect the piping in the previous location getting heated to this degree. And we've not yet even hit 100. Though that is currently predicted to happen today.

So, with the temperature a relatively chilly 95 I rolled myself to Lake Wichita Park to do some mountain climbing on Mount Wichita.

A semi-good breeze blew, which helped provide a little wind chilling.

In the first photo you are looking at the southeast trail route to the summit of Mount Wichita. This is a route less traveled. Not due to added difficulty, but due to this trail being on the opposite side of the mountain from the more visible trails.

As I reached the summit of Mount Wichita I found myself startled to be hearing what sounded like the buzz of a motor. Very loud.

I stood on the Mount Wichita summit perplexed as to where the buzz sound was coming  from.

And then I saw it. The bush you see in the center of the above photo was abuzz with a swarm of a flying insect of some unknown, to me, variety. The bush was literally shaking from the buzzing bugs.

Nervous that the buzzing bugs might go into swarm mode, with me their sweaty target, I quickly made an exit from the summit via one of the trails on the west side of the mountain.

It has been so many weeks since I have been subjected to a bug bite I figured the bug bite time of the year was over, with the biting bug population dried out from too much HEAT.

I don't think I got bit by today's buzzing bugs.

So far I have found no bite wounds.

Not of the bug variety....

Birch Bay Driftwood Confirmation From Lynden Via Tacoma

Exactly a week ago today I blogged about being Awakened By A Thud Before Finding Photo Of Birch Bay Driftwood.

On that day I blogged about being haunted by the memory of a big chunk of driftwood at Birch Bay, in my old home state of Washington.

Over the years I have asked various people if that chunk of driftwood was still there, or not. But received no confirmation one way or the other.

Til last Thursday via a photo sent via phone by my little brother, Spencer Jack's grandpa, Jake.

From that photo I could not tell, for sure, that it was the same chunk of driftwood I played on, time and again, decades ago.

Then this morning Spencer Jack's great aunt, my little sister, Michele, emailed me the photo you see above, gleaned from our Aunt Judy's Facebook page. My best guess as to the identity of the two little kids is that those are my cousins Jeff and Sheryl.

As soon as I saw this photo I knew it was the chunk of driftwood about which I have long inquired. And that it confirmed that it is the same chunk of driftwood of which my brother sent a photo, last Thursday.

So, all these decades later the funnest chunk of driftwood ever to drift to the Birch Bay shore is still there providing a climbing venue for kids of the 21st century.

I shall sleep better tonight knowing this....

Eliminating Racist Texas Idiots From Facebook One By One

Way back in November I was appalled to be seeing appalling idiotic racist hate speak on post comments showing up on my Facebook timeline, or wall, or whatever you call it.

The person making the racist hate speak comments about our current president was among those on my Facebook friends list.

I blocked this person and eventually removed the racist from my Facebook friends list.

I blogged about being appalled that such idiots still exist in America, but more than that fact, the fact that multiple other Facebook "friends" of mine had this racist among their Facebook friends.

I blogged about this on two occasions last November in...

No More Mr. Nice Guy Regarding Pseudo Conservative Reactionary Racist Republican Right Wing Nuts and Before Facebook I Had No Idea How Scarily Stupid The Racists Are

Well.

A couple days ago the racist idiot showed up on my Facebook timeline again, for the first time since last November.

That is a screen cap of this which you see above.

How anyone can find this type verbiage acceptable is not comprehensible to me.

Last November various of my Facebook "friends" defended the indefensible. One suggested the racist had a drinking problem, which exacerbated thought process problems caused by Vietnam War injuries.

Another excused the racist idiot's racist rants by saying this person has always been kind and helpful to her. Which had me wondering what behavior would this person find excusable, as long as the guy was nice to her? Yes, I know he's a murderer, but he's kind to me. Yes, I know he's a child molester, but he's kind to me.

Well, you get the drift. I hope.

There are twelve people among my Facebook "friends" who are Facebook friends with this reprehensible racist.

Of the twelve, I am going to un-friend the people on this list who I do not actually know and have never actually met or interacted with, separate from Facebook, via email or other message method.

That eliminates six of the twelve. The other six may be eliminated later....

Yesterday 9th Anniversary Celebration Was Exhausting

Yesterday, the 3rd Tuesday of July, was exhausting. With a lot of that exhaustion due to an insomnia bout the night before.

Tuesday morning started off with what you see here, brought to my computer screen by Google, informing me that yesterday was a Happy Anniversary of having been with AdSense for 9 years.

9 years?

This falls into the category of time flying way too fast.

Soon after learning of this anniversary I hit the publish button on a blogging I'd written the day before about another anniversary. Within a short period of time that blogging began generating confusing text messages about that blogging.

It was sometime around the 4th or 5th text message about that blogging that Tuesday began to be exhausting.

That exhaustion was compounded by the need to update one of my websites, that being inwesco.com. This is one of the more complicated websites I have made, complicated due to the subject matter being a massive catalog of building material parts which are all foreign to me.

To make yesterday's Inwesco update I had to use a new web editor. Microsoft long ago abandoned the Front Page web editor I had used since the previous century. Front Page continued to work on my XP based computer. But, I had upgraded to a non-XP computer, hence the need for a new web editor and a new FTP file uploader.

Making the Inwesco changes was not as exhausting as I'd feared, and likely would not have been exhausting at all, if it were not for those exhausting text messages about that controversial blog post.

By noon I entered the outer world to take myself on a lake walk. That only made me more exhausted.

Earlier my little sister had mentioned not having access to a scrap book our maternal parental unit made about my little sister winning the title of Most Valuable Player at the Washington State High School Softball Championship, held in Wenatchee, way back in the late 1980s.

I attended those softball games and clearly remember my little sister getting that Most Valuable Player Award. It was a proud Big Brother moment, but remembered no photographs being taken.

I told my little sister I remember no photos of that event, even though later I had myself some sort of recovered memory of myself taking pictures that day.

By early evening my little sister emailed  me the photo you see here, holding her Most Valuable Player Award.

I have asked my little sister if it was I who took this picture. I have yet to receive an answer. If it was I who took  this picture learning such will be yet the latest indicator that my memory is not what it used to be.

Not being able to remember that which you think you should remember is exhausting....

Pondering Swimming In The Blue Water Of Lake Wichita

Til today I had not had myself any salubrious communing with nature for a couple days, unless one counts short swimming pool bouts.

I am not enjoying the new pool as much as the previous pool. The new pool is smaller, with a lot of depth variation, including an 8 feet deep deep end, with a steep drop off which plummets over a cliff from 4 feet to that aforementioned 8 feet.

I was in wading mode the first time I discovered that cliff-like drop off. It was unsettling.

Today, with the air being pretty much in dead calm mode, with the temperature stuck between 90 and 100, I opted to drive to nearby Lake Wichita dam, figuring a breeze might be blowing across the lake.

I figured correctly.

As you can see, others had the same cooling idea, with a pair of those on the dock being kids in fishing mode.

The photo version of Lake Wichita looks inviting, blue and inviting, as in it looks like one might have oneself a mighty fine time swimming in that blue oasis.

However, in person, when viewed via the primitive using ones own eyes method, the lake takes on a much less blue hue, skewing more to brown than blue.

Long ago, in another century, swimming was among the many things one could do in Lake Wichita.

There is an effort afoot to restore Lake Wichita to its former glory.

I hope that effort is successful and does not turn into any sort of Fort Worth style Texas boondoggle of inept implementation spanning eons of time....

No Dutch Cuisine With Tarrant County Rabble Rousers Explosive Golden Grenades

A couple weeks ago I got a Facebook invitation from the Tarrant County Rabble Rousers Association inviting me to their Annual Rabble Rousers Lunch taking place in a swanky Country Club in the upscale Fort Worth suburb of Haltom City.

In addition to the location the only other information in the invitation was...

Meet for lunch (Dutch) to see who will get the coveted Golden Grenade this year!

When I read that the lunch was Dutch I found myself being all eager attend, due to the fact I'd not had the pleasure of Dutch cuisine since way back in the 1990s at the Dutch Mother's Inn in the Dutch-American town of Lynden.

When I verbalized to the Queen of the Rabble Rousers my surprise that Dutch cuisine was the specialty of this country club the Queen informed me that the lunch was not Dutch.

Being told the lunch was not Dutch left me confused, but not confused enough to seek further elaboration.

I know nothing about this Golden Grenade thing which the invitation mentions, nor do I know why it is coveted, or who covets it.

I am also a bit confused regarding the concept of Tarrant County Rabble Rousers.

My confusion stems from the fact that while there are plenty of Rabble in Tarrant County, the Rabble seems to do little Rousing, which has long perplexed me, what with there being so much which is so Rousing at this location on the planet, which one would think would Rouse the Rabble.

The Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision Boondoggle comes to mind, with its slow motion wasting of money on nonsense like shiny monuments  to aluminum garbage cans in the center of a roundabout near a bridge whose construction has been halted for months due to incompetent engineering, with that project being directed by the unqualified son of a local congresswoman, hired to motivate his mama to get federal funds for what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle.

An outrageous Boondoggle, yet nary any sort of meaningful protest by a horde of Roused Rabble.....

E.Coli Levels Low Enough For Return Of Trinity River Tubing

Elsie Hotpepper sent that which you see here to my phone this morning.

An advertisement from the good folks at the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision, also known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, advising polluted water aficionados that Rockin' the River Live in the Trinity is back at Fort Worth's imaginary pavilion on Fort Worth's imaginary island.

So.

Apparently tubing is back from its short excess e.coli caused vacation, with The Boondoggle inviting you to "Come get your butt in the water and a beer in your hand, tube the Trinity River and enjoy free concerts every Thursday."

Way back at the start of this century, when the Trinity River Vision was first foisted, without warning, or public input, on the good people of Fort Worth, did anyone imagine it would come to this, decades later?

I do not recollect when the un-needed flood control, poorly thought out economic development scheme was first announced  that beer drinking inner tube parties in the Trinity River was part of the plan.

And now, here we are, it is 2016, with the number one Trinity River Vision accomplishment being managing to convince a small  number of Fort Worth residents that it is a good idea to get wet in the river everyone used to thing was too polluted to touch.

And which is still too polluted to eat fish one catches in that river.

Wichita Falls Geese Goosing Pokemon Go Zombies

The Army of Geese who occupy the Sikes Lake zone of Midwestern State University, in the mostly peaceful Texas burg of Wichita Falls, have turned militant and aggressive in recent days.

I suspect the Sikes Lake Army of Geese is not appreciating being invaded by the hordes of Pokemon Go Zombies rendering slightly chaotic their usually peaceful territory.

Yesterday the Army of Geese was blocking access to the Mustang of Many Colors and her Baby, which you can sort of see via the view through the rusted trident of metallic sculptural art.

The closer I approached the goose front lines, the louder the Army of Geese honked. It was very intimidating.

If you have ever been goosed by mad geese you do not soon forget how powerful those goose bills are when in attack and bite mode.

How long does a Pokemon Go invasion last in one particular location? I do not know if Sikes Lake is the only Wichita Falls spot were one can find the Japanese bugs.

Methinks Mount Wichita and Lake Wichita Park would be a very amusing Pokemon Go location. Hordes of Pokemon Go Zombies wandering all over Mount Wichita would likely quickly attract a lot of onlookers.

Speaking of Mount Wichita, I think I may go there today to do some mountain climbing. The wind is being sufficiently gusty to provide an adequate wind chill factor...

Summer 2016 Trinity River Vision Bridge-Less Update Propaganda

I figured after I moved out of the Corrupt Contaminated Zone of America known as Sick City I would no longer be seeing the bizarro quarterly updates of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision, also known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

I figured wrong.

Someone who must remain anonymous emailed me the link to the online version of The Boondoggle's Summer 2016 Trinity River Vision UPDATE.

These UPDATES never fail to disappoint with their sheer hubris and embarrassing stupidity. Not to mention wanton shameless propaganda.

The image you see above is the cover of The Boondoggle's latest UPDATE. On page two or three we get...

SUMMER 2016 CONTENTS

• GATEWAY PARK COMING INTO FOCUS
• SUMMERTIME AT PANTHER ISLAND PAVILION
• UPCOMING EVENTS AT PANTHER ISLAND PAVILION
• REQUESTING A TRVA PROJECT PRESENTATION
• TRVA FAIR CONTRACTING 2016 CALENDAR
• TRWD NEWS–TRAILHEADS, TWIN POINTS AND TONS OF TRASH
• TRVA VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT ON TOM AMES
• FUNCTIONS, FACES AND PLACES AROUND TOWN

Each quarter The Boondoggle's quarterly UPDATE repeats a lot of that which was in the previous quarterly UPDATE. This latest UPDATE is no exception to that norm.

More than half of the UPDATE is devoted to the wondrous events occurring at Panther Island Pavilion. Where there is no island or pavilion. But where there is a lot of water which requires regular testing to make sure it is not too contaminated for safe human contact.

This latest quarterly UPDATE of The Boondoggle makes no mention of The Boondoggle's three simple little bridges being built over dry land. Previous UPDATES made extensive mention of those bridges.

For some reason this UPDATE does not update us on the fact that the construction of those bridges has been stalled for months due to design errors.

Previous quarterly Boondoggle UPDATES have made a big deal about the Airfield Falls Trailhead development. This latest UPDATE makes no mention of that which Anonymous Took Me To Regarding America's Biggest Boondoggle's Airfield Falls Trailhead Embarrassment a couple months ago.

The Boondoggle's latest UPDATE also makes no mention of the current status of Cowtown Wakepark, touted with extremely flowery propaganda in previous UPDATES.

When is Fort Worth going to collectively wise up and put this ridiculous Boondoggle out of its misery? How many more quarters can The Boondoggle and its propaganda go on embarrassing itself?

And Fort Worth.

Fort Worth needs a total flush of its city government.  And a regional water board flush. And flushing multiple Tarrant County judges and a corrupt Justice of the Peace.....

Shuttling To Boring Bertha Pondering America's Biggest Boondoggle

I screen capped that which you see here from a video in the online version of the Seattle Times.

In the video a work crew rides a shuttle inside the Highway 99 tunnel being dug deep under downtown Seattle.

The crew carrying shuttle stops when it reaches the tunnel boring machine known as Bertha, with the work crew then disembarking.

I knew Bertha had made a lot of progress since she began digging again after a lengthy repair operation.

I was not aware the double decker highway is already being constructed where Bertha has already done her boring.

Native Washingtonian, Steve A, thinks the Highway 99 Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Project deserves the honor of being America's Biggest Boondoggle.

I have long respectfully disagreed with Steve A on this important subject, believing, as I have long documented, that Fort Worth's Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision deserves the honor of being known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Yes, the Fort Worth Project is small in scope, compared to the Seattle project. And yes, the Seattle project has had some problems, and controversies.

However, the Seattle project is moving along, scheduled to be completed long before Fort Worth's currently stalled project.

The Fort Worth Boondoggle does not even have an actual project timeline.

The reasons I think Fort Worth deserves the America's Biggest Boondoggle title, instead of Seattle?

The Seattle project is fully funded, fully engineered. The Fort Worth project is not fully funded, hence the money has never been available to fully engineer the design of Fort Worth's project, hence construction problems, like Fort Worth's three simple bridges being built over dry land, have been abandoned for months, due to serious design errors.

The Seattle project is run by a qualified project engineer. The Fort Worth project is run by the unqualified son of a local congresswoman, hired to motivate his mother to secure federal funds for the under-funded project. That funding mechanism has not worked out well.

Both alleged Boondoggle's have waterfront elements. With Fort Worth's project creating a waterfront where none previously existed. Seattle's project greatly enhances the existing Seattle waterfront, tying it directly to downtown by removing the Alaskan Way Viaduct obstacle.

Another big Boondoggle difference.

In Seattle, even though the water is clean, clear and safe, there is no way the Seattle project's project engineer would engineer Rockin' the Bay Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in Elliott Bay, because, well, that would be ridiculous and no one would participate.

While in Fort Worth, the Frat Boy who mis-engineer's Fort Worth's Boondoggle, engineers all sorts of events in the polluted waters of the Trinity River.

It's sort of a Nero fiddling while Rome burns type deal....

A Look At Wichita Falls Pavilions & Fort Worth Imaginary Pavilions

I was back at Sikes Lake, yesterday, walking with the Pokemon Go Zombies.

Here you are looking at a pair of the Pokemon Go Getting Zombies crossing one of the bridges over Sikes Lake, heading towards the Wichita Falls Museum of Art and the Ruby & Robert Priddy Pavilion.

Why give something such a cumbersome name? Why not simply Priddy Pavilion?

Below is closer look at the Priddy Pavilion.

Last night I drove by this location and saw a swarm of Pokemon Go Zombies and a lot of people seated in the Priddy Pavilion area, appearing to be awaiting some sort of musical event to start up on the shores of Sikes Lake.

I am fairly certain no inner tube floating or beer drinking took place during this music event.

Last Sunday I came upon another full sized Wichita Falls pavilion. This one is called the Elizabeth Prothro Pavilion, located at the River Bend Nature Area adjacent to Lucy Park.

As you can see above, the Elizabeth Prothro Pavilion is a large structure. Most pavilions, in most towns, are large structures.

And then we get to Fort Worth, a city with imaginary pavilions on imaginary islands, such as Panther Island Pavilion on Panther Island, one of the town's great success stories.

Fort Worth really needs to stop with the false naming.

One would think the powers that misrule that town would have learned some sort of lesson from confusing, for decades, downtown Fort Worth's few tourists, with signs pointing to Sundance Square, where there was no square, til a  couple years ago when one of the downtown parking lots was turned into a little square, then named Sundance Square Plaza, with no one in the naming process apparently realizing that is a goofy redundant name.

If Fort Worth wants to have a Panther Island Pavilion, how about first coming up with something which bears some semblance to an island? And then add a building which bears some semblance to a pavilion.

What a concept....

Awakened By A Thud Before Finding Photo Of Birch Bay Driftwood

A couple years ago Spencer Jack took his dad up north near the Canadian border to go water sliding at Birch Bay.

Birch Bay is a bustling beach tourist zone in Whatcom County. Camping at Birch Bay State Park was the number one go to place when I was a kid going on summer camping trips every weekend with my parental units and siblings.

I remember Birch Bay with a fondness level I remember little else.

Well, there is Sun Lakes State Park in Eastern Washington which also provided a lot of fond memories, including going there well past my little kid family camping years.

So, when I was a little kid, on into my teenage years, and  maybe slightly beyond my teenage years, there was this chunk of driftwood on the beach in the state park area of Birch Bay.

After Spencer Jack took his dad water sliding at Birch Bay I asked about that chunk of driftwood down by the state park. Spencer Jack's dad said next time they were at the Bay they'd look for it.

I don't remember if I got a subsequent Birch Bay Driftwood Search Report.

Then last night, in the middle of the night, I was awakened by a concussive thud. I reached for my phone to see it was and hour and a half past midnight.

And that I had several text messages.

One of the text messages was from Spencer Jack's grandpa, also known as my little brother Jake. There was no message in Spencer Jack's grandpa's text message, just the photo you see above.

Is that the infamous chunk of Birch Bay driftwood I remember so fondly, still existing all these years later? I can not tell for sure. I suspect it must be. I am fairly certain my little brother would remember that chunk of driftwood as well as I do....

Polluted Public River Floating Is One Of Fort Worth's Great Imaginary Success Stories

That which you see here is not a guy fishing in a dirty brown river.

What you see here is a guy testing water in a dirty brown river near the location of the notorious Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats at an imaginary pavilion at an imaginary island in the great success story known as Fort Worth.

The photo of the guy testing the Trinity was part of a Bud Kennedy article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

I came to be looking at this July 1 Star-Telegram article after someone named Anonymous  made an anonymous  blog comment...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Are America's Biggest Boondoggle's Bridges Dust In The Wind":

You might have missed this gem from the bloated face of Fort Worth journalism:

Here’s the straight poop on that muck in the Trinity last week

The river’s makeover into a busy downtown tubing-kayaking attraction is one of Fort Worth’s great success stories.

_____________________

Now, that is just rude to refer to Bud Kennedy as the bloated face of Fort Worth journalism.

I agree with Bud Kennedy more often than I don't.

But, sometimes I don't understand how Bud Kennedy can type with a straight face some of which he types. I always assume he knows what he is typing is ridiculous and internally giggles. Or that he is just a big fan of creating ridiculous propaganda.

"The river’s makeover into a busy downtown tubing-kayaking attraction is one of Fort Worth’s great success stories."

A river makeover? Nothing has been done to that river that anyone would call a makeover. Some sand has been sprinkled to create a pseudo beach, and a couple outhouses have been installed on the south side of what is bizarrely called Panther Island Pavilion. Where there is no pavilion. But there is a small covered stage on the north side of the river.

A busy downtown tubing-kaying attraction?

Attraction? Busy?

Are you attracted to that attraction? I know I never have been, nor has anyone I've talked to. I've long opined that it is a sad indicator, and should be viewed as such, that Fort Worth is badly lacking in the outdoor water sport venues department. Thus so many people willing to get wet in that dirty river at that location.

Has Bud Kennedy partaken of the tubing-kayaking attraction? I know he likes to participate in local events.

And finally, the river's imaginary makeover is "one of Fort Worth's great success stories."?

One of Fort Worth's great success stories? I'm really not trying to be unduly snarky here, but I really can not come up with a single Fort Worth success story. And can not imagine characterizing those sad river floating events at that imaginary island as a success.

Really, I'm serious here, I can not think of anything that I might characterize as a great Fort Worth success story.

Having the #1 tourist attraction in Texas, via the Cabela's sporting goods store? Is that one of Fort Worth's great success stories? Nope. That one did not work out, despite the Star-Telegram, and especially Bud Kennedy's, touting it as such.

Having more wells fracked than another other city in the world? Is that one of Fort Worth's great success stories?

Having more outhouses in its city parks than any other big city in America, is that one of Fort Worth's great success stories?

Having fewer streets with sidewalks than any other big city in America, is that one of Fort Worth's great success stories?

Please, someone help me out here, what in the world could Bud Kennedy be referring to when he refers to Fort Worth's great success stories?

Read all of Bud Kennedy's Here’s the straight poop on that muck in the Trinity last week piece and see how many ridiculously absurd propaganda items you can find.

Of course the polluted river floating being one of Fort Worth's great success stories is my favorite Orwellian bit of propaganda.

Another gem is this paragraph....

Panther Island is one of the cleanest parts of the river. It has been safe to swim, tube, raft or boat there most of the past year, but only boating or rafting is allowed along the Clear Fork stretch near Trinity Park or near South University Drive.

The embarrassing Panther Island nomenclature really needs to be put to rest.

What does that "Panther Island is one of the cleanest parts of the river" statement even purport to mean?

The chunk of land The Boondoggle identifies as Panther Island is dry land. The Trinity River is not nicknamed "Panther Island".

Or did I miss that memo?

Will Pacific Northwest Style Icon Queen V Soon Be A Real Housewife Of Tacoma?

The person you are looking at here, for those who do not know, is the Tacoma style icon known as Queen V.

Queen V is what is known as a trendsetter.

I met Queen V the summer of 2008. At one point in time during that Tacoma visit I had the extreme pleasure of receiving a personal tour of the Queen V Castle.

Suffice to say, the Queen V Castle is stylish. That and I have never been in any other home which had possums in residence, trained to use litter boxes.

I have heard rumors that Bravo TV is thinking of adding Tacoma to their Real Housewives franchise, as in The Real Housewives of Tacoma. With Queen V as the main housewife. Even though Queen V is currently not married.

I am pretty much current with the antics of Queen V. I know I would watch those antics on The Real Housewives of Tacoma.

One of the other potential Tacoma housewives is Miss Connie. Miss Connie is a cutie with a voice that drips honey, so much so, she really should be a Southern girl, I mean, housewife.

Anyway, I have no way of knowing how far along Andy Cohen is in the decision making process regarding whether or not to go ahead with The Real Housewives of Tacoma. He may be being a bit gun shy due to the disaster that was The Real Housewives of Dallas.

What was he thinking?

Bravo should have done The Real Housewives of Fort Worth. Think of the hilarity which would have ensued. Just the weekly Housewives Rockin' the River would have been ratings gold....

Today Spencer Jack Took Grandpa To Grandma's

Minutes ago incoming email.

Subject line:

Spencer Jack Takes Grandpa to Grandma's

No explanatory text included. Just three photos, the first of which you see here.

That would be Spencer Jack on the left, standing next to his grandpa, Spencer Jake.

I assume they are standing in front of my favorite ex-sister-in-law's house in Big Lake.

Big Lake is a little lake a couple miles east of my old home zone of Mount Vernon in the incredibly beautiful Skagit Valley in the equally incredibly beautiful state of Washington.

Spencer Jack's grandpa Jake is currently escaping the extreme heat of Arizona by spending a month with Spencer Jack and his dad.

UPDATE: Spencer Jack's dad has now explained that that which we see here is literally Spencer Jack taking his grandpa to his grandma's. As in that house behind the boys is Spencer's great great grandma Sylvia Jones home in Lynden, Washington. Totally remodeled.

Oh my, I just got all wistful thinking how happy grandma Jones would be to have Spencer Jack coming for a visit....

Joining Wichita Falls Sikes Lakes Throng Seeking Pokemon

I left my abode earlier than the norm due to the fact that my driveway is getting resurfaced today, which meant my motorized vehicular form of transport needed to be at a location other than the driveway.

I had intended to go climb Mount Wichita prior to going to ALDI.

But then I remembered something I read this morning in the Wichita Falls Times News Record newspaper online that made me think a visit to Sikes Lake might be interesting.

And educational.

The past several days I have been reading various references to a world-wide phenomenon regarding something called Pokemon. I knew it involved cell phones, a Japanese cartoon character, GPS directions and Pokemon-izers getting distracted due to staring at their phones.

This morning I read in the aforementioned Wichita Falls newspaper that hundreds of locals have been descending on Sikes Lake doing whatever it is you do with Pokemon and your phone.

Sikes Lakes is halfway to ALDI. And so I stopped there on my way to ALDI. The parking lot had a few more vehicles parked than the norm. A girl's soccer team was practicing. As I walked around the lake I noticed nothing unusual. Several joggers, several walkers.

No one staring at a cell phone.

Then I got to the location of the Wichita Falls Museum of Art and saw that which you see above on a concrete bench. Is that the Pokemon people seek and then take a cell phone photo of to prove they found it? Is that the deal, I wondered?

Less than a minute after that I noticed the museum parking lot had a lot of cars in it. Usually it is empty in the morning time frame. And then I noticed hordes of people looking like they were in zombie mode, staring at their phones.

I approached a young couple and asked the male of the pair if it was that Pokemon thing that they were doing. He confirmed that it was. I asked if he could explain it to me. Sure, said he. He then showed me his phone screen, explained they were looking for stuff via GPS coordinates and then when you found what you were looking for something happened on your phone that made you happy.

That is my short version of what I was told.

I really did not understand.

I continued on. That is the guy I spoke to on the right side of the picture below, walking along the paved trail around Sikes Lake, staring at his phone. You can see the guy in the center of the photo also staring at his phone. I don't know what the other guy is doing.

Continuing on I crossed the bridge heading towards the parking lot from whence I began my Pokemon walk. I soon came upon what looked to be a dad walking with his two pre-teen kids, a boy and a girl.

I asked the dad if he understood what the kids were doing. Not a clue was his reply. Me either, said I.

Are America's Biggest Boondoggle's Bridges Dust In The Wind?

Months ago, the only one of America's Biggest Boondoggle's three bridges to nowhere, under construction, came to a halt due to the discovery of a design problem.

Make believe construction of that one bridge under construction began with a bang, literally, way back in 2014.

By "literally" we mean there actually was a big bang, as in J.D. Granger and his mama pushed the plunger on a device marked TNT to set off an explosion to celebrate the significant event of the imaginary beginning of construction on one of The Boondoggle's three simple little bridges connecting Fort Worth's mainland to an imaginary island.

Actual construction did not begin til much later than the time of the big bang.

The Boondoggle's apologists and propaganda purveyors long foisted the lie that the three bridges were being built over "dry land" so as to save money, when the fact of the matter is there was never going to  be any water under those bridges until a ditch was dug under them, with Trinity River water added to the channel.

Way back in 2013 I blogged about The Boondoggle's bridge building propaganda after receiving one of The Boondoggle's quarterly updates. A snippet of that blogging...

Speaking of Panther Island. On page 2 of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Update there is the headline "Paving the way to Panther Island."

Under that headline there is this short paragraph...

Three signature V-pier bridges will go out for bid together this November. By packaging the three bridges together a tremendous amount of money will be saved. Construction is scheduled to begin this winter.

Construction did not begin that winter. Or the next winter.

Recently I wondered about the current status of that one bridge The Boondoggle had under construction that had developed a design problem in need of a fix. I'd seen nothing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about the bridge or the fix, since the initial news of the construction halt.

Then yesterday someone with the name Anonymous made a blog comment regarding the current status of The Boondoggle's bridge construction....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "J.D. Granger Takes Time Off From His Congressional Duties To Wade In The Trinity River":

Speaking of slow motion bridges... I drove by the sparkling trash can last weekend. All the rebar has been removed from the forms on the Jacksboro Hwy columns and the scene generally looks like a ghost town. Not sure how long the delay was said to be, but no visible progress is the update for now. 

_________________________

Wow.

It was way back in March I blogged Design Woes Are Not The Only Problem With Fort Worth's Panther Island Bridges.

At that point in time the Star-Telegram informed us the fix would take about a month. It is now about five months later.

Has anyone seen an article in the Star-Telegram informing its readers about the status of The Boondoggle's bridge?

If I have said it once I have said it twice, Fort Worth suffers due to lacking an actual newspaper practicing actual investigative journalism.

Speaking of the Star-Telegram's lack of investigative journalism, has anyone seen an article about that which Mary Kelleher dusted us with today in her blog post titled EAST FORT WORTH...NOT JUST DUST IN THE WIND?

J.D. Granger Takes Time Off From His Congressional Duties To Wade In The Trinity River

Someone calling him or herself "J.D.'s Ex" emailed me with a Facebook link and a question asking...

"What fresh nonsense is this?"

Apparently, on July 11, 2015, J.D. Granger started working at the U.S. House of Representatives, according to his Facebook page, with the germane part you see screen capped here.

I think Congress is currently on one of its long breaks from ill-serving the people, which would explain why J.D. Granger was documented to be semi-skinny dippping, wading in the Trinity River, in Fort Worth, on July 7, rather than attending to his congressional duties.

How is Mr. Granger working in Washington, one can not help but wonder? Is he employed on his mama's staff? How does  J.D. find the time to work in Washington and still manage all the various river parties he helps host in Fort Worth, in addition to overseeing the slow motion construction of three little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island?

How was it not major news in the Fort Worth zone that J.D. Granger had started working at the U.S. House of Representative a year ago?

J.D. Granger Semi Skinny Dip In The Trinity River With One Of His Girl Friends

I have long opined it odd Fort Worth's favorite Frat Boy, J.D. Granger, he being the instigator behind Fort Worth's multitude of rabble getting wet in the polluted Trinity River, while not having been documented getting himself wet in the infamous river known to be infested with alligators and floating feces.

And then I heard from someone named Anonymous.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Saturday Roller Blading Around Wichita Falls Sikes Lakes":

JD Granger at Rockin' the River and in the water. Photo #20.

Rockin' the River July 7

________________________

I got to Photo #20, as Anonymous suggested, to find myself shocked to be seeing a scantily clad J.D. Granger, with his current girl friend, Shanna Cate, standing in what I assume must be the Trinity River.

Then again, this is the Internet, and one can not trust what one sees, no matter how believable it appears.

Does anyone have photo documentation of  J.D. floating on an inner tube, splashing with the rabble? Confirming he actually got himself immersed in the Trinity River at one of his perverse Rockin' the River Happy Hour Floats?