Taking A Caribbean Walk With Anti-Trump Signs

Taking a long walk today in my Caribbean neighborhood where all the streets have names like Haiti, Barbados, Antigua, Montego, Nassau, well, you get the drift.

So far I have not come upon Cuba Street. This seems a serious omission. Isn't Cuba the biggest island in the Caribbean?

Previously whilst walking Haiti I came upon a "Anyone But Hillary" makeshift sign.

Today whilst walking Antiqua I came upon that which you see above. A "Trump Pence Make America Great Again" sign which appears to have been altered.

Obviously there is no way for a passerby to tell if the sign was altered by a sign vandalizer, or altered by the yard owner to make his or her or their Trump attitude known.

Seems to me to be a bit brazen for someone to trespass on to someone's yard to X out Trump on both sides of a sign.

So, I opt to choose to believe it was the yard owner who turned this Trump sign into an anti-Trump message.

When I got to Haiti I saw that the "Anyone But Hillary" sign no longer exists. Was this sign the victim of a sign thief? Or a sign owner who came to his or her or their senses?

Arlington Viridian Vision White Sand Beach With Possible Houseboats

I'd forgotten about this til this morning when something reminded me.

Last Wednesday, on my way to missing lunch with Elsie Hotpepper, driving north on Collins Street, heading to the Saigon Cho Market in Arlington's Chinatown, I stopped at River Legacy Park and had a short walk to stretch my legs which were in dire need of stretching.

For a year or two or three, give or take a month or two, I have been impressed by the rapid development of what is known as Viridian.

The Viridian Vision began with infrastructure development around 2007. When the Great Recession hit, the Viridian Vision ground to a halt. That halt continued until sometime around 2012, if I remember correctly. Since then a large number of residences of various sorts have been built, a school has been built, and an elaborate country club has been built, along with other amenities.

Above you are looking at the sandy beach which has been added to what is now known as Lake Viridian.

Back before the Great Recession hit I was talking to a surveyor marking the Viridian property boundary. At that point in time he told me the plan was to turn the lake into a public beach.

I do not know if the plan still is to turn Lake Viridian into an attraction open to the public.

The two photos you see here were taken from the River Legacy Park trail which trails along the southern border of Viridian, meandering along the Trinity River.

I could not tell, for sure, what that was floating on the side opposite from where I was. A dock? Houseboats?

Does Viridian have a Houseboat District?

Wondering if Viridian has a Houseboat District had me pondering as to the contrast between all that has been built by the Viridian Vision, in a relatively short time, whilst Fort Worth's Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision has very little to be show for an effort which has been boondoggling along for most of this century.

America's Biggest Boondoggle recently added to its list of currently unseen attributes. The Boondoggle's imaginary island is now divided into West Island and East Island. And a Houseboat District has been added.

At the present time America's Biggest Boondoggle is stuck trying to figure out how to build three simple bridges over dry land to connect Fort Worth's mainland to that imaginary island. It has been almost two years since construction on those simple bridges began with a big bang. Currently all there is to be seen of those bridges are some wooden V Pier forms sticking out of the ground, growing moss.

I wonder if there are any plans to have Rockin' the Lake Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in Lake Viridian?

It seems like floating on Lake Viridian would be a much more pleasant venue than that which America's Biggest Boondoggle sponsors in the Trinity River, on those occasions when the all clear is given indicating contamination levels are low enough for it to be sort of safe getting wet in that polluted river.

I wonder how it is that Viridian has developed so fast?

I suspect the Viridian Vision did not have to wait for federal funds to be sent its way. That and I suspect no local congressperson's unqualified son has been the executive director of the Viridian Vision.....

Finding Wichita Falls Stone Palace Anticipating Spelling Bee Next Friday

Next Friday I am scheduled to be in downtown Wichita Falls at the Stone Palace.

Since I was not sure I knew where the Stone Palace was located in the downtown Wichita Falls zone I figured a quiet Sunday morning would be a good time to locate this particular palace.

I figured correctly.

And it turns out it was a good plan to find this location ahead of next Friday because it would have been possibly difficult to find when the sun was in its daily setting mode.

Why am I scheduled to be at the Stone Palace next Friday?

Well, I am glad you asked.

Somehow I got myself hoodwinked into being part of the support team for a group of spellers at the Wichita Adult Literacy Council, Inc. 20th Annual Spelling Bee.  The doors open at 6 pm, dinner is at 6;30 pm and the Bee Begins at 7 pm.

According to my admission ticket "21 t must show ID to purchase  alcohol".

Does alcohol and spelling mix well? I would think not. I guess I will be finding out next Friday.

My understanding of my Spelling Bee Team support role is I, along with a couple others, act as cheerleaders, cheering on our spelling team. There are a couple dozen spelling teams competing for the coveted Best Speller title.  I have no idea what the prize is, if any, for winning the coveted Best Speller title.

After locating the Stone Palace I decided to take a walk around downtown Wichita Falls.

The Stone Palace is just a couple blocks east of the Wichita Falls Public Library. I walked past the library and soon saw the infamous Wichita Falls World's Littlest Skyscraper scraping the sky a couple blocks to the northwest.

At the time I was doing my downtown Wichita Falls walking I thought I would document some of the interesting items of architecture one comes upon, but the bright light was not cooperative, so upon seeing what the photos looked like, once I got them off the camera, I decided to put off for another day photo documenting downtown Wichita Falls' interesting items of architecture.

Back to the subject of next Friday's Spelling Bee.

Saturday night, during a practice session with the team for whom I am scheduled to be a supportive cheerleader, my faculty for spelling became noticeable. Pressure was then exerted on me to become a Spelling Bee speller, replacing one of our Spelling Bee team's spellers, with that speller being completely happy with being replaced.

However, I opted not to become an official Spelling Bee speller. I feel I will be much more useful in a supportive cheer leading role....

Why Is No Privately Financed Ballpark Possible In Arlington?

With voters in Arlington, Texas being asked, yet again, to lend their voting support to the building of yet one more sports palace for the sports watching enjoyment of the rest of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, and North Texas, I thought this, which I saw in the Seattle Times, to be interesting.

A few years ago Seattle balked at upgrading Key Arena where the Seattle Supersonics played basketball. This balking led to Chesapeake Energy's Aubrey McClendon and others, moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City.

Many in Seattle were sad to see the Sonics go, others, tired of demands for sports palace upgrades, thought good riddance.

But, ever since the Seattle Sonics left the Pacific Northwest there has been an ongoing effort to return NBA basketball to one of its best markets.

A Seattle hedge fund manager, Chris Hansen, came up with a plan to finance the building of a new basketball arena, to be built slightly south of were the Mariners and Seahawks play their ball games.

Hansen and Seattle reached an agreement regarding how this arena plan could move forward. The original plan had the city paying part of the cost of the new arena. But, there were complications.

Now Chris Hansen has come up with a new plan, an all private plan to finance the building of a new Seattle basketball and hockey arena.

This is a bit of a contrast with how similar arenas gets built in the D/FW zone.

A few years back Fort Worth voters were asked to approve the funding for the building of a new multi-purpose arena in what Fort Worth calls its Cultural District. The public approval was in the form of three ballot propositions. One proposition asked voters to approve a dollar fee on livestock stalls, another a tax on parking, another a tax on tickets.

You reading this in democratic parts of America, I am not making this up. This is how Fort Worth voters were asked to approve half the funding of a multi-purpose arena.

Has that new Fort Worth arena begun construction yet? Such seems to take an awful long time in Fort Worth.

Back to Seattle.

Now that Chris Hansen has come up with a new plan to build a new arena another group has come up with another privately financed plan, with that plan renovating Key Arena, that being the location where the Sonics played before moving to Oklahoma City.

Key Arena began during the Seattle World's Fair as the Washington State Pavilion. After the World's Fair the Washington State Pavilion was remodeled into being the Seattle Coliseum, a sports palace. In the early 1990s Key Arena was once again remodeled, increasing fan capacity.

It was the fact that Key Arena had been recently remodeled that voters balked at approving one more remodel, hence saying goodbye to the Sonics.

This was a voter reaction similar to that taking place in Arlington where there is some voter fatigue, having voted to build what the public had been told was a state of the art ballpark, back in the 1990s. Then early in the new century approving the building of a state of the art football stadium, a home run hit distance from the baseball park.

And now, in 2016, being asked to build a new air-conditioned baseball park, to replace the ballpark most locals still think of as new.

I wonder why no one in the D/FW zone comes up with any sort of private plan to build or remodel any of the area sports palaces? Like a clever, privately financed plan to somehow provide shade and conditioned air in the existing Arlington baseball park....

Bizarre Star-Telegram Bridge Boondoggle Report

Comment from Captain Andy this morning regarding The Boondoggle's Bridge Fiasco....

Andy N has left a new comment on your post "Why Does Fort Worth Star-Telegram Not Recommend Rejecting Trinity River Vision's Bad Plan?":

Fort Worth’s Panther Island bridges a year behind schedule

Star-Telegram finally takes a swing on the delay and it's a miss. There ARE NO PIERS. What you see is a form for unpoured concrete. 

________________

I had already read the Star-Telegram's article about the Bridge Fiasco and thought, as did Captain Andy, that the article took a lame swing at the Boondoggle's bridge delay.

And missed.

The first paragraph...

It started with a bang and a fiery explosion. But nearly two years later, construction of three bridges north of downtown Fort Worth leading to the planned Panther Island development has slowed to something more like a simmer.

That Star-Telegram has the bridges being a year behind schedule. But construction was halted back in March. Eight months ago. Well, I guess that is getting close to a year.

Such a long delay to this vitally needed project and after eight months the Star-Telegram finally, sort of, reports on the delay. A report which does not address what the actual problem is with constructing these relatively simple little bridges.

I mean, these bridges are no Golden Gate being built over deep, fast moving saltwater.

A gem from Fort Worth's esteemed mayor...

Price, answering critics who had questioned whether the $910 million project would ever get built, declared, “This is not a bridge to nowhere.”

Proper grammar should have had Betsy saying "These are not bridges to nowhere".

But they sort of are bridges to nowhere. The bridges certainly currently are going nowhere. And if the bridges are ever completed, connecting the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, well, they really will still be bridges to nowhere.

And then there are these two paragraphs....

Now officials involved in the massive effort say construction of the bridges has fallen about a year behind schedule and likely won’t be completed until 2019. The bridges, which are being financed with state highway funds, were originally expected to be completed in 2018 and cost $65.5 million, although that cost could go up if the delay continues.

The main cause of the delay, officials say, are changes in the design for the steel-reinforced concrete piers that will support the bridges. The changes have been in progress for about a year, slowing work on the bridges to a crawl.

Building these three simple little bridges is a massive effort? If construction halted in March, why are they saying construction has fallen about a year behind schedule?

What schedule? Is it not one of the many reasons the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision has become a boondoggle is the fact that this project has never had an sort of project timeline schedule?

The main cause of the delay are changes to the design? Those changes have been in progress for a year? Why was construction started on those V Piers if the design was "in progress"?

I am particularly fond of this short tidbit...

The delay comes at a time when substantial progress has been made in other areas of the Panther Island project, formerly known as Trinity Uptown.

Substantial progress had been make in other areas of the Panther Island project? Which used to be known as Trinity Uptown? The Star-Telegram mentions substantial progress, without detailing what this progress is. The successful closing of the Cowtown Wakepark? That did seem like progress.

We are told the Boondoggle was formerly known as Trinity Uptown. Earlier in the article The Boondoggle was referred to as the Trinity River Vision.  Elsewhere it is the Panther Island Project. Apparently the Star-Telegram has some awareness of the various names The Boondoggle has given itself as it boondoggles along.

Another bizarre bit in this article...

Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said the modifications were described to him not as a design problem but rather as an effort to be abundantly cautious about the bridges, which have an unusual flattop design essentially with most of the supports below the driving surface. He said he was told that designers built scale models to test out the piers and ensure they could support the rest of the bridge.

Whitley added that it was his understanding work on the bridges would resume soon.

“I have been told the models worked like they thought they would work and they have given the green light to get started on it,” Whitley said.

Oh, so there is no design problem. Instead, after construction was started, it was decided now was the time to be abundantly cautious about the bridges. Yes, that makes a lot of sense.

So, some V Piers get stuck in the ground, construction grinds to a halt, the Star-Telegram tells us at the time the construction halt has to do with a mistake in the steel reinforcing the concrete.

So, then models were built to test if these V Piers would actually hold up a bridge? With a judge being told the models worked and so the green light has been given to re-start the building of those bridges to nowhere.

Who knows what the truth is?  Anyone? When I first saw those V Piers I did not understand how such would support a bridge deck. But, I'm no engineer, so I figured the bridges were designed by engineers who knew what they were doing.

It has long seemed odd to me that it is not an issue building those bridges before a ditch is dug under them. Won't the ditch digging be made more complicated due to having the bridges in place?

How many more years, or decades, is America's Biggest Boondoggle going to keep boondoggling along before the plug gets pulled? It seems that is the likely inevitable fate of something as badly mismanaged as this pseudo public works project has been....

You Know You Are Back In Fort Worth When....

On Wednesday I was in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro zone for the first time in a couple months.

The night before making the long trek to D/FW I wrote a blogging and set it to auto-publish at 10 Wednesday morning.

At some point in time after that someone with the extremely unique name of Anonymous posted a comment which struck me as amusing due to title of the article to which the comment had a link.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Why Does Fort Worth Star-Telegram Not Recommend Rejecting Trinity River Vision's Bad Plan?":

You know you're from Fort Worth when...

______________________

Now, the reason I found the "You know you're from For Worth when...." title amusing is because when I was in Fort Worth I drove into Quanah Parker Park and saw what you see below.

When I saw the above I remarked, "Well, you know you're back in Fort Worth when you see an outhouse in a park". This particular Quanah Parker Park outhouse seems badly placed, even for the Fort Worth norm of badly placed outhouses.

I have been in Wichita Falls now for nearly six months. I have yet to see a single outhouse in a Wichita Falls Park. The Wichita Falls parks have modern facilities, including running water with drinking faucets. What a concept.

Quanah Parker Park does have one feature that most Fort Worth parks do not have. That being running water in the form of a drinking faucet.

Spencer Jack Can Not Fly His Drone At Snoqualmie Falls

 Email this morning from Spencer Jack's dad.

Subject line: Favorite Nephew Spencer Jack at Snoqualmie Falls not flying his drone

Text in email----

FUD ---

FNSJ was not allowed to fly his drone this afternoon at Snoqualmie Falls.  It was a non issue as required drone flying conditions were not being met by Mother Nature.

Do you remember when you took me and FNJoey down to Snoqualmie Falls during the November 1990 flood season? You drove us the back route, just as FNSJ and I did today. I recall all the farm land to the west of the highway being saturated by flood water.  The falls then must have been at record levels to provoke such a trip, as once we returned home I saw the local news showing footage of the raging falls.

The small farming towns of Duvall and Carnation are no longer such.  A ton of urban housing has sprung up there.  Safeway, Subway restaurants, mini strip malls, etc. accompany this.   I have not driven that route in years, and was surprised how it has developed.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics.

FNSJ will send you footage of our drone flights, when we are allowed to do such.

________________________

It has been a long time since I drove through the towns of Duvall and Carnation in my old home state. I knew that Duvall had become a bit of a boomtown. When I last saw Duvall it was not much of a town.

I recollect taking Spencer Jack's dad and his Favorite Uncle Joey to Snoqualmie Falls when the Western Washington rivers were in flood mode. When that happens Snoqualmie Falls has so much water falling over it the ground shakes, felt quite a distance from the falls in the park where the Snoqualmie Falls overlook is located.

It is from that overlook Jason and Spencer Jack's photo above was taken.

Was there a problem with people flying drones at Snoqualmie Falls?

Apparently such was the case, hence the sign saying such was not allowed.

Why Does Fort Worth Star-Telegram Not Recommend Rejecting Trinity River Vision's Bad Plan?

This blogging appears to be a twofer of our ongoing theme of things I read in west coast newspapers, online, which I would never expect to read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about anything happening in the Fort Worth Tarrant County zone.

Both these instances were in the Seattle Times.

Can you imagine a headline in the Star-Telegram telling readers that the Fort Worth skyline is tops in construction cranes? Overtaking New York City as the city with the most construction rigs transforming its urban landscape.

Well, to be fair, and I am always fair, Fort Worth does have those V Piers stuck in the ground, currently awaiting construction to continue after over a half year delay due to design errors. No other town in America has V Piers stuck in the ground awaiting an engineering solution. Plus being the only town in America, and likely the world,  building bridges over dry land to connect a town's mainland to an imaginary island.

Fort Worth is special.

And then there was this item I would not expect to ever see in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about something similar happening in Fort Worth or Tarrant County.

The Seattle Times is recommending voters reject the Sound Transit 3 plan. A $54 billion ballot issue.

The Seattle Times is recommending the transit planners come back with a better plan, next election.

First off, can you imagine the voters of Fort Worth, or Tarrant County, getting to vote on a proposal of such scope with such a price tag?

Fort Worth voters were not even allowed to vote on what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, struggling along for most of this century due to not being funded in the way normal public works are funded.

And that Fort Worth public works project is relatively puny, price-wise.

The Star-Telegram did not get the opportunity to advise its readers not to vote for the Trinity River Vision, because that plan to drastically alter the landscape of Fort Worth has never been presented to the Fort Worth voters.

Such is the way it is when people do not live in a real democracy, even whilst living in America, but instead settle for a bizarre form of dictatorship, known locally, by most, as The Fort Worth Way, currently under serious scrutiny due to outrageous election fraud.

Speaking of election fraud. I am in Fort Worth today, hoping to successfully vote.....

Walking Past My Neighborhood Pine Forest With Anybody But Hillary

Recently, maybe as recently as yesterday, I blogged about Walking Miles On My Neighborhood Sidewalks Past Disturbing Signs.

In that blogging I mentioned walking past a house which had a forest of pine trees in its front yard. I said the  next time I walked by I would take a picture of the pine forest.

That walk by occurred today, which would make that the aforementioned pine forest you are looking at in the photo.

In that blogging I also mentioned and photo documented a yard sign which I speculated may have been the work of sign vandals, and said I would check on that sign when next I walked by to see if the yard owner had de-vandalized the sign.

Well, on the walk by today I think I can now conclude that the sign is not the act of a vandal, but is the intended, sloppy, message of the yard owner.

Because the yard owner is still advising passers by to vote for Anybody BUT HILLARY.

I don't think this yard owner is one of the Deplorables because those of that ilk tend to call alter our next president's name to Killary, imaginative wits that they be.

Changing the subject from Hillary to something else.

Tomorrow I am going to be in the Heart of Darkness, also known as the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Due to registering to vote going awry at my new location, I will be voting where I am still registered at my former location.

I have a busy day planned for tomorrow in D/FW. It should be exhausting. I enjoy being exhausted....

Walking Miles On My Neighborhood Sidewalks Past Disturbing Signs

Yesterday, Sunday, I had myself a mighty fine time on a mighty long walk around my neighborhood.

The City of Wichita Falls has so many amenities not available in the Texas town I lived in previously.

Like sidewalks.

Wichita Falls is like other modern American towns, with sidewalks on both sides of the street, with a landscaped buffer between the street and sidewalk.

I now have miles of this type modern amenity accessed as soon as I close the exit door on my abode.

In the first of the street scenes documenting a Texas town with sidewalks the scene is a bit tainted due to a Trump/Spence sign being in view.

Then a few minutes later I saw a different sign on a different street.

Texans for Clinton/Kaine.

Note the trees shading the sidewalk. Lots of big trees of various types, including one house which pretty much has a pine forest in its front yard. I must remember to take a picture of that one when next I walk by.

The last house I saw, as I exited Haiti Street to walk the Circle Trail back to my abode, had the disturbing homemade sign you see below stuck in its yard.

Anybody BUT HILLARY.

I imagine a lot of thoughtful thought went into making this sign. Was there a Hillary sign underneath which someone has defaced with the makeshift "Anybody BUT" message? And the yard owner has not yet noticed their sign has been defaced?

 Maybe I'll walk by this sign again tomorrow and see if it has changed for the better....

A Critical Look At Spencer Jack's Grandma's Big Lake

What you are looking at is a photo taken yesterday at a location in my old home zone.

The body of water you see here is known as Big Lake.

Big Lake really is not very big. I have never known why Big Lake is so named, unless it is because Big Lake is so much bigger than nearby Clear Lake.

Big Lake is located a couple miles east of the Mount Vernon location I lived in prior to my exile in Texas.

Spencer Jack's Grandma, my Favorite Ex-Sister-In-Law, Cindy, is home based at Big Lake.

Texas has no natural lakes. Washington has countless such lakes. I don't know why Texas has no natural lakes. Big Lake is a natural lake. No dam is involved in its creation.

When I saw the above photo I thought of an infamous Fort Worth photographer who makes hyper-realistic enhanced photos of various scenes in Fort Worth, Fort Worth locals, who have no clue as to how one can digitally enhance a photo, gush over this photographer's manufactured images.

I have long opined, regarding these manufactured photos, ever since the photographer got all bent out of shape because the Amon Carter Museum commissioned a photo documentary by a legit photographer, depicting realistic, honest images of Fort Worth, that this particular Fort Worth photographer was doing Fort Worth a great disservice, misrepresenting Fort Worth, showing a version which does not exist.

I have also wondered what this particular photographer would do if he was in a location where the photos did not need digital manipulation to look beautiful. You know, towns like New York City, San Antonio, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle, well you get the drift. Or scenic wonders like Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Hawaii, Mount Rainier, well, again, you get the drift.

Or Big Lake.

Just take an ordinary camera and aim it at Big Lake and if the light is right you get that which you see above. An honest photo reflecting a beautiful reality....

Elsie Hotpepper Takes Me To A TRV Boondoggle Encore

A couple days ago Elsie Hotpepper sent me a link to some fresh propaganda from The Boondoggle on the TRVA's (Trinity River Vision Authority) website, with the propaganda titled New 300-Unit Riverwalk Apartment Community Announced for Panther Island.

I read the article and thought to myself, "When will this madness ever end?" and then proceeded to forget about it til now

Three paragraphs from the Riverwalk Apartment article, apartments which you can see via the above artist's rendering, which were named  Encore Panther Island, at the time the artist did his rendering, with that name likely to change several times before ground is broken, if ground is ever broken, which is The Boondoggle's naming modus operandi.

The three paragraphs....

LLC, a subsidiary of the Dallas-based Encore Enterprises, Inc., is officially under contract to break ground on the first private development on Panther Island. The thoughtfully designed 233,198 square-foot multi-family community will feature creative solutions to connect the streetscape to the Riverwalk environment planned for the district. Residents will be able to enjoy exceptional amenities including waterfront balconies, an infinity pool with cascading waterfalls, a state-of-the-art fitness facility and a top floor lounge that will feature the most dynamic views of downtown. Located at the intersection of 4th Street and North Main Street, residents at the 300-unit community will be walking distance to Panther Island Brewing, Coyote Drive-In and Panther Island Pavilion. 

This community will be the first development to break ground within the Panther Island District – a vibrant waterfront mixed-use development located in the heart of Fort Worth. The more than 10,000 residences planned and 12 miles of active urban waterfront - including flowing canals and corridors that create uniquely-walkable spaces – will give rise to new businesses, trendy restaurants and a booming nightlife.

Construction for Encore Panther Island is slated to begin Summer 2017. Encore Multi-Family anticipates a grand opening date of Summer 2018.

_________________________

Sounds good, doesn't it. Operative word. "Sounds".

A couple weeks ago there was another choice piece of propaganda from The Boondoggle. I blogged about that propaganda in Rerouting Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Propaganda To The Truth.

A paragraph from that propaganda piece which is germane to this latest propaganda from The Boondoggle....

“Frankly, looking back, I don’t think it could have been done any other way,” J.D. Granger says. “We could have done it faster and cheaper, but the project would not be as good as it is today.” The majority of the infrastructure work should be completed by 2023, if all goes according to plan. “We couldn’t speed up the process, even if we wanted,” he says.

_________________________

I love that line from  J.D. saying they couldn't speed up the process, even if they wanted to. Why couldn't they? I think the answer to that question is The Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, is one of the most ineptly engineered public works projects in the history of American civil engineering. Currently The Boondoggle has been stuck for over half a year with the construction of the only one of The Boondoggle's bridges under construction, being built over dry land to connect Fort Worth's mainland to an imaginary island.

J.D.'s slow motion process is not the item I am focused on it relation to this Encore Riverfront Panther Island Apartment deal. What I am focused on is J.D. saying the majority of infrastructure work should be completed by 2023.

2023.

Five years after the Encore Riverfront Panther Island Apartments are supposedly scheduled to be completed, the majority of the infrastructure should be completed, according to Granger.

The second paragraph in this article about the first private development, which "may" break ground on the imaginary Panther Island, touts 12 miles of active urban waterfront with flowing canals.

So, people moving into these Encore Panther Island Riverfront apartments in 2018 get to wait at least five years before they get to enjoy those flowing canals? That is if those flowing canals are part of the majority of the infrastructure which J.D. Granger says should be completed by 2023.

The Boondoggle's propaganda about its "developments" reminds me of an old Rockford Files episode. Rockford came upon a real estate development scheme somewhere near California's Salton Sea. At one point one of the potential buyers is being shown the property with the salesman touting the lake, the large lots, the beautiful clubhouse. All we see is bleak desert landscape.

Later Rockford's co-hort, Angel, is marveling at the audacity, convincing buyers to pay a premium price for a lot near the imaginary clubhouse with a premium view of the imaginary lake.

No mention was made in the episode of imaginary bridges connecting to an imaginary island in the imaginary lake....

No One Will Harvest Washington's Tootsie Tonasket's Vote

Yesterday I blogged about Washington's Betty Jo Bouvier Missing Old-Fashioned Texas Style Voting.

Betty had verbalized wonderment regarding the fact that Texas still had polling places where voters voted.

Washington has long gone to a polling place free method of voting.

Apparently, somehow, Washington has figured out how to manage mail in ballots without the fraud problems Texas is currently experiencing with a crime called Vote Harvesting.

I suspect Washington has enacted strong penalties of the felony nature for any sort of  Electoral Fraud, while in Texas one can commit outrageous Electoral Fraud, such as harvesting thousands of bogus absentee ballots to ensure the re-election of candidates paying for the Vote Harvesting Service, with doing so being considered a misdemeanor level crime.

You know, like jaywalking.

So, in Texas if you are desperate to maintain control of something like the Tarrant Region Water District Board, because losing control would likely mean a flood of corruption exposure and crony firings and the ending of nepotism, well you have a real strong motive to take advantage of that special Texas election advantage and pay a specialist to harvest you the absentee ballots you need to win.

I know, you reading this in modern democratic parts of America, this seems hard to believe, but it has been happening for multiple election cycles in Tarrant County, currently the focus of the biggest Electoral Fraud Investigation in Texas history.

Meanwhile up in the progressive, modern American state of Washington, yesterday Aunt Alice, also known as Tootsie Tonasket, found her 2016 General Election Ballot in her mailbox and took a photo of it to share on Facebook.

Aunt Alice can vote in the peaceful comfort of her home and then either stick the ballot back in her mailbox to mail, or drop it in the Tonasket town Ballot Box.

What a concept....

Washington's Betty Jo Bouvier Misses Old-Fashioned Texas Style Voting

Lately, problems with voting in Texas has made an appearance on the list of things wrong with Texas.

A few days ago I blogged about this Texas problem in Evidence Corrupt Tarrant County Political Machine Steals Elections.

On Monday, September 26 I mailed a Voters Registration Form to the Wichita Falls County Clerk. Weeks later I still had not received my Voter Registration Card.

This morning I emailed the Wichita Falls County Clerk, Lori Bohannon, asking if I am registered. Ms. Bohannon quickly got back to me with the news that no Voters Registration Form from me had been received.

I will be in Fort Worth next Wednesday. I have already checked to make sure I am still registered in Tarrant County, so I will be doing some early voting at my old voting location.

Changing the subject back to Tarrant County voting corruption, that being the harvesting of votes via absentee ballots.

This harvesting absentee ballot votes has perplexed since before I even knew it was a thing, way back in the last TRWD board election when the two incumbents won with a record vote number, with more than half the votes being absentee ballots.  The stench from that obvious corruption was so strong I figured immediate corrective action would be taken.

I figured wrong.

Ever since I have been in Texas I figure things wrong, usually due to seeing Texas through eyes which grew up in Washington.

I don't remember the last time I went to a polling place in Washington. I think I switched to permanent absentee ballot sometime in the early 1980s. Even then it was easy for a voter, any voter, to vote via absentee ballot.

Unlike Texas.

A couple days ago, after reading on my blog about the Texas voting scandal, Betty Jo Bouvier, resident of Sedro-Woolley, Washington, asked about voting in Texas with the following...

"Do they have actual voting locations in Texas?  We don't have that option anymore. I miss going to the polling place and seeing all our neighbors. It was kinda fun."

See how far Texas is behind a modern location in America? Washington voting is via mail in ballots. Or you can drop your ballot in a ballot drop box.

Now, how is Washington able to use such a method without the type fraud which in Texas has elected people, such as Jim Lane and Marty Leonard, and others, due to thousands of bogus absentee ballots voting for them?

I'm think it likely is not rocket science that explains how Washington figured out how to make mail in voting work. I suspect any sort of tampering is a serious crime. Not a simple little misdemeanor like it is in Texas.

Why is it so easy to register to vote in Washington? I only remember doing so once. I do not remember moving to a new Washington location being any issue requiring mailing in a form to get a new Voter Registration Card.

In Oregon one is automatically registered to vote when one reaches voting age. In Oregon you have to opt out of voting if you do not want to be sent a ballot.

Again, why is Texas so backward and difficult with something which is so simple in advanced, progressive modern American states?

Why is Texas so backward that something as malevolent as Vote Harvesting is apparently an accepted practice? Accepted, apparently, up til  now....

After Final Debate Spencer Jack's Thumb Points Donald Trump Down Hillary Clinton Up

Spencer Jack has been intensely following the presidential election process for well over a year now.

Spencer Jack began the election undecided as to who he would vote for, if he could.

Last summer Spencer Jack attended a Donald Trump rally at the fairgrounds in Lynden, a  few miles south of the Canadian border.

Last week Spencer Jack attended a Hillary Clinton rally in Seattle, which is a few miles further south of the Canadian border.

By the time Spencer Jack met Hillary he had figured out something was not quite right with Donald Trump. Even so, as you can see above, Spencer Jack watched the final presidential debate whilst wearing the MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN cap he got at the Lynden Trump rally.

As you can see, the debate was making Spencer Jack feel a bit nauseated.

Spencer was shocked at Trump's claim that Hillary wanted to rip a baby from a mom when it was time to be born. Spencer Jack's dad then had to try and explain that Donald Trump was talking total idiotic nonsense.

By the end of the final debate Spencer Jack visually indicated who he thought won.

Trump spewed a lot of inarticulate nonsense during the course of the debate. At one point Trump caused giggling when he claimed, yet again, that no one has more respect for women than Trump. Later in the debate the respecter of women said of Hillary, "Such a nasty woman."

This morning I came across someone who went to the bother of transcribing Trump's answer to the Chris Wallace question about Aleppo. Reading the mixed up gibberish is just as confusing and stupid sounding as hearing it come out  of Trump's mouth.

In its entirety, Trump's answer to the Aleppo question...

Well, Aleppo is a disaster. It's a humanitarian nightmare. But it has fallen from any standpoint. I mean, what do you need, a signed document? Take a look at Aleppo. It is so sad when you see what's happened. And a lot of this is because of Hillary Clinton. Because what has happened is by fighting Assad, who turned out to be a lot tougher than she thought, and now she is going to say, “Oh, he loves Assad.” He's just much tougher and much smarter than her and Obama. And everyone thought he was gone two years ago, three years ago. He aligned with Russia. He now also aligned with Iran, who we made very powerful. We gave them $150 billion back. We give them $1.7 billion in cash. I mean cash, bundles of cash as big as this stage. We gave them $1.7 billion.

Now they have aligned, he has aligned with Russia and with Iran. They don't want ISIS. But they have other things because we're backing, we're backing rebels. We don't know who the rebels are. We're giving them lots of money, lots of everything. We don't know who the rebels are. And when and if, and it's not going to happen because you have Russia and you have Iran now. But if they ever did overthrow Assad, you might end up as bad as Assad is, and he is a bad guy.

But you may very well end up with worse than Assad. If she did nothing, we'd be in much better shape. And this is what has caused the great migration where she has taken in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who probably in many cases, not probably, who are definitely in many cases ISIS-aligned. And we now have them in our country and wait until you see this is going to be the great Trojan horse.

And wait until you see what happens in the coming years. Lots of luck, Hillary. Thanks a lot for doing a great job.

_________________________

How many bits of disinformation did Trump spew during the debate that scared children and child-like adults?

On bit of disinformation was Trump's Aleppo answer claim that thousands of bad ISIS-aligned Syrians are in America, constituting a Syrian Trojan Horse. This and the scary abortion rhetoric were among multiple other bits of alarmist, paranoid nonsense frightening children whose parents made the mistake of letting them listen to Trump's vile verbiage.

Verbiage frightening children and those aforementioned child-like adults.

Anyway, I hope Spencer Jack was eventually able to get to sleep last night and his nightmares of being chased by a creepy orange monster with a haystack on his head weren't too upsetting...

Wichita Falls On High Alert For Incoming Rattlesnakes

This morning I saw this disturbing bit of news via the Wichita Falls Times News Record.

The City of Wichita Falls has issued a snake alert.

This is the first time I have found myself living in a town issuing a snake alert.

The warning warns to be particularly careful to be on the lookout for rattlesnakes.

Apparently an increase in the local rat population is the reason snakes have been moving to Wichita Falls.

I have yet to see a snake, rattle type or otherwise, since I have been in Wichita Falls.

I had numerous snake encounters during my years in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Snakes of various unidentified types in Fort Worth's Gateway Park: copperheads, cottonmouths and others in Arlington's River Legacy Park and Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

My one and only rattlesnake encounter occurred in South Dallas on the Cedar Hills State Park mountain bike trail. It was a big one. I had been to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Festival the weekend  prior, so I was well attuned to the distinctive sound of a rattlesnake rattling.

A few weeks ago someone mentioned to me that the rat population of Wichita Falls has increased.

I remember wondering if the town takes some sort of rat census to know such a thing.

I assume an increase in the rat population, if such has actually occurred, is due to the end of the drought and the increase of green foliage and other edibles.

I have not seen a rat, or, like I already said, a rattlesnake slithering about since I have been in Wichita Falls. I hope such continues to be the case....

Evidence Corrupt Tarrant County Political Machine Steals Elections

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Windy Walk To Lake Wichita With Whitecaps & Fish Tales

I had myself a might fine ultra windy power walk  today, leaning against the incoming gale from my abode to Lake Wichita via the Circle Trail.

I do not recollect seeing whitecaps on waves rolling on Lake Wichita on any previous visit to the lake.

The waves had the bridge to the floating dock swaying so much that the handrails were of use.

And the dock itself reminded me of being on Washington Ferry during a big tidal change.

The dock was rocking so much I asked the fishermen and woman if they needed seasick pills. Only one had something to say to that question, that being the fisherwoman, saying no, that the motion got relaxing after about an hour.

That is the aformentioned fisherwoman you see below.

The fisherwoman reminded me of my Grandma Vera. Grandma liked to fish. Often we'd go up to Lynden to visit Grandma to find a "Gone Fishing" note on the door. We knew Grandma's fishing holes on the Nooksack River, and eventually, usually, were able to find her.

The fisherwoman above is also a grandma. Said she been fishing ever since her granddaddy taught her. Charming lady. Told me all about her kids and grandkids and showed me the cool new fishing pole she'd ordered from TV.

The wind pushed me quickly back to my abode, eventually.

This evening I am expecting to see Elsie Hotpepper at a meeting in the D/FW zone. Trouble is a-brewing in the D/FW zone, with the Hotpepper at Ground Zero, as usual.....

Wichita Falls Wood Memorial Park Tornado Art & Cloud Gatlin Poetry

Yesterday, on my way to ALDI, I rolled my mechanized wheels where they had not been rolled before.

At some point in the rolling I realized I was at the south end of Sikes Lake, with a buffer of homes between Sikes Lake and the road on which I was driving.

As I neared Maplewood Street I came to a park,  which I thought odd, what with this park seeming to be adjacent to the trail around Sikes  Lake, which to me seems like a park, and should maybe be named Sikes Lake Park,

But, I digress.

Let's digress further and back up a few months. Well before I began my Texas exile I was aware that Wichita Falls had been hit by two notorious tornadoes, one in 1964, again in 1979. I clearly remember when the 1979 tornado was a big deal, news-wise, nationally.

A few weeks after my move to Wichita Falls I found myself curious as to where the infamous 1979 tornado hit in Wichita Falls. For some reason I thought it was in the downtown area, a thought reinforced when I explored the downtown Wichita Falls area and saw unusual numbers of vacant lots, some turned into large parking lots. As if at some point in time buildings stood on these empty spaces.

Well, imagine my surprise when I learned the infamous 1979 tornado did its damage a short distance north of my abode. After learning this I wondered if that was the reason for the large, block sized area, grassed and surrounded by fence, at the southwest corner of Taft and Midwestern Boulevards.

I wondered why there was no Texas Historical Marker in the area. I thought, maybe there was, but I just had not seen it. Texas seems to love to stick Historical Markers to mark things that often do not seem all that historic to me.

The F4 Tornado, known to locals as Terrible Tuesday, struck late in the afternoon of April 10, 1979. This was one of 30 some tornadoes which touched down in the Wichita Falls region.

42 people were killed, 1,800 were injured. 20,000 were left homeless. The tornado caused $400 million worth of damage, a record not surpassed until the equally infamous Moore-Oklahoma City tornado of May 3, 1999.

So, back to today.

The park I mentioned earlier is called WOOD MEMORIAL PARK.

What is memorialized in this park?

Well, if you guessed the 1979 Terrible Tuesday tornado, you guessed correctly.

Ever since I began walking around Sikes Lake, months ago, I have noticed the orange thing you see here. I thought it looked like some sort of playground thing, but at the time that made no sense, since I did not know there was a park there.

Today, up close, this looked like a tornado themed work of sculptural art.

In Wood Memorial Park, a short distance from Miller Street, on a grassy knoll overlooking Sikes Lake, there is a small memorial. That is what you see at the top. The memorial has plaques attached to all sides, imparting various bits of information. All of which is hard to read, because, like I said, this is one small memorial.

The side facing east has a list of all who died in the tornado.

On the side facing south there is the following poem....

WOOD MEMORIAL PARK

At Maplewood and Miller Streets
A Memorial Plot Recalls,
Forty-Five Tornado Victims
Who Died in Wichita Falls

It was Chosen for Its Setting
Where the Storm had Vent Its Rage,
And Left the City's Name Impressed
Upon the History Page.

Dedicated to a Couple
Much Acclaimed for Doing Good.
As Pioneers, Philanthropists:
The Beloved Frank and Bea Wood.

And Should One Sapling Wither
Or by Nature be Defaced,
Another One of Stronger Build
Will Quickly Takes Its Place.

So that Future Generations 
Passing By May Stop and See...
Each Lovely Face Reflected
In the Beauty of a Tree

Mrs. R.E. Cloud Gatlin

I like that name, R. E. Cloud Gatlin. Was Mrs. Cloud Gatlin Native American? Or married to a Native American?

I wonder why Wood Memorial Park is not on the directional signage one finds all over Wichita Falls which helpfully directs people  to that which they are looking to find? There isn't even a sign pointing to Wood Memorial Park off heavily traveled Maplewood Street.

Wood Memorial Park has multiple picnic tables, and, as is the norm for Wichita Falls, unlike the Texas town I used to live in, modern restroom facilities.

Washington Wind Storm Reports From Linda & Jason Including Hillary & Batman

Yesterday afternoon, with yesterday being Friday, Little Miss Linda called me from my old home zone of Mount Vernon in the Windy State of Washington.

When I saw an incoming call from Little Miss Linda I figured she was calling to tell me about the Big Blow blowing in from the Pacific.

I figured correctly.

Yesterday's high wind and rain was a prelude to what is expected to happen today.

Forecasters have been comparing the potential of this current storm with the infamous Columbus Day Storm of 1962. That storm was one of the most powerful measured since the days of measuring storms began.

Anemometers, the wind speed detectors, were wiped out in northwestern Oregon and southwest Washington, the location of the strongest wind.

Wiped out before the wind reached maximum velocity.

While I was talking to Little Miss Linda the incoming call indicator indicated an incoming call from Little Miss Linda's neighbor, two blocks distant, with that neighbor being Spencer Jack's dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason.

I assumed Jason was also calling to tell me about the storm. I am technically challenged, phone-wise, so I don't know how to switch from one call to another without losing both. I figured Jason would leave a Voice Mail. But he didn't.

But, later in the day I received an email from Jason with the above photo and the only text telling me "Sent from my iPhone".

Via the photo I could tell Jason was in Seattle. I could tell this because through the wind and rain I could see the marquee of the Paramount Theater behind him. I knew Jason was planning to attend the Hillary Clinton Rally in Seattle. I am assuming this took place in the Paramount.

Above is a screen cap gleaned from the Seattle Times of Hillary's Seattle Rally. I do not see either Spencer Jack or Jason in the picture.

Even though Hillary was in the midst of a potentially historically powerful storm I hope she took some comfort in being in extremely friendly territory, a territory with way fewer Deplorables than my current location.

However, I do know some of the muy estupido ilk in Western Washington who are voting for the Orange Menace. I am embarrassed for them and have no understanding how we could have attended the same schools.

Then again, I do remember all those Washingtom Trumpettes, who I know, as being, well, not top tier students, maybe not even middle tier.

D Students for Donald.

That should be a slogan.

Another screen cap from the Seattle Times.

I do not know where in Puget Sound the above wave is crashing. The caption underneath the photo says "Spray flies over Beach Drive Southwest and douses storm watchers Friday". I do not know where Beach Drive Southwest is.

And then the below, seen yesterday via Skagit Breaking News, on Facebook. I thought this was mildly amusing.

Actually, Robin is asking Batman a perfectly sensible question. Umbrellas are of use in a normal Washington rain. However, to speak Washingtonian Robin should have asked if he should bring a Bumbershoot.

What Batman should have said to Robin, rather than abusing Robin with a slap, would be to tell Robin that Bumbershoots are of no use in hurricane level winds, Unless one is hoping to be able to hold on and be airborne....

TRV Boondoggle Transforms Imaginary Bypass Channel Into A True Promenade

A few minutes ago I heard from Elsie Hotpepper, via text message.

Part of that message made mention of the fact that the TRV was propagandizing about something which had someone usually not prone to such being profanely poetic.

For those who do not know what TRV is, those initials stand for Trinity River Vision, also known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The full name of TRV has grown over the decades to TRCCUPIDV.

Or Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Elsie Hotpepper's text message eventually lead me to something I did not know existed, or maybe I did not remember it existed.

A TRV Facebook page.

Click the link and you can experience the propaganda yourself.

Such as that which you see above, which was at the top of today's TRV Facebook page. A congratulations to some entity which had won an award for their work on the London Olympic Park.

The propaganda shows up in the line "They are also the team responsible for transforming our bypass into a true promenade".

What?

Where is this promenade? Prior to the transformation to being a true promenade was this imaginary promenade a false promenade?

Our bypass?

What bypass? All there is is one bridge stalled under construction where a ditch, I mean, bypass, may be dug at some point in the distant future.

And then there was this. A guy appearing to be welding during one of The Boondoggle's construction stalled V Piers. I thought this post on the TRV Facebook page was going to be about the stalled bridge construction. I thought wrong.

The post with the V Piers appearing in the background has nothing to do with The Boondoggle's bridges. It has to do with how to prepare a bid packet with a bang for The Boondoggle's projects. Here I was thinking the Panther Island Bid Opportunities would have something to do with soliciting bids to get those bridge design errors fixed and construction back underway.

And then there was the following doozy. I have blogged multiple times over the decades about The Boondoggle's signage at Gateway Park touting the wonders that would one day appear.

Next time I am in Fort Worth, which is currently scheduled to be in less than two weeks, maybe I will swing by Gateway Park to check on The Boondoggle's upgrade of its propaganda signage. For years this has been a bizarre spectacle to behold.....

Bertha Bores While Fort Worth Bores In A Different Way

This sort of falls into the dormant category of something I read in a west coast online news source which I would not expect to be reading in the online version of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Or the print version of the Star-Telegram.

This time it is, once again, something I read in the Seattle Times.

Well, the obvious thing is that well into the foreseeable future it is unlikely any sort of transit tunnel is going to be bored under Fort Worth's tiny downtown.

While in Seattle a boring lady named Bertha is now well over the halfway mark in tunneling under downtown Seattle, part of a multi-billion dollar project to replace the Seattle waterfront's Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth there is a slow motion public works project known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, or the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island District Vision.

Part of the fuzzy Fort Worth vision is three simple little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Only one of those Fort Worth bridges has begun being constructed, with all three originally scheduled to take four years to build. Longer than many actual complex feats of engineering.

Now I'm getting to the difference between how a public works project is covered by local media in a modern American town and how it is covered in Fort Worth.

From the time Bertha began boring the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has kept Bertha's progress updated on its website. The Seattle Times continually reports on Bertha's progress, or lack of progress, as does other Pacific Northwest media.

When Bertha ran into an unexpected steel pipe, injuring her, causing about a year repair delay, the ongoing status was reportedly regularly in the Seattle Times and other Washington news sources. WSDOT had and has a live camera giving real time video access to the repair operation and Bertha's progress once she began boring again.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, I believe the one and only bridge under construction remains stalled, due to design errors. As far as I know, despite this stall being for over half a year now, the Star-Telegram has not reported on The Boondoggle's latest boondoggle, that being the little bridge not currently being built, which was supposed to take four years to build.

I believe a live cam was installed by The Boondoggle around the time the Roundabout, near the stalled bridge, was being built, along with The Boondoggle's homage to trash cans art installation.

I recollect more than one person joking that what one sees via The Boondoggle's live cam does not seem to change from day to day. As in not much happens.

I suspect with the stalled bridge project maybe the live cam has been turned off.

Then again, no one associated with The Boondoggle has ever given the slightest indication they have any realization of how embarrassingly inept has been the execution of this supposedly vitally needed flood control and economic development project.

So vitally needed that this project is being executed in ultra slow motion, going for some sort of Guinness Book of Records for Longest Construction Project in History. The Boondoggle's boondoggle has already surpassed the construction of the Panama Canal, the Taj Mahal and, well you get the drift.

Anyway, have I missed it somehow? Has anyone read anything in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about the stalled bridge construction?

Other than the initial article which said construction should resume in about a month......

Tarrant County May Be Ground Zero For America's Largest Election Fraud Investigation

It has seemed sort of obvious something was not right about an election or two or three in Tarrant County. Vote totals that defy all logic and reason.

What is the end game of this type investigation? I have no idea.

Is there a do over with the races where the election was stolen? I have no idea.

Do the actual winners in those races simply replace the fraudulent winners? I have no idea.

Will criminal charges be brought? With trials, convictions and jail time? I have no idea.

We can only hope....

Today I Walked To Learn Jesus Rain Is Running For Nothing In Wichita Falls

For my prescribed Power Walk today I walked the Circle Trail north of my abode til nearly reaching Midwestern Boulevard.

Then exited the Circle Trail to head west through a couple apartment complexes, then circled back south through a Caribbean zone where all the streets are named after Caribbean islands.

Such as Grenada, which was the street on which I headed back east towards the Circle Trail.

Then I took Barbados til I got to Haiti.

All along the Power Walking today I was seeing a lot of political signs.

On Barbados I saw a sign which from a distance I thought a guy named Jesus Rain was running for something. As I got closer I saw that instead of Jesus Rain running for anything the sign was thanking Jesus for the Rain.

Does this sign date back to the end of the Wichita Falls drought over a year ago? Because lately Jesus has been raining down way too much rain on Wichita Falls, resulting in a lot of bad flooding.

Perhaps the sign should be amended to "THANKS JESUS FOR THE RAIN BUT YOU CAN LET UP NOW".

Haiti took me back to the Circle Trail to head south to my abode.

Walking the Caribbean neighborhood was pleasant. Lots of big trees shading me from the sun, which today was seeming almost HOT.

The Caribbean neighborhood has sidewalks.

Sidewalks were a rarity in my former Texas location, a town sadly lacking in many of the modern amenities one associates with modern American towns.

Like corruption free elections.....

Happy Indigenous People's Day From New York City & Spencer Jack On The Today Show

Text message from Spencer Jack's dad this morning when I woke up my phone....

Good morning. I don't know if you're a Today Show fan, but if you watch the first half hour, your Favorite Nephew Spencer Jack is standing right behind Lester Holt.

Well, I have not watched the Today Show for years. That would seem to indicate I am not a fan of the Today Show.  Well, I guess it sort of does indicate I am not a fan. I assume if I were a fan I would be watching the Today Show.

I am so out of touch with the Today Show that until I read this morning's text message from Spencer Jack's dad, I did not realize that Vice-President Debate moderator, Lester Holt, is on the Today Show.

The two Today Shows photos came via email, not via phone. The photos included no explanatory text.

But, I am assuming in the photo at the top Spencer Jack is at One Rockefeller Plaza, looking in on the Today Show set.

The second photo also appears to be at One Rockefeller Plaza, with the throng that looks through the window at the Today Show in progress.

Maybe I am a Today Show fan, without knowing it, what with knowing what I am looking at in these photos without being told what I am looking at.

Monday, October 10 would make this Indigenous People's Day in much of America. Columbus Day in less enlightened locations in America.