Friday, January 31, 2020

Wichita Bluff Erased Graffiti Hoodoos & Dershbags

A few days ago I mentioned Nature Communing On Wichita Bluffs With Graffiti after happening upon a big mess of graffiti covering a wall on the side of the Circle Trail at the west end of the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

A couple days after that a return visit saw a contingent of Wichita Falls Anti-Graffiti Enforcers working to obliterate the vandalizer's graffiti.

And then yesterday I took an extremely cold walk on the bluffs and saw the result of the graffiti cleanup. One would never know vandals had vandalized.

What remains looks like the greenish patina of aged copper.

Continuing on past the former graffiti I came upon the most complex Hoodoo installation I have yet seen in all my years of finding Hoodoos on various Texas trails.


Six Hoodoos of various sizes. Can you find all six in the above photo documentation?

Changing the subject from graffiti and Hoodoos to something totally unrelated.

A day or two ago when I made mention of CBS Seeing Imaginary Signs Of Panther Island Progress I also made mention of a text message I got from one of Mrs. Caraway's old boyfriends. This particular old boyfriend is witty, wise and politically astute.

This morning Mrs. Caraway's witty, wise and politically astute old boyfriend text messaged me a new word inspired while watching Trump's Impeachment Trial. The text message...

"Unbelievable. New word...Dershbag."...

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

CBS Sees Imaginary Signs Of Panther Island Progress

Yesterday I got one of those ubiquitous Facebook notifications notifying me I had been mentioned in a comment.

In this particular instance it was the newlywed Mrs. Layla Caraway who simply mentioned my name as a mechanism by which to cause me to see that which she wanted me to see.

That being some bizarre Trinity River Vision propaganda.

I knew it would be propaganda because I saw via the screen cap of the associated video that the source was that infamous purveyor of misinformation and ridiculous hyperbole known as the Trinity River Vision Authority, which used to be directed by Kay Granger's eldest son, J.D., til he was fake fired to placate eons of complaints and given an imaginary new job at the same salary, this time being in charge of flood control, where there has been no flooding for well over half a century.

Probably J.D. can not manage to muck up flood control in an area which does not flood, so J.D. likely will not be able to do much damage, unlike the decade plus record of boondoggling J.D. finagled with the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision Boondoggle, with its three simple little bridges being built over dry land, stuck in slow motion construction mode for well over a half a decade, in what has become an epic attempt to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

So, this video which Mrs. Layla pointed us to, is a short clip of a short news blurb from the newsboys at CBS DFW. When I first saw this I opted not to watch, because I knew just from the "NEW SIGNS OF PROGRESS" title that this would contain aggravating nonsense.

And then I changed my mind and watched the short video to quickly glean my initial reaction was right on target. It is a clueless little bit of senseless puffery. Telling us if you drive north of downtown Forth Worth, on Main Street, why you will be seeing the signs of progress of what will one day be a water wonderland, and that Encore Panther Island is well underway. Why, oh my, they have even dug a little bit of canal.

No mention is made of the fact that it was several years ago now that J.D. Granger said in the coming year, I think it was gonna be 2018, we would be seeing construction underway on the imaginary island in the form of the Encore Panther Island apartment complex. Eventually, I think it was early in 2019, Encore Panther Island construction did begin.

And then quickly halted.

Because the foundation of the Encore parking garage was sinking into the imaginary Panther Island. And now all this time later the CBS DFW news bit uses that image use see above, of this Encore embarrassment, supposedly representing a sign of progress.

Like Mrs. Caraway says, this is hilarious.

I have no clue why CBS DFW would go along with being shill for what has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle.

Meanwhile on another sort of related note, about Kay Granger.

A couple days ago I got a text message from one of the aforementioned Mrs. Caraway's old boyfriends telling me the following...

Rodeo last night. In a big dollar suite. Popped up on the big monitor with lots of applause....Kay and Donald Trump Jr. I felt double violated and in need of a Silkwood shower...

Now, it is well known neither the Grangers or Trumps are picky about those with whom they form assignation entanglements.

Has Don Jr. ended his relationship with that woman many thought to be a drag queen? Is Kay Granger what is known a a really old cougar? Is Pudgy Putnam upset that Don Jr. is seeing Pudgy's rival?

Inquiring minds really want to know. If Kay would ever hold a town hall maybe someone could ask her some of these probing questions...

Monday, January 27, 2020

Wichita County Medical Alliance Hamilton Park WCMA Installation


Today when my bike wheels rolled off the Circle Trail into Hamilton Park I saw that which you see above, installed since last I was at this location.

Upon first glance I thought the letters YMCA were what I was seeing, with the song associated with those four letters popping into internal play.

When I got close to the towering sign I saw that each big letter explained what word was being represented by the letter.

Wichita County Medical Alliance

Now I was aware that this particular alliance was responsible for the building of the imaginative playground installation you see behind the sign.

But, methinks whoever was given the job of designing this sign did so on a computer, chose a big font size, not realizing how BIG the scaled full size version would be. The order then was sent from the designing computer to whoever built the sign, who built it without inquiring if whoever was paying for it really wanted the sign to be so BIG.

Long before last summer arrived I remember reading that the Wichita County Medical Alliance was planning on building a water playground adjacent to the installation behind the big sign. But, so far there has been no sign of that water playground...

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Fighting Harstine Island Tide With Ruby & Theo

Yesterday Ruby and Theo used their remote selfie stick to take a couple pictures, then email the pictures to their favorite uncle in Texas, with the explanatory text saying...

Fighting the Tide, Harstine Island Style.

It appears that the Harstine Island beach sand is a bit more coarse than the sand Ruby and Theo fought the tide with way back in August of 2017, when we built a massive sand castle fort at Birch Bay.

Since that last time I built sand castles with Ruby and Theo, with some help from big brother, David, the Tacoma Trio has had some professional sand castle construction training at an institution dedicated to that type training at a location on the Pacific Ocean near San Diego.


A closer look at Ruby and Theo's miniature sand castle fort, holding some sort of barrier in a likely futile attempt to thwart the incoming tide.

In about six months I should be up north, where the islands are real, and no one goes floating on inner tubes in polluted river water whilst drinking beer and listening to loud music at an imaginary pavilion on an imaginary island.

We are currently booked to stay at the same location at Birch Bay we stayed at the last time. The tides during that upcoming stay's time frame are going to be low, meaning there will be a lot of sand to work with.

And, if there are no clouds above, that sand should be heated up enough to warm the incoming tide to the temperature of lukewarm bath water.

I am looking forward to having a mighty fine time up in the Pacific Northwest version of modern America...

Friday, January 24, 2020

Lake Wichita Boardwalk Bridges Over Water While Fort Worth Bridges Flounder Over Dry Land

My bike took my on an early Friday morning ride this 4th Friday of the new 2020 year.

After a couple miles of rolling on the Circle Trail my bike had me on the floating dock on Lake Wichita, looking at the new boardwalk under construction, with multiple cement piers already installed.

I do not know why Wichita Falls did not use the Fort Worth method of building bridge type structures over dry land.

Those Fort Worth hapless bridges, three pitiful little structures, have been stuck in slow motion construction mode ever since the bridge building began with a big TNT exploding ceremony back in October of 2014, with an, at the time, astonishing four year bridge building project timeline.

Four years to build three simple little bridges over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island. And now the year is 2020, with those three bridges still not built, still over dry land.

And back in the news again, due to funds having been found to pay the bridge builder money owed due to construction delays which have not been the fault of the builder, but have been the fault of the ineptness of those responsible for the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle mess.

And so, supposedly, if we can believe what we read, the bridge building contractor now has workers working on all three bridges, non-stop, all 7 days of the week.

The bridge building fiasco part of what has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle has been going on so long I don't remember when first it was realized something was dire wrong.

Maybe it was the bizarre, frequently repeated claim, that these three bridges were being built over dry land in order to save time and money.

That claim repeatedly made when the fact of the matter has always been that there will be no water under those bridges until a ditch is dug under them, with the Trinity River diverted into that ditch.

And it does not take a construction engineer's expertise to intuit that the most sensible way to build three bridges spanning a cement lined ditch would be to dig the ditch at the same time the bridges are being built.

Digging the ditch under the bridges, after they are in place, seems fraught with complication possibilities.

But, those complications likely will not reveal themselves for a long long time.

If the bridges are ever finished, money has to be found for the unfunded project in order to dig the ditch.

We have already seen one construction on the imaginary island sink due to a faulty foundation. It is not difficult to imagine a similar fate befalling those three hapless pitiful bridges.

Meanwhile the new boardwalk bridge over Lake Wichita is slated to be finished in a couple months...

Monday, January 20, 2020

Nature Communing On Wichita Bluffs With Graffiti

It had been a few days since last I communed with nature.

So, on this 2020 version of Martin Luther King Day I did some nature communing at the Wichita Bluff Nature Area, along with multiple other communing nature lovers.

Today I was in walk mode, thought it to be too cold to be in bike mode. I thought wrong. Was perfect conditions for bike wheel rolling.

In the photo you are seeing my shadow appearing to adjust my headgear, whilst taking a photo of one of the lookouts which look out over the Wichita River valley below.

I do not know if a statistic exists of such, but I would not be surprised if Wichita Falls has the world's highest per capita number of swinging park benches. Two of which you see not swinging above.

I had barely begun my communing with nature when I came upon something disgusting.


An idiot, or collection of idiots, had sprayed graffiti on the retaining wall one walks by early on upon leaving the parking lot at the west entry to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

The above photo shows only a small amount of the total mess.

Rather brazen to do this in such a visible location, or so it seems to me.

Years ago I painted a building in Tacoma. The day after I finished painting I return to see that one entire wall had had graffiti sprayed on it. I was told this was known as 'tagging' and that gangs of hoodlums did this when they saw something newly painted.

I do not know if Wichita Falls has gangs of tagging hoodlums on the loose. I do not recollect seeing any graffiti before. At least not on the scale that I found today.

Wichita Falls has about as many abandoned commercial buildings in a sad state of eyesore as the town has actual functioning commercial buildings.

Those abandoned buildings would seem to be a great target for tagging by gangs of hoodlums. It might help lessen their eyesore aspect...

Thursday, January 16, 2020

You Know You Are From Washington When You Know Linda Lou


This morning when I checked the incoming email I saw among the email notifications from Facebook was one telling me the important notification that Linda Lou had tagged me in a post. That tagging is what you are seeing here, above and below...

YOU KNOW YOU ARE FROM WASHINGTON STATE WHEN:
  • You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Sammamish, Enumclaw and Issaquah.
  • You avoid driving through Seattle at all costs.
  • You know what a Geoduck is.
  • You consider swimming an indoor sport.
  • You see a person carrying an umbrella and instantly think tourist.
  • Your lawn is mostly moss and you don't really care.
  • Honking your car horn is for absolute emergencies.
  • You're EXTREMELY picky about your coffee.
  • “The mountain is out today", isn't a strange statement.
  • While out of state you just tell people you're from Seattle since that's the only known city in Washington according to the rest of the world.
  • You remember Almost Live.
  • You've eaten in the Space Needle, and while it was delicious, you're never paying $50 for a meal in the sky again.
  • You rarely wash your car because it's just going to get washed by the rain tomorrow.
  • You're used to the phrase "No, not DC" when telling out of staters where you're from.
  • Northface is always in fashion.
  • You take a warm coat and a hat with you for a day at the beach.
  • You have mastered the art of doing everything in the rain, because, well, Washington.
  • You play the "no you go" at four-way stop.
  • You have had both the thought of how beautiful Mount Rainier is, while simultaneously accepting that it will probably kill you someday.
  • You get a little twitchy if it's been more than a week since it last rained.
  • You believe Twilight ruined Forks.
  • You can say Humptulips, Lilliwap and Dosewallips without giggling.

REPOST IF YOU ARE PROUD TO BE FROM WASHINGTON

Skagit Valley Forrester's Burlington Snow Buries Linda Lou's Mount Vernon

My old home zone of the Skagit Valley is also home to a lot of trees.

Big trees.

Big forests of big trees.

Currently my old home zone of the Skagit Valley, and its big forests of big trees, is covered by a lot of snow.

Via Facebook, from my favorite Skagit Valley Forrester, I saw that which you see here.

Photo documentation of the current thick white blanket covering much of Western Washington.

In the comment accompanying the photo my favorite Skagit Valley Forrester opined that "I think Burlington got a lot more snow than Mt. Vernon."

When I saw the above photo I was on the phone with the Skagit Valley's Linda Lou, who was calling from her home location in Mount Vernon, about two blocks from Spencer Jack's primary Mount Vernon location.

Linda Lou reported her location in the Hillcrest zone of Mount Vernon has been covered with about 10 inches of the frozen white stuff. And that a strong wind was blowing with some drifting activity underway, along with a snow jogger running by as we phone chatted.

I have not received a snow report from Mount Vernon's Spencer Jack and his primary paternal parental unit. Or from the Skagit Flats' Hank Frank and his paternal parental unit.

Nor have I received a snow report from Tacoma's David, Theo and Ruby or their parental units.

Though I have been told by other Tacoma-ites that the Tacoma zone did not get hit as deeply as other parts of Western Washington.

Yet.

More snow is predicted to be on the way...

Endorsing Conservative Outsider Pudgy Putnam For Congress

A couple months ago we blogged about a Futile Right Wing Trumpist's Boot Kay Granger Attempt.

That blogging was soon followed by another blogging about the same subject, where Liberal Lunatics Body Slam Pudgy Putnam.

Pudgy is the nickname we gave the guy trying to replace Kay Granger.

Pudgy Putnam is the full name.

Pudgy Putnam is one of those poorly educated deluded high minded sorts who are avid advocates of the American nightmare known as Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has made it a presidential norm to give his opponents rude nicknames, so Pudgy Putnam must be totally okay with being nicknamed Pudgy, what with, well, actually being pudgy, while Pudgy's political hero's nicknames for people usually bear no relationship to reality.

Near as we can tell, the Democrat strategy to replace Kay Granger with a Democrat is to help Pudgy Putnam defeat Kay Granger in the Republican primary, due to the fact that it will be easier to defeat a Trumpist right wing nut job in the expected incoming Big Blue Wave of 2020, than it would be to defeat the incumbent, Kay Granger, who seems to remain popular with many Republican sorts, despite Kay Granger being associated with ongoing messes, such as the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

So, last night, via Facebook, we saw that Pudgy Putnam, he being the short pudgy guy in blue in the dark gray cowboy hat, in the above screen cap, has been endorsed by a fellow wingnut, named Bill Waybourn, who apparently is running for sheriff of, we assume, Tarrant County.

Both Pudgy Putnam and this Waybourn guy proudly label themselves "Conservative". 

One can not help but wonder how one of these modern era Trump supporting "Conservatives" define Conservative in 2020....

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

David, Theo & Ruby Take Us To Anderson Island


A couple days ago we blogged about a Texas Native Who Disliked Fort Worth So Much They Escaped Back To Washington.

In that blogging we mentioned that the former Fort Worth Texas native was moving back to the Anderson Island location in Washington.

I also mentioned that I had no memory of having been on Anderson Island, or its exact location, though I knew that island to be located in the south end of Puget Sound.

David, Theo and Ruby, after reading that particular blog post, then directed their mom, my little sister, Michele, to tell me precisely where Anderson Island is located...

We just read your most recent post   Anderson Island is what started us on our search for a vacation home! We stayed at a friend’s out there years ago and LOVED it. We came close to buying a tiny home out there very near Amsterdam Bay, which is fantastic. Downsides of Anderson Island: ferry access only, from Steilacoom, and there is saltwater incursion into the wells on parts of the island. There are two freshwater lakes that people live on, one with a super cool swimming hole. There is one store. It’s a lovely place. We can take you out there if you ever come visit. Anderson Island is right across from McNeil Island, home of the prison. The boat that goes there uses the same dock. It’s not far from the southern tip of Harstine Island, as the crow flies.
________________

On the screen capped map above that is Hartstene Island being the island on the far left. Anderson Island is the lower island in the middle. The McNeil Island Tacoma version of the Alcatraz prison is the island directly above Anderson Island.

And that green point you see at the upper right is Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. That line you see crossing water below Point Defiance Park is Highway 16 crossing the Tacoma Narrows via two suspension bridges, on the way to Gig Harbor, Bremerton, and the Olympic Peninsula.

To get to Hartstene Island David, Theo and Ruby have their parental units drive past Olympia, at the south end of Puget Sound, or take what I would think would be the longer route, across the Tacoma Narrows.

I wonder if David, Theo and Ruby have been trying to convince their parental units that maybe buying a boat might be the more efficient way to get to their new cabin on Hartstene Island. I suspect that would not be a good idea, what with having to deal with swift moving tides and other water navigation challenges.

This blog post has already gone long, before getting to what I thought I was going to get to prior to beginning to type, that being making a comment or two about things we see on this map which one can never see in Fort Worth, Texas, that town that that former native escaped from to return to Washington.

Things like real islands and bridges built across real water in less than four years, bridges which are actual real feats of difficult engineering. We will save elaborating on that, and more, for later...

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Tacoma's Queen V's 30 Car Icy 520 Floating Bridge Crash

I saw that which you see here this morning on Facebook, via Tacoma's Queen V.

An extreme variant of our popular patented series of blogging about something we see online about something happening in my old home zone of Washington that I would not expect to see happening in my current home zone of Texas, usually not expecting to see such a thing in the area of Texas known as Fort Worth.

In this case we are looking at a photo from yesterday's 30 car icy crash on the 520 Floating Bridge over Lake Washington.

That is the bridge which connects Seattle with Bill Gates' neighborhood on the east side of the lake.

Now, why would we not be seeing this type thing happening in Fort Worth, Texas during a winter storm?

Well, first off, a bridge which floats on a large body of water is not something which could happen in Fort Worth, due to the fact the town has no large bodies of water.

Second off, Fort Worth can not even manage to build three simple little bridges over dry land, let alone over water.

I can not think of a third off.

And it just occurred to me, regarding the 520 Lake Washington Floating Bridge, which is the biggest bridge of this type in the world, well, this floating bridge was built and floated in less than four years. If I remember right the floating bridge building began around the time, back in 2014, when Fort Worth began trying to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

The apologists for Fort Worth's Bridge Boondoggle try to claim the slow motion bridge building is due to the complex engineering needed.

Complex engineering to build simple little bridges over dry land.

Unlike easy feats of bridge building, like building San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in less than four years, built over deep, swift moving salt water.

Or that easy feat of floating a bridge in less than four years in Seattle.

I suspect no local politician's inept, unqualified son had anything to do with the San Francisco or Seattle bridge building or bridge floating.

That and those projects were fully funded before beginning construction. What a concept...

Monday, January 13, 2020

Texas Native Dislikes Fort Worth Escapes To Washington

A few days ago I blogged Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's J.D. Granger Temper Tantrums.

And then on January 8 I saw, via a notification from Twitter, telling me my Twitter Tweet of that blog post had been re-tweeted, which is that which you see here, text-wise and screen capped...

fwtxcitywoman--Back in WA. Couldn't take it anymore. Bought home on Anderson Island. Insulated. Peace, quiet. Grew to dislike  FTW. Carry on.
____________


This Twitter Tweet, or whatever you call it, sort of surprised me.

I first heard from fwtxcitywoman years ago. I do not remember if I first heard from her via an email sent from my Eyes on Texas website, or a comment made to this blog you are reading right now.

What I do remember is at that point in time I knew fwtxcitywoman as MKB, those being the initials of her name.

Early upon first contact MKB let me know she was the opposite of me, where I am a transplanted Yankee exiled to Texas, MKB was an exiled Texan transplanted to Washington.

Specifically, MKB was a Fort Worth Texan transplanted to the Tacoma/Puyallup zone of Washington.

And MKB made it sort of clear she longed to return to the wonder which is Fort Worth, and leave Washington in her past, looking forward to when she retired, and able to make that move happen.

I recollect MKB enjoying my descriptions of going treasure hunting at Fort Worth's Town Talk.

If I remember right, at times MKB could be a bit cranky with me pointing out what I thought was some bit of idiotic nonsense I was witnessing in Fort Worth, with MKB opining she found plenty to be offput by in Western Washington.

I think, again, if I remember right, being in one of the nation's bastions of progressive liberalism was something MKB found a tad distressing.

And then a few years ago MKB told me she was moving back to Fort Worth. I think this was after a job transfer, prior to retiring.

By that point in time MKB's husband had also Facebook friended me. I understood MKB's husband to be a native Pacific Northwesterner, and so I cautioned him to be prepared for extreme culture shock when first experiencing Fort Worth. I remember MKB's husband not quite understanding the nature of my culture shock warning, taking it more personally than it was intended.

Anyway, MKB and her husband made the move, returning to her hometown, which was also where her son had remained.

I remember wondering if she was still going to like Town Talk, because by the time MKB made the move I had sort of soured on Town Talk, due to changes made by a new owner.

I have no idea what it was about Fort Worth which MKB could no longer take, or why she joined the throngs who have come to dislike the town.

There are myriad reasons why someone who has experienced modern America would be offput by a town rife with corruption and other problems.

And so MKB has returned to Washington, to Anderson Island.

I recollect when MKB previously lived in Washington she made references to Anderson Island. I think she owned property on the island. I remember for sure MKB mentioning picking blackberries on Anderson Island.

Anyone who knows me well knows anything blackberry is a friend of mine. My favorite fruit, with mangoes a distant second.

I do not believe I have ever been on Anderson Island. All I know about that island is that it is in the south end of Puget Sound. I do not know if access is via bridge or ferry.

Speaking of bridge access to an actual island, I wonder if it was Fort Worth's bizarre slow motion construction of three simple little bridges over dry land, hoping to one day connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, which was the final straw MKB could not take anymore.

I know a lot of people have had a disgusted reaction to Fort Worth's embarrassing Boondoggle, though not strong enough for most to feel the need to escape the town...

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Texas 70s Renders Linda Lou Nauseous Before Freezing Snow

Two nights ago the Skagit Valley's Linda Lou texted me asking a couple questions, including asking if I was freezing.

I replied that no, I am not freezing, and that today the temperature got into the 70s, and that I currently had my windows open.

But, that the forecast was for possible snow in a couple days.

Well, the day after Linda Lou's text question, as in yesterday, the day known as Friday, the temperature again got into the 70s.

And then this morning, as in Saturday morning, we have had a 40 degree temperature drop.

With snow.

As you can see above, via the deep snow which has piled up on my patio deck.

When I texted Linda Lou that I was not freezing, but was instead warm in the 70s, Linda Lou replied with two words and an exclamation point, as in "Well puke!"

To which I asked back, "Puke cuz of being in the 70s?"

Which Linda Lou answered with, "Puke, because I don't like it cold and am envious of that 70 degrees,"

In the Skagit Valley, and the rest of the Western Washington Puget Sound zone a 70 degree day is considered to be a perfect summer day's temperature. Anything above the 70s, and in the 80s, or above, is HOT.

I am hoping to be able to drive my motorized conveyance device today. So far it does not appear there is sufficient snow accumulation to make driving problematic...

Friday, January 10, 2020

Texas Revokes JAIL 45 License Plate

I think what we are seeing here is a reversal of our regular series of blogging about something we see in an online west coast news source, usually the Seattle P-I, about a subject we would not expect to see in a Texas news source, usually the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

I do not know if a Seattle man got political about Trump on his license plate if the state of Washington would revoke it.

More likely the state would run an auction awarding that license plate to the highest bidder.

But, we saw that which you see here, this morning, on the front page of the online Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

I don't know why Texas would revoke a license plate with this particular message expressing a sentiment with which the majority of Americans agree...

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's J.D. Granger Temper Tantrums

Just like there is a generation of Americans, growing into their post-teenage years, who have no living memory of an America not at war, that same generation of Fort Worthians has no living memory of a Fort Worth not messed up by a failed pseudo public works project, originally known as the Trinity River Vision, before years of mismanagement morphed the vision into being America's Dumbest Boondoggle.

With three simple little bridges attempting to be built over dry land to possibly one day in the future connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

With wonders like a failed wakeboard lake, happy hour inner tube float parties on a polluted river. Scenic river cruises on that same polluted river. A future scenic waterfront, with a houseboat district, among other never gonna happen nonsense.

For most of this long era of boondoggling Fort Worth Congresswoman Kay Granger's eldest son, J.D., was the Executive Director in charge of mismanaging this fake flood control economic development scheme mess.

It was almost a decade ago I found myself at a large gathering in a meeting hall at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden where J.D. Granger, and others, were scheduled to show up for a forum addressing that which even then was becoming known as a Boondoggle.

J.D. Granger did not show up at that forum. We blogged about this incident where Boos Greet News That J.D. Granger Bailed At Last Minute On Tonight's Trinity River Vision Open Discussion Forum.

When it was announced that J.D. Granger would not appear one loud wag was heard to utter the famous line "That boy is a gutless wonder."

J.D. did not appear that night because he was mad that someone on some blog somewhere had posted photos of the new landscaping at his home which mysteriously matched the look of the landscaping at the newly opened Woodshed Smokehouse, a controversial restaurant J.D. had helped finagle as part of his imaginary flood control economic development scheming.

Over the years of this century's decades of Fort Worth's embarrassing Boondoggle we have been emailed tidbits of information from various people who have had an inside look at the Trinity River Vision Authority, and J.D. Granger's mis-management. We have referred to these information providers as Deep Moat.

There have been four Deep Moats.

The first Deep Moat showed up years ago, around the time J.D. Granger was referred to as a gutless wonder. That first Deep Moat was upset at what that person saw as outrageous spending by J.D. and his cohorts on all sorts of perks. Things like junkets to other towns to supposedly check out those town's water projects. Things like office perks like new Apple products, company cars, and way too much time spent talking about where the TRVA group should have lunch that day.

The final straw with that first Deep Moat was when J.D. Granger began a flagrant office affair with an employee, which soon had other TRVA employees unhappy due to J.D.'s office mistress getting what they thought was special unwarranted treatment, things like being put in charge of party planning.

J.D. Granger has since divorced his first wife and has married his office underling, who has now been given a new position of some sort in the nepotism laden TRVA/TRWD mess of corrupt mis-management.

A couple months ago I was told about some new instances of J.D. Granger stomping his foot and having a temper tantrum. I was not going to make mention of this, not until I heard the same thing from a second person.

The reason I was not going to repeat what I heard when hearing it from only one person was because it sounded so ridiculous.

I was told of the incidents over the phone, so I don't have print versions, like an email.

It was during the period when the Fort Worth powers that be, such that they are, began verbalizing being fed up with the non progress of the Trinity River Vision and the mess that vision has made of a large swatch of Fort Worth, due north of the town's downtown.

Demands arose that a forensic audit be conducted of the mess which the Trinity River Vision had morphed into. Soon a Dallas entity was hired, at around a half million dollar fee, to conduct, not a forensic audit, but instead a "review" of the hapless project, trying to determine what might get the project back on some sort of track.

When the Riveron Review was released, redacted, it quickly increased public outrage. We blogged about the reasons for the public outrage in Has The Trinity River Vision Riveron Review Been Officially Rejected? and in Army Corps Of Engineer's Document Contradicts Controversial Riveron Review.

Reading the Riveron Review it was clear to those who have been following the Boondoggle that J.D. Granger and TRWD general manager, Jim Oliver, had mislead the Riveron Reviewers, convincing the Riveron Reviewers of ridiculous nonsense, stuff like the reason this simple engineering project was taking so long was due to the extreme complexity of coordinating the building of bridges, with the digging of a ditch under the bridges, and other needed infrastructure upgrades.

The Riveron Reviewers also swallowed the nonsense J.D. Granger has long spewed to justify his interference with the Army Corps of Engineers plan to use the West 7th Street bridge design for the Boondoggle's bridges, while Granger insisted bridges built on V-piers would somehow be unique, rendering these simple little bridges into being signature bridges.

The V-piers have caused all sorts of engineering problems, hence being in year six of what originally was already an astonishingly long four year project timeline to build three simple bridges.

Over dry land.

So, the Riveron Review made some recommendations intended to help get the Trinity River Vision out of Boondoggle mode. The recommendation which met with the most public approval was the removal of J.D. Granger as the TRVA Executive Director.

And then that move was botched when it was learned that Granger had been moved from being in charge of imaginary bridge building to instead being in charge of imaginary flood control in an area which has not flooded in well over half a century.

Basically Granger was given an imaginary new job whilst still being paid the same $200 K plus a year.

Now, it was at some point during the Riveron Review revelation's reactions that J.D. Granger lost his temper when questioned by some members of the press. I do not know if this was a TV reporter or a print reporter. I have been told there was more than one incident of J.D. Granger totally losing his cool, making a total fool of himself, embarrassing his fellow TRVA employees who witnessed it.

The J.D. Granger temper tantrum incidents were so bad that someone in the TRVA, or TRWD, called his mother, Congresswoman Kay Granger, to tell her she needed to so something about J.D.'s behavior.

And now we have learned from the latest Deep Moat that J.D. Granger and Jim Oliver are telling their underlings at the TRVA that J.D. Granger is still in charge of the project. That the hiring of a retired Army Corps of Engineers official to take over for J.D. was just for optics, to silence the project's myriad critics.

J.D. Granger claiming to be still in charge has angered multiple TRVA employees who have long been frustrated by the ongoing incompetence they have witnessed, and have been a part of.

We have also learned that there is fresh dissension on the TRWD board, with some board members demanding answers to questions that have gone unanswered for years, going back to when Mary Kelleher was asking the questions, back when she was a TRWD board member trying to get answers to questions like how much money has been spent on junkets, signage, parties, failed wakeboard parks and the like.

A TRWD board member, or two, have been raising some serious issues. Including questioning the competence of Jim Oliver. One of the TRWD board members suggested it is time for Jim Oliver to receive a performance evaluation for the first time this century. That suggestion set off a temper tantrum by TRWD board member, Jim Lane.

I have forgotten how many millions of TRWD dollars Jim Lane schemed to spend to bail out a bankrupt friend who owned the property on which the decrepit La Grave Field is located. The TRWD is now the owner of that property, along with the nearby chunk of land on which the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century was built.

Speaking of TRWD nepotism and corruption. Who is Valerie Jay? All I know about her is she has a sweetheart relationship with someone in a high management position at the TRWD, and thus got herself on the TRWD payroll.

Methinks it is high time an in-depth forensic audit is performed on the TRWD and TRVA. A real audit. Finding out how many millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on signage, propaganda, websites, junkets, salaries, parties, failures (like the wakeboard park), imaginary artwork (like the million dollar homage to an aluminum trash can which sits at the center of the Boondoggle's unfinished roundabout by two of its unfinished bridges.

I'd like to know how was the decision made to spend a million bucks on that aluminum eyesore? And to install it years before finishing the roundabout it sits on, or the nearby bridges. What was the connection, relationship-wise, between the aluminum trash can artist and the decision makers on the TRVA/TRWD?

Why would a million bucks be spent on such a thing? Spending those funds years, well, decades now, before the projected possible completion of this hapless project?

And why should the federal government funnel funds from the more prosperous parts of America, to Fort Worth, to pay for this ill-conceived, ineptly implemented mess? If Fort Worth had a million bucks to waste on an homage to an aluminum trash can, well, how can the city possibly expect funds to help build un-needed bridges, or dig the ditch to go under the bridges?

This is all so perplexing. Pitiful. And perplexing...

Monday, January 6, 2020

Enjoying The Myriad Socialist Benefits Of Wichita Falls Texas

Last night I ran out of reading material, making it difficult to read myself to sleep.

So, this morning I gathered up a bag of books to return to the Wichita Falls Socialist Book Dispensary, also known as the Wichita Falls Public Library.

For a socialist operation the Wichita Falls Public Library is an excellently run government facility.

After acquiring a new collection of books I felt the need to commune with nature.

The socialist public park known as the Wichita Bluff Nature Area being only a couple miles to the west it seemed like a good idea to drive the socialist road system to that location to sit on one of the socialist provided swinging benches to read and enjoy the view of nature.

Above that is my right foot swinging on a side trail overlook looking over the Circle Trail descending downhill from the west entry to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.


Gazing down on the socialistically acquired Wichita Bluff Nature Area and the socialist public trail known as the Circle Trail, I saw another citizen jogging along in the distance. That citizen was soon followed by another citizen enjoying the electric akateboard scooter type device his wife gave him for Christmas.

I found out about the skateboard scooter details a few minutes after first seeing the guy scooting along, when he wheeled to the bench on which I sat.

Amazing how such a little electric motor can power such a device. He was able to zip up the Wichita Bluffs with ease.

I would not mind having myself a motorized skateboard scooter type device. It looks fun. I suspect there is no government run socialist operation yet providing these type scooters to be borrowed and returned. Probably it requires buying one the way one buys most stuff.

Today is being yet one more pleasant spring like day in Texoma. Is that rumored winter thing ever gonna arrive?

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Riding With Wild Mustangs Looking For Dorothy & Toto

No, those are not wild mustangs you are looking at here, frolicking across the Oklahoma prairie, celebrating the arrival of the new iteration of the Roaring 20s.

These are tame mustangs, frolicking slightly south of Oklahoma, in a pond on the MSU (Midwestern State University) campus.

It seems like it was last year the last time I rolled my bike wheels around Sikes Lake and the MSU campus, en route to Hamilton Park and the Circle Trail.

Today a strong wind blew cold from the north, which made for pleasant rolling heading south on the Circle Trail, rolling at high speed in the highest gear.

Before leaving MSU and arriving at the Circle Trail I rolled around the remains of the Fantasy of Lights, with the lights now dimmed, until later in the year.


As you can clearly see, above, via the view over my handlebars, Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Toto, have now left the Yellow Brick Road, possibly having managed to enter the Emerald City.

This time of year one sees a lot of people still in New Year Resolution mode, out getting much needed exercise. This phenomenon is always noticeable. And this new year it has been particularly noticeable in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Happy 2020 New Year Not Knowing What You've Got Til It's Gone

It seems like only last year I found myself being surprised to be seeing the MSU Burns Fantasy Of Lights start to show up, a week before Halloween.

A Wichita Falls local historian then informed me that the installation takes a long time to install, hence beginning before Halloween, so as to be able to open by the time Thanksgiving arrives.

And now the latest iteration of the Holiday Season is coming to an end.

The older I get the faster time seems to fly.

On this first day of the New Year of 2020 I opted to layer on sufficient outerwear to make for a pleasant bike ride, eventually making it to MSU and the aforementioned Fantasy of Lights.

Above you see my handlebars looking at one of the new installations which arrived last year. Apparently this is Disney inspired by something called Frozen.

The passage of time thing has had me feeling a bit melancholy. As I rolled along today, nearing Sikes Lake, that song with the verse which goes something like "Don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you've got til its gone" was haunting me.

That line came to mind as I remembered holiday seasons of years gone by.

Before moving to Texas I always sort of dreaded the various family get togethers that happened the holiday season time of year. Grandma Slotemaker's birthday was December 16. There were many years Grandma Slotemaker's birthday was combined with Christmas. This usually involved going north to Lynden. Or there could be a variation where we'd go to a restaurant in Bellingham. Or my old home in Burlington.

When I was old enough to no longer be under parental control I often finagled to avoid the relative holiday season activities.

I often would take off for Reno. I spent quite a few Christmases in Reno. This sounds pitiful, but it was actually fun. A long drive to get to Reno, several days there, then head to California.

The final time of doing this, to escape the relative holiday fun, was Christmas of 1993.

I spent Christmas day that year in Disneyland. Christmas Eve at Knott's Berry Farm. The week following Christmas was spent having basic Southern California fun, except for playing in the Pacific. Too cold for that.

And then it was on to Las Vegas, leaving Vegas the day before New Year's Eve, making it to Flagstaff by New Year's Eve, with the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on New Year's Day. And then on to Moab, via the Painted Desert.

Crossing the San Juan River into Utah I saw a cool looking lodging location stuck up against a redrock cliff.

The Mexican Hat Inn.

The next day couple days were spent in Moab, hiking a snowy Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

At Islands in the Sky, in Canyonlands, I looked down on the Colorado River below and saw mountain bikers. I vowed right then to get a mountain bike upon my return to Washington, and return to Moab to mountain bike. That happened for the first time two years later.

In October of 1994 what had been a long tradition of me escaping the holidays to head south came to an end. I had been on a long road and houseboat trip, which included staying in that Mexican Hat Inn I had seen the year before, and on the day after returning home, on Sunday morning, my mom called to tell me Grandma Slotemaker had passed away.

The relative holiday season was never the same after that.

And now I look back on it and realize I should have probably not escaped the holidays so often, because nothing like that will ever happen in my life again...