Wichita Falls Wednesday Morning 15 Degrees Below Zero

Wichita Falls, Tuesday afternoon, that Tuesday morning's icy sleet turned into snowflakes falling for a couple hours. But, not in an amount copious enough to coat the ground with a white covering.

As Tuesday progressed, hour by hour the temperature dropped, til being well below freezing by midnight's turn into Wednesday.

And now, Wednesday morning, an hour or two after the sun's arrival, the temperature is 6 degrees, with the wind making those 6 degrees really feel like 15 degrees below zero.

My interior space's heating device is managing to negate the outer world cold. For now. No sign indicating the Texas electrical grid is under stress. So far.

I don't know if I will be risking making my way into the slippery, cold outer world today.

Not much traffic, out there, in the outer world, currently...

Ancient Photo Documentation Of Uncle Mooch Being Moochie

Yesterday I blogged about the Forgotten Uncle Mooch Historical Record. 

That generated me being asked if I had any photo documentation photo documenting Uncle Mooch in the time frame in which he reminded his nephews and nieces of Disney's Moochie character.

Eventually I found multiple photos of Uncle Mooch looking like Disney's Moochie character.

Including the photo you see above.

I do not know where, exactly, we all are in the photo, other than it being, likely, somewhere in Western Washington, or maybe a roadside stop, somewhere on Stevens Pass.

I do know that that is my little brother, Jake, on the left, then me, with what looks like Dad's hand on my head, perhaps to keep me from falling into the Wenatchee River. And that is Uncle Mooch, in Moochie mode, on the right.

Continuing on, a couple more photos of Uncle Mooch in Disney's Moochie mode.

That would be my Mom, with Uncle Mooch, and a bust of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Such indicates the photo was taken near Grand Coulee Dam, in Eastern Washington.

Grand Coulee Dam was a New Deal, revive the economy from the Great Depression, FDR project, which is why the reservoir formed by Grand Coulee Dam is known as Lake Roosevelt.

Continuing on, we visit Uncle Mooch, in Lynden, in Western Washington, a mile or two south of the border with Canada.

That would be Uncle Mooch, on the left, in full Moochie mode, next to his brother, Uncle Ivan, barely seeing Grandma Slotemaker-Jones, between Ivan and Uncle Mel. That would be my Mom holding baby sister, Nancy, back when she was a cute little thing, winning baby beauty contests, well, one, sponsored by the Skagit Valley Herald. I can not tell who is behind Nancy. Is it me? I don't know. But, I do know that is my Dad, sipping coffee, on the right.

Well, that concludes our look at Uncle Mooch, from long ago...

Feeling Dangerously Cold In Wichita Falls

The above is the Tuesday morning warning from the National Weather Service, a federal service not yet gutted by the ongoing Trump nuttiness. 

With the sun having arrived to begin its daily heating duty, that heating is currently chilled to only one degree above freezing, with each of the following hours colder than the hour previous, eventually getting way below freezing by the time the sun takes its daily rest from its heating duty.

And with that incoming deep freeze there is predicted to be some icy precipitation. 

Following is how the National Weather Service is predicting the next couple days in North Texas...

It will get really cold. The overnight low in Wichita Falls Tuesday night will drop to 7 degrees. The high on Wednesday will be just 24. The overnight low on Wednesday will be 5 degrees. Temperatures won’t rise above freezing until Friday afternoon. In a game of meteorological whiplash, it will be 64 on Sunday.

The wind will blow really hard: It’ll blow from the north with gusts up to 30 mph Tuesday and Wednesday. That means wind chills by the evening commute on Tuesday will be 1 degree and -10 degrees for the Tuesday morning commute. It will never feel warmer than 4 degrees on Wednesday.

It will get nasty — but not really. Rain is forecast to start Tuesday morning and turn into freezing rain and a little snow in the afternoon. On the bright side, little accumulation is expected.

The Forgotten Uncle Mooch Historical Record

Way back, long ago, in the previous century, a day came when me and my siblings were introduced to the entity who our favorite uncle intended to marry.

Our soon to be new aunt did not know, prior to meeting her soon to be nephews and nieces that us kids had a nickname for our favorite uncle.

Nicknamed after our favorite Disney movie character, an actor named Kevin Corcoran who became quite popular playing the character nicknamed "Moochie" in multiple Disney films and TV shows.

The character nicknamed "Moochie" reminded me and my siblings of our favorite uncle, and so, he became known, to us, as Uncle Mooch.

Well.

Uncle Mooch's bride to be took umbrage at hearing her beloved referred to as Uncle Mooch. 

I recollect getting chased around Burlington's Maiben Park by our soon to be Aunt Jane, who was determined to re-educate her soon to be nephews and nieces regarding what she determined to be the proper name for Uncle Mooch.

Now, it must be added, that in addition to nicknaming our favorite uncle as Uncle Mooch, due to the similarity to the Disney character, Uncle Mooch was also known, to us kids, for his habit of sneaking a bite of something tasty off our plates, such as French fries, and similar things.

As recently as August of 2017 that mooching aspect of Uncle Mooch happened in a restaurant at Birch Bay, with Aunt Jane and Uncle Mooch in a restaurant, sitting near me, with Uncle Mooch next to my nephew, David. Uncle Mooch mooched a clam and a French fry off David's plate.

Upon Uncle Mooch purloining such from David's plate I said to my sister Michele, (who was born well after we'd nicknamed our favorite uncle as Uncle Mooch)....

"And now you see one of the reasons we call him Uncle Mooch!"
 
The above info about Kevin Corcoran, aka Moochie, came from Wikipedia, with the following part of the article about this Disney character...

Corcoran appeared in a Mouseketeer outfit with the name Moochie across his chest just once. In Disneyland: The Fourth Anniversary Show (1957), "Mouseketeer" Moochie repeatedly badgers Walt Disney for information about Zorro.

Continuing his fictional Moochie roles, Corcoran played Montgomery "Moochie" Daniels in the 1959 Disney film The Shaggy Dog. He also starred as Moochie Morgan in Moochie of the Little League (1959) and Moochie of Pop Warner Football (1960), both for the Disney anthology series. Character actor Russ Conway played his father.

In each iteration, Moochie likes to hang out with the older "guys" (big brother Wilby in The Shaggy Dog, the title characters in Spin and Marty), and hates being treated like the little kid he is. His determination to emulate elder peers despite adult warnings (swimming, helping Wilby, even switch-hitting) frequently gets him in trouble, but Moochie's bravado always returns soon afterward. Film writer Donald Liebenson has called Corcoran's character "part All-American boy and part hellion."

I guess that also sort of describes Uncle Mooch, part All-American boy and part hellion....

Spencer Jack, Hank Frank, David, Theo, Cade & Ruby's Upcoming New Cousin & Sister

Incoming happy news from Arizona, this second Sunday of February.

In the photo above, that would be my niece-in-law, Carrisa, holding my great or grand nephew (not sure of these relative terms) Cade, with Cade's proud papa, my nephew, Christopher, on the right, with all looking at that cake on the table.

With the "Birthday" cake telling us "It's a Girl!".

We learned, on Christmas, that Cade was going to be having a sibling, arriving, if I remember correctly, in August.

And now, we learn Cade's incoming sibling is going to be a sister.

Which will render Niece Ruby no longer being the only girl offspring of any of my siblings, or my sibling's offsprings.

In other words, my nephews, Spencer Jack, Hank Frank, David, Theo and Cade, and niece, Ruby, will be seeing a new girl cousin this coming Summer!

Freezing Deep To 5 Degrees In Wichita Falls In Two Days

Day after day, the upcoming predicted Deep Freeze appears to be being predicted to be Freezing Deeper, as those frigid days draw closer.

The latest has the day after tomorrow, the day known as Tuesday, getting down to a low of only 5 degrees, as measured by the Fahrenheit method.

5 degrees is getting perilously close to the temperature which knocked out the Texas power grid during a February earlier this decade.

This time, if the Texas power grid collapses, I am heading north, across the Red River, to Oklahoma, calling ahead to the Kiowa Casino Hotel, hoping to book a room. And, if that fails, continuing north til I find room at an Inn, of some sort.

That rain, on Tuesday, predicted to turn to ice, may make driving a bit hazardous.

I'll take it real slow...

The Wichita Falls Next Week Deep Freeze

Of late, every morning's checking of the weather forecast seems to be forecasting increasingly colder days, where, previously, the forecast had been for increasingly warmer days.

This morning, I see that next Tuesday we will be experiencing a real temperature low of 10 degrees, as measured by the Fahrenheit method, with the prediction not predicting how cold the wind will make those 10 degrees really feel.

The following day, Wednesday, is predicted to be even colder, with a low of 8 degrees, again, not predicting how cold wind might make those 8 degrees really feel. 

I suspect the wind, next week, on Tuesday and Wednesday will make the temperature really feel near zero, or below.

I am looking forward to March and the Spring arrival...

Wichita Falls At 8 Degrees Fahrenheit Has Me Housebound

It seems like only a week ago, because it was only a week ago, that the long-range weather forecast indicated no more freezing, all the way til the start of Spring.

And then a week later, North Texas, and Wichita Falls, freezes.

Deeply.

As in, today, the day known as Thursday, the second Thursday of the second month of 2025, the temperature in the outer world is 17 degrees, as measured via the Fahrenheit method.

With the wind blowing with sufficient strength to make those 17 degrees feel like 8 degrees.

Really feeling like 8 degrees has me opting to remain in my heated interior space today and forego bundling up in the multiple layers needed to make the outer world feel less frigid.

On the plus-side, weather-wise, clouds look to have moved on, returning the local sky to its regular clear blue mode...

Happy February 12 Remembering Sister Jackie's Birthday

On this date, February 12, in the year 1962, a Monday, if memory is serving accurately, both regarding the year and the day, on that day's morning, I found myself, along with my two other siblings, sitting on the curb on the south side of Fairhaven Avenue, in Burlington, Washington.

Why were my siblings sitting with me on that curb on that day at that time?

Well.

On the other side of Fairhaven, the north side of the street, the town of Burlington's multi-story hospital was situated, a block north of our familial home on Washington Avenue, across from Burlington's Maiben Park.

My siblings and I had been instructed, by our dad, to be so sitting at that particular time, so that he could show us something.

That being our freshly arrived new baby sister.

Jackie. 

We sat there until dad held our baby sister up to the window.

We waved.

Neither dad nor Jackie waved back.

The fact that this happened well over half a century ago, and that I remember it so vividly, is testament to how big a deal this was to me and my siblings, at the time.

Little did we know, at the time, (how could we?), that at the end of the decade our final sibling would arrive, to even bigger fanfare, almost, than the Jackie arrival.

Happy Birthday, Jackie.

Hope you have yourself a mighty fine happy birthday!

UPDATE: Informed sources have informed us that the correct happy birth year of Sister Jackie is 1961, not 1962, as previously erroneously indicated...

Another Windy Wet Freezing Wichita Falls February Tuesday

What you are looking at here is the drippy view through the Levolor blinds covering the window of my computer room view of the outer world.

An outer world currently wet and cold.

Cold as in 37 degrees, with a strong wind making those 37 degrees really feel like 31 degrees.

I won't be communing with nature in the outer world today.

Unless a miracle happens, with the return of a clear blue sky, along with a temperature a couple dozen degrees above freezing.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be even colder, with a low of 17 real degrees. I do not know if wind is currently predicted to make those 17 degrees feel even colder.

And then the next day, Thursday, semi-warmth returns, with the temperature only going three degrees below freezing.

And then on Friday the low is predicted to be nowhere near freezing, with that day's low being predicted to be a relatively balmy 48 degrees.

Unfortunately, Friday's heat wave is short-lived, with sub-freezing returning on Saturday and Sunday.

Spring is only a little over a month in the distance. I look forward to my interior space's climate control system not needing to be in either heating or cooling mode for that short duration before the arrival of extreme HEAT...

Post Super Bowl Party Musings With Appomattox Visitor

I am almost recovered from yesterday's Super Bowl.

Yesterday is the last time I ever have a Super Bowl Party.

I think I may say that every year.

No adult beverages were involved in causing this year's Super Bowl Party hangover.

It was too much of things like macaroni and cheese, fish sticks, fried mozzarella sticks, pizza, chicken wings, barbecue brisket, cherry pie, lemon bars, pecan pie.

I forget what else.

And then there were the virtual Super Bowl Party visitors.

During yesterday's Super Bowl Party, I took a short break and woke up my computer, and saw the current visitors to my main blog, looking, I assume, to see what was happening at my extremely interesting Super Bowl Party.

Apparently, someone from Appomattox, a town in Virginia, dropped in several times during the brief time I checked in. 

Do I have myself some sort of online stalker?

From Appomattox.

Along with another one, from some place in the U.S. called Boardman, who, apparently, is interested in insomnia caused by scary, ugly, fat women.

I have searched my feeble memory bank, trying to remember if I know anyone from either Appomattox or Boardman, and draw a total blank.

Perplexing...

Sikes Lake Windy Nature Communing Way Colder Than Predicted

Above you are looking at the Brownish-Blue lagoon of Sikes Lake.

With the temperature predicted to be 71 degrees, with zero wind making those 71 degrees feel warmer, it was to Sikes Lake I ventured on this second Saturday of the second month of 2025, hoping for some pleasant nature communing.

Instead.

Upon arrival at Sikes Lake, an hour before noon, the temperature was 56 degrees, via the way Fahrenheit measures the temperature. And that zero wind was gusting at speeds around 36 mph, according to the updated weather info provided by my phone.

I do not remember when I last felt so totally chilled as I did today. That and feeling the need to hold onto my hat lest it get blown away.

One gust, which had to be well over 36 mph, almost knocked me over, causing me to stumble, almost losing my balance.

I knew a cold front was scheduled to arrive.

Tomorrow.

Not today.

Today's big chill, with super gusting winds, was totally unexpected, due to being unpredicted.

I think I shall forego going for an outer world nature commune tomorrow, with Sunday predicted to get to only 46 degrees, for the high, again via that Fahrenheit measuring method. I suspect, what with today being way colder than expected, the same will happen tomorrow.

I just hope we are not heading to an unpredicted sub-zero deep freeze, such as what happened in Texas a couple Februarys ago...

Flipping Over A Scenic Lucy Park Photo

Yesterday, I blogged about a Foggy Thursday Start Turning Into Clear Blue Lucy Park, with the above photo documentation, documenting, via a photo, the view, looking south, from the middle of the Lucy Park suspension bridge over the Wichita River.

I thought, upon seeing the photo off the phone, and on to my computer screen, that this looked to be a rather scenic photo of a rather mundane scene.

Then, last night, at some point in time, looking at that photo on the computer's big secondary screen, I opted to opt for something I'd never opted for before.

Flipping a photo.

With the below result.

The river makes for a more menacing sky, when flipped, whilst the river looks to be a much more pleasant, bluish, color, than its actual look of being rolling reddish mud.

I do not think I can make an ongoing theme of flipping photos; due to the fact I do not think I see many scenes which would work to be flipped.

Perhaps I shall try such the next time I am at Lake Wichita, or Sikes Lake, if no wind is blowing, thus rendering the lake surface to a mirror-like quality...

Foggy Thursday Start Turns Into Clear Blue Lucy Park

When the sun arrived this morning, on the first Thursday of the second month of 2025, also known as February, I was surprised to see that a super dense fog had arrived overnight, rendering visibility to be pretty much non-existent.

By the time in the morning when I left my abode, heading to my favorite drug dealer, also known as a pharmacy, and then on to the library, before arriving at Lucy Park, the outer world was still foggy, but not quite to a zero-visibility level.

Upon arriving at Lucy Park, I saw the fog was no longer to be seen. The sky was then a totally overcast gray.

The photo documentation you see above is today's view from the middle of the Lucy Park suspension bridge across the Wichita River. A scenic view of the ruddy muddy river.

By the time my Lucy Park nature communing was over, the clouds had totally lifted, returning to the clear blue-sky norm of which I have grown so fond.

We are now heading into several clear, warm days, heated into the upper 70s and 80s. I do not think anymore fog is on the current weather menu...

HOT Hiking Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle Seeing Skagit Snow

Yesterday, the 3rd day of the 2nd month of 2025, I hiked the backwoods jungle of Lucy Park, currently with no leaves in the trees, with the temperature, at that point in time, nearing 90 degrees.

It was the HOTTEST day, so far, this year. Shorts and t-shirt were totally adequate outerwear.

An hour after returning from Lucy Park I was at my computer, scrolling through Facebook, when I saw a photo from Skagit Breaking News, which is what you see above.

The weather condition, yesterday, in my old home zone of Skagit County, Washington.

Even when it snows at my current location it never creates a winter wonderland scene like you see above, due to the fact there are no trees of the Washington evergreen sort, in Texas, that I have ever seen.

In the photo it looks like one vehicle has skidded off the road. This road is located near Alger, a small hamlet in north Skagit County. The road is an access road to Interstate 5, heading west, with the road on the left being an exit from I-5, with the sign pointing to the entry to I-5 South, straight ahead, and the entry to I-5 North, to the right.

It has been a few years, more than a couple decades, since I have been at this location.

I fervently hope one day to be at this location, and others in Skagit County, and Washington, again, preferably during the time of year when snow can not be a factor...

87 Degrees Almost HOT Today In Wichita Falls

Today's Wichita Falls forecast for the third day of the second month of 2025 is a temperature high 13 degrees short of 100 degrees.

That is almost HOT!

I shall try to resist turning on the A/C today, both in my interior space and my motorized means of motion.

Yesterday I erroneously claimed there are no more freezing predictions in the long-term forecast, all the way well into March.

Looking at the forecast, again, this morning, I see we are scheduled to have a few days in the coming weeks where the day's high gets into the 50s, with the overnight low dipping below freezing.

So, I shall thus forego an early planting of my Spring garden...

Sunday Hiking The Warm Freeze-Free Wichita Bluffs

In the photo documentation you are at the summit of the Wichita Bluffs in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area, looking east towards the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Wichita Falls, which is barely peaking up on the horizon.

As you can see, this second day of February, the first Sunday of the second month of 2025, it is a mostly clear blue-sky day, with the temperature in the 70s when I did my high-speed bluff hiking, along with many other Sunday bluff hikers.

Looking at the long-range weather forecast, well into March, there are no more days below freezing currently predicted, a harbinger of an extremely early arrival of Spring-like weather.

A couple Februarys ago I got to experience the coldest cold I have experienced in Texas. Six degrees below zero, knocking out power to most of Texas. Causing me to venture out on the icy streets looking for a motel which still had power. 

What a nightmare.

And then when the power finally returned, frozen water pipes burst all over Texas, rendering more misery, with the lights on, heating returned, but no water.

So, I liked seeing that long-range, zero-freeze forecast this morning...

Balmy First February Texas Day Walking Around Sikes Lake

On this first day of the second month of 2025, it was back to Sikes Lake I ventured on this balmy Saturday, with the outer world heated to degrees pleasant enough to make it comfortable to wear shorts with a t-shirt.

The temperature is scheduled to reach 79 today, then in the 80s for the next couple days, before getting a bit cold, again, but not cold of the freezing sort.

A few days ago the forecast for the first couple weeks of February had been day after day after day in the 80s. That seemed a bit unlikely.

But, I am ready to enjoy a couple days in the 80s.

In the photo documentation you are at the east end of Sikes Lake, looking west. As you can see, it is a totally clear blue sky first day of February in Wichita Falls, Texas...

Final 2025 January Day With Clear Blue Sky Walk Around Sikes Lake

Yesterday's predicted heavy rain, with flash flooding, thunderstorms and tornadoes possible, did not materialize. By late afternoon all clouds had vacated, with the welcome return of a clear blue sky.

Not even some heavy rain managed to drip. Just a drizzle for a couple hours.

Yesterday's eventual totally clear blue sky has continued on this, the final day, of the first month of 2025.

Tomorrow, February of 2025 arrives, with the current weather prediction being day after day of temperatures over 80 degrees. With no precipitation. That should be enjoyable.

On this final day of January, it was to Sikes Lake I ventured for some fast-paced nature communing.

The photo documentation, above, is looking west from the bridge across the currently Green Lagoon of Sikes Lake.

For the next couple months, I intend to amp up my physical activity level, hoping the increased endorphins give me some relief, mood-wise, from the current madness America is going through...

Happy Birthday 92 To My Favorite Mom

The Skagit Valley entity known as Linda Lou called this morning. During the conversation's course I made mention of the fact that today is my mom's birthday.

How old would Shirley be today, asked Linda Lou?

I replied I don't know for sure, but I shall consult the family history book once I am off the phone.

And so, I did.

To learn my mom's precise birthdate of January 30, 1933.

I used my phone's calculator to subtract 1933 from 2025 to get a calculation of 92.

Difficult math problems are not one of my many fortes, but, I think 92 is the correct answer to my mom's age question.

In the photo documentation above we are at my mom and dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary Party. With mom and dad opening presents.

I was a surprise appearance at this party.

This was on August 11 of 2001. My birthday, five days after mom and dad's actual anniversary date of August 6. 

This roadtrip back to Washington was the last time I drove from Texas back to Washington. 

Solo.

It was a great roadtrip. One month before the infamous events of 9/11 changed our world.

Earlier today I blogged about a New Zealand family crossing the I-90 floating bridge. And making note of seeing Mount Rainier hovering to the south of Lake Washington.

On that 2001 roadtrip back to Washington I'd been in Texas long enough to have my senses altered. As in, I so clearly remember how weird it was crossing Snoqualmie Pass over the Cascade Mountains, on Interstate 90, with the air smelling so strongly of Evergreen fir trees. I never made note of this, to that noticeable a level, whilst living in the Evergreen State.

And then heading west across the I-90 floating bridge over Lake Washington. I had never so greatly enjoyed being slowed by heavy traffic. The air seemed so crystal clear, everything looked so shiny and bright, as if it had just been washed and polished.

Talking to Linda Lou this morning made me feel a bit homesick. Linda Lou made mention of the Skagit Valley Food Co-Op, in Mount Vernon. No such thing exists at my current location. I've seen no such thing anywhere I have been in Texas.

Linda Lou also made mention of a new thing in Mount Vernon. A Mexican market, located on Riverside Drive, selling crafts and other Mexican type goods. I would hope maybe tamales. There used to be a Mexican market, of sorts, in the Texas town I am currently in, Wichita Falls, but it got itself turned into one of those ubiquitous Dollar General type joints.

One would think there would be many Mexican markets in Texas, what with the source nation being so close, that and there are many of Mexican descent in Texas.

Anyway.

Happy Birthday, mom. I hope you and dad are having yourselves a mighty fine time today!

Leaving Seattle With The New Zealand Family Heading Towards Fort Worth

 A week or two ago I blogged about a New Zealand Family's Seattle Visit Reminding Me Of Fort Worth's Infamous Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

The New Zealand family had been on an RV trip up America's West Coast. I assume they began in Los Angeles, or San Diego. I only joined their visit once they were north of San Francisco, touring the Oregon Coast en route to Seattle.

Last night I watched a follow up video of the New Zealand Family's Seattle visit, titled We Had To Leave Seattle. That is a screen shot, above, from the video. The view of Mount Rainier seen whilst crossing Lake Washington on the I-90 floating bridge.



The New Zealand Family was quite taken with Seattle. The scenery, seeing mountains in any direction. All the bodies of water. Pike Place. The buildings. The stadiums. And more.

A Seattleite named Rebecca, a fan of their videos, was the New Zealand Family's tour guide. 

I don't think Rebecca took the New Zealanders through any of the tunnels under Seattle, either via vehicle or light rail. Or to West Seattle. Or to REI corporate headquarters. Or many other of Seattle's unique features.

The New Zealand Family reacted to Seattle the way I always have. And yet they only hit some of the highlights.

Before moving to Texas I'd only been to a few of America's big cities. Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Phoenix, Vancouver and Victoria.

Well, those last two are in North America, but the Canada part of North America, not the United States part of North America.

So, when I moved to Texas, with the first home location being in the little hamlet of Haslet, located in the north end of Fort Worth, Fort Worth was my introduction to a new type of big city.

The big city downtowns I had previously seen, were big. Fort Worth's downtown was not big. The New Zealanders remarked repeatedly regarding Seattle's buildings and design looking so new and modern. I had the opposite reaction to seeing Fort Worth for the first time.

I'd never before seen a city with large areas being basically run-down slums. It was sort of shocking.

I early on was not shy about verbalizing my reaction. Eventually I made a website documenting much of my reaction. I particularly reacted with confused amazement when I repeatedly saw Fort Worth's newspaper of record, the Star-Telegram, have articles about some ordinary thing, making the claim that this ordinary thing was making cities far and wide green with envy about this ordinary thing in Fort Worth.

Soon upon my arrival I discovered the charms of Dallas, thus learning not all Texas big cities are of the Fort Worth quality level.

In the video where the New Zealand Family is leaving Seattle, the New Zealand mother is lamenting regarding what will they have to show Rebecca when she makes her promised visit to New Zealand, saying New Zealand has nothing of the level they'd experienced in America and Seattle.

I had the same concern when first in Texas, knowing I was expecting some visitors from Seattle to arrive about four months after the Texas arrival. By the time they arrived I'd discovered the charms of Dallas, like Fair Park, the Farmers Market, the Galleria Mall, the West End, Deep Ellum, the DART train, and more.

I remember when those Seattle visitors arrived taking them to downtown Fort Worth, telling them I was gonna show them something incredible. Way back then there were huge parking lots along the Trinity River. From those parking lots one could hop on the world's shortest subway. This rickety old thing which took you into a tunnel that opened up in downtown Fort Worth, with access to a now long gone vertical mall, and the downtown Fort Worth Public Library.

The world's shortest subway is long gone. Fort Worth allowed Radio Shack to build a corporate headquarters Radio Shack could not afford, built above the subway and on part of those parking lots.

Eventually the Radio Shack headquarters was turned in a college. I forget the name. Tarrant County College, maybe.

It was things like the Radio Shack debacle that helped me develop such a low opinion of Fort Worth. This was well before the debacle known initially as the Trinity River Vision, which began near the start of this century, with decades later little to show for the supposedly vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme.

Another thing which quickly bugged me about Fort Worth was upon first arrival I'd see signs pointing one in the direction of Sundance Square. I'd asked where the square was, to no avail. Eventually I learned this was the name given to a multi-block downtown Fort Worth renewal scheme.

After decades of confusing the town's few tourists with those Sundance Square direction signs, a couple parking lots were turned into a town square type thing, named Sundance Square Plaza.

This stuff is so goofy I've had people tell me they think I must be making it up.

Nope, it's all true, and I've only mentioned a couple items of the Fort Worth goofiness in this blog post. 

I recently learned that Heritage Park, a park at downtown Fort Worth's north end, across the street from the county courthouse, a park built to celebrate Fort Worth's storied heritage, a park with a unique, impressive design, is still a boarded-up eyesore. A sad state for at least a decade.

Fort Worth's Heritage Park got itself closed after multiple drownings in the Fort Worth Water Gardens, at the south end of downtown. The design flaw in the Water Gardens was obvious, a clear danger, which should never have happened. Heritage Park also had water features, shallow water features in which one could not accidentally drown.

And yet it was deemed necessary that Fort Worth's Heritage Park be closed, surrounded with a cyclone fence, with the park allowed to deteriorate into an eyesore.

Years ago, after I blogged about the Heritage Park scandal, a descendant of the well-regarded designer who designed Heritage Park, I think he was Japanese, contacted me, appalled, asking if it was really true, that this park had been allowed to be destroyed in this manner.

And all these later I recently learned from Elsie Hotpepper that Heritage Park remains a fittingly ironic homage to Fort Worth's actual heritage.

An eyesore....

Final January Tuesday Nature Communing At Lake Wichita Park

It was to Lake Wichita Park I ventured on this final Tuesday of the first month of 2025, for some salubrious nature communing.

As you can see, looking beyond the statue and above Mount Wichita, the usual blue sky is totally covered in gray today.

The temperature was in the 50s when I was in the outer world. 

What with the fact that little rain has fallen of late, I don't understand why Lake Wichita appears to be at full pool. Did heavy rain fall west of Wichita Falls recently? 

I have yet to see anyone launch a kayak from the kayak launching dock, now that it is floating. The dock sat on dry ground for a year, or so, waiting for the lake to rise and float it.

Rain and thunderstorms are on our weather menu for the next couple days. 

Saturday's Wichita Bluff Nature Area Linda Lou Poignantly Texted On A Bench

 It was to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area I ventured on this final Saturday of the first month of 2025, to commune with nature whilst enjoying some peaceful solitude. 

As I was walking my phone made its incoming text message sound. I sat on the bench you see photo documented, located on a side spur off the main Wichita Bluff Nature Area section of the Circle Trail which circles Wichita Falls.

The text message was from one of my favorite Washingtonians, Miss Linda Lou. The text asked if I had seen this, which is what you see copied below. I texted back that I had not seen this, and that upon reading it, that it mirrored my foul mood....

"In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and say, "And we shall overcome." I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing 'Amazing Grace' in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

"These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, God knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.

"And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.

"The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides. We never have had such a cheap counterfeit of a president* as currently occupies the office. We never have had a president* so completely deserving of scorn and yet so small in the office that it almost seems a waste of time and energy to summon up the requisite contempt.

"Watch how a republic dies in the empty eyes of an empty man who feels nothing but his own imaginary greatness, and who cannot find in himself the decency simply to shut up even when it is in his best interest to do so. Presidents don't have to be heroes to be good presidents. They just have to realize that their humanity is our common humanity, and that their political commonwealth is our political commonwealth, too.

Watch him behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn't he a funny man? Isn't what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now."

- Charles Pierce 

Friday Semi-Warm Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle Hike

With one week left in this first month of 2025, it was to Lucy Park I again ventured for some Friday nature communing with the temperature a relatively balmy 23 degrees above freezing.

I hiked the leaf-free Lucy Park backwoods jungle today. A few strong wind gusts had a brief chilling effect, but, other than that, the outdoors was perfectly pleasant.

Looking at the current long range forecast, if the forecast is forecasting accurately, it looks like we may escape Winter without a deep freeze, or an Ice Storm. There are a few days with rain and thunderstorms predicted. But, nothing slippery.

A Little Snow With Extreme Cold Chilling Wichita Falls

A zoomed view from my kitchen window, about an hour after the sun arrived to do its daily illumination and heating duty, on the third Tuesday of the new year of 2025.

So far the sun isn't doing well with its heating duty today. Currently we are freezing way under 32 degrees this morning, at 15 degrees.

The temperature did not get above freezing yesterday. The same is predicted for today.

The heat pump seems to be working hard to warm up my interior space. 

I do not recollect being tired of Winter in years previous, so soon after the arrival of Winter, as I am currently.

As you can see via the zoomed view, a little snow dropped to Earth overnight. 

I do not think the outer world at my location has been rendered slippery due to that slight amount of snow. I think it will be the temperature which will keep me from any lengthy outdoor walking today...

Cold Saturday Walk To Wichita Falls Dry Falls & Hotel Remains

The predicted cold front blew in last night, with gusts wreaking havoc, once again, with my patio furniture.

Yesterday's balmy 70 degree plus day had me in t-shirt and shorts. Today's Saturday venture to Lucy Park, with a strong wind blowing and the temperature a few degrees above freezing, had me in fully insulated winter attire.

Today I fast walked on the Circle Trail, from Lucy Park to the currently dry falls of Wichita Falls. That is what you are seeing in the photo documentation, from a vantage point halfway to the top of the dry falls, looking across the Wichita River at the demolished remains of a long-abandoned hotel, of which only that pile of gray rubble remains.

Apparently for some reason Wichita Falls allowed a large hotel to be built on a known flood plain, as in, an area known to be prone to flooding. This hotel was built late in the previous century. At some point in time, in the current century, a disastrous flood damaged the hotel beyond being able to be repaired.

After a few years of haggling over ownership and who is responsible for the hotel, the City of Wichita Falls hired a demolition company to take down and remove the derelict hotel. The area will now be turned into parkland. Of what sort? I have not heard.

As for the dry falls of Wichita Falls. That I find perplexing. Wichita Falls is so named after a waterfall which was located slightly north of downtown Wichita Falls. This was not much of a waterfall, only falling a couple feet. A flood, way back in the late 1800s, turned the falls into what looks now like minor river rapids.

At some point in time, in the previous century, the Wichita Falls townsfolk tired of tourists asking where the Wichita Falls waterfall was located.

And so, an artificial Wichita Falls waterfall was created. This artificial waterfall flows from a cemetery, which one sees when hiking the trail to the top of the falls. Periodically the artificial Wichita Falls waterfall is turned off, turning it into the Wichita Falls Dry Falls.

One would think the design of this solution to the longstanding problem of not having a waterfall in Wichita Falls would have been such that the waterfall was always in waterfall mode, never in Dry Falls mode.

I came upon multiple fellow trail walkers today on the way, to and from Wichita Falls Dry Falls. I do not know if any of them were visiting tourists following the signage pointing them to the Wichita Falls waterfall, currently in Dry Falls mode...

One Semi-HOT Texas Day Before Way Below Freezing

Today's temperature in Wichita Falls, Texas, is currently forecast to reach a high of 73 degrees. Living in my old home zone of Western Washington, 73 degrees was considered to be a warm Summer day, borderline HOT.

I never experienced extreme temperature changes, happening fast, til I moved to Texas. 

I arrived in the Lone Star State late in the previous century, in the month of December. I arrived at my new abode in a drenching downpour, with the temperature seeming balmy, in the upper 70s.

About a week after my Texas arrival I ventured to the Fort Worth Stockyards, around noon, for lunch at the now long gone Riscky Rita's. My first experience with an all you can eat Mexican buffet. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt on that visit to the Stockyards, because the temperature seemed HOT to me.

At that point in time I was not yet paying attention to the Texas weather forecast, so, I did not know that a cold front was predicted to blow in, that day. The big blow began whilst I was pigging out at Riscky Rita's.

Upon exiting Riscky Rita's I was shocked to be struck by a strong wind, with the air chilled to what felt below freezing.

I made a run for my vehicle and high tailed it back to my abode in Haslet, a little burg at the far north end of Fort Worth.

That night an Ice Storm struck. My first time experiencing this type weather phenomenon. By morning the outer world was coated with a thick covering of ice, making any form of mobility, walking, biking, driving, difficult.

We did not know what to do, water system-wise, with the temperature nearing zero. We did not know how to shut off the water to the barn, or the pool, figuring such should be done to prevent freezing pipes. Eventually, with the help of the next door neighbor, we figured it out.

No ice is predicted to arrive with the incoming cold front. The rain predicted for this morning has not materialized.

Winter is only a couple weeks old and I am already ready for it to end and segue into Spring...
 

Mary Kelleher for Fort Worth City Council 5

Yesterday a Facebook notification showed up notifying me that something had changed...

A Page you follow, Elect Mary Kelleher, changed its name to Mary Kelleher for FW City Council 5

This was new news to me. I am assuming Mary Kelleher's current term on the Tarrant Regional Water District Board is coming to an end, and thus, now, Mary Kelleher is running to become a Fort Worth city councilwoman.

Ironically, well, maybe it is not ironic, more coincidental, but the same day I learned Mary is likely going to become a councilwoman, a Microsoft OneDrive Memory showed up which also reminded me of Mary Kelleher.

That is me you see above, on my way to D/FW International Airport, picking up an ostrich egg from Mary Kelleher's mailbox, on the way.

Switching from ostrich eggs back to the previous subject.

If my memory is serving me correctly, I first learned of Mary Kelleher, decades ago, via an article in Fort Worth Weekly, about Mary's issues regarding the Trinity River regularly flooding in her area of Fort Worth.

Prior to that, the entity who goes by the name Layla Caraway, who some know as Elsie Hotpepper, had been in the news---local, state and national, due to her home in Haltom City teetering precariously above a flooding creek.

Fort Worth's Congresswoman, Kay Granger, visited the site of Elsie Hotpepper's teetering home, causing Elsie to have some hope that maybe that local politician might be of some help. A hope history would prove to be erroneous.

This was all happening early on during the first decade of what has become an embarrassing Boondoggle, which has been Boondoggling along now for three decades, with little to show for what was purported to be a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme.

The fact that no attention was being paid to actual vitally needed flood control, both in the flooding creeks in Haltom City, and the Trinity River in East Fort Worth, motivated both Elsie Hotpepper and Mary Kelleher to become what are known as political activists.

After reading about Mary's flood woes in that FW Weekly article, Elsie Hotpepper met with Mary, and convinced her to run for the TRWD Board.

I remember I was on a bike ride on the Trinity Trail when I got a call from Elsie Hotpepper, telling me about the meeting with Mary, and the hope Mary would run and win.

Mary did so, she ran and won. By a landslide.

I recollect my first time meeting Mary was when I went to vote at the Handley/Ederville polling location, where Mary was outside the polling location, greeting voters. I introduced myself.

It is sort of hard to believe this was such a long time ago, and, all these years later, the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision has yet to come to any sort of useful visible fruition. That and nothing much has been done to mitigate flooding in Tarrant County areas actually prone to deadly, serious flooding.

If I remember correctly, and sometimes I do, the last time I saw Mary and Elsie, in person*, was back in early 2016. Mary took Elsie and me out to lunch at an Outback Steakhouse, I think that was the location. 

And then after lunch we drove to Mary's farm where I met a large collection of animals, including an ostrich, one of whose eggs ended up getting picked up by me out of Mary's mailbox, a few days later.

Methinks it will greatly benefit Fort Worth having Mary Kelleher on the city council. And then, eventually, Fort Worth Mayor. Or Kay Granger's position. As a congresswoman...

*I was erroneous regarding Outback Steakhouse being the last time I have seen Elsie Hotpepper. I forgot about a year before COVID struck, I pedaled my bike to Sikes Lake to meet up with Elsie at a Sikes Lake gazebo.

Second New Year Tuesday With Clear Blue Cool Sky

Another clear blue-sky day, this second Tuesday of the New Year of 2024. It was back to Sikes Lake I ventured this morning, as you can clearly see via the view of the Blue Lagoon of Sikes Lake, located at the west end of the lake, viewed from the middle of the bridge across the Lagoon.

The temperature was in the mid 40s, with no wind, making for pleasant conditions.

Such will remain the case for a few days, eventually getting to a daytime high in the low 70s, before another cold blow arrives, dropping the temperature low into the mid-teens.

I prefer my temperatures to be in the 70s, not the mid-teens...

Snow-Free Sunday Wichita Bluff Hill Hiking

It was back for some snow-free salubrious high-speed hill hiking to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area this second Sunday of 2025, a fact you can intuit via the photo documentation looking east across the Circle Trail, at the picnic pavilion located at the summit of the Bluffs.

There were more than the norm number of fellow hill hikers, today. Methinks this is caused by the New Year Resolution phenomenon. That, and the fact that today is another clear blue-sky day, heated above freezing, being a pleasant change from the recent bout of deep freezing, along with snow.

I am amping up my physical activity in an attempt to melt away the excess poundage gained during the recent holiday season over-eating debauchery...

Blue Sky Saturday Playing Soccer While Hiking At Sikes Lake

On this second Saturday of the New Year of 2024, at my North Texas location, snow clouds have totally left the sky, leaving bright blue behind.

In shady areas, some snow remains, but, for the most part, the snow has melted into oblivion. No further such nonsense is in the near-term forecast, though there are a few days of such, predicted in the not so near-term forecast.

Judging by the number of people I saw today on my hike around Sikes Lake, I would have thought today was the first day of the New Year, with people out making good on their New Year's Resolution to get more exercise.

But, I think today's large number of people was likely due to the relief at the end of being housebound the past couple days. I know that is how I felt.

There was also some sort of soccer tournament going on today on the Sikes Lake soccer field. I saw three Fort Worth school buses which had transported soccer players to Wichita Falls. It seems a long way to go to play soccer on a field with no viewing stands, with soccer match viewers viewing from their perch on folding chairs on the sidelines.

I think of few things sounding more boring than watching a soccer game from field level with the temperature barely above freezing, with a strong wind blowing.

By some means snow had been removed from the soccer field's artificial grass, leaving a short wall of snow all around the perimeter of the field.

Is it considered normal to play soccer in Winter?

The temperature was in the 40s when I visited Sikes Lake today. As you can see via the photo documentation, a steady wind was making waves on the lake. That and making those 40 some degrees feel much colder...

Day Two of Wichita Falls Winter Wonderland

The temperature is currently one degree above freezing this morning of the second Friday of the New Year of 2024, with my North Texas, Wichita Falls location, still sporting a white dominated color scheme, slowly disappearing, as you can see via the view from my kitchen window.

When the sun began its daily illuminating duty this morning, I looked out my bedroom window to find myself surprised to see snowflakes still making their way to the ground.

The snow flaking has since abated, with patches of blue sky now appearing, with less than two hours to go til noon.

I have yet to make it to ground level. I suspect later today I shall do so. 

Ever since two winters ago, when I experienced a surprisingly sudden slip on ice, whilst walking at MSU (Midwestern State University), resulting in a semi-long recovery from a bruised butt and lower back, I have had an aversion to walking in any sort of winter wonderland.

The February of 2021 deep freeze disaster, with most of Texas losing the power of electricity, along with a lot of snow on the ground, making driving way too adventurous, I have had an aversion to driving in such conditions. 

Particularly after having such reinforced by last winter's incident where I found myself with tires spinning, unable to make it up an extremely slight grade connecting Taft Boulevard to Southwest Parkway. That time, other drivers kindly realizing my predicament, backed up far enough to allow me to back up to get a running start at getting up that slight slope. 

I made it to Walmart, that time, and then back to my abode, making that the last time I have driven in wintry conditions...

My Texas Location Has Turned Into A Snow Covered Winter Wonderland

This time the Texas weather predictors predicting snow got the prediction totally on target.

When the sun arrived this second Thursday of the new 2025 year, I looked out to the south, from my bedroom window, and saw big white flakes falling, with the ground painted white, and the usual multi-color landscape turned into a black and which color scheme.

Basically, a snow-covered Winter Wonderland.

We are now coming up on 9 in the morning, with the temperature two degrees below freezing, and snow still copiously falling.

Let's leave my bedroom to take a look to the north from my living room window.

 I do not think I will be leaving my abode this morning.

A doctor's appointment was re-scheduled yesterday due to anticipating this morning's likely travel challenges.

It seems so odd to me to go through my usual morning ritual of checking various online news sources, to get to my old home zone of Washington news sources, to see the temperature up north being way warmer than my currently frigid Southern location.

So far, the Texas power grid has had no problems, at my location, or anywhere else that I have heard of.

My interior space is comfortably toasty, for now...

New Look At Fort Worth's Multi-Decade Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

It has been a while since I have read an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about America's Dumbest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, or TRV for super short.

A couple days ago I found myself writing a blog post titled New Zealand Family's Seattle Visit Reminds Me Of Fort Worth's Infamous Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, written after seeing the result of a successful public works project completed in a more modern area of America, then finding myself comparing that project to what many simply refer to as The Boondoggle.

And then, ironically, the very day I posted the blog post referencing Fort Worth's embarrassing Trinity River Vision mess, the Star-Telegram publishes an article about the current state of The Boondoggle, in typical Star-Telegram faulty information fashion.

I suspect the reporter writing this article is new to Fort Worth, and the Star-Telegram, and thus does not have a well-developed ear for hearing nonsense.

We are now in the third decade of what has become America's Oldest Boondoggle. Over the years I have written dozens of posts about this subject. Just go to the Durango Texas blog and enter "TNT exploding ceremony" into the search function, or "Kay Granger Boondoggle" and you will come up with many of those posts about this subject.

Now, something I have not made mention of during the many years of writing these blog posts about America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Over the years I have been sent information from persons close to the problem. As in, someone with access inside J.D. Granger's inner Trinity River Vision operation. I referred to this person as Deep Moat. I was told a couple times, by a couple sources, that the TRWD and the TRV were annoyed, a time or two, by things they saw on my blog.

Also, regarding the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, someone working for that newspaper, anonymous to me, has long found my making fun of that newspaper to be amusing. And accurate. It has not happened for a couple years, but yesterday it did. That person, who they are, I do not know, sent me the link to this new article about The Boondoggle, a link I am not blocked from reading. I assume I would always have been able to read the Star-Telegram, if I was a subscriber, but I cancelled the hard copy long ago.

Anyway, I clicked the Fort Worth’s Panther Island riverfront project has seen years of delays. What’s next? and read it. And copied it.

I then messaged Elsie Hotpepper, asking if Elsie had read this latest, because her dear departed friend, Clyde Picht, is quoted. Elsie then asked for the link. I sent it. But, for her, she was blocked. I then sent Elsie the copied article.

Interesting that the Star-Telegram successfully blocks Elsie Hotpepper, but not me.

Anyway, let's now go through some of this article and comment as we read along. Let's begin with the first paragraph...

Government officials and curious citizens left no seats empty in Fort Worth’s city hall chamber on April 5, 2005. That day, then-Mayor Mike Moncrief locked horns with skeptical City Council members over the purpose and price of the “Trinity River Vision,” a grand plan to revamp the river’s flood control system and transform a sliver of the waterway twisting around downtown into a haven of urban leisure and recreation.

2005. Two decades ago. And that is years after The Boondoggle actually began. Flood control system? This project was originally touted as a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme. So vitally needed, almost three decades later, little has been done. So vitally needed, the public was not asked to support it via a bond issue.

Moving on, the next paragraph...

Fort Worth’s powerful optimists first fleshed out plans for the venture the year before. Moncrief and fellow proponents hailed the undertaking, later rechristened Panther Island, as “the most significant local project since construction of Dallas/Fort Worth airport.” “Everyone feels the synergy of this project,” Moncrief told the audience in city hall, among them Panther Island champion U.S. Rep. Kay Granger. “They realize this will create a new gateway ... a new face for future generations.” Doubters weren’t sold on the mayor’s lofty aspirations. “I think the final cost of the project will be substantially higher” than the original $360 million price tag (around $613 million today), said council member Clyde Picht during the hearing.

The "later rechristened Panther Island" remark is what made me think this reporter is new to The Boondoggle. This pseudo public works project started out being called the Trinity River Vision. Then Uptown was added to the name. Then Central City. Then Panther Island District. I do not believe the project has ever been somehow rechristened as Panther Island. Such is just how some have come to refer to it, even though it is an imaginary island which no sane part of the world would refer to as such.

Moving on to the next paragraph...

The project’s budget ballooned to $1.17 billion around 2017 (a figure still listed in project documents today despite inflationary pressures). The most hopeful Panther Island advocates in the early 2000s expected a pocket of high-rises and tree-lined promenades to take form by the end of the decade. No development has happened since. The Tarrant Regional Water District has yet to acquire 23% of the land within Panther Island’s future boundaries; the body agreed in December to pay a real estate consulting firm $1 million to start thinking up a strategy for selling off land to interested developers.

Just the info contained in the above paragraph, one would think, is enough to make one think maybe it is time to just kill this embarrassing failure. The "no development has happened since" line is so telling. Basically, little real development has happened for almost three decades, not in the way developments happen in parts of the world known to be more, well, developed.

It gets worse. Next paragraph...

Much of the new flood control system has yet to be completed. TRWD and the other bodies tasked with bringing Panther Island’s renditions to life predicted in 2018 that every dam, channel and storage pond would be complete by 2028. The project’s latest completion date, as of June, is 2032.

Much of the flood control system is yet to be completed? Remember? This was originally touted as a vitally needed flood control project, to control floods in a section of the Trinity River which had not flooded for well over a half century due to levees installed in the 1950s. And now the completion date is in the next decade.

The final paragraph...

Past delays foreshadowed current ones. It took the Texas Department of Transportation roughly six years and $126.2 million to complete three bridges designed to funnel traffic to and from the island. Construction for the structures, totaling less than a mile in length, began in November 2015, with tentative completion dates set between 2017 and 2018. “This was a bad deal early on,” Picht said of Panther Island in 2018, a few years before he died. “It’s probably the worst managed public project in the state of Texas, if not the nation.” Where exactly do things stand today?

Why is the Star-Telegram blaming the Texas Department of Transportation for taking so long to build the simple little bridges? Did not the actual fault lie with the incompetent leadership of the TRV? As in, Kay Granger's son, J.D., made Executive Director, to motivate his mother to try and secure federal funds? J.D. Granger insisted the design of the bridges have these totally ordinary V-piers, which J.D. thought would make them Signature Bridges, which was part of the original Trinity River Vision, having Three Signature Bridges, matching the Dallas Trinity River Vision's proposed Three Signature Bridges, which was the actual start of The Boondoggle, Fort Worth once again trying to keep up with Dallas.

And failing.

Dallas did end up building two actual signature bridges, which add a cool looking element to the Dallas skyline.

As for The Boondoggle's employment of Kay Granger's son. Kay never did come up with federal funding. And when a Biden bill, the Infrastructure Bill, passed, sending funding to Fort Worth's un-funded project, Kay voted no. J.D. was then fired, given a $72,000 parting gift, and is now trying to open a restaurant.

Meanwhile, I have another nugget of news, sent to me anonymously, which I have no way of verifying, but which makes sense to me.

I have been told the real reason the Trinity River Vision project has stalled is due to serious engineering complications. When the Army Corps of Engineers was brought in, again, after those three little bridges were built over dry land, with a cement lined ditch to later be dug under them, an obvious issue became apparent.

As in, the cement lined ditch should have been built at the same time as the bridges. To dig under the bridges now presents serious engineering issues, as in without sufficient mitigations, digging under the bridges could cause a bridge collapse.

And so, the project is stalled, with the current funding now in limbo due to the project's ineptness, poor planning and bad design.

And, might I add. I have long predicted that eventually we will get to the point where it is realized the ground in the Panther Island zone is seriously contaminated, due to being a former industrial zone. There have already been some indications of this. I suspect it would take an EPA Superfund cleanup, which will likely never happen.

It is time for Fort Worth to kill this project, clean up the mess it has made, and get around to finally, at least, fixing Heritage Park, the boarded-up eyesore at the north end of downtown, a park celebrating Fort Worth's heritage, which, ironically, overlooks America's Biggest Boondoggle....