The Popular Texas Sport Known As Littering Is Freshly Perplexing Me Today

Early yester evening I walked up my neighborhood hill to Albertsons. I noticed that the usually heavily littered route had been de-littered, for the most part.

And now, today, I walked up my neighborhood hill to Albertsons again, to get chicken, to see that which was de-littered yesterday has once again been re-littered.

Why is littering such a popular sport in Texas?

In the litter picture above we are looking east, towards Dallas. My neighborhood Chesapeake Energy gas pad site is at the top of the hill, on the left. The aforementioned Albertsons is across the street, on the right.

How can this much litter show up overnight, even in Texas, where littering is such a popular sport?

I remember the last time I drove back to Washington, early August of 2001, by the time I got to Colorado I started noticing how much less litter there was laying and blowing about. And how sparkly clean everything looked.

The entire way to Washington was pretty much free of Texas-style litter.

When a Texan leaves Texas and finds him or herself in some place like Colorado does it seem to the Texan that something seems to be missing? As in, where has all the litter gone?

Maybe the Don't Mess With Texas anti-litter campaign was not clear enough in its message. Maybe the message should be more direct, something like Don't Litter You Lazy Slobs.

Yes, I am sure that would be effective and much more easily understood.....

At Arlington's Village Creek Meeting My TRWD Litter Quota Worrying About Equal Rights For Unborn Women While Eating Turtles

If you're like me and are among the thousands who have signed up to be part of the Tarrant Regional Water District's brilliant plan to eliminate litter from Fort Worth and surrounding areas by picking up 10 pieces of litter every Tuesday, yet have been having trouble filling your litter quote, I may be of some help.

Go to Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area to pay your respects to the Indian ghosts who haunt that location, then continue on til you reach the south Village Creek dam/bridge where you will find a litter jam piled up behind the dam/bridge.

This particular litter jam  is refreshed every time rain falls in copious amounts. So far the TRWD's brilliant anti-litter plan has not seemed to have made much of a dent in the Village Creek Litter Jam.

In non-litter related Village Creek conundrums, today I was a bit perplexed by the bumper sticker you see stuck to the bumper of the car below, parked across from me in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area's parking lot.

"EQUAL RIGHTS FOR UNBORN WOMEN"? And is that license plate meant to be saying "Fakely"?

Continuing on after being perplexed by a bumper sticker, before being perplexed by the above litter jam, I visited the Village Creek turtles who were not being skittish or perplexing today.

A couple days ago I was channel chasing and came upon one of those ubiquitous outdoor survival shows right when the survivalists were preparing a turtle for roasting. I don't think I could eat a turtle.

I did not think I could eat frog legs either, til I was the Rio buffet in Las Vegas. I had part of one....

This Morning Messing With Washington Led Me To Mess With Texas Litter

This morning I was searching for images of Washington to put on a Washington webpage. This search for images led me to read an article about Washington in which I learned that something called the American State Litter Scorecard had somehow ranked the 50 states, litter-wise.

Washington was the least littered state. The most littered states included the one I am currently living in.

I copied a paragraph about the Litter Scorecard...

"The 2011 American State Litter Scorecard," ranking the fifty United States on overall quality/effectiveness of public spaces cleanliness and related environmental performances, was presented at the American Society for Public Administration National Conference in Baltimore by Steve Spacek. Best states include Washington (top), California, Iowa, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Oregon, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and New York--most located in New England or Far West regions of the United States. Worst states include Kentucky (bottom), Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Alabama, Indiana, Georgia, Illinois, Oklahoma, Montana, North Dakota and Texas -- most located in the South, Central United States or Sun Belt regions.

After reading Texas was one of the worst states, litter-wise, I Googled "Texas Litter" looking for a Texas litter image. I saw one I liked and was then surprised to see where it came from.

Me.

A Texas litter picture I'd taken a couple years ago at Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park and used in a blogging titled An Amazing Amount Of Litter Indicates It Is Perfectly Okay To Mess With Texas, that you see screencapped above.

Reading Mess With Texas whilst Googling for Texas litter brought me to a Wikipedia article titled Don't Mess with Texas in which I learned the following....

The phrase Don't Mess with Texas is a trademark of the Texas Department of Transportation, which began as part of a statewide advertising campaign started in 1986. The intention behind the Don't Mess with Texas campaign was to reduce littering on Texas roadways and has garnered statewide attention.

The phrase "Don't Mess with Texas" was prominently shown on road signs on major highways, television, radio and in print advertisements. The campaign is credited with reducing litter on Texas highways roughly 72% between 1986 and 1990. The campaign's target market was 18-35 year old males, which was statistically shown to be the most likely to litter. While the slogan was originally not intended to become a statewide cultural icon, it did.

The Don't Mess with Texas anti-litter campaign brought about a 72% reduction of litter on Texas highways?

This campaign ended in 1990? Has the Texas litter level maintained that 72% reduction? Or in the 23 years since 1990 have those littering 18-35 year old Texas males reverted to their pre-Don't Mess with Texas ways? I can't imagine the Texas roadside litter levels being 72% worse than what we see in 2013

Very perplexing.

If you have ever had the pleasure of taking a roadtrip out of Texas, heading northwest, or west, you will likely have noticed that the decrease in roadside litter starts being very noticeable by the time you reach Colorado. Or New Mexico.

Do Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington have significantly fewer 18-35 year old males than Texas? Is that why those states are so noticeably less littered?

Again. Very perplexing...

A Littered Walk With Village Creek Indian Ghosts, Lizards & Lost Dogs

This last Sunday of May I had myself a hot, humid walk with the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

Today I found myself additionally haunted by the pile of litter piled up behind the Village Creek Dam Bridge.

Why do so many people who live in this part of the planet release so much litter to the outer world to be disposed of by Mother Nature's flushing system?

It really does not seem all that difficult, to me, to dispose of things, like empty cans and bottles, in a way that renders it unlikely that a can or bottle will somehow end up in a Texas stream of water that flows into the Trinity River and then makes its way to the Gulf of Mexico.

On a more pleasant note, today on the Village Creek Blue Bayou overlook there was a cute yellow lizard practicing yoga poses.

Above you are looking at the aforementioned yoga practicing yellow lizard in the Cobra Position. The lizard  did not seem to much care that I was visiting real close. It winked at me a couple times.

Why is it I find reptiles of the snake variety totally creepy, while I think reptiles of the lizard variety are cute?

On a sadder note...

Several days ago, the last time I walked with the Indian Ghosts, at the picnic area one comes to as soon as you leave the parking lot, there was a dog, with no human nearby. The dog at that point in time seemed both nervous and sort of needy. Like he was hoping I was going to take him home.

Today I walked into the picnic area to see someone had left a bowl of water next to a bowl of dog food. I sat at a picnic table and started making where are you doggy noises.

After about a minute of making where are you doggy noises the dog showed  up. He walked to about 15 feet from me and then stood and stared. After a couple minutes of staring he partially sat down, still staring at  me. After a couple more minutes he laid on the cement, resting his head on his front legs while still staring at me.

I talked to the dog for a few minutes. After awhile the pleading staring got on my nerves, so I left.

Les Miserables In Fort Worth With Way Too Much Litter

There is a thing or two or three about Texas which bothers me at times.

When verbalizing something about Texas which bothers me I often find  myself mentioning "Rick Perry" in some context regarding that about which I am bothered.

Another word that shows up, often, when I'm verbalizing about something in Texas which bothers me is the word "litter".

Sometimes "litter" and "Rick Perry" show up in the same verbalization about something that bothers me about Texas.

The astonishing amount of litter one sees in Texas is the #1 thing I hear mentioned when I communicate with someone early on in their Texas Culture Shock. Like Marie the (Now Missing) Herb Tracker. Early on in my communicating with the newly transplanted from Seattle, Marie the Herb Tracker, Marie verbalized her disdain for all the litter, saying "it makes my forehead wrinkle."

I'm guessing the phrase "forehead wrinkle" is a poetic way of saying "frown".

Today my forehead wrinkled when I took a walk around my neighborhood and saw that which you see above, behind Albertsons. In addition to what looked to be discarded produce there was a discarded mattress, among a diverse collection of litter, with the lighter litter being dispersed by the wind.

Why would Albertsons, or whoever is responsible for this strip mall, not quickly get this mess cleaned up?

From the location of this litter mess I can see Miss Puerto Rico's balcony. A couple years ago, from that balcony, Miss PR and I watched an amazing display of Fort Worth police in action. At least a dozen police cars showed up within minutes. A young man had shoplifted a box of disposable diapers from the neighborhood Dollar Store. We watched as the young man was caught, handcuffed and laid, facedown, on the trunk of a police car.

I certainly think one should not be shoplifting, but one must be desperate to shoplift a box of diapers. This was a bit  more of a crime than Jean Valjean stealing a loaf of bread, due to being hungry. But, the police response seemed to be just about equally out of whack.

So, where are the police when a wanton act of littering takes place? Does Albertsons get a citation for its litter mess? If not, why not?

One would think if one can get a ticket for not wearing ones seatbelt one should get ticketed and fined for a really bad act of littering.

And why is Texas such a littered mess? Why do so many people here have trouble properly disposing of litter?

If you ever have the opportunity to take a road trip out of Texas, heading west, or northwest, you will notice, soon after leaving Texas, that the roadside litter is greatly diminished. By the time you get to Colorado the outer world starts to look remarkably more tidy than the outer world in Texas looks. This phenomenon continues all the way to the West Coast.

Texas has an anti-littering campaign that uses the slogan "Don't Mess With Texas". There is a lot of litter evidence on the ground that this anti-littering campaign is not very effective.

Methinks it might behoove Texas to come up with a new anti-littering campaign to more effectively convince people to stop messing with Texas....

At Village Creek Watching Litter Be Freed To Continue Its Journey To The Gulf Of Mexico

On Sunday I mentioned that when I was walking with the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area that there was a huge mass of flotsam floated up against the Village Creek bridge dam you see in the picture.

All that flotsam was slowing up the flow of water through the tubes that run under the bridge.

Today an Arlington Parks & Recreation crew was using a mechanical device to move the flotsam from one side of the dam bridge to the other.

Removing the flotsam will allow the huge back up of floating litter to continue on its journey to the Trinity River where it will eventually float to the Gulf of Mexico.

Or are there litter nets that trap the flow of Trinity River litter before it gets to the Gulf of Mexico?

I would not think the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle was a boondoggle if the Vision was looking to see a cleaned up Trinity River, instead of building an un-needed flood diversion channel, which will be an eyesore, to replace levees that have prevented flooding for over a half a century. And to build a little pond so that downtown Fort Worth has a better water feature than the current confluence of the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River.

Whatever Texas government entity it is that looks after water quality should send a task force to Western Washington to try and learn how it is that the Western Washington rivers, most of which are bigger rivers than the Trinity, manage to float very little litter.

Or just take a drive south to the Guadalupe River and figure out how it is that that river does not float Trinity River levels of litter.

Walking Around Fosdic Lake Today Fishing & Looking At Litter

A lot of rain drenched my zone of North Texas in the middle of the night. This made for a muddy walk to the pool this morning.

I figured enough water fell that the Tandy Hills was likely going to need a day or two of drying out.

I figured enough water fell that Village Creek was in high water mode with the park closed.

So, by default, today going to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdic Lake was the location of my daily salubrious aerobicizing.

I don't know why, but whenever a lot of rain falls several fishermen and fisherwomen show up to fish in Fosdic Lake, where you are advised to to eat the fish you catch. Today one of the fishermen was fly fishing. I don't know if I've seen that in person before.

When a lot of rain falls Fosdic Lake quickly gets deeper, and starts falling over Fosdic Falls into Fosdic Creek on its way to the Trinity River, about a mile to the north.

In the picture at the top you are looking at the litter that did not make it over Fosdic Falls by the time the falls quit falling.

More rain is predicted for later today. Should enough rain fall the litter currently trapped in Fosdic Lake should be able to make it the rest of the way to the Trinity River.

I wonder if some means could be devised to trap the Fosdic Lake litter before it leaves the lake? I wonder how many other similar lakes contribute a similar volume of litter to the Trinity River?

It's very perplexing.

Watching Litter Get Sent Over Fort Worth's Fosdic Falls On Its Way To The Trinity River

As soon as I stepped from my motorized transport upon arrival at Oakland Lake Park, today around noon, I could hear the roar of Fosdic Falls falling out of Fosdic Lake.

That would be the shadow of the Fosdic Falls thin man in the lower left of the picture, taking a picture of Fosdic Falls from the Fosdic Bridge connection to Fosdic Lake Dam.

There is a metal net-like device spanning Fosdic Creek at the point where Fosdic Lake spills over the dam, creating Fosdic Falls.

An amazing amount of litter backs up behind the metal net-like device, impeding the flow of water, sort of like a litter dam.

Today a man was risking being swept over Fosdic Falls in order to use a stick to try and remove some of the litter that was impeding the water flow.

I did not really approve of this man's litter removal method. When his stick snagged a piece of litter he tossed it on the other side of the metal net-like device, sending the litter over Fosdic Falls, sending it on its way to the preferred litter removal agent in these parts. The Trinity River.

The Trinity River is about a mile north of Fosdic Lake.

Above you see some of the Fosdic Lake Litter,  slowly bobbing its way to Fosdic Falls. This particular floating litter was floating at the west side of the lake, at the base of a cement stairway to nowhere that I run up and down when I am at Oakland Lake Park.

An Amazing Amount Of Litter Indicates It Is Perfectly Okay To Mess With Texas

I think one of the biggest industries in Texas must be the production of litter.

This is particularly noticeable when a lot of rain washes an amazing amount of litter into the Trinity River.

You see a lot of "Don't Mess With Texas" signs in Texas. I've been here for awhile now and I still don't understand this slogan. It obviously has nothing to do with no littering.

I took the picture with the "TRUE TO TEXAS" beer can at one of my favorite Fort Worth locations, Oakland Lake Park.

In this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram there was a litter letter-to-the-editor, with the litter letter writer making an amazing litter claim....

Road hazard

Passengers of designated drivers must consume a large volume of alcohol. On a two-mile stretch of highway south of Benbrook, I counted 1,638 cans that had been thrown out of vehicle windows. That was in addition to all the bottles.

Do you think a few people have forgotten "Don't mess with Texas"?

-- Allen McDermott, Fort Worth

I would think Mr. McDermott was exaggerating if I'd not seen similar things in Texas with my own eyes. But, I've never taken the time to count cans. I don't know if I could count that high without getting distracted.

Fort Worth's Trinity Falls Disappears Under Trinity River Flood

Last Thursday I went to Gateway Park because I thought Trinity Falls might be flowing loud and large. It was. Today, after seeing how high the Trinity River is due to all the water delivered by the Hurricane now known as Tropical Depression Hermine, I thought it'd be interesting to see how Trinity Falls handles a lot of water. Well, as you can see, the falls has disappeared, as has the dam/bridge that causes the falls. In the blogging from last Thursday I made note of the astonishing amount of litter piled up behind the row club's dock.

As you can see, today, the Trinity is exhibiting a bit more litter than last Thursday. The river has dropped quite a lot from its high mark. I was surprised, as were others checking out the river with me, that the water got so high.

In the above picture we are looking at the location of my infamous encounters with White Darth Vader Express Energy Services trucks, earlier in the year. A Barnett Shale water sucking operation was taking place in a location that would be way under water today. I wonder if the water sucking operation on the other side of the river that I made note of in last Thursday's blogging, managing to pull out in time?


I was not sure I wanted to walk over the litter pile to cross the bridge. But I strongly wanted to see what the boardwalk viewing area looked like inside Gateway Park. I forgot to mention Gateway Park is closed due to the flooding, both entries blocked, but the pedestrian entry from the Trinity Trails was not blocked. On my way to check out the river I saw Quanah Parker Park is closed and flooded. I do not recollect it being flooded before. This means River Legacy Park is badly flooded and my newly re-born mountain biking will be on hold for quite awhile, awaiting the BIG DRY UP.

As I nimbly made my way across the pile of litter I looked down to see dead fish. This was not pleasant. Dead fish quickly become malodorous. There were a lot of dead fish.

Usually in the view above you look at a huge pipe crossing the chasm above a creek. The huge pipe is now under water, with the creek flooded and full of an astonishing amount of litter and debris.

Normally, in the above view I would be looking at Trinity Falls, often hear it roaring, usually seeing someone on it, walking or biking. But, today the falls is flooded.

In the above picture we have crossed the pedestrian bridge and are in Gateway Park, looking at the flooded boardwalk that used to take you to various viewing platforms, with the boardwalk switchbacking down to the river's edge. Both Gateway Park boardwalks have been closed for quite some time, due to neglect and poor maintenance.

I don't quite understand the sign saying "AREA CLOSE TO THE PUBLIC." Yes, the public felt very close to these boardwalks, until they fell into disrepair, but why put this message on a sign? Very perplexing.

Equally perplexing is the disturbing amount of litter in the Trinity River. When I lived in Washington I lived in the Skagit Valley. The Skagit River flows through the Skagit Valley on its way to Puget Sound. The Skagit River is a much bigger river than the Trinity. The Skagit River can go into flood mode that makes what the Trinity is doing today seem minor. And yet, in all the times I saw the Skagit River flood, I do not recollect ever seeing litter line the edges of the dikes when the river receded. Lots of logs, yes. Litter no.

Now, this may have something to do with the fact that the Skagit River starts up in Canada and winds its way through the Cascade Mountains, having no contact with a highly populated zone until it reaches the Skagit Valley flats.

The Trinity River flows through mostly rural areas until it hits the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Is that when it picks up all the litter? I really think an effort should be made to find out where all this Trinity River Texas litter comes from.

The Eyes Of Texas Are Upon You Dirty Litterbugs

I saw this sign out in East Texas, at an I-30 rest area. I was on my to Kilgore. Kilgore has a good museum about the East Texas oil boom, but I digress.

When I first saw this sign I thought it was an anti-litter sign. But, those always say "Don't Mess With Texas." Not, "The Eyes Of Texas Are Upon You!"

This sign was imploring cell phoners to be snitches. Maybe that particular rest area, on the way to Kilgore, had a lot of criminal activity and emergencies.

Texas litter is freshly on my mind due to Zelda del West putting it there. Zelda is currently vexed about Texas litter, particularly in the San Antonio zone.

Apparently the San Antonio litter problem has become a serious issue. My one and only time visiting San Antonio I did not notice all that much litter.

But, I may be warped in my litter perceptions due to my current location, which I believe must be the Litter Capital of the World, also known as Fort Worth, also known as Dirty ol' Town.

A few weeks ago there was a letter to the editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram opining that North Texas had a natural anti air pollution system, where Mother Nature simply blew the bad air across the Red River to Oklahoma.

I believe a lot of North Texans subscribe to the same Mother Nature method for disposing of litter. My favorite disposal method, that I have seen many many times, is to drive down the freeway with your pickup bed loaded with trash, letting the rush of air dispose of it as you drive along.

I don't know what direction the prevailing wind blows here. Is it north, most of the time? If so, does the litter relentlessly march on Oklahoma, just like the bad air? Why don't the Oklahomans get cranky about this? Or do the Okies subscribe to the same litter disposal method and send theirs north to Kansas?

Anyway, I really don't understand why way too many Texans are way too cavalier about trashing their part of the planet. It really is not all that difficult to pick up after yourself and toss litter into a proper receptacle.

Visiting Fort Worth Trinity River Ghosts, Sinkholes & Rutted Levees

When I took off out of here around noon for my daily constitutional I did not know where I was going, except for the Post Office. Sometimes there is something at the Post Office that determines where I go next.

Today the Post Office sent me off towards Beach Street to a Chase Bank. Since I was on Beach Street it made sense to park at the spot where last month I had fun with Express Energy trucks and go for a walk on the Trinity River Levee to see how the ol' girl is doing.

Well, she is still messed up and rutted, in several places, between Beach Street and the site of the recent Express Energy water removal operation.

The Trinity Sink Hole is still in play and seems to be growing slightly bigger. Someone commented that kids have been known to fall into such things. Currently it would take a very small kid to fall into that hole. A horse stepping on that hole would seem to not be a good thing though.

The thing that caught this Texas boy's eyes today was not holes or rutted up river levees. It was the astonishing amount of litter on the banks of the Trinity River.

My pictures never, even remotely, do justice to how bizarre the mess of litter looks.

Maybe, if I crop out a closeup of the litter in the first picture, it'll give you a better idea of how the bank of the Trinity River looks like a garbage dump, in some locations.

Those are not white birds you see in the tree. Those are white plastic sacks, you know, those things you bag your groceries in. From the vantage point from which the picture was taken, the bags look more like white ghosts, waving in the wind, than birds.

Why does it seem that so much litter roams wild and free in Texas? Where I used to live, in the Skagit Valley of Washington, I never saw all that much litter, certainly not on the banks of the Skagit River, which, incidentally, is a much bigger river than the Trinity, and thus could handle a large volume of litter, if someone forced it to.

In Washington I never saw flatbed trailers, loaded with garbage, driving down the freeway with litter flying away. A very resourceful disposal method, which must be sanctioned as appropriate, because I've seen it happen so many times while driving the highways of Texas.

It the litter problem here in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex a function of so many people living in a relatively small area? As in there are more people living in this Texas Metroplex than the entire state of Washington.

But, in areas of Washington where it is densely populated, such as the Seattle/Tacoma/Everett Metroplex of about 3 million, there are several rivers flowing through the populated area, none of which I ever recollect seeing Trinity River levels of litter.

It's very perplexing to me. Texans seem to like their state. Many Texans are quite quick to let you know how proud they are of Texas and that they truly believe it to be a special place. Then why do so many Texans see nothing wrong about trashing up the place?

I have rambled on long enough that I have space to show you a picture of the current state of the Express Energy Services damaged Trinity River Levee on this, the first Saturday of February. In the background you can see some of the litter "ghosts" that I showed you, closeup, above.

It's coming up on Saturday night. I'm fixin' to have myself a fine time in Texas tonight. See you tomorrow. Or sooner.

Acceptable Littering In Texas

Around noon I was on my way to River Legacy Park to go mountain biking. As I headed to the I-30 entry a pickup passed me. It being that blue pickup you see in the picture.

I took me a few seconds to get my camera out when I realized I wanted a picture. I was stopped at the light, waiting to take a left on to the freeway, as the pickup sped away.

I'm engaging in all that exposition to explain why I did not get a better picture. Why did I want a picture of this, you probably can't help but wonder. Well, this pickup was engaging in one of my Pet Texas Peeves.

In Texas some people use a very primitive garbage disposal method. They load their litter on to the bed of their pickup, or flatbed trailer. And then drive around while the wind blows their garbage away. In this case it was a lot of white paper material.

From all the pickups in that one picture you might conclude there are a lot of pickups in Texas. You would be correct.

I really don't understand the littering mentality in Texas. Despite all the "Don't Mess With Texas" signs, plenty of people do a lot of messing. I'm sure the vast majority of Texans are not litterers. Maybe it's because there are so many Texans the odds are you're going to have way too many messing it up for everyone else. Maybe that is why, relative to Texas, Washington and Oregon seem so litter-free. But when you get to Southern California it gets a bit messier, not a Texas-level of mess, but messier than it is further north.

I really think an increase in fines and sentencing litterers, caught in the act of using the Texas Garbage Disposal Method, to weekends on road clean-up crews is the way to go.

That and how about more and better public service anti-litter ads like I've always seen in Washington. I'm sure most of those Texas Litterers have a TV, and if the message is repeated often enough, eventually the Litterbugs might see the light.

It's worth a try. I certainly did not like all that white paper litter flying at me today. It's really windy here today. By now all that white paper litter is likely spread over a several county area. Maybe this actually is an efficient litter disposal method.