A Texas Story About Wendy Davis For Governor Has Me Slightly Optimistic

I really would not want to have the Republican label attached to me these days.

Even though it is the Democrats whose party symbol is the donkey, in modern day, 2013 America, it is the Republicans who seem to be the party of asses, of the dumb sort.

If you listen to Rush Limbaugh, like I do, to be amused regarding how delusional someone can become whilst blathering whilst inside an insulated bubble, you will have found yourself perplexed more than a time or two by Mr. Limbaugh railing on about how our current president, Obama, is destroying America.

On purpose.

With the Affordable Care Act.

While Mr. Limbaugh, stuck in his bubble, never has had any problem with anything Mr. Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush-league, actually did, which actually did do serious damage to America.

Damage which Mr. Obama has had some success in un-doing.

And now we are coming up upon the 2014 mid-term elections. That wondrous time between presidential elections when the electorate can register its approval or disapproval regarding what has gone on the previous 2 years.

I have no record of successful prognostication, but, even so, I am going on record, on this seldom read blog, with the opinion that the 2014 mid-term elections are going to result in a purge of Republicans to a level which renders the party of Lincoln the first major American political party rendered dead in well over a century.

As for the Wendy Davis for Governor of Texas campaign ad, above. I also think Texas is going to surprise the rest of America by going blue in 2014.

Hiking On The Tandy Hills With Wildflowers & Rock Monuments

I do not remember how long it has been since I've driven to the summit of Mount Tandy to have myself a real fine time hiking the Tandy Hills.

A couple months would be my best estimate.

I sort of expected to see fall foliage in full fall mode today on the hills, but instead I was surprised to see few leaves changing color.

I was also surprised to see a variety of wildflowers. I do not remember seeing so much green and so much color at this point in time years previous. Likely it is my bad memory which accounts for this.

As you can see, above, via the view from the summit of Mount Tandy, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, green is still the predominant color on this section of the North Texas prairie.

As previously mentioned there are currently a variety of wildflowers adding color to the predominant green, as evidenced below.

I was not the only Tandy Hill hiker today. As I stood on the top of one hill,  zooming in take a picture of the various shades of green, I was surprised to see someone waving back at me.

Before I found myself being waved at I found the below rock monument, constructed at the top of the trail which leads from Tandy Falls, at that trail's intersection with the View Street Trail.

Who built this rock monument? And why? It appeared designed to provide shelter for small critters with its cave-like design.

Speaking of critters, the below critter related sign has been added to the Tandy Hills since I last hiked the hills.

The sign reads almost like a bible verse.

IT SHALL BE UNLAWFUL FOR ANY PERSON TO INTENTIONALLY HARASS, HARM, PURSUE,  HUNT, SHOOT, WOUND, KILL, TRAP, CAPTURE OR COLLECT ANY ANIMAL OR BIRD IN ANY PARK.

Years ago I helped a Fort Worth cop pursue, capture and collect a horse which had been running wild on the Tandy Hills. Eventually we managed to get the horse into a corral near the tower on top of Mount Tandy.

I think maybe this wild horse capture type deal was not the type thing this sign is directed at.

What with this rare Tandy Hills hiking and a refreshingly cool swim this morning I am feeling well exercised with a plentiful supply of aerobically induced endorphins elevating my mood to an extremely happy place.

Where Did Fort Worth Weekly's Best Rabble Rouser Of 2013 Go?

What you are looking at on the left is the cover of Fort Worth Weekly's Best of 2013 issue.

This issue came out a couple weeks ago. Today, a couple weeks later I'm finally getting around to verbalizing my issue with this FW Weekly issue.

For several years now, once a year, FW Weekly solicits input from its readers regarding what those readers think is the Best of in various categories for that particular year. In this case, the year 2013.

The categories have titles like "Getting & Spending," "Good Grub", "Culture", "On The Town" and "People & Politics".

For ones votes to count one has to vote a prescribed number of times in a prescribed number of categories. I was hard pressed to meet the criteria, but eventually did so.

Now, I really do not have all that great an issue with the outcome of FW Weekly's Best of 2013.

However, in the "People & Politics" category I do not remember being asked to vote on something like "Candidate Most Likely to be Caught Flagrante Dilecto in a Parking Lot with an Illegal Alien Abduction", or something like that. But there it was, in the "People & Politics" category, with Jim Oliver, of the TRWD, getting the alien distinction.

While I did not see the candidate for illegal alien abduction being one of the things I, as an online submitter, was asked to submit, I most definitely do remember being asked to submit my opinion as to who the Best Rabble Rouser was in 2013.

I, like I am sure did many others, wrote down Elsie Hotpepper as Best Rabble Rouser.

But, for some mysterious reason, in neither the print edition of FW Weekly's Best of 2013, or the online edition, does the Best Rabble Rouser category exist.

I feel this Rabble Rouser omission warrants an explanation. I suspect no explanation will be forthcoming.

I really can  not see myself going through the excruciating process of filling out FW Weekly's Best of online form in the future, if the effort is for naught....

A Neighborhood Walk To Italy Pasta & Pizza Thinking About My Bad Luck With Black-Eyed Peas

After a drive too far on Sunday I did not feel like any sort of drive anywhere today, on this first Monday of October.

So, I took a walk in my neighborhood, with Alberstons as the destination, with acquiring the Ink Edition of DFW.com as the goal.

On the way to Albertsons I walked by the newly moved ITALY Pasta & Pizza restaurant. The move was a short distance from this restaurant's old location in the strip mall in which Albertsons is the anchor.

When I first moved to my current location the now ITALY Pasta & Pizza restaurant was a Black-Eyed Pea.

When I visited Texas in May of 1998 to check out if I would be agreeable to moving here I was taken to a Black-Eyed Pea. I recollect asking the waitress why the restaurant was called Black-Eyed Pea.

By the time I had a turkey dinner at the Black-Eyed Pea across the street from my new abode I knew the reason for the name.

In one of his more memorably memorable odd questions, at some point in time, earlier in this century, around the start of a new year, Gar the Texan asked me if I had any trouble finding my black-eyed peas this year.

Huh? Said I. Why would I be looking for black-eyed peas? Gar the Texan then verbalized astonishment that eating black-eyed peas was not a new year tradition up north in Yankee-land. It was then I learned that in the Deep South one ingests black-eyed peas at the start of a new year so as to insure that one will have good luck during the coming year.

I have yet to eat a single black-eyed pea since I have been in Texas. And I have had nothing but bad luck. I probably should embrace the superstition.

Back to my former Black-Eyed Pea restaurant. I was not too long at my current location when that restaurant closed. I don't remember how long it was before it re-opened as the Super Asia Buffet.

The Super Asia Buffet quickly became my favorite Chinese buffet, partly due to the fact it was just a short walk from my abode. Around the time the Super Bowl came to Arlington, the Super Asia Buffet, in what I am sure they thought was an extremely clever marketing move, changed their name to the Super Bowl Buffet.

Sushi was added to the menu, which had me liking it even more.

And then the Deep Recession came in 2008. The Super Bowl Buffet lasted a couple years into the recession, with noticeably fewer cars in the parking lot. And then it closed.

I mourned the Super Bowl Buffet's closing.

None of the Chinese buffets I frequented pre-2008 have survived the Great Recession.

They probably should have had black-eyed peas on the menu.....

The First Sunday Of October Dawns 17 Degrees Above Freezing In North Texas

This first Sunday morning of October dawned cold.

Real cold.

49 degrees is almost 50 degrees colder than the high a day or two ago.

This swift plummet to the outer world being cooled to below 50 had me deciding I did not want to have myself a swimming shock this morning.

Previously the fall reduction in pool water temperature has been gradual, thus giving me the opportunity to gradually get acclimated to the chill.

We are scheduled to have a return to warmer air in the coming days. Tomorrow morning I will make a swimming attempt. And likely quickly retreat to the hot tub.

Today I Was Able To Have Myself A Mighty Fine Dry Chilly Mountain Bike Ride Through The Gateway Park Jungle

I was able to make it to my regular Saturday photo op location in Gateway Park today. The only precipitation precipitating was an extremely slight drizzle of extremely short duration.

A large number of people were out enjoying the sudden change in temperature, going from being in the 90s to a wind chill in the low 50s.

I was one of the few bikers who was not in long pants. I was wearing long sleeves, which helped. Eventually I warmed up.

Other than being a bit chilly mountain biking through the Gateway Park jungle today was uneventful.

Town Talk was also uneventful, except for being the busiest I've ever seen it, with the parking lot full, with the over flow parking on the grass.

Inside the checkout lines were long, but moved fast, due to the Town Talk checkers being very fast.

My Town Talk treasure hunting turned up nothing surprising today. I did get a lot of tomatoes, carrots and jalapeno cheese, along with more chorizo.

Suddenly I see the sky brightening outside my computer room window. Is this latest chance at drought ending rain over? I hope not.

A First Saturday Of October 15 Degree Temperature Drop While Swimming

As you can see via the patio view of the outer world, at my location, this first Saturday of October looks to be a day with a storm brewing.

I entered the outer world later than the norm this morning for my regularly scheduled early morning swim. That late swim began a couple minutes before 8.

At that point in time there was still some blue showing in the sky.

Before I entered the outer world I saw on my computer based temperature monitoring device that the outer world was being heated to 76 degrees, which is relatively warm for an October morning.

The pool felt about the same temperature as the air, which made for a very pleasant pool entry.

And then, as the hour of swimming progressed the amount of cloud coverage also progressed. The clouds appeared to be blowing in from the west.

As I continued swimming I started thinking that the air was feeling cooler than the pool. When I exited the pool the air definitely felt much cooler than when I entered the pool.

And now I am back at my computer based temperature monitoring device where I see the temperature has dropped 15 degrees. It is now 61 degrees in the outer world at my location.

So far, no rain, but I suspect that may soon not be the case. I'm thinking there is a good chance that I won't be able to take a picture at my regular Saturday photo op location in Gateway Park today due to incoming moisture.

My back up plan will be to go on a walk under a bumbershoot and then go to Town Talk. That bumbershoot plan will be aborted if lightning gets thrown into the storm mix.

Today I Did Not Get A Speeding Ticket In Pantego Before Not Falling Off A Steep Slope With Quacking Ducks

I found myself in Pantego this morning. Pantego is a little town surrounded by Arlington.

Pantego is famous, locally, for its imaginative speed traps.

I have never been caught in a Pantego speed trap, but I know someone who was caught in a Pantego speed trap, but beat the trap rap because on the ticket the cop neglected to write down the speed the speeder was alleged to have been speeding.

Pantego is close to Arlington's Veterans Park. So, after I successfully avoided Pantego's imaginative speed traps I had myself a walk.

I had never noticed the STEEP SLOPE warning sign you see here, during my previous Veterans Park walks.

The sign makes one think this trail is a bit dangerous, with a steep slope that is best avoided lest one find oneself tumbling over like the illustration on the sign.

Eventually, at the top of the hill, at the end of the paved trail, one does come to some steep areas. But I do not think it can be those steep areas to which this sign refers.

Before I got to the point on the trail were I was in danger of tumbling off a steep slope I had an encounter with a flock of ducks clacking loud.

I walked cross the dam that forms the Veterans Park duck/turtle pond when I came upon the above flock resting in the shade of a tree. The duck looking at me, slightly to the right of center, with the white bill, objected quite vociferously to my intrusion.

During a short stand off I stood still, aiming my camera, while the lead duck quacked what sounded like a warning. I anticipated the possibility that I might need to make haste in the other direction to avoid a duck attack. But, eventually the lead duck led his flock away from me, with all of the flock quacking their disapproval.

The Veterans Park ducks are bigger and feistier than the ducks I visit at Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park. I think they may be ex-military....

I Am Shocked Part II By Fort Worth Star-Telegram Journalistic Ethics Violations

Two days ago in a blogging titled I Am Shocked Regarding New TRWD Ethics Violation Allegations I mentioned that the Star-Telegram was working on an article about a complaint filed with the Texas Ethics Commission regarding last May's Tarrant Regional Water District board election, targeting John Basham, Mary Kelleher, Timothy Nold and Monty Bennett as the alleged perpetrators of the ethics violation.

I wondered, at the time I learned about this upcoming Star-Telegram report, how it was that the Star-Telegram knew about this complaint prior to those being complained about knowing about it.

Yesterday, October 3, the aforementioned Star-Telegram article, titled Ethics complaint filed on campaign cash in water district races was published.

The Star-Telegram article sort of raises more questions than it answers and, as is the norm for the Star-Telegram, once again brings into question that alleged newspaper's journalistic integrity.

To re-cap the pertinent points I blogged about in I Am Shocked Regarding New TRWD Ethics Violation Allegations...

Jerry Jenkins filed the complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission. Jerry Jenkins is a neighbor of TRWD Board Member, Jack Stevens. Jerry Jenkins has allegedly had business dealings involving attorney Lee Christie. Lee Christie is an attorney for the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Despite what you just read in the above paragraph we learn in the Star-Telegram article that "Jenkins said he doesn’t have ties to the candidates but followed the election closely as a private citizen and objected to the way the campaign contributions were handled."

Also in the Star-Telegram article we learn "Jerry Jenkins, who operates a machinery business in Azle, filed the complaints Monday alleging that contributions totaling $125,000 to a political action committee from Dallas businessman and rancher Monty Bennett were improperly reported on campaign forms before the money was distributed to three board challengers, according to the complaint."

If I recollect correctly the issue of the campaign contributions from Monty Bennett came up during the election via attack mailings sent by the TRWD incumbent candidates as part of their smear campaign that started smearing when they realized the BNK's mailings were gaining traction with the voters.

If by some technicality the contribution by Monty Bennett, and dispersal of funds, was allegedly not properly reported how did this private citizen, Jerry Jenkins, come to have possession of this information? It certainly could not have come from any of the hard hitting articles he read in the Star-Telegram covering that election.

Who could possibly be the source of this misinformation about the alleged mishandling of campaign funds?

Did the Star-Telegram's reporter ask Mr. Jenkins how he came to acquire his belief that something unethical had occurred?

Why did the Star-Telegram reporter not find it of interest that Mr. Jenkins' neighbor is TRWD board member, Jack Stevens? And that Mr. Jenkins has allegedly had business dealings with an attorney who is also an attorney for the TRWD?

As for the Texas Ethics Commission. Every 90 days Adrian Murray gets a notice telling him they are still investigating his ethics complaint regarding the TRWD's unethical use of public funds to send voters a slick 10 page mailer at the height of the election campaign touting the virtues of the TRWD.

Adrian Murray's ethics complaint would seem to be fairly easy to parse. He was certainly not the only local voter to make note of what seemed to be a total impropriety by the TRWD.

I can not help but wonder if the Texas Ethics Commission is not yet one more Texas agency co-opted by foxes taking over the henhouse....

Panther Island Ice Will Soon Be Freezing In The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

Yesterday I mentioned J.D. Granger in a blog post.

That mention of J.D. Granger had someone named Anonymous making a blog comment...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "I Am Shocked Regarding New TRWD Ethics Violation Allegations": 

Fort Worth's favorite mama's boy, J.D. Granger: Photo #22 is the one with him in it.

I am almost 100% certain that the lady on J.D.'s right is not the mama to which Anonymous refers.

In other J.D. Granger news this morning we learned that J.D.'s vision for the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle is now expanding to add an ice skating rink to the plethora of outdoor activities the TRVB has initiated in Fort Worth.

The public, I mean, the Trinity River Vision Authority voted, unanimously, to spend $99,000 to get the ice rink up and freezing.

J.D. says the TRVB will get back its investment via skate rentals and sponsorships.

Panther Island Ice will be open daily from November 22 through January 5.

The ice rink will be located in the Coyote Drive-In complex, near the canteen, with one of the movie screens viewable from the ice rink, thus allowing a dream of many to come true, that being to be able to ice skate whilst watching a movie.

Who could have guessed, over a decade ago when the Trinity River Vision was first announced, that all these years later what we'd be seeing of the vision is the world's premiere wakeboard lake, the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century, happy hour inner tube floats in the Trinity River, one of the world's best waterfront music venues at something called Panther Island Pavilion and now an ice rink?

I really don't understand how come J.D. Granger was not picked as Best Servant of the People in last week's Fort Worth Weekly Best of 2013 issue....