Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Closes In On 1 $Billion While Parts Of The Vision Go Blind

Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision, which started out as simply being an impoundment of the Trinity River, to create a little "Town Lake," then the vision got bigger when an unneeded flood diversion channel was added, so as to get Federal money, then canals were added, then 3 signature bridges, then restoring a wetlands and enhancing Gateway Park.

In one of the worst cases of nepotism I've ever been witness to, Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger's son, J.D Granger, he with absolutely no experience overseeing such a development, was put in charge of it.

There really was no significant protestation of this case of nepotism from the citizens of Fort Worth. They are so totally used to the Fort Worth way of doing things. The majority of Fort Worth's citizens also don't see any problem with the fact they've not been allowed to vote on this hazy vision that would so greatly alter their city. Because, really, in actuality, it is not their city. They just live there.

The price tag, originally for the lake, canals, bridges and flood diversion channel was less than half a $billion. Yesterday, it was announced that the decision had been made to drop the 3 signatures bridges designed by Vancouver architect, Bing Thom. Mr. Thom was also the architect who designed Fort Worth's most recent boondoggle, that being the aborted Tarrant County College campus, being built into the bluff above the Trinity River.

Mr. Thom's college campus had the potential to give Fort Worth its first iconic structure, recognizable to other people in the world as being Fort Worth. Mr. Thom's signature bridges also had the potential to give Fort Worth its first iconic structural images. I guess Fort Worth is destined to have only one iconic image identified with it, that being the Fort Worth Stockyards sign, which really only clues people to it being Fort Worth, due to the name being part of the iconic image.

A town without an identifiable iconic structural image really has not managed, as yet, to put itself on the world map. Seattle managed it with a thing called the Space Needle. Dallas did it with a thing called Reunion Tower. San Antonio has an Alamo. New York City has a big statue, among other things. Chicago has a tower or two that people recognize as Chicago.

It takes someone with a vision to give a city an iconic image. Unfortunately Fort Worth has had the benefit of the vision of someone named Ed Bass, he being the member of the good ol' boy network most responsible for stopping the construction of the new Tarrant County Community College, and also responsible for some of downtown Fort Worth's worst architectural missteps, due to his obvious unrefined taste in such matters.

In addition to dropping the signature bridges, the canals are also being dropped, leaving the Trinity River Vision only seeing the original Town Lake, the unneeded flood diversion channel, that was added later, and the Gateway Park development, which was also added later.

Now, at what point in time do we call this project what it is, as in a massive, ridiculous, poorly managed, embarrassing boondoggle?

Also the completion date of this boondoggle, which is very unlikely to ever see fruition, any more than Tarrant County Community College's boondoggle was ever likely to be completed, has now been pushed off til 2021. So, we've got a lot of years to go before the unneeded flood diversion channel starts doing its protection job.

Meanwhile, how much money is being spent fixing the chronic flooding problems in Haltom City? No one has died or lost their home in flooding in the area of Fort Worth's cloudy River Vision. The same can not be said for Haltom City.

I tell you, the priorities of some of the people who live in this zone really perplex me. Perplex me an awful lot.

Ant Invasion, Stabbing, Body Part Lost To Garbage Disposal, Dizzy Hiking & Run-In With Texas Law

That's the Tandy Hills Natural Area view, sometime between noon and one. It was HOT. Right on the edge of too HOT.

But I was in serious need of a distraction and being on the edge of too HOT seemed like a good idea at the time.

My bad day started late last night. I was ready to call it a night, when I turned on the lights in the kitchen to see I'd been invaded by sugar ants. Those little ants are being very busy due to it being real HOT.

So, I had to initiate an ant holocaust, followed by getting rid of all the ant corpses. Very unpleasant.

The first hour this morning was without incident. Nothing more had happened in the kitchen overnight. My morning swim was pleasant.

I was running a bit late, I needed to make breakfast. Quickly. I turned on the garbage disposal to dispose of some garbage. That's what it's for. But something was in there that made a sound I did not like. So, I turned the disposal off and proceeded to reach inside. Before the blades stopped moving.

My right hand index finger, that being the one vulgar sorts use to make obscene gestures, got hit. Part of the fingernail got disposed of, along with the garbage.

A few minutes later I was trying to open a package with a sharp knife. Knives and me have long not gotten along well. This morning was no exception. The knife burst through the plastic and into the tip of my right hand pointing finger, that being the one that is used to point, not make obscene gestures. I did not lose too much blood before I got it under control.

So, by noon it was time to get out of here. The National Weather Service had not issued a Heat Advisory at the point in time when I got out of here. They have now.

I was enjoying the HEAT, for the most part. Big Ed was along on this hike. Just like he did the last time I mentioned him hiking, he wandered off and got lost again. He'd forgotten his cell phone and was getting panicky, but then found his way out. As for me, climbing the steepest climb in the Tandy Hills had me a bit dizzy by the time I reached the top. I suspect this was caused as much by this morning's blood loss and it was the HEAT.

Getting invaded by ants, chopped up by my garbage disposal, stabbed by a knife and dizzy on a hill is not the worst of my day. The worst is what happened next. I'll save that for the next blogging. I've had me a run-in with the law!

The Greenest Green I've Ever Seen Is In Seattle, Also Austin & Dallas

An entity called the Natural Resources Defense Council surveyed 655 cities with a population over 250,000, trying to determine various cities' level of greenness and sustainability.

Categories evaluated were air quality, green building, green space, energy production, conservation, recycling, transportation and water quality.

The Emerald City of the Evergreen State came in #1 in air quality, energy production and conservation. Seattle fell to 5th in transportation. Which surprises me. It would seem it would be way lower. As in it is so easy to drive around this D/FW Metroplex, where I'm currently being held hostage, compared to driving around Seattle. Then again, it is easy to get around Seattle on mass transit, unlike here, except in Dallas, which has excellent mass transit

When it was all tallied Seattle came in #1 as the Greenest City in America. Two Texas towns were in the Top 15. Austin at #6 and quite surprisingly, Dallas at #14. I have no idea where Fort Worth is on the 655 rankings. I suspect, with it being the only large city in America to allow urban drilling all over its town, that there's a chance Fort Worth came in #655.

When Fort Worth was named on a short list by a Washington, D.C. lobbying group, something to do with Best Urban Villages, Fort Worth had a city-wide celebration for this extremely prestigious honor, an honor which other towns, that got the same "honor," recognized as a self-serving bogus deal meant to promote the lobbying group. An "honor" that the mouthpiece of Fort Worth's Ruling Junta, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram opined would make other cities, far and wide, green with envy.

Seattle is not having a city wide celebration for this most recent thing for which has been ranked #1. I wonder what sort of celebration Fort Worth would have if were ever ranked #1 for something good? The mind boggles. Well, we do have the #1 Dog Park in America, according to Dog Fancy Magazine. I've long thought a city-wide celebration was in order for that.

Anyway, here's the Top 15 Greenest Cities in America. #1 Seattle, #2 San Francisco, #3 Portland, Oregon, #4 Oakland, California, #5 San Jose, California, #6 Austin, #7 Sacramento, #8 Boston, #9 Denver, #10 Chicago, #11 San Diego, #12 New York City, #13 Los Angeles, #14 Dallas, #15 Columbus, Ohio.

Oakland Lake Park At 101 & Town Talk Provolone

This is Wednesday. Anyone who has paid any attention might think that today I went up to Southlake and Sprouts Farmers Market.

They would be wrong.

I did not escape this HOT HELL I am living til after 4 this afternoon. I could not take another minute of looking at a computer monitor. So, even though it was 101, I went to Oakland Lake and walked around the park.

The humidity has gone way down, so it was perfectly pleasant. Only when I quit walking and got back in my vehicle did I turn into a dripping wet mess, that soon dried out.

Yesterday I went to Town Talk and got Provolone cheese that turned out to be about the tastiest cheese I can remember ever having. Since Town Talk is fairly close to Oakland Lake Park, after I was done walking I went back to Town Talk and got a lot more cheese.

Today I was a blogging and webpage making maniac. I'd grown tired of my Roadtripping Blog, due to it taking too much time and seeing too few results. But, today I went back to Death Valley. I had not been there in awhile. Yesterday I went to Lava Beds National Monument in California.

I have no idea where I may be going tomorrow.

President Obama Throws A Baseball Better Than I

I have not listened to Rush Limbaugh much of late. His gloomy doomy, over the top, anti-Obama stuff really seems a bit over done. Not that I'm not among those a bit non-plussed with how things are going Obama-wise.

But today's grist for the mill was really ridiculous. The issue was that at some baseball all-star game, Obama threw a baseball like a girl. Which really is insulting to girls, I would think. I mean, I've got 3 sisters who can throw a baseball way better than me. For me it would be a compliment to tell me I throw like a girl. But, it would be an insult to my sisters to tell them they throw like their brother.

It's all over the Internet, today, the issue of Obama's baseball throwing skills. Some drop the politically incorrect "throws like a girl" verbiage and change it to he throws a baseball in a dainty way.

Like me, President Obama is left-handed. Like me, President Obama is not adept at throwing a baseball. Like me, I suspect, President Obama probably grew up thinking that developing the skill of throwing a baseball is nothing but a pointless, boring waste of time.

Now, me, knowing that I could not hit the proverbial side of a barn, if I were president, I would not let anyone get me out on a baseball mound. I likely would, by the time I became president, taken the great political risk of letting it be known that I am not a fan of baseball, never have been, never will be, and that I ain't throwing no stinking baseballs. Even more than football, I've never understood what could possibly hold anyone's attention watching a baseball game for hours. I can see watching a pro sports game every once in awhile, like once a year watching the Super Bowl and paying attention to the commercials, but to watch multiple games a week of grown men playing with each other, just seems perverse to me.

And don't get me started on how bizarre it is that our economic system is so screwed up that millions of bucks are paid to ostensibly grown men to play these children's games, while millions of other pay millions, make that billions to watch the grown men play the children's games. And somehow muster caring, whether or not, the grown men playing children's games, win or not, acting as if these are important matters.

It's vexed and perplexed me for decades now. Below is a YouTube video of Obama throwing like me....

Morning Mooning Over Texas

That white thing in the picture is the crescent moon that hung overhead this morning, while I was in the pool.

We did not get under the 80s last night here in my zone of Texas. Which had the A/C running all night long. I do not like the A/C running, off and on, all night long.

The A/C running all night long, and me having no choice, if I wanted to be comfortable, but to let it run all night long, may have been the reason for my ongoing nightmare dream saga trauma last night.

In the nightmare I lost control of my personal space. Relatives and others became like Nazis. Suddenly I had no rights and they did and said and took whatever they wanted. Eventually I was left with just my laptop, sitting in the dark, wondering why in the world these people thought it okay to act like this.

This nightmare may have been triggered by it being less than a week to go before it is one year since I flew out of here, into a hornet's nest of weirdness and unsettling dysfunction that had me severely traumatized by the time I got back here, a month later. During the height of the madness I tried to make an early escape, to no avail. Which added to the feeling of having lost control.

Right before I went to bed last night I saw I had a Facebook message. To reply to those you can't simply reply to the email message telling you you have a message. You have to log into Facebook to reply to the message that you already read in the incoming email. So, I did so, last night. I was busily typing away and suddenly an explosion went off. Earlier I'd turned up the speakers to listen to a loud YouTube video.

When the explosion popped, the screen suddenly filled up with another window, instantly stopping me from typing. I didn't know what was happening, what was exploding. Then I saw a note that seemed to be directed at me. Then I saw that this note was coming from one of my Movie and TV Star friends. So, I chatted back. Eventually my heart stopped pounding from being startled by that loud explosion.

You know at my advanced age and poor state of physical well-being, a startling incident like this could cause a heart attack. Or worse.

It's perplexing.

Eventually I was able to get myself calmed down and back into sleep mode. So, I said good night to my favorite Movie and TV Star and went to bed. The aforementioned nightmare, soon to follow. All in all a good night and I am well-rested. For the most part.

Roller Blading Babies & A Texas Roller Blading Baby

I love a watching herds of roller blading babies. This puts it in my mind to maybe to roller blading today, rather than hiking, most likely at the Tandy Hills. I usually do not go roller blading when the temperature is in the 100 zone, because I have had some overheating incidents on roller blades that were not pleasant. So, I've relegated those wheels to late fall, winter and early spring, for the most part.

But, with my bike disabled and me continuing to forget to get it fixed, I currently have only one wheel, well actually, 8 wheel motion option, that being the roller blades. It might be doable at Village Creek Natural Historic Area, due to all the shade from all the big oak trees.

We'll see. It's a perplexing dilemna.

The Hot Tandy Hills & Helping An Old Texas Lady Cross The Street

That is the noon view today, high atop Double Bump Ridge, looking slightly southeast, on the 4th day in a row of hiking the Tandy Hills Natural Area in near 100 degree heat. The stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth is to our right, where I live is to our left. My old home in Washington is behind me and to my right a couple thousand miles. It is 66 right at this moment in my old hometown of Mount Vernon.

In 7 days it will be a year since I was an overheated mess getting through Love Field, in Dallas, to fly to Seattle, where I was greeted by frigid cold that iced me for a month. I never quit shivering til I got back to this more reasonable climate.

Speaking of which, we've barely hit 100 so far today, a day when some predictions were for 105. I read 104 on WeatherBug, heard 105 on the radio.

Years ago, as in a lot of years ago, I was in Las Vegas for the first time, driving my long dead 65 Fastback Mustang, which had no A/C. It was September and over 100. I remember seeing a group of guys doing some roadwork and wondering how they could do such a thing.

I found out today that this Texas woman, who has been communicating with me for quite some time, whom I assumed was a wrinkled up little old lady with really big hair, who I helped due to that good Boy Scout help an old lady cross the street problem of mine, is actually a pretty, young thing. As in young and pretty, not old and wrinkled.

I don't recall the last time I've suffered such a shocking surprise. I don't know what to make of this information. The help the old lady cross the street thing is now done, with this particular old lady. Will I still be able to motivate myself to help, now that I know this Texas woman is a young thing who looks like a movie star? With really big hair.

It's perplexing.

Speaking of young pretty Texas things. Those delicate purple wildflowers I've mentioned before, are still busy blooming. How are they doing this in day after day of over 100 and no water? While plants around them are wilting, these tough purple flowers show no sign of fading.

This also is perplexing.

Swimming In Mysterious Women In Texas

Yesterday's Mystery Woman erupted into a full bore brouhaha by this morning. With the Mystery Woman now revealed, she begged me to once more shroud her in secrecy. Obliging sort that I am, that's what I did.

I've got me another Texas Mystery Woman threatening to drain my life force via hugging. Have I mentioned before my hugging aversion? I've always found the practice distasteful, particularly ever since it seemed to turn into some sort of fad a decade or more ago.

I really dislike Hug Demanders. Years ago, in Washington, I knew this nurse, who I called The Fat Lady, usually not to her face. She was a Hug Demander. She was of the sort, and their number is not small, who, when you indicate an aversion to casual hugging, make it into a big deal, telling me I have some sort of deep-seated issue. I remember shutting the Fat Lady up, on this subject, when I told her that in my view hugging was foreplay.

I'm going back on the Atkins Diet today. As you can see in the picture of me in the pool, from this morning, I've packed on a few pounds, with big ol' manboobs and a big ol' gut. I can't believe I let myself go like this again. And me with all the judgmental comments about the weight challenged. I really need to work on being less of hypocrite. I'm almost ashamed of myself.

Speaking of Mystery Women, I got a message from one up in Washington yesterday. She is concerned that I am not wearing sufficient clothing when I swim and hike. I appreciate her concern.

Even though it seems sort of wrong to run the oven when you can just put a piece of meat outside to cook it, this morning I heated the oven to 350 and cooked a pork loin. Pork loin is good Atkins Diet material. I should be skinny again in no time. Using the oven did not seem to make it warm in here or cause the A/C to run. Come to think of it, the A/C has been quiet all morning, even though it's 93.2 out there.

I am out of here in a bit to make it day 4 at the Tandy Hills. And then I'm going to Town Talk to buy protein products. Unless I get diverted by another Mystery Woman.

Half A Woman Is Better Than No Woman In Texas

This morning Cheryl V sent me a disturbing video that perplexed me. A few hours later CC2 alleviated me of some of my perplexation by directing me towards the prank perpetrator via his website. I'd not heard of Criss Angel til today. Don't watch the video if the sight of seeing a woman torn in half might be unsettling to you.