Fort Worth's Gateway Park Master Plan, Abandoned Boardwalks & Dogs

The above big billboard caught my attention as I walked across a Gateway Park soccer field today. There seemed to be a lot going on on the billboard. And other signs by it. I was curious. It was right next to Fort Woof.

There was a lot of activity at Gateway Park today. A big rugby tournament with loud music and really good smelling Texas BBQ. Texas BBQ is my favorite type of Texas air pollution. Fort Woof was having a lot of barking going on. Including a pair of barking abandoned pit bulls.

But, before the dogs, back to the sign. On it I learned there is something called "Gateway Fanatics." And "Go Gateway Activity Sponsors."

I was quickly getting the feeling that this had to be some Trinity River Vision thing. That feeling was confirmed when I saw that the Trinity River Vision is one of the Gateway Activity Sponsors. The ubiquitous Chesapeake Energy is also a sponsor.

A nice trail has been installed and along the trail were well done propaganda signs. But before I get to that I'm going to go to the dogs.

Over by the now defunct Trinity River boardwalks there were a pair of very lonely, tail-wagging pit bulls that appeared to have been abandoned. There were 2 large piles of dog food for them under a tree. The pair acted as if I was there to rescue them. I guess with so many dog lovers in Gateway Park this is a good place to abandon a dog. Eventually I'm sure the pair will hear the barkers in Fort Woof and head over there, hoping to be adopted by a dog lover.

Here you see the nice new trail and some of the propaganda signs for the "Gateway Park Master Plan" touting the planting of over 80,000 trees, an Equestrian trail, outdoor covered basketball courts, kayaking, preserving nature. That type stuff. It was very impressive. The big billboard at the top shows the layout of the new Gateway Park. It will expand west across Beach Street, to the area of the water pipeline I showed you in the previous blogging. Fort Woof will be greatly expanded.

Meanwhile, in Gateway Park, the elaborate wooden boardwalks that used to take you down to the Trinity River are still boarded up eyesores. Now, I'm thinking, if Fort Worth can't manage to maintain what they've already built in this park, what hope does this Gateway Park Master Plan really have? Which also reminded me of what the powers that be have allowed to happen to downtown Fort Worth's Heritage Park.

Here you see part of the complex of rugby fields. I could not get a picture showing how big the crowd was. But it was. Big and loud. This is a very nice complex of sports facilities. There are also very well done baseball fields in this park. However. One thing really bugs me. And it's not just a Fort Worth thing. I've been bugged about the same thing in an Arlington park, that being River Legacy.

Okay, like I said, Gateway Park's rugby/soccer fields are very well done. Except for one thing. The restroom facilities are a row of outhouses. Now, I know that indoor plumbing came later to the South than the rest of the country, but really, it is 2009, not 1909.

Food was being cooked and served at this event. Where were the handwashing facilities? At River Legacy they have a big pavilion which is rented out for events like weddings. I've seen a lot of weddings take place there over the years. With food. With the restroom facilities being 2 outhouses. A word stronger than tacky needs to be invented.

Gas Driller's Water Sucking Today From The Trinity River By Gateway Park & Making A Real Big Mess

The mud covered paved trail is not a vehicular trail. It is a Trinity Trail running out of Gateway Park towards downtown Fort Worth and beyond. Today the trail ended a short distance from where we are in the picture, due to the Trinity River is running over a dam that also serves as a bridge for the trail.

My one longtime reader may remember a few weeks ago when I discovered a pipeline and pump in this location. And a short time after that, on a day when large numbers of people were cleaning up litter on the Trinity, that pipeline had been moved to a less noticeable location.

I must mention, before I continue on with what my main thing is that I want to tell you, that it seemed very ironic to see the Trinity River banks up close today, lined again with litter due to the recent high water. The litter looking like a line of white birds along the edge of the dikes.

I found this sign interesting. It is right by the aforementioned pump, that I must tell you has now been dragged from water's edge to a location on the levee. So, if you are at this location past 10pm you are committing a violation which constitutes trespassing. And what sort of violation is making a mess, while pumping water out of the river? I looked and looked and could find no permit for this operation posted anywhere. Surely the City of Fort Worth must issue some sort of permit to allow such activity on city parkland?

Here you see the muddy mess made on top of the levee. I don't know how it works in Texas, but in Washington dikes are protected from this type damage, because it is known that removing the grass can weaken the dike. Then again, the Trinity's levees are way bigger than any dikes I've ever seen on a Washington river. Maybe this does no harm to a Texas Trinity levee.

A close up look at the diesel pump. I forgot to mention, the pump was running today. I heard a really loud noise as I crossed the bridge from Gateway Park. I thought it was water roaring over the dam at first. Then I started smelling diesel fumes, then it became obvious it was a noisy pump making the racket.

Here you see the pipeline going into the Trinity. And the remains of the protective skirting from the pump's previous location before it was drug onto the levee.

A closer look at the strange swirl of foamy river water circling around the pipeline's intake.

From river's edge looking back up to the top of the levee where the pump sits and pumps water and diesel fumes into the air. One other interesting thing. I touched the pipeline, thinking I'd feel the movement of water, instead the pipe felt warm. Warm from friction from fast moving water, I wondered?

Trinity River water flowing over the dam that usually serves as a bridge for the Trinity Trail. It appears the boat dock was damaged in the flood. If you click to enlarge the picture you'll see the faint line of litter on the south bank that I mentioned above. From that you can see how high the river got during our recent unpleasantness with excess rain.

Another look at the litter line high water indicator on the south bank of the Trinity River. This view is from under the Beach Street bridge.

So, that's some of what I found interesting today at Gateway Park. I found another interesting thing at Gateway Park today. That I'll tell you about in another blogging. To be written as soon as I finish this one.

The Police Can't Catch Washington's Barefoot Burglar The New Jesse James

July 12 Barefoot Bandit UPDATE: Colton-Harris Moore has been arrested in the Bahamas.

My old home state of Washington has long had a history of spawning notorious criminals. D.B. Cooper and Ted Bundy come to mind.

The latest notorious Washington criminal has become a bit of a folk hero to some in the northwest, due to his long run at avoiding arrest.

He is known as the "Barefoot Burglar" due to being spotted a time or two running away barefoot. The Barefoot Burglar is Colton Harris-Moore, often called Colt when he's not called the Barefoot Burglar.

In 2005, or thereabouts, Colt dropped out of high school and started his burglary career by breaking into homes on Camano Island. Camano Island is in the Puget Sound about 45 miles north of Seattle, 20 miles south of where I used to live in Mount Vernon. I know someone who lives on Camano Island. I'll have to ask if the Barefoot Burglar burgled her.

Colt's first Camano Island crime spree came to an end in 2007. He plead guilty to 3 counts of burglary. Less than a year later Colt escaped detention.

Soon thefts were being reported on the island again. Colt was spotted in a stolen Mercedes-Benz, but successfully ran into the woods, escaping arrest, to begin a much bigger crime spree that is still going on.

Colt is now wanted by 5 Washington counties.

Colt left Camano Island to go to the San Juan Islands where he broke into a lot of homes, was spotted and chased several times. I have not read how Colt got from one San Juan Island to the other. I doubt he used a ferry, because he'd be easily spotted. His island hopping must have been facilitated by the boats he stole.

Colt got off the islands, back to the mainland, to Bellingham, where he stole another boat and somehow made it from Bellingham to Point Roberts. To you non-Washingtonians, Point Roberts is a peninsula, accessed by land by crossing into Canada and then back in the U.S. at Point Roberts. It is a bit of the mainland that sticks below the 49th parallel, and thus is in America.

Colt has stolen 3 airplanes, landing one in Idaho, then stealing another, a Cesna 182, flying it back west, over the Cascade Mountains, running out of fuel, then crash landing near Granite Falls and then running into the woods. Granite Falls is nestled up against the Cascade foothills. I would think it'd be a difficult place to crash land.

On Sunday there was a burglary report in the Granite Falls area. Deputies searched the woods. A shot was fired. A SWAT team was called in. A Blackhawk helicopter was brought in by Homeland Security to aid another helicopter which had an infrared detection scanner.

Yet still, Colt runs free.

Three guys, Zack, Will and Jordan have set up a Colton-Harris Fan Club site on Facebook. Facebook took it down for awhile. It's now back up. Currently the Facebook Fan Club has 4,846 members. There are 3 discussion groups on the Fan Club, "Crimes against the rich don't count," "Tales of the Barefoot Burglar" and "What you NEED to know about Colton Harris-Moore."

The Colton-Harris Fan Club site describes itself with the following...

Colton Harris-Moore is Western Washington's new Jesse James (without the murders). Without a doubt one of the greatest and most notable outlaws to come from an otherwise boring area. Some of his greatest achievements include the Kamikaze theft and crash landing of 3 airplanes (with no flight training) as well as commandeering a couple boats. Let's hope that he remains healthy, free and at large for a long time! Fly Colton, Fly!

When Colton is finally caught I suppose he can pay for all the damage he's done by selling the movie rights to his story.

Alma Sleeps Through One Of The Worst Fires In Port Aransas History

Yesterday down south on the Texas Gulf Coast, the town of Port Aransas had one of its worst fires ever.

Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, currently a Port Aransas resident, has been suffering a bad bout of insomnia, which went away hours before the fire blazed, with Alma sleeping through the conflagration and its accompanying sirens. Even Alma's large family of Guard Dog Chihuahuas slept through the flames and noise.

The wind-whipped fire totally destroyed 6 houses and left 2 others heavily damaged. The fire zoomed through the Private Marina neighborhood before the sun was up.

No one was injured.

Dozens of firemen from all over the area converged on Port Aransas to help the local firefighters. Fire departments from Corpus Christi, Ingleside, Portland, Rockport and Aransas Pass showed up to assist.

The fresh water hydrants had to be aided by water pumped from the ship channel, due to the high winds.

I have not made it down to Port Aransas since Alma took up residence there. I'd love to hear Alma sing at one, or all, of her various venues.

A Texas Halloween At Thrillvania Thrill Park

In a couple weeks the holiday season gets started with Halloween. From then on we're on a fast track to Christmas and a Hopefully Happy New Year.

Over the long Columbus Day weekend the Queen of Wink and her entourage, including Princess Annie, is riding the Royal Wink Carriage from West Texas to New York, Terrell and Fort Worth.

The Royal Winkers are picking me up as they pass through Fort Worth, on the way to New York, to go ziplining through some East Texas trees. Then it's on to Terrell where we are going to have some thrills and chills delivered by the Thrillvania Thrill Park.

After getting scared really bad, it's on to Fort Worth to stand on the best place to stand in Fort Worth, that being the Tandy Hills.

The thrills of ziplining don't much concern me, but the thrills at Trillvania, that sounds a bit scarier.

Thrillvania is one of the top-rated Halloween Haunts in America. There are several Haunted Options in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex zone. Thrillvania is considered to be the most fright filled.

There are 8 attractions at Thrillvania.

One being Verdun Manor, it being a mansion haunted by a psychotic werewolf.

Surrounding Verdun Manor is Voodoo Bayou. A thick fog makes it hard to see the dangerous creatures that lurk in the fog.

Cassandra's Labyrinth of Terror is haunted by the ghost of Lady Cassandra D'Arque, who lost her head 100 years ago and is real mad about it.

Dr. Lycan's Trail of Torment is haunted by creepy Dr. Lycan who helped Baron Verdun perform horrible experiments on travelers passing by Verdun Manor. All those tortured spirits are loose on the Trail of Torment.

At Granny Lupus' Seance Theatre you will bear live witness to the spirits haunting the Verdun estate.

In the Maze of Chaos you will have to find your way through a maze of scary twists and turns filled with surprises that are not for those who faint easy.

Thorn Hall is new this year. When you are in Thorn Hall you are in total darkness where Mortimer Thorn has something real unsettling for you.

Six Feet Blunder will put you in a funeral home gone bad where a maniacal mortuary puts you through a 4-D torment that has never been seen in Texas before.

You can go to the Thrillvania website for directions to Terrell and admission ticket prices, dates and hours information.

President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Wow. First time I've had a surprise in awhile. I am up early. 5am. Reading newspapers online. First the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, then the Dallas Morning News, then the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

When I clicked on the Seattle P-I the first thing that popped in to view was the big headline "President Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize."

Seattle is 2 time zones later than Texas. Why are Fort Worth and Dallas not awake with this news?

Reading the article about Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize I learned I was not the only one who is surprised. Only 2 American Presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize while in office. Teddy Roosevelt for his part in negotiating the settlement of the Russo-Japanese War early in the last century and Woodrow Wilson for his part in ending World War 1 and its aftermath.

The Nobel Committee says President Obama was awarded the Peace Prize due to his efforts in reaching out to the Muslim world and his efforts at curbing nuclear proliferation.

Some are surprised that Obama won a Nobel Prize due to the fact that he took office only 2 weeks after the Nobel nomination's deadline. I guess he was nominated in the hope that in the following months he would do something to earn the prize.

It should be amusing to listen to Rush Limbaugh rant about this turn of events today. Quite a turn around for President Obama from the sort of embarrassing recent Chicago Olympics debacle.

Fosdic Turtles Like High Humidity While My Eyes Burn With Morning Sickness

That is a herd of Fosdic Lake turtles and the bird they worship, sitting on a log. I like turtles. I think they may be the only reptile that I like.

Plus, they make really good soup. There is no warning not to eat the Fosdic Lake turtles, like there is not to eat the Fosdic Lake carp.

Due to some rain and temperatures in the 80s it is very humid out there. I'll go check with WeatherBug to see what the Heat Index is. Okay. Checked it. Real temperature 84.5. With the high humidity Heat Index having it feel like it is 89.5.

Which explains why I overheated slowly walking the paved trail around Fosdic Lake looking for spare change on the ground. I found 12 cents and 4 golf balls. A very lucrative walk. Plus that turtle I caught for lunch.

Two of my corespondents are knocked out today, ailing at home. I think the symptoms sound like morning sickness, but this is being vehemently denied. My secondary diagnosis is poisoning from exposure to pollution spewing from the thousands of Barnett Shale Natural Gas wells in this urban zone experiment to find out if such heavy duty poking into Mother Earth, in an area where millions make their home, is a healthy, sane thing to be doing.

Every day there seems to be fresh reports of Citizens of the Shale (that's what we love to call ourselves. Or was that a Chesapeake Energy ad slogan? I don't remember) who are claiming that fumes from the gas wells are making them sick.

Currently I seem to be having a constant kicked in the gut feeling. This could be purely psychosomatic. Or I may be suffering from the male version of morning sickness. Or it may be being caused by the air that I breathe. I am also having a burning sensation in my eyes that is similar to what I experienced decades ago in Los Angeles, back when the LA smog was thick and orange.

So, that's the hell I'm living this Thursday in Texas. Turtles, burning eyes, steamy heat and I'm 12 cents richer. No wonder I'm such a happy guy.

Twittering Levi Johnston & Flying To Puerto Rico With Burning Eyes

It is yet one more gray day here in Texas. Heavy rain and flooding is anticipated.

I saw on Twitter, this morning, that Levi Johnston had done some fresh funny Tweeting about his Baby Mama's Mama again. I blogged about it on my TV Blog. This is twice now that Levi Johnston has provided me blogging fodder on my TV Blog.

Last night I went over to Miss Puerto Rico's and was able to book her a flight to the island. This was managed without incident. We had a breakthrough in that she now understands that you save a lot of money by booking a flight yourself online.

And I learned that Travelocity is really easy to use. Years ago I tried to book a flight using Travelocity, but gave up due to how laborious it was.

I went swimming this morning. It was not raining. The water has warmed up again due to us warming up into the 70s the past couple days, during the day. At night it gets down into the chilly 60s.

I have talked to several locals now who are sharing a burning eye problem along with me. It comes and goes. I am wondering if it is caused by the now widely reported, and research validated, bad air pollution we are being served courtesy of the out of control urban natural gas drilling that is cracking up this thing called the Barnett Shale underneath us and causing earthquakes and other woes in the process.

I need to find a couple thousand bucks by tomorrow. I think I'll go on a long walk and keep a sharp eye out for a lot of loose change laying on the ground.

Suddenly that does not seem like a good plan due to heavy blobs of falling wet stuff hitting the window. Why do the forces of nature always make my plans go awry? Bad planning?

Things Are Looking Up. I Won Another Scrabble Game

Finally. I won something again. I thought it was a miracle of good luck and good letters when I beat the reigning Scrabble Queen of Washington State the first time.

And now it's happened again.

This almost cheers me up. Almost.

I enjoy Scrabble. It really does strain a part of my brain that prefers to not be disturbed. When I first woke up that part of my brain I had a lot of trouble coming up with words or seeing how to make multiple words.

But as more strain was put on the Scrabble part of my brain it became less of a strain. I'm thinking it's causing all sorts of new neurons and synapses to form. I have no idea if those are the proper terms.

Help!

Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone, help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me?

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,
I know that I just need you like I've never done before.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me, help me, help me, oh.