Kroger Sucks But The Skagit Valley Food Co-Op Does Not

Only one other grocery store is lower in my grocery store estimation than Kroger. That would be Albertsons. I was appalled by Albertsons when I lived in Washington and appalled when I moved to Texas to have people here tell me Albertsons was their best grocery store.

I think after my experience today Kroger has fallen below Albertsons.

I prefer well-run grocery stores, like Sprouts Farmers Market, ALDI Food Market, Cho Saigon Market and Central Market.

Lately I have been buying milk at ALDI. It is only 99 cents a gallon. This week I heard a Kroger ad on the radio, bragging about their new low 99 cents a gallon price on their locally produced Springdale milk.

I was out of milk. So, on my way back from riding my bike, with Kroger being a stone's throw from where I live, I decided to get a gallon of milk.

One thing that is disturbing about this particular Kroger is how low the stock of some items can be. For instance, there were only 3 gallons of milk of the type I buy. The sparse shelves give the look of something being very wrong.

So, I go to the self-checkout and scan the annoying Kroger card that you have to scan to get whatever you are buying at the price you are wanting to pay. I then scanned the milk.

It scans at $2.99.

But the screen says something like final calculation made after the "Pay Now" button is hit. I did so.

Still $2.99. I then asked the Kroger scanner watcher why the milk was $2.99 when it was supposed to be 99 cents.

She told me it was 99 cents with an additional $10 purchase.

That is not what the radio ad said.

That is not what it said on the $.99 sign by the milk.

I told the Kroger scanner watcher I did not want the milk. And walked out. Vowing this was the last time I waste my time going to Kroger.

Kroger needs to go out of business. How it stays in business I don't understand. I was  recently told that Albertsons is long gone from my former location, that being Mount Vernon. This is no surprise. Mount Vernon has a couple very good grocery stores. Of the likes I don't see here in my zone of Texas.

Except for Central Market. And don't mention Whole Foods to me as a good grocery store. Someone in the grocery store business, here in Texas, needs to fly up to Washington and go to Mount Vernon to check out the Skagit Valley Food Co-op, then come back to Texas and replicate the Skagit Valley Food Co-op in Texas.

In Fort Worth Looking At The Incredibly Shrinking Trinity River & Its Litter

You are looking at the former Trinity Falls, now Dry Trinity Falls, standing on the Trinity Trail near the bridge that leads from Gateway Park. There were 10 or more guys fishing from the location of the now dry falls today. It seems just a few weeks ago Hurricane Hermine dumped so much water in North Texas that the Trinity River was flooding higher than I'd seen since I've been in Texas, delivering litter where litter had seldom been delivered. And a lot of water.

Above are some of the fishing guys, with their lines in the water where the Trinity River discharges from  the other side. I can't imagine there being fish in this location.

Above we are looking north across the Trinity River Dam Bridge, where just a few days ago the water was quite a bit higher and I showed you a scary looking whirlpool that was sucking water under the dam bridge. The whirlpool is still swirling, though not as constant and not as big. You can see the dock, used by boaters to launch their boats, is sitting high and dry and boat-free, on the north side of the dam bridge.

In the above picture we are above the whirlpool, above where the Trinity flows under the dam. Those are not some of J.D. Granger's lost inner tubes at the base of the dam. Those are tires. There were several of them. And a rusty bed spring.

Above is the best picture I managed to get of the whirlpool. I watched a few pieces of floating litter get flushed down the whirlpool. I should have thought to take video. That would have captured the strange sucking noise.

Above is another view from the top of the dam bridge of the newly shrunken Trinity River, looking west at the Beach Street Bridge and downtown Fort Worth. The riverbank sort of looks like the tide is out.

Speaking of litter, there is still quite a lot of debris piled up around the exit from Gateway Park on to the Trinity Trail. About half the mountain of litter, that was piled up soon after the flood receded, has been removed.

Above is a look at the reduced Litter Mountain. I would think it was shrinking due to decomposition, except for the fact I could tell some mechanical device had been scraping away at it. You can see the fumes coming from the mountain of litter.

So, that was my exciting adventure at noon today. Escaping for a very short time to take a very short bike ride to take a few pictures of a very shrunken river. And some litter remnants.

Still In Recovery Mode In Texas At 20 Degrees Above Freezing

Have the birds flown further south for the winter? I heard no tweeting greeting the arrival of the sun this morning.

It is only 52 this morning. 20 degrees above freezing. I am not going swimming. I am still in recovery mode from whatever it was that made me one big aching sore.

If I can muster the energy I may try and ride my bike out of Gateway Park on to the Trinity Trail and over the Trinity River to take a picture or two of the dried up river.

But, right now, I'm taking a prescription dose of Ibuprofen.

Walking Around Fosdic Lake Looking At A Big Ditch Getting Dug

The grass has been cut at Oakland Lake Park, making it pleasant to walk around Fosdic Lake again.

I am feeling a bit less energetic than my norm, today, so a peaceful walk around a lake seemed to be a good idea.

The seemingly unneeded sidewalk fixing project, at Oakland Lake Park, seems to have ended. With the one bad section of the paved trail left un-fixed. One can clearly tell where that one bad section is, due to it being covered with dried mud.

Today I saw the flush with money City of Fort Worth has the Fort Worth Water Department digging a big ditch in the northwest side of the park, right by the bridge across Fosdic Falls.

I remember a year or two ago a big hole was dug in this location. For what reason I no longer remember, but I vaguely recollect it seemed to make sense at the time.

I could make no sense out of what the Fort Worth Water Department people are digging for this time. It appears to be a big drainage ditch, maybe.

But, draining what? I'm sure it will all make sense in time and reveal itself as a much more sensible expenditure of city funds than keeping a library or pool open.

Maybe Fort Worth is adding restroom facilities to this park. Currently there are none. Not even any of those outhouses that Fort Worth seems to like sticking in its parks. There also is no running water in Oakland Lake Park. There is a nice, covered picnic pavilion, but with no running water.

I would think running water and restroom facilities would be a must have for any city park with picnic facilities. But, that is not the case in these parts.

Fort Worth Has The 15th Most Dangerous Neighborhood In America

According to an entity called WalletPop, a team under the direction of a Dr. Andrew Schiller, at NeighborhoodScout.com, used FBI data collected from 17,000 law enforcement agencies to determine the Top 25 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods in America.

Texas only has 2 dangerous neighborhoods on the list. One Texas dangerous neighborhood is in Galveston. The other dangerous Texas neighborhood is in Fort Worth.

Judging from the map it appears the dangerous Fort Worth neighborhood includes the area I bike through when I am on the Trinity Trail heading west from Gateway Park, where I always see homeless people.

Apparently my chances of becoming a victim in Fort Worth's dangerous neighborhood, during the year, are 1 in 10. Those do not sound like very good odds. Maybe I should find a safer place to ride my bike.

Aches & Pains & Cold Days In Texas

I was up early on this the 4th day of October, but I am late to my blogging habit due to Google's Blogger having a malfunction this morning with its new editor. So, I switched to the old editor, which seems to be working fine.

I hate it when 'new and improved' isn't.

I did not go swimming this morning because I decided this is a take it easy day, due to being a bit on the sore side, thanks, I think, to both a bike wreck and some new pool exercises the Scrabble Queen of Washington taught me.

I hate the aches and pains of being elderly. I think I may be experiencing the early signs of arthritis in my hands. It actually hurts to type. Gripping my bike's handlebars seems to be what's got my hands in hurt mode.

It got down to 50 last night. I read in the Seattle P-I this morning that the coldest La Nina in 50 years has formed near the equator. When this happens the Pacific sends real bad storms to the northwest, as in cold and wet with a lot of snow in the mountains.

I do not know how La Nina affects Texas. I suspect we are going to have a cold winter here, too, because even though fall is only a few days old, it is already being colder than I remember past falls being here.

It is time to take another dose of Ibuprofen.

Elsie Hotpepper Did Not Bite A Hot Pepper On The Tandy Hills Tonight

Elsie Hotpepper was seeming to be a tad down in the dumps this weekend. In dire need of being cheered up.

I thought maybe with Gar the Texan bailing on going to the State Fair of Texas with me, due to choosing to go battle annoying Germans in their Fatherland, instead, that maybe Elsie would enjoy going to the State Fair of Texas to maybe take her mind off her infernal aggravations.

I was wrong. Elsie Hotpepper did not respond in an affirmative manner to my suggestion that she needed to have herself some Deep-Fried Beer.

I then thought maybe a trip to the Tandy Hills Natural Area Sanatorium might be just what Elsie Hotpepper needed to get the heat back in her peppers. This suggestion was also met with a negative, even after I conjured up an artist's rendering of Elsie Hotpepper enjoying the salubrious sanatorium that is the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

It is now less than an hour before I enjoy my favorite TV show, that being The Amazing Race, so time has now run out on me being able to come up with anything to put the pepper back in Elsie Hotpepper.

I will try again tomorrow. To re-pepper Elsie Hotpepper, I mean. But, I will not be trying much else tomorrow. Because I am in total body sore ache mode. As in, I need a day of doing nothing so my aged aching body can recover from whatever it is I have done to it that has me feeling so sore.

Well, there was that semi-bike wreck earlier today. And the Scrabble Queen of Washington did teach me some new pool moves that I think may have strained a thing or two. I am sure in the long run all will be well, as will I.

A Sunday Mountain Bike Ride At River Legacy Park With A Minor Bike Wreck & Major Leakage

With my flat tire/bad tire pump debacle behind me, today I decided to try and mountain bike the River Legacy Park trails again.

All was going well. At first. I teetered successfully over the newly added teeter totter.

And then I came to the first steep drop. This down and up has had some serious eroding take place since I used to ride down and up it with no problems.

My method for dealing with this first dip is to go down the drop fast and then bounce up the other side, with the momentum pushing me up, while I pedal to add some oomph.

Well, today I hit a root rut. Hard. The bounce knocked the chain off the sprocket, which caused there to be no tension on the pedals, which caused me to lurch forward. The momentum got me to the top. Almost. As I jumped off the bike, without falling. Sustaining only a minor cut to my knee.

The chain was easily stuck back on the sprocket, with me back blissfully pedaling.

Until another calamity befell me. I began to leak like a sieve from my eyes, soon followed by more dripping from my nose. At first I thought this was some quick onslaught of a cold caught from a germy Washingtonian on Tuesday. Then I realized the dripping was likely due to biking in the relatively frigid temperature.

I decided if the dripping did not cease by the time I completed my first time around the trails, I'd cease with the biking. The dripping did not cease, so the biking did.

Since I was sort of in the neighborhood, I went to the Pantego ALDI Food Market to get some food. Milk is only 99 cents a gallon. How are dairy farmers making any money if milk is going for 99 cents a gallon? It's very perplexing.

It's time for lunch now. Romaine salad with fish sticks and onion rings. I'm such a health food nut.

Big Tex At The State Fair Of Texas While Gar The Texan Defends Czechs By Fighting Germans At Munich's Octoberfest

You are looking at the backside of Big Tex at the State Fair of Texas. Big Tex is real big. And he talks. Big Tex has a real good Texas drawl.

But not as good a Texas drawl as Gar the Texan's Texas drawl when he is in fighting mad mode.

Gar the Texan has never been to the State Fair of Texas. He was going to go to it with me this year, but then he changed his mind and decided to go to Germany, for a month, and go to Octoberfest in Munich, instead of the State Fair of Texas in Dallas.

It seems rude to me to tell someone you are going to the State Fair of Texas with them and then go to Germany instead.

Speaking of being rude. Last weekend, Gar the Texan was at a Munich Octoberfest Beer Garten, sitting at a table with a bunch of guys from the Czech Republic, having himself a fine time, when the Czech guys left Gar the Texan guarding their seats, while they went to procure more beer. Then a group of German guys took the Czech seats despite Gar the Texan's profanity-laced protestations. Eventually the Gestapo showed up to advise Gar the Texan to cease with his profanity-laced protesting of this 2010 German occupation of Czech territory. When the Czech guys returned they quickly capitulated to the German Anschluss and left the Beer Garten. The Germans then suggested that Gar the Texan also leave their newly acquired territory and join the Czech exiles.

It seems Gar the Texan is finally coming to understand why I can't stand Germans. For the  most part.

Well, enough of international relations for the day.

Below is a video I made of my last visit to the State Fair of Texas. In the video you will hear Big Tex verbalizing his hope that you have yourself a real fine time at the State Fair of Texas....

A Chilly Texas October Sunday Morning

The sun is just starting to shine a light on the darkness, on this, the 3rd day of October. At 53, this morning, at around 7 we have not reached the predicted chilly low of 48. Yet.

I don't know what I did to cause it, but I am experiencing some extreme muscle pain this morning. My arms feel like I've been lifting bales of hay for hours. I do not recollect lifting any bales of hay or bales of hay equivalents.

I am totally devastated that Texas lost to Oklahoma yesterday in the Red River Rivalry in the Cotton Bowl during the State Fair of Texas.

Meanwhile in the Columbia River Rivalry Washington upset Southern California. I don't know where this game was played, but I am fairly certain it was not in the Rose Bowl during the Western Washington State Fair in Puyallup.

I am guessing the pool is going to be cooler than it was yesterday. I will find out in a few minutes.