The dawn of the last Thursday of 2010 looks like it might arrive with the sky clear of clouds, but I can not tell for sure at this point in time.
I can tell that the dawn of the last Thursday of 2010 has arrived warmly, as in just a couple degrees shy of 60.
In other words, no furnace running this morning.
Which pleases me, because I think it is the furnace running that somehow gets my eyes watering and makes looking at the computer screen a bit blurry until the eyes leaking situation gets under control.
The Scrabble Queen of Washington is heading to Long Beach today. That is one of my favorite locations on the Washington Pacific Coast. Apparently low tides will be turning the New Year's Day weekend into a razor clam digging opportunity.
Digging for razor clams, on a beach with thousands of other clam diggers is quite fun. In summer. I can't imagine doing this in winter. It seems like it would be very wet and cold.
The Scrabble Queen is bringing her iPad along so that she can continue beating me at Scrabble. I miss my Scrabble if I don't get a daily dose. It helps greatly with firing the synapses of parts of my brain that usually lay dormant.
The sun has risen quite a bit higher and I still can not tell if the sky is clear. I can see that it is glowing pink, as you can see in the latest picture, looking outside from one of my frost-free windows.
The conditions out there are such that we are under a wildfire alert in North Texas. The way it is glowing out there right now it looks like a wildfire is in the neighborhood.
Anyway, all I know for sure that lays ahead today for me is a bowl of chili from a big pot of the State Soup of Texas that I made last night.
I have seen a lot of fire hoses today. But that is not a fire hose that was laying on the ground in Veterans Park in Arlington today. Instead it is some sort of barrier made of hay-like material held in a hose shape by black mesh.
The "hose" leads to the Veterans Memorial, where, if you look close, you can see the flags are at half mast.
I wondered why, for a moment, and then remembered the rookie policewoman, Jillian Michelle Smith, only 24 years old, murdered Tuesday within 20 minutes of responding to a domestic violence call, where she was trying to protect an 11 year old kids from an armed man, who killed 2 others, in addition to the police officer, before fleeing.
The killer was later caught.
My phone rang as I neared Veterans Park. I had trouble getting the phone out of my pocket. By the time I was successful in that endeavor it had already gone to voice mail.
When I was securely parked I flipped open the phone to get the message. It was Elsie Hotpepper. A long, convoluted message about lies, betrayal and fraud. And then Elsie started singing some sort of jingle, like a parody of the Dr Pepper song. It was unsettling.
I called Elsie back, but I got her voice mail.
Then a few minutes ago Elsie Hotpepper called again. I successfully answered, because my phone was already out of my pants. Elsie sang her Elsie Hotpepper jingle again. It is quite catchy. And then she asked me a question. Or two.
And now let's change the subject to the weather. It is currently 70 degrees out there at 6 minutes before 5. I have my window open. I was overheated after talking to Elsie Hotpepper.
I got back here about 1, after going to Arlington to Veterans Park. And Pantego to ALDI. When I returned to my neighborhood my way to my domicile was blocked by a wreck. This has never happened before. It was an odd location for a 2 car collision.
Then, after lunch, I was peacefully minding my business, trying, desperately, to beat the Scrabble Queen of Washington at Scrabble, before moving on to more serious matters, when suddenly all hell broke loose with the noise from big trucks hitting loud brakes and more sirens. And lots of horns honking.
The noise seemed to escalate and was quickly getting on my nerves. I called Miss Puerto Rico to ask if she knew what all the noise was about. Fire, she told me.
So, I grabbed my camera and exited. Not bothering to put on shoes. Because I didn't think I was going far. I was wrong.
When I got a view of the street I saw the line of fire trucks and emergency vehicles you see in the picture above. And then I saw smoke.
I walked towards the smoke, along with a lot of other people.
Dozens of Fort Worth's finest were on the scene, in full action mode. Some were already in the building. The fire hose was not yet spouting water, but foam had been sprayed. I saw flames flickering out of the building in two locations. Oddly, there was no smell of smoke in the air.
A fireman got on the roof and attacked it with a chain saw, so that water could get at the flames. Soon the flames were extinguished, but smoke continued to spew. Soon it was clear that the conflagration was under control.
This is the second time I've seen Fort Worth's finest up close, in action.
A couple years ago I was walking over to Miss Puerto Rico's when lightning struck a roof, quickly causing the building to catch fire.
I have never understood how the Fort Worth firemen were so quickly on the scene. I saw the lightning strike as I walked to Miss Puerto Rico's. I then called her to tell her that I think lightning struck one of the buildings. She had already gotten an emergency call. I walked towards the building. By the time I got there the firetrucks were already on the scene. And firemen were on the building.
I have never figured out how this was possible. Maybe they were already there on another call. Miss Puerto Rico has never gotten an explanation either.
I'll likely hear the details of today's fire later.
That is Mimi the Pit Bull, all gussied up and ready for church. Church is where Mimi needs to go, to pray for forgiveness for the sins of her owner, Steven Woods.
In October, just after Veterans Day, a minor scandal erupted in Fort Worth when it was made news that Mimi had been sentenced to death, on Veterans Day, for attacking an elderly neighbor.
Mimi was described as the therapy dog of a disabled Veteran, badly wounded in either Iraq or Afghanistan. I forget which.
A lawyer, Randy Turner, felt sorry for Steven Woods and Mimi's plight and offered his services, pro bono. The public responded to the sad tale, raising more than $17,000.
The story of the City of Fort Worth sentencing a War Vet's Therapy Dog to death, on Veterans Day, convicted on flimsy evidence, went national, giving Fort Worth yet one more black eye in Fort Worth's reputation with the rest of America.
Well. Apparently the City of Fort Worth has been unfairly besmirched in this particular incident.
WFAA, that is Channel 8, on your D/FW TV dial, reported Monday that there is no record with the Office of Veterans Affairs that Steven Woods served overseas. His only connection with the military is that he had served in the Arkansas National Guard.
Steven Woods' Attorney, Randy Turner, is now his former attorney.
Apparently Steven Woods has been cited on 3 previous occasions over attacks by his pack of dogs, including a 64 year old woman who was seriously injured by 4 pit bulls. On that particular attack, Steven Woods left his house to come to the rescue, kicking one of this dogs to stop the attack. In other incidents police had to pepper spray two of Woods' pit bulls. And in another incident, Woods got testy when a neighbor confronted Woods after Woods' pack of pit bulls was chasing children.
I don't know if there is any plan to return the thousands of dollars to the victims of this fraud, who good-heartedly came to the rescue of Mimi. And her undeserving owner.
I did not get around to looking out the window til after the sun arrived, this last Wednesday morning of 2010.
With 3 days to go before the arrival of the New Year we are only 3 degrees shy of 60 degrees this morning in my zone of Texas.
Something in the air has my eyes not functioning correctly this morning. Excessive moisture causing blinking and slight itching. What is in the air that is causing this. The problem abates as the morning progresses.
Snow is in the forecast for the Northwest. Nothing white is in the forecast for my location. We are scheduled to have a couple days of semi-warmth, with possible rain, followed by a temperature plummet by the New Year. With no chance of snow.
It really is true, when you have nothing else to talk about, you talk about the weather. At least that seems to be what I do.
We are looking at the Grand Canyon of Village Creek, in Village Creek Natural Historic Area, in Arlington, today around noon.
As you can see it is being a bit misty. A drizzly mist. It was being like a winter day on a Washington Pacific Coast beach. Without the sound of waves crashing or sea gulls making a racket.
I went jogging for a couple miles in the drizzle. I do not remember the last time I went jogging. The jogging seemed to go well. Which sort of surprised me.
Prior to jogging I ran into someone who talked to me for about 10 minutes. This person was constantly coughing while talking. He was on his way to work. At a hospital. So, I am assuming the cough was an allergy, not a cold.
But, hypochondriac that I be, I am having that slight burning sensation on my face that is somewhat like what I remember a cold is like in the very early stages. However, it is too soon since my exposure to the cougher for this to be a cold. It is more likely an aftershock from going jogging for a couple miles in a cold drizzle.
There is a mirror above a bend in the Village Creek Trail. I assume it is there so you can see if a snake, of any form, is lurking around the corner. That's would be me, in the picture, taking a break from the jogging to take a picture. In case you can not tell, and were wondering, the white part of my lower extremity is long johns sticking out from my cargo shorts. I was looking very layered and stylish.
We are supposedly supposed to be getting some heavy rain soon, with some possible Thunderstorm action. I would prefer a return to clear blue sky and temperatures in the 70s or low 80s. But that is currently not in the program.
The sun had not yet arrived when I stepped outside to look at the view through the bars of my patio prison cell at the dark morning of the last Tuesday of 2010.
The sun is now dawning on a day currently heated to 11 degrees above freezing. It appears that we may be back under cloud cover. It is not quite bright enough to tell for sure.
This morning I found an annoying blog comment, from an entity calling itself "Best of Blogs Fort Worth."
The comment said, "Love this! I've included it on a site I've created, which is a compilation of some of the best blogs in the city." With the blog's URL added.
This does not seem kosher to me. Particularly since the only thing I saw on this blog that had anything to do with Fort Worth was its title, its blog description and the blog post it stole from me. The rest of the blog posts seemed to do with various storage options, you know, those places where you rent a space to store your junk.
Change of subject. This is going to be a physical exertion-lite day. Due to being a bit sore in a place or two, I assume from overdoing it in a place or two.
From my point of view the article did not quite get to the real reason behind why many thought the Streetcar plan was yet one more Fort Worth Boondoggle in the making. And just did not make sense.
From the article this one paragraph bugged me...
"Fort Worth’s historical attitude of giving little value to mass transit was probably a factor in the decision as well. Funding for the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) has also been on the low side compared to other cities, and the accepted view has always been that it’s mostly poor people who ride the bus — another reason the system gets little respect. Thus, better mass transit options have always been considered pretty much off the political radar screen."
Mostly poor people ride the bus? Why is that? And why is that the Fort Worth attitude towards bus riding? I've actually had someone tell me this in person when I opined that I thought riding the Fort Worth buses was fun, due to their theme park like wild ride aspect.
Now, the only other big city bus system that I have used is Seattle's. No one in Seattle would opine that only poor people use the bus.
In the picture above you are looking at the Pioneer Square station in the Seattle bus tunnel. Notice how many buses there are. This was on August 7, 2008. A Thursday, about 3 in the afternoon.
Seattle has a population a little over a half million. Fort Worth has a population over 700,000. Yet Seattle's downtown is way larger than Fort Worth's. There are several vertical malls, several department stores, grocery stores, theaters, two sports stadiums, museums, a symphony hall, Pike Place Market, all sorts of downtown attractions. And a lot of people from one end of downtown to the other, each and every day of the year.
Serving downtown Seattle, public transportation-wise, are surface buses, bus tunnel buses, light rail that runs through the bus tunnel, the SLUT streetcar and the Monorail. You can be at the Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is) hop on the Monorail to Westlake Center (an actual downtown square, unlike Fort Worth's Sundance Square, which is parking lots), take the escalator from the Monorail level to the bus tunnel level and hop on a bus, or train, to take you to the International District's sports stadiums, or stop at any of the other stations, along the way.
All this transit, except for the Monorail and the SLUT streetcar is free. You start paying once you exit downtown.
Is anyone familiar with Fort Worth getting the point I am making here?
I've only touched upon a few of the attractions in downtown Seattle that make public transportation a viable and necessary option. Another reason public transit in downtown Seattle is necessary and viable is because a lot of people live downtown.
Fort Worth's streetcar plan, from what I understood, was that the hope was, build it and the attractions, and people will come. That has worked in some other locales. Like Dallas, Vancouver, Portland and others. But, in Fort Worth, methinks the foundation is way too weak for that sort of dynamic to occur.
I don't believe the "T" currently has bus routes circulating through downtown Fort Worth. Unless you count Molly the Trolley. That fact is rather telling, streetcar need-wise.
What Fort Worth actually needs to do is figure out why there are no vertical malls downtown, no grocery stores, no department stores.
Figure out why Heritage Park is a boarded up eyesore.
Seattle has a park similar to Heritage Park. It also had some problems. I believe a murder was committed in Seattle's Freeway Park. Freeway Park has water features, like Heritage Park did. When Seattle's Freeway Park became a problem Seattle did not put cyclone fence around it and turn off the water features. Seattle fixed the problem.
To my eyes, Fort Worth tends not to actually address its problems. Instead it pretends the problems aren't problems. How long is that embarrassing courthouse annex going to stand? It's been years now since I read it was coming down, with the historic courthouse to be restored to its original glory.
To sum up, in my opinion, Fort Worth needs to figure out why its downtown does not have attractions that attract crowds of people day after day. And necessities (like grocery stores) that would make it a place people want to live. Fort Worth needs to figure out why, on the busiest shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving, downtown Fort Worth is a ghost town.
The year that downtown Fort Worth is not a ghost town on the busiest shopping day of the year is the year Fort Worth is actually ready to worry about building transit systems like streetcars.
Watch the video below I made of my Seattle visit of August 7, 2008. I was at Art in the Park in Pioneer Square (yet one more of Seattle's actual town squares). I walked to Westlake Center, then went into the bus tunnel. In the video you'll see one of Seattle's buses, on the surface, going by Westlake Center. In the bus tunnel you will see big, articulated buses, a lot of them, with a lot of people on board. You will notice that the bus I am on is standing room only. Picture the same scene in Fort Worth. You can't? Can you?
After the bus tunnel video I'll stick in one I made from the same day. Of Pike Place Market. On a summer Thursday afternoon. Make note of how big Pike Place is. In the video you see only a small fraction of the actual scope of the market. And note how many people are milling about. And how most of them look like they've had the air let out of them. You will see a big Texan or two, though.
Also, those who have heard me mention my disgust at how the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and downtown Fort Worth boosters touted Fort Worth's Santa Fe Rail Market as being modeled after Pike Place, well, the Pike Place video sort of shows you why I thought the local newspaper of record was not doing its job, and was pretty much spewing irresponsible propaganda....
And now a short walk through a small part of Pike Place Market...
That is the Muddy Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man waving at you today around noon.
It was a relatively balmy 41 when I hit the hills. So, I only had to wear 2 longsleeve shirt layers, plus a hoodie sweatshirt and wool cap to keep warm. And gloves.
I figured the Tandy Hills would have dried out by today from Friday's rain. I figured wrong. So, I did not get all gungho on the hiking.
Due to the mud and my recurring problem with my right foot having some sort of injury that is taking too long to go away, I cut my hill time short.
I tried returning calls to Elsie Hotpepper and Tootsie Tonasket while I navigated the mud. Neither was taking calls.
Before I left for the Tandy Hills I was trying to make sense of a West Texas Facebook mystery involving a charlatan who apparently has left dozens of West Texas women in Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned mode.
I've been down that road before. Unjustly, I might add. So I have some sympathy for the charlatan.
The Queen of Wink surprised me by indicating she is able to understand the tortured prose of Big Ed without a translator or subtitles. She is so smart it is annoying. She is so smart she'd never get taken in by a charlatan.
I also chatted with Carlotta Camano this morning. She is a witty one. Very hard for me to keep up.
And this morning for the first time I played Scrabble via I-Pad.
You're looking out the window at the frosty pre-dawn of the last Monday of 2010, from my current point of view in Texas.
December has zipped by, just like I opined it would weeks ago. Now there are only 2 more holidays to go in the holiday season and we will be done with this nonsense for 11 months, give or take a day.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
This morning I was surprised to see that the DurangObesity blog I started a few months ago has suddenly gotten busy. It had sort of languished and I had sort of resigned myself to the semi-sad fact that I'd made another blog dud, like my Durango Roadtripping blog.
The sun has now completely lit up the place. I can now extinguish artificial light. And I can see that it is another blue sky day in Texas. A cold blue sky day, currently freezing at 29 degrees.
I'd like to say I'm going swimming now. But I won't.
