Mount Rainier Made A Rare March Appearance For The Viewing Pleasure Of The Fort Worth Galtex's

I think I've already mentioned that a pair of downtown Fort Worth residents, the Galtex's, are up in Seattle enjoying the rain.

Yesterday the Galtex's took an elevator ride in Seattle's tallest building, the Columbia Center, to the Sky View observation deck.

The clouds parted, giving the Galtex's a rare March look at The Mountain known as Rainier.

In downtown Fort Worth, no matter how high you are, you can see no mountains.

Mr. Galtex has a blog called Glimpses on which he documents the Galtex Travel Adventures. Currently Mr. Galtex is documenting their Seattle visit.

I like Mr. Galtex's blog profile description of himself, "I am retired and do pretty much what I damn well please." I have no idea why Mr. Galtex uses a pseudonym on his blog, calling himself Mike Wegner.

A couple paragraphs I liked from Mr. Galtex's "Gone Seattle-ing" blogging....

We spent our first afternoon as we always spend our first afternoon in a new place, walking around the neighborhood. My first impressions are all good: we are in the middle of downtown, and within three or four blocks we've found a Belgian waffle shop, a gelateria, several Thai restaurants, three supermarkets, twelvety-seven coffee shops, and more fresh seafood than I could eat in a lifetime. People actually live here.

The train from SeaTac airport to downtown costs only $2.50, and it took us to within a block of our hotel. Buses and trains converge in the downtown area in a large underground tunnel, making it very easy to transfer from one line to another. A public transportation system that is logically designed and efficiently run -- it's enough to make an old Texan like me weep with joy.

I have no idea what number twelvety-seven is. But it sounds like a lot.

You can find a link to Mr. Galtex's Seattle photos on his blogging about Seattle.

In the photo with the Space Needle in the background you are looking at the Alexander Calder sculpture, "The Eagle" in the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park.

As you can also see, when the forecast is for clouds and rain in Seattle it does not mean for certain that is what is going to happen.

The Alexander Calder Eagle sculpture resided in downtown Fort Worth when I moved to Texas. It was displayed in front of the Fort Worth National Bank until 1999. I thought it was in front of the Bank One building, but Google tells me otherwise.

The Eagle was purchased by the Seattle Art Museum and spirited away in the middle of the night, to some local consternation, if  I remember right.

Please don't tell Mr. Galtex I swiped a couple of his photos from his Flickr account where it says the photos are copyrighted with all rights reserved.

Looking Out The Window At Yet One More Perfect Saturday In Texas Thinking About Mount Rainier

Looking out my favorite viewing portal on the world on this second Saturday of March of the year 2011 I can see it is yet one more blue sky morning in Texas.

It is 3 degrees above 50 out there, so I will be going swimming this morning.

I had disturbing nightmares last night. The only thing I can remember, besides the fact they were disturbing, is I found myself repetitively repeating "I'm sorry, I keep forgetting I am not in the secular world."

Changing subjects, not that there was much of a subject.

I learned from Mr. Galtex this morning, via a blog comment he sent last night, that, despite the day after day of forecasted dire weather with rain, he and Mrs. Galtex saw The Mountain yesterday whilst high above Seattle in the Columbia Center.

"The Mountain" is Washington-speak meaning Mount Rainier.

I have not seen The Mountain in well over 2 years. On my birthday of 2008 I saw The Mountain up close for the first time, documented in the video below...

Admiring Tandy Hills Art Installations While Spotting A Wildfire & Thinking About West Coast Tsunami Damage

I think of all the art installations in the Tandy Hills Natural Area the Rusted Hulk of twisted metal you see in the picture may be my favorite.

The Rusted Hulk seems a more permanent art installation than the recently arrived Tandy Bamboo Teepee. Which still stands.

Near the Rusted Hulk art installation I was appalled to see that someone had drug a log on top of the Tandy Escarpment, above the currently dry Tandy Falls.

And lit the log on fire.

I took a picture of the burned log, but my photo skills did not do it justice.

Why would someone do this? Particularly when Fort Worth and its environs are under a Red Flag Warning. Which means conditions are ripe for wildfires. As I drove away from the Tandy Hills today I heard on the radio that I-287, near Rhome, was shut down due to a wild fire.

From part way down Mount Tandy, looking north, I saw the plume of white smoke you see in the picture. I've no idea if this is the Rhome wildfire.

It does not look like the smoke from previous wildfires that I've seen in Texas. They've all been a big wall of smoke.

Change of subject.

I am being a bit surprised that the tsunami from the Japan Quake has actually done damage on the West Coast. The recent bad quake in Chile brought similar West Coast tsunami warnings. But no damage was done.

The Japan Quake Tsunami has swept 5 out to sea in California and Oregon, with 4 making it back to shore and one still missing, he being a photographer taking pictures near the mouth of the Klamath River in Del Norte County, California.

Crescent City, California has again suffered tsunami damage.

17 people died on the West Coast due to the 1964 Alaska Quake tsunami, with 11 of the dead in Crescent City. Damage estimates in Crescent City are already in the millions. Other coastal towns, like Santa Cruz also sustained damage.

I have never seen a tsunami. But I have been caught by a rogue wave. This was one of the strangest experiences I've ever had. It was in the Ocean Shores area of the Pacific Coast of Washington, at the rock jetty that juts out into Grays Harbor.

The Ocean Shores zone has very wide sandy beaches. It was a Sunday. I was with my little sister, walking on the beach with a lot of other people. Suddenly it was apparent an incoming wave was way bigger than the norm. We were nowhere near the water's edge.

People who were at the water's edge began running away from the ocean. As the water kept coming I picked up my little sister and started running. The water caught up with us. I got up on a big piece of driftwood. The surging water knocked us off and pushed me forward, clinging to my little sister.

Eventually the power of the wave subsided, with insufficient water to drag us back out with it as it receded. Everyone on the beach made it out safely. I will never forget the image of an older lady wearing a big fur coat, totally drenched. And laughing. Like she was counting her blessings that she'd survived something quite phenomenal.

I do not recollect ever seeing scenes like those I've seen coming out of Japan today. Some of the tsunami images look like the tidal waves of tsunami legend.

The Japan Quake has had me on edge all day. Then again, that feeling may have been caused by staying in the pool way too long this morning, thus activating another severe case of the shivers.

It is currently 76 in my zone of Texas. No earthquakes. No chance of a tsunami.

Sarah Wonders What Was On The Top Half Of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram If Not The News Of Japan's Quake

Above is the 3 in the afternoon screencap from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Earlier today I blogged about the differences in how 3 of the online newspapers I look at every morning shared the news of the Japan Earthquake Disaster. With the Fort Worth Star-Telegram not giving much of an indication that this is a big story.

Sarah R then commented with a question....

Sarah R has left a new comment on your post "Japan's 8.9 Earthquake & Tsunami In Seattle, Fort Worth & Dallas": 

"So what was the top half of the Star-Telegram? I'm just wondering what made the cut as "big" news this morning in FtW."

I went back to the Star-Telegram so I could tell Sarah what was at the top of that lame newspaper's front page.

This is what I told Sarah...

Sarah R---It is coming up on 3 in the afternoon. Checked the Star-Telegram again, figuring by now they'd have moved the Japan Quake and Tsunami to the top.

Nope.

Instead, big headline "Chuck Greenberg resigns as Texas Rangers CEO." Above and to the right of that, "NFL mock draft" with a little blurb. To the left of that a "Spring forward" note. An ad for JC Penney. Then several little headlines with links to a story. Top of those is "North Texans with ties to Japan keeping close watch" and "TCC to begin voluntary buyouts for longtime workers." Stuff like that.

Then if you scroll down to the bottom half of the front page, the original blurb about the quake has been altered, with the headline now "Strong quake strikes central Japan, felt in Tokyo." Adding a couple links, one of which is "1 missing, 4 rescued as tsunami hits West Coast."

Below is a screencap from the 2:41 pm version of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The blurb about the Japan Quake is still on the bottom half of the front page. It now does make mention that the tsunami has hit the west coast. One man was washed out into the Pacific in Oregon. Crescent City, California was badly damaged, again, with no deaths, unlike when it was hit by the tsunami generated by the 1964 Alaska Earthquake.

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief's Trinity River Vision Referendum Could Backfire

There was an article in this morning's Seattle P-I that caused me to think of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision.

In Seattle there is currently a several billion dollar project underway to fix a section of state highway, a section known as the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

This section of road is elevated along the Seattle waterfront. The viaduct has been damaged by previous earthquakes and could easily collapse in a serious earthquake.

So, the plan is to take the viaduct down and replace it with a tunnel.

It took years for the state of Washington and city of Seattle to come up with a plan with sufficient support to implement it. Since this is a state highway project it has not been put to a vote of the people.

The current mayor of Seattle, Mike McGinn, ran for mayor opposing the tunnel. In Fort Worth when the lack of a public vote on the Trinity River Vision is criticized, some have actually opined that the public has elected officials in favor of the TRV and not elected officials opposed to the TRV.

Which is the same as having voted or not voted for the TRV project

If the Fort Worth Way were the Seattle Way I guess this would mean the tunnel project would be stopped, since the people elected a mayor who opposes it.

The article in the Seattle P-I, this morning, was a good example of the stark difference between how things are done in Fort Worth and how they are done in Seattle.

Keep in mind, the Alaskan Viaduct tunnel replacement is a state highway project. Not the sort of thing the public usually votes on. While the Trinity River Vision is a public works project of the sort that usually never goes forward unless the public has approved of it.

I'll copy the article from this morning's P-I below and replace the key Seattle words with Fort Worth words and then ask yourself if you think you'd ever read an article like this in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram...

Trinity River Vision Referendum Could Torpedo Moncrief

A coalition of groups, supported by the mayor and his allies, is trying to collect 16,000 signatures by the end of the month to put a Trinity River Vision referendum before voters in August. Moncrief says if Fort Worth were to approve the TRV referendum, he’ll stop opposing the Trinity River Vision.

“I’m not playing politics on this,” Moncrief told the Star-Telegram on Thursday. “I’m not terribly interested in being a mayor who said, ‘I told you so.’”

But “I told you so” is Moncrief’s best potential future argument about the Trinity River Vision, which he has made the signature issue of his time in office. Moncrief is taking on the entire political establishment with his strident opposition to the uptown project. He’s crosswise with the City Council, the Tarrant County executive, the governor, the unions (in Fort Worth?) and the business community. Trinity River Vision proponents seethe that Moncrief is trying, at the last moment, to gum up a process that has been going on for 10 years.

The mayor says the whole point is the public should have a say on this project – ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Moncrief wants the people to have a voice. How ironic that the people’s voice – feared so much by his adversaries – could end up depriving Moncrief of his own.

Japan's 8.9 Earthquake & Tsunami In Seattle, Fort Worth & Dallas

Above is a screencap of the front page of this morning's Seattle Post-Intelligencer, taken this morning around 7. The death toll is now in the 100s. And likely to rise much higher. An 8.9 quake is one of the worst ever recorded in the world and the worst ever in Japan. If I remember right the Seattle transit tunnel is built to withstand a 9.0 earthquake. I would not want to be in the bus tunnel or one of its stations should an 8.9 earthquake occur.

I learned Japan had had a bad quake and tsunami when I read the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this morning. As we learned recently, from Anonymous, if the Star-Telegram is not reporting it, it isn't news. The Star-Telegram had the Japan quake news on the lower half of their front page. This struck me as odd.

Below is the screencap with the Japan quake/tsunami news from the front page of the Star-Telegram.

I thought maybe the low key way the Star-Telegram was reporting this major disaster, so differently than the Seattle P-I, might have been due to the fact that Seattle is a Pacific Rim city, in the path of the incoming tsunami, with a lot of trade with Japan coming in and out of the Port of Seattle, while Fort Worth is a long ways from the Pacific Ocean with little trade coming or going with Japan.

And then I went to the Dallas Morning News. Dallas is also landlocked and a long ways from the Pacific Ocean. Dallas likely does a little more trade with Japan than Fort Worth does, which may account for the more prominent BIG NEWS way the Dallas Morning News reported the Japan quake,  as you can see below.

That is one scary looking tsunami in the picture from the Dallas Morning News. When I heard on the radio that tsunamis were hitting Hawaii I turned on the TV. There was live video of the beach by Diamond Head in Honolulu. But it was dark in Hawaii, you really could not see anything. The talking head described the water receding and the first tsunami flowing in. As he described that the water was receding again, but you could not see it.

I've got a bad feeling this is going to end up being one of the worst natural disasters ever.

An 11.5 Foot 700 Pound Alligator Found Murdered In Texas

A week ago an 11.5 foot, almost 700 pound alligator was found murdered near a creek that is a tributary of the Colorado River in Bastrop County.

Bastrop County is a short distance southeast of Austin.

The murdered gator was discovered after a poacher shot and killed it and posted pictures of his kill on Facebook.

The Facebook posting led to a tip to the Texas Crime Stopper program which got Park and Wildlife officials investigating, which led to the discovery of the body.

I do not know how the Facebook posting provided the clues that led to finding the crime scene.

Alligators are protected in Bastrop County. Alligators used to be an endangered species in Texas. But, the numbers of alligators is growing. There is actually an alligator hunting season now, which opens in a couple weeks.

A game warden was quoted as saying, "gator sightings are still rare and about as common as seeing a bobcat."

Yikes! I've had multiple bobcat sightings.

But no gator sightings.

I think I must be due for an alligator encounter.

Up Early The Second Friday Of March With No Tsunami From Japan Expected To Hit Fort Worth

It is the second Friday of the third month of 2011. In two days Daylight Savings Time starts up. Which means I may be doing my morning swimming in the dark for awhile.

This morning it is 44 degrees out there. I believe the 24 hour average has been over 50 degrees. So, I am going swimming this morning in that blue oasis you see in the picture.

I have myself a big backlog of blogging fodder this morning. Subjects ranging from gators to tsunamis.

Speaking of tsunamis.

I suspect the Galtex's, this morning, up in Seattle, are experiencing their first tsunami watch, as waves generated by Japan's worst earthquake ever, an 8.9 shaker, are expected to hit the west coast. To get to Seattle a tsunami has to makes its way in from the Pacific Ocean through the Straits of Juan de Fuca and then on to Puget Sound.

I remember one time heading out to Deception Pass on Whidbey Island to watch a possible incoming tsunami. No detectable wave was seen.

In my current location, hundreds of miles from saltwater, north of being deep in the heart of Texas, there will be no incoming tsunami today.

Just sunshine and semi-warm temperatures.

I think I'll go outside and work on my suntan right now. Talk to you later.

The Shadow Of The Fosdic Lake Thin Man On An Oakland Lake Park Ledge Thinking About Wink & Roy Orbison

The Shadow of the Thin Man was not on the Tandy Hills today. Instead the Shadow went walking around Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park in Fort Worth in Texas.

I was sitting on the Fosdic Lake Pavilion's rock ledge when I looked down and saw my shadow. So, I stood on the ledge and took a picture. It made for a very different Shadow of the Thin Man picture than those that happen on the Tandy Hills.

Last night I got email from a New York based rock critic who is busy writing an article for Billboard magazine about Roy Orbison.

The hunt for Roy Orbison info led the New York based rock critic to my bloggings about Wink. It sounded like he did not make it all the way to the bloggings about Wink's Roy Orbison Festival. I told him that the Queen of Wink was his go to girl for info about Wink and Roy Orbison, saying I'd forward his query to the Queen of Wink today. And then I forgot. I'll take care of that as soon as I am done with this blogging.

Change of subject back to Fosdic Lake.

It is always a harbinger of the upcoming arrival of spring, and its wildflowers, when I see the first of a special delicate very bright yellow flower.

I would have picked a bouquet of those yellow beauties except for the disturbing fact that they don't really have a very pleasant fragrance.

I don't remember if I've mentioned it before, but I'm from the Pacific Northwest, Western Washington to be precise. The Skagit Valley of Western Washington to be even more precise.

Up in the mountains in Washington you will see wildflowers. But not so much in the lowlands. In the lowlands you see a lot of flowers though. Fields of tulips, flags, irises and bright yellow daffodils of the same type bright yellow as the Fosdic Lake yellow wildflowers.

The Galtex's Made It From Fort Worth To Seattle And So Far No Rain Has Fallen On Them

Well, I have heard from Mr. Galtex. He and Gail have made it to Seattle. And so far they have not been rained on. The forecast above seems that it might be indicating that this may not be the case for the duration of their visit.

Below is the report from Seattle from Mr. Galtex....

Hi Durango -- Gail and I made it here fine, and the train took us from the airport to within a block of our hotel. Yummy Thai food for dinner last night. First impression is that Seattle has a great downtown, lots of activity and places. And we haven't seen a drop of rain, yet.

Mr. Galtex and the Mrs. are staying at a hotel across the street from the new Seattle Public Library. Somehow this new building made it on a list of the Top 100, (or was it 150?) buildings in America, as picked by, I think, the public. I remember wondering how the rest of America already knew about Seattle's new library.

The Galtex's are within easy walking distance of the Seattle Art Museum, Pike Place Market, the monorail to the Seattle Center, the transit tunnel that runs under downtown, allowing one to zip, for free, across downtown Seattle quickly. They are also a short distance from the Seattle Waterfront where they can hop on a ferry to get out of the rain when it inevitably arrives.

Seattle has several downtown grocery stores, in addition to the sprawling multi-level Pikes Place Market. There are also 3 or 4 vertical malls in downtown Seattle, along with several large department stores, like the flagship Nordstroms.

Is "flagship" the proper term for a store chain's home location?

At Pike Place the Galtex's can find the world's first Starbucks. Among a lot of other things.

Meanwhile, back in Fort Worth, from whence the Galtex's came, you will find no downtown grocery stores, no vertical malls, no department stores, no tunnel to zip you around the tiny downtown.

I do not know if there will be a ferry to take people across the little pond that may result from the Trinity River Vision, giving Fort Worth a waterfront.

In Fort Worth, currently, you will find the air heated 3 degrees warmer than it currently is heated in Seattle. And, as you can see below, there is only one day in the 5 day forecast for Fort Worth where rain is scheduled.