Sea Shells On The Tandy Hills With Shotgun Shells Blasting Fish

Today I almost stepped on a Tandy Hills Beach Trail seashell. I've seen clam shells on the shore of Lake Grapevine. I think today was the first time I saw a seashell on the Tandy Hills.

Swimming was good this morning, with the water heated up quite noticeably, due to the 90 degree April Fool's Day high.

It is currently only 83. I think I will go for another swim and some lounging.

I need to work on my tan if I'm going to the Valley of the Sun. I don't want to be pasty whilst out and about on a 100 degree plus desert.

Elsie Hotpepper called this morning. Elsie has way too much going on. At times it is difficult to figure out if we are talking about the same thing. Today Elsie was taking her shotgun to a shooting range to practice her bear hunting.

Shotguns scare me. I've only shot one once. I was scrawnier then than I am now, so maybe it would not be quite so jolting to shoot a shotgun now. I aimed the shotgun at a tree limb, braced myself because I was warned to do so, pulled the trigger, was knocked backwards, with the tree limb blasted from the tree.

Another shotgun horror was brought to me by the dumber half of the Goober Twins. He'd caught a big scrap fish in Lake Samish, stuck the shotgun into the head of the fish and pulled the trigger. Fish parts blasted all over the place. I regularly have nightmares that are variations of this horrifying incident.

Well, now that I've put that lovely image in your head, I think it is time for me to go swimming and cool off.

Watch "Up A Creek" The Movie Documentary About Tarrant County Water Issues

The "Up a Creek" movie documentary has now been YouTubed.

In "Up a Creek" you will meet a young Texas lady named Layla Caraway.

Miss Layla is a lifelong Haltom City native who was peacefully living her life, minding her own business, when something happened to her that turned her in to a political activist.

"Up a Creek" documents Miss Layla's activist journey and the serious issues regarding Tarrant County flooding that are currently not being addressed. Which, of course, leads to the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle being part of what is discussed in this movie.

"Up a Creek" is presented below, in 4 parts, for your viewing and educational pleasure....

Up Late On The Warm First Saturday Of April In Texas

I awoke after the arrival of the sun on this Saturday, second day of April.

I had my windows open all night. It is 55 degrees at the present moment. I suspect swimming will be pleasant this morning.

I keep getting emails asking me what's up with the Paradise Center Scandal and wondering if they've found a new home yet.

I don't know. I have heard nothing.

Except for snarky, mean-spirited comments from MHMRTC insiders bragging about how wonderful the operation is working in the old location of the Paradise Center.

Below a typical MHMRTC comment, actually it is slightly atypical because I can only spot a couple grammar errors. Usually the MHMR people are borderline illiterate.

The Anonymous MHMR person said....

Currently the building is being freshly painted. New water fountain installed now. Other repairs made. Sofas were poorly made. MHMRTC is replacing with sofas that are built to wear better with lots of use. Regarding pool table it is a professional Brunswick. This does not have to be picked up on one end for the players to get the balls to roll down like the one at the old paradise center did. The new pool table is continually being used by clients and peer leaders. Pool Tournaments continue as before. Regarding Ben other people are opening the door. It is up to staff on his returning. It has been five weeks since the new Drop In Center started. And still Paradise Center cannot even get a storage for their own stuff. That does not say much for Paradise Center or there Board. 

I'm going swimming now.

Haltom City Does Not Have Any Of The Magic Gateway Park Trinity River Vision Anti-Flood Trees

A few minutes ago I blogged about J.D. Granger's interesting assertion that he is planting 80,000 trees in Fort Worth's Gateway Park in order to slow down a Trinity River flood before it can do damage to Arlington.

A few minutes after that Anonymous Bob sent me a video excerpt from the "Up a Creek" movie documentary about the current bad water management of Tarrant County.

In that video Miss Layla Caraway mentions that during the flood in Haltom City, that almost obliterated her home, she saw 30 foot trees ripped out of the ground to go floating by her stricken abode.

While in Fort Worth, special flood resisting trees are being planted in Gateway Park that will not be ripped out of the ground during a flood, but will instead put up a massive 80,000 stick strong resistance to the forces of the Trinity River, slowing down that river when it is in raging mode, before it can do any damage in Arlington, due to Fort Worth's misguided Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

The YouTube video below is a tiny part of the "Up the Creek" movie. I believe the entire movie documentary will be available for viewing soon...

J.D. Granger's Army Of 80,000 Flood Protecting Trees Planted In Gateway Park To Save Arlington

I finally got to watch the infamous video of J.D. Granger trying  to explain the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle to a group of skeptics at a presentation at UTA.

The video was shot by Zack Maxwell, he of Save Arlington fame.

Zack converted the raw video into a DVD. This made it tricky to extract video to turn it into a YouTube video.

There are several amusing moments that occur during this meeting. The crowd got a bit rowdy.

I somehow expected J.D. Granger to come across way dumber than he does. Instead he's like some sort of quick on his feet snake oil salesman.

Maybe I'll make several short YouTube videos of some of the choice moments. It overwhelmed my computer this morning when I extracted over 30 minutes of the DVD.

Listening to J.D. one is led to believe J.D. believes the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle is rolling in money, generating revenue far in excess of their fondest hopes.

J.D. rattles off all these things the TRV has accomplished. All the businesses he says he's moved. Yes, he used the "I" word in regards to businesses moved via eminent domain abuse.

J.D. seems to believe that the TRV Boondoggle will create some sort of utopia, and is currently leading the world in all sorts of aspects.

A rather colorful lady in the audience got all over J.D. over the fact that the Montgomery Plaza development in the booming West 7th zone of Fort Worth has filed for bankruptcy because they have so many empty apartments.

I think I understood J.D. to explain that the little pond that will be where the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River now meet up, will be some sort of flood storage reservoir and drinking water source. The Town Pond is something like 12 acres big. That is a little smaller than Lake Grapevine.

But, the strangest, funniest thing J.D. came up with was in response to a guy from Arlington verbalizing his concern that the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle was going to make flooding worse in Arlington. That, and he asked J.D. if the people of Fort Worth get to vote on this project.

J.D. acted like he's been worn out by all the referendums and votes there have been on this project. Somehow I don't remember these taking place.

As for the flooding in Arlington, J.D. explains that the TRV is going to extreme lengths to make sure not one ounce of extra water goes one second faster towards Arlington during a flood.

With the prime facilitator of that flood control being the 80,000 trees now being planted in Gateway Park.

I've seen no trees being planted in Gateway Park.

I'd never heard of trees stopping floods before.

The Pacific Northwest is heavily forested. It can flood real bad up there. I've seen a lot of trees washed into the rivers during a flood. I've never heard anyone suggest more trees be planted to slow down an incoming flood.

Like I said, this project in Fort Worth is daring to go where no city has gone before in terms of ground breaking new methods for fixing a serious problem. That problem being the levees that have protected Fort Worth ever since they went up.

J.D. thinks Fort Worth has now grown too big for those levees.

And shooting a Trinity River flood into a diversion channel ditch is just the protection Fort Worth needs from a raging Trinity River.

Anyway, watch the short YouTube video below where you'll learn about the 80,000 trees being planted in Gateway Park to save Arlington from Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle...

It's No April Fool's Joke It's Really 90 Today In Fort Worth

As you can see we have hit 90, this Friday, first day of April. I think this is the first time we've been this HOT this year.

Oddly I've felt no inclination to turn on the A/C.

I'm assuming my A/C is now working correctly, though I was not here when it was worked on.

I made the mistake of driving up to Hurst sometime after 3 this afternoon. There are so many alternative routes one can take with traffic backs up in these parts.

Except this afternoon all those alternative routes turned in to back ups. Every day I-820, due east of my abode, backs up at rush hour. At least I avoided that.

Swimming was a little cold this morning. I suspect tomorrow's swim will not end up with me in shiver mode like what happened this morning.

I must go attend to a madman and his 80,000 tree army of state of the art flood prevention devices now.

Stepping On The Shadow Of The Tandy Hills Thin Man While Thinking About NATO High Command And MHMR Bullycrat Thuggery

That's my left foot stepping on the Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man, today, a couple minutes past noon.

I don't think the Tandy Hills has gotten the memo that the Prairie Fest will be happening on the hills in 3 weeks, on Saturday, April 23. The Tandy Hills needs to start sprouting out a lot of wildflowers if it is going to be at its usual highly colorful standard of the previous Prairie Fests.

It was in the low 80s when I did my hill hiking. It is 86 right now at 6 minutes after 2 in the afternoon.

The power went out while I was out. I don't like resetting all the flashing digital time keeping devices.

I had myself a frustrating morning, computer-wise.

Frustrations due to trying to make a video. Usually making a video is fairly easy. But not this time. At one point my computer got totally hung up. I don't remember the last time that happened.

But, by the time I took off for the Tandy Hills I had the video clip in Windows Movie Maker, ready to turn into a video. I'm hoping to have no more problems.

I have not heard a peep from the Paradise Center people. So, I do not know what the current status is. Some of the blog comments from the MHMR bullycrat thugs to this blog and The Paradise Center Scandal blog have been downright scandalous with their nastiness. And illiterate grammar.

Yesterday's blogging titled "On Top Of Mount Tandy Thinking About MHMR Thugs, The Main Street Arts Festival And The American Way As Opposed To The Fort Worth Way," generated a couple interesting comments, one from NATO High Command, the other from FW Way $un-American....

BREAKING NEWS....NATO and the U.N. issue ultimatum for The Axis of Exploitation Moncrief, McDermott, and Granger to surrender themselves to the FBI or Homeland Security before they send in commandos from allied democratic nations to free the people of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, Texas. These perpetrators of crimes against decency and democracy must turn themselves an# their cronies in by High Noon today the First day of April 2011. Citizens are also deputized to apprehended these people wherever they're found today April the First of 2011.

By NATO HIGH COMMAND

________________________________________

This so called Fort Worth Way has a dark background because it refers to the "understanding" between those in power and the disadvantaged citizenry, particularly the long disenfranchised black communities in Como, Stop Six, Terrell Heights, etc. The clever white ruling group made this "behind the scene" method of dealing with discrimination and grievances so as not to have "messy" and loud Democratic processes like public protests, debates, discussions, and voting. So to keep the poor whites and colored folks "in their" and not draw attention, the FW Way allows a patron to patronage relationship to exist whereby certain acceptible leaders of these powerless groups could quietly go to the powers that be and humbly ask for certain concessions or "rights" in exchange for making sure "your people behave". It's a patronizing and condescending approach that naturally allows for abuses, corruption, and the violation of what most clear headed Americans, and non-Americans, usually consider the American Way..which is often messy, loud, and even contentious. But that is how free people behave (Dallas for instance) and how freedom-seeking people act ---see Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, AND PARADISE CENTER IN FW. THE FW WAY IS DEEPLY INGRAINED IN THE CULTURE AND WOULD EXPLAIN THE RAMRODDING OF GAS OPERATIONS IN EVERY ZONE OF THE CITY, THE FLEECING AND EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSING BT THE TRV SYNDICATE, AND THE UNMITIGATED ABUSE OF THAT INDEPENDENT NONPROFIT CALLED PARADISE CENTER.

By FW Way $un-American

I'm thinking it's time to go back to making a video now.

Up Early On April Fool's Day Thinking About Car Wrecks And Last Night's Party At Billy Bob's Texas

As you can see via the view through the bars of my patio prison cell I am up early on the first day the new month.

Today is the day that in the past I've announced I am moving out of Texas. And then at some point in the day someone realizes this is my idea of an April Fool's joke.

Well, this year it is no joke. I am moving out of Texas. I just don't know exactly when.

Did everyone have as much fun as I did last night in the Fort Worth Stockyards at the 30 year anniversary party for the world's biggest honky tonk, Billy Bob's Texas?

I learned today that deaths from driving accidents fell to the lowest level since 1949, according to the Department of Transportation, in 2010, with 32,788 highway deaths.

The biggest decline was in the Pacific Northwest zone of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. Arizona, Hawaii and California also had a big decline.

I assume the decline is due to cars being safer, people wearing seatbelts, fewer drunk drivers and better roads. And people driving less.

I read nothing about what the Texas road death's statistics are. I would hazard to guess it's not so good.

Well, the sun is now up, it's 50 degrees, so I am going swimming now.

On Top Of Mount Tandy Thinking About MHMR Thugs, The Main Street Arts Festival And The American Way As Opposed To The Fort Worth Way

You are with me on top of Mount Tandy, in the picture, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

It was a good thing to be back on the hills again. I'd not had that type salubrious aerobicizing since my vehicular malfunction on Monday.

I did not go swimming this morning. It is 75 right now coming up on half past 4 in the afternoon. I will be going swimming tomorrow morning.

Yesterday, about an hour before I was planning to take off for the Stagecoach Ballroom, I checked in on my Google Webmaster Tools to find a long long long list of errors generated from my Eyes on Texas website. It took me awhile to figure out what had happened and that it was no big deal.

Then today I got email from the Weatherford Chamber of Commerce telling me what the correct info is for this year's Parker County Peach Festival. I thought I had that up to date. I did not. It was the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup that I'd recently updated.

This led me to realize that it is almost time for Fort Worth's Main Street Arts Festival. The date information for that one also needed updating. Fort Worth's biggest festival takes place April 14 - 17. The Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival is something that Fort Worth does really well. Really.

I've heard no word from the Paradise Center as to whether they found a new home. This is the last day of the month. I believe by today the Paradise Center was told by the corrupt MHMR thugs that by today they had to have moved the POD storage container in which the MHMR thugs put all of the Paradise Center's property, after the MHMR thugs staged their coup d'tat, taking over the Paradise Center's facility.

The Paradise Center Scandal keeps seeming ever more bizarre to me. And ever more indicative that there is something really dire about the Fort Worth Way of operating. The problem with the Fort Worth Way came up at last night's TRIP meeting.

I have long opined that Fort Worth is badly damaged by not having a real newspaper. That fact was brought up last night in part of TRIP's "Up a Creek" movie. It pleased me to realize I am not the only one who realizes Fort Worth operates without a legitimate newspaper acting as the Fourth Estate advocate of the people in seeking truth, justice and the American Way.

The American Way. Not the Fort Worth Way.

Which is quasi-democratic and a really shameful spectacle to witness at times.

Like right now.

Up Late On The Last Day Of March Thinking About Wildflowers, Sweet Tomatoes & Shooting Ronald Reagan

I was up way after midnight, well into the wee hours of the last day of March of 2011.

Which has me up well after the arrival of the sun has revealed that the last day of the month is a clear blue sky day, so far, in my zone of North Texas.

I am not going swimming this morning. It is only 42 degrees out there. I don't know if the 24 hour average has been over 50 degrees. I suspect not. I'm not in the mood for a shivering episode of the extreme trembles.

I learned, this morning, from one of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin's botanists, that this year's Texas wildflower crop will not be a bumper one.

I also learned that a Sweet Tomatoes restaurant is coming to Fort Worth. Sweet Tomatoes is a good thing. A really good thing. The Fort Worth Sweet Tomatoes will be among all the other restaurants in the booming Fort Worth zone of West 7th.

It was 30 years ago, yesterday, that Ronald Reagan was shot by a Jodie Foster addled crazy man. How can that be 3 decades ago? Time flies way way too fast.

Case in point, it is already past 8 this last morning of March of 2011. It is now time to go do something other than swimming. Like maybe have breakfast.