Walking Around Fort Worth's Fosdic Lake Experiencing Misery Symptoms

That is Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park you are looking at in the picture. Fosdic Lake is about a half mile east of the top of Mount Tandy.

I figured the thunderstorm that rolled in after midnight may have muddied up the parched Tandy Hills. So, walking around Fosdic Lake was my default choice today for some salubrious aerobicizing.

It is slightly hilly in the park that surrounds Fosdic Lake. And there are some long paved stairs that provide some verticality.

It is only 63 degrees right now at around half past 3. This morning when I went swimming it was 54 and very windy. The water in the pool was quite a bit warmer than the air. It was very pleasant.

I've got my windows open, with a nice breeze blowing. You'd think I'd be feeling real good.

However, I am having what seem to be incoming cold symptoms. It has been so long since I've been sick I don't quite remember for sure what it feels like. Something is irritating my eyes, I seem to be sniffling and stifling the impulse to sneeze. And there is a burning sensation in my throat.

Maybe it's just the heavily polluted air that I breathe, having a worse effect than usual.

If I get sick I'm going to be very, very cranky.

Swimming In The Wind On The 4th Day Of April In Stormy Texas

Well. The 4th day of April has been a noisy one, so far. You can't hear the noise looking at the picture of one of my outdoor viewing platforms on the world.

Some point in time before 5 this morning I was startled out of a peaceful slumber by the concussive boom of thunder.

Thunder kept concussively booming for well over an hour, non-stop, flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder.

With heavy rain.

The heavy rain prompted the National Weather Service to issue what I believe to be its first flood advisory for Tarrant County this year.

Along with the rain and thunder it was very windy, with gusts up to 60 mph. It is still be windy out there.

I suspect there will be no Tandy Hill hiking for me today, due to wetness.

Speaking of Tandy Hill hiking, someone Anonymous made an amusing comment regarding me saying I was going to be leaving Texas. For some reason someone Anonymous repeated the comment 3 times.

Someone Anonymous said....

Say it ain't so, Durango. Your wit, your unapologetic criticism of the Fort Worth Way, fill a gaping void. Besides, where else could you go that would give you so much blogging material? Chicago, maybe, is more corrupt. But only because it's older. Somebody, find another hill for this man to climb!

Since I don't currently have a hill to climb, I think I will go swimming in the wind.

On Top Of Fort Worth's Mount Tandy Thinking About Hiking Washington Cascade Mountain Trails

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

Looking at this view it seems unlikely that this setting is in a town of over 700,000, with beautiful downtown Fort Worth being only about 3 miles distant.

Just to the north of the top of Mount Tandy, on the other side of the I-30 freeway, sits Gateway Park. Gateway Park is where J.D. Granger is busily planting 80,000 Magic Flood Stopping Trees in his personal mission to save Arlington from any excess flooding  brought courtesy of J.D.'s Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Has anyone seen any of the Gateway Park Magic Trees that J.D. says he's planted?

I heard a "peep" from a fairly reliable source this morning regarding the Paradise Center. I think we may be hearing some good news about this scandal soon. Real good news. Non-profit organizations doing good works are always grateful when what is known as an "Angel Donor" comes along. I believe such an "Angel" has appeared in Fort Worth.

Let's leave the Paradise Center and go back to the Tandy Hills.

Someone Anonymous asked me a question in a comment to my April Fool's Day blogging.

I said, "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."

To which the Anonymous commenter asked...

"Are you really going? Have you hiked the Tandy Hills enough that you need some new terrain? will the next blog be durangocolorado?"

Yes, I believe I will be leaving Texas, likely sooner than later. I do not believe I will be moving to Colorado. I don't think I could have a Durango Colorado blog, as that name is likely taken because there is a town called Durango in Colorado, just like there is a town called Durango in Texas, which I did not know when I got my durangotexas.com domain. I did know there was a town in Texas called Durango, by the time I started my Durango Texas blog.

As for hiking different terrain. I was wondering just yesterday how well I'd handle the Cascade Mountain trails that I hiked when I lived in Washington. I lived pretty much at sea level when I lived in Washington. In Texas I think I'm around 500 feet above sea level most of the time. Has this made my lung power slightly stronger? I have no idea.

I don't know which of my favorite Washington hikes I'd choose to go on if I had time for only one. Maybe Green Mountain, due to the cool firewatch station at the top and the amazing view of the sea of peaks and the views of Washington's least seen volcano, Glacier Peak.

Hiking up Mount Baker from Schrieber's Meadow is the Washington hike I've probably done more than any other. In the fall you can pick wild blueberries on Schrieber's Meadow.

Must cease thinking about Cascade Mountain hikes now or I'll slip into a state of melancholy homesickness.

I think I'll go swimming and lounge in the sun.

A Windy Warm First Sunday Of April In Texas Thinking About Scared Bullycrats In Fort Worth And Libya

It is being a bit windy the morning of the first Sunday of April. I don't know if it is the wind or the balmy 67 degree temperature, or what, but something has the birds tweeting up a storm of twittering bird noise.

I saw no mention of Libya this morning in the 4 online newspapers I check in on. Just a second, I'll click on CNN or FOX NEWS online.

Well, FOX NEWS does note that NATO is taking command while Qadaffi holds on, but the headline that caught my eye that I did not see in the 4 online newspapers I regularly check was "Two Found Dead at Japan Nuke Plant."

Switching the subject to the Paradise Center Scandal.

The only information I seem to be getting is via comments made to this blog and the Paradise Center Scandal blog.

Yesterday Anonymous made an interesting comment about the current state of the Paradise Center/MHMR Affair...

By Anonymous on Up Late On The Warm First Saturday Of April In Texas... 

The state's Dept. of Health Services has to have an inspection of this "clinic" before it can officially reinstate MHMR's business partner Bravo Health as a Medicaid+PLUS HMO provider. 

All these costly expenditures are NOT about the consumers or the patients. It's about MHMR and its executives' jobs and possible lawsuit from Bravo for misrepresenting to them that Paradise Center was "an MHMR program" with all those free workers and high attendance numbers.

This email spin came from the executive offices inside Hulen Tower, thus better grammar and more polished than the previous ones by low level managers and techs. How do I know this? I work inside Hulen Tower.

P.S. MHMR is stuck with all the properties they tried to steal from not-for-profit organization Paradise Center. McDumnut and his gang are befuddled and scared about what's coming next. The Paradise folks obviously are in the driver seat while these bullycrats (many of us love the label) are in the hot seat. Their only saving grace is the lack of media scrutiny. For now. 

True? Are the MHMR Bullycrats befuddled and scared? Are they in trouble for misrepresenting their relationship with the Paradise Center? Is a state inspection pending? I don't know. But I suspect Anonymous knows what she or he is talking about.

And now I'm going to cease thinking about anything for awhile and go swimming before it gets too HOT.

J.D. Granger's Magic Trees Saving Arlington From The Trinity River While Not Worrying About Haltom City Getting Saved

Yesterday I made a video about J.D. Granger's Magic Trees.

I should have edited the video much shorter, leaving out the question that led to J.D. revealing the surprising news that he is busy planting 80,000 trees in Fort Worth's Gateway Park for the express purpose of protecting Arlington, which is downstream from Fort Worth, from flooding accelerated by J.D.'s Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

I brightened the video and made J.D. louder so you can somewhat better understand his garbled Texas accent.

Yesterday I also made a short video of a clip sent to me of the "Up a Creek" documentary movie (now viewable online). The short clip made mention of the fact that Miss Layla Caraway observed 30 foot trees being torn out of the ground by the flooding Haltom City Creek that was trying to swallow her home.

Can none of the 80,000 Trinity River Vision Magic Anti-Flood Trees be given to long-suffering Haltom City?

People have died in Haltom City floods, including one little girl. Haltom City is only a few miles north of Gateway Park. Haltom City is a border town of Fort Worth.

Can't Fort Worth look into its troubled soul long enough to spare some Magic Trees to stop the out of control Haltom City creeks?

I know that taking down the badly outdated Trinity River levees, which have stopped flooding for over 50 years, is very important. And that replacing them with a giant flood control ditch, at great cost, is a very forward thinking thing to think.

And spending a lot of money to build a little pond that will serve as a swimming lake and a drinking water source, in addition to water storage, according to J.D. Granger, is a really smart thing to be investing in.

But can't a few dollars be spared to give Haltom City, and the other Mid-Cities some of the Magic Anti-Flood Trees that J.D. Granger and the Trinity River Vision have developed in their nationally acclaimed, internationally recognized, visionary vision?

Below you can more clearly hear J.D. talk about his Magic Trees....

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...