The Trinity River Vision Updates Rockin' The River Live On The Trinity

I don't know who pays for the slick 4 page, full color brochures the Trinity River Vision mails to my mailbox every once in awhile.

I'm sure the taxpayers are not footing the bill for this particular extravagance.

The primary focus of this latest TRV mailing seems to be the raging success of the Trinity River Vision's Rockin' the River Live on the Trinity Summer Tubing & Music Series.

Who could have guessed, back when the Trinity River Vision was first being seen, that by summer of 2011 so much progress would have been made in remaking the Trinity River that thousands of Texans would come from far and wide to float in that formerly polluted river.

Or, as the TRV Brochure puts it...

The response to Rockin' the River - Live on the Trinity has been astonishing. The event has grown to attract more than a thousand people from all over North Texas at each concert, and continues to grow as more people hear about the good times being had on the river.

Well, that is impressive. More than a thousand people. From all over North Texas. Coming to Fort Worth because they've heard of the good times to be had on the river.

And then there is this blurb from a TRV minion...

"We are just happy to be able to provide the public with a fun and free event where they can come get in the cool water and enjoy some great music," said Shelby Lyon, a TRVA staff member who helped coordinate the series. "People really seem to be having the time of their lives out there, and that's what it is all about."

Now, that is just about the saddest thing I've read this week. People are having the time of their lives floating in a polluted river? And that is what the TRV is all about? Providing the public with fun, free events? Was this what was envisioned when the Trinity River Vision first saw its vision?

The brochure has some other information besides touting the tubing. Like the TRWD sponsoring of an "Our River, Our Children" Art Contest. Near as I can tell this is some sort of propaganda operation filling young minds with visions of boondoggle grandeur.

Then there is a blurb about new mountain bike trails in Gateway Park. I've not seen these new mountain bike trails. The blurb also mentions that phase two will add five miles of trail which will include an elevation gain of 250 feet. With spectacular views of downtown. Since there is currently very little elevation gain in Gateway Park I can not help but wonder how this spectacular view is going to be acheived.

A big headline announces that "Cobb Park Construction is in Full Swing!" Apparently this is a centerpiece for the southeast Fort Worth renaissance.

The brochure includes an invite to the TRV Education Center where you can gain an in-depth understanding of the difficult to understand project.

We also learn that the Trinity River Vision Master Plan was recognized for Development Excellence by getting a coveted 2011 CLIDE Award from the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTGOC).

On page 3 of the brochure, there is a picture of JD Granger, Jennifer Harnish, Rachel Navejar and Shanna Cate at the NCTGOC luncheon.

I think I remember seeing JD and Shanna checking in to a Dallas hotel. I wonder if that was where the NCTGOC luncheon was held?

The back page of the TRV brochure is pretty much like the front page, devoted to Tubing the Trinity, with 9 photos of people doing the tubing.

Walking With My Mom Around Fosdic Lake While My Nephew David Goes Boating

Today I talked to my mom during my noonday constitutional walk around Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park.

No. That is not a kid in a boat on Fosdic Lake in the picture.

Boats are banned on Fosdic Lake. I assume because the caustic chemicals in that hazardous brew might eat a hole in a boat.

I talked to my mom the entire time I was walking, so my camera never left my pocket to take a photo documenting today's walk with the Fosducks around Fosdic Lake.

The lake in the picture is in my sister in Chandler, Arizona's backyard. That is my nephew, David, boating under the waterfall.

It seems a sad thing that a kid in Arizona can go boating in a backyard lake, while kids in Fort Worth have no public pools to swim in when it is very very HOT. And the town's lakes have signs warning that swimming and boating is not allowed.

It is currently over 100 degrees, again, according to my Weather Underground source. 100.9 to be precise.

I am starting to grow a bit tired of always being so HOT.

North Texas Days In A Row Of 100 Or Higher Ends At 40

You are not looking past the bars of my patio prison cell at the dawn of 42 Days in a Row of 100 Degrees or more in North Texas.

The official temperature measuring station at D/FW Airport did not go over 100 yesterday.

Which seems odd to me, due to the fact that yesterday, when I went walking in the shaded jungle of Village Creek, I thought it was the HOTTEST day yet. I'm guessing it must have been very very humid, thus feeling very very HOT.

Officially, the recorder had the temperature climbing to 96 by 3 in the afternoon, yesterday. Then dipping to a chilly 84, then bouncing back to 97. I did experience the odd drop in temperature around 3. I think I mentioned that yesterday. I did see some of what appeared to be thunderclouds.

But I heard no thunder. Apparently locations as close as downtown Fort Worth did hear the clap of thunder and felt a few minutes of rare rain dropping.

So, the record of 42 Days in a Row of 100 or higher, set in 1980 remains. 2011's total of 47 triple digit days is in 4th place. The record number of 100 degree days was also set in super HOT 1980, at 69.

We are scheduled to start being heated to 100 again on Saturday, with 100 degree days into the foreseeable future. I suspect we may still break a 1980 record, this year of 2011.

In the meantime I am going swimming.

Taking My Cane On A HOT Walk With The Village Creek Ghosts

I got out my walking cane and used my senior citizen's pass to take the bus to Village Creek Natural Historic Area today.

I felt like communing with the wise elderly spirits of Indians long gone.

You can not tell it by today's picture taken via the Village Creek photo mirror, but it was being horribly HOT in the noon time frame today. HOTTEST HOT yet.

The HOTTEST HOT yet had my cold tapwater feeling HOT. Previously the cold tapwater had warmed to being warm, but never HOT.

I called my mom on my way to Village Creek to wish mom a Happy Birthday, due to the labor my mom went through today, all those decades ago, to deliver a very little me to the world. Mom was not home to receive her Happy Birthday call.

So, I left a voice mail.

As you can see via the picture of the Village Creek Jungle, the jungle is beginning to show signs of lack of water, as in, drought strain. Leaves are falling as if it were Fall. Green is turning brown.

Tomorrow if we hit 100 it ties the all time record for days in a row getting that HOT. Something has happened in the past hour or two that has me thinking that the 1980 record may not be broken.

We have dropped a lot of degrees in the past hour or two. As in it was over 100 when I wilted with the Indian ghosts, but it is only 84.7 now, at half past 3. Clouds have arrived. Along with a forecast for some possible storming....

An outflow boundary continues to push southward across North Texas with scattered thunderstorms to its north. The boundary could reach a Comanche to Ennis to Greenville line around 4 PM. Look for north winds of 15 to 30 mph and temperatures falling into the 80s behind this boundary. Rain and thunderstorms just north of I-20 to the west of Fort Worth will continue to follow the boundary southward this afternoon. These will move across Eastland...Earth... Hood... Somervell and Johnson counties by 5 PM. Gusty winds...heavy rainfall and dangerous cloud to ground lightning will occur from the strong thunderstorms. Rain and isolated thunderstorms along the Red River counties east of Gainesville will continue to spread east and southeast through 5 PM. This rain will spread through Collin... Hunt...Delta and Hopkins counties by 5 PM. Elsewhere...it will remain hot and dry with temperatures in the upper 90s and lower 100s under mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies. Heat advisory in effect until 9 PM CDT this evening...

It Is A Happy 47th Birthday Today In Durango Jones World

I have been getting emails and Facebook messages this morning wishing me a Happy Birthday. I checked my biographical information to see if it is my birthday today. Apparently it is.

Today, using the patented Durango Age Calculating Formula I calculated I am 47 years old. The Durango Age Calculating Formula adds ones Chronological Age to How Old One Looks to How Old One Acts and then divides the total by 3.

As you can see in my high school senior photo I have always looked way younger than my chronological years. I believe I was 17 when my senior photo was taken.

I have always been told that as I got older I would come to appreciate my freakishly youthful appearance. I guess I do. But it does get tiresome, at times, the few times I purchase an adult beverage, to get asked to prove I am old enough to do so.

Last October my mountain bike was stolen. This was about a week after I had my last mountain bike wreck. It was not a bad wreck, but it wrenched my right foot, a pain which took a long time to go away. I took the bike wreck, followed by the bike theft, followed by the foot pain to be an omen that I was too old to be riding a bike.

In the picture you are looking at me on my first mountain bike, pedaling the streets of Eugene, Oregon, wearing a very stylish bike helmet.

Being at the ripe old age of 47 it is hard to remember all the people I have met over the years in the various places I have met people.

Sometimes memories are too painful to remember. Or to forget.

I don't remember the name of the girl in the picture. It seems like maybe the last name was Figenbaum. My mom would likely remember.

I have always liked being outdoors. This likely explains why at my now semi-advanced age of 47 my skin is leathery. Or is it just tanned?

My enjoying playing in the sun years began in Eugene. Summers are hot in Eugene. Not Texas HOT, but hot.

I think in the picture on the left I am working on my garden.

I have always liked to plant stuff and watch it grow. Not so much in Texas, though. Growing stuff in Texas is a daunting task. You might run low on water. Or get a plague of locusts.

Elsie Hotpepper emailed me a few minutes ago asking what my Happy Birthday plans are.

I have no Happy Birthday plans. Except to call my mom and wish her a Happy Birthday for birthing me.

The August 11 Morning Of Day 41 Over 100 In North Texas

My internal lights came on at right about the time the sun arrived to light up the 11th day of August.

It is yet one more clear blue sky morning in North Texas, currently chilled to 82.7. This chilly temperature gives my air-conditioner a slight break from its cooling duties.

Unless a Blue Norther Arctic Blast arrives today it will be Day 41 in a Row of 100 Degrees or more, as measured by the official temperature monitoring station at D/FW Airport.

The record numbers of days in North Texas of 100 or more is 42. The current temperature prediction for tomorrow, Friday, the possible Day 42, is 99 degrees. That is the prediction from the Weather Underground. Other predictors are predicting 100 for tomorrow.

I suspect the other predictors are going to end up predicting correctly, with Friday being the record tying day 42 in a row of 100 or more. With the record broken on Saturday, at 43. Followed by several more days in a row over 100.

All this temperature talk has made me HOT. So, I think I will go swimming now.

Three Boys Stuck In The Fosdic Lake Mud While Fosdic Creek Floods With Fosducks & Turtles

Today as I drove on to the parking lot on the east side of Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park I looked across to the west side of the lake to see something I have never seen before. Humans in the lake. Well, more precisely, humans appearing to be stuck in mud made bare by the receding Fosdic Lake, evaporating away due to the ongoing  Great North Texas Drought and 40 days in a row of 100 degrees of more.

The 3 guys in the mud were pulling stuff out of the mud. And then running across the mud to deposit what they'd pulled up in the garbage can that usually floats in the lake, but is currently sitting on the mud flat. I could see the boys were barefoot. Barefoot in thick, gooey, black mud that holds who knows what.

A short time later I was on the west side of Fosdic Lake, directly above where I'd seen the boys in the mud. No boys to be seen. A short distance from that location I walked down a cement stairway to lake level.

Still no boys to be seen. Then I noticed black mud footprints on the cement steps. I've no idea where those 3 boys went and how they went there so quickly. While barefoot.

The 3 boys may have hurried off the mud sand bar when they noticed that the level of Fosdic Lake was rising. Rising due to a large volume of water entering Fosdic Lake from a flooding Fosdic Creek. I assume yet one more Fort Worth water main had broken, somewhere upcreek from Fosdic Lake. The water appeared very milky.

In the news the past couple days has been the news that we may soon be in water restriction mode in North Texas due to the drought. Those vexing water main breaks are not helping conserve water.

I suspect the Fosdic Creek flood will likely quickly abate and Fosic Lake will continue evaporating. In the above picture you are looking at the beach that has formed on the east side of the lake.

The Fosdic Ducks, also known as Fosducks, had moved to a new shade location. Also in evidence were a few turtles. The Fosducks were not in the water, but the turtles were. So, that makes turtles and humans I sort of saw in Fosdic Lake today.

I think I'd be more willing to go inner tubing in Fosdic Lake than I would in the Trinity River. No slightly treated sewage is pumped in Fosdic Lake, as far as I know.

If You Like Soap Opera Mixed With Politics You've Come To The Right Place

I was blogging this morning about good news about the Paradise Center's little sweetheart's Elizabeth's successful heart procedure, when I clicked on the link to the Paradise Center website and found myself being talked about.

I found what was said to be nice and amusing....

We know this is out there.  Some of the comments are outrageous, unethical, unprofessional, and false.  We don't read it very often, because alot of the mean things are written by anonymous people ABOUT US.  And when we do read it, we get upset.  We don't like the negativity.  We're focusing on the here and now and our bright future.  So, if you like soap-opera stuff mixed in with local politics, click below and have some fun.

http://Paradise-Center-Scandal.blogspot.com

That blog and the following blog are written and hosted by Durango.  None of us at Paradise Center have ever met or talked to him.  We're pretty sure that's just his internet name.  But he is a local blogger with his finger on the pulse of what's happening in and around Fort Worth.  We think you'll find some interesting information about Fort Worth, and if you look closely, about Paradise Center.

http://durangotexas.blogspot.com

Thanks, Durango, for keeping our story alive!

You are welcome, Paradise Center.

On the Paradise Center website the sentence that says, "None of us at Paradise Center have ever met or talked to him," now has a line struck through it, because people at Paradise Center have now met me.

Microsoft Caused Tardiness On Day 40 In A Row Over 100 On Dr. L.C.'s Happy Birthday

It is almost 4 hours after a pre-dawn picture was taken of the view through the bars of my patio prison cell on this 10th day of August.

Microsoft is always very concerned about evil doers exploiting a weakness and taking over my computer. This morning it was Microsoft installing security updates which took over my computer.

Microsoft really seems to be the only evil doer that regularly takes over my computer.

I just heard from my therapist, Dr. L.C., asking what is wrong with me, apparently concerned that I am tardy with my regular blogging. Dr. L.C. also informed me she was canceling today's regularly scheduled therapy appointment due to needing to go celebrate the 20th Anniversary of her 29th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Dr. L.C.

Speaking of schedules, today we are scheduled to be Day 40 in a Row over 100 degrees in North Texas. The record is 42 days.

Also scheduled is tomorrow's Grand Opening of Fort Worth's first In n' Out Burger joint. I suspect there will be traffic jams on West 7th tomorrow caused by legions of In n' Out fans looking to have a Double Double Cheeseburger.

I won't be one of the legion of fans jamming West 7th. I'll wait for the hubbub to die down to get me a Double Double Cheeseburger.

Visiting The Soldier Guarding Arlington's Veterans Park Memorial Worrying About My Double Dip Recession & My Nephew Shooting Himself

Today in the noon time frame I was heading to Chinatown in Arlington. On the way I decided to stop at Arlington's Veterans Park to pay my respects to the soldier guarding the memorial.

The shady walk on the Veterans Park boardwalk through the Wildscape slightly cheered me up.

I've been feeling a bit depressed, of late, worrying I may be slipping into a dreaded double dip recession. My credit rating recently took another hit. I had a nightmare where, someone who I thought liked me, suggested I was a parasite on the world.

That was harsh.

My stock in the world has really taken a hit lately.

On the positive side of my current state of mind, this morning I was surprised to check the mail to find a settlement for a class action suit in the form of a check. The lawyers took over half of the settlement.

A few minutes ago Elsie Hotpepper sent me a link to a disturbing video on MSNBC about a gun incident in Chandler, Arizona.

Where my nephews live.

Apparently a 27 year old male Chandlerite was in a grocery store fumbling in his pants pocket when his girl friend's pink gun, which for some reason he was carrying, without the safety on, went off, sending a bullet through his most private parts.

A full recovery is expected. I have not received a phone call from my sister or mom with tragic news, so I strongly suspect the shooter is not one of my nephews.

Speaking of places, like Arizona, where it is very HOT. Today, in Texas, it was a little under 100 when I visited the Veterans Park Soldier.

Currently, at a little past 4, it is 106.5, feeling like 111, at my location in HOT Texas. Right now Chandler is a relatively chilly 103.6.

Today is Day 39 Over 100 in North Texas. Tomorrow will be Day 40. When is this HOT madness going to end?