Walking In The Rain In Gateway Park Looking For Fort Worth City Gas Lease Revenue In Action

The Future Of Gateway Park Boondoggle

Today on my way to Town Talk I decided to take a look at Gateway Park. I'd not been to Gateway Park in quite awhile. I was curious to see if some of the Fort Worth City Gas Lease Revenue in Action had been in Action in Gateway Park like it has been in action a couple miles to the east, in Quanah Parker Park, where new trail has been paved and other amenities, like solar lighting, has been added.

I figured since Gateway Park is much more heavily used than Quanah Parker Park that the Gas Lease Revenue in Action would have likely repaired the paved trail damaged by Tropical Storm Hermine, and would have repaired the boarded up boardwalks. And maybe have added restrooms to Fort Woof.

When I started walking in Gateway Park a slight rain hit my big black bumbershoot. A slow northwest in winter type rain. After about 10 minutes this turned into a light Texas-style downpour. I was soaked from my knees south by the time I was back under cover.

Trail Is Closed Temporarily

I don't know if the Trinity River Vision decided to make their signage more accurate or if one of the signs was graffiti-ized. But, the biggest of the many Trinity River Vision signs by Fort Woof says "Go Gateway! The Future of Gateway Park Boondoggle."

I was optimistic when I saw the paved trail was no longer blocked by a barricade and a DO NOT ENTER SIGN, that the trail washed out by Tropical Storm Hermine had been fixed.

As is usually the case, my optimism was quickly dissipated.

As you can see the trail is not fixed. It is like this in two locations. As you can also see, there has been sufficient foot traffic to wear a new path next to the damaged paved trail. Thus sort of making it obvious that people walk here. The sign says "TRAIL IS CLOSED TEMPORARILY FOR MAINTENANCE DO NOT ENTER."

Close To Public

The trail has been temporarily closed for well over a year now.

There are three sections of chain link fence along this trail. On each of them there is now attached the amusing sign you see here.

"AREA CLOSE TO PUBLIC."

On two of the three signs someone has added a small "D" to "CLOSE."

I found this amusing. I am easily amused.

My optimism that the Fort Worth City Gas Lease Revenue in Action might have fixed the boarded up boardwalks also turned out to be a false hope.

It has been a very disappointing first Saturday of December, so far.

Snow Is In The Forecast But You Can Slide Down Mount Chesapeake Today If You Want To

Weather obsessed fanatic that I am it is ironic that til this morning I had not paid any attention to the current 5 day forecast beyond hearing on the radio that a cold front was heading our way.

Minutes ago I learned, via the weather thing at the bottom of this very blog, that SNOW is in the forecast for Monday. With a low of 29, followed by a low of 25 on Tuesday.

I checked out weather sources to see if the snow prediction is being universally predicted. It isn't. Other predictors are predicting Freezing Rain rather than SNOW. I prefer snow to freezing rain. Though the difference is subtle.

Freezing Rain can turn into an Ice Storm. I never experienced an Ice Storm til I moved to Texas, getting hit with one 5 days after my arrival in Texas.

I left Washington in a heavy rainstorm and arrived in Haslet, this little hamlet on the northern border of Fort Worth, to an even heavier rainstorm, with a lot of flooding. This was not what I was expected to find in Texas.

I was shocked.

And then 5 days later I was having lunch at the now long gone Riscky Rita's, in the Fort Worth Stockyards, enjoying the bad Mexican food buffet. It'd been warm when I entered Riscky Rita's. Warm and windy. When I left Riscky Rita's, an hour or so later, the temperature had dropped to just above freezing.

I was shocked. And had no coat with me.

That night the temperature dropped to 15 degrees. We did not know how to shut off the water to the pool. Or the barn. It was a nightmare.

By morning the ground was covered with what seemed to be several inches of ice.

I was shocked. I had no idea this type thing happened in this part of Texas.

Since then I've survived through 4 or 5 Ice Storms.

I remember the first time I walked into the house in Haslet remarking why in the world would there be a big fireplace in a house in Texas? Within 5 days I knew the reason.

My current abode also has a fireplace. I have only used it once. The power went out. It was way below freezing. I had to scrounge to find things to burn. I probably should get myself a supply of firewood.

Today is the day you can buy a slide down Mount Chesapeake for only 2 bucks, up in North Richland Hills. Wait a couple days and there is a chance you will be able to do some snow sliding for free in this usually snow-free part of the planet.

The First Saturday Of December Has Rain Falling On North Texas

It looks like a blue view through the bars of my patio prison cell this first Saturday of the last month of 2011.

However, while the pool is blue, the sky is gray and dripping drops of wet stuff on to the ground.

We are a less parched part of the planet this morning.

More wetness is scheduled for the rest of the day, along with some possible thunderstorming. I can't remember when we last had a real strong thunderstorm in this less parched part of the planet.

It is currently 55 degrees in the outer world at my location. This means the 24 hour average has been above 50 degrees. Which means I am obligated by contract to go swimming this morning.

I think I will go do that right now before it starts raining any harder.

Walking Around A Foggy Fosdic Lake Explaining To Someone Named Anonymous How I Came To Be In Texas & Why I Stay

You are looking through my windshield at a foggy Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park today in the noon time frame.

A drizzle dripped through the fog with the air chilled to the low 40s.

I tried to go swimming this morning. It did not go well.

I've been sneezing. I wonder if there is any connection between sneezing and getting in cold water?

Someone calling him or herself Anonymous mentioned wading through my weather and swimming reports on my blog, sort of implying this wading was tiresome.

Speaking of tiresome, this weather we are experiencing today on this less parched part of the planet is what a stereotypical winter day in the Puget Sound zone of Western Washington is like.

I really don't know if I could go back to living in that climate again. I remember my first time back to Washington after my Texas exile, I was already used to the almost perpetual Texas blue sky. That trip north, every morning I'd get up expecting to see blue, to be greeted by gray and wet.

I think I've mentioned previously that my last time I spent time in Washington, July 20 through August 20 of 2008, I shivered almost the entire time. I was really glad to be back in Texas, that time, for several reasons, in addition to wanting to be warm.

That same person calling him or herself Anonymous has also been making comments regarding me being exiled in Texas, suggesting I never have anything positive to say about Texas, which renders me boring.

Apparently I paint Washington as a heavenly paradise with strawberries growing on every tree, while I paint Texas as the Devil's Earthly manifestation of Hell on Earth. This Anonymous person says she or he has never met any of the type Texans I describe.

I don't recollect ever spending any time describing any particular Texans. Except maybe Gar the Texan and Elsie Hotpepper.

The first comment from this person calling him or herself Anonymous was to a blogging titled The Last Sunday Of November of 2011 Has Dawned Wind Free & Cold In Texas.

And then this morning there have been a couple comments from Anonymous to a blogging from yesterday titled A Curious Anonymous Question Leads Me To The Lonely Planet Of Texas.

Below are the two comments....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Curious Anonymous Question Leads Me To The Lonely Planet Of Texas":

I read this blog occasionally, mostly for mentions of Tandy Hills Park, a place I love. I'm sometimes moved to comment, an urge I suppress. I don't think I can convince you of anything. Nevertheless, just a few thoughts: You are welcome to lament. But laments unrelieved by anything positive are just boring.

The Texans that you describe bear little resemblance to people that I know here. 

Some of your comments about Texan's exceptionalism are on the money. But you match them with your view of Washington as a paradise without political corruption, with kindly people loving the environment and each other (and strawberries). It makes sense for a reader to ask, what keeps you here? Most of us, here by jobs or even by birth just try to make the best of it. What would your blog look like if you lived in Washington??

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Curious Anonymous Question Leads Me To The Lonely Planet Of Texas":

I have returned to comment yet again, to let you know you mischaracterized me when you “answered” the comment I left for you a few days ago.

Please do not include me among those who think lamenting is a bad thing. I myself regularly lament. Lamenting is often very warranted. And I don’t begrudge you your lamenting. In fact, I dare say we share some similar laments. Otherwise I would not wade through your weather reports and swimming reports.

Also, please do not lump me into that group of Texans who would like to see you “get your butt north of the Red River.” Au contraire, I think you are an asset to our state. My curious, anonymous comment was first and foremost a simple question. Because you do so frequently compare Texas and Washington and because you regularly find Texas not as appealing in many ways, I simply began to wonder why you became exiled here and why you have chosen to remain here. Surely I could accurately say that you have rather invited that question.

I found your Lonely Planet Texas offering amusing. But surely that is not why you are exiled here. I even chuckled when you meandered your way into some more Fort Worth bashing. And I began to suspect that you may have never intended to answer me. Your ability to take a question and chat all around it and turn it into some of your favorite “rants” suggests you could morph into a politician.

I am not your typical Texan. I cringe at the mandatory “Have a nice day.” And I shall never sugar-pie anyone. The political candidates I vote for almost always lose. And I don’t have a “love it or leave it” mentality.

Just Curious.

__________________________________________

Anonymous Curious person wonders what my blog would look like if I had a Washington blog?

Well.

I have a Washington blog. It is called Durango Washington.

As for being curious as to why I am exiled in Texas. The blog you are reading right now has had well over 4,000 blog posts, dating back, I think, to some point in 2007. Among those blog posts the story is told as to how I found myself in Texas. And what has kept me here.

I have no intention to re-tell this story, yet again.

Primarily because doing so can bring me to tears, depending on what sort of mood I am in...

My Nephew David Visits Santa But I Do Not Think David Has Gotten His Black-Eyed Peas For New Year's Day Yet

That is my red-headed, ginger snap nephew David sitting on Santa's lap at something called the Festival of Trees, I assume somewhere in Tacoma.

I remember being taken to Sedro-Woolley every Christmas season to see Santa and get a big candy cane, and to tell Santa what I wanted for Christmas, none of which I ever got, which led to my early disillusionment with Christmas.

I have yet to see a Santa Claus this holiday season.

Speaking of this holiday season. There are differences in this southern region from how the season is celebrated in the northwestern region.

One example is black-eyed peas.

Decades ago, when I used to hang out with Gar the Texan, he would regularly confound me by saying things I did not understand.  One that really sticks in my memory was we were heading up to Turner Falls Park in Oklahoma, in the week between Christmas and New Years.

At one point during the drive north, Gar the Texan asked if I was having trouble finding my black-eyed peas this year?

Huh? Why would I want black-eyed peas, I asked?

You don't have to have black-eyed peas on New Years Day, Gar the Texan asked?

No, said I. Why would I?

Gar the Texan then told me he thought everyone ate black-eyed peas for good luck for the new year on New Year's Day.

This was the first I ever heard of this.

Doing a little research into this serious black-eyed peas issue I learned this black-eyed peas thing on New Year's Day is a Southern thing. Apparently many Southerners believe this dates back to the Civil War when black-eyed peas were considered food for animals, not humans. General Sherman's troops would not eat black-eyed peas as they marched across Georgia on their way to burn Atlanta. When the Union soldiers would raid Confederate supplies they'd take everything but the black-eyed peas and salt pork.

The Confederates then considered themselves lucky to have been left the black-eyed peas and salt pork, giving them something to eat to survive the winter.

Others claim the black-eyed peas thing came about because black-eyed peas were all the newly freed Southern Slaves had to celebrate on January 1, 1863, the day the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, with, from that point forward, black-eyed peas always being eaten on the first day of the new year.

I find the Emancipation Proclamation explanation to be a bit difficult to believe. I don't think many slaves knew they'd been freed until later.

The only thing I know for sure about this black-eyed pea thing is I will not be having any on New Year's Day.  But, I may change my mind on that if I get feeling desperately in need of acquiring some good luck.

Up Early The 2nd Day Of December After Making Chili & Watching Top Chef Texas In Dallas

I am up well before the sun on this 2nd morning of December. You can almost tell from the picture that there is a drizzle dribbling in the outer world at my location at this point in time.

The 24 average, temperature-wise, has been above 50 degrees. Thus meeting my swimming requirement. However, I must factor in the chill factor of this drizzle. I'll wait til the arrival of the sun to make my decision whether or not I want to go outside and get super wet.

My weather predictors are predicting more rain arriving. And a hard freeze in a couple days. Currently it is 43.

I had no untoward nightmares last night that I am remembering this morning. I am grateful for that. I think my session with my therapist, Dr. L. C., yesterday, was of great benefit.

Last week Top Chef Texas cooked chili at a rodeo in San Antonio. Last night I used some of what I saw on Top Chef Texas to make the best chili I've ever made. Apparently in Texas we want no beans in our chili. And so I have no beans in my chili.

This week the Top Chef Texas chefs drove from San Antonio to Dallas. Dallas was looking real good. Until the Top Chefs went to Highland Park to go to three different homes where they were to make appetizers, entrees and desserts for something called a progressive dinner. The three Dallas couples being cooked for were very oddly both pretentious and dumb.

Next week the Top Chefs head to Southfork Ranch. I am guessing J.R. Ewing won't be there.

Major Tandy Hills Prairie Fest News Today In Prairie Notes #60

A Re-Imagined Re-Named Prairie Festival

I had not realized until it arrived this afternoon that the early morning of the day of a new month had not brought the latest Prairie Notes from Don Young to my emailbox.

Prairie Notes #60 contains major news about the Prairie Fest.

I have to say I think this change makes a lot of sense. Every year I think the Prairie Fest is tempting a bad weather fate by putting so much effort into one single day in the Spring that could go horribly wrong, weather-wise.

The latest Prairie Notes, with all the info and excellent photos, is not yet up on the Friends of Tandy Hills website's Prairie Notes page.

Below is a blurb from Prairie Notes #60...........

For 2012, Prairie Fest has been re-imagined and re-focused back to discovery and enjoyment of Tandy Hills, itself. Instead of a single event, there will be three festivals throughout the Spring on the last Saturdays of March, April and May. Event hours will be from 4 PM - Dusk. We call in Prairie Festx3.

The main event will be enhanced Prairie-Wildflower Hikes for kids and adults, specially designed by Heather Foote, a Master Naturalist and schoolteacher in Grapevine. More on that below. There will also be the usual, unstructured wildflower tours led by Suzanne Tuttle of the FW Nature Center & refuge.

In the re-imagined fest for 2012, we have eliminated Exhibitor booths. ("Virtual booths" will be available. Stay tuned for details.) There will still be live music and other entertainment, food, beverage and friends. The festival site will be a wide-open, kid-friendly playground for kite-flying, frisbee-tossing, stilt-walking, picnicking, guitar-picking, dog-running and other impromptu activities. 

Walking With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts Thinking About Captain Jack's Stronghold & Custer's Last Stand

Today on my way to Pantego I stopped at the Village Creek Natural Historic Area to take a walk with the Native American Ghosts that haunt this location.

Today I left the un-natural paved trail and walked on the old Indian Trail that used to meander through one of the biggest Indian Villages in North America, hence the name of the creek.

The Indian Village in this location stretched for miles, towards the north toward the Trinity River. A river which I imagine back then was totally safe to take a bath in or drink the water as it flowed by.

The Indian tribes that lived in this location were hunters, farmers and traders. And then the Texans came and evicted them using their eventually perfected primitive form of eminent domain abuse.

Last week I read A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of the American West by James Donovan.

True Crime is one of my favorite genres. Methinks the fate that befell the Native Americans falls in that category.

This book covers the period that marked the final decades of the Indian Wars, from the Powder River War victory by Red Cloud and his tribe to the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, with Custer's Last Stand at the Little Bighorn being the focal point to tell the story.

Back when I was in grade school and high school, at that point in time the true history of the Indian Wars was not taught. What we were taught was totally skewed to the White point of view. By the time I got to college this was changing.

A few years ago I remember stopping to read a historical marker in Northern California that made note of the fact that near this location was Captain Jack's Stronghold, made famous in the Modoc War that caught the world's attention back in the 1870s, much like the federal siege at Mount Carmel, near Waco, did in the 1990s. That particular historical marker dated back to the early 1900s. It totally made Captain Jack and the Modocs out to be villains.

However, in modern day America, if you visit Lava Beds National Monument you can explore Captain Jack's Stronghold and the Visitor's Center tells the accurate history of what transpired.

Much like the historical markers in Village Creek Natural Historic Area, sort of tell the accurate story of what transpired in that location.

A Curious Anonymous Question Leads Me To The Lonely Planet Of Texas

I've got a book from Lonely Planet called Texas. This book has a lot of really good info in it. And much of it is amusing.

I've been exiled in Texas for over a decade now. I've toned down what some perceive as negative things I say about Texas, that some Texans, of the brittle sort, sort of get upset about. The toning down came as I came to understand the reasons things were different here than what I was used to.

I came from a part of America that is a bit more rancorous in verbalizing contrary opinions. In Washington you could pretty much say any critical thing you wanted to about anything without ever having anyone suggest you leave the state by what ever means you arrived.

I've lost track of how many times I've been told by a Texan to get my butt on the north side of the Red River.

An article in the Seattle P-I from way back in 2003 is an example of the different attitude. The article is titled Seattle-bashing takes hold in cyberspace. The article is still online, but some of the links to various websites doing the Seattle bashing are now dead. Like the one to a website called Seattle Sucks.

Now, can you imagine an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram titled Fort Worth bashing takes hold in cyberspace? With links to a website called Fort Worth Sucks.

Now why is that the case? I mean, really, any objective person who is at all well informed knows there is much more that sucks in Fort Worth than what sucks in Seattle.

In Seattle something like the Trinity River Vision could never happen. If a Seattle congresswoman had her unqualified son given the job of running the project, trust me, he would not long have that job. Nor would the congresswoman.

Last week someone calling him or herself Anonymous anonymously made a comment to something I'd blogged which was like a more elevated way of telling me to get north of the Red River. This is what Anonymous said...

Have you ever revealed to your readers why you are exiled here in Texas? Your frequent lamenting about some things Texan and your fond feelings for Washington state do bring that question to mind, you know... Just Curious.

I don't understand why some people think lamenting is such a bad thing. If there were more vocal lamenters in Fort Worth there probably would not be money wasted on something like the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. And that wasted money might be then spent where real flood control is needed. Like fixing the flooding problem with the deadly Fossil Creek in Haltom City.

Below is a blurb taken from the Lonely Planet Texas book which tries to explain Texas to incoming visitors...

If the USA were a high school, Texas would be the captain of the football team: big, loud, good-looking, strong, street-smart and funny as hell - just don't mess with him. He'd steal your prom date if you let him, and then shake you hand afterwards with his maddening grin. That's the Lone Star State for you - charming, but with an obnoxious streak; larger than life; undeniably vivacious. Visitors find Texas equally confounding and enchanting, and the natives (and quite a few transplants, too) wouldn't have it any other way.

And so the Wild West lives on here, but mostly in attitude. The state's got a serious love-it-or-leave it attitude, with personality to spare, and it's full of people who can't imagine living anywhere else. Is Texas really the center of the world? When you're in Texas, it is. In a country where the distinct identities between states and cities often blur together, Texans won't let you ever forget, for better or worse, that you are deep in the heart of Texas.

That said, trying to typify Texas is like trying to wrestle a pig in mud - it's slippery. In vast generalizations, Austin is alternative Texas, prizing environmental integrity and quality of life. Dallasites are the shoppers and the socialites. In conservative, casual Houston, oil and gas industrialists dine at clubby steakhousees. San Antonio and El Paso are the most Tex-Mexican of the bunch - showplaces of Hispanic culture. These days, outside of the rural areas, computer geek millionaires and fashionistas outnumber rich cattlefolk and ranch hands, though nine-to-five professionals and blue collar workers outnumber both; when it comes down to it, you might see any one of them knocking back a Lone Star in the same dive. All across the state, you'll notice several themes: Spanish is spoken, country music is played, football is sacred, barbecue is eaten, summer is scorching, and for boys and men, peeing outdoors is a God-given right and privilege.

Texans are notoriously friendly. Smiles, laughter, and 'have a nice day' are mandatory - and this is one place you get the sense they mean it. Small talk with strangers is a daily pleasure here. Yet a straightforward and conservative approach to life in much of the state means outward displays of emotion are looked upon as indiscreet. Texans are highly respectful in conversation. 'Sir' and 'ma'am' are used by almost everyone, so it's nice to get into the spirit of things by joining in. Ladies, don't be surprised to be called 'honey,' 'doll' (yes, still!) or 'sugar-pie' by either gender (most people are just being friendly.) Sugar-pie them right back - as long as you're being sincere.

Up Early The Cold First Day Of December After A Night Of Nightmares With A Super Duper Uber Cougar

I am looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at a cool pool currently being chilled to 41 degrees on Day #1 of December.

24 shopping days til Christmas. 30 days til New Year's Eve. And then it will be 2012, the year the Mayan calendar comes to an end, which has the superstitious Miss Puerto Rico, and other simple souls, thinking the world is also coming to an end in 2012.

I had a very rough night's sleep. Again with nightmares, just as I feared. And once again the worst of the nightmares involved lunch with J.D. Granger.

In last night's nightmare J.D. met me at the Love Shack in the Fort Worth Stockyards for Dirty Love Burgers and big mugs of Whiskey Lemonade. In the nightmare J.D. insisted he wanted me to run a Gentlemen's Club that he was going to have the Trinity River Vision build for me on the banks of the Trinity River.

I told J.D. that Gentlemen's Clubs make me nervous. J.D. said they made him nervous too.

After discussing my TRV sweetheart deal we walked across the street to the Stockyards Hotel. That blonde Shanna lady, who met J.D. and me in the previous night's nightmare, was there in the lobby.

Next thing I know I'm at the door of the Bonnie & Clyde room of the Stockyards Hotel.

In non-nightmare, real world, I don't know if there is a Bonnie & Clyde room in the Stockyards Hotel. But, I am fairly certain Bonnie & Clyde stayed overnight there.

So, in the nightmare I'd lost J.D. and Shanna in the lobby. I open the door of the Bonnie & Clyde room to find myself in a Mrs. Robinson situation, like I'd seen on Two and a Half Men where the Ashton Kutcher character, Wendell, found himself getting way too familiar with the Super Duper Uber Cougar, Alan and Dead Charlie's mom.

Only in this case when I opened the door of the Bonnie & Clyde room it was not Alan and Dead Charlie's mom waiting for me, it was that well known Super Duper Uber Cougar mother of J.D. Granger.

Kay.

I let out a shriek, waking up in a cold sweat.

I am going to be scared to go to bed tonight.