The Final Thursday Of March Marveling At Fresh Bizarre Fort Worth Star-Telegram Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Woodshed Propaganda

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world on this final Thursday of the 3rd month of 2012 it appears to be very very dark this morning prior to the arrival of the illuminating nuclear sky orb.

My computer based weather monitoring device, this morning, is telling me at my location it is currently 61 degrees and foggy, with 100% humidity, heading to a high today of 81.

Changing the subject from my favorite one to one I find vexing.

That vexing subject being Fort Worth's propaganda purveyor that calls itself the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

This morning the Star-Telegram published a piece of propaganda titled "Love's eatery has given new life to river vision" written by a supposed reporter who appears to be a publicity agent for the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle and J.D. Granger, named Mitchell Schnurman.

The propaganda piece starts with...

If the Woodshed Smokehouse is any indication of what's ahead for the Trinity River Vision, maybe they could start digging that bypass channel a few years early. How will Fort Worth ever wait? The Woodshed is so good, so soon, that it gives the river project a jolt of new energy and even gives government a good name.

Yes, how will Fort Worth manage to wait for the un-needed flood diversion channel to protect the town from a flood? It seems to me, since this is such an important project, that it should be fast tracked, rather than built in the extremely slow motion way that Fort Worth is accustomed to building its public works projects.

The Woodshed is so good that it gives government a good name? A government entity, operating without openness and transparency, gives government a good name? The Woodshed gives the river project boondoggle a jolt of new energy? A restaurant built southwest of the area touted as the location of the TRV Boondoggle project has somehow given a jolt of new energy to the boondoggle? Really?

Apparently the Woodshed Smokehouse has taken in almost a third of a million dollars in its first month of operating.

Schnurman says....

Eventually, the water district will net several hundred thousand dollars a year, to be funneled into trail improvements and other river uses. That's great, but this was never about maximizing restaurant dollars, which is why some early critics had it so wrong.

I do not recollect any of the Woodshed/Granger critic's criticisms having anything to do with maximizing restaurant dollars. I believe the criticisms had to do with this being a backroom deal giving one specific restaurateur a sweetheart deal without allowing other local restaurateurs the option of competing. That and building a restaurant outside the "Uptown" development area seemed to stray far from what had been, previously, the "Vision."

They complained that J.D. Granger, executive director for the TRV Authority, hadn't asked for bids before signing a 10-year lease with Love. Texas law doesn't require competitive bidding for the water district, and that's fortunate, because Granger wasn't buying gravel for a riverbed.

I thought that previously the Star-Telegram revised its earlier version of how this sweetheart Woodshed deal came about, taking J.D. Granger out of the equation and claiming it was a Tarrant Regional Water District deal, not a J.D. Granger good ol' boy scheme. The Star-Telegram really should make an effort to keep track of its propaganda.

He was trying to prove that river development could be a big-time winner in Fort Worth -- that a prime location on the water might be worth three times more than land a few blocks away. Do that and stoke some pent-up demand, and a decade from now, the tax base would soar and the TRV economics would work.

The above is fascinating. Now the Star-Telegram, via Schnurman, is propagandizing us that the Woodshed deal was part of a brilliant scheme hatched by that savant, J.D. Granger, to prove that river development could be a big-time winner in Fort Worth. And that a location on the river might be worth a lot of money, proving, a decade from now, the tax base will soar and the TRV economics would work.

So, the TRV Boondoggle has been underway for quite some time. A lot of earth has been moved. A lot of businesses have been stolen via eminent domain abuse. Yet, even though all that took place prior to the building of the Woodshed Smokehouse, this restaurant was needed so that J.D. Granger could prove that river development could be a big-time winner in Fort Worth????

Yes, that really makes an awful lot of sense.

I need to go swimming now and experience the real world rather than the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Hunting For Sesame Seeds In Arlington's International District's Cho Saigon

A Field Of Bluebonnets In Arlington's Veterans Park

This morning I decided I wanted to make myself a Chinese type stir fry for my noontime feeding.

Checking supplies I saw I was suffering from a shortage of the type things I need to replicate Chinese food.

Before today it had been a long while since I'd been in the part of Arlington I've called Chinatown, in the past.

Today I realized the part of Arlington, along Pioneer Parkway, that I call Chinatown, would more properly be called Arlington's International District, due to the fact that while there are Asian grocery stores, featuring products enabling the cuisines of various Asian nations, like Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Korea and, of course, China, there are also grocery stores featuring Middle Eastern food products.

Arlington International District's Cho Saigon

And Russian food products.

And Mexican food products.

And even American food products.

Like the Jack in the Box next to the Cho Saigon grocery store I visited to stock up on my Asian ingredients.

On the way to Arlington's International District I got gas. So, I called my mom and dad to tell them I got gas. They were not home. What a surprise.

After getting gas I went to Arlington's Veterans Park to try and un-kink my kinky legs with some salubrious walking.

After Veterans Park I headed east to the former Chinatown. It takes awhile to find stuff at the Cho Saigon. There are dozens upon dozens of soy sauces to choose from. A long treasure hunt to find sesame oil.

No use asking anyone who works there where anything is located. The helpless hunt makes it funner. Eventually I found the sweet chili sauce I wanted. I gave up on finding sesame seeds.

The stir fry I concocted, after I got back to my abode, turned out quite tasty. Baby bok choy is a good stir fry ingredient, as are oyster and shitake mushrooms. And red peppers.

The Tarrant Regional Water District's Muddy Board Report 2011 Vision

In the picture you are looking at the cover of a publication I found in my mailbox this morning. Actually, I found two copies of this publication in my mailbox this morning.

The publication is Board Report 2011 from the Tarrant Regional Water District.

It is currently 2012. Not 2011.

I do not recollect receiving, previously, in the mail, Board Reports from the TRWD, for years previous to 2011.

On the cover it says that the report is "A clear vision for  a substantial and growth-oriented future."

Looking through Board Report 2011 it appears to be a slick propaganda piece touting the alleged virtues of the Water Board.

I did not see any mention made regarding the Tarrant Regional Water District's branching out into the restaurant business in cahoots with J.D. Granger and his Trinity River Vision Boondoggle and Celebrity Chef Tim Love and the controversial Woodshed Smokehouse.

In the Board Report there is a lot of verbiage about saving water, water restrictions and the Lawn Whisperer.

There is no mention made of the volume of water sold to gas drillers by the TRWD to frac Barnett Shale natural gas wells.

I find the water restrictions really bizarre in the TRWD zone, what with all the millions of gallons of water taken out of the system to be polluted with chemicals and then injected into gas wells.

I recently spent 10 days in the Sonoran Desert.

North Texas, and the area served by the TRWD, is not a desert.

The region may occasionally suffer from droughts, but it is not a desert.

So, how is it that in the Phoenix Metropolitan area there are so many water features? Like town lakes, such the Tempe Town Lake, built without the help of J.D. Granger and his earmark-happy Mama, and with actual signature bridges? Or Scottsdale's Waterfront?

Fort Worth might want to send a task force to Tempe and Scottsdale to see how towns which wear Big Boy Pants manage to create such developments, while Fort Worth is stuck in its Little Boy Knickers, relying on a corrupt congresswoman, (who got this corrupt town earmark money favors, in exchange for her little boy getting a job managing Fort Worth's bizarro water feature project), hinky funding mechanisms and never, God forbid, never, a public vote approving taxes to raise funds to build the pathetic little water feature, its unneeded flood control channel and what used to be signature bridges across the unneeded flood control channel.

And how is it the Phoenix metropolitan area, in a desert, a dry, hot desert, manages to manage its water supply without putting the public on Water Restrictions?

Is it because the Phoenix Regional Water District, or whatever that area's government water management agency is called, does not divert any of its water supply to gas drillers pumping millions of gallons of water into  gas wells?

All the water I saw in the Phoenix zone looked clear and clean. I saw no dirty looking Trinity River type water flowing. Why is that? I saw very little litter in that dusty, windy part of the planet. Why is that?

It is all very perplexing.

And in addition to all I've already mentioned that perplexes me about this issue, I am also perplexed as to how the Tarrant Regional Water District justifies spending what must be a large sum of taxpayer money, on this self-serving propaganda publication.

The Final Wednesday Of March Dawns Dark With News Of Fort Worthington Bluebonnets

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at the outer world on this final Wednesday of the 3rd month of 2012, I can see the lights of the pool are not on, thus making the pre-dawn darkness appear darker than the norm.

I hope the lights being out in the pool are simply a timer switch issue and not a dead light bulb issue requiring a partial pool draining to repair.

Currently the temperature in Fort Worth and Phoenix are only one degree apart, with Fort Worth being the the hotter town. temperature-wise only, at 62.

The humidity in Fort Worth remains high, at 86%. With my air-conditioner back working the humidity is not bothering me when I am in my interior space.

Speaking of Fort Worth, I got an amusing blog comment this morning from someone named Anonymous telling me about yet one more thing in Fort Worth causing spasms of Green with Envy syndrome in other cities...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Hiking The Slightly Muddy Tandy Hills Admiring Fort Worth's Iconic Downtown & Bluebonnets": 

Fort Worthington Bluebonnets?

Years ago the Worthington Hotel in downtown Fort Worth commissioned Texas A&M to create a new variety of Bluebonnet that is/was a lighter shade of blue. I think it was named the Worthington Bluebonnet and all other cities were, of course, green with envy over Fort Worth's very own variety of Bluebonnet. Whatever became of that Bluebonnet I cannot tell you. 

The Bluebonnets I found yesterday, blooming bright atop Mount Tandy, appear to maybe be a lighter shade of blue than the Bluebonnet norm. Could these be a patch of the fabled Worthington Bluebonnets that cause spasms of Green with Envy Syndrome in towns that don't have their own town specific brand of Bluebonnet?

Fort Worth really needs to think about dialing back on its incredible specialness that is making way too many towns way too envious.

I think it is time to go swimming now, in the pre-dawn, light-free pool.

Hiking The Slightly Muddy Tandy Hills Admiring Fort Worth's Iconic Downtown & Bluebonnets

The Stunning Skyline Of The Downtown
 Of The Museum Capital Of The Southwest

I was back on the hills of the Tandy Hills Natural Area today for the first time in weeks. The hills were still a bit muddy in places from last week's heavy rain.

The wildflowers are being a bit more sparse than I thought they would be, what with all the rain.

Today was my first look at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth since I learned that Fort Worth's arty aspects are the envy of many other older, larger cities.

I must concede, that, just like New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris, Seattle, Moscow and countless other cities, the iconic skyline of Fort Worth is recognizable world-wide, with constructions as well-known as the Empire State Building, Golden Gate Bridge, Space Needle and Eiffel Tower.

It really is no wonder that Fort Worth draws art lovers from all over the world to experience the brilliance of the Amon Carter Museum, the Kimbell Art Museum and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; the triumvirate that collectively makes Fort Worth the Museum Capital of the Southwest.

And soon, when the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle becomes clear, in addition to being the Museum Capital of the Southwest, Fort Worth will also be the Vancouver of the Southwest.

Imagine the waves of out of control envy that will bedevil cities, far and wide, when Fort Worth becomes the Vancouver of the Southwest.

Mysterious Un-Natural Arrow Point To What?

I can hardly wait.

Changing the subject to something else that makes Fort Worth the envy of the world. That being the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

Part One of the 2012 Prairie Fest takes place this coming Saturday. From 4 PM til the sun goes down there will be music, wildflower hikes, plus food & drink from Chadra Mezza & Grill, Good Karma Kitchen and New Belgium Brewing and Rahr & Sons Brewing.

Today, on the Tandy Hills I saw the arrow you see in the picture, spray painted on the ground. This did not seem very natural too me. There were additional flags stuck in the ground, in addition to the one you see in the picture.

A Bed Of Bluebonnets Glowing Blue

Marking off what? I could not help but wonder.

Mother Nature was also marking her territory, with the State Flower of Texas, the Bluebonnet, being the wildflower most abundant.

Changing the subject from something blue to getting  cold.

The A/C fix-it guy fixed my A/C today. So, I'm ready for a HEAT wave.

While I Was Out Of Town Fort Worth Again Became The Envy Of Other, Older, Larger Cities

I've been out of the Dallas/Fort Worth news orbit for less than two weeks. Somehow, during that short absence, Fort Worth's Fort Worth Weekly got infected with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram propaganda virus.

That being verbalizing, in print, the absurdly weird idea that anything in Fort Worth is the envy of other, older, larger cities.

Just the "envy of" verbiage makes me cringe.

Below are the first three paragraphs from this week's Fort Worth Weekly cover article titled Second Annual Visionary Awards....

Here’s a conundrum: How can Fort Worth have such an incredible array of art-related institutions and not be an “art town”? (At least not yet.)

Yes, there are arty aspects of the Fort that are the envy of many other, older, much larger cities. The tri-headed brilliance of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Kimbell Art Museum, and Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth make Fort Worth the museum capital of not just Texas (sorry, Dallas; sorry, Houston; sorry, Austin) but arguably the entire Southwest.

So why isn’t Fort Worth considered an art town? Why would an established visual artist tell an up-and-comer seeking career advice to go to Dallas? (Names have been removed to protect the innocent. And the guilty.) Are Fort Worthians simply too enraptured by their Cowtown heritage to care about anything not bovine or floral, forcing progressive artists out of town?

I'm thinking that maybe Fort Worth is not considered an art town, or, really, even considered, by most Americans, to be a town they know anything about, because Fort Worth really is not on the American radar screen.

Example.

Flying back to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, from Phoenix. At the terminal, prior to boarding, the announcements are along the line of "Zone 3 Flight 348 to Dallas now boarding."

While taxi-ing, prior to takeoff, the pilot announces that due to a tailwind we are hoping to land in Dallas a few minutes early.

About a half hour before landing the pilot informs the passengers that we are about 200 miles out of Dallas, where the temperature, in Dallas, is 64 degrees. Upon landing we get a welcome to Dallas.

Fort Worth was not mentioned once during the flight.

Same thing happens when one flies to Seattle. You hear no mention of Tacoma, even though the airport is the Seattle Tacoma International Airport. However, the population of Tacoma is barely over 200,000, while Fort Worth's population is approaching 800,000.

Regarding Fort Worth's "art" scene.

Well, I admit I am a very poorly educated, ill read moron, so it really is no mystery why I'd never heard of Fort Worth's museums prior to moving here.

I do recollect, soon upon moving here, being in downtown Fort Worth,  wondering where Sundance Square was, well prior to learning there is no Square in Sundance Square, and being amused by signs pointing to the "Cultural District," wondering why in the world would a town designate an area as its Cultural District?

I think a really good measure of how far below the national radar Fort Worth flies is the fact that there really is no iconic image of Fort Worth that anyone, anywhere, sees and instantly knows it is Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Stockyards sign does not count, because of the dead giveaway of having the town's name in that particular, sort of, iconic image.

The Fort Worth Weekly article asks "why isn't Fort Worth considered an art town?"

Well.

Have you looked at the town? Really looked? And compared what you see to what you see in towns that have a more elevated reputation?

I'm guessing a town that might be thought of as an "art town" might pay attention to something as basic as landscaping. Other big towns, with which I'm familiar, pay attention to the aesthetics of how their town looks.

In the Phoenix metro area every freeway exit that I saw is landscaped. Roads are landscaped. The entire area  is landscaped.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, the freeway exits to the town's only well known tourist attraction, the Fort Worth Stockyards, are un-landscaped, weedy, littered eyesores.

This type thing, that being littered eyesores, are not the type thing that causes envy in other, older, much larger cities.

Or so it seems to me.

The Final Tuesday Of March Dawns With Another Clear Blue Sky Morning In Texas

I looked out my primary viewing portal on the outer world at about the same time the nuclear sky orb was arriving to begin its daily lighting and heating duty on this final Tuesday of the 3rd month of 2012.

I have double-checked today to make sure I've got the day correct.

It is already 60 degrees at my location this morning, 3 degrees warmer than my previous location in the Sonoran Desert.

The splitting headache and overall misery that had me miserable the past two days seems to have abated overnight. So, this morning my mood is matching the cheerful chirping I am hearing through my open window.

Speaking of spending time in the Sonoran Desert. I expected to return to Texas having gained a bit of weight.

Instead the opposite happened.

I don't quite understand why, due to the fact that I was consuming copious amounts of food of the sort I don't usually consume. Like dessert. pies, cinnamon rolls, candy.

And various types of potato chips. And a lot of french fries.

And hamburgers.

Changing the subject from my eating disorder to something else.

My swimming pool warmed itself to a very comfortable temperature in my absence. I went swimming in the morning and the afternoon, on Sunday and Monday. I thought some afternoon pool lounging might get rid of yesterday's headache. But, it didn't.

I think I'll go swimming right now before it gets any hotter.

A Dizzy Sickly Headachy Walk Around The Green Grounds Around Fosdic Lake

I think I must have picked up a germ or two lately.

I've been not feeling all that well ever since I got back to Texas.

I've had a lot of potential germ exposure lately.

Multiple restaurants, church, crowded airports and airplanes.

My favorite brother-in-law sick with an undiagnosed ailment.

Dozens of retired people.

It's a well known fact that exposure to retired people is putting yourself in harm's way, in the same manner as visiting a day care with dozens of sickly little kids.

I am now on my second day of having a headache. My vision is blurry. I'm a mess.

But, I did manage to drive to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdic Lake for the first time in awhile.

As you can see, via the picture, Oakland Lake Park is being very green today.

One thing about North Texas, it is quite a bit greener than the Phoenix Valley of the Sun zone. Greener in the sense of greener vegetation, not greener in the sense of being more environmentally responsible.

I must muster the energy, soon, to opine about the issue of water use restrictions as practiced in a desert and as practiced here, where there is a lot more water, and it is not a desert.

But, right now, I am going to need to lie down for a bit and hope the feeling of being dizzy dissipates.

Up Well Before The Sun On The Last Monday Of March

The Shadow of the Skinny Dipping Thin Man is up way too early on this final Monday of the 3rd month of 2012.

I got in the vertical position around 5 this morning. If I were still at my mom and dad's this would be 3 in the morning.

It is currently 62 degrees at my mom and dad's, 3 degrees warmer than my current location where the humidity is at 80%

I have had my windows open all night. My A/C is not functioning correctly. The A/C repair person will be repairing my A/C today.

I had a headache all day long yesterday. I do not remember the last time I have suffered that particular malady. Elsie suggested this was caused by 10 days of Hotpepper withdrawal. I do not think this diagnosis is correct because I heard from Elsie Hotpepper every day I was not in North Texas. So, I did not experience any Elsie Hotpepper withdrawal that I noticed.

I think the day long headache may have been caused by system shock caused by returning from a scenic wonderland, with clean air and water, to a desolate zone, with significantly less clean air and water.

Plus that vexing humidity.

I may go swimming this morning before the illuminating sky orb arrives. But, before I do that I must do something for the aforementioned Elsie Hotpepper.

UPDATE: Oops. Elsie Hotpepper informed that today is Monday, not Friday, so I time traveled back 4 days to the correct day.

Sunday Walking With the Village Creek Indian Ghosts

An Ethereal  Village Creek Walker

It seems as if it has been weeks since I've walked with the Indian Ghost who live in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area in Arlington.

So, I visited them today.

The small parking lot for the Village Creek Natural Historical Area was about a third full. Not the level of park parking lot activity I've been seeing in parks the past 10 days.

In the picture of the pair of paved trail walkers walking the paved trail today, I am 100% certain the one on the left is a living human. I am not 100% that the ethereal spectre on the right was not an Indian Ghost vision walking beside the guy.

I don't know if the Village Creek Indian Ghosts were able to sense I'd recently been walking with the Ghosts of their Apache enemies to the west. I suspect not.

I am not a big fan of today's humidity whilst walking. Between the humidity and the lush greenery, walking in North Texas today was very jungle-like.

Village Creek Dam Bridge

There was still a lot of water running through the Village Creek Dam Bridge today. I could see that last week's flood got very high, via the mud markers left behind.

I went swimming this morning and was very pleased to find the water much warmer than when I last got wet in it.

This afternoon I had an encore swim with some poolside lounging. It was so pleasant I forgot about the humidity for a minute or two.

I rarely get headaches. I did not get a headache in Arizona, no matter how strenuously my parental units strained me with their hyper-activity.

But, today I woke up with a headache. And it has lasted all day long. Reaction to Texas? To humidity? To bad air pollution? To a combo of factors?

Very vexing.