I Heard From Anonymous & Anthony Today About Fort Worth Being The Envy Of The Planet

In the photo you are looking at the exit from Interstate 35W to Northside Drive, that being the south freeway exit to the Fort Worth Stockyards, arguably, Fort Worth's only semi-well known tourist attraction.

Other than a sporting goods store that is the #1 tourist attraction in Texas.

On March 27 I mentioned this littered, eyesore of an un-landscaped freeway exit in a blogging titled While I Was Out Of Town Fort Worth Again Became The Envy Of Other, Older, Larger Cities.

That particular blogging generated a couple rather good comments today, one from Anonymous and one from Anthony....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "While I Was Out Of Town Fort Worth Again Became The Envy Of Other, Older, Larger Cities": 

Wonderful insight. You are right in many ways. But also, you have to give FW credit, they are trying very hard to give themselves a facelift. The current attitude is only natural if not sophomoric (society as a whole is a bit too familiar to high school). And while certain parts of the city improve (w. 7th), other aspects (the exits) might fall off for a while. SOMEone has to stand on the soapbox and TELL the others how much BETTER they are in order for them to BELIEVE it and make the CHANGE. It will be interesting to see if FW makes the break, or if the recent boom will turn in on itself. 

Anthony has left a new comment on your post "While I Was Out Of Town Fort Worth Again Became The Envy Of Other, Older, Larger Cities": 

Well, sure, Dallas is the older, larger city. I can see why Fort Worth (and Arlington and Denton) are lumped into the Dallas region. But I don't think that invisibility to non-Texans inherently neuters Fort Worth's cultural value. The moral of the story is that there's a gross disconnect between Fort Worth's institutions and its grassroots artistic efforts. I'd like to get people thinking -- and talking -- about why. Just food for thought. 

Methinks Fort Worth and way too many Fort Worthians are way too isolated from the rest of America and the world.

Many Fort Worthians act like it is a major excursion into a foreign land to cross 360 to the Dallas side of the D/FW Metroplex.

Me also thinks if more Fort Worthians visited other cities in America, that they'd return to Fort Worth wondering why so much in Fort Worth is so craptacular compared to where they'd just been.

They'd return wondering why Fort Worth has so few sidewalks and why so many of the sidewalks that do exist are so narrow.

Return wondering why Fort Worth looks so messy, with so much litter on the ground.

Return wondering why Fort Worth's streets and freeway exits have so little landscaping and look so tacky compared to what they've seen in other towns.

Return wondering why Fort Worth does not have a real newspaper like other towns in America.

Return wondering why Fort Worth calls part of its town the Cultural District, when other towns don't feel the need to do this.

Return wondering why Fort Worth has public works projects that the public has not voted on.

Methinks if all the citizens of Fort Worth got a glimpse of how other towns operate, they'd return to Fort Worth with a whole new Fort Worth Vision for the future that would blindside the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle and the good ol' boy Fort Worth Way that caused that particular TRVB blight on the democratic way America is supposed to operate.

Of course, I am a realist, I know nothing is going to change for the better in Fort Worth. I know that the Fort Worth Way is that way for a reason.

I just have not been able to figure out the reason and am ready to give up after over a decade of being perplexed about so much being so craptacular and so few seeming to realize the level of craptacularness with which they are living.

It is sort of entertaining, though, I must admit, to be an irritated observer of so much that is so perplexing.

The Shoppers At The Northeast Mall Need To Eat More Of Aunt Annie's Pretzels To Get To A Proper Inflation Level

Northeast Mall's Under-Inflated Shoppers

I am not a fan of walking around in a mall. It has been several years since I've last done so in Texas, and that would have been at the Ridgmar Mall in West Fort Worth.

Today, for reasons we need not discuss, I found myself in the Northeast Mall in Hurst.

Walking all over the Northeast Mall in Hurst I soon found myself thinking that there were way more under-inflated people than I am used to seeing in Texas.

Not quite the number of under-inflated people I see when I visit states to the west of Texas, but way more under-inflated people than I see when I visit my neighborhood Wal-Mart, where way too many people look as if they've been over-inflated to the point where they are in danger of exploding.

If the throngs crowding into the Northeast Mall today are indicative of America when the economy is not doing well, I don't know if I want to be anywhere near a mall when the American economy goes back in to BOOM mode.

And have Aunt Annie's pretzels greatly improved since I last had one, years ago, at the Grapevine Mills mall? The line at Aunt Annie's was 20 to 30 people long. Waiting for a pretzel.

I Did Not Get A Barbie Doll Water Bottle On My First Bike Ride Of The Year

Well. I have now gone on my first bike ride in well over a year.

I thought it wise not to go a long distance my first time out on the new bike. So, I went to Quanah Parker Park to pedal the paved trail.

All went well. The bike rides comfortably with no annoying quirks. I like the newfangled disk brakes. They make for a different stopping experience than the method of brake pads squeezing the wheel rim.

Where you see my bike parked, in the picture, is the end of the trail, marked by the sign that says "END."

If you could see to the right of where the bike is parked you would see the HUGE Chesapeake Energy complex that sprawls across a former baseball field complex at the north end of Oakland Boulevard.

After I was done with the bike ride I continued west on Randol Mill Road to go to Town Talk. The Tent Sale I mentioned earlier today turned out to have no tents for sale, but instead was a bunch of stuff I did not need, being sold under a giant tent.

A lot of people, other than me, were eagerly buying the stuff that was under the tent in the Tent Sale. Things like plastic Halloween pumpkins, Barbie Doll water bottles and Christmas decorations.

It is time for lunch now.

The Day Before Easter Thinking About Riding A Bike & Camping In A Tent

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world on this 7th morning of April you might guess I got up after the sun did this day before Easter Sunday.

You would be guessing right.

The winter-like chill that has plagued us the past few mornings seems to have abated.

This morning, at 61 degrees, we are almost 30 degrees above freezing.

I see a bike ride in my future for today. Where I will pedal I do not currently know.

I will likely go to Town Talk today. I drove by Town Talk on Wednesday and saw their reader board said "Tent Sale Thursday - Saturday."

I could use a tent. It has been years since I've gone camping. The Queen of Wink caused me to think of tent camping a couple days ago. I used to have all the stuff one needs to go camping. I have no idea what has become of all that stuff.

I think I'll go swimming now before it gets any later, or hotter.

Thanks To The Miracles Of Modern Communication I Know Theo's Mom Is Out Of Surgery

That is my nephew Theo in green, in his backyard, collecting eggs in last Saturday's Easter Egg Hunt at his house in Tacoma.

This afternoon I was driving to pick up a new bike when  my phone lit up, saying "MaPa". When I call my mom and dad I call on the "AzMaPa" number.

Incoming on the "MaPa" number meant something was up.

I flipped open the phone and said the standard hello. My mom asked me if I'd talked to anyone up north. I said I had not and asked why, what's wrong?

Apparently my little sister, Theo's mom, called my mom today, describing terrible pain. My mom told my little sister to get to a doctor. When my little sister went to the doctor the doctor sent her to a hospital to have her appendix removed before it burst.

After talking to mom I called my big sister, she being my other sibling still in Washington. I talked to my big sister awhile and then she got a call from the hospital.

I was walking around Wal-Mart when the phone text thing made its noise. It was a text message from my big sister telling me my little sister was out of surgery.

All this had me thinking our modern world and its ease of communicating sure does make it a small world after all, just like Disneyland predicted decades ago.

I Am Back In The Bike Saddle Again On Texas Trails

My New Bike

My K2 bike, that I bought in 2002, was stolen in October of 2010.

When my bike was stolen, after me being back biking for a very short time, after an over a year bike hiatus, I decided to give up on biking til I moved to a more bike friendly location.

Today I changed my mind and got a new bike.

Bike technology seems to have improved over the past decade. No longer do I have caliper brakes, I now have disc brakes.

The suspension seems a bit different than my former bike, but other than that, for the most part, it feels like I've not long been out of the saddle.

When I got the K2 bike a decade ago I had a few problems adjusting to it and getting it to feel right. This new bike feels right already.

Methinks I shall be having some fun pedaling to locations I've not seen for over a year. Pedaling by the Cowtown Wakepark perhaps. Or to the ends of the River Legacy Park trails.

A Good Friday Hike On The Tandy Hills With Wildflowers

It was a Good Friday to be hiking on the Tandy Hills today. I drove to the top of Mount Tandy, around noon, gambling that sufficient time had passed to dry the hills to hikability after Tuesday's Tornado Deluge.

I was in dire need of some endorphin therapy, that I can only get via some good aerobic stimulation.

Swimming does not seem to provide me enough aerobic stimulation. I need my hiking.

The wildflowers are now coloring up all over the Texas prairie.

Like the big yellow ones you see in the picture. These may be my favorite of the Texas Wildflowers. These yellow beauties were sprouted out all over the Tandy Hills today.

I think there may have been yet one more Tandy Hills sanitary sewer malfunction, caused by Tuesday's rain. The Tandy Highway has fresh truck tire ruts mucking up the road. I did not walk where the previous malfunction occurred to see if there was any evidence that a new river of untreated unsanitary water had been flowing.

I felt real good going up the hills today. Apparently I am completely recovered from that which recently ailed me, which I believe I acquired courtesy of my favorite brother-in-law.

Usually, at least a couple times a month, I get worried about Elsie Hotpepper being missing. Currently I am not worried about Elsie Hotpepper. But, I am concerned about 3 people up north in Washington. Carlotta Camano seems to have gone missing. And yesterday I learned that Betty Jo Bouvier and Honey Lulu hitched a ride to Seattle.

I do not think it is safe for young beauties, like Betty Jo Bouvier and Honey Lulu, to be hitchhiking. Particularly in Washington, with that state's history of breeding serial killers. Unlike Elsie Hotpepper, neither Betty Jo Bouvier or Honey Lulu pack heat, courtesy of a concealed weapon permit.

The 6th Morning Of April Dawns Chilly With Possible Irritation From Chesapeake Energy Fracking Flowback

This morning, the 6th morning of April, we are looking at the outer world via a rare look from my tertiary viewing portal.

When this day ends already 20% of April will have passed in to history.

Of late, each morning is colder than the morning previous, as if we are on a slow slip back to winter.

This morning, with the sun fully arrived and providing both light and heat, it is only 22 degrees above freezing. The high today is currently scheduled to get 22 degrees warmer than the current temperature of 22 degrees above freezing.

In other words it is currently 54 heading to a high of 76.

Overnight my brief respite from the eye irritation caused by the bad air pollution that plagues North Texas ended.

I had to resort to eye drops in the middle of the night to attempt to abate the eye woes. I have also begun reaching for one of my many bottles of nasal spray with increasing frequency.

Speaking of annoying air pollution, Chesapeake Energy is denying it, of course, but a lot of people in Arlington are claiming to be made miserable from fracking flowback.

Read all about it in Texas Sharon's Bluedaze article, Chesapeake Energy sickens Arlington residents again with fracking flowback operations.

I don't know if my breathing and eye woes are being caused by any Chesapeake fracking flowbacking. I do know I reside very close to two Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale holes in the ground.

I guess I will put goggles over my suffering eyes and go swimming now before it gets any colder.

Fosdic Lake Was Serene Today Walking With My Sister With Nary A Nipple

Fosdic Lake

My sister went walking with me around Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park today.

This was the first time my sister has gone walking with me since we climbed to the summit of Piestewa Peak two Fridays ago.

This was also the first time I've talked to my sister since she got very very sick the day after I left Arizona. Whatever it was that ailed us, I did not have it very bad, only 2 days of a really bad headache and not feeling my usual energetic self.

My sister was bedridden and lost 8 pounds during her bout with the mysterious ailment.

Again today there were a lot of people enjoying Oakland Lake Park. Have the locals finally figured out this is a nice place to enjoy what passes for fresh air in this polluted part of the planet?

Fosdic Lake was looking particularly serene today, with nary a ripple.

When I first typed ripple I typed nipple. Is that a typo or a Freudian Slip?

The Fosducks were seeming sedated. Usually the ducks waddle off if I get too near. Today they did not seem to care. I think the ducks may have grown fond of the humans because so many show up to give them duck food.

The Dawn Of April 5 Is Chilly & Calm In Texas

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world on this 5th morning of April, as the sun starts shining some light, it appears the sky may be void of clouds.

It is very chilly this morning, only 23 degrees above freezing, heading to a scheduled high of 76 today.

This is almost like the return of winter.

With no chance of snow.

However, Tuesday's storms dropped a lot of ice balls.

A lot of ice balls hit hard on American Airline's planes, grounding a lot of them. Will there be a hail damage sale of pitted planes?

I think I'll put on my insulated swimsuit and go swimming in the icy pool now.