Cowtown Wakepark Is Not Fort Worth's Only Wakeboard Lake

No, that is not a spruced up, upgraded, landscaped Cowtown Wakepark you are looking at in the picture.

But, wakeboarding does take place on this lake.

Several weeks ago Elsie Hotpepper asked me if I knew there was a wakeboard lake in my neighborhood.

I told Elsie I knew of the watercraft testing lake on the south end of the Riverbend industrial park, but that I'd seen no wakeboarding taking place there.

Well, yesterday, on my way back from Hurst, driving south on Loop 820, I glanced to my right, as I passed Riverbend Lake, to see a wakeboarder zipping across the lake being pulled by a cable of the sort that zips wakeboarders around the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's tiny Cowtown Wakepark lake.

The Cowtown Wakepark lake is a little pond on the south side of the Trinity River. The Riverbend Wakepark lake is a much bigger pond on the north side of the Trinity River. Very little space separates either pond from the river. Both flood when the Trinity River floods.

I have seen water skiing taking place, over the years, in Riverbend Lake. The Cowtown Wakepark pond is not big enough for water skiing.

When I took the picture you see above, looking east across Riverbend Lake towards Loop 820, I saw a young lady also looking at the lake. I asked the young lady if this lake was open to the public. She told me it is a private testing lake. I already knew that, but was looking for confirmation, and hoping to be told that it was about to open to the public.

I think the City of Fort Worth should use its eminent domain power to take Riverbend Lake away from whoever owns it and make it a public use lake. The water in this lake appeared to be much cleaner than the water in the Cowtown Wakepark pond.

Fort Worth lacks a public swimming lake, something I doubt any other town in America, the size of Fort Worth, lacks.

J.D. Granger touted Cowtown Wakepark as the world's premiere urban wakeboard lake. Apparently J.D. has never been to East Fort Worth. Perhaps J.D. should arrange to have one of his notorious junkets visit East Fort Worth on a fact finding mission.

France's Millau Viaduct Vs. Fort Worth's Phyllis Tilley Bridge

No, that is not one of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's non-signature bridges you are looking at in the picture.

The bridge you are looking at in the picture is the Millau Viaduct in France.

Why are you looking at a picture of a bridge in France, you may be sitting there wondering.

Well, stay with me and all will become clear.

A few minutes ago I got an email from Beale. Beale is part of the Fort Worth Underground. When someone sends me an email and does not tell me that it is not blogging fodder, I make the assumption that the email is blogging fodder.

Apparently Beale had a conversation with a member of the Fort Worth Underground named Bert. In that conversation Beale and Bert wondered about the per square foot cost of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

We begin with Beale's comment about Bert's TRV cost analysis...

I have never looked at the TRV on a Sq. Ft. basis. So, if they sell the land to developers... man are the taxpayers taking a hit!

What follows is what Bert told Beale about the cost of the TRVB, plus another cost comparison...

Beale,

Apropos of our brief discussion today about my contention that the $909,000,000 (and counting) of our tax dollars that the Trinity River Vision is spending to connect 34 acres with Downtown equating to $26,735,294 per acre or a mere $613.75 per square foot of dirt . . . here is a rough cost comparison of the Phyllis Tilley Bridge to an engineering marvel in France,  the Millau Viaduct, which I am not saying is justifiable but, it did break new ground in engineering and can be used by everyone . . . in their daily pursuit of business, etc.

Regards, Bert

Fort Worth has done it again!

The Millau Viaduct in France is the highest bridge in the world (see it on Google), an engineering wonder that bridges the Tarn valley between Clermont-Ferrand and Beziers which will shorten the route from Paris to the Mediterranean on the French freeway, A-75, for all those hard-vacationing Parisians.

Designed by Sir Norman Foster, Architect, Manchester, England

Weight  400,000 tons
Height  1,125'   (50' taller than the Eiffel Tower)
Length  8,071'
Width  104'
Deck  839,384 square feet

Cost $523,000,000

Cost per square foot = $623.00

The Phyllis Tilley Memorial Bridge for pedestrian and bicycle traffic only, in Fort Worth, TX is a financial head-scratcher that spans the mighty Trinity River between its west bank and its yonder east bank in Trinity Park.

Weight ?
Height   Not very
Length 384'
Width  10'
Deck  3,840 square feet

Cost $2,500,000

Cost per square foot = $651.00

Designed by Miguel Rosales, Architect, Boston, Massachusetts

How do we keep getting horse traded into these incredibly expensive and unnecessary projects on the banks of the Trinity River by the likes of Bing Thom who brought us the indefensibly expensive Downtown Junior College at $1,500 per square foot and Miguel Rosales who has now bested the cost per square foot of this Anglo/French bridge?

_________________________________

Well, I've only been in this part of the planet for a short time, but I think I know part of the answer as to why Fort Worth keeps getting horse traded and hoodwinked.

The town does not have a real newspaper. Except for Fort Worth Weekly.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram does not perform a normal newspaper's function as the Fourth Estate, acting as the people's advocate, acting as a watchdog on the lookout for crooked politicians and crooked political deals.

Examples?

Rather than point out the obvious ridiculousness of the assertion that a sporting goods store would be the #1 tourist attraction in Texas, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram trumpeted over and over again what a great thing it was for Fort Worth to have a Cabela's come to town and bring with it millions of tourists a year.

Not only did Cabela's not become the #1 tourist attraction in Texas, it soon was not even the only Cabela's in Texas. And now the Fort Worth Cabela's is not even the only Cabela's in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Have you read anywhere in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram a fessing up to their part in the Cabela's tax break gaining con job?

An extremely lame, obviously doomed to fail, public works project called the Santa Fe Rail Market opened with the Fort Worth Star Telegram telling its readers this little boondoggle was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market and Pubic Markets in Europe and would be the first Public Market in Texas.

After the failure of the Santa Fe Rail Market have you read the Star-Telegram fessing up to misleading its readers regarding the Santa Fe Rail  Market?

What did you think of the investigative reporting job the Star-Telegram did into the credentials of J.D. Granger when a corrupt act of nepotism saw him appointed as the person in charge of running the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle?

Yes, you're right, you read no investigative reporting in the Star-Telegram regarding J.D. Granger's qualifications.

You also did not read an outraged editorial in the Star-Telegram regarding the obviously ridiculously nepotistic appointment of Fort Worth's Congresswoman, Kay Granger's son, J.D., to a job for which he had zero qualifications to run a project from which his mother stood to gain financially.

Have you read an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram regarding how much it cost the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle to build a little lake in which the Cowtown Wakepark could operate, which J.D. Granger trumpeted as a great feat, making the sport of wakeboarding available to all of Fort Worth's citizens?

When the Cowtown Wakepark suffers its inevitable failure, will you read an article in the Star-Telegram about the failure, like you read regarding the Santa Fe Rail Market and Cabela's failures?

That's right, you read nothing in the Star-Telegram examining those previous failures and you will read none when the Cowtown Wakepark fails.

If Fort Worth had a real newspaper, something like the Cowtown Wakepark, Santa Fe Rail Market, Cabela's tax breaks and the Trinity River Vision would never get off the ground, because an informed public would not put up with the foolishness.

With no real newspaper, most of the Fort Worth public is oblivious to the foolishness.

Oblivious to the foolishness, while Rome burns, I mean, the Trinity River Vision parties. In private. And in inner tubes floating on the polluted Trinity River.

Which is another thing. What did you think of that investigative reporting the Star-Telegram did into how safe it is to float in the Trinity River?

I'm sure that report is coming soon....

Going To Hurst To The Chisholm Aquatic Center After A Futile Search For A Fort Worth Public Pool

No, that is not one of Fort Worth's many public pools you are looking at in the picture.

The little town of Fort Worth, with a population of nearly 800,000, has no public pools. Or public swimming lakes.

The pool you are looking at in the picture is the Chisholm Aquatic Center in the little town of Hurst, Texas, with a population of almost 40,000.

That makes Fort Worth about 20 times bigger, population-wise, than Hurst, if my math is correct, which it often isn't.

I had to be in Hurst this morning. So, I thought a morning walk around Chisholm Park would be a good thing to do to help clear my head before I had to do what I had to do in Hurst. Even though it was pre-noon, the Chisholm Aquatic Center was very busy.

Which makes a lot of sense, what with the temperature, at that time in the morning, nearing 90, a temperature level which has currently been reached at my location, with the real feel of the temperature being 102. That is getting a little warm.

I don't know what Fort Worth kids do to keep cool if they don't have a pool.

Well, there are those delightful Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats on Thursdays, when, for a few hours, it is safe to get cool in the usually polluted Trinity River.

But, the river is only safe where it passes past downtown Fort Worth. Further downstream, like at Gateway Park, you don't want to be getting cool in the river.

I think I may getting cool in a rare afternoon dip in my non-public Fort Worth pool. You are welcome to join me. Clothing optional.

UPDATE: I have been informed by someone named Anonymous that the City of Fort Worth's Marine Park pool is open this summer. I have pedaled my bike through Marine Park. I do not recollect seeing a public pool. However, a public pool is not the type thing that would stick in my memory.

Rosie The Rat Dog Has Dispatched From Alaska Shaking, Rocking, Rattling & Rolling While Filthy Dirty

This Honda SUV Was White In Washington

Those of us in the Lower 48, monitoring the progress of Rosie the Rat Dog's journey north, on the Rosie the Rat Dog Alaska! Blog, have been a bit concerned due to the fact that there had been no report from Rosie since last Saturday.

Til today.

We can now be a bit less concerned, because Rosie the Rat Dog has published a blog update titled Shake, Rock, Rattle and Roll!

Apparently Rosie the Rat Dog and Entourage are now at the part of the Alaska Highway where the road becomes a bit rough and more weather worn.

Rosie the Rat Dog and Entourage are also far enough north where tonight's sunset will be something they've not seen before. Below is part of Rosie's description of what they will see...

On the Summer Soltice, June 21st, the sun will not set. It will dip to the top of the mountain range and then rise above. Tomorrow we cross the river on a very small ferry and climb into the hills on a highway called "Top of the World" that leads us to our destination of Alaska.

I must remember to email Rosie the Rat Dog and tell her how easy the spelling checker works in the Blogger program, so that we can't cease with alternative spellings like "Soltice" and "increadable."

Though, I sort of liked the new "increadable" word.

I find the picture of my sister's formerly bright white Honda SUV to be a bit surprising. My sister is a bit of a fussbudget about things like keeping her vehicles spotless.

I am not suggesting she is totally neurotic about this, but I won't argue with you if that is what you think. So, to see this level of dirty is a bit shocking.

I hope their caretakers are at least keeping Rosie the Rat Dog and her sisters, Bean and Tilly, less dirty than the SUV.                                                                                                

The First Day Of Summer Sharing The Natural Tandy Hills With Diesel Trucks

Today, with it being the June 20 Summer Solstice, there will be more hours of sunshine, today, than there were yesterday and that there will be tomorrow.

After today we are on the slippery slope sliding towards winter.

In the meantime it is 91 degrees, at my location, with the Heat Index making the temperature really feel like 97.

It was a bit cooler than these not so cool temperatures when I went to the Tandy Hills today.

A couple days ago I was slightly startled by a big turtle basking in the waters below dry Tandy Falls.

Today I was slightly startled by a big white truck that caught my eyes and ears as I crossed the escarpment on top of dry Tandy Falls.

The big white truck had its diesel engine running and its headlights on. No human in sight. When I passed behind the truck I saw the lid was off the sewer access, with a cable running into the big hole in the ground. I looked in the big hole in the ground thinking I might see a human. Instead I saw water rushing by, about 10 feet below the surface.

I continued walking. I crossed the second creek crossing and saw a human ahead of me. When the human saw me he turned around, or so it seemed at the time. This was a bit unsettling. Then I saw the human was turning around to get in an even bigger white truck.

Crossing the nearly washed out Tandy Creek crossings seems as if it must be a bit adventurous in those big white trucks.

I really don't like smelling diesel or sharing the trails with big trucks when I am doing my hiking in a Natural Area. This somehow makes the experience seem less natural.

Other than smelling diesel fumes, this has been a quite fine first day of summer. I expect many more to follow.

Listening To Fosdick Lake Trumpeting Flowers Thinking About My Non Southern Gastronomical Turtle-Free Upbringing

These big orange flowers seemed to be sounding some sort of trumpet call towards Fosdick Lake in Oakland (Lake) Park today.

However, the big orange flowers were silent when I saw them, no trumpet call of any sort.

The temperature was 83, with 78% humidity, supposed making the Real Feel of the temperature 91 degrees, when I left air-conditioned comfort today to seek some salubrious outdoor activity.

The think the humidity measure-er was off.  A wind was blowing. Methinks the Wind Chill Factor was making the Real Feel be something like 76 degrees. Brrrr.

I saw a dozen or more turtles today, jumping off logs in to Fosdick Lake when they felt threatened by my Turtle Soup making presence. Intuitive creatures that they be.

Speaking of Turtle Soup. Yesterday after being unable to find the Tandy Turtle I blogged about my surprise at learning that Turtle Soup actually exists, along with lots of recipes directing one on how to make reptile soup.

Making Turtle Soup generated an amusing comment from someone with the unusual name of Anonymous....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "On The Turtle Free Tandy Hills Thinking About Making Turtle Soup": 

Your non southern gastronomical upbringing is on display. 1881? Most all my semi current regional cookbooks (particularly the Louisianians) include such delicacies and are much less complicated. Perhaps it is still served in New Orleans restaurants though I can't recall my last pre Katrina visit. What I do recall is my first and only taste experience as a child with my parents. A nice Miami restaurant. Tanks of live fish and sea turtles from which you assumed your meal had been captured earlier. Turtle soup in the late 60's-early 70's was still popular in the poor rural areas of the south. If you snagged a turtle while fishing; it went home for dinner. The sophisticated city palate liked it too. The rest of us shuddered. Maybe you should visit a big Asian grocery store and see what they're doing these days. 

I hate it when I inadvertently put my non-southern gastronomical upbringing on display. I have never seen any turtles available in the seafood sections of the Asian grocery stores I visit in Arlington's International District.

I wish Anonymous would have told me what turtle tastes like.

On The Turtle Free Tandy Hills Thinking About Making Turtle Soup

In the picture you are looking west to where the west begins at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth from atop one of the Tandy Hills.

In turtle news, the Tandy Turtle that yesterday had taken up residence in a small puddle at the base of dry Tandy Falls has moved on. I tried to track the Tandy Turtle but I could find not trackable turtle footprints.

Or maybe someone had a hankering for Turtle Soup and brought the Tandy Turtle home for dinner.

Speaking of Turtle Soup, I was curious if such a thing really existed, having heard of Turtle Soup, and sort of always assuming turtle was not really used in this soup, but for some reason it came to have the name "Turtle Soup."

Well, as I so often am, I was wrong.

I now have in my possession a Turtle Soup Recipe, complete with instructions about how to butcher a turtle for eating purposes.

The turtle cooking information came from The Household Cyclopedia of General Information, published in 1881, a handbook of the domestics arts as practiced in American households at that point in time. For some reason the instructions as to how to prepare a turtle refers to the reptile as fish. The butchering info and Turtle Soup Recipe is below, all one big paragraph, in case you feel like having reptile for dinner tonight.....

Procure a fine, lively, fat turtle, weighing about 120 pounds, fish of this weight being considered the best, as their fat is not liable to be impregnated with that disagreeable, strong flavor objected to in fish of larger size. On the other hand, turtles of very small size seldom possess sufficient fat or substance to make them worth dressing. When time permits kill the turtle overnight that it may be left to bleed in a cool place till the next morning when at an early hour it should be cut up for scalding, that being the first part of the operation. If, however, the turtle is required for immediate use, to save time the fish may be scalded as soon as it is killed. The turtle being ready for cutting up, lay it on its back, and with a large kitchen-knife separate the fat or belly-shell from the back by making an incision all round the inner edge of the shell, when all the fleshy parts adhering to the shell have been carefully cut away, it may be set aside. Then detach the intestines by running the sharp edge of a knife closely along the spine of the fish, and remove them instantly in a pail to be thrown away. Cut off the fins and separate the fleshy parts, which place on a dish by themselves til wanted. Take particular care of every particle of the green fat, which lies chiefly at the sockets of the fore-fins, and more or less all round the interior of the fish, if in good condition. Let this fat, which, when in a healthy state, is elastic and of a bluish color while raw, be steeped for several hours in cold spring-water, in order that it may be thoroughly cleansed of all impurities; then with a meat-saw divide the upper and under shells into pieces of convenient size to handle and baying put them with the fins and head into a large vessel containing boiling water, proceed quickly to scald them; by this means they will be separated from the horny substance which covers them, which will then be easily removed. They must then be put into a larger stockpot nearly filling with fresh hot water and left to continue boiling by the side of the stove fire until the glutinous substance separates easily from the bones. Place the pieces of turtle carefully upon clean dishes and put them in the larder to get cold, they should then be cut up into pieces about an inch and a half square; which pieces are to be finally put into the soup when it is nearly finished. Put the bones back into the broth to boil an hour longer, for the double purpose of extracting all their savor and to effect the reduction of the turtle broth, which is to be used for filling up the turtle stockpot hereafter. In order to save time, while the above is in operation, the turtle stock or consomme should be prepared as follows: With 4 ounces of fresh butter spread the bottom of an 18 gallon stockpot; then place in it 3 pounds of raw ham cut in slices; over these put 40 ounce of leg of beef and knuckles of veal, 4 old hens (after having removed their fillets, which are to be kept for making the quenelles for the soup); to these add all the fleshy pieces of the turtle (excepting those pieces intended for entres), and then place on the top the head and fins of the turtle; moisten the whole with a bottle of Madeira and 4 quarts of good stock, add a pottle of mushrooms, 12 cloves, 4 blades of mace, a handful of parsley roots and a good-sized bouquet of parsley tied up with 2 bay leaves, thyme, green onions and shallots. Set the consomme thus prepared on a brisk stove fired to boil sharply, and when the liquid has become reduced to a glaze fill the stockpot up instantly, and as soon as it boils skim it thoroughly, garnish with the usual complement of vegetables, and remove it to the side of the stove to boil gently for 6 hours. Remember to probe the head and fins after they have been boiled 2 hours, and as soon as they are done drain them on a dish, corer them with a wet napkin well saturated with water to prevent it from sticking to them, and put them away in a cool place with the remainder of the glutinous parts of the turtle already spoken of. The stockpot should now be filled up with the turtle broth reserved for that purpose as directed above. When the turtle stock is done strain it off into an appropriate-sized stockpot, remove every particle of fat from the surface, and then proceed to thicken it with a proportionate quantity of flour to the consistency of thin sauce. Work this exactly in the same manner as practised in brown sauce, in order to extract all the butter and scum, so as to give it a brilliant appearance. One bottle of old Madeira must now be added, together with a puree of herbs of the following kinds, to be made as here directed: Sweet basil must form one-third proportion of the whole quantity of herbs intended to be used; winter savory, marjoram and lemon-thyme in equal quantities, making up the other two-thirds; add to these a double-handful of green shallots and some trimmings of mushrooms; moisten with a quart of broth, and having stewed these herbs for about an hour rub the whole through the tammy into a purse. This purse being added to the soup, a little Cayenne pepper should then be introduced. The pieces of turtle, as well as the fins, which have also been out into small pieces rend the larger bones taken out, should now be allowed to boil in the soup for a quarter of an hour, after which carefully remove the whole of the scum as it rises to the surface. The degree of seasoning must be ascertained that it may be corrected if faulty. To excel in dressing turtle it is necessary to be very accurate in the proportions of the numerous ingredients used for seasoning this soup. Nothing should predominate, the whole should be harmoniously blended. Put the turtle away in four-quart-sized basins, dividing the fat (after it has been scalded and boiled in some of the sauces) in equal quantities into each basin, as also some small quenelles, which are to be made with the fillets of hens reserved for that purpose, and in which, in addition to the usual ingredients in ordinary cases, put 6 yolks of eggs boiled hard. Mould these querelles into small, round balls, to imitate turtles' eggs, roll them with the hand on a marble slab or table, with the aid of a little flour, and poach them in the usual way. When the turtle soup is wanted for use warm it, and just before sending it to table add a small glass of Sherry or Madeira and the juice of one lemon to every four quarts of turtle. The second stock of the turtle consomme should be strained off after it has boiled for two hours, and immediately boiled down into a glaze very quickly and mixed in with the turtle soup previously to putting it away in the basins, or else it should be kept in reserve for the purpose of adding proportionate quantities in each tureen of turtle as it is served. 

A Blue Melancholy Monday Brewing Tea While Channeling My Inner Abraham Lincoln

In the picture we are looking at my swimming pool hours after I got wet in it this morning.

You can not tell it by looking at this picture, but it is a clear sky, blue Monday in North Texas.

I am also blue this Monday. With a bout of my chronic melancholy. Bouts of chronic melancholy are just one more thing I have in common with Abraham Lincoln, along with being tall and lanky, with a scraggly beard and the frequent wearing of a stovepipe hat.

I think I had myself a sleep walking incident last night. The evidence of this is that this morning the patio blinds were open, with the patio door slightly open. Both are closed when the sun goes down.

Currently I am leaning towards the idea of returning to the Tandy Hills today to see if the Tandy Turtle is still stuck in its little puddle.

I am also leaning towards the idea of going up to Washington this summer. On July 20 it will be 4 years since I last flew north. I have 2 new nephews and a niece I have not yet met, who I am told are a lot of fun.

I've got some sun tea busy brewing out on the aforementioned patio. In the brewing mix are ginseng, green tea, chamomile, spearmint, lemongrass, blackberry leaves, orange blossoms and rosebuds.

I am hoping this potent herbal mix will give me some temporary relief from my chronic melancholy.

Happy Father's Day, Dad

There are only two days of the year when my dad answers my mom and dad's landline phone. His birthday and Father's Day.

I made the requisite Father's Day call a few minutes ago. As expected, my dad answered the phone.

My mom is having Thanksgiving for Father's Day. As in turkey dinner. I was invited, but I don't think I'll make it.

The father of two of my nephews will make it to mom and dad's for turkey dinner.

The father of my other two nephews is currently not in Arizona, he is up in Washington. I assume my brother will be seeing my nephews today, one of whom is a father, as in Spencer Jack's dad.

Spencer Jack's father emailed me a couple days ago asking for my mailing address because Spencer Jack wanted to send me some artwork.

I never noticed til this very moment that father is made up of two words. Fat and Her.

That is a picture of my dad, above. It is not a recent picture. I believe it is my dad's high school graduation picture. But, I'm not 100% certain of that. I think my dad was 15 when World War II ended. That would likely date this picture as having been taken in 1947 or 1948.

All my life I've been told I look like my dad. I don't see the resemblance.

On July 26, 2002, a date that lives on in infamy, I attended the biggest family reunion in my family history. This took place at the Lynden fairgrounds. Most of the people in attendance I had no memory of having met before. More than once someone who I did not know would say something to me like "you don't have to tell me who's kid you are." It was unsettling.

Anyway, Happy Father's Day to all you dads in the world.

A Surprising Father's Day Reptile On The Tandy Hills

Today I saw something on the Tandy Hills that I never expected to see on the Tandy Hills.

I was making my way across the escarpment above the currently dry Tandy Falls when I looked down at the small puddle below the dry falls and thought I saw a watermelon in the water.

And then I realized it was no melon, it was a really big turtle.

At first I thought the turtle was dead, and then it looked at me and shook its head. The turtle did not pull inside its shell, or quickly move, like the Fosdick Lake turtles do, usually, when I get in their vicinity. I guess this guy was already in water, that, and there really was nowhere for it to run to.

To get to the location beneath dry Tandy Falls this turtle must have journeyed south from the Trinity River, crawled through the culvert through which Tandy Creek flows under the I-30 freeway and then waddled its way to the Tandy Escarpment, where it found it could go no further.

I hope we get rain soon to freshen the turtle's little puddle with some new water. This did not look like a very happy turtle.