Thorns On The Sidewalks Of Fort Worth

Continuing on with my popular Fort Worth's Sad Sidewalk Situation Series.

This morning I went hiking, again, in the new, to me, Canyon Creek zone. To get to the Canyon Creek zone I walk on something somewhat rare in my neighborhood.

A sidewalk.

This particular sidewalk is on the north side of Boca Raton Boulevard. The south side of Boca Raton Boulevard has no sidewalk at this location.

I only walked a short distance on Boca Raton Boulevard, before getting to the Canyon Creek zone. And yet in that short distance I came upon two instances of what you see in the pictures.

Vegetation with rather prickly looking thorns sticking out over the sidewalk.

This seems a bit hazardous to me. Particular at night with no street light in sight.

Or to someone wheeling along in a wheelchair.

I have seen people wheeling along in a wheelchair on Boca Raton a time or two.

Seeing something like a thorn obstructing a sidewalk is something one might expect to see in a town few have ever heard of, like Dallas or Seattle or Denver.

But seeing something like a thorn obstructing a sidewalk in Fort Worth?

A town known all over the planet as one of the Greatest Cities in the World?

That really is just unacceptable.

And very perplexing...

Rockin' The Trinity River Is Blocked In Some Foreign Countries

This morning I learned, via what you see above, that one of my YouTube videos is being blocked by some countries.

I don't know what countries are doing the blocking.

The video being blocked is one I made of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's very first Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Float.

There may be a few females in skimpy attire in the video.

Maybe a Muslim nation, or two, found that objectionable.

The video depicts seemingly sane people floating in a river, that being the Trinity River, that is regarded, by many, as being much too polluted to be floating in, where ones bare skin touches that water.

Maybe a really pristine country, like Holland, found it objectionable to see so many people getting in water so dirty.

One of the songs playing on the radio, that you can hear in the video, had something to do with whiskey and women, or maybe it was whiskey and one woman, or was it whiskey and a river? I don't remember.

Maybe the video is blocked by a country that still prohibits the use of alcohol. Are there any of those?

Below is the blocked YouTube video.....

J.D. Granger Thinks TCC's Watersports Have Changed A Mysterious Game Somewhere On The Trinity River

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle and its executive director, J.D. Granger, really are goofy gifts that just keep on giving.

On the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's website, in an article titled TCC adds watersports to its list of offerings we learn, from J.D. Granger that a TCC watersports course  offering is a "game changer in how local educators approach physical education."

Congresswoman Kay Granger's son also said, in regard to this new use of the Trinity River that “We have a wonderful recreation opportunity right in our own backyard, and it’s time that we start using the Trinity River to its full capacity.”

Tarrant County College's Watersports class is an 8 week course where students will learn how to operate a paddleboard, wakeboard and kayak.

The wakeboard lessons will take place at one of the few completed Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's projects, that being the Cowtown Wakepark, site of the world's premiere urban wakeboard venue.

Cowtown Wakeparpark is just one of the many reasons Fort Worth is known world-wide as one of the Greatest Cities in the World.

I can not help but be curious as to why J.D. Granger thinks adding a watersports class to the TCC curriculum is some sort of game changer. What game is being changed? And who is playing this game?

A Sunday Walk With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts & Lots Of Litter

I somehow missed most of last night's North Texas Thunderstorming.

I heard only one clap of thunder.

And that clap was not close.

I somehow did not hear the rain pouring down in what I've been told were copious amounts.

By daylight there were some storm indicators on the ground in the form of water puddles and debris.

Some of the debris was in the form of items like tree limbs.

Other storm debris was in the form of litter. Like the litter you see in the picture that I saw when I went walking with the Indian Ghosts who haunt the Village Creek Natural Historical Area in Arlington today.

All that litter piled up behind a dam/bridge does not seem all that natural in a Natural Area.

It was in the 60s, I think, when I went for a cool pool dip this morning. We have lost about 15 degrees since then.

Tomorrow I begin 5 days of catsitting Miss Puerto Rico's extremely neurotic cat. I hope I don't forget that I am supposed to check in on that neurotic cat...

A Five Decade Old JFK Speech He Could Have Given Today

JFK's words, five decades later, sadly, really sadly, are still applicable.

Where, oh where, is a Lincoln, Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy or any political voice of reason in America today?

Listening to JFK passionately advocate for doing all we can to help all our citizens live lives to the best of their ability, with part of that help being government's ever, hopefully, expanding role of helping Americans create the best America that America can be, is just depressing, compared to the political discourse that coarsely erodes civil discourse in the 2013 slip sliding version of America that I am pretty sure JFK would be totally appalled by.

I know I am.

Appalled.

Strong Thunderstorms With Big Hail Heading To North Texas Saturday Evening

My computer based weather monitoring device has been flashing red for a couple hours. I was sort of ignoring the flashing because I was fairly certain I knew what the flashing was about. That being the predicted incoming Thunderstorm.

Reading through what is predicted to be booming soon I've gleaned the following...

Hail the size of quarters, ping pong balls or even tennis balls are possible, which can easily break windows, smash windshields and injure livestock.

I need to get the cows in the barn soon.

Low clouds and drizzle across Texas and Oklahoma prevented thunderstorms from developing earlier in the day. So, it will take until some heating stirs up the atmosphere to cause some thunderstorming.

Currently we are at 70 degrees at my location. Apparently not hot enough, yet to stir up the atmosphere.

Storms will expand into the evening farther south and east, affecting residents from Tulsa, Oklahoma., through Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Austin and San Antonio, Texas.

Thunderstorms will be capable of producing dangerous hail along with wind gusts to 60 mph, which can easily knock down small trees and power lines.

Great, of late, every time it gets a bit windy the power goes out at my location. I must get my back up lighting ready.

An isolated tornado is also possible, especially across southeastern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas, where twisters are most prevalent.

Thunderstorms will be severe through the late-evening hours before morphing into heavy rain overnight.

A Near Wreck Skateboarding Around Fosdick Lake With A Mysterious Town Talk Shopper

I nearly had a wreck on the drive to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdick Lake today before going to Town Talk.

I was stopped at a 3 way stop. I was the only person stopped at the 3 way stop. A white SUV was heading east towards one of the 3 stop signs. But the white SUV did not stop. The white SUV sped right past the stop sign, with me managing to slam the brakes fast enough to stop my left turn before hitting the side of the white SUV.

Is the ticket a Fort Worth driver gets for running a stop sign more or less expensive than the Fort Worth no seatbelt tickets?

At Oakland Lake Park today I saw something I've not seen there before. As in a guy whisking along at high speed atop Fosdick Dam, breaking the speed limit on a skateboard.

I was a distance away when I saw this skateboarding phenomenon, which explains the slightly fuzzy zoomed photo.

A light drizzle drizzled when I reached the Oakland Lake Park parking lot. So, I carried my unopened bumbershoot with me in case the drizzle accelerated in to rain mode.

I finished my drizzly walking without needing to open my bumbershoot.

It being Saturday, Town Talk was very busy. I had a little trouble finding a parking spot.

My best find from Town Talk treasure hunting today was something called Tyson Fresh Pork Carnitas. I have no idea what I am going to do with this. I suppose stick it in the slow cooker and hope for the best.

I almost bought a container filled with habanero peppers til a person starting raising a fuss about how dangerous they are, that they might blind this person and this person is already down to one eye.

I keep referring to this person as this person because I don't know what gender, for sure, this person is.

I have seen this person in Town Talk before. Very tall, as in over 6 and a half feet tall. Long, curly red hair. Always in blue jeans that seem to show slightly shapely hips. And a bit of a gut. This person is very talkative, talking to everyone within earshot. Last Saturday I overheard this person having a bizarre conversation about shopping at Macy's in New York City.

When checkout time came the shortest of the long lines had me behind this person. Checkout was slowed when this person decided he/she needed a package of that Tyson Fresh Pork Carnitas I previously referenced.

When the Town Talk checkout person told this person the total owed, he/she did that stereotypically female thing of seeming like it was a total shock that it is now time to pay up.

He/she carries a giant purse, which is one of the reasons I thought he was a she. Out of the purse he/she retrieved what looked to be another purse. With a lot of fluttering he/she then displayed a bunch of credit cards, like a poker hand, and asked the Town Talk checkout person to pick one.

By the time my checkout was completed and my card was being processed the mysterious person had moved on to talking to fresh people. I quietly asked the Town Talk checkout person if that odd person was a man or a woman? The Town Talk checkout person said she thought he was a man. I then said, but didn't you notice the big purse? She then said that wallet did not seem like a man's "wallet" either.

Shoppers like the 6 foot 6 mysterious person of indeterminate gender and other interesting Town Talk shoppers are part of what I find fun about Town Talking each week.  That and being surprised by what I might find on any given visit...

I Am A Tree Hugging Idiot Rounding Up Sweetwater Rattlesnakes

The 2013 Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup started up this past Thursday, March 7, with the Roundup ending tomorrow, Sunday, March 10.

I do not know if there is a moratorium on the rattlesnake executions on Sunday.

I suspect today, that being Saturday, is the day when the most rattlesnake beheadings take place.

If you've never seen a rattlesnake beheaded and skinned and seeing that is on your Texas Bucket List, well, I guess you should make your way to Sweetwater today.

Last month I blogged about the upcoming rattlesnake beheadings. This generated some very earnest comments yesterday. One from someone named Anonymous, with someone named jh360 making a variation of the same comment twice, apparently due to not noticing that the comments are moderated prior to being published.

First the comment from Anonymous, then the two from jh360....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Apparently Children Are Witnessing Rattlesnake Beheadings In Sweetwater Texas":

these snakes are killed to control the population. otherwise, the great state of Texas would be over ran by deadly venomous rattlesnakes.just fyi for the first idiot blogger who posted about the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Round-up. YOU TREE HUGGIN HIPPIE IDIOT!!!! 

jh360 has left a new comment on your post "Apparently Children Are Witnessing Rattlesnake Beheadings In Sweetwater Texas": 

what you tree hugging anti everything hippie idiots understand is that we in Texas must keep the rattlesnake population down. that is one of the main reasons for the round-up. if we didn't, Texas would be flooded with rattlesnakes. would you want your backyard and house filled with deadly snakes? what if one slithered its way into your house and bit one of your children? if they were allowed to breed uninhibited, the population would explode and make they're way to your state. must i remind you again, these aren't your cute little garden snakes. these are venomous and deadly rattlesnakes, that can and do kill people. 

jh360 has left a new comment on your post "Apparently Children Are Witnessing Rattlesnake Beheadings In Sweetwater Texas": 

for all you tree hugging anti everything hippie idiots, here's the story. if these snakes in Texas were not kept in check, we would have a rattlesnake population explosion. that would equal an infestation into our houses and yards, then they would make they're way to your state. how would you feel if a deadly rattlesnake got into your house and bit your child? must i remind you idiots, these aren't your cute little garden snakes, these are venomous, deadly snakes. if they bite you, they can and will kill you! 

I'm a tree hugging hippie idiot?

I did not realize, til reading these comments, that the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup is all that stands between the rest of America and a massive rattlesnake invasion.

Murdering rattlesnakes really seems to rattle a lot of people. I have only been to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup once. I think it was the 2002 Roundup.

One Roundup was enough for me.

I bought my first video camera the week before I drove to Sweetwater. The video I made from what I saw at the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup was the first video I made and the first I uploaded to YouTube. I've uploaded dozens upon dozens of videos to YouTube since the first one.

Sort of strangely, my Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup YouTube is the most viewed of my YouTube videos at a measly 37,488 views. Not quite viral. The video has generated 429 comments, most of the same quality level as those above. YouTube lets video viewers indicate if they like or dislike a video. My Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup video has 21 likes and 34 dislikes.

I suspect the likes are pro rattlesnake amnesty people, while the dislikes are from those who favor rattlesnake extermination.

I'm conflicted on the issue. I would be perfectly happy to live in a world with no venomous snakes. But, I don't know if mass extermination rattlesnake roundups are all that good an idea.

Below is my Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup video. Don't watch if you are even remotely squeamish....

Walking My Neighborhood Fort Worth Greenbelt Dodging Meteorites & Houseboats

Today I decided to get in my daily walk by once again hiking on my neighborhood's new, to me, parkland.

Today I did not hike into Fort Worth's unofficial newest park, that being Canyon Creek Park.

Instead I walked right past the entry to Canyon Creek Park and continued on to Canyon Creek Trail, which is a sidewalk-less paved road for motorized vehicles, upon which I headed north til I got to ultra-steep Palo Verde Lane, which I used to access the Fort Worth "Greenbelt" you see in the picture.

My neighborhood Fort Worth "Greenbelt" has a lot of towers, of various sorts, on it, with a lot of lines strung between the towers.

Last week it occurred to me that mountain biking might be fun on my neighborhood Fort Worth "Greenbelt."

I found myself wondering why I'd never seen anyone mountain biking on these hills.

Today I believe I saw the reason this might not be a good place to roll my tires. On the ground I saw a lot of thin branches with really sharp, tube puncturing type projectiles.

Hiking this particular Fort Worth "Greenbelt" there are homes and apartment complexes, at times, on both the west and east side of the "Greenbelt."

You walk past the backyards of a lot of these homes, seeing some interesting things in the process. Like the grounded "houseboat" you see for sale, below.

I doubt many people walk by the above location and see the "houseboat" for sale. It is a rather landlocked location for a boat. I could not figure out how it got there or how it would get out of there. I wonder if "houseboats" like this will float on Pond Granger if the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle ever gets its promised pond filled with water?

Leaving my neighborhood Fort Worth "Greenbelt" I walked on Bridge Street past the giant sculptural monument that welcomes people to Fort Worth, as they head west on Interstate 30.

Eventually Bridge Street comes to the "Ghost Store" that used to be a Kroger's grocery. It was at this location I saw the strangest thing I saw today, which is what you are looking at below.

Is that a giant meteorite that has landed on the abandoned Kroger's parking lot? How did this giant hunk of rock get in this location? If it is a meteorite, should it not have made some sort of giant hole? And made a big noise when it did so?

Very perplexing.

I am really starting to enjoy my neighborhood explorations. I've decided I sort of live in Twin Peaks Texas.

It Has Been A Decade Since The Dixie Chicks Became One Of George W. Bush's Many Victims

When I lived in Washington I most definitely was not a Country music fan. On the move South I remember crossing the border into Texas, in the Panhandle, and the only stations I could get on the radio were Christian or Country music stations.

By the time I got to Amarillo, that night, I was sort of a Country music fan. I'd not realized much of it had become sort of like early rock 'n roll.

For a year, or two, Country music seemed fresh and fun to me. 99.5, The Wolf, was the station I listened to more than any other. And then there started to seem to be fewer fun and fresh sounding Country music songs. I very rarely hit the 99.5, The Wolf button anymore.

My favorite of all the Country music makers were The Dixie Chicks. They had me with Earl. And then Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition. And others. Like Travelin' Soldier.

When I moved to Texas I was sort of appalled to see in person, that the son of President Bush was the state's governor. When I was in Washington I knew that George W. Bush had replaced the popular, nationwide, Ann Richards. But, not til seeing it in person, did it sink in that this guy was this state's governor.

And then when the talk started up of Bush II running for president, I, in my naivete, thought no way. I was so naive back then, still suffering culture shock, that I opined that how could the Republicans nominate Bush? All the Democrats would need to do to win is show what it's like in Texas and ask do you want Bush to do this to the rest of America?

Like I said, I was naive. Very naive.

And then Bush got elected in the most bizarre election in my memory. I was appalled.

Soon much of America and the rest of the world would be equally appalled.

After the 9/11 shock to America and the World, everyone rallied around the flag and the president. This was only natural.

That rallying began to erode as Bush began to take the steps that led to America's most shameful act of war. The invasion and takeover of Iraq. A pre-emptive war of choice, the rationalization for which was based on lies.

I have opined previously that I agree with prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi's case he made for George W. Bush being prosecuted for his crimes, which Bugliosi excellently explained in THE PROSECUTION OF GEORGE W. BUSH FOR MURDER.

10 years ago this week The Dixie Chicks bravely exercised their free speech right, prior to the invasion of Iraq, when the war drums were being loudly banged, at a concert hall in London, where lead singer, Natalie Maines said, "Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence. And we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

Reactionaries back in America reacted with a vengeance, pretty much destroying The Dixie Chicks, even though Natalie Maines apologized for her remarks.

I don't think she should have apologized.

Natalie Maines speaking the truth to power was a classic example of someone speaking freely, from their conscience, with those objecting to her opinion being equally free to express their opinion. While being moronically wrong.

The Dixie Chicks Travelin' Soldier song was a call for peace, a song about a young soldier going to Vietnam.

This was to be The Dixie Chicks last #1 hit song.

The Dixie Chicks were just one more victim of their fellow Texan somehow becoming president, a job for which he was no more qualified to hold than I am.

Well. Actually, I think I'd make a much better president than George W. Bush was. Millions of Americans would make a much better president than George W. Bush was....