Combined With Dallas Fort Worth Is One Of America's Least Favorite Cities

Last week I was really surprised when I learned that Fort Worth is known world-wide as one of the Greatest Cities in the World.

I am a fairly ignorant guy, so me not knowing that Fort Worth is known world-wide as one of the Greatest Cities in the World is not too surprising.

But, now that I know that Fort Worth is one of the Greatest Cities in the World I can't help but wonder how this fact is determined and by what criteria such a claim is made.

A survey in Travel Leisure Magazine online about America's Most Favorite Cities only made me more confused about how it is that Fort Worth is considered, world-wide, to be one of the Greatest Cities in the World.

The survey ranks the Top 35 American Cities by its reputation regarding certain criteria, with the categories labeled Intelligent, Attractive, Tech Savvy, Sports Crazed, Diverse, Stylish, Proud of Their City, Athletic/Active, Driving Ability, Offbeat.

I am most familiar with two of the urban zones on these lists, that being Seattle and Dallas/Fort Worth.  Let's mix another Texas town with the two I'm most familiar with and see how the towns do on some of these lists.

America's Most Intelligent City is Seattle. Austin comes in at #10. Dallas/Fort Worth is dead last at #35. I"m shocked.

America's 13th Most Diverse City is Seattle. Austin is #18. Dallas/Fort Worth did a little better with diversity than in the Intelligence department, coming in at #34.

America's 9th Most Sports Crazed City is Dallas/Fort Worth. Austin is #12. Seattle is #20.

America's 3rd Most Athletic/Active City is Seattle. Austin is almost as Athletic and Active as Seattle, at #4. Dallas/Fort Worth is dead last again, at #35.

I think I've mentioned previously that it is really amazing how many more plus-sized people there are in the D/FW zone than in the Seattle zone. Every time I'm back in the Pacific Northwest it takes me awhile to get used to most of the people looking like they've had the air let out of them. Then I fly back to Texas and its over supply of pumped up balloon people.

The town that came in at #11 with Most Attractive People is Austin. Seattle is #20.  Dallas/Fort Worth is #32.

America's #1 Tech Savvy City is Seattle. Austin is #3. And once again, Dallas/Fort Worth is dead last at #35.

I thought for sure that D/FW would do well in the Friendly category. I thought wrong. Austin is America's 12th Most Friendly town, with Seattle #19. And Dallas/Fort Worth #30.

Austin is the 3rd Most Offbeat City in America. Seattle is #9. And once again Dallas/Fort Worth is dead last at #35.

Combining all the categories for an Overall Ranking has Austin at #5. Seattle at #7. And once again, Dallas/Fort Worth is dead last at #35.

Well, enough of that, you can click on the links and see the lists and all the categories.

So, now I am faced with even more of a conundrum of a mystery. As in by what criteria can Fort Worth possibly be considered one of the World's Greatest Cities?

In this Travel and Leisure survey I think it must be Dallas that brings Fort Worth down to the bottom. I'm almost certain if Fort Worth were judged without having that Dallas noose around its neck that Fort Worth would be at the top, or near it, on all these lists, because, like everyone knows, Fort Worth is one of the Greatest Cities in the World....

Hiking On The Tandy Hills In One Of The Greatest Cities In The World

In the photo you are looking west from the summit of Mount Tandy, from whence a wagon trail heads towards the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, a town some of the locals believe is known planet-wide as one of the Greatest Cities in the World.

More on the Greatest Cities in the World delusion in a subsequent blogging.

Today's hiking conditions were just about perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. And not windy.

With local kids on Spring Break I would have thought there would be some kids doing some hill hiking today. But I saw none.

I heard on the radio whilst driving to the Tandy Hills that traffic was a bit congested in the area around the Fort Worth Zoo due to Wednesday being half price admission day at the zoo, which always draws a big crowd to the zoo during Spring Break.

I've only been to the Fort Worth Zoo once, a long long time ago. There were areas of the Fort Worth Zoo that I liked. And other parts that I did not like. Like the aquarium. Is that aquarium still operating? It smelled bad and looked sort of rundown. Not the type thing you expect to see in the zoo of one of the Greatest Cities in the World.

Speaking of things you don't expect to see. Today I came upon a pile of litter at an unlikely location on the Tandy Hills.

That is the pile of litter I am talking about, above. This pile of litter is located just a short distance south of Tandy Falls. Where did it come from and who left it at this location? The two metal chunks of litter looked like they'd be heavy and cumbersome to carry.

Green is beginning to re-appear on that which has been brown for months. It being March wildflowers should soon be blooming. To my eyes, the best Texas ever looks is when the wildflowers are blooming.

Chesapeake Energy's Weed Infested Welcome To Woodhaven

Every time I take a walking tour of my neighborhood I walk by the increasingly eyesore-ish scene you see in the picture.

This is a Welcome to the Woodhaven neighborhood installation.

Chesapeake Energy uninstalled the original Welcome to the Woodhaven neighborhood installation when Chesapeake Energy dug up this location as part of their installation of an underground pipeline carrying non-odorized natural gas from my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Extraction Fracking Site.

When Chesapeake Energy installed a new version of the Welcome to the Woodhaven neighborhood installation it was not an eyesore.

Now, a few months later, the welcome to the Woodhaven neighborhood installation is a weed infested mess.

Is this some sort of visual metaphor representing the ongoing damage Chesapeake Energy has done and is doing to Fort Worth and the surrounding area?

The City of Fort Worth used to get cranky with soon to be former Fort Worther, soon to be Marfian, Don Young, because of his natural landscaping. Is the City of Fort Worth going to get equally cranky with Chesapeake Energy over the mess Chesapeake Energy has made at the northwest corner of Boca Raton Boulevard and Bridgewood Drive?

I suspect not. And that is sort of perplexing....

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...