Apparently Fixing The Tarrant Regional Water District Mess Is A Job For Captain Clean

This morning I opened my mailbox and learned that Captain Clean is cleaning out the pipes at the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Captain Clean thinks the Tarrant Regional Water District is a mess and only one man knows how to clean it up.

By day Captain Clean is just an ordinary mild-mannered plumber.

But, when water shortages lurk, with water pollution abounding, with the pipes of government becoming clogged from corruption and cronyism, Captain Clean goes into action and becomes Tarrant County's Greatest Super Hero.

Apparently Captain Clean has determined that the current Tarrant Regional Water District Board has failed us all miserably by jeopardizing our health and the quality of life of Tarrant County families.

Captain Clean has found himself some pipe cleaning allies to help him in his fight to protect our water and quality of life. Captain Clean wants you to elect John Basham, Timothy Nold and Mary Kelleher to the Tarrant Regional Water District Board. Voting to elect these three makes you one more Captain Clean ally.

You can learn all about the corruption on the TRWD Board by going to the Flush TRWD website where you'll find out about some of what the TRWD Board members have been doing with your money, such as...

Rather than taking our tax dollars and using them to improve water quality and seek long-term solutions to our water needs, they have instead spent our tax dollars on wasteful and luxurious perks for themselves and their friends.  For example, the board purchased a deer lease in Jack County for the exclusive recreational use of TRWD board members and employees. They also get around in a custom six-person helicopter, complete with leather interior.  Wouldn’t it be nice if they cared as much about our water as they do about the seats in their taxpayer-funded helicopter?

Before I forget, I must mention that Flush TRWD Vote for BNK is also on Facebook.

Back to Captain Clean and the Flush TRWD website, I found the following two paragraphs to be interesting...

One of our main water resources, the Trinity River, has become so polluted with toxins and dangerous bacteria that the Texas Department of State Health Services has declared all species of fish in it a “hazard to human health.”

But forget about eating the fish, it’s not even safe to swim in the Trinity River.  WFAA News recently reported that four out of five testing sites along the river in Fort Worth had dangerously high levels of E.Coli bacteria (from fecal matter) present; well above what the E.P.A. recommends as acceptable.  Water with such high levels of E.Coli can cause sickness just from swimming in it; including diarrhea and vomiting.

I am guessing that one of Captain Clean's goals is to put an end to the Trinity River Vision's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats, until he can make the Trinity River safe for fish and human habitation.

Walking With Village Creek Indian Ghosts In Fields Of Wildflowers With Big Green Snakes

When I go hiking in the wild in Texas I am almost always armed with my snake stick. Even on cold days when snakes are rendered immobile due to their cold bloodedness.

My year round arming of myself with a snake stick could be taken as being an indication of my fear level when it comes to slithering reptiles.

Today, whilst walking with the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area I was peacefully enjoying being lost in my thoughts when I was suddenly startled by the green slithery monster you see above.

The slithery green monster did not act in an unfriendly manner towards me, so my snake stick stayed in its holster.

Speaking of snakes, just this morning I heard from Leo, he being the snake killer killer who wants to put a stop to rattlesnake roundups, like the one in Sweetwater. Leo has been apologizing lately for mistaking me for being a snake killer apologist.

The Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Wildflower Area seems to be tripling its amount of color every three days.

Well, I guess that is a bit of a stretch to say that the amount of color is tripling every three days. More accurately today it appeared there were about three times the number of blooms blooming three days ago.

I see via incoming email that Elsie Hotpepper has tasked me with an URGENT task. Since this is URGENT I really should go attend to it, lest the Hotpepper overheat.

Today Marks The Launch Of The Fort Worth Bike Sharing Boondoggle

On the left you are looking at part of an email I received this morning from Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., announcing "Fort Worth Bike Sharing Launch - Today!"

This was the first I've heard about Fort Worth instituting a bike sharing program.

My instant reaction to this news was sure-fire BOONDOGGLE.

Apparently there are 300 bikes available at  B-cycle Kiosks where one purchases a membership so you can ride one of the 300 bikes to your destination, if your destination happens to be at one of the available B-cycle stations.

I learned all this, and more, at the Fort Worth Bike Sharing website.

Among the things I learned from the Fort Worth Bike Sharing website is what it costs to ride one of these bikes...

It costs nothing to ride for 30 minutes? The second 30 minutes costs $1.50? Each additional 30 minutes costs $3.00? 24 hours for $8.00? A week for $20.00? A month for $30.00? A year for $80.00? With the Annual Pass being the Best Value?

Did Fort Worth do any sort of market study before it came up with this Bike Sharing Boondoggle? Did the same people do this market study as those who did the market study which resulted in Fort Worth's Santa Fe Rail Market Boondoggle?

From the email from Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.....

THE BIG EVENT! 

The launch of the first bike share system in North Texas. The inaugural ride for Fort Worth B-Cycle will include 300 volunteer riders, including Mayor Betsy Price, Council Member Joel Burns and T President Dick Ruddell. The riders will pedal the fleet of 300 red bike sharing bicycles from Burnett Park to one of 27 docking stations located throughout Downtown, Near Southside, Cultural District and TCU. The ride will commence with Mayor Price ringing a ceremonial bike bell with all riders following suit, after which Fort Worth B-Cycle will be available to the public 24 hours a day.

I really can not imagine riding my bike in the downtown Fort Worth zone. Or, have bike lanes been added since the last time I was in downtown Fort Worth?

It will be interesting to watch how this latest Fort Worth Boondoggle plays out.

As usual, I really hope I am wrong about this being a Boondoggle.....

The Imperial Hubris Of All The Anonymous People

A couple days ago I finished reading Imperial Hubris, authored by my most ubiquitous blog commenter, Anonymous.

Wikipedia has a good article that gives you a good idea of why Americans who can read should read Imperial Hubris by Anonymous.

In the Wikipedia article I learned that Anonymous is no longer Anonymous.

Anonymous is Michael Scheuer, a 22 year CIA veteran who ran the Counterterrorist Center's Osama bin Laden operation from 1996 til 1999.

If you were among the millions who winced in astonishment every time our former dunce president said things like bin Laden hates America and attacked us because he hated freedom and western modern ways, well, in a video from back in September of 2007, after the Imperial Hubris author was no longer Anonymous, Osama bin Laden said, "if you would like to get to know some of the reasons for your losing of your war against us, then read the book of Michael Scheuer in this regard."

Changing the subject from one Anonymous to another Anonymous.

My initial intention in bringing up this Anonymous subject was to mention my personal problem with Anonymous, as it pertains to blog comments.

I have 5 blogs. Combined, the 5 blogs have had well over 6,000 posts. Any one of those posts can generate a comment. I let anyone comment. The comment can be Anonymous, or make up a name, Or OpenID or log in to your Google account.

Well over half of all the blog comments are from Anonymous.

Google emails me all the comments. This amounts to a lot of comment emails every day. Some of the Anonymous comments are legit. Most are spam. Google does a good job of putting the legit Anonymous comments in the Awaiting Moderation folder.

However, if you comment as Anonymous and do not see your comment appear, that is likely not due to me reading it and rejecting it, but instead due to the fact that I do not open and read the comment emails from Anonymous. There are just too many of them.

So, if you want to make sure your comment is published, make up a name, instead of being Anonymous, if you don't want to use an identifier that identifies the commenter as you.

More than once I have had someone Anonymous get bent out of shape due to me not being able to keep track of various Anonymous people commenting on the same blog post. This can be annoying.

Quit Giving Money To Fort Worth Vagrants Including Panhandlers & Beggars

Today I did not feel like driving anywhere for my daily walkabout.

So, I walked about my neighborhood.

Walking about my neighborhood took  me by Albertsons. In the the Albertsons strip mall there is an Italian restaurant appropriately named Italy Pasta & Pizza.

I have never had pasta or pizza at Italy Pasta & Pizza. Italy Pasta & Pizza is closed on Sunday. This gave me the opportunity to look at the menu that is posted in the window next to the entry door, without being gawked at by the diners inside the restaurant, sitting right by the menu in the window.

Near the menu in the window I saw a sign I'd not noticed before, that being the sign you see above.

The sign says....

PLEASE DO NOT GIVE MONEY 

TO THE VAGRANTS

(panhandlers and beggars  included)

MOST OF THEM ARE PROFESSIONAL CON ARTISTS, THE OTHERS ARE ADDICTS THAT WILL USE YOUR MONEY TO BUY DRUGS AND LIQUOR.

IF YOU WISH TO DONATE MONEY FOR THOSE THAT
ARE TRULY NEEDY, WE RECOMMEND:

The "WE RECOMMEND" is followed by a list of 4 locations in Fort Worth where one can donate money to the truly needy.

Now, I either drive by, or walk  by, Italy Pasta & Pizza at least once a day. I have never seen anyone looking like a vagrant or a panhandler or a beggar. I have never had anyone ask me for money at this location.

How does this restaurant know that most of these vagrants, panhandlers and beggars, which I have never seen, are professional con artists, with those who are not vagrant, panhandling or begging being addicts finagling for money to buy booze and drugs?

I often see Fort Worth police cars parked at Italy Pasta & Pizza. More than once I've seen officers leaving this restaurant, looking well fed. This does not strike me as a prime location for someone wanting to swindle innocents out of their money.

So, why does this restaurant have this tacky sign in their window?

Very perplexing.

A Saturday Walk Around Fosdick Lake Before Pulling Pepperoni Pizza From The Oven

The long and winding road you are looking at in the photo is the paved trail that winds its way around Fosdick Lake in Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park.

The Fosdick Lake trail was this Saturday's location I chose to get my daily dose of endorphins acquired via aerobic stimulation.

Soon after the sun came up this morning I got some aerobic stimulation via swimming in a pool that was a bit cooler than it was yesterday.

North Texas is looking rather green, in the photo, is it not? Most of North Texas looks green this time of year.

I remember awhile back Washingtonian, Betty Jo Bouvier, after seeing one of my green North Texas photos, expressed surprise that any part of Texas is green.

My first time in North Texas was way back in 1980, so I've known, since then, that not all of Texas is a brown desert.

But that 1980 visit was in August, so, at that point in time, North Texas was not green to the jungle-like level it currently is.

After having myself a mighty fine time walking around Fosdick  Lake it was off to Town Talk for my regularly scheduled Saturday treasure hunt. Today I got myself a lot of green peppers, a big bag of pears, a bag of grapefruit, roasted turkey breast and a big pepperoni pizza that I just pulled out of the oven.

Since I just pulled the pepperoni pizza out of the oven one might guess that it is time for lunch. One would be making a correct guess...

The Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Wildflower Area Is Now Blooming Bluebonnets

On Tuesday I was walking with the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area, pleased to discover that the Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Wildflower Area was blooming a lot of color.

Today I was pleased to discover, as you can see in the photo, that the precipitation that precipitated since my last walk with the Indian Ghosts, has coaxed the bluebonnets in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Wildflower Area to tardily, in large numbers, put on their annual display of an otherworldly shade of blue.

The unusually cold temperatures that blew in with the rain is likely slowing up the wildflower blooming, again. I suspect the return to warmth in the next day or two will have the wildflowers back on track to be in full show off mode by the time of Prairie Fest 2013, on the Tandy Hills, Saturday, April 27.

Speaking of being cold. This morning I switched my interior climate control device from cool back to heat. I do not remember ever resorting to artificial heat before, in April, in Texas.

Paradoxically, even though the temperature was only 37, this morning, when the sun arrived, I had myself a really fine time in the cool pool, with the cool pool feeling as if it was a heated pool, due to the water being so much warmer than the almost freezing air.

Well, I must cease this blogging now and move on to something else, as in, I see Elsie Hotpepper has tasked me with an important task that I must attend to at once,  lest I get heat from the Hotpepper....

A Stormy Texas Night With Fertilizer Exploding In West & Elsie Hotpepper No Longer Missing

The sun is not yet providing much illumination this stormy Thursday morning in Texas.

You can sort of see, via the view from my patio portal on the outer world, that an extremely strong wind is moving the foliage surrounding the swimming pool.

Currently the outer world is chilled to 46 degrees at my location. This means the water in the pool is a lot less cool than 46, due to yesterday's high being in the near 90 zone.

The power went out in my abode around 4 this morning. This woke me up, which is when I realized rain had arrived along with thunder booming.

I don't think I heard the explosion in West that killed more people and did more damage than the Boston bombings. Apparently the fertilizer plant that had erupted into a big fire, being fought by firefighters, when the explosion exploded, was known to have some operation issues.

In other news, the missing Elsie Hotpepper has now been located. Suffice to say, Elsie is yet one more victim of American Airlines.

I don't know if going swimming this morning is a good idea. I'll have the answer to that question in about a half hour.

A HOT Hunt For The Missing Elsie Hotpepper At Quanah Parker Park

No, that is not the paved trail in Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area you are looking at in the picture.

That fact is clearly obvious to an observant person, due to the well known fact that the Village Creek Natural Historical Area's paved trail does not have a center line.

However, the paved trail in Quanah Parker Park does have a center line.

Which might lead one to guess that today I parked at Quanah Parker Park to go on a borderline too HOT walk.

The one making that guess would be correct.

Elsie Hotpepper has gone missing for the first time in quite a while. I looked for the missing Hotpepper at Quanah Parker Park, but did not find her.

The last I heard from Elsie Hotpepper was on Monday, at which time Miss Hotpepper talked about islands. As in South Padre Island being a preferable island location to Galveston Island.

Changing the subject from Hotpepper back to the HOT weather.

Just like a week ago today, a BIG storm is predicted to arrive sometime after midnight at my location on the planet. Last week's BIG Storm piddled out at my location.

I am not liking the A/C running. Eventually I get used to this, if I am remembering correctly.

At 83 degrees my location is the HOTTEST of the temperatures I monitor hourly. My old home zone of Mount Vernon, in Washington, is a relatively chilly 55 degrees, while my mom and dad, nephews, sister and favorite brother-in-law, in Arizona, are only 14 degrees warmer than Mount Vernon, at 69 degrees.

Well, enough about temperatures, I must go continue my hunt for the missing Elsie Hotpepper now....

A Plethora Of Village Creek Wildflowers Thinking About Skagit Valley Tulips

Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Wildflower Area today was blooming a lot more wildflowers than what it was blooming just two days ago.

And so it seems, wildflower season has finally arrived in North Texas.

Yesterday, whilst walking in my neighborhood I came upon a flower growing wild that I thought was a wildflower, but I was later informed this particular flower is known as a very common Iris.

I don't know why a very common Iris can not also be a wildflower.

Currently my old home location, that being the Skagit Valley in the State of Washington, is in the midst of the annual Skagit Tulip Festival, running from April 1 through April 30.

Over a million visitors come to the Skagit Valley each year to look at the tulips and other flowers blooming on the valley floor.

Until 1985 I lived in West Mount Vernon, on the west side of the Skagit River. This meant every weekend during the Tulip Festival I had myself a really fine time dealing with the worst traffic jams I've ever experienced anywhere.

The traffic problems have improved over the years, with mass transit hauling some of the visitors in buses. And better control of the traffic flow.

Looking at the Skagit Tulip Festival website I see a mission statement...

The Mission of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is to coordinate and promote a countywide Spring celebration of the tulip bloom, in commemoration of the valley’s annual tulip harvest, and to be an advocate for Skagit Valley agriculture.

Reading the above had me wondering if Tarrant County has a countywide celebration advocating anything. Skagit County has countywide public transit. Tarrant County does not have countywide public transit.

Does Tarrant County have countywide anything? I'm drawing a blank.

Well, there is the Tarrant Regional Water District, that covers more than Tarrant County,  but I don't know of the Tarrant Regional Water District celebrating advocating anything other than conserving water, except for the water the Tarrant Regional Water District sells to gas drillers, who mix the water with chemicals and shoot it underground, turning it into water the Tarrant Regional Water District does not worry about conserving....