Sammy Lu & Rosie The Rat Dog Together Again In Doggie Heaven

Sammy Lu & Rosie the Rat Dog

On the left, sitting next to the late Rosie the Rat Dog, is the equally late, Sammy Lu.

Sammy Lu passed away last week after a tough battle with cancer. Rosie the Rat Dog passed away in December from age-related aliments.

Sammy Lu was a well bred beagle, while Rosie the Rat Dog's lineage was not quite as well bred.

There has always been common agreement that Rosie the Rat Dog was part Chihuahua. The other elements of Rosie's lineage were open to speculation.

Sammy Lu and Rosie the Rat Dog were long time neighbors in Kent, Washington. Over the course of their charmed lives they often vacationed together, taking long road trips, to places like Mount Rushmore and camping trips to their favorite locations in Washington and on the Oregon coast.

Sammy Lu never managed to become internationally well known like Rosie the Rat Dog did, but, in her immediate neighborhood, Sammy Lu was well known as a sweet-natured lovable girl, just like the two girls she lived with.

Sadly, near the end of their lives, through no fault of their own, Sammy Lu and Rosie the Rat Dog were unable to see each other. When Rosie the Rat Dog died, Sammy Lu and her family sent a condolence card, but were not invited to the funeral services.

I really don't know why people can not just get along, at least for the sake of the children, of course, unless there is an actual good, rational reason for not getting along, which in this case, there is not....

Taking A Walk With A Big White Fosdick Lake Swan In Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park

A Fosdick White Swan

As soon as I arrived, today, in Oakland Lake Park's east parking lot, I saw something I've never seen floating in Fosdick Lake before. That being a big white swan.

During the course of walking around Fosdick Lake the big white swan was motoring all over the lake, often coming close to shore.

Unlike the Fosdick ducks and turtles, the big white swan did not seem to care, even a little, if humans were close to it.

I suppose this fearless swan behavior may have something to do with the big white swan being bigger than a large percentage of the humans

In the valley from whence I moved to Texas, that being the Skagit Valley of Washington, large flocks of trumpeter swans visit valley farmland during their yearly migration. The flocks of trumpeter swans could be quite a spectacle, en masse on the ground, or taking flight, making a cacophony of noise with their wings flapping and trumpets playing.

Why was this Fosdick Lake swan all alone, I could not help but wonder? Where was his or her flock? Was he or she banished for some bad swan behavior?

This Morning I Learned Mary Kelleher's Vote Total Is A TRWD Board Election Record

I did not know, til reading it this morning in the Star-Telegraph, that Mary Kelleher is "the record setting vote getter in the history of TRWD elections."

I interpret that to mean that Mary Kelleher received more votes in Saturday's election than has any previous candidate for the Tarrant Regional Water District Board.

It can also be stated, without fear of contradiction, that every TRWD Board candidate I have met in person, and with whom I've exchanged handshakes, has won election to the TRWD Board, while receiving the most votes.

Apparently there is powerful magic in my handshake. I think next election I will sell it to the highest bidder.

In other interesting TRWD Board election news. Anonymous made an interesting comment, which included an interesting statistic, which I do not know is accurate, or not...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Corrupt Crony Club Has Had Its Collective Dumb Thumb On Fort Worth & Its Environs For Way Too Long":

B-N-K garnered 22,837 votes.

Stevens, Henderson, and Sparks also pulled in 22,837 votes.

Weird.

The Queso Kid or Spuds McKennedy is lashing out at regular folks again while kissing up to the privileged elite. That's what he do.

My often reliable source tells me that actual number has the Incumbents with 22,841 votes, while the BNK Challengers have 22,837 votes.

I thought Spuds McKennedy was one of the privileged elite, which would seem to make it difficult for him to kiss up to himself. Lashing out at regular folks is just part of the job of being a mouthpiece propaganda minister for your fellow privileged elite. I don't know why people can't be more understanding.

The Corrupt Crony Club Has Had Its Collective Dumb Thumb On Fort Worth & Its Environs For Way Too Long.

I am a bit perplexed as to what to make of the results of the Tarrant Regional Water District  Board election.

Mary Kelleher, of the Basham, Nold, Kelleher slate, was the top voter getter, and thus is now on the TRWD Board.

If it was the TRWD Incumbents' misleading propaganda and slander that led voters not to vote for Basham and Nold, why did Mary Kelleher come out on top?

Basham was the one of the BNKers who was the target of much of the "Dallas" themed propaganda, suggesting, to the easily suggested to, that Basham was somehow in an evil conspiracy with "rogue" Dallas businessmen to steal water from Fort Worth.

The TRWD co-conspirator in corrupt cronyism, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, pretty much mirrored the TRWD smears in its articles. Or joined in the out and out lying.

Such as the following paragraph in a Star-Telegram article in today's edition, about Saturday's election...

Allies of U.S. Rep Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth) kept a board majority but lost one seat to a Dallas-funded slate of Tea Party libertarians opposed to the board’s use of eminent domain, both in Fort Worth and for a proposed shared Dallas-Fort Worth water pipeline through wealthy landowners’ ranches in East Texas.

Again with the "Dallas-funded slate." Again with the "Tea Party" dig. And for the first time adding "libertarians" to the description.

And this "Dallas-funded slate" was running because of the board's misuse of eminent domain? Yeah, that was their only reason they wanted to get on the TRWD Board.

Yet, somehow, non libertarian, non Dallas-funded, non Tea Partier, non critic of eminent domain abuse, member of the "Dallas-funded slate of Tea Party libertarians," Mary Kelleher, was the top vote getter.

I love how the Star-Telegram characterizes this election as being between the allies of Kay Granger and, what, the axis of evil that opposes Kay Granger and her corrupt crony club? With that corrupt crony club being the network of good ol' boys and girls in sensible shoes who feel entitled to operate in Fort Worth like it is somehow their little private fiefdom?

Well, in addition to Mary Kelleher of BNK being the top vote getter there are other interesting things this election brought about.

One interesting thing is many different voices verbalizing disgust with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram due to it operating not as a town's newspaper of record, but instead acting as the mouthpiece of the corrupt crony club of good ol' boys and girls in sensible shoes.

Another interesting thing is this election brought about something that should have happened a long time ago, as in journalists from outside of Fort Worth and Tarrant County reporting on the dealings of the corrupt crony club of good ol' boys and girls in sensible shoes.

So, why was Mary Kelleher the top vote getter? Even though she was part of the nefarious scheme of rogue Dallas businessmen to steal Fort Worth Water and put an end to progress?

I think 8,941 voters knew Mary Kelleher's story. That being that her ranch started getting flooded after Barnett Shale Natural Gas operations moved into her neighborhood, with the attendant physical alterations to the landscape causing Mary's ranch to flood.

When Mary Kelleher turned to the government agencies who look after things like flood control, she had the same rude awakening that has shocked others into becoming activists, that being that the government agencies who Mary thought were supposed to be looking out for the public good, were instead looking out for the interests of those who do the damage.

I think when the next election comes up, a couple other candidates of the Mary Kelleher quality level should be found and convinced to run.

If  Don Young wasn't moving to Marfa to escape all that is disgusting about Fort Worth, I suspect he could easily win a seat on the TRWD Board.

And then there's that lady from Haltom City, I think her name is Lola Castaway, or something like that, who was in the news a lot when her house was almost wiped out by a flash flood, who then, like Mary Kelleher, found out that government agencies she thought would help, were of no help.

I think Lola Castaway could, like Don Young, easily win a seat on the TRWD Board. Trouble is, Lola lives in Haltom City. Haltom City is outside the privileged area that is allowed to vote in a TRWD election, or run for the TRWD Board.

Methinks that the Clyde Picht/John Basham magic piece of Fort Worth land should now be turned over to Lola Castaway, to qualify Lola to run for the TRWD Board, so she can get elected to join Mary Kelleher in the fight to end the shady dealings of the corrupt crony club of good ol' boys and girls in sensible shoes who have had their collective dumb thumb on Fort Worth and its environs for way too long.

On The Tandy Hills With Yellow Wildflowers Making Happy Mother's Day Calls

Big Yellow Tandy Hills Wildflower

I was back on the Tandy Hills this Mother's Day Sunday, for the first time in over a week.

I was in dire need of some mood improving endorphins to alleviate my post-election blues. A long swim this morning did not provide the needed endorphin level.

With it being Mother's Day, and the fact that I got gas today, I called my mom, whilst hill hiking. Mom was not available. I suspect mom and dad were at church, what with it being Sunday.

Before I forget, Happy Mother's Day to all you other relative mothers out there, as in sisters, Jackie, Michele and Kristen, my favorite ex-sister-in-law, Cindy, Spencer Jack's mom, Jenny, my current favorite sister-in-law, Jill and any other mother I'm not remembering right now.

The Tandy Hills were being a lot more colorful than the last time I did some hill hiking. The big yellow bloom you see in the photo is just about my favorite wildflower. It seems to be such an optimistic bloom.

With The Polls Closed BNK Takes An Early TRWD Board Election Lead

It is sort of too early to be too sure that a revolution is taking place in the Fort Worth zone tonight, but, early voting results have the BNK slate being the top vote getters in the TRWD Board race, with Mary Kelleher in the lead, John Basham in second and Timothy Nold in third.

I learned of the current results via Bud Kennedy, on Facebook, at the exact same time that I was being told not to blog about where the BNK election results party was taking place.

A short time after that I got another call, telling me that the nefarious Bud Kennedy had cracked the BNK election results party code and had arrived at that location.

And now I am being told that I need to be there. To make that happen would take an awful lot of effort...

Looking For Captain Clean Before Fishing In The Trinity River In Gateway Park While Mountain Biking

On my way to Gateway Park to pedal the mountain bike trail before going to Town Talk I made a delivery to my neighborhood library.

Today my neighborhood library is serving double duty, because in addition to being a place where one can find a book, it is also a place where one can cast a vote.

This particular polling place seemed rather busy, judging by all the cars parked. But there is no way to tell how many of the parked cars carried voters or book seekers.

I had been told that Captain Clean and several Captain Clean Clones would be making appearances, today, at many of the 38 polling places. However, there was no Captain Clean to be seen, by me, today, at my neighborhood polling place.

Gateway Park was also busy today, with various sporting activities of the teams competing against each other in games involving ball manipulation sort of sporting activity.

In addition to team sports I was also surprised to see three amigos practicing the fishing sport. I first saw the three amigos paddling their canoe, heading upstream. By the time I made my second trip around the mountain bike trail the fishermen had docked their canoe on one of the Trinity River's more scenic beaches, to better facilitate casting their lines from a standing position.

I trust these boys know it is not safe to eat the fish they might catch in the Trinity River. Captain Clean has not yet had the opportunity to clean up the river. I am almost 100% certain that in a few hours we will be on track to having Captain Clean in business.

Town Talk was the least busy of the places I visited today. The best thing I found at Town Talk today was a 5 pound bag of chopped up romaine lettuce. And mangoes.

Why Is The TRWD Board Lying In The Star-Telegram About Team BNK?

A couple minutes ago, in the same batch of email, one email was attached to the photo you see on the left.

While another email was attached to a document from a different point of view than that expressed in the photo you see on the left.

Ironically, also just a couple minutes ago, I blogged about my disdain for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and its bad newspaper behavior.

In the photo you are looking at a full page ad which is in today's Star-Telegram, it being a campaign advertisement placed by the corrupt campaign of corrupt campaigners running to retain their seats on the Tarrant Regional Water District Board.

If the Star-Telegram were a real newspaper would it not refuse to print ads containing blatant lies and fear mongering propaganda?

Rogue Dallas Businessmen? Again playing the Dallas is the Boogeyman card? How embarrassing.

Those Rogue Dallas Businessmen are so evil and so powerful that they can stop the local water supply? Again, how embarrassing. And how stupid do these TRWD Incumbents think their constituents are? Maybe the incumbents are erroneously projecting their own personal stupidity level on to their not so stupid constituents.

The local water supply will be unprotected if you don't re-elect these corrupt Water Boarders? Again, what an embarrassingly stupid bit of inept propaganda.

The document in the second email, referenced above, was the PDF version of a TRWD Challenger BNK mailer that hit mailboxes today.

The TRWD Incumbents put a full page ad full of lies in the Star-Telegram, while the TRWD Challengers sent out a mailer that seems to be directly counter-pointing the TRWD Incumbents' embarrassingly inept propaganda....

Walking With Bobcats While Thinking About Swimming With Fort Worth Rats In A Town With No Real Newspaper

Sometime around noon I needed a break from way too much of Captain Clean and that little boy's various exploits.

So, I took myself to Arlington, to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area, which happens to be my favorite place in Texas to walk with Indian Ghosts.

In the photo you are looking at the formerly blue bayou, which has become a very green jungle bayou.

Continuing with the jungle theme, for the first time in several years I had an encounter with a jungle cat.

A bobcat to be specific.

I was walking along on the paved trail, peacefully lost in my peaceful thoughts, when suddenly a large bobcat sprinted across the  path ahead of me. The bobcat stopped at the edge of the trail to take a look at me, then took off running into the jungle, as I reached, too late, for my camera.

My closest encounters with bobcats have been at River Legacy Park, also in Arlington. I have managed to take photos of those encounters on more than one occasion.

I just remembered another wildlife encounter encountered today. Whilst having myself a really fine time in the pool this morning I was surprised to see what I first thought was a rat, making its way along the landscaping that surrounds the pool, its nose to the ground, finding morsels of the insect sort for breakfast.

After watching the large rat for a few minutes I realized I was not looking at a rat. It was a possum. A small possum, not a big rat.

This has been an interesting day, what with thinking I'm swimming with rats, in various ways.

After well over a decade of being perplexed wondering why it seemed no one, but me, shared my opinion that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is not a real newspaper of the sort that serves the public in the civilized parts of America, and the rest of the world, where the concept of free speech is a reality, suddenly there are voices, outside and inside the Fort Worth zone, who are realizing Fort Worth has a real problem due to not having what is known as a journalistically responsible newspaper of record.

Methinks the times they may be a-changing in Fort Worth. It really is about time....

TRWD General Manager Jim Oliver Is Out Of Control Spewing Vitriolic Trash Talk

This morning on my way to the swimming pool I opened my mailbox to find what I assume will be the last mailer I'll  find in my mailbox pertaining to tomorrow's Tarrant Regional Water District Board election.

This morning's mailer was from the BNK opponents. I've lost count  of the number of mailers I've received from the opponents and the incumbents. I would guess the BNK opponents have something like a 4 to 1 lead in the Mailer Wars.

I scanned one of the pages of today's mailer. I then slightly altered what I scanned by adding "TRWD General Manager Jim Oliver is out of control and the current board is providing no oversight."

I blogged about Jim Oliver being out of control on Wednesday in a post titled Memorable Words From TRWD's Marty Leonard & Jim Oliver About Unqualified Losers.

I took the blurb "TRWD General Manager Jim Oliver is out of control and the current board is providing no oversight" from the home page of the Flush the TRWD website.

On Wednesday John Basham said that within 24 hours he would publish the email exchanges he had with Jim Oliver that led Mr. Basham to assert that Jim Oliver is out of control.

Unlike way too many politicians Mr. Basham was true to his word.

Below is what John Basham had to say about the arrogant Jim Oliver, followed by the email exchanges, which I have put in chronological order.

Jim Oliver Emails
TRWD General Manager has NO OVERSIGHT from the current board and is out of control !

Below is an example of Jim Oliver's work as the General Manager at the TRWD. This email conversation took place between TRWD/BNK candidate John Austin Basham and Mr. Oliver Monday May 6th. Mr. Basham had received information that district employees including Mr. Oliver could be making phone calls urging people to vote for the incumbents FROM DISTRICT PHONES DURING DISTRICT BUSINESS HOURS.

As General Manager of the TRWD Mr. Oliver should take any hint of impropriety with tax funded property very seriously. The Exchange below will show both Mr. Oliver's arrogance and disdain for any oversight.

On May 6, 2013, at 6:15 PM, "John Austin Basham" wrote:

Mr. Oliver,
Imagine if you were an employee at a government entity who was using those government phones to call and ask "friends" to vote for a specific set of candidates at your government entity. Now, let's take one additional step and imagine you were still using those same government facilities (offices & phones) during government business hours to call people and spread libelous information about candidates running against your chosen bosses whom perhaps this employee has lied to time and time again... But wait, one more piece of imagination is needed. Imagine one of those "friends" on your list recorded one of those calls and provided it to the challengers. Wow! Wouldn't that be mind boggling? What a story that would make if broken at the right time. Sure is a good thing that never happens, huh? See you soon.
John Basham

On May 6, 2013 7:31 PM, "Jim Oliver" <Jim.Oliver@trwd.com> wrote:

Imagine if you were a loser, bankrupt with your house foreclosed, and pretending to be a meteorologist with no education. Oh, wait a minute, you don't have to imagine, because its you.

On May 6, 2013, at 7:33 PM, "John Basham" wrote:

Tic tic tic tic tic

On May 6, 2013 7:36 PM, "Jim Oliver" <Jim.Oliver@trwd.com> wrote:

I've earned a living for my family, you never will, loser. 

________________________________________

No matter what the results of tomorrow's election are, I can not see how Jim Oliver can keep earning the living he's been living feeding off the public trough, whilst treating the public so dismissively. And rudely. And inappropriately.