Taking A Dizzy Walk With Indian Ghosts Worrying About Fainting Over Clutched Pearls

At some point in time this afternoon my get up and go got up and went. I think my blood sugar level went low along with my blood pressure.

This morning I may have risen way too soon before the sun arrival. I was in the pool before the new day dawned, moving about for a salubriously long time in refreshingly cooled water.

In the noon time frame I headed to Arlington to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to walk with the Indian Ghosts who haunt that location.

As I was leaving my home zone location I was flagged down by Miss Puerto Rico who insisted I take possession of the Puerto Rican t-shirt she got me when she was on her home island a couple months ago.

Before I got to the Indian Ghosts I had to get gas. Since I got gas I called my mom when I got to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area. Just like on Mother's Day, mom was not talking calls.

Soon after I stopped to look at and photograph the bucolic wildflower scene you see in the above photo I saw a water snake slithering at the edge of the creek.

Soon after seeing the slithering water snake  I started feeling a bit light-headed, bordering on dizzy. This was not a totally unpleasant feeling, new as it was to me. I've never been seasick, no matter how turbulently waves have tossed me about whilst on a boat. I've never fainted, no matter how faint worthy a situation I have been in.

So, I wondered if this light-headed, bordering on dizzy feeling is what it feels like before one faints, or before one gets seasick.

By the time I was finished with lunch I was no longer dizzy. This led me to ponder whether this phenomenon might not be being caused by the fact that I have been losing weight of late.

Then this afternoon I got a bit dizzy, again, after I got an email telling me that a particular member of the Tarrant Regional Water District Board was requesting my contact info. Was it Marty Leonard?  I was  mortified at the very idea. I do not handle well those who clutch their pearls at the slightest bit of imaginary stress.

Stormy weather is once again in our forecast for North Texas. Once again, I'll believe it when I get wet from incoming rain and hear booming from incoming lightning.

Right On Cue After Every Election The Star-Telegram Pretends To Have A Journalistic Conscience

Last night an incoming email message said, "Right on cue AFTER every election to clear their conscience."

In addition to the message, there was a link to an article in that which the pronoun, "their" above refers, that being an editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram titled, Election a slap in the face for Tarrant Regional Water District board.

I do not know how long the above link to the mea culpa editorial in the Star-Telegram will remain linked to a readable article. I did not see a link to this editorial on this morning's online Star-Telegram's front page.

To review, in the recently completed Tarrant Regional Water District Board election the Star-Telegram came under a lot of criticism due to its biased coverage.

Complaints were made about the Star-Telegram's mockery of journalistic ethics to its parent company, McClatchy.

And now, in this Election a slap in the face for Tarrant Regional Water District board editorial, the Star-Telegram is opining that the results of this election delivered a well deserved slap in the face to the TRWD Board, for reasons the Star-Telegram refused to mention during the election.

Some choice bits of hypocrisy from the editorial...

If the campaign and vote totals in Saturday’s election for three seats on the Tarrant Regional Water District board of directors struck a bit of fear in the hearts of current board members, that would be a good thing.

Really? Before the election the Star-Telegram could find nary a thing to criticize regarding the TRWD Board,  let alone acknowledge that there was some legitimacy to some of the TRWD Board challenger's claims. Yet now it is a good thing that this election struck fear into the hearts of the current board members?

The tidal wave of funding for the challengers shocked the incumbents to life in the final days of the campaign. They lost the early vote count across the board and look to have been rescued by a last-minute get-out-the-vote drive with high-profile leadership from Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price.

So, it was the leadership of Betsy Price that saved a couple of the water boarders from defeat? Tidal wave of funding? By that I think the Star-Telegram means tidal wave of mailers paid by the tidal wave of funding. Shocked the incumbents to life? You mean shocked the incumbents into spewing slanderous propaganda besmirching the motives and qualifications of the challengers? Claims like rogue Dallas businessmen were conspiring to steal Fort Worth water, using the challengers as their tools to do so? And that, God forbid, one of the challengers had a meager voting record, she being the one who got the most votes in the history of Water Board elections, Mary Kelleher.

She’s also a client of powerhouse local political consultant Bryan Eppstein, who was brought in to shake the water board incumbents’ campaign out of dormancy into feverish activity in the last week before Election Day.

"She", in the above paragraph refers to Betsy Price.  So, here we have the Star-Telegram admitting that the Water Boarders brought in a notorious campaign hatchet man to slam the challengers with a slew of slander, just like was done in the previous TRWD Board election?

Many of the campaign claims relied upon by the challengers — Basham, Kelleher and Timothy Nold — were political hyperbole. The current directors simply can’t be said to have put too little effort into building water supplies for Fort Worth and its other client cities. Nor are they responsible for all of the pollution in the Trinity River.

Oh, yes, BNK relied on political hyperbole, suggesting that unless BNK was elected rogue Dallas businessmen would steal our water. No, wait, I'm sorry, it was the TRWD Incumbents who spewed that ridiculously hyperbolic, manipulative, fear-mongering propaganda. Of course, you read none of that in the Star-Telegram, pre-election, unless you count the outrageous TRWD Board campaign advertisements the Star-Telegram shamelessly published.

As for the TRWD not being responsible for pollution in the Trinity River? The TRWD is not responsible for pollution in the water from which the TRWD draws our water supply? What river is it, that, when dammed, makes the majority of the reservoirs from which the drinking water is drawn? Is it not the Trinity River?

Maybe if board members see themselves more as vulnerable to defeat they’ll put a little more effort into sharing what they do with the people who elect them. But openness is not the board’s strong suit. It may not quite fit the “secret meetings” label advanced by the challengers, but the TRWD is not a constituent-friendly organization. It has a spiffy website, but try going there to find out when the next board or committee meeting is or what’s on the agenda.

The Star-Telegram editorial is a bit disjointed, I combined two related paragraphs, above, that were separated by the paragraph about the TRWD not being responsible for Trinity River pollution. In the above paragraph the Star-Telegram  is basically agreeing with one of the campaign themes of the BNK challengers, that being that the TRWD needs to operate with greater transparency and hold open meetings.

In the end, it doesn’t matter who wants information about TRWD. It’s a public agency and everything it does should be open to public scrutiny in every detail allowable under state law, even if nobody pays attention.

And then in the above paragraph we have the Star-Telegram again agreeing with one of BNK's main campaign themes. And then the article ends with the following two paragraphs...

The Star-Telegram Editorial Board did not recommend Basham, Kelleher or Nold in this election. The incumbents got that nod because the Editorial Board respects their knowledge of TRWD’s mission and the work they have put into it.

But there’s a lot of room for improvement at TRWD, most notably in the openness of its operations and responsiveness to its constituents. If the challengers made that point in Saturday’s election, that would be a good thing.

So, is the Star-Telegram now calling on the TRWD to make big changes in the way it operates? If that does not occur, is the Star-Telegram going to have follow up articles telling you that the TRWD is still operating like a private, non-public entity?

And, I would really appreciate it if the Star-Telegram could elaborate on what it is about the TRWD Board's knowledge of the TRWD mission that their editorial board so greatly respects? And what is this admirable work the TRWD has put into their mission?

Water supply, water quality and flood control. Is that not the TRWD mission? How does rescuing a bankrupting friend to the tune of spending millions of TRWD public dollars to buy a parking lot south of La Grave Field, to lease to some fools with the bad vision to think a drive-in theater, is a good idea, have anything to do with the water supply, water quality or flood control?

Has the Star-Telegram Editorial Board asked the TRWD Board how their mission is working to help mitigate the flash flood problems that plague Haltom City?

Has the Star-Telegram Editorial Board asked the TRWD how going into the restaurant business on the banks of the Trinity River helps with water supply, water quality and flood control?

This is all extremely perplexing...

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....