Driving To Arlington's Interlochen Canals With Tacoma's Connie D

No. That is not an artist's rendering of what one of the canals will look like if the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle ever becomes something someone can see.

What you are looking is not in Fort Worth. It is in Arlington.

The canal is one of many which make up the Interlochen neighborhood.

Interlochen is an award winning development, developed decades ago by developer Bob Findlay.

Interlochen being developed by Bob Findlay is why the paved trail I pedaled on to get to Interlochen is called the Bob Findlay Linear Park.

The paved trail that runs through the Village Creek Natural Historical Area exits the Historical Area to become the aforementioned Bob Findlay Linear Park paved trail.

The outer world was heated in to the 90 degree range when I drove myself to Arlington to roll my wheels.

As long as I am pedaling I stay cool due to that refreshing wind chill factor effect. But, stop pedaling and the sauna steam bath effect goes into effect.

I was in the pool before dawn cracked again this morning. I rather like swimming whilst the sun comes up. Soon we will be entering that time of the year where it becomes ever more cool to get in the pool.

I saw today that the kids are back in school. I had to slow to 25 because the slow down lights were flashing as I passed John T. White Elementary.

I had to slow down and get off the phone. The Tacoma Connie D had called me soon after I exited my abode. It is a $200 fine if you are caught talking on your cell phone when you drive by a school in Texas.

The Tacoma Connie D has the sweetest voice. If she were to move to Texas and learn to speak with a Texas accent her accent would be a real honey dripper.

The lunch gong just sounded. Talk to you later.....

Incoming From Texans For Government Transparency

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 22, 2013

LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST TRWD SEEKING ELECTIONS IN 2014

(Fort Worth, Texas) Today, a lawsuit was filed against the Tarrant Regional Water District by John Austin Basham, Darlia Lee Hobbs and Texans For Government Transparency over the TRWD’s interpretation of a new state law (HB 3900) which altered the district's election cycle to odd numbered years. The lawsuit charges the change in the water code unconstitutionally extend directors terms without holding an election. The TRWD’s action would essentially grant two sitting board members, Jim Lane and Marty Leonard, five year terms – exceeding the maximum allowed under the State Constitution.

The lawsuit is brought by Mr. Basham, a former candidate for the Tarrant Regional Water District's Board of Directors who fell 80 votes shy of taking office in 2013; Darlia Lee Hobbs, a grassroots activist for open and responsive government; and a non-profit, Texans for Government Transparency. The district has long been accused of utilizing secret meetings in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act, abusing eminent domain authority and now, manipulating election laws to extend their terms without voters' consent.

“The Texas Constitution and Water Code, which governs TRWD, couldn't be more clear.” says John Spivey, Secretary of Texans For Government Transparency, “Water board members cannot have a term longer than four years. The law that was recently passed changing TRWD's election cycle to odd numbered years does not allow for a five year term – nor does it prohibit an election in 2014.” Spivey adds, “The new law does not and cannot change the Texas Constitution, which explicitly restricts the directors terms to four years.”

TFGT President John Basham says, “We simply want the TRWD to start complying with the laws of the State of Texas.” He went on to say, “Picking and choosing how long a term you will serve and when a voter can vote for you doesn’t even sound like something you would expect in America. If it weren’t really happening in front of me I wouldn’t believe it!”

At the TRWD Board Meeting on August 20, 2013, Mr. Basham asked Board President Vic Henderson if he intended to hold elections as required by law in 2014. Mr. Henderson refused to answer, although after the board meeting, he stated that they did not intend to hold elections in 2014 referring back to HB 3900 and advice from TRWD counsel Lee Christie. These concerned citizens are asking the court to require TRWD to hold elections in May of 2014 when the director’s terms expire by law.

An election in 2014 would place Marty Leonard's and Jim Lane's seats back on the ballot. Ms. Leonard and Mr. Lane have been on the board since 2006. The petition was filed in the 48th Judicial District in Tarrant County, Texas by lead attorney, Matthew Rinaldi of Miller, Egan, Molter & Nelson, LLP. Texans For Government Transparency is a 501(c)4 non-profit organization that was formed to promote openness and transparency in Texas state and local government affairs while advocating for citizens' rights of privacy and property rights.

This Afternoon I Googled Crazy After Being Assaulted By Deranged Demented Craziness

I Googled "crazy" and rather than the usual list of links, the definition to the left popped up.

The first line of the definition, that I read, was "mentally deranged as manifested in a wild or aggressive way."

Well, late this afternoon, seeing a whole lot of crazy became my entertainment.

The crazy first arrived in email. Then blog comments.

I forwarded the crazy emails to various sorts who knew of the crazy source.

The blog comments went to spam. I did not know of them til I got another crazy email informing me that the crazy one had been making blog comments.

I did not hit the publish button on any of the crazy comments, because, well, because of that crazy thing.

Myself and others with whom I shared today's crazy outbreak are all in agreement that though totally crazy the crazy person has good reason to be being a bit unhinged and lashing out like a deranged, unhinged crazy person.

And we all feel real sorry for her. But she really needs to get a grip, calm down and quit acting so crazy.

Lawsuit Filed Regarding TRWD Election Shenanigans

Some of the shenanigans of the Tarrant Regional Water District Board are finally being dealt with.

Shenanigans like fiddling with elections. That type thing.

A pair of Tarrant Regional Residents, John Basham and Darlia Hobbs, have filed a lawsuit regarding the TRWD shenanigans.

Fort Worth Weekly has an article on this subject titled Residents Sue Tarrant Regional Water District.

That article contains a link to the lawsuit document. However, currently, that link in the FW Weekly article does not link to the correct file.

However, you can read the lawsuit document by clicking on the image you see in this blog post.

I suspect this lawsuit is not going to go well for the TRWD, no better than their recent failed foray into the United States Supreme Court....

Looking For A Missing Pink Poodle & Chinese Buffets With BBQ Chicken Pickled Ginger Pizza

Today I did not feel like driving anywhere to get myself some endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation, via walking, hiking or biking, due to the fact that I got myself plenty of endorphins mountain biking yesterday and this morning, swimming, before dawn til well after the sun arrived.

I needed an item one gets at a grocery store, so, with Albertsons being across the street, I walked there, but not fast enough to induce any endorphins.

On the way to Albertsons I came upon a missing poodle poster tacked to a pole. The photo of the missing poodle makes her appear to be pink, but the description says she is golden light brown. Maybe she looks pink in certain types of light.

Miss Puerto Rico refused to eat at a Chinese food buffet across the street from the pink poodle poster because she was convinced this restaurant was responsible for the area's missing dogs. Miss Puerto Rico is prone to irrational thinking and superstition. I think this may be a relic of her years of being an island girl.

The Chinese food buffet Miss Puerto Rico refused to eat at has been out of business for a year or more. This restaurant was originally called Super Asia Buffet, then around the time the Super Bowl came to town, well, the town to the east, the Super Asia Buffet changed its name to Super Bowl Buffet.

Very clever. And now it's gone.

The Super Bowl Buffet was my favorite Chinese food buffet of all those I have been to in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone.

A few weeks ago I realized I currently know of no Chinese food buffets. The original one I discovered soon after moving to Texas, the Great Wall in Bedford, has been closed for a long time.

A few years ago another Chinese buffet opened in Bedford, which I liked, but can not remember the name of. It closed soon after the economy tanked in 2008.

On Sunday I noticed that the Chinese buffet which opened a few years ago next to the Walmart Neighborhood Market in Pantego is no more. I never sampled that one.

There must still be Chinese food buffets in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Unknown to me.

All this Chinese food buffet talk has made me hungry. Time for lunch. BBQ chicken pickled ginger pizza. I'm experimenting...

Uneventful Mountain Biking In Gateway Park With A Green River & Pickled Ginger

I think I neglected to mention that yesterday I went mountain biking with the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

I likely neglected to mention yesterday's bike ride because it was uneventful, except for those always playful  Indian Ghosts.

Today's mountain bike ride in Gateway Park was also uneventful. And totally Indian Ghost-free.

As you can see, despite the drought, the Trinity River appears to be flowing with some sort of green liquid that may be water.

Meanwhile, down south, near Austin in the Hill Country region of Texas, the Texas Highland Lakes are drying up due to the Great Texas Drought.

We need the wet remnants of a hurricane, or two, soon.

Meanwhile, back at Gateway Park.

After I finished with 3 times around the mountain bike trail I was off to Town Talk to get cheese, tortillas and found myself a HUGE 5 pound jar of pickled ginger. I like pickled ginger. But, 5 pounds?

I guess I need to figure out how to make sushi...

Haltom City's Layla Caraway In Celebrity Trending News With Bruce Jenner

On August 10 I blogged about an advertisement I was surprised to find in Fort Worth Weekly which divulged details about Miss Layla Caraway which were previously unknown to me.

Now this afternoon I was surprised to learn that a website entity, Celebrity Balla, devoted to celebrities and their various shenanigans, had picked up on the Layla Caraway celebrity news in an article whose title you can see above in a screencap from the detailed article.

I did not know, til reading this new information, how strong the relationship is between Miss Caraway and Bruce Jenner. I knew Bruce's marriage to world class shrew, Kris Kardashian Jenner, was in trouble, with long suffering Bruce relegated to the garage.

I may have to set my DVR to record Keeping up with the Kardashians to see if Miss Layla Caraway shows up in that soap opera.

I know Miss Layla Caraway fairly well and I really truly do not understand where she finds the time to get herself in to these type celebrity situations.

Very perplexing....

A Blobfish Sent To Texas From The Pacific Northwest

This afternoon one of my emailers from up near the Canadian border emailed me the piece of art you see to the left and asked the question, "Remind you of anyone?"

Well, years ago I blogged about this very thing, asking the very same question, because this sea creature, known as a blobfish, does bear an uncanny resemblance to a particular Pacific Northwest land creature of dubious distinction and eventual extinction.

The ill-fated blobfish is also fated for extinction. The place blobfish call home is deep underwater off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania.

Just like the PNW land version of the blobfish, the Australian version is made up mostly of gelatinous tissue, with a mass slightly less than water. This allows the blobfish to float slightly above the sea floor without expending much energy. Basically the blobfish barely moves while it sits with its mouth open waiting for dinner to swim in.

Deep sea bottom trawling is what has the blobfish facing extinction.

I do not know if any blobfish have been successfully transferred to any of the world's aquariums. If I knew an aquarium had a blobfish, in house, I'd be prone to visiting.

Below is a collage of some of the blobfish images one sees when one Google's 'blobfish"..........

Has This Neurotic Crazy Houston Walmart Cop Been Fired & Sued?

The above video was YouTubed on April 2, 2012, around the same time the world became aware of the Treyvon Martin killing by rent-a-cop, George Zimmerman. The above incident happened at a Houston Walmart.

Watching the video I was appalled that anyone in any type of law enforcement position could be so blatantly ignorant as to what is okay and not okay for a cop to be doing. Yet this type dumb cop thing happens over and over again, all over America. What type training do cops receive? How do they get their cop license whilst being so ignorant about the basic right of citizens to be free from this type police abuse?

I gleaned 3 comments from the 100s upon 100s of reactions to what people saw in this video. The first comment is from a lawyer...

Whether he was motivated by race or not (which is really a guess, given the video), the officer was very much in the wrong. Without reasonable suspicion that they have committed a crime, he cannot force them to provide ID or detain them (see where he says they're not free to leave—this is false imprisonment). Further, his pulling of a taser and advancing is likely an assault (although not a battery). In short, if they want to take the officer to task, they could sue.

Does anyone know if the victims of this crime found themselves a lawyer who went after the cop, the security firm which hired him. And Walmart?

Another comment...

This is horrible and ridiculous!!! I worked as an officer several years ago and this is simply another instance where a coward with a badge is intimidated by young black men. I tell my college age sons often to avoid police & rent-a-cops when ever possible. Many security personnel are racists with authority issues and they profile young men of color. Anybody with good sense can see that he was out of line.

And this optimistic comment....

The security officer wanted to attack the young men with a taser and then proceed with a citizen's arrest, no doubt Walmart has not only had this guy fired from whatever security service they where using when he was posted at this specific location but I am sure they canceled their contract with the security company he worked with.

The above commenter assumed Truth, Justice and the American Way prevailed and that this cop was held accountable for his bad behavior.

I am not as optimistic.

Does anyone know what happened in this cop abuse case, post April 2, 2012?

Hiking With Maxine To A North Cascades Hidden Lake While In Texas

No, that is not yet one more view of Fort Worth's Tandy Hills you are looking at in the picture.

What you are looking at is Maxine, in front of Hidden Lake, that being that turquoise body of water, with some of the mountains of North Cascade National Park in the background.

This time of year Maxine goes on a hike, or two, every weekend, weather permitting.

When I got this Monday morning's weekend hiking report and read that Maxine had hiked to Hidden Lake I was not quite sure if I remembered which hike that one was, though it seemed familiar.

So, I looked at the webpage I'd made about the Cascade Mountains and saw the photo below and the accompanying text which clearly brought back the memory of the Hidden Lake Hike.

Maxine said when her hiking group reached the part of the hike that continued on up a pointy peak on which sits a lookout that only one hiker tried to reach the lookout, but gave up when vertigo caused too much dizziness.

Now, I am a bit acrophobic, but I do not remember hiking to that lookout to be at all vertigo inducing. But, it was likely 20 years go, give or take a year, that I last saw this location. It could have changed. Below is me, laying down on a granite slab, below the Hidden Lake lookout, in the same location as Maxine, above, albeit with me at a slightly higher elevation.

Maxine's other hike, this week, was to the Park Butte Lookout, accessed from Schrieber's Meadow on the south side of the Mount Baker volcano.

Well, getting to the Park Butte Lookout I do remember making me nervous, with being in the lookout being vertigo inducing, what with it perched on a pointy pinnacle, with a steep drop off on one side, which regularly haunts my nightmares. Then again, who knows how accurately I remember this? My nightmares about Park Butte may have altered the memory.

Anyway.

It strikes me as indicative of the sad state to which I have fallen, that today I went hiking on some rather nondescript hills, seeing scenery that, quite honestly, really is not all that scenic, while just a few years ago, when I lived in Washington, I could drive a few miles to the east and experience real mountains and scenery the likes of which you see above and go on an 8 mile round trip hike with a 3,400 foot elevation gain.

I really need to move back to Washington. Then again, there are many things I do like about Texas....

HPDATE: For detailed information about the Hidden Lake Trail hike go to the 10 Adventures North Cascades National Park Hidden Lake Trail article.