Rolling My Wheels Past Arlington's Interlochen Canals Wondering About Fort Worth's Phantom Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Canals

My handlebars and the rest of my bike took me on a tour of Arlington's Interlochen neighborhood today.

Those would be the aforementioned handlebars you are looking at in the photo, pointing towards one of the Interlochen canals.

Seeing the scenic Interlochen canals always brings the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle to mind.

Are canals still part of the plan for the TRV Boondoggle? I have no idea.

If canals are part of the Vision, does anyone have any idea when one might be seeing the Vision's canals?

How come I don't ever hear of anyone but me wondering why there is no timeline completion schedule type information regarding the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle of the sort that existed for previous public works projects I have witnessed in parts of America that operate like a full functioning democracy where the people get to vote on the public works projects they pay for?

Changing the subject from boondoggles to something else.

Today was my first successful bike ride of the new year. An extremely windy bike ride. It  felt good to be back rolling the wheels of a non-motorized device.

The current forecast is for day after day after day of temperatures in the 70s and 80s. I suspect there will be some more bike rides in my immediate future. That and maybe some actual pool time.

This Morning I Learned I Do Not Belong In Texas

This morning I learned from Nurse Martha, via Facebook, that, apparently, I belong in Massachusetts, a state which I have never visited.

I learned this on a website called buzzfeed.com by making some choices on a page titled What State Do You Actually Belong In?

The choices were a list of items in picture form, like which baby do you prefer. Which actor? Which scenery? Which TV show? Which movie quote? Stuff like that.

How my answers led me to Massachusetts is a mystery to me.

However, the final summing up, the screencap of which you see above, was spookishly accurate, describing me as tough as nails and not afraid to tell people what I really think. And that this particular trait can work for or against me at times, but that really does not matter because, apparently, I am a unique person who does not care what others think. I am also as humble as I am rambunctious and could maybe beat Connecticut in a fist fight.

I don't recollect ever being in a fist fight before. A bitch slap, or two, or three, yes. But no fist fights....

Enjoying A Warm Fort Worth Fosdick Lake Fosduck Tortilla Feeding Frenzy

Fosduck Flax Seed Blue Corn Tortilla Feeding Frenzy

I was not the only one having a mighty fine time today walking around Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park.

In addition to humans enjoying the relatively balmy weather the Fosducks were seeming particularly quack happy today.

I brought flax seed blue corn tortillas with me today to feed the Fosducks. I did not much care for these tortillas and worried the Fosducks might also have an aversion.

Instead of an aversion the flax seed blue corn tortillas pretty much caused a feeding frenzy, quickly drawing in ducks from all corners of Fosdick Lake.

Previously, when I fed the Fosducks pieces of whole wheat bread, they seemed almost to treat that treat with disdain. Certainly not a feeding frenzy.

The fact that the Fosducks went ravenous over the flax seed blue corn tortillas had me pondering if maybe the Fosducks were illegal alien ducks, flying from Mexico across the border, without proper paperwork, with tortillas seeming more like the native food they were used to, than gringo whole wheat bread.

Anyway, I was quite pleased to be back in the outer world attired in shorts and t-shirt without getting cold.

The next few days are supposed to get borderline hot. As in the 70s, maybe low 80s. Methinks I shall be doing some high speed Tandy Hills hill hiking for the next several days.

A Hot Tub Hydrotherapy Session With Beef & Biscuit

In the photo you are standing with me on my patio viewing platform on the outer world from whence I am zooming in on the location of my hot tub hydrotherapy on this Thursday the 13th, day before Valentine's Day, on another blue sky morning in North Texas.

Due to freeze related issues I had not had a hot tub hydrotherapy session for several days. Without hydrotherapy the outer world frigidity causes my aged joints to ache.

The hot tub hydrotherapy quickly abated my aching joint woe this morning.

Due to the return of normal weather I was feeling sort of gungho to have myself some high speed Tandy Hills hill hiking today. Then I thought that it might take a day or two of not freezing for the Tandy Hills to dry up. And so I think I will do  some faux hill hiking at Oakland Lake Park today and hope to remember to bring the Fosducks some duck food.

Changing the subject to something else.

Decades ago whilst I was preparing to leave home to go to college my mom insisted I learn a few skills. Like  ironing. I never actually used that ironing skill, so that lesson from mom was not needed.

The skill I did end up having a use for was learning the basics of cooking.

Mom thought it a good idea for me to learn how to make four basic recipes. Of those four I only remember three of them. Beef Stroganoff, Sweet and Sour Chicken.

And Beef & Biscuit.

I have not made Beef & Biscuit for decades.

A couples weeks ago I was talking to my Arizona sister when she made mention of the fact that Beef & Biscuit was on her Super Bowl Party menu.

Being reminded of Beef & Biscuit and totally not remembering how to make it had me asking my sister for directions. The directions were fairly simple. One of the absolutely necessary ingredients is a green pepper. I acquired three green peppers on my last visit to Town Talk.

And so, this morning I've done the prep work for making Beef & Biscuit. Only my version is Turkey & Biscuit.

Lunch should be tasty today. If you've been invited, don't be late...

Blue Sky Returns To A No Longer Freezing Texas

After day after day after day of gray, as you can see, via the view from my patio viewing platform, blue has returned to my location on the planet, along with an outer world heated to above freezing.

My SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) mood should soon dissipate.

I hope.

Due to the outer world still freezing when the sun came up this morning I once again aborted my regularly scheduled, much needed, hot tub hydrotherapy session.

Miss Puerto Rico is due to return today. She made it to San Juan yesterday, hoping to get out of town early by waiting on standby, hoping to not get stuck in today's ice disaster freezing up the southern part of the east coast.

However, Miss Puerto Rico was not able to get out on an earlier flight, and so had to spend the night in a San Juan airport hotel, inside the security perimeter, thus not easily able to have a fun night on the town.

Miss Puerto Rico's route back to D/FW goes from San Juan to Miami,  then a plane switch to get to Orlando, then another plane switch back to D/FW, with arrival on the ground in Texas scheduled for just before 5 this afternoon. I suspect flight delays will have Miss Puerto Rico returning much later than she hoped to return.

Which means I remain on cat sitting duty til further notice.

Speaking of flying somewhere.

Mr. and Mrs. Galtex are back in the air, heading to Portugal again. Seems like they just got back from Portugal, because, well, they did just get back from Portugal.

I have noticed that more often than not when the Galtex's leave town the sky turns blue. I suspect this is just some sort of freak coincidence.

But, I have also noticed that more often than not when the Galtex's return to town the sky turns gray, usually for a short duration. Again, likely just some sort of freak coincidence.

I called my mom yesterday to lament my SAD condition. Mom  told me that today the Phoenix zone is predicted to get into the 90s today, breaking the temperature record. I told my mom her temperature bragging was unseemly. Mom told me she was not bragging, just stating facts.

Are the record breaking temperatures in Arizona why we are warming up here in the way too often Arctic-like Texas?

I hope it lasts....

Seattle's Big Bertha Boondoggle vs. Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle

What you are looking at on the left is part of a tunnel which a machine nicknamed Bertha is boring under downtown Seattle.

Bertha came to a grinding halt a couple months ago. And then when she finally began grinding again, four feet later she overheated and stopped again.

And now Bertha has been grounded for what may be months due to problems with clogged clutter heads and a damaged main bearing seal.

Are we now at the point where this $3.1 billion project might be referred to as Seattle's Big Bertha Boondoggle?

Some are already comparing the Seattle project to Boston's notorious Big Dig Boondoggle whose original $2.8 billion dollar cost ended up being $22 billion.

The current state of Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel replacement project and its current potential boondoggle status got me comparing Seattle's Big Bertha Boondoggle to Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

I would guess that the Seattle project will fairly quickly get back on track and out of its current boondogglishness. As you can see, the Seattle tunnel project has already resulted in some impressive engineering, already having tunneled one-tenth of the tunnel's 1.7 mile distance, before Bertha stopped.

The Seattle tunnel boring only began in the last year, and already one sees more accomplished than well over a decade of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

The Seattle tunnel project addresses an actual serious problem. That being the fact that the Alaskan Way Viaduct could collapse in an earthquake, causing great loss of life. The Alaskan Way Viaduct was badly damaged by the Nisqually Earthquake, earlier this century.

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle was originally propagandized as being a much needed flood control project, to protect downtown Fort Worth from a flooding Trinity River, by building an un-needed flood diversion channel, so that levees built over half a century ago, could be taken down.

So, unlike the Seattle tunnel project addressing fixing a real problem, the Fort Worth TRV Boondoggle addresses a non-existent problem, because downtown Fort Worth has not flooded in over a half a century, due to the protection afforded by those aforementioned levees.

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle is also an economic development project, developing a blighted area north of downtown Fort Worth with a little lake, maybe some canals, housing, restaurants, other commercial developments, plus one of the world's premiere waterfront music venues, along with this century's first drive-in movie theater and summer time's Rockin' the River Inner Tube Happy Hour Floats on the pristine Trinity River.

Seattle's Alaskan Viaduct Replacement Project also has some economic development aspects. Such as upgrading the Seattle waterfront's seawall along with taking down the Alaskan Way Viaduct, opening up an area for a new waterfront promenade.

I wonder which town's massive public works projects will be completed first? I wonder which town's massive public works project will be successful? I wonder which town's massive public works project will get national and international attention of the positive sort? I wonder which town's public works project might gain lasting fame as a classic boondoggle?

I bet you can guess what my answers to the above questions would be.

Spencer Jack Sees Dean's Pies Instead Of Seeing Dick & Jane Run

This morning in my incoming email I saw incoming from Spencer Jack's dad, he being my favorite nephew, Jason, with the message in the email saying....

Spencer Jack's first grade reading assignment was to read the book "Dean's Pies". He learned that people named "Dean" dream of eating a lot of different types of pies.

So, what's the big deal about this Dean guy dreaming of pies and this book being Spencer Jack's reading assignment?

Well, those who know me well know my full name is Durango Dean Jones, with those who know me well usually referring to me as Dean, not as Durango.

Then again, it is also true that those who know me well sometimes also refer to me as Durango, or Durango Dean, or Mr. D.

As evidenced by this "Dean's Pies" book it would appear that first grade literature has evolved from the seeing Dick chasing Jane up a hill type books I read as a first grader.

I don't think I reached such an elevated reading level, as Spencer Jack's, til I was at least in 4th grade.

The text on the two pages Spencer Jack is holding up for us is...

Dean lies in bed. He dreams of pies. He dreams of apple pies, peach pies, and cherry pies. He dreams of cream pies, custard pies, and lemon pies. He dreams of pickle pies, carrot pies, and bean pies.

Pickle pies, carrot pies and bean pies? This particular Dean has never heard of those three type pies. The pickle pie sounds particularly disgusting.

Spencer Jack's book's Dean should be also dreaming about blackberry pie, rhubarb pie and key lime pie, because those are some of this particular Dean's favorite pies....

Another Special Weather Statement With Freezing Rain & Snow Again Falling On North Texas

This morning my computer based weather monitoring device is flashing red. I clicked on the flashing red to see the dreaded "SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT" announcement.

I clicked on the "SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT" to learn that the National Weather Service is once again predicting incoming icy cold, this time coming in from Nevada.

Last week the weather predictors missed the mark on their prediction, with the predicted snow falling in amounts more copious than predicted, resulting in extremely slippery roads, which were not predicted.

So, even though the forecasters are forecasting just a little sleet along with a little snow, with only a fraction of an inch accumulating, with most roadways and city streets remaining warm enough to remain wet, I am going to assume the forecasters may be off in their forecast, once again, and so I will refrain from driving anywhere tomorrow, lest I find myself in a repeat of last week's slippery icy scare.

Below is the aforementioned SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT....

...LIGHT WINTRY PRECIPITATION WILL AFFECT NORTH AND CENTRAL TEXAS MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING...

AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING THROUGH NEVADA THIS MORNING WILL MOVE ACROSS THE ROCKIES TODAY AND ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS LATE TUESDAY. AS TEMPERATURES FALL BELOW FREEZING TONIGHT AND SPREAD SOUTHWARD...A MIXTURE OF LIGHT FREEZING RAIN AND LIGHT SLEET IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP NORTH OF A COMANCHE TO EMORY LINE. AFTER MIDNIGHT AREAS SOUTH OF THIS LINE WILL SEE LIGHT RAIN BECOME MIXED OR CHANGE OVER TO LIGHT FREEZING RAIN.

ON TUESDAY MORNING...TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE REGION WILL BE BELOW FREEZING AND LIGHT FREEZING RAIN WILL BECOME MIXED WITH OR CHANGE OVER TO LIGHT SLEET. SOME LIGHT SNOW WILL ALSO FALL ALONG THE RED RIVER VALLEY ON TUESDAY MORNING WITH SNOWFALL AMOUNTS AROUND ONE TENTH OF AN INCH POSSIBLE. AS TEMPERATURES WARM TO OR ABOVE FREEZING ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON...THE PRECIPITATION WILL BECOME A MIX OF LIGHT RAIN...LIGHT SNOW OR LIGHT SLEET NORTH OF A LAMPASAS TO CENTERVILLE LINE. ON TUESDAY EVENING...THE WINTRY PRECIPITATION WILL BE ENDING WEST TO EAST AND SHOULD MOVE OUT OF THE REGION BY MIDNIGHT.

PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE LIGHT DURING THIS EVENT...BUT WILL BE ENOUGH TO CAUSE A LIGHT GLAZING OF A FEW HUNDREDTHS OF AN INCH MAINLY ELEVATED SURFACES SUCH AS BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES. ALTHOUGH MOST ROADWAYS AND CITY STREETS WILL REMAIN JUST WARM ENOUGH TO REMAIN WET...THOSE ALONG AND NORTH OF THE I-20 CORRIDOR MAY BECOME ICY AND HAZARDOUS WHERE ROADS HAVE TIME TO CHILL TO OR BELOW FREEZING.
PLEASE STAY TUNED TO LATER WEATHER FORECASTS...AS SUBTLE CHANGES IN UPSTREAM SYSTEM BEHAVIOR CAN PRODUCE CHANGES IN THE DETAILS OF THE FORECAST.

A Cold Texas Bike Ride To Check In On Miss Puerto Rico's Jeep & Jalapeno Cheese Cornbread

Those are my bike's handlebars parked in front of Miss Puerto Rico's Jeep that you are looking at in the picture.

Today I decided to try and get myself some aerobic stimulation with its resultant endorphins via a bike ride around my neighborhood, hence part of the bike ride passing by Miss Puerto Rico's Jeep.

My morning hot tub hydrotherapy session went well. I sort of enjoyed getting my hydrotherapy in a gloomy foggy mist. A gloomy foggy mist always adds good atmospherics.

The bike ride did not go as well as the foggy hydrotherapy.

Too cold.

I had several layers covering several areas, but any area left exposed, cheeks for example, got way too cold. I only rolled my bike wheels a mile or two before deciding I really did not need any additional endorphins today.

And now changing the subject back to the aforementioned Jeep.

I had never ridden in or driven a Jeep before experiencing Miss Puerto Rico's. Upon first riding exposure it took me about a minute to wonder why anyone would want one of these noisy contraptions. And then on my first summer HOT ride in the Jeep I asked why the A/C was not on, to find myself being told that the Jeep does not have A/C.

Who buys a vehicle in this climate without A/C? Who sells a vehicle in this climate without A/C?

All the time Miss Puerto Rico has had the Jeep she has not switched it into 4 wheel drive mode. She is always saying she wants to go off roading somewhere where the 4 wheel drive mode would be used. I have suggested a location or two, but nothing ever comes of it. I think the furthest this Jeep has ever traveled is Dallas.

I must go make lunch now, something to warm me up, as in jalapenos and cheese cornbread with chili on top. That should warm me up....

A Warm Walk In Fort Worth's Quanah Parker Park Before Finding Mango Coconut Yogurt

I parked at the Quanah Parker Park parking lot on my way to Town Talk today and had myself a mighty fine walk for the first time in a few days.

Since I was walking at Quanah Parker Park that would make the body of water you see in the picture the Trinity River.

The Trinity River was flowing so clear today I could see the river bottom as the water flowed slowly by. But, I saw no fish or any other living creature swimming in the temporarily clear water.

Today I was not the only person at Quanah Parker Parker enjoying the respite from our recent visitor from the frigid north.

Town Talk was back to its Saturday norm, number of shoppers-wise, from last Saturday's pre-Super Bowl frenzy.

The most interesting thing I found today at Town Talk was a case of mango-coconut yogurt. That flavor combo sounds good to me. I also got a case of strawberry Power yogurt. Power yogurt is real thick, Greek-like, loaded with protein, hence the power-ful name.

Since it is currently being relatively warm in the outer world I think I'll go over to Miss Puerto Rico's to attend to my cat-sitting duty and to sit outside enjoying Miss Puerto Rico's elevated view of the world.