Another Saturday Tandy Hills Hoodoo Resurrection Before Going To Town Talk With Connie D

I was back on the Tandy Hills on this 3rd Saturday of the 2nd month of 2014 and once again I found the Tandy Hills Hoodoo has once again risen from the grave, making this latest iteration Tandy Hills Hoodoo IV.

Tandy Hills Hoodoo IV looks to be a bit tipsy, what with its biggest component being its midsection, with the base nearly as narrow as the top.

By tipsy I did not mean the use of the word which indicates alcoholic inebriation, but rather the meaning of the tipsy word which indicates some object appears to be a bit precarious, as in, easily tipped over.

Today I saw a greater number of Tandy Hills hill hikers than any other previous day, other than a Manly Men Wild Women day or a Prairie Fest day, those being days when the hills are infested with hikers.

I had three unleashed dog encounters today, from three different human contingents. All the dogs were friendly, but I really do not like getting dog swarmed when I am basking in the glow of endorphin bliss.

Saturday started off with an extremely salubrious hot tub hydrotherapy session that I think was of a vigorous enough nature that it went aerobic and thus induced some endorphins. Today's high speed hill hiking definitely induced more endorphins.

By the time I got to Town Talk, post-Tandy Hills, I was at an extremely high level of blissful endorphin sedation.

I expected to see Fort Worth's Connie D today at Town Talk due to an email I got last night from Facebook in which I was informed that Connie D  had mentioned me on Facebook, as follows...

Connie wrote: "Fun! I am running by Town Talk tomorrow if it kills me. I haven't been in a year and Durango Jones posts about what he gets have been driving me crazy."

Connie D's Facebook comment mentioning me and Town Talk was in reply to a Facebook post by Mr. Old where Mr. Old mentioned that for Valentine's Day Mr. and Mrs. Old had lunched at the new Waters seafood restaurant before going treasure hunting at Town Talk. The Olds are a very young couple for having such an old name.

As for Town Talk, I did not find Connie D among the treasures today.

I did not have much luck with the Town Talk treasure hunting today. I only got a couple blocks of sharp cheese, a bag of sirloin burgers, a bag of granola, a pack of chorizo and maybe a thing or two I am forgetting right now.

I may be back to check on the newly resurrected Tandy Hills Hoodoo tomorrow. Then again I feel drawn to the River Legacy Park mountain bike trails....

Dallas & Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggles

I know Fort Worth propaganda-izing history revisionists claim that the Fort Worth Trinity River Vision was coming into view before the Dallas version of the Trinity River Vision.

However, it was soon upon my arrival in Texas, in late 1998, that I became aware of the fact that Dallas voters had approved a Trinity River Vision Plan.

I think it may have been as late as early in the next century I was surprised to see a big headline on the front page of the Sunday edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram trumpeting something like "Trinity Uptown To Make Fort Worth the Vancouver of the South."

Huh? I remember saying to myself. It was not long before the "Vancouver of the South" propaganda was dropped.

Til this morning I did not realize the extent to which Dallas and Fort Worth are still sharing mutual Trinity River Visions, both of which, in various ways, are in boondoggle mode.

This morning, in the Dallas Observer print edition, in a blog article titled Dallas' Incredible Shrinking Lakes I learned that the Dallas' Vision's lakes, which I previously thought were big, have shrunk to pond size, just like Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision's little pond.

Below is part of what you will read in the Dallas Observer's Dallas' Incredible Shrinking Lakes article...

White Rock Lake, just for grins, is 1,015 acres. Based on what I heard yesterday, the Trinity River lakes we voted for in downtown in 1998, when finally built, will be one lake, 20 acres, 10 feet deep.

Oh, and the money for it is mostly gone. Even to dig the 20-acre thing -- pretty much what people in West Texas call a cattle tank -- the money will have to be filched from other accounts.

But the money for that toll road on top of the river, the one that will cut off downtown from all the parks they're supposed to build? Goin' strong. Don't worry about that money, man. It's in the bank.

Those are the main take-aways from a City Council committee meeting yesterday on the status of the Trinity River project. Yeah, 20 acres, a lake small enough that it could be closed by one family with diarrhea, not to be gross about it, but you get what I mean. Not a lake. A pond. In July a body of water that small and that shallow in downtown Dallas Texas is basically a saucepan.

May I share with you the part that I found sort of hilarious? Originally we were supposed to have more like 300 acres of water in three small conjoined lakes along the Trinity, but you have to remember that those lakes were designed in two phases.

First they were designed on a napkin by a political ad agency in 1998 trying to think of some shit they could put in the TV ads to get people to vote for a toll road that nobody needed or wanted. In the second, later design phase, the lakes were redesigned by former Dallas Observer columnist and Mayor Laura Miller for something she called "The Balanced Vision Plan," evoking a quality for which she was not known here.

Since then, according to yesterday's briefing before the council's Transportation and Trinity River Project Committee, some actual engineers have been looking into it, and they found out four things:

1. The old bridges across the river have piers that sit on mud instead of going down to bedrock, so if you dig out a lake around them the bridges will fall down (not good).
2. If the lakes get any closer to the river than 200 feet, the federal government will require the city to build actual dams between the lakes and the river at huge expense (not possible).
3. If you dig deeper than 10 feet anywhere in the river bed, you punch through the clay cap and get into sand, and all the water will leak out as fast as you put it in (shit).
4. There's no water anyway. The river doesn't have enough water in the summer; the lakes will evaporate; you have to fill them from water wells; the wells cost $1 million apiece.

Happy Dysfunctional Valentine's Day From Texas

I saw that which you see on the left on Facebook a couple minutes ago, courtesy of Tootsie Tonasket, aka Aunt Alice.

It amused me.

I thought the "U SOUND LIKE UR MOTHER" and the "OK 4 YOUR AGE" hearts were the most amusing.

I was listening to the radio this morning, The Bert Show on 102.9 FM. One of the male members of The Bert Show has been whining about Valentine's Day all week, opining it is not a real holiday, but instead a Hallmark manufactured holiday in which he chooses not to participate.

So, the other members of The Bert Show's cast sort of ganged up on the anti-Valentine's Day guy, including bringing Bert's kid into the ongoing psy-oping of the anti-Valentine's Day guy.

The anti-Valentine's Day guy's argument against Valentine's Day was that he showed his love muffin how much he loved her all year long, that making a special fuss on a manufactured holiday was just unseemly and unnecessary.

I am paraphrasing. It's not like I was taking notes.

Anyway, the only part of the anti-Valentine's Day guy's argument which seemed a bit bogus to me was the claim that it was a holiday manufactured by Hallmark.

Maybe the anti-Valentine's Day guy was just using Hallmark as a catchall for the entire give a gift on a special occasion industry.

I remember, decades ago, in grade school, on Valentine's Day, everyone would make a big envelope by stapling two pieces of construction paper together. Classmates would then stick Valentines into the big envelopes.

If my memory is serving me correctly it seems like we made the Valentine cards ourselves from more of that aforementioned construction paper. I don't remember buying any sort of Valentine card of the Hallmark sort. I don't think I would have willingly spent any of my very meager allowance on such a thing.

And now, decades later, I still do not willingly spend any of my very meager allowance on Valentine's Day cards....

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....