The Thunderclouds Have Gone Away So Connie D Can Come Over For A Swim

This afternoon both my computer based and phone based weather monitoring devices were repeatedly advising me that I was being threatened by a Severe Thunderstorm.

But, when I looked out any of my viewing portals on the outer world all I saw was blue sky.

Around five I decided to exit my abode and walk up to Albertsons. At the point when I finally had a clear view east I saw the HUGE thundercloud you see here, looking towards Dallas across the Albertsons parking lot.

I could hear distant rumbling, but saw no lightning bolts.

That big, expanding mushroom cloud scene was repeated in several locations as I panned the horizon, as best I could, from my still partly obstructed view.

Yesterday's potential inclement weather, with its lightning potential, caused me to feel the need to rescind a swimming invite I'd made earlier in the afternoon to Connie D.

This morning Connie D. text messaged me and I got the idea she was wanting another swimming invite. And so I texted Connie D. back, telling her that she could come by for a swim today if she wanted to.

Connie D.'s text message reply really did not make a lot of sense to me, texting "Ha ha ha. You crack me up."

What is that supposed to mean?

I just realized I need to clarify that this is not the Fort Worth Connie D. wanting to go swimming with me, it is the Tacoma Connie D. we are talking about.

That is the Tacoma Connie D. you are looking at on the left. The way I tell the two Connie D.'s apart is the Tacoma Connie D. is a blonde, whilst the Fort Worth Connie D. is not a blonde.

Both my weather monitoring devices have now dropped the thunderstorming warnings, now reporting that it is sunny in Fort Worth.

It has been sunny in Fort Worth all day for me today. Except when I was in Arlington...

This Morning I Thought About Hunting Easter Eggs With Spencer Jack Before Thinking About Sitting On A Lonely Bench

This morning when I woke up my computer prior to going for my regularly scheduled swim I found in my email inbox email from Spencer Jack's dad with pictures of Spencer Jack hunting Easter Eggs at his Very Special Aunt Clancy's sprawling estate in Kent.

That would be Kent, Washington, not Kent, England.

The pictures were not accompanied by any explanatory text, leaving me to guess as to what I was looking at, and whom.

I can see Spencer is carrying a bag with his name on it. I assume this is where he is putting the eggs he finds. I am guessing Spencer has spotted an egg in the tree and is trying to reach it.

Another picture showed a lot of artificial eggs with money strewn about. Apparently the eggs were stuffed with cash.

April of 2006 was the last time I was at an Easter Egg Hunt at Spencer Jack's Very Special Aunt Clancy's. There were no kids in attendance. I think the youngest person there was well into their 30s. Yet Aunt Clancy insisted on subjecting us to an Easter Egg Hunt. However, and this is the type thing which makes Spencer Jack's Aunt Clancy Very Special, the Egg Hunters had to take off their shoes and put on special footwear.

I was the only one to opt out of participating in this.

Changing the subject from Spencer Jack's Easter Egg Hunting with his Very Special Aunt Clancy to something else.

I have been staying off my bike ever since I hurt my knee in a nightmare related incident last week, til today.

I rolled my mechanized vehicular transport device to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area in Arlington to find out if my knee could handle rolling my bike's wheels.

Judging from the fact that the pedaling was pain free I think I have recovered from my latest nightmare injury.

Changing the subject from my knee to the bench you see in the picture.

I think I've heard a country music song about there being nothing lonelier than an empty bench. Then again, that sounds ridiculous. Then again, once again, many country music songs are a bit ridiculous so maybe I did hear a country song about a lonely bench.

Anyway, in parks in Texas I see a lot of benches. Usually lonely benches with no one sitting on them. The lonely bench you see above, that my handlebars are aimed at, sits a bit off the Bob Findlay Linear Park's paved trail that one comes to as one leaves the Village Creek Natural Historical Area and enters the Interlochen zone.

Easter With A Crowd At Oakland Lake Park Pondering The Make Fort Worth Livable Initiative

For the third year in a row part of Easter, for me, has been driving to Oakland Lake Park in East Fort Worth to walk around Fosdick Lake and be impressed by all the big family units and their Easter BBQ Picnic setups, many hauling in big wood burning smokers, along with tables and chairs.

And music. Lots of music. Very cheerful sounding music that I think originates south of the border.

Today marked the first time I've seen any sort of food vendor vending in Oakland Lake Park. The vendor seemed to be doing a lot of vending. As I walked around Fosdick Lake I came upon an unopened bag of pork rinds which was not of your usual commercial variety. I assumed they'd fallen from the food vendor's vending apparatus. I picked up the bag and gave it to a girl sitting solo at a picnic table, guarding her family unit's Easter picnic setup.

A short while later I saw the food vendor pushing his cart on the opposite side of the lake. That is that scene you are seeing below.

To the right of the picnic table you see above I saw the scene you see below, that being a group sitting on the ledge of the park's picnic pavilion watching a barbecuer barbecue. All that barbecue smoke wafting about today would have made me hungry had I not been overfilled by this morning's whole wheat pancakes & scrambled eggs breakfast.

As you can see below, by looking at Fosdick Fountain, wind is doing some gusting today. Blowing from the south. This had a slight mist hitting me as I crossed Fosdick Dam. I thought rain was beginning to do its predicted fall til I came to the view of the fountain you see here and saw a gust blowing mist towards Fosdick Dam.

If you look carefully at the far middle right of the above picture you will see someone has set up a tent. There is no camping in Oakland Lake Park. I suspect the tented person got drenched in last Easter's downpour and came prepared this year with a water-proof covering.

Below you see the solo girl I mentioned earlier, to whom I gave the bag of fallen pork rinds. To her right a guy is fishing for fish you are advised not to eat.

And finally we come to one of the collection of outhouses which were moved in for this very special Easter occasion. I mentioned a couple days ago on a previous blogging seeing park workers dropping off extra outhouses.

I also mentioned in that previous blogging how ironic I find it that the town some easily duped locals believe to be the Most Livable City in America, has city parks with no modern restroom facilities, and no running water of the potable, drink and wash your hands sort.

To my simple mind, parks without restrooms and running water are sort of like allowing restaurants to operate without restrooms and running water.

That same simple mind of mine thinks Fort Worth should have itself some sort of Make Fort Worth Livable Initiative. You know, a public works project which the public actually gets to vote on and which actually does something that helps the general public, like adding restrooms and running water to Fort Worth's parks and sidewalks to Fort Worth's roads, you know, like most livable cities did decades ago.....

The Tarrant Regional Water District's 2013 Annual Propaganda Report

I think it was a week ago I opened my mailbox to discover the eagerly anticipated Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's 2014 Spring Update.

And now, this Easter morning, I opened my mailbox to find the equally eagerly anticipated Tarrant Regional Water District Annual Report 2013.

Four months into 2014 and we're getting the eagerly anticipated TRWD 2013 Annual Report?

I eagerly anticipated that this particular report would be a bonanza of propaganda. The first paragraph let me know I would not be disappointed...

"Thank you for taking the time to read the 2013 TRWD Board Report. Our board and district staff have been working diligently over the last year to ensure the Water District's service area has ample water to sustain its rapid growth, strong levees and dams to protect us from devastating floods and excellent recreational facilities that promote a healthy, active lifestyle."

Reading through the entire propaganda piece I read nothing about what the TRWD Board has done to protect the people of Haltom City from that town's creeks when they go into devastating killer flash flood mode.

There is no mention in the TRWD Annual Report regarding the Board thwarting the efforts of fellow TRWD Board Member Mary Kelleher's attempts to examine TRWD records and documents.

I have long opined that I wish someone would examine the TRWD records and documents that cover the TRWD Board's decision to hire Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger's son, J.D., to be the Executive Director of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. J.D. went from being an assistant prosecutor to running a construction project, with his only qualification seeming to be that his mother is Kay Granger.

Yes, I now understand that nepotism is an accepted part of doing public business the Fort Worth Way, but it still sort of galls me.

Speaking of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, (and who isn't?) part of that boondoggle is taking down the levees that have kept a large part of the Central Fort Worth zone safe from floods for well over half a century. The levees were built to contain the Trinity River after a massive flood wreaked havoc in the early 1950s.

Currently three bridges are scheduled to be built over an unbuilt bypass channel through which future floods may flow, thus allowing the removal of the levees which have done the job assigned to them for decades.

In the page in the TRWD 2013 Annual Report about Flood Control, like I already said, there is no mention made of anything being done to mitigate the Haltom City flood threat, but almost half the Report's Flood Control page was taken up by that which you see below.

The text explaining the above photo says, "LaGrave Field in Fort Worth, after massive flooding tested the floodway levees in the 1950s."

Huh? And the point here is? What?

I am assuming this is a photo of the flood which resulted in the building of the massive levees one sees now by LaGrave Field.

So, really, what information is being imparted by including this photo and its accompanying text in this TRWD 2013 Annual Report?

Another page in the TRWD 2013 Annual Report is titled Reverse Litter.

You have likely already seen the billboards touting the TRWD's new anti-litter plan, those being those billboards asking people to make the pledge to pick up ten pieces of litter each Tuesday.

Yes, that sounds like a very effective anti-litter plan, likely to appeal to those who actually don't litter. A more effective anti-litter plan might be to induce the litterers to cease with their littering ways. I understand in some states one can get fined for driving down a road with a pickup full of litter with a trail of litter flying from ones truck bed.

How much did this slick, full color 12 page report cost the taxpayers to publish and mail, I can't help but wonder? Only about half the publication is actual propaganda verbiage, the other half  is photos and graphics.

How come no mention was made in the TRWD 2013 Annual Report regarding the lawsuit the TRWD lost whilst trying to get water from Oklahoma? That particular TRWD bit of business was a supreme bit of embarrassment in 2013. And yet no mention in the Annual Report.....

Walking On My Wounded Knee With Arlington's Village Creek Indian Ghosts The Day Before Easter

If looking at the picture on the left you guessed you were looking at two kids playing on the snake infested log/litter jam on the down creek side of one of the Village Creek dam bridge crossings in Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area, you would be guessing correctly.

My right knee is still in recovery mode, slowly hurting less after taking a strong hit in a middle of the night battle with my bedroom's wall.

And so, with knee pain remaining intermittent, I opted to take a sedate stroll with the Indian ghosts today.

I do not recollect seeing so many people out and about in the Village Creek zone, previously, as what I saw today.

Bikers, walkers, picnickers, butterfly hunters, lots of dogs, adult tricycles, wildflower photographers, fishermen and women.

Plus one sad scene of a young girl rolling on wheels which belonged in a roller rink, as in, not outdoor friendly inline roller blades, but instead those indoor type skates with four wheels on each skate, arranged like wheels on a car. The young girl was not having an easy time of it, trying to roll those wheels on a paved trail.

Spring has now sprung enough that walking through the Village Creek Natural Area is back seeming like walking through a jungle. Or what I imagine a jungle walk to look like, since I have never actually walked in a jungle, that I know of.  Do rainforests count as a jungle? I've walked in many a rainforest.

I walked to the Blue Bayou Overlook. Then when I was done looking over the Blue Bayou I walked back from whence I came (from whence I came? I'm not sure that makes sense, but it sounds right to me) and saw the scene you see below.

A small family appearing to be stranded on an island in Village Creek. I hope they make it off the island before the next flash flood arrives.

Soon after I left that small family stranded on a Village Creek island I was passed by what you see below.

An adult tricycle. The tricycle you see here was the last in a group of three. It takes me a moment or two to get my camera turned on.

I pedaled a recumbent tricycle once, years ago, back in August of 2001, at Ocean Shores in my old home state of Washington. The Ocean Shores version was more of a mountain bike trike, designed to pedal on the beach.

I have absolutely nothing planned for Easter besides the usual possible sunrise service. I don't think that has actually happened since some point in time in the last century when I agreed to go to an Easter sunrise service with my mom  and dad, at Roozengaarde, that being Tulip Central in the Skagit Flats. I do not remember much about this occasion except for it being cold. And maybe going to the Farmhouse Inn for breakfast afterwards.

Tomorrow morning I am planning on making whole wheat crepes and scrambled eggs with ham, but I'm not sure that counts as an Easter thing, even though eggs are involved....

Today Via Queen V I Learned I Am A Coyote

In the past  month or two, over and over again, on Facebook, there have been these postings telling me that a person is this, that or the other thing, in some special area. Then imploring me to find out what this, that or the other thing, I am, in some special area.

It can be what color are you? What animal are you? What country are you? What body part are you? What mythical character are you? What actor are you? What political figure of the past are you? What Loony Tunes character are you?

That question was today's. I  found out I am the Loony Tunes character, Wile E. Coyote. I was sure I would be Bugs Bunny.

The explanation as to why I am Wile E. Coyote was as follows...

You're pretty smart and always have really great ideas. They don't usually work out, but hey, that's better than no ideas at all, isn't it? You also have a special gift - the ability to walk in mid-air without falling (until you realize you're walking on nothing, and then it's bye bye)

Like I said to Queen V, she being the party who posted this particular Loony Tune post, this is just uncanny. How could this Loony Tune thing so accurately nail me with just a few simple questions? Spooky.

So far, by taking these tests I have learned I am brown, a pig, Canada, an eye, someone known as Captain Crazy, Brad Pitt, Woodrow Wilson and today, Wile E. Coyote.

The science behind this is amazing....

Good Friday Finding Fosdick Lake Sea Monsters While Seeking Modern Facilities In Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park Before Easter

The quintet of turtles you are looking at here are basking in the sun in Fosdic Lake in Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park.

Well, I am assuming the turtles are doing some sun basking, but it also looks like this could be some sort of group mating session. I'm not sure what a turtle mating session would look like. I suppose I could solve that mystery with a little info-searching.

Fosdick Lake was a cheery shade of green today, a color which you can see  reflected on the shiny back of the turtle on the left.

The Fosdick turtles were greatly outnumbered by another species today in Oakland Lake Park, with that species being humans. I am assuming that since this is Easter weekend, schools are out, hence the large number of kids and parental units frolicking in the park on this Good Friday.

While I was taking the above turtle photo a mom passed by me with her little boy, with the little boy pointing to the turtles and asking his mom if those were sea monsters. The mother told her little boy they were turtles. I then told the little boy's mom that I was pretty sure they were sea monsters, not turtles. This seemed to greatly please the little boy, that he was seeing sea monsters.

I brought a bag of corn tortillas with me today to feed the fosducks. But, I think they were remembering not liking the whole wheat tortillas I threw at them a few days ago, because there was zero interest in my tortillas. In fact it was active dis-interest, in that rather than even look at that which I was throwing at them, the fosducks simply turned their backs on me and waddled off, quacking their disapproval as they waddled.

I shan't be bringing these ungrateful ducks any treats from this day forward.

In other Fort Worth park news.

Extra outhouses were being deposited today. I saw this both at Oakland Lake Park and Quanah Parker Park.

On Sunday, that being Easter, both parks, and other parks in Fort Worth, will be busy with a lot of picnicking and barbecuing. Hence the extra outhouses.

Now, I know you who do not live in Fort Worth and who know that Fort Worth is widely believed (by some deluded locals) to be the Most Livable City in America, must be wondering how it is that a city which is so incredibly livable can have city parks without modern restroom facilities?

Let alone potable water.

Well, that particular puzzlement has puzzled me ever since I started experiencing this part of the planet. I used to describe Fort Worth's primitive park facilities as getting to have a Third World type experience without the expense and hassle of leaving America.

But, the lack of modern facilities in their parks does not seem to bother the locals or the local public health officials. One would think it would be considered unsanitary to have picnic facilities in parks without running water.

Changing the subject from outhouses to aching knees.

I have been taking it easy the past few days, so my injured knee can recover from the nightmare incident where I kicked my bedroom wall in the middle of the night. I wanted to ride my bike at Gateway Park today, but opted for the more sedate walk with the Fosdick turtles. I've amped up the no-stress to the joints swimming in the morning to compensate for being more sedate the rest of the day.

I decided to go to Town Talk today and skip my regularly scheduled Saturday Town Talk visit. I suspect Town Talk will be a busy zoo tomorrow, what with that being the day before Easter. Usually I like Town Talk when it is a busy zoo, but not so much when I am in hobble on an injured knee mode which is not impervious to getting banged on by an aggressive Town Talk shopping cart pusher.

Today I got a lot of All Natural Tyson Chicken Legs, Extra Sharp White Cheddar Cheese, a case of Chobani Lemon Yogurt, Flatbread and White Onions.

The World's Longest Floating Bridge Got Me Pondering Fort Worth's Imaginary Signature Bridges

Last night I was reading the news on CNN online when I saw a headline for an article about the world's longest bridges. That article quickly let it be known that due to China dominating the longest bridges, with five of the world's longest suspension bridges, the writer of the article opted instead to list the longest bridge in the world in specific categories, other than suspension bridges. Such as longest natural arch bridge, ironically also in China, world's longest covered bridge, world's longest floating bridge and other types of longest bridges.

My old home state of Washington has four of the world's five longest floating bridges, including the world's longest, which you see above, that being the Evergreen Point Bridge across the north end of Lake Washington. Another floating bridge crosses the southern end of Lake Washington. The northern Lake Washington floating bridge is currently being replaced, hopefully before the current floating bridge sinks, something that has happened twice to Washington's floating bridges.

Looking through the CNN list of bridges got me once again thinking how bizarre it is that the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle refers to three bridges which may soon be under construction, across a possibly never to be built flood control bypass, as signature bridges.

Signature bridges?

I assume what is meant by that term is a bridge which acts like a signature, signifying to someone who sees that bridge, that that bridge is located in a specific location. For instance, the Golden Gate Bridge is a signature bridge instantly recognized as being in San Francisco. The Brooklyn Bridge is a signature bridge instantly recognized as being in New York City. The London Bridge, is, well, you know where it is being a signature bridge.

And then we have Fort Worth's "signature" bridges, an artist's rendering of one is what you see below.

Why would anyone in their right mind claim with a straight face that the above bridge could be a signature bridge that people the world over might recognize as being in Fort Worth, Texas? Very perplexing. Why are ordinary things touted as being extraordinary, so often, in this town?

I have never heard any of the Seattle floating bridges referred to as signature bridges. I've never heard of the Tacoma Narrow's suspension bridges referred to as signature bridges. I've never heard of the Golden Gate bridge referred to as a signature bridge. Why do those behind the attempt to build these Fort Worth bridges, over a non-existent flood bypass channel, insist upon referring to them as signature bridges?

I've mentioned before that the proposed trio of  Fort Worth bridges originally were going to be more architecturally significant, maybe even signature, designed by renowned designer, Bing Thom. But the Thom designs were scrapped due to being too expensive for the underfunded public works project the public has never been allowed to vote on.

Dallas has its own version of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, also with three bridges, also referred to as signature bridges. The Dallas vision, with its three bridges, came along before Fort Worth had the same vision. However, the Dallas vision is already seeing an actual bridge over actual water, that being the Trinity River. The completed Dallas bridge is named the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. Why? I don't know.

The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge was designed by Santiago Calatrava, who also designed the other two, uncompleted, Dallas bridges.

The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge has warranted a Wikipedia article.

Is Vegas taking bets on if there will one day be a Wikipedia article about Fort Worth's signature bridges across an un-built flood control bypass?

A blurb from the Wikipedia article about the Dallas bridge...

"...the signature, 40-story center-support-arch was topped-off with a central curved span, providing an additional feature to the Dallas skyline, as it can now be seen from many miles away from several directions."

That is the bridge in question you are looking at below. It appears to have a slightly different visual impact than Fort Worth's proposed "signature" bridges.

Regarding iconic signature city skyline elements, recognized world-wide as being part of a particular city, on the left of the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge you are looking at Reunion Tower, it being a well known symbol of Dallas.

The Wikipedia article mentions that the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is featured in the opening credits of the new version of the TV series Dallas. That TV series, in its original form, is what made Reunion Tower a symbol of Dallas, recognized around the world.

I wonder what the opening credits of a Fort Worth TV series would show the world? Those Trinity River Vision Boondoggle "signature" bridges? Hundreds of inner tubers Rockin' the Trinity River? Sundance Square Plaza? The Fort Worth Stockyards sign? A Longhorn? Maybe a Longhorn herd? Cowtown Wakepark? Gas fracking sites? The stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth?

Perplexing questions.....

Today I Am Recovering From Last Night's Potato Roll & Snake Nightmare Caused By Maxine

On the left you are looking skyward, looking west past the speared security fence which keeps me semi-secure, with this location being near where my mechanized vehicular transport device is parked.

As you can see blue sky is not the dominant theme at this point in time at my location on the planet.

For more reasons than one I opted not to roll the aforementioned mechanized vehicular transport's wheels anywhere today to a location where I might get myself some endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

One reason for no wheel rolling is fairly obvious. As in a threatening sky with some precipitation already precipitating, though not in amounts even remotely precipitous.

Another reason for no wheel rolling is I got myself some mighty fine endorphin induction action early this morning, via a slightly cool pool.

But, the main reason I am opting for no wheel rolling, hiking or biking today is an incident which occurred last night when I found myself having a bizarre nightmare which involved Maxine and myself having a serious issue over potato rolls and butter.

In the nightmare this seemed to be at a Ukrainian crisis level of serious.

At one point in the nightmare somehow the potato rolls and butter got involved with a big snake.

When I saw the big snake coming for my potato rolls, butter and me I gave it as hard a kick as I could muster.

But, in reality, what I found out that I was kicking, upon instantly awakening, was the wall  on the west side of my bed.

A consequence of that wall kick is it somehow hurt my right knee. I thought a hot tub hydrotherapy session this morning would abate the woe.

It did not.

Climbing a flight of stairs is currently slightly problematic. So, pedaling a bike or hiking hills does not currently seem doable.

I am sure I will quickly recover from this latest nightmare related malady, as long as Maxine and her potato roll and butter aggressive ways stay at bay....

Unreliable HostGator Is Down Again While Evening Primroses Blow In The Wind By Arlington's Village Creek

Not happy in Texas right about now. Found out a few minutes ago, when trying to send an email to Elsie Hotpepper, that my formerly reliable website host, HostGator, is down, again.

The last time this happened was back in November, but, even though that is about a half year ago, it seems like yesterday.

I can't email via my durangotexas.com domain, but I can blog via Google, which is what I am doing right now.

Early this morning I managed to have myself a fairly mighty fine time via a hot tub hydrotherapy session, combined with three cool pool dips.

A few minutes before noon I rolled my mechanized wheels to Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area to visit the Indian ghosts who haunt that location and to get down on the ground to take a picture of my favorite Texas wildflower, one I believe is called the Evening Primrose.

I saw my first Evening Primrose late in the last century. I was heading to the Dallas/Fort Worth zone to check out the concept of moving there. Somewhere southeast of Amarillo, driving on Highway 287, I started seeing patches of what looked to be a very delicate pink flower. After many miles of the pink patches I stopped along the road for a closer look.

At that point in time I did not realize wildflowers like this colored up the Texas landscape for a brief time every year, at some time after winter turns into spring.

As you can sort of tell, via the picture above, the Evening Primroses were blowing in the wind today. As was I....