Spencer Jack's Wakeboard Lake Has Cleaner Water Than J.D. Granger's Cowtown Wakepark

This morning when I woke up my computer I saw I had incoming email from FNJ (Favorite Nephew Jason).

The subject line of the email said "Spencer Wakeboards in Backyard".

The message in the email said....

FUD---

Skagit County is suffering a tropical heat wave.  Highs in Seattle predicted to exceed 80 over the next two days.

Spencer Jack used his earnings from a lucrative Easter Egg hunt to purchase a new backyard swimming pool.

I must explain FUD is short for Favorite Uncle Durango, in case you did not already know that.

Wow! My old home zone is suffering a tropical heat wave while I am here in the Deep South shivering from an Arctic Blast that has brought the temperature down from the 90s to the low 50s.

Spencer Jack's Wakeboard Lake and his other engineering projects got me thinking how much my young great nephew has in common with Fort Worth's J.D. Granger.

Both have zero project engineering qualifications. But both are in charge of large engineering projects, with some key differences.

Spencer Jack's Skagit Valley Vision is fully funded, with the original vision completed, yet continuing to be added to.

While J.D. Granger's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle has been Boondoggling for well over a decade, underfunded, with basically nothing built.

Well, there is the Cowtown Wakepark. A crowning achievement, so far, of the TRVB.

And I forgot all the property taken by abusing eminent domain for a public works project the public has never been allowed to vote on. Spencer Jack did not abuse eminent domain for his Skagit Valley Vision.

Spencer Jack's Skagit Valley Vision, of which he is the project  manager, is a massive urban village with trains and a monorail, built in his garage.

J.D. Granger has recently been bragging that soon three extremely ordinary bridges, that he thinks will be a signature look for Fort Worth, will be under construction, maybe, and maybe be finished in three or four years.

J.D.'s bridges will be built over no river. They will be built over an imaginary bypass channel that has yet to be funded, or have its hydraulics designed. As in no one knows how much the imaginary flood gates will cost to divert a flooding Trinity River into the imaginary bypass channel.

Near as I can tell, J.D. Granger is much better at playing than is Spencer Jack. J.D. comes up with Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the polluted Trinity River, while I don't think it has crossed Spencer Jack's mind to float on an inner tube in the un-polluted Skagit River.

J.D. has also come up with pretending to have the world's premiere urban music venue at a location he dubbed Panther Island, which may be an island, I think, if that imaginary bypass channel ever becomes real.

J.D. helped bring about the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century, while I doubt Spencer Jack knows what a drive-in movie theater is.

J.D. also helped bring Fort Worth a much needed little ice rink for six weeks during the winter. I don't think such things cross Spencer Jack's mind. He has his ice needs met by being driven up to the snowy Cascades during the winter.

However, like I already said, in the project engineering part of the vision thing, Spencer Jack is way ahead of J.D. Granger. And has now added a Wakeboard Lake in his backyard, which doubles as a boating venue, which you can see video of below....

Today Mary Kelleher Received The Badge Of Honor Of A TRWD Board Censure While Censuring The Board Herself

Yesterday I blogged that Tomorrow Mary Kelleher May Receive The High Honor Of Being Censured By The Ethically Challenged Tarrant Regional Water District Board.

Well, today is yesterday's tomorrow and today, Tuesday, April 29, 2014, the TRWD Board voted to censure fellow board member, Mary Kelleher.

At one point in the meeting Mary Kelleher said she would "wear the censure like a badge of honor."

When Mary said that she would wear the censure like a badge of honor the scene you see part of above, erupted, with Mary's supporters standing and cheering.

I do not know how long the video of this meeting will be viewable. I suspect it may disappear when Mary's fellow board members realize how bad this meeting makes them look. Bad and out of touch with reality. And downright ineptly stupid.

Currently you can view the video of today's meeting, via the TRWD website, by going here.

Sitting at the TRWD Board table, that you see above, is Vic Henderson at the head of the table. To the right of Henderson, clutching her pearls, is Marty Leonard. Mary is next to Marty. Directly across from Mary is Jim Lane. I think that is Hal Stevens between Lane and Henderson. Apparently Hal Stevens is limited to 10 words per meeting.

He is cropped off in the video screencap above, but to the left of Jim Lane, also across from Mary, is Mary's arch nemesis, the notorious Jim Oliver.

What with what was said about Jim Oliver at this meeting I was thinking to myself what in the world does this man have on these people that keeps him from being fired? Jim Oliver won't give Mary a key to the building? While Vic Henderson hems and haws about how he can't tell Jim Oliver what to do?

Was Vic Henderson able to comprehend that  people were laughing at him and the ridiculously ironic things he was saying at times? At one point Henderson threatened to clear the room when the guffawing got going real good. Someone shouted "Good luck with that", implying that Henderson and his co-horts were outnumbered. To which Henderson threatened "It can be done."

I wish the crowd would have been more vocal and more disruptive. This was the first actual real good protest I have witnessed since I have been in mostly protest-free Texas, a place where there seems to me to be so much to protest about.

My favorite moment was when Mary basically censured the board with a litany of their extremely questionable actions. Mary brought up nepotism, cronyism, other isms I'm forgetting and most memorably Mary brought up an illicit liaison between a high ranking TRWD employee and a lower ranking TRWD employee, saying this as she sat a couple feet from Jim Oliver.

I wish I could remember exactly what it was Mary said when she got to the illicit liaison part of her censuring of the TRWD Board.

While watching this absurd meeting a couple times it was reminding me of a Simpson's episode. With Mary being Lisa Simpson, you know, wise beyond her years Lisa Simpson, usually smarter than any of the adults in the room, being totally flummoxed by the utter ridiculousness of what she is dealing with.

Sticking with the TV theme, watching this absurd meeting also reminded me of watching Dallas. The drawling Texas accents, particularly Vic Henderson's, combined with the sort of evil undertone of the Board's shenanigans, well, it seemed like J.R. Ewing would have felt right at home, and not just because of the condoning of illicit liaisons.

Listening to some of the nonsense, like going on and on like Mary had committed some sort of crime at a Fort Worth City Council meeting had me thinking Alice in Wonderland Through the Looking Glass, where right is wrong, up is down, stupid is smart, yes is no.

And where, in Vic Henderson's imagination, Mary is surrounded by special shirts. Yes, that's right, Henderson accused Mary of attending the city council meeting with a gang of special shirts.

Seriously, Fort Worth, can't we do better than have buffoons like this conducting public business?

I wish there was a printed transcript so I could exactly repeat what Mary said about her fellow board member's need to resign due to their multiple incompetencies and questionable antics. This may have come in the part of the meeting where Mary answered the various charges against her, charges like costing the district money. Mary then counted off a long list of various ways the TRWD Board had wasted public money. Like millions spent on a lawsuit trying to get water from Oklahoma.

Or planting peas at their private game reserve.

One more thing.

I think I may have fallen in love with Mary Kelleher today. I know I'm smitten. If you watch the video you will get why, there's just something about Mary.....

Rolling My Wheels On Gateway Park's Trails With Fallen Trees, Brush Blockages, Snakes & A Bobcat

Those are my handlebars back in Gateway Park today, looking at the ever growing piles of brush that is blocking much of that which was not blocked before the brush was cut and piled.

The brush cutters were back cutting and piling brush today.

I think I may have figured out the purpose of all the brush cutting. I think the Fort Worth Park Department may have decided it was a good idea to open up this section of the park, giving open access to the cliff from which one looks down on the Trinity River. This part of the park did have a bit of a claustrophobic feel to it, prior to the brush being cut.

The brush was an issue even before I started to roll my wheels today. As I was unloading my bike from its motorized vehicular transport, to load it with that which I take with me, as in wallet, camera, phone and water, a guy rolled up, stopped and asked me if I was riding the single track.

When I indicated I was pedaling the single track he advised me to not pedal past the two cones I'll come to at the point where the trail has its first steep down and up section. I indicated I knew whence he was referring. He said he pedaled past the cones, zipped down the hill and then had to slam the brakes when he saw the trail was blocked by brush and brush cutters.

The guy also warned me about a downed tree further down the trail that he slammed in to due to it being on part of the trail that zips up and down with sharp turns. He said he went through the jungle to get to the paved trail and around the downed tree. When I got to the obstruction I decided just to turn around and go the wrong way, back to an easy exit to the paved trail.

All the trail problems had me wondering if the Fort Worth Mountain Bike Association is still actively maintaining the Gateway Park trails.

A few weeks ago, on the informational sign at the trailhead, I read about a problem the FWMBA was a having over losing its insurance and thus not being able to keep up their part of the trail bargain they'd made with the city.

I re-read that information today which directed me to the FWMBA website for updated trail info.

I don't think I'd been to the FWMBA website before. That is a screencap of the Gateway Park part of the website you are looking at here. It is a well done website.

The FWMBA website gave me no indication that this organization is no longer actively involved with the Gateway Park trails.

On Sunday as I rolled over the Gateway Park trails I suddenly found myself faced with an incoming couple pedaling the wrong direction. Today it happened again, with a solo guy. Both were confused by the maze of trails. It is easy to get going the wrong direction, or take a wrong turn on to a disc golf trail.

 I have only seen two directional arrows anywhere on the Gateway Park mountain bike trails. And both of those are a bit confusing.

I don't know if the FWMBA people realize how popular their Gateway Park trails have become. Popular for a good reason. They are fun trails, as long as no brush blocks your way before almost getting hit by someone rolling the wrong direction.

Other than blocked trails and other aggravations I had myself a mighty fine time rolling my wheels today, with that mighty fine time including having my first bobcat encounter ever at Gateway Park and almost rolling over a snake for the first time this year...

A Packed Meeting Room With Protesters Outside Greets TRWD Board Mary Kelleher Censure Hearing

UPDATE: Tuesday, April 29, 2014, the TRWD Board actually followed through on the censure of Mary Kelleher, to boos from protesters and threats from the TRWD Board to remove the booing supporters of Mary Kelleher.

The Tarrant Regional Water District Boards attempt to censure fellow board member, Mary Kelleher is now underway.

I suspect the wannabe censurers are being a bit taken aback by the standing room only crowd which has assembled to witness the TRWD Board's nefariously questionable antics.

I doubt the TRWD censurers considered their offputting antics would cause protesters to be standing outside holding protest signs up to the meeting room windows.

Signs with messages such as " FOLLOW YOUR OWN RULES", "LET US VOTE ON TRV", "GIVE TRANSPARENCY A CHANCE".

I opted out of attending the TRWD Board meeting and its attempt to censure Mary Kelleher. I sort of figured I did my part by blogging about it.

That and I find so much about the TRWD to be annoying that I could see where I might have found myself in some sort of unseemly confrontation of  the sort I've found myself in times previous, which in hindsight would have been best avoided.

Anyway, if I hear anything interesting about what's happening at the TRWD headquarters, I'll let you know.

Tomorrow Mary Kelleher May Receive The High Honor Of Being Censured By The Ethically Challenged Tarrant Regional Water District Board

On the left you are looking at a page from the recently mailed Tarrant Regional Water District Annual 2013 Report. On this page we are looking at the TRWD Board of Directors, with the most recently elected Director, Mary Kelleher, at the bottom.

Today I learned that the Directors above Mary on this page have conspired to censure Mary Kelleher.

This censuring is scheduled to take place at 9:30 tomorrow, Tuesday, April 29 at the Tarrant Regional Water District's headquarters at 800 E. Northside Drive in Fort Worth.

What in the world has Mary Kelleher done to warrant this latest bout of abuse from her fellow board members?

I can think of some things that don't get a censure from the TRWD Board, that can not be what Mary has done.

For instance, I doubt Mary is being censured for being caught flagrante delicto with someone other than her spouse in the backseat of a car parked on the TRWD parking lot, because that is okay behavior in the TRWD Board's ethical world.

Mary can't be getting censured for any sort of nepotism, because it is well known that the TRWD Board has no problem with the corrupt practice of nepotism, while nepotism is frowned upon in ethical, democratic parts of the world.

Mary can't be being censured for being instrumental in a sweetheart deal to let someone build a restaurant on public property with out the sweetheart deal being an open bid type of opportunity, because the TRWD Board condones that type of shady deal.

Mary can't be being censured for coming up with a plan to buy some land from a financially strapped friend, followed by giving another sweetheart deal for someone's plan to build something silly, like the first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century, because the TRWD is totally okay with that type shady deal.

Mary can't be being censured for causing the public to lose a lot of money due to initiating an incompetent lawsuit aimed at taking water from Oklahoma, because the TRWD Board is totally okay with that type of waste of money, even if the case has to go all the way to the Supreme Court.

Mary can't possibly be being censured for asking to see some specific TRWD public documents, can she? The TRWD's censuring could not possibly be due to claiming Mary has caused conflict on the board, claiming this to be disruptive, can they?

Is this censuring of Mary Kelleher the latest and most blatant attempt by her fellow TRWD Board Members to shut Mary up?

I have long not been alone in wondering what it is that the TRWD Board is covering up that it goes to such extreme lengths to keep the public, through Mary, from seeing the public documents Mary has long been denied access to.

During the last TRWD election, the one where Mary won her seat with a record number of votes, I referred to the TRWD Board as cockroaches. Some thought this harsh. I thought it totally accurate. Cockroaches do not like light. Cockroaches go to extreme measures to keep out of the light.

It can be difficult to get rid of a cockroach infestation. I think we are seeing this currently in Fort Worth.

I have previously opined, and many agree with me, that Fort Worth suffers from not having a legitimate newspaper of record. The Star-Telegram functions like the old Soviet Union's Pravda, as in it is no longer a newspaper, but is instead, a propaganda purveyor.

I can tell you, with just about 100% certainty, that if this TRWD Board's cockroach-like behavior played out in other towns in which I have lived, those being towns on the West Coast with real newspapers, that those town's newspapers would be all over the TRWD Board's bad. unethical behavior. The TRWD would be hit with Freedom of Information requests, reporters would investigate the TRWD's shady dealings.

And Mary Kelleher would be a local hero, admired for her tenacity, while the TRWD Board Members, who tried to censure Mary, would be reviled as not being fit to be in a position of public trust.

And don't get me started on what any of the towns I have lived  in on the West Coast's newspapers would have done with the absurd Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, with its absurd hiring of a local congresswoman's unqualified son to run the project.

I really believe Fort Worth suffers because the majority of the people have never lived in a town with a real newspaper that looks out for the public's best interest, and so they don't know what their town is missing and thus don't insist that their town's newspaper acts like one......

UPDATE: Tuesday, April 29, 2014, the TRWD Board actually followed through on the censure of Mary Kelleher, to boos from protesters and threats from the TRWD Board to remove the booing supporters of Mary Kelleher.

I Had No Panther Encounter Today Whilst Walking With Arlington's Village Creek Indian Ghosts & The Mumu Lady

A few minutes before I left my abode this morning I got some news that had me in need to ponder mode.

Walking with the Indian ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area has been a good pondering zone for me for years.

Today was no different. I had myself some real good pondering, with only two interruptions to the pondering, one being a lady with a pit bull named Patsy, who she was having trouble keeping under control.

The other interruption was of short duration, that being an encounter with nice oldster I refer to as the Mumu Lady.

I have no idea if Mumu is the correct spelling of that type clothing attire that looks sort of like wearing a big blanket. Maybe the correct spelling is Moomoo.

The Mumu Lady was in her Mumu the first few times I saw her. Then the Mumu was replaced with a stylish jogging type suit. The Mumu Lady does this odd waving of her arms in front of her as she walks fast. Her face is extremely sun-tanned, of the sort I see when I visit a Sunbelt retirement zone, like where my mom and dad live.

The first time I met the Mumu Lady she asked me if she could give me her testimony. I politely indicated no interest. Then she started telling me about her encounter with a panther at the very spot we were standing and that during that encounter she turned to Jesus for help, with Jesus quickly sending the panther on its way, without stopping to eat the Mumu Lady. So, the Mumu Lady sort of got her testimony in via a sideways move.

The Mumu Lady's panther encounter was one of many that occurred around that time, encounters which were reported in the news, including the Mumu Lady's encounter.

Over the years, including today, when I howdy the Mumu Lady, and stop a second to exchange pleasantries, she never remembers my previous answer to her can I give you my testimony question.

Today after I politely declined the testimony offer the Mumu Lady continued on to the Village Creek Blue Bayou Overlook where I saw her kneel down and go into praying mode, a photo of this is what you see above.

It is time for lunch, after which I will likely be blogging about that which I was pondering whilst I walked with the Indian ghosts and the Mumu Lady....

The Cowboy Spencer Jack Got Me Remembering Losing Control Of Caution

No, that is not Cowboy Spencer Jack riding his horse in the Fort Worth Stockyards that you are looking at on the left.

I do not know where Spencer Jack is riding his horse in the picture.

Spencer Jack's dad, my favorite nephew Jason, sent this picture to my phone last night. It took me til today to figure out how to get the picture off my phone and onto my computer.

It turns out this was rather easy.

Which should not surprise me, what with learning yesterday, via Nurse Martha, that I have a Superior Intellect.

A Superior Neurotic Intellect.

Being neurotic is a useful trait when it comes to figuring out something.

Back to the subject of the Cowboy Spencer Jack.

It seems to me that Spencer Jack is a bit young to be being such a good cowboy.

I recollect being a couple years older than Spencer Jack when I had an unfortunate incident with a Shetland Pony that had me swearing off getting on any sort of horse for decades to come.

Not til I moved to Texas did I get back on a horse.

And that did not end well.

July 4, 2000.

I was talked into getting on a horse named Caution. The name should have clued me. Basically I lost control of Caution who was determined to re-enter, by any means, the barn from which he came, to retrieve a carrot, which I later became convinced had been placed where it was placed by Caution's owner, an angry woman whose plots to get rid of me became ever more blatant.

Well, I survived that particular carrot plot, but I have never been on another horse, not since Caution, and his evil owner, tried to kill me, or maybe just scare me off of horse riding.....

Having A Smoggy Sunday Reaction After Rolling My Wheels On Gateway Park's Mountain Bike Trails

I must have misunderstood the weather forecast for today. I  thought serious storms were a sure thing for this final Sunday of the 4th month of 2014.

Last night I figured this morning's pool bout would have me swimming in the rain. And that I would not be going anywhere hiking or biking today.

I figured wrong.

I had myself a mighty fine rain-free swim this morning,  followed by an equally mighty fine rain-free rolling of my wheels on the Gateway Park mountain bike trails.

No rain, but HOT and humid. Currently the temperature is 86, with that vexing humidity making it really feel like 91.

Of late I have been vexed by some new allergen that makes my eyes itch and burn in a way that reminds me of my first encounter with LA smog when I was a teenager, way back in the last century. Post Gateway Park I'm finding the burning eye sensation to be particularly vexing. Eyes drops help some.

I never had any allergy woes when I lived in Western Washington. Is Mother Nature trying to tell me something?

I Took My Superior Intellect To The Dark Side Of Genius And Learned I Am A Cynical Neurotic

The Friday before last Friday I blogged that Today Via Queen V I Learned I Am A Coyote.

In that blogging I mentioned the Facebook epidemic of quizzes by which one learns all sorts of interesting things about oneself.

Last night on Facebook, via Nurse Martha, I took The Dark Side of Genius quiz and learned that based on my answers I have a Superior Intellect and am Neurotic.

I tell you, these scientific quizzes are uncanny in their accuracy.

The following two paragraphs are The Dark Side of Genius's summing up of the scientific results of my answers to The Dark Side of Genius quiz....

You're not perfect, but you're not far off. You are to thinking what Yoda is to the Force. And you're also meticulous to the tiniest detail. There are grammatical errors in this result that are already beginning to bug you. Just remember, we're not operating on your level.

Moreover, your test results show a proclivity to be a tad paranoid. In other words...you're a healthy cynic. You question everything around you with the same intensity that Darth Vader squeezes windpipes. No one can ever say you're unprepared...for anything.

That is so true. I am very cynical. And I am also very healthy. To help with that healthiness I am about to take my cynical self to Gateway Park to roll my wheels on the mountain bike trails, unless rain intervenes....

I Made It To The 2014 Prairie Fest But Did Not Find Elsie Hotpepper Belly Dancing

Sometime around noon today I started getting text messages from Elsie Hotpepper instructing me as to when I needed to be at the Tandy Hills Prairie Fest.

At some point in time after the last Elsie Hotpepper message I arrived at the summit of Mount Tandy, figuring it'd be easier to park there and hike to the Prairie Fest, thus avoiding any parking annoyances.

The route from where I parked to where I fested took me across the lonely colorful spot of prairie you see above. No humans in view. One would not guess a festival was in progress nearby.

Eventually I made it to the Prairie Fest, where, in the center of the sprawling festival grounds I saw the tepee you see below. Everyone knows how much I like anything that has anything to do with Native Americans, so seeing the tepee pleased me.

I walked around the tepee as the first step in my search for Elsie Hotpepper.

On the west side of the tepee I came upon the view you see below.

For a part of a second I stood there thinking that this was Elsie Hotpepper belly dancing by a hippie van.

But, I quickly realized I had not located the elusive Hotpepper.

However, I must say, this belly dancer addition to the Prairie Fest was interesting. Every time the band would start playing a new song the belly dancer would go into dancing animation mode. It was hypnotic.

A large crowd was enjoying having themselves a mighty fine time listening to the music. It was like being at a mini-Woodstock, but with very little inappropriate behavior.

The biggest disappointment at this year's Prairie Fest you see below.

The Tandy Hills Hoodoo at Hoodoo Central at the north end of the View Street trail was totally obliterated, with only its foundation rock left in its place. Tragic.

As for the search for Elsie Hotpepper.

After what seemed like hours of searching I eventually resorted to text messaging "I have looked all over. Where are you?"

To which Elsie Hotpepper replied something like "I left for another engagement."

To which I replied, "Well......."