Kay Granger & Mark Greene Debate In Unitarian Universalist Church Tonight

The League of Women Voters convinced Congresswoman Kay Granger to come to the Westside Unitarian Universalist Church tonight for a candidate's forum with, as far as I know, one other candidate, that being Mark Greene.

The League of Women Voters is calling this a candidate forum. Others are calling it a debate.

I do not know if this event is going to be televised. I suspect not.

Mark Greene is a Democrat. Kay Granger is a Republican.

I am a big fan of  Kay Granger's son, J.D., and all the wondrous works his mother has enabled him to do for Fort Worth.

Since Kay is the reason we have J.D. I suppose she deserves some credit for the creation in Fort Worth of imaginary islands with imaginary pavilions, with bridges being built over an imaginary un-needed flood diversion channel, the first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century, ice rinks and river rockin' happy hour inner tube floats.

Even so, I still think I will likely be voting for Mark Greene.

This invite to this event has me also wondering about a couple other things. Like what is a Unitarian Universalist? Is this a Christian denomination? And why is there no League of Men Voters?

If you want to experience this likely heated debate in person, get there early as there are only 200 seats available. The debate location is about 9 miles from my abode. At my 4 mph walking pace I figure if I leave here around 3 this afternoon I should have plenty of time to get to church.

Yikes! Just looked at the time. It's about 3 now. I gotta get going......

Warmly Rolling My Wheels Around The Woodhaven Country Club Golf Course

When I take a walking tour of my neighborhood I usually walk around in the Industrial Wasteland part of the neighborhood.

I have walked in the non-Industrial Wasteland part of my neighborhood before and may have used a photo from that location for blogging purposes, but I don't remember doing so.

My usual mode for a tour of the non-Industrial Wasteland part of my neighborhood is via the rolling my wheels method, hence the picture of my handlebars pointing at a scenic scene with a trio of golfers, with one of the golfers barely visible sitting under a tree in his golf cart.

That would be the Woodhaven Country Club golf course part of my neighborhood you are looking  at. This is a sprawling golf course surrounded by houses accessed by mostly dead end roads. And hilly. Thus excellent for an endorphin inducing bout of aerobic stimulation.

I have golfed a time or two, but never in Texas. I find golfing to be excruciatingly boring. Well, except for the Putt Putt Mini-Golf mode of golfing. That I have enjoyed a time or two or three.

As you can see, mostly clear blue sky has returned to North Texas. But, the temperature was in the 60s when I left my abode to roll my wheels. This had me in sweatpants, a long sleeved t-shirt, with a sweatshirt on top of that. By the time I got my bike ready to roll I realized I was over dressed. About a half mile into rolling I realized my regular bike shorts and a regular t-shirt would have sufficed.

I always have trouble adjusting to the sudden temperature changes in Texas this time of year. And in the spring.

I did not get in the pool this morning at all optimistic that that would go well, but it did. With two warm up bouts in the hot tub.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be warmer, but I suspect not warm enough to get me turning on the A/C.

My One Son Has Me Being Uncle Bub Back In Washington

In the past week or two I've made mention to a person or two or three that if I still had my house in Mount Vernon I'd be thinking about moving back there.

But, that house was sold in 2002.

Today one of those to whom I'd mentioned my wish to return to Washington proposed a variant of My Three Sons, with the variant being called, I suppose, My One Son.

I would be Uncle Bub in this scenario.

Moving is not an easy thing. Just moving a short distance is a pain. Moving a couple thousand miles amps up the pain.

When I moved to Texas it was to a ranch type situation in the far north Fort Worth suburb called Haslet. I did not like living in Haslet. It was a rough road east to get to the closest grocery store. The puny skyline of downtown Fort Worth was a spiky blur in the distance.

I miss living near a Big City. Which is, maybe, a little ironic, because I live in a big city. But it really is not a Big City. It is Fort Worth. A little town with pretensions of being a Big City. Dallas is a Big City, but I don't go to Dallas very often.

In Mount Vernon, the Big City of Seattle is just a few miles to the south. The Big City of Vancouver is just a few miles to the north, in an entirely different country.

I miss being able to drive a short distance to the west and being at saltwater beaches. I miss driving a short distance to the east and being in the mountains.

I miss a cornucopia of fresh produce, much of it free for the picking. Like blackberries.

When I lived in Washington an entire growing season could go by where I would not have bothered to get myself some fresh strawberries. That would not happen upon my return. If you have only had a California strawberry, you have no idea how good the real thing is, deep red, sweet and delicious.

And don't get me started on the difference between a Parker County peach and a peach grown in an Eastern Washington orchard.

And apricots. I can not remember when last I had an apricot. When in Washington I would make an annual trek to Eastern Washington to acquire a box of apricots.

I miss driving the flats of the Skagit Valley in August and buying fresh corn from a roadside stand. Usually purchased via the honor system. Put your money in the jar.

It has been several things of late which have made me homesick. Maxine's tales of Cascade Mountain hikes. Me recently thinking about Deception Pass State Park and its bridge due to thinking about the pathetic Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing.

That is another thing.

I miss being where BIG things happen. Where the people get to vote on BIG things that happen. Where the world's biggest tunnel boring machine can get stuck with the locals collectively shrugging their shoulders, confident it will work out and the tunnel will get bored.

I miss living where the population is highly educated, highly literate, progressive, liberal, smart. Where I am not embarrassed by the politicians. Where there are places to complain when a wrong needs to be made right.

I miss taking a ferry out to the San Juan Islands, waiting for the last ferry leaving Friday Harbor to take the night float back to Anacortes.

I miss the smell of Christmas trees which is the norm when you are surrounded by the mountains of Washington.

I miss rain.

Slow rain that lasts for days before adding up to an inch.

I miss gray, day after day after day of gray, with drizzle, followed by a day when the gray lifts and you are looking at the bluest sky you have ever seen, with the trees the greenest green.

I miss the moss of a rain forest. Big waves on a Pacific coast beach. Ocean Shores and Copalis. Long Beach.

The Washington volcanoes. Especially Mount Rainier. I miss hearing "The Mountain is out."

I miss Mount Baker, the location of the deepest snow the world has ever measured. I miss looking out my kitchen window at the stewing steam vent near the top of Mount Baker.

In Texas, no matter where I look I will see no stewing steam vents atop an active volcano.

So, long story short, I am thinking of returning to the place from which I came.....

Indigenous People's Day Celebrating The Invasion Of Columbus

This morning I was dealing with an aggravating aggravation that aggravated me so much I forgot today was Indigenous People's Day, formerly known, by most, as Columbus Day.

The day some Americans honor a guy from Italy who sailed the oceans blue, in 1492, finding islands in what we now call the Caribbean, but which Columbus, that intrepid explorer, thought must be India, and so the Indigenous People's Columbus discovered became known to the incoming European invaders as Indians.

Columbus plundered what he could from the Indigenous People, left them with some diseases, to which they were not immune, kidnapped about a dozen of the "Indians", shackled them and floated them back to Spain to show to his benefactors, Isabella and Ferdinand.

The Indigenous People Columbus kidnapped were never returned to their homeland. I don't recollect how the kidnapped IPs died or where they were buried.

The Spanish method of dealing with Indigenous People was to convert them from their heathen ways to being good Christians and if met with resistance to torture and kill the resistors so as to save their mortal souls. Sort of an ISIS of its day.

I think I will continue my Indigenous People's Day celebrating by making an Asian stir fry for lunch.

It Was A Dark Stormy Night In Texas

It was a dark and stormy night, last night, in North Texas. This morning it is less dark and stormy than last night.

Even though rain and hail added a couple inches to the pool I managed to have myself a stormy swim this morning. I retreated, briefly, to the hot tub one time only, for a minute or two, til I overheated, then it was back into the refreshing pool.

I do know how many hours the storm kept me awake last night. I do know I am tired this morning.

The storm started gradual, wind picking up, then a slight pelting of raindrops on the windows. After an hour of prelude thunder in the distance announced the approach of the main show.

The main show started with strong wind, then heavy rain, with some of the aforementioned hail. There were three lightning strikes close enough to my abode that the flash and the boom were simultaneous.

I've not heard any reports of wind damage as severe as that from the windstorm a couple Thursday's ago. The strong wind did not last long at my location, but it was wickedly strong when it was gusting.

I was considering going on a bike ride tour of my neighborhood, but just stepping outside to take the above picture was a bit bracing. Currently 62 with wind making it feel colder.

I Do Not Know If Waterspouts Are In The North Texas Forecast For Indigenous People's Day

I came upon this waterspout photo whilst perusing the KOMO TV news online this morning. The Pierce County referenced in the headline is in the State of Washington. It is the county in which Tacoma is located.

The water is spouting in front of Anderson Island. Anderson Island is a real island, surrounded by a wide body of water, unlike Fort Worth's Panther Island, which is not surrounded by a wide body of water, or any water to be more precise.

I have only seen a waterspout once, years ago looking towards Bellingham from Samish Island.

Samish Island is sort of like Fort Worth's Panther Island in that it is not actually an island. Except, unlike Fort Worth's imaginary island, Samish Island used to be a real island before Dutch dikers blocked the saltwater, turning what had been underwater into farmland.

Anyway, apparently here in North Texas we are heading into some stormy weather on Indigenous People's Day. I don't know if any waterspouting is possible. There is not a lot of water to do any spouting in North Texas.

I learned of the incoming storming this morning via the Texas Master of Weatherology, John Basham....

Weather Update: Okay my fellow North Texans... I hope you enjoyed the great cooler temperatures today (Saturday). Here we go. Winds will turn around to the South on Sunday and begin to pick up by late afternoon  / early evening. By 7pm Sunday night winds will be out of the South at 15-25 mph and gusty. Meanwhile a cold front will be rapidly moving across the Southern Plains and it will arrive in the DFW metro by early Monday morning. Ahead of the front we may see a few thunderstorms (Sunday night after 7pm) a few of these storms could be severe with large hail and gusty winds. But the real show starts between 5am and 9am Monday across the D/FW metro with a squall line of storms rapidly moving East across North Texas at 35mph. This forward motion along with ANY gusty winds will cause Severe Thunderstorm winds Monday morning (Columbus Day) will add to the 35mph allowing for winds in excess of 75mph. After the storms pass Monday morning winds will shift back around to the North-Northwest at 20-30mph and will be very gusty. So in short get ready for some wind, rain, and lightning late Sunday night into Monday morning and more cool wet weather. Basham

At Fosdick Lake Walking By Uprooted Trees With Wildflowers Prior To A Town Talk Visit Ending South Of The Border

Inclement weather, in the form of rain mixed with some thunder, last night, again rendered Gateway Park and the Tandy Hills likely muddy, so, just like last Saturday, I opted to walk around Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park for my Saturday pre-Town Talk communing with nature.

The wind damage from the storm two Thursday's ago is still in evidence all over Oakland Lake Park. The fallen trees have been chainsawed into pieces, for the most part, with the brush and wood chunks gathered in dozens of piles, either awaiting being picked up or dried up enough to become a few dozen bonfires.

Most of the tree damage was in the form of the wind snapping off a chunk of a tree, or snapping the tree midway up the trunk. The tree remains you see above is the only instance I saw where the wind totally yanked the tree out of the ground, leaving a big hole, currently filled with water.

Yesterday the outer world was heated well into the 90s, with shorts being my only outerwear for most of the day. This morning the outer world was chilled to somewhere in the 50s, making the pool feel much warmer than the air. Out and about today I was in long pants with a long sleeved shirt. And was still a bit chilly whilst walking, at first. Eventually I warmed up, a little. Currently, at 2 in the afternoon, we are still chilled into the 50s, 59 to be precise.

Changing the subject back to walking around Fosdick Lake.

The past week or two I've been seeing the wildflower you see below sprouting colorful at the various locations I find myself rolling or walking.

I don't remember wildflowers blooming this time of the year. But, my memory is very faulty, so I've likely forgotten. I'm thinking maybe renowned Fort Worth Horticulturist, CatsPaw may be able to identify this late bloomer.

Every gas station I came across today whilst out and about had gas under $3. The cheapest I saw was $2.93.

The Town Talk parking lot was near capacity, filling me with a little dread of a crowd inside. But, inside the store was not overcrowded and I had zero wait in the checkout line to get a case of yogurt made from soy and coconut, a big bag of orange, yellow and red mini-sweet peppers, cheese from my home country of Holland, red beans, white spuds, orange carrots and other stuff I am not remembering right now.

Leaving Town Talk I headed north on Beach Street with the El Rancho Supermercado as my destination. I wanted some of their hot out of the oven flour tortillas. That and I find this store to be like a trip south of the border.

Speaking of tortillas. Hunger pains are telling me it is time now to make me some bean and cheese tortillas.

Legalizing Recreational Use Of Marijuana Is Not On The November Texas Ballot

A couple days ago I blogged a blogging titled Looking Forward To Celebrating Indigenous People's Day Possibly With The Texas Kickapoo Tribe in which I mentioned that I often will read something in one of the online news sources emanating from my old home zone and think to myself, self, that is something you'd never read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

A couple weeks ago my great nephew Spencer Jack's dad emailed me a photo of an advertisement in my old home zone's newspaper, the Skagit Valley Herald.

I blogged about this on my Washington blog in a blogging titled In Washington Marijuana Is State Approved With Loving Farms Open For Business.

If my memory is serving me accurately this is the 3rd marijuana selling store to open in my old home zone.

I have read that the marijuana selling stores in Washington are having trouble stocking their stores with the weed that is now legal to sell. Apparently only marijuana certified by some means by the state can be sold. Which apparently means you can not grow your own and sell it in a state sanctioned store.

It is perfectly legal to grow your own for your own use. And even to partner up with your neighbors and grow a communal pot plot.

Marijuana is very easy to grow, so I really don't quite understand how these pot selling stores are going to make a go of it.

Anyway, back to the you'll never see this in the Star-Telegram, or any Texas newspaper, theme.

How long do you think it will be before recreational use of marijuana becomes legal in Texas? Making it legal seems to be spreading. Lately I read Oregon and New York are considering the de-criminalizing pot issue.

Rolling Wheels In My Neighborhood On A Street Named After A Fungal Disease

Today I rolled  my bike wheels without rolling my motorized vehicle's wheels first. In other words I took my handlebars on a tour of the neighborhood.

The roads to the west of my neighborhood power line greenbelt are smoothly paved, wide, hilly, and with little traffic.

At one point I stopped my handlebars to take a picture of the odd item springing from the ground you see on the left. Is this some sort of art installation?

Rolling my wheels on these roads reminds me very much of rolling my wheels in my old home zone, that being the Thunderbird area of Mount Vernon.

In Thunderbird all the streets had Indian names. I lived on Pawnee Lane. Pawnee is a cul-de-sac that connects to Apache Drive. Apache Drive comes in contact with Kiowa Drive, Seneca Drive, Mohawk Drive, Cherokee Lane, Comanche Drive, Iroquois Drive, and, well, you get the idea.

Where I rolled my wheels today the streets mostly seem to be named after vegetation. Such as Palo Verde Lane, Cholla Lane, Lantana Lane, Silverleaf Drive. Well, those four are the only ones I remember and of the four the only one that I am almost certain is vegetation is Palo Verde. I think that means Green Bush.

I must go Google now and find out for sure what Palo Verde means. Silverleaf, too. Silverleaf sounds like it must be vegetation.

Wow.

Turns out my initial instinct was correct. The streets are named after vegetation. Well, vegetation related. Palo Verde is a green bush. Cholla is a type of cactus. Lantana is a tropical evergreen shrub. Silverleaf is a fungal disease of ornamental and fruit trees.

Why would anyone name a street after a fungal disease?

Washington's Deception Pass Bridge Took A Deceptively Short Time To Build

Continuing on with my extremely popular series of bloggings looking at bridges which took around four years, or less, to build, in my continuing quest to get an answer as to why it is projected to take four years for Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle to build Three Bridges Over Nothing, today we are going to take a look at one of the most iconic bridges of the Pacific Northwest, Deception Pass Bridge.

Deception Pass Bridge is a short distance from where I lived  in Washington. Deception Pass State Park has some of my all time favorite hiking trails. It is a place I frequented frequently and a bridge I've crossed countless times.

A couple blurbs from the Wikipedia Deception Pass Bridge article, along with Wikipedia's bulleted list of facts about this bridge.

In the spring of 1792, Joseph Whidbey, master of HMS Discovery and Captain Vancouver's chief navigator proved that it was not really a small bay as charted by the Spaniards (hence the name "Deception"), but a deep and turbulent channel that connects the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the Saratoga Passage, which separates the mainland from what they believed was a peninsula (actually Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island). Thomas Coupe, a sea captain and founder of Coupeville, was the only man ever to sail a full-rigged ship through the strait discovered by Whidbey.

The bridge, one of the scenic wonders of the Pacific Northwest, is actually two spans, one over Canoe Pass to the north, and another over Deception Pass to the south. The Wallace Bridge and Structural Co. of Seattle, Washington provided 460 tons of steel for the 511-foot Canoe Pass arch and 1130 tons for the 976-foot Deception Pass span. The cost of the New Deal-era construction was $482,000, made possible through the Public Works Administration and county funds.

Bridge Facts

• Height from water to roadway: about 180 feet, depending on the tide
• Roadway: two 11-foot lanes, one in each direction
• Sidewalks: 3 foot sidewalk on each side
• Width of bridge deck: 28 feet
• Total length: 1487 feet (more than a quarter mile)
• Canoe Pass: one 350-ft arch and three concrete T-beam approach spans
• Deception Pass: two 175-ft cantilever spans, one 200-ft suspended span, and four concrete T-beam approach spans
• Vehicle crossings: 20,000 per day, average
• Maximum speed of current in Deception Pass at flood/ebb tide: 9 kts
• Maximum speed of current in Canoe Pass at flood/ebb tide: 10 kts
• Suicides from jumping from the bridge total 12 in 2009 and 15 in 2010

I really do not think that suicide count can possibly be correct. Over the years there have been bridge jumpers, but 25 in a two year period? I think this would have been something I'd heard about.

A couple things from the Wikipedia article stood out to me. One was the mention made of the bridge being one of the scenic wonders of the Pacific Northwest. Do you think a Wikipedia article in the future will be referring to Fort Worth's Bridges Over Nothing as one of the scenic wonders of North Texas?

Did you notice that the Deception Pass Bridge was not built over nothing? But built high above extremely fast moving water.

When there is an extreme tide level differential the water moving through Deception Pass is an amazing display of hydraulic force.

So, you must be wondering how long it took to build this feat of bridge engineering.

Well.

Construction began in August of 1934.

And was completed and opened to traffic on July 31, 1935.

The Deception Pass Bridge took less than a year to build.

On the left you are looking at a postcard showing Deception Pass Bridge under construction.

I took this picture postcard from a blogging I blogged years ago on my Washington blog about Deception Pass Bridge.

Now I ask, yet again, how in the world can Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing take four years to build?  The Bridges Over Nothing are simple, relatively small bridges. There is no feat of engineering involved in the Boondoggle's bridges.

Four years? How can it take four years to build these vitally important bridges which are key to building the un-needed flood diversion channel which may, someday, flow under the bridges, giving them, finally, a reason for being?