Tropical Storm Bill Visiting Miss Puerto Rico's Babies Thinking About Sending A Postcard From Hawaii

This afternoon I got a catcall from Miss Puerto Rico's babies, Stella and Bella, telling me I should come over for a visit so I could take a picture from Miss Puerto Rico's high rise balcony of the remnants of Tropical Storm Bill while Bill slowly makes his exit from North Texas.

Rain has ceased dripping, for now. I've not heard any thunder booms. I am assuming the worst of this latest Texas weather calamity is over.

When I entered their abode, Stella and Bella were lounging in their sun room. The babies no longer run away from me and hide. The girls are not yet one year old but they are BIG. Stella started out as the runt, but she is now bordering on being chubby.

I forgot to mention, in the view above you are looking north, Dallas is to the right, beautiful downtown Fort Worth is to the left.

Changing the subject from Bill and babies to something else.

Yesterday I said something along the line that I wondered if Spencer Jack would be sending his great-grandparental units in Arizona a postcard from Hawaii.

That generated an amusing comment from someone calling him or herself Anonymous....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Talking To My Mom While Staying Dry Waiting For Tropical Storm Bill":

I'm not sure Spencer Jack knows what a postcard is or how they are suppose to work. Is that an app on his IPod? This blogger is sure dating himself.

Well, let's Google "Honolulu Postcards" and see if such a thing still exists in this century....

Hundreds upon hundreds of Hawaii themed postcards are available to be sent to great-grandparental units who are not connected to the Internet or an iPod, but who do have a mailbox.

Let me see if I can remember when last I opened my mailbox to find a postcard.

I remember, it was a couple years ago, I got several postcards from Alaska, sent by Spencer Jack and his dad's, former aunts. Spencer Jack and his dad's replacement aunts frequently travel in their RV. I am sure they send postcards whilst they are roadtripping.

Now that you are making me think about it I can not remember the last time I mailed a postcard to anyone.

Tropical Storm Bill Has Arrived With A Structurally Compromised Precinct Line Bridge Over The Trinity River

My limited photographer skills prevented me from capturing what my eyes were seeing looking out my computer room window at trees swaying and a downpour pouring down due to the arrival this morning of Tropical Storm Bill.

By the time I got in the pool, soon after dawn's early light, Bill had already almost filled the pool to the max.

I felt a bit foolish when I got in the water in a heavy downpour due to having brought a towel with me, in a plastic bag, to keep it dry.

I'm assuming I don't need to explain why taking a towel to a pool in a tropical downpour is foolish.

I heard a few minutes ago, via the radio, that both D/FW and Love Field are shut down due to the rain.

Last night, on Facebook, I had an interesting conversation in which I learned that a bridge I use every once in awhile to cross the Trinity River is now closed, damaged by the Memorial Day flood. I'll copy part of that Facebook conversation below...

• 

  Miki Hojnacki Von Luckner Hey, have you heard that the one way the East side of FW had in/out during the last storm surge is no longer a viable route? The bridge at Precinct and Trinity became "structurally compromised during the flooding" and is now closed indefinitely. So if Precinct South of Trinity and Trinity East and West of Precinct flood again we are water locked in/out of our neighborhood? I know it's not all TRWD because of the poorly timed construction of ALL roads in our area but if better flood control, well. . . .

  Like · Reply · 1 · 18 hrs · Edited
• 

  Durango Jones Well, that's gonna make the traffic mess on 820 a bit worse. I've used that Precinct Line route to avoid the crowded freeway many a time. I hope The Boondoggle is not gonna be in charge of building a new Precinct Line bridge. It takes them four years to build a bridge over dry land, over water would really vex the process....

  Like · Reply · 4 · 18 hrs
• 

  Miki Hojnacki Von Luckner Well it's taking the city over 2 years to rebuild the flood damaged Trinity bridge between Norwood and Bell Spur. Mind you it's being rebuilt at the same level with no efforts to alleviate flooding every time it rains. So it would be anyone's guess who's helping with that project. . .

  Like · 18 hrs

During the Memorial Day flooding, after I checked out the flooded Mallard Cove Park, I headed east on Randol Mill Road and discovered the road closed just past the River Bottom Bar. That is close to the now defunct bridge. I knew the Precinct Line Bridge was closed during the flood, due to the Trinity getting too close, or topping over the bridge.

Til last night I did not know the bridge had been structurally compromised. That backroads route is a frequently used bypass to get past rush hour traffic jams.

Those of us in East Fort Worth have lost yet one more avenue of escape...

UPDATE: I think I am confused about what bridge or bridges have been structurally compromised by the Memorial Day Flood. After reading my blogging about the Precinct Line Bridge Ms. Von Luckner Facebook messaged me, which resulted in the following, possibly, clarifying exchange.....

Ms. Von Luckner: Hey you !! Fun that I'm part of one of your write ups yet wanted to be sure you understood which bridge. It's the one over Walker Branch Creek between Hwy 10 & Trinity Blvd (the creek meets up with the Trinity River). A new bridge is under construction and I guess the old bridge was "not shored up" enough to handle the rains so they closed the road at Trinity indefinitely.  I love reading all your posts !!

Me: You're talking about the other flood damaged bridge between Norwood and Bell Spur? Or are you saying that the Precinct Line bridge across the Trinity is not closed due to structural woes?

Ms. Von Luckner: There are 2 bridges on Precinct. The one closest to Mary, not damaged, and the smaller one between Hwy 10 & Precinct but it's not over the Trinity River, it's over Walker Branch Creek that feeds into the Trinity and also flows under the bridge between Bell Spur & Norwood.  Confusing I know, everyone thinks that's the Trinity River but it connects to it I believe kind of close to the horse ranch down from Mary's place.

Me again, near as I can tell I guess one can still cross the Trinity River on the Precinct Line bridge, but ones progress north will come to an end due to another bridge problem over another body of water.

Tootsie Tonasket's Washington Drought Emergency Could Not Happen In Texas

I saw that which you see here a few minutes ago on Facebook, via Tootsie Tonasket of the Omak Tribe of Eastern Washington.

The governor of the state from whence I came, he being Jay Inslee, has declared Washington to be in a statewide drought emergency.

Apparently the snow pack is at an historic low level, with little snow to melt, the rivers have shrunk.

Texas used to be in a statewide drought. A low snow pack has nothing to do with a Texas drought.

I'd not thought about it before, til Tootsie caused me to, that the four west coast states all have water reservoirs in the form of high mountain ranges on which a lot of snow accumulates, stored frozen til summer comes along and starts the melting process.

Some of the snow in the mountains of Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska never melts. It is held in reserve by these things called glaciers.

I imagine it would be hard for a Texan who has never experienced deep snow to realize how deep the snow gets on the west coast mountains. A blurb from the Wikipedia article about Mount Baker and its record breaking snowpack....

After Mount Rainier, Mount Baker is the most heavily glaciated of the Cascade Range volcanoes; the volume of snow and ice on Mount Baker, 0.43 cubic miles is greater than that of all the other Cascades volcanoes (except Rainier) combined. It is also one of the snowiest places in the world; in 1999, Mount Baker Ski Area, located 8.7 miles to the northeast, set the world record for recorded snowfall in a single season—1,140 inches.

1,140 inches. That is 95 feet. That's a lot of snow. That record was set the year I moved to Texas. I remember that was a very wet year.

That is not Mount Baker that you see above, that is Mount Rainier. Odd, you grow up in a land of volcanoes and you learn to recognize each one, even the most isolated of Washington's five volcanoes, known as Glacier Peak.

I had an incident on Glacier Peak back in the 1990s. I hiked into Kennedy Hot Springs. A long hike from the trailhead. At some point near Kennedy Hot Springs, Glacier Peak peaks into view. So, I continued on, it looked so close. Eventually I got to the base of the volcano, but it was getting late. It was a long hike back to the trailhead, a couple hours of the hike in black darkness. With no flashlight.

I did not know, til reading the Wikipedia Glacier Peak article that that volcano posed a threat to my old hometowns. I knew Mount Baker posed such a threat. Mount Baker got a bit active around the time Mt. St. Helens exploded, causing large areas of the Mount Baker National Forest to be closed to the public.

What Wikipedia had to say about the Glacier Peak threat to Burlington, Mount Vernon and the Skagit Valley...

Lahars from Glacier Peak pose a similar threat to the small communities of Darrington and Concrete and a lesser threat to the larger and rapidly growing towns of Mount Vernon and Burlington, as well as other communities along the lower Skagit and Stillaguamish Rivers. A 2005 study conducted by the United States Geological Survey identified nine Cascade volcanoes, including Glacier Peak, as "very-high-threat volcanoes with inadequate monitoring".

A Lahar is like a flash flood on steroids. When a volcano goes boom it can cause its snowpack and glaciers to rapidly melt, sending a massive flood downstream.

Texans have no worries about a Texas mountain going boom causing massive flash floods.

But, Texas has its own special worries, like incoming tropical storms and mild earthquakes caused by gas drillers.

Talking To My Mom While Staying Dry Waiting For Tropical Storm Bill

I don't think Tropical Storm Bill is scheduled to arrive at my location on the planet til tomorrow.

But, as you can see, looking west over the security fence spears which protect me from evil deeds by evil doers, it's already looking stormy.

A few drops dripped on me this morning whilst in the pool. Drops steadily dripped on me a few minutes ago when I walked up the hill to Albertsons.

If this incoming Tropical Storm drops Hurricane Hermine levels of water, what then? What with the rivers and reservoirs already full.

Changing the subject from one Tropical Storm to another one.

When I woke up my phone this morning I saw that my mom had called me twice yesterday in the early evening. I had my phone with me at all times. I got other calls. But I heard no mom calls ringing and the two missed calls thing did not show up til this morning.

So, I texted my dad to ask if they were home and by the phone. Dad texted back with a yes. So, I called their land line, mom answers on the first ring, with me telling mom that I hear you are home and by the phone.

Apparently when mom called yesterday both times it rang and rang and rang and then a recording said something like you may now dial the number of the party you want to speak to.

Mom and dad did not know their one and only great grandson, Spencer Jack, was currently surfing in Hawaii. I hope Spencer Jack finds the time to send his great grandparental units a postcard from Hawaii.

Spencer Jack Surfing The Waikiki Waves In Honolulu

Incoming photo documentation has documented that it was not to Alaska Spencer Jack flew his dad.

As you can see, Spencer Jack is surfing Waikiki.

Text accompanying the photo....

FUD---

Spencer Jack and I are not exploring the last frontier, but rather boogied over to the 50th state for this week. 

Picture taken this afternoon on Oahu's famous Waikiki Beach.   

Interesting footnote is that the sand on Waikiki Beach was hauled in via barge from the 31st state.

Plan on summiting Diamond Head, pictured in the background one of these mornings.

Wish you were here!

____________________________________________

I wish I was there too.

The reference to "not exploring the last frontier" refers to an exchange this morning on Facebook....

• Brittney Crandall and Chris Sampson like this.
• 

  Jason Jones Yes, FUD. Spencer Jack did leave the contiguous US to explore wildlife, volcanoes and much more! Will send additional photo documentation of our trip.

  Like · Reply · 5 hrs
• 

  Durango Jones So, I guess that means, if you are still on American territory, that you boys are in Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico. I think I will go with the Hawaii guess.

  Like · Reply · 5 hrs

So, I guessed correctly.

I wonder if Honolulu has Rockin' the Pacific Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the pristine waters surrounding Oahu?

America's Biggest Boondoggle's Semi-Permanent Temporary Construction Easement Agenda

What you are looking at here is a screencap of a webpage on the City of Fort Worth website, detailing an item on the city council agenda.

Captain Andy sent me the link to the city council's agenda, figuring, I suppose, that I would find it interesting.

Captain Andy figured correctly.

I'll copy two paragraphs...

The purpose of the temporary construction easement adjacent to the Brennan Service Center is to allow the Tarrant Regional Water District and the US Army Corps of Engineers to complete construction in the easement area for the Trinity River Vision - Central City Project.  Fill is being excavated from the flood plain area next to the Trinity River and deposited on the closed Brennan landfill site.  This project will provide additional flood storage as was prescribed in the Record of Decision and environmental documents for the Trinity River Vision - Central City Project.  

On April 14, 2009, (M&C L-14750) the City Council authorized a temporary construction easement on four tracts of land for a term of seven years.  This temporary construction easement is needed to continue construction efforts on three of the four tracts of land during the Trinity River Vision implementation, which will continue beyond the original seven years.  This temporary construction easement will provide an additional seven year term for completion of the Trinity River Vision - Central City Project. 

________________________________________

Well, first off, I guess the city did not get the memo that the latest name for The Boondoggle is Trinity River Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle.

I have long opined regarding my utter amazement that America's Biggest Boondoggle has absolutely no overall project timeline, like most public works projects have. The closest to a project timeline I have ever seen is The Boondoggle's four year project timeline to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Apparently way back in the previous decade The Boondoggle had the city approve something called a temporary construction easement, with this having something to do with excavating fill from the flood plain to make for additional flood storage. The city granted The Boondoggle the construction easement for seven years.

Well, what with The Boondoggle being America's Biggest Boondoggle, The Boondoggle was unable to get the flood plain work done in the time allotted. So, The Boondoggle asked the city to give them another seven year temporary construction easement.

Seven plus seven is fourteen. Fourteen years does not sound very temporary to me.

So, does this mean we are still at least seven years away from The Boondoggle's vital flood control project protecting us from a flood?

Has Spencer Jack Flown His Dad North To Alaska?

When I woke up my computer this morning I found fresh incoming from a couple of my favorite nephews, Jason and Spencer Jack.

In addition to the picture you see here there was one line of text in the email...

Spencer and I may be sending you pictures this week once we arrive at our summer vacation destination.

I have no clue where the boys are flying this time.

Over Spring Break they went to Las Vegas. A short time before that they went to Disneyland, so I think we can eliminate both those destinations. Then again, both of those destinations are favorites of Jason and Spencer Jack.

Maybe they are heading to Arizona to visit Spencer Jack's grandpa, grandma, great grandpa, great grandma, aunt, uncle and my other favorite nephews.

It appears, looking at the picture, that Spencer Jack is at the Alaskan Airlines terminal at Sea-Tac. Maybe they are escaping the HOT Washington weather by heading north to Alaska.

I suspect incoming email will soon resolve this mystery.

Enjoying Flag Day In My Favorite All American City Wannabe

When I was out and about today I noticed a flag or two or three waving in front of homes, first noticing such when I pedaled into Arlington's Interlochen neighborhood.

I wondered about the why of all the flags, and then when I got back to my computer connection to the outer world the mystery was solved, via an incoming email from my FNJ (Favorite Nephew Jason).

The email included the photo you see here and a line of text that solved the flag mystery....

Hope my FUD is enjoying his Flag Day in his All American City.

In college one of Jason's minors was Sarcasm.

Fort Worth is an All American City? I don't think that is possible.

If Fort Worth had been accoladed as such, even if the accolade came to Fort Worth decades ago, in a previous century, I would have heard about it. Multiple times.

Fort Worth had a city wide celebration when some obscure publication, no one has ever heard of, put Fort Worth on a list.

If I remember right the city wide celebration was for the time some D.C. lobbying group named Fort Worth as one of the Top Ten towns for Urban Villages. Or something like that.

This was sort of embarrassing, the city wide celebration, I mean. I know I have mentioned this before, but the same year Fort Worth made this prestigious list Tacoma was also on the list.

Tacoma does have some nice urban villages. Old Town comes to mind.

I digress.

So, that same summer Fort Worth had its embarrassing city wide celebration I was in Tacoma to start up a project, long gone, with Tacoma's then Deputy Mayor. I asked the Deputy Mayor if Tacoma had a city wide celebration for making the Top Ten Urban Village list. He laughed, asked something like why would we do such a thing? I told him Fort Worth did, had themselves a city wide celebration. You're joking said the Deputy Mayor. Nope, I'm not making this up. The Deputy Mayor then told me they sent a polite thank you letter and that was the end of it.

I think it was the long defunct LOOK magazine which had an annual All American City issue naming towns awarded the coveted All American City accolade.

I know the town where Jason's Fidalgo Drive-In, seen in the above flag waving photo, is located, Anacortes, was named an All-American City a long time ago, maybe all the way back to the 1950s or 60s.

I don't know if this is still the case, but when I lived in the neighborhood, as in in the Skagit Valley, when driving to Anacortes at the entry to the city there was, or is, a big Welcome to Anacortes sign, along with the words, "All American City".

I don't think Fort Worth can qualify as an All American City til the town gets sidewalks along side the majority of the town's streets. And running water and modern restrooms in the town's parks. I don't think a town can be an All American City when the majority of its parks have outhouses and no place to wash ones hands.

I hope FNJ and FNSJ (Spencer Jack) are having themselves a mighty fine Flag Day, along with everyone else on the planet.

Is the 2 Deluxe Cheeseburgers for only $5.49, I see on the Fidalgo Drive-In reader board, a Flag Day Special, I wonder?

The Fidalgo Drive-In also has Fish & Chips on the menu. The last time I had really good Fish & Chips was when Jason made them for me at his previous restaurant, the Eaglemont Pavilion.

Real Fish & Chips are made with cod or halibut.

Not catfish.....

Another Bike Ride With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts With No Fox, Skunk Or Raccoon Reacting With Fear

Seems like I just visited them, but, even so, this Flag Day Sunday seemed like a good day to visit the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

Standing water in various locations and dirt that was dry a couple days ago had been turned back to mud, sticking to my bike tires, indicating, it would seem, that some precipitation precipitated overnight, which I was unaware of.

Though, now that you are making me think about it, there was some puddling by the pool this morning which should have clued me to the fact that some drippage had occurred.

A few drops dripped on me whilst I was rolling my wheels. It felt good.

Today I was stopped at a spot I don't usually stop by a walker wanting to ask me a question I did not have an answer to.  After being useless to the question asker I reached for my water bottle and looked up at a sign I've passed dozens upon dozens of times over the years, but had never bothered to read.

That is the sign you see my handlebars pointing to.

Below is a closer look at the sign.

Of the critters on the sign that we are told it is in their nature to react with fear if we meet while I am here, the only critters  on the sign which I have met in the Village Creek zone are the rabbit, the armadillo, the snake, the squirrel and the bee.

I have never seen a fox, a skunk or a raccoon in the Village Creek zone. I have seen a lot of turtles, very skittish turtles reacting irrationally in fear. And possums, lots of possums.

I think the sign needs a critter update....

Getting Past Gateway Park's Closed Trails I Found America's Biggest Boondoggle Being Busy

Before my regularly scheduled Saturday Town Talk treasure hunt my handlebars took me to Gateway Park for some trail inspecting.

As you can see the Trinity River is still roaring over Gateway Falls, making passage impossible across the river to continue on to beautiful downtown Fort Worth, or the Fort Worth Stockyards.

It has been a few years since I have pedaled from Gateway to the Stockyards, or downtown. That makes for a long bike ride.

After seeing my way west blocked by the still flooding Trinity, I turned around and headed to the Gateway Park mountain bike trail.

Above you are looking at the entry to the FWMBA (Fort Worth Mountain Bike Association) Gateway Park mountain bike trail. The sign says "SIDEWALK CLOSED", which it is, but it does not say the mountain bike trail, to the left, is also closed.

I did not attempt to roll my wheels on the mountain bike trail. Instead I chose to find out why the paved trail is closed.

Well, below is one reason for the closed paved trail.

Not only has a tree bent over to block the way, the wooden bridge across the ravine has been removed.

I later figured out why the wooden bridge is gone. The paved trails and wooden bridges seem to be in the midst of the upgrade promised by signage near the mountain bike trail entry where the Fort Worth Trinity River Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle informs us that trail upgrades, including new bridges, would soon be underway.

At the time I first read that I said I'd believe it when I see it. I guess that now makes me a believer.

Continuing on I discovered large sections of the paved trail have been removed, including sections which have long been an eyesore, that being fenced off sections of trail left dangling over the edge of the Trinity by the ravages of Hurricane Hermine, years ago. At the location you see above the paved trail previously continued til it hit a cyclone fence with signage informing that the trail was closed for maintenance. The trail continued past the cyclone fence, broken off, in places, dangling, waiting to fall into the river in other places.

The dangling trail and cyclone fence are gone. It appears new trail has been bulldozed, away from the river. All the wooden bridges have been removed. You can still cross those locations via dirt path, sort of like mountain biking.

Well, this will be a good thing, having the Gateway Park trails fixed. Gateway Park has the potential to be an extremely nice park. But, I don't quite understand how America's Biggest Boondoggle came to be in the trail fixing business.

I hope The Boondoggle  is able to build these new bridges in Gateway Park faster than the four years they plan to take to build their three little bridges from the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Continuing, after Gateway Park I ventured a short distance west, to the aforementioned Town Talk where I got myself some big green peppers, black beans, garbanzos, Swiss Cheese, rye crackers, carrots, yogurt, two giant pumpkin pies, jalapeno kielbasa and other stuff I'm not remembering right now.

And now it is time for lunch....