A Brown Walk Around Oakland Lake Park With The Fosdick Fountain Burbling

Til today it had been many weeks, maybe months, since I took myself to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdick Lake.

The last time I was at the Fosdick Lake location the grass was green. That green grass has now turned a shade of brown that matches my new cargo shorts.

Fosdick Lake is a couple feet below its usual full pool level. I do not know if the lower lake level is what has caused the Fosdick Fountain to awaken, slightly, out of the comatose state it has been in for a long time.

Today the Fosdick Fountain, that white blurb you see above, out in the lake, was burbling, not in full spraying fountain mode, just burble mode.

Few ducks or turtles were to be seen today. Where have all the Fosdick turtles gone?

Above you can see how dry and brown the grass has become. You are looking south on the east side of Fosdick Lake in this view.

It was not very hot when I took my nature walk today. Only 89, with a chilling wind blowing, with that chilling wind seeming a harbinger for what is coming next month.

Fall.

Spencer Jack Takes A Drive Where The Skagit River Used To Flow

That is Spencer Jack waving at us. A couple days ago Spencer Jack took his dad, my favorite nephew, Jason, also known as FNJ, on a driving tour of the former Skagit River, now known as Skagit Creek.

Spencer Jack is waving from Young's Bar in the town I grew up in, Burlington. The town I lived in before moving to Texas, Mount Vernon, is on the other side of the creek.

The former Skagit River is currently flowing at an historic 60 year low. What remains of the river as it flows through Mount Vernon is 10 feet deep at its deepest.

You can go to my Washington blog to a blogging titled Spencer Jack Tour Of Washington's Shrinking Skagit River to see Spencer's entire Skagit Creek photo documentation.

One thing that I noticed as I looked at some of Spencer's Skagit photos, even though the Skagit River is in extreme drought shrinkage mode, it still appears to be flowing more water than the Trinity River is currently flowing. And the Skagit water sure looks a lot cleaner, even now, with its greatly reduced flow, than the Trinity River looks on its best day.

I wonder if the Skagit River is tested regularly for e.coli like the Trinity River is subjected to?

I suspect not.

I also wonder what with the Skagit now running low and at a higher temperature than is the norm, if any local genius has thought to organize Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats? With music.

I suspect not.

There are a lot of water related activities to entertain people in the Skagit zone. A manufactured entertainment in the Skagit River would likely illicit a collective yawn with few people interesting in participating.

Along with a lot of public consternation directed at the numb skull who came up with the dumb idea...

Mary Kelleher Begs For Manila Help While I Bike With Indian Ghosts

I was worried sick when I left my abode today around noon to drive to Arlington to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to take my handlebars on a ride with the Indian Ghosts.

Moments before exiting my abode I got an urgent email from Mary Kelleher....

Hello,
I really hope you get this fast. i came down here to Manila Philippines, Unfortunately i was robbed at the park of the hotel where i stayed but luckily for me, i still have my life and passport safe. All cash, credit card, cellphone was stolen off me. I've been to the embassy and the police here but they're not helping issues at all. My return flight leaves in less than few hours from now, But am having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager insist i must settle the bills before i leave. I need your help with some money, I will refund the money back to you as soon as I get back home.

Thanks.
Mary Kelleher

I had no clue how to help. I could not turn to Elsie Hotpepper for advice because the Hotpepper is no longer in Texas. Why is Mary in Manila? A water board junket with J.D. Granger checking out how the Philippines rocks its rivers? I suspect not.

Anyway, with the plight of Mary Kelleher weighing heavy on my mind I got to my bike riding destination. Soon upon rolling my wheels I came upon the ROAD WORK AHEAD sign you see above. Road work? What road? It's a paved trail, not a road.

Eventually I came upon a crew using a piece of machinery to wreak havoc with the underbrush that lines both sides of the paved trail, which made for a lush jungle-like effect when green returns in the spring. Soon after passing the brush getting bashed I came upon what you see below, that being what the paved trail now looks like with its brush removed.

I wonder what the reason is for this severe pruning? The Indian Ghosts are not happy about it.

It's been hours now since I learned Mary Kelleher is stuck half way around the world. I've heard no further word about her horrific plight.

I am having myself a backlog of blogging fodder. Two of which come from Spencer Jack and his dad. Multiple photos of the current state of the former Skagit River. Along with some good McDonald's fodder.

I have grown tired of day after day over 100. September will be here soon. By the end of September the pool starts getting a bit cool. Time flies fast. The end of September will quickly arrive. Followed soon thereafter by the dreaded holiday season.

And Ice Storms....

The Still Life Of John McClamrock

A posting on Facebook from the Dallas Morning News led me to that which you see here.

The DMN Facebook post said...

From Pee Wee to the NFL, our culture assigns the highest status to the football hero; can we expect a 12-year-old boy to resist? And yet, columnist John M. Crisp asks, can we also ignore the possibility of life-changing injury?

The Facebook link took me to the Crisp Dallas Morning News opinion piece titled Why parents should think twice about their kids and football.

Mr. Crisp's opinion editorial had a link to an article in Texas Monthly titled Still Life.

Still Life tells the life story of the 18 year old boy you see above, John McClamrock, and his mother Ann.

Not all that often do I read something which gets to me in the bring a tear to the eye sort of way, what with me being a jaded, grumpy, curmudgeon, but this story got to me.

I recommend reading Still Life, particularly if you are the parent of a kid who is determined to play football.

Discovering Why McDonald's Is Slumping After Getting Too Hot On The Tandy Hills

It seems as if it has been months since I have seen the view you see here, viewed from a bluff on the Tandy Hills, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, with its four soaring skyscrapers evenly spaced across the downtown.

The last time I was on the Tandy Hills the hills were in color, with wildflowers blooming and prairie grass green.

Today the  predominant color was brown, in various shades. A few yellow sunflowers added a little color. The trails are currently cracked with deep earthquake-like fissures. Water is needed.

With the temperature nearing 100, even though slightly shaded by some clouds, it was too HOT to do too much hiking today.

Among my incoming happy birthday cards one included something called an ARCH card. One takes an ARCH card to McDonald's to get oneself some McDonald's vittles. I had not been in a McDonald's since I was in Arizona in 2012, not since McDonald's has been in the news due to slumping sales in the chain's American stores.

Post Tandy Hills hiking I took my newly acquired ARCH card to my neighborhood McDonald's, which would be that which you see here, the McDonald's at Meadowbrook and Loop 820.

I think the big turn off for people regarding McDonald's may be the awkward way one now places ones order.

That and the cluttered menu which is difficult to read.

One looks up at the meun as one waits ones turn to place ones order with the one and only order taker. By the time it was my time to order I had still been unsuccessful at finding the Coke part of the menu. I had tell the order taker I could not find Coke on the menu board. She then asked if I wanted a large. I said  okay. She said that'd be $1.19. I proceeded to tell her what else I wanted, some off the Dollar Menu, some off other parts of the menu.

So, menu confusion is problem number one.

Problem  number two is there is too much crammed on the menu, making it hard for tired eyes to read.

In the old days the McDonald's menu was simple. No confusion. Not difficult to read.

The main menu is on the wall behind the order taker. On a wall perpendicular to the main menu is the McCafe menu, flashing intermittently on a flat panel TV screen. Previously my mom told me to try a caramel frappe, or something like that. I tried to find the caramel frappe when the McCafe menu cycled through. After I'd paid for my order, whilst waiting for my bag of burgers and fries, I finally found the caramel frappe.

Methinks it would behoove McDonald's to totally rethink its menu and ordering method. At least put another copy of the menu where it can easily be viewed prior to getting in line to order.

How about ordering kiosks, where the customer touch screens their order, swipes the pay card, prints up a receipt, with an order number on it. Hears  the number called and  then picks up the order. Or have the menu touch screens at the booths one sits at to consume ones food. Place ones order there, and wait for it to be delivered.

McDonald's current menu method and ordering method does not make for a pleasant experience.

I would not be back, except for the fact that there is still over $15 on my ARCH card....

Will World War II Amphibious Ducks Ever Carry Tourists On Fort Worth's Pond Granger?

No, you are not looking at a picture of a recent Rockin' the Trinity River event here. Nor is this an artist's rendering of what America's Biggest Boondoggle's Pond Granger may look like in the distant future when it may be able to float a boat.

What you are looking at here is sort of a variant of our popular series of things I see in west coast online news sources, usually the Seattle Times, which I would not see in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

How many things can you count in this picture which you would not see if you were looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth?

Construction cranes, yes that would be one. A large body of clean water, yes that would be another. A filled  in skyline of tall buildings, yes that would be another. Hordes of tourists floating in World War II amphibious vehicles, known as "ducks", yes that would be another.

That which you see above came from the Seattle Times, which would make that skyline you see above, a small slice of the Seattle skyline, looking south across Lake Union. The Space Needle would be to the right.

I may be wrong.

I am assuming the flock of Ducks are floating on Lake Union, not Elliott Bay. It would seem there would be too much competing watercraft traffic on Elliott  Bay for the Ducks to be floating there, what with giant cruise ships, super ferries, container ships and a lot of other big boats.

When last I was in the downtown Seattle zone, for a lot of hours, August 7, 2008, stuck in Pioneer Square, I saw Ducks waddle by over and over again, stuffed with tourists. At that point in time I did not realize the Ducks actually got in water. That day I lost track of the number of times the Duck's tour guide's loud speaking loudspeaker informed those on board  they were passing the coffee shop made famous on the TV show called Frasier.

I wonder if Ducks will be floating on America's Biggest Boondoggle's Pond Granger, then exiting the pond to take the tourists on a tour of all the sights in downtown Fort Worth, like the coffee shop made famous by, oh, nevermind.....

Haha A Card From My Little Sister Thanking Me For Teaching Her Not To LOL

Yesterday afternoon in my mailbox I found a letter from my little sister. I opened the letter to find a birthday card. The cover of the birthday card had a picture of someone who vaguely looked like me in a serious facial contortion.

The text on the cover of the birthday card said, "Happy Birthday to a brother who's taught me something very important..."

I opened the card to see "LOL" in big letters, under which my little sister wrote, "Have a good one! Jackie".

At the same time I read my little sister was LOLing in big letters I saw that which you see above, on Facebook, informing me that "LOL is out, haha is in."

Supposedly Facebook is claiming "haha" is used by 51 percent of Facebook users, while "LOL" is totally uncool, used by only 2 percent.

Most of the people I see on Facebook must be totally uncool because I am still seeing a lot of  LOLs and have seen no hahas.

I have long found the LOL thing to be a bit annoying.  I'll read LOL and think really, that has you laughing out loud? That is not even remotely amusing, yet it has you laughing out loud?

I texted my little sister to thank her for the birthday card and also texted that "I just read on Facebook that LOL is totally out. Haha is the new LOL. Haha.

To which my sister texted, "Whatever. LOL."

To which I texted, "haha".

From this I guess we can conclude I am way cooler LOL-haha wise than my little sister...

Today We Learn 66 Piers Are Part Of The Moat Surrounding Grangerville

Earlier today I blogged about a bridge in Oregon built in the last century which took around two years to construct, built high above a saltwater bay, as compared to three simple little bridges being built in slow motion over dry land in Fort Worth with a four year project timeline.

Someone named Anonymous commented regarding the current state of America's Biggest Boondoggle's project...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "In Oregon Building The Yaquina Bay Bridge In Less Than Four Years While Celebrating A Hotpepper Birthday.":

66 flood wall piers have been completed at the Panther Island Project. The piers will be part of the moat that will surround Grangerville.

Corps of Engineers progressing on flood wall piers

Clicking the above Anonymous link we learn.....

As part of its flood-control work on the Trinity River Vision project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed 66 flood wall piers in the Henderson Street and White Settlement corridor.

These piers are part of the future flood wall in the bypass channel; construction on the channels is scheduled to begin in 2018.

The piers were constructed during this phase because it is cheaper and faster to build them before bypass channel construction begins.

The bypass channel will be a 1½- mile, 300- foot-wide channel that will redirect flood waters around the 800 acres of low-lying area north of downtown Fort Worth.

The channel will have three flood gates installed at the sections of the river where the bypass channel and the original river intersect. These gates will remain open at most times, but can be shut during high-water events to force water through the bypass channel.

________________________________________________

66 flood wall piers have been installed in the Henderson Street /White Settlement zone? I drove through that zone on Saturday and did not see 66 of anything. Maybe flood wall piers are not noticeable.

These piers were stuck in the ground now because it is cheaper and faster to do so before bypass channel construction begins? Nothing to do with limited funding being the reason for the slow motion progress of America's Biggest Boondoggle?

It's all about being cheaper and faster? Then why is this relatively simple project, with no project timeline, slated, currently, to take four years to build three simple bridges over dry land.

Longer than it took to build actual complicated feats of engineering, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, and multiple other similar projects around the world.

So, this slow motion project would go even slower if the flood diversion ditch was being built at the same time as the three simple bridges?

This article refers to the flood diversion channel in the plural. As in "construction on the channels is scheduled to begin in 2018."

Channels? More than one ditch is scheduled? Ditch digging to begin in 2018? The year the three simple bridges might be finished connecting the mainland to the imaginary island?

I hope I live long enough to see a flood diverted under those bridges. But, I suspect not many of us currently observing America's Biggest Boondoggle will get to witness such a thing....

In Oregon Building The Yaquina Bay Bridge In Less Than Four Years While Celebrating A Hotpepper Birthday

Today is Elsie Hotpepper's 30th birthday. Happy Birthday, Elsie. I must check in to see if the Hotpepper is available for a Happy Birthday lunch today.

Changing the subject from a young lady leaving her twenties in the rear view mirror to the photo you see here.

A D/FW native is currently up north, on the Oregon coast. Hunting sea lions, among other things. Those are sea lions you see in the lower part of the photo, lounging on a dock in Newport. I do not know if this dock is in Yaquina Bay or not.

I do know that that is the Yaquina Bay Bridge you see in the background, which would make this yet one more of those popular bloggings about feats of complicated bridge engineering, over water, completed in less than four years.

Before I get to the bridge I must mention that the aforementioned D/FW native, currently in Oregon, is my source for this photo. Found this morning on Facebook. I had been told by the aforementioned  D/FW native that she did not want it mentioned that she had left Texas. I think I may have been forbidden to mention this on my blog.

So, imagine my surprise to check in on Facebook to see dozens of photos documenting what the aforementioned D/FW native is seeing up in Oregon.

Back to the Yaquina Bay Bridge.

This is one of the most recognized bridges on the Oregon coast. On August 5, 2005 the bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

During the course of its construction around  220 workers worked to pour 30,000 cubic yards of concrete while fabricating 3,100 tons of steel. The bridge's pier pilings were driven to a depth of around 70 feet below the seabed.

From Wikipedia a description of the Yaquina Bay Bridge design elements...

The 600-foot main span is a semi-through arch, with the roadway penetrating the middle of the arch. It is flanked by identical 350-foot steel deck arches, with five concrete deck arches of diminishing size extending to the south landing. The main arch is marked by tall obelisk-like concrete finials on the main piers, with smaller decorative elements marking the ends of the flanking spans.The arches are built as box girders. The two-lane road is 27 feet wide, running inside the arches with two 3.5-foot sidewalks. The main arch is 246 feet  above sea level at its crown. Overall length of the bridge is 3,260 feet , including concrete deck-girder approach spans. The navigable channel measures 400 feet wide by 133 feet high.

The bridge uses Art Deco and Art Moderne design motifs as well as forms borrowed from Gothic architecture. The Gothic influence is seen in the balustrade, which features small pointed arches, and in the arches of the side span piers. The ends of the bridge are augmented by pedestrian plazas that afford a view of the bridge and provide access to the parks at the landings by stairways.

_____________________________________________

Construction of the Yaquina Bay Bridge began on August 1, 1934. The bridge opened to traffic on September 6, 1936,.

That's right, opened two years, one month and five days after construction began.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth, Texas, in October of 2014, a TNT explosion was the highlight of a pompous ceremony marking the start of construction of three, simple, little bridges being built over dry land to connect the mainland to an imaginary island, with an astonishing four year project timeline.

We are nearing a year since construction began on America's Biggest Boondoggle's three simple little bridges. I drove through the Henderson Street bridge construction zone on Saturday. Little has been built in almost a year. Some short pier like looking elements are sticking out of the ground which may be bridge related.

I could not find the other two simple little bridges under construction.

So, how was an actual complicated feat of bridge engineering, over a saltwater bay with tidal changes, completed in far less than four years, in Oregon, many decades ago, while in Fort Worth, with absolutely no feat of engineering design complications, no moving water, no great height, no chasm to span, take four years to build in the following century?

Taking four years seems bizarre, yet the locals do not seem to mind. Apparently this is just one more element of what is known as the Fort Worth Way.....

No Initiative Is Underway Fixing Fort Worth's Heritage Park

A few days ago I came upon that which you see here, in the Seattle Times. Making this the latest entry in our popular series of articles I read in west coast news sources, online, usually the Seattle Times, which I would never read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about something taking place in Fort Worth, or other locations in Texas.

Or maybe I am wrong. Are Texans allowed to put an issue to a vote by getting enough petition signatures to put a measure on a ballot? If Texans do have this basic democratic right what is the reason it is so seldom used that I am not aware of it?

Below is an excerpt from the Seattle Times' Initiative for elevated park along waterfront qualifies for ballot article...

Campaigners for Initiative 123 filed enough petition signatures to qualify a ballot measure that would create a public-development authority to begin work on a new elevated park along the waterfront using a piece of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. This is an alternative to plans already in progress.

Campaigners filed enough petition signatures last month to put Initiative 123, to create an autonomous public-development authority, on the ballot. On Monday, the Seattle City Council received certification of the initiative.

Supporters are promising a 1-mile, 6-acre “garden bridge,” incorporating a reinforced block of the old viaduct into a new, 45-foot-wide structure.

Corner’s designs show at least three pedestrian bridges, including a verdant overlook walk from the waterfront to the Marketfront plaza, a $73 million expansion of the Pike Place Market that began in June.

The viaduct is likely to stay up until as late as 2019, after the Highway 99 tunnel is completed. For now, reality offers a noisy viaduct, seawall-construction barricades, traffic detours — and crowds of visitors at the waterfront last weekend.

____________________________________

Fort Worth Star-Telegram readers, how many items in the above six paragraphs can you spot which you would not read in the Star-Telegram  about a Fort Worth project?

In Fort Worth a public works project gets foisted on the public, with no public vote. Such as that entity which calls itself the Trinity River Vision Authority. The Seattle initiative in the above article creates an autonomous public-development authority, that is if the voters vote to give the authority.

What a  concept.

I wonder if having the public back public works projects by voting on them is the reason why Seattle and Western Washington have so many such  projects under way? With project timelines. I wonder if this type thing is part of the reason the Seattle and Western Washington economy is booming?

I have lost track of how long Fort Worth's Heritage Park has been a boarded up eyesore.

Heritage Park used to celebrate Fort Worth's heritage at its location in downtown Fort Worth, across the street from the Tarrant County Courthouse, overlooking the confluence of the West and Clear Forks of the Trinity River and the imaginary island and imaginary pavilion where the aforementioned Trinity River Vision Authority authorizes locals to float with the feces.

Heritage Park had no problem that justified it being turned into a ruin. The park was closed after the tragic drownings in the Water Garden in the south end of downtown Fort Worth. The city feared another lawsuit due to another drowning. And since Heritage Park had multiple water features it was deemed a danger.

Trouble was, I don't think any of those responsible for turning Heritage Park into a ruin actually walked through the park. If they had they would have seen that none of the water features presented any drowning danger, due to all the water being very shallow. Heritage Park had no swirling sinkholes presenting a drowning danger.

So, with little thought Heritage Park was closed and left to fall into ruin. Why would any self respecting city let this remain the status quo year after year after year?

How can American towns operate so totally different? In Seattle a citizen initiative is trying to build a new park in coordination with ongoing waterfront projects, all of which have a project timeline. While in Fort Worth a park is allowed to fall into ruin, surrounded by cyclone fencing and no trespassing signs, with no apparent effort to fix the problem, either by elected officials or citizen activists.

Pitiful is the word which comes to mind. And sad, real sad.