A Long Hot Walk With Arlington's Indian Ghosts While Strangling My Handlebars

Why am I gripping the throat of my handlebars you are sitting there wondering?

Well.

Around noon I headed to Arlington to the Village Creek Natural  Historical Area for my regularly scheduled Monday bike ride with the Indian Ghosts.

All was going well as I rolled merrily along.

And then as I was almost at my turn around point, that being the furthest from the motorized vehicle which brought me and my bike to Arlington, as I braked slightly going down the dip that goes under the Green Oaks Boulevard bridge over Village Creek, I knew I was in bike  malfunction mode.

I came to a stop, got off the bike, poked the front tire, no problem, poked the rear tire, big problem.

Flat tire in the making.

So, I began the long walk back to air-conditioned comfort. An almost three mile walk, with about half out in the open, with no shade.

I don't know how many gallons of water I leaked as I walked along, but I was dripping profusely. The bike's water bottle holds 30 ounces, I think. The backup bottle back in my vehicle holds 40 ounces. All gone by the time I got back to a tap water source of hydrating.

I have not yet done a forensic exam on the failed bike tire to determine the cause. I'll likely put that off til tomorrow.

It has been a long time since I had to walk an injured bike a long distance. If I remember correctly the previous incident occurred way back in 2005 or 6. I was at the 6 mile mark on the River Legacy Park paved trail, which put me about 4 miles from the nearest road. It  was extremely HOT. I did not have much water. I called for help, which had a rescue team rescuing me at where the trail intersects Collins Street.

Today I did not feel like calling for help. First off because three miles isn't all that far, even when pushing a broken bike.  And second off, I would have had trouble directing any of the directionally challenged people whom I might call to drive to Interlochen to find me on the Bob Findlay Linear Park trail.

Maybe I need to consider finding a new source of endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation. Returning to roller blading perhaps?

What Living In Fort Worth Is Really Like Floating The Day Away At Pavilion Island With E. Coli

This morning when I checked in on Facebook I found a message from Elsie Hotpepper, with Elsie saying OMG, which I think means Oh My Goodness.

The thing that Elsie Hotpepper was OMGing about became clear when I clicked on the link which followed the OMG, that being What Living In Fort Worth Is Really Like - cowboys, culture, and a tubing trip down the Trinity River.

The link went to what I think is some sort of real estate website, selling Fort Worth houses, and touting Fort Worth with delusional propaganda that would make the local chamber of commerce proud.

Pavilion Island? Getting that name wrong is indicative of the quality level of the research which went into creating this work of propaganda art.

Below are three of the propaganda paragraphs....

As the fifth largest city in Texas, there’s nothing small about Fort Worth—except for the vibe. With an emphasis on neighborhoods and close-knit community, it’s no wonder that Fort Worth has been named as one of America’s Most Liveable Communities multiple times by the National Civic League.

It goes by the names Panther City, Queen City, Cowtown, Funky Town, and Fort Wizard. Call it whatever you relate to the most, as long as it’s not Dallas. Fort Worth is the city where people from cities like Dallas and Austin turn to when they grow sick of their own. They might share an airport, but that’s about all these two cities have in common. This is a southwestern city with pride in its roots and it’s not trying to be anything else, unlike some places.

Grab a tube with one hand and a beer with the other. You’re about to have a day full of fun, Fort Worth style. Panther Pavilion Island is one of Fort Worth’s most popular spots and definitely one of the coolest. Whether you enjoy the relaxation of tubing or the excitement of kayaking or stand-up paddle boarding, you can do it all here. But come during the Rockin’ River events for the real excitement when all of Fort Worth shows up to party with you in the company of some great live bands.

______________________________________________

Rockin' River events? It's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube events.

And the name America's Biggest Boondoggle gives to its imaginary pavilion on an imaginary island is Panther Island  Pavilion. Not Panther Pavilion Island.

Fort Worth is known as Fort Wizard? People from Dallas and Austin turn to Fort Worth when they get sick of  Dallas and Austin?

It's no wonder Fort Worth has been named one of America's Most Livable Communities multiple times? Actually it is a wonder, because this has not happened multiple times. It happened one time, when a Washington D.C. lobbying group put Fort Worth on a list of towns which supposedly had America's most livable urban villages. (note: it is livable, not liveable. Spelling matters, even in propaganda pieces)

Fort Worth had a city-wide celebration to celebrate this meaningless award.

Tacoma was one of the towns which got this meaningless award. At that point in time I met Tacoma's Deputy Mayor. I asked him if Tacoma had a city-wide celebration when they got that award. He said "No, we thanked them politely and that was the end of it."

I then told the Deputy Mayor that Fort Worth had a city-wide celebration for being on that list.

"You are making that up," the Deputy Mayor said accusingly.

"Nope. It's true. A city-wide celebration," said I.

That third paragraph, the one that mention Rockin' River events, is the most bizarre, telling people to grab a tube and a beer to spend a day Fort Worth style in one of Fort Worth's most popular and cool spots, the Trinity River, for real excitement when all of Fort Worth shows up to party with you.

No mention made in this article about Rockin' the Trinity River being shut down due to e.coli levels so high that the river was dangerous to public health....

Today Bicycles Inc. Confirmed I Am An Unobservant Mechanically Challenged Moron

It will take me a few words to get to the part that explains what you are looking at here.

In March of 2012 I bought a cheap bike at Walmart which has turned out to be the best bike I've ever had.

But, after three years of rolling the bike's wheels, it looked to me like it was time to get new tires.

When I bought the bike the bike was clearly identified as a 26 inch bike. I have long assumed this 26 thing referred to the 26 inch diameter wheel, hence buying 26 inch replacement inner tubes.

So, yesterday I went to the Walmart where I bought the bike three years ago and bought a pair of 26 inch mountain bike tires.

I got back to my bike repair garage and eventually got the old tires off the rims. When I tried to put the new tires on the rims it quickly became problematic. As in there was no way I was going to be able to get  those tires on the rims.

I got out a tape measure and measured the new tires, and shocked was I to find they were not 26 inches in diameter, they were 25 inches in diameter. I then measured my old tires and was again shocked to find they are 27 inches in diameter. I then measured the wheel to find it is 25 inches in diameter.

At this point I was totally bum puzzled. I Googled "Bell 26 inch mountain tire won't install" to find  some people had similar woes, but for reasons that did not match mine. Plus most people were very happy with their new Bell tires.

I then returned the new tires to Walmart and got a refund.

At one point in the Googling I came upon someone saying one needed to match exactly the bike's tire specs, which in my case would be, I thought, 26" by 1.95".

I went to the Bicycles Inc. website, even though I've previously said I would never go to that store again, due to previous annoyances, like not having a tire trued by the time of the scheduled pickup. On their website I found Bicycles Inc. had something called a Sunlite Shipman 26" Tire Black 26 x 1.95 for only $15.99. And the website said this tire was in stock.

Just what I needed. And cheaper than Walmart.

So today after Bicycles Inc. opened at an hour past noon I called. Dallas answered. A person named Dallas, not the town. I asked Dallas to confirm they had the aforementioned tire in stock. Dallas said he'd never heard of that tire, but he'd go check. After about five minutes Dallas returned  to say they had no such tire. I then asked if they had other mountain bike tires with the 26 x 1.95 dimensions. Again Dallas said he'd go check and again after about five minutes he returned and said they had 26 x 2.0's, but that should work on my rim.

I told Dallas I would be there in about a half hour, with my wheel rim in hand to make sure the tire works on it.

I got to where I thought Bicycles Inc. was to find it no longer there. I thought maybe I remembered wrong, and so continued heading east on Harwood. About a block later I came to the new location of Bicycles Inc., in a much bigger store.

I walk in, wheel rim in hand. And stand. And stand. There seemed to be plenty of employees, all engaged with customers. I seemed to be the only disengaged customer. I got tired of waiting and so butted in on one of the Inc. boys and asked if one of them was Dallas. Over there, that's Dallas, but he's with a customer, you'll have to wait to talk to him.

And so I waited.

After about 10 more minutes Dallas seemed to be no longer talker to that customer, so I hailed him with a "You Dallas? I'm the guy with a wheel rim in need  of a tire." Dallas replied "I'm helping another customer, I'll help you next."

Another 10 minutes go by.  I see Dallas at a computer terminal. Then a rather large, sweating profusely Inc. boy asked if he could help me. I mention that Dallas was going to help me but he seems occupied.  I told the large Inc. boy what I needed. I told him Dallas told me, on the phone, that you had plenty in stock and they cost $15.99.

The large Inc. boy starts looking through a bunch of tires hung up against a wall. To no avail. Then he goes to where Dallas was, asks Dallas where the tires are that he told that guy with the wheel rim about. Dallas pointed in a direction to which the large Inc. boy headed.

Another ten minutes the large Inc. boy shows up, tire in hand.

I said "I need two of them, but first let's make sure it can go on this rim." "That rim?" he asks. Yeah," says I.

He then  goes, "That's a 29 inch wheel, it needs a 29 inch tire."

"What?" said I. "But I've always used 26 inch tubes," again said I.

"And they don't go flat quickly from being over inflated?" asks the large Inc. boy.

"No, the only flats I've had have been caused by items like nails or mesquite thorns."

Then I asked the large Inc. boy how he instantly knew it was a 29 inch wheel, to have him  answer with, "Well, it looks bigger than a 26, that and it says 29 right on the rim."

"What?" said I. "That's what that says? I'd never been able to make out what that was supposed to be spelling."

What I am talking about is that which you see at the top, a photo of the wheel rim I hauled to Bicycles Inc. today.

So, in the end I ended up being slightly less annoyed at Bicycles Inc., but just like I vowed after my last visit to Fry's Electronics, I don't think I will return to Bicycles Inc.

Now, I am annoyed at Walmart. Walmart sells three different brands of inner tubes, Bell, Schwinn and Goodyear. Mostly 26 inch tubes, no 29 inch tubes. Same with the bike tires Walmart sells. I did not know til today there is such a thing as a 29 inch bike inner tube. I've never seen one.

Out of this debacle I did learn one good thing, that being that I don't think my existing bike tires are as badly worn as I thought they were. I think I'll re-install them and not worry about replacing them until the memory of this nightmare fades....

An Obelisk Monolith Skyscraper Has Risen On The Tandy Hills

I was last on the Tandy Hills on August 11. I did not enjoy the hill hiking that day.

Too HOT.

Today, 11 days later, with the temperature somewhere in the 80s, it was not too HOT to do some hill hiking, .

Which had me on the Tandy Hills an hour before the noon norm.

At Hoodoo Central I found no Hoodoos, just a pile of Hoodoo rock remains. I did find the obelisk monolith skyscraper you see above, dwarfing the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

I have no idea how this obelisk monolith was installed. It's one of those statues on Easter Island type how did that get there type mysteries.

I only find one plant that grows on the Tandy Hills to be annoying. That annoying plant is currently starting to be in its annoying phase. That is the annoying plant that you see below.

These annoying spindly plants grows quite tall, eventually sprouting a lot of white flowers. Due to these annoying plant's spindly nature they get whipped by the wind, such as that which was blowing today. The wind can cause the annoying spindly plant  to become a switch delivering a spanking or a slapping as one walks by.

After too many spanks and slaps it was time to head to Town Talk.

I have not been doing Town Talk treasure hunting much of late. For months the treasure hunting has not been delivering much treasure.

Today I arrived at Town Talk about an hour before the Saturday norm. The parking lot was full, cars were parked on the street, on the grass. I drove through the parking lot and found only one open space.

I aborted the Town Talk mission. No way was I going to mingle with the mass of humanity thronged inside, or wait in a long line to get checked  out.

I think any future Town Talk visits will take place during the week. Likely after mountain biking at Gateway Park, if those trails ever open again. Currently the Gateway Park trails are closed due to a mess of trail "improvements" being improved in slow motion by the good folks at America's Biggest Boondoggle who never do anything in a timely fashion....

Taking A Cool Bike Ride Around My Woodhaven Country Club Neighborhood

Weeks ago I decided the 100 degree HEAT had rendered rolling my bike wheels in my mostly unshaded neighborhood no longer feasible.

Today, what with the month early arrival of fall temperatures, I took my handlebars on a tour of the neighborhood.

There is still a lot of green on the Woodhaven Country Club golfing greens, but there is also a lot which has been rendered brown by those vexing 100 degree plus days.

Above the aforementioned handlebars are looking north on the Cholla Circle cul-de-sac one finds on Cholla Lane.

I only saw one golfer today. The golfers must not have gotten the news that COOL has returned to North Texas.

I am afraid the early preview of  fall may be receding into history even as I sit here typing. When I went biking around noon the temperature was barely 80. Currently the temperature is only nine degrees short of 100.

My windows are once again closed. And the A/C is doing its cooling duty.

The natural cool was cool while it lasted....

Aunt Alice's Tonasket Town Level 3 Washington Wildfire Evacuation Order

My old home state is on fire. I don't recollect wildfires ever being as bad as what is happening right now.

For days I have been asking Aunt Alice, also known as Tootsie Tonasket, if she was in any fire danger in Tonasket.

Tonasket is a little town in Okanogan County in Eastern Washington.

This morning, on Facebook, I saw that which you see here, from the Seattle Times, and the following from the Mayor of Tonasket....

SHARE THIS IMMEDIATELY IF WE LOSE POWER IN THE CITY OF TONASKET

7th Street/Mill Drive/Top of Highway 20: If we lose power, get your sprinklers on FULL BLAST and Shelter in Place and get water on your property. Since we still have power, lets hit it now. If you have a wooden roof, get sprinklers on it now. Wet ANY vegetation surrounding 300 feet of your homes.

Entire rest of City: Have hose ready and have sprinklers in place. If you have a wooden or burnable roof, get water on it now. If you see large ash falling around your house, shelter in place and turn water on to wet the area around your house. If you have ladders, lean them against your house so Firefighters can access your roof quickly. Make sure all of your windows and doors are shut. If you have elderly neighbors, and they are leaving, make sure that they have hoses in place and ladders against their house. MAKE YOUR EXTERNAL PROPERTY EASILY ACCESSIBLE TO FIREFIGHTERS. After that, wait it out. Watch for spot fires and extinguish them when they are SMALL and we can all get through this.

Elderly and disabled people that cannot do these tasks, get to the Tonasket High School Shelter or North Valley Hospital because they have a backup generator and we can shelter you in the basement. If you have more people to help, come help us keep the Nursing Home Roof watered.

Also on Facebook, Aunt Alice, also known as Alice O Della, in addition to also being known as Tootsie Tonasket, posted the following regarding the current dire situation in Tonasket....
.

• 
  

Alice O Della

8 hrs ·

Where should I go? Fire coming down hill out front? Mayor any ideas? No $ to go far.

Like   Comment   

Share

• Catherine Buffan likes this.
• 

  Catherine Buffan Is there a community page you can see about a ride out?

  Like · Reply · 8 hrs
• 

  Alice O Della Dunno where to look.

  Like · Reply · 8 hrs
• 

  Jody Lee Prichard Alice you need us to come get you

  Like · Reply · 1 · 8 hrs
• 

  Alice O Della Wades here too. Gimme a bit

  Like · Reply · 8 hrs
• 

  Elizabeth Gronlund You can see the fire?

  Like · Reply · 8 hrs
• 

  Alice O Della Yes. Mayor said behind us too

  Like · Reply · 8 hrs

A Shivering Wet Bike Ride With The Village Creek Indian Ghosts

I had not been on my bike for a couple days, and with the current Arctic Blast putting a temporary end to sizzling at above 100, today I thought I would have myself a might fine, very cool, time rolling my wheels with the Village Creek Indian Ghosts.

Well.

I should have heeded pre-bike ride advice I got from Miss Julie, who told me to wear long underwear, a sweater and galoshes.

Upon arrival at the Village Creek Natural Historical Area I was pleased to see all that I could see was dry, with no water puddles to dodge.

I had rolled my wheels about 100 feet when I realized I was underdressed. The wind chill factor caused by my high speed wheel rolling, on top of the only 30 some degrees above freezing temperature, had me shivering.

But, I did not give up, I persevered against the cold. Eventually I got to the formerly blue Blue Bayou. Those are my handlebars on the formerly blue Blue Bayou Overlook, now overlooking a Green Bayou.

At the Green Bayou Overlook I stood still til the shivering stopped and then began rolling my wheels again. My turn around point when I bike along Village Creek is at the point where the Bob Findlay Linear Park Trail passes under Green Oaks Boulevard. That is usually where I stop for my first drink of the bike ride.

Today I did not stop to hydrate. Instead of drinking I found myself pedaling as fast as I could make my wheels roll. Rain started off slow, but then turned to downpour deluge mode. By the time I had exited the Bob Findlay Linear Park Trail to re-enter the Village Creek Natural Historical Area I was a wet mess.

The rain stopped when I got back to the Indian Ghosts zone, but now I was soaking wet, and all that wetness caused another bout of extreme shivering. I pedaled slow so as to lessen the wind chill factor.

Eventually made it back to my mechanized transport device, loaded the bike in the back, hopped on board, turned on the engine.

And turned the temperature control slider from A/C to Heat.

Yesterday, when I was driving around Arlington with the A/C keeping me cool, had you told me today I would be driving in Arlington with the heat on, well, I would not have believed you.

Do these frigid temperatures in August portend ill for this coming winter? With temperatures well below zero? And a lot of snow.

I hope not.....

Star-Telegram Says Fort Worth's Accounts Are A Sloppy Mess

This morning Elsie Hotpepper pointed me towards that which you see here, an editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram titled Fort Worth's bond accounts are a mess.

The first three paragraphs of the editorial...

An exhaustive and even painful cleaning process is being carried out at Fort Worth City Hall — not the scrubbing-the-floors type but the cleaning-up-the-financial-accounts type.

It’s painful because a team of employees working since Feb. 1 has discovered that the financial accounting on major debt programs, including bond projects and certificates of obligation going back almost four decades, has been just plain sloppy.

That’s not acceptable, because voters who are asked to approve a bond program must be able to count on the projects being done on time and the money properly accounted for.

_____________________________________________

Voters must be able to count on Fort Worth projects being done on time with money properly accounted for?

Since when?

The biggest  project currently underway in Fort Worth is the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision, known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The voters were not allowed to vote on this project which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The Star-Telegram says we should be able to count on projects being done on time.

Has the Star-Telegram not heard of America's Biggest Boondoggle? A project with no project timeline, with no projected project completion date.

The Star-Telegram editorial generated a couple interesting comments....


Aaron Harris
Is anyone who watched these folks surprised? This is but a small window into what you should expect to be reading about the new bonds approved last November for the City of Fort Worth. Some things never change.

Jennifer Talbert Frank
So after all of the begging for more money, more bond DEBT and all the bragging and patting each other on the back about how they're doing all these great and wonderful things, it turns out that NOT ONE of these idiots can keep decent track of the spending, the projects and the actual DEBT that has us in the hole to the tune of billions. Do you really think that they're telling you the truth about being only 1.7 million in the hole with these bonds? Seriously??? And the city council wants to vote themselves a raise? Oh hell no!!

Oh, and Betsy Price, if you're so much for transparency, how could you have even thought to have asked the public for more bond debt when you don't even have a handle on the current finances?? If you're so into transparency, why in the WORLD are you so supportive of a water district board that has done nothing but keep secrets from the public about their water, water funds and pet projects - not to mention the E.Coli that was in that "clean and safe" Trinity River that you personally advocated for everyone to get in and go tubing. I don't think you'd know transparency if it bit you in the butt! You are right to be scared because you will NOT be re-elected!

Cold Front Brings Big Chill Brrrrr To North Texas

Brrrrr.

66 degrees when I woke up my computer based temperature monitoring device this morning.

Yesterday, late in the afternoon, when I walked up the hill to Albertsons to acquire this week's Fort Worth Weekly, I was surprised by the chill in the air.

I then reached for my phone to check that device's temperature monitoring app to see that 83 degrees was what was making me feel chilly.

Yesterday, in the noon time frame, I drove to Arlington to Sprouts and then to Chinatown to Cho Saigon Market. At that point in time my vehicle's temperature monitoring device was telling me it was still HOT, as in 93 degrees.

At some point in time last night rain began precipitating. During the night the natural air-conditioning had chilled my interior space so much I turned off the ceiling fan.

I was in the pool before the sun arrived this morning. This was the first time in a long time that the water in the pool was warmer than the air. About 20 minutes into pool time rain started dropping. I am not a fan of swimming in a downpour.

I currently have my windows open. I do not recollect ever do this in August during any of my previous Texas summers.

And that concludes today's weather  report....

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Does Not Rip Itself Over America's Biggest Boondoggle

What you are looking at here is a screen cap of a section of last week's Fort Worth Weekly Static column. The section screen capped is titled "Star-Telegram Rips Itself".

When Fort Worth Weekly lost its renowned editor, Gayle Reaves, several months ago, the Weekly seemed to rapidly deteriorate. A few weeks columns went missing, such as the Static column.

Well, the past three weeks the Weekly seems to be back firing on all cylinders, with high quality cover articles and with the Static column back also firing on all  cylinders.

For example, two paragraphs from the Static column about the Star-Telegram ripping itself....

The paper also wants to talk to people who have stopped buying the Star-Telegram completely. That conversation is easy to imagine. “I stopped buying the paper because it kisses up to the downtown elite, the Basses, the gas industry, advertisers, and various sacred cows, and it offers mostly superficial, boring articles, mostly about Dallas.”

The Star-Telegram spends way too much time and money on silly consumer surveys. Seems like every other month they’re changing their layout, coverage, paper size, fonts, you name it, based on the latest survey. Here’s some free advice. Write interesting stories. Impact society. Ask tough questions. Take pride in your product. Stop sucking so much. You’re welcome.

___________________________________________

I have long opined that Fort Worth suffers due to not having a real newspaper asking tough questions, conducting what is known as investigative journalism.

That which is known as the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision likely would not have become America's Biggest Boondoggle if Fort Worth had a real newspaper asking questions from the start of the folly, such as asking, way back when the Boondoggle began, why this public works project is not being put to a public vote so as to secure funding like that which is done in other towns with successful public works projects?

Or when Congresswoman Kay Granger's son, with zero project engineering experience, was given the job of being the Boondoggle's executive director, asking by what criteria was J. D. Granger determined to be the best man for the job?

Or asking why it is going to take four years for the Boondoggle to build three simple little bridges over dry land?

Or asking why it is that America's Biggest Boondoggle has been boondoggling along for a lot longer than it took to build the Panama Canal, with so little accomplished in all the years of boondoggling?

If Fort Worth had a real newspaper editorials would have opined that if the Trinity River Vision is such a vital flood control and economic development plan, why is it being implemented in slow motion?

Another editorial might mention that fact that this vital project being built in slow motion is greatly increasing the cost of the project. Just all the extra years of paying the salaries of employees like J. D. Granger, who would long ago be off to the next job his mama found for him, has greatly added to the cost of the project.

If Fort Worth had a real newspaper that newspaper would have jumped all over the ridiculous claim that the Boondoggle's three simple little bridges are being build over dry land so as to save money and make construction easier.

Why would a real newspaper have jumped all over this ridiculous claim?  Because there will be no water under those bridges until the Trinity River is diverted into the ditch dug under the bridges. The ditch could and should be being dug at the same time as the bridges are being built.

If this project were properly engineered and fully funded, that is what would be going on.

The fact that the digging of the ditch will not begin until the three bridges are built just adds to the folly and is yet one more example of why this inept project has become America's Biggest Boondoggle....