Today Aunt Alice's Son Wade Rests In Peace

Last night I was surprised, on Facebook, to learn that Aunt Alice's son, Wade, had been taken to Harborview Hospital in Seattle, due to seizures causing his brain to bleed.

I assume Wade was flown to Seattle in an emergency air ambulance.

I was struck by all the people expressing their support for Aunt Alice. Her kindly nature really does bring out the best in an awful lot of people.

I learned a few minutes ago, also on Facebook, that Wade died this morning.

Aunt Alice tried to call me yesterday. It was an odd call. Suddenly Facebook notified me that Aunt Alice was calling me. How did Facebook know this? Then my phone lit up, telling me I had a call, but it was not the usual thing I see when I get a call. I couldn't figure out how to answer it.

My friend on the planet of the longest duration, Linda R, asked me a couple weeks ago if Aunt Alice was my mom or my dad's sister, because Linda did not remember me having an aunt named Alice.

Well, Aunt Alice is not really my aunt. I just call her that. And she refers to  me as her Sweet Nephew. Aunt Alice is also known as Tootsie Tonasket of the Okanogan Tribe. Alice used to be married to Uncle Albert, last name Hudson, which makes Wade's name Wade Hudson. Aunt Alice used to be Alice Hudson, tell she reverted  to Alice Odella, her pre-married name.

I have known Aunt Alice for a long time. But I have never met her in person. Or Wade. I think I have only been to Eastern Washington once since I came to know Aunt Alice.

Years ago Alice emailed me a question about the Branch-Davidians. She'd been to my webpage that documented my visit to the site of that tragedy and somehow thought I was associated with that cult. This began years of email exchanges.

I've seen Aunt Alice change drastically over the years, growing way more confident. MySpace and then Facebook connected Aunt Alice with the rest of the world in a way she did not have available to her prior to social media. Via Facebook Aunt Alice re-connected with her sister she'd been separated from since she was a little kid.

Aunt Alice is not rich in material goods, she has some health issues stemming from childhood meningitis. But, Aunt Alice is rich in heart and spirit. And she's a real good cook.

Wade was the same age as two of my nephews, Spencer Jack's uncle Joey and my nephew Jeremy's big brother, Christopher.

Soon after I met Aunt Alice she became a grandma. Wade had a baby with Veronica, a girl named Lavada. Lavada is now in high school. Time flies.

I assume Wade was getting good medical care. ObamaCare did not get compromised in Washington, like it did in Texas. No one should die from lack of decent medical care in the country which touts itself as the best in the world with the world's highest standard of living.

Sentiments which actually are not reality based....

The Shadow Of The Tandy Hills Thin Man Fast Hiking On The Last Sunday Of September

The Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man was back doing some high speed hill hiking on this last Sunday of September.

Temperature in low 80s,  breeze blowing. Very pleasant.

I snapped five Shadow of the Thin Man photos. Each of them has that dark area that looks like the Thin Man is holding a blanket, with each iteration being slightly different. No clue what caused this.

Today I noticed that some sections of the new trails are getting a bit overgrown. I don't think the new trails are seeing as many boots on the ground as they should be seeing.

As I was doing the hill hiking I was pondering that Trinity River Vision Update that I blogged about earlier today.

I was talking about The Boondoggle's UPDATE to another person not native to Texas and Fort Worth and that person opined that The Boondoggle's quarterly UPDATES seem like a very small town type thing to do.

The Boondoggle has been boondoggling along this entire century, with very little so show for the effort. So, to make it appear that they are getting something done they send out these "UPDATES" detailing the progress of the construction of a roundabout and a piece of "art" already installed in the roundabout.

Now, that roundabout and that art installation might be a big deal in a real small town. But it seems a rather pathetic thing to be UPDATING the people about in a city of over 800,000. And how many times do we need to hear about all those "events" taking place at the imaginary pavilion on the imaginary island?

Anyway, I am in a bad mood. Just learned of the death of a young man, only 33 or 34. Aunt Alice's, also known as Tootsie Tonasket's, son, Wade.

Fort Worth Weekly Critic's Choice Blog Is Not What You Are Reading Right Now

Today I finally was able to procure a hard copy of this week's Fort Worth Weekly, that being the eagerly anticipated annual Best of Fort Worth edition.

Readers are asked to pick the Best in several categories, such as Getting & Spending, People & Places, Good Grub, Culture and On The Town.

Each category has sub-categories where the readers submit what they think is the Best in Fort Worth.

For example, in Getting & Spending readers are asked to pick the Best place to get cigars. The Reader's Choice was Pop's Safari. The Critic's Choice was Tobacco Lane.

The Critic's Choice part of Fort Worth Weekly's annual Best of Fort Worth edition has always struck me as odd. They solicit the opinion of Readers. And then over and over again indicate the Reader's choice is wrong, that this is the Critic's Choice. And who are these Critics?

I suspect not all that many Readers bother to submit choices, so those Critics have to fill in the blank spaces with their choices. This is the biggest edition of FW Weekly of the year. Chock full of advertising. Advertisers love to get that coveted "Best of" accolade, which they then promote in their advertisements.

Now, regarding the Critic's Blog Choice of the Star-Telegraph, the Critics tell us the Star-Telegraph is a reminder that watchdogging still has a place.

Okay, well, that really makes no sense. Why do we need a reminder that watchdogging still has a place?

Regarding the Star-Telegraph blog, you can find a link to it on this very blog you are reading right now, on the list of blogs you will find on the column on the right.

A time or two or maybe more I have been asked if I know who does the Star-Telegraph blog. I think I get asked this because a time or two or maybe more the Star-Telegraph blog has linked to something I have spewed on my blog.

My boilerplate answer to this probing question is that I do have a fairly good idea who it  is who does the Star-Telegraph blog. And that it is not Betsy Price, who many think is the culprit...

Trinity River Vision Fall 2015 Update Propaganda

I found this in my mailbox this morning. The FALL 2015 TRINITY RIVER VISION UPDATE.

I think every quarter I blog about getting these quarterly UPDATES from The Boondoggle.

How much does The Boondoggle spend on these slick, full color, multi-page propaganda pieces?

Much of the propaganda is regurgitated from previous UPDATES. Items such as "The Trinity River Vision will enhance the river corridor with over 90 user-requested projects along the Trinity Trails."

I've asked before, who are these users who made these requests? And how were the requests made? Anyone know?

The Boondoggle's propaganda is still referring to the three bridges it is building in slow motion as being signature bridges.

The UPDATE had very little to actually update about due to the slow motion nature of this public works project that public has never voted for.

So, with little actually accomplished since the last UPDATE, two pages are devoted to the roundabout that is under construction and the odd piece of artwork in the center of that roundabout, which has already been installed, with the propaganda claiming this "NEW ART IS TURNING HEADS ON PANTHER ISLAND."

More accurately it might be said heads are shaking in bum puzzlement at the sticks of bent metal rising inexplicably in the center of a construction mess. I know that was my reaction when I saw it a month or so ago.

There is no mention made in the UPDATE as to when this vitally needed flood control  and economic development project is scheduled to be completed.

Oh, and the UPDATE, as expected, devotes a lot of space to all the concerts, runs, festivals, inner tube floats and beer parties which take place at Panther Island Pavilion, where there is no island or pavilion.

Mention is also made of the ice skating rink which will show up in a couple months for a few weeks at The Boondoggle's drive-in movie theater.

Now, you living in parts of America where there are public works projects underway, do you get quarterly updates full of puffery and propaganda about those projects?

Does the Los Angeles River Vision Project send out quarterly updates? That project is a few billion dollars bigger than Fort Worth's little project. And has already reaped an economic bonanza for downtown Los Angeles.

The Seattle area has several big public works projects underway. Link light rail extensions, the world's biggest tunnel, currently stalled awaiting the reassembly of the Bertha boring machine, tunneling under downtown Seattle, along with the rebuilding of the Seattle Waterfront, plus a new floating bridge, which will soon open to traffic. Each of these projects cost billions of dollars more than Fort Worth's little project.

And each of these projects have project timelines, with the Bertha woes pushing back the day the new tunnel opens to traffic.

Does the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel project, costing around $4 billion, mail out quarterly updates? Does the 520 Floating Bridge replacement project, also costing around $4 billion, mail out quarterly updates? Do the Link Light Rail projects, also costing billions, mail out quarterly updates?

I suspect not. I think the public would not appreciate seeing their money spent on foolish propaganda of the sort the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle mails out quarterly. Why does the Fort Worth public put up with this nonsense?

Very perplexing....

Does The FBI Have Me Under Surveillance Again?

I totally forgot about this, til now. On Wednesday I was in Euless at the Dr Pepper Star Center location where I found I was able to connect my phone to the City of Euless open wi-fi.

When I got back to my home wi-fi zone the phone did not do its usual automatic connect to the wi-fi thing. The phone opened up all the wi-fi hotspots available. I was surprised at how long the list was.

And more than surprised to see that which you see here, that being among the wi-fi connections available was one to a FBI Surveillance Van.

Huh?

I used my digital camera in macro mode to take the photo you see  here. I've not figured out how one makes a screen cap of what one sees on the phone.

I digress.

If the FBI were in my vicinity, in a Surveillance Van, would they be so dumb as to announce their presence in this manner?

Does the FBI have me under surveillance? I strongly suspect not.

Years ago a "special" woman in Tacoma, prone to what those who deal with her refer to as "episodes", claimed, on Facebook, that she'd contacted the FBI about some imaginary thing about me that her delusional mind had conjured. It was pretty funny. One of the comments from one of her "Friends" suggested she save all the emails. I don't know where the reference to emails came from. Emails were not part of the episode's rant. So, to the email suggestion the delusional "special" woman then posted that that email suggestion worked. That the FBI was coming to her house to read those emails and check out her computer.

Anyway, I mentioned the FBI Surveillance Van to one of my neighbors. That neighbor had seen this on his list of possible wi-fi connections too.

The only van in my local vicinity is my own van. I am almost 100% certain my van is not being used as an FBI Surveillance Van......

In Arlington's Veterans Park Checking Out The Incoming Vietnam War Memorial

No, that is not a selfie photo of my new hiking boots you are looking at here.

The boots you see here were not made for walking. These boots are being worn by the tall statue of an armed soldier who stands guard over the memorial in Veterans Park in Arlington.

I was in the neighborhood so I decided to take myself on a relaxing walk in one of the best parks in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

That sign you see between the soldier's legs is telling you that a Vietnam War Memorial is being built. Construction appeared to be well underway, as you can see below.

The soldier whose boots we were previously looking at is surrounded by those white pillars you see in the background.

The Vietnam War Memorial looks as if it will be quite large. No clue as to what it will look like.

In Dallas, in Fair Park, where the State Fair of Texas is currently underway, there is a Vietnam War Memorial of the same sort as the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. A wall with the names of all the Texans killed in that unfortunate war. It is a bit shocking to see that wall with all those names, representing only a fraction of all those killed in that awful war.

The thing about Arlington's Veterans Park that makes it such a great park is the variety of attractions. There is a paved trail for walking, biking and blading. There is a disc golf course. A Wildscape Xeriscape deal with all natural landscaping of the low water needs, grows well in Texas type. The trails through the Wildscape are like a walk in a woods. There is also a more formal type garden adjacent to the Wildscape. The park has a couple covered picnic pavilions. There is a big playground for kids.

And then there is the undeveloped part of Veterans Park. A hilly, heavily wooded maze of trails that one can get  lost in the first couple visits. In the hilly, heavily wooded part of Veterans Park it does  not seem one is at the heart of a metro zone with over 6 million people in residence.

The big dead tree, atop a cliff, is in the aforementioned hilly, heavily wooded part of the park. At this location there used to be a rope hanging from a tree that is behind me. Thrill seekers would hold on to that rope and jump off the cliff for a long swing back and forth.

The rope still dangles, but years ago vandals lit a big fire under the rope, burning it into uselessness. I don't know why no one has  replaced the rope. Well, except for the fact it would be a scary operation, climbing up the host tree and going way out on a limb. I always wondered how that rope got there in the first place.

No regularly scheduled Saturday Tandy Hill hiking for me today, with no Town Talk visit. I am trying real hard to get out of my predictable rut. That and I have not been liking Town Talk all that much of late.

On A Tandy Hill Gazing Enviously At Downtown Fort Worth

In the picture you are standing with me on one of the Tandy Hills, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, about which, we learned yesterday, the entire nation of America is envious.

We have yet to learn why the entire nation of America is envious of downtown Fort Worth.

Are other towns in America envious because their downtowns do not have a boarded up, cyclone fence surrounded park at the heart of their downtown, celebrating their town's heritage?

Are other towns in America envious of Fort Worth's downtown because their towns have a lot of noisy construction going on, with way too many shoppers shopping in way too many stores, while downtown Fort Worth is so peaceful, with few stores and zero construction.

Well, zero construction unless one expands what one considers downtown Fort Worth to include where America's Biggest  Boondoggle is building three simple little bridges in a slow motion four year construction timeline.

Anyway, I had myself a mighty fine time doing some high speed hill hiking today, with a good breeze blowing air that was chilled to the mid 80s.

America Is Shocked To Learn Downtown Fort Worth Is The Envy Of The Nation

Over the years, a time or two, maybe three, someone will ask me what I have against Fort Worth. This question is usually asked after I have pointed out something as being, well, wrong.

Like some Fort Worth entity claiming this, that or some other thing in Fort Worth is causing the rest of Texas, the nation or the world to experience spasms of extreme envy.

Soon upon arrival in Texas I noticed the Fort Worth Star-Telegram had a chronic problem with this type nonsense, saying someone somewhere else was green with envy over some perfectly ordinary thing in Fort Worth.

I long ago made a webpage titled Green With Envy with a lot of examples of the Star-Telegram's envy verbiage.

Sometimes I will feel compelled to point out other odd propaganda nonsense. Two examples, also from the Star-Telegram.

Years ago a banner headline in the Sunday Edition proclaimed "TRINITY UPTOWN TO TURN FORT WORTH INTO VANCOUVER OF THE SOUTH".  Years after this proclamation, what was then known as Trinity Uptown, is now known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Another example was the Star-Telegram's chamber of commerce type propaganda claiming that a lame little food court type enterprise called the Santa Fe Rail Market was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market and public markets in Europe and would be the first public market in Texas.

The Santa Fe Rail Market propaganda was so bone-headedly stupid I was actually embarrassed for the Star-Telegram. Not only was this not the first public market in Texas, it was not even the first  public market in Fort Worth.  And how could the Star-Telegram not know about the Dallas Farmers Market, which actually does resemble Seattle's Pike Place? I documented the Santa Fe Rail Market lunacy on several webpages.

Needless to say, but I will anyway, the Santa Fe Rail Market long ago failed and no one in 2015 is thinking America's Biggest Boondoggle is turning Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South.

Which brings us to the present. Yesterday I blogged about a new skyscraper in Seattle, along with opining about the moribund state of development in downtown Fort Worth. Someone calling him or herself Anonymous made an amusing comment to that blogging which led me to something even more amusing....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A New 101 Story Seattle Skyscraper Is Not America's Biggest Boondoggle":

Meanwhile back at the Cowtown ranch:

The high life: Fort Worth downtown penthouse for sale

The first sentence of the FW Business Press article that I'm posting has to be a joke. Doesn't it?

________________________________________

Oh my. Did the Star-Telegram take over the Fort Worth Business Press? The sentence to which Anonymous refers is...

How would you like to gaze down upon the downtown that has become the envy of the nation? Fort Worth’s downtown is tops in the country, according to livability.com, and with a penthouse view you can check it out anytime you want.

The last paragraph of the article is a doozy too....

“We are seeing more people attracted to everything that downtown Fort Worth has to offer, from shopping and dining to museums and culture,” Bentsen said. “The Omni Penthouse provides a beautiful home base for exploring and enjoying this great city.

________________________________________

Now, Fort Worth's downtown is a totally fine place, but the pretending it is something it is not is real annoying.

Fort Worth's downtown is not the envy of the nation. Downtown Fort Worth is not on the nation's radar screen. Most of America knows zero about Fort Worth. Nothing in downtown Fort Worth is of the iconic recognized around the world, or America, sort of thing.

Shopping? Downtown Fort Worth does not have a single department store. No Neiman Marcus, no Nordstrom, no Macys, not even a Penneys or a Sears. Downtown Fort Worth has zero grocery stores. Fort Worth is the only town in America with a population over a half million with zero department or grocery stores in its downtown. For a town closer to a million in population than a half million, Fort Worth's downtown is very small.

Fort Worth's downtown is tops in the nation according to livability.com? Is Livability one of those entities that the downtown Fort Worth association sent a totally exaggerated description of the wonders of downtown Fort Worth, resulting in the prestigious accolade no one has ever heard of?

On the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year, downtown Fort Worth is a ghost town. The downtown that is the envy of the nation is a ghost town. I think it was either last year's day after Thanksgiving, or the year before, I blogged about this phenomenon in a blogging titled something like Having Fun Looking For Black Friday In Downtown Fort Worth.

Anyway, enough of that, except to say, do you think a city which actually had an enviable downtown would promote that their downtown has become the envy of the nation? Even if it were true it's an embarrassing braggart, blowhard type thing to say. And for someone to say such about a downtown like Fort Worth's, which definitely has not become the envy of the nation, well, it is beyond embarrassing. Don't those who write this type nonsense realize American's outside of Fort Worth read this type thing and laugh?

Running Ghost-Free At Village Creek Unable To Find Fort Worth Weekly

Yesterday I got myself no heavy duty aerobicizing of the inducing endorphins sort due to a Euless doctor visit wreaking havoc with my regular schedule.

A cool pool bout just does not do it for me, endorphin-wise. This morning's cool pool bout started before the sun arrived.

Today in the noon time frame I was in Arlington, near where the Indian Ghosts haunt the Village Creek Natural Historical Area. So, I decided to go jogging.

Well, actually running. Today was run as fast as I can as long as I can and then walk day. Breathe hard. And repeat.

And sweat like a fat pig in a sauna.

Above you are looking at the Village Creek selfie stick which I have shown you before. This is a wider view of the mirror ball. I detected no Indian Ghosts hovering about me when I got the picture off the phone today. Maybe the Indian Ghosts have taken a quick trip to Washington, D.C. to see the Pope. The Indian Ghosts were probably pleased to hear the Pope speak of their ancestors.

Changing the subject to something else.

This week's Fort Worth Weekly is not be found, by me, at any of the usual locations. This is the annual Best of Fort Worth issue.

I have been told by a fairly reliable source, who included photo documentation, that Fort Worth Weekly has given one of its coveted Critic's Choice awards to a popular Fort Worth centric blog, with Fort Worth Weekly saying that that blog is a reminder that watchdogging still has a place.

I did not know we needed a reminder to know watchdogging still has a place.

The online version of Fort Worth Weekly was messed up when I tried to glean the Critic's Choice thing about that watchdogging blog. I'll go check and see if it is still messed up. Be right back.

Still messed up.

Ever since the esteemed, highly regarded Gayle Reaves decided to find a better job than being the editor in chief of FW Weekly, the Weekly has gone downhill like a sled out of control. The website being messed up and the Weekly not being delivered are a couple examples.

A New 101 Story Seattle Skyscraper Is Not America's Biggest Boondoggle

Continuing on with our popular series of items I read in west coast online newspapers, usually the Seattle Times, which is not something I have ever read, or expect to read, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about a similar thing happening in the Fort Worth zone.

This morning it was once again the Seattle Times where I read of yet one more building project in downtown Seattle, of the sort one does not read about happening in downtown Fort Worth.

This time it is a 101 story skyscraper, a mixed use building with 1,200 residential units, 150 hotel rooms and a lot of office and retail space.

This skyscraper will once again have Seattle having the tallest building on the west coast. Currently the 73 story U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angles, at 1,018 feet, is the tallest, taller than second tallest on the west coast, Seattle's Columbia Center at 76 stories, but reaching only 933 feet high.

The article about the new 101 story Seattle skyscraper did not say how tall it was expected to grow.

Since I've been in the Fort Worth zone I have only seen one semi-tall building built. The Omni Convention Center Hotel.

A month or so ago the extremely erudite, Mr. Spiffy, opined as to why downtown Fort Worth is a moribund ghost town with little new construction.

America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision Boondoggle, is stifling new development because developers do not know if America's Biggest Boondoggle will ever come to fruition. And if it miraculously does come to fruition, will what The Boondoggle has, at times, referred to as Uptown, be where one would want to put ones development dollars, instead of the current downtown Fort Worth zone, south of The Boondoggle's Uptown, currently bizarrely known as Panther Island?

Recently I was sent an email from which I learned a reporter for the Star-Telegram, for some reason, thinks The Boondoggle has a projected project completion timeline of 2023. I have read this nowhere else.

How this relatively simple project can take far longer than far more complicated engineering projects, be it the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Panama Canal and many other feats of engineering, documented on this very blog, to have been completed in a shorter time period than America's Biggest Boondoggle has been boondoggling along, is a perplexing mystery.

Even more mysterious is why is it the locals, or the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, don't insist in getting some answers as to why this project has turned into America's Biggest Boondoggle?

Currently, the only construction project that I am aware of, anywhere near the downtown Fort Worth zone, is those three simple little bridges The Boondoggle is building over dry land, with a four year construction timeline, to connect Fort Worth's mainland to an imaginary island.

Why are other big American cities currently experiencing a construction boom in their downtown's, such as what is taking place in Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle, and others, while Fort Worth is moribund?

If America's Biggest Boondoggle is not the cause, what is?