A Cold Vernal Equinox First Day Of Spring Palm Sunday In Texas

Winter of 2016 is now history. Spring of 2016 is now freshly sprung.

As you can see, via the view from my patio balcony, Spring at my location has sprung with a bright sunny Sunday.

A cold first day of Spring.

Only 37 degrees when the sun arrived this morning. So, the pool was a too cool no go for a first day of Spring refreshing dip.

In addition to today being the Vernal Equinox it is also Palm Sunday. That being the day Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, to be murdered five days later, and then supposedly sprung back to like two days after that, on the day known as Easter.

I think I have my bible story correct. It has been a few decades since I have been in Sunday School....

When Will A New Light Rail Station Transform Fort Worth?

I saw what you see here yesterday in the online version of the Seattle Times and thought, well, that is sure something I would not be reading in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about a similar thing in Fort Worth.

The UW referred to in the headline is the University of Washington. The UW's new light rail station is due south of Husky Stadium. The current end terminal of an extension of the Seattle Link line, via a three mile tunnel under Queen Anne Hill.

Soon voters in several Puget Sound counties will be voting on a $20 billion bond issue to extend the Link lines all the way from Everett to the north, to Tacoma to the south, and points east. The voters have a history of passing these type transportation proposals. Likely because they are seeing the benefit of having efficient mass public transit.

I have wondered before, and am wondering again, why is there no effort in the D/FW Metroplex to have a modern efficient mass public transit system? All one needs do is check out the Dallas DART light rail system to see a modern transit system in action.

Why is there no effort to extend DART to Arlington, to the Dallas Cowboy Stadium/Six Flags zone?

Building rail lines in this flat part of the planet would seem to be far less challenging and far less expensive than doing such in a location like Seattle and surrounding towns, what with there being a lot of topographic variation and large bodies of water.

Pretty much every weekday I see I-820 slowed to a crawl. One would think mass public transit would be more appealing than being stuck in a traffic jam day after day.

The Last Day Of Winter With A Cold Walk With Village Creek Indian Ghosts

I did not get the memo telling me that Winter had been scheduled to return the day before the arrival of Spring.

The outer world was chilled to 41 degrees this morning when the sun arrived. I had figured I'd go swimming this morning, but I re-figured that plan when I saw the temperature was only 9 degrees above freezing.

And there will be no swimming on the first day of Spring, because tonight the low, last I heard, is supposed to get down to only two degrees above freezing.

In the noon time frame I bundled myself up in long pants and a sweatshirt and headed east to Arlington to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to have myself some alone time with the Indian Ghosts who haunt their former home.

As you can see, above, North Texas is being green. In the picture I'm on the wildflower designated area on the bluff above Village Creek. That is the Village Creek dam bridge crossing you see at the center of the picture. The Village Creek formerly Blue Bayou is on the other side of that dam bridge.

I was sort of surprised the Historical Natural Area was open and not still closed due to flooding, due to the recent deluging. But, there was no sign of leftover mud indicating the creek had gone into serious flood mode.

After walking a couple miles I said goodbye to the Indian Ghosts and dropped in on ALDI for some vittles and Spec's Liquor to acquire this week's Dallas Observer.

And now it is time to make macaroni and cheese with barbecue chicken and corn.

Spencer Jack Took Me On A St. Patrick's Day Trek Around Puget Sound

Email arrived this morning from my Favorite Nephew Jason, with a subject line of "Evergreen Trip on St. Patrick's Day" documenting where Spencer Jack went on yesterday's Irish oriented holiday.

The text in the email....

After exploring Fort Casey on a beautiful sunny Pacific Northwest day, your FNSJ took me to Barnes & Noble and a tangled web under the Space Needle today via ferries, a monorail, and the World's Longest Salt Water Floating Bridge.

That would be Spencer Jack at Fort Casey you see above. Fort Casey was a Spanish American War era fort, built on Whidbey Island to guard the entry to Puget Sound. Another fort, Fort Flagler is on the Olympic Peninsula side of the strait, in Port Townsend.

I have had myself many a fine time exploring Fort Casey. It's sort of a kid's paradise. If I remember right, the last time I was at Fort Casey was with Spencer Jack's Uncle Joey.

Joey and I ferried our bikes from Fort Casey to Port Townsend, pedaled to the aforementioned Fort Flagler, then made it to the last ferry of the night for a rocky float back to Whidbey Island where I found a note on my pickup from the park ranger telling me to knock on his door and he'd open the locked gate to let us escape.

Continuing on with Spencer Jack's St. Patrick's Day.

I am guessing the below photo was taken near the Keystone Ferry Dock where Spencer Jack and his dad were waiting for the ferry so they could float to Port Townsend.

Below Spencer Jack is at the back of the ferry as it leaves Whidbey Island and the Keystone Ferry Dock.

The email mentioned the world's longest salt water floating bridge, but no photo was included of such. That bridge would be the Hood Canal Floating Bridge. The original version of which sank during a storm, late in the last century.

From the photo below I think I can accurately ascertain that Spencer Jack eventually made his way to Bremerton, where the ferry to Seattle was boarded, which would explain the below photo.

That body of blue water is known as Elliott Bay. When America's Biggest Boondoggle gets around to putting water in what may be known as Pond Granger, the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth may be seen in scenes such as you see above. I don't know if ferry boats are planned for Pond Granger. I suspect not.

Spencer Jack and his dad, particularly his dad, can not go to Seattle without riding the Seattle Monorail.

Above Spencer Jack is at the front of the Monorail, heading to Seattle Center, the location of the Space Needle.

The contraptions Spencer Jack is climbing on have been added since last I have been at the Seattle Center.

I have no idea what Spencer Jack is inside below.

Is it a mesh sky bridge between two elevated locations?

Spencer Jack likes to read.

Which may be why Spencer Jack, at his young age, is a fan of bookstores and libraries.

Spencer Jack's St. Patrick's Day trek around Puget Sound freshly reminded me of how many fun things there are to do in Western Washington, fun and varied, within a relatively short distance.

Meanwhile, at my current location......

UPDATE #1
Above I said Spencer Jack had emailed no photo of the aforementioned Hood Canal Floating Bridge. Spencer Jack's dad read that and informed me that the Hood Canal Floating Bridge is seen in the background of the below picture. And that they had to wait a half hour for the bridge to open to allow a boat to pass.

When I saw this photo I did not notice the line of cars or the bridge. I just thought it was a photo of Spencer Jack wearing big sunglasses. Turns out those are his dad's sunglasses. Now, on to the next update, from my Favorite Cousin Scott.

UPDATE #2
scott barry has left a new comment on your post "Spencer Jack Took Me On A St. Patrick's Day Trek Around Puget Sound":

hey, durannngggooo, just wanted to clean up a little of the geography in your recent post. fort flagler is located on marrowstone island, which is across the bay a little south and a little east of port townsend. fort worden, the third of the three forts constructed to protect puget sound -- and they did it well -- is located at the northeast tip of port townsend and has a great view across the sound to ebey's landing on whidbey island and beyond to mount baker. olivia and i spent many a day on the beaches at fort worden...

Fort Flagler did not sound right to me, so I Googled it, saw it was by Port Townsend, then assumed that was the name of Fort Casey's counterpart. I did not remember the Fort Worden name til the memory was restored by my cousin. I don't think I have been to Fort Flagler. I have been to Ebey's Landing many a time. Great hiking, high bluffs upon which cactus grows due to, I think, being in the dry rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains.

I Did Not Know A Thunderstorm & Hail Was On The Texas Weather Menu For Today

Yesterday was a borderline HOT blue sky cloud-free day which started for me with a long swim in the not too cool pool you see here under a dark, cloudy sky.

I did not know thunderstorms were on the menu when I got vertical last night.

Sometime around three in the morning extremely bright flashes lit up my bedroom, almost non-stop.

What fresh hell is this, I lay there wondering, wondering this because while the extremely bright flashes seemed to be close lightning strikes, I heard no thunder rumbling.

And the outer world was dead calm. No wind. Nothing but those silent extremely bright flashes of light.

An hour or longer later I finally heard a distant thunder rumble adding sound to the light show.

Eventually the thunder grew louder.

About an hour after the thunder got loud the tornado sirens started screaming. Yet there was still no wind blowing. The tornado sirens screamed for about 15 minutes before ceasing with the screaming.

And then rain began downpouring, soon joined by big chunks of hail pummeling the windows.

The rain and thunder booms ended an hour or so ago.

Apparently more booming is scheduled for later today and tomorrow.

Below, from Facebook, this morning in West Fort Worth....

Today Facebook Told Me I Was Basically An A+ Genius

I ignore most of the link bait attempts whilst visiting Facebook.

But every once in awhile I will click on one if the bait hooks me.

Like today, I clicked on one that said that most people could not answer 20 questions about subjects they learned in elementary school.

Well, most of those 20 questions were a bit more advanced subject matter than what I remember learning in elementary school.

I got all 20 questions right, though. And an A+ grade. It's been decades since I got an A+ for anything.

The test result also said "You're basically a genius." If I had a dime for every time I've been told that, I'd have at least a dollar. The genius blurb is in that faded text under the kid with two thumbs up.

Recently I got hooked by another Facebook link baiter. This one hooked me by saying something like "On average only Chefs can answer more than four of these cooking questions correctly."

Well, the questions were so dumb and easy I don't see how anyone could get one wrong. Like there'd be a photo of a cracked egg, with the question asking what the yellow part of the egg is known as. The choices, other than yolk, were totally absurd. All the questions were like that.

I think some of these Facebook link bait quizzes are designed to make stupid people feel smart. I know they have that effect on me.....

Is Rush Limbaugh's Radio Empire Crumbling?

I saw this on Facebook a minute or two ago. Ironically I was listening to Rush Limbaugh ranting about the latest Super Tuesday's election results.

Rush Limbaugh is not sounding like a ranter who is in the midst of a crumbling radio empire.

I'm listening to a local car advertisement right now. So, apparently this particular car dealer is ignoring the Dump Rush people.

Methinks Limbaugh has a steady audience of like minded, poorly educated listeners.

And that there are likely a supply of advertisers willing to support right wing hate radio.

Then again, if this is true that the radio empire of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk is facing imminent bankruptcy, that would be the first hope for humanity and American sanity news I have heard of late.

An Ides Of March Oakland Lake Park Walk Around Fosdick Lake With Throngs Of Little Kids

Earlier today I mentioned that someone was wanting to sell me a coffee machine so my Oakland Lake Park employees could have fresh brewed coffee.

That put Oakland Lake Park and Fosdick Lake on my mind. And so I took myself on a drive west for a couple miles and joined a throng of Spring Breakers enjoying the balmy Ides of March.

As you can see Oakland Lake Park has greened up nicely in preparation for the arrival of Spring in a few days.

As I was walking across Fosdick Dam a throng of kids were running towards me, led by a big dog. A little girl who was barely post toddler brought up the rear. When she got to me she looked up, let out a scream and turned around to run back to her mama.

Why are little kids so afraid of me? I must look like a sinister monster to them.  Or maybe it's my walking stick that frightens.

By the time I got my phone out of its pocket, turned on and in camera mode the only kids remaining as photo subjects were the two little guys you see above.

This was one happy group of little kids, well, except for the little girl who ran back crying to the safety of her mama when she saw me.

Wondering About Getting Water For Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park

About once a week I get email from China offering to sell me customized souvenir trinket type junk for my Pioneer Plaza business.

But, I have no Pioneer Plaza business. All I have is a webpage I made about the Cowboy and Longhorn Herd statues at Pioneer Plaza in Dallas.

This morning I got email with the subject line you see above, "Get Coffee and Water for Oakland Lake Park."

The Coffee part perplexed me, but the Water part had me thinking this was a person, like me, who wonders how a city park can have picnic facilities with no running water, for public safety sanitation sake.

And no modern restroom of the indoor plumbing sort.

Well, turns out the sender of this email, Office Vendor Specialist Jennifer, was offering to provide my Oakland Lake Park employees fresh brewed coffee at the best rates available.

But, I currently have no Oakland Lake Park employees. All I have is a webpage I made about Oakland Lake Park.

Rocking With The Waves Aboard A Washington San Juan Ferry

That which you see here is something I am unable to see at my current location on the planet.

Huge waves crashing into a ferry.

Apparently my old home zone was windy this weekend.

The ferry getting splashed is a San Juan ferry. That is the only identifying info in the Skagit Breaking News Facebook post which was the source of the video below.

The San Juan ferry route runs from Anacortes out to several of the San Juan Islands, with Friday Harbor the furthest destination. Anacortes is the town where Spencer Jack sells burgers at the Fidalgo Drive-In.

I have been on a Washington ferry a time or two when the ride has been scarily rough. A crossing from Port Townsend to Keystone comes to mind. The boat got to rocking so rambunctiously that it was not possible to walk.

The wave you see crashing aboard, above, splashes at about the 2:30 minute mark in the below video....