Fruitless Friday Wichita Falls Search For Litter

Walking to my means of motorized vehicular transport today, en route to Sikes Lake, I looked across the street at what you see here and thought to myself something that had not occurred to me, previously, when looking at this scene. That being that this is something one would seldom see in my old home zone of Fort Worth.

A covered bus stop, with a bench to sit on, and a garbage receptacle in which to deposit litter.

Last Saturday on the way to the Watermelon Festival in downtown Wichita Falls one of my passengers verbalized something along the line that there sure is little litter littering this town.

I have made note of that fact a time or two myself. While in Fort Worth I was regularly astonished at the volume of litter littering the landscape. And floating in the Trinity River.

Why such a difference between two Texas towns? Are Wichita Fallers a more tidy breed of Texan than the people of Fort Worth?

I decided litter was going to be my theme of the day, and that whilst walking around Sikes Lake I was going to look for litter, on the ground and in the lake.

Well, what I quickly made note of during my Sikes Lake search for litter was another thing I'd not made note of previously. That being that there are a lot of litter receptacles ready to receive litter around Sikes Lake.

About every 200 feet there is a bench, with a litter receptacle adjacent to the bench.

Above, looking past the horse of many colors, you see a jogger about to run by one of the aforementioned  benches with its adjacent litter receptacle. Please note that you can see no litter on the ground.

Continuing on, a couple benches later we come to this bench, perched at an angle to the lake, looking east. Again, no litter visible anywhere.

Around Sikes Lake there are several gazebo type picnic structures, such as you see above, with a drinking fountain. And a litter receptacle. Looking through the gazebo you can see another of the gazebos on the other side of the lake.

A look at yet one more bench and its litter receptacle companion, looking northwest, by the shade of an evergreen tree of some variety unknown to me. And, again, no litter to be seen no matter where one looks.

So, why such a contrast between two Texas towns? Litter free Wichita Falls with modern parks with modern facilities and amenities like multiple benches contrasted with filthy Fort Worth with its embarrassing, astonishing, disgusting amount of litter, with few modern parks with modern amenities.

Do the people of Fort Worth, for the most part, not visit other towns, even neighboring towns, and see how far behind the modern world Fort Worth is in way too many ways?

Oh, one more thing. In Wichita Falls I have not come across any sort of anti-litter campaign. Apparently because there is no need for such a campaign.

While in Fort Worth the town's goofy government comes up with dumb stuff like Adopt a Drain, and, I don't know if this is still happening, but a city program encouraging Fort Worthers to pick up ten pieces of litter on Tuesdays.

I don't know if one person could find ten pieces of litter in Wichita Falls, even if one had all week, not just a Tuesday....

Imaginary Fun Phase Begins For Fort Worth's Entertainment Boondoggle

Captain Andy sent me a link to that which you see here, a FOX4 News online article titled Development phase begins for new Fort Worth entertainment district.

I read the article, which was posted August 2, 2016, thinking it seemed so outdated, as in maybe a decade out of sync.

Regarding this article this is what Captain Andy had to say...

Get out your hipwaders, the propaganda machine is stirring again. Panther Island is a new name? Construction is about to start? What the hell? Hasn't construction been delayed for the last several months after starting with a bang (or a dull thud) quite some time ago? Every time they move a spade of dirt they restart the timeline on the project. 

I think it was a year ago, or maybe two, time flies so fast, that The Boondoggle had a ceremony capped by a TNT explosion to celebrate the momentous occasion of the start of construction of one of The Boondoggle's three bridges connecting the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.  That bridge construction of that one bridge has been halted for months now, due to design errors.

Has anyone read any news, anywhere, among the multiple reliable Fort Worth news sources, regarding the current stalled state of The Boondoggle's bridge building?

When that explosive TNT ceremony took place J.D. Granger was quoted as saying that now the public will finally be able to see this project rise from the ground. Literally. With the appearance of monumentally unique signature wooden V-pier forms. Currently a few of those wooden forms are all that can be seen of this stalled project.

Some embarrassing excerpts from this bizarre propaganda laced article...

The land has already been purchased, utilities moved, environment cleaned up and now building begins. "Now we're going to the fun phase -- the development phase,” said Granger. “So over the last year, we've had lots of development interest. We've been talking through many different parcels." Parcels include a sports complex, festival grounds, parks, canals, housing, office space and more.

Now we're at the fun phase, the development phase, the incompetent, unqualified Granger failure claims?

Why is no one asking about the stalled construction of those bridges?

And then there is this...

The city's future plans of making a river-walk, lakes and canals along with an entertainment district and condos and apartments are about to take some big steps forward, which could double Fort Worth’s downtown area. The new development will also come with a name change.

Another name change? What is the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision going to be called now? This project which has been dawdling along since around the start of the century, eventually turning into America's Biggest Boondoggle is about to take some big steps forward?

And then we learn about the name change....

It would be bigger than San Antonio's river walk and would rival Austin's Town Lake. Newly-named Panther Island District would stretch 12 miles along the Trinity River, just north of downtown Fort Worth. By 2024, the development would double the size of the central part of the city.

Oh, the new name is the same name The Boondoggle has been using for years now.

Panther Island.

Where there is no island. Who wrote this idiotic article?

And then this gem....

But if you think it's a new idea, JD Granger with the Trinity River Vision Authority has been working on it for several years. With about $280 million in, Granger said now is when the fun part begins.

If you think this Boondoggle is a new idea you have been totally out of touch with local Fort Worth reality. It's a bad, old idea, that has been stumbling along for years and years, with very little to show for all the effort and extensive signage and quarterly mailed updates detailing the lack of real progress.

And what is up with Kay Granger's boy's fixation with the supposed "fun part" of this Boondoggle beginning?

The following paragraph contained the most embarrassing nonsense of this entire embarrassing propaganda piece....

Construction for the development could begin in a month or two. After Tuesday’s vote, the area was officially renamed from the Trinity Uptown District to the Panther Island District, one of many changes to come over the next few years for the area.

Construction could begin in a month or two? What construction? The stalled bridge construction? The digging of the ditch to go under the stalled bridge construction? Officially renamed from Trinity Uptown District to Panther Island District?

Is it not time now to say enough of this nonsense is enough? This Boondoggle needs to be put to rest before it does more damage to Fort Worth than has already been done.

And J.D. Granger needs to be fired if this Boondoggle continues to go forward. Who is to blame for this becoming America's Biggest Boondoggle?

If not J.D. Granger, who?

His mama?

A No Vote In Seattle Got Me Wondering About Getting Propositioned In Fort Worth

My old home state of Washington had an election of the primary sort yesterday in which Washington voters voted on all sorts of things.

Including what you see here, Initiative 123, a Seattle issue where voters voted to reject a plan to turn part of the Alaskan Way Viaduct into a waterfront park.

In the state I am currently in, Texas, the town of Arlington's city council took a step yesterday towards putting on the November ballot a bond issue asking voters to vote to support tearing down the relatively new Texas Rangers ballpark and replace it with a new ballpark with a roof and air conditioning.

Ever since this new ballpark in Arlington deal popped up I've thought it to be ridiculous. The Ballpark in Arlington is the coolest, nicest baseball park I have ever been in. Having said that I must admit the only other major league ballpark I have been in is the long gone Kingdome.

Reading this morning about the Washington election and the ballpark news out of Arlington it got me to freshly wondering what is wrong with that Sick City named Fort Worth.

It's not like the voters of Fort Worth don't see examples, up close, such as next door, in Arlington, of voters getting to vote on issues affecting their town.

Fort Worth is currently the host city for America's Biggest Boondoggle. A poorly implemented, ill-conceived, ineptly engineered, pseudo flood control economic development scheme the voters of Fort Worth were not allowed to vote on. America's Biggest Boondoggle has been boondoggling along for almost two decades, with little to show for the effort. Currently with The Boondoggle's bridge construction halted for months due to design mistakes.

A couple years ago Fort Worth's voters were actually sort of allowed to vote on a public works project. That being a new Multi-Purpose Arena.

But, that "vote" was extremely goofy and definitely not the way the voters vote on a public works project in democratic areas of America.

To approve of the building of Fort Worth's new Multi-Purpose Arena voters were asked to approve three separate propositions. Now, that really does not sound all that different from what voters might vote on in a normal part of America.

However, those three propositions were three extremely goofy revenue raising proposals, supposedly raising enough money to pay the public part of the project, with the other half paid for by the good ol' boy and girl network which runs Fort Worth in what is known as The Fort Worth Way.

I blogged about this Fort Worth three propositions lunacy multiple times, including in Fort Worth Dunce Confederacy's Congratulatory Arena Propaganda where I opined, regarding those three propositions....

As for those Three Propositions, those have perplexed me ever since I first learned of them. Basically they are three voter approved taxes, as in fees on renting livestock stalls,  parking and event tickets.

To supposedly approve the building of this arena the Fort Worth voters were asked to approve one proposition to charge a livestock rental fee, another proposition to add a parking fee tax. And a third proposition to add a fee tax to event tickets.

Yes, you reading this in an area of America that operates normally, each of those three "propositions" was a separate entry on the ballot. Instead of a straight up vote to approve a bond measure to build an arena, voting to approve of these three goofy propositions was the yes or no vote on the arena.

It's been a couple years now since the Fort Worth sheep, I mean voters, approved of those three goofy propositions. Has construction begun yet on the new arena after all this time since the voters approved of those three goofy propositions? Or has this project become mired in Fort Worth Boondoggle mode along with three stuck bridges being built over dry land to connect Fort Worth's mainland to an imaginary island?

Remembering The Day I Learned Elsie Hotpepper Was Not An Old Lady

The young lady you are looking at here is an artist's rendering of Elsie Hotpepper, rendered years ago, before I actually met Elsie Hotpepper, with my impression of what Elsie Hotpepper looked like, and her age, derived from, if I remember right, email exchanges exchanged after I mentioned Elsie Hotpepper's doppelganger in a blog post.

Imagine my shock when I actually met Elsie Hotpepper to find that not only was she not a wrinkled old lady, but was, instead, a young lady who looked like a super model.

A super model who regularly cursed like a drunken sailor on shore leave.

A couple months ago I learned Elsie Hotpepper was being a willing collaborator of an insanely stupid racist Texan.

To say I was appalled upon learning this does not cover how difficult it was for me to try and understand how a sweet someone such as Elsie Hotpepper could condone the un-condoneable in any way.

Is this a Southern thing? Where way too many Southern women are way too used to condoning something most of the world sees as reprehensible?

But, then, to further confound me, one of Elsie Hotpepper's co-racist collaborators, Miss Mary Not Contrary, is a Yankee, from the actual Yankee land of New England.

I am from up North, but I am not a Yankee. The Pacific Northwest was not part of the Union back during the era of the War of Northern Aggression, also known as the Civil War. My relatives were still living in war torn Europe at the time the North was finally fed up enough with the South to whip the South into behaving like proper human beings.

A process which, sadly, continues to this day. A process hampered, sadly, by Southern racist collaborators inhibiting the progress towards eliminating racist idiots from the face of the planet.....

Growing More Disgusted With Condoning Texas Racist Collaborators

Yesterday, via my cousin Scott, on Facebook, I was appalled to see that which you see here.

A Huffington Post article about a mayor making racists comments about our First Couple.

Reading the article I was even more appalled to find out this mayor was the mayor of a small town suburb in my old home state of  Washington.

A state I like to think is totally intolerant of such idiocy.

Well, turns out I was right about Washingtonians not being tolerant of such, unlike some locations in my current location of Texas, such as Fort Worth and Tarrant County.

This story about the bad mayor is about a year old. Soon after this Huffington Post article was posted the mayor resigned.

The small town suburb of which this idiot was the mayor is near Spokane, in far eastern Washington.

From  the Spokane Spokesman Review, again in an article from about a year ago, I learned....

The embattled mayor of Airway Heights has submitted his resignation following a public furor in July regarding comments he made about President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama that were considered racist.

Imagine that. A public furor righting a wrong.

I am guessing the reason this old story popped up this week was due to an idiot racist woman getting fired from her loan officer job after posting on Facebook that Michelle Obama was an "ugly black bitch."

This idiot racist woman was reacting to the heaps of praise showered on Michelle Obama after the First Lady's extremely well regarded speech at the Democratic National Convention.

The racist remarks of the Washington mayor and the idiot loan officer were mild compared to what I have been dealing with in Texas. Which I have blogged about now, multiple times, most recently yesterday, and also a week ago, in a blogging titled Eliminating Racist Texas Idiots From Facebook One By One with links to the previous bloggings, where you can read the racist rantings I have been subjected to in Texas, via Facebook.

What has appalled me as much as the racist rantings of this one particular Tarrant County Republican is the fact that, other than me, I detect no public furor of disgust. Instead I have Facebook "Friends" who apparently are totally okay with this type hate speak, with their condoning of such rendering them Racist Collaborators.

Facebook comments regarding that woman fired from her loan officer job because of her racist post are applicable to the Tarrant County racists, and that former Washington mayor...

Tyler Way: Like the president or not, racism is racism. No excuses. This woman is a disgusting human being and she deserves to be fired. Karma bitch!

Kevin R Johnson: This happens because these Racist Goobers think everyone thinks like them. They are dismayed when they find out that most decent Americans find their views DESPICABLE and want NOTHING to do with them.

Scott Blankenship: Michelle is beautiful inside and out. If there is one bright moment of the Trump disaster it is he is making racists feel emboldened. I'm glad they are now crawling out of hiding. While they have free speech, all speech has consequences.

Taking A Stand For The Better Angels Of Our Nature

I saw this this morning on Facebook via Bud Kennedy.

As I read this I found what I was reading resonating with what I have been troubled by lately during these troubling times.

Reading this also caused me to think of one of Lincoln's memorable quotes...

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

I can see Hillary verbalizing Lincolnesque words summoning us to the better angels of our nature. I don't even think Trump would understand what is meant by better angels of our nature.

Among what Ms. Kirkendall says in her Facebook post is....

"Sometimes it's important to take a stand for what you believe in no matter the consequences. I believe this is one of those times."

I am in total agreement with that sentiment.

Lately I have verbalized about being disgusted by the racist rantings of one particular Tarrant County Republican and the fact that I long ago removed him from my Facebook Friends list, after being appalled by his racist comments and threats against the president.

At some point I discovered that 12 of my Facebook "Friends" were "Friends" with this racist neanderthal. I verbalized my belief that this amounted to being a "Racist Collaborator" as in it amounts to condoning racism.

On the day I hit the publish button on Eliminating Racist Texas Idiots From Facebook One By One I un-friended 6 of the 12 Racist Collaborators whom I had never actually met or had any real contact with, other than Facebook comments. "Friends" I acquired via the last TRWD Board Election.

Subsequent to my latest blog post about this issue one of the remaining Racist Collaborators on my Facebook Friends list accused me of being a bully regarding this issue.

I was appalled.

How can someone be okay with having any sort of condoning contact with a vile racist of the worst sort, and say I am a bully for finding such to be inexcusable?

I am not a bully. I am an anti-bully.....

Spitting Seeds At The Wichita Falls Watermelon Festival

This last Saturday of July of 2016 I had myself a mighty fine time at the best watermelon festival I have ever been to.

The Wichita Falls Watermelon Festival.

The Watermelon Festival takes place in downtown Wichita Falls at the Farmers Market, with this being the biggest event of the year at the Farmers Market.

I knew going in that free slices of watermelon was part of the festival. I did not know that free cups of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream was also part of the festival.

I had myself many slices of watermelon, but I passed my cup of Bell Bell to a fellow festival goer.

There were a lot of Wichita Fallers in attendance today, making for the best people watching I have had the pleasure of watching in a long  time.

The most entertaining part of today was something I did not think I would find all that entertaining.

That being the Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest. It was very amusing. But, before we get to that, let's look at some other Wichita Falls Watermelon Festival scenes.

As you can see, watermelons were not the only melons at today's festival. The Farmers Market has all sorts of produce available, and other stuff of the crafty arts genre. The large crowd and all that produce gave today, at this location in Wichita Falls, a sort of a Seattle Pike Place Market feel.

The lady above seems to be pondering with extreme gravity the array of vegetables confronting her.

I have seen pumpkins carved artfully before, but never have I seen other fruits and vegetables carved as artfully as this lady was carving.

Well, it is almost time for the Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest.

But, before the spitting can start the above lady and her melons needs to move out of the designated spitting zone.

Each spitter gets three seeds to spit. First up was this guy, spitting the first distance to beat. If I remember right the next up ended up being the winner in the 14 and under category.

This kid was extremely animated with his watermelon seed spitting.

And then we move on to the 15 and above category with this lady who became the distance to beat, spitting, if I remember right, well over 20 feet.

This lady also did a good job of seed spitting. She also got praise for her watermelon themed outfit.

And then we had the winner.

The Master of Ceremonies informed us that this guy won his first watermelon seed spitting contest when he was a fifth grader. When he spit out his first seed it was all over. That seed sailed so far it took awhile, and several seed spotters, to spot it.

44 feet 7 inches.

At the award ceremony the above winner was asked what the secret was of his astounding spitting ability.

Extra hot air was his answer....

Deported Is My Projected Trump Fate

I have had my sensitive delicate feelers hurt a time or two, well, actually more times than I can remember.

But, I do not remember my sensitive delicate feelers being hurt previously to the level my sensitive delicate feelers have been hurt by taking the extensive Trump Score Test only to learn that I AM THE WORST PERSON with a Trump Score of only 301.

And that Trump will have me deported.

Do I get a choice as to my deportation destination? The Sea of Cortez side of Baja California, in Mexico, would be a nice destination. North of the border I have long been fond of Vancouver in the British Columbia province of Canada.

Actually, now that you are causing me to think about it, if the unimaginable actually happens, and the Great Orange Pumpkin actually gets elected, I think I may deport myself....

Bridge Over Wichita Falls Sikes Lake Bayou With Pokemon Zombies

Those familiar with River Legacy Park in the Texas town of Arlington might think, in the photo, we are on the River Legacy Park bridge across the Trinity River, connecting the south side of the park to the north.

Those familiar thinkers would be thinking wrong.

What you are looking at here is the bayou at the southwest end of Sikes Lake in the beautiful Texas town of Wichita Falls.

To take the picture of the bayou we are standing on one of the two Sikes Lake signature bridges built over water by experienced bridge building engineers of the sort Fort Worth's infamous Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Vision Boondoggle desperately needs to find in order to get The Boondoggle's bridges back in construction mode.

Even before the Pokemon Go madness and its hordes of Zombies came to be, Sikes Lake always has a lot of people enjoying the outdoors. Today that number was bigger than the norm. Along with the usual Pokemon Go Getters an event at the museum had its parking lot full.

Judging from all the parental units, with kids, I assumed some sort of Children's Event was afoot.

In the background, under the tree, are a couple of the aforementioned Pokemon Go Zombies staring at their phones. If I remember right I've shared a photo previously of this location with Pokemon Go Zombies under that same tree.

In the foreground that is not a Pokemon, superimposed on my phone's photo, screen capping me capturing a Pokemon. I don't have that app, or want it. I am assuming figuring it out would tax my limited figuring things out ability.

Walking around the lake was a bit taxing today.Why? I don't know. But, even though the trail runs over mostly flat ground, after a mile or two I felt like I was on mile ten of a twenty mile hike.

This may be an age related malady.....

Visit To The Liberty Bell Eagerly Awaiting Hillary's Philadelphia Coronation Speech

What you are looking at here is known as the Liberty Bell.

No, I am not in Philadelphia eagerly awaiting watching Hillary's coronation tonight.

This particular supposedly totally accurate, including crack, replica of the famous Liberty Bell, is located a short distance south of my abode, on the campus of Midwestern State University.

One is advised not to rock the bell or ring the bell clanger, due to, I assume, the thing being so heavy and potentially dangerous, knocking someone unconscious on the swing back.

I figured someone would need to be inebriated for that to actually happen, but with this being a college campus, likely this might be a possibility.

Adjacent to the Liberty Bell are two well known American documents, engraved and set in stone.

On one side is the complete text of the Declaration of Independence. On the opposite side is the Preamble to the United States Constitution.

I have seldom been at a more patriotic location. Mount Rushmore comes to mind, but I digress.

I read the Preamble and wondered to myself how many modern day nonsense spewers, who regularly vow to support some reactionary nut case who has vowed to uphold our sacred constitution, have actually even read the Preamble, let alone the entire U.S. Constitution?

I suspect most of those, well, illiterate types would not even be able to get through the Preamble without misunderstanding and being confused by what they were reading.

Anyway, I'm having myself a mighty fine patriotic day, so far.....