Climbing Mount Wichita On A Cool Cloudy August Texas Monday

Til today it seems like it has been weeks since I rolled myself to Lake Wichita Park to do some mountain climbing to the summit of Mount Wichita.

Mountain climbing has not seemed appealing with the temperature over the century mark.

But today, as you can see, is a bit overcast, with thunderstorms in the realm of the possible, according to the weather prognosticators.

Since I last mountain climbed giant dandelion-like flowers have sprung up at the lower elevations of Mount Wichita, adding a welcome bit of yellow to the green and brown earth tones.

The temperature at the base of Mount Wichita, according to my phone, was 83 degrees when I began the ascent. I did not think to check the temperature when I reached the high elevation of the summit.

The air is being pretty much dead calm today, which helped make that relatively chilly 83 degrees feel relatively hot.

I made only two ascents to the Mount Wichita summit today, with the first ascent via the rarely climbed east face of the mountain. The second ascent was via the popular, heavily trekked west ascent.

From the Mount Wichita summit it did not look like there was much thunderstorm potential in the looking south view you see below. However, taking a 180 degree turn and looking north, the dark sky did look like there was thunderstorm potential. I did not think to photo document the dark northern view.

You can see today's dead calm windlessness reflected in how glassy like smooth Lake Wichita is being today. Nary a ripple in sight.

Upon reaching the summit of Mount Wichita today I found a guy taking photos with his phone. He was from Missouri, in town to visit his grandma and introduce grandma to his fiance.

The last time he was in Wichita Falls was during the drought. He said that on that visit Lake Wichita was reduced to being a small pond. He also said that when he was a kid he and his friends would swim in Lake Wichita.

I knew long ago, like early in the previous century, swimming was doable. People in this century have told me no one swims in Lake Wichita.

The Lake Wichita Revitalization Project hopes to restore Lake Wichita to being swim worthy, with a sandy beach near the base of Mount Wichita. That would be a real good thing....

Boondoggle's River Rockin' Sinks With Too Much E. Coli & Dead Bodies In The Trinity

I first saw that which you see here last night via Layla Caraway on Facebook.

I was more than a little surprised to see this because that sure looks like Ms. Caraway in the upper middle of the photo, floating in the Trinity River at the notorious location oddly named Panther Island Pavilion, where there is no island or pavilion.

The Facebook post linked to a Star-Telegram E. coli found in Trinity River at Panther Island Pavilion article.

Apparently the TRWD takes a water sample every Tuesday, with the results coming in on Thursday, which is the day of America's Biggest Boondoggle's Rockin' the River Inner Tubing Happy Hour in Fort Worth's favorite polluted river.

This week's test found the E. coli level HUGELY elevated, far above the level considered safe by TCEQ, or any sane human.

Now, what I wonder, and what seems so obvious to me, with this testing done only once a week, with the possibility of the E. coli levels spiking so dangerously, what if the water sampled on Tuesday was a pure as the water in a civilized location on the planet, but by Thursday's Rockin' the River the level spikes to the 1,700 E. coli organisms per 100 milliliters level it spiked to on Tuesday?

How can anyone suggest it is safe to get wet in the Trinity River without testing taking place simultaneous to the time when The Boondoggle schedules one of its ill-conceived water events?

The Star-Telegram article neglects informing its few readers that in addition to way too much E. coli being in the Trinity River, this week three bodies were also fished out of the river.

The last paragraph of the article tells us that The Boondoggle's Sunday Funday family friendly tubing, kayaking, canoeing and boating at Panther Island is still scheduled.

Scheduled two days before the next scheduled water quality test? What sort of responsible parental figure would consider this to be an appropriate family event to take ones kids to?

I can't be the only person who has observed the fiasco that has become America's Biggest Boondoggle who thinks it is time to pull the plug.

And get that plug pulled before someone gets hurt. Fort Worth seldom does anything or has anything happen with garners national, let alone international attention.

I really don't want to see Fort Worth known as the town where hundreds of people were sickened by E. coli, or worse. Can you imagine the world's media coming to town, with J.D. Granger trying to explain why he helped instigate getting people floating and drinking beer in a dangerously polluted river, known to be one of the most polluted in Texas, and America?

Is Fort Worth A City Transforming Its River From Blight To Beauty?

A couple days ago someone named Anonymous made an anonymous comment to a blogging about the latest embarrassingly stupid propaganda from America's Biggest Boondoggle, now officially known, supposedly, as the Panther Island District.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Imaginary Fun Phase Begins For Fort Worth's Entertainment Boondoggle":

Somehow Fort Worth didn't make the list.

7 Cities Transforming their Rivers from Blights to Beauties

________________

Somehow Fort Worth did not make the list, but, Oklahoma City did, as did a Texas town named San Antonio. But no mention made of Fort Worth, with its river boondoggle mired in inept mediocrity (and too much e.coli) with its ill considered attempt to turn the Trinity River into a lake with canals and imaginary islands. A project which has been ambling along in slow motion since soon after the start of the new century.

Meanwhile, other towns in America, and the world, have actually transformed their town's rivers from blights to beauties.

However, in Fort Worth, after all these years, the Trinity River is still the same polluted river it was back when the Trinity River Vision was first foisted on the unsuspecting Fort Worth public, years before it became an imaginary island named after an imaginary panther.

The seven cities which have turned their blighted rivers into beauties are Chicago, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh, Medellin, Columbia, New York City, San Antonio and Los Angeles.

The transformation of Oklahoma City's river is quite impressive. I have been impressed with Oklahoma City each time I have visited. I recollect being in OKC soon after Fort Worth's Trinity Uptown project was announced. OKC had this development underway called Bricktown. There were signs telling of the funding mechanism, based on a bond issue which was the result of a vote. I remember thinking, wow, Oklahoma City is a much more advanced American city than pathetic Fort Worth. That was well over 15 years ago.

The blurb about Oklahoma City's river revival in the Blight to Beauty article...

In the 1920s and 30s, the US Army Corps of Engineers rerouted the North Canadian River around downtown Oklahoma City, to avoid flooding. The result was a marshy watercourse that locals liked to joke about mowing instead of rowing. A $53-million project completed in 2004 rejuvenated the stretch, creating the seven-mile, dam-controlled body of water whose name was then changed to the Oklahoma River. Since then, a one-cent sales tax initiative has funded additional enhancements to the river and its surrounding Boathouse District. Master planned by local architecture firm Rand Elliot + Associates, the area includes walkways, performance spaces, shopping, and angular glass and steel boathouses. The newest feature, an 11-acre whitewater kayaking and rafting site known as RiverSports Rapids, opened this spring.

Of the seven cities profiled the only one not in America is Medellin, Columbia. That's in South America, for you who skipped geography class. Being in South America, and with Columbia being a third world country, this town most closely matches Fort Worth, development wise, both politically and economically.

The blurb about Medellin's river renewal...

Medellin, a once broken city that has already reinvented itself through innovative urban projects like parks, squares, an aerial tram, and a green belt, is now completely rethinking its river. Like so many others, that waterway was channeled in concrete in the 1950s, a highway built right next to it. But now, following a competition-winning plan by Latitude, Workshop of Architecture and City, the city is burying a 1,300-foot-long stretch of that highway and building a park (Parques del Rio Medellin) on top, providing recreation and re-connecting the river to the rest of the city.

Okay, maybe Medellin is not as much of a third world type city as Fort Worth is, what with Medellin having successfully reinvented itself through multiple progressive projects, whilst Fort Worth really has not ever reached the stage where reinvention is a possibility.

I wonder if Medellin has indoor plumbing in its urban parks projects, or if it follows the Fort Worth third world type reliance on multiple outhouses?

Fort Worth is a town which finally installed a square in its downtown after decades of pointing the town's few tourists to a non-existent Sundance Square.

Maybe Fort Worth could send some sort of task force to Medellin, Columbia to try and learn how that town manages to get projects done without becoming an embarrassing boondoggle.

I suspect that that Fort Worth task force, upon inspecting how things get done in Medellin, will learn that Medellin's successful projects did not employ the unqualified son of a corrupt local politician, even though that is a third world type cliche....

Texan Expedition To Lucy Park Looking For Trump's Log Cabin

This first Sunday of August I decided to escape air-conditioned comfort to journey to Lucy Park to take a walk in the shade of tall oak and pecan trees.

One of my favorite locations on the planet is the redrock zone of Utah.

Today at Lucy Park, near a Wichita River overlook I saw the big chunk of redrock you see here, with a plaque stuck to the redrock informing redrock gazers that the Texas Santa Fe Expedition crossed the Wichita River near this spot August 4, 1841.

This sounds like something Donald Trump would make up. Where is the video documenting this alleged river crossing?  And who was doing the expediting on this Texas Santa Fe Expedition? I suspect some Mexicans were along, due to this area having recently been Mexico til the Texans land grabbed.

No, that which you see below is not the log cabin Donald Trump claims to have been born in.

What you are looking at is the Lucy Log Cabin in Lucy Park. You can rent the Lucy Log Cabin for events like parties and weddings and other such stuff.

Speaking of Donald Trump. And who isn't? If you have been perplexed, as have many, wondering how any sane person could possibly think it a good idea for Donald Trump to be the next American president, I read an interesting article this morning with a good explanation for this inexplicable phenomenon titled A neuroscientist explains what may be wrong with Trump supporters’ brains.

It's a long article. A good excerpt from that long article, which includes something I have said about the inexplicable Trump phenomenon....

“The knowledge and intelligence that are required to be good at a task are often the same qualities needed to recognize that one is not good at that task — and if one lacks such knowledge and intelligence, one remains ignorant that one is not good at the task. This includes political judgment. Essentially, they’re not smart enough to realize they’re dumb."

Not smart enough to realize they are dumb.

I have thought that to myself countless times of late, whilst reading comments on Facebook and other locations. Not smart enough to realize they are dumb....

Happy 65th Wedding Anniversary Mom & Dad

In five days it will be 15 years since I took the picture you see here of my mom and dad.

August 11, 2001.

Exactly one month before life in America changed drastically.

On July 27, 2001 I headed northwest, solo, driving myself back to Washington in order to be a surprise attendee at my mom and dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary.

Today, August 6, 2016 is my mom and dad's 65th Wedding Anniversary.

The 50th Anniversary Party took place at my oldest sister Clancy's and Fancy's abode in Kent. Kent is south of Seattle, about halfway to Tacoma.

About a month after 9/11/2001 mom and dad visited me in Texas for the first time. They were heading back to Arizona after a long roadtrip in their RV that took them to visit former Amish relatives in Ohio, among others.

If I remember right I have photos my dad took in Ohio. I shall look and see if I can find Ohio photos.

Mom and dad had trekked east for a reunion of my dad's siblings and some of their kids. Below is a picture of my mom at that sibling reunion.

Like I said, my dad was taking the pictures, so that is not my dad sitting next to mom. That would be my dad's little brother, my Uncle Mooch, sitting next to mom.

The last time I was in Washington was eight years ago, from July 15 til August 15. Mom and dad arrived in Tacoma, up from Arizona, a few days into that last visit to Washington.

Then, a few months later, during the first week of the new year of 2009, mom and dad drove to Texas once again to visit their Texan kid.

Mom and dad in their cowboy hats, at Lake Grapevine in January of 2009.

I do not know what is planned for mom and dad's 65th anniversary. I will be calling later today.

Happy Anniversary Ma and Pa!

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.