Thursday, March 9, 2017

Snowflake Blizzard With Real Desperate Housewives Of Wichita Falls

Yesterday, walking along the Circle Trail, with a strong warm wind blowing from the south, I suddenly found myself in a blizzard of white snowflakes.

The white snowflakes were not frozen. They were blowing from the trees you see here.

Spring has already sprung in North Texas. These trees, sprouting white snowflake flowers, have sprouted into blooming mode since I walked by them just a couple days ago.

I don't know what brand of tree these are. Texas Whitebuds? White Crape Myrtles? White Cherry Tree blossoms? I have no idea. However, I do know a Texas horticulturist known as Miss Julie who knows the answers to these type tree questions.

Changing  the subject.

There is this Wichita Falls lady I know who is known as Mrs. Brown. I do not know if Mrs. Brown has a lovely daughter or not.

Yesterday, via Mrs. Brown, I found  myself invited to a social networking event tonight at the Wiskeyta Club.

Near as I can tell this is a meet and greet type production of a group known as the Real Desperate Housewives of Wichita Falls.

During the course of my time in Wichita Falls I have met multiple housewives. I have not experienced any of them as being a particularly desperate type of housewife. Several have seemed quite real though.

I do not know if Mrs. Brown is a Real Desperate Housewife of Wichita Falls, or simply an invitee, such as me, to their soiree at the Wiskeyta Club.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Texas #1 In College Campus Hate Group Recruiting

Shocking news this morning.

Texas, one of the nation's most progressive liberal states, for some apparently unfathomable reason, has more hate groups recruiting haters on college campuses than any of the other states in the union.

The Texas State Legislature has shelved its ongoing in depth discussions about bathrooms to make time for discussing this latest instance of Texas being #1.

This new poetic license ethic regarding "news" is really liberating.

In other words, I made up that bit about the Texas State Legislature ceasing with their ongoing bathroom debates in order to debate more important issues.

The reality of this Texas being #1 in college campus hate group recruiting is that this "news" is not all that shocking.

Hate groups are more of a Southern thing than a Northern, Western, Midwestern or Northeastern thing.

Well, except for  Idaho.

So, since Texas is, by far, the biggest state in the South, both in size and population, it seems logical that Texas college campuses would attract more hate group recruiters than any of the other states where such bad behavior is prone to exist.

I  have not made note of any hate group recruiters making their presence known at my neighborhood Texas college, Midwestern  State University. From what I have seen of the MSU students I don't think such behavior would be tolerated...

In Fort Worth That Trump Boy Don't Act Right

I do not remember where it was I saw that which you see here. Most likely it was via Facebook.

A Lone Man holding a sign which opines the opinion, "TRUMP THAT BOY DON'T ACT RIGHT'.

I could not tell, for certain, that the needed apostrophe was between N and T on the sign.

Above the Lone Man, and his sign, the road sign indicates he is on Granbury Road.

I am assuming this is Granbury Road in Fort Worth. Maybe at the intersection of Granbury Road and Seminary Drive.

Among Fort Worth's 800,000, give or take a person or two, population there are some highly intelligent individuals who possess common sense and an evolved conscience. I know this because I met a few of them during my long incarceration in Fort Worth.

I do not know if I have met this Lone Man with the sign, but due to the message on the Lone Man's sign, I am fairly certain he is a highly intelligent individual who possesses common sense and a conscientious conscience.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Stunning Sikes Lake Wind With Wichita Bluff Views

Til this morning I forgot that yesterday my phone had recorded that which you see here.

A blooming tree of some sort being colorful at Sikes Lake, clearly indicating spring is bout to be sprung.

Cherry tree? Crape Myrtle? I have no idea.

Yesterday morning I returned books to the Wichita Falls Public Library. After that I checked in on the progress at the Wichita Bluff Nature Area, where I quickly determined progress towards completion is progressing quickly.

Such was confirmed this morning via an article in the Wichita Falls Times News Record about stunning views awaiting the Wichita Bluff project's completion.


More often than not the use of that "stunning" word strikes me as ridiculous hyperbole. Actual stunning views are not seen all that often. When you think about it, when was the last time, if ever, you were stunned by a view?

With out thinking too long about it, some of the views I can remember possibly being stunned by are the first time I saw the Grand Canyon, Zion Canyon, Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon, Mount Rainier up close, the Railroad Grade Coleman Glacier trail on Mount Baker, multiple other Cascade Mountain trail views and likely multiple other stunning views I am not remembering right now.

Like Devils Tower in Wyoming, that is another view which may have stunned me. Just remembered another one, Houseboating on Lake Powell takes one to one stunning scenic view after another, including the stunner known as Rainbow Bridge.

Maybe if one has never seen anything of the extremely scenic sort one might be stunned by the views one sees on the Wichita Bluffs.

Yesterday I was stunned at Sikes Lake, but not by anything scenic. I was stunned by strong gusts of warm wind. That and that stunningly colorful tree you see at the top....

Monday, March 6, 2017

Underappreciated American Cities Other Than Fort Worth You Should Totally Move To

No, that is not Fort Worth's Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District you are looking at here.

Though I can understand how someone might think so, what with this looking sort of like some of the propaganda which has been foisted on the apparently easily duped Fort Worth citizenry by dupers employed by the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

I saw that which you see here in an article titled, all in capitals, UNDERAPPRECIATED AMERICAN CITIES YOU SHOULD TOTALLY MOVE TO.

The underappreciated city you see above, with its already installed river vision, is Providence, Rhode Island.

Fort Worth was not one of the listed underappreciated cities. But, Houston was. I read the article and still don't understand how Houston is underappreciated.  San Diego and Salt Lake City apparently are also underappreciated.

Most of the underappreciated cities I had some awareness of.

A recognized level of national awareness may have been one of the criteria for a city being underappreciated, as in Americans had to have some awareness of the city. Which might explain Fort Worth not being underappreciated. Even though Fort Worth is becoming better known, what with being the host city for what has become known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is another of the underappreciated American cities cited in this list of towns you should totally move  to.


As you can see, Milwaukee also has what appears to be its own version of a river vision, already installed and floating boats.

Meanwhile, in underappreciated Fort Worth, that town's river vision has been blindly stumbling along for most of this century, with no project timeline and ever shifting project completion dates.

Such as a couple years ago construction began with a TNT explosion on three simple little bridges being built over dry land, with an incredibly long four year construction timeline. About a year ago construction on those bridges halted due to design errors, with that halt, at the time, only supposed to last about a month. It is now a year later. Anyone seen any action on that one bridge stuck with its wooden V piers piercing the sky?

During the stalled bridge construction period, the project's executive director, Kay Granger's son, J.D., told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that most of the project's infrastructure should be completed by 2023.

The slow motion progress of this project does not much seem to bother the locals. I don't think the majority of the Fort Worth locals have any awareness that public works projects, never submitted to a public vote, built in slow motion, directed by an unqualified local politicians's son, criminally abusing eminent domain, is not the norm in modern democratic locations in America and the world.

Meanwhile, on a sort of related note. Recently the parent of America's Biggest  Boondoggle, the Tarrant Regional Water District, had one of its meetings. These meetings are recorded in video form, viewable by anyone who wants to look.

A couple days ago Elsie Hotpepper emailed me regarding the most recent TRWD meeting with a link to the meeting's video, along with telling me to "check out Agenda  Item 13 on the last TRWD meeting, where at the 1:18 mark Mary Kelleher tries to get J.D. Granger to answer a simple question."

The questioning had something to do with funding America's Biggest Boondoggle, cost estimates, or changing budget estimates, or some such thing. Mary Kelleher asks J.D. who approves the change, to which J.D. answers "the Congress", to which Mary Kelleher asks the question again. And again. After several repeats, back and forth, Mary Kelleher finally pins J.D. down regarding it being J.D.'s mother, not the entire Congress, who is responsible for whatever it is that is being questioned.

I did not listen to the entire meeting and all its agenda items. Was the Boondoggle's bridge debacle discussed? I suspect no is the answer to that question....

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Spencer Jack Blizzard Geographically Confuses Me

Yesterday Spencer Jack and his dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason, sent me that which you see here.

Along with a text message which said...

Just another PNW Blizzard with more snow expected tonight.

I do not know how I ever managed to live in that frigid climate. A couple days ago I read somewhere that February was the coldest on record in my old home zone of Washington.

I have received no reports of the expected additional snow adding to the alleged  blizzard accumulation.

When I saw this picture it was yet one more iteration of an incident  where I find myself having trouble remembering geographic details of my old home zone.

It took me a minute or two to realize that in this picture Spencer Jack and Jason are heading down the hill which has Lincoln Elementary School behind them. Is this called Lincoln Hill? I don't remember, but that does not sound right.

I realized what I was looking at when I noticed Mount Vernon's Tulip Tower in the distance. Which indicated that at the bottom of the hill Spencer Jack and Jason would be either getting on I-5 or going under I-5 to downtown Mount Vernon.

At my current location north of being deep in the heart of Texas there was no blizzard yesterday. And no snow today.  Instead the air is currently being heated to one degree less than 60, under a gray, cloudy sky, which has done a little dripping.

Tomorrow the high is scheduled to reach 84...

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Apparently Neo-Nazis Are Known To Operate In Wichita Falls

Yesterday I happened upon The complete list of American cities where neo-Nazis are known to operate.

This complete list listed the states in which neo-Nazis are operating and the cities in those states where the neo-Nazi operations are supposedly taking place.

Both my old home state of Washington, and the state in which I currently reside, had towns on the neo-Nazi list.

The town I resided in in Washington, prior to moving to Texas, Mount Vernon, is not on the list of Washington towns where neo-Nazis supposedly operate.

Seattle and Spokane are the Washington towns alleged to be harboring neo-Nazis operations.

Mount Vernon may not be a neo-Nazi town, but, the town I reside in currently, Wichita Falls, is on the list of four Texas towns in which the neo-Nazis are supposedly doing their operating.

In addition to Wichita Falls, the Texas towns with neo-Nazis supposedly operating are Austin, San Antonio and Dallas.

I have no way of knowing if by "Dallas" this neo-Nazi list means Dallas/Fort Worth.

Some states, according to this neo-Nazi listing, have no neo-Nazis operating. Such as the state I was born in, Oregon, supposedly has no town with neo-Nazis operating.

And Idaho, a state well known for its surplus of skinheads and lunatic fringe types, supposedly has no towns in which neo-Nazis are known to operate.

Since I have been in Wichita Falls I have seen nothing which has seemed to be of the neo-Nazi ilk.

I have seen some extremely odd tattoo installations combined with odd haircuts whilst walking among shoppers in Wichita Falls' Walmarts.

Maybe I have been obliviously shopping amongst neo-Nazis whilst in Walmart, with zero awareness of such.

But, I don't see how one could be much of a neo-Nazi hater type and shop at the local Walmarts, what with the diversity of people I see shopping and working there.

I wonder when and where the Wichita Falls neo-Nazis meet? Are the meetings open to the public? I have not experienced anything new for a week or two. Attending a neo-Nazi meeting would qualify as doing something new...

Friday, March 3, 2017

Texas Almost Makes Bottom 10 In U.S.News & World Report 50 Best States Rankings

No, my one regular blog reader, what you are looking at here is not a group of Goobers in the polluted Trinity River getting ready to enjoy a Fort Worth Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Float.

The clean water and that volcano looming in the background likely clued you to the fact this is not a look at Fort Worth or any other location in Texas.

What you are looking at is Lake  Washington with Mount Rainier hovering high in the distance. This was an illustrative photo in a Seattle Times article titled Washington is best West Coast state in new national ranking — and 5th overall.

I clicked on the article to quickly learn this national ranking deal was a U.S. News & World Report production titled Best States Rankings.

Using dozens of various measuring metrics U.S. News & World Report made its important Best States determination.

The Top Ten Best States are...

#1  Massachusetts
#2  New Hampshire
#3  Minnesota
#4  North Dakota
#5  Washington
#6  Iowa
#7  Utah
#8  Maryland
#9  Colorado
#10  Vermont

North Dakota at #4? I am guessing treatment of protesters was not factored into the rankings.

And then we have the Bottom Ten Worst States...

#41  West Virginia
#42  Kentucky
#43  Alaska
#44  Oklahoma
#45  South Carolina
#46  New Mexico
#47  Alabama
#48  Arkansas
#49  Mississippi
#50  Louisiana

I am guessing you thought Texas was going to be in the Bottom Ten. Well, you guessed wrong. Texas missed out being in the Bottom Ten, but almost made it there...

#38 Texas

You can click the Best States Rankings link to see the entire list of 50 and learn how these important determinations were made.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Wichita Falls Flood Destroys Thousands Of Books

Lately, blogging-wise, I seem to be about the books, all about the books.

In the past couple days I have Looked Inside Sikes Lake Center Wichita Falls Literacy Council Book Fair Prep Not Googling Gosling and Loaded Books For The Wichita Adult Literacy Council's 17th Annual Book Fair.

This morning I learned that a malfunctioning sprinkler, which was intended to only spew water when a fire was detected, went rogue and spewed thousands of gallons over the course of an hour or so, til the flood was discovered and stopped.

By the time the water was not turned off thousands of books were ruined.

No, this disaster did not occur at the Sikes Lake Center, which is the location of the 17th Annual Wichita Falls Literacy Council Book Fair, which starts of today with a $10 Sneak Peek, and continues tomorrow and Saturday with Free Peeks.

This flood disaster occurred at the Wichita Falls Public Library, in downtown Wichita Falls.

Today I had to return Truman Speaks, which was due, and a couple other books, which were not due, but which I had finished reading, so I was able to check out the current state of the flooded library, which re-opened this morning, after a couple days of being closed due to the flood.

As you can see above, the area which was flooded is blocked off by an orange mesh fence. The whoosh of air blowers did not make too much noise. Were in not for the orange mesh fence, and the multiple whooshing air blowers, one would not know anything wet had happened.

It was the children's book section which suffered the calamity.

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Look Inside Sikes Lake Center Wichita Falls Literacy Council Book Fair Prep Not Googling Gosling

Yesterday I mentioned Loading Books For Wichita Adult Literacy Council's 17th Annual Book Fair.

Today, what with the outer world once again being heated to a pleasant temperature, albeit under a cloudy gray sky, I opted to walk to Sikes Lake to the location where those aforementioned books were being delivered after being loaded onto a Coke truck.

What you are looking at here is Sikes Lakes Center, which is the location for the 17th Annual Wichita Adult Literary Council Book Fair, starting up with a $10 Sneak Peek on Thursday, March 2, from 5-8 PM.

It will cost you nothing to visit the 17th Annual Wichita Adult Literary Council Book Fair on the two days following Sneak Peek. That would be Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4, with the Book Fair open from 9 AM til 8 PM on both days.


Above is a look at the state of the Book Fair, around noon, two days before the Sneak Peek.

Books are still arriving and being organized, which is a daunting task for the book organizers.

Til today I think it had been at least a month since I'd walked around Sikes Lake and had a visit with the lake's ducks, geese and seagulls.

Today I saw a mama goose with a flock of goslings. I think gosling is the term for a baby goose. But I am not sure. Would this mean that Canada's most popular actor's name means Ryan Baby Goose? I have no idea. I could look it up, but I am in a hurry and Googling is such a time consumer.

I took a photo of the mama with her goslings, but the photo did not do justice to the goose babies.

From Thursday to Saturday would be a perfect time  to visit  Sikes Lake, if you've never experienced a Book Fair, or had a commune with nature which included baby geese, also, maybe, known as goslings.