Lake Wichita Dam Has Become A Mini Grand Coulee

Yesterday, the last day of September, some of the gray sky had been erased, replaced by blue. With rain no longer falling, and the temperature still chilled into the low 60s, I layered on what turned out to be too many layers in order to roll my wheels along the Circle Trail to get myself some much needed endorphins.

Yesterday as soon as Holliday Creek came into view I was surprised to see a larger volume of water roaring through the canyon than I had ever seen previously. Rain must have fallen in copious amounts far upstream in the Holliday Creek watershed.

Today, the first day of October, totally blue sky has returned, my apparently temporary bout of SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) has totally abated. Rain is a fading memory. I decided today would be a good day to head south on the Circle Trail, to Lake Wichita, to roll my wheels around Mount Wichita. About a 12 mile ride.

I was more than a little surprised when Holliday Creek came into view to see it still roaring with a lot of water.

As you can see, above, the Lake Wichita Dam spillway looks like a virtual mini-Grand Coulee Dam spillway, back when Grand Coulee Dam still ran water over its spillway, before the building of the third powerhouse. Way more water was spilling over than when I last visited a couple days ago, during the period when rain was falling.

I made my way to the top of the dam to roll on to Mount Wichita, where I was surprised to see it was not a muddy mess, and that people were climbing the mountain.

I think I may do some mountain climbing tomorrow, weather permitting, to get some aerobic stimulation and its resultant endorphins.

In the meantime lunch awaits...

Look At Fort Worth's Industrial Wasteland Boondoggle Location For Amazon HQ2

I saw that which you see here a couple days ago, and thought to myself, what fresh nonsense is this?

Just a few days ago the Star-Telegram had embarrassed itself over the Amazon HQ2 thing, which had me then blogging about that instance of Star-Telegram embarrassment in Searching For Dozen Reasons To Lure Amazon To Fort Worth.

Even before I read this most recent article I assumed it was the bleak industrial wasteland known as Panther Island where "city leaders" would like to see Amazon HQ2 locate.

The Amazon in downtown Fort Worth? Here’s where city leaders would like to see it article made clear who these city leaders were who were suggesting the location of Amazon HQ2.

Of course, J.D. Granger is a supposed city leader. This explains so much which seems so inexplicable. The Granger part of the article...

In Fort Worth, city and chamber officials have approached the Trinity River Vision Authority to put together an offer for Amazon, detailing which parcels of land are available at the Panther Island site and where the company could potentially expand, said J.D. Granger, the authority’s executive director. “Amazon is the perfect fit for Panther Island,” Granger said. “We are looking for a young, aggressive-type model, and they are a perfect fit for what is being created down there.”

Yeah, a perfect fit for what is being created down there.

Down there, where there is no infrastructure development underway upon which a monster like Amazon could be built.

Down there, where J.D. Granger and America's Biggest Boondoggle have been struggling for years to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Down there, where there is no public transit of the modern world sort.

Down there, north of a downtown so lacking in shopping venues that on the busiest shopping day of the year the downtown is a virtual ghost town.

Why would Amazon have any interest in where Fort Worth's supposed city leaders would like to see Amazon locate its HQ2?

Would those be the same city leaders who mislead Fort Worth into having a public transit system so bad it would be considered inadequate in a big city in a third world country?

Would those be the same city leaders who don't care their town is ill served by public parks? With few of the town's parks having modern amenities, such as running water and restrooms. But do have an incredible number of outhouses.

Would those be the same city leaders who don't care that their town has fewer sidewalks than any other town of its size in America?

The town where Amazon HQ1 is located has the attributes which Amazon is looking for in HQ2. HQ1 has a light rail transit tunnel under its downtown, connected to an airport and an actual major university. HQ1 has multiple recreational options, including trails with shade provided by these things called trees, an attribute mostly lacking on those Trinity Trails Fort Worth's "city leaders" like to tout.

Now, I must admit, Fort Worth does have one thing Amazon does not regularly find near its HQ1.

Dangerously polluted water with signs warning about the water's danger.

In Fort Worth Amazon could enjoy the Rockin' the Trinity River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats.

Which really should serve as a cautionary warning. Fort Worth is so lacking in fun outdoor recreational options that hundreds of sad souls are regularly willing to get wet in the polluted Trinity River whilst drinking beer and listening to music playing from an imaginary pavilion on an imaginary island.

Willing, that is, on those occasions when it is determined the e.coli level is low enough to render floating in the river to be relatively safe.

Amazon's HQ1 is located in what is known as a progressive city, in what is known as a progressive state. Would Amazon want to puts its workers in danger of arrest due to some minor marijuana use?

Amazon HQ1 is in what is known as a Sanctuary City. In what is known as a Sanctuary State.

Would Amazon want its HQ2 in a town and state where who uses what restroom is a major issue?

Another excerpt from the deluded Star-Telegram article with another deluded quote from one of Fort Worth's deluded "city leaders"....

The city’s Panther Island development may be part of the North Texas bid to snag a second headquarters campus for Amazon. The possible site was revealed at a City Council meeting Tuesday night when Fort Worth Transportation Authority board member Jeff Davis mentioned the downtown project as a great location for the online retailer. “We have the best location in the world for Amazon on Panther Island,” Davis said, before noting that the council’s decision to not devote property tax revenue to expand bus service could hurt Fort Worth’s chances. Amazon has listed public transit among its site criteria.

Best location in the world? Did I mention deluded?

And then there is this blurb from the deluded Star-Telegram article...

Panther Island, the name for the big development envisioned on the north side of the Trinity River once a bypass channel is added, is one of the few Fort Worth locations with enough space to accommodate Amazon’s needs. The new island would include a town lake and encompass 800 acres. Construction on bridges that will eventually cross the new river channel is underway.

Panther Island District is actually the current name for the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle. The name of what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle has gone through many iterations over the course of this century, greatly helping whoever it is who has The Boondoggle's sign making contract.

Construction on bridges is underway? More accurately, construction on bridges has been limping along since 2014, taking longer to build than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge, over actual water.

The imaginary island will include a town lake? You reading this in the Seattle zone. This proposed "lake" is actually a small pond smaller than Green Lake. Only not with water safe to swim in.

The bridges will eventually cross the new river channel? River channel is a fancy way of saying cement lined ditch. That ditch won't get dug til that point in time when those three simple little bridges get built.

Amazon, you are looking at a point way in the future when Fort Worth's proposed site of your HQ2 is ready to get built on, with access via those three bridges taking you across that ditch to that imaginary island, where you won't be boarding a cruise ship docking on that little pond to take you north to Alaska, or a ferry to somewhere else.

But there are alligators, snapping turtles and water moccasins...

From Arlington's Boomed Viridian To Fort Worth's Doomed Cowtown Wakepark

I was in the D/FW zone on Wednesday. Whilst there I thought I might check in on the desolation zone in Fort Worth where for most of this century a supposedly much needed flood control and economic development scheme has been underway.

In slow motion.

No, what you are looking at here is not a Trinity Trail along the Trinity River in the aforementioned desolation zone of inactivity now known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

What you are looking at above is a spur trail off the Trinity Trail in River Legacy Park, in Arlington, not Fort Worth. This spur trail leads to the massive development known as Viridian.

Way back in 2007 I was biking along the River Legacy Trinity Trail when I saw a guy doing some surveying alongside the trail. I stopped and asked the guy what he was surveying. He told me he was doing some measuring for something called Viridian, which was to be a big development of lakes, homes, schools, stores, restaurants, and other things, such as a lake with a public access beach.

Infrastructure work on Viridian soon began, quickly altering the landscape one saw whilst biking along the River Legacy Trinity Trail.

And then the Great Recession hit.

Work on Viridian ground to a stop. That stop lasted for several years, and then a couple years ago the Viridian development went into boom mode, a boom which continues to boom.

Since I last biked through Viridian new paved trails have been added, one of which took me to an overlook looking over the marina you see below, with a collection of kayaks, canoes and sailboats.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, that flood control economic development, touted as being vitally needed, has been limping along for most of this century, with little, unlike Viridian, to be seen for the effort.

The Viridian development has been developed without abusing eminent domain. While in Fort Worth eminent domain was abused to take dozens of properties. With some properties bulldozed while the property owner was still trying to get justice in the corrupt Fort Worth courts.

Property was taken in Fort Worth, supposedly for the public good, for a pseudo public works project the public has never voted for, with this pseudo public works project not bringing the project to fruition within any reasonable time frame, with those stolen bulldozed properties just sitting there with nothing happening on them.

Some of those properties taken by eminent domain abuse are where America's Biggest Boondoggle has been trying to build three simple little bridges, for years now, built over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Viridian is a private development. No federal funds involved. No local congressperson's offspring hired to help grease any wheels.

There are several lakes in the Viridian development. None of which feature a cable powered wakeboard attraction.

One of the Trinity River Vision's early failures, one of the early boondoggle indicators, was known as Cowtown Wakepark. Touted by Kay Granger's boondoggling boy, J.D., as providing the sport of wakeboarding in an urban environment, this was obviously doomed to fail. It did not take professor of economics to see the problem with the business model. As in, only a few people at a time could be wakeboarding. It'd be like a Six Flags ride which could only handle four people at a time.

And then there was the location, at the edge of the Trinity River. Which floods, Apparently it never occurred to anyone involved that a flood would wreak havoc. Extremely ironic early on mistake, what with this being part of a project touted as being, in part, flood control.

Cowtown Wakepark did not last long. There was no investigation into how this mistake happened. Who was responsible? How much money did the Trinity River Vision spend to dig the pond for the Cowtown Wakepark? How much was spent to re-route the Trinity Trail around the Wakepark? Why is no one ever held accountable for any of the nonsense associated with America's Biggest Boondoggle?

Perplexingly pitiful...

Final SAD September Thursday With Wet Wichita Falls Egrets

How much more of this is a person expected to endure before cracking from feeling SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder)?

Day three of clouds dripping wet stuff on all the places I prefer to be dry.

Overnight, in addition to the water droppage, the temperature also dropped. A low in the low 50s overnight. Only 64 mid-afternoon in chilly wet Wichita Falls.

I had some slight respite from the chill, yesterday, in the D/FW zone, where I was able to ride my bike from River Legacy Park, in Arlington, to the Viridian development, also in Arlington. More on that, maybe, later.

It was semi-cold yesterday morning when I headed towards Dallas, and so I was wearing long pants for the first time since I was in Washington in August. The long pants turned out to be a mistake, due to the air being heated into the 80s by the time I got to River Legacy.

So, today, I was feeling a bit housebound, due to the constant drippage, when coming up on noon the dripping abated. I was already in sweatpants. All I needed to do was add a sweatshirt and an ear covering hat and I was good to go on the Circle Trail.

As soon as I got on the Circle Trail I saw Holliday Creek was running more water than I'd ever seen roaring through that canyon previously. I figured rolling to Lake Wichita Dam might be interesting, possibly with copious amounts of water spilling over the spillway.

About a mile later big drops started dripping. I continued on. Passing under Kemp Street the dam spillway came into view.  I saw water was flowing over the entire length of the spillway, but not in amounts copious enough to make the ground rumble, or a mist, or a slight roar.

On top of the dam I took the Circle Trail spur which leads to overlooking the spillway, and the homage to an egret which has been painted on the south side's wall. As soon as I got my camera turned on an egret arrived to pose with its doppelganger painted on the wall.

That is the close up view of the egrets, above, and a more zoomed out view below.

Soon after taking the above photos the rain started becoming more of a nuisance, and so I began a high speed return to my abode. I was not too wet by the time I opened my front door.

I do not know when this bout of bad weather is scheduled to end. My sun tan is quickly beginning to fade. Rapid winter type weight gain is likely soon to follow.

Unless the sun and the heat it brings returns, which I suspect will be the case. I hope...

Throwing Thursday Back To Last Month At Birch Bay With Uncle Mooch

A day or two or three ago I was made aware of the photo you see here.

August 11, 2017, near the end of an extremely long day four of my week in Washington last summer, this photo was taken at a restaurant on the bay at Birch Bay, a few miles south of the Canadian border.

As the end of the day approached we had been waiting for what seemed hours for the arrival of Aunt Judy and Uncle Mooch.

That would be Uncle Mooch you see in green at the far left above, and Aunt Judy, the lady in red, clapping near the end of the table. On the right, the lady in yellow, also clapping, is Uncle Mooch's first wife, Aunt Jane.

That cluster of kids, surrounding their favorite uncle, left of the center, is Theo, David, Ruby and Kwan, who is a short distance from Ruby, next to his mom, my cousin Amy, who also appears to be clapping. That is mama Kristin at the end of the table, also appearing to be clapping.

Why are all these people clapping? Except for Uncle Mooch.

Well.

We had finished our bowls of clam chowder and steamed clams, the table had been cleared, for the most part. I sat there thinking finally it is time to get horizontal so as to get a good night's sleep ahead of what was likely going to be a long next day.

Well.

Suddenly plates with round brownies and scoops of ice cream appeared. What fresh hell is this I sat there wondering? I want no dessert. I usually eat no dessert. I wanna go to sleep.

And then the final brownie plate arrived, plopped down in front of me, with a flaming candle stuck in one of the round brownies. And then that annoying Happy Birthday song began to be sung, followed by that aforementioned clapping.

Soon, it was over and I was able to go to bed.

I complain, but it was actually the end of an extremely long, extremely special day, one of the best ever, including a long swim with David, Theo and Ruby in the warm water of Birch Bay, and Uncle Mooch demonstrating, for sister Michele, for the first time ever, why we have long known him, affectionately, as Uncle Mooch...

That would be Uncle Jake closest to you, waving, then Ruby, then David, Theo and me. And I think, way further out in the bay, is Uncle Mooch and Aunt Jane, but I'm not sure...

Wichita Rain Falls Activates SAD Seasonally Affected Disorder

That is the late in the afternoon Tuesday view from one of my south facing windows you are looking at here.

Rain began dropping soon after the sun began it daily illumination duties this morning.

The dripping has gone into downpour mode multiple times.

Judging from the empty planter sitting on my deck several inches have dropped.

It took just one day for me to get SAD.

Seasonally Affected Disorder.

This day has been much too good a reminder of what a stereotypical fall/winter/spring day in my old home location in Western Washington is like. Day after day after day after day of gray drippage.

However, major difference from my current SAD location. At my location in Western Washington I could go a few miles to the west and be in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, where a desert level of annual precipitation make for a reliable rain-free experience.

Or I could drive further, heading east over the Cascade Mountains, where the rain shadow caused by that mountain range also causes a desert level of annual precipitation.

No matter what direction I go from my current location it would take hundreds of miles of driving to find any sort of rain shadow. Or a mountain. Well, a real mountain. I am a short distance from the Mount Wichita pseudo mini-volcano.

I hope the rain dries up by tomorrow morning when I make my monthly trek to the D/FW zone...

Ocean Wins Again With David, Theo & Ruby

What is going on here?

Certainly not a scene taking place in Wichita Falls. Or Fort Worth. Maybe the Texas Gulf Coast.

This is one of three photos sent yesterday from the phone of my little sister who lives in Tacoma.

The only text accompanying the photos said "The Ocean Wins Again..."

Since my nephews David and Theo, along with niece Ruby, took their parental units to the Washington Pacific Coast, to the town of Seabrook for a final summer fling, this would seem to likely mean this is the Pacific Ocean we see Theo dodging waves in.

David likely did no wave dodging due to his extreme shark fear. I recollect trying to convince David there were no big sharks in Birch Bay, and whilst doing so I may have mentioned there are big sharks, maybe even of the Great White variety, when you get closer to the ocean, such as what one finds on the Washington Pacific Coast.

The text informing us that the ocean had won again was in reference to the walled sandcastle fort Theo and I built last month at Birch Bay, along with some canal digging by Ruby and a little dredging help from David.

Theo and I thought we built our sand castle's walls high enough to hold back the tide.

We were wrong. The tide won. Eventually.

Below we see the trio of David, Theo and Ruby working on a Pacific Ocean circular sand sea wall. This appears to be much smaller than that which Theo and I constructed on Birch Bay. I see no hope of the ocean not winning against this sand sea wall.

I suspect the Pacific Ocean water is a bit cooler than that which we swam in in August at Birch Bay.

It appears above the ocean has already breached the sand castle's sea wall, well before the arrival of the incoming tide. Clearly engineering help from an uncle would have been helpful with this project.

But, even with an uncle's expert sandcastle wall building help, the ocean still probably would have won in the end....

Last September Sunday Fall Biking Around Lake Wichita

It was to Lake Wichita I rolled my non-motorized wheels today on this mighty fine last Sunday of September, first Sunday of Fall.

The route to Lake Wichita is via the Circle Trail, which crosses Lake Wichita Dam about a mile and a half from my abode. It is almost another mile across the dam, then a gravel trail around the perimeter of Lake Wichita Park til that trail returns to the current southwest terminus of the Circle Trail, in the shadow of Mount Wichita.

From Mount Wichita the Circle Trail runs along the north edge of Lake Wichita. I stopped at one of the trail overlooks which looks over the Lake Wichita marshland to take the picture you see above. From the point of this overlook it is about another half mile to where the Circle Trail is once again on top Lake Wichita Dam.

The handlebars pushed into strong headwinds today. That makes for amping up the aerobically induced endorphin stimulation.

Yesterday I got my aerobically induced endorphin stimulation via once again hiking multiple times to the summit of the aforementioned Mount Wichita.

I hope if the Lake Wichita Revitalization ever gets into actual motion that the plan is altered to using the dredged lake bottom to make a few more mountains alongside Mount Wichita, creating a sort of Wichita Mountain range.

Mount Wichita was made from that which was dredged from Sikes Lake, way back late in the previous century. Sikes Lake is several miles distant from Mount Wichita. It seems it would make sense to use that which is dredged from the Lake Wichita lake bottom to make some new nearby mountains, with no need to haul the mountain material but a short distance.

Anyway, fun bike ride today. I may be using my motorized vehicle device to haul my bike to the D/FW zone this week, I think. I do not know if there will be any wheel rolling, what with the weather prediction currently being possibly wet...

Short 25-Story Tower Changing Fort Worth's Skyline

A couple days ago I saw the headline you see here, Reaching the top: See how new 25-story office tower is changing Fort Worth skyline and thought to myself here we go again with some fresh Fort Worth Star-Telegram Chamber of Commerce-ish propaganda.

If the downtown skyline of an American city, with a population over 800,000, can be changed by one short office tower, the fact that that town must have a rather pitiful skyline seems rather obvious.

Over the years one has to admit the Star-Telegram has scaled back on some of its embarrassing propaganda. It has been a long time since I have read in the Star-Telegram that some perfectly mundane thing in Fort Worth was causing spasms of envy in towns, far and wide.

Long ago I compiled instances of this in a webpage titled, if I remember right, Fort Worth Causes World To Be Green With Envy.

Below, from the aforementioned Star-Telegram article about Fort Worth's dramatically changed skyline, we see a screencap photo documenting how this stunning low rise has altered the town's skyline.

From the article we learned the new low rise will top out this week, and be completed and ready to be occupied sometime next year. It takes a lot of time to build stuff in Fort Worth. Likely due to the extreme geological challenges.

Last month I was in one of America's west coast towns. That town has had dozens of actual high rises, higher than 25-stories, added to its skyline in the past couple years, with dozens more under construction. I highly doubt any of that town's multiple legitimate newspapers have had articles about any random one of those high rises changing the town's skyline, even though said skyline has dramatically changed.

Why does the Fort Worth Star-Telegram not ever focus on the town's actual areas which need some attention, rather than puff pieces about an office tower supposedly changing the town's skyline?

Like doing some actual investigative journalism into all the problems with what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision. Would one not think a town's one and only newspaper would want to do some investigating into why their town is currently hosting America's Biggest Boondoggle?

Such as what is the current status of the three simple little bridges, whose construction began years ago, constructed over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Or what about that imaginary island. Why does the Star-Telegram not weigh in about how embarrassing it is to the town's already not great image to label something which is not an island, never will be an island, an island? Let alone call it Panther Island.

Last month I spent time in two towns with much smaller populations than Fort Worth. Both towns, Tacoma, Washington and Chandler, Arizona, have multiple, large, well done, heavily used, public pools Why does the Fort Worth Star-Telegram not editorially opine regarding Fort Worth lacking in this type amenity?

Again, last month I was in multiple Washington and Arizona town's city parks. All had running water and modern restrooms. And no outhouses. Why does the Fort Worth Star-Telegram not editorially opine that it is high time for Fort Worth to invest in and modernize its city parks?

The Star-Telegram may have dropped its embarrassing green with envy verbiage. But the Star-Telegram still has a penchant for referring to some ordinary thing in Fort Worth as being world class, when the sad fact of the matter is nothing in Fort Worth is world class. But for some reason the Star-Telegram believes it is important to delude its few readers into thinking such.

Having the most outhouses per capita of any major American city is not a world class thing to be proud of. Having the most streets without sideswalks of any major American city is not a world class thing to be proud of.

Why does the Fort Worth Star-Telegram not editorially opine on actual real Fort Worth issues which need addressing and fixing? But instead wastes time telling its readers nonsense about a short office tower changing Fort Worth's skyline.

Pitiful....

Theo, Ruby & David Seabrook Leap Into Fall

Theo, Ruby and David leaping from summer into a Seabrook pool.

Summer of 2017 went by fast. Real fast. I was in Arizona when this year's version of summer began sizzling at temperatures north of 120.

A few days after summer began I drove back to Texas, still sizzling, via the Southwest route through New Mexico and El Paso.

I was back in Texas five days when I got the sad news my dad was finally resting in peace.

August 8 I got on a little jet in Wichita Falls and flew to D/FW to get on a bigger jet to fly to Seattle. The week in Washington was both the happiest and the saddest week I've had in a long time.

Above you are looking at three of the reasons that week in Washington was such a happy one. That is Theo, Ruby and David leaping into a body of water. Til that week in Washington I'd forgotten how fun it is to be an uncle.

Yesterday, one of Theo, Ruby and David's parental units, my little sister Michele, told me, via email, that the kids had taken the family to Seabrook for an end of summer, start of fall, fling.

I had no memory of where or what Seabrook was, so I Googled "Seabrook WA" to quickly learn Seabrook is a new, large, planned community town type thing on Washington's Pacific Coast, north of Ocean Shores and Copalis. My memory told me north of Copalis the coastal highway goes inland, getting away from the coast. If I remembered right the highway had to bypass the large Quinault Indian Nation.

So, how was Seabrook on the coast if I remembered no coastal highway north of Copalis til the road got around the Quinault Nation?

I opened my antique Microsoft Street Finder Map App to quickly have my memory refreshed that a coastal highway continues past Copalis, to the south end of the Quinault Nation at Moclips. Seabrook is between Copalis and Moclips.

There is a Seabrook Facebook page, among many other Seabrook websites.

It was from the Seabrook Facebook page I figured out this was the Washington coast town my sister Jackie mentioned to me the last time I was in Arizona. Why Jackie brought Seabrook up, I do not remember. Maybe I asked when last she'd been on the Washington coast, what with us talking about Birch Bay. What I do remember is Jackie saying they stayed at this town on the Washington coast, north of Ocean Shores, which she said was like that town in the Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show, like the town was a movie set, all pretty and perfect.

Looking at photos of Seabrook I can see why The Truman Show crossed sister Jackie's imagination.