Preferring Wichita Falls Fine Rusty MSU Art To Running With Elsie Hotpepper & Beto O'Rourke

This first summer Sunday of 2018 my bike decided to take me on a windy ride north on the Circle Trail, eventually to Hamilton Park, then west through the Wichita Falls version of Beverly Hills, then south to the sprawling campus of MSU (Midwestern State University).

Rolling around the MSU campus on previous occasions I have come upon an art installation. Or two. Or three.

Today I came upon a virtual forest of art installations, installed near something called the Fain Fine Arts Center.

As you can see above, I parked my bike by a giant rusted hammer and then proceeded to walk amongst the rest of the fine rusty art.

I am guessing the above is symbolizing the fact that it is hard to get toothpaste back in the tube once a hard squeeze has released it.

Is the above a rusty Tiki god's lips? Maybe, maybe not.

For some reason there is a lot of Japanese type imagery in Wichita Falls, from pagodas in Lucy Park, to installations covering traffic light controllers in multiple intersection locations. Is this tall piece of rusty fine art a Japanese image? Or Chinese? Or what?

I got myself down to ground level to take the above photo. This looked to be some sort of rusty ball and chain installation in the foreground. Next to a stack of rusty shapes. And a couple non-rusty ceramic looking vases.

This one I may have liked best. Sort of looking like it was a box of glass balancing on a narrow point above a rusty arch.

Earlier this Sunday I have a conversation with Elsie Hotpepper about going running with Elsie and Beto O'Rourke.

I think I enjoyed the walk amongst rusty art more than the early Sunday morning run with Beto O'Rourke...

Mama Duck With Her Ducklings Seek Possible Asylum In Lake Wichita

This morning I saw the mama duck you see here, leading her flock of ducklings south on Holliday Creek, heading towards possible safe asylum  refuge in Lake Wichita.

I hope the mama duck and her ducklings safely make it to refuge without being separated by any sort of lake border enforcer, with the ducklings taken from their mama duck.

Or worse.

One sees many turtles sunning on the shore of Holliday Creek.

Are turtles predators of ducklings?

I hope not.

Years ago, in Mount Vernon, the town in Washington I lived in before being exiled to Texas, I had a couple pet ducks. Those ducks never reproduced. I only had the pet ducks for a short duration. Their job was slug patrol in my garden.

And then one day both ducks were murdered by a neighbor's dog.

Suffice to say, the neighbor's dog was severely punished for murdering my ducks...

Summer Arrival Mountain Biking Mount Wichita Summit

Yesterday rain dampened my enthusiasm for rolling my bike wheels anywhere.

Dodging drops running from Walmart to my motorized method of motion seemed sufficient aerobic stimulation yesterday.

That and when I returned from Walmart to find my home location dry, with nothing wet being delivered from the massive black cloud I had been under a short distance to the west, I opted to go for a short walk on the Circle Trail, phone in hand, so as to call my mom to remind her to go to the airport to pick up David, Theo and Ruby, arriving from Sea-Tac to Sky Harbor.

So, today, which may be the first day of summer, though yesterday my mom told me yesterday was the first day of summer, on this first or second day of summer, with nothing wet falling from above, I took my bike's wheels on a long roll.

Eventually I reached the mountainous spot you see above, with my bike's handlebars aimed at the summit of Mount Wichita.

What with my bike being a mountain bike and Mount Wichita sort of passing for a mountain I debated whether or not to try pedaling up Mount Wichita.

Well, above we are looking southeast from the summit of Mount Wichita. If this photo were in full sized mode you might be able to make out my bike at the base of the trail which I did not pedal up. I used the more primitive method of mountain climbing.

I hiked to the summit.

Mount Wichita is much too steep to use a bike to reach its summit.

I was not long at the summit today, due to it being infested with a swarm of flies, I hope I did not stay summit bound long enough to get bug bit. So far I see no signs of such...

Militant Wichita Falls Geese Blockade Sikes Lake Trail

The sky looked a bit menacing this morning when I opted to go on a bike ride.

A long bout with insomnia last night has me being exhausted.

A long bike ride helped, a little with this being exhausted thing.

The flocks of geese which call Sikes Lake home were in out of the lake mode today, occupying various locations around the lake, attempting to bully block the trail.

The geese usually end their blockade when they see a bike rolling towards them.

On the opposite side of Sikes Lake from the goose view above I saw today's biggest concentration of geese with maybe two dozen on the trail and dozens more maintaining a vigil beside the trail.

I saw three little girls on scooters have a short standoff with the geese in that biggest concentration. Eventually the geese relented and let the girls pass.

Nurse Canecracker's Mount Vernon History Took Me To America's Fort Worth Boondoggle

I found that which you see here in my mailbox this morning, sent by Nurse Canecracker, aka, Miss Linda.

A history of the town I lived in before moving to Texas, titled Images of America: Mount Vernon.

I have always liked learning about the history of this, that or any other thing.

This book from Nurse Canecracker answered several questions about Mount Vernon, and the Skagit Valley, which I have wondered about.

Such as when was the bridge across the Skagit connecting downtown Mount Vernon with West Mount Vernon built? I now know it was 1954 that cars first drove across that new bridge.

And when did the two malls in Mount Vernon open? One would think I could remember this, since I was living in the neighborhood at the time.

Well, it was 1971 when the Mount Vernon Mall opened on the north side of College Way, with the Skagit Valley Mall opening two years later, across the street on the south side of College Way.

Those two malls wreaked havoc with downtown Mount Vernon. And then a modern mall opened a couple miles north, on the other side of the Skagit River, in Burlington, eventually causing the two Mount Vernon malls to be demolished, replaced with modern type strip malls.

And now that mall in Burlington, the Cascade Mall, is having trouble staying open, losing all its anchors.

I have wondered what the flooding history of the Skagit River was, before dikes were built to contain the river when it left the narrow valley and entered the delta flood plain.

Well, there were some hellacious floods, photo documented in this book from Miss Linda. I have eye witnessed some hellacious Skagit floods post dikes being built, hence wondering what it was like before those dikes were built.

The Texas town I lived in before moving to my current location, Fort Worth, has had a multi-decade pseudo public works project underway to supposedly address imaginary flood issues which were long ago fixed by the construction of massive levees.

This Fort Worth "flood control" project is known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision. But more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Fort Worth has long wanted to be the best or biggest at something.

And now the town proudly hosts America's Biggest Boondoggle, with an embarrassing mess of a project with three simple little bridges under construction now for years, being built over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

With the current state of those bridges being badly engineered seesaws in teeter totter mode, with locals referring to the eyesores as the Yeehaw Seesaws.

A Fort Worth congresswoman's totally unqualified son was put in charge of this ill conceived ineptly implemented plan, paid around $200K a year, plus perks and benefits, to motivate his mother to secure federal funds, with little luck, hence a recent bizarrely corrupt ballot measure conning the ill-informed locals that they were approving a quarter billion bucks for flood control and drainage issues.

And somehow in Texas this type ballot subterfuge is perfectly kosher.

Reading about Mount Vernon's flood history, and how intelligent Americans dealt with flood issues, I amused myself thinking what if someone in Mount Vernon came up with a brilliant plan to take down the Skagit River dikes, then build a flood diversion channel to divert a flooding Skagit around an imaginary island, with canals, creating a sort of San Antonio Riverwalk type venue.

Well, I don't think there is anyone stupid enough any where in the Skagit Valley to come up with something so idiotic, and to amp the idiocy by claiming it was a flood control plan, and an economic development scheme.

Selling such an idea, the economic development scheme, in a town with is already doing quite well, economically, would be laughed at. But, in Fort Worth, those who decide such things, don't laugh. they think it makes sense to create an imaginary island with canals.

And to remove levees which have prevented flooding for decades.

Oh, I almost forgot.

Without any corrupt political shenanigans, with no hiring of a local congresswoman's son to do a job he has no clue how to do.

Mount Vernon has built a Riverwalk type attraction on the Skagit River as it passes past downtown Mount Vernon.

A Riverwalk type attraction with a flood wall which can be put in place quickly when the Skagit goes rogue. A Riverwalk type attraction with a plaza.

And, unlike what is the Fort Worth norm, no outhouses.

All done in a fraction of the time Fort Worth has been boondoggling along with little to show for the effort.

Well, to be fair, those Yeehaw Seesaws have become a bit of a tourist attraction, to the few tourist attracted to Fort Worth. That and the giant million dollar homage to an aluminum trash can, stuck in the center of America's Biggest Boondoggle's roundabout.

Has the Star-Telegram ever looked into how that million dollar homage to an aluminum trash can came to be? Installed years before any other aspect of what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle came to any sort of fruition?

What is J.D. Granger's connection to whoever it was who got the million bucks for that imaginary work of aluminum art?

Is there an Images of America: Fort Worth book? I suspect not...

Father's Day

This morning I woke up to soon realize it has been a year since my Dad's Last Father's Day McDonald's Buffet.

And that this is the first Father's Day where I won't be calling or seeing my dad.

Sad.

Father's Day

Wichita Bluff Nature Area Saturday Sunflower Shade

If you guessed that what you are looking at here is a giant sunflower blooming alongside the Circle Trail in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area you would be guessing correctly.

This third Saturday of June I decided to give my bike a break and check if I am still able to walk a long distance, with some of that distance walking up and down inclines.

I had previously thought that next month when I am in Arizona I might do some hiking. And then Sister Jackie reminded me that I would be in the Valley of the Sun in July and that hiking is not doable by anyone with any degree of good judgment and relative sanity.

Today there were only four other vehicles in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area's parking lot. I don't understand why more locals do not find themselves enjoying this venue. It's scenic, with the bluffs overlooking the Wichita River. There are plenty of benches on which to take a rest. And shaded covered areas, with a couple of those including picnic tables.

Three Saturdays from today I will be finding myself moving fast high above the planet, heading west to Phoenix. It seems like I was just there...

Jones Boys B-EHS Graduation With Mom & Dad In Burlington

A day or two ago I did a rare check-in on one of the online news sources sourcing news in my old home location of the Skagit Valley.

On that news source I saw that which you see here, a blurb from a graduation speech at one of the high schools in the Skagit Valley.

I thought in these troubled times this excerpt from this speech was repeat worthy...

"Even though there are 7.6 billion people across the globe, 122,000 residents in Skagit County, 1,048 students at B-EHS, and 226 graduates sitting among you this evening, it’s easy to feel alone. You’re not. You are not alone."

B-EHS, also known as Burlington Edison High School, was the high school from which I graduated way back in the previous century. I was sort of surprised to read there are now 1,048 students at B-EHS. And that 226 graduated this year.

I was surprised to learn the school had grown that much since I matriculated there. Then again, it has been so long I don't know if I accurately remember how big the school was. Seems like our graduating class had about 170, give or take.

I long ago lost my high school annuals, so I have no way of counting.

Mention was made in that graduation speech blurb of the population of Skagit County. 122,000 sounds like about the same population as when I was still residing in that county.

I think the last B-EHS graduation I attended was when David, Theo and Ruby's mom graduated and gave one of the graduation speeches. I do not remember any blurbs from my little sister's graduation speech. I do remember the graduation was held in the Skagit Valley College auditorium, in Mount Vernon, because the B-EHS venues at that time were too small to accommodate a graduation.

Ooops. Just remembered. I have been to a B=EHS graduation since my little sister's.

I went to Spencer Jack's dad's graduation. It was held in Burlington, on the football field. We sat in the visitor's grandstand. I think I have photos of the post graduation party from that day, with that party held in the backyard of the house I grew up in in Burlington. Let me see if I can find the photos on this computer.

Okay, it took some hunting, but I found the photos I was seeking on another computer, including some I don't remember taking, such as a close up of my favorite nephew Jason in graduation mode...

I do not remember the weather being threatening for this outdoor graduation ceremony, but the above photo makes it appear such was the case.

For those of you reading this in Texas, those things in the background are mountains, well, actually known as foothills of the Cascade Mountains. In Texas these hills would qualify as mountains.

And then we have all the Jones Boys in that aforementioned backyard of the house I grew up in in Burlington. That would be Spencer Jack's grandpa, my favorite brother Jake on the left, next to Jason, then me, then Spencer Jack's uncle, my favorite nephew Joey.

And Jason with Grandma and Grandpa Jones, also known as Shirley and Jack. Mom and dad are looking happy in this photo. And young. It does not seem all that long ago. But it was in the final decade of the previous century the above photo was taken.

I was riding my bike today, and at the point where I was rolling through the MSU campus my phone rang. I managed to get the phone out of its holder whilst still rolling, and answered. It was Nurse Canecracker calling from a location in the aforementioned Mount Vernon.

The call went screwy. Nurse Canecracker called back. It went screwy again. And then on the third try I was stopped in the shade near the MSU fountain, sat on a bench and had a long talk with my favorite nurse.

Nurse Canecracker is going to be in Arizona for a long weekend at the same time I am there in October. I last saw Nurse Canecracker last summer, in August, when she and Betty Jo Bouvier drove up to Birch Bay to take me out to lunch.

Yesterday I booked a flight to Arizona, leaving Texas July 7, returning July 21.

I think the October return to Arizona will be via mechanized personal transport. Backroads to Phoenix....

Circumventing Geese Guards Seeing What Is Live At Sikes Lake

It is a year ago, give or take a day or two, since I made the mistake of driving to Arizona instead of doing the sensible thing by winging it.

At that point in time I had not yet learned how easy it is to fly out of the tiny Wichita Falls solo terminal airport.

In the year since driving to Arizona I have flown to Arizona multiple times, and will be doing so again sometime in July after the 4th.

On the year ago drive to Arizona on the second day of that roadtrip I found myself totally traumatized about 10 miles east of Flagstaff when my vehicle decided to come to an unwanted stop. That was one long day, eventually finally able to relax when my little brother successfully guided me to his place in Scottsdale.

Oh, I forgot what I was blogging about before I diverted down bad memory lane.

So, today I rolled my bike's wheels to Sikes Lake. The geese there are always up to something. Today's strange behavior consisted of most of the geese being in the lake in flocks of various sizes, all floating along in a single file. The biggest flock had several dozen in the single file formation. Was it something about today's weather which caused this behavior?

And then when I got to the location of the above sign a flock of four geese were among the few not in the lake. This flock of four was arranged like guards across the sidewalk. They honked menacingly in unison when I rolled towards them. They did not act as if they were gonna do the usual backing off thing, so I opted to go around this hissing honkers to make my way to a spot where I could read the sign.

The sign was an informational type deal informing those who want to know of the 2018 concert schedule of Live on the Lake.

Three of this year's concerts are already history, including the May 24 Live at the Lake concert which I accidented upon on that date and blogged about it in Rockin' Sikes Lake At Wichita Falls MSU Priddy Pavilion.

It was the Jay Hollis Band I came upon on May 24.

On May 10 I missed Cousin Fuzzy.

On June 7 I missed WFSO presents Gypsy Cattle Drive. I am guessing WFSO is Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra. I did not know this town had such a thing. I have no idea what Gypsy Cattle Drive is.

Coming up on June 21 I can roll my wheels to see Walkin Johnny.

On July 12 the James Cook Band will be making music at Sikes Lake, and on July 26 it will be Rock, Paper, Scissors.

It is highly unlikely I will be hearing and seeing the James Cook Band or Rock, Paper, Scissors, because at that point in time I will be in Arizona...

Sleepy Downtown Fort Worth Opens A Drug Store

Well, that which you see here is the type thing I have seen in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram ever since I first became aware of that pseudo newspaper, almost two decades ago.

Fort Worth is a town approaching 900,000 in population.

With the deadest downtown I have ever seen in a town of a population over a half million.

As witnessed by this indicator of such, a When will that new CVS Pharmacy open in downtown Fort Worth? headline on the front page of the Star-Telegram.

Would a legit newspaper in a big town wearing its big boy pants be front page speculating regarding when a drugstore might open in its downtown?

One would think if such was a noteworthy item one might think this to be indicative of maybe there might be something wrong with the town.

The first three paragraphs in the article also makes one think such...

FORT WORTH - Seventeen years have passed since downtown Fort Worth had a drug store within walking distance of most hotels and offices.

That long wait is just about over.

A two-story, "urban-style" CVS Pharmacy is on the verge of opening at Fifth and Houston streets, just outside the city's Sundance Square. A handwritten sign on the window of the store tells customers the CVS will be "opening June 24, 2018."

________________

Now why is the Star-Telegram continuing to go along with this ridiculous labeling of the town's downtown as Sundance Square? This re-development zone should never have been given such a misrepresenting name in the first place. The Sundance Development Project, or some like name would have been much better, and would not have confused the town's few tourists for decades, looking for a non-existent square, until finally a couple parking lots were turned into a tiny square and then named Sundance Square Plaza.

Seventeen years since downtown Fort Worth had a drug store? How about some journalistic type investigating as to the reason for this. And why downtown Fort Worth is the only downtown of an American town with a population over a half million with zero downtown grocery or department stores.

With public transit provided by a re-tooled Australian bus named Molly the Trolley.

Read the entire When will that new CVS Pharmacy open in downtown Fort Worth? article and see how many head scratching bits of info you can spot which one would think a town's only semblance of a newspaper of record would find sort of embarrassing to be reporting about its town...