Huge No Moat Transparency Accountability Reward Re-Electing Mary Kelleher

That which you see here arrived on my phone last night, sent by the Hotpepper Coalition of Concerned Citizens.

There was no text accompanying that which you see here, other than two of those emoticon things which I usually am unable to tell what is being emoted. As was the case in this case.

I am assuming what we see here is a political advertisement which arrived in the mailboxes of those few who are allowed to vote in a Tarrant Regional Water District board election.

Apparently there was a drawing to determine ballot placement, and Gary Moates came in last place, as in, as the advertisement advises us, at "THE BOTTOM OF THE TRWD BOARD CANDIDATES".

I do not know what to think of the line which says "JUST THINK OF "MOATS" AROUND PANTHER ISLAND AND GO TO THE BOTTOM..."

Moats in olden times were water barriers around castles, filled with disgustingly dirty water, thus providing a barrier against those who wanted to storm the castle.

So, in this instance are we being advised to think voting for this Moates guy will somehow affect the moat around the industrial wasteland known as Panther Island? That being an imaginary island which may one day have a cement lined ditch filled with polluted Trinity River water, and thus, surrounding that industrial wasteland with water.

I do not think any of those who built castles surrounded by a moat thought the moat turned their castle into an island.

So, is this Gary Moates guy in favor of continuing with that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision? Or is he in favor of literally draining the moat and firing J.D. Granger?

And what has become of the biggest Texas investigation ever conducted into election fraud, triggered in part by the bizarre results the last time TRWD board members, Jim Lane and Marty Leonard, ran for re-election?

The recent revelations of Republican election fraud in a North Carolina district seemed to be from the same playbook as the Tarrant County election fraud allegations.

There is someone else on the May 4 TRWD board election ballot.

Mary Kelleher.

I saw this WANTED poster wanting Mary Kelleher this morning on Facebook.

The Mary Kelleher poster does not explicitly indicate if she is in favor of pulling the plug on America's Biggest Boondoggle, and firing J.D. Granger.

But, I think we can assume with the reference to "TRANSPARENCY" and "ACCOUNTABILITY" that neither the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, or J.D. Granger could survive either transparency or accountability...

Missing Aslan From Wichita Falls Caribbean Neighborhood

This last Monday of February the outer world was warm enough to warrant a bike ride without needing multiple layers of outer wear.

And so I had myself a mighty fine time rolling down the Circle Trail, rolling around Sikes Lake, rolling through the MSU campus, along with rolling through the Wichita Falls version of Beverly Hills.

The past week I have noticed at various locations when I am out and about posters posted on various posts.

Today I finally stopped my rolling at one of those posts with a posted poster.

For 20 days ASLAN pronounced AZ-LYNN has been missing.

I do not know if all those posters I have been seeing have been about Aslan.

If not, are we having some sort of dognapping epidemic in Wichita Falls?

This above poster was posted on the Circle Trail near where Haiti Drive meets the road which runs alongside the Circle Trail. According to the poster Aslan's residence is on Tobago Drive, a short distance west, as in the next road one comes to on Haiti after one passes Barbados.

I have yet to learn why this neighborhood is Caribbean themed with its road names.

This Aslan poster had a poignant line near the bottom, above the phone numbers, "Missed by his Mommy and his Grandma (who is gravely ill).

I have no way of knowing if Mommy and Grandma are Aslan's birth mother and grandma, or if we are talking about his human Mommy and Grandma.

I suspect the latter...

Under Reported Explosive Growth In Fort Worth Star-Telegram Propaganda

 At the end of last year, if I remember correctly, I think I told Elsie Hotpepper that one of my few New Year Resolutions was to let go of pointing out the obvious regarding J.D. Granger and the epic incompetence  which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, and to also cease with making fun of Fort Worth and the town's non-existent newspaper of record known as the Star-Telegram, which of late some wags have taken to calling the Star-Telesham.

And then I see something in the Star-Telegram, like you see here, and my New Year Resolution melts away due to an appalled reaction to the severe stupidity of the propaganda I am reading in this pitiful newspaper.

Now, I have been asked a time or two by people I know from my previous life on the west coast if Fort Worth is really as bad as I make it out to be. And why does it vex me so?

I do have some really good answers to that question, but for now, in this blog post, let's just look at this State of Fort Worth is good; here’s one way to make it better article as an egregious example of this pseudo newspaper's bizarre tendency to act as some sort of Chamber of Commerce propaganda spewer.

You can click the link to read the entire piece of propaganda, but for example purposes let us just look at the first few paragraphs...

State of Fort Worth is good; here’s one way to make it better

Fort Worth’s explosive growth — near the top nationally — means plenty of transplants who could share stories of dysfunctional, even incompetent political leadership and underperforming communities where they used to live.

An entirely different picture emerged Tuesday at the State of the City luncheon hosted by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.

Aside from a far-reaching onstage interview of Mayor Betsy Price touching on both the city’s accomplishments and challenges, the Chamber highlighted four of Fort Worth’s most dynamic small businesses.

Fittingly enough for a flourishing city, the top emerging business, 6th Avenue Homes, was also named “Grand Forte,” as Small Business of the Year.

Witnessing the energy and enthusiasm of the audience for 6th Avenue Homes — as well as other winners Silver Creek Materials (manufacturing/distribution), Tribe Alive (consumer/retail) and Elements of Architecture Inc. (professional services) — was a reminder of what really makes this city go: a bold, passionate, business community risking everything to fulfill folks’ basic needs and wants, and maybe a few audacious dreams.

_________________

Fort Worth's explosive growth? Near the top of the nation? With newcomers sharing stories of the woeful towns from whence they came? Escaping other towns with a dysfunctional, incompetent leadership of underperforming communities?

Star-Telegram could you please name these other towns which are even more dysfunctional with even more incompetent leadership leading communities even more underperforming than Fort Worth?

I was once a newcomer to Fort Worth. And my reaction almost from the start was that I had no idea there were places of the big city sort so backwards, so poorly developed, so delusional, so in dire need of help in America.

I knew there were pockets of poverty in America, obviously. I knew some towns were more dynamic than others. But I did not know there were cities like Fort Worth.

A modern American city without a real newspaper, where most of the town's few city parks lack modern facilities such as restrooms and running water. But, plenty of outhouses. Where most of the city streets lack sidewalks. Where the downtown is a ghost town on the busiest shopping day of the year, due to few restaurants, few downtown residents and zero grocery or department stores. Where a town of over 800,000 population has no public pools.

A town with a park celebrating the town's heritage, ironically called Heritage Park, sitting at the north end of the downtown, across from the county courthouse, blighted as a boarded up, cyclone fenced, barb wired eyesore which has been closed now for a decade.

If you could still get into Heritage Park you would have a bird's eye view of the most bizarre public works project currently not working in all of America. The Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, more often referred to as America's Biggest Boondoggle, or, simply The Boondoggle.

So, Star-Telegram, take off your propaganda blindfold and look around your own town if you want to find stories of dysfunctional incompetent political leadership and an underperforming community.

Start with showing your few readers the ridiculous propaganda installation on the Star-Telegram building's ground floor. Then send a reporter to tour the vast areas of Fort Worth in dire need of improved flood control, actual needed flood control, not imaginary not needed flood control such as you can find detailed in that bizarre mess cluttering up your ground floor.

I almost forgot to make mention of that one way to make Fort Worth better, which is referenced in this article's State of Fort Worth is good; here’s one way to make it better headline.

You will think I am making this up, read the article and you will see I am not.

So, what is that one way to make Fort Worth better?

Well, that one way to make Fort Worth better is to aim to get all third-graders reading at grade level by 2025.

Oh, yes, that will be a sure fix for all which ails Fort Worth...

Golfing Lake Wichita Dam To Rock and Roll Windy Lake Wichita

Last night, whilst watching my one hour of TV allotment, during the entire hour a wind warning message scrolled across the screen, interrupted every few screen crosses by being replaced with a warning graphic in the upper left corner.

I find this type TV weather warning far less annoying, and far more useful, than the Weather Drama Queen nonsense I used to be subjected to on DFW TV whenever weather got a little dicey.

So, around noon I decided to ignore some of the warnings and drove my motorized means of motion to Lake Wichita Dam, where I hoped to see big waves breaking across the lake.

Above you are looking at the face of the earthen Lake Wichita Dam. I do not recollect having shown this view before. The humans you see on the dam are golfing in the wind on the new Disc Golf Course which has been installed at this location since my last visit.

And below you are looking at one of those new Disc Golf installations. And whitecaps on Lake Wichita. The waves do not look quite ready for a surfboard.

I thought video of the walk down to the floating dock might be fun. I figured the wind would be so noisy my pithy commentary would not be able to be heard. So, from the top of the dam all the way to the floating dock I had my camera in video mode.

When I got the video off the camera and onto the computer I quickly saw I wanted to edit out all but the part where I get near the dock and begin getting pummeled by wind and waves.

However, the new version of Windows does not have the easy to use Windows Movie Maker of the quality level I was used to easily using. The video editing program which comes with Windows 10 was able to trim out what which I did not want. But I could not then figure out how to save what remained.

Frustrating.

And Googling for help was no help, other than pointing me to the Microsoft Store where I was able to download the new version of Movie Maker made for Windows 10.

However, I was also unable to figure out how to get the new Movie Maker to trim that which I did not want.

Again. Frustrating. It used to be so easy.

So, I uploaded the whole video to YouTube. Then I tried out the new YouTube Studio and its video editing. I was once again easily able to trim the excess, but was again unable to figure out how to save the result.

Which leaves us with the entire windy noisy video. At about the 54 second mark you come to what I was actually trying to use, and lose all which came before that mark.

When I am out on the floating dock you can actually hear me over the wind. Mostly because I think I was sort of screaming in shock at the rocking and rolling and getting splashed by incoming waves...

Great Google Work On No Policy Violations With Other Nonsense

This week has seen a few things I've not seen before showing up in my email inbox.

The first one was from Google AdSense.

The subject line in that email was instantly disturbing...

Your AdSense Publisher Policy Violation Report for pub-7334641582664711 on Feb 17, 2019

That was just the subject line. The message in the email was a long one, and had me thinking I had committed some sort of egregious crime, well, violation.

It took some link clicking in the email message to figure out the "violation" was on a long ago blog post titled Clothing Optional Hippie Hollow Nude Beach in Austin.

I looked at that ancient blog post, and saw that the only thing which I thought might possibly be objected to was the selfie photo of myself minimally attired. But that seemed totally tasteful, to me.

So, I then clicked the option which allowed me to ask that this "violation" be reviewed, because I believed there to be no problem of the violation sort.

The response to that request told me the review could take up to ten days, and that ad serving to that page would continue whilst it was being reviewed.

In less than 24 hours, as in the next morning, I got another email from Google AdSense telling me that the review of my violation had been completed, and to click a link for more information.

I did so, clicked the link and came to a webpage on which all that was written was....

Keep up the great work

You have no policy violations

Oh my, putting me through this stressful nightmare, and then to be found innocent. What a relief.

And then there was the following email, which you see screen capped above, with the actual email including the partial screen cap of the blog post in question...

________________

Please Remove Post from 2012

Hi Durango,

While I do not find your post offensive the comments are not accurate and I have a career outside American Idol now so I would like it if you could please remove this from your site. 

Thanks, 

Johnny Keyser

Many Viewers Not Happy With The Unexplained Dismissal Of Johnny Keyser

________________

So, I clicked on the link to read the blog post which was written so long ago I had no memory of it, til reminded by re-reading it. Is Google still indexing this blog post? Does it show up if one Googles "Johnny Keyser"?

Just a second, I will go find out...

Well, I went many pages deep without the Many Viewers Not Happy With The Unexplained Dismissal Of Johnny Keyser showing up.

Reading the blog post and the comments I can see why Mr. Keyser did not find the post offensive. But, I don't see what is so inaccurate about any of the comments. And comments are just that, comments, as in someone's opinion. Not necessarily factual.

I can't fathom why someone would be motivated to go to the bother of emailing about this, let alone requesting someone go to the effort of removing a blog post.

Trouble is, I have not logged into the Google account from which that particular blog post sprang in several years. I would gladly delete this post if it took zero effort to do so, even if I do not see any reason to do so...

CBS Austin Being Captain Obvious About Us First-Born Children

I did not realize this was not already a well documented scientific fact regarding us first-born children.

Of course, there are always exceptions to any rule.

Is Donald Trump the oldest of his siblings?

We know Donald Trump Jr. is the oldest of his siblings And definitely an exception to that first-born being smarter concept.

Tiffany is the only brains in the Trump family. And she is fourth born of the known children of Donald Trump.

But, if you wanna get technical, Tiffany is the first-born of the second wife of Donald Trump Jr.'s father...

Another Semi-Cold Texas Holliday Walk One Month Before Spring Arrives

One more month and this winter misery should be fading into history.

Next month my return from Arizona is currently scheduled to happen the day before spring arrives.

This morning Spencer Jack's primary paternal parental unit text messaged me that his Arizona information sources were telling him that our relatives currently located in the Grand Canyon state were experiencing a snow event.

I heard via the TV this morning that Las Vegas was being blanketed by a rare snowstorm, as was most of the desert in which Las Vegas is located.

I have received no accounts from any of the Arizona relatives that the Valley of the Sun is currently in Valley of the Snow mode.

About an hour before noon today I made the mistake of installing too many layers of the clothing sort to go on a walk in what I had erroneously thought was a near freezing temperature. I soon found myself doing some unzipping.

As you can see above via the photo I took this morning, looking north, green is slowly replacing brown at my location on the planet. By the time I return from Arizona all that you see above should be green.

Looking into the Holliday Creek Canyon I was surprised to see less water flowing in Holliday Creek than I remember any time previous. And that water is running clear, not the usual muddy.

Arizona nephews Christopher and Jeremy's primary maternal parental unit called me yesterday. From that call I learned I can look forward to the Saturday after I arrive when all the relatives, and others, who I would like to see, will be at one location, including, I think, the cutest cat I have ever seen, Munchie.

From yesterday's call I also learned that while the flight to Arizona may not be bumpy, the ride once I arrive may be...

Wichita Bluff Ghost Bikes Ruins Cow

On this 2019 version of President's Day I decided to use my mechanized movement device to roll myself to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

I did this in order to engage in another bout of intense training for next month's possibly brutal hike to the summit of Arizona's Camelback Mountain.

Near the new Circle Trail parking lot one parks at to give one access to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area from the east I saw that which you see here.

A collection of what looks like "Ghost Bikes" suspended on a short bluff.

The above photo does not show all the ghost bikes. The below photo does show all the ghost bikes...

Speaking of spooky things.

Today was the first time I had another look at the ruins one sees from the Circle Trail in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area since I made mention of the ruins last year, well, a couple months ago, in December.

I blogged about these ruins in Wichita Bluff Nature Area Look At Mysterious Construction, verbalizing my puzzlement as to what this was. My favorite Texas Historian, who goes by the name of CatsPaw, was equally curious and soon found some answers to the mystery.

I also posed the question on the Wichita Falls Rants & Rave Facebook page and got a lot more answers, including one from a fireman who helped put out the blaze when that which you see above caught fire and was destroyed.

I do not think I ever got around to blogging about what I found out about this Wichita Falls relic. If I remember right I got bogged down with other issues. And now a couple months have gone by and I don't remember the details, such as the name of the famous oilman who built this place, and then abandoned it.

Today it looked like a vehicle was on the property, and some orange cone type markers were added to what was seen in December. And a solo cow grazing.

As I was taking photos an elderly passerby passed by and asked if I was taking a photo of the horse. I did not feel there was any legitimate reason to correct the elderly gentleman's animal identification...

Sikes Lake Biking With Flock Of Seagulls Henry & Ralph

What with the temperature barely above freezing this morning when I considered the idea of going on a bike ride on this third Sunday of February I decided today would be a good day to stay inside in a temperature controlled environment.

And then, about an hour before noon, whilst looking for something else, I came upon my ski gloves which I did not remember had made it to my current North Texas location.

And so, what with super insulated gloves now available, I decided to layer on the layers and take myself on a bike ride.

Turned out I was overly layered.

Blue sky, a temperature a dozen degrees above freezing, almost zero breeze, and add in a little exercise and by the time I made it to Sikes Lake I found myself switching out the ski gloves for my regular bike gloves, then removing two layers of hoodie, and unzipping the windbreaker.

Lately the geese at Sikes Lake seem to have gone somewhere other than their regular home. I have read rumors about geese invading the small town of Iowa Park, located a short distance northwest of Wichita Falls. And upon hearing this wondering if this is where the Sikes Lake goose flocks had migrated.

Today there were a few more geese than my last lake visit. But the seagull population has soared. In the above photo documentation you are seeing on a few of the flock of seagulls. Me stopping to take a picture sent most of them into panic mode, from which they quickly recovered to return to roosting position.

Why so many seagulls at Sikes Lake? I've seen nary a gull ever at nearby Lake Wichita. Shouldn't seagulls be somewhat near, you know, a sea? As in saltwater. The nearest such wet thing is hundreds of miles distant, that being the Gulf of Mexico.

Anyway, I ended up having myself a mighty fine time rolling my bike wheels. Eventually I made my way back to the Circle Trail and soon thereafter my phone made its incoming text message noise. I stopped at the first swinging bench I came to so as to dismount the bike and see what the message was.

The text message was from my favorite Jason and Joey nephew's dad, who also is my little brother.

The text in the message...

"Henry is hugging Ralph. Henry's Dad also hugged Ralph when he was a little boy."

I tried to read this message in bright sun, and was not able to accurately do so til I got back to an interior space. Bright light and the small version of the attached photo also did not become clear til I got it off the phone and onto a bigger screen.

Henry's dad is the aforementioned Joey nephew. I have no memory of this Ralph character who is being hugged by Henry. The older I get the more I seem to forget.

I do not know if Henry (and his dad) will by joining his cousin, Spencer Jack, and uncle Jason next month for the hiking expedition up Camelback Mountain. My best guess is this is unlikely....

Frigid Saturday Lucy Park Walk Suspended Above Clear Wichita River

The temperature this third Saturday of February was a degree above freezing when it seemed to me to be a good idea to join the throngs of other frigid air aficionados for an ultra brisk walk in the Wichita Falls scenic zone known as Lucy Park.

The first photo you see here was taken after I successfully crossed the swinging suspension bridge suspended over the waterway known as the Wichita River.

As you can see, no leaves remain in trees, but a little green colors up the base of the leaf less tree you see here.

The above view is from the north side of the river, this is the location of an RV Park, visitors park parking, and a mountain bike trail. I am parked on the opposite side of the river, by the Lucy Park log cabin and swimming pool. That white sign above the entry to the bridge indicates the bridge can only accommodate 20 people at a time. 

I really can not imagine 20 people swinging on this suspension bridge at the same time. It would seem multiple calamities might ensue.

Now that you are making me think about it, following 20 people across this bridge might be fun, greatly adding to the element of possible danger.

Above we are in the middle of the bridge. See that twisted cable looping around the cable which suspends the deck of the bridge? Note that this loop has rusted halfway through. Adding some additional danger to that danger element which makes crossing this bridge such an adventure.

Til today I had not seen the Wichita River looking like it is above. Not muddy, not a reddish/brown color which always reminds me of Utah redrock.

Today the Wichita River water was clear!

This had me trying to see fish having themselves a pleasant clear water swim. But, I saw none.

Due to the recent lack of precipitation rendering the off pavement Lucy Park trails dry, rather than the more usual muddy status one finds this time of year, today I hiked far off the paved trail, deep into the leaf less woods.

At one point I found myself walking by the State of Texas Visitors Center on the opposite side of the river. Seeing that indicated to me I had walked a long ways.

Soon thereafter I came to that which you see above.

Remains of another suspension bridge? I don't know. It appeared to be the ruins of some sort of mechanism for moving something across the river.

When today's walk came to its termination point I heard myself remarking that this was the best outdoor excursion I have had in a long time.

But, I am ready for freezing temperatures to go away now, not to return til next winter...