Stuck In Texas Trying To Get To Arizona

No, I did not make it to Arizona yesterday. I am still stuck in Texas, after being stuck in the Wichita Falls Municipal Airport for hours yesterday, hoping to fly to Dallas/ Fort Worth hoping to fly to Sky Harbor in Phoenix.

Before I left my abode yesterday to drive the short distance to the airport I had received multiple text messages informing me of delays and new departure times.

By the time I made it to the airport the security entry was closed, with people milling about outside security. I soon learned the take off time had now been delayed to 5 o'clock, more than two hours later than the original take off time, and that the security gate would open when the time drew closer for actual departure.

So, I found myself a computer station and connected to the Internet. About a half hour later the security gate opened. Through security, more delay notices. By then we had been told the problem was bad weather in the Dallas zone.

Finally the plane arrived. Somehow escaping the bad weather in DFW. A half hour later we boarded. Then another long wait. I called my sister in Arizona to let her know I might not be making it there on time. While I was talking to my sister the pilot informed us the DFW airport was on lock down, no take offs, no landings.

But that it should clear within a half hour and we would be on our way.

At that point, if we did take off soon I could still make my connection to Phoenix.

And then the pilot informed us that the wait was now of longer duration, and that we would get back off the plane to cool off in the air-conditioned terminal.

I was not long in the cool terminal when I got a text message that my flight to Phoenix had been cancelled. But the flight out of Wichita Falls was not yet cancelled, was still on delay.

So, when I went to try and book a new flight to Phoenix, as I had been advised to do, the new flight did not include getting out of Wichita Falls, instead all the options were flying out of DFW the next day, as in today, as in Thursday.

I then called the American Airlines number on the card we had been provided with info on how to get out of this mess.

I expected a long phone wait, instead I almost instantly had a nice lady helping me, re-booking me on the exact same flights that I was supposed to be on on Wednesday.

I then called for a Stuber ride to take me back to my home location. After a bit of a problem getting my checked in bag off the plane, I was finally out of the airport, coming up on 8 o'clock.

And today I get to do it all over again, I hope with better results. And also cancelled was my trip today to Maricopa to the McDonald's Buffet with Penny.

Almost forgot to mention another bit of yesterday's airport drama. As we waited to hopefully get back on board more planes arrived. There are only two gates at this airport. I do not know where the second plane came from. But soon after those on board de-planed those waiting to get on that plane were told that flight was cancelled. I have no idea where that plane came from or was going.

And then another plane arrived, with no gate to roll up to. Soon the pilot of that plane escaped via a stairway rolled up to the door. He came in the terminal and soon had people all around him, thinking he was some sort of official who might have answers. Instead he told us he was the pilot trying to find out what to do with all the people on his plane. That plane was still sitting there, out on the tarmac, in the heat, when I left an hour later. That plane had been diverted from landing at DFW on its way from Fort Wayne.

Have I ever mentioned previously that I do not like flying? A roadtrip is so much more enjoyable, even though it takes longer...

Looking To Stay Cool In Arizona With McDonald's Stroopwafel

In less than 12 hours I should be touching down in Phoenix where I just checked the temperature and see it is currently a relatively chilly 78 degrees at 6:18am Arizona time.

The temperature will likely be closer to 119 by the time I exit Sky Harbor today.

It is highly unlikely I will be brought to a restaurant tonight where TODAY'S SPECIAL is 5 minutes in the walk-in freezer, with any purchase.

Tomorrow I may have that walk-in freezer option, if needed, due to being currently scheduled to head south to Maricopa to see Penny at McDonald's.

But, McDonald's is cool without needing to take refuge in a walk-in freezer.

Tomorrow, in addition to being cool in McDonald's, I am looking forward to sampling an item or two from McDonald's new International Menu.

I will be trying the Tomato Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich from Canada, which is a chunk of crispy chicken, tomatoes, leaf lettuce, mozzarella cheese and some sorta special sauce. This sounds better than the Grand McExtreme Bacon Burger from Spain which has some sorta special bacon sauce. I may succumb to the Stroopwafel McFlurry from the Netherlands. I have already had confirmation from one of my fellow half Dutch relatives that the Stroopwafel is good.

Spencer Jack and Hank Frank's Grandpa Jake is also scheduled to return to Arizona this week, on Friday. I do not know if Miss Daisy and I will be involved in the Grandpa Jake airport pick-up. I suspect not...

Can Trinity River Vision Boondogglers Build Bridges Any Faster?

No, anyone familiar with Fort Worth's current sponsorship of America's Biggest Boondoggle, that is not what you might think it is which you are looking at here.

No, it is not a section of one of Fort Worth's pitiful Panther Island bridges, stuck in slow motion construction, barely above the ground, slowly built over dry land.

What you are looking at here is a section of light rail under construction in the Sound Transit zone of Puget Sound. I am guessing this is a section heading into downtown Bellevue.

I saw this Could Sound Transit build light rail faster? It wouldn’t be easy article this morning in the Seattle Times, and once again was struck by the fact that an article like this, with facts such as those contained in the article, about the subject of a local public works project, is not the type thing one would ever expect to read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about something like Fort Worth's Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District, which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Have you seen an article headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram along the line of Could Trinity River Vision Build Bridges Faster? Nope, that newspaper has not had a single line of legit explanation as to what the problem has been with the building of those three simple little bridges being built over dry land to possibly one day manage to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Just the first four paragraphs of this Could Sound Transit build light rail faster? It wouldn’t be easy article contain elements one would never expect to read in an article about Fort Worth's hapless project in that town's hapless only newspaper of record...

When Sound Transit successfully sought a record $54 billion tax package to finance eight light-rail extensions, more commuter rail and bus rapid transit in 2016, the agency’s supporters called their campaign Mass Transit Now.

They chose that slogan even though some rail lines won’t open for another 11 to 22 years.

Traffic Lab recently asked readers what they’d like to know about Puget Sound transportation, and the most popular question came from Timothy Chang: “Is it possible to speed up the construction of light rail? If so, how?”

Construction schedules of five to 10 years are typical for major transit projects in the U.S. and Europe, and can’t be compressed much, as Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff has often said. In the Seattle area, planning and engineering take just as long. The best way to speed light-rail delivery may be for politicians and community members to unite early on easy-to-build routes.

_________________

Fort Worth locals, how many things can you spot in the above four paragraphs that you would not expect to see in a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article about the town's infamous imaginary flood control boondoggle?

Let's see if we can help.

Imagine the concept of convincing voters to approve a $54 billion bond issue, in 2016. Two years after Fort Worth began construction, with a TNT boom, of its three little bridges over dry land, hoping to one day connect the Fort Worth mainland to that imaginary island. Fort Worth voters have never voted to fund the building of those bridges, in any legitimate sense, any aspect of that which has become such an embarrassing Boondoggle. That 2016 Sound Transit bond issue passage was only the most recent voter approval to Sound Transit proposals.

In the second paragraph we do see something in common between this Puget Sound area project and Fort Worth's Boondoggle. Some rail lines won't open for another 11 to 22 years. The Fort Worth Boondoggle has an ever shifting project timeline, but many observers do not think anyone will be actually able to see the Trinity River Vision for another decade or two.

Something called Traffic Lab asked Puget Sound locals about Puget Sound transportation issues. And got legit feedback. Fort Worth's Boondoggle touts imaginary public input at meetings no one has any record of having happened, which the Fort Worth Boondoggle propagandists tout resulted in almost 100 citizen requested amenities be part of the imaginary vision.

Anyway, it seems just baffling how two areas of the same nation can be so different, one operating in a modern, progressive democratic type fashion, the other fumbling along in third world backwards backwater mode.

So perplexing, all those knuckleheads who run Fort Worth in their old-fashioned Fort Worth Way have to do is go a few miles to the east, to Arlington, or Dallas, to see a town more successfully manage building big things. Or go visit Austin.

You do not have to exit Texas to visit modern America, but you do have to leave Fort Worth...

Will Panther Island's Encore Include Sinking Bridges?

Years ago, during one of his many embarrassing propaganda pronouncements, Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Executive Director, J.D. Granger, told the gullible that that year, whatever the year was, 2015? 2016?, that that year construction would begin on the first of many building projects to be built on Fort Worth's imaginary island, with this initial project a residential complex called "Encore Panther Island".

One of those propaganda pronouncements from years past said "Proposed 300 unit apartment community scheduled to begin construction in the summer of 2017 with completion 12 months later."

But, nothing happened. And then in an online discussion about this stalled Fort Worth embarrassment the photo you see above was posted on April 25, 2018, with accompanying text saying "Signs and fence are up, at a very minimum."

Earlier this year I asked a pair of observers who are located in a location overlooking the mess which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle if they were seeing any construction of this Encore building which Granger long ago indicated would be a done deal by now. That pair of observers, known as Deep Moat III, reported back that they have seen some ground work at the location, but little of what one might called vertical progress.

And then today I got a Facebook message from the entity known as Captain Andy pointing me to a Fort Worth Architecture Forum discussion about the Encore Panther Island project.

You need to read the entire two page multi-comment discussion to get the full effect. Suffice to say I have seldom seen so much optimistic delusion so earnestly on display, well for the first couple years of discussing the Encore Panther Island project, then, of late, reality seems to have set in.

Before reality set in reading this reminded me of a Rockford Files episode where Rockford uncovers a scam where senior citizens were being sold imaginary waterfront lots on an imaginary lake next to an imaginary clubhouse. Whilst being very excited about what they were imagining, even though all they could see was desert wasteland.

So, this Encore Panther Island forum discussion begins in 2016 with a poster breathless posting that "It's on". Meaning the project, after who knows how long since J.D. Granger announced it.

This is followed with artist renderings of the building, along with more breathless excitement about the design. (Have none of these people visited modern America, I read this stuff and wonder? How about a field trip to Scottsdale and Chandler Arizona? They would see multiple instances of residential design, with water features, far more impressive than these cartoon drawings they drooled over).

So, moving ahead to 2019 in this forum and the stark Boondoggle reality filters in, with forum members asking about the lack of progress, and then excitement over seeing some progress take place, with workers working on it for a few hours in the morning.

The comments begin to get a bit snarky at that point, with one suggesting that maybe they work on Encore in the morning and the bridges in the afternoon.

Multiple photos of the "progress" show up. With a lot of puzzlement regarding the engineering of this project, with some saying they'd never seen a project progress in such a way.

Some comments wondering about the canal which is supposed to be part of this project. As in if they are digging the canal now, what will it connect to, what with there being no promised lake, as yet.

And then comments about seeing a multi-level garage go up, just recently, as in the past couple months.

And now in July complete befuddlement upon seeing workers tearing down the garage they had just built. With one person confirming the tear down news saying "Evidently so, and probably to start over. Must have been a structural defect."

With had another saying, "Yikes. I guess this is a taste of what's to come with the Panther Island bridges."

And then we learned what apparently has actually happened, with Austin55 telling us "Evidently the garage was sinking. Curious how they will handle this. Any forum engineer types weigh in?"

Which had another saying "I am not an engineer, but I believe the first step is to have all the women and children board the lifeboats."

Another person, in the quest to find out what has happened, posted he has alerted Luke Ranker at the Star-Telegram, because Ranker has been covering Panther Island and related topics.

Uh, looking for answers via investigative journalism practiced by Fort Worth's only newspaper is futile, a fact long established by the years of delusional propaganda that newspaper has spewed about that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Has the Star-Telegram told you in detail, yet, what has been the design problem with the simple little bridges being built over dry land?  Do you think the Star-Telegram will find out why the Encore garage was sinking? And how big a setback this is? And what a sinking garage portends for any other construction on the imaginary island.

Methinks this sinking garage is what is known as a metaphor.

That being a metaphor for the entire sinking project...

Ruby, Theo & David Take Us To Tacoma's New Bridge & Dune Peninsula Park

Above you are looking at my favorite niece Ruby, Mama Michele, favorite nephew Theo and favorite nephew David, sitting on a bench on a newly opened bridge, high above Tacoma's Point Defiance Vashon Ferry Dock, connecting Point Ruston with Point Defiance Park, over looking the newly opened Dune Peninsula Park.

Mention was made of this new bridge and park when I blogged about it a week or two ago in Fort Worth's Panther Island Remains Toxic While Tacoma Exemplifies Civic Reinvention.

At that point in time Mama Michele said she hoped to take the kids to the new Dune Peninsula Park and bridge after its July 6 Grand Opening, before David, Theo and Ruby fly their parental units to San Francisco, then rent a car to drive the California coast highway to Santa Monica for a couple days before driving to San Diego for a few days of beach fun with Uncle Jack and Aunt Jackie, whilst I am in Arizona conducting art classes with Miss Daisy.

Regarding Tacoma's new park and bridge, with that bridge, incidentally, mostly built over dry land, a four paragraph excerpt from that aforementioned blog post...

Dune Peninsula park is every bit the vision presented to Tacoma voters before the 2014 bond election that promised a fresh destination-quality landmark. It is an example for communities throughout Washington of how the legacy of one era can be reinvented as a resource for future ones.

Wow! Imagine that? A real vision presented to a town's voters, in an actual bond election of the sort which happens in modern America, passed in 2014, the year Fort Worth had an idiotic TNT exploding celebration to celebrate the start of construction of three simple little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

And now, five years later, those Fort Worth bridges are nothing but eyesores, with no end in sight, while in an American town wearing its big city pants the people are enjoying the results of what they approved via the voting method.

What a revolutionary concept...

_______________________

Anyone made note of any noticeable progress on Fort Worth's pitiful simple little bridges being built over dry land, stuck in slow motion construction for years, beginning the long dawdle way back in 2014, currently projected to possibly be ready for traffic some time in the next decade, with maybe, then, a cement lined ditch possibly dug under the three bridges, with the ditches then filled with polluted Trinity River water, thus making an imaginary island out of an 800 acre industrial wasteland?

That is if the welfare state, I mean, city, of Fort Worth, is able to finagle federal funding for its hapless project which has never been properly vetted, or voted for in a legitimate way such as what happens in modern American towns, like Tacoma, you know, a town where the people vote to build something because a case is made that it is in their interest to pay for it.

What a concept.

Meanwhile Fort Worth wants a big welfare check to pay for imaginary flood control where no flood has happened for well over a half century due to massive levees which the rest of America already paid for, and which have done their job, non-stop, ever since.

Why anyone has the nerve and gall to ask why I refer to Fort Worth as a backwards backwater is truly perplexing...

Wally The Duck Back Quacking On Lake Wichita

The day before the 2019 version of the 4th of July I learned Wichita Wally was once again floating.

Wally is a HUGE wooden duck. Some time ago he had taken up residence floating in a small pond a short distance from my abode.

And then a few months ago a big wind blew into town which caused Wally to lose his mooring, with the result being Wally required hospitalization due to wind damage, and a lengthy recovery.

So, on Wednesday I learned Wally was fully recovered and back floating, but at a new location, with that location being Lake Wichita, with Wally floating near the Lake Wichita dam spillway.

Today I decided to roll my bike wheels to Lake Wichita to see Wally.

When the spillway came into view I was surprised to see Wally's head sticking above the spillway, as you can see above.

I saw that and thought, oh no, Wally has come lose again and is heading towards the spillway.

But, a few minutes later, when I reached the top of the dam, I was relieved to see Wally was anchored a safe distance from the spillway, in no danger of going over the brink, as you can see via the below photo documentation.

I also learned on Wednesday that investigators from Guinness are trying to determine if Wally is the Biggest Wooden Duck in the World.

If that is found to be the case, that would give Wichita Falls two world records, the Biggest Wooden Duck in the World, and the World's Littlest Skyscraper.

Some towns can only dream of such prestigious honors, in Wichita Falls those type dreams come true...

Super Sweet 2019 Wichita Falls 4th Of July Parade

Today is the 4th 4th of July Parade I have eye witnessed in Wichita Falls.

Clearly I must find viewing this parade an enjoyable experience.

Each year this parade seems to be bigger than the year before.

I like the high level of kid participation. Reminds me of the Burlington Berry Dairy Days Parade of my own little kid years.

And mom and dad (mostly dad) making us elaborate floats. I remember one year we were the Flintstones. I was Fred. My brother, Jake, was Wilma. Another year dad pushed sister Jackie sitting atop a giant strawberry. That may have been the last in a long line of parade floats built by mom and dad.

I saw nothing as elaborate as those Berry Dairy floats of long ago, today in Wichita Falls. Actually, no floats. But still, a lot of people having a lot of fun, parading in various ways.

The Wichita Falls 4th of July Parade starts with Airman from Sheppard Air Force Base, marching with flags representing all the nations with airman stationed in Wichita Falls.

Here we see Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty atop a Wichita Falls Fire and Police Museum firetruck.

And another Statue of Liberty, along with a free spirited flag waver. Now that you are making me think about it, I may have been erroneous when saying I saw no floats today. I think the above qualifies as a parade float.

I also enjoy seeing the large collection of old cars pass by, such as the pair above, with the one on the right seeming to indicate that "We could use a man like Herbert Hoover again."

And here we have a clown version of Uncle Sam, driving a jalopy with extremely active suspension.

The Uncle Sam hat you see the kid picking up, above, blew off an Uncle Sam ahead of him in the parade. I watched the hat blow down the street, following it with my camera, til I snapped the shutter when the kid picked up the hat. I did not see if the Uncle Sam hat was successfully returned to the hat-less Uncle Sam.

Above you see one of those aforementioned kids on parade, getting ready to throw some candy at me.

I particularly like the volume of candy which gets thrown out at this parade. It is like Halloween in July. Kids come prepared with bags. Today, for some reason, I got a lot of candy thrown right at me. I was a sugar magnet. I was handing candy off to other kids, and enjoying some myself. I generally do not care for candy. But this was good stuff. One of which was some sort of modern day lollipop which had what tasted like a sour blueberry at the end of the stick.

Kids doing the candy scramble.

More kids picking up the candy litter.

And now the end of the parade, slowly moving south to the celebration at Kell House.

I did the Kell House part of the celebration my first time enjoying the Wichita Falls 4th of July Parade. Because that time I watched the parade from a vantage point near Kell House, sitting where there was no shade. The following years the parade viewing has taken place at a much shadier location at the heart of downtown, near the start of the parade.

One of the things I like about Wichita Falls is the ease of attending something, like a parade, or the Hotter 'n Hell events in August at the nearby by MPEC location. It takes about five minutes to get from my home location to downtown Wichita Falls, with zero problem finding a place to park, such as today, parking in the library parking lot.

One of the things missing from the Wichita Falls 4th of July Parade, which I have enjoyed at all other 4th of July Parades I have eye witnessed, as in the Arlington and Granbury 4th parades in Texas, and the Sedro-Woolley Loggerodeo 4th of July Parade in Washington, is local high school participation.

All the multiple Arlington high school's marching bands participate, along with the cheerleaders, and other high school groups.

My one and only time viewing the Granbury 4th parade the high school band participated, along with the cheerleaders. And the high school football team. I long ago webpaged my one and only time watching the Granbury 4th of July Parade. I will go see if I can find the link to it. If you see the link turned on, this indicates my parade search was successful.

Hope the 4th of July is fun and safe for everyone.

And see you all next year in downtown Wichita Falls, on this day, for the 2020 Wichita Falls 4th of July Parade. Which I suspect will be the best ever. Maybe with a high school marching band...

Seeing Grandpa Jake's Giant Geoduck Before Wichita Falls 4th of July Parade

I woke up my phone this morning to find that which you see here.

Spencer Jack and Hank Frank's Grandpa Jake holding a giant clam whilst standing on gravel with Hood Canal in the background.

This type giant clam is found in the salt water zones of the Pacific Northwest.

This giant clam is known as a Geoduck.

A paragraph from the Wikipedia Geoduck article gives a good indication of how unique this giant clam is...

The geoduck is native to the coastal waters of western Canada and the northwest United States. The shell of the clam ranges from 6 inches to over 8 inches in length, but the extremely long siphons make the clam itself much longer than this: the "neck" or siphons alone can be 3.3 feet in length. The geoduck is the largest burrowing clam in the world. It is also one of the longest-living animals of any type, with a lifespan of up to 140 years; the oldest has been recorded at 168 years old.

I did not know Geoducks were available for digging in the Hood Canal tidal flats. Those tidal flats are of a different sort than the tidal flats where I have seen Geoducks living, such as a sand bar, the name of which I no longer remember, which appears off Samish Island only during extremely low tides.

Yesterday Grandpa Jake confirmed via a text message that he is still up north enjoying the relatively cool Pacific Northwest. I thought he might be back south, enjoying the relatively hot Arizona.

I had no idea Geoducks, or any clam, had such a long life expectancy. I wonder how old this victim of Grandpa Jake's shovel was before it was murdered.

Changing the subject from giant clams to the 4th of July.

I will be heading north in a few minutes to downtown Wichita Falls in order to watch the 2019 version of this town's Independence Day Parade. This will be my 4th time viewing this town's 4th parade.

Clearly this indicates this town's 4th of July Parade is entertaining...

UPDATE: Back from the Wichita Falls 4th of July Parade with an update from Grandpa Jake regarding the estimated age of the Geoduck who lost its independence on Independence Day, with the update including photo documentation, along with explanatory text...

"Each ring or line equals one year of life. I need a magnifying glass to count accurately. My guess with my glasses on is around 35 to 40 years old."

Singapore's Mali Drives Us From Penang To Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Project

A couple weeks ago my favorite Singaporean, Mali Wee, who I have known since the last decade of the previous century, posted on Facebook a photo of driving a car with the text saying something like "True Freedom. Driving."

Soon I learned Mali Wee was driving to Penang. Where is Penang I wondered? Another China town I had never heard of which Mali is visiting? Driving all the way to China from Singapore? This seemed unlikely.

And so I consulted Google to learn Penang is a town in Malaysia, within driving distance from Mali's home island.

Reading about Penang I soon found myself reading about the Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge. The article about this bridge was highly detailed, as to how it was designed, how it was paid for, and the actual construction, including delays.

And yet, even with a delay or two this actual Penang feat of complex bridge engineering was completed in about the same amount of time Fort Worth has been stuck slow motion building three simple little bridges over dry land, whilst pretending these pitiful bridges present some sort of complex engineering challenge and are of some sort of signature significance..

Oh, I forgot to mention, the Penang bridge is 24 kilometers, as in just about 15 miles, long. And built over actual water of the ocean sort. Deep ocean water with tides. And possible tsunamis. And so unique engineering was required so this long bridge could handle Mother Nature behaving badly.

No local congress person's inept, unqualified son was in charge of this Malaysian bridge project. Apparently Penang is not a backward backwater, but a modern city where public works projects are actualized efficiently. Unlike what is allowed to happen in an American backwater like Fort Worth.

So, seeing that this bridge in Malaysia has a Wikipedia article about it I wondered if the same was true for Fort Worth's imaginary signature bridges, known as the Panther Island Bridges, which have been trying to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, over dry land, for years.

Well.

On Wikipedia regarding Fort Worth hosting of America's Biggest Boondoggle one can only find one article, titled Trinity River Vision Project. The article has changed since I last saw it. With the changes changing the content to be total propaganda.

Propaganda so bad Wikipedia has a warning at the top of the article, which we screen capped at the top, along with the first two paragraphs of the propaganda.

First the warning....

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2015) The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. (June 2009)

Wow! This topic has had a notability issue since June 2009. Over ten years ago. The previous iteration of this Trinity River Vision Project article was extremely embarrassing in multiple ways. The example which sticks in my memory is the mention made of the imaginary island, describing among that imaginary island's attributes one attribute being the large colony of feral cats.

The feral cats and all the rest of that previous article has been replaced with what appears to be propaganda puffery lifted directly from the Trinity River Vision Authority website. Read the entire Trinity River Vision Project article to fully realize the level of propaganda nonsense, but for illustrative purposes of the propaganda we will copy just the first two paragraphs...

The Trinity River Vision Project is a master plan for 88 miles (142 km) of the Trinity River (Texas) and its major tributaries in Fort Worth, Texas. The river is of significant historical value to the City of Fort Worth, as the current central business district was developed in 1849 as an army outpost along its banks.

More than a decade in the making, the master plan was conceived by volunteers and community leaders before being adopted by city, county, state and federal officials. The goal of the master plan is to enhance and preserve the river's corridors within the city, so that they remain essential greenways for open space, trails, neighborhood focal points, and recreation areas. 

There are so many examples of stupid idiocy with no connection to reality in the above two paragraphs I am not going to bother elaborating.

Suffice to say, Wikipedia needs to delete this propaganda. And someone needs to write a reality, fact based article for Wikipedia about the Trinity River Vision Project Boondoggle.

Maybe I'll find the time to do so...

Rumored J.D. Granger Shanna Cate Imaginary Caribbean Wedding Photo

In the past week, or two, I have made mention of the fact that we do not know if the Caribbean island nuptials took place between J.D. Granger and his long time TRVA mistress, Shanna Cate, as planned, last February.

Googling brought no confirmation. And we have not heard from our inside the Trinity River Vision source known as Deep Moat, confirming the wedding took place.

Deep Moat was planning to attend, and hopefully get us some photo documentation.

We did get the photo you see here, via email, sent from an email address which gave no clue as to the identity of the sender.

The text which accompanied this photo claimed this is a wedding photo of J.D. and Shanna, with the photo taken a couple minutes before they exchanged their sacred wedding vows.

Whilst supposedly attired in non-conventional wedding attire.

Well.

First off, We might suggest J.D. may have greater need than Shanna for the top part of her bikini.

And second off. We are 100% certain this is not a wedding photo.

But that this is a photo, cropped and slightly altered, which we have seen previously, of J.D. Granger and his then mistress, not yet wife, standing in the crystal clear waters of the beautiful Trinity River at one of J.D. and Shanna's infamous Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats at Fort Worth's imaginary world class music venue at the imaginary pavilion on the imaginary Panther Island.

And we are still wondering if the J.D. Granger - Shanna Cate nuptials were an imaginary wedding which did not take place....