David's Pacific Vigilance Looking For Portuguese Warmongers

Judging from the evidence provided by Mama Kristin, it appears David, Theo and Ruby have successfully guided their tour group to their San Diego Pacific beach destination.

Mama Kristin's text accompanying this photo was as follows...

"The quintessential sand castle building picture from our family..."

Almost two years ago, in August of 2017, a similar sand castle building scene happened up north, in Washington, at Birch Bay, a few miles south of the Canadian border.

During that sand castle building project, Theo and Ruby, along with some expert construction technique guidance from Mama Kristin, and heavy sand lifting by Uncle Me, David stood guard during the entire construction process, with David monitoring the progress of the incoming tide.

David also was guarding against Sea Urchins and Dungeness Crabs possibly encroaching on the sand castle building site.

There had been an earlier incident with a crab which unsettled David, which is what we think put him in hyper guard mode. As for Sea Urchins, I think it may have been me who caused that particular threat to enter David's imagination, with David somehow thinking a Sea Urchins is some sort of actual pirate which pops up out of the water.

I do not know what David was on guard for during this most recent sand castle building. Someone may have mentioned a Portuguese Man-o-War, or two, may have been encountered in the Pacific Ocean waves, with David then concerned this was an actual warmonger from Portugal, instead of a jellyfish...

More than once it has crossed my mind that David, Theo and Ruby watch too many Japanese anime type cartoons.

David, Theo & Ruby Virtually Tour Hearst Castle With Miss Daisy

On Sunday, whilst stalled to a slow crawl entering the outer limits of Los Angeles, David, Theo and Ruby asked their driver, Mama Michele, and co-pilot, Mama Kristin, if they could call Grandma Daisy to tell her about exploring the Hearst Castle at San Simeon.

The following day photos showed up via email, with explanatory text, the first of which explains the first photo...

From the grounds. We went up the tower on the left, but not to the top.

And so Grandma Daisy and I got to virtually enjoy a Los Angeles traffic jam in real time, and a visit to San Simeon in delayed time..

David, Theo and Ruby's destination in the Los Angeles zone was Santa Monica, staying overnight near the old western termination of Route 66 at the Santa Monica Pier.

By tomorrow, David, Theo and Ruby should make it further south to the San Diego zone where they hope to find Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jack. We last heard from Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jack whilst preparations were under way to float down a lazy river with something called a cocktail. We do not know where this lazy river was located, other than likely somewhere along the Southern California Pacific Coast.

And now the rest of the tour of San Simeon Hearst Castle photos and explanatory text...

Our tour involved lots of stairs, but the guide had the kids demonstrate an elevator, which is how Hearst and his pals got up and down. 

We saw Hearst’s bedroom and lots of other bedrooms and the library, and this room - his study. He ran his businesses from that big table.

His art and antiquity collection remains on display. David liked this Egyptian themed piece. 

Chili'n by the Neptune pool. 

We have not yet seen photo documentation of the Santa Monica Pier, so we do not know for sure that David, Theo and Ruby made it through that LA traffic jam to that destination. Today, if all goes as planned, we think San Diego is the destination.

Aerobic Swimming Congestion With Sun Lakes Pool Ladies

The pool is crowded with way more Sun Lake's Ladies during these warm July days than was the case during cooler days last March.

As you can clearly see via the photo documentation as I lounge chair lounged after this morning's swim, the poos was over populated today..

Today my choice was to either join the throng doing something called Water Aerobics. Or get out of the pool and their way, hence the photo documenting opportunity.

As per usual I was invited to join in with the Water Aerobics. But, it looks to be way more stimulating than what I am used to doing in water. That and I lacked accessories like a Pool Noodle and Water Weights.

Today the temperature is scheduled to hit a high for the year, at 115 degrees. That is Fahrenheit, not Celsius, just to be clear.

Yesterday morning I discovered the battery powering the thermostat which controls the air conditioning in Miss Daisy's abode had died. This explained why the A/C was not turning off, and why it was so cold the night before I found myself seeking a blanket covering.

A malfunctioning A/C in this climate would seem to be extremely problematic.

Yesterday in the early evening my favorite nephew Jeremy, aka FNJ3, showed up and drove me and Miss Daisy to their favorite Panda bear where we got ourselves some Chinese food. Tasty. And then we returned to Miss Daisy's television viewing room where Jeremy beat me at every single Wheel of Fortune puzzle. However, Jeremy did not do so well with the Jeopardy questions which followed Wheel of Fortune.

Today marks number five full day in Arizona, not that I am counting...

Trinity River Vision Review Confusion's Most Wanted Fugitives

If I remember right I have previously mentioned I've been receiving multiple messages about the "review" of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Much of the initial outrage appears to revolve around disgust that the TRWD board, well, the TRWD's controversial manager, Jim Oliver, apparently, is behind attempts to, well, try to censor, or redact, the report before it is released to the public who paid for it.

However, someone inside the TRWD evidently was disgusted by the attempted cover-up and managed to leak a copy of the review to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. From what I have seen of what is in the review I can see why Jim Oliver and J.D. Granger want to censor what the public sees.

On Facebook what the public has already seen has brought multiple calls for the immediate firing of Granger, the defeat of his mother in the 2020 election and a ceasing of the long stalled building of three simple little bridges over dry land, with either the removal of what exists of the bridges, or turning the remains into some sort of cautionary memorial.

Let's look at the Jim Oliver/Granger part of this Review finds confusion, lack of planning in $1.17 billion Panther Island project Star-Telegram article...

Meanwhile Oliver and J.D. Granger pushed to keep the report secret until they could read it and offer changes. With Star-Telegram and KXAS/Channel 5 reporters present, Granger wondered if the two news organizations would accurately report Riveron’s findings. Oliver said he believed only his staff had a full understanding of the project, requiring them to provide input before the report became public.

Oliver defended keeping the report from the public Friday, saying he didn’t believe it was ethical to release a draft document.

Typically during an independent review, he said, staff are given the chance to make comments or corrections before a report goes to a public board.

“This has been backwards,” he said.

____________________

Oh, the irony.

The TRWD's Jim Oliver thinks the release of the review is backwards.

Everything about that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle has been backwards. And now after all these years it is the release of this review of the Boondoggle, that Oliver finds backwards?

Nothing about this project has been done the way such projects get actualized in areas of America where public works projects are thoroughly vetted, sold to the public, with the public validating the project by agreeing to finance it via the voting method, with a qualified team of project engineers put in charge of designing and building the project, and completing the project following a well-planned project timeline.

Qualified project engineers?

Which leads us to J.D. Granger's concern about whether the news would accurately report the review's findings.

I'm guessing Granger's real concern is that the review accurately finds much of what is dire wrong with America's Biggest Boondoggle, making clear that a large part of the problem has been caused by the son of a local congresswoman being given a job for which he had no qualifications, with no clear oversight making sure Granger did not stray afar from the actual project.

You know, so Granger would not detour the imaginary flood control/economic development project into frat boy fun like beer drinking inner tube parties on the Trinity River, Octoberfest for more beer drinking or a wakeboard pond. And other such nonsense not normal for such a project.

When I clicked on the link to the Review finds confusion, lack of planning in $1.17 billion Panther Island project in the Star-Telegram that which you see above in the screen cap is what showed up under the article headline, a video starting with a plea to help Arlington police locate 10 Most Wanted Fugitives.

More than one comment on Facebook suggested criminal charges need to be brought against Granger and Oliver and others associated with what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle...

Hank Frank's First Truck Driving Moving Task With Grandpa Jake

On Friday Hank Frank and Spencer Jack's Grandpa Jake made it from Washington to Arizona without a minute of delay, unlike what Grandpa Jake's brother experienced trying to make it from Texas to Arizona.

In the photo here we are looking at Hank Frank driving the moving truck he rented to move from Clear Lake to his new home located in the Skagit Flats, I think somewhere near Roozen Garde, information which only would mean anything to someone familiar with Skagit Valley geography.

Grandpa Jake's return to Arizona was necessary to help facilitate a subterfuge scheduled for Thursday, July 25. Miss Daisy and her primary driver will drop me off at Sky Harbor around 10 in the morning. I will then enter the airport departure door, then exit that door as Miss Daisy and her primary driver drive away, with me then getting in Grandpa Jake's vehicle, which I assume will be driven by Grandpa Jake, not Hank Frank.

Miss Daisy and I have had no news from Hank Frank and Spencer Jack's cousins, David, Theo and Ruby. We guess their current location is somewhere in Southern California. Possibly Santa Monica.

Or maybe David, Theo and Ruby have already found Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jack somewhere in the San Diego zone, where they will be especially vigilant whilst dodging Pacific Ocean waves and the recent epidemic of stinging jellyfish.

Decades ago I remember a stay at San Clemente State Park where David, Theo and Ruby's Uncle Jake and Aunt Nancy got stung multiple times by jellyfish. The stinging jellyfish left their other uncle alone...

Fort Worth's Dunce Confederacy Strikes Again

Since my current exit from Texas I have been receiving a higher than usual number of emails, text messages and Facebook messenger messages, leaving me a little frustrated at not being at a location with an Internet connection.

The messages from the various sources have all been about the uproar which erupted when it was announced the long anticipated independent investigation of the Trinity River Vision Authority, with that investigation costing around a half million bucks, spent to try and find out why and how so much money has been spent, for so many years, with so little progress, after so much time and money, what with the fact that that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle has been limping along most of this century.

Many were under the apparently false assumption this independent investigation was going to be a forensic audit, examining where the money has gone and on what the money has been spent.

For instance, after all these years of zero transparency many were hoping a forensic audit would reveal how much has been spent on salaries, in total, of all those employed by the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision Authority.

And how much has been spent on all the TRVA's various propaganda operations. Such as the incredible volume of signage which began sprouting up around Fort Worth way back in 2010, with sign proclamations such as "Trinity River Vision Underway". Or the HUGE sign propaganda installation at Gateway Park touting all the imaginary things the Trinity River Vision was going to see, at some point in time, apparently distantly into the future.

Or how much the bizarre propaganda installation cost which sits on the ground floor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram building.

Or how much has been spent on all the junkets J.D. Granger and his minions have taken, supposedly to check out other visions at other locations on the planet, in towns which have actually managed to bring a vision to fruition.

I have long wondered how much money has been wasted on all the TRVA various websites. Or all the propaganda mailers sent out quarterly.

Or how much has been spent paying people to "execute" this myopic vision, years after the project would have been, should have been, completed if it was competently executed, and if this project was an actual legitimately needed flood control project.

If this were a legit flood control project, should not someone be held responsible for the fact years have gone without this imaginary flood control problem fixed.

Clearly, it is obvious now, after all these years, this public works project never had anything to do with flood control. Or helping protect the public. It has long been an ineptly implemented money making scheme, benefiting few. With a few having already benefited from their scheming.

The name "Granger" comes to mind.

So, many people back in Fort Worth are not okay with that independent investigation having been announced as completed, and turned over to the TRWD board, which then indicated only a redacted version would be released to the public, once the TRWD board approved of the independent investigation's findings.

Yeah, that sounds like what you do with an independent investigation. Can't imagine why people would be offput by this.

Successful Two Day Flight To Arizona With Miss Daisy

What you are looking at here is the Friday, July 12 view from Miss Daisy's living room.

Which indicate I finally made it to Arizona. The flying method of getting here took a lot longer than the driving method I used last October.

On day two of trying to get to Arizona I got to spend around six DFW hours wandering from terminal to terminal and gate to gate, as American Airlines moved the boarding location time and time again as Flight 1666 out of Charlotte, North Carolina was delayed over and over again.

The original departure time of 6:30pm was changed to 8pm even before I left my abode to drive to the Wichita Falls airport. By the time I got to the airport the departure time had moved back another hour. By the time I actually made it to DFW, around 3:30pm, ahead of the scheduled arrival time, the departure to Phoenix gate had been changed again, with the departure even later than the previous delayed time.

Eventually I became part of a group of fellow weary travelers, traipsing from gate to gate, updating each other with new incoming info. Depending on the source, departure times and gates varied, due to, we finally figured out, the various timeliness of the various sources.

Eventually it became obvious that Spencer Jack and his dad, my favorite nephew, Jason, were our best info source, due to tracking our flight from its stalled position to finally being in the air. As in I was getting text messages along the line of telling me that Flight 1666, an Airbus 321, has just crossed the Mississippi and should be to DFW within the hour.

Followed by she should be on the ground at about 9:05pm, Texas time, and arrive at gate A24 at approximately 9:14pm. Jason further advised that from his personal experience with these type scenarios it would take about an hour to get the aircraft ready to fly again, which indicated it should take off about 10:15pm.

Spencer Jack and Jason were on target, except for one detail. Due to the long delay messing up everyone's schedule the pilots and flight attendants arrived slightly later than 10:15. So, the actual departure was sometime around 10:45.

The riotous groans of the weary passengers was amusing when the gate keeper announced we were now delayed by an expected half hour wait for the pilots and flight attendants. And then when the group of flight attendants showed up a couple minutes later the cheering was worthy of a Super Bowl touchdown.

By the time I finally was in my seat I was way past my regular bedtime and the most tired I think I have been this century. The Wednesday re-booking had me in a seat not of my choosing, as in middle seat on row 8. The plane was almost fully boarded when the window seat occupier showed up.

It was one of my co-commiserators, a young lady escaping Dallas, where she currently resides, to return to her home location in Spokane for a wedding. We had been venting about our misery for hours and now we were seatmates for the final stage.

Finally in the air the leg to Phoenix went fast. Interesting seatmates on both sides helps. That and a touch screen laptop.

It was coming up on midnight I found myself rolling through Sky Harbor til I found Miss Daisy and her regular driver, my sister Jackie. It was a relaxing ride from the airport to the Miss Daisy abode.

And now a little over 12 hours later I have already had my first trip to Costco...

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...