Ruby, Max & Theo Cardboard Boat Regatta

Sunday morning Spencer Jack and Hank Frank's Grandpa Jake went swimming again with one of their favorite uncles.

During the course of pool time Grandpa Jake asked if I had seen Ruby and Max together.

What an odd question I thought to myself, what with Max the poodle having gone to dog heaven way back in summer of 2017. So, I said, yes, I have seen Ruby and Max. Why would you ask, I asked?

Because they are just so darn cute together, like an old married couple.

To which I said Max the poodle and Ruby are like an old married couple? Max has been dead for over two years, said I.

No, the Max who is Ruby's best friend since they started school said Grandpa Jake.

So, I then texted Ruby's Mama Michele to ask about this Max character, and to request some photo documentation, which was quickly forthcoming, arriving as I drove Miss Daisy on her first drive of the day.

The photos came with explanatory text, which I will copy and paste. for the most part, with the following photos, except for the photo above, which is not below, in which we see Max for the first time, sharing a jacket with Ruby.

Max and Ruby have been best buds since the start of kindergarten. I will find some photos.

Theo, Ruby and Max.

Max is not a huge fan of swimming but he helped out at the cardboard boat regatta. Did I mention the regatta to you? Theo and Ruby took second place.

The cardboard boat regatta had not previously been mentioned to me, and so more photos with explanatory text were sent.

Regatta was June 1, at the wave pool they took you to. They won their heat and took second in the final.  

In the above  pic Ruby and Theo squeak by a boat at the finish.

After that all the remaining boats got to go out and they turned the waves on, which is the third pic (the pic above). Middle is their boat. Had to be cardboard and duct tape. Max's dad, Saul, helped us build the boat and then we covered it with duct tape. It was free to enter the regatta but I spent a fortune on duct tape. LOL. Was totally worth it. So much fun. They won an inflatable boat.
I agree with what Betty Jo Bouvier recently said, that being that those kids sure do have a lot of fun adventures.

Army Corps Of Engineer's Document Contradicts Controversial Riveron Review

Less than a week to go before I return to my regular Internet connection to the world. It is frustrating having a thing or two I feel compelled to opine about, and not being able to easily do so.

The thing or two I am feeling compelled to opine about have to do with the controversial Riveron Review of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

As more and more people read the Riveron Review it has become increasingly clear that a half million bucks was wasted on what amounts to being a review based on multiple falsehoods.

Near the end of the Riveron Review a couple pages list those "interviewed". No one from the Army Corps of Engineers is on that list. The people interviewed, to varying degrees, are those responsible for the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle mess, people like TRWD General Manager, Jim Oliver, and TRVA Executive Director, J.D. Granger.

Whoever did the interviewing apparently accepted the self serving spin spun by the likes of Oliver and Granger.

More on those other obvious obfuscations of truth later, but for now let's just take a look at one falsehood which shows up in the Riveron Review.

That particular falsehood is the Riveron Review's claim that the Army Corps of Engineers had determined the levees needed to be raised by 10 feet to meet some post-Katrina standard.

The following is copied from the Riveron Review...

"Build the existing levees an additional 10 feet taller, requiring an additional 150 feet on each side of riverway, negatively impacting businesses and neighborhoods, and resulting in an even more inaccessible riverfront."

The above makes ZERO sense.

First off, the area in question has not flooded in well over a half century, due to massive levees which have long done their intended job.

Second off, what are these businesses, or neighborhoods which would be affected negatively? The area is an industrial wasteland.

And third off, the Army Corps of Engineers never suggested raising the existing levees another ten feet. Never determined doing such was needed, feasible or recommended.

As we already pointed out, the Riveron Reviewers did not interview anyone from the Army Corps of Engineers. Instead the Riveron Reviewers only interviewed the various foxes who have been ineptly allowed to guard the hen house.

Methinks this half million buck Riveron Review borders on fraud.

The raise the levees part of this scandal came to my attention via email from one of the early victims of the TRWD/TRVA eminent domain abuse, with this victim's business taken a decade ago, followed by a long struggle trying to be made whole from the taking of his property.

Eminent domain is a legit process where property can be taken, with the owner fully compensated, for a project for the public good, like a highway, hospital or school. That type thing. Not for imaginary flood control or an economic development scheme benefiting the schemers.

Clearly this was not a legit eminent domain use for the public good, what with it now being well over a decade with that totally unneeded flood control project not anywhere close to being reality.

Now the motivation behind the Boondogglers misrepresenting the history of their ill fated project we will look at in future blog posts. In the meantime let's look at the email exchange between that aforementioned victim of America's Biggest Boondoggle and a former Fort Worth city councilman...

Bob Lukeman to Durango---

I did not get too far into the Draft before I hit my first WTF moment. 

Bob Lukeman to that aforementioned former Fort Worth city councilman...

This was news to me. Was the Corp initiating the idea of a bypass channel and was the levee fix an across the board 10 foot raise with a property taking element? We had Corp docs that gave the sparse locations of levees that need topping out in way less that 10 feet and no reference to any takings.

You may know more having been on the Council. Makes me think that Riveron was interviewing TRWD staff about the origins, and they were revising history to justify and defend the flood control aspects. 

10 million was the fix as I recall. Not 10 feet more on all the levees. That early of a suggestion to dig a bypass would have been in conjunction with the taking DOWN of certain levees. The 2 points made in the Draft seem to contradict a levee repair plan.

And then this from that aforementioned former Fort Worth city councilman...

I wasn’t aware that the project was in planning as early as 2001. There was never any discussion about the height of the levees or taking 150’ on either side that I was aware of. Sounds like a little historical revisionism although maybe they have the documents to back it up. I believe the channel idea may have come from Gideon/Toal and the corps bought into it. It started downhill in 2005. At least that’s when it was apparent to me.

Cheers, Clyde

Theo Hires Sand Castle Building Consultant With Ruby & David

After a couple days of amateur sand castle building, Theo hired the services of a professional sand castle builder to instruct himself, and Ruby and David, in the art of fancy sand castle building.

Mama Michele photo documented the results.

In the first photo we see Theo, Ruby and David, along with Mama Kristin, at the start of their intensive sand castle building instructions.

That would be the sand castle construction instructor on the left, next to Ruby.

Prepare to be impressed when you see what resulted from Theo, Ruby and David learning how to build a complex sand castle.

This appears to be a classic Gothic Sand Castle, rising taller than the tallest of the trio.

I know you are wondering if Theo, Ruby and David guarded their latest sand castle til the tide rolled and gradually obliterated it. I do not have the  answer to that probing question.

My information source may be faulty, but it is thought by some that today the sand castle building trio are flying their parental units back to Washington, which is extremely disappointing, because this morning Miss Daisy decided it would be fun to drive to San Diego to surprise the grandkids...

Theo's Pacific Sand Castle Building With Help From Ruby & David

Photo evidence has arrived documenting the fact my Favorite Nephew Theo has raised his sand castle building skills to a new level of complexity.

Prior to receiving those photos, whilst driving Miss Daisy in the extreme Arizona heat, Theo's grandma verbalized concern regarding wondering how David, Theo, Ruby and their parental units could possibly spend so many days outdoors in extreme heat.

I then tried to remind Miss Daisy the Pacific Coast is way cooler (in more ways than one) than the Arizona desert.

I suggested to Miss Daisy if we took off early in the morning we could reach San Diego easily by mid-afternoon, which would make for a fun (shocking) surprise for David, Theo, Ruby, their parental units, and Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jack.

Miss Daisy was not receptive regarding this adventurous concept.

Which is probably for the best, because tomorrow morning David, Theo and Ruby's Uncle Jake is planning to show up for Miss Daisy's morning swim.

However, Miss Daisy has been refusing to participate in the morning swim due to excess heat concerns. I have not informed Uncle Jake regarding Miss Daisy's current no swimming status.

Let's take a look at last yesterday's sand castle building...

Above Theo celebrates castle construction completion. Now the wait for the incoming tide begins, and the eventual defense of the castle as the Pacific floods in.

Here it appears Ruby joined in with the castle defense as the tide began to breech the outer defenses.

Theo looks forlorn as the tide begins to win.

Theo, Ruby and David stand on top of the sand castle ruins.

Around the time the above photo arrived Mama Michele texted "OMG. I am freezing. Sitting waiting for the ocean to destroy Theo's sand castle. I blame you for this fixation. LOL."

It's true. Theo and I had ourselves a mighty fine time fighting the incoming tide way back in August of 2017 up north at Birch Bay in the state called Washington.

Spencer Jack Flips While David, Theo & Ruby Tarpit To End Of Route 66

New California photos from David, Theo and Ruby. Currently the trio is in far Southern California, as in San Diego. There was no explanatory text accompanying the photos, leaving it to my feeble analytic skills to figure out what I am looking at.

Prior to San Diego the trio spent a couple nights in Santa Monica. That is a Los Angeles suburb, for those not familiar with Southern California.

And now that you are causing me to think about it I am wondering if Santa Monica considers itself a suburb of LA. I have no way of solving this conundrum.

What I did know for sure about Santa Monica is that the western terminus of the Mother Road, Route 66, ends at the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica. If I remember right Route 66 ends when it reaches California Highway 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway.

I vaguely remember back in the previous decade, during a visit to Los Angeles, driving Mulholland Drive to its end. Was that in Santa Monica? I must wait til I am Internet connected so I can consult Google about this Mulholland Drive question.

In addition to the Route 66 in Santa Monica photo, I am guessing the next one is showing David, Theo and Ruby on a carnival type ride called the Scrambler, on the Santa Monica Pier.

And then the next photo I think shows a location not in Santa Monica.

Which would make this the La Brea Tarpits which David, Theo and Ruby are standing by.

Maybe Santa Monica has its own tarpits. Or maybe the La Brea Tarpits are in Santa Monica and I have for years erroneously assumed the Tarpits were in Los Angeles. I vaguely recollect them being near Wilshire Boulevard, or on that road. And near Century City.

But it has been a long time since I have explored the Los Angeles zone. I think the last time was Christmas week of 1994. And I don't remember going into the Los Angeles downtown zone on that visit.

When next I am connected to the Internet I must remember to Google "La Brea Tarpits" in addition to Googling "Mulholland Drive".

Meanwhile, up north in Washington, while his cousins are having fun in Southern California, Spencer Jack has been working the grill at the Fidalgo Drive-In in Anacortes. Seems like only yesterday Spencer Jack was a little kid, and now he is a professional burger flipper...

Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Riveron Review Needs A Forensic Audit

Well.

I have now read the Riveron Review of the Trinity River Vision, more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle, or simply as The Boondoggle.

This is no Mueller Report. It is only 92 pages long. Not detailed, in an indepth, investigative sort of way, like that aforementioned Mueller Report. But, like that Mueller Report,  those being investigated have tried to take control of the Riveron Review, wanting to check it for "accuracy" before the public gets a look at it.

Well.

That attempt at coverup did not work. The Riveron Review is now widely available for public perusal. Even though, as you can see via the screen cap above, the draft is under embargo - not for public dissemination.

There is more than one element in the Riveron Review which seemed to me to be possibly a bit tainted by propaganda input by those with the most to lose, as in those who have been responsible, well, more accurately, irresponsible, regarding how this pseudo public works project has been foisted on the public.

The section of the Riveron Review which looks at how the failing V-pier bridge design came to be, seemed to be not based on previously revealed information. And in addition to that, the rational for building those three little bridges over dry land also seems to be, well, ridiculous.

Suffice to say we will have more to say on this subject and the elements in the Riveron Review which seem to be a bit, well, wrong, later, when we are back located at our regular Internet connection to the world.

In the meantime, suffice to say, where upon actually reading the Mueller Report one could not honestly say that report reported "No Collusion, No Obstruction", with the Riveron Review one might accurately say upon reading it "Much Confusion, Slow Construction".

Like we said, more on this later...

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...