Chilly Wichita Falls Saturday Before Sunday DFW With No Texas State Fair Galaxy Of Girls

A couple decades ago, when my living space was on the west coast, a 60 degree day was considered warm, borderline balmy.

Today I was in sweatpants and a couple layers on top, including a stocking cap at the ultimate top, because the outer world was chilled to 61 when my bike talked me into going on a ride.

The location you see here, where the bike opted to take a break, is a side spur off the Circle Trail, with a rocking bench, in Hamilton Park.

I have never been able to ascertain if Hamilton Park is named after Alexander, or some local Hamilton. I suspect it is the latter option.

Tomorrow I am heading southeast, a rare Sunday drive to the DFW zone. I do not believe I will be going to the east side of the DFW zone, to Dallas, and the State Fair of Texas. Though I would enjoy doing so. I have not been to the Texas State Fair since 2007.

I have only been to two state's state fair. That being the Texas one and the Washington one, formerly known as The Puyallup. The Texas State Fair version is larger than the Washington State Fair version. Both have sky rides, with the Washington version being transplanted from its original use in 1962's Seattle World's Fair.

The Washington State Fair has way more farm animals than the Texas version. And way more agricultural exhibits. And way fewer exhibits of motor vehicles. I recollect the Washington State Fair as having way more exhibits of the various vendor sorts. And more arts, crafts and flowers. While the Texas State Fair has way more permanent buildings of the architecturally cool sort, as in classic Art Deco. Both State Fairs have a lot of fun free entertainment.

Every year at The Puyallup my usual favorite was the show put on by a group called The Shoppe.

From Dallas!

 I dunno if The Shoppe has ever played the Texas State Fair.

I recollect watching an entertaining rodeo at The Puyallup. I do not recollect a rodeo at the Texas State Fair. I suspect there is one, but I missed it.

One thing about the Texas State Fair which is way bigger than the Washington State Fair is the Midway. The Texas State Fair Midway version is the biggest, funnest, wildest of that sort thing I have ever seen.

Maybe the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) in Vancouver comes close, what with having a big old-fashioned wooden roller coaster. But, I have not been to the PNE in decades, so my memory of it has faded.

The PNE's Midway has the first strip show I ever eye witnessed. Can't imagine such a thing at the Texas State Fair. Or Washington's.

Canadians are such free-spirited, permissive, progressive liberated, liberal sorts.

Just remembered, regarding it being unlikely the Washington State Fair would have a strip show. I had forgotten that Washington has long been a free-spirited, permissive, progressive, liberated, liberal sort of state, more like Canada than Texas.

That aforementioned Seattle World's Fair came back to mind when I remember the PNE's strip show.

The Seattle World's Fair had an adult section called "Show Street".  I remember mom and dad going to the World's Fair and seeing Show Street's Girls of the Galaxy show til prudish sorts of that era caused the show to be shut down due to the show featuring naked Milky Way girls.

Such shows were a staple of past world's fair. Sally Rand's fan dance comes to mind.

I wonder if The Puyallup now has weird distasteful fried food such as one finds at the Texas State Fair? I suspect not.

Just a couple weeks ago, after I Linda Lou shipped me some of her Jam Factory's raspberry jam, I asked if scones with raspberry jam were still a big deal at The Puyallup. The person I asked, who had just been to the fair, answered by saying they bought a bag of scones to take home with them.

I wonder if I will ever again go to The Puyallup or the Texas State Fair?

Ironically I was in Arizona last year during the Arizona State Fair, which takes place in Phoenix. During that visit, in answer to one of Miss Daisy's daily queries asking if there was anything I can think of to do that I have not seen or done before, I answered that we could go to the Arizona State Fair.

Miss Daisy thought that sounded fun, but I didn't think it was a good idea to drive Miss Daisy to the Arizona State Fair. I probably was right...

Walk By Wichita Falls Trash Can Art Thinking About Fort Worth's Waste

Many a time when I walk the Wichita Falls Circle Trail I will see trash cans which will remind me of Fort Worth's Homage to an Aluminum Trash Can.

That Fort Worth Trash Can cost $1 million and sits at the center of an un-finished eyesore of a roundabout which sits near the un-finished eyesore of a couple unfinished bridges which have been stuck in slow motion construction mode for years, over dry land.

As I walked past the trash can you see here, after stopping to take a photo of it, I pondering blogging about the absurdity of the Trinity River Vision Panther Island Boondoggle thinking federal money should be funneled to Fort Worth to pay for their ill-considered, ineptly engineered pseudo public works project.

As in how can it look good to those handling the federal purse strings to have this project begging for money when it is not all that hard to find out what the Boondogglers have already wasted money on?

Such as failed Wakeboard Parks. The aforementioned Homage to an Aluminum Trash Can, river cruises, music festivals, junkets, high salaries. The list goes on and on.

And I am getting to be so senile I forget I have already opined about the absurdity of thinking federal funds will arrive when so much money has already been wasted, with little to show for the wasting.

Well, there is that Trash Can work of art, those bridge ruins, and J.D. Granger's expanded waist line providing some evidence of where the money has gone.

So, I searched the blog to see when last I mentioned the Homage to an Aluminum Trash Can to find that senility concern arise when I saw it was just last month I posted Anonymous Wondering About Fort Worth Boondoggle Spending Million Bucks On Trash Can Homage.

And in that post I copied the content of an email which elaborated on that which my senile self was repeating above. That email is worth repeating, and so I will do so...

We all thought what you had to say about the Panther Island project having trouble getting federal funding was right on the mark. Particularly on the mark was your saying "Yes, it does not take much common sense to see that it probably does not look good to those handling the federal purse strings that at the same time a town is begging for federal funds the town is holding Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tubes Floats, and starting up a bizarre river boat cruise line to sail the polluted river. Among additional nonsense. Done any wakeboarding at Cowtown Wakepark lately?"

Sometimes it seems your blog is the only honest reporting about the Panther Island project and all its problems. In the past you've asked how much money was spent on that Wakepark failure. Spending money on that type thing can not possibly look good to those in Washington who are responsible for doling out federal funds. 

Another thing you could have mentioned which seems wasteful for a project asking for outside help is the million dollars spent on what some say looks like a giant cheese grater, and you have referred to as an homage to an aluminum trash can. Why would a million dollars be spent on such a thing for a project not adequately funded?

_______________

This blog post has already gone long, and I have not gotten around to mentioning the main thing I wanted to talk about, that being a blog post from a few days ago which has gone sort of viral, and to which an interesting Anonymous comment was made, which I have not published, due to the person making the Anonymous comment suggesting I not do so, but that I might want to blog about it, removing that which might not be appropriate to publish. I am assuming the Anonymous person made the Anonymous comment rather than send an email due to that wanting to be Anonymous thing.

It's almost way too much for a borderline senile person, such as myself, to process...

Incoming Cold Dodging Possible Lightning Bolts

Under an ominous sky my handlebars took my bike north today, first to Hamilton Park, via the Circle Trail, then south to Sikes Lake, where we stopped to take the stormy photo you see here.

I have had a couple day respite from needing air conditioned comfort.

But today the A/C is back on, for a short duration.

With that short duration due to the anticipated incoming cold front which is scheduled to drop the temperature by about 40 degrees by tomorrow.

This temperature schedule seems to be frequently changing, depending on which temperature information source is being the temperature information source.

Thunderstorming is also on the menu for today. So far I have heard no banging booms.

A year ago today I headed west to Arizona, arriving the day after leaving Texas. A week later Linda Lou arrived for a couple days of helping drive Miss Daisy. Hard to believe this is already a year ago. Seems so recent.

I do not know when next I will be visiting Arizona. I suspect it will be sooner rather than later...

Almost Chilly October Sunday Wichita Falls Lucy Park Walk

What with the outer world suddenly being chilled to a naturally pleasant air conditioned temperature of 80 degrees this first Sunday of the 2019 version of October seemed like a nice time to drive to Lucy Park for a shady stroll on the Circle Trail, along with a swaying crossing of the Wichita River on one of Wichita Falls signature bridges.

Built over actual water in less than four years. With no involvement of a local congressperson's corruptible son.

As you can clearly see, currently the foliage of Lucy Park has not received the memo that it is fall and thus the time of the year to change their color from green to what are known as autumn colors, prior to dropping the leaves from the trees.

Tonight's predicated low is 49 degrees. That is only 17 degrees above freezing. I probably should go treasure hunting to find where I stored quilts and blankets...

Ruby & David Race Theo To New Cabin On Puget Sound Island

I was feeling just a little despondently depressed this first Saturday of the 2019 version of October.

And then this afternoon incoming email from Tacoma, with photos, cheered me totally free from my despondent depressed state of mind.

A few paragraphs of text explain the photos you will see here.

First...

Ruby, Max, Nica and Theo C. at the finish. With Nica’s little brother cheering them on.

That appears to be my one and only all time Favorite Niece Ruby, crossing the finish line first, followed by longtime boyfriend, Max, right behind Ruby. I do not believe I have met Nica, or her little brother. Or Theo C. I have met Theo S, who is Ruby's twin.

And then text explaining what all this running is all about...

David and Ruby signed up for cross country and had their second meet yesterday. It’s pretty cute. Ruby’s age ran a mile, David’s a little more. David has a soccer game today and it will be interesting to see how he does because I suspect his legs are tired. He was almost last and had to walk at parts but he plugged along and finished.

And the explanation as to why my Favorite Nephew Theo was not running with Ruby and David...

It was at the middle school next to Swan Creek so Theo and Kristin went bike riding while I stood around and watched the runners.

That is Theo under a bike helmet above, holding what looks to be some sort of cookie, leaning on a table with a thermos with a "YOU'LL LIKE TACOMA" message stuck to it.

What's not to like about Tacoma? That would be a good slogan too. Lots of parks, all with modern facilities, multiple public pools, streets with sidewalks, free to ride light rail from an intermodal transit center to downtown Tacoma, a pair of HUGE suspension bridges, built over actual deep fast moving water (built in less than four years), miles of developed waterfront, none of which took decades to develop while employing a local politician's incompetent son, with the billions of bucks spent on development in Tacoma coming from private investors, not pork barrel welfare handouts such as some backwards backwater towns in America rely on to try and do the simplest of public works projects. Such as build three little bridges over dry land.

And then in the other cheering news I learned there will be a new vacation cabin to visit when I am in Washington next summer...

We are buying a vacation cabin on Hartstene Island.  It is in a gated community called Hartstene Pointe.(you can Google it, interesting history as it was started by Weyerhaeusers.) The house doesn’t have a view of the water but the community has 3.5 miles of private beach, an outdoor pool and hot tub that is open in summer, 5 miles of walking trails, tennis courts and a lagoon where the kids can learn to row a kayak. They can ride their bikes all over. It’s less than a 5 minute walk to the beach from our place. We hope to spend a ton of time out there, especially in the summer.

Now that is a cozy looking cabin. With wooded surroundings. I miss being outdoors where it smells like Christmas trees year round.

That is one cozy looking deck. I like the wide wood planks.

And that is one cozy looking kitchen. I do not remember when last I cooked in a kitchen whilst being able to gaze out windows at an evergreen forest. Likely it was 1998, in my kitchen in Mount Vernon. My sources tell me the cabin will be ready for cooking by November. I am available for Thanksgiving dinner chef duty, if needed.

Above is a sky view of the lagoon where the kids can learn to kayak. The water looks crystal clear. Something I do not see very often at my current location. I wonder if they hold Rockin' the Lagoon Happy Hour Kayak Floats in the lagoon in summer? Likely not.

Rolling Around Mount Wichita Pondering Long Elsie Hotpepper Road Trip

Overnight the heat of summer retreated whilst the cool of fall moved in.

Barely 60 degrees when I first saw the temperature at first light this morning.

This past summer, if I remember correctly, I only rolled my bike's wheels a couple times to Mount Wichita.

But, today, with the sun glaring through a clear blue sky I rolled around Mount Wichita. And stayed cool.

The forest fire which had ravaged the slopes of Mount Wichita, early last summer, has mostly healed, returned to green, for the most part.

Soon winter will arrive, well, in a couple months. And with winter snow may cap the summit of Mount Wichita. But, I dunno, what with this ongoing global warming, the Mount Wichita ice cap may not form this upcoming ski season.

Changing the subject to something else.

During the course of this current week Elsie Hotpepper has been negotiating with me about going on a road trip. With Elsie Hotpepper behind the wheel, a couple thousand miles to the northwest, to Washington.

I have some reservations regarding a long road trip with Elsie Hotpepper. For one thing, I am a reticent, quiet sort who can drive 450 miles before finally saying something, such as "Time to fill up the tank". Which might either mean the car needs gas, or I am hungry.

While I am one who uses few words, Elsie Hotpepper is one of those non-stop talker types. And while Elsie Hotpepper is absolutely fascinating to listen to, particularly when she is lubricated with an adult libation, it can be exhausting following the complicated plot lines of Elsie Hotpepper's ongoing long monologue.

So, I have not yet decided if I am on board with the Elsie Hotpepper long road trip concept...

J.D. Granger Booted Off Fort Worth's Panther Island

I first learned of the alleged "J.D. Granger Out" news via what you see here, a screen cap from Facebook, seen last night.

Soon thereafter a couple incoming text messages and emails told me the same thing.

The news in the Facebook screen cap came via NBC DFW. I clicked the link to the J.D. Granger Out as Top Manager of Fort Worth’s Panther Island Project article to find both video of the TV news segment, and a print article summarizing, sort of, the TV news segment.

We will get to the news from NBC DFW later in this blogcast, but before that mention must be made of the fact that soon after first learning this news I found myself reading the Fort Worth Star-Telegram version of this "news" in an article titled Panther Island to hire manager, as J.D. Granger’s role with Fort Worth project changes.

Okay, we seem to have a bit of a contradiction just in the titles of these two articles. NBC DFW has J.D. Granger "Out", whilst the Star-Telegram simply has J.D. Granger's "Role Changed".

Let's look at both "news" articles to see if we can figure out what the truth might be.

First in the NBC DFW article, let's look at the first paragraph...

Major management changes at the embattled Trinity River Vision Authority included the removal of its executive director, J.D. Granger, who had headed up the “Panther Island” project since its beginning more than a dozen years ago.

Okay, that seems fairly clear. J.D. Granger has been removed from the executive director job for which he was ridiculously unqualified.

But, then this...

Granger, the son of a powerful congresswoman who started the project, will instead work directly for Jim Oliver, head of the Tarrant Regional Water District.

First off, I don't believe it was Kay Granger who actually started this absurd project. Second off, we learn that J.D. has been removed from the one job he botched to instead working directly for the guy who hired J.D., years ago, Jim Oliver, who later claimed he hired Granger because it was the right thing to do. I've long wondered why no one has ever asked Jim Oliver why hiring Kay Granger's son was the right thing to do. As for that working directly for Jim Oliver, did we not learn among the multiple "findings" in the widely reviled Riveron Review, that one of the problems with the Trinity River Vision mess was the management structure, and that in that Review it was stated that J.D. Granger reported directly to Jim Oliver? So, really, what has changed? Anything reality based?

And then this...

Oliver told NBC 5 Investigates that Granger will focus on flood control projects, while the economic development part of Panther Island - once a major interest for Granger - will be taken over by the city of Fort Worth.

Oh. Granger will now work on flood control projects. In an area of Fort Worth which has not flooded in well over a half century due to Trinity River levees long ago installed to prevent flooding. Yes, that should keep Kay's son real busy, and well worth his exorbitant salary.

And then this...

U.S. Rep. Kay Granger is credited with creating the project, first labeled Trinity Vision, and she is nearly solely responsible for securing federal dollars for its creation.

This article marks the first time I have ever read that Kay Granger is credited with creating that which has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle. If that is true that alone should get her booted out of Congress in 2020. And she is responsible for pork barreling the federal funds for its creation? I thought Kay was supposed to find federal funds to augment the dollars the locals were contributing.

Maybe it is the use of the word "creation" which seems off. Maybe, because so far, with millions already spent, nothing much has been created. Well, there are those remnants of three simple little bridges stuck in slow motion construction mode for years. I do not recollect The Boondoggle ever labeled "Trinity Vision". Long ago, near the start of this century, it began as "Trinity Uptown" before morphing into "Trinity River Vision". Then various iterations added to the mix "Uptown" and "Central City". Then J.D. Granger, and his minions of nonsense purveyors, conjured the Panther Island absurdity, where there is no island, and never will be an island, by any sane definition of what makes an island.

And then this...

Despite the many setbacks, the city of Fort Worth has continued to pledge its commitment to completing Panther Island, with voters last year approving a $250 million bond package to make that happen.

I do not recollect reading about this particular city of Fort Worth pledge. As for that $250 million bond package. That was the result of a fraudulent ballot measure which had voters believing they were approving "Flood Control and Drainage" projects. There was no mention of "Panther Island" or "Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision" or any of the other names by which the project goes, on that ballot measure.

Now let's take a look at the Star-Telegram's Panther Island to hire manager, as J.D. Granger’s role with Fort Worth project changes article about J.D. Granger's new job status.

First off we learn...

Granger will no longer be the top manager of Panther Island. Someone with experience coordinating multiple government entities is needed to help finish the $1.18 billion project, according to the authority.

Oh my, isn't that nice. After all these years of frittering away time and money someone with actual experience will be hired to help finish America's Dumbest Boondoggle. One can not help but wonder what sort of fool it would be who would want to take on this un-funded debacle.

And then this...

Granger, who makes more than $200,000, has worn many hats since the Trinity River project was first conceived more than a decade ago. The authority has been responsible for entertainment on the river, like Oktoberfest and Fort Worth’s Forth, finalizing design standards for development on the island, and working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

I have always wonder at what point in time it was that the Trinity River Vision evolved into being responsible for entertainment on the river. Conceived more than a decade ago? Try conceived almost two decades ago, near the start of the new century. One can also not help but wonder what those finalized design standards might be for development on the imaginary island.

And then this...

The project, first envisioned in the early 2000s, aims to cut a 1.5 mile bypass channel in the Trinity River north of downtown Fort Worth. The channel will form two islands, collectively known as Panther Island, and will help mitigate flooding while creating roughly 800 acres of prime real estate. It requires significant federal funding but has received little.

Okay, previously, as we pointed out, this article says the project was conceived more than a decade ago, and then in the above paragraph says it was first envisioned in the early 2000s. I did not know til reading that above paragraph that there are now two imaginary islands. Shouldn't they then collectively be known as the Panther Islands? Prime real estate? We haven't even reached the point where that prime real estate, currently an industrial wasteland, becomes an EPA superfund cleanup site.

The project requires significant federal funding? Well, isn't that special? What sane town begins a project of such magnitude without the funding already in place? Particularly when this project is propaganda-ized as being vitally needed flood control.

Land was stolen for this project, via the eminent domain abuse method. Eminent domain is used to take property for the public good, such for highways, schools, hospitals, that type thing. The fact that it is now obvious the land taken was not for a vital public need, due to the dawdling slow motion of the project, that and the fact it has never been about actual needed flood control, well, I would think at this point in time a lawyer would have an easy time bringing massively expensive lawsuits against the perpetrators of this fraud.

I personally know one or two of the victims of the Trinity River Vision eminent domain abuse, which is part of what fuels my disgust.

The article contains multiple typical Star-Telegram bits of propaganda, repeating debunked nonsense without questioning the ridiculousness of what is being quoted, such as verbiage from J.D. Granger.

Read the entire Panther Island to hire manager, as J.D. Granger’s role with Fort Worth project changes.article for the whole scope of this latest iteration of America's Dumbest Boondoggle, but before you do that we leave you with the last paragraph, with one final gem from Fort Worth's least favorite son, J.D. Granger...

“I thought I’d be gone long before,” he said. “I’ve always said I’ll stay here until this thing’s on cruise control. I think we’re right about there, and so that’s at least my commitment to local community.”

Yeah, J.D., there were a lot of us who thought you'd be gone long before. And yet you are still here. So, J.D. thinks the unfunded project is almost on cruise control, which apparently is what he thinks was his commitment to the local community.

I am still waiting for the forensic audit to find out where the money spent has gone. How much has been wasted in salaries being paid long after a project of this sort should have long ago been completed? How much has been spent on all the websites promoting the propaganda? How much has been spent on signage? How much has been spent on propaganda publications mailed quarterly? How much has been spent on junkets?

It is over a decade since I first heard from someone close to the J.D. Granger Trinity River Vision operation. This person identified as Deep Moat. Eventually I learned Deep Moat's identity. Way back then, over a decade ago, Deep Moat was upset by what Deep Moat eye witnessed. The party atmosphere at TRVA headquarters. This sitting around discussing where to go for lunch on the TRVA expense account. The well stocked liquor supply. Discussing where to go on another junket. Deep Moat was privy to the discussions of that which became the various Trinity River parties, like Rockin' the River and Octoberfest. Deep Moat did not understand why this was part of the Trinity River Vision. Deep Moat resented seeing tax payer dollars being spent in what Deep Moat thought was wrong and wasteful.

When, if ever, is there going to by any sort of accounting of the money which has been wasted by J.D. Granger during the course of well over a decade during which he has been on the public dole?

When, if ever, will Fort Worth get an actual legitimate newspaper of record? And is Amon Carter rolling over in his grave seeing what has been done to his city?

Linda Lou's Skagit Valley Jam Factory Blackberry Pepper Jam Arrives In Texas

Way back last month, at the end of the first week of September, mention was made of Incoming Jars From Linda Lou's Skagit Valley Jam Factory.

I had been eagerly anticipating the arrival of a box full of choice products from Linda Lou's Jam Factory, and was most eagerly anticipating the Blackberry Pepper Jam anticipated to be part of the anticipated arrival.

That anticipated box arrived. I opened it, and found no Blackberry Pepper Jam. In the part of the box reserved for the Blackberry Pepper Jam I found organic pickled carrots.

I made mention of the Blackberry Pepper Jam absence and un-anticipated carrots in the blog post about this.

Linda Lou was in Alaska when she learned that her Linda Lou Skagit Valley Jam Factory shipping department employee had made the egregious blackberry shipping error.

Those who know me well know of my fondness for anything blackberry. So, of course I experienced an intense sense of letdown when I found pickled carrots substituting for blackberries.

And then when Linda Lou returned from Alaska, upon her first day back in her Skagit Valley Jam Factory, Linda Lou personally took over from her regular shipping employees to box a new box to send to Texas.

That new box arrived yesterday, and contained only the coveted delicacy of Blackberry Pepper Jam.

That is one of the jars photo documented above, temporarily sitting on the patio outside its kitchen storage location.

I have yet to try the Blackberry Pepper Jam.

Yesterday I had the Linda Lou Skagit Valley Factory Raspberry Jam for the first time. Best raspberry jam ever, or at least in recent memory. It is like concentrated essence of raspberries in a jar.

Those living in the Skagit Valley already know what I am about to tell you.

Linda Lou's Raspberry Jam was the Blue Ribbon winner at this year's Skagit County Fair, along with winning Best in Division.

I do not know why Linda Lou did not enter her prize winning Raspberry Jam in the Washington State Fair (formerly known as the Puyallup). I suspect the trip to Alaska interfered...

Jason Confirms Grandma Graduated Lynden High School Class Of 1950

A couple days ago a caller called from the Skagit Valley who had heard from a fellow church member that my mom was no longer among the living. That caller had not seen a notice confirming this in the Skagit Valley Herald, hence the call.

About the same time as that caller calling from the Skagit Valley, my FNJ, he being Spencer Jack's dad, Jason, text messaged me asking if I knew what year mom graduated high school, and if Lynden High School was correct.

I replied that he had the high school correct, and that I would guess the year to be 1950 or 1951. I also told Jason that his dad and his aunt Jackie had discovered his grandma and grandpa's high school yearbooks whilst going through that which needed to be gone through in mom and dad's former Sun Lakes home.

And that Jason might be able to ask his dad to check grandma's yearbook to confirm the graduation date.

I assumed Jason was making these inquiries because he was working on the notice to go in the Skagit Valley Herald, and Whatcom County newspapers. I assumed such because Jason had done an excellent job of this for his grandpa, back in 2017. If history repeats I likely will be sent a copy for fact checking prior to publication.

Then, last night, Jason emailed with the below message, and the above photo...

FUD -- Don't be confused by this photo: It is not Aunt Nancy's driver's license picture from the early 1970s. Rather the gal in the picture sporting a healthy coat of lipstick is your mother. I received this from Sun Lakes this morning, confirming that Grandma was a member of the Lynden High School Class of 1950.

________________

This suggests to me that Spencer Jack and Hank Frank's grandpa Jake had used mom's yearbook to confirm the graduation date, and take the above photo via his phone.

I wish I had known those yearbooks still existed whilst I was visiting mom multiple times the past couple years. Long ago, maybe when I was a teenager, I recollect mom and dad going through their yearbooks with me and my siblings, and way back then it was amusing.

The past couple years mom was real sharp about remembering details from long ago. The present moment, not so much. Going through those yearbooks would have been a good thing. Who knows what mom might have remembered and told me?

I think it was during my visit to Arizona in July of 2018 that I asked mom about the time mom and dad drove across the country to New York City. I had heard some of that tale in years previous, but never to the level of detail I heard it that summer of 2018. I asked about this at that point in time because I thought mom had somehow traveled solo to NYC to meet dad, and I just could not picture my mom doing something like that.

Well, she didn't, which I learned when mom told me the whole story.

Dad was stationed in Germany. The year was 1951. Dad's dad died. The army sent dad home for the funeral. Mom did not remember by what means dad crossed the country, but she did remember being in a wedding party, in Lynden, getting a phone call from dad, with dad telling mom he was at the bus station in Bellingham, and could mom come pick him up.

Mom rushed out of the wedding, broke the speed limit to Bellingham. Mom did not remember how long dad's leave was. But, at some specific date he was supposed to report back in New York City to be shipped back to Europe.

But, I asked mom, if dad was supposed to go back to Europe what were you gonna do to get back to Washington, after dad sailed away? Mom's answer to that question really surprised me. Mom said that they were young and did not know what they were doing, that they thought mom could go back to Europe with dad. Did you have a passport, I asked? A visa? How did you think you could go to Europe with dad? We just thought it would work out was mom's answer.

They hung out in NYC for several days, waiting dad's orders, staying with a relative who worked in some sort of church type place on Manhattan. And then dad got his orders. He was being mustered out of the army.

So, mom and dad decided to drive back home, via the southern route, through the Deep South, including Texas.

That is the short version of the tale mom told me. One detail sticks in my memory. They drove though Las Vegas, which was not much of a town back then, heading to Death Valley. They had somehow heard that one needs a lot to drink if one tries to drive through Death Valley.

They naively somehow thought this meant an alcohol based drink. Neither mom or dad were ever alcohol consumers, but they bought a six pack of beer to take into Death Valley. At some point the car over heated. Waiting for it to cool down they got out the beer. Opening one, dad took a drink, spit it out, said that is awful. Then mom took a drink and had the same reaction.

Years later, on July 25, 2019, mom said pizza sounded good. I said, you wanna bake pizza here or do the takeout thing? Mom said whatever you want. I said I prefer to bake it myself. So, I drove Miss Daisy to WinCo where we found a bake it yourself pizza. I then said beer and pizza sounded good. So, I got a big bottle of beer.

Back at mom's I baked the pizza, put a slice on a plate, for mom, and also poured a little beer into a coffee cup. Mom took one sip of the beer, spit it out, and said that is awful.

Maybe this is how mom reacted to beer when it is consumed in a desert, what with Death Valley being in a desert, and the Arizona Valley of the Sun being in another desert...

Star-Telegram Discovers Fort Worth Needs Thousands Of Miles Of New Sidewalks

A few days ago an article appeared on the front page of the online iteration of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram asking Is your neighborhood walkable? Fort Worth needs more than 3,300 miles of new sidewalks.

If memory serves accurately I have mentioned a time or two the fact of Fort Worth's sidewalk shortage, and what effect that noticeable shortage might have when Fort Worth tries to woo a corporation to town.

Long ago Fort Worth Weekly made note of the Fort Worth sidewalk shortage. I had no memory of reading this, but the author of the Fort Worth Weekly article about the town's sidewalk shortage emailed me, years ago, after I had made mention of the sidewalk shortage. The author had long returned to the heavily sidewalked north, I think somewhere in Illinois, or maybe it was Indiana, when he read my blogging lament about the Fort Worth sidewalk problem.

Anyway, that Fort Worth Weekly writer who had also noticed all the streets without sidewalks, with pedestrians making do with muddy trails along roads, or just walking in the street, lamented that apparently nothing had yet been done about the obvious problem, in all the years since he had escaped.

And now, a couple decades later, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram finally makes note of this long obvious problem. A few paragraphs illustrating how the Star-Telegram describes the town's sidewalk shortage...

Ella Burton hopes when the new Como Community Center opens this fall, her neighbors will be able to walk there, preferably on sidewalks.

Folks in Como like to walk, but it can be a bit tricky, said Burton, who is the neighborhood president. There’s a hodgepodge network of paved walkways, like in many older Fort Worth districts where property owners may not have the money to maintain sidewalks. Horne Street, Como’s main street, lacks sidewalks on both sides south of Blackmore Avenue, while side streets like Littlepage and Humbert Avenue do not have any for several blocks.

“You can find folks walking around here pert-near any time of the day,” Burton said, adding that without sidewalks local drivers have grown accustomed to spotting walkers in the street. “It’s either step off into the road or walk through someone’s lot.”

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Property owners have to maintain sidewalks? Why aren't sidewalks just part of having a city street? During recent visits to what I refer to as Modern America, such as Arizona, I have long noted how new areas are developed, such as in Chandler, Arizona, the infrastructure goes in before the building goes up, as in roads, sidewalks, pocket parks, street landscaping. That type stuff.

Now, one can see how upgrading streets which were born back in Wild West times, as dirt trails, well, unless a town makes an effort to modernize those dirt trails as progress progresses, you know, by paving and adding sidewalks, well, you end up with a mess like Fort Worth. A town where most of the town's streets have no sidewalks.

The article tells us the Fort Worth City Council's 2020 budget approved a whopping $750.000 for sidewalk work.

$750,000.

A town populated by over 800,000 potential walkers next year will invest a measly three quarters of a million bucks addressing the town's sidewalk shortage.

And that whopping figure is on top of the $12 million allocated for sidewalks in a 2018 bond election.

Did I mention this is a town with a population over 800,000?

A town in which some clueless town leaders wonder why the town can not attract corporations to locate a headquarters in town, or even a branch?

The following paragraph makes clear how ridiculously absurdly bad this Fort Worth sidewalk shortage is...

Fort Worth has around 2,500 miles of existing sidewalks, but 3,395 miles of gaps — areas where no sidewalk exists. Most of those gaps, more than 2,000 miles worth, are in majority-minority neighborhoods, according to a city analysis.

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What in the world is a majority-minority neighborhood? Does the Star-Telegram no longer employ editors? When I lived in far east Fort Worth was that a majority-minority neighborhood? I have no idea. I saw Americans of all types in the neighborhood.

And few sidewalks...