Wichita Bluff Nature Area Mysterious Oddities

Bike wheel rolling the Circle Trail hills in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area has become my new favorite endorphin inducing aerobic activity.

On my most recent wheel rolling at that location I came upon two mysterious oddities.

The first mysterious oddity is the locks you see locked to a railing.

To find this oddity access the Wichita Bluff Nature Area from the western entrance, go down the first hill, then up the second hill til you come to the first spur off the trail. This is on the left side. At the end of that spur you come to a junction. Take the left junction and you will see that which you see above.

Why would people leave combination locks and padlocks at this location? My imagination is not sufficiently developed to enable the conjuring of an explanation.

And then at the other end of the Wichita Bluff Nature Area, well, out of the area to be precise, I came up the second oddity.

Soon after one exits the Nature Area, passing under the eastern entry to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area sign, coming from the west, one comes to a long, curved downhill. At the end of that downhill glide the Circle Trail runs next to the Wichita River.

Eventually the trail comes to another incline. Near that point the trail crosses a big drainage ditch. On the east side of that ditch, between the trail and the river I saw that which you see below.

Greenish round balls, in size bigger than ping pong balls, smaller than tennis balls. Laying on the ground, connected by a network of vines.

Above we are looking at a close up look at one of the "balls".

It looks like a small round watermelon. This leads to the assumption that this is some sort of melon patch. Did someone spit out a seed which then went viral?

Perhaps a local horticulture lock expert can identify the above oddities...

Retired Army Corps Executive Replaces J.D. Granger Leading Panther Island Boondoggle

I first saw that which you see here on Facebook, with the Facebooker commenting "Will the absurdity never end?"

For a day or two I avoided reading about the latest absurdity of that which has come to be known, far and wide, as America's Dumbest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision Boondoggle.

As the years of this century amble on, along with this Boondoggle, I lose track of the timeline. Suffice to say in the past year or so, multiple entities have become fed up with Fort Worth's biggest mess.

And so it was decided to spend about a half million bucks to have someone analyze what has caused this mess and how to fix it.

That analysis was released a few months ago to almost universal eye rolling and contemptuous disgust, due to the obvious erroneous nature of much which the analyzer concluded.

But, out of that waste of money one conclusion was acted on. J.D. Granger was fired as Executive Director of the Trinity River Vision Authority.

And then transferred to another job in the TRWD (Tarrant Regional Water District) at the same $200 thousand annual salary, with his job now being to oversee flood control efforts. Since there has been no flooding in the area in question for well over half a century it must have been assumed that this was something Granger could not muck up. And keeping him on the payroll might still motivate his mother to attempt to secure federal funding for Fort Worth's pitiful imaginary flood control and economic development scheme.

Here's the part of the FW Business Press article in which we learn about J.D.'s new phony job...

As part of the re-organization, the position of TRVA executive director was eliminated and J.D. Granger, who held that position at a salary of more than $200,000 annually, was shifted into the ranks of the TRWD in a role focused on flood-control. His salary has reportedly been unaffected.

But, someone was needed to take over the job which J.D. Granger had failed at. Hence the subject of that aforementioned Facebook post and its link to the Fort Worth Business Press Former Army Corps executive named new Panther Island leader article about J.D.'s replacement.

This article contains no details about how the J.D. Granger replacement, a retired Army Corps of Engineers executive, named Mark Mazzanti, was selected and vetted. Was a more stringent investigation into the replacement's record conducted than that which resulted in hiring the un-qualified to oversee anything, J.D. Granger?

Let's look at a couple paragraphs in a recent article in another publication in which the hiring of J.D. Granger is mentioned. The article is titled Commentary: Panther Island and the Tarrant Regional Water Discombobulation (TRWD) and the author is former Fort Worth city councilman, Clyde Picht, who details the absurdity of the hiring of J.D. Granger...

To add insult to injury, TRWD General Manager Jim Oliver picked a lawyer to oversee this project. This lawyer was reportedly from a fourth-tier law school and, at the time, worked for the Tarrant County district attorney.

You should be aware that the general description of a fourth-tier law school is one with lower entrance requirements, but apparently, they also teach economic development and flood control subjects.

This new, highly paid manager, who has since declared that everything is on cost and on schedule, was J.D. Granger, coincidentally the son of U.S. Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX); a recent programmatic review from a third-party organization found the opposite to be true.

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We have long known that it was TRWD General Manger Jim Oliver's fault that J.D. Granger was hired. And now that J.D. Granger has been fired, why does Jim Oliver still have his job after so many years of so many various scandals of various sorts?

And, again, what was the process by which this new guy was hired to replace Granger? Let's take a look at what we learn about him from the FW Business Press article...

He recently retired as director of programs for the Dallas-based Southwestern Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, covering Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico. He managed inter-agency work on more than $6 billion in programs and led efforts for Congressional appropriation of more than $5 billion in disaster funding for Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts.

His previous special positions include serving at Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. where he prepared the budget for the agency’s Civil Works Program and in a management role for the Corps in Baghdad and Iraq, where he managed more than 3,000 projects worth about $10 billion for infrastructure development.

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Okay, did the TRWD people do a better job of vetting this guy's qualifications than they did with J.D. Granger? What was the process by which Mazzanti was selected? Were there other candidates? Was there looking into this Mazzanti guy's performance on these multi-billion dollar projects for which it is claimed he managed various aspects of various projects?

It would seem sensible that one can not help but wonder why a retired guy would come out of retirement to oversee an un-funded, stalled project which has been boondoggling along for most of this century.

Well, there is that $25,000 a month, which could be quite enticing.

And one can not help but wonder where this additional salary money is coming from, you know, what with the project being short of funds. Well, the article answers that question with...

TRWD General Manager Jim Oliver said Mazzanti’s will be paid from funds the TRWD received from the 2019 TIF disbursement as debt repayment.

________________

With inadequate funding how does Mr. Mazzanti plan on getting this Boondoggle out of Boondoggle mode?

Will Mr. Mazzanti ask, you know, due to those vast previous management experiences, why, if the Trinity River Vision is a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme, why was it not put to a vote of the people asking voters to support paying for the project, such as what happens in towns wearing their big city pants?

A billion bucks for a public works project in a big American city is not a huge price tag for something worthwhile. Multiple big American cities have gone to their voters for approval of projects which dwarf Fort Worth's relative puny project.

Why should the more prosperous parts of America pay for Fort Worth's Boondoggle is a question it would seem any reasonable person would ask.

Will Mr. Mazzanti be appalled at the reality that this project has been long stalled in slow motion due to the lack of funding, because the locals are expecting federal welfare to pay for their imaginary flood control scheme, where there has been no flooding, and which is really all about the economic development part of the ongoing scam?

Like that Facebook poster asked above, will this absurdity never end?

New High Hoodoo Rises In Wichita Bluff Nature Area

On this mighty fine third Saturday of the 2019 version of November I returned again to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area to do some high speed hilly bike riding on the Circle Trail.

The hill climbing on the Wichita Bluff Nature Area of the Circle Trail is pretty much the only location I have found in the Wichita Falls zone where one can get themselves some good aerobic stimulation in anticipation of a Spring return to Moab to do some real mountain biking on real mountain bike trails.

A couple weeks ago I photo documented a trio of hoodoos which had been erected in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

On the next visit to the hoodoo trio the precarious hoodoo in the middle of the trio had crashed to the ground, either by the whimsy of Mother Nature, or some passing hiker's swift kick.

Evidence seemed to indicate it was a hiker's swift kick which had dismantled that hoodoo, due to the way the rocks of the hoodoo were scattered about in a way which did not appear to be what would happen due to a hoodoo destroying gust of wind.

And now today I was pleased to see the rocks in the hoodoo zone have been reconfigured into a solo hoodoo of a height I have seldom seen for this type construction. Which is what you see photo documented above.

Speaking of bizarre constructions. I have some blogging fodder about that ridiculous construction in Fort Worth which has been dawdling along in Boondoggle mode for most of this century.

But, I somehow find myself not caring enough to bother making mention of the latest absurdity. Maybe I will muster motivation enough to make mention of the latest.

It is amusing to see the blog stats after mention is made of Fort Worth's ongoing Boondoggle embarrassment.

Multiple hits from Washington, D.C., I assume due to the link being shared by those being asked to send Fort Worth federal welfare for its debacle...

Wichita Bluff Nature Area With No Amber Waves Of Blueberry Mountains

At my current location on the planet there is no purple mountain majesty no matter which direction one looks and no matter how powerful a telescoping viewing device one might use.

But, there may be some amber waves of grain waving somewhere closer than the nearest mountains, though I have not personally eye witnessed any wheat or oats or rye growing any where near my current location..

And those are not amber waves of grain you see waving here. Those are tall, as in maybe 12 feet tall, or taller, waves of, (I think the name is) cat-o-ninc tails, rendered brown by the recent deep freeze of recent days.

I saw that this jungle of foliage was no longer green today when I returned to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area of the Circle Trail so as to enjoy some chilly pseudo hill hiking.

A few hundred feet to the west of those wannabe amber waves of grain I came upon that which you see above. An evergreen tree of some variety not familiar to me, blooming what looked to me like blueberries. This definitely is not a blueberry bush. And this did not seem to be a juniper tree with the "berries" smelling like something that would come out of a bottle of Dutch gin.

Today I hiked as far as the point you see above, an overlook looking over the Wichita River. As you can see the dominant color is no longer green. The deep freeze has wreaked havoc with the color scheme.

The next time the outer world temperature moderates I am thinking a drive north to Oklahoma to Medicine Park and the Wichita Mountains Wilderness zone might be scheduled. I do not know if these mountains are of the sort I think of when I see that "mountain" word, but it sounds fun to find out...

Arctic Blast Has Not Covered Mount Wichita With Snow While Seahawks Beat 49ers

No.

This is not Mount Wichita you see here, covered in snow from the Arctic Blast which has sent the temperature way closer to single digits than triple digits in need of air conditioning.

My interior world warmth producing device has been getting its toughest workout in a long long time the past 24 hours.

While that which you see here is almost a dead ringer for my neighborhood artificial mountain what this actually is is a real mountain, which is also a volcano.

Last night after watching the Seattle Seahawks win another football game I saw this mountain on Facebook via Seattle's KOMO TV.

Which would make this Mount Rainier.

I have wondered a time or two since I have been in this mountain/volcano free part of the planet what a person who grows up mountain-less thinks the first time a mountain is seen, or a range of mountains.

In a flat part of the planet, such as where I am currently, the sky looks big, the horizon way in the distance. A mountain range, when one is close to it, shrinks the sky, and the horizon is not way in the distance.

I sort of miss mountains, and big forests of evergreen trees.

Bass Plan To Increase Fort Worth Global Influence With Granger Grifter Gang Soap Opera

What you see here showed up on the November 10, 2019 front page of the online version of the Sunday Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Apparently Fort Worth's Bass's are forming some sort of team with some sort of fellowship program and this is going to lead to an increase in Fort Worth's already totally formidable global influence.

Soon we can expect even more national and international corporations to join Radio Shack and Pier One Imports in locating their headquarters in downtown Fort Worth, what with that coming increase to Fort Worth's global influence.

Is the Fort Worth Bass family related to the famous Sam Bass gang of stage coach robbers? I've never been able to get a clear answer to that question. I do know the exquisite good taste of the Bass family has left an indelible mark on Fort Worth, architecturally and otherwise.

And now Fort Worth is going to be able to thank the Bass family for an upcoming increase to Fort Worth's global influence.

I don't know if another rumor I have heard about Fort Worth is reality based, or Trump type fake news. That being that Lorimar Productions is looking to once again have success with a prime time soap opera of the sort which brought Dallas world wide recognition in the last century.

It is easy to imagine a prime time soap opera based in Fort Worth, with the opening credits zooming in towards the Fort Worth skyline, making that skyline known world-wide, like the opening credits of Dallas did for Dallas, zooming in over I-30 from the west, heading toward Reunion Tower and the impressive Dallas skyline.

The below is an artist's rendering of what that zooming in on the Fort Worth skyline scene of the opening credits will look like for the new prime time Fort Worth soap opera.

Unlike the Dallas opening credits zooming over I-30, it looks like the Fort Worth opening credits will be zooming over the West 7th Street Bridge.

Soon this view will be known worldwide, should Fort Worth become a hit, greatly amping up Fort Worth's global influence.

The Dallas soap opera was all about oil and the Ewing family. Will the Fort Worth soap opera be about fracking and the Bass family?

Or will the Fort Worth soap opera be more of a Falcon Crest type soap with a domineering mother ruling the roost?

Instead of Miss Ellie (or Angela Channing) will the Fort Worth soap opera matriarch be based on Fort Worth's Kay Granger? Will the Granger Grifter Gang be the plot inspiration for Fort Worth, the soap opera? Instead of Miss Ellie and J.R., will we have Miss Kay and J.D.?

Will the plot of the Fort Worth soap opera be the ongoing tale of one family's Fort Worth shenanigans, wreaking havoc with their trailer park aesthetics in their ongoing nefarious plots to make a buck off Fort Worth's yokels?

Will there be a plot line about a bizarre imaginary flood control project with J.D. in charge of building bridges over dry land, while having thousands of bucks funneled to his bank account, whilst season after season after season nothing much gets done and the ongoing debacle of J.D. trying to build bridges over dry land becomes the Fort Worth TV show's ongoing joke, til the show gets cancelled after running for a decade or two?

Well, I know I'll be watching. I already feel like I have been watching the Fort Worth soap opera for a couple decades...

Wichita Falls Mysterious Seymour Highway Ruins

This second Sunday of the 2019 version of November is being yet one more perfect weather day at my North Texas location.

Tomorrow weather perfection is scheduled to come to an end with an Arctic Blast arriving with a chill well below freezing.

And so, today, whilst the outer world remains pleasant, I took myself back to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area to join the throngs getting themselves some salubrious endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

Actually, I only saw five or six other humans, and only one of them was in aerobic stimulation mode.

I suppose you may be wondering what that photo above is documenting. What you see there has long made me wonder what it was whilst driving by on the Seymour Highway on the way to the west end Wichita Bluff Nature Area parking lot.

Does any Wichitan know what this massive abandoned cement structure was used for? It looks like the remains of a fort.

Regarding my use of that Wichitan word.

This is how natives of Wichita Falls refer to themselves. I learned this soon after my arrival when I made the mistake of referring to the natives as Wichita Fallsers. Severe umbrage was taken by a few who chose to verbalize their umbrage. I tried to defend myself, saying I thought Wichita Fallser made more sense than Wichita Fallsian or Wichita Fallsperson.

Dropping the Falls and turning Wichita into Wichitan did not occur to me as an option.

I was told that it is the same as residents of Niagara Falls, who the umbrage takers claimed refer to themselves as Niagarans, not as Niagara Fallsers, or Niagara Fallsians. I had no way to confirm that those who live in the town of Niagara Falls refer to themselves as Niagarans.

Anyway, any Wichitan, or other aficionado of Texas history, know what these cement remains are?

Tacoma Could Show Fort Worth How To Build A Bridge Over Water

I saw that which you see here yesterday on Facebook via a post by Mildred's paternal parental unit.

With the post being the story of the fall and rise of a bridge in my old home state of Washington, known as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Later in the day, yesterday, Spencer Jack's paternal parental unit text messaged me asking me "Did you hear that the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed today?

To which I replied "Yeah. About 80 years ago. Or was it 79??"

To which my Favorite Nephew Jason replied "You are too smart to be easily tricked. No wind today to knock down a bridge. In fact it has been sunny and gorgeous her for nearly two weeks now. I think Seattle is setting an all time record for lack of rain this time of year. My mother just informed me that she is cooking Thanksgiving dinner and I am welcome to bring a guest. Will you be able to join us in Big Lake? I think dinner should be around 3 or 4 pm..."

To which I replied "I have booked a flight, arriving 10:25 am, November 28, Gate D, Bellingham International Airport. Please ask Spencer Jack if he can pick me up and drive me to his grandma's."

And now back to that post from Mildred's paternal parental unit. The entire text which accompanied the photo of Gertie Galloping...

On This Day in History: November 7, 1940.
The original Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Tacoma, Washington collapsed in a windstorm – only four months after its completion. Spanning the Puget South from Gig Harbor to Tacoma, the bridge opened to traffic on July 1, 1940. At the time it was the third longest suspension bridge in the world, covering 5,959 feet. Its design was its downfall as it was designed to be the most flexible ever built. This flexibility was experienced by the builders and workmen during construction, which led some of the workers to christen the bridge "Galloping Gertie." The engineers, however, did not take into consideration the aerodynamic forces during a period of strong winds. On this day in 1940, high winds caused the bridge to sway considerably. A little after 11 a.m., the bridge broke free of its restraints and was tossed back and forth before it finally collapsed. The only casualty was Tubby, a black cocker spaniel, who was too scared to come out of Leonard Coatsworth’s stranded car. Coatsworth was the last person to drive on the bridge. Another person tried to rescue Tubby during a lull in the winds but the dog was too terrified and bit one of the rescuers. A replacement bridge opened on October 14, 1950, after two years of construction. It is 40 feet longer than the original and the fifth longest suspension bridge in the U.S. Today, the remains of the bridge are still at the bottom of Puget Sound and have formed one of the largest man-made reefs in the world.

Photo: The bridge’s roadway twisting and vibrating violently under 40 mile per hour winds the day it collapsed.

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Now let us take a look at the local to Texas angle regarding the story of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge turning into Galloping Gertie.

The Tacoma Narrows is so named because it is a narrow, deep Puget Sound channel, with extremely strong tides. Cliffs are on both sides of the channel, hence the need to use the suspension bridge method to span the channel.

At the time it was completed, in 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was the third longest suspension bridge in the world.

After the original bridge failed its replacement took two years to complete.

Two years.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth, Texas. A town with no deep, fast moving water, or steep cliffs, three simple little bridges have been in construction mode since 2014, currently not scheduled to possibly be completed til sometime in the next decade.

Oh, I forgot to mention, these three simple little bridges are being built over dry land.

Dry land.

There will be no water under these bridges until the money and means can be found to dig a ditch under them, with Trinity River water then diverted into that ditch.

And those responsible for this Boondoggle have managed to get away with conning the locals into thinking these simple bridges are being built over dry land in order to save time and money, when there was no other option.There never was any other option, since there will/would never be water under the bridges until/unless the Trinity River is diverted into the ditch.

Those responsible for this Boondoggle have also managed to try and con the locals into believing that these three simple bridges are complex feats of engineering, hence all the delays.

Complex feats of engineering?

The three little bridges look like freeway overpasses.

Structural engineers have raised multiple design issues, hence the slow motion bridge construction. The ridiculous V-piers are problematic. Some think the bridge foundations are unstable. Others think if the ditch is ever dug under the three completed bridges that multiple issues will arise compromising the structural integrity of the bridges.

And yet a little town in Washington, a fraction of the size of Fort Worth, somehow managed to build a suspension bridge over actual deep, fast moving water, in two years. And then, in this century, add another, even bigger suspension bridge, next to the original, also built in less than four years.

And people wonder why I refer to Fort Worth as a backwards backwater...

Missing Mom's Rainy Poetry Whilst Driving To ALDI

On my way to ALDI this morning I thought of my dear, late mother.

No, not due to usually calling mom on my way to some destination to ask if she wanted to ride along.

No. Today I thought of my dear, late mother on my way to ALDI due to remembering mom's penchant for reciting poetry.

Such as on a day like today mom would wax poetically saying "rain rain go away, come again another day."

In her later years mom did not develop a lot of fresh material and tended to repeat her oldies but goodies.

In the above rainy photo documentation we are driving south on Taft Boulevard with the MSU Fantasy of Lights ongoing installation on our right as we drive by. Due to the cold rain not much installing appeared to be going on today. There is still plenty of time to get Christmas up and running in time for its post-Thanksgiving debut.

Due to the ongoing inclement weather, and anticipating much worse with the coming winter, after ALDI I went to a shoe store and got myself a pair of winter weather ready shoes. In Washington these type shoes were known as waffle stompers. I do not know if that is what they are known as in the South.

What I do know is I am now ready to stomp waffles in deep snow...

Spencer Jack Prescribes Exercise For Texans

Incoming email from Spencer Jack and his paternal parental unit, FNJ, also known as my Favorite Nephew Jason.

Subject line in email: "Y'all need some exercise".

And then after that rude subject line all there was in the email is the graphic you see above listing the Top Five American States with the Highest % of Physically Inactive Adults, and then next to that listing the Five American States with the Lowest % of Physically Inactive Adults.

The Top Five Most Inactive States...

!. Kentucky, 2. Mississippi, 3. Texas, 4. Arkansas, 5. Oklahoma

The Top Five Most Active States...

1. Washington, 2. Colorado, 3. California, 4. Alaska, 5. Oregon.

Shocking, the least active states are all in the South, while the West Coast states are the most active.

With my old home state being the Most Active State in America. Whilst the American State I am currently sitting in, Texas, is the 3rd Most Inactive.

I would be prevaricating if I tried to pretend that I have not noticed way more slothfulness when I am in Texas than I notice when I am West of Texas, be it Colorado, Arizona, Utah, or any of the West Coast States.

I think I have mentioned previously the incident way back in 2004 when I returned to Washington after two years of only seeing Texans. I remember being in downtown Seattle, taken to a gallery in Pioneer Square ( a real square, unlike Fort Worth's imaginary Sundance Square) and when mention was made to the gallery owner that I had just flown in from Texas, and was visiting Washington for the first time in two years, the gallery owner asked something like has anything changed?

To which I said something like it is striking me that the people are looking like they have had the air let out of them.

This was before I learned that many Europeans refer to Americans as Balloon People. I assume Europeans make this reference after visiting a Southern American State, not a West Coast American State.

Big Ed is currently scheduled to return to the West Coast, and Washington, this coming summer for the first time since Christmas of 2002. I have warned him to be prepared for culture shock. Such as the HUGE increase in traffic along I-5. The homeless camps in Seattle. And the greatly changed Seattle skyline, with things like Amazon, along with a Great Wheel on the waterfront, multiple giant cruise ships. Along with way less litter, the world looking new, less shabby, and the air smelling like Christmas trees, at times.

When you've spent almost two decades in the part of America which sort of plods along in slow motion, it is a bit jarring to adjust to the more accelerated pace one finds in modern America. I just remembered, Big Ed has been back to modern America one time since 2002, with last October's visit to Arizona, where he was impressed to once again see competent urban planning, streets with sidewalks, and city parks with zero outhouses.

And way fewer ultra plump people...