Elsie Hotpepper Granddaughter Panther Island Challenge

That which you see here arrived on my phone yesterday, on the final Tuesday of the 2019 version of November.

The sender was Natsie Hotpepper, granddaughter of the recently retired Elsie Hotpepper.

We have not heard from Natsie's grandma since our last Smoky Visit With The Retired Elsie Hotpepper.

Natsie Hotpepper's actual first name is Natasha, but she has been known as Little Natsie Hotpepper almost from the first words she ever spoke.

Elsie Hotpepper has long insisted she never be addressed by her actual first name, which is Elsivinia.

Naming Elsie's actual name in this blogging venue is not the same as addressing her by her actual name in person, so that particular Elsie Hotpepper convention has not been violated.

I hope.

Now, regarding this "graphic" which Natsie Hotpepper sent me, well bless her heart. She means well.

And we can all appreciate Natsie's sentiment regarding making mock of Fort Worth's ongoing embarrassment which has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision Boondoggle.

But there are some obvious problems with Natsie's Panther Island Challenge meme.

First off the three bridges began their slow motion construction in 2014, not 2009. The meme shows the 2009 V-piers having made it to the cement part of their slow motion construction. That actually happened closer to 2019 than 2009.

And the 2019 part of the meme shows the V-piers in wooden form mode, prior to cement being added. Which is the reverse of the pitiful reality.

Even in 2014, when the bridge construction began with a bizarre TNT exploding celebration, actual construction did not begin til months later, in 2015, and then soon stalled.

Another problem with Natsie's meme is in the 2009 part we see the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth rising in the distance.

But, in the 2019 part of the meme the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth has totally disappeared.

Anyway, thanks for the effort, Natsie, and keep on trying to live up to your grandma's feisty reputation of working to right wrongs and fight for Truth, Justice and the American Way.

The original Hotpepper legacy is a tough act to follow...

Late Halloween With David, Theo & Ruby On A Real Island

Yesterday David, Theo & Ruby's Mama Michele emailed me with an update regarding next summer's Birch Bay stay.

I replied back and mentioned being surprised I had not seen any Halloween photos of the aforementioned David, Theo & Ruby.

Mama Michele then emailed back with several photos, with only one of the photos, that being the one you see here, being Halloween related.

I think I can only identify one of these costumed characters, and even that one I am not totally sure about. But, I think the third from the left, in basic black with red stripes, is Ruby. I am guessing that masked figure next to Ruby may be either David or Theo, with the skeleton on the far right also being either David or Theo, because none of the un-masked figures looks, to me, like either David or Theo.

And now on to the other photos, more recent than Halloween, since these were taken last weekend whilst David, Theo & Ruby drove their parental units to their new cabin on Hartstene Island. I made mention of the new cabin a couple months ago when I mentioned Ruby & David Racing Theo To New Cabin On Puget Sound Island.

For those reading this in Fort Worth, a town which only has imaginary islands surrounded by imaginary water connected by bridges built over dry land, who don't know what an actual island is, these are chunks of land surrounded by water, in this case islands in Puget Sound, which is a body of water which connects to the Pacific Ocean via the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

Above that is Theo, David & Ruby, and I have forgotten the name of the new family member, posing on a beach on a real island.

And here we see the trio on what is known as a beach. Those are also islands you see in the distance across Puget Sound. On a real island surrounded by real water this thing called the tide causes a thing called tidal flats to appear with predictable regularity.

I am looking forward to next summer at Birch Bay, which is an extremely shallow bay. When there is a low tide the beach at Birch Bay becomes huge. And then, if it is a blue sky warm day the sand on the beach heats up so much that when the tide rolls back in the water heats up, making the experience like swimming in a heated pool. This is particularly fun if the incoming tide comes in as the sun sets, with the swimming then being lit up by phosphorous illumination when one splashes the water.

Continuing on with some more beach scenes.

That appears to be Theo standing on a beached log. Beached logs are known as driftwood. It looks as if Theo is holding a large tree limb, but I suspect that is an illusion and that the limb is attached to the log.

My elderly memory just had a moment of possible clear thinking. I think the new poodle's name is Raven. That sounds right. Which would make that Raven on the log with Theo.

The above look at Hartstene Island looks like it could be a scene on a Hawaiian island, with the evergreens almost looking like palm trees. I do not know if that bridge across the channel was built over dry land, using the Fort Worth bridge building method, with the channel added later.  I can say, with almost 100% certainty, that no local politician's son had anything to do with building the bridge or digging the channel. Or creating the island.

Mama Michele made mention of the fact that they are enjoying exploring all the trails on the island. That would be photo documentation of doing so, above. I am fairly sure that is Ruby in the foreground. Not sure who that is ahead of Ruby.

In yesterday's email Michele said I needed to come check out their new cabin, soon, and have myself a mighty fine time exploring the island.

That does sound fun. I can not remember the last time I was actually on a real island.

Liberal Lunatics Body Slam Pudgy Putnam

A month or so ago I found myself blogging about a Futile Right Wing Trumpist's Boot Kay Granger Attempt.

At that point in time all I knew about this potential Kay Granger booter was what I read on his campaign announcement in which he proudly vowed to stand with Trump, protect our border and defend the sanctity of innocent life, because Kay Granger has not done these things.

And now in the past several days for some reason Facebook has been showing me multiple posts about this guy's effort to stand with Trump via his "absolutely epic campaign kickoff."

I do not know why Facebook was showing me this, but I found it amusing. I looked at the myriad photos of those attending this campaign kickoff and what came to mind was it looked like the sorts who attend one of those Trump rally's. Only better dressed, and not topped with red MAGA hats. But still a bit crazy looking.

Then I clicked on a link in one of those posts which took me to this guy's Facebook "PUTNAM for Texas" page.

I was a bit startled as soon as the page loaded to see the profile photo, which you see above, and thinking to myself why would this right wing nutjob be posing with what looks to be a drag queen? Then I saw the guy on the far right and realized that this was no drag queen, that this is Donald Trump Jr.'s mistress, Kimberly.

Yes, I know it is extremely rude to suggest she looks like a drag queen, but that was the thought which first occurred to me, and due to the fine example of our Dear Leader and his pseudo conservative enablers, it is now perfectly normal to make comments like that, following the ill-mannered examples of Trump.

I scrolled down the page a bit and soon found the source photo of Pudgy Putnam's Facebook page.

Again, I realize it used to be considered really rude to label someone something like "Pudgy". But, like I said, this is the new accepted norm, due to the fine example of our Dear Leader. And pudgy was the word which came to mind when I saw a photo of the guy.

The text accompanying this pair of photos is interesting...

Don Jr. and I shared a big high-five for body slamming the liberal lunatics on "The View" earlier in the week. Don and Kimberly were excited to see Jack there so he got called back for his own pic without mom and dad. Trump is to Jack what Reagan was to me.

Yeah, that really was quite something seeing Don Jr. body slamming those annoying liberal lunatics, including John McCain's daughter, on The View.

Again, bragging about doing something like body slamming someone, whilst mislabeling them as "lunatic liberals" is totally okay in our current world, thanks to the enlightened leadership of our Dear Leader.

And then I came to the next photo with still more amusing text...

Waiting to meet Don Jr. and Kimberly. Jack is pumped. Raise them right friends.

Now, I read the above and honestly wondered to myself what does it take for CPS to intervene to save a child from exposure to a cult of clueless fanatics?

Continuing to scroll down this Facebook page I decided to copy out the text of some of the posts for your amused reading pleasure, giving you a good inkling of the high quality thinking of this challenger to Kay Granger for the 12th District Representative seat, followed by a comment, if the motivation to do so, strikes me....

There is zero doubt that the TX 12th is hungry for unapologetic, principled conservative representation in Washington DC. Come join us. Kay Granger started as a Democrat, and still acts like one. Siding with Pelosi on bailouts, Obama on amnesty, and refusing to stand with President Trump, she's become a stranger to us.

______________

Yes, everyone likes their conservative representation to be unapologetic and principled. It is like it goes without saying, yet somehow nowadays seems to rarely occur. Principled conservative? Nowadays that is what is appropriately known as an oxymoron.

President Trump's leadership has led to a significant reduction in illegal border crossings, but the issue of drug trafficking remains. Democrats in Congress need to return their focus to securing the border and ending the ongoing crisis.

_________________

One can not deny giving Trump credit for getting that wall built along the southern border. And having Mexico pay for it. Now we must figure out how to stop the Mexicans from so easily bulldozing through the world's first Medieval wall built since the Dark Ages of long ago.


Last week, the American people learned that the Democrats don't have a case against President Trump. Nonetheless, they are continuing this pointless witch hunt. Join me in telling them to end the impeachment sham by adding your name now!

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Those wily Democrats should be ashamed of themselves. Having diplomats and ambassadors confirm that Trump was colluding with the new Ukrainian government to get the Ukrainians to announce their government was launching an investigation into Biden. It is just like that Russian hoax, accusing Trump of colluding with the Russians to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. How can the Democrats be so un-American as to think it is somehow an impeachable offense for the president to withhold aid unless a foreign government does his bidding? What a shameful sham case those Democrats have mounted. By now everyone should accept that Trump totally tells the truth in matters such as this.

The Left sees President Trump's conservative, America First agenda as a threat. That's why they're doing everything they can to stop him, including impeachment! We need strong conservative voices in Congress to stand by the President and help advance his agenda.

__________________

What an insight! The un-American Left thinks the Trump disaster must be stopped.

It is not just the Left. It is pretty much most of the educated, informed, intelligent humans on the planet who sees Trump's agenda as an existential threat. Even some former Republicans, such as actual conservative stalwart, George Will. And others.

Under Pelosi and the Democrats, this Congress will be remembered for doing more to avenge President Trump's election than working for the American people. It's time for the impeachment sham to end so the real issues can be addressed.

_______________

Yeah, it's all about avenging President Trump's election. It has nothing to do with anything remotely rising to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. What's a little bribery or extortion? No big deal. It's not a high crime and misdemeanor like lying about an office affair with an intern. Or covering up a break-in of the DNC headquarters. Or wanting to go easy on the defeated states of the confederacy.

All Trump did was collude with a foreign government to smear a political opponent, whilst using withholding aid to bribe that foreign government to do so. The Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for thinking something obviously innocent like this is an impeachable offense..

There were multiple comments to these posts on the Pudgy Putman Facebook page. I will just copy one of the more amusingly wrongheaded ones...

Susan Whitehead: We must really know who the people we vote for are. Are they true conservatives? Conservative financially, ethically, morally, politically? Our country needs to return to the constitution and the republican form of government it outlines or we are going to become a socialist/communist nation, then there will be no place to go to live free.

_______________

Whitehead? Is that really someone's name? Susan is totally correct. We really must know who we vote for. Real conservatives. Not a budget busting, deficit exploding, bankrupting, amoral, lying, cheating, porn star boinking, poorly educated, inarticulate buffoon, but a real true conservative of the Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower type. Or even another Nixon would be a good thing at this point. No one ever described Nixon as being a dumb moron.

If Susan wants to continue to live free after America becomes a socialist communist nation there are multiple democratic socialist nations in the world she can move to.

Like Sweden. Or France. Or Germany. Or Denmark. Or Norway. Or our conveniently located neighbor to the north, Canada.  I hope Susan gets the point and can quit worrying...

Following Yellow Brick Road Tot MSU's Fantasy Of Lights

Operation Get in Shape for Moab Mountain Biking has been going well.

Yesterday, as in Sunday, I joined the throngs in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area, biking the hills over and over again at relatively high speed in a relatively high gear.

Today, as in Monday, it was Off to See the Wizard on the Yellow Brick Road Day, rolling my wheels around Sikes Lake and then to the MSU campus where eventually I was rolling through the now totally installed, turned on, and ready to open Fantasy of Lights.

The Emerald City is in a new location this year. I saw several new Fantasies I did not remember previously. And some I do remember seem to have been spruced up a bit, such as new passengers on the Ferris wheel, including multiple Santas.

Today all the displays were turned on, with wheels spinning, music playing, saloon girls dancing, piano players tinkling the ivory, dolphins swimming, Dorothy walking, the Scarecrow strutting, the Cowardly Lion puffing out his chest and the Tin Man fiddling with his oil can.

I saw on the morning news the Fantasy of Lights being talked about. I believe I heard the talking head say tonight was the Grand Opening.

I do not remember if I have ever actually seen the Fantasy of Lights lit up at night. I must remember to drive by after dark sometime during this long holiday season...

World's Most Unique McDonald's No Longer In Dallas

Years ago, near the start of the current century, I recollect reading of a new McDonald's in Dallas. And that this McDonald's may possibly be the most unique McDonald's in the world.

I was sort of used to Texas style hyperbole by that point in time, so I sort of figured I would be non-plussed when actually eye witnessing this McDonald's.

I remember it was soon after reading of it that I first saw this supposed world's most unique McDonald's.

Well. I was impressed. It seemed to live up to the hype. With me thinking if this is not the world's most unique, it certainly must be one of the world's most unique McDonald's.

And so I made a webpage about it titled World's Most Unique McDonald's 

The webpage soon was getting a lot of page views, which by 2007 was being monetized by Google.

My last time seeing this McDonald's was in January of 2009, when my mom and dad were in the midst of what was to be their final visit to Texas. That is mom and dad, above, posing in their cowboy hats in front of the former World's Most Unique McDonald's.

I say former, because that which made this McDonald's unique no longer exists. I knew something had been changed with it due to previous feedback. Somehow I just thought that this McDonald's had closed, to be demolished for some new project, or road expansion. I did not know the actual facts of the matter.

And then this week I got the following letter, from McDonald's....

Hello. I work for the McDonald's Franchise that owns the McDonald's on Montfort and LBJ in Dallas. The "world's largest Happy Meal." This location was remodeled years ago, years before we purchased it.

While we do love the attention, some of your readers make a long drive to see this huge Happy Meal, only to be disappointed...then they get angry....then they complain. I've had several customer book birthday parties here, only to be disappointed when they arrive to see it is now a regular McDonald's.

Please consider updating this story. Thank You Kindly,

L.W.
Arch Fellow, McDonald's
Community Ambassador

___________________

Arch Fellow? That sounds like something sinister.

So, I altered that webpage, including the letter from the Arch Fellow. And let me say, it was not easy to alter. It has been several years since I have done any HTMLing. And with that webpage, as with most of my others, the HTLMing was done on my old laptop, using the long dead Microsoft web editor called Front Page.

Trying to edit that webpage in a simple text editor wreaked all sorts of havoc, but eventually I managed it.

I wonder what was the reason behind altering the former unique McDonald's into being just a regular McDonald's?

Perplexing...

Hank Frank's First Haircut With Uncle Lottsie & Krispy Kreme

Last night Hank Frank's grandpa, he being my little brother, Jake, texted me the photo you see here.

With the text in the message saying...

"Henry's first haircut. I don't remember mine. Do you remember yours?"

To which I replied...

"I do remember my first haircut. The year was 1954. The town was Eugene. The state was Oregon. And the barber was uncle Lottsie. And I cried like a baby."

To which my little brother replied...

"Your memory is awesomely amazing. I only remember dad taking you and me to the midway barbershop on old 99 between Burlington and Mount Vernon."

I remember not liking getting haircuts at that place between Burlington and Mount Vernon. I believe that is near where Costco is now.

So strange, little Burlington, population back then around 4,000, population now around 9,000, now has a Costco, along with multiple other big box stores. And a huge mall, which I think now has joined the trend of malls closing. Burlington even has a Krispy Kreme. And an Outlet Center, and a car selling complex called I-5 Auto World.

And multiple grocery stores. In little Burlington.

No wonder I was amazed when I discovered little Fort Worth did not have even a single grocery store anywhere near its downtown when my eyes first looked at that location. Let alone, at that point in time, the town not having a Costco. Or even a modern mall built in recent times.

I do not know if Krispy Kreme succeeded opening in Burlington.

I remember soon after arriving in Texas the first Krispy Kreme opening in the D/FW zone, in Arlington, if I remember right. To BIG hoopla with long lines. I had never heard of Krispy Kreme before that. So, years later, when I read Krispy Kreme was moving into Washington, including Burlington, I wondered if it would go over, what with most of the locals likely never having heard of Krispy Kreme.

Regarding uncle Lottsie giving me my first haircut. I do not actually remember that. But I suspect such was the case. Uncle Lottsie was my dad's dad's brother. His actual name was Otto. Otto was married to Pernella. We called them Lottsie and Pernie. I do not know if that was what everyone called them, or just us kids.

I remember in 1968, on the way to California and Disneyland, spending the night at Lottsie and Pernie's. Robert F. Kennedy had been in Oregon campaigning for the presidential primary. Uncle Lottsie was taken to RFK's hotel room to give him a haircut. He saved some locks. Had them in an envelope. Sounds weird now, but as kids we were impressed seeing this. Trying to recollect this now I am thinking this must have been post assassination, because we would have been on our way to Disneyland in late June.

My memory is not as amazingly awesome as my little brother thinks it is...

Jason & Cindy & Tina Solve Paris Love Locks Melon Mysteries

A couple days ago I blogged about Wichita Bluff Nature Area Mysterious Oddities, with those mysterious oddities being some unexplained locks and melons.

We now have been provided, from multiple sources, solutions to these two mysteries. A comment from someone named Anonymous solved the melon mystery with a link to a Wikipedia article...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Wichita Bluff Nature Area Mysterious Oddities":

It's a gourd called Cucurbita foetidissima. Good for throwing at your sister when playing in the field.

The first paragraph of the Wikipedia article about this Cucurbita melon...

Cucurbita foetidissima is a tuberous xerophytic plant found in the central and southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It has numerous common names, including: buffalo gourd, calabazilla, chilicote, coyote gourd, fetid gourd, fetid wild pumpkin,[1] Missouri gourd,[1] prairie gourd, stinking gourd, wild gourd, and wild pumpkin. The type specimen was collected from Mexico by Humboldt and Bonpland sometime before 1817.

_________________

As for the mystery of those locks.

 It was a comment from Miss Tina, on Facebook, which first provided a solution to the lock mystery.

And then this morning a photo collage from my FNJ (Favorite Nephew Jason) and my Favorite Ex-Sister-In-Law, (FESILL Cindy also solving the mystery with a photo of Jason and Cindy in Paris, along with a link to a CNN article about the Pont de Arts bridge in Paris, which is what you see Jason and Cindy standing on in that photo collage at the top..

The comments on Facebook which first shed a light on this lock mystery...

Miss Tina: Perhaps Wichita Fallians have aspirations of their own Pont des Arts. I think you've written before of Texans' fondness of being the [whatever] of Texas. So, they want to be the Paris of Texas? You know, the Paris, France of Texas, not the Paris, Texas of Texas.

Durango Jones: Miss Tina, I had hoped you would come through, per usual, and you did not disappoint. I vaguely remembered locks or something on a bridge or wall, but I could remember was the gum wall in Seattle's Pike Place, which I have never seen, cuz it has become a thing since I was last wandering around that location. I think I have an old lock around this place somewhere, so I can try and contribute to Wichita Falls becoming the Paris of Texas...

Miss Tina: Paris removed the locks in 2015 because the weight of them was hazardous to the bridge. However, I can see that WF has a long way to go before that would happen. Be sure to put a love note (to Texas ... hahah!) on your lock.

________________

So, there you go, two mysteries solved.

This was going to be a much longer blog post due to an additional subject regarding McDonald's Happy Meals, but I ran into a complication with McDonald's requiting the need to solve a problem.

I do not enjoy solving Happy Meal problems...

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.

___________________

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.

_________________

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...