Another Opportunity To Drone On About Fort Worth's Visionary Bridges To Nowhere

Well, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram seems to be providing a plethora of goofy things to talk about the past several days.

What you see above is a screen cap of part the front page of the Star-Telegram on this final Saturday of the 2021 version of June. An invitation to watch drone video of a completed Panther Island bridge.

As you can see, this is quite a feat of bridge engineering you are looking at. Years in the making, as in around seven years, give or take a month or two. There is no town in America which would not be super proud to have such an amazing new bridge to grace their cityscape. Look at the fine detail in the finishing touches of this completed Panther Island bridge. The landscaping is stunning.

And when that ditch is ever dug under the bridge, and lined with cement, then filled with water, well, people will come from all over the world to eye witness this marvel.

There really are not too many towns in the world which can dig a ditch, do some river diverting, and declare an island has been created. And see it as a vision.

Now, there have been some naysayers who have scoffed at the Trinity River Vision spokespeople, like J.D. Granger, spouting that these are signature bridges being built, which will become iconic symbols of Fort Worth. Now that we see the reality methinks an apology is owed to J.D. and his ilk who made the signature bridge claims. These beautiful bridges are likely to be emulated all over the world. 

And look at how this newly completed bridge leads directly to the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth. There will need to be a viewing platform at this location so all the tourists which descend upon Fort Worth can take a photo of this iconic scene.

Now, there are towns other than Fort Worth which have iconic signature bridges associated with their skyline. San Francisco comes to mind.

Let's compare the two, the San Francisco signature bridge and skyline, and Fort Worth's....

It's hard to decide which is the more beautiful, more stunning, more scenic. I suppose, proportionally speaking, it might be said the San Francisco bridge matches the quality of that town's skyline, and likewise with the Fort Worth bridge matching the quality of that town's skyline.

You can sure see why the federal government is gonna jump at the chance to funnel a lot of funds to Fort Worth to complete this visionary flood control and economic development scheme, what with the amazing results already brought to fruition in only a few years, well, most of this century...

Star-Telegram Wonders How Long Until Panther Island Becomes An Island

 

This morning a new article showed up in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about America's Biggest Boondoggle. By the end of this long article we learn the article was written by a new reporter, recently moved to Fort Worth, Emily Brindley, who the Star-Telegram is characterizing as an "investigative reporter".

This should be interesting. The Star-Telegram has not had one of those before, regarding anything to do with the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, which has become, after limping along for years, America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The article is titled As another bridge opens, how long until Fort Worth’s Panther Island becomes an island?

Just the article's title raises red flags. Such as, even the article's title admits that that which has been called an island, is not an island. 

Let's go through this article and comment as we go along. The first paragraph...

Late this weekend, Fort Worth officials plan to open the new North Main Street bridge that leads to the eventual Panther Island — marking another step forward in a project that has been more than a decade in the making and is still years from completion.

First off, this project has been limping along this entire century. Just the building of the three simple little bridges is taking almost a decade. Is it not even remotely concerning that a project which originally was touted as being a vitally needed flood control/economic development scheme is still years from completion?

Clearly, not vitally needed.

The second paragraph...

But local officials say the many moving pieces of the project are beginning to align. With a new presidential administration, an impending federal infrastructure bill and the return of appropriations earmarks, officials say that federal funding could soon flow into the project and kick off the next big phase of construction.

Have we not heard this moving parts beginning to align propaganda before? There is actual vitally needed infrastructure work in America, including much work needed in Fort Worth, such as addressing actual, real, flooding issues in Fort Worth. Why would, or should the rest of America help pay for Fort Worth's inept Boondoggle after it has been so badly mismanaged for so many years?

Why should, or would, federal money flood into Fort Worth for this project when the voters of Fort Worth have never voted to approve this public works project? Let alone be asked to support a bond issue to pay for it, like towns wearing their Big City pants do.

The next two paragraphs are a doozy, followed by one of the photos from the Star-Telegram article illustrating the imaginary beautiful bridges...

Tarrant County administrator G.K. Maenius pointed to the bridges as evidence that “we’re finally seeing some results” — and he said he’s pleased with the aesthetics of those results, too.

“I don’t know if anyone realized just how beautiful those bridges are going to be,” he said. “I’m not a bridge guy, but even to me, they look pretty darn good.”

Yeah, that is one super beautiful bridge. And look at those signature V-Piers, which J.D. Granger insisted on, rather than the actual cool looking design of the West 7th Street Bridge over the Trinity River. Clearly this guy who admits he is not a bridge guy, has not seen any of the world's actual impressive signature type bridges. Maybe heading west and seeing the Golden Gate Bridge might be too much bother for education purposes, but this Tarrant County administrator could simply drive a short distance east, to Dallas, and see the two actual signature bridges over the Trinity River, which actually do look pretty darn good.

You reading this in non-Fort Worth America, you good with your tax dollars helping Fort Worth build this?  Moving on...

The creation of an island necessitates the digging of a new channel north of downtown Fort Worth, which would connect the Clear and West forks of the Trinity River and then connect the ends of a U-shaped bend in the Trinity River. The new channel would effectively create two islands, together called Panther Island.

This is the first I have read there will be two imaginary islands. Both called Panther Island. If there are two, shouldn't they be known as the Panther Islands? Like in my old home zone in Washington, where the dozen of islands in the San Juan Strait are known as the San Juan Islands. But those islands in Washington are real islands, not cut off from the mainland by a cement lined ditch.

Moving on...

And for access over the eventual channel, the Texas Department of Construction in 2014 began building the three bridges, which currently span dry land. At the time, officials said the bridges would be completed by 2018.

Texas Department of Construction? I have not heard of this Department before. Maybe the Star-Telegram's new investigative reporter can do some actual investigating to find out why it has taken so long to build three simple little bridges over dry land? With construction to be completed three years ago.

Moving on a couple paragraphs...

Officially, the $1.17 billion project is broken into two pieces: the flood control portion, which is known as the Central City project and primarily involves digging the 1.5-mile channel, and the economic development portion, which is known as the Panther Island project and primarily involves the development of the industrial land in the area.

Officially? When did this breaking the project into pieces thing officially happen? When America's Biggest Boondoggle began around the start of this century it was called Trinity Uptown. A few years later this became the Trinity River Vision. I saw Central City on signage in Gateway Park, years ago, far east from the area which does not need new flood control, because it has not flooded since well over a half century ago, due to flood prevention measures already in place. When did the economic development part of this scheme become known as the Panther Island Project? The Boondoggle has been sold as a flood control/economic development scheme from the start. Slapping the Panther Island label on this that and the other thing came around about the time J.D. Granger and the Trinity River Vision began hosting Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the polluted Trinity River, labeling this as happening at Panther Island Pavilion. Where there is no island or pavilion, by any sane person's definition of either island or pavilion.

Skipping ahead a few exhausting paragraphs to the following doozy...

Officials have long said that it was cheaper and easier to build the bridges over dry land, and that the federal government would pay for the channel construction because it’s a flood control project.

Uh, if it was easier to build these three simple little bridges over dry land, why is the project years behind being completed? And, as has been pointed out many many times, there was no option other than to build the bridges over dry land. How could there be any other option? I mean, this entire project is rife with wanton stupidity, but it is hard to believe the stupidity could be so dumb as to dig a ditch, line it with cement, fill it with water. And then build bridges over it.

There has never been any other option than to build these bridges over dry land. How many times must this be repeated before the Star-Telegram ceases repeating this "cheaper and easier" nonsense?

The next paragraphs repeat the propaganda about securing federal funds, Kay Granger's failed role in doing so, the Trump administration refusing to help because the project has never done a comprehensive cost-benefit study and thus is not policy compliant, which then leads to hoping "the Biden administration will look more favorably on the Fort Worth project."

This article makes no mention of the fact Kay Granger's unqualified son, J.D., was hired as the Trinity River Vision's Executive Director, at a salary which has now gone over $200K, so as to motivate J.D.'s mother to secure those federal funds to secure J.D. a good paying job.

Why would the Biden administration look favorably at the Fort Worth project with all its baggage? There still has been no cost benefit study. The project is mired in mismanagement and project delays. The project wastes money on flood control where there has been no flooding for over half a century. Why would the Biden administration waste federal money on this Fort Worth boondoggle while the town ignores actual real flooding issues in other parts of the town?

Moving on deeper into this article...

Mark Mazzanti, a consultant on the flood control portion of the project and a 35-year veteran of the Army Corps of Engineers, said the federal government’s finite funding allocation means difficult decisions about which projects to fund. But he also said that the Panther Island/Central City project has “a number of strengths,” including support from locals, from Congress and from the Corps itself.

A number of strengths? If the locals support this boondoggle why have they never been allowed to vote on it? Like voting yes on a bond issue to pay for it. The amount of money we are talking about here is not that big for most big cities and their public works projects. What makes Fort Worth different? If this is such a good idea, such a brilliant scheme, such a well thought out and important project, why would those who want to make this happen not go to the voters and ask for their help by passing a bond issue to pay for the thing?

And then this...

Federal funding would mean that workers could begin on the new channel — first with final planning and then actual digging and construction.

Yes, federal funds would mean the planning for the ditch could be finalized with actual digging beginning. The same could have happened if years ago voters voted to support a bond issue to finance this vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme, which apparently really is not even remotely vitally needed, due to the backwards way Fort Worth has gone about actualizing the ill begotten project.

And then the following two paragraphs...

Even after federal funding comes through, it would likely be another eight to 10 years until the channel was actually completed, according to Buhman, the soon-to-be general manager of the water district.

That means that the channel would be finished — and Panther Island would actually become a full island — by 2030 at the earliest.

So, eight to 10 years after these three bridges are finally completely built over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, the channel, actually ditch, will actually be completed. Yeah, this sounds like a really well thought out project that the federal government should jump right on and help to the max. Oh my, Panther Island might actually be a full imaginary island by 2030, after calling it Panther Island for two decades.

We are almost at the end of this article, two more paragraphs...

In the meantime, Buhman said, officials are focused on getting the land as ready as it can be for the channel. The water district is working on environmental cleanup of the Panther Island properties, he said, while the city moves and sets up utilities.

“We are shovel-ready for that channel and we’re still doing that prep work but I would say it is well on its way,” Buhman said. “And we are at the place that we are ready for that federal investment and for that construction.”

Really? What is the manifestation of those officials getting the land ready for the channel? Are they clearing the land of weeds and debris? What? How is the water district working on the environmental cleanup? Many have long thought that if this ever gets to the point where a lot of dirt is moving it will uncover a contamination level requiring an EPA Superfund cleanup. Shovel-ready and doing prep work? Again, what prep work does one do preparing to dig a ditch? It's well underway? As in how? Ready for that federal investment which likely will never come?

So, one can not help but wonder, if this new Star-Telegram 'investigative journalist" is the real thing.

Will she be doing some investigating to let us know, after all these years, why it has taken so long to build three simple little bridges? Will she look into what it is that J.D. Granger actually does to warrant being paid so much money? How about looking into the real reason J.D. Granger was hired? 

Fort Worth's Amazing "Iconic" T & P Station Skyscraper

I saw that which you see above yesterday in Wednesday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

This an example of the type Star-Telegram "news" I have been eye rolling over ever since I was first exposed to Fort Worth and the town's newspaper of record, with its patented tendency towards hyperbolic nonsense..

Delusional hyperbole that long has had me wondering how such gets past any sort of editor. 

Why does the Star-Telegram, and Fort Worth, have such a fixation on claiming some lame thing in Fort Worth is iconic? Or a signature structure?

For years now we have been told that the Trinity River Vision is building three iconic signature bridges, over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

When those bridges finally began to be somewhat seen it was obvious they were perfectly ordinary little bridges which look like freeway overpasses.

Passing over nothing.

Is the explanation for this type nonsense, spouted by those who refer to something in Fort Worth as being iconic, that they don't know what the word "iconic" means?

Simply Googling "iconic definition" should help the Star-Telegram understand the T & P Station is not iconic. One example among dozens which come up when you Google that simple search term...

"Synonyms for 'iconic': famous, well-known, celebrated, renowned, fabled, legendary, notorious, infamous, illustrious, the one and only, best, better."

Yesterday I asked a non-Texan if they could name for me some iconic things that say "Fort Worth" to them. "No", was the initial answer. And then, "Oh, I know, that sign that says Fort Worth Stockyards".

Well, that doesn't count when the name is right on that which you think is iconic.

Now, what are some iconic things which people do see as iconic representations of a town?

The Eiffel Tower comes to mind, you know that is Paris when you see it.

The Golden Gate Bridge, you know that is San Francisco, among other iconic SF things, like Chinatown, the Cable Cars, Lombard Street, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz.

You see a photo of the Petronas Towers, you know that is Kuala Lumpur.

The Burj Khalifa and Burj Al Arab, you see a photo of one of those and you know it's Dubai.

See the Statue of Liberty, and you know it's an iconic symbol of both New York City and America. New York City has many iconic structures, in the form of skyscrapers and bridges. Oh, and Times Square.

See a photo of the skyline of Dallas, with Reunion Tower, and you are seeing an iconic image known world-wide due to a world-wide hit TV show called Dallas, back in the previous century.

Seattle has a few iconic images which people associate with the town, such as the Space Needle and Pike Place Market. And a big volcano called Rainier south of town.

But Fort Worth? I hate to hurt anyone feelings, but there is absolutely nothing in Fort Worth, other than the Fort Worth Stockyards sign, which is an iconic thing people recognize as being Fort Worth.

So, just stop it Star-Telegram, no more with this ironic use of the iconic word.

And speaking of Seattle and the Space Needle.

Last night I was watching a video on YouTube titled TOP 15 Most Amazing Skyscrapers. I expected to see the usual suspects, some of which I mentioned above, like the Petronas Towers, or those towers in Dubai, and some of the towers in China, like the futuristic ones in Shanghai.

What I did not expect was what I saw when we got to the #3 Most Amazing Skyscraper.

That being that it was the Space Needle which was the 3rd Most Amazing Skyscraper.

The accompanying verbiage described the Space Needle as an iconic structure, which it is. But, skyscraper? The Eiffel Tower was not on this TOP 15 list. I would think the Eiffel Tower would be much more recognized, and iconic, than the Space Needle. And I've never heard either referred to as skyscrapers. Even though both do scrape the sky.

I wonder if one day someone will build something in Fort Worth which will actually become iconic. The Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision may become iconic, but not in the way most town's would want to be known, as in an Iconic Boondoggle of Epic Proportions.

You can watch that aforementioned TOP 15 Most Amazing Skyscrapers YouTube video below...

Driving Elderly Senior Citizen By Hamilton Park Doctor's Splash Pad

 

This morning I was chauffeuring the elderly senior citizen who I regularly chauffer to doctor appointments and drug dealing pharmacies, to get some drugs from the far side of town from my home zone location.

After successfully getting the drugs from that far side location I drove to the west side of town to get something I needed. Completing that task, ready to take the elderly senior citizen back from whence he came, he remembered he needed to get another prescription from another pharmacy. So, I headed back in the direction of the far side of town, stopping at the pharmacy about midway between the far side and west side of town.

The pharmacy is on Brook Avenue. Which intersects with Speedway Avenue, which intersects with Hamilton Boulevard. Hamilton Boulevard runs west of Hamilton Park, which is the location of the Doctor's Splash Pad, which is having its grand opening today.

So, one of the routes to take the elderly senior citizen back home goes right by Hamilton Park. So, I drove into the park to check out the new Doctor's Splash Pad. There were a lot of kids getting splashed.

I think the Splash Pad has some sorta sensor which only splashes when weight is detected. I thought that, because after taking the old man home I decided it was early enough for a bike ride. So I rolled the Circle Trail north to Hamilton Park and took the picture you see above of the Doctor's Splash Pad.

Without any kids getting splashed.

Or any water splashing. Hence my conclusion that the splasher detects weight and then turns on the splashing.

I think this Doctor's Splash Pad is going to be quite popular. I wished I would have thought to roll my bike over it to see if that caused splashing to erupt. Maybe next time if I find it unoccupied...

TRWD Secretly Tables Honoring General Manager Jim Oliver

Yesterday Miss Elsie Hotpepper pointed me to a Fort Worth Report article titled Tarrant water board tables plan to honor retiring GM which Elsie thought I might find of interest.

Apparently in the video released of a recent Tarrant Region Water District Board meeting a couple items did not make it to the video available for public viewing, with one of those items being the Board's discussion of a plan to do some sort of honor deal for retiring TRWD General Manager, Jim Oliver. 

Oliver has been employed by the TRWD for 35 years. And during those years he has been the center of plenty of controversy. Controversy of the sort which might make a discussion about honoring him to be a bit lively.

Over the years there have been reports of Oliver acting like a childish bully. Including notoriously bullying a TRWD Board member, or two. One of whom was recently re-elected to the TRWD Board.

Oliver made news years ago due to being caught in an inflagrante delicto incident with a TRWD employee.

For those who do not know what inflagrante delicto is I'll do a quick Google for you...

in fla·gran·te de·lic·to - in the very act of wrongdoing, especially in an act of sexual misconduct.

Used in a sentence, "He had been caught in flagrante with the wife of the Association's Treasurer"

I have been told by more than one person who has had personal contact with Jim Oliver that he is a classic case of little man syndrome. Hence the bullying.

So, I can see why a TRWD Board discussion about honoring Jim Oliver might turn into a heated debate edited out of the video intended to transparently document the TRWD Board's meetings. 

Relevant paragraphs from the Fort Wort Report article...

Some district observers said they were suspicious about what caused the delay in Oliver’s honor.

Layla Caraway, an office manager who formerly served as chair of the board of the Northeast Tarrant Chamber, noticed the items concerning the integrated pipeline and Oliver weren’t videotaped when she tried to watch the meeting online Wednesday.

Caraway has made it her mission to increase awareness of the water district after she experienced a flood in Haltom City in 2007. She said that years ago, residents filmed the meetings then because they were concerned many couldn’t attend them because of their timing on a weekday morning. It’s a concern she still has today as she thinks the water district’s modus operandi is to be secretive. 

Caraway questioned what was behind the video problem of the public meeting.

“There’s a reason it was tabled, and I’m assuming that happened in executive session, so we’re not going to know,” she said. “But why didn’t we see it being tabled?

“I don’t know what the issue is, but nothing would surprise me at this point.”

Layla Caraway's experience with a flood in Haltom City, way back in 2007, was a bit more than an "experience". Ms. Caraway's house teetered on the brink of toppling over into super flooding Fossil Creek. That flood drowned a little girl, Ally Collins. You may have seen Ms. Caraway and her teetering house on the national news, as a watch was underway, waiting to see if the house survived.

Congresswoman Kay Granger visited Layla Caraway and her teetering house during the crisis. The aftermath of that meeting with Granger is part of what turned Layla Caraway into an activist. She went from being a regular person minding her own business, to a lady with a mission.

With that mission being to get Fort Worth and Tarrant County to do something about the chronic flooding caused by the bad urban planning for which Fort Worth is infamous. Such as allowing the covering of open land with buildings and cement, without adequate drainage. Hence the flooding.

In 2007 Layla Caraway had zero awareness of the money being wasted on a bogus Fort Worth flood control project, way back then known simply as the Trinity River Vision, where there had been no flooding for well over half a century, due to flood mitigation installations already in place.

When Layla Caraway met with Kay Granger she had no idea Granger had an interest in Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision flood control economic development. And that Granger had no real interest in helping with actual flood issues in parts of Fort Worth where Granger had no vested interest.

Too bad we don't know one of the TRWD Board members well enough to ask about the discussion of honoring Jim Oliver...

Rare June Cold Front Arrives In Soon To Swelter North Texas

 A couple days ago I made mention of hearing a weather forecast forecasting the arrival on Monday of a rare late June cold front. The forecast made no mention of how cold this cold front was forecast to be.

Well, Monday has now arrived, and via the screen shot you see above, from the Wichita Falls Times News Record, we learn we will be chilling to 82 degrees today.

That is one chilly cold front!

And, for the first time this year we are seeing 100 degrees in the forecast.

Looking out the window it already looks stormy. Clear sky when the sun arrived this morning, with the bright morning light soon darkening with the cloud arrival.

Just checked my phone to see the current temperature is 79 degrees, heading towards that predicted 82 degree high.

I checked the temperature thinking it might be cool enough to open my computer room window. But, 79 is warmer than I have the A/C set to, and the A/C has been cycling off and on a few times this morning.

So, the windows will remain closed...

My Final Happy Father's Day Was Four Years Ago Today

I did not know it at the time, but four years ago today I had my last all you can eat buffet with my dear ol' dad. Dad lasted on this mortal coil less than two weeks after the 2017 version of Father's Day.

I blogged about that Father's Day McDonald's buffet in Dad's Father's Day McDonald's Buffet With Uncle Mooch & Tillie, part of which is screen capped above.

I also did not know at the time that that month of June was the start of several years of the most unsettling years I remember being unsettled by.

When I learned dad was in bad shape I quickly made arrangements to go to Arizona.

Via driving solo.

My vehicle came to a halt a few miles east of Flagstaff.  An hour or so later a tow truck arrived delivering me to a repair shop. Five hours later, with a new fuel pump, I was back on the road, arriving at my little brother's in Scottsdale shortly before dark.

The next day I called my mom to say I'd be there in about an hour. My Favorite Nephew Jeremy was about to take mom to see dad. Mom said they would wait for me. I'd only been to mom and dad's place in Sun Lakes a couple times, and never under my own navigation. In other words, I got lost. Had to call so Jeremy could get me back on track to find Riggs Road.

Little did I know then that over the following years I would be returning to Arizona so many times finding Riggs Road became second nature, as did multiple other locations in the Phoenix metro zone.

I stayed in Arizona for about three weeks, with record breaking HEAT. I was dreading the return to Texas drive, fearing another breakdown. But, I made it back without incident, other than not being able to find a motel with a vacancy when I got to West Texas. Had I known such was the case I would have overnighted in El Paso. 

I made it back to Wichita Falls early the next morning. About a month later I found myself flying out of Wichita Falls for the first time. That was an adventure, flying a little plane to DFW International.

Little did I know, at the time, that this would be the first of multiple times flying out of Wichita Falls over the next two plus years.

That first time I flew out of here it was to Washington, where David, Theo and Ruby picked me up at Sea-Tac, along with their mother, my Favorite Little Sister, Michele. This was my first real happy moment in weeks. The first of many happy moments over the next week in Washington, including three days up north, at Birch Bay, delivering dad to his final resting place in the Dutch section of Lynden's Monumenta Cemetery

Instead of flying directly back to Texas I flew to Arizona for a week to see mom. That was in mid August of 2017. Late January of 2018 I flew directly to Arizona for the first of many times, the last time was in July of 2019.

Anyway, enough of this reminiscing about these past four unsettling years, losing both mom and dad. The ongoing Trump nightmare, topped off by the COVID nightmare. Methinks happier times are soon here again.

I certainly hope so...

Graduation Pooling With The Tacoma Trio

Incoming photos from Washington arrived on my phone early this Saturday afternoon. Above we see the Tacoma Trio, David, Theo and Ruby, in their pool on Harstine Island. This was last week. They are heading back to the island tomorrow after David and Theo play their final football game of the season.

I did not know David and Theo had become footballers.

In addition to the pool picture there was photo documentation of the last day of school.

Above we see David ready to go to school on the last day of 6th grade.

 And Theo and Ruby heading out for their last day of 4th grade.  

As you can see, in Washington there is no such thing as a dress code for kids going to public school.

I remember the Texas dress code for public schools being one of the first culture shocks. Actually, now that you are causing me to think about it, this particular Texas culture shock shocked me prior to the move to Texas.

The individual who moved to Texas before I did had a 15 year old kid. I had arrived to check out the possibility of moving. I was tasked with driving the 15 year old to his first day of school in a Texas high school, in Fort Worth.

The kid was wearing clothes he had worn to Mount Vernon High School, in Washington.

An hour after dropping the kid off at his new school, a call came in informing that the kid could not come to school til properly attired. I went and picked him up, along with his skateboard and a list from the school listing appropriate attire.

Saturday Lucy Park Bike Ride Finds Wichita Falls Back Falling Water

My mechanized motion device took me and my bike back to Lucy Park on this next to last Saturday of the 2021 version of June.

My bike and I had a mighty fine, long ride. There was only one jarring moment.

That being my first snake encounter in quite some time. The encounter happened in the backwoods zone of  Lucy Park, where the grass is tall and the trees jungle-like. I did not stop to take a picture, instead I reversed course and rolled away. It was a big snake. I only saw about four feet of its tail end. The head end was in the grass, by how many feet, I could not tell.

A couple miles after the snake encounter I was pleased to see Wichita Falls is back in operation, with water flowing copiously.

I continued on a couple more miles on the Circle Trail, past the location of the original Wichita Falls, looped around O'Reilly Park, then returned to Lucy Park and my mechanized motion device.

Whilst listening to the radio whilst rolling along today I heard the good news that what had been predicted to be 15 days of extreme HEAT is going to be interrupted by a rare June cold front blowing in on Monday, with some possible heavy storming.

I think a June cold front at my Texas location will likely be highs in the 70s. That is a natural air conditioning temperature...

A Few Days Before Summer HEAT Has Arrived In Texas

That's a screen shot from my phone you are seeing here, shot at 1:24 this Friday afternoon.

It was cooler than this when my bike took me on a ride this morning, but not all that much cooler.

Yesterday the temperature monitoring device in my motorized mechanical motion device claimed it was 103 degrees. I was driving the long mile to this town's one and only mall, to do some air conditioned interior walking.

On the way to the mall I saw a bank's temperature sign claiming it was 106 degrees.

I don't think some of these temperature takers are all that accurate.

I saw via the Seattle Times this morning that my old home zone is predicted to be hitting a record high today of 90.

The article made mention of the fact that most homes in Western Washington do not have air conditioning.

Western Washingtonians may not have air conditioning in every interior location, but they do have a lot of lakes and saltwater beaches, all of which will be packed with cool seekers today til the sun goes down and the temperature drops.

Western Washington naturally air conditions during a heat wave. It takes awhile though.

About three days.

The heat builds and then this thing called the Venturi Effect sends the heat over the mountains to Eastern Washington whilst sucking in cool air from the Pacific Ocean.

I was not a fan of heat waves when I was a Washingtonian. Back then I thought the upper 70s was HOT. The 80s unbearable. And those rare times in the 90s a nightmare. 

The HEAT was my number one worry about the move to Texas. At that point in time I did not know of the concept of acclimating.

When I return to Washington, now, in summer, I am cold for the entire stay. And never stay long enough to re-acclimate to that frigid climate...