Google Is Tracking Where I Go And How I Got There

For some reason Google monitors my activity of the where I have been sort during the month, and then sends me a report of such via email.

The report includes photos of various locations I have been during the month.

For instance in June I found myself up north in Oklahoma, stopping at the Comanche Red River Casino Resort for a restroom break.

The activity email from Google included a photo of the exterior of that Comanche casino.

Google also tells me how far I walked, biked and drove during the month.

For June Google thinks I only walked two miles, biked 63 and drove 296.

I am fairly certain I walked more than two miles and biked more than 63. I don't know about the number of miles driven. 296 seems like it might be fairly accurate.

As for the biking miles, whatever the actual total was in June, in July it should be fewer miles. Due to my bike being in total malfunction mode.

It is the bike's lower bracket crankset (I think that is what it is called) which has failed. This part of the bike has been problematic for quite some time.  Previously loosening that ring you see at the end of a lot of threads and squirting in some lubricant alleviated the problem.

For awhile.

But last month the crank started getting real cranky. Noisy, skipping. My attempt to squirt in some lubricant totally broke this part of the bike, when I loosened the ring. That part with all the threads should not have come out like that. The round ring thing is supposed to tighten on those threads. Instead the part with all the threads came loose from whatever it was attached to inside the crank shaft.

This bike has had other issues which have long had me wary of it. Number one of those issues is twice the bike seat failed. As in suddenly broke off due to an attaching bolt breaking.

After the second incident the bike manufacturer, Schwinn, replaced the whole bike seat, post and seat, and since then there has been no more failing of that component.

But I still did not trust it not to fail again. I had been lucky both of the failure incidents that the failure happened just as I began to pedal. If it failed whilst rolling fast this could have been what might be known as a catastrophic failure, with injuries.

So, I am bike-less, now, til Thursday, when a new bike arrives...

In Walmart If You Can't Find A Price You Can't Find It Right Here

 The past couple weeks I have seen in the two Walmarts I way too frequently frequent what you see documented above in a photo my phone took a few minutes ago.

I refer to that big arrow pointing down, with the signage advising shoppers "Can't find a price? You can check it right here."

Except you can't. The price scanner devices have been removed from those two aforementioned Walmarts which I way too frequently frequent.

These now meaningless arrow pointing signs are located throughout the stores. These price check scanners were useful due to the fact that Walmart can be a bit sloppy with making clear the cost of an item sitting on a shelf with a lot of other items.

When the Walmart price scanners were still available one would see products left near the scanner, leading one to assume that someone checked the price and found out it was not what they were expecting. And so left the product at the scanner location.

Now, I have not found Walmart making pricing mistakes often, and by mistake I mean that the price which rings up is not the price indicated by the price sticker on the shelf. 

With Walmart I have found the price mistake can go either way, as in more than I thought the cost was, or less. The most recent example of the latter is I picked up a pack of frozen salmon filets, thought the pack was $11, due to the price tag on the shelf under the salmon. But, those frozen salmon filets rang up at $7.94. 

When I lived in Washington there was a grocery store which was chronic with price mistakes.

Albertsons.

I was appalled when I first arrived in Texas and asked a local what was the best grocery store in the area, with Albertsons being the answer.

There used to be an Albertsons in the town I am currently in, but, I think the three Walmarts in this town caused Albertsons to not be able to survive. Even though Albertsons aggravated me, this did not stop me from buying something there every once in awhile.

Such as the Albertsons fried chicken. I liked their fried chicken...

Sharing Homesick For Washington With Jan's Big Beautiful Appomattox Buns

I have discovered I am not the only one exiled from the Pacific Northwest who suffers pangs of homesickness when seeing images which evoke what it is like to live in that scenic wonderland. 

One is particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon when one finds oneself living in a part of America pretty much devoid of being any sort of scenic wonderland.

Janice Small shared my journey through the Burlington, Washington education system. I do not recollect ever seeing Janice Small after that day we all graduated from Burlington-Edison High School, many decades ago.

But now, years and years and years later, I have found Janice Small again, now going by the name Jan McNutt. I suspect a husband may be involved in that name change.

This formerly Small person now lives in Virginia.

Appomattox to be precise.

Where Ms. McNutt is famous due to her Big Beautiful Buns, which she sells Saturdays at the Appomattox Farmer's Market.

Ms. McNutt posted that which you see above, on Facebook, yesterday, as in, on Saturday, the day she was busy selling her Big Beautiful Buns.

The photo is a view of Bellingham Bay. Bellingham is a town in Whatcom County about 20 miles south of the border with Canada. I lived in Bellingham for a couple years back in the 1970s. Bellingham, and Bellingham Bay is the location of the southern terminus of the Alaskan Ferry.

When posting the above photo Ms. McNutt commented "Getting pretty homesick for beautiful WA!!! Hoping to get out there this fall."
 
I too am getting pretty homesick. I was hoping to get out there this summer, but I do not see that happening...

WCMA Doctor's Splash Pad Up & Running Water In Wichita Falls Hamilton Park

Early yester evening my bike took me north on the Circle Trail, eventually reaching Hamilton Park where I saw the cooling scene you see above.

The Doctor's Splash Pad seems to be a rousing success, judging by the number of people I have seen since it opened enjoying getting splashed on.

The Doctor's Splash Pad and its adjacent climbing playground were brought about by the good people of the Wichita County Medical Alliance. 

Below is a screen cap from the WCMA website.

Okay, the actual Doctor's Splash Pad, in its completed state, looks a little different than the artist's conceptual rendering on the WCMA website, but the conceptual rendering is fairly close to the eventual reality.

Methinks this is a mighty fine thing the WCMA doctors have done. A literally cool place to take the kids, with no admission fee, and with a big parking lot. Along with modern restroom facilities. 

I can think of another Texas town, or two, I have lived in which might do itself a favor by emulating the good example of Wichita Falls, including building modern restroom facilities and getting rid of outhouses.

Fort Worth. Are you listening?

Ongoing TRWD Scandal Keeps Growing Over Dry Land

 

This morning's email included one from S-Man which was a comment from yesterday's blog post above Washington's melting snowpack, with the comment having zero to do with melting snow...

S-Man has left a new comment on your post "Washington's Mountains Are Melting":

[NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

Tarrant water district board members question law firm’s advice

__________________

It would seem S-Man used the blog comment method to point me to an article he thought I would find of interest. S-Man was correct in his thinking.

That is a screen cap from the article you see above. With a new look at one of Fort Worth's pitiful little bridges which have taken years and years to build over dry land. You also get a good look at those imaginarily iconic signature V-Piers, frequently touted by the Trinity River Vision's J.D. Granger as being something real special.

J.D. Granger shows up in this article in the Fort Worth Reporter. But the main thrust of the article is the fact that apparently the majority of the Tarrant Region Water District Board is fed up with the board's longtime general counsel, and the dubious legal advice said counsel has provided.

Such as okaying funneling $300K to departing General Manager, Jim Oliver, along with $60K to J.D. Granger. With that money being a bogus adding to their accounts of supposed un-paid leave time off.

These sham pay-offs were approved by former TRWD Board President, Jack Stevens, who received the fewest votes in the latest TRWD Board election, thus removing Stevens from the TRWD Board.

Stevens made these sham pay-offs without consulting the TRWD Board.

The TRWD Board has since rescinded the sham payoffs. And it looks like there may be some sort of criminal investigation into what appear to be improper shenanigans.

Read the entire Fort Worth Reporter Tarrant water district board members question law firm’s advice article for all the details...

Washington's Mountains Are Melting

This blogging falls into the category of things I read in west coast online news sources about something on the west coast which I would never read in a Texas online news source about something in Texas.

In this instance it was in the Seattle Times I saw that which you see here.

A volcano in full meltdown mode.

When I first read of the predicted super HOT heatwave heading to the Pacific Northwest I wondered if this would be causing rapid melting of the snow in the mountain zones.

I remember flying to Washington in late July of 2008 and being surprised at how odd Mount Rainier looked due to so much of that mountain's usual white covering being missing.

At that point in time the Pacific Northwest was in the midst of a drought, hence what was usually evergreen was brown instead. And the mountains had not received their usual allotment of snow.

However, Mount Rainier in 2008 still had way more white covering it than the current version of Mount Rainier. And there are still several months of HOT temperatures to come, with more of the snow pack and glaciers melting.

I have not seen a current photo of Mount Baker, which is Washington's other volcano easily seen from the lowlands of the Puget Sound.

I wonder how Mount Shasta in Northern California is doing, melt-wise. I recollect driving by Mount Shasta in the early 1990s and being surprised to see it almost totally with no snow. The Mount Shasta volcano, like Mounts Rainier and Baker, is easily seen as one drives by on Interstate 5.
 
Changing the subject slightly.

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest one learns how to pronounce Mount Rainier. As in the Rainier part is pronounced Rain-near.

I wonder if someone not from the Pacific Northwest might think Rainier was pronounced Rainy-er. And might think the name meant that mountain was more rainy than other mountains. Just like many think Seattle is rainier than any other town.

One thing I know for sure, there is no mountain or volcano in Texas with any snow melt issues...

Have A Mighty Fine 4th Of July Grilling Filet Of Alligator

Yesterday, as in Saturday, the day before today, Sunday, the 4th of July, I was in Walmart collecting the vittles needed for my annual 4th of July Grilling.

I was in the seafood section looking for salmon, when I saw that which you see above, which I had my phone take a picture of for documentation purposes.

Filet of Alligator.

I have no idea how one cooks Alligator.

I need to consult the Southern Belle, Elsie Hotpepper, with whom I consult when I am dumbfounded trying to figure out some Southern cuisine confusion.

Elsie is a gourmet level chef specializing in the complicated cuisine of the South.

From the Hotpepper I learned how to make perfect grits, hush puppies and fried green tomatoes.

You reading this in Washington, and other locations not in the South, does your Walmart seafood section stock Alligator?

Speaking of Alligator, of late that particular reptile has been in the local news due to there being way above the norm number of Gator sightings in Fort Worth's Lake Worth.

Lake Worth is an impoundment of the Trinity River, a few miles upstream from the downtown Fort Worth location of the Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the polluted Trinity River.

I have seen no coverage, this river floating season, of Rockin' the River. Has this been cancelled again, like last year, due to COVID?

Or is this increase in the Alligator population the new reason not to be Rockin' the River?

Maxwell Smart Linda Lou & Me Detective Agency

That is Maxwell Smart you see above, looking out one of the windows of his Mount Vernon abode.

Of late, Maxwell's primary human, Linda Lou, and myself, have been engaged in intense detective work, locating missing persons.

The phone conversations between myself and Linda Lou are in speaker phone mode, so Maxwell listens, and then misunderstands, thinking he must help in looking for something, so he goes to the window to do surveillance. 

So far, Maxwell, Linda Lou and I have located three missing persons. The first located was found in Montesano, Washington. A town, if I am remembering right, with a connection to Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. 

The missing person found in Montesano provided a clue to finding the next missing person, by suggesting we look in Texas. That clue worked. We found our second missing person in Alpine, Texas.

The third missing person we found was an easy one. That person was on Facebook. 

We are now up against our most challenging case yet, finding a missing person who is a member of Washington's Swinomish tribe. This missing person lived on the same block I lived on whilst growing up in Burlington, Washington. Last seen, we think, in July or August of 1991 in La Conner, Washington.

La Conner is a tourist town in the Skagit Valley.

La Conner has an actual iconic, signature bridge, known as the Rainbow Bridge, by some, built high above the actual water of the Swinomish Channel.

Anyone reading this in Fort Worth, who has been conned by idiotic propaganda, who thinks a little freeway overpass-like bridge, built over dry land, has possible iconic signature status, click the La Conner link to see what a real iconic signature bridge over water looks like...

New Granger Grafting Grifting Revelations In Ongoing TRWD Scandal

I've been away from my computer for a few hours. But, I had my phone with me, which beeped a couple times, with the beeping letting me know a new wrinkle in the ongoing TRWD Grifting Slush Fund Scandal has been rendered.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, perhaps motivated by competition from the new kid in town known as the Fort Worth Reporter, seems to be finally looking in a clear headed, sort of, way at the mess that is the Tarrant Region Water District, and is spawn, the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, better known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The image you see above is a screen cap from the Star-Telegram's article about this latest revelation, this time directly involving Kay Granger's son, J.D. who you see on the left in the photo.

In addition to the main disgusting revelation in this article, we also learn that J.D. is now being paid $242,000 a year. Maybe it is time an actual investigate journalist finds out what it is which warrants paying Kay Granger's son that much money.

And now, the aforementioned article in its entirety...

Former Tarrant water board president gave Panther Island boss extra $60K in paid time off

Days before leaving office, and two months after he directed a paid leave exception for the outgoing general manager, the Tarrant Regional Water District’s former board president made a similar arrangement for Panther Island executive J.D. Granger.

According to documents obtained through a public information request, former board president Jack Stevens wrote an internal memo on May 13 — more than a week and a half after he lost his reelection bid, and five days before he left office. In the memo, Stevens directed water district staff to make an exception to the paid leave policy for “the current Development Director of TRWD.”

In an email chain, staff members clarify that the title references Granger. The exception allows Granger to bank 1,560 hours of paid time off, 520 beyond the maximum outlined in the district’s policy.

At Granger’s hourly rate, that’s more than $60,000 worth of extra time.

The exception also removed the district’s restrictions on how paid leave can be cashed in or rolled over. Stevens’ memo allowed Granger “to be paid for unused Paid Leave hours in full upon request, in a lump sum, by deposit into the District’s [retirement plan], over time, or otherwise as requested, subject to the requirements of applicable law and the District’s [retirement plan].”

According to water district documents, Granger is paid about $242,000 a year for his role as the executive director of the Panther Island/Central City project. That project, which has a price tag of more than $1 billion, has been ongoing for more than 15 years and has been spearheaded federally by Granger’s mother, U.S. Rep. Kay Granger.

After issuing the exception memo, Stevens followed up with a staff member on May 17, one day before he left office, and asked them to “please implement the exceptions in my Memorandum dated May 13, 2021.”

The exception that Stevens wrote for Granger is strikingly similar to an exception he wrote two months earlier, for now-retired general manger Jim Oliver.

That exception, which the board of directors voted unanimously to revoke on Tuesday, added more than 2,000 extra hours of paid time off into Oliver’s account. At Oliver’s hourly rate as general manager, that exception would allow him to cash in on more than $300,000 in post-retirement compensation.

Board president Leah King on Tuesday described the exception to Oliver as “ill-advised” and potentially “unlawful.” However, Oliver’s lawyer told the Star-Telegram that the exception was made following district policy, which includes a clause that paid leave exceptions can be made.

King and the other board members have not made any public comments on Granger’s exception.

Lawyers for the Tarrant water district are conducting an “inquiry” into the exception made for Oliver. It’s unclear if the exception made for Granger is also included in that inquiry.

Granger and King could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.

Former Tarrant water board president gave Panther Island boss extra $60K in paid time off.

Hoodoo-like Cairn With Wichita River Running High Along Wichita Bluff Nature Area Circle Trail

My motorized mechanical motion device took me and my bike to the west parking lot of the Wichita Bluff Nature Area today so we could do some HOT biking on the Circle Trail.

Above my bike has taken me way past the east entry to the WBNA, returning west after reaching the Circle Trail's east termination point. We stopped to take this photo of the Wichita River running high and reddish orange.

On the return to the aforementioned motorized mechanical motion device we stopped to pay homage to the latest incarnation of the Wichita Bluff Hoodoo-like Cairn.

Note the fine detail. The flying buttress arch on the right side of the structure. That is some high level engineering there.

I was fully sunscreened today. Made sure of that, because the section of the Circle Trail I rolled today has little shade.

Totally changing the subject. 

I have a strong aversion to hearing people say their thoughts and prayers are going out to this that or the other thing. This usually sounds so shallow to me. So trite. So cliché.

Well, I am not a praying type person, but I can say today my thoughts, or, well, more precisely, today I have been thinking about someone dear, up north in Washington, in the Skagit Valley, who is going through something today that has all of who know her thinking of her and hoping all goes well.