Snowbound Thursday In Freezing Texas

 Above is the view from my kitchen window around 8 in the morning on the first Thursday of the 2022 version of February.

We began icing up around noon yesterday. By late afternoon a coating of white coated the coating of ice. Even though it already looked to be treacherous driving conditions, I was seeing a lot of vehicular movement, with no slipping and sliding noted. 

So, I decided it might be fun to drive to Walmart. The closest Walmart is about a mile distant. I only slipped once. Above, you are looking at Taft Boulevard covered in white. A short distance south, Taft intersects with Southwest Boulevard. I had no trouble braking at the red light at Taft and Southwest. But, when the light turned green, my wheels did a bit of slipping and sliding before getting some traction.

That sliding had me a bit nervous because the route to Walmart includes two inclines. Not at all steep, but steep enough that ice and snow could make them slippery. 

But, the slipping at that first stop proved to be the only slipping and sliding I experienced during that short drive, both going and returning to my abode.

Walmart had a surprisingly large number of people braving the elements. The walk across the parking lot was slightly dicey, but I saw no one slip and fall. I did make note of the fact that this type weather greatly reduces the usual high number of plus-sized people I see waddling around Walmart.

Below is a screenshot from my phone, taken a few minutes ago.

I don't think I will be venturing out today. Or tomorrow, by the looks of the forecast. I wish I still had cross country skis. They'd be fun on the Circle Trail....

Pre-Deep Freeze ALDI & Walmart Swamped By Worried Hoarders

Pre the incoming weather apocalypse I went to Walmart and ALDI last night. I do not ever recollect seeing the Walmart parking lot almost totally full. Inside the store it was mayhem. Long checkout lines. Some areas bare of goods. I got one of the last three cartons of eggs.

And then I went across the street to ALDI, because I wanted oranges and some other stuff.

I entered ALDI to see what you see above. The produce area virtually totally wiped out. On the right of that lady entering the store is usually stacked with things like carrots, cucumbers spinach, cilantro, grapes, stuff like that. Little remained. On the left is where I would normally find oranges, lettuce, cabbage, apples, and other like things. 

Further down the aisle, on the right of the guy in green with a cane, is the bread section. Totally wiped out. At the end of the entry aisle you come to the meat section. Also totally wiped out.

And so it went throughout ALDI. When did this hoarding frenzy begin? I don't recollect this level of this type thing happening previously.

So far, at a little past 8, Wednesday morning, we are still above freezing.

By one degree.

Going below freezing, along with precipitation, in the form of sleet and snow, is scheduled to begin in a few hours.

I'm well stocked with food products. My only woe will come if the power goes out. And stays out for days...

Last Lucy Park Visit Before Incoming Winter Storm

This first day of the 2022 version of February is likely the last time, for awhile, that I will be going to Lucy Park for a salubrious nature walk. 

Or any other outdoor walking location.

A cold front blows in tomorrow, with ice and snow.

Today's walk was at a t-shirt and shorts temperature.

In the above photo we are looking south at the Wichita River from the backwoods location in Lucy Park.

The east exit point from the Lucy Park backwoods is at the location of the Lucy Park Pagoda.

I thought the pagoda looked particularly imposing, looking up at it from below the bluff on which it sits.

I still have not learned the why of this Pagoda in Lucy Park.

When I got back to my vehicle, at a few minutes past noon, I checked the weather on my phone and took a screenshot, which is what you see below.

It is unsettling how rapidly the Texas weather can change. I am hoping we get through this incoming storm without losing power, or it turning into an ice storm. 

I do not like ice storms....

Semi-HOT Last Day Of January Lucy Park Walk

On this final day of the 2022 version of January I went on an almost hot walk at Lucy Park, after a downtown library visit.

When I began the park stroll the temperature 69. By time I made it back to my vehicle's air-conditioning, the temperature was 74.

Back in my old zone of Western Washington, a 74 degree day, in Summer, would be considered almost unbearably HOT.

There were a few disc golfing groups doing the disc golfing thing. And one solo disc golfer, he being the one you see in black heading toward the big tree. Along with the disc golfers there were a couple clusters of pecan pickers.

Tomorrow is currently scheduled to be semi-HOT for the first day of February.

And then on Wednesday we go into the deep freeze, down to almost zero....

Post Bob's Buddhist Temple Of The Golden Dome Lucy Park Meditation

After the mid-morning Sunday service at Bob's Buddhist Temple of the Golden Dome I drove another mile north, to Lucy Park, to have a meditative commune with nature by fast walking the backwoods section of the park.

The temperature was in the 60s. No wind blowing. Dozens of disc golfers disc golfing, and others doing other things, like skateboarding and roller blading.

This summer-like weather ends tomorrow with a cold front arriving from the north, with winds blowing 40 mph. And then in the following days of the new week the temperature plummets to only a few degrees above zero.

With heavy snow a possibility.

I am not in the mood for any sort of repeat of last winter's deep freeze causing the Texas grid to meltdown for days...

Saturday Warm Temperature With Low Tide on Lake Wichita

With the outer world warmed to an almost balmy temperature nearing 70, it was to Lake Wichita Park I went today to commune with nature and acquire endorphins via aerobic stimulation.

As you see, via the above photo documentation, the tide was out today on Lake Wichita, exposing a muddy beach. It is unlikely there are any clams to dig on the exposed mudflats.

With the sun shining bright through a clear blue sky, the Shadow of the Lake Wichita Thin Man was quite dark today.

As you can see, the Shadow is clad only in t-shirt and shorts, on this final Saturday of the 2022 version of January. So far this is seeming to be a mild winter. We have a little less than two thirds of winter left to make it through.

Snow is in the forecast a couple days from now.

Turning around from the lakeside view we are looking up the steep slope of Mount Wichita.

If Mount Wichita is covered with sufficient snow in a couple days we may see cross country skiers schussing their way up and down the mountain. There is no chair lift or rope tow to take skiers to the summit of Mount Wichita.

One would think there would be some sort of mechanical conveyance to take people to the summit of the only mountain for miles; a chair lift, rope tow, tram, or just a staircase.

As it is, those ruts you see on the trail up the mountain make for treacherous mountain climbing...

January 27 With Google Remembering My First Mountain Bike

 

On this day, January 27, for the first time since Google has been emailing me supposed memories of a specific day, I actually either remember all the memories, or know what I am looking at, which is a supposed memory.

I don't know why Google makes the photo look so distorted, because the original was not at all distorted, but at the upper left you are looking across Lake Meridian, in Kent, at Mount Rainier. I was staying at Clancy and Fancy's and soon after they left for their daily package delivering duties they called to tell me the Mountain was out and looking good. So, I walked down the hill to Lake Meridian, taking photos and shooting video. I will see if I can find the actual photo I took that day.

In the upper right that is my dad and me, standing in front of the wreck of the Peter Iredale, in Fort Stevens State Park on the Oregon coast.

Immediately below the wreck of the Peter Iredale is Big Tex in the Texas State Fair, in Dallas. This photo would have been taken in October, during the fair, not January.

Below Big Tex that would be me on my first mountain bike. And to the left of that is another photo of me on my first mountain bike.

And here is the actual photo of Mount Rainier, which Google badly distorted...

Escape To Lucy Park Safe Away From Winnie The Whiner

I had not been to Lucy Park for several days, and so, today, the last Wednesday of the 2022 version of January, I drove a few miles north to do some fast walking and yoga with the twisted Lucy Park trees.

It was two degrees above freezing upon arrival at Lucy Park. Little wind blowing. Mostly blue sky. This is scheduled to change as the hour of today pass by, eventually the blue sky will get cloudy, with frozen white stuff falling to the ground.

Hopefully not in blizzard mode.

I did not commune with nature yesterday. If I remember correctly the reason was it was too cold and windy to venture out.

I was in grave need of mood elevating endorphins today, what with it being the second day in a row I have been dealing with ongoing whining from the entity we will call Winnie the Whiner.

Yesterday Winnie the Whiner put a photo, on Facebook, of her hand. When I first saw that picture I thought I was looking at an extra large spring roll.

And then I made the horrific mistake of saying when I first saw this photo I thought it was an extra large, super stuffed spring roll.

Winnie the Whiner then took extreme umbrage, claiming I was saying her hand looks like a fat spring roll.

No matter how times I explained that I had said nothing about how her hand looks, that what I had said was that when I first saw the photo I thought I was looking at an extra large spring roll, it did not matter, Winnie the Whiner just kept on whining.

I really wish I was so blessed to have so little to worry about that I could spend energy whining about someone saying a photo of my hand looked like a plump spring roll.

Such whining is so unseemly, vexing and perplexing...

P.S. I shall share in this blogging venue any subsequent Winnie the Whiner's whining about plump spring rolls.

Tale Of Two Cities Turning Fort Worth Into Vancouver Of The South

I saw that which you see screen capped here, this morning in the Seattle Times online version.

My initial reaction was, what? Another tunnel under downtown Seattle. And this one is that deep?

And then I read the article about the new Seattle tunnel, and that article put me in mind of something I have ruminated on multiple times previously, that being how things get done so differently in a town wearing its Big City Pants, compared to how things slowly sort of get done, in a town like Fort Worth, Texas, a town which definitely does not wear Big City Pants.

Fort Worth has been trying to build something called the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision for most of this century. 

In 2014, that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle began trying to build three simple little bridges over dry land. Those bridges took seven years to build. Meanwhile, in Seattle, at the same time Fort Worth started trying to build three bridges over dry land, a transit tunnel began to be bored under Seattle. That tunnel was finished and being used years before Fort Worth finished those three simple bridges.

The Seattle tunnel project was fully funding before boring began. Fort Worth's ongoing Boondoggle languished for years, awaiting federal funds to pay for it. Funds which did not arrive, even with Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger, motivated to secure those funds by hiring her son to be Executive Director of the project.

The federal funding finally got approved due to the infrastructure bill which Granger voted against.

The Trinity River Vision was touted as a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme. Even though it was in an area which has not flooded for well over half a century, due to flood control levees already in place.

From the start I have not understood why, if this was actually a vitally needed flood control project, combined with an economic development scheme, why did Fort Worth not vote to fund the project themselves, such as what happens in other parts of America? 

The third paragraph of this Rolling in the deep: Sound Transit’s downtown Seattle tunnel would bring riders 145 feet below the street article showcases what I mean about how things get done in a town wearing its Big City Pants, as compared to a town which relies on federal welfare, even for something supposedly vitally needed.

The aforementioned third paragraph...

That new 3.3-mile central-city tunnel would be the core of the regional $54 billion ST3 program voters passed in 2016, to build 62 miles of light rail in three counties, plus commute-train and bus capacity, serving three-quarters of a million daily trips.

Imagine that, voters voting to pass a $54 billion program. The price tag for Fort Worth's ongoing Boondoggle is a little over $1 billion. The recent federal handout is only $403 million. 

Fort Worth could not find a way to come up with $403 million on its own? For this vitally needed flood control? Allowing this supposedly vitally needed flood control to go un-done for over two decades, after announcing the plan?

You reading this in modern America may be amused when I tell you that when this public works project was announced, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Sunday edition touted it with a HUGE banner front page headline...

TRINITY UPTOWN TO TURN FORT WORTH

 INTO VANCOUVER OF THE SOUTH

I remember when I saw this headline thinking to myself what fresh nonsense is this? Never imagining the nonsense would become as ridiculously nonsensical as it has turned out to be...

After Decades Work Is Supposedly To Begin On Fort Worth's Panther Island Boondoggle

What?

Is the Fort Worth Star-Telegram really trying to sell propaganda that work on Fort Worth's imaginary island is about to begin?

About to begin?

I recollect that that which has become America's Biggest Dumbest Boondoggle began, decades ago, around the start of the new century.

And now, after all this time, the Star-Telegram is saying work is about to begin and asking when it can be expected to be done?

The Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District recently got a chunk of the infrastructure bill which recently passed. Something like $403 million, approved by the Army Corps of Engineers.

What?

Did that needed feasibility study get done and showed that this supposed flood control economic development scheme was feasible and within the normal scope of an Army Corps of Engineers project?

How does the Army Corps of Engineers explain this flood control project in an area which has not flooded for well over half a century, while other areas of Tarrant County have had deadly, property damaging floods?

And what becomes of J.D. Granger now? He was hired, years ago, as Executive Director of the Trinity River Vision, so as to give his mother, Congresswoman Kay Granger, motivation to secure federal funding for Fort Worth's ridiculous Boondoggle.

Kay Granger failed to deliver. And voted "NO" on the infrastructure bill.

J.D. Granger has been paid will over a million bucks, plus perks, and other benefits, during the course of this project which has limped along for years.

Does anyone actually know what J.D. Granger has done all these years which has warranted paying him over a million dollars?

And now that J.D. Granger has zero use as a motivation for his mother to seek federal funding, isn't it time to remove J.D. from this project?

The absurdity of an unqualified person being hired to oversee a public works project has been painfully obvious for years. Just about anytime J.D. Granger has said anything in the press or elsewhere it was apparent he was in way over his head.

I expect the next chapter in this ongoing Boondoggle to be something along the line of digging the diversion channel being far more complicated than originally thought, thus needing more money. 

And that when the cement lined flood diversion ditch is dug under the three bridges which took seven years to build, that the digging is going to cause a catastrophic failure of one of the bridges...