Happy Mother's Day At Lucy Park

With the Mother's Day temperature five degrees shy of being 100, it was to Lucy Park I drove to have myself a shady commune with nature.

There were few fellow Mother's Day celebrators celebrating Mother's Day at Lucy Park whilst I was there.

Plenty of shaded picnic tables available.

Later today the temperature is scheduled to hit 103. 

So far the air conditioner seems to be doing a good job at keeping my abode cool.

I did not walk the Lucy Park backwoods zone today.

The picture you see above is from the non-backwoods zone of Lucy Park. The undergrowth in the backwoods zone is now thick enough for snakes to slither unseen. And with the temperature being HOT the cold blooded reptiles get frisky.

I am not a fan of frisky snakes...

Having A Heat Wave Hit 103

Over a month to go til the arrival of Summer.

If I remember correctly, and sometimes I do, we did not get heated to 100 in all of 2021. We did go below zero in February of that year. And now, in the year 2022, we are predicted to hit 103 tomorrow.

I am not in the mood to be that HOT.

But, on the plus side of the HEAT, my abode has a new heat pump cooling system which works quite well. Though it has not yet been tested to be cool in this much HEAT.

Yesterday I read that there is some concern the Texas grid won't be able to handle the stress of the entire state going into extreme air conditioning mode. 

If the grid goes down, like it did during that sub zero nightmare of last year, I don't think it will be quite as difficult to endure as it was to lose the ability to keep warm. And pipes won't freeze and burst upon thawing, which happened to many of my neighbors, greatly adding to the misery.

If the electric grid does meltdown, again, methinks I'll cross the border into Oklahoma and spend the day in one of the air-conditioned casinos. That is only about a 20 mile air conditioned drive north.

Back To Lucy Park Jungle Dodging Snakes With New Computer

It was back to Lucy Park I ventured today, after a couple days of windy drippiness. The Lucy Park backwoods zone has become a bit overgrown, thus making it easy for snakes to lie in wait. That and it is a bit muddy due to that recent drippage.

On Sunday we are predicted to go over the 100 degree mark, to 103. If I remember right we did not hit 100, ever, in 2021.

I am happy to be back at full computer strength. Using a Chromebook worked fine for some things, but not so fine for something like getting photos off a phone.

This new computer has 20 gigabytes of RAM. I did not know til getting this that laptops were available with that much random access memory. And it has a solid state harddrive, so no moving parts, nothing spinning, no fan.

And Windows 11 does not seem all that different from Windows 10.

Today is the first day in a long time that it is not windy. So, methinks I shall go on a bike ride this afternoon for the first time in a long time.

Not Getting Goosed By Sikes Lake Goslings And Ducklings

 

That is my vehicle's white hood you see in the foreground. In front of the white hood are three full-size geese, guarding a flock of goslings.

That field of gray you see in the background is Sikes Lake. Which would make it Sikes Lake where I had my daily constitutional on this first Monday of the 2022 version of May. A cloudy gray sky is above gray Sikes Lake.

Mother goose was not happy I parked so close to her babies. A hissing honking goose is quite intimidating.

Way back in the previous century, when I was a teenager, I got goosed in a raspberry field in my old hometown of Burlington, Washington. 

Getting goosed is painful, at a pain level where it leaves a memory. So, even though my getting goosed incident happened many decades ago, I retain a wary attitude when I am near an angry goose.

I saw a lot of goslings today. And about a dozen ducklings. The ducklings were extremely small. One group was floating on the lake whilst another group waddled nearby in the grass.

All the bird babies attract a lot of attention from those walking by. It's cute seeing a human baby get all excited at seeing a duck baby.

So, that's been my thrilling day today, awaiting the predicted afternoon thunderstorm...

Computer Vexations With Return To Lucy Park

 

Yesterday the computer I use to do the blogging thing died an untimely death. Sudden, with little warning. I was able to bring it back to life a couple times, long enough to order a new computer, which arrives on Wednesday.

I used to enjoy getting a new computer, but after more than three decades of dealing with the vexing beasts, the novelty has worn off. Three computers ago I built one myself, from parts bought at Fry's Electronics, with Gar the Texan showing me how to put the components together. 

This morning I figured out how to do the blogging thing on my tablet, but then I remembered there was a Chromebook in my abode, and so that it was I am typing on right now. 

I took a break from my travails and returned to Lucy Park this morning, to walk the backwoods zone. Most of yesterday's extreme sport mud mess was cleaned up, but there was still some wet residue.

More wet residue is currently scheduled to fall from the sky later today and tomorrow.
 

Muddy Pipe Swinging Mayhem At Lucy Park Today

On my visit to Lucy Park a couple days ago I was perplexed by odd things I was seeing.  Big pipes, scaffoldings, piles of dirt.

On this final day of the 2022 version of April I knew something was happening as soon as I entered Lucy Park. I had never seen so many vehicles, parked in so many locations, at Lucy Park. Eventually I found a parking spot.

And soon after exiting my vehicle I began seeing groups of people running. A short while after seeing runners I saw a group come to the above pipe. It was elevated off the ground, so as to sway as the runners crawled through the pipe.

A short time later I saw what the piles of dirt were for. A large hose turned the dirt into mud, with people having to make their way through a series of muddy obstactles.

Yeah, that looked like a lot of fun.

 And then after getting covered in mud you got to go through the shower you see above,

There were multiple vendor stations, selling food and drink. Loud music added to the mayhem.

I prefer my Lucy Park visits to be more sedate.

I was in the mood for some quiet communing with nature after this morning being vexed by my computer going into rebel mode.

I think I am likely going to be getting a new computer, though it seems to be, knock on wood, working right now.

Fort Worth On The Cutting Edge Of Technology Mining Bitcoins

A couple days ago the DFW entity known as Stenotrophomonas left a comment on a blog post which directed me to what seems to be some new Fort Worth lunacy. But, may not be lunacy, what with it being a fact that I really don't understand cryptocurrency. 

The comment from Stenotrophomonas...

Stenotrophomonas has left a new comment on your post "Driving By The Skagit Valley Tulips East To Snow Covered Cascades":

White for now, but soon to be green with envy.

Fort Worth embraces cryptocurrency, becomes first city in U.S. to mine Bitcoin

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I think the Stenotrophomonas white reference was referring to the snow covered Cascades, whilst the green with envy reference referred to what is known as Fort Worth's Green With Envy syndrome, usually manifested in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram where some mundane thing in Fort Worth will be making towns, far and wide, green with envy.

In this instance it is the cryptocurrency known as bitcoin, which will be making towns, far and wide, green with envy. Though this Fort Worth Report article does not use the green with envy verbiage, it does contain some verbiage of that type delusional sort.

Let's look at this article about Fort Worth embracing cryptocurrency for some examples of delusion. That did not take long. The first sentence...

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker wants the world to know Cowtown is open to cryptocurrency.

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Yes, I imagine the world is quite excited that Fort Worth is open to cryptocurrency. And then there is this quote from Fort Worth's mayor...

“I’ve been joking that we’re Cowtown and cryptocurrency, right?” Parker said on the stream. “It’s all happening in Fort Worth.”

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That is some real knee slapping joking there, joking that Fort Worth is Cowtown and cryptocurrency. And it is all happening in Fort Worth. And then there is this...

Standing beside Parker, Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council, described Texas as the epicenter for Bitcoin mining globally. Now, he said, Fort Worth is taking steps to become the capital of Bitcoin mining in the state. 

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Texas is the global epicenter of bitcoin mining? With Fort Worth to be the capital of Texas bitcoin mining?

Okay, reading this bitcoin mining stuff had me wondering what that means. So, I Googled "bitcoin mining" and read the Wikipedia article about bitcoin. Reading that article did not help much.

The next bit of bitcoin info in the Fort Worth Report mirrors what I read in the Wikipedia article...

Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency, a digital currency that is not backed by an establishment such as a bank. To make sure each Bitcoin transaction is verified, machines in a network compete to solve a complicated math problem. If the machine solves it first, it becomes the official record of the transaction. A Bitcoin is given in exchange as an award to the first miner that solves the math problem. This process is called mining. 

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Yeah, that totally cleared up this whole bitcoin mining thing. With the following paragraph adding even more confusing clarity...

The city of Fort Worth will mine with three Bitmain Antminer S9 machines donated by the Texas Blockchain Council — an organization made up of companies and people working in the cryptocurrency industries. The miners, worth $2,100 altogether, will operate 24 hours a day at the Information Technology Solutions Department at Fort Worth City Hall in a six-month pilot program. 

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And another bit of illumination from Fort Worth's mayor...

"The pilot program isn’t just about testing cryptocurrency," Parker said. “It’s bigger than that. We want to be a city that’s on the forefront of technology innovation. And what I’ve noticed lately is that any company that’s on the forefront of technology, they’re all talking about cryptocurrency.” 

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Who knew Fort Worth wanted to be on the forefront of technology innovation? And how does one notice that any company on the forefront of technology is talking about cryptocurrency?

Two more paragraphs, then go read the entire Fort Worth embraces cryptocurrency, becomes first city in U.S. to mine Bitcoin article...

During the live Twitter conversation, Parker said she got the idea when she was running for mayor and started talking to Les Kreis, principal at Steelhead Capital, about how the city can be at the cutting edge of technology. 

The city of Fort Worth has been trying to sell itself as an innovative place for tech workers to grow their companies or relocate. It recently established an entrepreneurship and innovation council committee and has funded the Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth Accelerator program, according to past reporting from the Fort Worth Report. 

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No, that is not even remotely delusional, for the Fort Worth mayor to think Fort Worth could somehow be on the cutting edge of technology. Fort Worth has been trying to sell itself as an innovative place for tech workers?

Here's a reality check for the mayor. A town on the cutting edge of anything has streets with sidewalks, modern public transportation, city parks with zero outhouses, no slums, good schools, a well educated population and attributes of many sorts which attract a corporation to invest.

I remember when Fort Worth was trying to woo Intel to build a big facility near where I lived when I first moved to Texas. Fort Worth offered Intel multiple incentives. But, Intel chose to build in Chandler, Arizona. Fort Worth should send a task force to Chandler to see why Intel would pick that town over Fort Worth.

I have given up trying to understand why Fort Worth, as reflected in the town's leaders, and its only newspaper of record, is so prone to delusions about the town, pretending it is something it is not, pretending it can be something it can not possibly ever be, such as becoming a city at the cutting edge of technology.

I can see how Austin might be a Texas town which could see itself on the cutting edge of technology. But Fort Worth?

Cowtown and Cryptocurrency...

New Lucy Park Possible Art Installation Mysteries

It was back to Lucy Park I ventured on this last Thursday of the 2022 version of April. As you can see via the photo documentation it is a cloudy day today, heading towards thunderstorming predicted in a few hours.

The art installation you see above arrived since I last visited Lucy Park. Along with some wooden structures, sort of scaffolding-like. And large piles of dirt. No clue what is underway at Lucy Park.

A steady wind was not vexing today. But there were some troublesome gusts, one of which blew off my head covering.

The BIG news in my neighborhood, which I learned of this morning, is a new grocery store will soon open a short distance from my abode. This will likely drastically change my regular routine, which consists of going to Walmart way too often.

It's the little things that can cheer a person up, sometimes...

Driving By The Skagit Valley Tulips East To Snow Covered Cascades

 

I saw that which you see above, and below, this morning on Facebook, via the Skagit Breaking Facebook page. Seeing this caused me to think those living in an extremely flat area of America, who have not been to a more mountainous area of America, might find this interesting.

Of late I have posted a photo or two of the currently colorful Skagit Valley, in Tulip Festival mode.

State Highway 20 is the road which takes you from the saltwater beaches of the north end of Puget Sound, over the Skagit Flats, through the town I grew up in, Burlington, continuing east, following the Skagit River, eventually becoming the North Cascades Highway, as it passes through North Cascades National Park.

If I remember right, it was in the early 1970s the North Cascades Highway, then known as the North Cross State Highway, opened, providing a new route to Eastern Washington over the Cascade Mountains.

Deep snow annually closes the North Cascades Highway, usually.

Again, if I remember right, there was one winter where that mountain pass did not close, due to a drought caused light snow pack.

The photos you see above, and below, show the North Cascades Highway currently in snow removal mode, clearing the way to being re-opened. 

At the same time the Skagit Flats are blooming in technicolor, you can drive a short distance east and be back in a Winter Wonderland.

When I lived in the Skagit Valley I didn't realize how unique it was, how one can drive a few miles to the west and be at a saltwater beach, or hop a ferry to visit the San Juan Islands, or drive a few miles east and be up in the mountains.

At my current location I would need to drive hundreds of miles to see anything resembling a mountain. Or a saltwater beach.

I think I would like living in Washington, again, with a greater appreciation of its multiple attributes...

J.D. Granger's New Contact With The Panther Island Boondoggle

It seems like just a day or two ago we learned that the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision was finally rid of J.D. Granger, after years of befuddling Fort Worth locals as to what it was that J.D. Granger did for the Boondoggle Vision that warranted paying him well over $200,000 a year.

The announcement that J.D. Granger was no longer employed by the TRWD (Tarrant Regional Water District) told us J.D. Granger was going to be starting a new consulting business.

And today we learn that J.D. Granger has secured his first consulting job.

A contract with the TRWD!

The shenanigans never cease.

Let's take a look at this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram Former Panther Island project head inks $72,000 contract with Tarrant water district article to see if there is any sort of sane explanation for awarding J.D. Granger this contract.

The first two paragraphs in this article...

JD Granger is not done with the Tarrant Regional Water District. 

The former head of the Panther Island, who announced he was stepping down from that post last Friday, is rejoining the district that is coordinating the flood-control aspects of the project as a consultant. The six-month contract is worth $72,000.

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Granger is not done with the Tarrant Regional Water District? I thought it was the TRWD that came to its senses and was done with Granger, due to the fact that his function of motivating his mother to secure federal funding was no longer viable. He was the former head of Panther Island? Was this a formal position with a job title? Being the head of an imaginary island? J.D. is going to be a consultant on the flood-control aspects? Flood control where there has been no flooding for well over half a century due to flood-control mechanisms already existing.

The next paragraph is a doozy....

“He brings a knowledge of all the project elements, all the project history, and how we can use this information to get the project completed,” said the district’s general manager, Dan Buhman.

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He brings knowledge of all the project elements? Really? What are those elements about which J.D. Granger is so knowledgeable? And this vast knowledge will get the project completed? This is a 6 month contract. Does this mean the project will be completed in six months? After Boondoggling along for most of this century?

And then there are the next two paragraphs...

The district will pay Granger $12,000 per month, which is roughly $8,000 less than his salary when he was employed by the district. Granger did not immediately return a call from the Star-Telegram seeking comment.

He will advise the water district on so-called “betterments,” which Buhman explained are design features or flood control elements beyond what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is willing to pay for. Under the Panther Island plan, the Corps will dig a 1.5-mile channel along Trinity River near downtown, creating two islands that will be open for redevelopment with multifamily housing, restaurants and entertainment. 

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Oh, so this is saving the Water District, and the taxpayers, money, getting the benefit of J.D. Granger's vast knowledge for $8,000 less a month than was previously being paid for his vast knowledge of civil engineering projects.

He will advise the water district on so-called betterments? So, J.D. will be using his vast design knowledge to come up with design features the Army Corps of Engineers is not willing to pay for? I wonder if J.D.'s betterments will be of the quality level of some of his former betterments, such as the quickly failing Cowtown Wakepark, which Granger touted as bringing the coveted sport of wakeboarding to Fort Worth. And what ever became of that betterment announced a couple years ago, that being that river cruise betterment modeled after the river cruise on the Brazos River in Waco?

And then there is this doozy providing an example of what is meant by betterments...

“The example I always use is a ditch. If we could make it a better looking ditch, we would pay a little extra,” Buhman explained. 

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Yes, that does seem to be a illustrative example of a betterment. It makes sense to pay a little more for a better looking cement lined ditch, if the ditch is ever dug to go under those three simple little bridges which took seven years to build over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, of which J.D. Granger was the former head.

And then we come to this paragraph...

Granger has the necessary institutional knowledge to advise the district on which of those improvements the Corps would be responsible for, and which would be paid for locally, Buhman said. The water district is a government entity funded by taxpayer dollars.

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Really, so without Granger's institutional knowledge advising the district there is just no other way to know what improvements the Corps would be responsible for? Why not just ask the Corps? Wouldn't that be cheaper than paying J.D. Granger for his imaginary vast knowledge?  Wasn't it Granger's vast design knowledge that came up with those V-piers for the three bridges? Piers which were not the type piers the Corps recommended. The design of which were one of the many incompetence's which caused it to take so long to build the little bridges over dry land.

In the following six paragraphs we learn there are some voices of reason and common sense regarding the ongoing J.D. Granger debacle...

Doreen Geiger, a member the Water District Accountability Project pushing for more transparency at the district, initially chaffed at the idea of keeping Granger on in any capacity. 

She pointed to the district’s $7,500-per-month contract with Mark Mazzanti, a 35-year veteran of the Army Corps of Engineers, and the district’s $833,151 contract with project scheduling company Innovative Management Solutions Inc., to argue there’s no need to keep Granger on.

Buhman said that Mazzanti’s role is to advise on Corps bureaucracy, and Innovative Management Solutions helps with the technical scheduling of different elements of the project. 

Granger knows why certain project elements are the way they are and can help advise the district on how to move forward, Buhman said. 

Geiger acknowledged the financial benefits of contracting with Granger at a rate lower than what he was making while working for the water district.

 “If we don’t do that, he’ll be there for years. It’s cheaper to give him some money for a short term and then he’s gone,” Geiger said.

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So, a member of the Water District Accountability Project, Doreen Geiger, thought Granger should be no longer involved in any capacity, and that a large sum of money was already being paid to entities with knowledge of the project.

And then the Water Board's Buhman claims that Granger knows why certain elements of the Boondoggle are the way they are, and thus can advise the district on how to move forward.

With the Water District Accountability Project person acknowledging that they are getting Granger's vast knowledge at a cheaper rate, and then the WDAP person continues to turn that lemon into lemonade by suggesting it is cheaper to be rid of J.D. Granger by giving him money for six months, after which he will be gone, than it would have been had he stayed at his previous TRWD position, which would have kept paying him for years for doing whatever it is he has done all these years of being paid what seems to be an exorbitant sum to someone with zero qualifications, training, or experience at directing any sort of public works project.

And then we have another Fort Worth local expressing his concerns....

Lon Burnam, a former state representative and member of the same watchdog group as Geiger, raised concerns about Granger’s contract being negotiated outside of the public eye or public board meetings.

Granger’s contract does not need approval from the water district board. The board weighs in on contracts at or above $75,000, according to a source within the district.

 Burnam said he recognizes the value of Granger’s institutional knowledge but questioned the optics of having this contract negotiated behind closed doors.

 “This wheeling and dealing behind the scenes is what’s gone on for decades at the water district, which leads to no trust level for the district,” he said. 

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So, J.D. Granger was grifted this contract by making the amount being paid under the threshold which requires TRWD board approval? Yeah, that does not seem shady at all.

It would be real interesting to see detailed what Granger's institutional knowledge consists of. In the press, and other venues, over the years, Granger has come across as a bit of a buffoon.

Methinks we have not heard to last of this chapter of the ongoing J.D. Granger saga...