In A Tandy Hills Outdoor Classroom With Rush Limbaugh's Ranting Echo

I hurt my right foot changing a tire yesterday. Yes, I realize you are wondering how one could manage to hurt ones foot whilst changing a tire. Well, it's none of your business, so I'm not going to explain my most recent case of mechanical ineptitude.

I figured some high speed rocky hill hiking would have a salubrious effect on my aches and pains. I figured right.

In the picture the view is looking north, I think, across some of the seats in the newest Tandy Hills Outdoor Classroom.

I sat for a bit in the Outdoor Classrom and pondered. On the drive to the summit of Mount Tandy I listened to Rush Limbaugh make a bigger fool of himself than he usually does, ranting nonsense about last night's Bernie and Hillary Show. Rush Limbaugh lives somewhere in Wonderland, with Alice, a land where up is down, right is wrong, stupid is smart, yes is no, crazy is sane. Well, you get the drift.

I have met Rush Limbaugh types in person over the years. Invariably, like Limbaugh, their formal education ended with high school, If they got that far. And while in high school their grades were average, at best. Solid C students.

Solid C students, who as adults blather nonsense because they just don't know any better because they just never learned any better.

Anyway, as I hiked today, armed with my snake whacking stick, I was startled by what sounded like it had to be a large animal crashing through the brush.

It was.

A very large animal.

A human in the form of a lady all attired in naturist garb with a clipboard, like Jane Hathaway going butterfly hunting. (Jane Hathaway was Mr. Drysdale's secretary on The Beverly Hillbillies). I chatted with Ms. Hathaway. She invited me to some sort of Orienting Event on Saturday. I politely declined the invitation, which seems to be what I do with most invitations.

No one has invited me to lunch today, so I think I will invite myself to go cook something right now....

Looking Close At A Non-Boondoggle Fort Worth Bridge Project

Yes, you guessed correctly. What you are looking at here is one of Fort Worth's new bridges under construction.

No, this is not one of America's Biggest Boondoggle's three simple little bridges under construction over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

What you are looking at here is a Fort Worth bridge under construction over water, with that water being the Trinity River. And not the Trinity River where its flow is slowed by dams and levees. This Trinity River bridge is being constructed where the Trinity River flows wild and free.

This bridge over the Trinity River is actually this road building project's third bridge. The first two were built over dry land. These bridges are part of a project to upgrade the 1st Street East/Randol Mill Road connection between  I-820 and Beach Street.

I drive this route frequently and have enjoyed watching the speedy progress of this project, which has been underway for less than a year, starting with tree removal around the time of this year's Prairie Fest.

Underway for way less than a year with far more to show than America's Biggest Boondoggle has to show after a decade and a half of boondoggling.

Obviously no local congresswoman's unqualified son is the project manager of this project, building three bridges in less than four years, with one of those bridges being built over water.

Speaking of America's Biggest Boondoggle, and who isn't? I was in downtown Fort Worth early this morning. Since I was in the downtown zone I decided to exit downtown via Henderson Street to eye witness those amazing signature V Piers that have been being touted by The Boondoggle and its propaganda partner, the Star-Telegram.

Well.

In person those V Piers look a lot smaller than the photos I saw in the Star-Telegram. I think some tricky angle manipulation was used to make the V Piers appear taller. I was actually surprised by how small and short the V Piers are.

Currently only the Henderson Street V Pier imaginary signature bridge is under construction, despite The Boondoggle's propaganda which implies all three bridges are currently being built.

I saw no construction activity around the V Piers this morning. Nor was there any work going on at the nearby traffic circle with its bizarre, already installed, supposed art work, consisting of what looks like curved shiny pipes stuck in the ground. Why is this already installed? How much did this cost The Boondoggle?

While I saw no construction activity at the site The Boondoggle has been bragging about, there was a lot going on at the construction site pictured above. Dozens of worker's cars parked along 1st Street East with dozens of workers working.

At the bridge over the Trinity River location I watched a giant drilling device digging down and inserting some sort of concrete like substance as it drilled. I'd not seen anything like this before. There were at least a dozen men working at the bridge location, with a lot of heavy equipment in play.

I saw no heavy equipment in play today at the only location The Boondoggle is currently building a bridge.

Did J.D. Granger give everyone extra days off to celebrate Columbus Day?

Endorphin Overload After Jogging Around Fosdick Lake

I was back at Oakland Lake Park today in the noon time frame to jog around Fosdick Lake, along with other joggers, walkers and dogs being walked.

88 degrees currently. When is the predicted cold front scheduled to arrive?

Today's was the first successful jog in around a week. The jogging had turned painful due to a foot injury acquired during a nightmare. The pain has now abated, hence the successful jog.

I had myself a mighty fine cool pool bout early this morning, exiting the pool before the sun began its daily illuminating duty. I do not remember the pool being so comfortably doable this many days into Fall in years previous. Makes me a selfish fan of global warming.

I don't understand why I seem to get no endorphin benefit from pool type aerobic activity, while jogging seems to bring an extreme endorphin dose, leaving me feeling very relaxed and in a good mood.

Now would be a good time to try and annoy me because it would be very difficult to annoy me til  the endorphins wear off.

The lunch bell, well, microwave timer just sounded its noise indicating microwaved baked spuds are ready for consumption, smothered in chili, topped with sour cream, with corn and cabbage-carrot-celery salad on the side.

Star-Telegram Propaganda About Trinity River Vision Moving Forward Slowly

Yesterday Elsie Hotpepper pointed me to a Facebook post from Colleyville City Councilman, Chris Putnam, which the Hotpepper apparently thought I would like to see. What follows is part of that posting....

The Star-Telegram has a full front page story this morning on the Trinity River Vision (TRV) in Fort Worth. The TRV is $1B economic development project that is a subsidiary of the Trinity River Water District (TRWD). The TRWD supplies all of our raw water, and is the primary source of the egregious rate increases and bill shock Colleyville and Tarrant residents are experiencing. The TRV is a Kay Granger led initiative and conveniently her son JD, a former assistant district attorney with no business experience, runs the TRV. If you want to know why your water bills are out of control look no further than this project.

Elsie Hotpepper later Sunday evening emailed me the link to the Star-Telegram's Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision moves forward with bridge construction article to which the Colleyville Councilman referred.

This article is basically a propaganda puff piece making a big deal over the fact that, after boondoggling along for years, America's Biggest Boondoggle has finally something to show regarding the three simple little bridges which began construction, with a BIG BANG, a year ago.

The article repeats, a couple times, the absurd propaganda that the bridges are being built over dry land because that is cheaper. When the fact of the matter is the bridges are being built in slow motion over dry land because there is no funding to dig the ditch to go under them, which will only be a wet ditch once the Trinity River is diverted into the ditch at some distant time in the future.

Some nonsense from U.S. Rep. Kay Granger....

“I feel very good about where we are,” said U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, who first turned her attention to the Trinity when she was mayor of Fort Worth more than 20 years ago. “We’re on time and on budget. The bridges are where people say, ‘Now I can see this.’”

J.D.'s mama turned her attention to the river 20 years ago and now, in 2015, she feels good about where we are? Supposedly on time and on budget, with a project with no project timeline and no budget. What an observation: People can now see a piece of one of the little bridges under construction. I can see a lot of people seeing that little V pier under construction and proclaiming, 'Now I can see this."

Towards the end of the article more gibberish from J.D.'s mama....

“You never get these projects funded at one time,” Kay Granger said. “What happened in the past is if you started a project it would be finished. This project will absolutely be finished and one of the reasons is Washington said, ‘We’re going to partner with you on this.’ There was an obligation because they made the local funds go first.”

So, that's the excuse for the slow motion project? These projects never get funded at one time. And Kay makes the very cogent observation that once you start a project you finish it. That may be true in other locations in America, not quite sure if that is true in Fort Worth. Washington said they are going to partner with Fort Worth on this? Is Kay channeling the spirit of George Washington or is she referring to the nation's capital? There is an obligation because some un-named "they" made local funds go first?

And then there is a bizarre quote from Kay's son, highly trained  project engineer, J.D....

“Trinity River Vision is going to happen,” J.D. Granger said. “It’s a matter of timing right now. We don’t have a reason to slow it down, but we have a commitment to slow it down if the funds come in at a slower pace than anticipated.”

What is J.D. defending here? Is he responding to the growing rumbling that this project has turned ridiculous with its slow motion project timelines, such as taking four years to build three simple little bridges to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island? It's a matter of timing? What is a matter of timing? They don't have a reason to slow it down? But will slow the project down if funds don't show up. Let me shout for a second.

THE PROJECT IS ALREADY SLOWED DOWN DUE TO LACK OF FUNDS YOU CLUELESS CLOWN.

There, I feel better now.

So, we have ourselves yet one more hard hitting Star-Telegram bit of investigative journalism exploring how a relatively simple alleged flood control, but in reality, economic development project has become America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Did the Star-Telegram ask why it is taking longer to build these three bridges over dry land than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge over swift moving, very deep, water?

Did the Star-Telegram ask if it did not make better engineering sense to be digging the ditch under the bridges at the same time the bridges are being built? Will it not cause a construction complication to dig the ditch with the bridges already in place?

Did the Star-Telegram ask what's happened with the first of The Boondoggle's projects to open to the public, that being Cowtown Wakepark? Currently closed.

Did the Star-Telegram ask how much of The Boondoggle's money was spent to build the lake for the now defunct Cowtown Wakepark, including the access road, parking lot and Trinity Trail changes?

If I have said it once I have said it more than once, Fort Worth suffers due to not having a real newspaper investigating real news in a town riddled rife with corrupt cronyism and nepotism....

Today Finding Some Possible Interlochen Indian Ghosts Protesting Columbus Day

After extensive tutoring by renowned selfie photo taker, Elsie Hotpepper, my selfie photo taking has not improved one iota.

My photographer skills also continue to be severely limited.

In this photo, in addition to doing the requisite selfie thing, I was trying to show the long expanse of a narrow greenway which one accesses from near the formerly blue Village Creek Blue Bayou, or from the east, via a dam crossing from Arlington's Interlochen neighborhood.

This morning I woke up feeling real good, for no apparent reason, soon found myself having a mighty fine swim in the increasingly cool pool. Then a few hours later, again for no apparent reason, I developed a rare mild headache.

I figured the rare mild headache would be helped by a not so rare Sunday walk with the Village Creek Natural Historical Area's resident Indian Ghosts.

A few days ago I  found the Indian Ghosts to be in a cranky mood due to tomorrow's most nefarious American holiday.

Columbus Day.

The day we celebrate a murderous genocide purveying, rape condoning, racist, property thieving European who stumbled on some Caribbean islands while looking for India. Hence America's native population being known as Indians.

If I were President, and if it were within my Executive Order powers, I would issue an Executive Order ending Columbus Day, replacing that disgraceful holiday with Indigenous Peoples Day, or Native American Day or some other such thing.

Anyway, today whilst walking along Village Creek I did not sense the usual presence of the Indian Ghosts.

However, when I left the Village Creek Natural Historical  Area, to briefly cross into the Interlochen neighborhood, from whence I quickly re-enter the Natural Historical Area, I saw what may have been some sort of Indian Ghosts Columbus Day Protest around a big tree.

Spooky, don't you think?

Currently the temperature is only 7 degrees shy of 100. When I walked with the Indian Ghosts the temperature was a relatively chilly 80, and windy. We are not yet quite at that needing to wear sweatpants time of the year, but close. I think we are past the needing to be shirtless to survive the heat part of the year.

Soon I will be searching to find where I put my long underwear.

On Facebook this morning I read an incoming COLD warning from esteemed North Texas weatherman, John Basham, that COLD is on the way in a week or so. Seems like just yesterday me and my vehicle slid sideways down the hill to the entry to my abode zone. I believe that was in early March. Or late February.

Please spare us Ice Storms this winter. I am not in the mood for such things....

Remembering Veterans And My Wonder Years On The Way To Arlington's Chinatown

No, that is not the Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man you are looking at here. What you are looking at here is the Shadow of the Veterans Park Thin Man.

Today I needed to replenish my ginger supply. I acquire ginger at the Saigon Cho Market in Arlington's Chinatown.

Veterans Park is accessed via the same road, Arkansas Lane, as Saigon Cho Market is accessed, with Saigon Cho Market a few miles further east.

When I visited my Favorite Nephew Joey on Wednesday the subject of the Tandy Hills came up. Joey asked me if there are a lot of nice parks here. Joey opined that every where you look it looks flat, so where are the hills?

I think I mentioned before that I thought when I moved to Texas I would be giving up mountain biking, due to the short supply of mountains. Somehow I knew that Tyler State Park in East Texas had well regarded mountain bike trails. And so a couple months after arrival in Texas I drove myself about 100 miles east  to pedal those trails.

I was surprised by how challenging the Tyler State Park trails were. At one point I was stopped looking at a directional map. Another biker rolled up. We started talking. I said I'd just moved from Washington thinking I would be giving up mountain biking, and that I was surprised to find such good trails only 100 miles from my abode. The other biker asked where I was located.  Haslet, said I, north end of Fort Worth. The other biker then informed me that there were good mountain bike trails all over the Metroplex.

I was shocked. But it's so flat said I. The other biker told me to find my way to Cedar Hills State Park, southwest of Dallas and see if it changes my mind about it being so flat. Soon I was finding the D/FW Metro zone's mountain bike trails, including the trails in Cedar Hills State Park. Rockledge, Horsehoe Trails, Knob Hills, all at Lake Grapevine. L. B. Houston in Dallas and others I am not remembering right now.

Changing the subject back to Veterans Park. Since I last saw it a couple weeks ago a lot of progress has been made in the construction of the Vietnam War Memorial, as you can see below.

A crew was busy working on the new memorial today. There was a stack of shiny black granite looking slabs laying on the ground. I suspect those are to be attacked to the multiple walls which have risen from the ground, with names etched into the granite.

On Wednesday I told Joey that the parks in Arlington are very well done. I mentioned Veterans Park and how a large part of the park is basically wild wilderness. An example of that is below.

My feeble photographer skills do not do justice to how steep the hill you are looking at here is.

Years ago there was a half-hearted attempt to make a mountain bike trail in the backwoods part of Veterans Park. If I remember right heavy rain and a flash flood washed out that effort.

Changing the subject again.

Overnight some text messaging between Texas and Arizona and Washington caused a treasure trove of documents to arrive via email. This treasure trove of documents is documenting some of what I remember from long ago, you know, my wonder years....

A Pondering Walk With Cranky Village Creek Indian Ghosts

That jade colored body of water you are looking at here is Village Creek, which would seem to indicate I was at the Village Creek Natural Historical Area today to walk, jog or ride my bike.

Walking was the option today.

Before walking I learned from the tire doctor that the reason my left front tire seemed to be less inflated than it should be was because a screw had inserted itself into the tire.

I really don't like it when that happens.

Walking with the Indian Ghosts was completely uneventful today. I think the Indian Ghosts are being cranky because their most hated holiday of the year is about here.

Columbus Day.

Columbus Day really needs to have a name change. It's embarrassing. Canada doesn't have a Columbus Day. Why do we? Columbus never made it to what we know as the United States. It was on a few islands in the Caribbean that Columbus practiced mass genocide, among other atrocities.

Anyway, in addition to walking with the Indian Ghosts and wondering why there is so much ignorance in so much abundance in America I went to ALDI post Village Creek to get milk among other necessities.

And now the outer world is being dampened with water pellets, also known as rain.

What a day.....

Jogging Around Fosdick Lake Getting Asked Why I Was Detained By Border Guards

What you are looking at here is a flock of Fosdick Ducks and Fosdick Pigeons enjoying the newly formed Fosdick Beach on Fosdick Lake in Fort Worth's Oakland Lake Park, where there is no Oakland Lake.

Why does Fort Worth have such an odd habit in its naming of various locations?

For decades Fort Worth called its little downtown, Sundance Square, where there was no square, but there were some large parking lots which many of Fort Worth's few tourists thought were Sundance Square. And upon those parking lots Fort Worth finally got around to building a square and then goofily redundantly named it Sundance Square Plaza.

And then there is calling a landlocked area of Fort Worth, Panther Island, where there is no island. And Panther Island Pavilion where there is no island or pavilion.

Anyway, I was having myself a mighty fine time jogging around Fosdick Lake when my phone made its Facebook message noise. I need to figure out how to make the phone stop making that noise. It's annoying.

I took a jogging break under the shade of a tree to quickly find the Facebook message was from my cousin Scott asking me a very odd question. As in what did I do to get detained by border guards on a day in June decades ago.

Detained by border guards? I resumed jogging and tried to figure out this puzzle. As I jogged along I could conjure no memory of having any trouble crossing the border into Canada.

And then I remembered.

The week after graduating  high school my long gone friend Russell and I roadtripped to California in my also long gone 65 Mustang Fastback. It sounded like a fun thing to walk across the border to Tijuana. But, upon getting to the entry to Mexico part of the trek we were asked to go in a building where we were asked questions and to show I.D.

The  problem was apparently I looked way too young to be going to Mexico without an adult. And then my I.D. indicated I was only 17, which confirmed I was too young to go to Mexico without an adult. Russell was 18, but at that point in time that did not qualify as an adult accompanying a minor. But was old enough to walk across to Mexico. Russell later got cranky at me for looking too young, as if I had any control over such a thing.

I don't remember much else about this alleged detention. Other than the border guard was nice about it all. Sort of apologetic. Told us it would not be a good idea to walk across the border, even if we were old enough.

Why would there be any record of this incident and how did my snoopy cousin Scott come to be in possession of this information? I feel as if my privacy has been violated, or some such thing.

The incident must not have been too traumatic because a couple years later I found myself again at the border crossing, this time not attempting to walk across, but instead drive into Tijuana in that aforementioned Mustang.

This time Russell was not along and there were no problems entering or exiting Mexico. I had way too much fun buying all sorts of bargains, then figuring out how to stuff them in my car. Some of that stuff made the trek to Texas, like my five foot tall statue of Cortez and a gold cobra.

Finding Favorite Cowboy Nephew Joey In Grapevine Calling Grandma

That is Spencer Jack's Uncle Joey on the left, which would make that Joey's Uncle Durango on the right.

Til today it had been over seven years since I last saw my Favorite Nephew Joey. I believe it was August 7, 2008, at Bay View State Park, in the Skagit Valley of Washington. That was also the first time I met Joey's nephew, Spencer Jack.

Seven years have flown by terribly fast. I remember remarking to the person who took me to Sea-Tac, August 20, 2008, that I might return in another 20 years. At the time I said that I didn't really think that it would be 20 years. Now I think it may be.

I met up with Joey at a McDonald's in Grapevine. The scheduled meeting time was 10:30. I arrived five minutes early and as soon as the McDonald's parking lot came in to view I saw Joey standing, waiting. I never remembered to ask how long he'd been waiting.

Joey asked if there was a park nearby we could go to for visiting purposes, rather than sit in McDonald's. I said there was, a short distance away. But before I drove us there I told Joey I had something for him. Before Joey saw what was in the bag I told him if he didn't want to fly it back home that that was fine, I'd just keep it. I told Joey that more than once I've have been weighed down with extra stuff, usually from my mama.

The worst case of that was when mom and dad met up with me in Las Vegas. They'd been on their first post-retirement cross country trip. Mom and dad found me in the pool at Treasure Island. We then went to Luxor  for the buffet and to ride the scary virtual reality ride that takes you deep into the earth. Leaving Luxor mom says something like, "By the way I have a box of Christmas presents I'd like you to take home and distribute". It was a HUGE box. I could barely carry it. I shipped it home via UPS. How did mom think I was going to get that box on a plane?

I digress.

So, Joey pulled out what was in the bag to find himself wearing a cowboy hat, which he quickly decided he was going to take on the plane with him when he flies out tomorrow morning.

Joey said he had something he had to give me before we took off for the park. He went back to his vehicle and returned with that which you see below.

Joey had told me previously he had something from my Favorite Nephew Jason and Spencer Jack to deliver to me. This was it. A belated happy birthday present. Joey asked if I was going to open it now or save it for later. I said I'd open it later. I'm glad I took the open later option. Had I opened it then I don't think I would have noticed that the white paper upon which Happy Belated Happy Birthday Uncle Durango was written was actually the front part of a homemade birthday card from Jason and Spencer Jack, including illustrations and a message from both Spencer Jack and his dad.

So, I sat the birthday box down and drove to the Tarantula Train Depot, where we eventually found a place to sit in the shade.

Joey and I had a lot to talk about. Some family matters, such as who is getting married, who is getting divorced. That type thing.

Joey's time in Texas is the longest he has been in the state, other than a two hour layover in 2005. The area of D/FW Joey has been traveling around in has been the North Dallas zone, and its suburbs. Joey remarked how everywhere he has been everything looks new. I told Joey that if we had more time I could show him some areas that do not look so new, the likes of which he'd likely not seen before.

Joey also said he was surprised by how green Texas is. Coming from the Evergreen State, which is currently more brown than usual, I can see why the green of North Texas would surprise. Joey is not the first Pacific Northwest visitor to tell me they expected it to be like a desert. I forgot to tell Joey that if he came back in the Spring it is even greener, and way more colorful, with wildflowers.

During Joey's short time in Texas he'd  already discovered the Texas freeway attribute that I quickly came to appreciate. The Texas Turnaround. Where you exit the freeway and the Texas Turnaround zips you under the overpass to enter the freeway going the opposite direction.

Joey asked how his Grandma and Grandpa are doing. I said, well, let's find out. I called, mom answered. I told mom she was on speaker phone and someone had something he wanted to say to her. Joey then said, "Hi Grandma." Mom then said something like, "Joey, is that you?" It was cuter hearing it than it sounds typing it. We talked to Joey's Grandma for a few minutes and then said bye.

Joey has been in Texas ramrodding some high tech sound system installation project at Lincoln Centre in Dallas. I asked Joey how it happens his company, way up north in Skagit County, comes a couple thousand miles to do this job. I asked if it is because there is no company in Texas which can do this sort of high tech stuff? Well, that was not the explanation. But, I can't repeat the explanation, as that might be giving away company secrets.

After a longer visit than we had scheduled it was time for Joey to head back to Dallas. But not before showing me photos of some of the BIG salmon Joey has reeled in. I think I mentioned previously, months ago, that Joey's big brother, FNJ, shipped me some of Joey's smoked salmon. Best smoked salmon ever.

I got back to my abode, made lunch and then opened what Joey delivered for Spencer Jack and his dad.

A trivial pursuit type game they found last summer in a store in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.

Seeing Joey today was very deja vu. When I moved to Texas, Joey was in his last year of high school. Back then if you told me that in 2015 I would find myself meeting Joey in Grapevine, Texas because Joey was in town to install some sort of  electronic wizardry my feeble imagination would not have been able to conjure a scenario where that would happen, or make any sense.

But, there I was today, having myself a mighty fine time, meeting my Favorite Nephew Joey in Grapevine, Texas....

Elsie Hotpepper's Scary Halloween Costume

Last night Elsie Hotpepper sent me that which you see here, with no explanation as to what I was looking at.

But, it did not take me too long to figure out that this must be the 2015 Elsie Hotpepper Halloween costume.

To be clear, that is not Elsie Hotpepper in the photo.

That is a model modeling this year's Elsie Hotpepper Halloween costume.....