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...

Back To Lucy Park After Sunday Storm With More J.D. Granger Nonsense

On Saturday I had a windy walk at Lucy Park in which I made mention of J.D. Granger's sudden Trinity River Vision departure.

Someone named Anonymous then submitted a blog comment about the Granger departure subject...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Windy Lucy Park Walk With J.D. Granger's Sudden Trinity River Vision Departure":

“We are now known for having the only section of a river in a Texas downtown area that you can swim in and Texas’ only waterfront stage,”

So many facts needed checking in JD's announcement. I remember canoeing and swimming in the Colorado River in downtown Austin in the 1980s. Has that been closed?

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I recollect mentioning to Elsie Hotpepper that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article about the Granger departure read like ridiculous blatant propaganda.

Granger weirdly, inaccurately bragging that he somehow un-polluted the Trinity River, turning it into the only downtown river in Texas where you can swim in a river, is embarrassingly delusional

Fort Worth is now known for having the only section of a river in a Texas downtown that you can swim in?

How about, more accurately, Fort Worth is the only Texas town to have city officials so dumb they think it a good idea to pretend a polluted river with frequently dangerously high e.coli contamination, is safe to get wet in.

And the only waterfront stage in Texas.

Yeah, that is one amazing stage on that equally amazing waterfront.

In addition to being able to swim in the Colorado River as it flows through Austin, is it not possible to also swim in the Brazos River as it flows through Waco?

The Brazos River as it flows through Waco is actually beautifully scenic, particularly the section that flows past the white cliffs of Cameron Park.

Anyway, it was back to Lucy Park this final Monday of the 2022 version of April. You might have guessed that to be the case due to that picture at the top of today's view of the Lucy Park Suspension Bridge.

I drove to Lucy Park this morning not knowing if the park might be closed due to the Wichita River going into flood mode due to Sunday's heavy rain. But, the river did not seem much higher today than it was on Saturday.

That storm Sunday was the strongest I've experienced in quite a while. Thunder booming went on for hours. As did rain. There were a few instances of light flickering after the sun left for the day, but the power did not stay off long enough during any of its flickers to cause anything digital to need to be reset.

Windy Lucy Park Walk With J.D. Granger's Sudden Trinity River Vision Departure

This next to last Saturday of the 2022 version of April is a blustery one in North Texas, a windy state not rendered obvious by the serene, peaceful Lucy Park Wichita River view you see above.

Gusts of wind had me holding onto my hat multiple times this morning as I hiked the Lucy Park backwoods. 

Even though there were gusts approaching a slow hurricane level of blowing, there were dozens of disc golfers throwing their discs. 

I have never disc golfed, but it seems to me doing so with extreme wind blowing would not be much fun.

Two news stories caught my eye this morning. The first was from Favorite Nephew Jason, sending me a news article purporting to tell the tale of his Aunt Clancy falling into an outhouse pit whilst attempting to retrieve her phone. Rescue specialists had to somehow lift Clancy out of that which she fell in to. And immediately hosed her down prior to more extensive sanitation measures.

The other news story first came to me via text message, then I saw it on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, then a text message from Elsie Hotpepper pointing to an article about the subject in Fort Worth Report.

The news?

J.D. Granger is no longer working for the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.  Granger had been removed from his position as Executive Director of the Trinity River Vision Authority a couple years ago, but continued to be paid well over $200K a year, even though he no longer had a designated position.

The story being told is that Granger resigned and is starting up a new business, named after himself. Granger claims he feels he can leave the Trinity River Vision now because his work there is done, after decades of boondoggling, the claim is the project is now on track to be a vision someone might one day see.

Many have asked many times what it is, exactly, that J.D. Granger has done during all these years of boondoggling. 

That question was first asked a long long time ago when a Trinity River Vision insider got fed up with what they were seeing at TRVA headquarters. Money spent on all sorts of perks. Perks from I-phones to I-pads, to junkets, to cars, to spending an inordinate amount of time, each day, discussing where to go to lunch today on the public's dime. 

The person who was telling us about things they just thought were not appropriate referred to him or herself as Deep Moat.

I remember one item which appalled Deep Moat was the well stocked liquor supply at TRVA headquarters.

But what really set Deep Moat's nerves on edge was the extramarital office affair J.D. Granger was having with one of his subordinates, who he later married after divorcing the mother of his children.

Anyway, do you think we will ever know what exactly J.D. Granger did all these years whilst being so well paid to do what would seem to be basically nothing, what with so little to show for all the years of boondoggling?

Oh, yes, there are those three little bridges built over dry land, waiting for a cement lined ditch to be dug under them. And there were those Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the polluted Trinity River. And let's not forget J.D. Granger touting the Cowtown Wakepark, bringing the coveted sport of wakeboarding to Fort Worth, which soon became one of J.D. Granger's early failures, a failure fairly easy to predict for anyone with even a slight modicum of common sense.

Many are feeling a bit cynical about the reason for J.D. Granger's departure. Was he given the option of resigning to avoid the embarrassment of being fired? Had the TRWD board realized there was no longer any reason to keep employing J.D. Granger so as to motivate his mother to secure federal funding, which the woman totally failed at, including voting no on the federal infrastructure bill which finally saw Fort Worth get the money to build that ditch under those bridges.

Methinks there is more to this story. Perhaps we will be hearing from Deep Moat...

Windy Sikes Lake Walk With Goslings

Yesterday, after communing with nature at Sikes Lake I mentioned that the geese and ducks were acting frisky.

And that baby goslings and ducklings would be appearing soon.

Well. Soon turned out to be today. Can you spot the pair of goslings above? Guarded by their hissing honking maternal parental unit.

Let's go for a closer look...

I have never been at Sikes Lake and seen a mama goose sitting on eggs, waiting for them to hatch. I have no idea where the maternity ward might be. There is not a lot of cover surrounding Sikes Lake. It is mostly open with, a few bushes that a hatchling might hatch under.. 

No blue sky over my area of Texas today. Total cloud cover. With strong wind blowing extremely gusty at time. Rain on the menu for tomorrow.

Sikes Lake Evening Primrose Appearance With Frisky Geese

They are not quite as eye catching as a field of colorful tulips, but every Spring the Texas landscape becomes more colorful than it is for the other three seasons, with the blooming of wildflowers, of multiple types and colors.

Above you are seeing some Evening Primroses which have sprouted out of the ground since the last time I walked around Sikes Lake.

Yesterday, when Linda Lou rode to Walmart with me, my vehicle's temperature monitoring thermometer said the temperature was 106. My phone said it was 102. It felt like 125.

Today's walk around Sikes Lake was only slightly HOT, temperatured into the mid 80s.

Texas is in a state of severe drought. This may limit the amount of color the wildflowers will be blooming this year.

The Sikes geese were being frisky today. One hissed at me, another seemed to be chasing me. I think the hot weather and a lot of green stuff to eat is making the geese overly energetic.

Soon flocks of goslings and ducklings should be making their annual appearance...

Tacoma Trio With Tulips & Hank Frank

Waking up my phone this morning I found some photos had arrived overnight. Some from Tacoma, some from Chandler.

The text which came with the photos from Tacoma said, "We would ask where in the Pacific Northwest we are, but these are hardly a challenge."

Well, since there is only one location in the Pacific Northwest where one would see a scene such as that which we see above, it takes zero guess work to determine that Ruby, Theo and David are visiting the Skagit Valley Tulips. 

I did not know that yesterday when I blogged Unexpected Skagit Tulip Festival Visit To The Slotemaker Jones Family Compound that the Tacoma Trio were, at that point in time, visiting the Tulips and the Slotemaker Jones Family Compound.

With the photo above confirming the Tacoma Trio were at the epicenter of the Skagit Tulip Festival, at the Slotemaker Jones Family Compound, with Hank Frank giving Ruby, Theo and David a tour of his orchard.

Not many people in the world have this view from their front, back and side yards. I believe this visit with Hank Frank is the first time the Tacoma Trio met their cousin Joey's first born. I suspect the COVID nightmare had prevented such from happening previously.

And here we see Ruby walking with Hank Frank, continuing Hank Frank's tour of his orchard.

Above David, Ruby and Theo have left the Slotemaker Jones Family Compound to drive a couple miles to the west and south, to the town of La Conner. Behind the Tacoma Trio that is what is known as the Rainbow Bridge, connecting the mainland to Fidalgo Island.

The Rainbow Bridge is a real bridge, built over real water, the Swinomish Channel, to connect to a real island.

Above it looks like the Tacoma Trio are still somewhere on the Skagit Flats, but I cannot tell where they are, exactly.

Well, now, in the above photo, I believe we have left the Skagit River Valley and are now in the Stillaguamish River Valley.

I did not know this giant tree stump still existed. It was a roadside attraction all the way back to when the road one drove from the Skagit Valley, south or north, was called Highway 99, before Interstate 5 arrived in the 1960s.

Eventually this stump ended up in an I-5 rest area near Smokey Point.  Clearly, someone went to the effort to preserve the stump, and protect it by putting a roof over it.

I wonder where in the Pacific Northwest the Tacoma Trio will be taking us next?