Seeking Endorphins On The First Drippy Friday Of December

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell, late in the morning of the first Friday of the last month of 2014, with the outer world a bit damp, but warmed to the relatively balmy temperature of 69 degrees, I am feeling in dire need of some serious aerobic stimulation and that stimulation's resultant endorphins.

I was in the Hot Tub and Pool last night and real early this morning. The Hot Tub and Pool really don't give me the level of endorphins that I get from bike riding or hill hiking.

I had a rough night last night, way too many disturbing nightmares. I really should not watch any Mama's Family sketches from the Carol Burnett Show prior to sleep time.

In the middle of the night during one of my awake bouts I had what at the time seemed to be a really good blogging inspiration. Suffice to say the subject was Fort Worth and the phrase "Where the Best Begins" played a prominent role. But, that particular blogging inspiration is currently stalled. Maybe a dose of endorphins would help re-stimulate me, inspiration-wise.

Yesterday's drizzle had me in Haltom City in the noon time frame for the Grand Opening of a new ALDI. I got a lot of freebies during the course of the ALDI visit. Plus some amusing aggravation when somehow a single bag of carrots at $1.39 rang up as 7 bags of carrots at $9.73. I think the embarrassment at the embarrassing mistake is why I ended up being given extra canvas ALDI shopping bags,  filled with goodies, most of which is not the type stuff I eat.

Candy bars.

I did not even like candy bars when I was a kid. In the canvas bags were a couple versions of bags of peanuts, a sweet and salty almond all natural bar, which was tasty, and a couple bags of popcorn. So, all that ALDI gave me was not of the candy bar sort, but most of it was.

I think I will hit the publish button on this blogging and then hit the outer world and see if I can find myself some of those elusive endorphins....

Wondering How Much The Boondogglers Have Been Paid For Their Slow Motion Trinity River Vision

This week's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle propaganda mailer has had me thinking anew about The Boondoggle.

The thinking anew has me being freshly perplexed.

Let me see if I can explain the train wreck of my thinking.

So, the people of Fort Worth had a billion dollar public works project foisted on them long ago, I think the beginning dates back to late in the last century.

I first learned of what has come to be known as The Boondoggle when the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Sunday edition on a Sunday early this century breathlessly trumpeted, in a HUGE headline, that that which was then called the Trinity Uptown Project, would turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South.

I remember reading that and thinking to myself what fresh ridiculous hell is this. Little did I know, then, how ridiculous.

Okay, so the way public works projects come about  in democratic, non-oligarchy locations in America is that a public works proposal is presented to the public. The merits of the proposal are debated. And then, after much public discussion, the public works project is put to a vote where the voters agree to support a bond issue to finance the building of the public works project. Or vote NO.

If the voters approve of the public works project the project then proceeds to the construction phase, building the project as quickly as possible so as to reap the benefits of the project as soon as possible.

When the voting public can see the benefit to them of voting for a public works project they vote a big YES.

Having the public vote on public works projects and then having those projects built in a timely fashion may be one of the reasons other parts of America seem to be much more advanced than Fort Worth.

Which brings us back to the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. Never voted on. Not funded in a way which allows the project to be built in a timely fashion.

So, now to the point of what is bugging me. With The Boondoggle being un-funded, being built on a slow motion indeterminate timeline, does it not occur to anyone, but me, that the way this Boondoggle has been operating, that it has become a strange, sort of permanent job, for people like J.D. Granger?

What I am thinking is if this Boondoggle was done like a normal public works project, the project would have, by now, been completed, with J.D. Granger having moved on to his next construction project, if his mother could find him one.

Does it not greatly add to the cost of The Boondoggle to be paying people, like J.D. Granger, for years longer than he would have been paid had this project been built like it would have been built in, like I already said, if it were a normal, voted on, fully funded public works project?

How much is the total paid to The Boondoggle's employees, year after year, as The Boondoggle boondoggle's along in slow motion?

If I remember right J.D. Granger is paid something like $100,000 a year to mismanage The Boondoggle. I think he began mismanaging in 2004. That is a decade ago. I am not good at math, but I think in ten years, at $100K per year, J.D. Granger has been paid something like one million dollars. Plus he has an expense account. And who knows what other perks.

Well, I have been told about the well stocked liquor supply in J.D.'s office.

How many employees are on The Boondoggle's staff? How many extra millions of dollars have been lost due to paying people boondoggling in slow motion for an unfunded project the public has never voted for, with no end in sight?

Like I already said, if this urgently needed flood control project were funded and built in the way it would be in democratic areas of America, it would have been completed by now. With no more money being wasted paying J.D. Granger and his fellow boondogglers.

The simple Three Bridges Over Nothing, which supposedly explosively began being constructed recently, are being built in slow motion, taking four years to complete. When the Three Bridges Over Nothing are complete, if J.D.'s mama has somehow come up with federal money, then the ditch under the bridges can begin being dug. I don't believe the engineering design for that ditch and its diversion dam have been completed, let alone that actual cost to built it determined.

Or how long it will take to dig the ditch.

If it takes four years for The Boondoggle to build three simple bridges, how long will that ditch take to dig? A decade? Longer?

However long it takes to complete this slow motion project, those in charge of The Boondoggle, as in J.D. Granger and his crew of boondogglers, are being paid, with salaries and perks.

J.D. Granger is in his 40s, I think. His precise age I can not find. I am thinking maybe J.D. is thinking he can milk this lucrative job, for which he has ZERO qualifications, til he hits retirement age. Of course, it goes without saying that J.D. keeps his job only as long as his mama keeps hers, which would seem to be forever, judging by the last election which re-elected J.D.'s politically corrupt, nepotism loving, mama.....

28 Pages Of Boondoggle Propaganda With No Mention Of The Trinity River Vision's Shining Cowtown Wakepark Star

Yesterday when I read and blogged about The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Explosive 28 Page Fall Propaganda Update it did not occur to me til later that I saw no mention made on any of those 28 pages of The Boondoggle's Cowtown Wakepark.

The propaganda made bragging mention of all the other Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's products and programming.

I first learned of the Cowtown Wakepark over four years ago. Riding my bike I came upon the pond you see here. This pond had me wondering why the Trinity Trail had been moved to accommodate the pond and what the purpose of the pond was. I remember seeing a lot of newly installed Boondoggle signage with messages like "The Trinity River Vision is Underway".

After I blogged about being perplexed by this pond the Fort Worth Connie D pointed me to a website touting the soon to open  Cowtown Wakepark. I blogged about this on September 30, 2010 in Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision's Cowtown Wakepark To Be The Premiere Wakeboarding Facility In The World.

In that blogging there is a very embarrassing J.D. Granger quote about Cowtown Wakepark....

The Executive Director, JD Granger, states: “Cowtown Wakepark will be one of the shining stars of the dynamic improvements happening on the Trinity River right now. We are very excited to have teamed up with the best people in the field of wakeboarding and we are working diligently to help make Cowtown Wakepark the premiere wakeboarding facility in the world. We want everybody in Fort Worth to be able to experience the fun of Wakeboarding, and Cowtown makes it affordable for everyone in Fort Worth to take up the sport.”

So, Mr. Granger thought Cowtown Wakepark would be a shining star among the dynamic improvements happening four years ago on the Trinity River?

Can anyone tell me what those improvements were?

A shining star? Have you seen Cowtown Wakepark. Shoddy, tacky, cheap looking, unlandscaped are descriptive words that come to mind upon seeing this shining star.

The Boondoggle will work diligently to make Cowtown Wakepark the premiere wakeboarding facility in the world?

Now why was there no mention made of this shining star of the world's premiere wakeboarding facility on any of  the 28 pages of  The Boondoggle's propaganda?

Has the Cowtown Wakepark gone out of business? It did not seem to me to be a very viable business. I think at most only six wakeboarders could be zipping around the pond at the same time. The zipping around the pond could only take place during the warm time of the year, further limiting the revenue stream.

And really, how could there be enough people willing to shell out $25, or thereabouts, to get pulled around a little pond for a half hour, or thereabouts, with the pulling being done by a mechanical device strung up overhead?

When I first saw this first instance of actually seeing some result of the Trinity River Vision's Boondoggle I remember wondering how it came about. As in, how much did The Boondoggle spend to alter the Trinity Trails and move the dirt to make this pond? What did the operators of the Cowtown Wakepark pay to The Boondoggle?

In other words, what were, or are, the financial arrangements between The Boondoggle and Cowtown Wakepark? Is this part of the secret shenanigans that can not be made  public? Part of what should be a public record, with a copy of that record denied to anyone requesting to see it?

Anyone know if this shining star of The Boondoggle is still in business?

UPDATE: One of my co-blogging corroborators, upon reading the above pointed me to two blog posts about Cowtown Wakepark. One of those blog posts is on my blog,  the other on the Star-Telegraph blog. Note, that is Star-Telegraph, not Star-Telegram. The Star-Telegraph has news you won't find in the Star-Telegram, such as the blog post titled Wanna Wakeboard? with photos of what happens to Cowtown Wakepark when the Trinity River goes in to flood mode. Apparently Cowtown Wakepark is not part of what the Trinity River Vision's flood protection plan is protecting.

And then on my blog, I'd forgotten I taken photos of the Cowtown Wakepark's shoddy tackiness  and blogged about it in Trying To Wakeboard Today At Cowtown Wakepark. Is the quality level represented by Cowtown Wakepark what we can expect if the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle ever becomes something we can see?

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Explosive 28 Page Fall Propaganda Update

This morning in my mailbox I found a 28 page full color mailing, 28 pages of jaw dropping propaganda. The Fall 2014 Trinity River Vision Authority Update. I scanned a few of the 28 pages of propaganda for illustrative purposes.

On the second page of the propaganda we learn the "Trinity River Vision Authority is the organization responsible for the implementation of the Trinity River Vision (TRV) - a master plan for the Trinity River in Fort Worth. The TRV's primary focus is to provide needed flood protection but it will also connect every neighborhood in the city to the river corridor with new recreational amenities, improve infrastructure, provide environmental enhancements and manage event programming...."

"Needed flood protection"? If I have said it once I have said it ten dozen times, the area of The Boondoggle has been protected from floods for well over a half century due to flood control levees you in the rest of America paid for long ago. And now Fort Worth expects you to fork over some more money, this time for imaginary flood protection. And how can The Boondoggle possibly connect every neighborhood in the city to the river? I mean, it is a BIG city, with a very small river. Far north Fort Worth is going to be connected to the river? This is how propaganda works. You just get to make up stuff, just throw out nonsense, because you know no one is going to call you on it.

Also on the second page of the TRV propaganda we learn...

The Trinity River Vision will:

• Create Panther Island, a vibrant new urban waterfront neighborhood north of downtown
• Expand Gateway Park into one of the largest urban-programmed parks in the nation
• Enhance the river corridor with over 90 user-requested projects on the Trinity Trails
• Program public spaces including Panther Island Pavilion, a waterfront music venue and festival space directly adjacent to downtown Fort Worth

That user-requested projects claim amazes me every time I read that particular piece of propaganda. Who are these users? How did they make these requests? I'm a user. I'd like to make some requests. Requests like fire J.D. Granger, put The Boondoggle to a public vote, things like that.

In the TRV Updgate propaganda they seem to be real proud of the explosion that was set off by pushing on a TNT plunger to mark the official beginning of the construction of The Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing. Three Bridges which are such complex feats of engineering that they will take an amazing four years to build.

From the picture above it appears that the aforementioned J.D. Granger, his mama, Kay and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price were among the group who set off the explosion. I am wondering a couple things. One is how much did this explosion cost to explode? And who paid for it? Is the reason a simple shovel dirt turning groundbreaking did not suffice was because these Three Bridges Over Nothing are such a major construction project, bigger than the Golden Gate Bridge, bigger than the Panama Canal, bigger than, well, you get the point, bigger than all sorts of construction projects which did not begin with a big explosion.

Or take four years to build.

On the BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION ERUPTS page of the propaganda we learn "The groundbreaking (or should we say "blasting"?) ceremony took place on November 10 and construction is currently progressing full speed ahead."

More propaganda. Full speed ahead? These Three Bridges Over Nothing are pretty much being built in slow motion. If they ever get completed they likely will have been one of the longest bridge building projects in world history. Four years to build three very simple bridges. Over dry land. If the propagandists were forced to tell the truth that truth would be that the bridges are being built in slow motion due to a lack of funds, which is also the reason they are being built over dry land, due to the fact that J.D.'s mom has yet to come up with the federal money to pay for the un-needed ditch to bring some water under the dry bridges.

And then on page six of the propaganda we have the introduction of the Fort Worth Trinity Promenade.

From the Trinity River Promenade page of the propaganda...

While the primary purpose of the Bypass Channel is to provide flood control, it will also be the most striking waterfront feature of Panther Island, earning it the name Trinity River Promenade.

The Trinity River Promenade will be a system of urban parks connecting lakes, canals and marinas through a network of trails. These lively urban spaces, which will include features such as launches with convenient on-site storage for kayaks & canoes, will foster a healthy active lifestyle community and help to sustain the amazing quality of life in Fort Worth.

Wow! A network of trails connecting lakes, canals and marinas. Lakes? The Boondoggle's vision is now seeing multiple lakes? Amazing quality of life in Fort Worth? I am wondering if this newly introduced Trinity River Promenade will have modern restroom facilities? Or will it continue the amazing Fort Worth quality of life by using the outhouse restroom method, such as what is used at The Boondoggle's Rockin' the River Panther Island Pavilion Music Venue Happy Hour Inner Tube Float area?

And then we come to a couple pages about The Parks of Panther Island. I only scanned the first of the two Panther Island Parks pages.

Regarding the Parks of Panther Island the Boondoggle's propaganda tell us they were "Designed in conjunction with The Trinity River Promenade to foster an active lifestyle community, the Panther Island project now includes a system of seven new urban parks throughout the district..."

Why does The Boondoggle propaganda over and over again refer to "urban" parks. Fort Worth is a city. Aren't all parks in Fort Worth urban parks? It would be hard to have a rural park in a city. So, now The Boondoggle includes seven new parks. Four of the parks are named in the Boondoggle's propaganda. There is Promenade River Bank Park, Promenade Park South, Levee Park and Promenade Park North.

Skipping ahead past several pages of propaganda covering things like Panther Island Ice and the plethora of Panther Island Pavilion events, like Oktoberfest in September and those Rockin' the River floating beer parties, we come to two pages thanking the 2014 special event sponsors of four special events, the aforementioned Panther Island Ice, plus Fort Worth's Fourth, and the also aforementioned Rockin' the River and Oktoberfest.

What caught my attention on the two pages thanking sponsors was the blurb on the second page, that is it above, with the blurb saying "Thanks to generous support from our sponsors, TRVA delivered over $1 million in programming. This programming brought over 170,000 guests to the area, produced economic growth, created jobs and new memories and traditions."

Programming? The Boondoggle delivers programming? Worth over a $1 million? Who counted the number of guests? Who measured the alleged economic growth bought with that more than a million dollars of programming?

And then several pages later we come to yet one more unfortunate J.D. Granger quote. "As we move forward with the construction of Panther Island, it's important we embrace Fort Worth's rich history and memorialize it on the banks of the Trinity River."

So, Mr. Granger thinks it is important to embrace Fort Worth's rich history? Well, on the bluff, at the north edge of downtown Fort Worth, across the street from the Tarrant County Courthouse there is a park built to honor Fort Worth's rich heritage and history, called, appropriately, Heritage Park. Heritage Park has walkways which over look the imaginary Panther Island and the rest of the Boondoggle's messes.

Heritage Park has been a boarded up eyesore for years.

So much for paying propaganda lip service to memorializing Fort Worth's rich history on the banks of the Trinity River, which Heritage Park over looks.

Continuing on with our wade through The Boondoggle's propaganda we come to some interesting alleged facts about the Trinity Trails.

Again there is mention made of those user-requests. This time it is 90 user-requested trail improvements. Of these propaganda claims two stick out to me. 21 connected parks? Are there that many parks in all of Fort Worth, let alone being connected by some means? 31 connected neighborhoods? There are 31 neighborhoods in Fort Worth? And they are connected by trails? Or canoes?

And then, finally, we come to my favorite item in this surplus of absurd propaganda, Changes in 2015 for Gateway Park.

The strangest part of this info about Gateway Park is at the bottom, in small print, where it says "Gateway Park is a product of the Trinity River Vision."

A product?

In addition to learning Gateway Park is a product of The Boondoggle we also learn the Gateway Park product may be getting some new pedestrian bridges, picnic pavilions, canoe launches and a trailhead.

Along with more benches and tables, security lighting, restrooms and trails.

Additional restrooms? The only modern restroom facility in Gateway Park is in the softball complex, and it is locked unless there are games being played. Fort Woof in Gateway Park is served by outhouses, as is the soccer fields and other areas of Gateway Park, which, might I add, has picnic facilities, but, like most Fort Worth parks, no running water.

I will believe any of these "changes" in Gateway Park when I see them. Additional trails? Does this mean the trails damaged by flooding caused by Hurricane Hermine are finally going to be fixed?

Do these Gateway Park changes include fixing the park's Trinity River boardwalks? I blogged about those eyesores twice in September, the west boarded up boardwalk in A Moving Look At One Of Fort Worth's Boarded Up Gateway Park Boardwalks, the east boarded up boardwalk in Boardwalking In Fort Worth's Gateway Park Hunting For Endorphins & Copperheads. Both bloggings have video showing the decrepit condition of the boardwalks.

Also in September, in a blogging titled A Walk Through The Forest Of Trinity River Vision Gateway Park Master Plan Propaganda, I blogged about the bizarre TRV Boondoggle installation of signage by Fort Woof in Gateway Park, touting the imaginary wonders The Boondoggle will bring to Gateway Park. Also with video.

Back to today's 28 page piece of TRV Boondoggle propaganda. How much does it cost to print a publication like this? Does anyone know of any other public works projects, like The Boondoggle, that send out quarterly reports like this to the voters who have never voted on the public works project which really is not a public works project due to the fact the public has never voted for it?

Does the Dallas version of the Trinity River Vision send out quarterly reports? If they did, at least that vision has something to show, like that cool Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, which actually is a signature bridge.

I did make note of the fact that in its latest propaganda production The Boondoggle has ceased referring to its Three Bridges Over Nothing as being "signature" bridges which would become iconic Fort Worth images.

Ironically, I think there is a chance Fort Worth's Three Bridges Over Nothing may become iconic, but not in a way that will make the Fort Worth Boondogglers happy....

UPDATE: TRWD Board Member, Mary Kelleher, commented about the TRV Boondoggle's mailer on Facebook.....

TRV Mailer:

As a TRWD board member, I'm embarrassed by this mailer!! Durango is correct....it is pure propaganda!

This TRV project is all about economic development not flood control. There are actually plans to lower the levees in some areas so the public would have easier access to the Trinity River. The FW 7th Street area recently experienced flooding with just a few inches of rain due to increased development in the area. Imagine if the levees are lowered and we get a real flood?!

And Gateway Park on the east side of FW is now designated as a flood overflow area. You know why? Because the people on the west side of FW fought against it and won.

There is so much unpermitted construction in the flood plain and floodway that even the best engineer in the world can predict what will happen the next time the Trinity River gets out of its banks. I especially fear for the safety of FW residents south and east of the Trinity River, even into Arlington!

In addition, neither the reason for this mailer nor the request for funds to finance this mailer was presented before the TRWD board. I plan to ask for the cost associated with this mailer. Most of us know the likelihood of me getting that information though!

Our water supply is challenged by our existing infrastructure. Where do we plan to get the water to support the masses of people this project hopes to attract?!

One last thought!
YOU CAN'T DRINK MONEY!

The Fort Worth Emperor Has No Clothes On Its Imaginary Island

Stay with me as you read this, eventually I go from Skagit County to Tarrant County and Fort Worth.

Yesterday the Skagit River in my old home zone had me trying to remember the name of a wetlands slough which runs through my old hometown of Burlington. Eventually I remembered it is called Gage's Slough.

Gage's Slough used to be a channel of the Skagit River when the river ran high in flood mode. In the early 1950s massive dikes were built along the Skagit River at the point where the river enters the flat zone of the Skagit Valley.

In the 1990s there were two serious Skagit River floods, two weeks apart. Then early in this century there was a flood which was thought to have possible catastrophic potential. As in the river was running so high it was flooding into Gage's Slough, threatening a large area with flooding, including the Cascade Mall zone. I recollect seeing this on CNN, with the report saying evacuation orders had been issued for parts of Burlington.

I recollect calling my brother's house when I heard this, due to his house being in the evacuation zone. My sister-in-law answered, told me that they'd been warned that they "might" have to evacuate. But, by the next day the danger had subsided, with no evacuations needed.

After the 1990s flood, and again after the flood early this century, there was talk of reviving an old Army Corps of Engineers plan to build a flood diversion channel along the route of Gage's Slough. There were many objections to this idea, mostly due to the amount of extremely valuable farmland that would be lost.

The Skagit River Flood Diversion Channel would have diverted flood water to Padilla Bay. By the Fort Worth definition of an island, this Skagit River Flood Diversion Channel would create a big island, an island surrounded by the Skagit River, the flood diversion channel and the Swinomish Channel which runs from Padilla Bay to Skagit Bay.

Also, by Fort Worth's definition of an island, the Skagit River Vision could call this body of land an island, even though no flood diversion channel has currently been built making it a pseudo island.

I like the name Fish Town Island for the Skagit River Vision's island.  Fish Town is an old settlement near the mouth of the North Fork of the Skagit River.

I do need to point out that it sort of would seem to be totally ridiculous to have an imaginary island where actual islands exist. Looking at the map above you can see several islands, including two big islands, Fidalgo and Whidbey. Even more islands, called the San Juans, pop up to the left of the area covered in the above map.

On Fidalgo Island there is a lake, Lake Erie, which has an island, one of the world's rare instances of a legitimate island on an island. You can see the island on an island on the left side of the map above, below the green area denoting Mount Erie Park.

Unlike Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's imaginary island,  Fish Town Island comes with a successful tourist town already installed called La Conner, with an actual iconic signature bridge connecting Fish Town Island with Fidalgo Island and the Swinomish Indian Reservation.

Above, that is La Conner's Rainbow Bridge, crossing the Swinomish Channel. Isn't that something? An actual iconic, signature bridge built  over actual water in about one year. In the little tourist town of La Conner, a town which needed no special "vision" to  see a bustling waterfront. It just came natural.

In fact there are two iconic, signature bridges in the area covered in the above map, the other being the Deception Pass Bridge, built over very treacherous fast moving tidal water in a little over a year.

In the Deception Pass Bridge Postcard, made from a photo taken while the bridge was under construction, every body of land you see is an island, Whidbey Island on the right, Fidalgo Island on the left, Pass Island in the middle of the bridge. I forget the name of the other island.

So, last night whilst I was enjoying a salubrious soak in the hot tub, enjoying the balmy night air, with occasional cooling jumps in the pool, it suddenly occurred to me that I am that boy totally perplexed by everyone singing the praises of the Emperor's beautiful clothes, with me seeing quite clearly that the Emperor is totally naked.

Sometimes I feel like I am the only boy in town who is not going along with the Emperor and his new clothes, with the Fort Worth version being going along with pretending that something which is not an island, is an island. I am sure I am not the only boy in town who can see that there is no island, that even if a ditch is ever dug under the Three Bridges Over Nothing, currently supposedly under construction, making a connection from the mainland, over the ditch, that this still is not an island.

I can not be the only boy in town who is able to see that this is just embarrassing. Every time I hear one of the Emperor's toadies mention "Panther Island" I cringe.

How is it that Fort Worth failed to learn the Sundance Square lesson? Where, for decades, Fort Worth confused its few tourists by putting signs all over its downtown pointing to Sundance Square, when there was no square, til recently, when a little plaza was built on one of the parking lots most tourists assumed was Sundance Square.

And now, in 2014, how is Fort Worth going to explain to its few tourists where Panther Island is? There are so many Trinity River Vision Boondoggle signs now which point the way to Panther Island, where there is no island, and where, if that ditch ever does get dug, it still will not be an island, not by any sane person's definition of an island. Or anyone who has actually seen an actual island.

The Emperor has no clothes. This is a fact. An undeniable truth. Panther Island is not an island.

Fort Worth really needs to knock this type stuff off and quit embarrassing itself.

And once Fort Worth quits embarrassing itself someone needs to explain, coherently, how in the world the project timeline for Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing can take four years? Way longer than actual complex feats of bridge engineering, including Fort Worth's own Paddock Main Street Bridge. Built over the Trinity River a century ago, in way less than four years.

I say it again, the Emperor has no clothes. There is no such thing as Panther Island.....

Today I Learned Mommy Ethan & Grandpa Had Been At Village Creek Park Where There Is No Statue Of Liberty

My handlebars are pointing at a real good clue as to where they are located.

A boy named Ethan, well, I assume Ethan is a boy, chalked a message saying "Mommy Ethan Grandpa Village Creek Park".

Yes, my handlebars were in Arlington at the Village Creek Natural Historical Area for my semi-regular Sunday wheel rolling with the Indian Ghosts who haunt this location.

According to the weather predictors today is the last day before the arrival of a Big Chill on Monday, dropping the temperature from today's near 80 to tomorrow's below freezing.

I suspect the strong wind that I was biking against today is associated with the incoming cold. The strong wind I was biking against today was not anywhere near as gusty as that which blew in my old home zone yesterday. Wind speeds in the 70 mph zone in the north end of Puget Sound.

I first learned of yesterday's Big Blow this morning via a picture of Seattle's Statue of Liberty getting hit by big waves. Usually Seattle's Statue of Liberty has a good buffer between where it stands and waves crashing on Alki Point Beach.

I then checked the West Seattle Blog and saw a lot of pictures of Puget Sound being wilder than I ever remember seeing it. I blogged about this on my Washington Blog in a blogging titled A Showstopper Storm Surge Slaps Waves at Seattle's Alki Point Statue of Liberty. That blogging has a picture of Seattle's Statue of Liberty under yesterday's water siege, along with a link to the West Seattle Blog.

There is a Statue of Liberty in Dallas, at Fair Park. The Dallas Statue of Liberty is never in any danger of getting hit by a storm surge....

Saturday Wheel Rolling In Gateway Park Before Town Talking Texas Grapefruit

For the first time in a long time I was back at my favorite Saturday photo op location in Gateway Park, prior to a visit to Town Talk.

Damage from a windstorm way back in late September, or was it early October, was the start of a long Gateway Park bike riding drought.

I saw the remains of a lot of chainsawed fallen trees today.

And the carpet of fallen leaves obliterated the trail in multiple locations, making the wheel rolling a bit more challenging than it is on a leaf free trail.

Post Thanksgiving Saturday at Town Talk was the most un-busy I've ever seen Town Talk on a Saturday.

Today's Town Talk Treasure Hunting yielded 6 cases of yogurt, 2 bags of Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit, extra sharp white cheddar cheese, 8 bags of beans, tofu, onions, carrots and bacon.

One thing I learned today was it is not an easy task to handle 6 cases of yogurt. That and I prefer my bike trails to be free of leaves.

Yesterday I Found A Long Lost Treasure Of Texas Bashing

Recently, if I remember right, I made mention of the fact that Google in the past few days has caused me to open every webpage that exists inside my durangotexas.com domain.

I did not realize, or remember, that some of those webpages are well over a decade old, with me having little memory of making them.

One of those webpages is titled Texas Bashing.

I do not remember how or by what means, but somehow I solicited comments bashing and counter-bashing Texas. Why would anyone have found this webpage bashing Texas and then react with comments?

Even stranger, apparently at some point the Texas Bashing website was used by another website, called plastic.com, in an article about bashing Texas. People then reacted with comments to the plastic.com article, which I then added to the Texas Bashing webpage. Clicking on plastic.com I found that website no longer exists, and so I did not turn it into an active link.

Below are a few examples of comments on the Texas Bashing webpage. On the Texas Bashing webpage I add my own comment to each comment. I can tell by my counter comments that early on in my adjustment to the culture shock of Texas I was much harsher in my opinionating than I am nowadays, well over a decade later...

I've lived in Texas (Austin, arguably "not really Texas") for six years. In Texas, you can buy Texas-shaped pasta, Texas-shaped tortilla chips, and Texas-shaped cheese in any grocery store. If you market beer or trucks in Texas, chances are your jingles appeal to Texas pride and have the word "Texas" in it at least five times. I don't know of any other state that's so insular and into itself. As somewhat of an outsider, I find it fascinating. Can you buy food products that come in the shape of your state? (Colorado and Wyoming, you don't count.) This is not a rhetorical question, I really want to know.

And.....

Where I grew up (Oklahoma), Texas-bashing was a favorite pastime. Why do people like to insult Texas? Because the average Texan will happily tell everyone they meet that "we're the only state that was once a separate country". Like that's something to be proud of? We also didn't appreciate being considered 'North Texas' by a lot of people (especially Texans).

Plus what may be my favorite comment...

Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Heaven, God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired of God, "Where have you been?" God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael, look what I've made." Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?" "It's a planet," replied God," and I've put Life on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of balance." "Balance?", inquired Michael, still confused. God explained,  pointing to different parts of earth, "For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth while southern Europe is going to be poor; the Middle East over there will be a hot spot. Over there I've placed a continent of white people and over there is a continent of black people." God continued, pointing to different countries. "This one will be extremely hot and arid." The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a large land mass and said, "What's that one?" "Ah," said God. "That's Texas, the most glorious place on Earth. There are beautiful mountains, lakes, rivers, sunsets and rolling plains. The people from Texas are going to be modest, intelligent, and humorous and they are going to be found traveling the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, and high-achieving, and they will be known all throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace," Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then proclaimed, "what about balance, God? You said there would be balance!" God replied wisely, "Wait until you see the crazy bunch I'm putting next to them in Louisiana.

A Late In The Day Tandy Hills Hike Has Me Pondering Why Downtown Fort Worth Is A Ghost Town Today

An observant person might look at the photo you see here and deduce, due to the long shadow, that the Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man had himself a late in the afternoon Black Friday hill hike today.

That observant person would have deduced correctly.

The Tandy Hills looks different late in the day than it looks under the more direct noon day sun. I rather liked seeing the sun so low on the horizon, creating dark shadows where usually I see no shadows.

During my regular hiking time today I was busy doing my Black Friday shopping. It took me about 15 minutes to complete this year's Christmas shopping.

Speaking of Christmas shopping, and who isn't, when the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth came in to view I stopped to snap the picture you see below.

Last year, on the day after Thanksgiving, I drove to downtown Fort Worth to document the least busy big city downtown in America on the busiest shopping day of the year. I doubt there were any more shoppers in downtown Fort Worth today, since there still are no big stores in downtown Fort Worth. Let alone any vertical malls.

Yesterday Google caused me to happen to look at the Green With Envy webpage I long ago made, documenting numerous instances of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram claiming some totally ordinary thing about Fort Worth was making the rest of the world green with envy, or the envy of other towns far and wide.

It had been so long since I'd looked at the Green With Envy webpage that I'd forgotten how many instances of that bizarre propaganda I'd seen. And I'd totally forgotten about all the amusing comments from people equally perplexed.

Near as I can tell the Star-Telegram never fesses up to any of its tom foolery of the propaganda sort. Whether it's a big headline announcing the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, with the headline saying this would turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South.

No, you reading this who have actually been to Vancouver, I am not making this up.

Or the Star-Telegram's bizarre claim that a lame little development called the Santa Fe Rail Market was the first public market in Texas, and that it was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market and public markets in Europe. I knew when I read it that this lame development was not the first public market in Texas, having been to the Dallas Farmers Market, but then I was appalled to learn that this lame development was not even the first public market in Fort Worth.

Any mea culpa apology from the Star-Telegram?

Nope.

And then there was the Cabela's Boondoggle. The Star-Telegram trumpeted over and over again that this sporting goods store would be the #1 tourist attraction in Texas. A short time later another Cabela's opened, in Buda, by Austin. And now the Fort Worth Cabela's is not even the only Cabela's in the D/FW Metroplex.

Any mea culpa apology from the Star-Telegram?

Nope.

Lately the Star-Telegram has been going along with the local propagandists' touting that due to some totally bogus "award" that Fort Worth has the TOP Downtown in America. It did not take much digging to find the award submission that was submitted by the Fort Worth propagandists was full of absurd claims, ridiculous lies, such as claiming that downtown Fort Worth's new little plaza attracts millions of visitors a year. Sort of like the imaginary millions attracted to that #1 sporting goods store tourist attraction.

Today is the day which renders this TOP Downtown in America nonsense totally absurd. Like I have already said, on the busiest shopping day of the year downtown Fort Worth is a ghost town. How can the Top Downtown in America have zero department stores, few places to shop?

The town I lived in before moving to Texas, Mount Vernon, has a downtown about the same size as Fort Worth's. With a much bigger river. Mount Vernon's population is around 30,000. Fort Worth's is around 800,000.

When I was growing up, in Burlington, across the river, north of Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon was the Big City in the valley. Downtown Mount Vernon had a Penney's, a Sears, a Woolworth's and a Montgomery Wards, along with multiple other stores. And a couple grocery stores.

In the 1990s all of downtown Mount Vernon's department stores headed north, to Burlington. My old hometown became the retail hub of the Skagit Valley, with a mall, outlet center, Costco, K-mart,  Fred Meyer, Target, new grocery stores. Even a Krispy Kreme.

Is this what happened to downtown Fort Worth? I know there used to be a department store in downtown Fort Worth called Leonard's.

Would it not be a more appropriate behavior if the Star-Telegram, rather than touting absurd claims that just are not true, instead editorialized reality based ideas about Fort Worth? Such as what could Fort Worth do to actually turn its downtown into one of the Top Downtown's in America?

Things like fix the Heritage Park Eyesore. Things like making it appealing to live in downtown Fort Worth. Things like figuring out why downtown Fort Worth has no department stores. Or grocery stores. Things like figuring out why downtown Fort Worth is a ghost town on the busiest shopping day of the year....

Today's Totally Tacky Look At Texas Will Not Include A Visit To Black Friday's Loneliest Downtown In America

The past few days Google has had me motivated to do something I have not done in years. As in open all the webpages that exist under my durangotexas.com domain.

We are talking hundreds upon hundreds of webpages. Some of which were initially made late in the previous century, as in early on in my Exile in Texas.

One of the webpages that I had not looked at in years is titled Totally Tacky Texas.

Apparently before I found myself adjusted to the Texas culture shock I found a lot of things that I came across to be a bit tacky. This all seems quaint to me now, like I was operating out of my naive innocence, or something like that.

One of the tacky things I made note of is still being tacky all these years later, that being the long abandoned eyesore in the Fort Worth Stockyards called the New Isis Theater.

The blurb I wrote about the New Isis Theater sort of sounds like the type stuff I am still saying, all these years later....

The example of Texas Tacky to your left is in Fort Worth's Stockyards. There is an abandoned theater on Main Street in the heart of the Stockyard's 'Historical District' called, ironically, the 'New Isis'. This theater appears to have long been abandoned, broken windows covered with plywood as per the Fort Worth standard for abandoned buildings. To add to the tackiness semi-current messages are put on the marquee. On one side the sign says 'Welcome to the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards', while the other side announces 'Christmas in the Stockyards', which would be fine, except this sign still says this, on the first day of spring, 2002, well after Christmas. It is difficult to understand how a major city would allow such an eyesore to exist in the heart of its main claim to tourist fame. Particularly an eyesore with such renovation possibilities. Where is the civic pride? Perhaps a city government group could be sent to other towns to see how they manage to fix such problems. Any of the tourist towns in Washington state would suffice, or any of the tourist towns on Highway 49 in California. Or any of the tourist towns in Colorado, Utah, Arizona or New Mexico. Or just stay in Texas and find out how the town of Archer City managed to renovate their town's famous theater.

If I were to update Totally Tacky Texas in 2014 I would need to add the eyesore that Fort Worth's Heritage Park has become. Along with some of that which the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle has wrought, like the shoddy looking Cowtown Wakepark, the also shoddy looking Coyote Drive-In, and let's not forget that also shoddy location where The Boondoggle has its Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats, with its outhouses and over all junky looking layout.

I think I'd also add Arlington's Dallas Cowboy Stadium to a 2014 update of Totally Tacky Texas. Sticking a stadium at that location, with urban blight on two of its four sides, across the street  from a Super Walmart, not to mention the outrageously tacky abuse of eminent domain which was used to take the land upon which the stadium sprouted, is all very tacky.

Well, all this tacky talk has brought me to the time of day where I am off to do something tacky, as in participate in the Black Friday mayhem. But I won't be Having Fun Looking For Black Friday Shoppers Today In Downtown Fort Worth like I did a year ago today....