Smelling Roses In Arlington's Veterans Park And A Bigger Stink In Fort Worth's MHMR Of Tarrant County

I had to be in Pantego today. Pantego is close to Arlington's Veterans Park. Which had me deciding to go walking in Veterans Park before going to Pantego.

Upon arrival at Veterans Park and exiting my motor transport device I was immediately hit with air heavily perfumed by roses.

It was like being stuck on an elevator with someone with way too much perfume or cologne. Only not annoying.

Those are the smelly roses in the picture, below the waving flags and the soldier guarding them.

I am starting to get ever more annoyed at the Mental Health Mental Retardation of Tarrant County people who make comments regarding the Paradise Center Scandal. I don't mean to be too rude, but they are so incredibly stupid.

One of the issues in this scandal is the fact that the Paradise Center was an independent operation, which MHMR helped. MHMR represented itself as running the operation, which is not true. Then MHMR staged their February 17 coup d'etat, kicking out the Paradise Center and putting their possessions in a storage container.

In the Anonymous comment below, the Anonymous MHMR moron is bragging about all that MHMR is doing to the old Paradise Center. Which begs the question, if the Paradise Center was a MHMR operation why were these good things not done previously, if the quality of the Paradise Center's stuff was so trashy?

Below is the comment I'm talking about, and then below that I do more commenting.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Fort Worth's Paradise Center Scandal Now Has A Blog":

No it was not a April Fool's joke. Adults I am around "act like Adults" amd we do not play childish April Fools jokes. We have better things to do with our "Time". Yes, it is true that the new Drop In Center is Upgrading the old Paradise Center Building. Yes, Sam's Club is bringing supplies to us. With the cost of gasoline it is cost effective to have it delivered. The "old couches" were heavily used and Steve (Teresa's Davis husband) had put stacks of boards under the middle of the couches which didn't help much, and definitely made them look "trashy". New couches are ordered to replace the "junk". My understanding MHMRTC actually purchased those and that is why they are still there and not in storage. MHMRTC is replacing them with couches that will hold up to alot of wear, that will hold up to people flopping down on them, and accommodate heavy clients as well. The PROS brag alot, but, it has now been six weeks and Teresa Davis, her so called board, has accomplished very little. Let's see you act like "grownups" and rent your own storage building, rent you a Uhaul and put your own "dumpsters best" items in storage.

Has it occurred to MHMR people that maybe the Paradise Center's lawyers have told them not to touch the stuff that MHMR took possession of and placed in a POD storage container?

Today on the Paradise Center Scandal blog I compiled all the comments to that blog from the past 3 days. It is a daunting task to do that. If I don't figure out an easier way I don't think I'll be doing any  more comment compiling.

A Windy Visit With The Soldier In Arlington's Veterans Park

As you can see in the picture of the soldier standing guard at the Veterans Park Memorial in Arlington the blue sky of this morning became cloudy by noon.

And windy.

It is 3 in the afternoon now, with a brighter sky, heated to 72, with no return to total blue.

A possible Thunderstorm is scheduled for later today.

We are due for a Thunderstorm in these Thunderstorm prone parts.

Swimming went well this morning. The water has now warmed to a level where a long stay in the pool does not result in an hour of intense shivering.

I think I may be going for another swim. I am scheduled to go over to Miss Puerto Rico's at 4.

Taking A Hike On A Texas Desert In Arlington

Looking at the picture you might think you are looking at an isolated Texas desert landscape with civilization hundreds of mile distant.

You would be thinking wrong.

In the picture you are in Arlington, looking west, in Veterans Park, in the rugged, hilly area of the park.

The air chilled to just a few degrees above freezing by this morning. It has warmed to 51 now.

Because we got into the 80s yesterday, even though it got near freezing, the water in my swimming pool was at a temperature well above the air temperature this morning. In other words I had a nice long swim.

Being able to be back swimming again has quickly melted away that layer of insulative blubber that I'd grown due to way too much weather caused sloth.

I've gotten multiple reports of snow woes from Washington yesterday and today. People living in the lowlands of Western Washington handle snow about as well as North Texans do. As in not too well.

Ironically, I've gotten way more practice dealing with severe Winter Weather in Texas than I did living way up north near the Canadian border.

As you can see by looking at the flags not waving in front of the soldier who stands guard over the Veterans Park Memorial, it is being dead calm out there today. Absolutely no Wind Chill Factor.

A Soldier Under A Stormy Looking Arlington Sky With Me Botching Spaghetti With Kettle Korn

Today I stopped at Veterans Park in Arlington on my way to Pantego to go to ALDI.

The picture I took of the soldier guarding the Veterans Park Memorial makes it appear way stormier than it actually was. A very strong wind was blowing around noon, coming from the south.

I did not like walking in the wind, so I did not walk for long.

On weekends there are a lot of groups playing Disc Golf at Veterans Park.

I really think Disc Golf should have its own park, instead of being in a mixed use park. I nearly got hit by one of those hard spinning discs today, likely blown far from where its thrower intended it to go by the strong wind.

When I got back here from ALDI I made lunch. Spaghetti. I was in superfast cook mode, which caused me to grab the wrong thing when I reached for garlic powder. Instead I sprinkled Kettle Korn Seasoning into the spaghetti sauce. I thought this would ruin it. But it didn't.

Speaking of Kettle Korn Seasoning, if you like Kettle Korn, but don't like the amount of fat and sugar involved, you can make do it yourself Kettle Korn that tastes just like the real thing.

With the Kettle Korn Seasoning only adding 5 calories per 1/4 teaspoon.

Of course, I don't need to tell you to make air-popped popcorn and spray it with butter-flavored non-stick/fat-free spray so the Kettle Korn Seasoning will stick to the popcorn.

Enduring A Cacophony Of Noise At Arlington's Veterans Park Today Along With Mellow Turtles

I was in Arlington around noon, heading to Pantego. I decided to stop at Arlington's Veterans Park and take a walk through the Texas Wildscape.

A lot of people were having some fun today in Veterans Park, enjoying temperatures in the 70s.

Being in the 70s is a huge difference from a week ago when we were all busy preparing to plunge down to near zero.

Today in the Veterans Park Pond I saw a lot of very happy turtles, with their necks stretched out trying to get as much sun as possible.

The Fosdic Lake Turtles are very skittish. The Veterans Park Pond Turtles are not skittish. I got right to the water's edge and still no turtles got spooked, with none diving under water. Maybe the turtles are so happy to be out of that Deep Freeze that they are temporarily throwing caution to the wind.

Veterans Park Pond is a noisy location due to a fountain. And today due to the return of a Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Rig that was making an awful lot of screechy, metallic racket. Maybe the Veterans Park Pond Turtles are traumatized by all that noise and that is why they paid no attention to the human intruder.

Above you can see the noisy gas drilling rig in the background. Today the Veterans Park Veteran, who guards the memorial, was hanging his head down a bit lower than I remembered. I think the gas drilling noise is getting on his nerves. Or reminding him too much of being in a combat situation.

Looking at the flags at the Veterans Park Memorial, you can see there is a good wind today, doing some heavy duty flag flapping.

Also adding to the Veterans Park noise today was a large number of screaming brats, I mean, school children. They were in purple uniforms. They looked too young to be going to TCU. An adult male was directing them in a stirring game of Red Rover. I heard him say, "Red Rover, come over," or something like that.

I don't know if I have ever played the Red Rover game. Judging by the squealing and screaming this is a very fun game to play. When you are pre-teenager.

Taking A Long Walk Under A Blue Sky On Arlington's Veterans Park Boardwalk

The early morning cloudy gray sky soon gave way to blue. I prefer my sky to be blue and not gray.

I had to be in Pantego today. Being in Pantego gave me a perfect opportunity to take a long walk on the boardwalk in Arlington's Veterans Park.

Ahead of me on the boardwalk, where it takes a left, there was a little kid screaming at his dad because the kid was sure there was a troll hiding under the boardwalk. I think the dad was egging the kid on about the troll.

I told the kid I'd seen no trolls, just snakes.

How was I to know the kid was more scared of snakes than trolls?

There is a lot of work being done on Veterans Park. There was a "Bridge Closed For Construction" sign. But I saw no construction on the already constructed bridge.

The playground equipment has been removed with the new playground construction underway. The previous playground equipment was quite nice, so this new playground is likely going to be spectacular.

Unlike Fort Worth's parks, the Arlington parks have restrooms of the modern sort, with indoor plumbing. Plus picnic facilities, with running water.

If you live within 20 miles, give or take a mile or two, of Arlington's Veterans Park it is worth a look. The park has a variety of hiking choices, a Xeriscape to show you what you can grow in a low water Texas climate. A composting exhibit that shows you what you can do constructively with your lawn clippings. And a disc golf course where you can dodge flying discs.