A Business That Means Business

Each of us drive by some place every day and notice it as a frequent landmark. We also see it as being mundane of little interest other than we know it's there as we pass.

With all the conflict in the world today and basically business ethics out the window, when you see a frequent, be it mundane at best, business that actually does what it says...it's no longer mundane and can even be comical in addition to being refreshing.

Such was the situation early this morning as I made my way to drive under the new bridge at the entrance of T&P Hill where the old metal trestle was replaced with a new hike and bike trail bridge yesterday. 

Unexpectedly, clouds move in with a brisk breeze and the smell of a few raindrops falling. It was a delight just to be out and have the temperature at 75 and not 80 where it has been stuck most of the month as our overnight low. As I come down 78 Garland Road, I passed a tire rental business next to Keller's Hamburgers. I was noticing the neat buntings Keller's had hanging out on their railings for the Fourth of July when I see this car in the parking lot next door sitting on cinder blocks. All four tires were gone. Then, I see the name of the business and broke out in a laughter like I haven't done in years. It just struck me as funny. Admittedly, not knowing the circumstances behind the car sitting in their lot, I turned around and came back around to get a couple of shots. In the process, I had the thought that Gee, here is a business that does what it advertises!! The proof sat right there on cinder blocks. Refreshing and I had a good laugh from it all.

The Business That I Admire For Doing What There Sign Says.

The culprit that broke me into a good laugh.

T

The Proof Is In The Pudding!

North Dallas Stuck In Traffic for 11 Hours

It started about 04:30 this morning when a tanker truck carrying highly flammable liquids started the arch-curve on the 4th-tier of Dallas High Five Interchange, one of the busiest in the nation. It was then, that the unthinkable happened. The tanker flipped over on its side up against the barrier wall.

With highly flammable liquids leaking out in humid weather that had not dipped below 80-degrees overnight, it didn't take long for police and fire department to do a unthinkable for a second time this morning and  shut down the Dallas High 5 in all directions. Haz-mat crews sprayed foam on the leaking material and an aerial ladder from the department was dispatched to get a stream of cooling water onto the tanker to keep the temperature down and hopefully from exploding. The aerial ladder could reach over the barrier wall of the 4-th tier ramp with not much room to spare, but firemen were able to direct the flow of water from their perch at the top of the ladder onto the tanker.

With the hour of the day prime for morning commuting to be underway, it didn't take long for the back-up of traffic to begin filling all lanes in all four directions. The back-up quickly stretched for not 2 or 3-miles, but  5, then 6, then 7 and nearing 8 going west bound out of Garland and Mesquite into Dallas' major distribution warehouses, package delivery services and DFW and related aviation workers heading into work, not to mention the offices and businesses that are staffed by so many in the Metroplex.

As the morning moved onward with sunrise, rising temperatures and cars idling for hours, not minutes, people stuck and pinned-in with miles of traffic if not in front of them, then certainly, it was miles and miles behind them. Some humor came out of the moment when a food truck stuck in traffic like everyone else, got out and opened up shop right in the center of the High Five at I-635 LBJ and US-75.

When I finished at the pharmacy with some issues with meds, the car just kind of on its own headed down Spring Valley toward 75. A Richardson policeman was picking up cones that he had placed on both sides of his car where he had been blocking the entrance to the service road going toward the High Five. With that almost like a green light, I headed to ground zero. Parking in my favorite spot at the high five, I had a good view of the wrecker with the tanker in tow and the Ha

Wrecker with tanker in tow

Haz-mat crew

The accident was on the 4th tier. The green colums support tier 5 above. There are level 3 and 2 below with level 1 being grade. There are also Express Lanes and HOVs up there, too!

z-mat crews there to begin even more clean up. Tonight at 10:30, 18-hours later, the crews are still cleaning up where the material had leaked down over three more tiers of roadway.

The design of the High Five was not at fault. Nor was the problems from a shut-down. It's one of those things with many, many variables that had to come together for another day like this one in Dallas Traffic.Tonight, the High Five is doing what it was designed to d0, move traffic.

I Love Finding How The City Invest in Public Art

Sundays in the summer are beyond the festivals of spring and to early to be seeing fall festivals appear on the horizon. That means that during the summer months its a "find-what-you-can-where-you-can" type adventure. I've got my little route down to a science. The lake used to be one of my favorite places for this but it has become so bad with king-of-the-road Lance pants who just as soon run over you with their bikes as to look at you. Being a biker myself for a number of years, I always gave them the nod even if they were a bit gray on the rules of the road, but then it got worse. I did talk to the Park Ranger that I know and basically he said that his hands are tied. Image that. It's a city PR thing. They want the people to be happy in the park and you can't correct them in fear that they might revolt on social media and you loose your job. I heard a sermon on the radio a couple of weeks ago that some what implied that the anti-Christ could very well be social media and I had to think about that for a long while. It's certainly has enough substance don't you know.

Anyhow! my little Sunday morning treasure hunt turned up some gems today. I share them with you here.

Woman Walking Her Dog

Playing cards at an outdoor table.

Hard Hat Left on a Fire Hydrant.

At A Recreation Center in North Dallas

Demolition Nearly Over

Enjoyed talking with one of the supervisors at the job site today. I mentioned that they seem to be on schedule to finish up soon and he confirmed that the work is pretty much over after the concrete post are reduced to dust and twisted rebar. Today, if you were on Shiloh Road and looked toward Route 78 Garland Road, the view was unobstructed for the first  time in nearly 6 decades.

It's sad that Garland could not have found some use for that building as part of their new Gateway Project. It was an iconic building from a architectural point of view.

One scoop for the metal recyclers

One scoop for the landfill

Chew, chew, all done!!

 

Short Post and Demolition Update

It's late and with the intense heat (90 degrees at 11p.m.) everyone is inside watching movies, playing video games or any other way that causes AT&T to cut the bandwidth! What normally takes a couple of minutes is taking what seems like hours tonight.

With the worse of the heat days to be tomorrow (Saturday), I went to Aldi's to fill in a couple of things that if I would run out of anything, I'd have enough to get by until Monday, which is supposed to be a "normal temperature for this time of year, or about 87 degrees and the humidity and dew points will be lower.

Before coming in , I ran by the old Hypermart to check on the demolition progress. The entrance canopies have been dropped except for the west end. Slowly, it's disappearing and a bit of history goes with it each day.

The two center entrances have been cleared of their canopies. The other one looks just like this.

The west end entrance still stands

The  east end entrance

 In closing, I can't believe that today is the first of June already and we have had 12 days of 96 degrees. The drought report shows North Texas in moderate drought conditions again. It isn't set in cement but it looks like a l-o-n-g hot supper already.
 

DeHavilland CV-28 Caribou

Navi

Formation Take-off

Friendly Wave From The Pilot

It was a thrill to see this Vietnam era cargo and paratroup aircraft taxing on the runway at Addison Airport on Sunday. There were several others, but this one was such a trill to see on a runway and taxiway and not in the Museum.

Check out the Cavanaugh Flight Museum at http://www.cavflight.org

DeHavilland CV-28 Caribou Troop Jump, cargo, med evac.

Navy Trainer

New Sub-Culture of Creativity

It's not been a slow process. In fact, it has been a rather rapid development in a sub-culture. That culture is of the new industry Rent-and Leave Anywhere bike program. The program started last fall and quickly grew into 5-figures of bikes around the city doing just what the title directed. Rent, then leave anywhere. And the riders did! Thus, the new sub-culture of creativity.

I've talked to several of the guys that are employed to wrangle the bicycles from all over and put them back into service were they are needed. One of the workers told me that he had one on top of a telephone pole. One, was up in a tree---a fairly big tree at that. And, of course, the downside of creativity is destruction. Bike locks have been broken allowing anyon, especially the homeless, to ride the bikes for free anywhere. Seats have been damaged, tire wheel rims have been run over by cars. Pretty much, anything you can think of including the element of surprise called, "biking". That being where a dozen or so of your friends (room to debate that one) rode bikes over to your front lawn and deposited them in said yard.

Today, while looking for something besides crowded parks and BBQ smoke, I came across a rather "cute" creativity mark that I have not seen. And, of course, those are never where they are handy to photograph. This one was on a median island upside down resting on its seat and handle bars. No harm done to the bike (Lime Bike is thankful for that) but making a statement none-the-less.

Making a statement one way or another? Or is it just creativity with no harm done?

The cost of this stunt to Lime Bike is very minimal and I know that they are thankful for that.

At the end of this week, the arches are still standing to the Hypermart USA, the precursor to the Walmart Super Centers.The store closed in May of 2008 and Walmart opened a new super center 2-miles away as the crow flies. The 26-acre site has sat empty since the closing. City of Garland has purchased the property for a Gateway Projecdt for the city.