Shadow Of The Lucy Park Thin Man Keeping Warm

That is the Shadow of the Lucy Park Thin Man you are seeing, attired adequately to keep warm whilst walking the chilly Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle.

Sweatpants and a long-sleeved t-shirt for the first time in a long long time.

The return of cooler temperatures has not been happening long enough to return cold tapwater to being cold, hence a lukewarm shower this morning, when I was hoping the ground had cooled enough to cool the water.

Chilly Wichita Bluff Nature Area Hiking

Not a cloud to be seen in the totally clear blue sky, today, whilst hiking in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

The temperature was chilled into the 50s, after chilling to the low 40s, overnight. A breeze made the chill feel chillier.

I saw multiple instances of the late blooming yellow wildflower you see above. The blooming bush looked like some sort of mutant caused by a dandelion mating with a sunflower.

I was in shorts and a t-shirt for today's outdoor time. I should have been in sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt.

I must adjust to the return of the cold time of the year...

Cold Front Brings Big Chill To Texas

The predicted cold front arrived in Texas a day earlier than predicted, with my interior space naturally cooled this morning way cooler than I cool my interior space with the mechanized air conditioning method of keeping cool.

71 degrees, indoors, 46 degrees outdoors, currently.

Apparently today is the coldest it has been in Texas for over six months, as in, apparently it has not been this cold since last April.

What with the temperature being only 14 degrees above freezing, the first freeze of the coming frigid time of the year should be arriving soon.

I hope none of these freezes get to the below zero point, causing a state-wide loss of electricity again, like that nightmare a couple February's ago...

Celebrating Columbus Indigenous People's Day On The Lake Wichita Boardwalk

With this second Monday of the 2024 version of October chilled into the 60-degree range, pre-noon, it was to Lake Wichita I ventured on this clear blue-sky day, to commune with nature, including a walk on the Lake Wichita Boardwalk, which juts out into the lake from atop the Lake Wichita Dam.

I saw only a couple other celebrators on this Columbus Indigenous People's Day. And those celebrators were on bikes, a more sophisticated means of motion than my primitive walking means of motion.

The current Texas weather forecast is for a cold front to arrive on Thursday which will chill the entire state to the chilliest it has been in 6 months, with a low in the 50s and a high in the 70s.

I suspect come Thursday I will require blanket coverage all night long. Last night around three in the morning I felt the chilly need to seek limited blanket coverage via a thin throw blanket.

I have located my thick winter blankets, long underwear and sweatpants.

I am ready for incoming frigidity...

Microsoft Has Me Remember Seeing Mom & Dad This Century

A Microsoft OneDrive Memories from this Day email arrived late Saturday which had some photos which had me doing some hard core remembering. Or tying to remember.

What had me pondering, after seeing these photos, was trying to remember the times I saw my mom and dad, after I moved to Texas, late in the previous century.

The first two years in Texas I drove back to Washington four times, with the final time driving solo, back and forth, in a 30-day period in July/August of 2001. I drove to the PNW to be an unexpected arrival at my mom and dad's 50th Anniversary party. 

I remember, during that month in 2001, riding with mom and dad up to the Skagit Valley, one day, and another day I drove to their cabin at Lake Cushman, from whence dad drove us to Ocean Shores.

Shortly after my return to Texas, in October of 2001, mom and dad came to Texas to visit me for the first time. They'd been on a long roadtrip in their RV. 

The photos you see here were from that October 2001 visit. The first two photos are mom and dad in the Fort Worth Stockyards, with the first one, mom watching the Fort Worth Herd Trail Drive amble on by.

The second photo is sitting at the Stockyards Riscky's BBQ outdoor patio, having all you can eat BBQ ribs.

Mom and dad were watching local TV news in their RV and saw a story about a grand opening in Fort Worth. Mom always loved a good grand opening. When I saw them the next day I was quickly asked if I knew where the new Central Market was located. I confirmed that I did. Mom then asked if they could go to it, because today was their grand opening.

And here we see mom and dad leaving Central Market.

Upon arrival mom saw the long line of people waiting to get inside.

I got some of my scofflaw tendencies from my mom. Which is why it made perfectly clear sense to me when mom suggested we enter the store from where people were exiting, and not the long line entry. 

And so we did. It was fun going against the tide. Mom always loved an event with ample free samples.

I think the above photo is from the Dallas Farmers Market. We'd been to Dealey Plaza and the Book Depository Museum. Mom and dad were not too impressed with the Book Depository Museum, but they were all gungho at the Dallas Farmers Market.

Seeing these photos had me trying to remember all the times I saw my mom and dad this century.

After the 2001 visits in Washington, and in Texas, the next time I saw mom and dad was when I flew up to Washington in July of 2002, to go to a family reunion in Lynden.

The next time was in October of 2005. I am hazy on the details, but, I'd flown to Washington for some website thing, and on the return I was able to route to Phoenix and cause a five hour layover. I remember getting picked up at the airport, going to a McDonald's, then to mom and dad's place in Sun Lakes, for the first time. It was dark and I was totally disoriented. 

The previous year, in February of 2004, I'd flown up to Washington for a project with a chocolate purveyor. For the return to Texas, I was able to change my flight to flying out early, to Phoenix, keeping the original flight from Phoenix back to DFW. This made a 10 hour layover in Arizona.

I remember I was packed with a lot of chocolate products. And going to my sister's house in Chandler for the first time. Then touring Sun Lakes, looking for possible places for my mom and dad to move to. Then to an Applebee's Happy Hour, and then to an In 'n Out where I had two double double burgers.

By the time I got on the plane I was miserably stuffed and was so happy it was an almost empty flight, with me having the whole row to myself, so I could lay down.

The next time I saw my mom and dad was in April of 2006. I'd flown to Washington for my Favorite Nephew Jason's first wedding. The way back to Texas routed through Phoenix, so I was able to change the flight and get a four hour layover. Mom and dad and sister Jackie picked me up at the airport, with Jackie driving us to Tempe, to a Ruby Tuesday's, where Jackie and I regaled mom and dad with tales of the wedding we'd just been to. We watched the sun set from a park, and then it was back to the airport.

It would be over two years before I saw my mom and dad again. I flew up to Washington in late July of 2008, staying a month, doing all sorts of things. Staying in Tacoma. Mom and dad came up from Arizona and stayed several days.

And then, just a few months later, in January of 2009, mom and dad came to Texas again, for a week. 

I did not see mom and dad again until March of 2012.  I do not remember what the impetus was, but, I flew to Phoenix, stayed with mom and dad. I remember going to sister Jackie's for a BBQ, where Spencer Jack and Jason showed up. Spencer was around five at the time. 

That 2012 visit with mom and dad was the last, well, happy visit. I did not see them again until July of 2017, when I drove to Arizona after learning my dad was in bad shape. I stayed a month. Got back to Texas and soon found myself flying to Washington, where David, Theo and Ruby met me for the first time, picking me up at the airport. 

That was one long poignant week in Washington in 2017. I do not ever recollect ever being both so happy and so sad at the same time, before. After a week in Washington, I flew to Phoenix, for a week in Arizona, with mom and sister Jackie picking me up at the airport.

The next two years saw many trips back to Arizona, to stay with my mom. The last time was in July of 2019. I have not flown or roadtripped anywhere since then.

I'll end this with a photo of my dad, taken, I think, in the Fort Worth Stockyards. Seeing this I realize it is not too puzzling some suggest I look like my dad...

Scorching October Wichita Falls Texas Heat Wave

I thought we were done with this for the year, done getting heated over 100 degrees. I thought cooler temperatures were coming, according to the forecast a week or two ago.

But, this second Saturday of the 2024 version of October is scheduled to go over the century mark, temperature-wise.

The A/C has already cycled on a couple times, and it is not even yet past 9 in the morning....

Permanently Absentee Balloting In Texas

The envelope you see here arrived in my mailbox yesterday. In the envelope is my Absentee Ballot.

Being in Texas I had little confidence an Absentee Ballot application would succeed.

Whilst living in the state of Washington, if I remember correctly, I went to the permanent mail-in ballot method in the 1980s. Til moving to Texas I'd not voted in a polling location for decades.

I found voting in Texas to be a clunky experience. Often with long lines, such was the case with the last General Election. I first tried to vote in the Sikes Senter mall polling location. The line was hundreds of people deep. Drove to the next closest polling location. Same problem. So, drove to the downtown Wichita Falls polling location, found the line not quite so long, and so spent an hour or two waiting to vote.

To get an Absentee Ballot in Texas one first had to request, on-line, an Absentee Ballot request form.

You could not just fill this out on-line.

The form arrived in the mail.

The print on the form was small, the information to be filled in was a lot. I filled out the form, checking off the section which requested permanent Absentee Ballot status. I mailed the form to the Wichita County Elections Administrator. 

And a couple weeks later the Absentee Ballot showed up in my mailbox.

I have not yet opened the Absentee Ballot envelope. I am assuming there is a return mail envelope inside, already addressed.

I likely will get to stick stamps on the envelope.

I do not remember doing so when mailing ballots in Washington. 

In Washington there are ballot drop-boxes strategically placed in convenient locations...

Microsoft Remembering Salt River Canyon & Linda Lou's Arizona Visit

An email Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day that I remembered, which happens rarely. That, and this memory is from the month of October, though I do not remember the exact day.

It was in October of 2018, roadtripping from Texas to Arizona.

The stairway you see above was at a rest area, at a location on Arizona's Highway 66, between the Arizona towns of Show Low and Globe.

The rest area was at the bottom of a steep canyon. This rest area was more like a park than your regular highway rest area.

I did not remember the name of the canyon til I saw the photo I took of the rest area's welcome sign.

Salt River Canyon. 

A scenic canyon I'd never heard of before, in a state known for its scenic canyons.

The drive through Salt River Canyon took place in October of 2018, on the way to stay a month in an Airnb in Sun Lakes, the Phoenix suburb where my mom's house was located.

That was a memorable month. Hard to believe this was six years ago. Seems so recent.

Linda Lou flew south from Washington to spend a few days with us in the Airnb. It was a mighty fine time, driving mom, aka Miss Daisy, to Tortilla Flats, and to the summit of South Mountain, on roads which triggered Linda Lou's acrophobia.

Six years rushed by so fast. In another six years the year will be 2030.

I do not like time flying by ever faster...

Pleasantly Cool Lucy Park Jungle Walk

On this second Tuesday of the 2024 version of October it was back to Lucy Park I ventured for some salubrious nature communing via high-speed backwoods jungle endorphin inducing aerobic hiking.

The weather conditions were about as perfect as they can be, pleasantly chilled to the 70 degree range.

As you can see, via the photo documentation of the Lucy Park suspension bridge over the Wichita River, the green of the leaves is beginning to slightly fade, with more of a yellow tint starting to appear.

The first freeze of the Fall should be happening sometime next month, or maybe the big chill will wait until December. 

I look forward to replacing shorts with sweatpants for my outdoor activities.

I probably should go on a hunt for my stash of sweatpants, likely lurking somewhere in my cluttered closet...

Monday Morning Peaceful Bird Watching At Sikes Lake

On this first October Monday of 2024, it was to a dead calm Sikes Lake I ventured this morning for a salubrious endorphin inducing aerobic fast-paced walk around the lake.

The apparent lack of wind seemed to render Sikes Lake mirror-like, but there was a steady breeze blowing, which made for perfect outdoor activity conditions.

The above view is looking west, across the lake, from the east side of the lake. The below view is looking northeast from the north end of the lake.

The slight breeze is causing some rippling action, as that big white bird is perched on the lookout for a fish snack to swim by.

One frequently sees fish jumping out of the water trying to snatch a flying insect. I have only seen a bird catch a fish once, in Sikes Lake.