Memorial Day Wichita Bluff Nature Area Return

It was back to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area I ventured this Memorial Day. This time opting to enter from the east parking lot, which is a different route to the summit, than yesterday's route from the west parking lot.

There were a surprising number of fellow nature communers today. For me, yesterday's aerobic overload and the resulting endorphins greatly mitigated the chronic pain I'd been feeling for several weeks.

Hence, the return to the bluff today, for some more salubrious endorphins.

As you can see, the vegetation is jungle-like. This ultra-green color scheme won't last long after the HEAT of Summer arrives. There is so much vegetation you cannot see the Wichita River., which is clearly visible from this location when not shrouded by the temporary jungle.

 I forget the names of the greenery you see on the right. Cat-o-nine tails? Is that it? I don't know. Whatever it is it is about a dozen feet tall.

Memorial Day Remembering Mom & Dad

 Remembering the last time mom and dad came to visit their eldest son, in Texas. In January of 2009.

Above mom and dad and their cowboy hats are in Fair Park, in Dallas. That is where the State Fair of Texas takes place.

I wish I had a blog, starting back in the previous century. It's like a personal historical record, or a diary. 

I could not remember for sure when it was mom and dad last visited. I remembered the first time was October of 2001, a month after that notorious 9/11 date. I did not do the blogging thing at that point in time. 

So, here are the blog posts I made when mom and dad were last in Texas.

Mom & Dad Are Here In Texas

Mom & Dad & The New Dallas Cowboy Stadium

Mom & Dad Won't Take Off Their Cowboy Hats

Mom And Dad Do Dallas

Mom & Dad Are Heading West Away From The Ol' South

Mom & Dad Made It Out Of Texas

Sunday Roadrunner At Wichita Bluff Nature Area

On this next to last Sunday of the 2026 version of May, it was to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area I commuted to get myself some much-needed endorphins acquired from aerobic stimulation.

Due to an injury to my left hip, I have greatly curtailed my aerobically stimulating activities for a couple months. Or so it seems.

It has been a long while since I've experienced the Wichita Bluff Nature Area's lush greenery.

The photo documentation above is the view looking north from the summit of the Bluffs.

I had a couple wildlife encounters on the Wichita Bluffs today. Including the one you see photo documented below.

A Roadrunner suddenly appeared in front of me. And, instead of turning and running in the opposite direction, which is the Roadrunner norm, this Roadrunner kept running towards me, allowing me to take multiple photos.

Usually, Roadrunners have run too far away by the time I get my camera aimed at them.

This particular Roadrunner, when he got to me, got off the paved trail to run past me on the grass, stopping to pose for the photo you see above.

This was one totally unusual Roadrunner.

It is too soon to tell if today's bluff hiking has had a salubrious effect on my aching hip. I hope so. If that turns out to be the case, I foresee some frequent returns to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area in the coming days.

Remembering A Peaceful Bath Interrupted By Mount St. Helens Exploding Almost Half A Century Ago

Today, Monday, May 18, 2026, on Facebook, I have seen multiple posts making note of the fact that it was on this date, 46 years ago, that Mount St. Helens blew her top.

One of the Facebook posts, from a Washingtonian, asked people to say where they were and what they were doing when the mountain exploded.

Well, it was early in the morning, a Sunday. I was having a peaceful soak in the bathtub. Suddenly my peaceful soak was interrupted by what sounded like three loud, concussive explosions. I had just returned from a trip to Southern California where at one point I found myself camped near a military base which was doing practice stuff which involved explosions. That is what the sound I heard whilst tub soaking, sounded like.

I heard one of my roommates in the kitchen. I hollered at her, asking what those booms were. She came into the tub zone to tell me she had no idea what it was.

About 15 minutes later the next-door neighbor showed up to ask if we'd heard that the mountain had blown. 

From that point on the TV was on all day, with nonstop coverage. We were advised to prepare for possible incoming ash dust. We got masks and some other stuff I am not remembering. Maybe some special added filter on the vehicles.

Not much ash ever made it to the Skagit Valley, but other parts of Washington had to deal with a lot of falling volcanic ash.

It was to be a couple years later I first ventured into the eruption zone and looked close up at the remains of Mount St. Helens.

Then, a short time before the move to Texas, I drove a group to the newly opened Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, stopping at each of the Visitor's Centers, ending with the final one, gazing right into Mount St. Helens gaping crater. 

If you ever find yourself driving Interstate 5 into Washington, it is well worth it to take the exit that takes you to the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. 

It is hard for me to believe it is almost a half century ago, 46 years, that this event happened. It had a long lead-up, with little eruptions, a large zone had been evacuated. Mount St. Helens dominated the news in Washington, before, during and after the final eruption. 

Today's Possible Record Breaking High In Wichita Falls

Apparently, the record high for this day in May is 98 degrees as measured by the Fahrenheit method. The current prediction is for today's high to be three degrees short of the record. But, the weather predictions here are frequently inaccurate, so it won't shock me if we get over 98 degrees today.

And, it is over a month til Summer arrives. I suspect we are heading towards a record-breaking HOT Summer. 

My A/C just cycled on, and is currently keeping me cool.

A few winters ago, a severe Winter storm knocked out power to most of Texas, with a couple days the temperature going below zero.

I hope I don't get to find out if it worse to have the power go out when the temperature is in the near 100-degree zone. 

Remembering Mom & Dad Visiting Texas

This morning, whilst looking through my HUGE archive of photos, I came upon a folder of photos taken the first time my mom and dad came to visit me in Texas.

I am not sure, but I think the year was 2005. I have zero clue as to the month, but clearly, judging by mom and dad's attire, this was a visit which did not happen during the HOT time of the year. 

I do recollect giving mom and dad cowboy hats and insisting they put them on when I was taking a photo of them

The location of the above photo is Lake Grapevine, that I remember, for sure. One of my favorite locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone.

On their first visit to Texas mom and dad were coming from Washington, I think, via their RV. I remember they stayed in an RV park in Arlington.

Their second, and final visit to Texas, took place, I think, in 2012. That time they drove a non-RV vehicle from their Yuma location in Arizona. I remember visiting mom and dad in Yuma, way back near the turn of the century, on a drive back to Texas, from Washington.

If mom and dad's last Texas visit was in 2012 that would have been after I'd begun documenting my existence in blog form. I shall see if I can find blog posts documenting mom and dad's final Texas visit, but not right now. 

UPDATE: I was wrong. It was in November of 2009 mom and dad made their final Texas visit. I blogged about it several times, with the first being Mom & Dad Are Here In Texas.

Wichita Falls Sunday Nature Communing In Lucy Park

For a variety of reasons, some weather related, some not weather related, I have not had myself any salubrious nature communing and that activity's resulting endorphins, for several days, until this first Sunday of the 5th month of 2026, also known as May 3.

In the photo documentation we are at the replacement for the burned-out Lucy Park Pagoda, looking north at the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle.

Green is currently the dominant color at my Texas location. That won't last long til the green begins to fade to shades of brown.

There were a surprisingly large number of fellow nature communers at Lucy Park this Sunday morning. I suspect after so many days in a row of chilly, unstable weather, people were eager to get outdoors under the cloud-free, clear blue sky, with the temperature in the pleasant 70s.

I have not felt the need to activate the air-conditioning system the past few days. I suspect that will change later today...

Wichita Falls Tuesday Thunderstorming

A storm arrived around the same time, this morning, that the sun arrived to begin its daily illumination duty on this final Tuesday of the 2026 version of April.

The storm consisted of a drenching downpour of rain, without the big balls of hail which pummeled us last Saturday. But, like last Saturday, multiple bolts of lightning brought multiple loud booms of thunder.

But, unlike Saturday, the tornado sirens did not start blaring this morning.

On Saturday the tornado sirens began blaring between 5 and 6 in the afternoon. It was not til the following morning I was to learn a couple tornadoes had done some twisting, and damage, at the north end of town, near Sheppard Air Force Base.

This was the first time I had heard the Wichita Falls tornado sirens making noise for an actual tornado, and not the regular Monday testing of the sirens.

I forgot to mention, the photo documentation at the top is the view from my kitchen window, this morning, I tried to catch a lightning strike, unsuccessfully. But the photo does manage to give some idea of how stormy this storm was being.

The last several days the local weather forecasting has been remarkably accurate, a total change from the recent bout of predicted storms not materializing.

Today's forecast is forecasting another thunderstorm arriving about an hour before noon, a little over an hour from now. Currently the outer world does not look too menacing, but that can quickly change.

Severe Saturday Wichita Falls Thunderstorming With 3 Inch Hail

What you see above is the view from my kitchen window, late afternoon, on the final Saturday of the 2026 version of April.

Around 5 this afternoon I ventured to my nearby Walmart, soon seeing lightning strikes and hearing thunder booms as I drove.

By the time I left Walmart, precipitation had begun precipitating.

Soon the rain switched to violent downpour mode.

And then all hail broke loose. Balls of ice the size of golf balls. What a scary racket they made hitting my vehicle's windows and roof.

Those white spots you see in the photo documentation of the view from my kitchen window are those aforementioned golf balls of hail.

The thunder storming seems to have calmed down some, but hail is still making a lot of noise.

The NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE just sent my phone a dire "Imminent Severe Alert" warning of violent thunderstorms and hail three inches in diameter. Advising to seek shelter and stay away from windows.

This violent storming is causing me to even more eagerly look forward to my upcoming visit to my old Washington home zone, where the weather is usually dependably mild...

Windy Thursday At Sikes Lake Pushing Baby Strollers

 It was back to nearby Sikes Lake I ventured on this next to last Thursday of the 2026 version of April, for some windy, cloudy nature communing via fast walking and that activity's resulting mood-enhancing endorphins.

That would make the photo documentation the view looking south from the rocky east shore of Sikes Lake.

For some reason the weather today somehow seemed extremely conducive to causing way more people than the norm to be out joining me whilst nature communing.

And, just like I experienced a couple ago walking around Sikes Lake there were a large number of babies being rolled around the lake in strollers. Two of the baby pushers were operating two strollers. That looked a bit awkward. 

When I encountered the first baby pusher pushing two strollers, I offered to push one of them. I was thanked for the kind offer, but the mother said it was not problem easily pushing two strollers.

We are at that time of the year when the weather can be unpredictable. Today the unpredictable prediction is there is a chance of some severe storming in the form of thunderstorms, downpours and possible tornadoes. 

So far the only extreme weather today has been the wind gusts.