Final Friday Of 2022 At Lucy Park

To Lucy Park I drove today on this, the final Friday of 2022. As you can see, there is nary a cloud in the sky, or a leaf on the trees.

The shade of the Lucy Park jungle is no more, not til it returns in Spring of 2023.

The temperature was in the 50s whilst I was doing my nature communing today. I had on too many layers for the relatively warm conditions.

Jason Photo Documents A 35 Year Old Burlington Scene

Email from my Favorite Jason Nephew this morning, with the photo you see above and the following text...

FUD-

Thought you’d enjoy this newly found photo.

You might be able to identify two of the pictured subjects, and most likely will know the photograph location.   Photo dated June, 1987.

FNJ

Well, on the left that looks to be the aforementioned Jason, at around 8 years old. And on the right, that would be Jason's younger brother, my Favorite Joey Nephew. I would guess Joey to be 5 or 6 years old.

I have no clue who the boy in the middle is.

I know for certain the location, where the boys are sitting, is Maiben Park in Burlington. That house you see above Joey's head is the house I grew up in. 

I replied to Jason's email with "That is you on the left, and I think Joey on the right. Who is the kid in the middle?"

To which Jason replied "I believe the kid in the middle's name is Jared.  But I am not 100 percent certain. This was most likely taken during a Vacation Bible School trip to the park sponsored by the Burlington Lutheran Church. Is that your father's white GMC pickup and mother's Mazda in the background?"

I replied that I do not remember dad having a white GMC pickup, or mom having a Mazda. But, we are looking at something 35 years ago. I do not remember what vehicle I was driving 35 years ago, let alone what vehicles mom and dad were driving.

Walk Around Partially Frozen Sikes Lake On Final Tuesday Of 2022

With the temperature 16 degrees above freezing I ventured to Sikes Lake this final Tuesday of 2022, for a walk around the lake.

I was not alone.

Today I saw more joggers jogging around Sikes Lake than I have seen anytime previous.

I suspect the joggers were getting an early start on their New Year's Resolution to get in better shape.

I always make note of an uptick in the number of people outdoors getting exercise at the start of a new year. Those numbers quickly drop as the New Year's resolve dissipates.

Sikes Lake is currently partially frozen. In the above photo the shiny part of the lake is the iced up part.

The non-shiny part is not iced up, hence a little wave action from the wind.

Geese were walking on the ice. That looked a bit weird. I was not able to successfully photo document how weird it looked.

The Instant Pot is beeping. That means it is time for some Baked Potato Soup...

Christmas Lucy Park Walk With Frozen Wichita River

Til today, Christmas, I had not communed with nature since, if I remember right, last Wednesday, when the Big Chill Deep Freeze began moving into town.

The Deep Freeze has lifted, with the outer world warmed to above freezing. So, it was to Lucy Park I ventured today for that aforementioned communing with nature.

I was surprised when I saw the Wichita River to see that it was frozen. Well, not completely frozen, but frozen enough to have a sheet of ice on the river's surface.

The Deep Freeze has removed the remaining leaves from all the trees. They are now all stripped totally naked. No longer providing any shade from the blazing sun.

By the middle of the coming week, we are slated to be warmed into the 70s. 

Merry Christmas With Skunks & Gaiters

This morning, I unwrapped the packages which have been sitting under my imaginary Christmas tree.

Above is photo documentation of some of what I found inside the packages.

I think my favorite thing I unwrapped in the baseball cap you see in the center of the photo documentation.

I should have positioned the baseball cap so you could see why I liked it.

I shall take a photo of the baseball cap.

The individual who sent this skunky baseball cap to me regularly calls me a skunk, or a stinker, sometimes in the same sentence.

I found two instances of smoked salmon in the unwrapped packages. One a version in a jar, from Pike Place Market, in Seattle. The other smoked salmon is in a big box, from Trident Seafood, also in Seattle.

Also found two pair of sweatpants. One of the sweatpants is Sherpa lined.

One of the packages was labeled "For the Durango Kid". Inside was a blue plaid flannel shirt from Land's End. 

I think I will wear the blue plaid flannel shirt from Land's End when I go walking outdoors today, pairing it with something I found in another package, a thing called a gaiter, which is also blue.

I shall model the blue gaiter for you...

This gaiter thing looks like it should help keep out the cold.

Another thing I found in one of the packages I found yesterday when I opened a box to find several gift wrapped items, along with some unwrapped items. One of the unwrapped items was little chocolate malt ball looking things in a green mesh bag. 

I was told these little chocolate balls were marzipan. Not knowing what marzipan is, I Googled to learn...

Marzipan is flavored with almonds – and almonds contain a source of cyanide, amygdalin. Amygdalin can be broken down by enzymes in the gut to release hydrogen cyanide, which is readily absorbed into the blood and transported to cells where it can stop cell respiration in its tracks.

The marzipan was sent by the same person who sent the skunk baseball cap. It was with some trepidation I risked trying one of the chocolate malt ball looking marzipans.

Tasty. No hint of almond. And apparently the dose of cyanide was not fatal.

It has warmed up enough that I think I need to do some nature communing today. And after that I will make my traditional Christmas lunch of instant pot macaroni and cheese, with air fried tempura chicken, plus broccoli...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Theo, David & Ruby Breaking Tacoma Car Ice Windows

My old home zone of Western Washington is currently one big slippery sheet of ice, bringing most forms of transportation to a stop.

Including Amazon packages timed to arrive right before Christmas. 

This is what you see when you track packages currently stuck in Western Washington...

"Packages have beens delayed due to severe weather in the delivery network."

Last night a video arrived from Tacoma, via email. In that video we see Theo, David & Ruby being directed to break what one first thinks is a car window. And then when the window easily shatters it is apparently it is a sheet of ice which has been shattered.

Which explains what you are looking at above and below, screen caps from the ice shattering video.

And below you can watch the video, via YouTube of Theo, David & Ruby Breaking an Ice Window...

Happy Festivus From Iced Nephew Jason

Email this December 23 morning from my Favorite Nephew Jason. The email came with two photos and the following text...

"Happy Festivus. Freezing rain today. If you’re flying up for the holidays, note that SeaTac airport is currently closed, dealing with iced over runways.  I am currently attempting a trip to my hamburger stand in Anacortes".

I knew, via reading the Seattle Times this morning, that Sea-Tac was closed, as was all King County bus service.

I did not know til learning such from Jason, that my old home zone was also slicked up,

In the text in the email Jason says he is attempting to make it to his hamburger stand in Anacortes. Related to that attempt, the photo above makes sense. Jason his driving down the hill upon which he lives, heading to downtown Mount Vernon, where he'd cross the bridge over the Skagit River to West Mount Vernon, driving Memorial Highway til it becomes Highway 20, taking him to Anacortes.

At the bottom of that hill in the photo above there is an entry to Interstate 5, to the right, heading north towards Burlington.

So, if these photos are documenting Jason's slippery drive to Anacortes, what is the explanation for the second photo?

The photo above is clearly the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River, heading north. I see Burlington Hill through the fog. This is not the way to Anacortes. Well, not the most direct route from Jason's home location to Anacortes.

Two days into Winter and I am ready for Spring...

Super Cold In My Old Home Zone

Incoming from my Favorite Nephew Jason.

The only explanatory text accompanying two photos was "11 degrees this morning in Mount Vernon, Washington."

11 degrees is also the current temperature at my current loction.

I do not recollect it getting that cold in all my years of living in the Western Washington lowlands.

In Eastern Washington, in Ellensburg, when I was attending Central Washington State University, I remember returning from Christmas vacation to find the temperature 17 degrees below zero.

At my current location, near Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, a strong wind blowing has the current 11 degrees feeling like 8 degrees below zero.

In Jason's cold photo, above, I believe we are looking east at the new bridge which crosses the Skagit River, connecting Mount Vernon to Burlington. That would seem to indicate the photo was taken from the vantage point of the I-5 bridge.

Wind Chilled Wichita Falls 21 Degrees Below Freezing

Above and below are screen caps documenting why I don't think I will be venturing into the outer world today. Strong wind making 14 degrees feel like -11 degrees.

And getting colder as the hours of Thursday pass. Already the temperature is colder than the prediction.

By noon the wind chill will be making it feel like -21 degrees. 

A few flakes of snow have done a little dusting, so far, with more predicted to flake as the day progresses. 

Looking out my kitchen window you can see the little amount of snow which has currently arrived.

Seems like just a week ago we were sweltering into the 80s. And now we are going sub zero. 

I suspect the Sikes Lake goose and duck flocks are not being too happy right now, and are wishing they'd flown south for the winter...

Snow Is Covering My Old Skagit Valley Home Zone

Multiple incoming reports, this morning, from my old home zone of the Skagit Valley, reporting that, by dawn's early light, it was revealed that copious amounts of snow had piled up overnight.

And, that the snow continues to fall as the morning progresses.

The photo above arrived on my phone a few minutes ago, sent by Linda Lou, with the text accompanying the photo saying, "This is what we woke up to today!"

Linda Lou's window on the snow is in Mount Vernon, a short distance from my Favorite Nephew Jason and Spencer Jack's window on the snow.

I only remember one time when the Skagit Valley lowlands had a White Christmas. During that particular incident of the Skagit Valley being blanketed with snow, the aforementioned Linda Lou and I went driving in the snow, with me piloting a 64 Chevy Impala, which was my main means of motorized transport at that point in time.

I remember we eventually reached the little burg of Edison, and for some reason we decided to visit a classmate named Kevin Plambeck. We knocked on Kevin's door and when the door was opened, we were told Kevin was out working in the barn.

We were directed to the barn to locate Kevin. Linda Lou and I were shocked by what we found Kevin doing in the barn.

Kevin was busy castrating piglets. There was a lot of blood, and severed pig parts on the barn floor. The sound of squealing pigs awaiting their turn with the knife was haunting.

Linda Lou and I quickly departed, continuing our slippery drive to nearby Bay View....

Arriving Thursday Five Degrees Above Zero

I am not in the mood for what is, apparently, coming.

On Thursday we are predicted to not get above freezing, along with snow, with the overnight temperature dipping to 5 degrees above zero.

The last time the outer world at my location was chilled to 5 degrees above zero, the Texas electric grid collapsed, plunging most of the state into ultra chilly darkness.

Ultra chilly darkness is not pleasant.

I remember waking up the morning the Texas grid collapsed, wondering why it was so cold, not realizing a blackout had begun about three in the morning.

I need to explore my closet and locate my backup quilts...
 

Merry Christmas From Joey, Monique & Hank Frank

This time of year, I eagerly anticipate opening my mailbox and finding envelopes with Christmas cards in them.

Yesterday's mailbox check rendered the first incoming Christmas card of this Christmas card season.

That is what you see, above, in photo mode.

Merry Christmas from my Favorite Nephew Joey, Joey's first wife, Monique, and Joey and Monique's first born, Henry, also known as Hank Frank.

Looking at the card, it looks like Hank Frank has taken up the Jones family clam digging tradition.

It looks like Hank Frank's paternal parental unit is on a boat.

Joey likes to fish for salmon. A few years ago Joey mailed me some of his smoked salmon. Best smoked salmon I have ever had.

I do not know where Hank Frank's maternal parental unit is, on the card, but it looks cold.

Happy Birthday Linda Lou

That is Linda Lou on the left. That is me on the right.

I do not know how old Linda Lou and I are in the above photos, but I suspect the ages to be somewhere between three and four.

Other than relatives, I have known Linda Lou longer than just about anyone else on the planet.

Today, December 16, is Linda Lou's birthday.

According to my age calculation formula, which consists of chronological age, plus how old you look, plus how old you act, divided by three, we learn, from these complex computations, that Linda Lou is turning 59 years young today.

I have not seen Linda Lou in person since October of 2018, when she flew south to Arizona to spend a few days being driven on treacherous Arizona mountain roads and co-cooking, with me, things like Beef Stroganoff.

I may see Linda Lou, again, this coming summer...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA LOU!

Walking Lake Wichita After Stormy Night Of Rain & Thunder

Last night's storm arrived, as predicted, with a lot of rain, lightning and thunder.

But none of the large-size hail. or tornadoes.

It was around 3 in the morning that lightning flashes and thunder booms woke me up. The booming did not last too long.

But the rain fell in amounts copious enough that by the time the sun showed up to do its daily illumination duty, I saw my regular ground route to where my vehicle parks, was flooded.

For my daily walk today I headed to Lake Wichita, curious if enough rain fell to cause water to be spilling over the Lake Wichita dam spillway.

Well, as you can see via the photo documentation, no water is spilling over the spillway.

Above we are on the boardwalk which juts out into Lake Wichita. That is the lake side of the dam spillway you see in the center of the photo. As you can see, the lake is nowhere close to spilling over the spillway.

On the boardwalk, looking northwest, across the lake, at Mount Wichita, looking like a little pimple on the horizon

In the view above we have walked the Circle Trail across the Lake Wichita dam, thus closer to Mount Wichita. Pre-drought, all that you see that is brown, was under the water of the currently shrinking lake.

Heading back, on the Circle Trail, atop the dam, that is the aforementioned boardwalk you see sticking out into the lake, in the distance.

As you can see, I was not the only one doing some dam walking today.

As you can also see, after last night's heavy-duty storm, by morning the sky was mostly clear. And the air was warmed enough to make wearing shorts the proper attire today...

Monday Morning Drizzly Lucy Park Walk

It was back to Lucy Park today, for a Monday morning drizzly walk.

That tree you see above looks like it might make an excellent Christmas tree. I don't think tree harvesting is likely allowed in Lucy Park.

And if it was, I still wouldn't cut down that tree, or any tree, due to the fact I have never had a Christmas tree in any place I have lived in, since moving out of the house I grew up in, which did have a Christmas tree installed every December.

When I lived in Washington you could get a Christmas tree cutting permit and drive up to a designated area in the Cascade mountains and cut down the tree of your choice. Did that many a time. It was fun. I do not know if Christmas tree harvesting is still a thing in Washington.

The drizzle is scheduled to turn to rain later today, along with possible severe thunderstorms. With conditions which can spawn tornadoes.

Walking In The Lucy Park Rain

It was once again to Lucy Park I ventured this second Saturday of the 2022 version of December, to do some walking in the rain.

As you can see, via today's look at the Lucy Park suspension bridge, the Wichita River is running high and reddish, but a couple feet from getting as high as the bridge deck.

The rain came mostly in the form of a drizzle, with short periods of being extra drizzly. I did not get too wet.

Already a third of December is gone. Time is flying way too fast...

Foggy Lucy Park With Chicken Pot Pie Soup & Biscuits

It was back to Lucy Park I ventured this foggy Friday morning, to do some nature communing and fast walking.

Since my last visit to Lucy Park most of the trees have now sent their leaves to the ground, creating and orangish-brown carpet.

This morning's fog was reminiscent of what regularly clouded my vision when I lived in the Puget Sound zone of Washington. I remember one Fall, back in the 1990s, when almost the entire month of October was non-stop thick fog, day after day.

A couple days ago, on Facebook, I saw reference made to Instant Pot Chicken Pot Pie Soup. That is lunch today, with biscuits, which are currently baking.

Thick fog and Chicken Pot Pie Soup seems like a good combo.

Fallen leaves in Western Washington create a much more annoying problem than what fallen leaves create in Texas. At my old home in Mount Veron I would have to rake up the leaves, get them off the flat roofs, and the stairs.

Because there the leaves turn slipppery.

In Texas the fallen leaves just sort of dry out, and blow away, creating leaf drifts in some locations, such as currently is the case in my covered carport.

Beeper beeped. Time for Chicken Pot Pie Sound and Biscuits.

Plowing Through Fallen Leaf Blanket In Book Search Before Hearing A Waterfall

This second Thursday of the 2022 version of December it was to the library I ventured to freshen my reading material supply. The blanket of fallen leaves, you see above, blanketed the way into the library.

After finding six books to check out, I headed south, to Sikes Lake, for a chilly fast walk around the lake, with a lot of fellow chilly lake walkers.

Rain fell for several hours last night, rendering the outer world wet.

Wet, to a level sufficient to cause water to spill over the Sikes Lake dam spillway, in pseudo waterfall mode. 

More rain is on the menu for tonight. 

Right now, I'm going to warm up with a bowl of Chili Verde I made in the Instant Pot this morning.

I think I got the jalapeno level to high, which may render the Chili Verde to be much more of a warming up experience than I was looking for...

Google Remembers The Truth About Jesse James Fossil Rim Lake Grapevine With Mom & Dad At The Cotton Bowl

Today, December 7, a date which has lived in infamy ever since this date in 1941, the Google Memories for this day, which show up daily in my email, are things I mostly remember, which does not happen too often.

The top left is from Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, located near Glen Rose and Dinosaur Valley State Park. The drive through Fossil Rim is one of the funnest things I've done in Texas. The good folks at Fossil Rim liked the webpage I made about that visit, so they mailed me an annual pass and extra tickets, so as to take someone with me. 

I never got around to going back to Fossil Rim and using that annual pass.

Top right, that is mom and dad wearing the cowboy hats I gave them when they visited Texas in January of 2009. I don't know why Google would have this as a memory of today. Hard to believe it is 13 years since mom and dad had their last visit to Texas. Seems like it was yesterday. I was able to drive mom and dad all around the Texas State Fair fairgrounds, and up close to the Cotton Bowl, due to nothing much happening on the fairgrounds on a weekday in January.

Under mom and dad is another Fossil Rim Wildlife Center photo. I think this is the entry pavilion.

Bottom right is a gravestone alleging to be the burial location of Jesse James. If I remember right, I made a webpage of this and the claim that Jesse James is buried in a cemetery in Granbury, Texas.

Just checked, yes, I made a Jesse James webpage, titled The Truth about Jesse James. 

The lower left looks to be Lake Grapevine, a location I used to frequent frequently when I lived in the DFW zone. There are miles of fun mountain bike trails at Lake Grapevine.

Seems like I made a webpage about Lake Grapevine. Yup, and it is called Lake Grapevine.

Well, that is it for today's Google memories that I actually sort of remember...

Chilly Tuesday Beachcombing Lake Wichita

It was to Lake Wichita Park I ventured this overcast, semi-foggy, first Tuesday of the 2022 version of December.

Which would make that Mount Wichita, also known as Murphy's Hill, rising behind the Vietnam War Memorial.

Yesterday the outer world at my location was heated to degrees in the 80s. Today the big chill has returned.

Recent rains have not reversed Lake Wichita's low level, which has rendered a big beach at the Lake Wichita Park parking lot.

Another look at how the lake has shrunk, with a solo beachcomber combing the receding shoreline.

And here we are on the beach, halfway to the shoreline, looking back at Mount Wichita.

This all looks rather desolate, doesn't it?

Christmas Decorating While Theo Snow Soccers With Poodles

This morning someone who shall remain nameless made reference to my Christmas decorations saying...

 "I'll spend the day getting all my decorations up inside and outside.  I'll send you pictures tonight.  You and your little Christmas hanky are just sad!  haha."

I replied asking "What you talking about?"

To which this unconscionably rude person compounded the rudeness saying, "I thought the only decoration you put out was a crocheted hanky?"

With the mention of the crocheted work I knew what this rude person was talking about, that being the red crocheted Christmas stocking my Grandma Slotemaker Jones gave me decades ago.

Now that I knew what the rude person was talking about I set out trying to find the crocheted Christmas stocking. I looked in every drawer, every cabinet, everywhere, to no avail. 

And then when I went to the multi-level table on which my TV sits, to get a screwdriver, I looked up and saw where the red crocheted Christmas stocking was hiding, in plain sight, sitting on a camel my Grandma Vera gave me decades ago.

Which makes that what you see above in the photo documentation, my one and only Christmas decoration.

Also in the Christmas spirt are a couple incoming photos from Tacoma, showing the latest snow to fall weeks before winter arrives.

Those are two of David, Theo and Ruby's poodles you see above, trying to gain admittance back into the house after dodging snowflakes in the backyard.

And here we see my Favorite Theo Nephew getting ready to play some slippery soccer.

Mama Michele is the coach of Theo's soccer team. I don't recollect Mama Michele being a soccer player. I do recollect Mama Michele being a softball player.

December Wall Calendar Takes Me Back To The Grand Canyon

The past couple months, my 2022 wall calendar featuring American National Parks, each month, has been National Parks I have not been to, such as last month, which was Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Or September's National Park, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which is in Ohio, and which I had never heard of til seeing it on my wall.

Or August's National Park, which was Arcadia National Park, in Maine.

But, for the final month of 2022, the December National Park is Grand Canyon National Park, which is one of the National Parks I have been to several times, both the North and South rims.

Way back in the last century, I do not remember what year, I hiked the Bright Angel Trail from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, down to the Colorado River. That is a brutal hike, easy going downhill, brutal making the climb back to the rim of the canyon.

I do not recollect seeing the Grand Canyon in person, this century.

I think my last time at the Grand Canyon was in October of 1995. That visit was part of a roadtrip which started with four days of houseboating on Lake Powell. That October visit was to the North Rim, which has way fewer visitors than the South Rim.

It was an overnight stay at the North Rim, in a log cabin.

During the night a blizzard blew in with about a foot of snow. We were stranded til snow plows could arrive. If I remember correctly the road was cleared by around noon, thus enabling making it to Zion National Park for that night's reservation in the Zion National Park Lodge.

I wonder if during my remaining years of still being vertical I'll make it back to the Grand Canyon again....

David & Theo Enjoying Snowy Day In Tacoma

This afternoon I asked David, Theo & Ruby's maternal parental unit if the kids were having another snow day. They aren't, but Ruby stayed home today due to having a cold.

The aforementioned maternal parental unit sent a link to a video on the Tacoma News Tribune. In the video you see Theo trying to get on a sled with two other kids, Nica and Cora. I was also told I would see David in the background in an orange jacket.

It took a couple viewings til I figured out which was David, and which was Theo trying to get on a sled.

When I thought I saw David, I paused the video to make the screen cap you see below.

While I was making that screen cap that aforementioned maternal parental unit emailed a screen cap from the News Tribune article, which shows the same thing I screen capped, but with David missing.

David is not a fan of sledding. But, he does like making snowmen. 

Click the link to see the See people enjoying a snowy day in Tacoma after an overnight snowfall video.

Sure would be fun to play in the snow with David, Theo and Ruby. That'd likely be almost as much fun as making sand castles with the Tacoma Trio...

Lucy Park Backwoods Foliage-Free Walk

Yesterday was cloudy and cold. Before leaving my abode I thought today was also cold, but not cloudy. Thinking the outer world to be cold I was under too many layers when I drove to Lucy Park for some fast-paced nature walking this morning.

The temperature was slightly under 70. I removed some layers and was able to render a result which was comfortable.

Via the phone photo documentation, you can see that aforementioned blue sky. You can also see that the former Lucy Park backwoods jungle has lost most of its greenery, the leaves in the trees, the grass on the ground.

It has been a month or two since I have rolled my bike anywhere. I need a change of habit and scenery. Bike rides would sort of provide that change, sort of...

Tacoma Snow With Theo & Ruby

Incoming snow photos from Tacoma this afternoon.

I am cold currently at my North Texas location, but it looks way colder at my old Washington location.

 Above that is the backyard of the Tacoma Trio, David, Theo & Ruby's house on M. Street in Tacoma.

That is the patio deck in the foreground, covered with snow. If all is as it was the last time I saw this location, the barbecue left of this view is the last place I successfully barbecued chicken.

And here we are seeing Ruby, and I think Theo, sliding down a hill at Wright Park, which is a park a short distance from their M. Street abode.

Here we see Theo testing whether snow tastes like vanilla ice cream.

 While Ruby laughs at Theo eating snow.

No clue what Theo and Ruby have done with brother David, who does not show up in these photos.

The start of school was postponed two hours yesterday due to the snow, and cancelled for today, due to more snow than had been predicted, falling and sticking.

First Day Of December Chilly Walk Around Sikes Lake

On an ultra-chilly first day of the 2022 version of December it was to Sikes Lake I ventured this morning for a fast walk around the lake.

The phone photo does not do justice to the deep red color of the tree you see on the left.

Fall leaf colors are seeming more vibrant than the norm this year.

The phone photo does do justice to managing to capture the outer world looking cold. Cloudy, no wind, and the lake looks frozen.

There were a surprising number of people braving the cold today for a walk, or jog, around the lake.

I have been getting multiple reports from my old Western Washington home zone of snow. I am expecting snow photos of the Tacoma Trio of David, Theo and Ruby, later today. I've already seen a snow photo from Tacoma's Queen V. 

It seems a bit early for snow to be piling up on the Puget Sound lowlands. Is this a harbinger of a hellacious winter to come?