Final April Fishing Under Lake Wichita Falls Dam Spillway

Yesterday's weather forecast for last night, and today, with today being the final day of the 2025 version of April, turned out to be accurate.

Rain began falling in pounding downpour mode around 8 o'clock last night, with one loud burst of hail.

Thunder began storming a couple hours after midnight, with more downpours.

By dawn's early light it was not too bright, due to the dark clouds and heavy rain.

A couple hours before noon I headed to downtown Wichita Falls, to my favorite prescription drug dealer, and the library, to do some book returning.

And then it was on to Lucy Park, finding all three entries to Lucy Park blocked, with it assumed the blockage being due to the anticipated overflow of the Wichita River, flooding Lucy Park.

I have seen Lucy Park flooded once, a few years ago.

Today's flood is expected to be worse, possibly as bad as the flood of 2007, several years before my arrival in this town.

After being denied entry into Lucy Park, it was on to rain-free Walmart for my daily dose of endorphins acquired via high-speed walking.

And then I headed south, to Lake Wichita, to see if water was falling over the Lake Wichita dam spillway for the first time in years.

As you can see, via the above photo documentation, water is spilling over the Lake Wichita dam today.

And some guy is standing in the water, near the spilling water, fishing.

Multiple fish were seen leaping out of the water at the bottom of the spillway. Where did these fish come from, one could not help but wonder. What with the area below the dam being totally free of any water for years.

Perplexing..

Final April Tuesday Thunder-Free Walk Around Sikes Lake

I have been avoiding the outer world of North Texas the past couple days due to ongoing climate mayhem in various forms.

Thunderstorms, blowhard wind gusts, rain downpours, hail, flash flooding and tornado warnings.

But, on this final Tuesday of the 2025 version of April, my regular walking time coincided with a brief respite from the climate calamity.

And so, it was back to Sikes Lake I ventured, along with a lot of other adventurers, for some salubrious endorphin acquisition, along with viewing the current colorful ground cover of pink evening primroses, which are the dominant wildflower in the Texas zone I inhabit.

In the photo documentation you can see a couple of the geese which survived last year's mass goose extermination, enjoying waddling through the wildflowers.

And past the geese you can see a pair of anglers getting ready to dip their fishline into the murky muddy waters of Sikes Lake.

Last night something happened which I do not recollect happening previously. 

Around three in the morning, as in three hours past midnight, my phone made its incoming text message noise.

I got out of bed to find the phone, in the dark. Finding it I was appalled to see the incoming text message was a weather warning, informing me that a severe thunderstorm had been detected in my area.

20 some miles to the south of my location, near Archer City.

Why someone somewhere somehow thought I needed to have this severe thunderstorm news in the middle of the night is a mystery to me. What was I supposed to do? Get out of bed, get dressed, get ready to, I don't know, make haste to seek shelter from a tornado?

Perplexing...

Google's AdSense Keeps Googling With Me Senselessly

Way back earlier this century, I think the year may have been 2006 or 2007, I went through the process, with Google, to get Google AdSense approved.

Such required a lot of steps.

Eventually I got approved. And then began putting the AdSense code on all my Eyes on Texas website pages. There were 100s of Eyes on Texas website pages.

AdSense had to add up to over $100 in any given month to have the generated AdSense revenue direct deposited to my bank account.

When I started this I did not really think it would amount to anything. So, I was just a bit surprised that the revenue went over 100 bucks the first month, with that revenue then showing up in my bank account.

Soon it was many 100 bucks a month. Thus it became sort of a game, trying to cause pages to get a lot of page views and ad clicks. Way back then I recollect it was my Turner Falls Park pages, and Scarborough Faire pages which were the biggest click generators.

By 2008 I started up my first blog, which is the one you are reading right now. And I put the AdSense code on the blog, which was easy to do, did not require adding the code via the HTML method, as was the case for the Eyes on Texas website.

So, for years the Durango Texas blog sported AdSense ads, got clicks, and added to what showed up in my bank account each month.

And then, a couple years ago, I do not remember when I first noticed, but the AdSense ads ceased showing up on the Durango Texas, durangotexas.blogspot.com, blog.

This did not concern me much, at the time, figuring it was some temporary thing. That and my Eyes on Texas website was the main place AdSense saw action.

And then it became annoying. Every few weeks, when checking the AdSense account, I would get a message telling me ads.txt issues need fixing. That the ads.txt file was not found. Even though it was always there. I'd click on check for update, and every time I'd get told the file had now been found. And all was hunky dory for a couple weeks, til it happened again.

Eventually I decided to see if I could find some sort of Google AdSense contact help source. I found a couple, messaged both, multiple times, to no avail, no answer, no reply.

For example, below is one of the many similar feedbacks I fed back to the AdSense Feedback contact option....

Repeating this futile Feedback once again, because once again I got the ads.txt issues needing fixing message which I then fix, am told the file has been found and updated, only to have it happen again and again and again, with no explanation, or Feedback. AdSense ceased showing ads on durangotexas.blogspot.com and durango-world.blogspot.com quite some time ago. With no notice explaining why. And along with the ads.txt message today's message included "1 or more of your sites haven't shown any ads for at least 4 months. If these sites remain inactive they'll need to be reviewed again. Only applies to AdSense for content." I've gone down that path previously, the sites pass being reviewed, and still no ads show up. I have several other Blogspot blogs, with no problems with the ads. This is frustrating. The durangotexas.blogspot.com blog has been active since 2008, and has had millions of page views, and thousands of blog posts. I never got any sort of message way back when, a couple years ago, when the ads ceased appearing.

So, there you go, my current annoying frustration with the bizarre tech world we now all live in...

Between Thursday Thunderstorms Back At Wichita Bluff Nature Area

 On this final Thursday of the April version of 2025, it was back to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area I ventured for some endorphin acquisition via high-speed bluff hiking.

Yesterday's Circle Trail entry to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area was via the west entrance. Today's entry was via the east entrance.

The east entrance to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area begins at river level, unlike the west entrance which is well above river level.

In today's photo documentation you are a couple hundred feet above the aforementioned Wichita River, looking northwest.

Yesterday's dire weather prediction had me thinking that today outdoor bluff hiking was not going to be doable, without an umbrella. However, by late afternoon the sky was mostly clear of any rain producers.

Last night was a repeat of the previous night, with another thunderstorm erupting around 2 this morning. This morning's booming did not last as long as the previous night's. Nor did the rain pour down in copious downpour mode. Yet, enough rain fell to add to the barrier moat which causes me to take a detour to where my motorized motion device is carported.

More thunderstorms are on the weather menu for later this afternoon, and tonight. Currently no tornado warnings...

Communing With Giant Wildflowers Blooming In Wichita Bluff Nature Area

Yesterday's dire weather forecast for today had me thinking it likely today's nature communing would be taking place in Walmart.

But, instead, this fourth Wednesday of the 2025 version of April dawned with nary a cloud in a clear blue sky.

And so, it was to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area I ventured today for my nature communing.

I have no idea what the name is of the giant wildflower I photo documented today. I saw several instances today of such sprouting tall along the Circle Trail in the Bluff's nature area.

Today's daytime predicted thunderstorming may not yet have materialized, but last night's predicted thunderstorm did materialize.

Beginning around two in the morning, lasting a couple hours, with what seemed like nonstop lightning flashes and explosive booming. Along with loud downpouring.

By morning my abode was partially surrounded by what I refer to as a moat, requiring a bit of a detour to make my way to where my motorized means of motion sits under carport protection.

Looking out my computer room window I see clouds have once again arrived, blocking some of the formerly clear blue sky.

I suspect these are early arrivals of the clouds which will be thunderstorming in a few hours...

102 Degree Torrid Texas Tuesday

It seems like it was just a few days ago, because it was just a few days ago, I made mention of the fact that I was feeling overheated upon getting in my vehicle, to drive to Walmart, to see the vehicle's temperature monitor was indicating the temperature was 96 degrees, as measured by the Fahrenheit method.

And now, this Tuesday late afternoon, I got in my vehicle, driving to that same Walmart destination, to see the temperature monitor was over 100 degrees for the first time this year.

Over 100 degrees is HOT. There is no denying that. Add the humidity and those HOT 100 plus degrees feel even hotter.

100 degrees is humid Texas is not the same thing as 100 degrees in the desert climate of Arizona. 

I suspect way are heading into a few months of record-breaking temperatures. I hope my various air-conditioning devices are up to the cooling task...

Tuesday Return To Sikes Lake Under Totally Clear Blue Sky

On this next to last Tuesday of the 2025 version of April it was back nearby Sikes Lake, I ventured, for some salubrious nature communing with resultant endorphin acquisition.

In the photo documentation we are looking west from the rocky eastern shore of Sikes Lake.

As you can see via the ripples on the lake, wind is making for some wave action.

Sikes Lake was seeing a lot of nature communers today, enjoying once again being under a total cloud-free clear blue sky, after enduring a stormy, gray Easter weekend.

This return to a clear blue sky is predicted to be short-lived, with clouds returning later today, along with thunderstorms and rain, continuing to boom and drip on Wednesday.

It is likely my nature communing and endorphin acquisition will need to take place at Walmart tomorrow...

Easter Takes Me To A Weeping Jesus In Oklahoma City

I took me a moment or two to remember what this Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day was remembering.

It does seem right that it was in April of some year early in this current century that I was up north, in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma City, to be precise.

That weeping statue of Jesus is part of the Oklahoma City National Memorial, sometimes called the Murrah Memorial, due to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building being the building which was blown up in the worst terrorist attack on American soil, til the 9/11 attacks.

Experiencing the Oklahoma City National Memorial was a sobering experience of the sort I have only experienced a few times previous.

Such as being at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, also known as the location of Custer's Last Stand.

That same roadtrip which brought me to where Custer had his last stand, in Montana, also took me to the South Dakota site of the Wounded Knee Massacre. The memorial at this location is not as elaborate as the Little Bighorn complex. But, it was sobering, standing at this location, reading the simple signage explaining what had happened at this location.

And then there was another sobering experience, this century, in Texas, near the town known as Waco, a location known as the Mount Carmel Branch-Davidian Compound. When I visited this location there were still some Branch-Davidian survivors living there. You could walk among the graves of those killed. And still see the burned remains of the buildings, and the buried bus in which many died.

Interesting timing to have a statue of a weeping Jesus show up on Easter...

Stormy Good Friday Walk Around Sikes Lake

 It was to Sikes Lake I ventured on this third Friday of the 2025 version of April. A day also known as Good Friday.

As you can see, via the photo documentation, our regular North Texas clear blue sky has been obliterated by a thick cloud cover.

That thick cloud cover dripped some big drops of rain whilst I was nature communing, but nowhere near being copious enough to wet the landscape, or me.

The weather forecast for today, tomorrow and Easter is for rain, hail, thunderstorms, strong wind, and possible tornadoes.

Thunder is not scheduled to begin booming til later this afternoon and then continuing through the night. 

I strongly suspect this is going to turn into a major storm. It has been awhile such has occurred at my current location. The creek which runs by my abode has been dry for a couple years now.

Below is what my nearby creek looks like when it is not dry. The name of the creek is Holliday Creek. Yes, spelled with two l's. This photo showed up this morning in the daily Microsoft OneDrive Memories from this Day....

I like the sound of roaring rapids. It is a soothing sound I hope to hear later today, or tomorrow...

Wednesday Considering Sikes Lake Fishing Before Easter Weekend Storms

It was back to Sikes Lake I ventured on this day after the Ides of April, also known as the 16th day and third Wednesday of the fourth month of 2025, for some nature communing under a clear blue sky, with the air heated pleasantly into the 70-degree zone, as measured via the Fahrenheit temperature measuring method.

My nature communing did not include catching fish. The sign you see photo documented, above, showed up a week or two ago, attached to a fence which blocked access to the lake, at that point, making fishing not possible.

The signs informs one of the type fish one may catch in Sikes Lake, and warns that one must be properly licensed to do any angling.

I have seen a few poles hovering over Sikes Lake, over the years. I have never seen anyone catch a fish, of any sort.

I do know that periodically Sikes Lake is stocked with fish. Of which variety I have no clue.

Tomorrow may be the last pleasant day, weather-wise, for a few days.

Currently the Easter weekend weather forecast for my North Texas location is for heavy rain, hail, thunderstorms and tornado conditions, beginning Good Friday, and lasting through Easter Sunday.

These dire weather conditions likely will wreak havoc with any possible plans I might come up with to attend any Easter morning sunrise services....

Looking For A Visitor From Somewhere Called Boardman

The blog you are looking at right now has what is known as a gadget. This gadget tracks the blog's Live Traffic Feed. 

Somewhat accurately.

The Live Traffic Feed does not compile a comprehensive listing of all blog traffic. I have another means by which I can see a comprehensive listing of the blog's traffic.

The screencap I made of the Live Traffic Feed I made early this morning, thus the many hours since the last noted traffic. As in, not much blog traffic, from America, during the past midnight hours.

So, the past couple weeks I have noticed that there have been multiple blog visits from a blog visitor located somewhere in America called Boardman.

Googling I found there is a Boardman, Oregon, and a Boardman Township, in Ohio.

Boardman, Oregon is a town on the Columbia Gorge, in the part of Oregon east of Mount Hood, known as Eastern Oregon.

The population of the Boardman in Ohio is way larger than the Oregon version.

Do I know someone in either Boardman? Not that I know of. I have relatives in the Amish zone of Ohio, a town called Sugarcreek. Sugarcreek is not close to Boardman Township.

Anyway, maybe making mention of this Boardman mystery will cause some sort of feedback from one of the Boardmans...

Windy Sikes Lake Monday With Evening Primroses

On this second Monday of the 2025 version of April, it was to Sikes Lake I ventured for a windy lake walk under a clear blue sky.

As you can see, via the photo documentation, it is that time of the year when the Texas landscape turns colorful, with wildflowers, with the most prominent wildflower, seen in my North Texas zone of the Lone Star State, being the pink bloom known, for reasons unknown to me, as Evening Primroses.

I remember way back late in the previous century, in April of, I think 1998, driving to Texas to test the feasibility of moving there, and being surprised by all the flowers we were seeing between Amarillo and the Dallas/Fort Worth zone.

In April of, I think, 2001, I ventured south to what is known as Texas Hill Country, to hike up Enchanted Rock and visit Fredericksburg. This was to be my one- and only-time seeing Texas wildflowers in all their glory. 

The wildflowers of Texas Hill Country were not quite as colorful as the tulip fields of my old Skagit Valley home zone. But, being natural, not a cultivated agricultural product, made the Texas Hill Country wildflowers as impressive, if not more so, than the Skagit tulips.

Let me see if I can find a photo I took that day, early this century, of Texas Hill Country wildflowers...

The above scene was seen a few miles north of Enchanted Rock. As you can see, wildflowers far into the horizon. Except for the model in the foreground...

Sweltering 96 Texas Degrees

It seems like only a couple days ago big balls of hail pummeled my location, which was chilled to below freezing, with frost frosting the rooftops and a few snowflakes making it to ground level.

It seems like that because that is what happened a couple days ago.

And now, on this second Saturday of the fourth month of 2025, I got in my vehicle this afternoon, to drive to ALDI, to find my vehicle's temperature monitoring device situated on the rearview mirror, was telling me the temperature was 96 degrees.

The outer world felt HOTTER than 96 degrees due to the fact that there was no wind blowing, thus no wind chill happening.

Soon cold water coming out of the tap will no longer be cold. That makes for refreshing showers, with no need to add any HOT water to the mix.

This coming summer I should be feeling cooler than last summer, due to the fact I have lost weight, and thus have less of an insulative layer of adipose tissue. 

I see some of the plus-sized people at my current Texas location and wonder how they manage it, in the HEAT, with such a well-developed thick layer of insulative adipose tissue...

Finding Nephews Jason & Joey At Lake Grapevine With Significant Others

A couple days ago in a blog post titled Microsoft OneDrive Remembers Nephews Jason & Joey In Texas I made mention of the fact that I was unable to find, among the hundreds of photo folders folded on my computer, a photo I remembered taking that day, way back in 2005, when I went to D/FW International Airport to find my nephews, Jason and Joey, and their girlfriends.

That photo I was unable to find a couple days ago, I found last night whilst looking for a photo of myself and my siblings, for International Siblings Day purposes.

Above, that would be me in the middle, with nephew Joey to my right, with Joey's girlfriend between he and me. I do not remember that particular girlfriend's name. That would be nephew Jason on my left. I do remember that particular girlfriend's name. She is Spencer Jack's mom, Jenny.

Behind us, that is Lake Grapevine. I'd driven the kids across the Lake Grapevine Dam to the park which was the trailhead location of my favorite D/FW mountain bike trail.

The above photo pre-dated the taking of photos using one's phone. That photo would have been taken with my now long-gone Olympus digital camera.

I do not remember the means by which one had that camera automatically take a photo. I do sort of remember one could set the number of seconds before the photo was taken.

I find it unsettling to realize the above photo was taken over two decades ago. Yet seems so recent in my memory...

KOMO Takes Us To Beaver Marsh Road Roozengarde Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Tulips

I saw that which you see above, on Facebook, this morning. A photo collage from Seattle's KOMO ABC TV, showing some of the Roozengarde tulips currently blooming on the Skagit Flats in the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

Various locations on the Skagit Flats are designated Tulip festival centers, such as the Roozengarde complex, and Tulip Town, and more.

Roozengarde is on Beaver Marsh Road. 

The Slotemaker-Jones Family Complex is also on Beaver Marsh Road. That is where my Great Nephew, Hank Frank, Hank Frank's dad, my Nephew Joey, his first wife Monique, and my little brother, Hank Frank's Grandpa Jake, reside.

I have not heard any complaints from the Hank Frankers regarding being jammed by Tulip Traffic.

I remember way back in the last century, when the Skagit Tulip Festival first began, I was living in West Mount Vernon. I did not even know a new festival had begun. What I did know was the first weekend of it I found traffic stalled crossing the Skagit River bridge between west and east Mount Vernon and continuing to be stalled, or moving slow, as the line of cars moved west.

Such is no longer the case as, over the years, measures went into place directing traffic off I-5 to all the various exits which lead to the tulip fields.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival goes on the entire month of April. By the year 2025 the festival, and the tulips, have become world renowned, showing up on various lists listing things like the world's best festivals, or America's most scenic landscapes.

I have seen a tulip or two blooming since I have been in Texas. And I have seen wildflowers adding color to the usually drab Texas landscape, but I have never seen anything coloring up the Texas landscape to the degree done by the Skagit Valley tulips...

Microsoft OneDrive Remembers Nephews Jason & Joey In Texas

Sometimes these emails from Microsoft billing themselves as Microsoft OneDrive Memories From This Day are a bit unsettling. 

Such as is the case today.

I am assuming it is correct that these memories are from a day in April. I am also assuming that the year is 2005.

20 years ago.

As in two decades ago.

Two of my favorite nephews, Jason and Joey, and their girlfriends, at that point in time, had been on a cruise, sailing out of Florida, if I am remembering correctly.

If I am additionally remembering correctly, and sometimes I do, Jason and Joey's mother, she being my favorite ex-sister-in-law, Cindy, had let me know when the boys would be landing at D/FW. And that she'd told the boys that she was letting their uncle know they'd be landing.

So, I made it to park at whatever terminal the landing was taking place, somehow found my way to the right gate. Which I know sounds like no big deal. But you would only think that if you've never been to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

It is HUGE.

I have thrice gotten lost just trying to find where I'd parked in a D/FW parking garage.

Anyway, I stood at what I hoped was the right location, and after a few minutes my nephews showed up. I coaxed them out of the gate, which I did not expect to succeed at, but I did.

I then drove the boys and their girlfriends to Lake Grapevine, crossing the dam, going into the park which was the location of the trailhead of my favorite mountain bike trail.

At Lake Grapevine Jason and Jenny had a big announcement.

 I was told I was the first to know, but later learned I was not, that being that Jason had proposed, and Jenny had accepted. 

And little did I know, that day at Lake Grapevine, that a year later I'd be heading north for a wedding, and two years after that I would be flying up to Washington again, this time getting to meet Jason and Jenny's Spencer Jack offspring.

Now, I must leave you for a moment to see if I can find the photo at Lake Grapevine I took that day two decades ago.

No luck. But the search had me seeing hundreds of photos I had not seen in a long time.

Back To Sikes Lake Under A Clear Blue Cloud-Free Sky

A cloud-free, clear blue sky has returned to my Wichita Falls location in Texas. After several days in a row, overcast, cold, windy and raining.

As you can see, via today's look at Sikes Lake, the lack of wind rendering waves has turned the lake into a giant mirror.

Methinks today was the most pleasant outdoor day yet this year. Multiple others were enjoying the return of the blue-sky norm.

Last night, as warned, the temperature dipped below freezing, as evidenced by the frost covering roofs for a short while after the sun arrived for its daily heating duty.

There is no apparent damage done by last night's likely extremely short freeze, which was barely below 32 degrees, as measured by the Fahrenheit method.

I would think it highly likely that last night marks the last time the outer world freezes at my location, til the exit of Summer's chilly arrival of Fall.

It felt good to be outside endorphin-ing today, after several days of wandering Walmart being my aerobic outlet.

I think I may be addicted to endorphins and suffer withdrawal symptoms when I do not get my adequate daily dose...

Wichita Falls Saturday Anti-Trump Rally With New Stoplight

This Monday morning's Wichita Falls Times Record News, that being this town's one and only local newspaper, of sorts, a newspaper which mainly focuses on local sports, crime and the weather, had an article, with photo documentation, of Saturday's downtown Wichita Falls anti-Trump protest.

This was not much of an article of the reporting variety, reporting what was said, in speeches, or any interviewing of attendees. 

In the photo I screen capped from the front page we see no umbrellas. Other photos showed most attendees under cover of umbrellas. I opted not to participate due to the cold temperature, strong wind, and off and on rain.

I suspect Saturday's will not be the last of anti-Trump rallies. I likely will get other opportunities to participate. 

And on another note, making note of an example of what is deemed newsworthy in the local Wichita Falls newspaper, on the front page there was headline link to another article, with the headline of that article being...

New stoplight installed in downtown Wichita Falls

April Freezing Snow Weather Prediction For Wichita Falls

This morning of the first Sunday of the fourth month of 2025, it was to ALDI I ventured under a stormy sky.

Which you can see, photo documented above, looking north from the ALDI parking lot.

We have been dripping, downpouring, blowing hard, booming loud and experiencing way too low natural air-conditioning the past couple days.

As in I have had to switch my climate control system from COOL, back to HEAT.

And, as I arrived at the ALDI parking lot my radio informed me that tonight's "Freeze Warning" has been upgraded to "Chance of Snow".

In April.

In Texas.

I remember snow showing up late in March, in the lowlands of Western Washington, during the many years I lived there, but I do not remember snow ever showing up in the Washington lowlands in April.

Yesterday, Interstate 40, west of Amarillo, both lanes, east and west, had to be closed, due to snow.

I doubt anything that dire will be happening at my location, approximately 220 miles southeast of Amarillo.

But, with weather everywhere, of late, seeming a bit abnormal, I guess I should be ready to be snowbound...

April Showers Bring Wichita Falls Flowers Whilst Washington's Skagit Valley Floods With Tulips

I saw that which you see, above, this first Saturday morning of the 2025 version of April. A photo purporting to show May flowers brought about by the April showers we have been getting dripped on since this new month began.

Is that a field of Bluebonnets which are being photo documented representing May flowers? I don't know. I have not seen any bluebonnets, yet, this year, with my own eyes.

Meanwhile, on April 1, in my old home zone of the Skagit Valley, the month-long annual Tulip Festival has begun.

The Skagit Valley is just a bit more scenic, color-wise, and other-wise, than my current mostly flat, mountain free zone of Texas.

 Above and below are examples of what the Skagit Valley Flats look like this time of year.

I have not been up north in Washington, in April, since 2006. I do not recollect that we, at that point in time, ventured out onto the Skagit Flats to see the tulips.

Seeing the Skagit Valley tulips can be a bit challenging, particularly on weekends. There is a lot of traffic control, and attempts to manage the traffic, to some limited success.

There is no need to manage the traffic caused by those seeking to see the May flowers wrought by April Showers, at my current location.

I think the above photo, with the Mount Baker volcano looming on the horizon, is from a location near Beaver Marsh Road, near the Jones Family Compound, where Hank Frank, his dad, also known as my nephew Joey, Hank Frank's mom, also known as Joey's wife, Monique, and my little brother, Hank Frank's Grandpa Jake, have taken up residence.

Whatever Blluebonnets have managed to go into blooming mode likely suffered some damage last night when all hail broke loose. A loud thunderstorm began booming about two in the morning, lasting a couple hours, with one super burst of ultra noisy hail.

By morning it was plain to see the hail had knocked a lot of the leaves out of the trees.

This April 5 Saturday is being windy, rainy and cold. I think I shall forego going downtown this afternoon for the "Hands Off Our Democracy" protest...

Saturday We the People Want Hands Off Our Democracy In Downtown Wichita Falls

I previously made mention of wondering if Wichita Falls will join this coming Saturday's worldwide protests against the Trump Lunacy, in a blog post titled Final 2025 March Saturday At Sikes Lake.

Well, we now know there will be a protest in Wichita Falls on Saturday, with the theme being “We the People Want Hands Off Our Democracy.”

The protest Saturday will take place from 1 til 3 in the afternoon, at the park across the street from the building known as Big Blue, at the intersection of Scott Avenue and 8th Street.

I have not yet decided if I will be joining the protest...

No April Fooling Getting Wind Blown At Lake Wichita Park

It was to Lake Wichita Park I ventured on this first day of the fourth month of 2025.

The first day of April is being blustery at my North Texas location, with a cloud cover growing thicker, heading to predicted strong thunderstorms to begin booming later today.

I was not long out of my vehicle before quickly returning to remove the hat from atop my head, before a gust of wind could perform that service for me.

The Lake Wichita Park Veterans Memorial seemed sad to me, today, what with all the un-American nonsense going on. Arresting people without due process. Shipping the arrested out of the country to what amounts to being a concentration camp in El Salvador.

And as I was walking past the Veterans Memorial, listening to news on NPR, I heard a woman had been arrested in Georgia for not reporting a miscarriage. When will this insanity end?

 It has been quite some time since I have hiked to the summit of Mount Wichita. I had no moment of considering doing such today, what with it being hard to stay vertical whilst getting hit by wind gusts.

I suspect we are going to be having an exceptional stormy Spring, in multiple ways....