Early Monday Morning Wichita Falls Library Nature Communing

Communing with nature on this second Monday of the 2026 version of March consisted of driving, early this morning, to beautiful downtown Wichita Falls, to return books and get some new ones.

Which would make the above photo documentation a look at the exterior of the Wichita Falls Public Library.

Yesterday was chilly, with the temperature never getting far into the 60s, as measured by the Fahrenheit method.

As you can see, that is a clear blue sky above the library. Today's temperature is predicted to get to 87 degrees. 

How did people live in this climate before the invention of air-conditioning, I often wonder.

Chilly Sunday Morning Not Swimming Or Boating On Sikes Lake

On this second Sunday of the 2026 version of March, it was to Sikes Lake I ventured this morning to get me some endorphins whilst enjoying some chilly nature communing under a clear blue sky.

The photo documentation is looking west from the east end of the lake. Looking at the Sike Lake dam through a fence with what seem to be odd signs.

Who would want to go swimming in this lake? I don't think it is very deep. And it's muddy. The sign next to the NO SWIMMING signs informs that there is to be NO BOATING, CANOEING OR KAYAKING WITHOUT UNIVERSITY APPROVAL.

In all the years I have been walking around Sikes Lake I have never seen anyone floating on the lake via any floating conveyance. So, either the University never gives approval. Or no one tries to get approved to float on Sikes Lake.

I got out of bed this morning at my regular time, despite it being an hour earlier than my norm, due to the annoying switch to Daylight Savings Time.

Wichita Falls Thunderstorms, Flooding Downpours, Hail & Tormadoes On Today's Weather Menu

This is the third day in a row the Wichita Falls weather prediction has thunderstorms on the menu.

Today flooding downpours, damaging wind gusts and tornadoes have been added to the menu,

If today turns out to be the same as the previous two days, we will be hearing no see no lightning strikes, hear no thunder, see no rain. 

And no tornadoes.

I have experienced a tornado, up close, twice since I have been in Texas. It is not a pleasant experience. Not one I want to repeat. 

Thursday Lucy Park Nature Communing With Yellow Wildflowers

Yesterday I blogged about a Chilly Wednesday Pink Purple Walk Around Sikes Lake in which, after seeing a flowering tree being a harbinger of the coming Spring, I made mention of the fact that soon wildflowers would be coloring the Texas landscape.

And now, just a day later, I found myself nature communing at Lucy Park, seeing the landscape being colored by the bright yellow wildflower you see photo documented above.

I know the name of some Texas wildflowers, like Bluebonnets and Evening Primroses, but I do not know the name of this beautiful bright yellow wildflower.

The nature communing was pleasant today, though I was overdressed in sweatpants. The temperature was in the upper 60s, heading to a high in the 80s on this first Thursday of the 2026 version of March.

Thunderstorms are again on the weather menu for today and tomorrow. 

Chilly Wednesday Pink Purple Walk Around Sikes Lake

On this first Wednesday of the 2026 version of March, it was to nearby Sikes Lake I ventured for some chilly nature communing.

Such would make the above photo documentation the view looking south from the middle of the bridge at the north end of the lake.

As you can see, the sky is not blue today. Totally overcast, sort of foggy, with thunderstorming, downpours and hail on the weather menu for today.

Daylight Savings Time arrives this coming Sunday. Only two of my clocks currently require being manually adjusted, time-wise. 

With the arrival of Daylight Savings Time, the arrival of Spring comes along in a couple more weeks.

Today, at Sikes Lake, I saw a colorful harbinger of Spring, photo documented below.

I have zero clue what type tree this is which is sporting the colorful pinkish purplish flowers. Soon wildflowers should start sprouting, followed by trees turning green.

Texas is significantly more scenic when color returns to the landscape...

Tuesday Morning Tender Sweet Walmart Frog Legs

I saw that which you see photo documented, above, this Tuesday morning in Walmart.

Two pounds of "Tender & Slightly Sweet" Frog Legs. Ready to cook. For only $19.99.

I think I may have noticed the Frog Legs in the Walmart seafood section, previously. But, seeing the Frog Legs today had me wondering if this is a Southern thing. 

Are there Frog Legs in the seafood section of the Walmart in the town I lived in before moving to Texas? That being the town known as Mount Vernon, Washington, a Pacific Northwest location, far from the Deep South.

I did not think to check out the Frog Legs cooking instructions on the Frog Legs box. Is there an air fryer option? Are Frog Legs like chicken legs, with the frog skin part of what you are expected to consume?

I do not think anything could entice me to bite into a frog leg, no matter how it was cooked.

First March Monday Wichita Falls Prairie Dog Town Visit

It has been a few years, since well before COVID, that I made a visit to the nearby Prairie Dog Town in University Kiwanis Park.

This relatively chilly first Monday of the 2026 version of March seemed a good day for a prairie dog visit.

I've thought prairie dogs to be real cute, ever since I first visited one of their towns, years ago, near the entry to Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

Prairie dogs don't bark. They make a sort of chirping noise, almost bird-like. I heard a lot of chirping today. 

Several years ago an effort was made to contain the Kiwanis Park's prairie dogs inside a sort of fenced enclosure, because a lot of prairie dogs had migrated outside the enclosure, building new homes, making hazardous holes on the open parkland.

Well, there did seem to be way fewer enclosure escapees, but I saw at least a dozen outside the enclosure, including the dog you see photo documented above.

The below prairie dog was the first I saw today, upon exiting my vehicle.

This prairie dog was inside the enclosure, and was nicely cooperative about being photographed, letting me get close.

Has anyone ever succeeded in domesticating a prairie dog, I wondered today. I sispect not...

Final Day Of February Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle Nature Communing

On this final day of the 2026 version of February, it was to the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle I ventured for some salubrious nature communing and that activities resulting endorphins.

The temperature was in the mid 70s whilst I nature communed, heading for a predicted high of 86 degrees as measured via the Fahrenheit method.

Thunderstorms are on the weather menu for tonight. And the next several days.

It has been a while since I heard a thunderclap.

I filled up my gas tank this morning, anticipating a big price increase due to Trump's illegal attack on Iran.

Gas was $2.19 when last I pumped, before today. This morning the price per gallon had gone up to $2.46.

Dozens of Iranian grade school kids killed in a missile strike on a school. 

Depressing...

70 Degree Sikes Lake February Thursday Nature Communing

Various impediments the past several days have prevented me from engaging in my regularly scheduled daily bout of nature communing, and that activities resulting endorphins. The diminished level of endorphins had rendered me cranky.

So, today, the final Thursday of the 2026 version of February, I hauled my cranky self to nearby Sikes Lake for some of that much needed nature communing and the resultant endorphins.

Which would make the above photo documentation the view looking west across Sikes Lake from the lake's rocky eastern shore.

The temperature whilst doing the nature communing was 70 degrees, as measured by the Fahrenheit method, heading to a predicted high today of 80 degrees.

I suspect those 80s degrees will having me once again switching my interior space's climate control from heat mode back to air-conditioned mode.

The lake walk nature communing has seemed to have made me less cranky.

I wish endorphins came in the form of pills in a bottle, thus making the nature communing not necessary. 

Extremely Windy Lucy Park Red Flag Warning

It was back to Lucy Park I ventured on this next to last Thursday of the 2026 version of February, for some extremely windy nature communing.

The extreme wind, low humidity and warm temperature resulted today in a Red Flag Warning for North Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

A Red Flag Warning indicates there is extreme wildfire danger. 

Today I did not go too far onto the Lucy Park suspension bridge over the Wichita River, due to that extreme wind causing the bridge to sway in a way which took crossing it out of my comfort zone.

Warm Wednesday Lake Wichita Nature Communing With Swans

It was to Lake Wichita I ventured this fine Wednesday morning of February, for some extremely pleasant nature communing.

It has been a few years since any water has spilled over the Lake Wichita dam's spillway, which explains how it is that so much vegetation has sprouted up where water is supposed to spill.

When last I was at Lake Wichita the temperature was below freezing, and the lake was totally frozen into ice pond mode.

That was only a couple weeks ago.

Today the temperature was in the 60s when I had fun in the outer world.

Those white spots you see on the lake, between where I am standing and Mount Wichita on the far side of the lake, are big white swans.

Windy Sikes Lake Visit To Wood Park Terrible Tuesday Tornado Memorial

It was to nearby Sikes Lake I ventured this Tuesday morning for some windy nature communing.

What you are seeing in the photo documentation is a memorial, located in Wood Memorial Park, at the west side of Sikes Lake.

The memorial makes note of the 45 Wichita Falls natives who died in what is known locally as Terrible Tuesday, or the Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak.

The Wichita Falls tornado that Terrible Tuesday blew through the part of town in which I currently reside.

Since I have been in Texas I have experienced a couple tornados up close.

The worst being a tornado which struck downtown Fort Worth, doing a lot of damage. I was heading into downtown, when I got a call telling me to not come downtown, that it was way too stormy. I could see a dark wall of clouds, but did not know at the time that a tornado was spinning behind those clouds.

The other up close tornado happened when I was located in east Fort Worth. I had the TV on due to the storm and the non-stop coverage, which at some point told me that a tornado was spinning just a short distance south of my location, heading in my direction. I could see the Doppler radar image of the tornado and its direction. When it got about a quarter mile from my location it stopped heading north and started heading east along Interstate 30.

Every Monday at noon the tornado sirens are tested. The sirens are extremely loud.

From the Wikipedia article about the Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak detailing Terrible Tuesday in Wichita Falls...

The most significant tornado of the day was an F4 tornado that began east-northeast of Holliday, Texas, at around 5:50 p.m. CST and moved east-northeast into Wichita Falls, taking a 8 mi (13 km) course through densely populated areas of the city and destroying over two thousand homes across several neighborhoods. The tornado spanned as wide as 1.5 mi (2.4 km) across during its passage through the city, with the most severe damage occurring within a 0.5 mi (0.80 km) wide swath. At least 45 people were killed within the city and nearly 1,800 people were injured, ranking the tornado among the deadliest in Texas history. A majority of the fatalities occurred as the tornado mangled and tossed vehicles. The damage wrought by the Wichita Falls tornado was unprecedented, with the $400 million ($1.865B in 2025 dollars) damage toll making it the costliest tornado on record at the time. The severe weather event was widely observed by scientific instruments due to its serendipitous occurrence during a NASA field campaign. Later studies referred to the tornado outbreak as the Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak, and in the areas affected the day came to be known as Terrible Tuesday.

Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle Nature Communing

It has been a few days since I got myself some endorphins acquired whilst nature communing. So, today, President's Day, also known as Monday, the third such day in the 2026 version of February, I drove to Lucy Park to nature commune through the Lucy Park backwoods jungle.

As you can see, via the photo documentation, the Lucy Park backwoods jungle is currently not in jungle mode, what with the complete absence of green leaves and green grass or any other green foliage.

The backwoods was a bit muddy due to Saturday's rain. 

The temperature was in the upper 60s during my nature communing time this morning. Heading to a high today somewhere in the 80s.

It seems like only a week or two ago the temperature at my location was below zero. 

Had you told me then that within a week I would be feeling the need to turn my interior climate control system from heat mode to air-conditioned mode, I would have thought such a prediction was ridiculous.

Chilly Windy Nature Communing At Sikes Lake

On this second Tuesday of the 2026 version of February, it was back to Sikes Lake I ventured for some nature communing and endorphin acquisition. 

In the photo documentation we are on the rocky east shore of Sikes Lake, looking southwest.

It was last Wednesday when I was last at Sikes Lake, still with some snow on the ground. On that day the air was dead calm, no wind, turning the lake into a giant mirror.

Today the temperature was in the 60s, as measured by the Fahrenheit method, with a chilling wind blowing. I should have been in sweat pants, not shorts, and something long-sleeved, not a short-sleeved t-shirt.

The three days previous to today the temperature has heated into the 80s. Such will not be happening today. Today's prediction is for the high to be in the low 60s.

Despite today's chillI have not yet felt the need to activate my interior space heating system.

I do not remember there being previous winters in Texas where I switched my interior climate control to air-conditioning cooling mode. But, such has been the case the past couple days...

Snow-Free Monday Return To Lucy Park's Pagoda Replacement

A couple years ago, the Lucy Park Japanese Pagoda-like structure burned down. Eventually the Pagoda-like structure's remains were removed.  The local newspaper, that being the Wichita Falls Times Record News, never had an article about this happening. Was it arson? Or struck by a lightning bolt? 

Last week when I had myself a slippery icy visit to Lucy Park I saw some construction activity happening at the Japanese Pagoda-like structure location.

Today, I returned to Lucy Park for some fast-paced salubrious endorphin acquisition, along with nature communing to see that the construction of the Japanese Pagoda-like structure is complete. The new structure does not look at all Pagoda-like.

Today will be the third day in a row where the temperature in the outer world, at my location, reaches into the 80s, as measured by the Fahrenheit method, making this second Monday of the 2026 version of February another HOT day.

Most of the snow has melted. The only snow I saw today was the remains of a pile due south of my driveway.

A Long Memorial To Lulu Linda With Photo Documentation

Yesterday, whilst driving to ALDI, a friend of mine, dating all the way back to first grade, Linda Lou, called me with the sad news that another friend of mine, dating all the way back to high school, also named Linda, had died.

I'd been told a couple months ago that Linda was ailing bad, and that her condition was terminal.

There was a time when I saw Linda frequently, when I lived in Washington. And after the move to Texas, talked multiple times a week, via a phone, til August of 2008, when an incident with Linda at the Fremont Sunday Market, in Seattle, caused me to feel the need to terminate my relationship with Linda.

But, I do have many fond memories of Linda and the fun times we had over the years. Like above, that is Linda looking pink, in Zion National Park, in Utah, being photographed by Wally from one direction, and me from another direction.

The above photo is also in Zion National Park. That is Linda next to her husband, Geff. Geff passed away several years ago.

 Big Ed and Linda. This is in a houseboat on Lake Powell, in Utah. We houseboated 4 days on Lake Powell. It was such fun we repeated the fun a few years later, with a somewhat different group of floaters.

No longer in Utah, now across the border in Arizona, in Monument Valley. That is Big Ed being affectionate with Linda.

And now we are in Yosemite National Park, in California, with Linda the only one looking at me, with the others looking up at thrill seekers climbing up the El Capitan cliff.

I have many photos of Linda and the various places we tripped. Most of them are in old-fashioned hard copy photograph mode, not digitized.

It was due to Linda's husband, Geff, that I got into website building. Geff had a website, called MudSluts, mountain bike themed, which was picked Cool Site of the Day, which was a cool thing to have happen late in the previous century.

Then Geff took emails between me and Linda and turned them into Lulu & Durango In As The WWWeb Turns. This was also picked a Cool Site of the Day.

In Lulu & Durango In As The WWWeb Turns Geff made my Durango character be a bit of an annoying know-it-all. So amusing, what with that being so different from the real me.

The Durango nickname came to be when I would send out mailings to those going on the Lake Powell Houseboat trip, with the mailings titled "Durango Dean's Wild West Adventure".

In addition to Lake Powell that trip included the aforementioned Monument Valley, log cabins at the Grand Canyon's north rim, where we got trapped the next morning by a heavy snowstorm. Overnight in the lodge in Zion National Park, a few nights in the Luxor in Las Vegas, overnight at Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley, then Yosemite on the way north back to Washington.

Back to Lulu & Durango in As The WWWeb Turns.  I was having too much fun sending Geff too much material for the WWWeb Turns website, with Geff, to my mind, being way too slow making use of the material.

I got a call from Geff telling me I needed to come to Gig Harbor, because he had something for me. So, I made the 90-mile drive south to be shown a graphic of an image of a door, on which the words "Dialing Doctor Durango" was written.

Along with that image Geff had written the HTML code for a website called "Dialing Doctor Durango". It is so long ago I do not remember how I set up the website on my own server, or how I got the URL for the website.

What I do remember is HTML code looked way too difficult. So, I quickly found a website building program called HotDog. Geff had told me I had no idea how tedious and time-consuming web code writing was, when I'd complain he was not adding content fast enough.

Well, Geff was an Apple user, I was a Windows user. With way more apps available. HotDog was easy to use. You'd make a webpage much the same way as you'd write a document with photos to be printed. HotDog made the code.

Geff was soon perplexed at how fast I was churning out webpages for Dialing Doctor Durango. It was quite some time before I confessed to HotDog being the reason. By then Dialing Doctor Durango had been picked Funky Site of the Day. Not as cool as Cool Site of the Day, but I was pleased.

I did Dialing Doctor Durango for a couple years. It generated a lot of questions and comments. It was picked one of the Top 10 medical websites on the Internet, by some German university.

How could they not get this was not a serious medical website? Dialing Doctor Durango is how I met Wee Cheng of Singapore. She emailed asking Doctor Durango's advice.

Changing the subject back to roadtrips with Lulu, I mean, Linda. The first one of those took place when I was in college, going to Central Washington University in Ellensburg. Lulu and her best friend, Julie, came over in Lulu's new Mazda, over Spring Break. With me driving, Lulu, Julie and Big Ed roadtripped to Reno, with that being the first time I'd been to Reno. Other than Reno, the highlights of that trip were Virginia City and Lake Tahoe.

Why I thought it was a good idea to take off like that during Spring Break is a mystery to me, all these years later.

I hope Lulu Linda is at peace now, reunited with Geff...

Washington's Grand Coulee Dam In Seattle Seahawks Celebration Mode

I saw that which you see here, this Friday morning, on the front page of the Seattle Times online version.

Grand Coulee Dam lit up in the colors of the Seattle Seahawks, an Eastern Washington contribution to the statewide celebration of the Seattle Seahawks being in the Super Bowl again.

Actually, it is not just a Washington celebration. Pretty much the entire Pacific Northwest claims the Seattle Seahawks as their NFL football team.

I knew Grand Coulee Dam was lit colorfully after dark. I did not know the color scheme could easily be adjusted.

I do not think I have been to Grand Coulee Dam this century.

When I was a Washington resident I saw Grand Coulee Dam frequently, because it was near one of my favorite Eastern Washington locations, that being Sun Lakes State Park.

At my current location, Wichita Falls, Texas, there are no attractions of the sort which were so close when I lived in Washington. No mountains, or mountain ranges. No big dams. No big waterfalls. 

I have learned to like a nice flat land with very few scenic distractions...

Friday 80 High In Wichita Falls Texas

Seems like only a week ago, because it was,  the temperature at my Wichita Falls, Texas location got down below zero, as measured by the Fahrenheit method.

And now, today, the first Friday of the 2026 version of February, the high for today is predicted to be 80 degrees above zero, as measured by that aforementioned Fahrenheit method.

I see some outdoor nature communing in my future for today, basking in shorts and t-shirt weather.

I likely won't bother applying any sunscreen lotion...

Seattle Link Light Rail Ready For Seahawk Super Bowl Victory Parade While Dallas Light Rail Is Not Ready For Super Bowl Victory Or Parade

I saw that which you see above in the Seattle Times online version this morning. That train you see is one of the trains rolling along one of Sound Transit's Link Light Rail line.

From the Wikipedia Link Light Rail article...

Link Light Rail is a light rail system with some rapid transit characteristics that serves the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is managed by Sound Transit in partnership with local transit providers and comprises three non-connected lines that total 55 miles (89 km) with 48 stations. 

Apparently, some repairs are needed in case the Seattle Seahawks win the Super Bowl, again, on Sunday.

Dallas has a light rail line, known as DART.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

DART does not have a line which goes to Arlington, which is the location of the Dallas Cowboy's football stadium. It has been a few decades since Dallas has had to worry about making sure DART is working well, in case a Super Bowl victory parade was causing a lot of people to want to ride the rail to downtown Dallas.

It has long seemed odd to me that there is no DART line to Arlington. The Dallas Cowboy stadium is a short walking distance from the Texas Ranger's ballpark. That and the original Six Flags Over Texas theme park.

There is a DART line which goes from Dallas to DFW International Airport. There is no light rail line which goes from Fort Worth to the airport.

Fort Worth used to have a short subway rail line. It still existed when I moved to Texas.

You could park at the massive parking lot at the north end of downtown Fort Worth, then walk to one of the subway stations and wait to board for the free ride to the heart of downtown Fort Worth, a short distance south.

These were really old subway trains.

What made it a subway line was that those really old subway trains rolled through a tunnel before emerging at a vertical mall, near the downtown Fort Worth library.

For some reason Fort Worth's civic leaders went along with killing the world's shortest subway line so that Radio Shack could build itself a new corporate headquarters, which Radio Shack could not afford.

Last I heard part of the Radio Shack corporate headquarters has been turned into college classrooms for, if I remember correctly, Tarrant County College.

Maybe by the time the Dallas Cowboys win another Super Bowl DART will have a line running to Arlington...

February Wednesday Walk Ice-Free Around Sikes Lake

On this first Wednesday of the 2026 version of February, it was to nearby Sikes Lake I ventured for some nature communing along with endorphins acquired by high-speed walking.

Which would make the photo documentation the view looking west from the rocky eastern shore of Sikes Lake.

As you can see, today Sikes Lake is in mirror mode, clearly reflecting the cloudy sky above.

You may have thought that was snow covering a still frozen Sikes Lake.

However, almost all the unpleasantness from the past week has melted. 

There is no precipitation predicted for today, even though it looks like those clouds could drip some.

Currently there is no more icy cold unpleasantness predicted in the local long-range forecast.

But, that can quickly change.

UPDATE: I think is what is known as irony. I type that the weather forecast can quickly change, after previously typing no precipitation is predicted for today, despite the clouds looking like they could drip, I hit the publish button, walk to the kitchen to make lunch, look out the window to see the outer world is now wet from drips of precipitation dripping from those aforementioned clouds...