95 Degrees Walking With My Sister Along Village Creek Looking At A Blue Heron

The last time I went walking at Village Creek Natural Historic Area my mom went walking with me.

Today I took my sister, known as Cbonesmom, who lives in Chandler, walking with me. Chandler is a Phoenix suburb in Arizona.

My sister and I walked quite a long distance. And then the battery on my phone ran out just as my sister was telling me something very interesting.

I called my sister after I took the picture, you see above, of a Blue Heron looking for fish in Village Creek.

The Blue Heron must not have gotten the memo about the safety of eating the fish you catch in Village Creek.

Actually, now that you are making me think about it, fish caught in Village Creek must be okay to eat, because one often sees people fishing in Village Creek and there are no signs warning about the consumption of any fish you might catch.

I did not ask my sister how HOT it was in the Arizona desert today. Likely it is hotter than the relatively chilly 98 degrees I am currently being cooled to.

The forecast for today was 103, if I remember right, with a Heat Index of 110 or 111. I don't know why it is so much colder than the forecast, currently with a Heat Index of only 106.

I blogged on my Durango Roadtripping blog for the 2nd time this year, this morning, in a blogging titled, "Opinions About the Top Ten Best National Park Hikes in America."

My swimming pool has been successfully shocked, so tomorrow morning I can be back in my regular swimming rut. What a relief.

A Warm Saltwater Beach, Mountain Peak, Roadtripping & Woeful Me

My favorite Blogging Co-Conspirator has caused me to think of being at a beach of late. Though I may get in water in the form of a swimming pool, like I did real early this morning, as in crack of dawn early, I can not remember when the last time was that I was at a saltwater beach, with the water warm enough to swim.

But, as much as the thought of saltwater beach swimming makes me want to get out of this landlocked zone and see some open water, even worse, of late I have found myself writing about roadtrips I've gone on in the past.

That is causing me to dredge up some rather fond memories, which is causing me to want to go on a roadtrip real bad. I have not been on a long roadtrip since July of 2001 when I drove, solo, from Fort Worth to Seattle for my mom and dad's 50th. And back.

I can't even remember the last time I've been out of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. That's pathetic. I occasionally used to take a short roadtrip up to Ada, Oklahoma to see one of my best friends, dating all the way back to early grade school. But last summer she moved back to Washington. I now know no one in Oklahoma, as far as I know.

All this thinking about roadtrips and looking at old pictures is also making me want to go on a real hike on a real mountain. Just like how I can't remember the last time I've been out of this Metroplex, I can not remember the last time I hiked up a real mountain. The picture at the top is me laying on top of Hidden Lake peak, looking down at Hidden Lake. This is deep into the North Cascades. When you get high in the Cascades you see this phenomenon called "The Sea of Peaks," where there are so many mountain tops, extending as far as you can see, that it looks like whitecaps on a rough sea.

I guess last summer's hike at Mount Rainier sort of counts as hiking on a mountain. But not really. As in no mountain top got reached. No Sea of Peaks was seen.

Today I'm taking a short roadtrip up to Southlake and Sprouts Farmers Market. And then maybe this afternoon I may take an even shorter roadtrip to River Legacy Park to pedal the mountain bike trail. It is now dried out from our recent deluge. All this beach, mountain and roadtrip talk has me feeling a bit depressed. I need an endorphin boost.

Durango Roadtripping & Swimming

This morning I was able to have my first early morning swim in two weeks. The temperature got down to 55 by the time dawn broke this morning. So, for the first time this year, the pool water was warmer, by far, than the air.

I finally found a name I didn't dislike for my new blog. The image I used was a picture taken on the road that leads to Monument Valley in Arizona, taken looking out the windshield of my van at the same scenery that was on the cover of the van's manual.

I've only been doing the new blog for a few days. Yesterday I was pleased to see that Google had indexed the blog. And this morning I was pleased, again, to see that someone came to the blog due to doing a Google search for "The Loneliest Road in America."

I do have something vexing me about my new blog that I don't understand. A couple days ago I burned a feed for both the new blog and my TV blog. Overnight both had subscribers, with the TV one having 12 and the new blog having 15. I can look at my FeedJit stats and see that I've not even had 15 visitors to the new blog, so how can there be 15 subscribers. That makes no sense. It perplexes me.

Speaking of perplexing, Gar the Texan has taken off for Italy again. I'm sure a lotta hilarity will ensue. If you didn't read about his Italian misadventures from a couple weeks ago, go here, and you'll find the links. The most amusing tale was the 5 hour train ride to Rome with a woman who would not shut up.

The early morning swimming has me feeling agitated. Maybe it's something else causing the agitation. I did have some exhausting nightmares last night due to being overstimulated by the season finale of 24. I'm fairly certain I did not sleepwalk last night. But I can never be sure about that.