Sikes Lake Evening Primrose Appearance With Frisky Geese

They are not quite as eye catching as a field of colorful tulips, but every Spring the Texas landscape becomes more colorful than it is for the other three seasons, with the blooming of wildflowers, of multiple types and colors.

Above you are seeing some Evening Primroses which have sprouted out of the ground since the last time I walked around Sikes Lake.

Yesterday, when Linda Lou rode to Walmart with me, my vehicle's temperature monitoring thermometer said the temperature was 106. My phone said it was 102. It felt like 125.

Today's walk around Sikes Lake was only slightly HOT, temperatured into the mid 80s.

Texas is in a state of severe drought. This may limit the amount of color the wildflowers will be blooming this year.

The Sikes geese were being frisky today. One hissed at me, another seemed to be chasing me. I think the hot weather and a lot of green stuff to eat is making the geese overly energetic.

Soon flocks of goslings and ducklings should be making their annual appearance...

Texas Wildflower Evening Primrose Explosion With Linda Lou & Coronavirus

Today has been the first day in well over a month where I have felt back to 100% okay, health-wise. The first week of March I began ailing, with that ailing going on and on, week after week, to the point I began to forget what feeling okay felt like.

Being sick sort of coincided with the period when the Coronavirus first began to show up all over the country. Some of my symptoms matched Covid-19, but I thought I was being some sort of hypochondriac to think that such could explain my ailing.

And then in the past week or so I have read more than one account of others having a similar experience and now wondering if Coronavirus is the explanation. Such became more so to me when I read that it is now known that loss of the ability to taste and smell is a Coronavirus symptom.

Oh, now this is just bizarre. Just as I hit the period button on the above paragraph, about a half hour ago, and the phone rang. Linda Lou calling. During the course of the how you doing conversation I made mention of my symptoms of the past 30 days, including the loss of taste and smell part of it.

So, Linda Lou then tells me her cousin had the same experience. Only more so. In that Linda Lou's cousin's wife was in the choir of that nationally notorious Presbyterian Church in my old home zone of Mount Vernon. And that Linda Lou's cousin's wife was sitting right by two of the people who died after contracting the virus whilst singing in church.

And then, while Linda Lou's cousin's wife did not get Coronavirus symptomatic, Linda Lou's cousin did, including that lost of taste and smell thing. Linda Lou's cousin's symptoms eerily matched mine. Linda Lou's cousin was so sure he had Coronavirus he went to get tested, but the medical professionals would not test him because his temperature did not meet the requirement.

Anyway, so nice to be feeling so much better. Today was the first actually fun bike ride I've had since this misery began. I rolled three times around Sikes Lake. Due to the current nightmare the paved trail around Sikes Lake has become a promenade of people, many masked, lots of kids.

At one point I opted to stop and get down on the ground to take the Evening Primrose photo you see above. The Evening Primrose is just about my favorite Texas wildflower. I see way more of them than any other Texas wildflower, including bluebonnets...

Texas Wildflowers In Bloom Including Pink Evening Primroses In Wichita Falls

It was decades ago.

Well, the next to last year of the last century, when I first saw the pink Texas beauties of the type you see here.

It was early May, heading towards DFW from the northwest, driving southeast on Highway 287, somewhere between Amarillo and Wichita Falls I started to see patches of pink along side the road.

After a few miles of seeing this I felt the need to stop for an up close look at the delicate flowers.

This was my introduction to Texas wildflowers.

I do not remember when it was I learned these wildflowers were called something like Evening Primroses.

The patch of pink I stopped and photo documented today were one patch among many one rolls by whilst biking around Sikes Lakes.

Windy today, extremely so. I was happy the Evening Primroses were able to rigidly pose long enough to take their picture...

Unreliable HostGator Is Down Again While Evening Primroses Blow In The Wind By Arlington's Village Creek

Not happy in Texas right about now. Found out a few minutes ago, when trying to send an email to Elsie Hotpepper, that my formerly reliable website host, HostGator, is down, again.

The last time this happened was back in November, but, even though that is about a half year ago, it seems like yesterday.

I can't email via my durangotexas.com domain, but I can blog via Google, which is what I am doing right now.

Early this morning I managed to have myself a fairly mighty fine time via a hot tub hydrotherapy session, combined with three cool pool dips.

A few minutes before noon I rolled my mechanized wheels to Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area to visit the Indian ghosts who haunt that location and to get down on the ground to take a picture of my favorite Texas wildflower, one I believe is called the Evening Primrose.

I saw my first Evening Primrose late in the last century. I was heading to the Dallas/Fort Worth zone to check out the concept of moving there. Somewhere southeast of Amarillo, driving on Highway 287, I started seeing patches of what looked to be a very delicate pink flower. After many miles of the pink patches I stopped along the road for a closer look.

At that point in time I did not realize wildflowers like this colored up the Texas landscape for a brief time every year, at some time after winter turns into spring.

As you can sort of tell, via the picture above, the Evening Primroses were blowing in the wind today. As was I....