Sunday Sikes Lake Nature Communing Mushrooms With No Local Texas Flooding

On this first Sunday of the 2025 version of July, it was to Sikes Lake I ventured this morning, for some salubrious nature communing.

The temperature was a relatively pleasant 80 degrees, as measured by the Fahrenheit method. But the Heat Index, measured via factoring in the humidity and wind, had those 80 degrees really feeling like 90 degrees.

But, it really did not feel all that HOT, to me. I suspect the clouds blocking the sun helped mitigate the HOT feeling.

Since my last Sikes Lake visit, a couple days ago, mushrooms have sprouted from the ground, which is what you see photo documented above.

Big mushrooms.

I harvested a few to possibly turn into Beef Stroganoff this week.

I have been asked by answer seekers, living in my old home zone of the Skagit Valley in Washington, if the Texas floods they have been seeing on the news are flooding where I am located.

No. I am far north of the area being catastrophically flooded.

From the Skagit Valley perspective, distance-wise, it'd be like a bad flood happening south of Portland, Oregon. In other words, around 300 miles south of my Wichita Falls location.

However, rain, and possible flash flooding, is on the weather menu for my location today. Along with possible thunderstorms. So far, not a drop, nor a thunder boom...

Overnight Giant Mushrooms Invade Wichita Falls

I can not seem to shake my current state of ennui, of not seeming to muster the energy to care about much of anything.

I thought a bike ride and its resultant aerobic stimulation, and the endorphins which are produced by such, might have a salubrious effect on my dour mood.

A half hour into riding, at the location furthest from my abode, rain began dripping, which fit my mood perfectly.

Soon after beginning to roll on the Circle Trail I came upon giant mushrooms, one of which you see above, which sprang up overnight, literally, as in I saw no mushrooms yesterday whilst rolling on the same route.

And today it was not just one group of giant mushrooms. Giant mushrooms overnight had sprouted all along the Circle Trail and at Sikes Lake and the MSU campus and in my own front yard, which I had not rolled by when I left, but did upon my return.

How do these fungus grow so fast? Rain with a perfect temperature and ideal humidity must be the trigger.

Are these mushrooms edible? Do they have a medicinal effect like a psilocybin mushroom? Are they tasty like a portobello mushroom?

I suppose I could sample one.

Doing so would likely put me out of my misery one way or another....

Finding Renewal In Arlington With A Vietnamese Visit To Chinatown Before Finding Giant Mushrooms Sprouting In Veterans Park

If I remember right I have heard it said, a time or two, that everything is bigger in Texas.

I've thought that sounded ridiculous every time I've heard it said.

And then today I came upon the biggest mushroom I have ever seen, sprouting in Veterans Park in Arlington.

I have never seen the vegetation in Veterans Park sprouting at the lush level it is currently sprouting.

I was in Arlington today to get a vehicle registration renewal sticker. An annual ordeal I go through due to forgetting to mail the form in in time to avoid not taking care of it in person. Then again, I always enjoy the drive to the heart of Arlington.

Since I was in the heart of Arlington part of town and since I needed some Asian products, after doing the sticker renewal I headed further south and east to Cho Saigon Market in Arlington's Chinatown.

After shopping with the Vietnamese I was off to Veterans Park to find the aforementioned giant mushroom. There were dozens of mushrooms sprouting. I figured this sprouting had to have recently occurred because it seems unlikely these growths would last long without being plucked.

I was tempted to pluck one of the giant mushrooms to add to today's stir-fry lunch, but then I remembered these type things can be poisonous, like so many other things that are bigger in Texas.

Whatever that means....

Magic Mushrooms Sprouting In Texas

All previous years during my exile in Texas, by this time of the summer, most everything on the ground is brown. This year green remains the dominant color, as you can see in the picture, looking at a field of grass, today, at Oakland Lake Park.

Saturday started off with sad news when I learned that one of my all time favorite people's dad had died. It had only been discovered around Labor Day that cancer had invaded his liver and pancreas. And now less than 2 weeks later cancer has won yet one more battle in its war against humanity.

In the past few months I've learned of way too many sad things. I call it Facebook Syndrome.

I did not get up til past 7 this morning. It was in the 60s overnight. The water in the pool bordered on being cold. I liked it.

Tootsie Tonasket called me around noon and entertained me while I walked around Oakland Lake Park, including when I took the picture you see above of some giant mushrooms that sprang to life recently in our very damp climate. I don't know if these are edible mushrooms, so I did not eat one.

I'm off to Arlington in a bit, to some event at some new park near the city center of Arlington. I forget the name of the park. Music is involved. Details to follow, with pictures, should the event warrant it.