The Snowman Cometh Tomorrow Hopefully With No Iceman

Once again, back in the natural deep freeze.

Now with snow on the menu for tomorrow, that being the first Friday of the new year.

So far no threats of a possible Ice Storm. I don't mind it much when it snows in Texas, but Ice Storms, well, I never experienced such until I experienced Texas.

I was barely a week in Texas, one of the last Decembers of the previous century. when I slipped on my first Ice Storm. I left Washington in a heavy rain storm and arrived at my new Texas abode in an even heavier rainstorm, which was also my introduction to the concept of flash flooding.

A week later I found myself at the Fort Worth Stockyards. Lunch buffet at the long gone Riscky Rita's. A Mexican food buffet. Which was not a good buffet. Not a big mystery why Riscky Rita's is no more.

So, during the time whilst I tried to enjoy the Riscky Rita Mexican buffet, unbeknownst to me, the strong wind howling outside was bringing a temperature drop from the north.

A fifty degree drop by the time I exited Riscky Rita's to find myself seriously under dressed, in a t-shirt, with no coat. A fast run was made to my vehicle.

That night the temperature went well below freezing. We did not know how to turn off the water to the barn. Or what to do about the pool. By morning an Ice Storm had coated the outer world with a thick cover of treacherous slipperitude.

Within a couple days warmth had returned, with the Ice Storm a memory, a bad memory, which has now been repeated more times than I can remember, with the most recent instance striking a couple winters ago whilst I was on my way to ALDI. That ALDI visit turned into a multi-hour nightmare which had me vowing never again.

So, tomorrow if the scheduled snow decides to go into Ice Storm mode I will not be rolling mechanized wheels any where.

If I can avoid doing so.....

Finding Fish Brewing Olympia Tumwater Porter In Wichita Falls ALDI

I had barely passed through the ALDI entry chamber's second automatic door when  I saw that which you see here, an item which I was surprised to find so far from its creation zone.

Tumwater Porter.

Brewed & Bottled by Fish Brewing Company in Olympia, Washington.

Apparently the proud recipient of the 2015 World's Best Beer Award.

No mention made of who it was who decided this was the World's Best Beer. If this was a Texas thing I would assume it to be a simple act of inflated brag based on nothing substantial.

I have never heard of the Fish Brewing Company.

Tumwater, however, is quite familiar to me.

Tumwater is the location, in Olympia, of the former  Olympia Brewery, the brewer of the once extremely popular Olympia Beer.

I have never known why, or how, it was Olympia Beer went out of business. Like I said, it used to be very popular. I recollect at one point in time Clint Eastwood indicated it was his favorite beer.

I remember once on our way to the coast stopping in Tumwater to take the Olympia Brewery tour. My mom and dad are not consumers of adult beverages, not then, not now. The Olympia Brewery tour ended in a tasting room. My mom and dad were given mugs of beer. My siblings and I were given mugs of the soft drink of our choice.

Mom and dad were unable to take more than a sip or two of their Olympia libation, whilst  my siblings and I finished ours.  I think we got refills.

New Year Day Three Resolutions Intact With Brownies

Day three of the new year and so far I am doing all right with those all important New Year's Resolutions which one is required to make.

I have cut back, slightly on excessive exercising. And yesterday I ate a brownie in my new ongoing new year attempt to gain weight.

I did not much care for the brownie. This gaining weight thing is gonna be tough.

Maybe I'll buy a bag of potato chips tomorrow when I go to ALDI.

As you can see, via today's photo documentation of the Circle Trail, looking north, the sky is no longer blue, so the sun is no longer providing a level of warmth rendering the outer world comfortable.

The temperature at the time I was being chilled was 40, with a strong wind blowing from the north making the air feel cooler.

Well, it is time for lunch. Chicken spaghetti with butter braised cabbage. I may force myself to consume another brownie....

Watching The Pansy Bowl On New Year Day Two

Yesterday, on New Years Day, I was all excited that I'd scored a rare invite to watch a football game at the Knappson Football Game viewing center.

The Knappson invite was for the Rose Bowl.

About an hour, maybe two, before I was thinking I was going to be watching the Rose Bowl, I was informed that the Knappson football game schedulers had messed up, that the Rose Bowl was taking place today, the day after New Years Day.

And my coveted invite was no longer valid.

I was so disappointed regarding the aborted Rose Bowl invite that I am of no mood to watch it today.

I do not even know who is playing in the Rose Bowl.

Way back in the previous century, before the world got all messed up, it was easy to know who would be playing in the Rose Bowl. This year it would have been the University of Washington Huskies, due to having the best record in the Pac-10, or whatever number the Pac has in it at this point in time. The Huskies would be playing whoever won some other league, I think the name was Big 10, or something like that. Wherever Michigan plays, I think.

Anyway, with New Years Day football totally ruined I opted to go outside, away from any TV screens, and sit on a bench on the Circle Trail, looking at my neighborhood Pansy Bowl, which is what you see in the photo above.

The aforementioned Huskies played in a bowl game a couple days ago. Something called the Peach Bowl. There are so many of these bowl games with so many names.

It used to be simple.

Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and maybe a couple other fruits and flowers attached to bowls which I am not remembering.

The Huskies lost the Peach Bowl. The game had something to do with picking the national champion, like that is a really important thing.

Did the Tournament of Roses Parade take place out of sync, today, too? That parade used to be a New Years Day staple, til, like I already said, the world got all messed up....

Happy New Year Flying To Palm Springs With Spencer Jack

Earlier this first day of the new year of 2017, if I remember right, I mentioned that I had not heard a Happy New Year from a usual Happy New Year suspect, or two.

Since then I  have heard some more Happy New Years, from the likes of those such as Steve A, and others, such as Elsie Hotpepper.

And, the latest, a Happy New Year from Spencer Jack and his dad....

FUD -- Happy New Year. 2016 was exhausting. 2017 started with snow here in the Skagit Valley. Most of Washington State is freezing. FNSJ and I are looking forward to warmer climates. Grandma Cindy has invited us down to her Palm Springs winter residence. You should join us. -FNJ

I did not know, til reading the above paragraph, that my Favorite Ex-Sister-in-Law, Spencer Jack's Grandma Cindy, now has a winter residence in Palm Springs.

I think the last I heard mention made of Palm Springs was when Spencer Jack's new aunts, Chris and Sheila, spent a week in Palm Springs, including getting terrified on the Palm Springs Tramway, due to its new glass floor, which rotates as the tram climbs up the mountain.

Spencer Jack and Jason's message about going to Palm Springs included the photo you see above of a snow covered Alaska Airways jet. Judging by this scene I am guessing Spencer Jack drove his dad to the Bellingham airport, which is a lot closer, with a lot less traffic to contend with, than driving to Sea-Tac.

Does Alaska fly direct from Bellingham to Palm Springs? I have no idea. I know the town I am currently in, with a population over 100,000, more people than which live in Bellingham, has no direct flights anywhere, as far as I know. One gets to fly from Wichita Falls back to D/FW before getting on a plane to ones destination.

I hope Spencer Jack and his dad are able to get warm. If Spencer wants to return to some snow I suspect this time of year the Palm Springs Tramway can take care of that need...

2017 New Years Resolutions Off To Bad Start

New Years Day morning, via Facebook, Little Miss Mary Brown asked me the probing question "What are your New Year Resolutions?"

I proceeded to tell Little Miss Mary that....

My 2017 New Year Resolutions are to gain some weight, to cut back on my excessive exercising, like taking too many long walks, to try and make myself eat junk food at least once a week, just for the variety and maybe see if I can develop a taste for wine and beer.....

A few minutes after informing Little Miss Mary of my 2017 New Year Resolutions I proceeded to break the one about cutting back on the excessive exercising, like taking long walks, by taking a long walk on the Circle Trail.

A pleasant, warm, quiet, breeze-free long walk on the Circle Trail.

As you can  see via the long walk on the Circle Trail photo documentation, the formerly green grass has turned a lovely shade of brown at my location on the planet.

That is the Weeks Golf Course with no green greens you see on the right, on the east side of Holliday Creek.

Seeing all this browned grass had me trying to remember if Washington grass turns brown in winter. It seems to me, well to my memory, that grass in the Evergreen state remains green all winter long, as least on the west side of the mountains, as in Cascade mountain range.

This morning I got Happy New Year text messages on my phone from most of the usual suspects, starting with my little brother. So far, among the usual suspects, I have yet to see a Happy New Year from Spencer Jack, Elsie Hotpepper, Delilah Diddleworthy, Wally Wiggler, Linda Arbrrr, Maxine and likely some others I am not remembering right now.....

Try To Find Me Tomorrow When Manly Men & Wild Women Hike Tandy Hills

• The Following Message is the Official 2016 Manly Man & Wild Women Announcement from the MM & WW Hike Organizers....

It's a new year and a new you. Time once again to test your mettle by participating in the... 7th Annual Manly Men Wild Women Hike the Hills There's nothing complicated about it. Just show up at Tandy Hills Natural Area, the coolest green space in the inner city, and enjoy the great out-of-doors. Our goal is to hike border-to border-to-border-to-border, tracing the steel cable that defines the 160 acre boundary. Your rewards include but are not restricted to:

1. You will lose at least 2 pounds. (They don't call it Tandy HILLS for nothing!)
2. See sections of the park known only to a few hawks and a couple of scrawny coyotes.
3. Celebrate the 56th anniversary of the coolest park in Fort Worth.
4. It won't kill you but will make you stronger (for the upcoming Brush Bash*)
5. Work up a good appetite for lunch

Who: Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area

What: Manly Men & Wild Women Hike. All ages welcome. Leashed dogs welcome. (No wimps, please.)

When: January 1, 2017 10:00 am (allow 1-1.5 hours for hike)

Where: Tandy Hills Natural Area, 3400 View Street

Why: For the fun and glory of it.

Bring: Water, snack, camera, hiking boots, hat.

RSVP: > > > to Don Young ASAP.

____________________

Amazing how time flies by so fast. Seems like only yesterday I hiked the first Manly Men & Wild Women hike. And now tomorrow the 7th iteration of such takes place.

I blogged about that first Manly Man & Wild Women Hike way back when it took place on January 2, 2010 in a blogging titled Tandy Hills Hiking With Wild Women, Manly Men, The Queen Of Wink & Princess Annie.

Way back in 2010 the Queen of Wink still occupied her royal throne, with Queen in waiting, Princess Annie, still installed the Wink palace.

At some point in time, post 2010, a palace coup removed the Queen from her Wink throne. Princess Annie then abdicated and fled the palace, seeking temporary refuge with a former King of Wink.

Recent reports indicate the former Princess has returned to the former palace. No further details are known.....

Looking For A Missing Golf Ball On My Way To The Texas Caribbean

Around noon of the Eve of New Year's Eve I opted to exit my abode to head north on the Circle Trail.

It had been a day or two since I had attended to my endorphin needs.

I was not long into today's breezy jog when I saw that which you see here, a scene I have seen previously.

A golfer at the bottom of the slope which leads from Weeks Golf Course to the sometimes raging waters of Holliday Creek.

Are these golfers hunting for a golf ball which has gone missing? Is this done because it is best to find the missing ball so as to continue ones golfing without suffering some sort of point penalty?

Or are golf balls so expensive that one is willing to risk falling into a creek in order to retrieve a valuable ball?

I suppose if I had bought that Golfing for Dummies book I might find the answers to these probing golf questions.

Anyway, I did not linger long enough to determine if the missing golf ball was successfully located.

I continued on my windblown way til I entered the Caribbean part of my neighborhood via Barbados, continuing on to Antigua and then back to Barbados til I left the Caribbean. I have yet to find Cuba during my Caribbean traipses. One would think the biggest island in the Caribbean would be included.

I saw on this morning's weather menu that we are currently scheduled to return to a deep freeze the first week of the new year. I hope that forecast changes. I am not a fan of the Texas version of a deep freeze. Particularly if ice is involved.

Currently no Ice Storm is on the local weather menu...

Spencer Jack's Grandpa's Million Dollar Christmas

Yesterday my phone made its incoming text message noise whilst I was in Arlington's River Legacy Park.

The message was from Spencer Jack's grandpa, also known as my little brother, Jake.

I was unable to open and read the message, with the phone telling me something about a network error.

This morning I remembered to text my little brother mentioning the message with the network error and my inability to see or read the message.

A few minutes later that which you see above arrived on my phone. I assume this is that which generated the network error message, though that was not made clear.

When I got the image off the phone I saw that it was Spencer Jack's Christmas present for his grandpa. A Gift Certificate for One Million Dollars redeemable at the Fidalgo-Drive In in the Washington port city of Anacortes.

I have mentioned the Fidalgo Drive-In multiple times on this blog, and in a more detailed way on my Washington blog, in bloggings such as...

The Fidalgo Drive-In Has The Best Hamburger In Anacortes and Spencer Jack & Your Hometown Fidalgo Drive-In Family Restaurant in Anacortes Washington and Spencer Jack's Fidalgo Drive-In Hamburger Voted Best in Anacortes.

I copied and pasted the two above paragraphs from the latest blogging in which I mentioned the Fidalgo-Drive-In, with that blogging titled Text From Linda Leads To Fidalgo Drive-In Root Beer Float

Regarding Spencer Jack's Million Dollar Gift Certificate, I was unable to legibly make out much of that which was in the card Spencer Jack made for his grandpa.

Near as I can tell part of the card said....

Merry Christmas,

I hope Santa didn't mix up your present from me like he did with my dad.

Love Spencer

I may have gotten the gist of that totally wrong. I ran the image through every photo filter I could think of that resides on this computer, to no avail regarding being able to read anything clearly on the card.

I wonder if I were in Washington at the same time as my little brother if he could take me to the Fidalgo-Drive-In for a cheeseburger and blackberry milkshake and charge it to his Million Dollar Gift Certificate? I hope so. It gives me something to look forward to.....

Mountain Passing With Spencer Jack On The Trinity River

Well. I have had myself a day. It started around midnight when suddenly my horizontal slumber device went into total systems failure mode.

I will spare relaying the gory details.

Suffice to say by the time the sun began to leave today I had already installed a new bed.

I suppose you are wondering what that Winter Wonderland is that you are looking at here.

I'll get to that.

But first I need mention that after a night of extremely troubled sleeping woes I may have been a bit unrested, but reliable person that I am, I stayed with an agreed plan to act as chauffeur for a driving challenged individual, ferrying said individual to various locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington Metropolitan Mess.

During the course of transiting from Wichita Falls to D/FW I did not pass through the scenic Winter Wonderland you see above. I'll get to that later.

But first the, uh, scenic wonder I saw up close today in Arlington.

The Trinity River looking clearer and cleaner than I have ever seen it look. The river was flowing with an almost inviting shade of green which I might have been tempted to get wet in if the temperature had been much higher than today's rather warm 80s.

Above you are looking at the River Legacy Park trail bridge across the Trinity, which connects the south and north sides of the park.

A few hours later I was leaving the D/FW mess when my phone made its incoming text message noise, whilst I was getting gassed in Decatur. Among that which was coming was the picture you see at the top.

Today, apparently, judging by the photo evidence, Spencer Jack took his dad over Stevens Pass to Eastern Washington, to the Alpine tourist town of Leavenworth, and then over another mountain pass named Blewett, to go to Ellensburg, home to Central Washington University, where I and Spencer Jack's dad, and his mom, matriculated.

That is Stevens Pass I believe we are looking at above, well, not the actual pass, which is the summit, but a look at the road one drives when one crosses Stevens Pass. This is extremely adventurous driving in winter. Avalanches are known to be quite a problem.

Then again, I may be wrong, that may be a look at Snoqulamie Pass, also known as Interstate 90. If that is the case, Spencer Jack went to Central before driving over Blewetts Pass to Leavenworth, and then possibly returning home over Stevens Pass. Going west over Stevens Pass in winter can be a bit scary. There is this section on the west side of the pass that can show up in my nightmares, even though I have not driven it this century.

In the next photo Spencer Jack is in Leavenworth. This I know without a doubt.

Leavenworth is a themed tourist town the likes of which one will not find in the state I am currently in.

Texas.

Due, partly, to the absence of these things called snow covered mountains.

Leavenworth is fun year around. I think the last time I was in Leavenworth was in 2001, August of.

Leavenworth in winter is a special type of fun. Miles of cross country ski trails are in the town. I remember one October, late in the last century, Spencer Jack's Favorite Uncle Joey and I somehow ended up in Leavenworth late on a Saturday night during Octoberfest. It was memorable.

And then we come to my Alma Mater. Central Washington University.

I wonder if the Walnut North Apartments still exist. Those were my abode during my time at CWU.

Spencer Jack is already looking like he is ready for college.

It is currently early in the evening. I am extremely tired. That new bed is looking inviting. I am almost 100% certain it will survive tonight without catastrophic failure. Then again, I have been known to be wrong a time or two....