Wichita Falls January 21 Women's March

Yesterday I indicated today I was likely going to be participating in the Wichita Falls version of the Women's March phenomenon taking place all over America and the world today.

And so I did.

It takes about two minutes to get from my abode to the starting location for today's march, that being Sikes Lake.

I must have my clocks off by a few minutes because when Midwestern Boulevard and Sikes Lake came into view I could see the marching was already underway, with a lot people quickly parking and running to join.

It took what seemed like a mile for me to finally get to the front of the march to take the photo you see above of the "WOMENS MARCH OF THE FALLS" banner which lead the protest.

The above photo was taken near the start of the march. As you can see the weather was a bit inclement.  A little rain dripped, a few umbrellas were unfurled, thunder boomed in the distance. But, by the time the march reached Kemp Boulevard the sky had brightened and ceased with the dripping and booming.

I did not know what to expect prior to experiencing today's Wichita Falls Women's March. Just a few participants passively walking along? No protest signs?

Well.

At the start the number of marchers extended for a couple blocks and continued to grow  as we marched  along.  New marchers would park at businesses along the way and join in, or just stop and wave and cheer.

Yes, there was a political component to this march. I was not among those worried that Melania needs to be freed from her involuntary servitude. However, I do think Melania would be a folk hero for the ages if she escaped to freedom.

Wichita Falls knows how to hold a totally peaceful protest. We stopped for all street lights, causing temporary gaps in the marching line. During the traffic light stops the chanting seemed to grow louder,  particularly when vehicles drove by with their horns honking, passengers waving with thumbs up.

I would estimate about 25% of the marchers were not women. Such as the grizzled geezer you see above holding a Women's March on the Falls sign.

Above is another instance of the march stopping at an intersection with the crowd bunching up and getting  more demonstrative with their demonstrating.

On Kemp Boulevard, near where the marchers are marching above, we passed a car wash. Three men who worked at that car wash stood in front of their business and waved and hollered their support quite enthusiastically. I heard a lady say that that is where she would be taking her car to get washed from now on. I wish I had thought to take a picture of the three guys with their car wash name behind them. Suffice to say this car wash is near the Wendy's on Kemp.

Pink was a popular color today.

I was just a little distressed regarding the number of words I saw which were missing their much needed apostrophe. Often women or a woman missing that much needed apostrophe.

Looking back at the pictures I am thinking my estimation that about 25% of the protest marchers were male may be a bit off, well, maybe way off. Ten percent might be more accurate.

Like I said, there was a political component to the protest march. Obviously. Such as the above Hillary Clinton quote "Fear is always with Us, but We just don't have time for it. Not Now!"

There was a lot of horn honking support, which you can hear, along with chanting, in the YouTube video below. I shot this video on Kemp, near the aforementioned car wash staffed by good guys.

I only experienced two yahoo type moments during the march. One was a guy yelling out his window, shouting something like "you better not be protesting Trump". A women shouted back something like "this is not about Trump".  At another point a yahoo drove by with his arm out his window while his hand made a threatening gesture involving his middle finger.

Finally, the aforementioned YouTube video....

Trump Inauguration Venting From Spencer Jack's Dad

On this day, which will likely live on in infamy, a Trump Inauguration message from Spencer Jack's Dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason.....

FUD --

Tomorrow morning I am not going to be at work by my normal arrival time.  I will be watching the inauguration. 

Last year, on a very hot sunny Saturday, in early May, I attended Trump's rally in Lynden.  You and I talked in length about that event.  I described it as 'a red neck circus' and how it made me really embarrassed to have roots in Lynden or be associated with anyone who was truly there to support Trump.

I had no idea that Trump would have any chance of being our next president.  I truly thought I was only observing a man making a fool of himself and our democracy.

I was standing just yards from Trump's podium when he spoke.  Immediately after the speech, I was within just a few feet of the now president-elect, with ample opportunities to shake his hand.  I opted to let others forge forward.  A hand shake with the Donald did not intrigue me then, however, should I have known he would be elected, I might have just done such just for the sake of saying I did such.

Nephew Spencer Jack and myself are privileged. I'm saying that in the most humble way I can think of constructing such.  I know that many people in this world (and our own country)  don't have what we have.....health care, food, shelter, clothing, an education, etc.   We are very grateful to not be in that situation.

My whole adult life I have always believed in and tried to support those who are less fortunate than myself. I believe it to be my moral duty to help others, given the opportunities I have been afforded.  I don't believe Trump feels the same way.  I am a huge fan of social programs, open immigration, welfare, free education, and basically doing anything we can to help others succeed.  Taxing the wealthy to help the poor just makes sense to me.  I am worried Trump doesn't feel the same way.  I am so worried that he will put big business before any social obligations.  My biggest worry is that he will not help those people  --- the abandoned, abused, unfortunate and underprivileged --- and forget that our government was founded when it opted to seek to offer those inalienable rights for all.

I met my mother's parents at McDonald's for coffee two days ago.  They asked me if Spencer and I were flying back to D.C. to watch tomorrow's inauguration.  My mother's parents are huge Trump fans. I don't understand why. I avoided the subject, but all I could think about is how my mother's father is a son of an immigrant who came to this country with nothing.  That son of an immigrant now has 3 daughters, 7 grandchildren, 4 great grand children (Spencer Jack being the eldest) all of whom have health care, food, shelter, clothing, an education, etc...   Yet he supports a man who wants to build a wall.

I have personally been to the Statue of Liberty.  Spencer has not, he has only sailed past it....I will take him there someday so he can read the inscription planted on Miss Liberty:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free....

If I had a chance to talk to the Donald, I would kindly tell him this:  "We don't need a wall. We don't need tax breaks. Please set aside your agenda of helping big business, and help man kind.  This country was once open to immigrants wanting a better life.  Those are my ancestors.  Because of that opportunity, I have a way better life then they ever did.  Let's continue the cycle."

I live in a town full of immigrants.  Many are here, perhaps, illegally.  But I'm guessing they are all in the pursuit of happiness for their offspring.  I hope their children and grandchildren are given the same opportunities I was.

America is Great.  I hope it doesn't change.

FNJ

Holliday Creek Roaring Rapids Anticipating Saturday's Wichita Falls Protest March

Relatively warm air has returned to my location on the planet, with the temperature a couple dozen degrees warmer than freezing.

The return of relative balminess had me opening my kitchen window this morning to enable enjoying that heated breeze blowing in from the south.

When I opened the window I heard the sound of water moving fast, indicating to me that Holliday Creek was moving a large volume of water.

A short time later I slathered on the sunscreen and ventured out to take a look at Holliday Creek. What you see above are my backyard Holliday Creek rapids churning up some whitewater this morning.

I do not know why I have yet to see any kayakers shooting the Holliday Creek rapids. One would think such would take place, what with a university nearby full of free-spirited sorts.

Speaking of which, well, speaking of the nearby university. This morning, via Miss Marilyn on Facebook, I learned I will be doing some protest marching Saturday morning.

Miss Marilyn's Protest Post....

January 21st. Start at 10am and meet at Midwestern by Sike's Lake.
For those that can't walk that far you can pick up the March at Sike's Center as we move toward Fidelity Bank on Kemp and Kell. For those that can't walk far at all you can meet us at the bank for a show of solidarity there.
Purpose: We stand in solidarity with others in this great nation who feel their individual human rights have been threatened by the election of Donald Trump and the Cabinet members he has proposed. Mr. Trump may have been elected our next POTUS but WE will be heard and WE will not go away. This march is for both men and women.

____________________

I can not remember the last time I participated in a protest march. If ever.

I do remember being in Seattle with my two oldest favorite nephews, Jason and Joey, and coming back to ground level from the downtown Seattle bus tunnel to find ourselves in the midst of a HUGE protest march protesting, if I remember right, the first Gulf War, you know, the one to liberate Kuwait.

I doubt Saturday's Wichita Falls Protest March will be as big and loud as that one years ago in Seattle. But you never know. I have learned, during my short time here, that the people of Wichita Falls are a feisty collection of Texans, totally unlike those herds of sheep I was used to seeing in Fort Worth, where there is so much to protest about, just the local issues, but seldom is a peep heard.

Or, have I somehow missed the news of the Fort Worth protest march protesting America's Biggest Boondoggle and the still stalled construction of The Boondoggle's three simple little bridges connecting the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island?

A protest march demanding Kay Granger's son be fired from the job it is now quite clear for which he was totally not qualified. No, that won't happen, not in a district which re-elected Mrs. Granger, also known as Queen Porky Pig, by a landslide.

Meanwhile, to the northwest of Fort Worth, in Wichita Falls, on Saturday, there will be a protest march. Photo documentation will arrive that afternoon via this blog you are reading right now....

David Theo & Ruby Snoqualmie Summit Snow Fun

David on the left, Ruby in the Red Tube
with Theo on the right

At my old home zone location of Western Washington there are these things called mountains.

Mountains any direction one looks.

To the west the Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsula.

To the east and south the Cascade Mountains.

At my old home location in the Skagit Valley I could drive a few miles to the east and be in a cross country ski zone, or a few miles to the west and be on a saltwater beach.

My Favorite Nephews, David and Theo, and Favorite Niece, Ruby, live in Tacoma, walking distance from the south end of Puget Sound.

Last night David, Theo and Ruby's mom, my Favorite Little Sister Michele, emailed me some pics, with the subject line of "Snow Fun".

The text in the email explained what I was looking at in the pictures....

We went tubing at Snoqualmie Summit yesterday and then played in the snow at the Hyak Sno-Park. Super fun.  And just over an hour from our house.  I know you like things like this, so I thought I'd send some pics.

To which I replied....

I had not seen snow lanes for tubes before. That must be a new invention since last I was in that snow zone.

Theo trekking rather than taking the Magic Carpet

To  which my little sister further elaborated....

Yeah, I’d been hearing about the tubing center for a few years, but this was our first visit.  You have to make reservations and buy a ticket for a two hour session. They have 5 or 6 sessions that all seem to sell out.  They really hit on something.  It used to have a rope tow to get you and your rental tube back to the top, but now it is a Magic Carpet. 

David ready to be launched

The mention of a Magic Carpet had me questioning....

Magic Carpet????

Ruby taking a break at (I'm guessing) the Hyak Sno-Park

The Magic Carpet question had my little sister explaining....

Think of a narrow, enclosed, moving sidewalk, but it is carpeted. It is weird, cuz you can feel the rollers under your feet.

This Magic Carpet thing intrigued me. The only means by which I have ever been transported up a snow covered mountain has been via chairlift, rope tow or gondola.

It did not take much Googling to find out that the ski resort  at the summit of Snoqualmie Pass is now called The Summit at Snoqualmie. I can not remember what this ski area was named whilst I still lived in the neighborhood. There are several ski resorts in the Snoqualmie Pass Summit area, in addition to The Summit at Snoqualmie, such as Hyak and  Alpental.

On The Summit at Snoqualmie website I found the conveyance which transports tubers up the hill referred to as the Magic Carpet, with it being explained as "our convenient covered conveyor surface lift that whisks you to the top of the hill..."

Seems like this Magic Carpet thing must be quite a feat of engineering, somehow adjusting to the ever changing snow depth.

The last time I was on a chair lift at Snoqualmie Summit it was not to go skiing. At some point in time in the late 1990s, myself, and some fellow mountain bikers, rode the chair lift up the mountain to easily access some extremely bumpy trails. The chairs were retrofitted to hold a bike, which rode on the chair ahead of the one the rider rode to the top.

As I recollect a large number of bikers were using this elevation gaining method. I remember the long ride back to start was a lot of fun. I do not remember how many times I took my bike up the chair lift that day....

Pray For Peace With Patterson Auto Via 2 Thessalonians 3:16

I do not remember when upon my arrival at my current location in North Texas, known as Wichita Falls, I began noticing signs suggesting one "PRAY FOR PEACE".

This praying suggestion appears on yard signs, such as the one you see here, which I photographed a few minutes ago whilst  I was jogging through my Caribbean themed neighborhood.

This praying suggestion also appears on roadside billboards.

And, whilst driving Highway 287 to the Dallas/Fort Worth zone I have seen multiple instances of this message attached to those big trailers you see on the road being towed by a semi-truck, with the big trailer detached from a semi, and then parked at a right angle to the road, thus serving as a movable billboard, temporarily stationary.

Under the PRAY FOR PEACE part of the message one reads "2 THESS. 3:16".

Googling this bible verse one only gets as far as "2 THES" before Google fills in "2 Thessalonians 3:16".

Clicking one of the links to this bible verse one soon sees various versions from various bible versions, with all versions pretty much expressing the same "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you" sentiment, in slightly various ways.

All of these PRAY FOR PEACE signs also includes a website.

PattersonAuto.com

Clicking the link one quickly learns that  Patterson Auto is not a church. Patterson Auto is a car dealership, with multiple locations.

I make no judgement as to whether, or not, a car dealership advertising in this manner is appropriate, cheesy, tacky or sacrilegious.

I will make the judgement that there sure are a lot of people willing to help advertise in this manner, with this sign in their yard....

Martin Luther King Day Returns Blue Sky To North Texas

Last night, an hour or two after the sun left for the day, I found myself driving in an epic storm the likes of which I have seldom found myself driving in.

A storm which the weather predictors accurately predicted, including possible tornado action.

At the worst of the storm I found myself driving through lightning strikes striking on all sides, in front, to my rear, to my left, to my right.

With rain downpouring so copiously the drains could not drain fast enough, rendering the road being like driving on a river.

Eventually I found my way back to my abode's covered parking. To get from the covered parking to my front door required a fast sprint through multiple mini-lakes, along with the lightning strikes, deafening thunder and big blobs of rain being blown by gale force wind.

I enjoyed last night's fast sprint to safety so much I decided to go jogging today after I saw that the clouds have been blown out of town with blue sky returned, assuming, as it turns out, erroneously, that blue sky equates to sunny warmth.

The jogging did not last too long. Pretty much just long enough to snap the phone photo you see above, looking north at that aforementioned blue sky hovering above the Circle Trail and Holliday Creek Canyon.

I have no clue as to what I'm going to do with the rest of Martin Luther King Day.

Other than lunch.....

Sunday Morning Wichita Falls Downpour Thunderstorm

My location on the planet has escaped, so far, any Ice Storming.

Yesterday's day long drizzly misting turned to actual rain by the time the sun left for the day.

Rain continues to drip.

This is like being back in the Pacific Northwest, as in this is being like a stereotypical Western Washington winter day.

Except for a couple elements. Such as this evening a tornado is possible.

The forecast for tonight is for severe thunderstorms which can bring downpours, damaging winds and even an isolated tornado.

Well.

It is still early Sunday morning and already the downpouring has arrived, along with thunder booming, way ahead of schedule.

I must go batten down the hatches now....

Second Wichita Falls Saturday Of The New Year With No Ice Storm Yet

A few minutes ago I left the warmth of my humble  abode thinking I might be able to endure the current frigidity long enough to have myself some salubrious exposure to endorphins via aerobic stimulation derived from high speed jogging.

I thought wrong.

Too cold, with too much drizzly mist adding to the chilly 34 degrees.

If we lose two more degrees we may be in Ice Storm mode. I do not want to be in Ice Storm mode.

I will not be driving anywhere until the threat of Ice Storm mode totally abates.

Twice in the past three years I made the mistake of leaving my old D/FW abode when an Ice Storm threatened, to find myself about a mile down the road when the temperature dropped below freezing, with the road suddenly treacherous, with the return to safety taking a couple hours of negotiating unwanted slipping and sliding and avoiding being  hit by other slippers and sliders.

The precipitation which is currently precipitating seems to be gradually migrating from mist to raindrops. Raindrops combined with a temperature below freezing is the recipe for an Ice Storm.

During my brief exposure to the outer world, on this second Saturday of the new year, I made it as far as the Circle Trail. I snapped the photo you see above, looking north, and then retreated to my safe zone where plenty of heat is being generated, including some heat from an oven baking a big turkey tortilla casserole.

I think I hear the lunch bell tolling....

Belated Grandpa Jones 114th Happy Birthday Greeting

A couple days ago, on Facebook, my most elderly cousin, Scott, posted a Happy Birthday message to our Grandpa Cornelius, using the Dutch version of the family surname, along with the photo you see here of our Grandpa displaying a sturgeon he caught in the nearby Nooksack River.

What follows is Cousin Scott's tale about our Grandpa (please note that in the jurisdiction in which Scott resides the use of capital letters is strictly forbidden)....

today is cornelius slotemaker's (jones) birthday. i’m told he loved to ride his horse into the mountains east of bellingham and ride back when it seemed time to do so. i’m told he loved to fish and helped his family through the depression by catching sturgeon and salmon. mom tells the story of how he was milking their cows one day – they milked by hand in the early 1950s – and started squirting milk straight from the cow into the cat’s open mouth. i apparently opened wide, too, and he squirted milk straight into my two- or three-year-old mouth. when we got back to the house, mom said i was smiling and he was laughing like crazy. he would have been 114 today. happy birthday, grandpa...

__________________

I believe Cousin Scott is the only one of his Grandkids at whom Grandpa Cornelius ever had the chance to squirt milk.

Way back during the second year of the new century I found myself scanning hundreds of photos of my relatives, mostly the Dutch relatives, with some of the photos dating back to the 1800s, when the Jones, I mean, Slotemakers, still lived in Holland.

Among those photos I scanned is the below one.

I do not know for certain which of the Jones, I mean, Slotemaker boys we are looking at above, milking a cow. It could be Grandpa Cornelius. But I suspect it is our Grandpa's brother,  Uncle Hank.

Below is an interesting photo documenting some fun during the Roaring 20s in the Lynden, Washington, Whatcom County zone.

Fifteen years ago I still remembered what name went with which person we see above.

Suffice to say, one of  the boys on the ground is Grandpa Cornelius, The other boys are Grandpa's younger brothers, including the aforementioned Uncle Hank. The other brothers are Otto and Dick.

One of the Flappers standing behind the Jones Boys is our Grandma Sylvia. One of the others standing may be Grandpa's sister, Aunt Agnes, which would make the baby sitting on the ground Aunt Jessie. The others standing may be Otto and Dick's wives, or future wives, Pernie and Ann.

What the Jones Boys are drinking is an illegal, at the time, libation known as beer. Details have long been sketchy, but it is believed, by many of the younger Jones generation, that Grandpa Cornelius brewed beer during Prohibition and then distributed his product all the way to Seattle.

Others dispute the Grandpa the Bootlegger legend.....

Spencer Jack Big Lake Frozen Water Adventure

Til this morning I did not realize my old home zone was experiencing an extremely rare bout of extremely cold air, so cold that Western Washington lakes are freezing solid enough to walk on.

This morning's email brought a tale from Spencer Jack's dad of a potential tragedy averted on the Skagit Valley's Big Lake.

Big Lake is a small lake located about 3 miles east of my old abode in Mount Vernon. Spencer Jack's grandma Cindy's primary abode is on the shores of Big Lake.

This morning's email from Spencer Jack and his dad, along with video documentation of Spencer Jack doing some ice sliding....

FUD --

Winter here is the PNW has been quite abnormal.

Grandma Cindy has temporarily returned from sunny California.  She arrived home late last night.  Today, she invited FNSJ and I over to her Big Lake residence this afternoon to play on a frozen lake.

Last time I did this was with you at Lake Padden in the late 1980s. I remember you, FNJ2 and I ventured quite a few yards out on Lake Padden before going to see a nearly frozen Whatcom Falls.  Do you remember this?  I can clearly recall the exact spot at Lake Padden were you tested the waters before giving Joey and I the okay to walk out on the lake.

Frozen Big Lake today was nerve racking.   When we arrived, 3 kids were playing at the public boat launch without any parents in sight.

My first question was a shout out to the children, "Where are your parents?"

The kids were 100 yards from the shore.   I coached two of them back with ease.   The third kid, identified by the others as 14-year-old Nathan way too far out.  He was defiant.  He wanted to see how far he could go.

Spencer and I plus the two others pleaded with him to return closer to shore.

He kept saying, if he fell in, he would just climb out.

I was exploring all options to coach him back.  He wouldn't listen at all, and I knew if the ice broke, he would have no chance of me offering any type of assistance.

Despite all my efforts to get him to come back, he continued to push further out into the lake.  I knew I could not go grab him....my weight would crack the ice that far out.   The ice in the pictures of FNSJ was plenty thick---maybe at least 6 inches or a foot.   But I knew the ice in the middle of the lake was 'ice thin.'

The two other non-supervised kids finally were able to assist me.  I sent one to immediately get another adult.  I knew if I dialed 911, by the time help arrived it would be to late.

Despite all my various attempts of trying to literally save this boy's life, the two other kids shouted out to him to remind him that he had his phone with him, and told him if he fell in it would get wet.

With that knowledge reminder, defiant Nathan returned to shore.

Nathan must have known that his smart phone wouldn't be of use for this dumb kid when wet.

And that smart phone probably saved his life.   Go figure.

-FNJ

____________________

I don't clearly remember taking my Favorite Nephews, Jason and Joey, to a frozen Lake Padden, or an iced over Whatcom Falls. However, when those two were youngsters I took them so many different places so many different times it is not surprising that my aged memory would have trouble remembering some specifics.

And now the video of Spencer Jack taking a running slide on a frozen Big Lake.....