Joining Throngs Of Mountaineers Braving Almost Frigid Cold To Conquer Mount Wichita

Yesterday, if I am remembering correctly, and sometimes I do, I made mention of the fact that it seems there is a temperature sweet spot where Texans are much more prone to outdoor activity than when the temperature is not being so sweet.

We are currently in that temperature sweet spot. Not too hot, not too cold.

Hence today upon arrival I saw multiple people making their way to the summit of Mount Wichita. By the time I got out of my vehicle and in photo taking mode, the first group had conquered the summit.

That temperature sweet spot today was 76 degrees when I made my way to the summit of Mount Wichita. From that summit viewpoint I could see a lot of people enjoying the Circle Trail in various ways, just like yesterday, walking, jogging, biking and skateboarding. I saw no roller bladers today

I did see two recumbent bikes. I have never ridden one of those. Sometimes they look fun, sometimes not. On the Circle Trail a recumbent bike might be fun. Where one deals with hills and traffic, not so much.

The North Texas temperature is currently scheduled to get not so sweet. As in tonight's low is predicted to be 46, tomorrow's 44.

44 degrees is only 12 above freezing. That's cold.

This seems earlier than the norm to be tempted to switch the temperature control device from cooling mode to heating mode.

Multiple Blog Comments Publishing Faux Pas

Last night I checked in on my Blogger account looking for a previously published comment in the "Published Comments" section.

I then clicked on the "Awaiting Moderation" option and immediately saw there were a lot of comments awaiting moderation which I had not seen before.

When someone makes a comment to a blog post Google sends me an email. I open the email, read the comment, and if it is appropriate to do so I click on "Publish Comment".

But, I had not seen these comments, due to, I guess, being a bit distracted.

The comments faux pas period appears to be from June 7 til June 25. And then again from August 8 til August 22.

During those time frames I had limited contact with the Internet. And when I did have contact with the Internet it was not a leisurely contact.

Hence missing seeing incoming emails, among other things.

So, last night I hit the publish button on a lot of previously unpublished blog comments from the likes of Steve A, Cowtown Crude, Prairie Paintbrush, Unknown, Connie D., Bulletholes, Aunt Jane, Kat, Cousin Scott, Stenotrophomonas, Scott Bodenheimer, Lena H., Gale McCray, Ram, Others, and, of course, Anonymous.

I am mortified regarding this inexcusable ineptitude.

This is my worst blog comment scandal since years ago when a blog comment frenzy broke out due to Gar the Texan being all Mr. Fussy Pants over a controversial sinkhole near his old hometown of Wink, way out in West Texas, with me losing control of being able to moderate the frenzy of comments fast enough for them to maintain any sort of logical order.

One of the blog comments which I had not seen until last night was an amusing, embarrassing comment about one of my favorite amusing embarrassing subjects, that being the amusingly embarrassing J.D. Granger.

The J.D. Granger amusing embarrassment is fodder for a separate blogging, likely to appear real soon....

Sunday Catching Fish With Egrets Biking On Lake Wichita Dam

If I remember correctly, yesterday I mentioned I was tired due to a tiring loud long thunderstorm the night previous which had hampered my ability to be peacefully horizontal, rendering me tired, real tired, all day yesterday.

But today, the morning of the second Sunday of the third to last month of 2017 I found myself not tired when I got vertical after a long night of peaceful slumber and disturbing nightmares.

And so, fully of energy, I decided to get myself some endorphins via aerobic activity by rolling wheels against the wind on the Circle Trail, heading south to Lake Wichita Dam, where I saw the lake level has somewhat fallen, thus making it easier for a flock of egrets to assemble on top of the dam's spillway to facilitate the easy catching of fish funneled over the spillway.

Multiple humans were also seen, joining the egrets in the fish catching thing. Also, unlike with the egrets, with two of the humans I saw a successful catching of fish, with the species appearing to be either perch or sunfish or both.

Judging by the throngs joining me today on the Circle Trail, biking, roller blading, skateboarding, jogging, walking, fishing, and pushing baby carriages, we are at that temperature sweet spot where Texans are more willing to engage in outdoor activity, weather babies that they usually be.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I also saw mountain climbing to the summit of Mount Wichita, which apparently has already dried out from yesterday's deluge. However, something looked oddly flattened about the top of Mount Wichita which had me momentarily wondering if it had suffered a height reducing lightning strike.

Tomorrow I will likely go for an up close look at the summit of Mount Wichita to see if the summit has suffered some sort of reduction calamity...

Wichita Falls Sleep Robbing Thunderstorm With Lili Von Shtupp

I'm tired.

Not tired for all the same reasons as Lili Von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles, but tired nonetheless.

Night falls, sleep is fleeting, and then morning arrives. And I'm tired.

Last night, around midnight, bright lights began to flash, with loud booms booming about the same time as the bright lights flashed.

Rain poured down providing background music for the light and sound show.

I do not know how long the flash booms and downpouring went on before deciding to cease. By morning the outer world appeared to be mostly dry and the sky mostly blue.

An hour before noon I decided to roll my handlebars to the Circle Trail to get a look at Holliday Creek to see if once again Holliday Canyon was being over run with high water. Well, last night's deluge did not cause the creek level to rise to the level it rose to earlier in the week, but there was some rapid action, which you see my handlebars looking at above.

The right bar end on the handlebar is pointing at an egret at creek's edge looking like it thinks it's about to have fish for lunch.

The egret should have come home with me for lunch. I would have shared my tuna fish sandwich...

Rolling Circle Trail To Lucy Park Past Wichita Falls Giant Mushrooms

With the return of blue sky and dry ground today I activated yesterday's aborted, due to a soaking rain, plan to roll my wheels on the Circle Trail, north to where the Circle Trail leaves Holliday Creek to enter Williams Park, before continuing on along the Wichita River.

I figured the Circle Trail would be under water, as in flooded, due to its proximity to the Wichita River, which has been in the local news of late for bad behavior, such as flooding Lucy Park.

Well, I got to Williams Park, which clearly had seen some flooding, and then I arrived at the Wichita River, which clearly had also been doing some flooding, including covering the now dry Circle Trail, leaving only a thin layer of Utah-type redrock-like dust behind.

I forgot to mention, at multiple locations along the way I came upon giant mushrooms. On the third instance of seeing such I stopped to photo document the giant fungi, which is what you see above. I am fairly certain these are not some variant of Psilocybin Mushrooms, also known as Magic Mushrooms.

In my old home zone of Western Washington, Magic Mushrooms are a popular, free to harvest, natural organic item of vegetation, like blackberries, only more medicinal and difficult to harvest.

I did not know Magic Mushrooms grew in Texas until several years ago when I attended a protest event in Fort Worth hosted by Elsie Hotpepper at a newly opened restaurant which had a nefarious association with what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle. The protest that day, near as I could tell, entailed ordering food and drink from the restaurant's menu and then complaining about it.

Anyway, at that protest, for reasons I no longer remember, one of the protesters told me about how she grew her own tobacco to make homemade cigarettes, one of which she smoked as she told me about her healthy organic farm. Where she also grew Magic Mushrooms.

Enough with the Magic Mushroom digression. Continuing on with today's bike ride.

What with the Circle Trail not being flooded I opted to continue on, thinking there was no way the trail would be clear of water and mud all the way to Lucy Park. When I got to the Wichita Falls waterfall which is becoming known as Frequently Dry Falls, I was not too shocked to once again find Wichita Falls' signature waterfall turned off. The last time I saw the artificial falls, up close, it was sort of dribbling, not really in waterfall mode. Today it was totally dry, falling water-wise.

In the view above I climbed up on rocks one is probably not supposed to climb on to take a picture looking back at the Wichita River, the new bridge across the falls, and my bike.

As you can see the Wichita River is currently running strong with that Utah-like redrock color I am fond of.

Soon after leaving Frequently Dry Falls I entered Lucy Park, pleased to see the recent flood has completely left the park. And the suspension bridge across Wichita River no longer being flooded. The suspension bridge appears to have suffered zero damage from its recent bout of being hit with too much water and flotsam.

I rolled the Circle Trail loop around Lucy Park and then began my long roll back home. Stopping, eventually, at the location of the original Wichita Falls on the Wichita River. The original falls was destroyed by a flood way back in the late 1800s.

The grand total of miles rolled today was over 20. The longest bike ride I have ridden in quite some time. I think I had myself a mighty fine time, but I'm not quite sure. We shall see how I feel in the morning...

Watching Wichita Falls Water Wheel In The Rain

What you see here was installed in the last month, give or take a day or week or two.

A Wichita Falls Water Wheel.

No, this is not the latest Wichita Falls electricity generating facility.

It was not long after I arrived in Wichita Falls that a long ago Wichita Falls temporary resident known as Captain Andy told me about what he thought was a unique Wichita Falls feature. With that feature being the disguising of traffic control electrical boxes with various disguises, mostly, from what I have seen, derivations of Japanese pagodas.

This new traffic control electric box disguise is at the intersection of Maplewood and Lawrence, near ALDI, Walmart and directly across the street from the newly opened P:anda Express Chinese fast food joint.

Changing the subject to those drops you see on the right side of the windshield, drops out of the range of the rapid sweeping motion of the windshield wiper.

Rain is once again falling in copious amounts, The flooding from the last bout of copious rain has not yet abated, and now we are getting a fresh dose. Along with some lightning strikes and thunder booms.

Today, prior to the rain arrival, my plan was to roll my bike wheels north on the Circle Trail til I could roll no more, due to reaching the part of the Circle Trail flooded by the over full Wichita River.

I am hoping this latest bout of stereotypical Pacific Northwest winter weather ends before I get SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) again, like I suffered from last week...

Photo Mystery From Favorite Nephew Jason's Estranged Aunt

I do not know what to make of this incoming which came in a few minutes ago from Spencer Jack's dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason....

FUD-

Received this photo from your eldest sister at 5:20 pm Skagit time via a text message.  

Photo was accompanied by the words, "Your dad needs help!"

It has been many years since I have heard from my estranged Aunt.

I chose not to respond for a multitude of obvious reasons.

I did forward the photo to my brother, and yet to here a response on the matter.

He normally can provide logic to ease my family abnormality happenings.

He told me he was unavailable for conversation tonight, busy with his domestic room mate at a gaming establishment.

Maybe his company provided phone sensors such exposing pictures and he didn't receive the forwarded lewdness.

I just thought I'd email you my concerns:

What help may my father need?

Why in the world did your sister after years of not speaking chose to send me this tonight?

I'm hoping you can provide insight to calm my rattled nerves.

-FNJ

Where Is All This Wichita Falls Water Coming From?

With rain in copious amounts once again in the forecast I decided to have myself one more long bike ride before the possible deluge arrives.

Once again I opted for rolling my wheels to Lake Wichita Dam and the loop around Mount Wichita.

As soon as I got on the Circle Trail today, with Holliday Creek coming into view, I was surprised to see the creek is still running a lot of water through Holliday Canyon.

Where is all this water coming from? Days after the rain ceased.

This morning I learned Lucy Park is flooded due to the Wichita River trying to move more water than it is used to moving. Holliday Creek enters the Wichita River downstream from Lucy Park, so the Holliday Creek flood is not contributing to Lucy's flooding.

I saw a disturbing photo of the Wichita River running higher than the pedestrian suspension bridge which crosses the river in Lucy Park. I hope this has not done serious damage to that fun bridge.

Continuing on with rolling my handlebars around Lake Wichita.

As you can see, Lake Wichita, at this point in flooding time, is very close to the Circle Trail. That is Mount Wichita you see in the background. Mount Wichita does not appear to be in any danger of being surrounding by a flooding Lake Wichita. So far.

Strong thunderstorms are also in the forecast for later today. I hope those do not materialize. The recent thunderstorm with its accompanying long power outage seems way too recent to be wanting to see a repeat.

David, Theo & Ruby Get New Wheels Rolling Through Tacoma

The Scooter Girl you are looking at here is my niece Ruby, scooting fast along a Tacoma sidewalk.

Tacoma is a modern American city with streets with sidewalks on both sides of the street, usually with a landscaped median between the sidewalk and street.

Unlike...

Well, anyone who has read this blog before can fill in the blank which follows "unlike" with the un-modern American city I'm referring to with that "unlike" word.

Ruby's mom phone texted me the Scooter Girl photo documentation you see here, along with additional photo documentation documenting Ruby's brother's new bikes.

Text accompanying the photo documentation...

Some friends gave David a hand me down bike in great shape. 24 inch tires. 7 gears. So, then we got Theo a bigger bike too. He should be able to keep up with you a bit better now. And Scooter Girl too...

I think I need to figure out a way to get my bike to Tacoma within a reasonable time frame so as to have some mighty fine time rolling wheels with nephews David and Theo on Tacoma's mountain bike trails.

T

I hope David has been easily able to master using hand brakes attached to calipers, along with shifting through seven gears.

Theo's new bike looks to be a mountain bike. I hope Theo is also easily able to master using hand brakes attached to calipers, along with shifting through I don't know how many gears.

When I last rode bikes with David, Theo and Ruby, Ruby's bike had training wheels. I do not know if Ruby has opted out of being a bike rider with scootering now being her preferred means of rolling wheels...

Lake Wichita Dam Has Become A Mini Grand Coulee

Yesterday, the last day of September, some of the gray sky had been erased, replaced by blue. With rain no longer falling, and the temperature still chilled into the low 60s, I layered on what turned out to be too many layers in order to roll my wheels along the Circle Trail to get myself some much needed endorphins.

Yesterday as soon as Holliday Creek came into view I was surprised to see a larger volume of water roaring through the canyon than I had ever seen previously. Rain must have fallen in copious amounts far upstream in the Holliday Creek watershed.

Today, the first day of October, totally blue sky has returned, my apparently temporary bout of SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) has totally abated. Rain is a fading memory. I decided today would be a good day to head south on the Circle Trail, to Lake Wichita, to roll my wheels around Mount Wichita. About a 12 mile ride.

I was more than a little surprised when Holliday Creek came into view to see it still roaring with a lot of water.

As you can see, above, the Lake Wichita Dam spillway looks like a virtual mini-Grand Coulee Dam spillway, back when Grand Coulee Dam still ran water over its spillway, before the building of the third powerhouse. Way more water was spilling over than when I last visited a couple days ago, during the period when rain was falling.

I made my way to the top of the dam to roll on to Mount Wichita, where I was surprised to see it was not a muddy mess, and that people were climbing the mountain.

I think I may do some mountain climbing tomorrow, weather permitting, to get some aerobic stimulation and its resultant endorphins.

In the meantime lunch awaits...