No Luck Fishing In Sikes Lake Today

 

Today I thought it might be relaxing, and a nice break from waiting for Trump to embarrass himself some more, to take my pole to Sikes Lake to do some fishing.

But, by the time I got to the lake, someone had already taken my one and only favorite fishing spot, which is what you are looking at above.

So, I opted to roll my bike's wheels for a few miles to get some of those endorphins I was hoping to get from fighting with a big fish.

Today is the second day in a row we are having perfect bike riding weather. Clear blue sky, pleasant temperature, and no annoying wind.

And less than three weeks til Taco Thanksgiving...

Christmas Begins Arriving At Wichita Falls MSU Campus

Now, what with Halloween only seen via looking through the rear view mirror, it is time to get ready for Christmas, with that Thanksgiving bump on the road on the way, before getting to Christmas and a New Year.

And so, I was not too surprised today whilst rolling my bike's wheels to the MSU (Midwestern State University) campus to find Christmas arriving in the form of the massive installation that takes place every year at the northeast corner of the MSU campus.

As you can see, via the photo documentation, the weather is blue sky perfect for putting together displays which involve complex electrical connections.

It is way too early to tell if there are new elements this year. Each year previous, which I have observed this up close, new stuff has been seen.

Thanksgiving arrives three weeks from today.

I will not cook anything turkey related this year. I think I will have a Mexican themed Thanksgiving, with tacos and such. 

I am hoping Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, or some combo of the five, give the majority of Americans something to be real thankful about on November 26...

Late Halloween Election Night Masking From Tacoma

 

I was wondering why I had seen no photo documentation from Tacoma of Saturday's COVID Halloween. I did receive a written description which indicated a mighty fine time was had by all...

We did have a great Halloween. Two other families (Ruby’s best friends) came over and we had pizza and did a piñata in the backyard. We had a heater on the deck and the fire pit going. Then we walked around our neighborhood. Many houses had bowls of candy out, or bags of candy tied to fenceposts or on a string, and there were quite a few candy chutes. It was really cool. Kids got plenty of candy and declared it the best Halloween ever, I think because their expectations were so low. LOL. Anyhow, it was nice.

And now, on this scary election night, incoming photo documentation from Tacoma, with the Tacoma Trio and their parental units properly attired for what may be a frightful night.

In the front that is Theo on the left, with David in the middle, making that Ruby on the right. With the aforementioned parental units behind them, Kristin on the left and Michele on the right.

It is a bit past 6. I think it is time to get this party started...

Election Day Trump & Confederate Flags On Parade In Wichita Falls Walmart Parking Lot

 

On the short drive to Walmart, near the Weeks Park fishing pond, I was non-plussed to see a group of maybe 10 kids looking to be 10 years, or younger, with no adult figures noticeable, waving large Trump banners stuck to poles.

And then a short distance later I pulled into the Walmart parking lot and saw the pickup you see above, looking like those pickups brandishing Trump banners which assaulted a Biden bus on I-35, down south, by Austin.

I took a photo and stuck my phone back in my pocket when I saw another pickup driving through the Walmart parking lot, as if on parade, festooned with multiple Trump banners of the sort I saw those kids waving.

Walking into Walmart ahead of me was one of the guys from the flag waving pickup you see above.

No mask.

And strutting with that arrogant self righteous dumb look I have seen way too often of late.

Why do they all seem to have the same flat stupid person looking affect on their face.

Walmart was super busy. Are all these people picking up last minute supplies for their Election Watch Party, which was the reason I was at Walmart, I wondered to myself.

Soon upon entry I saw another maskless idiot. This one in cowboy mode. An older guy, wearing too tight Wrangler jeans, sporting a cowboy hat, and that same flat stupid person looking affect they all seem to wear.

And then I came upon a scary looking maskless woman, even more stupid looking than most of the maskless. How do all these people manage to have the same empty expression on their faces, at the same time looking sort of furtive, like a shoplifter worrying she's gonna get caught by the store detective.

These types seem to be sort of proud of themselves. In their simple little ill-informed, un-educated minds they must think they are exercising their rights as a free person in a free land, where no one can tell you to do something like wear a mask, even when a store and a state mandates doing so because scientific research has shown doing so to be preventative, and which has worked to greatly limit COVID in nations with non-idiot leadership.

Like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and others.

Meanwhile the Wichita Falls district had 8 more COVID deaths yesterday...

Redrock Color Coordinated Wichita River Circle Trail Walk With Dinosaurs

 

For days now I have been hearing an advertisement on the radio for a dinosaur exhibit at the Ag Center at the MPEC (Multi-Purpose Exhibition Center) in downtown Wichita Falls.

The ad says you drive your vehicle through a maze of dinosaurs, being sure to keep your window up due to the bad habits of the saber tooth tiger.

So, I drove to the south end of the MPEC and walked the Circle Trail to the location of the AG Center.

I saw no dinosaurs, not at that point in time.

Seeing the Wichita River, as it parallels the Circle Trail, I realized I was color coordinated with the redrock river color. As you can clearly see via the redrock colored hat I am wearing atop the redrock colored long sleeved t-shirt. What you can not see is the redrock colored hiking boots. My skin color also appears to be redrock colored, as is the pedestrian bridge you see behind me crossing the river.

I eventually made it back to my vehicle and then proceeded to drive to that aforementioned Ag Center to search for dinosaurs. Approaching from the east I saw nothing prehistoric, nor on the south side, but by the time I got to the northwest side of the Ag Center I started seeing dinosaurs.

The maze turned out to be a route defined by orange traffic cones, with dinosaurs of various types and sizes lined up along the route. 

When I saw that which I had heard advertised I thought it looked so lame I had no motivation to park and take a photo. Now I sort of wish I had done so. 

Prior to heading out to the MPEC I had looked at the the Jurassic Empire website mentioned in the radio ad, curious how much it cost to visit the dinosaurs.

$49 for one vehicle with up to seven people onboard.

I don't know what time the dinosaurs open for business, but I saw nothing happening during the noon time frame.

Tomorrow is the last day one can drive through the dinosaur maze, before it moves on to another Texas town...

Seattle's Lonely Only Trump Voter Switches To Biden

 

I saw that which you see above this morning in the online version of the Seattle Times. I thought it was amusing. Can't imagine seeing such a headline in one of the online Texas newspapers I look at daily.

Such as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram or the Wichita Falls Times News Record.

The curious and lonely tale of 'Wichita Falls only Trump voter' comes to an end.

Or.

The curious and lonely tale of 'Fort Worth's only Trump voter' comes to an end.

In my old home state one has to go east of the mountains, to Eastern Washington, to find yourself a lot of Trump voters. Eastern Washington is more like, sort of, rural Texas, than it is like the Puget Sound zone of Western Washington.

Eastern Washington is not quite as prosperous as the west side of the state. And Eastern Washington's education level is far below that of the population of Western Washington, though not nearly as badly educated as those who occupy rural Texas.

The early voting in Texas has surpassed, by far, the total number who voted in the 2016 election. I have no clue what this portends. Fort Worth is the only remaining big Texas city considered to be Red, as in Republican dominated.

But, in the 2018 mid-terms Fort Worth and the county the town is in, Tarrant, gave more votes to Beto O'Roarke than Ted Cruz, sort of a indicator that Fort Worth and Tarrant County are about to turn Blue, because they turned Blue for Beto in 2018.

What I know for sure is I am hoping our long national and international nightmare starts to come to an end next Tuesday...

Californian Poodle Jai Joins Tacoma Trio Family

In Summer of 2017 I met the David, Theo and Ruby's new poodle housemate, Eddie, for the first time.

Eddie did not welcome me at first, apparently used to being apprehensive with strangers. But, when Eddie saw the Tacoma Trio playing with me he quickly decided I was okay to play with too.

Eddie came to Tacoma via Los Angeles, from a rescue shelter place which finds homes for those in dire need of such. 

Way back in Summer of 2008 I had fun with Eddie's predecessors, Blue and Max. I dog sat Blue and Max, solo, for four days, at that point in time, whilst the parental units went to that other Washington on the east side of America.

Max had passed away shortly before my visit in Summer of 2017, leaving just Blue and Eddie to look after David, Theo and Ruby.

Since then a new poodle was added to the family, named Raven. I have not met Raven. Raven is a large poodle.

Blue joined Max about five months ago. Since then the Tacoma Trio has been wanting to add a third poodle to their collection of watchdogs.

A few days ago it was learned from that rescue shelter in Los Angeles that there was a two year old black purebred poodle in desperate need of a home. The parental units consulted and decided it was time to adopt a new member into the family.

Jai arrived yesterday.

Which would make that Jai you see being held by David, Theo and Ruby in that photo at the top.

And that is Ruby playing fetch with Jai in the backyard of the Tacoma abode on M Street.

Jai sure is a lookalike of Blue, but a smaller version.

If conditions improve I am hoping to get to meet Jai and Raven for the first time, at some point in time in the coming new year...

Pumpkin Picking With Tacoma Pumpkid Trio

Above you are looking at David, Theo and Ruby, my favorite Tacoma nephews and niece, also known as the Tacoma Trio, at their favorite pumpkin patch, where the pumpkids picked out several orange globes for Halloween carving purposes.

And below we see the finished products.

I have not read a word that I remember reading about how Halloween is going to work this COVID year.

The wearing a mask part of the ritual would seem to be adequately covered.

Maybe if those handing out the goods to the trick or treaters were masked and gloved.

Or maybe the goods could be delivered via some sort of tube.

Or a mechanical arm.

Maybe it would just be best if all the kids just stayed home this Halloween. 

The Texas Iceman Hath Arrived With An Ice Storm

Every once in awhile the Texas weather predictors make a prediction where the weather happens as predicted.

Today would be one of those cases of accurate weather prognostication. 

As you can see, via the phone screen shot made seconds ago, we are currently two degrees below freezing. With precipitation precipitating.

The leaves on the trees are being coated with ice, bending the branches.

Just a sec, I will go take a photo of the tree limbs currently being weighted down by ice, resting on my patio deck.

You can not tell it, via the photo documentation, but the deck and everything on it is now coated with ice. I do not know if I can make it to ground level without having some slipping and sliding action. 

There is not much traffic, however every couple minutes I do hear a vehicle drive by. Far less than the norm. People seem to be driving slow, but I can not tell if the road is currently thickly ice coated. I don't know if I want to find out, even though I had planned to drive to a location two miles distant this morning.

Yesterday, prior to the incoming Ice Storm, I had myself a chilly walk on the Circle Trail. I lasted about a mile before I tired of the excessive shivering.

On that Circle Trail walk yesterday I took what is known as a patented Elsie Hotpepper style selfie photo.

Via the phone, I was looking at that tree behind me, currently sporting Fall foliage colors. However, since, til today, we have not had a freeze, none of the leaves on the deciduous trees had changed from their regular green.

That tree I am looking at, colored in Fall foliage mode, is an evergreen type tree. I think maybe it had been struck by lightning and is in the process of dying.

Seems like only yesterday we were heated here to 103, requiring the A/C to run. But that  wasn't yesterday, it was last week. To go from 103 to an Ice Storm in a one week time span is a bit jarring.

I suppose I will acclimate...

Sunday Walk With A Previously Unseen Texas Monster

 

Freezing rain is on the menu for the coming week.

Freezing rain sometimes turns into an Ice Storm at this location on the planet.

I do not remember if I ever experienced freezing rain during my years of living on the west coast.

I definitely do not remember ever experiencing an Ice Storm during all my years of living on the west coast.

I have experienced four or five Ice Storms since being exiled to Texas. With the first Ice Storm happening soon upon my arrival, late in the previous century.

Ice Storms coat the outer world in a thick coating of slick ice. Which makes driving and walking treacherous.

On this final Sunday of the 2020 version of October I opted to bundle up in a few layers of insulating outerwear and go for a walk on the Circle Trail.

Soon after leaving my abode and heading south on the Circle Trail I came upon the pre-historic looking monster you see above. This giant bug was moving along at a fast rate of speed, looking like it was trying to make its way to the dried up creek with its plethora of what looks like driftwood.

I think the orange part of the monster was its head, as that was at the front of the direction it was heading.

I hope this multi-legged monster is not part of some new 2020 nightmare, and that soon I will be seeing them all over, like a cockroach infestation. 

Maybe they won't survive the upcoming freezing rain and possible Ice Storm...