Is The Texas Governor A COVID Idiot?

Earlier today Spencer Jack's Favorite Dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason, texted me saying "I just heard on the news that Coronavirus is apparently over in Texas."

That was the first of many messages today from friends and family who live to the west of Texas, appalled that the governor of Texas would totally open Texas and lift the mask wearing mandate, whilst we are still in the midst of a deadly pandemic.

I told Jason that I have seen many people currently living in Texas who are also appalled at the latest idiocy from the Texas governor. Texas does have some idiotic doozies at the top of the state's government. 

In addition to Governor Greg Abbott we have Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and the Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton.

I do not know how the same state which elected someone popular across America, like Anne Richards, to be the governor, can elect the trio of bozos I mentioned in the above paragraph. 

Maybe part of the problem is so few people vote. I think Texas has the lowest, or near the lowest voter turnout of the 50 American states.

I have long opined, ever since my first experience with voting in Texas, that perhaps part of the lack of voter interest is there are so few things to vote on on any ballot I have ever voted on in Texas.

I do not recollect voting for school board members, water board members, justices of the peace, and other such things on a Washington ballot. Maybe such was on the ballot, but I just don't remember due to all the other things to vote on.

In Washington, and the other west coast states, and many other states across America, voters vote on things like legalizing marijuana, abolishing the state liquor sales monopoly, various public works projects, funding for parks, multiple initiatives, referendums and propositions. 

In Washington a citizen who thinks they have a great idea, which they think the public would support, can get enough petition signatures from voters to put an Initiative (hence the name) on the ballot. This type thing makes for much livelier ballots, unlike the boring, simple ballot one votes on in Texas.

Like I already said, I told Jason I am seeing a lot of reaction among Texans to the latest embarrassing stupidity from the state's governor. We are barely past how ineptly Greg Abbott handled the Texas power meltdown disaster.

Many think Abbott is appealing to his idiot base by pandering to their bizarre ongoing ignorant nonsense about mask mandating being some sort of government take away of their freedom, most recently on display via another Texas embarrassment, greasy creepy Ted Cruz shouting FREEDOM at the end of his CPAC comedy routine. 

That screen cap you see at the top, from Facebook, I have seen repeated multiple times on Facebook today, Texans displaying a mask saying "My Governor is an Idiot".

I think these Idiot Governor masks began appearing during the Texas Deep Freeze Disaster. 

The Facebook screen cap above is Jon Perry's version, with his comment adding "I live in Texas."

Jon Perry is one of the many Texans I have come across who do not fit the Texas redneck ignorant poorly educated yahoo stereotype.

As is the case which has happened multiple times since I have been in Texas, when I find myself thinking now this is a clear thinking, intelligent, logical, sensible Texan, I then find myself learning that that person is not a native born Texan, as is the reality in the Jon Perry case.

With Jon Perry I think his formative years were on the east coast, Massachusetts, I think. 

No, Jon Perry is not related to that other idiot governor of Texas, Rick Perry. Nor is he related to Katy Perry. Wait, a sec, I'm not sure of that.

It will be interesting when next I visit Walmart to see if there is a noticeable drop in the number of people wearing masks.

Also from Facebook, seen moments after posting the above...

Miss Tamara Takes Me To Lucy Park Tree Gazing Meditative Peace

 A clear blue sky has returned, banishing gray clouds to I don't know where.

I read this morning that we Spring forward this coming Sunday, with the annual arrival of Daylight Savings Time.

I am down to only two clocks which cause me vexation trying to remember how to change the time, every six months. Those two being my coffee pot and my alarm clock. I have not re-set the coffee pot since our recent bout of power going off and on. So, clearly that is not an essential clock.

However.

The alarm clock is near my bed and tells me the time when I look its direction in the middle of the night. The alarm clock was not affected by the power outages, because it has a battery backup. 

I just remembered, I have a third electronic device which does auto switch the time.

That being the EXUBY DVR which records over the air TV. I remember the last time the time switched I was vexed to find that which I thought I had recorded not to have happened. After a couple weeks of vexation I checked the settings and saw I had to tell the device it needed to pay attention to the time switch. I don't think I had to manually make the switch, but that I just had to indicate the EXUBY DVR was in a location where such nonsense existed.

I need to confirm this serious EXUBY DVR situation.

I forgot to make mention of that photo you see above.

Well.

Today, what with the outer world being so sunny, and somewhat warm, compared to two weeks ago today, when the outer world temperature was below zero, I thought a walk at Lucy Park would be a pleasant thing to do.

I thought correctly. It turned out to be quite pleasant.

I walked the trail which trails through the Lucy Park backwoods zone. 

Recently, on Facebook, a fellow Washingtonian, Miss Tamara, posted a photo of a tree which she took whilst laying at the base of the tree, looking skyward, whilst meditating upon the serene scene.

When amongst the Lucy Park trees I looked for a similar serene scene to lay before and ponder. 

To no avail.

Eventually I let the photo you see above suffice as my looking skyward meditative tree.

Gazing skyward I did find some meditative peace. But, finding that sort of peaceful meditative place is not one of my fortes.

Fellow Washingtonian, Miss Tamara, had the benefit of spending decades honing her Bohemian life skills in Southern California, whilst I have been in Texas having anything Bohemian leached out of me.

Anyway, I sure am looking forward to that upcoming extra hour of daylight..

Are Those Elsie Hotpepper's High Heels On Cannon Beach?

 

Saw the above on Facebook this morning of the first day of the 2021 version of March.

Apparently Miss Kellie, who is the opposite of me, in that she is a Texan currently exiled in the Pacific Northwest, specifically on an island in Puget Sound in Washington. With me, a Washingtonian currently in exile in Texas, with nary a real island to be seen within many miles.

Miss Kellie's fellow Texan, Elsie Hotpepper, who has never been exiled to anywhere other than the town she grew up in, has long had a relationship with Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast.

Elsie Hotpepper's relationship with Cannon Beach basically grew from a visit to that town several years ago, after which the Hotpepper was haunted by the iconic image of Cannon Beach, that being Haystack Rock, which seemed to follow Elsie Hotpepper every where she went, including back to Texas.

I have not heard from Elsie Hotpepper for a day or two or three. She has been a bit stir crazy cranky of late, just like most of us exiled in Texas, after losing power, water and peace of mind due to the sub-zero results of a Polar Vortex taking over the Lone Star State for over a week.

So, for all I know, Elsie Hotpepper hopped a plane to Portland and drove herself to Cannon Beach, where she beached her high heel ruby slippers to have herself a bracing skinny dip in the cold Pacific.

And then forgot to pick up her shoes when she ran back out of the water to seek heat in the nearest warming hut.

Yeah, I'm sure that is the explanation for the random red high heels on Cannon Beach...

Final Chilly February Wichita Bluff Nature Walking

It had been a couple days without any aerobically induced endorphins.

And thus on this last day of the 2021 version of February I was feeling a bit cranky and a bit stir crazy.

Perhaps stir cranky would be the correct terminology.

And so I took myself on a bit of a Sunday drive, heading east to the, well, slum-like part of this fine Texas town. 

Eventually I came to Beverly Drive, which ironically is not in the Beverly Hills section of Wichita Falls, but runs from that aforementioned slum-like part of town to Loop 11. 

Once I got to Loop 11 I was a short distance from the parking lot at the east end of the Wichita Bluff Nature Area. 

And so I decided to do some nature walking and check out the current state of the new section of Circle Trail which will soon connect to the current terminus of the Circle Trail in Lucy Park.

Before I forget, I must make mention of my unkempt appearance as seen in the Elsie Selfie above. I only returned to having hot water a couple days ago, and so I have not yet had sufficient time to undo the damage caused by not having access to modern amenities, such as power and hot water.

You can also tell by my bundled up attire that the outer world is being a bit chilly today. Overcast, foggy, windy and drizzly.

I was not the only one checking out the current condition of the new section of the Circle Trail.

The two speed walking ladies raced past me, startling both me and a big black cat which the lady in pink shrieked was a bobcat. The big black cat did not even remotely resemble a bobcat.

And above you see the current end of the paved part of the new section of Circle Trail. I do not know how far what you see above is from Lucy Park. If I remember correctly this new section of Circle Trail is around 3 miles.

After reaching the point you see above I turned around and headed towards the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

Eventually reaching the high point you see here. A scenic overlook looking over the Wichita River. In this view we are looking northwest, towards my old home location in Washington.

Tomorrow March roars in like a lion.

I am looking forward to 30 days later when March limps out like a lamb.

Back In Hot Water In Wichita Falls

Late Thursday afternoon lukewarm water began being delivered to my hot water faucets. By Friday morning the lukewarm water had turned HOT, which is what you see flowing from my kitchen faucet above.

I do not recollect ever enjoying a shower as much as I did this morning.

If I remember right there is a song about parking lots with a line something like "You don't know what you miss til it's gone..."

So true.

The power grid going down for two days was bad, real bad. But, I knew being without power would be bad when the temperature went below zero.

When the power came back on, and the temperature went well above zero, and pipes began bursting, I was then without water. I knew being without water would be a bad thing. But, I was prepared, due to having filled virtually everything I had which was fillable, with water, before it was turned off.

And then two days after the water returning, soon thereafter the hot water turned cold. The sub zero temperature had wreaked havoc with the natural gas pipeline in three locations.

I managed a pitifully pathetic version of a bath by boiling a large kettle of water, then delivering it to my bathtub, which I had partially filled with a couple inches of water. This process grew tiresome by day three.

By running water through the coffee maker I was able to have a carafe of hot water next to the kitchen sink for dish washing purposes. Sort of. That also quickly grew tiresome.

Anyway, everything is pretty much back to normal, well, other than the ongoing COVID nightmare...

Cold Golfing Waiting For Hot Water To Arrive

No, that is not me above having myself a mighty fine time golfing under a cloudy cold sky.

A few minutes ago I was taking a short walk north on the Circle Trail and saw the golfer you see above golfing on the golf course on the far side of Holliday Creek from my abode's location.

I believe this is called Weeks Golf Course. There are two golf courses that butt up against each other on the east side of Holliday Creek. 

Mother Nature decided to get chilly again, after being nice for a couple days, all the way into the 80s. But today She is blowing cold, in the 40s, with the wind chill making it feel like it's in the 30s.

These cycles of hot and cold in the outer world sort of mirror the condition of my interior world. As in I still do not have hot water running out of my faucets. 

Not having hot water on demand is not as much of a nuisance as I feared it might be. Having no hot water is not nearly as annoying as having no water.

Or no electricity...

Talking With Linda Lou On A Wichita Falls Bench With No Hot Water

At around 2:40 this final Wednesday afternoon of the February version of 2021 I dropped off the patient known as DB at one of the clinics at which he has appointments with doctors.

I had previously scheduled a 3 o'clock phone consult with the Mount Vernonite known as Linda Lou.

Wichita Falls is a short distance from the location of DB's doctor appointment, and so I parked my vehicle and walked to the top of the falls, to sit on that bench you see above, above the falls, and called Linda Lou.

I did not long remain on that bench talking to Linda Lou, because wind was blowing waterfall mist in my direction. I stood up, looked at the view you see above, and walked to another bench.

Soon after standing up my belt buckle decided to unbuckle. This immediately put my cargo shorts in danger of dropping to my ankles. I had to ask Linda Lou to excuse me for a moment while I secured my shorts and belt.

It seems so odd how quickly we went from living in the Arctic to being back in the semi-tropics. Yesterday the temperature got into the 80s.

A week ago today I was escaping from a Comfort Inn, on ice covered roads, hoping the power would stay on and I could remain in my abode. 

Well, the power has stayed on, but I still do not have hot water coming out of faucets. The natural gas pipeline is the problem. There has been a lot of digging going on, I assume looking for the leaks. Why would a deep freeze cause problems with underground natural gas pipelines? I have heard no explanation for this.

Sunset Bike Ride To Frozen Lake Wichita

Yesterday, late in the afternoon, during the hour when the sun starts to set in the west, with the outer world temperature having soared into the 70s, I thought a bike ride might be a mighty fine thing to do.

And so I did. And so it was. 

When I roll the short distance from my abode to the Circle Trail I have two options, go north on the Circle Trail or go south.

I opted for the south option, the one which a mile and a half later takes me to Lake Wichita.

On the way to Lake Wichita I was surprised to see that long sections of Holliday Creek were still frozen. And then when I got atop Lake Wichita Dam I was surprised again, seeing that Lake Wichita was still frozen with what looked like a solid layer of ice.

I took several photos of this rare phenomenon, the one above, with my bike parked on the floating dock which was currently floating on top of ice. 

And the following photos, some taken from the vantage point of that aforementioned floating on ice dock, and some taken from the vantage point of the Lake Wichita Boardwalk.

Above we are on the floating dock, looking north at an ice covered lake and the earthen dam which makes the lake.

And here we are on the Lake Wichita Boardwalk, looking at all that remains of the long gone Lake Wichita Pavilion.

Looking south from the Lake Wichita Boardwalk. 

Back on the dock floating on ice. That pimple you see on the horizon is known as Mount Wichita.

And for one final photo from the Lake Wichita Boardwalk, looking at some more remains of that long gone Lake Wichita Pavilion, and that aforementioned pimple of a mountain, sticking up out of the far end of the lake.

The temperature today is scheduled to get again into the 70s. I suspect another bike ride will be had today. But no hot shower. The boiler which heats my water is still being repaired....

Walking Wichita Bluff Nature Area With Nephew Jason Today

 

With the outer world temperature soaring into the balmy 60s, and with nary any snow or ice remaining, except for where it was piled up by snow plows, an hour before noon I took my cargo shorts and t-shirt to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area to do some communing with nature.

I stopped soon after entering the Nature Area to take the photo you see above. This is a good illustrative look at how well designed the Wichita Bluff Nature Area of the Circle Trail is.

I had not managed to get my phone back in its phone pocket when I saw an incoming call was coming in from my Favorite Nephew Jason.

So, Jason walked the Wichita Bluffs with me today.

It had been awhile since I had walked and talked with Jason, so we had a lot to talk about.

I forgot to ask Jason if he was planning on being in Cabo San Luca on May 1 for the nuptials of his cousin Christopher. I think I can guess the answer to that question.

Til learning so from Jason today I had not known that it was back being easy to drive to Seattle from Mount Vernon in an hour, due to way less traffic, due to COVID and way fewer tourists.

My last time in Washington, August of 2017, to be precise, it took us about 4 hours to get from Tacoma to Mount Vernon.

I sure am enjoying the retreat of the Polar Vortex, and the return to almost normal. Though, I still do not have hot water running from my taps. But, that is an easy problem to work around when you have electricity and water...

Some Icy Biking With Cranky Geese On Frozen Sikes Lake

With the temperature soaring well above freezing, into the balmy 50s zone, and with snow sufficiently melted, I decided my bike needed to do some rolling.

And so on this 3rd Sunday morning of the 2021 version of February I rolled north on the Circle Trail til I got to Hamilton Park. I experienced only a little snow or ice in only a couple shady locations on the Circle Trail.

Leaving Hamilton Park I encountered no icy dicey conditions rolling through the Wichita Falls Beverley Hills zone.

Same with rolling through the MSU (Midwestern State University) campus. 

But then, crossing Midwestern Boulevard to the sidewalk which takes me to Sikes Lake, I had my first bout of doing some slipping and sliding. Not too bad, but I was glad to be back where such was not the case.

Arriving at Sikes Lake I saw the lake was still mostly frozen. I took three photos documenting this rare phenomenon. The first of which is what you see above, looking west across the lake.

Next I stopped my handlebars on the bridge which crosses Sikes Lake on the north end of the lake. That sort of looks like footprints in the snow which is still on top of the frozen lake. But, I don't think they are human footprints.

I think it is perplexed creatures like you see above which made tracks in the snow on the lake. The geese seemed annoyed that they could only walk on the water they usually floated in. The annoyance seemed to be being verbalized by goose honking noises I had not heard previously.

I exit the paved trail around Sikes Lake at the northeast end of the lake. The usual trail which I use to do so was a muddy mess. So I used another exit, which I seldom use, and which was not a muddy mess.

But, when I got to the paved alley which takes me back to my abode, well, it is in a shady location, and still had a lot of snow and ice and water. This made for some challenging wheel rolling which was sort of fun. 

I have not felt this good for over a week. I was in dire need of some aerobic stimulation and the endorphins one gets as a result of that stimulation.

I think tomorrow, with the temperature scheduled to get into the 60s, I will go do some nature communing in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area...