Sikes Senter Sent Me Mall Walking Today

With the outer world chilled to 25 degrees, with a strong wind chill factor causing the temperature to feel like 10 degrees, I did not feel like going to any of my regular outdoor locations to get some endorphins via aerobic stimulation.

So, I drove to what is called Sikes Senter. A mall. When I first saw Sikes Senter, years ago, I wondered how it could come to be that someone thought it clever to be alliterative, rather than simply call the mall Sikes Mall. Or Sikes Center Mall. Or just Sikes Center.

Years ago when a new mall came to my old home state, in the town of Tukwila, a suburb of Seattle, it was called Southcenter. At the time Southcenter was the biggest mall in the state. I don't know if that is still the case. What I do know is, if way back when that mall was named, if it was announced the name was South Senter, such would have been mocked til the name was changed.

I was over dressed for walking the over heated Sikes Senter. But I got in enough mileage to get those endorphins.

As you can see, via the above photo documentation, Sikes Senter was not too busy this morning. Half the people I did see were fellow mall walkers.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit warmer. I think I will bundle up and brace myself to walk outside, tomorrow. The day after that, or is it two days after that? A heat wave arrives, again, heating into the 70s...

Exiting Lucy Park To Wee-Chi-Tah Trail & Alligator Alley

On this morning's long Lucy Park bout of fast walking I exited the park via the suspension bridge suspended over the Wichita River. That is the suspension bridge crossing the river to Lucy Park, you see above.

When one crosses the river one soon comes to the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail. The one and only mountain bike trail in town. I have not rolled my bike's wheels on this trail. I have hiked some of it. If I remember right the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail is around 12 miles long, making a loop. I think. 

I know the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail is a challenging trail, with some locations having bypasses to avoid a tricky section.

Today I walked as far as the Alligator Alley section of the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail. Due to the temperature being no where near warm, I was in no danger of a hostile over-sized, cold-blooded lizard trying to eat me.

I believe the black diamond on the above sign indicates the Alligator Alley section of trail is one requiring an advanced skill level. I used to have a fairly advanced skill level for mountain biking, but years of not honing that skill have rendered me wary of anything requiring an advanced skill level.

Have I made mention of Google Fit before? I don't remember. A couple weeks ago I installed the Google Fit app on my phone. One gets it from the Google Play Store. For free.

Google Fit tracks how many minutes you move, how many miles you move, how many calories you burn, and other stuff. Such as keeping an activity log.

You input your age, weight, height and gender, which I guess is sufficient info to calculate calories burned.

I have tested the mileage and move minutes and it is accurate. For example, it is 1.1 miles around Sikes Lake. Google Fit gets that right.

I estimate if I keep up the current pace by the end of this month I will no longer be morbidly obese...

Walking Lucy Park Before Mashing Yukon Gold At Home

As you can clearly see, I was able to get my phone's Elsie Hotpepper patented selfie filter to work again, after weeks of frustration.

I have decided one of my new year's resolutions must be to be an even more repetitive creature of repeating habits.

And so it was back to Lucy Park today to do a few miles of fast walking with the naked forest of trees.

Today is the last semi-warm day for a few days. A new Arctic Blast is blowing in tomorrow, chilling the air down to well below freezing. Although, this time, I don't think snow is on the menu.

Speaking of the menu. Today for lunch I used the Instant Pot to make the best mashed potatoes I've ever managed to make. I don't know if it was the Instant Pot that made the spuds so good, or that the spuds were buttery Yukon Golds.

Another look at the forest of naked trees, without my face obstructing the view.

In a couple months the above scene will look like a lush green jungle, with the trees full of chirping birds.

Today I watched several squirrels high up in a tall tree, chasing each other from branch to branch. I do not recollect ever seeing this behavior before, so far above the ground. Looked dangerous, but the squirrels looked quite acrobatically talented.

Heard from Aunt Alice this morning, currently stuck on a hill in Eastern Washington, near Tonasket, due to over a foot of snow rendering motorized movement impossible.

Despite reports to the contrary, the Duchess of Appomattox, Madame McNutty, was not stuck in that massive snow caused freeway backup on Virginia's I-95 yesterday.

Winter is only a couple weeks old. Seems like people all over the country are already tired of it...

The Return Of Temperature Way Above Freezing Is A Mood Elevator

On this 3rd day of the new year the outer world warmed up enough that I was able to venture outside without taking extraordinary measures, such as yesterday's backalava, with excessive long underwear.

After a quick trip to the library I continued on to Lucy Park for some fast walking nature communing.

I tried to take a sour dour selfie, but could not muster my usual sour dourness due to being under a bright blue sky with the holiday season fading into history.

And tomorrow we hit a high of almost 70. This current bout of Winter did not last too long.

Another look, without me in it, of the Circle Trail meandering through Lucy Park next to the Wichita River.

That bit of brownish green in the center of the above photo is the aforementioned Wichita River. That slash of white to the right of the brownish green is some shaded remaining snow, waiting to be melted.

My New Year's Resolution so far remain on track. Those being to eat even healthier, get even more exercise, lose even more weight and to visit Washington this Summer...

Backalava Enabled Sub-Freezing Sikes Lake Walk With Snow

Today, on this second day of the new year, with a strong wind blowing, causing the freezing temperature to feel like 3 degrees above zero, I installed multi layers and then ventured to Sikes Lake to walk around for a few miles.

This was the first time I have kept warm with the backalava you see me hiding in above. This is a type of headgear many Middle Eastern terrorist types wear. So, I left my Uzi at home so as not to scare anyone.

There were only four other people braving the cold whilst I was out in it. Usually, at the start of a new year, one sees a lot of people meaning well with their New Year's Resolution, til the resolve wears off in about a week, and the numbers drop.

Yesterday, as in New Year's Day, I was surprised at how many people were out and about at Lucy Park, seeming true to the usual New Year's Resolution burst of soon to fade activity.

But, it was above freezing yesterday. Overnight an Arctic Blast blew in, with snow. We are currently scheduled to warm up into the 60s in a couple days.

In the meantime my furnace seems to be running nonstop...

Sunday Snow Below Freezing In Wichita Falls

Looking out on the outer world this second morning of the new year, above is what I saw.

Some snow blew in overnight.

A week ago today we were sweltering with summer-like temperatures. And now we are freezing at well below 32 degrees.

Below is a screen shot from my phone this morning..

It would appear we have a few days to go of being cold before a little warmth returns.

I may put on a few layers of outerwear, topped off with a balaclava, and go for a snowy walk later this morning when it should only be a couple degrees below freezing...

Happy New Year Next Year From Seattle's Macklemore & Madame McNutty

Madame McNutty Facebook messaged me the link to a New Year's Eve Macklemore video of a song titled Next Year.

The video takes place in part of Seattle's Pioneer Square.

Next Year is an upbeat optimistic song about the year that begins today. I rather liked it. You can watch and listen to it via the YouTube video below....

The Last Lucy Park Walk Of 2021 With Rain

It was back to Lucy Park this morning on the last day of 2021. Above we are at a fork in the trail, making a sort of trail version of a roundabout, with trails surrounding that round bit of landscaping you see at the center of the photo.

As you can see, the sky at my location is no longer blue. Clouds arrived overnight, ahead of the Arctic Blast which is scheduled to begin arriving in a few hours. Snow is in the forecast for the first day of the new year.

A week ago we were in the upper 80s, low 90s, and now we have Winter arriving.

Lucy Park today was looking like a desolate Winter landscape. Monochromatic.

I got off the paved trail to do some leaf walking. The pile of leaves is thick. Walking on the leaves makes a crunching noise which is quite satisfying, like walking on potato chips.

Rain began dripping for the last mile of today's Lucy Park walk. Post-walk, by the time I made it to ALDI, I had had my windshield wipers wiping for the first time in a long time. This made my driving outlook on the world much brighter.

And now I am off to Walmart to secure goods for tonight's New Year's Eve Party...

Lake Wichita Park Remembering Vietnam War Veterans Struggling Through The Brush

It was to Lake Wichita Park I ventured for today communing with nature and the natural acquisition of relaxing endorphins gained from aerobic stimulation.

That and to check out the new Vietnam War Veteran's memorial which has risen between Mount Wichita (also known as Murphy's Hill) and Lake Wichita.

I believe, total acreage-wise, Lake Wichita Park is larger than Lucy Park. But sees fewer visitors. Like Lucy Park, the Circle Trail runs through Lake Wichita Park. And there is a gravel trail which sort of goes around the perimeter of the park. But, there is no maze of trails, such as what one finds at Lucy Park.

Today, I ventured off the paved Circle Trail and made my way cross country to get in my walking miles. Now, in Summer I would not do this due to my fear of snakes. But, even though we are still being unseasonably warm, I think it is chilly enough to slow up the slithering of those cold blooded reptiles.

Above we are north of Mount Wichita, with that memorial statue on the side opposite of what you are looking at here. As you see via this photo, there is a lot of open space in Lake Wichita Park. There are also several ballfields of the football, soccer and baseball sort. There is a dog park. A rocket launching pad. An airstrip for model airplanes. Various children's playground items, like slides and swings and such. Oh, and a disc golf course.

Here I am out of the open area and trying to make my way through brush trying to get to Little Lake Wichita, the pond which the Circle Trail goes by, with Lake Wichita on one side, and Little Lake Wichita on the other side.

I was not successful in my effort to get through the brush to Little Lake Wichita. Can you see Mount Wichita in the distance in the middle of the above photo? That sort of gives you an idea of the size of this park.

Now, that has been my excitement for this next to last day of the year. That and making broccoli salad from a recipe in a cookbook I was Xmas gifted with

Cemetery Hiking With Woolley Snow & McNutty Boy Band

Riverside Cemetery, adjacent to Lucy Park, is becoming my favorite location to get in some walking exercise to acquire the relaxing endorpins which come from aerobic stimulation.

There really are few places as peaceful as a cemetery.

Today I realized hiking Riverside Cemetery is the closest thing I have in Wichita Falls to hiking the Tandy Hills in Fort Worth.

I miss hiking the Tandy Hills. Like the Tandy Hills, Riverside Cemetery has miles of a maze of trails, in the form of narrow roads, most paved, some not. Though not as hilly as the Tandy Hills, Riverside Cemetery does have some up and down zones.

Riverside Cemetery is huge. Walking the perimeter takes about half an hour, at a fast walking pace. The only other hilly hiking location in this town is the Wichita Bluff Nature Area of the Circle Trail. Trouble is that is just a straight hike, as in, walk as long as you want, then turn around and walk the same route back. Like the Tandy Hills, at Riverside Cemetery there is basically a maze of routes one can hike, with no backtracking needed.

As you can see, blue sky prevails at my location. And the winter heat wave continues. Today in the upper 70s. But, this comes to an end on the first day of the new year, with the high that day now predicted to be 39, with the low chilling to 16.

Meanwhile, back in my old home zone of the Skagit Valley, most people I hear from are currently snowbound, unable to go anywhere via motorized means.

Miss Beth, on Facebook shared the below photo of what the outside of her Sedro Woolley abode currently looks like.

And then, from the opposite side of the country, as in the state of Virginia, I was sent that which you see below.

I believe what we are seeing here is Madame McNutty being helped do yoga poses by her boy band, called the McNutters, which Madame McNutty is coaching and teaching elaborately choreographed dance moves.

Here we see Madame McNutty demonstrating one of those aforementioned dance moves. So graceful. One can almost see the fluidity of motion even though this is just a still photograph.

I am looking forward to seeing the McNutters first video production. It should be epic...