Bike Ride To Hamilton Park Splash Pad With Cranky Sikes Lake Geese

 

Today has been the first day in a couple months which has not been extremely windy.

I do not like riding a bike when the wind gusts over 40 mph, which has been the case, of late.

So, on this second Saturday of the 2022 version of May, with the outer world almost in dead calm mode, I let my bike take me on a ride today.

We rolled north on the Circle Trail to Hamilton Park, where a couple kids were having fun getting wet in the splash pad, which is what you see in the photo documentation.

Tomorrow is predicted to hit a high of 102. I expect this will have a lot of kids getting wet in the Hamilton Park Splash Pad.

Last night around the time the sun was setting after doing its daily illumination duty, all hail broke loose. Frozen balls of water, golf ball size, rained down, making a lot of noise. The pummeling did not last too long. 

I do not think the Sikes Lake geese like getting pummeled by hail. They seemed cranky, yet subdued, when I rolled by them today. Most of the geese were under the shady cover of tree leaves. None were floating on the lake.

That we are hitting the 100 degree mark, well before the arrival of Summer, bodes ill for the next few months, keeping cool-wise. 

Meditating Minutes On The Sikes Lake Bayou Bridge

No, that is not the Wichita River rolling through Lucy Park you see here. What you see here is the scenic bayou at the west end of Sikes Lake. We are standing midway across the bridge which crosses the bayou.

I stood at this location in meditative contemplating mode for a minute or two.

It was barely 90 degrees when I drove to Sikes Lake to do some semi-warm nature communing. Multiple others were also enjoying the pleasantly temperatured outer world.

One of the fellow nature communers was a skinny jogger, well, actually, a skinny runner. Running super fast whilst making it look effortless. I was jealous. Many decades ago I went through a jogging phase, but I have never been able to run fast for any length of time longer than a minute.

If only I could manage to lose about 50 pounds maybe I could manage to run fast. I suspect I would still be more of a plodder than a runner...

Mini-Alligator But No Lucy Park Backwoods Snake Encounter

 It was back to Lucy Park I ventured this morning for my daily acquisition of endorphins via aerobic stimulation. 

I have avoided the Lucy Park backwoods zone of late due to recent rain making for mucky mud. That and it is in the backwoods one can find oneself having a snake encounter.

Today I figured if I stayed in the middle of the path through the woods that I would be able to see any snakes slithering out from their snakes in the grass location.

Well, I made the entire multi-mile distance without seeing anything slither. 

Other than a mini alligator, more commonly known as a lizard. Lizards do not alarm me in the way snakes do. I have had some large lizard encounters and have never felt in danger. 

I had had a reptile encounter of the turtle sort which felt dangerous. I was swimming in Lake Grapevine when suddenly a reptile head popped up in front of me. I instantly thought it to be a water moccasin, which caused me to swim to shore faster than I knew I was able to swim. From the safety of dry land I saw it was a turtle, not a snake, which was chasing me.

It is a slightly chilly day, today. Only 90 degrees, a few minutes before two in the afternoon...

Oodles Of Shady Lucy Park Rugrats

Drove to Lucy Park this morning for a little nature communing before the outer world became uncomfortably HOT.

Upon arrival at the Lucy Park log cabin parking lot I saw that multiple buses had delivered oodles of little rugrats to the park. It appeared to be some sort of shady picnic. The loud squealing chatter indicated the oodles of little rugrats were having themselves a mighty fine time.

I just realized I had no clue as to why I think rugrats means little kids. So, I Googled "Rugrats" to learn there was, or is, an American TV series called "Rugrats" in which little kids are the Rugrats.

I have long been thinking that this coming Summer I would find myself up northwest, in Washington, where I would get to have fun playing with some relative rugrats. But, I really do not think that is going to happen. 

Or it may happen. I have been known to change my mind, at times...

Blue Lupines In Texas Hill Country

You who have never been to what is known as Texas Hill Country might think that above you are looking at a field of wildflowers, with most of the wildflowers you see above being known in Texas as the Bluebonnet. The State Wildflower of Texas.

That big snow covered mountain hovering over the field of wildflowers might be a clear clue, for some, that this is not a hill in the Texas Hill Country.

What that snow covered mountain actually is, is a volcano, one of five such erupters in the State of Washington. 

Which would make that mountain above, Mount Rainier, which is the scenic wonder for May on my wall calendar.

In Washington those blue wildflowers are not known as Bluebonnets. They are known as Lupines.

Only in Texas are Lupines called Bluebonnets.

We are in day two of a HEAT wave.

 Below is a screen shot from my phone showing yesterday's Mother's Day high of 102. 

Today is also predicted to hit 102.

Before it got too HOT today I went for a shady walk in Lucy Park. Strong gusts of wind help make the HEAT not feel so HOT.

I fear this early arrival of triple digit temperatures bodes ill for the coming Summer...

Happy Mother's Day At Lucy Park

With the Mother's Day temperature five degrees shy of being 100, it was to Lucy Park I drove to have myself a shady commune with nature.

There were few fellow Mother's Day celebrators celebrating Mother's Day at Lucy Park whilst I was there.

Plenty of shaded picnic tables available.

Later today the temperature is scheduled to hit 103. 

So far the air conditioner seems to be doing a good job at keeping my abode cool.

I did not walk the Lucy Park backwoods zone today.

The picture you see above is from the non-backwoods zone of Lucy Park. The undergrowth in the backwoods zone is now thick enough for snakes to slither unseen. And with the temperature being HOT the cold blooded reptiles get frisky.

I am not a fan of frisky snakes...

Having A Heat Wave Hit 103

Over a month to go til the arrival of Summer.

If I remember correctly, and sometimes I do, we did not get heated to 100 in all of 2021. We did go below zero in February of that year. And now, in the year 2022, we are predicted to hit 103 tomorrow.

I am not in the mood to be that HOT.

But, on the plus side of the HEAT, my abode has a new heat pump cooling system which works quite well. Though it has not yet been tested to be cool in this much HEAT.

Yesterday I read that there is some concern the Texas grid won't be able to handle the stress of the entire state going into extreme air conditioning mode. 

If the grid goes down, like it did during that sub zero nightmare of last year, I don't think it will be quite as difficult to endure as it was to lose the ability to keep warm. And pipes won't freeze and burst upon thawing, which happened to many of my neighbors, greatly adding to the misery.

If the electric grid does meltdown, again, methinks I'll cross the border into Oklahoma and spend the day in one of the air-conditioned casinos. That is only about a 20 mile air conditioned drive north.

Back To Lucy Park Jungle Dodging Snakes With New Computer

It was back to Lucy Park I ventured today, after a couple days of windy drippiness. The Lucy Park backwoods zone has become a bit overgrown, thus making it easy for snakes to lie in wait. That and it is a bit muddy due to that recent drippage.

On Sunday we are predicted to go over the 100 degree mark, to 103. If I remember right we did not hit 100, ever, in 2021.

I am happy to be back at full computer strength. Using a Chromebook worked fine for some things, but not so fine for something like getting photos off a phone.

This new computer has 20 gigabytes of RAM. I did not know til getting this that laptops were available with that much random access memory. And it has a solid state harddrive, so no moving parts, nothing spinning, no fan.

And Windows 11 does not seem all that different from Windows 10.

Today is the first day in a long time that it is not windy. So, methinks I shall go on a bike ride this afternoon for the first time in a long time.

Not Getting Goosed By Sikes Lake Goslings And Ducklings

 

That is my vehicle's white hood you see in the foreground. In front of the white hood are three full-size geese, guarding a flock of goslings.

That field of gray you see in the background is Sikes Lake. Which would make it Sikes Lake where I had my daily constitutional on this first Monday of the 2022 version of May. A cloudy gray sky is above gray Sikes Lake.

Mother goose was not happy I parked so close to her babies. A hissing honking goose is quite intimidating.

Way back in the previous century, when I was a teenager, I got goosed in a raspberry field in my old hometown of Burlington, Washington. 

Getting goosed is painful, at a pain level where it leaves a memory. So, even though my getting goosed incident happened many decades ago, I retain a wary attitude when I am near an angry goose.

I saw a lot of goslings today. And about a dozen ducklings. The ducklings were extremely small. One group was floating on the lake whilst another group waddled nearby in the grass.

All the bird babies attract a lot of attention from those walking by. It's cute seeing a human baby get all excited at seeing a duck baby.

So, that's been my thrilling day today, awaiting the predicted afternoon thunderstorm...

Computer Vexations With Return To Lucy Park

 

Yesterday the computer I use to do the blogging thing died an untimely death. Sudden, with little warning. I was able to bring it back to life a couple times, long enough to order a new computer, which arrives on Wednesday.

I used to enjoy getting a new computer, but after more than three decades of dealing with the vexing beasts, the novelty has worn off. Three computers ago I built one myself, from parts bought at Fry's Electronics, with Gar the Texan showing me how to put the components together. 

This morning I figured out how to do the blogging thing on my tablet, but then I remembered there was a Chromebook in my abode, and so that it was I am typing on right now. 

I took a break from my travails and returned to Lucy Park this morning, to walk the backwoods zone. Most of yesterday's extreme sport mud mess was cleaned up, but there was still some wet residue.

More wet residue is currently scheduled to fall from the sky later today and tomorrow.