Feeling 99 Degrees HOT In Lucy Park

What you see here is a screenshot from my phone, taken upon arrival at Lucy Park where I drove seeking some endorphins via aerobic stimulation.

I think 97 may be the hottest I have been at Lucy Park. As you see via the info on the screenshot the humidity made those 97 degrees feel like 99.

The above is a HOT shady look at Lucy Park in the throes of the current heat wave.

Tomorrow, if the temperature predicters are correct, and sometimes they are, we are getting a rare break from the over 100 degree heat, with tomorrow's high predicted to be a relatively chilly 95, with a chance of rain.

And that is predicted to be followed by another day only getting heated to 95. And then the 100 degrees plus returns.

Where Are Ruby, David & Theo?

In my email this morning I found this photo of the Tacoma Trio, Ruby, David and Theo.

There was no explanatory text in the email.

The email's subject line said, "Where in the (not) PNW?".

Methinks the subject line would be more accurate if it said, "We are not in PNW!".

With fairly frequent frequency I am emailed photos and asked to guess where in the Pacific Northwest Ruby, David and Theo are.

I correctly guess about half the time.

In today's instance I am fairly certain the Tacoma Trio are nowhere in the Pacific Northwest.

I think the above photo was taken in the other Washington, the one on the east coast, the one whose full name is Washington, District of Columbia, or Washington, D.C. for short.

I suspect I will be seeing photos of Ruby, David and Theo visiting the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Capitol Building and other locations.

At least I hope I will be seeing such photos...

Looking Back At North Cascades National Park

Last night something caused me to try and remember what year it was that North Cascades National Park came to be.

And so I Googled North Cascades National Park and learned, via Wikipedia, it was in October of 1968 that LBJ signed the bill that created the new national park.

The Wikipedia article contained multiple photos of North Cascades National Park scenery, including the photo above, of Mount Shuksan. 

Wikipedia insists the source of the photo must be credited, thusly--Photo by Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA - Mt. Shuksan reflected in a small tarn on the Artist Point trail.

When I saw the Mount Shuksan photo I was puzzled, because I did not think that that mountain was in the North Cascades National Park. Mount Shuksan is quite close to Mount Baker. No mention of Mount Baker being in the national park was made.

Then I saw the Wikipedia map of North Cascades National Park and saw that Mount Shuksan is in the national park, whilst Mount Baker is not.

One of my all time favorite photos has Mount Shuksan in the background.

Those are my favorite nephews, Jeremy and Christopher, sitting atop Tabletop Mountain, with Mount Shuksan behind them. Christopher is looking off to the south, at Mount Baker, looming close.

Let's leave North Cascades National Park now for a look at Mount Baker.

I was heading north on Interstate 5 when I took this photo on the way to Birch Bay on August 11, 2017. We are a mile or two south of Mount Vernon, looking northeast at Mount Baker, looming large. This gives you a clear idea of how close I lived to scenic mountain scenery when I lived in the Skagit Valley zone. My Mount Vernon house was located a short distance past that notch from which Mount Baker appears to rise.

Now, let's go back to being at North Cascades National Park locations.

Above I am taking a rest on a granite slap, looking east at Hidden Lake.

If I remember correctly, the above photo was taken on the way to the summit of Green Mountain. There is a fire lookout at the summit. I recollect taking a nap when the summit was reached.

And here we see Wally, Wanda and Big Ed on the Cascade Pass Trail. This was a route used by Native Americans to cross the Cascades. At one point it was considered to be a possible route for the North Cross State Highway, but it was deemed to be far too difficult to engineer a road via this route, That and it would compromise some of the most scenic locations in the park.

And, the final North Cascades National Park photo is also on the Cascade Pass Trail. That is Big Ed trying to decide whether or not to take another step.

Seeing these photos and remembering how close I used to live to a scenic wonderland, well, it has me a bit homesick...

Birch Bay Postcard Bandit Strikes Again

Last Saturday a reunion I thought I might be attending this summer, took place, at a reunion convention location in the Skagit Flats.

I also long thought that this summer I would be finding myself at Birch Bay with a select group of my siblings. But that Birch Bay plan never came to fruition.

Today the mailbox contained another Birch Bay postcard, unsigned, with no message text.

However, as you can see, above, this time the perpetrator drew what looks to be an arrow pointing from Texas to Washington.

Previously I said that I compared the print on these postcards to a collection of Christmas cards, and found no matching handwriting.

Today I again compared the printing on this postcard to printing on cards I received last December.

And this time I found a match.

The "W" in Moose Jaw on the postcard, appears to match the "W" in PNW on the card.

I have previously asked the person who wrote the card with the suspicious "W" if she was the Postcard Bandit.

This particular individual, over the past many months, has asked many times if I had yet learned when I was going to be heading to Birch Bay. No other person in contact with me has shown that level of interest in the Birch Bay visit.

This particular person knows that the name "Moose Jaw" is associated with my name. 

I am not naming the suspected Postcard Bandit, because there is a slight chance I may be wrong. I await hearing a confession from the culprit...

Whole Wheat Pepperoni Pizza Debacle

I made pizza from scratch on this next to last Sunday of the 2022 version of July. The result, which you see here, looks better than the result actually was.

I used the automatic breadmaker to make the pizza dough. I used whole wheat flour. Using whole wheat was a mistake. It made for an extremely unusual pizza crust.

On top of the pizza crust I spread a thick covering of pizza sauce, then black olives and a lot of pepperonis. And topped that with a lot of mozzarella, colby, monterey jack and parmesan cheese.

The pizza was rendered salvageable by sliding the topping off the woeful whole wheat crust.

This was my first cooking disaster in quite some time.

I also learned heating an oven to 475 degrees in not a real good idea when experiencing an extreme heat wave. The air-conditioner was not keeping the kitchen zone to a desired level of cool...

Geese Feeding Frenzy At Drought Shrunk Sikes Lake

With the temperature a few degrees less than 100 I opted to drive to Sikes Lake for a relatively semi-chilly walk around the lake.

Upon arrival I saw a large contingent of Sikes Lake geese and ducks surrounding a lady tossing them food from a big bag of bird seed.

There were two bird feeders. I talked to the one standing next to me, not surrounded by birds. She told me they come feed the birds every day. And the flock is so used to this that when they see them arrive, in their white vehicle, they come waddling towards them.

This explains why, on more than one occasion, when I have arrived at this location, driving my white vehicle, that the flock of birds starts coming towards me. A behavior I found slightly disturbing.

No, that is not Sikes Lake at low tide you see above. That is Sikes Lake in drought mode, drying up.

Years ago Sikes Lake was dredged, with the material which was dredged hauled to Lake Wichita where it was turned into the tall pile of dried mud we refer to as Mount Wichita, also known as Murphy's Hill.

Methinks Sikes Lake is due for a new dredging, with a new mountain made at Lake Wichita, to be called the Twin Peaks of Wichita Falls.

Cloudy Drippy Semi-Chilly Return To Lucy Park

I needed to refresh my supply of reading material, so it was to downtown Wichita Falls I ventured this morning, to that socialist operation known as the Wichita Falls Public Library.

After the library, since I was in the neighborhood, it was to another socialist operation, Lucy Park, I drove.

As you can see via the photo documentation of the sycamore tree in the middle of the photo, we are not seeing blue sky today at my Texas location.

Clouds!

With some raindrops dripping.

And a temperature of only 84 degrees. Not quite a sweater wearing chill, but much more pleasant than when the outer world is heated to more than 20 degrees warmer than 84.

It was seeming eerily quiet in here, with traffic noise being able to be heard. I wondered why the atmosphere was seeming so different. And then I realized, the air-conditioner is not running.

This cold snap will be short lived, with a quick return to being heated to over 100 degrees HOT. I shall be enjoying the respite while it lasts...

Record Breaking Temperature In Wichita Falls & All Over Texas

This morning CNN online had an article titled "Here are some US cities that set records Tuesday as temperatures soared to as high as 115 degrees".

I clicked the link thinking I was going to see record high temperatures set all over the U.S.

Instead the record breaking temperatures were mostly in Texas, with a couple in Oklahoma.

With the HOTTEST record breaker being the town I am in, Wichita Falls, which sizzled to 115 yesterday.

I had thought our high here yesterday was 113, and said as much to a friend from high school who was visiting Tonasket in Eastern Washington and had posted on Facebook how he was on the edge of suffering heatstroke due to the temperature being 90.

I proceeded to inform this person that he was a temperature baby.

Today is scheduled to be cooler, a predicted high of only 107, with a chance of some rain and thunderstorming. 

During yesterday's sizzler a wildfire erupted just out of the eastern border of Wichita Falls. The wildfire forced the closure of Highway 287, the freeway route between Wichita Falls and DFW. 

I do not think I have ever been so eager for summer to come to its end as I am currently.

From the CNN article...

Here are some US cities that set records Tuesday as temperatures soared to as high as 115 degrees--

Here are some of the record highs for July 19 that were set in Texas and Oklahoma:

• Wichita Falls, Texas: 115, breaking a record of 112 set in 2018.

• Borger, Texas: 111, breaking a record of 109 set in 2018.

• Abilene, Texas: 110, breaking a record of 108 set in 1936.

• Oklahoma City: 110, breaking a record of 109 set in 1936.

• Amarillo, Texas: 108, breaking a record of 105 set in 2018.

• San Angelo, Texas: 108, tying a record set in 2018.

• El Paso, Texas: 107, breaking a record of 105 set in 1980.

• Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas: 106, breaking a record of 105 from 1914, 1923 and 1951.

• Midland International Air & Space Port in Midland, Texas: 105, tying a record from 1981 and 2018.

• Houston: 100, tying a record set in 2000.

And there is this I saw a few minutes ago on Facebook. This version has the Wichita Falls temperature record being 113...

Sizzling Tuesday At 113 Degree

The temperature forecast for today, Tuesday, July 19, 2022, is what you are looking at.

113 degrees Fahrenheit.

This morning I saw it suggested that the elderly stay indoors in an air-conditioned space today, and the following days, until natural air-conditioning returns.

So, I will not be going outside today, or tomorrow, but maybe I will do so on Thursday, with the current forecast predicting the high on Thursday will be a relatively chilly 98 degrees.

Grass at my north Texas location is no longer green. Green has turned brown.

Rolling my bike north on the Circle Trail on Sunday I came upon an area where the brown grass had caught fire. For about 100 feet the brown had been turned to charred black, from beside the Circle Trail down the slope to now, mostly dry, Holliday Creek.

Sizzling Sunday At 109

Screen shot from my phone this HOT Sunday afternoon in Texas. The A/C seems to be running almost nonstop to keep the abode cooled to 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

Before it got too HOT I went on a bike ride this morning. It was more enjoyable than yesterday's bike ride. I think pumping up the tires helped.

The coming week is predicted to be the HOTTEST yet. It really does get a bit tiresome...