Cold Front Blows Into Texas With Rain Maybe

 Brrrrr.

Nowhere near 100 degrees today. Cloudy, with a supposedly 90% chance of rain, along with a 54% chance of thunderstorms.

I have not yet seen a drip drop or heard a thunder boom. Of late there have been several days when possible rain is on the menu, with none precipitating.

I suspect that today there will be some drippage, and possible booming, due to the fact that we are under a total cloud cover this morning. Nothing blue to see in the sky. Just gray. A menacing shade of gray.

Today I Had A Walmart Wardrobe Malfunction

One of my pathetically regular entertainments is to go to Walmart in a sort of anthropological expedition frame of mine, marveling at the number of people who apparently do not have a mirror at home.

Or don't care how they look when they look in the mirror.

Of late it has been way too many way too big women stuffed into way too short shorts. With tattoos. And piercings.

So, today I had myself a judge not lest ye be judged moment, related to Walmart.

I needed milk. And so, instead of getting my daily dose of endorphins via aerobic walking stimulation in an outdoor venue, I opted to get the endorphins in the air-conditioned comfort of Walmart.

My Walmart walking attire was simple. Sandals, cargo shorts, t-shirt. That's it.

When I put on the cargo shorts and bent over to strap in the sandals I heard a slight tearing noise. I felt around and felt no disruption in the cargo short material.

So, I drove the short distance to Walmart. Exited the vehicle and thought, well, the breeze is feeling extra refreshing today.

Inside Walmart the air-conditioning seemed extra cooling.

I got in my miles of Walmart walking and then drove back home, where I took off my walking clothes to put on my making lunch clothes.

When I took off the cargo shorts I instantly was mortified to see a HUGE tear in the back pocket zone.

A HUGE hole. Which is what you see photo documented above.

I do not know how much bare flesh was exposed as I walked around Walmart, oblivious to the possible spectacle.

I hope no one took a photo that will show up on Facebook as part of the "People of Walmart" series...

Shady Hot Lucy Park Walk Looking For T-Shirt With A Skunk

It was back to Lucy Park I escaped this third Monday of the 2022 version of August, to get myself some shady outdoor escape from the relentless HOT heat.

Even the shade is looking HOT in the above photo documentation. The temperature was barely into the 90s, with a cooling steady wind blowing.

I do not ever recollect looking forward to the coming cooler months to the degree I am currently anticipating the pleasant need to layer on the outerwear in order to keep warm.

Speaking of outerwear.

Someone, we shall not name, living in Appomattox, Virginia, used Amazon to try and send me the above t-shirt. This particular individual regularly refers to me as a "STINKER", hence, I guess, the skunk on a gray t-shirt.

Amazon has indicated to the Virginian that the package was delivered to my mailbox, last Friday.

However, there was no package from Amazon in my mailbox, last Friday, or Saturday, or today.

So, if anyone in my neighborhood sees someone wearing an extra large gray t-shirt, with a skunk on it, please ask them to return it to its rightful owner.

On second thought, no, just tell them to keep the purloined t-shirt.

Who knows what pathogens the t-shirt may have acquired since leaving its Amazon packaging...

HOT Saturday Stroll Around Lucy Park

 

It was to Lucy Park I drove, again, on this second Saturday of the 2022 version of August.

The temperature was about 10 degrees short of being 100. Little wind was blowing. Humidity was high.

I got too HOT.

When I came upon the Lucy Park suspension bridge there were two women trying to work up the courage to cross the Wichita River via this bridge.

They were only a couple feet on to the bridge when the motion unsettled and panicked them.

One of the two women was of the extremely plus-sized sort.

I can see how being a plus-sized sort might make the bridge sway oscillations more un-nerving than it is for a not plus-sized person, such as myself.

The Lucy Park suspension bridge was renovated a few months ago, with new cables and deck planks. After the renovation crossing the bridge is more of a thrill ride than was the pre-renovation bridge.

Yesterday my choice of exercise was a bike ride. I made mention of this in Rolling To The Shrinking Sikes Lake Bayou. The HOT heat is less annoying when rolling along on wheels, creating your own wind chill factor.

Tomorrow I will be going on a bike ride, maybe all the way to Lucy Park...

Rolling To The Shrinking Sikes Lake Bayou

The Sikes Lake Bayou, also known as the creek which delivers the water to Sikes Lake which makes it a lake, is no longer flowing any water into the lake, which is in the process of quickly drying up, also known as evaporating.

My bike stopped at the bridge at the west end of Sikes Lake so I could take the photo you see above. As you can see, what looks to be a natural dam, but actually is a wall of dried mud, is damming any water from making its way into the lake.

The temperature was barely in the 90s when I began rolling my bike's wheel, north, on the Circle Trail, this second Friday of the 2022 version of August.

There is little cooling wind today, which makes those 90s feeling hotter.

I prefer a bit of a wind chill to be happening...

A Brother Like No Other Shady Walking In Lucy Park

I drove to Lucy Park about an hour before noon, for the first time in a couple days, to do some shady nature communing whilst acquiring endorphins via fast walking.

As you can see the Lucy Park foliage does a fairly good job of sun blocking. And flowers seem to be thriving in the day after day after day of HOT heat. 

The temperature today is not scheduled to hit 100 or above. Just a nice, pleasant day, cooled to the mid 90s.

When I got back to my abode I checked the mailbox, and among what I found was what you see below.

It really is true, I am a brother like no other, and people really should celebrate my goodness, generosity, warmth and spirit.

Especially my spirit. 

I have always been such a spiritual person...

Rolling By Dry Desert Drought Of Sikes Lake

My bike rolled me a few miles north on the Circle Trail this morning. A bike ride seemed like a possibly fun thing, what with the temperature barely in the 80s, and some cloud blockage of the sun.

Eventually I rolled to Sikes Lake, which, as you can see via looking over my bike's handlebars, the drought is drying up Sikes Lake.

So far, as far as I know, unlike Lake Mead, no bodies have been revealed resting in the shrinking Sikes Lake.

A possible thunderstorm, with possible rain, is on the weather menu for this afternoon. But, this will likely fizzle out, like most such predictions have fizzled out, of late.

After the dry desert of Sikes Lake it was refreshing to bask in the mist emanating from the MSU (Midwestern State University) fountain.

This current drought is the worst since I have been at this Texas location. Holliday Creek is no longer moving any water. Just a series of isolated ponds remain. What becomes of the fish one sees in Holliday Creek when conditions get this dire?

Hot Humid Hike Through Lucy Park Jungle

Last night a thunderstorm dropped a few drips of rain. By dawn's early light, most of those drips had dried up.

However.

Even though a cold front dropped the temperatures a few degrees, into the low 90s, those raindrops dropping last night amped up the humidity. So, 92 degrees feels way warmer than the relatively chilly 92 degrees should feel.

So, thinking the cooler temperature, and not yet cognizant of the humidity, I drove to Lucy Park for what I thought would be some pleasant nature communing.

I thought wrong. It was HOT.

I walked the Lucy Park undeveloped backwoods jungle section, warily with an eye for anything slithering. I saw zero reptilian activity, not even little lizards.

The photo at the top was taken deep into the Lucy Park jungle.

I have not yet seen a single snake slither this year. Maybe that ultra-deep freeze, below zero, two winters ago, killed off the snake population.

Possible thunderstorming is on the weather menu for today. So far I have heard no rumbles, and the sky is mostly blue.

Cheaper Gas Fills Tank For First Time In Months

Today, on this first Sunday of the 2022 version of August, I filled my gas tank to the fully filled level, for the first time in what seems a long time.

As you can see it took 19.71 gallons to fill the tank, for a total of only $68.18. That works out to being $3.45 per gallon.

I think the last time I got gas it was about a dollar more than $3.45.

A year ago, $3.45 a gallon would have seemed absurdly high, and now, with just a few months of psychological conditioning, $3.45 seems like a bargain...

Mom & Dad's 71st Wedding Anniversary With All Their Children

The photo you see here was taken July 27, 2002, at the fairgrounds in Lynden, Washington. We were there for a BIG family reunion.

Around ten years later I opened a Christmas package, and among what I found in the package was an enlarged, framed copy of the photo you see above.

At some point mom had realized this was the last time all mom and dad's children, grandchildren, and current spouses were together at the same time.

In the years that followed the closest mom came to having all her children and grandchildren in the same location was in March of 2018.

That March of 2018 I was in Arizona, when at my sister Jackie's house a pool party erupted, with brother Jake, me, Jackie, brother-in-law, Jack, sister Michele, and five of mom's grandchildren, Christopher, Jeremy, David, Theo and Ruby.

That was a fun day. I don't know why Jason, Joey and Spencer Jack weren't there. Hank Frank had not yet been born.

In that photo of the last time mom and dad had all their kids at one place, that is mom and dad sitting. From the left you are looking at Jeremy, Michele, Christopher, me, Nancy, Jack, Jackie, Jake (Jake's wife at the time, Jill) Jason and Joey.

Who would have thought, way back in 2002, that the majority of those in that photo would no longer be living in Washington, with eight in the photo moved to Arizona, including mom and dad.

I hope mom and dad are having a mighty fine happy anniversary, wherever they are today....