Birch Bay Postcard Bandit Strikes Again

The Birch Bay Postcard Bandit strikes again.

All summer long I have been getting Birch Bay postcards reminding me that I was supposed to be heading northwest, to Washington, this summer, with the highlight being a multi-day stay at Birch Bay, with all but one of my siblings and most of my nephews, and all of my nieces.

But, that did not happen.

I did some amateur handwriting analysis, again, to see if I could find a clearly obvious match to other incoming mail, so as to identify the Birch Bay Postcard Bandit.

I came to no for certain conclusion.

But, I have suspicions. 

What confuses me, this time, regarding coming up with suspects, is the fact that this Birch Bay postcard was addressed to "Mailing Dr. Durango".

I do not know of any of my relatives, particularly any of the siblings, who knew I came to be known as Dr. Durango, back in the 1990s.

My first website was called "Dialing Dr. Durango".

That is real close to "Mailing Dr. Durango".

Trouble is, I do not believe my number one suspect has any knowledge of me being Doctor Durango.

It's all so mysterious.

Week Til Fall Wilting Lucy Park Jungle Visit

With the outer world temperature nearing 90, well before noon, on this third Thursday of the 2022 version of September, I ventured back to Lucy Park for some shady fast walking in the Lucy Park backwoods jungle.

On recent walks through the Lucy Park backwoods jungle I have made note of the fact that the Lucy Park tall grass had sprouted taller and greener than I remember seeing it previously.

With fall falling a week from now, I guess it makes sense that the Lucy Park tall grass is now shrinking, wilting and turning brown, as photo documented above.

Or it may be the lack of much rain of late which may be causing the jungle to whither and the green to fade. 

With only one week remaining of summer, unless I come across something slithering soon, this will be the first summer since I have been in Texas that I have not had a single snake encounter.

Escaping Musty McNutty Gaslighting Via Wichita Bluff Nature Area

What you are looking at here is the picnic pavilion at the highest point in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area, looking east, where you can almost see the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Wichita Falls.

This morning Musty McNutty gaslighted me about needing liposuction to deal with excess adipose tissue.

I feel so sad when someone fat shames me.

So, to deal with my sadness, I drove to the west entry to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area to do some fast walking, hoping to burn off some of that fat Musty McNutty is shaming me about.

The temperature was in the 80s. The wind was supposed to be gusting to nearly 30 miles per hour. I did not experience any gusting that seemed to reach that speed. 

I think tomorrow, if conditions remain the same as today, I may opt for the shade of Lucy Park to get in my regularly scheduled fat burning.

In the meantime I brace myself for more Musty McNutty gaslighting...

A Visit With Wichita Falls City Hall War Memorials

This morning a Lake Wichita Revitalization meeting had me in downtown Wichita Falls, at City Hall.

I have driven by Wichita Falls City Hall many times, always noting the statues in front of the building, and always thinking one day I must stop and get a closer look. 

And, so, today, I got a closer look.

That first monument you see is not some sort of homage to the Washington Monument. This obelisk is an homage in "MEMORY OF THE SONS OF OUR SOUTHLAND 1861-1865".

In other words, a Civil War Monument, which was erected in 1934 by Wichita Falls Chapter of United Daughters of Confederacy.

I learned that via the text at the base of the obelisk..

Moving ahead a few years from the Civil War.

A memorial monument to the Spanish American War. The engraving below the soldier says CUBA, PHILLIPINE ISLANDS, PUERTO RICO AND U.S.A.

Cuba, the Philippines and Puerto Rico were the locations where the U.S.A. fought the Spaniards. 

This monument has the dates of the Spanish American War as being 1898-1902, when the actual war began on April 21, 1898 and ended on December 10, 1898. 

By the time 1902 arrived Teddy Roosevelt had been president of the U.S.A. since September 14, 1901, a couple years after he became a Spanish American war hero leading his Roughriders to victory in the Battle of San Juan Hill.

A statue of a Doughboy represents World War I. Not much text accompanied the Doughboy.

There is no World War II monument, that I saw. Or a Korean War monument. Or a Vietnam War monument. Or a Mexican American War monument. Or a War of 1812 monument. Or a Revolutionary War monument. Or any monument to any of the many wars that the U.S.A. has found itself in since the Vietnam War.

That would take a lot of monuments to cover all of America's wars.

At Lake Wichita, near Mount Wichita, in Lake Wichita Park, there is a well-done Vietnam War monument. This is part of what will become a Veterans Plaza, which is part of the Lake Wichita Revitalization Project, and was part of what was discussed at today's meeting at Wichita Falls City Hall.

Well, that has been my fun day, so far, and your history lesson for the day...

Semi-Chilly Wichita Bluff Nature Area Walk

Yesterday, on the 9/11 Sunday, the outer world temperature dropped way below the temperature I keep my air-conditioned inner space. Chilled to the 60s. And so I returned to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area for the first time in months. 

The Wichita Bluff Nature Area has little shade, and thus is not pleasant to experience under a blazing HOT sun.

It was so pleasant on the Wichita Bluffs, yesterday, that I returned today, even though the temperature was no longer in the 60s, but had warmed into the 70s, about the temperature I keep my air-conditioned inner space.

Yesterday I hiked into the Bluffs from the west entry. Today I hiked into the Bluffs from the east entry, which is what you see above.

The view here is from a short side trail, off the main trail. You can see the murky, muddy, reddish-brown Wichita River flowing through the jungle-like foliage.

An overlook off the main trail, at the highest point on the Wichita Bluffs. There are two swinging benches at this location. The second one is to the right, and out of camera range. This overlook also looks over the Wichita River, far below, well, really, not all that far. 

The forecast is forecasting a return to temperatures in the 90s. My interior space chilled to 76 last night. I almost had to find a blanket to get under.

Fall will be falling on us soon. Today I saw a pumpkin patch getting set up...

Madame McNutty Wants Me To Drive Somewhere Scenic

What you see here is a screen cap from the online front page of the Sunday 9/11 Seattle Times. 

This definitely fits into the category of things I see in the Seattle Times about something in Washington, that I could never see in the Texas online newspapers I read, showing a similar scene in Texas.

Well, that is not totally accurate. There are frequent wildfires in Texas, but not in scenery of the sort you see above.

I had a dialog on Facebook yesterday regarding Washington scenery. The dialog was between myself and the entity known as Madame McNutty, or MM.

Following are three lines from that dialog...

MM---What are you up to today?  You should get out of town, go for a drive or something.

Me---Go for a drive? You really have zero clue what it is like here. NO matter what direction you go it is all the same, flat nothing, for miles and miles. 

MM---It is hard for me to understand how you could've gone from beautiful Washington to flat nothing! When I think about Washington and all the beautiful places we could drive to in a half hour or less, it makes me so homesick!!!

Madame McNutty was in Washington a couple weeks ago, for a couple weeks. She returned to Virginia, sick with COVID.

What MM says is so true. Where we lived, in the Skagit Valley, you could drive a few miles to the west and be at a saltwater beach, or drive a few miles to the east and be up in the mountains. Drive 60 miles south and you're in Seattle, 45 miles north and you are in another country, called Canada. A few miles more and you are in the beautiful city of Vancouver.

You could drive west a few miles, to Anacortes, and get onboard a ferry to go to the San Juan Islands, or Victoria on Vancouver Island. These are real islands, surrounded by real water, not imaginary islands, such as those no one has yet seen in the Texas town of Fort Worth.

North of my current location, across the Red River, to Oklahoma, one can find some scenic scenery in the Wichita Mountains. The Wichita Mountains are about 70 miles from where I am sitting at the present time.

Dam Visit To Lake Wichita On The Boardwalk With Dead Fish

With a wind blowing with temperatures in the 80s it seemed like a good day to visit Lake Wichita and do some dam walking.

As you can see, nothing is spilling over the Lake Wichita dam spillway, not for a long long time.

 Now we are on the other side of the dam, walking to the end of the Lake Wichita Boardwalk.

And then looking at how far the lake is from having water spilling over the spillway. This is the lowest I have seen Lake Wichita since I have been living in the neighborhood.

Still on the Boardwalk, looking across Lake Wichita to the Mount Wichita mini-volcano at the west end of the lake. The mini-volcano is that little bump on the horizon.

Still on the Boardwalk, looking north at the lake side of the dam, and the Lake Wichita floating fishing dock. We will go there next.

It looks as if the Lake Wichita floating fishing dock might not be currently in float mode.

Now on the currently possibly not floating Lake Wichita floating fish dock, looking south at the Boardwalk. All that wood sticking out of the water is the remains of the Lake Wichita Pavilion, which was a big tourist attraction a century ago, and which burned down in the 1950s.

Still on the Lake Wichita floating fish dock, looking west, with that Mount Wichita mini-volcano looking slightly taller.

Currently Lake Wichita is having an excess algae problem due to the drought and the day after day after day of HOT temperatures. This has resulted in killing fish in the lake.

I saw two turtles in the lake today, so the algae isn't killing them, yet...

Goofy Google Memories From September 9

Another Google look back at my memories from this September 9 day, which I do not much remember.

Upper left, that would be me, in the Fort Worth Stockyards, in front of a Durango banner. 

Took a second to figure out the upper right is my bike handlebars pointing at Lake Wichita, with Mount Wichita in the distance.

Under Mount Wichita in the distance is a sign indicating the Texas town of Sanderson. I have never been to Sanderson. That town is in West Texas, I think. I will see if I made a webpage about Sanderson. Seems like I did after someone from Sanderson asked me to. 

Yes, found it. Sanderson. In what is known as Big Bend Country.

Under the Sanderson sign that looks to be the Wyler Aerial Tramway. I have never had the pleasure of riding in this tramway, hence it is not a memory of mine.

The Wyler Aerial Tramway takes you from El Paso up to the top of Ranger Peak, in the Franklin Mountains.

So, this time only two of the five memories are things I actually remember.

I am guessing that is El Paso in the photo to the left of the Wyler Aerial Tramway. 

I wish I had more exciting memories than what Google indicates I have...

Walking Around Sikes Lake With Geese Thinking About Elsie Hotpepper

It was back to Sikes Lake I went today on the second Thursday of the 2022 version of September.

As you can see, geese have taken over the Sikes Lake gazebo you see here.

That gazebo was the location of the last time I saw the elusive Elsie Hotpepper, in person. Walking by this gazebo today I strained my memory to try and remember when that was that I last saw Elsie Hotpepper.

I know it was pre-COVID. I think it may have been at some point in time during the year of 2018. That would make it around four years since the last, in person, Elsie Hotpepper sighting.

I can not remember when my last drive to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex took place. That also was pre-COVID. For years I made a once a month trek to DFW.

COVID put an end to a lot of repetitive habits. And spawned many new repetitive habits...

Fort Worth Style Outdoor Plumbing Arrives Overnight At Wichita Falls Lucy Park

This morning I drove a senior citizen to two pharmacies, the library, and Lucy Park. 

Upon arrival at the Lucy Park log cabin/swimming pool parking lot I was surprised to see something I've not seen in any of the Wichita Falls city parks, which were a common feature I was frequently appalled by in the city parks of Fort Worth.

Outhouses, in Fort Worth city parks with zero modern facilities.

Fort Worth, a town where modern plumbing is such a novelty that multiple saloon and restaurant venues in Fort Worth's only tourist attraction, the Fort Worth Stockyards, have signage letting customers know they have indoor plumbing.

Here is an example of such, at a music venue called Big Balls of Cowtown.

Live Music, Modern Swing, Indoor Plumbing, Air Conditioning and more...

Long ago I made a webpage titled Indoor Plumbing in the Stockyards. Click the link to see more goofy examples of businesses touting to their potential customers that they have indoor plumbing.

Every once in a while, there will be an article in a Fort Worth publication bemoaning the trouble Fort Worth has attracting corporations to locate in Fort Worth. I think I have pointed out a time or two that it might not make a good impression on corporation re-locaters to see city parks with outhouses, and no running water. And so many streets without sidewalks. And a primitive public transportation system.

Anyway, back to those outhouses showing up in Lucy Park. Since yesterday a temporary tent structure has showed up, along with a roped off area, and signs with numbers on them, such as 1K, 2K, indicating some sort of running event is about to take place in Lucy Park.

Apparently, with so many running that the two Lucy Park modern restroom facilities needed outhouses added to handle the expected crowd...