Final Day Of 2022 Summer Shady At Lucy Park

On this final day of the 2022 version of Summer, it was to Lucy Park I drove to do some HOT fast walking.

Lucy Park is my only local destination with a lot of trees providing a lot of shade.

And a lot of shade was needed on this last day of Summer due to the temperature being in the 90s by the time I was out in the outer world, about an hour before noon.

The temperature in the 90s. With only a slight breeze blowing. So, little Wind Chill.

Much of the shady walking in Lucy Park takes place off the paved trail, with such necessitated by the fact that long sections of the paved trails are not under tree cover.

And now, continuing on with the last day of Summer, it is time for Taco Salad...

HOT Sunday Walk Around Sikes Lake

The heat has returned HOT on this third Sunday of the 2022 version of September. When I went to Sikes Lake for a walk around, around an hour before noon, the outer world was already heated past 90.

I thought this HOT nonsense was over for the year. But, this coming week, as we end summer and begin fall, the forecasters are forecasting a return to over 100 degrees.

You can not see the whitecaps of the waves on Sikes Lake, but they are there, small, but still there. Strong gusts of wind made the heat a little less HOT.

Today there were a lot of other walkers, joggers, baby carriage pushers, and a rarity, a roller blader.

I do not see many roller bladers in this town. Did that fad never take hold here? Or has the roller blading fad faded everywhere?

A couple months ago I almost bought roller blades, on Amazon. I used to enjoy roller blading. Til I didn't.

And then when first in this town I thought the Circle Trail would be fun to roller blade on. But, when I went to do so I found my roller blades were no longer usable.

That roller blader today has me back thinking I might try that, again...

Fort Worth's Tenuous Connection To Tombstone's O.K. Corral Gunfight

I saw that which you see here in today's, Saturday September 17, 2022 online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

I saw this and thought to myself is this another iteration of the Star-Telegram's habit of touting something about Fort Worth as being something special, when, well, in reality, not so special.

 Long ago, back when I subscribed to the hard copy version of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I made note of the frequency of what I called the Star-Telegram's green with envy syndrome, where an article in the Star-Telegram would claim that some ordinary thing in Fort Worth was somehow causing towns, far and wide, to be green with envy.

Eventually I made a webpage documenting multiple examples of what I called Green With Envy Syndrome.

So, what is Fort Worth's connection to Tombstone, Arizona's famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral? You can read it yourself by clicking the The famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral: Did you know there was a Fort Worth connection? link and hope you are not blocked by a paywall.

I can tell you the condensed version of the Fort Worth connection to that famous gunfight.

Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp, along with Doc Holliday had that O.K. Corral fight against Ike and Billy Clanton, Billy Claiborne, plus Tom and Frank McLaury. Both McLaury brothers and Billy Clanton were killed in the gunfight.

The McLaury brothers had a third brother, William R. McLaury, who was a Fort Worth lawyer.

And now you know the Fort Worth connection to the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral...

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...