Blue Tuesday Nature Communing At Lucy Park

A clear blue sky has returned to my location, after Monday's all day long gray with hours of rain dropping.

So, it was back to Lucy Park I drove this morning for some nature communing. But, not in the Lucy Park backwoods zone, due going off paved trail would likely be muddy in places.

As you can see, via looking at the Lucy Park suspension bridge across the Wichita River, there is some color in some of the leaves.

But, a couple nights of freezing temperatures has not resulted in a lot of leaves turning color on their way to their eventual descent to the ground.

Some of the trees have already lost most of their leaves, such as the almost naked tree you see here.

It was 39 degrees when I began nature communing. 42 degrees now, a little past noon.

I need to go on a search to find my long underwear. I fear I am going to be needing all the help I can find to keep warm the next several months...

Rain Driven Walmart Fast Walking

Rain began dripping this Monday morning soon after the sun began its regular illumination duty. It is now past noon and the dripping continues.

So, today, my daily doctor ordered fast walking could not take place in one of my regular outdoor venues, so it was to Walmart I drove for some fast grocery cart pushing on the aisles of Walmart.

That would be the Walmart parking lot you are looking at through my vehicle's water covered windshield.

Currently the temperature is 39 degrees Fahrenheit. A few degrees colder and we'd be looking at snow.

I do not want to be looking at snow...

Chilly Lucy Park Backwoods Hike While Seattle Seahawks Lose Another Game In Germany

On this second Sunday of the 2022 version of November, it was back to Lucy Park I went to commune with nature in the Lucy Park backwoods zone.

Today was my first post-freeze outdoor outing. We have been below freezing two nights in a row. Even so, most of the leaves in most of the trees are refusing to turn off the green, before eventually falling to the ground.

Due to there being no need to worry about stepping on a snake, one can now safely go off trail to meander among the trees.

I thought I was going to be watching the Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers play football in Munich, Germany, this morning. I thought NBC was broadcasting the game all over the country. I thought wrong. Madame McNutty, in Virginia, was also disappointed to find NBC in Virginia was not broadcasting the game.

Did a lot of Germans fill that Munich stadium to get to watch the Seahawks lose? Were ticket prices at the American level?

Eventually I may get answers to these probing questions...

Freezing In Formerly HOT Texas

The Big Chill arrived, as predicted, overnight, making last night the first night in a long time I sought refuge under cover of blankets.

The above is a screenshot from my phone, taken when I woke the phone up this morning.

A day or two ago we were heated into the 80s at my location in the formerly HOT North Texas.

This current cold snap is currently forecast to last a couple weeks.

We Are Freezing In North Texas

The outer world today was too cold to motivate me to drive to any of my regular walking locations. So, instead of doing that I layered on a few layers of outerwear and wandered out of my abode to the Circle Trail.

Which would make that me shivering, whilst smiling at you, whilst standing on the aforementioned Circle Trail. 

You are looking north in this view. That gulley you see to the right of the Circle Trail is Holliday Creek. Currently mostly dried up.

The temperature was 39 degrees when I stepped outside at 11am. With the wind blowing steady at 24 mph, with gusts to 40 mph, making those 39 degrees really feel like 26 degrees.

Seems like just yesterday the outer world was heated into the 80s, because just yesterday the outer world was heated into the 80s. By late afternoon I quit resisting turning on the A/C.

This can not be healthy to go from HOT to cold like this....

Cloudy Walk With Ducks & Geese At Sikes Lake

With rain and thunder in the forecast today, with a pleasant temperature in the 70s, it was to Sikes Lake I ventured today to commune with nature and the flocks of geese and ducks.

The first freeze of the season is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. A freeze should greatly amp up the coloring and falling of the leaves off the trees. 

That is the Sikes Lake Green Bayou you are looking at above. As you can see the leaves are already doing some color changing, ahead of that first freeze.

The Sikes Lake Green Bayou is at the west end of the lake, which would indicate we are looking west from the west end bridge across the lake.

Continuing on to the north end of Sikes Lake, a large flock of ducks greeted me, some in panic mode, taking to flight, others lined up like they were waiting to vote.

I am not in the mood for freezing temperatures. 

Linda Lou called me last night, from Mount Vernon, in my old home zone of Washington and told me snow had arrived, not in the lowlands of Puget Sound, yet, but the foothills and mountains already have a deep coating of snow.

Foothills and mountains with a deep coating of snow is something I do not get to see at my current flatland location....

Colorful Lucy Park Backwoods River Walk

It was back to the Lucy Park backwoods I ventured today on the second Wednesday of the 2022 version of November.

As you can clearly see, fall is now falling a lot of leaves. That is the Wichita River, flowing by, currently in fall mode, color coordinating with the fallen leaves.

Yesterday, I worried today would be depressing, that the Red Tsunami predicted by way too many had happened.

Instead, the results of the mid-terms were better than most expected for the Democrats.

Listening to the Rush Limbaugh replacements, whilst walking, spewing their right wing nutjob nonsense, was particularly amusing today. Yesterday they were already celebrating what they were sure was going to be an historically awesome Red Tsunami, breaking all previous mid-term records.

And they were looking forward to seeing what they call "lib" tears, on CNN and MSNBC.

It is satisfying when nutjobs get a comeuppance.

The current forecast has the temperature dropping to freezing in a couple days. That should knock all the leaves from the trees...

Beto For Governor Yard Sign Theft Results In Armed Gun Threat

Saw that which you see here, this morning, on Facebook. One of my Facebook friends had her Beto for Governor sign stolen from her yard. Stolen by a neighbor, who slashed and sprayed the sign before installing it in his yard.

This is what my Facebook friend said about this troubling incident....

"Someone in my neighborhood, stole my Beto sign. They slashed it in 2, spray painted on it and stuck it in their own yard. I knew it was my sign because I had fixed the stand yesterday. I went to confront the person-my neighbor, and he pulled a gun on me. Stay safe y’all."

I sure hope the Republicans get their richly deserved comeuppance tomorrow, and not the Red Tsunami the Republicans seemed to think is about to hit us tomorrow...

Perfect Sunny Sunday At Lucy Park

On this first sunny Sunday of the 2022 version of November, I joined the throngs of other nature lovers at Lucy Park, for some high-speed endorphin acquisition.

The photo documentation is from the backwoods part of Lucy Park. This is not where the throngs go, hence it is peaceful. And there are no flying discs one must be aware of.

In the above view the dirt path is heading north.

The temperature today was about as perfect as it can get.

72 degrees.

Back in shorts and t-shirt after yesterday's chilly return to long pants and long-sleeved flannel shirt.

Saturday Sikes Lake Walk Under Sky Scrubbed Clear

Yesterday North Texas was pummeled by the strongest storm to pummel in quite a while. No tornadoes touched down near my location, but tornadoes did do some touching down in other areas.

My location saw a couple hours of high-speed wind, angry looking clouds dropping some drippage, along with a few thunderclaps.

And now, today, Saturday, the first Saturday of the 2022 version of November, there is not a cloud in the clear blue sky.

So, it was to Sikes Lake I went today for some fast walking, along with a lot of other fast walkers enjoying the freshly scrubbed air and a temperature barely in the 50s.

In the photo above you are looking northwest, across the calm waters of Sikes Lake.