Happy Birthday Linda Lou

That is Linda Lou on the left. That is me on the right.

I do not know how old Linda Lou and I are in the above photos, but I suspect the ages to be somewhere between three and four.

Other than relatives, I have known Linda Lou longer than just about anyone else on the planet.

Today, December 16, is Linda Lou's birthday.

According to my age calculation formula, which consists of chronological age, plus how old you look, plus how old you act, divided by three, we learn, from these complex computations, that Linda Lou is turning 59 years young today.

I have not seen Linda Lou in person since October of 2018, when she flew south to Arizona to spend a few days being driven on treacherous Arizona mountain roads and co-cooking, with me, things like Beef Stroganoff.

I may see Linda Lou, again, this coming summer...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA LOU!

Walking Lake Wichita After Stormy Night Of Rain & Thunder

Last night's storm arrived, as predicted, with a lot of rain, lightning and thunder.

But none of the large-size hail. or tornadoes.

It was around 3 in the morning that lightning flashes and thunder booms woke me up. The booming did not last too long.

But the rain fell in amounts copious enough that by the time the sun showed up to do its daily illumination duty, I saw my regular ground route to where my vehicle parks, was flooded.

For my daily walk today I headed to Lake Wichita, curious if enough rain fell to cause water to be spilling over the Lake Wichita dam spillway.

Well, as you can see via the photo documentation, no water is spilling over the spillway.

Above we are on the boardwalk which juts out into Lake Wichita. That is the lake side of the dam spillway you see in the center of the photo. As you can see, the lake is nowhere close to spilling over the spillway.

On the boardwalk, looking northwest, across the lake, at Mount Wichita, looking like a little pimple on the horizon

In the view above we have walked the Circle Trail across the Lake Wichita dam, thus closer to Mount Wichita. Pre-drought, all that you see that is brown, was under the water of the currently shrinking lake.

Heading back, on the Circle Trail, atop the dam, that is the aforementioned boardwalk you see sticking out into the lake, in the distance.

As you can see, I was not the only one doing some dam walking today.

As you can also see, after last night's heavy-duty storm, by morning the sky was mostly clear. And the air was warmed enough to make wearing shorts the proper attire today...

Monday Morning Drizzly Lucy Park Walk

It was back to Lucy Park today, for a Monday morning drizzly walk.

That tree you see above looks like it might make an excellent Christmas tree. I don't think tree harvesting is likely allowed in Lucy Park.

And if it was, I still wouldn't cut down that tree, or any tree, due to the fact I have never had a Christmas tree in any place I have lived in, since moving out of the house I grew up in, which did have a Christmas tree installed every December.

When I lived in Washington you could get a Christmas tree cutting permit and drive up to a designated area in the Cascade mountains and cut down the tree of your choice. Did that many a time. It was fun. I do not know if Christmas tree harvesting is still a thing in Washington.

The drizzle is scheduled to turn to rain later today, along with possible severe thunderstorms. With conditions which can spawn tornadoes.

Walking In The Lucy Park Rain

It was once again to Lucy Park I ventured this second Saturday of the 2022 version of December, to do some walking in the rain.

As you can see, via today's look at the Lucy Park suspension bridge, the Wichita River is running high and reddish, but a couple feet from getting as high as the bridge deck.

The rain came mostly in the form of a drizzle, with short periods of being extra drizzly. I did not get too wet.

Already a third of December is gone. Time is flying way too fast...

Foggy Lucy Park With Chicken Pot Pie Soup & Biscuits

It was back to Lucy Park I ventured this foggy Friday morning, to do some nature communing and fast walking.

Since my last visit to Lucy Park most of the trees have now sent their leaves to the ground, creating and orangish-brown carpet.

This morning's fog was reminiscent of what regularly clouded my vision when I lived in the Puget Sound zone of Washington. I remember one Fall, back in the 1990s, when almost the entire month of October was non-stop thick fog, day after day.

A couple days ago, on Facebook, I saw reference made to Instant Pot Chicken Pot Pie Soup. That is lunch today, with biscuits, which are currently baking.

Thick fog and Chicken Pot Pie Soup seems like a good combo.

Fallen leaves in Western Washington create a much more annoying problem than what fallen leaves create in Texas. At my old home in Mount Veron I would have to rake up the leaves, get them off the flat roofs, and the stairs.

Because there the leaves turn slipppery.

In Texas the fallen leaves just sort of dry out, and blow away, creating leaf drifts in some locations, such as currently is the case in my covered carport.

Beeper beeped. Time for Chicken Pot Pie Sound and Biscuits.

Plowing Through Fallen Leaf Blanket In Book Search Before Hearing A Waterfall

This second Thursday of the 2022 version of December it was to the library I ventured to freshen my reading material supply. The blanket of fallen leaves, you see above, blanketed the way into the library.

After finding six books to check out, I headed south, to Sikes Lake, for a chilly fast walk around the lake, with a lot of fellow chilly lake walkers.

Rain fell for several hours last night, rendering the outer world wet.

Wet, to a level sufficient to cause water to spill over the Sikes Lake dam spillway, in pseudo waterfall mode. 

More rain is on the menu for tonight. 

Right now, I'm going to warm up with a bowl of Chili Verde I made in the Instant Pot this morning.

I think I got the jalapeno level to high, which may render the Chili Verde to be much more of a warming up experience than I was looking for...

Google Remembers The Truth About Jesse James Fossil Rim Lake Grapevine With Mom & Dad At The Cotton Bowl

Today, December 7, a date which has lived in infamy ever since this date in 1941, the Google Memories for this day, which show up daily in my email, are things I mostly remember, which does not happen too often.

The top left is from Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, located near Glen Rose and Dinosaur Valley State Park. The drive through Fossil Rim is one of the funnest things I've done in Texas. The good folks at Fossil Rim liked the webpage I made about that visit, so they mailed me an annual pass and extra tickets, so as to take someone with me. 

I never got around to going back to Fossil Rim and using that annual pass.

Top right, that is mom and dad wearing the cowboy hats I gave them when they visited Texas in January of 2009. I don't know why Google would have this as a memory of today. Hard to believe it is 13 years since mom and dad had their last visit to Texas. Seems like it was yesterday. I was able to drive mom and dad all around the Texas State Fair fairgrounds, and up close to the Cotton Bowl, due to nothing much happening on the fairgrounds on a weekday in January.

Under mom and dad is another Fossil Rim Wildlife Center photo. I think this is the entry pavilion.

Bottom right is a gravestone alleging to be the burial location of Jesse James. If I remember right, I made a webpage of this and the claim that Jesse James is buried in a cemetery in Granbury, Texas.

Just checked, yes, I made a Jesse James webpage, titled The Truth about Jesse James. 

The lower left looks to be Lake Grapevine, a location I used to frequent frequently when I lived in the DFW zone. There are miles of fun mountain bike trails at Lake Grapevine.

Seems like I made a webpage about Lake Grapevine. Yup, and it is called Lake Grapevine.

Well, that is it for today's Google memories that I actually sort of remember...

Chilly Tuesday Beachcombing Lake Wichita

It was to Lake Wichita Park I ventured this overcast, semi-foggy, first Tuesday of the 2022 version of December.

Which would make that Mount Wichita, also known as Murphy's Hill, rising behind the Vietnam War Memorial.

Yesterday the outer world at my location was heated to degrees in the 80s. Today the big chill has returned.

Recent rains have not reversed Lake Wichita's low level, which has rendered a big beach at the Lake Wichita Park parking lot.

Another look at how the lake has shrunk, with a solo beachcomber combing the receding shoreline.

And here we are on the beach, halfway to the shoreline, looking back at Mount Wichita.

This all looks rather desolate, doesn't it?

Christmas Decorating While Theo Snow Soccers With Poodles

This morning someone who shall remain nameless made reference to my Christmas decorations saying...

 "I'll spend the day getting all my decorations up inside and outside.  I'll send you pictures tonight.  You and your little Christmas hanky are just sad!  haha."

I replied asking "What you talking about?"

To which this unconscionably rude person compounded the rudeness saying, "I thought the only decoration you put out was a crocheted hanky?"

With the mention of the crocheted work I knew what this rude person was talking about, that being the red crocheted Christmas stocking my Grandma Slotemaker Jones gave me decades ago.

Now that I knew what the rude person was talking about I set out trying to find the crocheted Christmas stocking. I looked in every drawer, every cabinet, everywhere, to no avail. 

And then when I went to the multi-level table on which my TV sits, to get a screwdriver, I looked up and saw where the red crocheted Christmas stocking was hiding, in plain sight, sitting on a camel my Grandma Vera gave me decades ago.

Which makes that what you see above in the photo documentation, my one and only Christmas decoration.

Also in the Christmas spirt are a couple incoming photos from Tacoma, showing the latest snow to fall weeks before winter arrives.

Those are two of David, Theo and Ruby's poodles you see above, trying to gain admittance back into the house after dodging snowflakes in the backyard.

And here we see my Favorite Theo Nephew getting ready to play some slippery soccer.

Mama Michele is the coach of Theo's soccer team. I don't recollect Mama Michele being a soccer player. I do recollect Mama Michele being a softball player.

December Wall Calendar Takes Me Back To The Grand Canyon

The past couple months, my 2022 wall calendar featuring American National Parks, each month, has been National Parks I have not been to, such as last month, which was Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Or September's National Park, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which is in Ohio, and which I had never heard of til seeing it on my wall.

Or August's National Park, which was Arcadia National Park, in Maine.

But, for the final month of 2022, the December National Park is Grand Canyon National Park, which is one of the National Parks I have been to several times, both the North and South rims.

Way back in the last century, I do not remember what year, I hiked the Bright Angel Trail from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, down to the Colorado River. That is a brutal hike, easy going downhill, brutal making the climb back to the rim of the canyon.

I do not recollect seeing the Grand Canyon in person, this century.

I think my last time at the Grand Canyon was in October of 1995. That visit was part of a roadtrip which started with four days of houseboating on Lake Powell. That October visit was to the North Rim, which has way fewer visitors than the South Rim.

It was an overnight stay at the North Rim, in a log cabin.

During the night a blizzard blew in with about a foot of snow. We were stranded til snow plows could arrive. If I remember correctly the road was cleared by around noon, thus enabling making it to Zion National Park for that night's reservation in the Zion National Park Lodge.

I wonder if during my remaining years of still being vertical I'll make it back to the Grand Canyon again....