Merry Christmas With Skunks & Gaiters

This morning, I unwrapped the packages which have been sitting under my imaginary Christmas tree.

Above is photo documentation of some of what I found inside the packages.

I think my favorite thing I unwrapped in the baseball cap you see in the center of the photo documentation.

I should have positioned the baseball cap so you could see why I liked it.

I shall take a photo of the baseball cap.

The individual who sent this skunky baseball cap to me regularly calls me a skunk, or a stinker, sometimes in the same sentence.

I found two instances of smoked salmon in the unwrapped packages. One a version in a jar, from Pike Place Market, in Seattle. The other smoked salmon is in a big box, from Trident Seafood, also in Seattle.

Also found two pair of sweatpants. One of the sweatpants is Sherpa lined.

One of the packages was labeled "For the Durango Kid". Inside was a blue plaid flannel shirt from Land's End. 

I think I will wear the blue plaid flannel shirt from Land's End when I go walking outdoors today, pairing it with something I found in another package, a thing called a gaiter, which is also blue.

I shall model the blue gaiter for you...

This gaiter thing looks like it should help keep out the cold.

Another thing I found in one of the packages I found yesterday when I opened a box to find several gift wrapped items, along with some unwrapped items. One of the unwrapped items was little chocolate malt ball looking things in a green mesh bag. 

I was told these little chocolate balls were marzipan. Not knowing what marzipan is, I Googled to learn...

Marzipan is flavored with almonds – and almonds contain a source of cyanide, amygdalin. Amygdalin can be broken down by enzymes in the gut to release hydrogen cyanide, which is readily absorbed into the blood and transported to cells where it can stop cell respiration in its tracks.

The marzipan was sent by the same person who sent the skunk baseball cap. It was with some trepidation I risked trying one of the chocolate malt ball looking marzipans.

Tasty. No hint of almond. And apparently the dose of cyanide was not fatal.

It has warmed up enough that I think I need to do some nature communing today. And after that I will make my traditional Christmas lunch of instant pot macaroni and cheese, with air fried tempura chicken, plus broccoli...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Theo, David & Ruby Breaking Tacoma Car Ice Windows

My old home zone of Western Washington is currently one big slippery sheet of ice, bringing most forms of transportation to a stop.

Including Amazon packages timed to arrive right before Christmas. 

This is what you see when you track packages currently stuck in Western Washington...

"Packages have beens delayed due to severe weather in the delivery network."

Last night a video arrived from Tacoma, via email. In that video we see Theo, David & Ruby being directed to break what one first thinks is a car window. And then when the window easily shatters it is apparently it is a sheet of ice which has been shattered.

Which explains what you are looking at above and below, screen caps from the ice shattering video.

And below you can watch the video, via YouTube of Theo, David & Ruby Breaking an Ice Window...

Happy Festivus From Iced Nephew Jason

Email this December 23 morning from my Favorite Nephew Jason. The email came with two photos and the following text...

"Happy Festivus. Freezing rain today. If you’re flying up for the holidays, note that SeaTac airport is currently closed, dealing with iced over runways.  I am currently attempting a trip to my hamburger stand in Anacortes".

I knew, via reading the Seattle Times this morning, that Sea-Tac was closed, as was all King County bus service.

I did not know til learning such from Jason, that my old home zone was also slicked up,

In the text in the email Jason says he is attempting to make it to his hamburger stand in Anacortes. Related to that attempt, the photo above makes sense. Jason his driving down the hill upon which he lives, heading to downtown Mount Vernon, where he'd cross the bridge over the Skagit River to West Mount Vernon, driving Memorial Highway til it becomes Highway 20, taking him to Anacortes.

At the bottom of that hill in the photo above there is an entry to Interstate 5, to the right, heading north towards Burlington.

So, if these photos are documenting Jason's slippery drive to Anacortes, what is the explanation for the second photo?

The photo above is clearly the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River, heading north. I see Burlington Hill through the fog. This is not the way to Anacortes. Well, not the most direct route from Jason's home location to Anacortes.

Two days into Winter and I am ready for Spring...

Super Cold In My Old Home Zone

Incoming from my Favorite Nephew Jason.

The only explanatory text accompanying two photos was "11 degrees this morning in Mount Vernon, Washington."

11 degrees is also the current temperature at my current loction.

I do not recollect it getting that cold in all my years of living in the Western Washington lowlands.

In Eastern Washington, in Ellensburg, when I was attending Central Washington State University, I remember returning from Christmas vacation to find the temperature 17 degrees below zero.

At my current location, near Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, a strong wind blowing has the current 11 degrees feeling like 8 degrees below zero.

In Jason's cold photo, above, I believe we are looking east at the new bridge which crosses the Skagit River, connecting Mount Vernon to Burlington. That would seem to indicate the photo was taken from the vantage point of the I-5 bridge.

Wind Chilled Wichita Falls 21 Degrees Below Freezing

Above and below are screen caps documenting why I don't think I will be venturing into the outer world today. Strong wind making 14 degrees feel like -11 degrees.

And getting colder as the hours of Thursday pass. Already the temperature is colder than the prediction.

By noon the wind chill will be making it feel like -21 degrees. 

A few flakes of snow have done a little dusting, so far, with more predicted to flake as the day progresses. 

Looking out my kitchen window you can see the little amount of snow which has currently arrived.

Seems like just a week ago we were sweltering into the 80s. And now we are going sub zero. 

I suspect the Sikes Lake goose and duck flocks are not being too happy right now, and are wishing they'd flown south for the winter...

Snow Is Covering My Old Skagit Valley Home Zone

Multiple incoming reports, this morning, from my old home zone of the Skagit Valley, reporting that, by dawn's early light, it was revealed that copious amounts of snow had piled up overnight.

And, that the snow continues to fall as the morning progresses.

The photo above arrived on my phone a few minutes ago, sent by Linda Lou, with the text accompanying the photo saying, "This is what we woke up to today!"

Linda Lou's window on the snow is in Mount Vernon, a short distance from my Favorite Nephew Jason and Spencer Jack's window on the snow.

I only remember one time when the Skagit Valley lowlands had a White Christmas. During that particular incident of the Skagit Valley being blanketed with snow, the aforementioned Linda Lou and I went driving in the snow, with me piloting a 64 Chevy Impala, which was my main means of motorized transport at that point in time.

I remember we eventually reached the little burg of Edison, and for some reason we decided to visit a classmate named Kevin Plambeck. We knocked on Kevin's door and when the door was opened, we were told Kevin was out working in the barn.

We were directed to the barn to locate Kevin. Linda Lou and I were shocked by what we found Kevin doing in the barn.

Kevin was busy castrating piglets. There was a lot of blood, and severed pig parts on the barn floor. The sound of squealing pigs awaiting their turn with the knife was haunting.

Linda Lou and I quickly departed, continuing our slippery drive to nearby Bay View....

Arriving Thursday Five Degrees Above Zero

I am not in the mood for what is, apparently, coming.

On Thursday we are predicted to not get above freezing, along with snow, with the overnight temperature dipping to 5 degrees above zero.

The last time the outer world at my location was chilled to 5 degrees above zero, the Texas electric grid collapsed, plunging most of the state into ultra chilly darkness.

Ultra chilly darkness is not pleasant.

I remember waking up the morning the Texas grid collapsed, wondering why it was so cold, not realizing a blackout had begun about three in the morning.

I need to explore my closet and locate my backup quilts...
 

Merry Christmas From Joey, Monique & Hank Frank

This time of year, I eagerly anticipate opening my mailbox and finding envelopes with Christmas cards in them.

Yesterday's mailbox check rendered the first incoming Christmas card of this Christmas card season.

That is what you see, above, in photo mode.

Merry Christmas from my Favorite Nephew Joey, Joey's first wife, Monique, and Joey and Monique's first born, Henry, also known as Hank Frank.

Looking at the card, it looks like Hank Frank has taken up the Jones family clam digging tradition.

It looks like Hank Frank's paternal parental unit is on a boat.

Joey likes to fish for salmon. A few years ago Joey mailed me some of his smoked salmon. Best smoked salmon I have ever had.

I do not know where Hank Frank's maternal parental unit is, on the card, but it looks cold.

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...