Day Two Of Rain In Wichita Falls Now With Lightning Strikes

On this second Wednesday of the second month of 2023 the view out my kitchen window is even more dismal than yester morning's drippy dismal view.

And this morning's rain has lightning strikes and thunder booms in the mix.

Blue sky is scheduled to return this afternoon.

Two days of this and I am beginning to be SAD. As in Seasonally Affected Disorder type SAD....

Tuesday Return To Winter After Hot Monday

You are looking out my kitchen window, looking south, on the first Tuesday of the second month of 2023. 

Rain being dripping by mid-morning. And continues to drip, periodically going into downpour mode.

Yesterday, late afternoon, when I drove to Walmart, the temperature was 81 degrees. By this morning we lost about half those degrees, with the current temperature already at the predicted high for the day, of 45 degrees.

This going from summer to winter to back to summer to winter again, in the space of 10 days, must be confusing for the trees, thinking it is time to start growing leaves, and then a fresh deep freeze putting a halt to the leaf blooming, once again.

Yesterday I was tempted to switch the climate control to 'cool', but didn't. Instead, I got the ceiling fans spinning.

This morning the climate control is in 'heat' mode...

Email Memories I Remember From Microsoft

Once again, memories in my email. I have been erroneously thinking these are Google memories. They are not a Google thing. They are a Microsoft thing. Memories from Microsoft's OneDrive, not Google.

I remember today's memories. But that which is being remembered did not happen in February. These memories happened in August and September. In February those mountains views are not accessible.

In the upper left that is favorite nephews Chris and Jeremy, with Mount Shuksan behind them. We are starting the hike up Tabletop Mountain.

Below Chris and Jeremy, that is just Jeremy threatening to throw a snowball at me, with Mount Baker behind him. At this location we are on the north side of Mount Baker.

To the right of Jeremy that is favorite nephew Joey, hiking up Mount Baker, from the south side of the volcano.

Above Joey that is a McDonald's in North Dallas. It was a unique McDonald's, designed to look like a giant Happy Meal box, among other unique architectural elements. I believe this McDonald's no longer exists. I believe the last time I was at that McDonald's was in January of 2009, with mom and dad.

Warm Sunday Walking Lucy Park Leads to Jurassic Dinosaurs

It was back to Lucy Park on this first Sunday of the second month of 2023, for some refreshing nature communing under a clear blue windless sky, which you can see via the above photo documentation.

I should have been in shorts and t-shirt. I overheated. 

After Lucy Park, on the way back to my abode, I came upon a herd of dinosaurs corralled inside a fence enclosure on the east end of the Sike Senter mall parking lot.

The herd of dinosaurs moved slowly, what with being reptiles, and thus cold-blooded, with 60 degrees rendering them sluggish. Rolling down my window to take a picture I was surprised by how loud the dinosaurs were.

I saw a sign attached to the fence which indicated this herd of dinosaurs is known as Jurassic Empire. I Google "Jurassic Empire Sikes Senter" to learn the following...

Jurassic Empire is the largest most realistic dinosaur drive-thru event in Texas. It will feature more than 50, moving, breathing, giant life-size realistic dinosaurs in their natural habitat, including a giant T-Rex. The drive-thru event will have you and your family going from the Jurassic era all the way through the Ice Age.

Admission prices are as follows: Weekdays, Thursdays, and Fridays: $45 per car for one to seven people and $75 for eight to 14 people. On the weekends, Saturday and Sunday: $55 per car for one to seven people and $85 for eight to 14 people.

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Well, that explains the vehicles which were maneuvering through the orange cones. It somehow did not seem all that realistic, what with being on a parking lot, surrounded by a cyclone fence, with orange cones marking the route through the imaginary natural habitat.

Maybe little kids would find this to be fun. But? $45 being the cheapest admission price? Are there really all that many people who would think this would be worth $45? 

Clear Blue Walk Around Sikes Lake With The Patriotic Pulpit Making Dixie Great Again

Another beautiful clear blue sky day, on the 4th day of the 2nd month of 2023, walking around Sikes Lake.

The temperature a relatively balmy 54, with a gusty wind blowing.

On Saturday's, on the right wing nutjob radio station I listen to, it is the Patriotic Pulpit who does the nutjob duty. A new thing the nutjob right wingers blather is labeling people as being Marxist, or Commies. As if one does not need any additional evidence as to how stupid these types are, I doubt any of them could come remotely close to explaining what Marxism and Communism actually is.

The Patriotic Pulpit is followed by "Let's Make Dixie Great Again". No I am not making that up.

During that show they repeat multiple times an invitation to...

"Join in the fight against the so called liberal progressive, who are really Marxist communists, who are taking away cherished monuments to our history, taking down statues of heroes of the South, like Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and others. It is only a matter of time til they come after other American heroes, like Thomas Jefferson and Francis Scott Key, author of the Star Spangled Banner."

All said in a twangy Southern accent.

I can only take listening to the Patriotic Pulpit for a couple minutes, til I switch to music, or the Saturday NPR show which is always about some aspect of cooking food. Today it was all about the Hawaiian cuisine....

Clear Blue Sky Return To Lucy Park

Back to Lucy Park today for the first time in days, after being snow and icebound day after day after day. During the ice lockdown I did manage to escape, twice, on Wednesday, and yesterday, with the ice mostly melted, Linda Lou rode with me to Walmart.

As you can see, via the Lucy Park photo documentation, there is nary a cloud in the clear blue sky. So nice to see blue again after so many gray days.

My vehicle's temperature monitoring device indicated it was 49 degrees when I got to Lucy Park, around 11 this morning. With absolutely no wind blowing. So, 49 degrees almost felt balmy. Particularly with the amply solar radiation.

In another month the Lucy Park trees should be starting their return to a jungle of green foliage.

2023 Wall Calendar Takes Me Back To Monument Valley

Last year my 2022 wall calendar's theme was America's National Park. My 2023 wall calendar's theme is Scenes from America's West.

The January 2023 scene was of Quaking Aspens in Sante Fe National Forest in New Mexico.

I have been to New Mexico a number of times. I do not remember being in Santa Fe National Forest. Or seeing any Quaking Aspens.

The February 2023 scene I have seen multiple times.

Monument Valley in Arizona.

If you have watched movies, like Stagecoach, you have had a virtual visit to Monument Valley.

I remember one particular Monument Valley moment. I had been to Disneyland, Christmas of 1994. Then headed west to the Grand Canyon, and beyond, with Moab, Utah the final destination before heading back to Washington.

Driving north, after a stop at the Burger King Navajo Code Talker's Museum in Kayenta, Arizona, what I was seeing through my windshield seemed totally familiar. I pulled to the side of the road, fetched out my van's manual, and there it was, on the cover, the exact scene I was seeing in real life. 

I no longer have that manual, but I think I can find the photo I took of the view through the windshield which matched the manual's cover. I'll be right back, I hope, with that photo...

Found the Monument Valley photos. A lot of them. From two different visits. The above is the scene which matched my van's manual. Monument Valley is in the distance.

And above I am now in Monument Valley, a couple years later, being friendly with a Navajo native.

I used to go on long roadtrips just about every year, sometimes more than once a year. I've not been on a roadtrip since October of 2018. 

Frozen Stuck In Icebound Wichita Falls On Last Day Of January

The morning view from my kitchen window on the last day of the first month of 2023. More frozen white stuff arrived overnight. The temperature currently is 22 degrees, and will not anywhere near being above freezing today. 

Or tomorrow.

Currently above freezing temperatures are not predicted to arrive until Thursday afternoon.

So, I am icebound and going stir crazy.

I am well stocked with vittles. Can last several days without access to my Walmart food supply...

Wichita Falls Winter Returns With Wind Chilling To 15 Degrees

The heat pump has been working hard for hours trying to pump out enough heat to heat up my interior space.

According to the current weather menu for my location, screen capped above, the heat pump will be working hard for the next four days. With today and tomorrow being the worst of it.

Today's predicted strong wind will make it feel way cooler than the already cool temperature, as indicated via the below screen cap...

I won't be doing any outdoor nature communing today, or tomorrow. Unless I change my mind, which I often do...

Remembering Cross Country Skiing In Texas

Snow is back on the weather menu for Wichita Falls, for the next couple days. Currently, at noon, on this final Sunday of the first month of 2023, we are being chilled to 29 degrees, with a strong wind making it feel way colder than 29 degrees.

No, the above photo was not taken today. Currently there is no white stuff on the ground. The above photo showed up in my Google memories this morning. 

I brought my cross country skis with me to Texas. And this snow was my first chance to use them in Texas. This was at my first Texas location, a sprawling ranch in Haslet, which is a suburb of Fort Worth. On a clear day you could see the tiny skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth about 10 miles to the south.

Cross country skiing on flat land is not all that much fun. A few years later, after I had moved to a new location in east Fort Worth, a good coating of snow had me taking my skis to Veterans Park in Arlington. Where there are hills. That was fun. A couple little kids made a big fuss over seeing a guy on skis. Such must not happen too often in Texas.

I threw my skis away years ago. They were in an outdoor storage area. The heat of Texas caused the skis to delaminate. Same thing later happened to my roller blades...