Chilly Windy Nature Communing Lake Wichita

I opted for Lake Wichita Park for my nature communing today. Yesterday's nature communing turned out to be chilly, with me wishing I'd worn sweatpants and a hoodie sweatshirt.

Today, when I left my abode the temperature was 69 degrees, which should have been warm enough for cargo shorts and t-shirt to keep me sufficiently warm.

But it wasn't.

A strong wind brought the dreaded wind chill factor into play. And a cloud covered sky blocked any solar radiation warmth.

In the first photo I am out on the tide flats, looking north at Mount Wichita.

From the tide flats location I zoomed in to Mount Wichita when I saw someone was at the summit. At first I thought the person had pushed a mountain bike up Mount Wichita, but that turned out not to be the case. I couldn't figure out what it was which was by the summiteer.

It would be extremely treacherous to try and mountain bike down the steep slopes of Mount Wichita.

Looking west across the Lake Wichita tide flats. Recent rain has not raised Lake Wichita's water level.

Another look at the barren Lake Wichita tide flats.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to be heated into the 80s. I should manage not to be too chilly, even if a strong wind blows...

Chilly Grayscale Sunday At Lucy Park

It was back to Lucy Park, I ventured, for some nature communing, on this third Sunday of the second month of 2023.

Today's was a chilly commune with nature. The temperature prediction had predicted the outer world air being warmer than the reality of only 59 degrees.

I was expecting it to be in the 70s. 

A total gray cover of the usually blue sky made for zero solar radiation warmth.

And then you add the blustery wind and I was totally underdressed today in cargo shorts and t-shirt.

Walking fast I eventually warmed up. A little.

Under a gray sky, with zero blue above, it makes for photos which look grayscale, black and white, with clicking the grayscale filter. 

I'll click the grayscale filter on the same photo and see how close the current outer world reality matches an old black and white movie.

Clearly, my world is colorless. That should be changing by next month, with leaves sprouting green on the trees, and wildflowers adding color to the ground, with grass turning from brown to green...

It's A Boy!!!

This morning of the third Friday of the second month of 2023 I woke up my phone to find a text message with the above screen shot. 

My Favorite Nephew and Neice-in-Law, Christopher and Carissa, are well on their way to becoming a mom and dad.

When I talked to Carissa's Mother-in-Law, several weeks ago, I was told there was to be a gender reveal in a day or two.

I called Carissa's Mother-in-Law a couple days ago, intending to ask what the gender reveal revealed, but I forgot to do so.

And so, I text messaged a couple days later, asking what the gender reveal revealed, hence this morning's text message screen shot answering that question.

It's a Boy!!!

It took me a moment or two to think I figured out what is happening in the photo. Apparently, the gender reveal was revealed via smoke signals.

Pink if it is a girl. Blue if a boy.

That is Christopher with his arms in the air, in the white shirt in the center right of the screen shot, likely erupting in shouts of joy as the boy news was delivered via blue smoke...

Lucy Park Pagoda Mysteriously Reduced To Ashes

On this third Wednesday of the second month of 2023, I returned to Lucy Park for the first time since, I think, last Monday.

I was overheating whilst walking fast, wearing only shorts and a t-shirt. Well, and shoes. A strong wind was blowing, which was not all that cooling, in the almost 80 degree heat.

And then I saw an aggravation which made me even hotter under the currently not existing collar. I don't think the top part of a t-shirt is called a collar. I'm probably wrong about that.

Anyway, the thing that made my blood semi-boil was suddenly coming upon the burned naked Lucy Park Pagoda.

I have not read of this travesty in the local newspaper. Or heard of it on the news. Was the Pagoda struck by lightning? Or did an arson ignite it? It looked to have been a hot fire, burning the flower beds at the base of the Pagoda.

Remembering Ice Caves & Nephew Jeremy's Treacherous Mount Baker Suspension Bridge

Two days in a row I remember all the memories Microsoft's OneDrive sent to my email. The first set of memories obviously occurred in winter, maybe even in February.

But the second set of memories could not have happened in winter, those happened in August.

In the first collection of memories, those are my favorite nephews, Christopher and Jeremy, currently residing in Arizona, but, at the point in time the pictures were taken CJ and JR were still Washingtonians.

What you are looking at in these memories, other than CJ and JR is what is known as the Ice Caves. This is an attraction one can hike to from the Mountain Loop highway, between Granite Falls and Darrington.

I do not know if access is still allowed into the Ice Caves. There were incidents of injuries due to ice falling from the Ice Cave ceiling. 

In the next set of memories Jeremy is a couple years older.

All but one of the above memories are photos of a hike up the south side of Mount Baker, via what is known as the Schreiber's Meadow Trail. 

On this trail you come to a spot where you have to cross a stream of fast moving glacier melt. It can be a tad treacherous. We got to that spot and Jeremy did not like the look of it. In the picture at the upper right, Jeremy's Aunt Michele is trying to convince Jeremy it is safe to cross the suspension bridge.

Michele can be quite persuasive. Jeremy agreed to cross the bridge, if there was a guard stationed at each end. By the time Jeremy got to the middle of the bridge, all fear had disappeared, which caused Jeremy to make the dramatic pose you see in the top left photo.

The other two photos on the right document Jeremy's crossing of the bridge, before his triumphant moment.

The lower left photo is also Jeremy and Christopher, a couple years later, on the north side of Mount Baker, sitting on top of Tabletop Mountain, with Mount Shuksan behind them. Microsoft is sharing the thumbnail version of this photo. Let me see if I can find the better version.

There you have it, a collection of memories I actually remember...

Nephew Jason's Rowboat Welfare Check Concern Regarding Ex-Aunts

Incoming email from FNJ (Favorite Nephew Jason), along with the screenshot you see above from a KING5 out of Seattle news story about a Hood Canal Coast Guard rescue of two from a rowboat.

The text in Jason's email...

Should someone perform a welfare check on my ex-aunts?

I know sometimes they don’t make the wisest decisions.

Are they residing in the Hood Canal area year round?

It’s hard to get any info on them as of late.

My usual sources have distanced themselves from the pair.

They could have a rowboat.

__________________________

A few days ago a letter arrived in my mailbox from our Favorite Aunt. In that letter mention was made of a recent mighty fine time our Favorite Aunt had with FNJ's ex-aunts, at Billy's Bar & Grill, in Aberdeen, Washington.

That is the most recent news I have regarding Jason's former aunts. Oh, and I do know they chose not to spend winter in Arizona this year, and so are at their home location on Hood Canal.

This rowboat incident is not the first time Jason has evidenced concern about his ex-aunts. Way back in February of 2017 Jason's welfare concerns pertaining to his ex-aunts resulted in two blog posts on the subject...

Will Camelback Helicopter Rescue Be Needed For Clancy, Fancy, Jackie & Jake?

Country Road Detour While Helicopter Rescues Jackie, Fancy & Clancy

I suspect I shall likely be hearing more about this rowboat rescue incident...

Pleasant Walk Around Sikes Lake After Pleasant 2023 Super Bowl

It was back to my neighborhood Sikes Lake I ventured on this second Monday of the second month of 2023, for a fast walk around the lake.

With the outer world warmed up, and with no wind blowing, it was back in shorts and t-shirt for today's communing with nature.

Later today, well, tonight, rain and thunderstorms are on the weather menu. With wet dripping possible for tomorrow, too.

My Super Bowl party this year was super. I made four pizzas, from scratch. Best pizzas I have ever made.

And for the first time in memory the actual game that comes with the Super Bowl held my attention clear til the end.

More often than not I lose interest in the Super Bowl game and go off to do something else, requesting that I be informed when a commercial break happens. 

There were a few amusing commercials during this year's Super Bowl. But, it seems the Super Bowl commercials are not as entertaining, or surprising as it used to be back when the Super Bowl commercials became a special thing, like when Apple introduced the Macintosh. I think that was it.

Oh, and, speaking of Apple, I liked the Halftime Show.

Seemed dangerous, those floating platforms. Had OSHA been consulted? I did not remember Rihanna had so many hit songs til she started singing them, bringing back the memory of hearing the songs on the radio.

And I wish that thing way too many modern singers do, as in touching themselves in a location one would think one would not touch when making a public spectacle of oneself. I think it was the late Michael Jackson who introduced this bizarre move. 

And, don't get me started on twerking...

Happy Birthday Little Sister Jackie

Seems real recent in my memory, but it was a long long long time ago, on this date, February 12, way back in the sixth decade of the previous century, when my little brother, Jake and sister, Nancy, sat on a curb on Fairhaven Avenue, looking up at the hospital on the other side of the street, waiting for our dad to hold our new baby sister up to a window so we could see sister Jackie for the first time.

I can remember this so clearly.

It was a happy day.

When you are the oldest sibling of multiple siblings you get to experience something the younger siblings do not get to experience.

The arrival of a new baby brother or sister.

Now, I do not remember the arrival of brother Jake, he is only 13 months younger than me. I sort of remember the arrival of sister Nancy. I think it was in the Mount Vernon hospital. 

Like I already mentioned, I clearly remember the arrival of Jackie.

And then seven years later my mom had me driving her somewhere. I remember it was on Rio Vista Avenue, in Burlington, when mom said she had something she wanted to tell me, and proceeded to tell me there was a new incoming brother or sister. I think I was 16 at the time.

Over the course of the next couple weeks Jake and Nancy were also informed of the new incoming. 

And then, all of us, me, Jake, Nancy and mom and dad, went into Jackie's bedroom to tell her the good news.

Jackie did not take this news well. She insisted such could not happen. It took awhile til Jackie accepted the idea that she was going to have a new baby brother or sister. 

Before my youngest sibling was born we had cement poured in the backyard for a patio. We had been to California the year before, including going to Hollywood and Graumann's Chinese Theater, where the stars put their handprints and names in cement.

So, we replicated that with all our names and handprints. And, not knowing if our incoming new baby sibling was a boy or girl, we had already decided on the name, Joey if it was a boy, Michele if it was a girl.

And so we wrote in the cement, "Joey or Michele," and I think made a little handprint.

I wonder if that is still in the backyard of the house I grew up in? Seems like the last time I asked that someone went and looked. I do not remember what the result of looking was...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKIE!!! 

Blue Saturday Bicycle Thief Strikes Again

The blue view from my kitchen window on this second Saturday of the second month of 2023.

The sky is blue. And so am I.

I left my abode for just a couple minutes, to go to the mailbox. When I returned I saw my favorite bike had been stolen. 

Rather brazen.

The bike was on the patio. The thief had to go up stairs to get to the patio. The bike is not easy to take down and up the stairs.

This is now the third bike I have had stolen since I have been in Texas...

Rainbow Return To Clear Blue Sky In North Texas With Linda Lou

By 5 in the afternoon, yesterday, I felt the need to escape being indoors.

Rain was continuing to drip, but, even so, I opted to make a run for my vehicle.

Linda Lou opted to ride with me to Walmart.

Upon arrival at the Walmart parking lot I saw a sure sign that the days of gray dripping were coming to an end.

A rainbow.

And now, on this second Thursday of the second month of 2023, a clear blue sky has returned to North Texas.

I see a walk around Sikes Lake, or Lucy Park, in my future for today...