First Day Of Spring Chilly Lucy Park Nature Communing With Balloons

I have done no nature communing the past couple of days. I strained something in my lower back a few days ago, which put me in to take it easy mode, til the strain pain abated.

This morning I decided that doing some nature communing might be salubrious abating the strain pain.

So, it was to Lucy Park I ventured, under multiple layers of outerwear, due to the first day of Spring being chilly, as in the temperature being somewhere in the 40s, with a strong constant wind blowing, making those 40 degrees feel cooler.

I fast walked the Lucy Park backwoods off trail zone today. And came upon the odd thing you see photo documented above. 

Were these balloons filled with helium, which broke away from wherever they were tethered, and then eventually came back to earth when too much helium leaked?

I am fairly certain these are not spy balloons sent by China...

Seeing Skagit Valley Daffodils With A Few Daffodils In Wichita Falls

This morning, on Facebook, the Skagit Valley's Miss Carol BD posted a photo featuring some daffodils.

I commented regarding that photo, saying I seldom see such things as daffodils and tulips at my current North Texas location.

But that yesterday I did make note of driving by a small patch of daffodils, and that I might photo document that daffodil patch today, if I remembered to.

Which I did. Remember, that is.

Below is that rare North Texas daffodil patch, spotted near the intersection of Midwestern Boulevard and Maplewood.

That photo at the top, that is a field of Skagit Valley daffodils in a photo from the Seattle Times.

That big white thing hovering above the daffodils is the Mount Baker volcano.

In front of Mount Baker, those are what are known as Cascade Mountain foothills.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival will soon be happening, with the Skagit flatlands carpeted in multiple colors, from multiple types of flowers, but, primarily tulips.

Over a million visitors descend on the Skagit Valley during the Tulip Festival.

MPEC Visit Walking To Wichita Falls With Bluebonnets

The morning trek, this morning, was to MPEC (Multi-Purpose Event Center) to locate the location of a meeting taking place next week. 

MPEC is close to Wichita Falls, the manmade waterfall. MPEC is in Wichita Falls, the town.

So, I walked from MPEC to Wichita Falls. One never knows if Wichita Falls will be turned on, or not falling. As you can see, water is falling over the falls.

Dirty looking water.

On the way to the falls I came upon something I have rarely seen in Wichita Falls.

Bluebonnets.

The State Wildflower of Texas.

 I am not totally sure these are bluebonnets, but if they are not, they are a close relative.

Further south, in Texas, in wildflower season, one comes up massive displays of bluebonnets in multiple locations.

Sikes Lake Prickly Pear Cactus On Chilly Walkabout

Sikes Lake was my go to location for a long walk this chilly Tuesday morning, a day before the Ides of March.

Chilly, in that the temperature was in the mid 40s.

Meanwhile, this morning I got snow reports from two unlikely locations.

That little darling, known as Miss Tessie, located in the Redding, California area, had enough snow on the ground to make her leery of trying to drive anywhere.

And that bigger darling, known as Madame McNutty, had snow falling, but not sticking at her location in Appomattox, Virginia.

I might get some rain at my location, today, but no chance of snow.

I forgot to mention, that is a patch of Sikes Lake Prickly Pear Cactus you see photo documented above.

Prickly Pear Cactus, in the Spring, produce a flower that turns into an edible fruit-like product. People make various edible items from Prickly Pears.

I have had Prickly Pear jam and Prickly Pear syrup. Terribly sweet with no noteworthy flavor.

Chilly Green Lucy Park With Bright Yellow Wildflowers

Two days ago we nearly hit 90 degrees in the temperature department.

Today the outer world was chilled to 46 degrees when I did some nature communing at Lucy Park.

As you can see, green has become the dominant color in the Lucy Park color scheme.

And I saw my first wildflower of the wildflower season which will soon be sprouting colorful sprouts all over most of Texas.

Today I came upon several instances of that big, bright yellow wildflower you see above. 

One would think such a big, bright yellow wildflower such this would spew out a pleasant fragrance. But that is not the case with this flower.

Pungent is the word I would use to describe this wildflower's fragrance...

Fort Worth's Imaginary Iconic Irony

It has been a while since I have seen something in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram which cause an eye rolling reaction.

Can you guess what word in the above headline caused that eye rolling reaction?

If you guessed "iconic" you guessed correctly.

Does no editor at the Star-Telegram know what iconic means? 

I developed a disdain for the Star-Telegram's frequent hyperbolizing soon after first exposure to this newspaper.

Just Googling "iconic" quickly makes clear that an old bottling plant can not possibly be iconic.

There is only one thing in Fort Worth which is remotely iconic, in that you see it, and you know it is Fort Worth.  And that is because the town's name is part of the iconic thing.

What comes up when one Google's "iconic"?

i·con·ic

/īˈkänik/

Relating to or of the nature of an icon; regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration.

Synonyms for iconic---archetypal, epochal, exemplary, paradigmatic, quintessential, and recognizable.

What makes something iconic? An iconic design is something recognizable and memorable and comes in many forms such as people, architecture, branding, typography, automobiles, industrial design, cinema, and popular culture.

What is example of iconic? Iconic often describes something or someone that is considered symbolic of something else, like spirituality, virtue, or evil and corruption. The iconic Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom. Michelangelo's iconic statue of David was supposed to represent anatomical perfection.

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So, could the Star-Telegram please explain to us why this old Dr Pepper bottling plant is iconic?

When a structure is iconic it is not a mystery why it is iconic.

The Golden Gate Bridge, the White House, the Hollywood sign, the Dallas skyline, the Alamo, the Space Needle, the Eiffel Tower.

Well, you get the gist, there is a long long list of actual iconic entities in the world.

An old Dr Pepper bottling plant in Fort Worth is not one of them....

Back To Lucy Park With Its New Mini-Lakes

With the return of a clear blue sky, it was to Lucy Park I ventured today for a somewhat chilly bout of communing with nature.

Wednesday and Thursday's deluge left Lucy Park with multiple mini-lakes, like the one you see above.

The downpours of rain did not seem to add much to the water level of the Wichita River. 

Microsoft OneDrive Memories Take Me To Rattlesnakes & Swimming With David, Theo & Ruby

Today is the first day in awhile where I remember the memories, supposedly from this day, that Microsoft's OneDrive sends to my email.

I do remember all these memories did occur in March, but not in the same year. That memory photo at the upper left is from the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup. I think it was in March of 2004 I made my one and only disturbing visit to Sweetwater's Rattlesnake Roundup. 

Below that photo memory from Sweetwater we move ahead a few years, to 2019. This week in March was the last time I have seen the Tacoma Trio of David, Theo and Ruby, and their parental units. 

That would make the two pool photo memories being memories of David, Theo and Ruby in Aunt Jackie's swimming pool. I had myself a mighty fine time that day. It was memorable in multiple ways, including swimming with the kids.

On this computer, if I can find it, there is one photo of me in the pool, tossing David,

It is sort of hard to believe that that March swimming pool incident was four years ago. So much has happened in those four years.

In a couple weeks David is taking his brother and sister, and parental units, to Iceland to see the Northern Lights and Gullfoss Falls, before continuing on to France to go to Paris Disneyland and the Eiffel Tower.

That visit to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup was the first time I made a video with my then new, and now, long gone, video camcorder. It was a primitive effort, but the video pretty much captures the Rattlesnake Roundup...

More Fort Worth Bridgey McBridgeface Nutty Nonsense With Other Real Bridges

A couple weeks ago I blogged about a fresh Fort Worth embarrassment. That being the public being asked to come up with names for Fort Worth's three simple little bridges built over dry land.

Construction of which took seven years.

Over dry land.

The moronic Fort Worth public figures responsible for the bridge boondoggle idiotically claimed, over and over and over again that the three bridges were being built over dry land, to save time and money.

Making that idiotic claim when there was no option other than building the bridges over dry land, due to the fact that there would be no water under those bridges til a cement lined ditch was dug under them, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch. 

To further elaborate on how idiotically moronic this building over dry land to same time and money claim is, well, what if the cement lined ditch was installed first. Well, there would be no way to cross the ditch, til bridges were built.

So, clearly there was no option other than building the bridges over dry land.

Regarding that blog post about the naming of those three pitiful freeway overpass looking bridges, Steve A made an amusing comment...

Steve A has left a new comment on your post "Fort Worth's Bridgey McBridgeface Bridge Name Nonsense Boondoggle":

How about "The Montlake Bridge Would be Green with Envy" as a name for one of the bridges. In Seattle, they weren't as clever as Fort Worth. In Seattle, they dug the ditch (called the Montlake Cut) for the ship canal and THEN built the bridge. Just the reverse of what Fort Worth did. Hence, my proposed name. We could call it MBWBGWE for short.

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Actually, there are two bridges over the Montlake Cut in Seattle. The first one built after the Montlake Cut was first cut. And then a few years later Interstate 5 came to town, requiring a massive double decker bridge high above the Montlake Cut.

And, for some unfathomable reason Seattle never felt the need to ask the public to suggest names for these bridges.

Yesterday the Fort Worth bridge boondoggle came back to mind when the entity known as Nutty McNutt pointed me to what you see at the top. A photo of the Astoria-Megler bridge under construction.

A blurb from Wikipedia about Astoria-Megler Bridge...

The Astoria–Megler Bridge is a steel cantilever through truss bridge in the northwest United States that spans the lower Columbia River, between Astoria, Oregon, and Point Ellice near Megler, Washington. Opened 57 years ago, in 1966, it is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America.

The bridge is 14 miles (23 km) from the mouth of the river at the Pacific Ocean. The bridge is 4.067 miles (6.55 km) in length and was the final segment of U.S. Route 101 to be completed between Olympia, Washington, and Los Angeles, California.

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Construction of this big bridge across the Columbia River began November 5, 1962, completed by August 27, 1966.

Completed in less than four years.

When Fort Worth began construction of its three little bridges over dry land, marking the start with a TNT exploding ceremony, it was with an, at the time, astonishing four-year construction timeline.

To build three little bridges over dry land.

Three little bridges which ended up taking seven years to build.

Over dry land.

The bridge which connects Astoria to Megler was built over a deep, fast moving river that was subject to tidal changes due to being so close to the Pacific Ocean.

I have driven over that bridge over the Columbia multiple times. It is one of the most adventurous river crossings I have ever crossed, particularly the section which quickly goes high, so that Portland bound ships can get past the bridge.

I wonder how long it would take Fort Worth to build a bridge like the Astoria-Megler Bridge over the Columbia? 20 years? A century? 

Driving With Linda Lou To Lucy Park's Emerging Green Leaves

This first Tuesday of the third month of 2023, it was with Linda Lou onboard, I drove back to Lucy Park for some high-speed nature communing.

Since I was last at Lucy Park, two days ago, leaves have begun sprouting on some of the trees, such as the one you see above, a harbinger of the arrival of Spring in a couple weeks.

Today's nature communing may be the last for a couple days. Storms are scheduled to begin arriving later today, and last, to varying degrees of severity, through Thursday.

As you can see, clouds have already arrived, ahead of the storming. 

Tomorrow I will likely be at the Wichita Falls Public Library during my regular nature communing time of the day. I need to replenish my reading material supply...