Miss Chris Takes Us To Mount Rainier This Morning

Saw that which you see here, this morning, on Facebook, via Miss Chris, she being one of my favorite Washingtonians.

Miss Chris and Miss Sheila built themselves a new home in the Washington town named Lacey. Lacey is a short distance east of Olympia.

At Chris and Sheila's previous location in the Seattle suburb of Kent they did not have a direct view of Mount Rainier.

As you can see, at their new location, Mount Rainier is an easily seen close by neighbor.

It looks like Mount Rainier has lost most of its snow covering. Seems a bit early in the melting time of the year for the Mountain to be this bald.

At my current flat location, no matter which direction I look, for hundreds of miles, there is nothing like Mount Rainier to be seen on the horizon...

Puget Sound Sand Castles With David, Theo & Ruby

Incoming email from sister Michele, with several photos and the following explanatory text...

"We had a beach day recently, which always means an attempt to thwart the tide. Sadly, the tide won, again."

I assume the beach day was at Harstine Island, located at the south end of Puget Sound, and not Birch Bay, located way to the north, almost to Canada.

David, Theo and Ruby have become adept at sand castling, having received professional training on a Pacific Ocean beach in San Diego.

Above we are seeing the result of the sand castling, awaiting the incoming tide.

 And now the tide has arrived, with David, Theo and Ruby waiting to see if their sand walls can keep out the tide.

And now we see photo documentation documenting the fact that the tide won, washing into oblivion the Tacoma Trio's construction.

I have not seen a saltwater beach since summer of 2017. I have seen seagulls since then, though...

Minestrone & Cereal For Cute Residents Of Kiwanis Park Prairie Dog Town

Well over 100 degrees on this second Thursday of July. Making Walmart my air-conditioned location to go on a nature walk of the anthropological sort, observing the interesting various iterations of humans pushing carts around Walmart.

On the way to Walmart I visited the nearby Prairie Dog Town in Kiwanis Park. It had been a long time since I last visited the neighborhood Prairie Dogs.

I had some minestrone that had been in the fridge for a week. And a couple boxes of unopened cereal that a neighboring diabetic no longer could consume.

A couple years ago a rather dire effort was undertaken to restrict the Prairie Dogs to living inside a walled enclosure. The dozens of Prairie Dogs which had made homes outside the enclosure were evicted, or entombed when their underground dens were crushed.

Upon arrival I saw no Prairie Dogs.

I walked to the Prairie Dog wall and scooped the minestrone into the compound, which did not attract any interest.

Then I started tossing out cereal. Soon I saw what you see above and below.

The above is only a fraction of the Prairie Dog action that suddenly erupted. There were a lot of Prairie Dog puppies. They are cute.

That is a pair of the puppies that you see at the lower left of the first photo, munching on cereal.

The Prairie Dogs, mostly the puppies, did a lot of play fighting between food munching. They remind me of Meerkats.

Since it was so HOT, my visit to Prairie Dog Town only lasted about 10 minutes.

My high speed walking visit to Walmart lasted about 45 minutes.

I suspect tomorrow Walmart will again be my walking location, due to the temperature again being well over 100...

Birth Certificate Search Turns Up Old Photos

This morning I found myself on the hunt for my birth certificate.

To no avail.

But, in a box containing all sorts of documents, including hundreds of photos, I found one or two or three, well, the number is three, of photos I felt compelled to share.

In the first photo we are sitting on the rooftop garden, above the carport. That would make that my nephew Jeremy I am holding. Jeremy was born on May 9, 1986, which would make this picture having been taken a couple months later. I can intuit such due to the fact that Jeremy is real little, flowers are blooming, and the trim is still green. 

1986 was the first year I lived in the new house in Mount Vernon. I did not like the green trim, and so changed it to brick red, the first summer living in that house.
 

Above that would be Jeremy's big brother, also known as Christopher. Jeremy is usually referred to to by his initials, JR, middle name Ryan. Christopher's middle name is Jay, so he is usually referred to as CJ.

Christopher is in the living room of the Mount Vernon house, petting Hortense.

Hortense made the move to Texas, lasting two years, dying from a stroke at around 21 years old. Hortense lived a long, happy cat life.

Jeremy became an uncle last week, when his big brother's wife, Carissa, birthed Cade Christopher.

And above I believe we are looking at the last time all of my mom and dad's children and grandchildren were at the same location at the same time.

This was July 22, 2002, in Lynden Washington, at the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds.

I took a photo of this photo with my phone, which is why it looks a tad wonky.

That is the aforementioned Jeremy, in black, with his hands in his pockets, standing next to his big brother, Christopher. I think that is the top of Jeremy and Christopher's dad, Jack's head, next to CJ, with me next to Jack. New granny, Jackie, is next to me, then little brother Jake, still married to Jill, then the sibling we don't talk about, next to nephews Jason and Joey. I think that is Joey's girlfriend in turquoise. I almost forgot to mention, to the left of Jeremy is baby sister, Michele, and my favorite sister-in-law, Kristin.

And, obviously, that is mom and dad, the only ones sitting...

Humid Monday Walkaround Sikes Lake With A Few Geese Honking

On this second Monday of July, with the temperature in the 80s, with little wind blowing, along with extreme humidity making the temperature in the 80s feel way hotter, it was to Sikes Lake I ventured today for a walk around the lake.

This was my second return to Sikes Lake after learning of the shocking murder of 343 Sikes Lake geese, who were rounded up, marched into a container of some sort, and then gassed to death with carbon dioxide.

So far I have seen no information regarding what was done with the corpses of those 343 geese. 

On Saturday, both on the way to Lucy Park, and on the way back, there was a large group, well, maybe a dozen, of locals protesting the mass murder of the Sikes Lake geese. I have no clue what the protestors want to see happen. I don't think anyone can get arrested for the mass geese murder. The extermination was sanctioned by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department at the request of Midwestern State University officials.

Today, at Sikes Lake, I saw that the remaining 40 some geese have segregated themselves into two separate flocks. One flock, the one you see above, is flocking at the east end of the lake, by the parking lot.

The other flock is flocking at the west end of the lake, which is what you see above. A couple ducks were mingling with the geese at the west end of the lake.

I am curious what happened to all those murdered geese. Aren't geese edible? Maybe MSU should have had a big BBQ...

Humid Walk Through Lucy Park Jungle With Mini-Alligators

Today, Saturday, the second Saturday of July, is the first of three days in a row with the temperature not predicted to get above 100 degrees. With this three day respite, followed by day after day after day with the predicted temperature many degrees above 100.

So, with the temperature in the 80s, it was to Lucy Park I ventured for a humid walk through the Lucy Park backwoods jungle.

As you can see, the grass in the Lucy Park jungle has grown tall. Taller than me in some places. With thick tall grass, along with a semi-HOT temperature, one must keep a cautious eye out of snakes in the grass slithering around.

Today, I saw no snakes slithering, not a one. I did see a couple mini-alligators, also known as lizards.

We are being warned to be wary of mosquitos in Wichita Falls, due to a cluster of mosquitoes being found in a water pond, with mosquitoes infected with the deadly West Nile virus.

I have seldom had a mosquito bite in Texas.

In Washington I frequently got mosquito, and other, bug bites. To go on a Washington mountain hike one copiously covered oneself with bug repellent. And even then a bite or two or three would happen.

One thing I never had to worry about on a Washington mountain hike was snakes slithering. Well, in Western Washington, that is. In Eastern Washington I did have a snake encounter a couple times on an Eastern Washington hike. 

On a Western Washington mountain hike the biggest danger I ever encountered was bears.

Lots of bears....

Great Uncle's First Look At Cade Christopher Weston

Now this is what you call a bundle of joy.

Cade Christopher.

Born July 5, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona, weighing 4 pounds, 13 ounces. 18 inches tall.

Cade Christopher looks like he is smiling whilst getting held by Grandma Jackie.

 And here we are seeing Papa Christopher holding Cade.

Cade looks relaxed.

Christopher does not look quite as relaxed as his baby boy...

Welcome To The World Cade Christopher Weston

As I walked into Walmart, an hour before noon, my phone made its incoming text message noise.

I had my hands full at the time of the text message noise.

A few minutes later I remembered my phone had made its incoming text message noise.

So, I woke up the phone and found the following text message from my Sister Jackie, in Arizona...

"It's official. I'm a granny. 4 lbs 13 ounces 18" with strawberry hair 10 fingers and toes!"


 When I saw the message I quickly called Granny Jackie. No answer. Then I figured Sister Jackie must be at the hospital, which meant I would need to call her cell phone, not her landline.

Just as I was about to hit the call button on Jackie's cell phone number, Jackie's landline number popped up.

Jackie was home, not at the hospital. So, Jackie has not yet gotten to see her first grandson. The hospital has strict visiting rules. One visitor at a time. Something to do with COVID. 

The newborn baby boy's dad is my Favorite Nephew Christopher. The newborn baby boy's mom is my Favorite Niece-in-Law, Carissa. 

And the name of the newborn baby boy?

Cade Christopher Weston

I have now been a great Great Uncle three times. Spencer Jack, Hank Frank, and now, Cade Christopher.

I probably should mention that that is not a photo of Cade Christopher you see above. Sister Jackie is going to text me a photo when she gets to see Cade Christopher for the first time.

I Googled "newborn baby boy" and the photo above was the only one I found with what I thought might be strawberry colored hair.

At Sikes Lake With No Parade Or 4th of July Firecrackers Cracking Yet

I did not get horizontal til way too late on 4th of July Eve.

So, I got up this 4th of July morning too late to make it to downtown Wichita Falls for the 4th of July parade.

With the temperature barely 90, at 11 am, with a cooling breeze busy blowing, I drove the short distance to Sikes Lake for some 4th of July nature communing.

This was my first return to Sikes Lake since learning that 343 Sikes Lake geese had been exterminated, with a small population of around 40 geese left alive by the executioners.

Some of those survivors of the goose holocaust are what you see above, peacefully lounging in the shade of a gazebo and a couple trees.

This 4th of July I have yet to hear a single firecracker crack.

When I moved to Texas I figured Texans would be way more gungho exploding things than I was used to in Washington. My Mount Vernon location turned into a war zone on the 4th of July. 

Fireworks stands are plentiful in Washington, mostly on the Indian Reservations. Texas only has a couple Indian Reservations. And thus, few fireworks stands.

And thus Texas is not nearly as loud on the 4th of July as my old Washington home zone.

I suspect, though, before today is done, I will have heard at least one firecracker cracking...

Hot Sunday Under The Blue Sky Above The Lucy Park Pagoda Remains

With the temperature a relatively cool 90 degree, with humidity and a little wind making those 90 degrees really feel like 93 degrees, it was back to the shade of Lucy Park I ventured on this first Sunday of July.

Which would make that the ruins of the Lucy Park Pagoda you here. Inside the remains of the Pagoda, looking up at the clear blue sky

It has been a few months since the Lucy Park Pagoda went up in flames. Methinks the metal remains need to be painted with a rust-proof paint, in a pleasing color, before Mother Nature oxidizes that which remains.

My usual Lucy Park parking location by the log cabin was full today. Not due to anything going on at the log cabin, but instead due to the fact that the Lucy Park swimming pool, located on the opposite side of the parking lot from the log cabin, is now open, with a lot of screaming kids getting wet and shouting Marco Polo over and over again.

The current temperature predicted for the 4th of July is a high of 99 degrees. The 4th of July parade starts at 9 am. The air should be way cooler than 99 degrees at that point in time. And my parade viewing location is under the shade provided by a tall building.