Sunday With The Shadow Of The One-Armed Lucy Park Thin Man

With the temperature in the mid 70s on this first Sunday of the 2023 version of November, it was back to the Lucy Park backwoods jungle I ventured for some high speed, mud-free walking.

Lucy Park was busy on this perfect weather day.

Real busy.

Lots of disc golfers, walker, baby stroller pushers, dog walkers, biker, scooters and picnickers. 

I can not remember when last I went on a picnic. I used to have a small portable grill to take to a park for barbecuing purposes. I need to get another one of those.

I forgot to make mention of the photo. That looks like the Shadow of the One-Armed Lucy Park Thin Man, in the Lucy Park backwoods jungle.

The next several days are scheduled to be warm, before we get chilly again...

Lives Now Complete With Overdue Sense Of Parade Celebrating The Unthinkable Texas Rangers World Series Victory Parade

I saw that which you see here on the Saturday version of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, online.

On the Star-Telegram version the three images and captions were side by side. I turned them from being horizontal to vertical for blogging purposes.

I thought those not in the Texas Ranger's universe would find this to be a tad amusing.

According to the Star-Telegram, winning the World Series has put, I guess, Arlington, finally on the map. Maybe it is all of North Texas, now on the map. 

On the map with an overdue sense of pride.

How does a sense of pride become overdue?

And then we learn that winning the World Series renders the lives complete for those living in the Texas Ranger's universe.

The Star-Telegram's pre-parade prediction was that a quarter million Texas Ranger's fans would descend on Arlington for the victory parade.

The Star-Telegram now has that crowd being a half million Texas Ranger's fans for the actual event.

Why is a Texas Ranger's parade unthinkable?

I have heard from one Arlingtonian, Miss Martha, who attended the victory parade. 

According to Miss Martha...

We had a great time. The route was spread out so that there wasn't a huge crowd anywhere along the route except the one parking lot where all the speeches were. We parked in a neighborhood and walked over. Got in and out in 15 minutes.

Miss Martha did not share if her life is now complete, now that the Texas Rangers have won a World Series. Or if winning the World Series ignited in Miss Martha an overdue sense of pride...

Will I Be One Of 250,000 In Arlington For Today's Texas Ranger's World Series Victory Parade?

I need to leave soon if I am going to make it in time to Arlington to join the quarter million of us ardent baseball fans to watch the Texas Rangers World Series victory parade.

The image you see above is from today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram's online front page.

Both Arlington and Fort Worth are in Tarrant County.

Dallas is in Dallas County.

One of America's creepiest politicians, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, had many D/FW baseball fans upset when he referred to the Texas Rangers as the Dallas Rangers.

The Dallas Cowboys football team also does not play in Dallas. The Dallas Cowboy stadium shares parking space with the Texas Ranger's ballpark.

If a quarter million baseball fans actually show up to watch the victory parade it will make one BIG traffic mess.

Arlington has no mass transit. No city buses. No light rail. Nothing. 

Well, I have seen rickshaw type transport devices wheeling people from remote parking lots to the Dallas Cowboy stadium...

Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle With Three Deer

I was on the east side of town, this morning, to pick up a pharmaceutical product, so, after getting that, I headed west to Lucy Park for some fast paced endorphin inducing aerobic activity.

I had previously opined that rain would render the Lucy Park backwoods jungle impassable. A few days ago I walked part of the Lucy Park backwoods trail, turning around when I came to mud.

Today I made my way the entire distance, finding mud easy to avoid due to the grass having been cut, making for dry bypasses.

I was deep into the jungle when I was startled to see three four-legged critters, moving at high speed. At first reaction I thought they were wild boars, and then I realized they were three small deer, moving too fast for me to get the camera turned on and photo document them.

The temperature was in the 50s for today's outdoor fun. I am quickly acclimating to the cold...

In Mountain=Lite Texas Going Up Tabletop Mountain & Mount Shuksan With CJ & JR

The theme of my wall calendar, this year of 2023, is scenes of The West.

For 10 months I have been flipping the calendar to the next month to see a scene of The West that I do not remember seeing.

And then, this morning, I flipped the calendar to Novembe,r and finally, a scene of The West that I have seen many times, and thus, do remember.

Mount Shuksan.

The caption under the picture of Mount Shuksan says, "Mount Shuksan, North Cascades National Park, Washington".

I did not know Mount Shuksan was in North Cascades National Park. I know a big mountain a short distance to the right, or south, of Mount Shuksan, the Mount Baker volcano, is not in North Cascades National Park.

One of my all time favorite photos has Mount Shuksan in the background.

That would be nephews JR (Jeremy Ryan), on the left, next to his big brother, CJ (Christopher Jay), on top of Tabletop Mountain, with Mount Shuksan looming behind.

This photo was taken some time in the 1990s, I think. JR was be about 8 years old, with CJ about 12, give or take a year, or two.

We hiked the switchback trail to the top of Tabletop Mountain, and then made our own trail back down the north side of the mountain, with Mount Baker looming large a short distance away. There was a lot of slipping and sliding to get off Tabletop Mountain.

Let me see if I can find other photos from that day JR & CJ went mountain climbing with me...

Here JR leads the way up Tabletop Mountain. You see a bit of Mount Shuksan to the right.

At the top of Tabletop Mountain, with Mount Baker behind him, JR threatens his favorite uncle with a snowball.

Above is a look at how we got down off Tabletop Mountain.

And here we see JR sliding towards Mount Baker.

Now, you might think my nephews are a bit under dressed to be playing on snow, wearing shorts and t-shirts.

Well, this hike up Tabletop Mountain took place in late August.

In Washington you can find frozen white stuff to slide on, year round, if you go high in the North Cascades.

Wichita Falls Freezing Takes Me To Muddy Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle

Last night the temperature fell below freezing, to 31 degrees, freezing for the first time since last Winter.

Brrr.

We are forecast to be back in the 70s in about a week.

In the meantime.

Cold.

So, today I covered myself in a comfortable layer of insulative clothing and made my way to Lucy Park.

Hence the view of the Lucy Park suspension bridge over the Wichita River.

I was expecting to see the river running more water than it has, of late, due to the couple days of heavy rain. But the river looked to be at about the same level it was when I last saw it, a week or so ago.

I hiked into the Lucy Park backwoods jungle, til I reached an impassable area, due to mud. 

It seems weird to go from a week ago when the Lucy Park hiking would have me being an overheated sweaty mess, to today, when I did not come close to being an overheated sweaty mess.

I fear we are in for a few months now of cold, really cold cold.

I hope the temperature does not go below zero again, like it did two winters ago, causing a blackout that lasted a couple days...

Really Feeling Freezing At 27 Degrees In Wichita Falls

Seems like only yesterday that I was running the A/C to cool down this overly hot abode, due to the temperature outside being in the high 80s.

Actually, it was not yesterday, but last week, but seems like yesterday.

And now, with wind gusting to 17 mph, the current 34 degrees really feels like 27. 

Yesterday, the day known as Sunday, when venturing into the outer world I was in long pants, long sleeve t-shirt, and a sweater. But was totally under dressed and thus got real cold just walking the short distance from my abode to my vehicle.

I will not repeat that being under dressed mistake today. I have found my plush-lined sweatpants...

Final Sunday Of October Wet & Cold In Wichita Falls

That is the steamed up view out of my bedroom window you see here.

Rain began descending, again, before the sun arrived to do its daily illumination duty on this final Sunday of October.

Currently the outer world is being chilled to 8 degrees above freezing.

With a possible dip to the first freeze since last winter, happening tonight.

This morning my interior space had chilled to 61 degrees. So, for the first time since last winter I turned on the heat, making it currently a balmy 73 degrees.

I need to find my plush lined sweatpants, to help facilitate keeping warm in this frigid climate...

Halloween Spooks In Beverly Hills Of Wichita Falls

No. That is not the White House you see here, sporting a tall skeleton. That is a house on Hamilton Boulevard, across from Hamilton Park, in the neighborhood I refer to as the Beverly Hills of Wichita Falls.

Hamilton Park and the Beverly Hills of Wichita Falls is a short distance from my abode, and so I drove there this final Friday of October to get in my daily bout of high-speed walking, and to take some photos of the Hamilton Boulevard Halloween decorations. 

The above is the biggest of the neighborhood Halloween displays. I could not get all the skeletons in the photo, as they were all over the yard.

This one appears to have a tall ghost on the left, a big black cat in the middle, and yet one more tall skeleton on the right.

I have been seeing multiple Halloween yard displays this year as I drive around town. Way more than I remember seeing previous years. 

Christmas Is Almost Here With MSU Fantasy Of Lights Being Installed

Several days ago I was surprised driving by Midwestern State University to see that the annual MSU Fantasy of Lights installation was underway.

Underway way before Christmas, marking, for me, the start of the dreaded (by me) holiday season.

We are only a couple days from Halloween.

After the trick or treating ends, we zoom quickly to Thanksgiving, followed quickly by Christmas, then New Year's Day, and the start of yet another year, which will seem to fly by at warp speed.

The past couple days my north Texas location has been like a stereotypical Pacific Northwest winter day. A totally gray sky, with hour upon hour of sky drippage.

Today blue sky returned, along with temperatures in the 80s.

So, I drove the short distance to that aforementioned Fantasy of Lights installation underway, to take the photo you see above.

I believe that is Cinderella in the horse drawn carriage, on her way to lose her shoe and find a charming prince.

I have driven by some over the top Halloween themed yards of late. I will try and remember to take a photo of the one I saw yesterday on Hamilton Road, by Hamilton Park.