Post Library Visit To Lucy Park Contemplating Mistletoe Harvesting

This third Monday morning of the last month of 2023 I had to go to the library to refresh my reading material supply.

Time flies so fast, seems like I was just at the library, but it was over three weeks ago. Today's checked out books will be due to be returned next year, in early January.

Since I was in the neighborhood, after leaving the library I headed to Lucy Park for some nature communing via a fast walk around the former Lucy Park backwoods jungle.

I say former jungle because due to the leaves no longer being in many of the trees, it no longer looks like a green jungle.

The leaves may be gone, but some of the trees sport a different type of foliage.

Mistletoe.

Which is what you see being a parasite on the above tree.

It was years ago, in Arlington's Veterans Park, I learned those blobs of green were mistletoe. A pair of women were up on ladders, picking off the green blobs and putting them in a sack. I asked what they were doing and was told they were harvesting mistletoe.

I Googled to see if I could learn why the mistletoe parasite is known as the kissing plant....

Why is mistletoe the kissing plant?

In the Norse culture, the Mistletoe plant was a sign of love and peace. The story goes that the goddess, Figg lost her son, the god Baldur, to an arrow made of mistletoe. After his death, she vowed that Mistletoe would kiss anyone who passed beneath so long as it was never again used as a weapon.

Okay, that really did not make a lot of sense...

Mountain Rainier Looming Large Over The Skagit Flats

I saw that which you see here, on Facebook, a look at Mount Rainier from the Skagit Flats. The Mountain is about 100 miles south of the Skagit Flats.

I have seen Mount Rainier from the Skagit Flats, on a clear, smog-free day. The view you see here makes Mount Rainier look like it looms large, above the Skagit Flats.

That is due to this being a zoomed view of Mount Rainier. In reality, to the naked eye, from the Skagit Flats Mount Rainier is just a small bump on the horizon.

So many photos of Mount Rainier do that camera zoom thing, making The Mountain look bigger and closer. Thus when tourists visit Washington for the first time expecting to see Mount Rainier looming large, like it is hovering over Seattle and Tacoma, when it really does not look like that.

Even so, it is still a rather cool thing to see whilst on the Skagit Flats, looking south to the Mount Rainier volcano, looking east at the Mount Baker volcano, which is way closer than Mount Rainier.

I have not seen a real mountain this decade, not since I was in Arizona in 2019 have I seen a mountain...

Happy 42nd Birthday To Linda Lou From The Blue Lagoon Of Sikes Lake

Yesterday, due to rain, my endorphin inducing aerobic walking location was Walmart.

Today, on this third Saturday of the last month of 2023, it was to Sikes Lake I ventured for a fast walk around the lake.

As you can see via the view of the Blue Lagoon of Sikes Lake, the rain clouds have gone, replaced by a clear blue sky.

The retreated clouds left cold air in their wake, hence a slightly chilly outdoor experience today.

Today marks the 42nd birthday of Linda Lou.

Linda Lou and I have been friends since first grade. 

It is a well known fact that I calculate a person's age by adding their chronological age to how old they look to how old they act, and divide by three.

I have not seen Linda Lou in person since October of 2018, when she flew south to Arizona to spend a few days with me in an Airbnb in Sun Lakes. We had ourselves a mighty fine time...

With Theo & Ruby & Mama Michele In Disneyland

Last night a new Where in the World email arrived in my inbox. With the subject line being "Where in the World Part 2."

I knew the twins were going to Disneyland, again, part of their happy birthday week, with Theo and Ruby's birthday being next Sunday, December 17, the day they become teenagers.

The photos which came in the email had one-line descriptive text, above all the photos, which had me guessing what text matched which photo.

The text matching the above photo was easy to discern...

"Pit stop between soccer camp and Disneyland."

I knew Ruby was in Southern California to attend some sort of soccer camp. I do not know if Theo also went to this soccer camp.

The text I think I correctly matched with the above photo...

"Inside Millenium Falcon ride."

There was no text which seemed to match the above photo, but I think I can guess that the trio is standing in front of the Millenium Falcon, in the Star Wars section of Disneyland.

This is the only one of the photos I thought must maybe match the following text...

"On a spinning car of the Ferris wheel. Only ride I’ve ever been in where they provide barf bags. It’s something."

In this photo I think the twins have left Disneyland and are in Disney California. The following is the only text I thought might match this photo...

"Radiator Springs. Amazing ride based on the Cars movies."

I am fairly certain the above photo is also from Disney California, with the following text explaining what I maybe be looking at...

"Backside of the Grizzly River raft ride."

Two lines of text I could not figure out matched any photo, those text lines being "After riding Grizzly River 3 times in a row" and "Big Thunder."

It has been almost three decades since I have been to Disneyland. Christmas day of 1994. That was a fun day, but exhausting, staying in the park til closing time.

Mount Rainier Is Back Fully Clothed In White

Saw that which you see here, via Miss Chris, on Facebook.

At the Chris and Sheila vantage point at their previous home in Kent, a suburb south of Seattle, they had no direct view of The Mountain, also known as Mount Rainier.

At the new Knappson location, a smart home they built in Lacey, a suburb of Olympia, Chris and Sheila have a direct look at The Mountain.

Just a short time ago The Mountain had lost most of its white covering. Glaciers were melting away.

The Mountain looked naked.

But now, in mid-December, The Mountain is back being totally covered in white, thanks to a couple Atmospheric Rivers dumping a lot of water on Western Washington, which arrives in frozen form at the higher elevations.

At my current location we do not get any precipitation from Atmospheric Rivers. However, rain is in the forecast for later today.

But there are no higher elevations for hundreds of miles, which would get snow covered by incoming rain...

Nightly Walmart Swarm Of Thousands Of Blackbirds

Alfred Hitchcock Birds night, again, at my least favorite local Walmart. Thousands of these devils fly about, as the sun sets, looking for a roosting location. The photo does zero justice to how bizarre this is.

Thousands of what I have been told are blackbirds, roosting on every tree, on every building. Filling the sky. 

It is like a dystopian nightmare of bird weirdness.

Til I was corrected by a self-proclaimed ornithologist, I thought these birds were grackles.

I have been seeing this blackbird swarm at Walmart, and neighboring stores, for about a month. And that first experience with the blackbird invasion was a doozy. I drove onto the Walmart parking lot, immediately startled by seeing so many birds, in the air, in trees, on the pavement, on the building's edge, lined up like sentinels doing guard duty.

I parked, opened the door to find myself startled by two extremely loud explosions across the street.

Explosions with fireballs.

I quickly assumed the birds had somehow shorted out a transformer. Or two.

And then walking towards the Walmart entry I saw the store was dark. The exploding transformers had knocked out Walmart's power. Oddly, the stores on the side of the street where the transformers exploded, still had power.

Why do these birds choose to roost each night at Walmart, and Walmart's neighbors, like ALDI and Home Depot? Where do the birds go during the day? Why don't they choose to nightly roost at a less congested by humans location, like Lucy Park, or Lake Wichita Park?

It is quite perplexing...

Merry Christmas From Joey, Monique and Hank Frank

 A Christmas card arrived in my mailbox yesterday. The first one to arrive at that location this year.

The Christmas card was from Hank Frank, his Mama Monique, and my Favorite Joey Nephew.

Hank Frank is now five years old.

I do not know if Hank Frank is already going to school.

I do know Hank Frank is already driving a motorized vehicle, which he drives next door over to visit his Grandpa Jake most every morning, to watch cartoons.

Hank Frank, his parental units, and Grandpa Jake, live on the Skagit Flats, near Roozengarde, which is Ground Zero during the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

I thought for sure I would have met Hank Frank by now. But, COVID intervened, and post COVID something always seems to come up that prevents a trek to the Pacific Northwest.

Maybe this upcoming Summer I will make my way to my old home zone...

Where In The World Are Michele & Theo?

Incoming email this second Sunday morning of the last month of 2023.

The email included the photo you see here, and a subject line of "Where in the World".

Well.

In the photo we can see that is my little sister, Michele, with my favorite Theo nephew.

Behind Michele and Theo that looks to be the body of water known as the Pacific Ocean.

I am fairly certain that is the Pacific Ocean, though one rarely sees that particular ocean so smooth and wave-free.

The only pier I am aware of, reaching out into the ocean, such as that which we see at the upper left, is the Santa Monica pier in Southern California.

But there may be many other piers sticking out into the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. I do not recollect any piers sticking out into the Pacific Ocean on the Washington or Oregon Pacific coasts.

So, whilst we guess where in the world Michele and Theo are, we can not help but wonder where Kristen, Ruby and David are...

Breezy Balmy December Friday Walk Around Beautiful Sikes Lake

 On this second Friday of the final month of 2023, it was back to Midwestern State University I ventured, for a salubrious walk around Sikes Lake, joining throngs of others doing the same.

The locals were out in droves due to the perfect weather conditions. Temperature in the 70s, with a steady wind blowing in the 20-mph range, with gusts into the 40-mph range.

I do not know what the wind speed's windchill effect made those 70 some degrees really feel like. What I do know is the outer world felt extremely pleasant today.

In today's photo documentation you are at the east end of Sikes Lake, looking west. You can see the wind is making waves on the lake. Not quite big enough for surfing, but enough wave action to keep the water birds, the geese, duck and seagulls, grounded.

Today will be the last warm day for awhile. A cold front blows in tomorrow...

Dry Lucy Park Visit While My Old Home Zone Floods

Since I was in the neighborhood, getting drugs from a licensed drug dealer, after that deal was done I drove to Lucy Park for some high speed walking through the former Lucy Park backwoods jungle.

Now with most of the jungle-like foliage laying on the ground.

As you can see, it is yet one more clear blue sky day at my location in North Texas. Predicted to get heated into the 70s today.

Meanwhile, back in my old home zone of Washington, what used to be called a Pineapple Express, but is now called an Atmospheric River, dropped a record breaking amount of water, sending the Western Washington rivers into flood mode.

The Texas town I used to live in, Fort Worth, way back when this century began, started up something called the Trinity River Vision. Purported to be a flood control plan to control floods in an area that had not flooded since the 1950s, due to flood containing levees built way back then.

The Trinity River Vision was also touted as an economic development plan, converting an industrial wasteland in a commercial/residential area. With canals.

In all that time, over two decades, all that can be seen of Fort Worth's myopic vision is three little freeway overpass-like bridges, built over dry land, hoping one day to have a cement lined ditch dug under them, creating an imaginary island.

It took seven years to build those pitiful bridges over dry land.

Meanwhile, over a decade after the Trinity River Vision started trying to be seen, the town I lived in before moving to Texas, had what amounted to being a Skagit River Vision, building a waterfront boardwalk type attraction on the banks of the Skagit River as it passes through downtown Mount Vernon.

The Skagit River Vision included an actual vitally needed flood control component, a flood wall which could easily be put in place by a couple people when the Skagit goes into flood mode, which is happening right now.

The Skagit River Vision's flood control wall was put up yesterday.

Fort Worth is a relatively poor town, not able to pay for its sad vision itself, instead relying on federal funds. The whole operation turned into an embarrassing malfunctioning boondoggle which continues to boondoggle along, well into its third decade.

I believe Mount Vernon paid for its Skagit River Vision itself, you know, the way towns wearing their Big City Pants do.

Upon first exposure it was hard to understand the Texas way of doing things. I've been here long enough now that I am sort of used to it...