Microsoft OneDrive Takes Me To A Cool Pool With Uncle Mel, Dad & Grandma

Microsoft OneDrive Memories from the Day, that I do not remember happening on this day, arrived in my email a few minutes ago.

The first memory, that one you see above, I took with my long gone Casio digital camera. That camera had a unique reverse the lens feature that allowed for taking what we now call selfies, nowadays taken with ones phone. 

But those selfie type phones had not yet come to be, early in this century, when the above "selfie" was taken. I know this photo was not a memory from January 17. Because I can see I am standing by the pool that existed at my first abode in Texas.

That pool was not heated. No way was I in that pool, or near it, shirtless, in January. 

Another photo in today's OneDrive memories is a tad poignant.

Uncle Mel, my dad, Jack, and Grandma Slotemaker.

I do not recognize where this photo was taken.

But, it likely was at a location in Lynden, a Dutch themed Washington town near the border with Canada...

Nephew Jason Takes Us To A Sunset Look At Mount Baker Whilst Miss Sheila Takes Us To A Mount Rainier Sunrise

Incoming email this morning from my Favorite Jason Nephew, with one photo, and the following text...

We are thawing up north, very slowly.

My phone indicates that you are freezing some thousand miles to the south and east.

Took this picture on my way home from work tonight of Mount Baker via the same viewpoint of a few days earlier.  Sunset is gradually working back to the 5 p.m. hour.

It was certainly more beautiful in person.

I wish you were here to enjoy the great Pacific Northwest.

__________________

I also wish I was enjoying the great Pacific Northwest. No matter which direction I look at my current Texas location I see no scenery like that which you see above.

And then there was this, from renowned Pacific Northwest photographer, Sheila K, a sunrise look at Mount Rainier from her Lacey backyard.

I do not know how close, miles wise, Miss Sheila and Miss Chris are from Mount Rainier, at their Lacey location. Lacey is a town a few miles east of Olympia.

If Mount Rainier ever decides to go into active volcano mode, Sheila and Chris will have an interesting phenomenon to pay close attention to...

Comparing Temperatures Walking With Linda Lou In Walmart

Saw that which you see here, this Monday morning, on Facebook.

Apparently downtown Seattle accumulated enough snow during the current Arctic Blast to enable cross country skiing to Pike Place.

I do not recollect ever seeing skiing in downtown Seattle before.

The current Arctic Blast at my Texas location did not get the predicted precipitation. Not in snow form. Or ice. Nothing precipitated from the cloudy gray sky.

Walmart was my walking location, again, today. For the sake of variety I went to a different Walmart than the one closest to me. I think the Walmart I went to today is about a half mile further than the closest Walmart.

As I was walking in Walmart Linda Lou text messaged me, asking "Are you all frozen? We are up to 12 degrees this morning."

I texted back, "14 degrees here. Am walking in Walmart. Brrrr."

We are currently scheduled to get heated to something in the 50-degree range on Wednesday.

Driving by Sikes Lake a few minutes ago I was not surprised seeing the lake mostly frozen, with geese floating in a small area that had not frozen over yet...

Wichita Falls Sunday Morning's 8 Degrees Really Feeling Like 2 Below Zero

Saw that which you see above, this Sunday morning, on Facebook. There may be a lot of whining about the current temperature, with the Arctic Blast blasting across Texas, starting yesterday. 

But, the weather whining is well merited, what with just a couple days ago we were being heated into the 70s. It is jarring to go from that pleasant warmth, to how cold it is this Sunday morning, with the wind making 8 degrees above zero really feel like 2 degrees below zero.

The predicted precipitation has not precipitated, yet.

So, no snow or ice.

Yet.

As you can see via the above screen cap, we are at 100% cloud cover currently in Wichita Falls.

Looking out the window that cloud cover looks menacing.

Saturday's walk around Mount Wichita was way too cold.

Any walking outside of my abode today will be taking place in Walmart...

Nephew Jason Takes Us To Frigid Padilla Bay

Incoming email from my Favorite Jason Nephew, with two photos, subject line: Frigid Padilla Bay.

Text in the email: Took this from March’s Point this morning.

Marsh's Point is a small peninsula one drives by between Mount Vernon and Anacortes. On March's Point Padilla Bay is to the east, Fidalgo Bay to the west. There are a couple oil refineries on March's Point, refining oil which arrives from Alaska in big super tankers.

I do not recollect seeing Western Washington's saltwater in frozen mode, prior to seeing Jason's photo documentation of such.

I am just returned from a frigid walk around Mount Wichita. The strong wind had the 32 degrees feeling way colder. 

I think that bump on the horizon, above Jason's car's hood, is the Mount Baker volcano.

 Another look at frosty Padilla Bay. And that is definitely Mount Baker on the horizon.

The promised Arctic Blast has arrived. Strong wind from the north. So far, no clouds. 

Soon it will be colder at my North Texas location than it currently is at my old Washington home location...

Another Frigid Day In Paradise

I saw this photo yesterday on Facebook. The photo was taken by Miss Carol BD from her home zone on the Skagit Flats. 

The view is looking east at the Mount Baker volcano and the Cascade Mountain's foothills.

As you can clearly see, a coating of snow has dusted the Cascade foothills.

Currently the Skagit Flats are being chilled colder than my North Texas location, at only 9 degrees above zero.

My Wichita Falls location is being chilled to one degree below freezing, at 31.

We are scheduled to get a bit colder as we progress through Saturday, with incoming snow predicted for Sunday, possibly in Ice Storm form.

The governor of Texas is claiming the Texas grid will not collapse, this time, when the temperature nears zero. I don't attach much credence to anything the current governor of Texas claims.

I think I may venture into the outer world today, driving to the only thing remotely resembling a mountain at my current location, that being the mound of congealed lake mud I call Mount Wichita...

Incoming Weather Report From Nephew Jason

Incoming email from my Favorite Jason Nephew, this morning.  With a screenshot from Jason's phone. 

Today I am being a bit warmer than my old home zone of the Skagit Valley, with Mount Vernon chilled to 10 degrees. 

Lynden is around 40 miles north of Mount Vernon, a few miles south of the border with Canada.

Lynden gets way colder and way more snow than my old home zone, due to weather systems flowing south from the Fraser River valley. A mountain range between Lynden and the Skagit Valley usually keeps that cold Canadian weather from making it all the way south to my old home zone.

When I was a kid we thought it great fun to go north from our snow-free zone, to visit the grandmas in Lynden, where there would be deep snow drifts.

This morning I see the forecast for my Wichita Falls home zone is now predicting an Ice Storm, with an inch thick coating of ice, arriving Saturday. 

I never experienced an Ice Storm til moving to Texas. The first one happened about two weeks after I arrived in the Lone Star zone.

I was in the Fort Worth Stockyards, at the now defunct Riscky Rita's Mexican buffet. Upon entering Riscky Rita's the temperature was in the 60s. And hour later, leaving Riscky Rita's a strong wind was blowing from the north, and the temperature had plummeted to below freezing.

That night my first Ice Storm arrived, coating the outer world with thick ice. We did not know how to turn off the water to the pool, or the barn, figuring such should be done to prevent burst pipes. 

By morning it was eerie, quiet, except for the sound of tires squealing on thick ice, trying to get up a slight hill to the east. 

If an Ice Storm does arrive tomorrow, I am not venturing out in it. I do not want a repeat of last winter's bruising fall on ice...

The Predicted Deep Freeze Keeps Getting Colder The Closer The Arctic Blast Gets To North Texas

We are having a heat wave, not a tropical heat wave, a winter Texas heat wave is what we are having, on this second Thursday of the new year.

A heat wave that won't last a full 24 hours, with the high today of 71, before freezing tonight at 24.

The predicted temperatures for the days of the incoming Arctic Blast have been lowered. With the Arctic Blast now arriving on Saturday, with a high of 39, a low of 8, then Sunday we do not get above freezing, with a high of 17, a low of 4, then even colder on Monday, with a high of 16, a low of 3.

We then begin to warm up on Tuesday, with a high of 26, a low of 18.

I saw that which you see below, on Facebook, this morning. Pretty much sums up winter weather in North Texas.

I am hoping the Texas grid does not collapse again, like it did the last time it got as cold as the current prediction...

Deep Freeze Arriving Sunday Six Degrees Above Zero

Tomorrow, the day called Thursday, the second Thursday of the new 2024 year, the current temperature prediction for my North Texas Wichita Falls location is a relatively balmy 67 degrees.

That hot flash is followed three days later, on the day called Sunday, with a plunge into deep freeze mode, with the high Sunday of 19 degrees, and low 6 degrees above zero. Same on Monday, with the high one degree colder than Sunday, at 18 degrees.

My abode's new heating and cooling system does not handle extreme cold well. The heat pump switches to auxiliary heat mode, which has trouble producing a comfortable level of warmth.

Last winter I resorted to using a space heater to augment the auxiliary heat. I suspect I will be resorting to the same extra heat method on Sunday.

I hope we do not go below zero this winter. Last time that happened the Texas electrical grid collapsed for a couple days. Such is hard on us elderly sorts...

Breezy Freezy Tuesday Walk Around Sikes Lake

With the outer world chilled to 39 degrees, with a steady wind blowing over 20 mph, with gusts over 40 mph, I bundled up under layers of insulative outerwear for my first communing with nature in quite a few days, this morning, walking around breezy Sikes Lake.

The past several days have been overcast, windy, cold, drippy days, not conducive to lengthy outdoor exposure. 

Today, with the return of a clear blue sky, even though I knew it was cold, and that a strong wind has been blowing for hours, I figured I could keep warm under multiple layers.

I figured wrong.

Total brrrrr.

Not to the point of shivering, but almost to that point.

Below you see the Shadow of the Sikes Lake Thin Man, under multiple layers of winter wear, crossing the bridge at the west end of Sikes Lake.

Unless the wind dies down, I won't be doing any outdoor nature communing tomorrow, or the next day.

Snow is in the forecast, for later today. I don't see that happening, what with nary a single cloud currently to be seen.

Winter is my least favorite season....