Tuesday Sikes Lake Walk With Monarch Waystation

It was to nearby Sikes Lake I ventured on this first Tuesday of the 2024 version of May. 

A HOT and humid Tuesday in May. 

I'd previously walked near the sign you see here, but had never, til today, walked up close enough to see that the sign was signaling that this location is something called a Monarch Waystation.

A butterfly protection zone.

I saw plenty of flowers, but no butterflies.

Of late I have made note of the fact that there seems to be an uptick in the number of people I see out and about in the various parks I visit.

Methinks that, perhaps, a lot of people are finally getting around to doing something about the weight they gained during the long COVID nightmare.

I know I am finally shedding all that weight I gained during the long COVID nightmare...

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge & Mount Rainier & The Imaginary Panther Island

I saw that which you see here on Facebook, yesterday. The Tacoma Narrows Bridges, with Mount Rainier hovering on the horizon.

Unlike those zoomed photos of the Seattle skyline which make it look like Mount Rainier is way closer than it really is, this Tacoma photo of Mount Rainier is pretty much how it actually looks.

When you drive around Tacoma it can seem like the mountain is moving. It's a weird optical illusion. 

I was in Tacoma several times during the construction period of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge. That would be the span on the right, with more lanes than the original bridge.

I realize it would have been difficult to make the new bridge look just like the much older, original bridge. There seems to have been some attempt to do so, but can't the towers be painted green to match the other bridge?

It was interesting to me to get to see this bridge under construction. Built over deep, fast moving saltwater.

During the same time frame, I marveled at the bizarre spectacle of Fort Worth, Texas struggling for seven years to build three simple little freeway overpass looking bridges, known as the Panther Island Bridges, over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, with the hope that one day a cement lined ditch will be dug under the three bridges, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch, creating the imaginary island.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge does not cross from Tacoma to an island. It crosses over the Narrows to the Olympic Peninsula....

Big Bella Fort Worth News With Texas Cowboy Cutting Horses

I saw that which you see here, this Sunday morning on the front page of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram online edition.

Apparently, it is big news that the younger sister of super model, Gigi Hadid, has moved to Fort Worth to cut horses with her Texas cowboy partner.

Years ago, I found myself finding one or two of Bravo TV's Real Housewives shows to be amusing.

Yolanda Hadid was one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. When she was a lot younger Yolanda Hadid was a super model. Eventually becoming the mother of Gigi and Bella.

I do not remember Bella showing up on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. I do remember Gigi, and the storyline which had her moving to New York City, to an expensive apartment her uber-wealthy Hadid dad got for her. Soon thereafter Gigi followed her mother's path and became a well known super model.

I think Bella Hadid also does the super model thing, but is not as well known as her older sister.

Why it is front page news that Bella Hadid has moved to Fort Worth to help her Texas cowboy partner cut horses, I have zero clue...

Hot Humid Friday Sikes Lake Walk Around With Coyotes

This first Friday of May it was to Sikes Lake I ventured today for a humid walk around the lake. The temperature was in the upper 70s, but felt way HOTTER due to that annoying humidity.

The Sikes Lake Pack of coyote goose guards seems to grow each time I return to this location.

Some coyotes have now been spotted on the MSU (Midwestern State University) campus.

I have seen a few geese willing to risk being in the presence of the artificial coyotes, but doing so at a coyote-free location, like the coffer dam that crosses Sikes Lake, with a fence making coyote access to the geese impossible.

Thunderstorms and possible tornadoes were on the weather menu yesterday, but there was no booming or twisting. The same thing is on the weather menu for today. So far, nothing has thundered or been excessively windy.

Wichita Falls 2nd Day Of May With Thunderstorms & Possible Tornadoes

This morning Miss Chris, of the duo known as Chris & Sheila, a pair of my favorite Washingtonians, who were often an island of sanity for me, in a sea of madness, whilst I was visiting in Washington, asked me a question last night via Facebook...

"Is the town you live in threatened by a tornado?"

I replied that, yes, the town I live in is currently being threatened by tornadoes. A couple have touched down in recent days slightly to the west of the Wichita Falls city limits.

The above is a screen cap about today's, second day of May, weather prediction for Wichita Falls.

And yes, a tornado is on the menu again today.

Last night, around three in the morning, a thunderstorm arrived, booming, and dropping rain for a couple hours.

I think I will do my daily nature communing in Walmart today, safe from lightning strikes, possibly not so safe from a tornado....

May Day Memory Of Galveston Crawdads & Moody Gardens

No, that is not a throng of people enjoying the first day of May at the newly restored beach at Lake Wichita, restored after recent downpours of lake restoring water, raised the lake's level to almost normal.

It took me a moment or two to remember what this Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day was.

Galveston.

On the Texas Gulf Coast.

Galveston is just about the best tourist type town I've been to in Texas.

As you approach the island, on the bridge connected to the mainland, you see large pyramids of various colors. That was the first surprising thing. Later to be learned the pyramids are part of the Moody Gardens complex.

When I got to the gulf side of the island, I quickly found a place to park. As soon as I exited my vehicle I was hit with two things I had not experienced since I was last in Washington. The smell of saltwater. And the sound of waves.

I think it was soon after smelling that saltwater smell and hearing those crashing waves that I saw the throng of people playing in the water.

The water did not look too inviting, to me. It looked murky, muddy, dirty.

I later that day learned the quality of the water was being affected by the Spring runoff of the Mississippi River draining dirty river water into the gulf.

I had my evening feeding that day in a seafood restaurant on a pier out over the water. This marked the first time since I had been in Texas that I eye witnessed people eating bowls of crawdads, looking to me like they were biting off the heads of the reddish insect looking things and then sucking out the contents.

I have had many opportunities since to avail myself of the crawdad delicacy. I have not succumbed to the temptation...

New Lake Wichita Park Kayak Launch Dock Finally Floats With Bug Bites

It was to Lake Wichita Park I ventured today on this final day of the 2024 version of April. 

Driving onto the parking lot, with Lake Wichita coming into view, I was pleased to see the lake level has greatly risen from the recent downpours.

And for what seems at least a year of being dry docked, the new Lake Wichita kayak launching dock is finally floating.

 
Walking out onto the floating dock for the first time I was surprised that the little wave action was making the dock a bit dizzying to walk on.

This dock will be basically a carnival ride with big waves, methinks.

That slot you see below the stair steps is the kayak launch pad. It slopes into the lake.

I cut my nature communing a bit short today due to being attacked by biting bugs. Of late, after one of my walks, I will find I've been bug bitten, but have never seen the biting bug.

Today, I saw them, multiple little black bugs on my arms. I swatted the first one I saw, which caused a burst of blood, like a mosquito bite, but these were not mosquitoes.

I have never had a mosquito bite in Texas. In Washington I never went a Summer without getting at least one annoying mosquito bite.

I may curtail my nature communing til a good HOT heat wave fries all the bugs...

Microsoft OneDrive Memory Remember Joe T. Garcia's In Fort Worth

Took me a moment or two to remember this Microsoft Windows OneDrive Memory from this Day.

I think the year was 2002. The location is Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant, in the Stockyards zone of Fort Worth.

We had Chicken Fajitas and two Pitchers of Margaritas. This made for some fun after leaving Joe T. Garcia's to walk the main drag of the Stockyards.

The outdoor patio area of Joe T.'s is quite the site to see. I believe the pool is no longer there. Too many incidents of people ending up in the pool who did not want to end up in the pool.

The first time my mom and dad visited me in Texas, was in, I think, October of 2001.

9/11 had happened. The world was not anywhere near back to normal. But, I took mom and dad to lunch at Joe T. Garcia's where we had chili rellenos. No Pitchers of Margaritas. I think that visit we also went to Riscky's BBQ in the Stockyards and had the all you can eat ribs.

It gets hard to remember details as one gets increasingly elderly. These daily memories from Microsoft help...

Another Night Of Heavy Rain Has The Sikes Lake Dam In Waterfall Mode

Last night I was once again awakened from a peaceful slumber by thunder booming, hail hitting my windows and a ferocious wind blowing.

Apparently, several tornadoes touched down in the Wichita Falls area during this storm, with no damage reported so far. These tornadoes must have been outside the city limits, as I heard no tornado sirens blaring.

There is no missing the tornado sirens. They are like a regular siren on extra loud steroids.

It was to Sikes Lake I ventured for some salubrious nature communing on this final Sunday of the 2024 version of April. The sky is still cloudy, but those clouds do not look to be threatening rain or lightning.

As I neared the Sikes Lake dam I could hear the peaceful sound of water loudly falling. As you can see copious amounts of water is spilling over the spillway.

Due to the rain, and the semi-HOT temperature, humidity is high. I am not a fan of high humidity...

Windy Stormy Saturday For Today's Wichita Falls Sheppard Air Show

I had planned to go north to Sheppard Air Force Base on this final Saturday of the 2024 version of April to watch the Sheppard Air Show. 

I watched the Sheppard Air Show my first year in Wichita Falls. It was entertaining. And HOT. It took place at the end of September, that year.

As you can see, via the map gleaned from Facebook via the Wichita Falls Times News Record Facebook page, a wide swath of the Midwest is being stormy today, with Wichita Falls right in the middle of it.

Knowing that today was predicted to be stormy the people putting on the Sheppard Air Show let it be known that bad weather might cancel some of the show. 

So far, no rain, no lightning, no tornadoes. But, a really strong wind blows constantly, with gusts blowing even stronger. I suspect the wind has wreaked havoc with today's air show.

Day two of the Sheppard Air Show happens tomorrow, a Sunday predicted to have pleasant weather...