Seeing The Northern Lights With David, Theo & Ruby At Dune Peninsula Park In Tacoma

At some point in time yesterday I was told that the Northern Lights Auroa Borrelis light show was going to be visible all the way to the southern United States.

I erroneously opined that this was erroneous, that it is rare for the Northern Lights even to be seen in the northern states, like my old home zone of Washington.

Well, I was wrong. Such happens so rarely it is an unsettling sensation.

All my years in Washington I only saw the Northern Lights once, in the early 1990s, from the roof deck of my house in Mount Vernon, looking at the lights through the wall of trees. I had never seen anything like it before, like a fireworks display on steroids.

When my little sister, Michele, flew the family to Paris earlier this year, or was it late last year. I don't remember. Time flies. Well, the route to Paris had a stop in Iceland on the way. Favorite Nephew Theo was hoping he'd get to see the Northern Lights in Iceland. But, that did not happen.

So, I emailed Michele yesterday, in the oft chance she was not aware that the Northern Lights would be appearing in Washington last night, and tonight. I suggested a better chance might be had by driving over the Cascades to Eastern Washington where cloudiness is much rarer than it is in Western Washington.

Well, Michele emailed back that going to Eastern Washington was not doable due to other plans, something to do with Theo and Ruby and soccer.

But, they'd been told that a new Tacoma park, Dune Peninsula Park, between Point Ruston and Point Defiance, was expected to provide excellent Northern Light viewing, if the clouds cooperated.

Well, the clouds did cooperate, as evidenced by the photo above, sent to my phone, this morning, from Michele.

Last night I totally forgot about the Northern Lighs and did not look outside to see if I could see them. This morning I saw photos of the light show taken in Austin, a Texas town a couple hundred miles south of my North Texas location.

I will try and remember to look outside tonight. Currently the sky is cloud covered....

Lake Wichita Finally Full Floating Former Dry Docks

Went walking at Lake Wichita Park for the first time since the downpours of the past week have raised the lake level to just about full pool for the first time in well over a year.

Thus, for the first time in a long time, the lake is now deep enough for speedboats to zip across the lake. Today I saw two doing so.

And the new kayak launching dock is fully floating for the first time, something I had started to think I would never see.

More rain is on the menu for the coming week.

Meanwhile, if I was up north in my old Washington home zone, tonight I would be seeking a clear sky so as to see the Northern Lights light up the night. I have only seen this once, from my house in Mount Vernon. It was spectacular.

I just learned from sister Michele that she has been told the new Dune Peninsula Park at Point Defiance is a recommended viewing location. I'd suggested heading over to Eastern Washington, which regularly has way fewer clouds than Western Washington, but that is not doable due to the twins, Theo and Ruby, have soccer games on Saturday.

I do not know if Theo and Ruby play on the same team. I suspect not...

Floating With Mr. B Seeing The Mount Baker Volcano

 

The past couple weeks, on Facebook, the entity known as Mr. B, the Forrester, has been documenting something I did not know was something someone could do.

As in fly from Seattle to Sydney, Australia, to get on a cruise ship, to float to New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii and then back to Seattle.

This morning's view from the boat is from Puget Sound, looking east at what looks to be the Mount Baker volcano.

That is a view of Mount Baker I do not recollect myself previously seeing, even though I have been on boats in Puget Sound many times.

Bug-Free Muddy Lucy Park Nature Communing

 It was back to Lucy Park I ventured for the first time since last month, on this second Wednesday of May.

Recent rain has the Wichita River running slightly higher than the norm, as you can see via the look across the Lucy Park Suspension Bridge.

The area I call the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle apparently was flooded by the recent rain. The grassy undergrowth appeared to be covered in mud, thus not accessible for easy walking.

So, it was on the bug-free paved trails I stayed today. And so far I have made no note of any new bug bites.

The temperature seemed perfect today. Not HOT. Not cold. Simply pleasant with a gentle breeze blowing.

Summer is rapidly approaching, in a little over a month.

I fear this is going to be a record-breaking Summer, heat-wise.

I need to shed some more pounds to rid myself of any extra insulative adipose tissue rendering me cooler than if I still had that extra insulation heating me up...

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...