Third Day Of Fall Hiking Wichita Bluffs

The night of the third day of Fall, saw the temperature at my north Texas location plummet to a chilly 59 degrees. 

59 degrees was not enough of a chill to return cold tap water to being cold, hence a warm-cold shower this morning.

What with those 59 overnight degrees I figured it would still be a bit chilly by the time I made it to the Wichita Bluffs Nature Area.

I figured wrong. The temperature was one degree shy of 80 when I did my bluff hiking. 79 degrees was still a pleasant respite from being fried at over 100 degrees.

The photo documentation above was taken at the high point on the Bluffs. I got off the paved trail to get close to the purple stick looking plants you see above.

A pointy plant managed to poke me whilst I was squatting down in photo taking position. That pointy plant was quite a stinger, causing a loud 'ouch' utterance.

I think I am going to enjoy amping up the endorphin acquisitioning, enabled by the end of the overheating time of year...

Remembering Having Fun Getting Lost & Snake Scared At The Breaks @ Bar H Mountain Bike Ranch

It was only after looking at multiple photos today in the Microsoft OneDrive Memories of this Day that I figured out where it was I was mountain biking on my now long gone Schwinn Moab mountain bike.

The Breaks @ Bar H Mountain Bike Ranch.

North of St. Jo, Texas, near the Red River and the border with Oklahoma.

It was when I saw the trail signs in some of the photos that I remembered where those trails were located.

Hole in the Tree, Holler, Rustler's Loop & Copperhead, among many more.

I recollect these mountain bike trails as being fun, difficult at times, and a bit scary at times.

That and I got lost more than once.

One of the photos was of a small pond in which dozens of snakes slithered. I assumed water moccasins.

The photo did not manage to show the snakes.

These photos were all taken with my now long-gone antique Casio digital camera with its unique, at the time, feature, where you could reverse the lens and take what is now known as a selfie.

I was living in the DFW zone when I drove all the way north to The Breaks @ Bar H Mountain Ranch a couple times. I am currently living much closer.

Til today it had not crossed my mind to return to this location, even if it is closer...

First Fall Day Warm Lucy Park Jungle Walk

Yesterday, the final day of Summer, the temperature once again went over 100 degrees. Likely for the last time in the year 2024.

Today, the first day of Autumn, also known as Fall, the temperature was supposed to be way cooler than 100 degrees, as in the high 70s, low 80s.

So, with those promised possible chilly temperatures I thought the first day of Fall would be a nice time to stroll through the backwoods of the Lucy Park Jungle.

The jungle stroll did turn out to be nice, but not nearly as chilly as I had hoped. Instead, the air was heated well into the 80s, with little breeze blowing, and with the humidity high.

However, I am choosing to believe that the days to follow are going to be as chilly as forecasted.

I need to amp up my aerobic activity to melt off all the weight I have managed to gain whilst slothily avoiding outdoor aerobic stimulation at the level to which I am usually stimulated, which usually maintains my weight at a relatively skinny level.

I will soon need to be able to comfortably fit into long pants. I think I currently have four pair of pants which can comfortable be installed...

Remember Three Siblings On A Mount Vernon Couch

That which you see here showed up today in my email via Microsoft's OneDrive Memories of this Day.

I know who is in the photo. And where the photo was taken. But I have no memory of the photo being taken, or when it was taken.

Sitting happily on the couch, in the middle, between me on the right, and my little brother, Jake, on the left, is our eldest sister, Nancy, back when she was a cute little thing.

I think I am 4 or 5 in the photo, which would make my little brother, 3 or 4 and our sister in the 1 and 2 range.

This photo was likely taken in Mount Vernon, in a house on the south side of what is now College Way, with Skagit Valley College to be built on the north side of the street. If I remember right, college construction began whilst we still lived at that location. 

Nancy was born in Mount Vernon. Brother Jake and I were born in Oregon, in a town called Eugene.

And that concludes today's trip down faulty memory lane...

Enjoying Hot Wind & Rogue Waves On Lake Wichita

After a superfast oil replacement at Kyle's Quick Change on Old Jacksboro Highway, I headed west to Lake Wichita for some super HOT windy walking at the Lake Wichita dam location.

The strong wind made today's 100 degree HOT heat almost easy to tolerate.

I do not recollect being at this location previously with so much strong gusting happening.

In the photo documentation, with Mount Wichita looming above the lake in the distance, we are standing on Lake Wichita's floating dock, accessed by a metal bridge.

I was enjoying the wave action, gently rocking the dock.

And then suddenly, what must have been what amounted to a rogue wave, hit the dock, spewing spray, and rocking the dock way too rambunctiously. I almost toppled over against the railing.

Lake Wichita in its current condition looks inviting to swim in. I have never seen anyone swimming in this lake. There are no signs telling people not to swim in the lake. Maybe the lake is too shallow, with the lake bottom too muddy to make getting wet in Lake Wichita something someone might want to do.

Now that you've got me thinking about it, I do remember seeing people getting wet in Lake Wichita at the Mount Wichita location on the lake. Not swimming, but wading out into the lake.

I do not think one would want to be wading barefoot in this lake, what with the lake bottom contents being a total mystery...

Way Too HOT Final Days Of Summer In Wichita Falls

With only a couple days of Summer remaining, I thought we were done with the temperature heating up to 100 degrees, or higher.

But, I thought wrong, as evidenced by the forecast for Wichita Falls for today, as in Thursday, and tomorrow, as in Friday, getting heated to 100 and above.

It is not even yet past 9 in the morning and the A/C is already doing its cooling job...

Microsoft OneDrive Remembering Redheaded Crankypants

Some days I find myself not liking what I see when I open an email from Microsoft with today's supposed Memories from this Day.

Such was the case today.

I have no clue as to the day this photo was taken. I do know the photo was taken back near the beginning of the current century.

Taken in the kitchen in the house which was my first Texas abode, on what was then known as Hicks Road, now known as Bonds Ranch Road.

The Redhead, looking like she is threatening to lick me, was instrumental in causing me to move to Texas, late in the previous century.

I do not know why I was looking happy in this photo. It must be an illusion.

By the time this photo was taken, the name I used most regularly, when referring to the Redhead, was Crankypants. 

I remember once someone in Tacoma warning me that my particular type personality would not get along well with Puerto Ricans and Redheads. 

Balderdash thought I. What a silly suggestion.

For years I got along perfectly fine with the entity I called Miss Puerto Rico. 

I have known only one Redhead with whom I eventually did not get along well with...

DO NOT ENTER Drought Stricken Sikes Lake

As the days of Summer dwindle down to a precious few, it was back to Sikes Lake I ventured on this third Tuesday of September. Sikes Lake has done a lot of evaporating since last I was at this location.

I do not know what the danger is which warrants CAUTION DO NOT ENTER signs. Maybe the exposed lake bottom has a quicksand potential.

The north end of Sikes Lake is in severe drought. The south end of Sikes Lake is not yet in severe drought mode, as photo evidenced below.

In this view we are standing on the bridge at the west end of Sikes Lake, looking east. The lake has turned shallow at this location, but not yet to the muddy bottom exposing level of shallow.

I saw birds standing out in the water, indicating how shallow the water is.

What with Sikes Lake not being very deep I do not quite see the need for NO SWIMMING, BOATING OR KAYAKING signs. I don't think the lake is deep enough to float a boat. Or swim in.

We had what turned out to be a brief respite from excessive HEAT.

Summer is currently ending with day after day of the temperature nearing or going over 100 degrees. 

Remembering My Habitat In The Hamlet Of Haslet

A Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day in this morning's email that I remember, well, the location, not the day the photo was taken, that I do not remember.

The location, the little hamlet of Haslet, a suburb at the far north end of Fort Worth. 

This house in Haslet was my first Texas abode. This abode eventually became my least favorite abode I have ever aboded in. 

I did like the swimming pool, though.

Saturday Looking For Mount Rushmore But Ending Up In Mexico & Other Places

This second Saturday morning of September I found myself looking through folders of photos, looking for photos from a roadtrip taken way back in, I think, 1992, give or take a year. 

I was hoping to find photos of Glacier National Park, that park's Going to the Sun Highway, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, and the Black Hills in South Dakota, with Deadwood and Mount Rushmore. Also Wall Drugstore, in South Dakota.

But, though I know those photos are somewhere on this computer, I could not find them. If I had it to do over I would be much more organized with how I save files.

I did find several photos of folders from another trip, later in the 1990s. Photos of the second time I did a Lake Powell houseboat float, along with mountain biking in Moab, including the Slickrock Trail, which is what you see above. Me on the left, on my now long gone Schwinn Moab mountain bike, Big Ed on the right, on another long gone mountain bike. I think Wanda took the photo.

That roadtrip, back in the late 1990s, was a long one, in addition to four days of houseboating, several days in Moab, there was Monument Valley, Mexican Hat. Durango and Silverton in Colorado. Then on to New Mexico and Taos, then south New Mexico to Alamogordo, then White Sands National Monument, which I think is a National Park now, then west to Tombstone and Yuma in Arizona, crossing over into Mexico, then north to Las Vegas, before beelining it back to Washington.

I have not been on a roadtrip since October of 2019. This has been my longest roadtrip drought. I feel this situation needs to be alleviated...