Scorching October Wichita Falls Texas Heat Wave

I thought we were done with this for the year, done getting heated over 100 degrees. I thought cooler temperatures were coming, according to the forecast a week or two ago.

But, this second Saturday of the 2024 version of October is scheduled to go over the century mark, temperature-wise.

The A/C has already cycled on a couple times, and it is not even yet past 9 in the morning....

Permanently Absentee Balloting In Texas

The envelope you see here arrived in my mailbox yesterday. In the envelope is my Absentee Ballot.

Being in Texas I had little confidence an Absentee Ballot application would succeed.

Whilst living in the state of Washington, if I remember correctly, I went to the permanent mail-in ballot method in the 1980s. Til moving to Texas I'd not voted in a polling location for decades.

I found voting in Texas to be a clunky experience. Often with long lines, such was the case with the last General Election. I first tried to vote in the Sikes Senter mall polling location. The line was hundreds of people deep. Drove to the next closest polling location. Same problem. So, drove to the downtown Wichita Falls polling location, found the line not quite so long, and so spent an hour or two waiting to vote.

To get an Absentee Ballot in Texas one first had to request, on-line, an Absentee Ballot request form.

You could not just fill this out on-line.

The form arrived in the mail.

The print on the form was small, the information to be filled in was a lot. I filled out the form, checking off the section which requested permanent Absentee Ballot status. I mailed the form to the Wichita County Elections Administrator. 

And a couple weeks later the Absentee Ballot showed up in my mailbox.

I have not yet opened the Absentee Ballot envelope. I am assuming there is a return mail envelope inside, already addressed.

I likely will get to stick stamps on the envelope.

I do not remember doing so when mailing ballots in Washington. 

In Washington there are ballot drop-boxes strategically placed in convenient locations...

Microsoft Remembering Salt River Canyon & Linda Lou's Arizona Visit

An email Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day that I remembered, which happens rarely. That, and this memory is from the month of October, though I do not remember the exact day.

It was in October of 2018, roadtripping from Texas to Arizona.

The stairway you see above was at a rest area, at a location on Arizona's Highway 66, between the Arizona towns of Show Low and Globe.

The rest area was at the bottom of a steep canyon. This rest area was more like a park than your regular highway rest area.

I did not remember the name of the canyon til I saw the photo I took of the rest area's welcome sign.

Salt River Canyon. 

A scenic canyon I'd never heard of before, in a state known for its scenic canyons.

The drive through Salt River Canyon took place in October of 2018, on the way to stay a month in an Airnb in Sun Lakes, the Phoenix suburb where my mom's house was located.

That was a memorable month. Hard to believe this was six years ago. Seems so recent.

Linda Lou flew south from Washington to spend a few days with us in the Airnb. It was a mighty fine time, driving mom, aka Miss Daisy, to Tortilla Flats, and to the summit of South Mountain, on roads which triggered Linda Lou's acrophobia.

Six years rushed by so fast. In another six years the year will be 2030.

I do not like time flying by ever faster...

Pleasantly Cool Lucy Park Jungle Walk

On this second Tuesday of the 2024 version of October it was back to Lucy Park I ventured for some salubrious nature communing via high-speed backwoods jungle endorphin inducing aerobic hiking.

The weather conditions were about as perfect as they can be, pleasantly chilled to the 70 degree range.

As you can see, via the photo documentation of the Lucy Park suspension bridge over the Wichita River, the green of the leaves is beginning to slightly fade, with more of a yellow tint starting to appear.

The first freeze of the Fall should be happening sometime next month, or maybe the big chill will wait until December. 

I look forward to replacing shorts with sweatpants for my outdoor activities.

I probably should go on a hunt for my stash of sweatpants, likely lurking somewhere in my cluttered closet...

Monday Morning Peaceful Bird Watching At Sikes Lake

On this first October Monday of 2024, it was to a dead calm Sikes Lake I ventured this morning for a salubrious endorphin inducing aerobic fast-paced walk around the lake.

The apparent lack of wind seemed to render Sikes Lake mirror-like, but there was a steady breeze blowing, which made for perfect outdoor activity conditions.

The above view is looking west, across the lake, from the east side of the lake. The below view is looking northeast from the north end of the lake.

The slight breeze is causing some rippling action, as that big white bird is perched on the lookout for a fish snack to swim by.

One frequently sees fish jumping out of the water trying to snatch a flying insect. I have only seen a bird catch a fish once, in Sikes Lake.

October Sunday Lucy Park Nature Communing With Power Issues

It was to Lucy Park I nature communed on this first Sunday of the 2024 version of October. As you can see, the Lucy Park backwoods jungle is still green, with Fall not yet falling, sending no leaves to the ground. 

Day after day, of late, the temperature high for the day has been in the 90s. The air was heated into the 80s whilst I was at Lucy Park.

I am looking forward to being chilly. The cold water out of my taps is still being lukewarm, or warmer.

This week, reading the local news, I read that the Wichita Falls zone is nearing being in drought conditions again. 

But, the Wichita River, as photo documented, today, above, does not look to be drying up. And lawns and golf courses are still green.

I had me a couple possible age-related memory lapses today. Upon returning from Lucy Park I went into lunch making mode. I turned on both the smokeless grill and the air fryer, forgetting that doing so causes the circuit to break.

When I realized what I'd done I remembered it was easy to fix, via flipping a switch on the circuit breaker panel. I knew this was in my bedroom closet. So, I walk into the closet, turn on the light, and cannot find the circuit breaker panel on the wall. I found another electrical looking thing I did not remember previously seeing.

So, feeling totally frustrated, I got a flashlight and scanned the closet's walls, eventually finding the circuit breaker panel. I saw what looked like a switch which should be flipped. Did so. That knocked out the lights in my bedroom. Switched that back and then found the correct switch to switch, restoring power to the air fryer, smokeless grill and TV.

I hope that with this second instance I will now remember not to run the air fryer and smokeless grill at the same time. And if I do forget, that I will remember where the circuit breaker panel is located.

Age related memory woes are vexing...

Remembering Throwing Life Jugs To Drowning Person In Dinosaur Valley State Park

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

I have no recollection of what day this photo may have been taken. But, I do remember the location, and the likely time frame, year-wise. As in near the start of the current century.

I was hiking in Dinosaur Valley State Park, down by the town of Glen Rose in Texas Hill Country, when I came upon a swimming hole carved out by the Paluxy River, with two warning signs.

One of which is what you see me standing in front of, with the sun glaring on the lens of my long-gone antique Casio digital camera, with its reverse the lens photo taking, enabling what is now known as a selfie.

LIFE JUGS: THROW A DROWNING PERSON

The other warning sign warned swimming hole swimmers to beware of the snapping turtles.

I had, and still, have no clue if this LIFE JUGS thing was intended as a joke, or serious. I found it a tad inappropriate to see such in a state park.

The swimming hole looked quite inviting, but I did not indulge, due to taking the snapping turtle warning serious.

I previously had had me a scary aggressive turtle episode whilst swimming in Lake Grapevine, back in early July of 2002. My final time getting wet in a treacherous Texas lake...

Semi-Chilly Wichita Bluff Nature Area Hiking On Second October Day

On this second day of October, with the sky totally blue, with not a single cloud blotting the blue, it was to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area I ventured an hour before noon, to commune with nature via hiking the Circle Trail as it trails over the Wichita Bluffs.

In that photo above we are looking at a rocking bench, looking in a northwest direction. The rocking bench sits on a side trail off the main trail.

The temperature was pleasantly chilled into the 70s whilst I nature communed.
 

And now we are in the picnic pavilion located at the high point of the Wichita Bluffs. In this view we are looking northeast. The stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Wichita Falls would be visible if I shifted the view slightly to the right.

The current long-range forecast is for day after day after week after week of blue sky and pleasant temperatures. 

Apparently, the lack of rain has the Wichita Falls area near being designated once again in drought mode.

One would think the forest of trees would not manage to be so green, at this point in the year, what with the lack of rain.

So far I have seen little leaf color changing action one expects to see this time of the year...

First Day Of October Virtually Hiking Washington's Mount Rainier

This first morning of the new month, flipping the month to October, I saw the scene on my American Scenic Wonders wall calendar is a scenic wonder in my old home state of Washington, that, if I remember correctly, I only saw twice, up close, as in the National Park, all my years of living in Washington.

The second time I visited this scenic wonder was August 11, 2008, with my favorite sister-in-law and her mom. This was the first time I actually did some hiking in Mount Rainier National Park, hiking from the area known as Paradise, up the lower slops of the Rainier volcano.

It being August, Mount Rainier National Park, that day in 2008 was overcrowded with tourists. I recollect finding a parking spot at Paradise was a bit challenging.

Long ago, on one of my other blogs, I blogged about Mount Rainier. I do not recollect if that blogging has photos of that day in August, back in 2008. Just a sec, and I shall go see.

Yes, there is a photo or two from that day way back almost two decades ago, and a video.

The reason I seldom visited Mount Rainier whilst living in Washington was the fact that the mountain was around 130 miles south of my Skagit Valley location.

I was much closer to another volcano, Mount Baker, to go hiking on, and the equally close North Cascades National Park hiking trails, which actually are much more scenic than Mount Rainier, in that the sea of mountains one sees when one is in the heart of the North Cascades is much more of a broadly spanning multi-mountain scene than that one giant Rainier volcano dominating all its surrounding area.

Sometimes I find myself wondering if I will ever again see my feet hiking on a real mountain trail. My nearest current such opportunity is about 50 miles north, in Oklahoma via the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge. I suspect it likely that the Wichita Mountains will not quite be the same as the Cascade Mountains of Washington, and Oregon...

Final September Day Lucy Park Fading Fall Jungle Walk

With the outer world temperature in the mid-80s, an hour before noon, on this final day of the 2024 version of September, it was to Lucy Park I ventured, after a quick library visit, acquiring new reading material.

As you can see, via today's photo documentation of the Lucy Park suspension bridge across the Wichita River, the green foliage is slightly beginning its Fall fade.

The jungle not quite as vibrantly green, with a hint of yellow creeping in.

Soon to turn orange, then brown, before finally falling to the ground, leaving a jungle of bare trees.

The perfect temperature had a lot of people naturing communing, including an elderly couple, even older than me, both with a leashed dog. Cutest little dogs I have seen in a long time.

It has been over 16 years since I have walked a dog. Actually, three dogs. Blue, Max and Pal, in Tacoma.

All three long ago migrated to Doggie Heaven...