Windy Monday Walk Around Sikes Lake With Donald Trump Jr.

It was to nearby Sikes Lake I ventured on this extremely windy final Monday of the 2024 version of October. The wind whipped up some good wave action, but not enough wave action to create whitecaps.

In the view of the lake you are looking slightly southwest. As you can see, there is a little cloud action today preventing a totally clear blue sky.

The longer range forecast has changed as of yesterday. No longer is a month of continuing day after day after day of no clouds in the forecast.

Beginning with the new month of November several days that first November week are now forecast to have thunderstorms and rain.

As I walked around the lake, listening to my radio, at times the blustering wind made it difficult to hear.

At one point as I channel chased, I came upon an unpleasant voice spouting utter idiotic nonsense. I listened for a couple minutes before I learned it was Donald Trump Jr. once again playing the clueless fool. 

This idiotic nonsense was being broadcast on the Rush Limbaugh replacement Buck Sexton/Clay Travis Show, or what I call the Buck and Cluck Show. 

Eight days til hopefully this current election nightmare is over with a non-nightmare result...

Roadblocked In Texas Remembering Roadtripping Monument Valley Etcetera

A Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day, that I do remember. And I do remember this memory happened in October. The exact day, I do not remember. Or the exact year. It was either 1997 or 1998.

That is me looking into the lens of my long gone antique Casio digital camera, with its selfie taking feature which was years ahead of its time.

The others in the photo were floaters with me on Lake Powell, living on a houseboat for four days. In the photo, from left to right, that is Danielle, then Wally, next to his twin, Big Ed, then the twin's little sister, Lydia, with Wally's first wife, Wanda on the right. Not in the photo were fellow floaters, Danielle's first husband, Ross, and Lydia's first husband, Keith.

The scenery in the photo likely looks familiar if you've ever watched a movie set in the Wild West, such as Stagecoach, and many others. That is a section of Monument Valley you are looking at. 

I am a bit confused as to the itinerary of this trip. I think our first destination was Moab, for a few days, exploring Arches National Park and the Fiery Furnace and Canyonlands National Park. And mountain biking the Slick Rock Trail.

From Moab we trekked to Bullfrog Basin on Lake Powell, from whence we houseboated. Getting off the houseboat we ferried across Lake Powell. I think the ferry was called Hall's Crossing. I may be wrong about that.

After the houseboat the destination was Mexican Hat and the San Juan Inn. The route to that Inn involved driving down the treacherous Moki Dugway. It was from Mexican Hat we crossed the San Juan River into the Navaho Nation and Monument Valley.

After Monument Valley it was back to Moab for a couple days. Then the group split up, my remaining group heading to Durango, overnighting in Silverton, then on to Taos, Alamogordo, White Sands National Park, Tombstone, Yuma, Algodones, Mexico, Las Vegas, then back to Washington.

This turned out to be the last long roadtrip I have tripped on. Well, unless you count the drives back and forth between Texas and Washington....

Remembering Rolling Mom's Transit Chair Up Piestewa Peak

A few days ago, Microsoft's OneDrive Memories from this Day had me Remembering Rolling Mom Over Tempe Town Lake & Up Piestewa Peak.

The OneDrive photos at that point in time were of rolling mom over Tempe Town Lake, which had me remembering other instances of rolling mom in scenic Arizona locations, including the trails at Piestewa Peak Park in North Phoenix.

And now, this morning's OneDrive Memories of this Day included several photos of rolling mom along those trails in Piestewa Peak Park.

Piestewa Peak was the most difficult place I found to roll mom. There were a couple steep up and down sections of trail.

It was way back in 2018, or was it 2017? I'm not sure. But, during a visit with mom I grew a tad tired of how limited the outings with mom were. Due to mom walking using a walker. In slow motion.

We were in a store, getting what? I don't remember. But, I saw the store had available something they called 'Transit Chairs". Not a classic wheelchair with big back wheels that the rider could use to roll the chair. A transit chair was more like a chair with what looked like small mountain bike wheels.

So, we got a transit chair, which quickly opened up all sorts of new possibilities. Such as easily rolling all over Costco, Sam's Club, Walmart and Target. And WinCo. And various malls. And the Maricopa Ah-Chin Casino. And the trails in various parks.

I got some flack from some for getting mom that transit chair, due to some thinking it was a bit of a bother, that and mom was supposed to do some walking every day. Doctor's orders.

But, I think the transit chair was a great quality of life enhancer. That and, selfishly, it made visiting mom way more fun for me than pre-transit chair...

Two Months Til Christmas Walking HOT On Lake Wichita Dam

It was to windy Lake Wichita I ventured on this Final Friday of October, day 25, to be precise, making it two months til Christmas.

As is usually the case, I am already done with all my Christmas shopping.

The Wichita Falls area officially went into water restriction mode this week, due to the ongoing drought.

As you can see, it has been a long long time since any water has spilled over the Lake Wichita Dam Spillway.

Acres of vegetation has sprouted up on both sides of the dam's spillway, as you can see via the view of the back of the dam's spillway from the Lake Wichita Boardwalk perspective.

Currently there is no precipitation in the 30-day forecast. That dire prediction can quickly change.

I know I am ready for reliably cooler temperatures to arrive. I was enjoying needing to wear long pants those couple chilly days we had earlier in the month...

Finding Frozen Pork Heads After Texas Mail-In Voting Mayhem

Mailing my mail-in ballot today, after procrastinating doing so for a couple weeks, with the election less than two weeks away, I went from the post office to Walmart where I was surprised to see Thanksgiving stuff already available, as in dozens upon dozens of frozen Turkeys.

Frozen Turkeys and frozen Pork Heads.

A couple of which you see photo documented above. A frozen Pork Head costs less than ten bucks. What does one do with a Pork Head? I suppose I might find the answer to that probing question via Googling.

Today marked the first time I experienced the Texas version of mail-in balloting. It seemed way more complex than what I remember of the permanent mail-in voting method in my old home state of Washington.

One thing nice about voting in Texas is there are so few things to vote on.

Texas does not seem to embrace the concept of Initiatives, Referendums, Propositions and other ballot measures of the sort one found multiple instances of on a Washington ballot.

I do not think Texas has the Initiative method of getting something on the ballot, where a citizen can come up with an Initiative, something like legalizing marijuana, and if the citizen can get enough signatures the Initiative goes on the ballot.

Back to my experience with today's Texas ballot. I may have rendered it not worthy of being counted. There were two pages to vote on, then those two pages go in an envelope, and then that envelope goes into another envelope addressed to the Elections Administrator.

Well.

I did my voting, folded the two pages. And stuck them in the mailing envelope. Licked the seal, folded down the flap, and signed on the X.

And then I realized I had not put the ballot in the first envelope before sticking it in the mailing envelope. I tried to pry open the mailing envelope. That did not go well. So, I fired up a kettle til I had it steaming, and was soon able to open the envelope.

I extracted the ballot and stuck it in the correct envelope, then stuck that envelope in the mailing envelope which is what I should have done in the first place.

Well, the places where the X marked my signature did not quite line up. Where I'd entered my Driver's License ID number, phone number, last four SS digits and email address, had been slightly mucked up. I was able to over-write the mucked-up parts. And then tried to re-seal the envelope via once again licking, but that was no longer viable.

And so I Scotch taped the envelope closed. 

We shall see if I hear from the Elections Administrator. I suspect I am not the first to make this mistake... 

Driving By Incoming Christmas En Route To Lucy Park Jungle

On this next to last Wednesday of the 2024 October, it was to Lucy Park I ventured to try and enjoy the return to summer-like temperatures, with the current heat wave on Day Three.

As you can see, conditions are looking a bit dry on the ground in the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle.

The current drought conditions have turned so dire that Wichita Falls is once again in water restriction mode.

Driving by the MSU (Midwestern State University) campus, heading north on Taft Boulevard, en route to Lucy Park, I was not too shocked, because I am used to it now, what with it happening every year, the week before Halloween, that being the beginning of the installation of the MSU Burns Fantasy of Lights Happy Holidays Christmas Installation.

Marking, for me, the start of the dreaded, by me, holiday season. A season which every year has me opining it would seem to be much better if this happened, like the Olympics, every four years, not every year.

Christmas products have already been installed on Walmart shelves, I saw yesterday.

I do not know why being what is known as a bit of a Scrooge comes so naturally to me, but it does...

A Look At Washington's San Juan Islands Takes Us To Fort Worth's Imaginary Island

I saw this view you see here, yesterday, on Facebook. A view looking east across some of the San Juan Islands, with the Mount Baker volcano towering over the scene. I grew up in the land between that volcano and the San Juan Islands.

I think it was the fact of growing up totally aware of what an island is, and looks like, that had me appalled near the beginning of this century, when the town I was then living in, at the time, Fort Worth, Texas, began a bizarre pseudo public works project hoping to divert water from the Trinity River, around a section of land, on the north end of downtown Fort Worth.

Creating an imaginary island.

Which already came to become called Panther Island. Even though that proposed water diversion has not yet happened, with a cement lined ditch, filled with Trinity River water, creating the imaginary island, with three bridges then connecting the Fort Worth mainland to that imaginary island.

So far, those three freeway overpass type bridges are the main thing that has been completed in what became known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Or America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Near one of those bridges the Vision did see a roundabout built, with a million-dollar reflective homage to an aluminum trash can installed at the center of the roundabout.

Is the Fort Worth Star-Telegram still investigating trying to find out how it came to be that a million bucks was paid to buy that work of art?

For years, the entity known in short form as the Trinity River Vision employed J.D. Granger as the Vision's Executive Director. Granger is the son of Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger. It was thought giving Kay's son a high paying job overseeing the Vision that it would motivate Kay to support federal funding of Fort Worth's Boondoggle.

However, Kay never managed to help secure that funding. And then meandering moved Kay's congressional district out of the area of Fort Worth's Boondoggle. And so, J.D. Granger lost his Executive Director job after accomplishing little for so long.

Ironically, as part of the Biden Administration's massive Infrastructure bill, federal funding was secured, sort of, for Fort Worth's infamous Boondoggle. Adding to the irony, Kay Granger voted against the Infrastructure bill, what with her son no longer being gainfully employed executively directing the Boondoggle.

As the decades of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision have limped along, I have often wondered if the Fort Worth locals just do not understand what an island is. 

The Wikipedia article about Washington's San Juan Islands gives one a good idea of what actual islands are. Some blurbs from that article...

The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the U.S. state of Washington known for rural Pacific Northwest landscapes and wildlife. Horseshoe-shaped Orcas Island, one of the main isles, is home to Moran State Park's old-growth forest and Mt. Constitution. San Juan Island is distinguished by the lively seaside town of Friday Harbor and Lime Kiln Point State Park, an orca-whale lookout.

At mean high tide, the San Juan Islands comprise over 400 islands and rocks, 128 of which are named, and over 478 miles (769 km) of shoreline.

In the archipelago, four islands are accessible to vehicular and foot traffic via the Washington State Ferries system.

An archipelago with over 400 islands, 128 islands with names. Not one named Panther Island. One is named Orcas, though, named after Puget Sound's beloved killer whales. Four islands accessible by ferry boat. 

One will not need a ferry boat to get to Fort Worth's imaginary island. All you'll need, if the "island" ever happens, is a car, to drive over one of the three little bridges which cross over the cement-lined ditch...

Remembering Rolling Mom Over Tempe Town Lake & Up Piestewa Peak

Another Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day which I do remember, and which may have taken place on this exact October day, with the year being 2018, part of a month long stay in Arizona.

That is me, above, wheeling my mom across the Elmore Pedestrian Bridge over the Tempe Town Lake in Tempe, Arizona.

That month in Arizona saw taking mom on many rolling adventures. I remember at one point mom saying "I never thought I'd get to do something like this again."

That comment happened on the trail at Piestewa Peak Park, in north Phoenix, the second highest peak in the Phoenix Mountains.

Now, to be clear, we did not roll mom all the way to the top of Piestewa Peak, but we did roll up and down some steep trails in the park. 

Thinking back on it later, some of those steep downhill sections could have gone badly wrong. The wheeling device did have a braking mechanism. But, it was quickly obvious the braking mechanism needed some help when the trail got too steep.

I sort of miss going to Arizona several times a year. Have not done so since July of 2019...

Sunday Circle Trail Stroll Along Wichita River Rapids

Day 20 of October, the third Sunday of the 10th month of 2024, the temperature, once again, has returned to being shorts and shortsleeves weather.

So, it was to the east parking lot entry to the Circle Trail and the Wichta Bluff Nature Area I drove, but, instead of heading west into the Nature Area, I headed east, towards Lucy Park, walking one of the newest sections of the Circle Trail.

A couple years ago voters voted to approve paying for the connection of this eastern Circle Trail terminus, to Lucy Park, but, so far, nothing seems to be happening.

Making that connection would finally make a real full circle out of the Wichita Falls Circle Trail, enabling pedaling a bike all the way, making the full 26 mile, give or take a mile or two, circle around Wichita Falls.

There were more than the norm number of fellow Circle Trail walkers today, enjoying the perfect weather conditions.

This section of the Circle Trail, which I walked today, trails just a few feet from the banks of the Wichita River. At one point I heard what sounded like water burbling, and soon came to see that which you see photo documented above, what passes for a waterfall in this waterfall-deprived part of the country.

I do not know where the Wichita River is getting so much water, noticeably flowing, what with drought conditions being the current status...

Perfect Saturday Stroll Through Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle

On this third October Saturday of 2024, with the temperature in the low 70s, under a totally cloud-clear blue sky, it was back to Lucy Park I ventured an hour before noon, to join the throngs communing with nature on this perfect Autumn day.

As you can clearly see, the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle is showing no signs of Fall falling leaves to the ground. Green remains the dominant color.

The 30-day forecast is currently frost-free for North Texas, so green should remain the dominant outdoor color for at least another month...