Friday Return To Flooded Lucy Park Under Stormy Sky

On this first Friday of the 5th month of 2025, also known as May, it was back to Lucy Park I ventured, since I was in the neighborhood, and was curious to see how much more of Lucy Park has flooded since checking in yesterday.

Well. the Wichita River has added several more feet, since yesterday, totally covering the road, as you can clearly see via the photo documentation.

And rain continues to fall, despite the weather prediction not predicting the drips to be falling for multiple hours today.

I had planned to return to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area, for a repeat of yesterday's flood viewing.

But, by the time I got to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area rain was dripping copiously, lightning bolts were striking. And the clouds had that dark look I have seen before, with a tornado soon to start twisting.

So, it did not seem a wise idea to hike the bluffs under umbrella cover, with the umbrella making for a possible lightning strike target.

Thus, it was to Walmart I retreated for my high-speed walking and its resultant endorphin acquisition and anthropological observations.

It is now noon. The sky has ceased dripping. There are some breaks in the clouds, allowing some sunlight to break through.

The birds are sounding celebratory...

Taking A Look At The Wichita River Flood & Jungle

On the way to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area's west entrance, I detoured to Lucy Park to see how much of the park the flooding Wichita River has covered with reddish-brown water.

I was expecting the flood waters to have reached a level higher than I saw several years ago, what with the prediction for this flood event being for it to exceed the flood of 2007.

Well, the water is still rising, so maximum flood level is yet to be reached. And more rain is on the weather menu for later on this first day of May.

But, already, Wichita River water has flooded over the road which takes you to the Lucy Park pool and log cabin, as you can see via the below photo documentation.

I thought when I reached the high points of the Circle Trail in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area that I would be seeing big expanses of flatland flooded.

Instead, what I saw was the Wichita River looking way bigger than its norm.

I have had feedback of late from non-Texans surprised at how some of my photos make it look like the Texas foliage appears to be almost jungle-like.

The above photo, looking east towards downtown Wichita Falls, is a good such jungle example, with the Wichita River being almost Amazon-like, if one stretches one's imagination...

Final April Fishing Under Lake Wichita Falls Dam Spillway

Yesterday's weather forecast for last night, and today, with today being the final day of the 2025 version of April, turned out to be accurate.

Rain began falling in pounding downpour mode around 8 o'clock last night, with one loud burst of hail.

Thunder began storming a couple hours after midnight, with more downpours.

By dawn's early light it was not too bright, due to the dark clouds and heavy rain.

A couple hours before noon I headed to downtown Wichita Falls, to my favorite prescription drug dealer, and the library, to do some book returning.

And then it was on to Lucy Park, finding all three entries to Lucy Park blocked, with it assumed the blockage being due to the anticipated overflow of the Wichita River, flooding Lucy Park.

I have seen Lucy Park flooded once, a few years ago.

Today's flood is expected to be worse, possibly as bad as the flood of 2007, several years before my arrival in this town.

After being denied entry into Lucy Park, it was on to rain-free Walmart for my daily dose of endorphins acquired via high-speed walking.

And then I headed south, to Lake Wichita, to see if water was falling over the Lake Wichita dam spillway for the first time in years.

As you can see, via the above photo documentation, water is spilling over the Lake Wichita dam today.

And some guy is standing in the water, near the spilling water, fishing.

Multiple fish were seen leaping out of the water at the bottom of the spillway. Where did these fish come from, one could not help but wonder. What with the area below the dam being totally free of any water for years.

Perplexing..

Final April Tuesday Thunder-Free Walk Around Sikes Lake

I have been avoiding the outer world of North Texas the past couple days due to ongoing climate mayhem in various forms.

Thunderstorms, blowhard wind gusts, rain downpours, hail, flash flooding and tornado warnings.

But, on this final Tuesday of the 2025 version of April, my regular walking time coincided with a brief respite from the climate calamity.

And so, it was back to Sikes Lake I ventured, along with a lot of other adventurers, for some salubrious endorphin acquisition, along with viewing the current colorful ground cover of pink evening primroses, which are the dominant wildflower in the Texas zone I inhabit.

In the photo documentation you can see a couple of the geese which survived last year's mass goose extermination, enjoying waddling through the wildflowers.

And past the geese you can see a pair of anglers getting ready to dip their fishline into the murky muddy waters of Sikes Lake.

Last night something happened which I do not recollect happening previously. 

Around three in the morning, as in three hours past midnight, my phone made its incoming text message noise.

I got out of bed to find the phone, in the dark. Finding it I was appalled to see the incoming text message was a weather warning, informing me that a severe thunderstorm had been detected in my area.

20 some miles to the south of my location, near Archer City.

Why someone somewhere somehow thought I needed to have this severe thunderstorm news in the middle of the night is a mystery to me. What was I supposed to do? Get out of bed, get dressed, get ready to, I don't know, make haste to seek shelter from a tornado?

Perplexing...

Google's AdSense Keeps Googling With Me Senselessly

Way back earlier this century, I think the year may have been 2006 or 2007, I went through the process, with Google, to get Google AdSense approved.

Such required a lot of steps.

Eventually I got approved. And then began putting the AdSense code on all my Eyes on Texas website pages. There were 100s of Eyes on Texas website pages.

AdSense had to add up to over $100 in any given month to have the generated AdSense revenue direct deposited to my bank account.

When I started this I did not really think it would amount to anything. So, I was just a bit surprised that the revenue went over 100 bucks the first month, with that revenue then showing up in my bank account.

Soon it was many 100 bucks a month. Thus it became sort of a game, trying to cause pages to get a lot of page views and ad clicks. Way back then I recollect it was my Turner Falls Park pages, and Scarborough Faire pages which were the biggest click generators.

By 2008 I started up my first blog, which is the one you are reading right now. And I put the AdSense code on the blog, which was easy to do, did not require adding the code via the HTML method, as was the case for the Eyes on Texas website.

So, for years the Durango Texas blog sported AdSense ads, got clicks, and added to what showed up in my bank account each month.

And then, a couple years ago, I do not remember when I first noticed, but the AdSense ads ceased showing up on the Durango Texas, durangotexas.blogspot.com, blog.

This did not concern me much, at the time, figuring it was some temporary thing. That and my Eyes on Texas website was the main place AdSense saw action.

And then it became annoying. Every few weeks, when checking the AdSense account, I would get a message telling me ads.txt issues need fixing. That the ads.txt file was not found. Even though it was always there. I'd click on check for update, and every time I'd get told the file had now been found. And all was hunky dory for a couple weeks, til it happened again.

Eventually I decided to see if I could find some sort of Google AdSense contact help source. I found a couple, messaged both, multiple times, to no avail, no answer, no reply.

For example, below is one of the many similar feedbacks I fed back to the AdSense Feedback contact option....

Repeating this futile Feedback once again, because once again I got the ads.txt issues needing fixing message which I then fix, am told the file has been found and updated, only to have it happen again and again and again, with no explanation, or Feedback. AdSense ceased showing ads on durangotexas.blogspot.com and durango-world.blogspot.com quite some time ago. With no notice explaining why. And along with the ads.txt message today's message included "1 or more of your sites haven't shown any ads for at least 4 months. If these sites remain inactive they'll need to be reviewed again. Only applies to AdSense for content." I've gone down that path previously, the sites pass being reviewed, and still no ads show up. I have several other Blogspot blogs, with no problems with the ads. This is frustrating. The durangotexas.blogspot.com blog has been active since 2008, and has had millions of page views, and thousands of blog posts. I never got any sort of message way back when, a couple years ago, when the ads ceased appearing.

So, there you go, my current annoying frustration with the bizarre tech world we now all live in...

Between Thursday Thunderstorms Back At Wichita Bluff Nature Area

 On this final Thursday of the April version of 2025, it was back to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area I ventured for some endorphin acquisition via high-speed bluff hiking.

Yesterday's Circle Trail entry to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area was via the west entrance. Today's entry was via the east entrance.

The east entrance to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area begins at river level, unlike the west entrance which is well above river level.

In today's photo documentation you are a couple hundred feet above the aforementioned Wichita River, looking northwest.

Yesterday's dire weather prediction had me thinking that today outdoor bluff hiking was not going to be doable, without an umbrella. However, by late afternoon the sky was mostly clear of any rain producers.

Last night was a repeat of the previous night, with another thunderstorm erupting around 2 this morning. This morning's booming did not last as long as the previous night's. Nor did the rain pour down in copious downpour mode. Yet, enough rain fell to add to the barrier moat which causes me to take a detour to where my motorized motion device is carported.

More thunderstorms are on the weather menu for later this afternoon, and tonight. Currently no tornado warnings...

Communing With Giant Wildflowers Blooming In Wichita Bluff Nature Area

Yesterday's dire weather forecast for today had me thinking it likely today's nature communing would be taking place in Walmart.

But, instead, this fourth Wednesday of the 2025 version of April dawned with nary a cloud in a clear blue sky.

And so, it was to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area I ventured today for my nature communing.

I have no idea what the name is of the giant wildflower I photo documented today. I saw several instances today of such sprouting tall along the Circle Trail in the Bluff's nature area.

Today's daytime predicted thunderstorming may not yet have materialized, but last night's predicted thunderstorm did materialize.

Beginning around two in the morning, lasting a couple hours, with what seemed like nonstop lightning flashes and explosive booming. Along with loud downpouring.

By morning my abode was partially surrounded by what I refer to as a moat, requiring a bit of a detour to make my way to where my motorized means of motion sits under carport protection.

Looking out my computer room window I see clouds have once again arrived, blocking some of the formerly clear blue sky.

I suspect these are early arrivals of the clouds which will be thunderstorming in a few hours...

102 Degree Torrid Texas Tuesday

It seems like it was just a few days ago, because it was just a few days ago, I made mention of the fact that I was feeling overheated upon getting in my vehicle, to drive to Walmart, to see the vehicle's temperature monitor was indicating the temperature was 96 degrees, as measured by the Fahrenheit method.

And now, this Tuesday late afternoon, I got in my vehicle, driving to that same Walmart destination, to see the temperature monitor was over 100 degrees for the first time this year.

Over 100 degrees is HOT. There is no denying that. Add the humidity and those HOT 100 plus degrees feel even hotter.

100 degrees is humid Texas is not the same thing as 100 degrees in the desert climate of Arizona. 

I suspect way are heading into a few months of record-breaking temperatures. I hope my various air-conditioning devices are up to the cooling task...

Tuesday Return To Sikes Lake Under Totally Clear Blue Sky

On this next to last Tuesday of the 2025 version of April it was back nearby Sikes Lake, I ventured, for some salubrious nature communing with resultant endorphin acquisition.

In the photo documentation we are looking west from the rocky eastern shore of Sikes Lake.

As you can see via the ripples on the lake, wind is making for some wave action.

Sikes Lake was seeing a lot of nature communers today, enjoying once again being under a total cloud-free clear blue sky, after enduring a stormy, gray Easter weekend.

This return to a clear blue sky is predicted to be short-lived, with clouds returning later today, along with thunderstorms and rain, continuing to boom and drip on Wednesday.

It is likely my nature communing and endorphin acquisition will need to take place at Walmart tomorrow...

Easter Takes Me To A Weeping Jesus In Oklahoma City

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

It does seem right that it was in April of some year early in this current century that I was up north, in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma City, to be precise.

That weeping statue of Jesus is part of the Oklahoma City National Memorial, sometimes called the Murrah Memorial, due to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building being the building which was blown up in the worst terrorist attack on American soil, til the 9/11 attacks.

Experiencing the Oklahoma City National Memorial was a sobering experience of the sort I have only experienced a few times previous.

Such as being at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, also known as the location of Custer's Last Stand.

That same roadtrip which brought me to where Custer had his last stand, in Montana, also took me to the South Dakota site of the Wounded Knee Massacre. The memorial at this location is not as elaborate as the Little Bighorn complex. But, it was sobering, standing at this location, reading the simple signage explaining what had happened at this location.

And then there was another sobering experience, this century, in Texas, near the town known as Waco, a location known as the Mount Carmel Branch-Davidian Compound. When I visited this location there were still some Branch-Davidian survivors living there. You could walk among the graves of those killed. And still see the burned remains of the buildings, and the buried bus in which many died.

Interesting timing to have a statue of a weeping Jesus show up on Easter...