Microsoft Memory Takes Me To Washington Hiking Mount Baker With Nephew Joey

My email this 4th Thursday morning of the 2025 version of July delivered me a Microsoft OneDrive Memories from this Day which made me a tad homesick.

I am not sure if any of these memories happened on this particular date, but I do know these memories happened in July or August, many years ago.

In the first photo we are heading north on Interstate 5, at the south outskirts of Mount Vernon, in Washington's Skagit Valley.

The big white thing you see between a couple foothills is the Mount Baker volcano.

I used to be able to see the Mount Baker volcano when I looked out my Mount Vernon kitchen windows. I do not see any such thing when I look out my current Texas kitchen windows.

I do not remember which of my times, this century, up north in Washington, that I took this photo.

The next two photos take us closer to Mount Baker, and my Favorite Nephew Joey.

This time with Joey may be the last time I hiked up Mount Baker. This would have been some point in time in the 1990s. And the month likely would have been August. 

I do not remember how far up Mount Baker Joey and I hiked that day. I do remember we hiked far enough to see the steam coming from the volcano's vent and smell the sulphur from the steam.

I think Joey was 13 or 14 when we hiked up Mount Baker. I have not seen Joey in person since October of 2015, when Joey was in Dallas on a work project and met up with me in Grapevine. Grapevine is a town in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, at the north end of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Prior to seeing Joey in 2015, the most recent time I'd seen Joey was when he and his brother and their girlfriends had a short layover at DFW, on their way back to Washington, after having gone on a Caribbean cruise.

I think this was in summer of 2005. 

I talked the kids into leaving the airport, drove them to Lake Grapevine. At some point between the airport and Lake Grapevine I was told that Jason had proposed to Jenny.

I recollect flying up for the wedding, in, I think, April of 2006. And two years after that I flew up to Washington, for some other reason, and met Jason and Jenny's Spencer Jack for the first time, at Bay View State Park.

Seeing these photos and remembering these memories has me freshly annoyed at how quickly time flies by. And how much I miss by not still living in Washington....

Attempting To See Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision

A couple days ago I was asked if I'd heard anything of late about Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District, or, by many, as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

I told the person asking that I'd heard nothing about The Boondoggle, of late.

And then, yesterday, that which you see above, showed up on Facebook. A blurb about the agency which oversees America's Biggest Boondoggle.

No real information was included. Just that a new board member had been appointed to something called the "Panther Island oversight group".

Don't know what this oversight group might be overseeing, what with there being, after a couple decades, still no faux island, or much of anything to see of this supposed vision, that long ago, around the start of this century, was touted as being a vitally needed flood control and economic scheme.

Supposedly vitally needed for flood control where no floods had happened for over half a century, due to flood control levees already in place.

So, vitally needed that the public was never asked to approve of this project via any sort of funding bond issue.

To try and secure federal funds, the local congresswoman, Kay Granger's son, J.D. Granger, was appointed, at a high salary, to oversee the Trinity River Vision, hoping this would motivate Kay to help get federal funding.

That never happened. Eventually Kay was no longer the congresswoman in the Boondoggle's area, and so her son's employment was terminated.

During the course of J.D. Granger's inept executing of the Boondoggle's Vision, he initated nonsensical things which had nothing to do with any sort of sane development. Things like Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Parties on the polluted Trinity River. And a soon to fail, due to getting flooded, wakeboard park, also on the polluted Trinity River.

J.D. Granger oversaw the construction of three supposedly signature bridges, taking an absurd seven years to build, over day land. Three simple freeway overpass type bridges. All these years later, still waiting for a cement-lined ditch to be dug under the bridges, with Trinity River water diverted into the bridges, creating the imaginary island.

An imaginary island which any sane city would be embarrassed to call an island. 

Fort Worth has a long history of these type embarrassments. For decades a multi-block area of Fort Worth's downtown was called Sundance Square, with signage pointing to it. With there being no actual square there, this confused many of Fort Worth's few tourist visitors. Eventually a couple parking lots were turned into a sort of square type thing, and labeled "Sundance Square Plaza".

When I lived in Fort Worth these type things puzzled me. There was so much to be puzzled by.

Like when, also in downtown Fort Worth, a totally lame little 'public market' was opened, called, if I remember right, "Sante Fe Public Market". It was touted to be modeled after other town's public markets, like Pike Place, in Seattle, and public markets in Europe.

It was also touted as being the first public market in Fort Worth.

Touted as such when, within walking distance, there was a historical marker marking the location of a still existing art deco style building, which had been a Fort Worth public market.

This type misinformation came to me via Fort Worth's ultra lame newspaper of record, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. A newspaper which apparently did not know that just a few miles to the east, in a town called Dallas, there was a HUGE public farmers market. Every time I had visitors from the Pacific Northwest, when I lived in DFW, I'd take them to the DFW highlights, including the Dallas Farmers Market.

And every time my PNW visitors to DFW would remark that the Dallas Farmers Market reminded them of Pike Place, only flatter.

Whilst living in the DFW zone I was routinely perplexed by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and that entity's tendency towards weird cheerleading type propaganda about this, that and the other thing in Fort Worth, including, for a while, a weird habit of touting some ordinary Fort Worth thing somehow making towns, far and wide, green with envy.

That which I took to calling Fort Worth's Green with Envy Syndrome, seemed to disappear after I made a webpage making mock of such with multiple instances of the syndrome.

Back to the Trinity River Vision, that also has long perplexed me. How is it that which seems to be a relatively simple project has so little so show for it after so many years?

During the 25 years since Fort Worth's embarrassing Boondoggle began, New York City totally rebuilt the area where the Twin Towers stood.

The town between Fort Worth and Dallas, Arlington, has built a new football stadium for the Dallas Cowboys, and a new ballpark next door to the football stadium, for the Texas Rangers.

Long after Fort Worth's Boondoggle began, and completed for years, Seattle dug a new transit tunnel under downtown, then tore down an elevated highway on the Seattle waterfront, then re-built the waterfront, which has now become Seattle's new HOT tourist attraction.

In the years Fort Worth struggled to build three little bridges over dry land, Tacoma turned America's biggest EPA superfund site into the multi-billion buck Point Ruston development. That is at the north end of Tacoma's waterfront. At the south end, Tacoma built the Thea Foss Waterway

So, there you go, my current thinking regarding Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision....

Monday Walmart Texas Heat Wave Refuge

In the photo documentation you are looking out my kitchen window at the outer world on this third Monday of the 2025 version of July.

Today the temperature forecast for my usual outdoor nature communing time of the day was one degree under 100.

So, I opted to do my nature communing in the air-conditioned comfort of Walmart.

I do not know why I bother checking the long-range weather forecast. It changes every day. Or so it seems.

Today's long-range forecast now has us chilling to an under 100 degree high, two days from now.

 Yesterday my upcoming happy birthday day in August was forecast to be well over 100. Today's forecast, for that day, is a chilly high of only 90, along with rain and thunderstorms.

Methinks this is being the HOTTEST summer I have experienced since being in Texas.

I do not remember the cold water getting as, well, HOT, as it currently is.

And, the swimming pool is worthless for cooling off purposes, unless one enjoys getting cooled by a warm bath...

Saturday Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle Log Jamming Again

On this third Saturday of the 2025 version of July it was back to shady Lucy Park I drove for some salubrious nature communing at a location where the leaves of trees provide some sun blockage and a slight cooling result.

Looking at today's long-range weather prediction for my Wichita Falls, Texas location, I see it has changed from yesterday, when the prediction was we'd get a break from 100-degree days, with a cold snap dropping the August 4 high to 99 degrees.

Yesterday's prediction had that one day cold snap followed by day after day over 100, in August.

But, today's changed prediction has the temperature dropping well below 100 on August 2 and continuing below 100 for most of the following August days.

A couple days ago I hiked the trail through the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle, til I came to a big trail blocking log jam.

Today I hiked the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle trail from the other entry, til I reached the trail blocking log jam.

The trail blocking log jam looks bigger from this side than it did from the other side. When I was on the other side I contemplated climbing over the log jam, but opted not to, thinking snakes and who knows what other critters might be lurking.

Seeing the log jam today, from the other side, I could see there is no way one would want to, or could, climb over it.

I hope a bulldozer arrives soon to clear out the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle's log jam. That trail is my favorite hot weather hiking location, when it is log jam-free...

HOT 101 Degree July Walk Around Sikes Lake

What you are looking at here is the third Friday of the 2025 version of July view from the rocky east shore of Sikes Lake.

With nary a cloud in the sky, just a slight white wisp which hardly qualifies as a cloud, you might accurately intuit that the outer world at my location is hot, with a little wave action on the lake indicating maybe a slight cooling wind was blowing whilst I walked around the lake.

Today is the first of what is predicting to be day after day over 100, with the first predicted day under 100 being a predicted high of 99 on August 4, with that cold front lasting just that one day, then going back over 100.

Here's screen cap of today and tomorrow's temperatures...

The current long-range forecast for the foreseeable future has the hottest day being the final day of July, hitting 109 on July 31.

How did people live in this climate before the invention of air-conditioning? 

HOT Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle Obstruction

Today, the third Thursday of the 2025 version of July, the outer world is predicted to get heated to a degree shy of 100 degrees, as measured by the Fahrenheit method.

The long-range current temperature prediction, day after day, starting tomorrow, is we will be being heated to over 100 degrees. Some days nearing 110 real degrees, feeling even hotter due to the humidity.

So, to enjoy this last semi-cool day before the heat waves hit, I opted to drive to Lucy Park, intending to hike the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle for the first time in months. I have stayed out of the jungle due to rain making the trail muddy, and then a flood making even a worse muddy mess.

I do not recollect the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle being so lushly overgrown, previously, as is currently the case. At some locations the vegetation made the trail so narrow one could not avoid being slapped by grass.

A few years ago I saw a huge snake near the location you see photo documented above. So, the excess vegetation had me being hyper vigilant looking out for snakes.

Once I got to where the trail was wider, with no blowing grass slapping me, I enjoyed hiking the jungle.

 I was about 3/4 of the way through the jungle when the trail ahead looked possibly problematic. You can sort of see the problem in the photo. We'll get a closer look.

A log jam blocking the trail. With no way around the blockage. Tall grass on the left and right. It did not look doable to climb over the log jam. This log jam must have developed during the flood a couple months ago. One would think this would have been cleared by now.

So, I had to backtrack, making for a way longer hike than I'd intended. It was fun though. I'd missed getting my endorphins the past couple days...

Remembering Oklahoma's Turner Falls Park

A Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day, which I do remember, and also remember that this memory could have happened on this day.

I know it was an extremely HOT summer day, near the start of the current century, or near the end of the previous century.

This photo was taken my first time visiting Turner Falls Park, in the Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma.

That is me on the left, Big Ed on the right. I think we are sitting on stone benches outside the structure known as the Castle of Turner Falls.

Using the search function on the blog, I entered "Turner Falls" and found out I have blogged multiple times about the Turner Falls location, with the most recent a blog post posted Friday, August 30, 2013, titled Pondering A Labor Day Weekend Visit To Turner Falls Park In Oklahoma With A Stop For Coffee At WinStar World Casino.

I see in the various blog posts I have links to webpages on my now long dead Eyes on Texas website. Ironically, whilst that website was still alive the Turner Falls Park pages, got the most hits and generated the most AdSense revenue.

I do not know how close I currently am to Turner Falls. Oklahoma is only about 20 miles to the north. Turner Falls is northeast of my current location. When I lived in the DFW zone Turner Falls was due north, and it was way more than 20 miles to the Oklahoma border.

I would not mind taking a day trip to Turner Falls. It has been several years now since I have seen any scenic mountain scenery....

Microsoft OneDrive Memory Of Gar The Texan At Booger Red's With A Buffalo Butt

The photo you see here showed up in my email this morning, purporting to be a Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day.

I do have some memory of what is in the photo.

Other than this photo was from a couple decades ago, my memory cannot be more precise as to something as specific as the day, or year, this particular memory occurred.

I may not remember when this photo was taken, but I do remember on the right that is the West Texas entity I took to referring to as Gar the Texan, due to his lazy laconic style and thick Texas drawl.

Sitting behind Gar the Texan, puffing on a cigarette, I believe that is Gar the Texan's German soon wife-to-be. If I remember right her name was Madaline or Madchen, or something similar.

The location of this photo was in Booger Red's Saloon, at the Buffalo Butt Bar. Or maybe it was having Buffalo Butt Beer at Booger Red's Saloon. 

This was a Fort Worth Stockyards hotspot at the time.

Figuring there was a good chance I may have blogged about Booger Red's and its Buffalo Butt association, previously, I entered "Buffalo Butt" into the blog's search function.

The first thing the search popped up was a blog post from 2017, with the same photo you see above, with my memory, at that point in time, not as faded as it now is.

The blog post was titled Throwback Thursday To Gar The Texan's Buffalo Butt Beer Swilling Smoking Hot German.

Reading that blog post, from 8 years ago, I see my writing skills have deteriorated. I'm not nearly as verbose in 2025.

Or as funny.

 I suppose such is a to be expected age-related malady...

Back To Sun Lakes Arizona

It does not happen often that the daily Microsoft OneDrive Memories from this Day emails are a memory I remember as possibly being from this day.

But, such may be the case with one of today's Memories from this Day.

Those are my feet, aimed at the swimming pool at the Sun Lakes clubhouse, a place I visited every morning whilst visiting my mom in Arizona.

July of 2019 was the last time I have been to Arizona, to visit my mom. I do not remember the exact dates. I suppose I could look at blog posts from July of 2019 and be able to determine if the above photo is precisely a memory from this particular day of July 11.

It does not seem possible that it has been six years since I was last in Arizona. I do remember that last flight to Arizona had me feeling like I never wanted to fly anywhere ever again.

Storms on the east coast made a 10 hour, give or take an hour or two, delay in flying out of D/FW. It was exhausting.

I did not make it to Phoenix til after midnight. With my mom insisting she be there, with my sister, to pick me up, when I finally arrived. I remember mom looked so totally exhausted....

Thursday Back HOT At Lucy Park Roller Blading

On this second Thursday of the 2025 version of July, it was back to shady Lucy Park I ventured, as evidenced by the photo documentation of the Lucy Park Suspension Bridge over the low flowing, slow moving Wichita River, for some much-needed nature communing and that behavior's endorphin acquisition result.

Upon arrival at Lucy Park my phone's temperature monitoring application indicated the temperature, as measured by the Fahrenheit method, was 90 degrees, with the humidity making it really feel like 99 degrees. There was no sufficient wind blowing to provide any cooling wind chill factor.

Today at Lucy Park I saw something I do not recollect seeing, previously, in Wichita Falls.

A roller blader.

A young female roller blader, rolling along fast, making doing so look easy.

Seeing such caused me to think that maybe taking up roller blading again might be fun.

The paved trails in this town, along with the mostly flat topography, would make for some fun rolling.

My old roller blades broke the first time I attempted to use them after moving to this town. I threw them away. I do not remember if I kept the roller blade elbow, knee and hand pads. 

Thunderstorms are on the local weather menu for the next several coming days. I hope with no flooding downpours...