Sunday Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle Hike With Tyrannosaurus Rex

 On this first Sunday of 2025's November, it was to Lucy Park I ventured for some salubrious nature communing gained via joining the throngs, well, three other people, hiking the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle.

Before entering the Backwoods Jungle I stopped to admire and photo document the Lucy Park archeological site.

No signage informs the observer which creature's remains the observer is observing.

Methinks it looks like it may be the remains of a T-rex.

Let's see if I can spell the full name without getting red flagged.

Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Spelled correctly on almost the first try. I was missing an 'n'.

Continuing on from the Lucy Park archeological site I soon entered the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle.

The Wichita River is looking peaceful and serene as it flows through the jungle. This location is near where I encountered the biggest snake I have ever come across whilst in the outer world. That was several years ago.

Currently it is too cold for snakes to be slithering. A few weeks ago, when the outer world was heated closer to 100 than freezing I would have been vigilantly on the lookout for snakes as I made my way through the dense jungle.

Returning to Standard Time has caused me some confusion. Every six months I have trouble remembering how to change the time on some of my devices. I am grateful for the devices which can change the time without any input from me, like my phone, the TV, and the computer.

It is almost noon, Standard Time. My stomach is still on Daylight Savings Time, thus hungry. This calls for an early lunch today...

First November Nature Communing Around Peaceful Sikes Lake

It was to dead calm Sikes Lake I ventured on this first day of the 2025 version of November, for some much-needed salubrious nature communing, after last night's exhausting Halloween debauchery.

The photo documentation view is looking southwest from the rocky east shore of my favorite neighborhood lake.

My other neighborhood lake, Weeks Lake, is too small to be considered for favorite status. Weeks Lake does have a paved trail around it, with an offshoot trail which heads up a slight bluff, terminating at a gazebo, with a view of the lake.

I have never used the Weeks Lake trail for salubrious nature communing. I have used the Weeks Lake gazebo for peaceful contemplation purposes, a time or two.

27 days til I don't bake a turkey for Thanksgiving. I decided this morning I am not going to go through that whole regular ritual with all the trimmings. 

I think I'll have pizza, or some similar favored food item.

Happy Halloween From Disneyland With Goofy, Cade and Cambri June

I had my phone muted til a couple minutes ago. When I un-muted it I saw I had an incoming text message, with photo documentation, sent from a California town called Anaheim, and a specific location called Disneyland.

The text message...

"Took the grandkids to Disneyland for a few days. Too much fun!!!"

And the photo documentation is that which you see above.

Left to right, my absolutely favorite brother-in-law, Jack, standing next to his first wife, my second youngest sister, Jackie. 

Goofy is standing next to Jackie. We aren't related.

Then we have my one and only niece-in-law, Carissa, holding baby Cambri June, who can't be more than four months old. That would make that Carissa's first husband, my no longer little nephew, Christoper, holding his first born, Cade Christopher Weston.

Are there any Disneyland rides geared for little babies that are months from being able to walk? 

Seeing this has me realizing it has been almost 30 years since I have been to Disneyland. Christmas day, 1995. Stayed til closing time. Was so exhausted by the end of that day at Disneyland. 

Seeing a photo of little Cade is a tad startling. Cade looks just like his dad looked when he was a little kid. Cade's dad was such a fun little kid. The memories seem so recent, but they are decades old.

I wonder if the reason the Westons are in the Los Angeles zone is because they thought they might be going to a World Series game.

I remember the last time the Mariners had a real good season it was in the 1990s. They played in the now long-gone Kingdome. I remember watching one of those games from the McDonald's luxury suite, high up in the Kingdome.

This memory came up recently, with me not able to remember how I got to the Kingdome that day. Was it my sister or my brother-in-law who guided me to the McDonald's suite? Had to have been one of them, or both.

Anyway, Happy Halloween, everyone!

Strong Wind Blows Me To Lucy Park For Chilly Nature Communing

At my Texas location on the planet the wind has been busy blowing hard the last two days, with gusts nearing 50 miles per hour.

I am just about 100% this particular wind gusting has nothing to do with that super powerful Melissa Hurricane which is wreaking havoc a few miles to the east and south of my location.

It was to Lucy Park I opted to venture for some nature communing and endorphin acquisition and dodging blowing debris.

As you can see via the photo documentation of the Lucy Park suspension bridge over the Wichita River, the leaves have only barely began to lose their green color. That green color may start rapidly departing after tonight, as the first freeze of the freezing season is predicted for the next couple nights.

The wind chill today had me out of shorts and in sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt for the first time in many months. Seems weird to go so rapidly from being in the 90s a couple days ago, to freezing tonight.

The route to Lucy Park takes me by MSU (Midwestern State University). I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to see the annual MSU Christmas display is already arriving. I forget the formal name of this HUGE installation. I think it is Burns something or other.

We have not even arrived at Halloween yet. Why is Christmas arriving so soon?

Nature Communing On Lake Wichita Dam Whilst Staying Off The Dam's Hazardous Spillway

With the weather forecast forecasting thunderstorms and heavy rain for this next to last Friday of the 2025 version of October, it was to Lake Wichita Dam I ventured for some salubrious outdoor nature communing and potential lightning strike dodging whilst totally exposed to such on the Circle Trail on top of the dam.

But, no lightning struck, or could be seen striking in any direction. And nary a drop of rain dripped whilst I was out and about, exposed to the elements.

In the photo above I am about to walk out on the Lake Wichita Boardwalk. This is an extremely nice addition to the lake, which was added a couple years ago.

And now we are at the end of the boardwalk, looking northwest at the Mount Wichita pseudo volcano, in the distance.

It has been a few years, I think pre-COVID, when last I trekked to the summit of Mount Wichita. The trek had seemed to have become a tad treacherous, so not wanting to twist an ankle, or worse, I terminated doing any local mountain climbing.

The bizarre sign you see above has been added since last I visited this location, where a spur off the Circle Trail leads to overlooking the Lake Wichita dam's spillway.

The bizarre sign says...

DANGER!
HAZARDOUS RECIRCULATING

CURRENTS BELOW THIS DAM

CAN TRAP AND DROWN A VICTIM

So, why would I say that this sign is a bit bizarre. Well. It has been years, maybe also not since pre-COVID, that I have seen Lake Wichita at a high enough level that water was spilling over the spillway.

There may have been a time or two in the past several years where enough rain fell to cause some water to spill over the spillway for a short period, but not long enough to drown the vegetation that has grown thick near the dam's spillway.

And certainly not at a level to present any sort of danger to anyone foolish enough to climb out on the dam's spillway that was currently spilling water.

We are no past noon. And still not even a hint of anything stormy....

Sunny Semi-Chilly October Wednesday Sikes Lake Walk Around

The outer world temperature at my North Texas location dropped into the 40s, last night, as measured by the Fahrenheit method.  Thus, I found need of a thin blanket in the middle of the night.

The big chill has not cooled the running water which runs into my abode enough to make a cold shower need some hot water added.

An hour and a half before noon, on this next to last Wednesday of the 2025 version of October, the temperature had risen to 70 degrees, again as measured by that aforementioned Fahrenheit method.

Which made for a pleasant, sunny, semi-cool walk around Sikes Lake, which you see photo documented above, from the lake's rocky east shore, looking slightly southwest.

The next few days are predicted to be stormy, with the storms in the form of rain and thunderstorms.

And continued semi-chilly temperatures

Windy Shadow of The Lucy Park Thin Man Hiking Backwoods Jungle

 

It was to Lucy Park I ventured this next to last Monday of the 2025 version of October, for some extremely breezy nature communing, with wind gusts nearing 50 mph at times.

You can sort of see my shorts are being wind whipped, via the above photo documentation of the Shadow of the Lucy Park Thin Man.

For many months now I have not been able to hike the trail around the Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle, because the last time the Wichita River went into flood mode it left behind a big log jam on top of the trail, with extremely tall grass preventing walking around the log jam.

One does not make their way through extremely tall grass in a place where one has seen extremely big snakes.

Today, when I saw the tall grass had been mowed, I was optimistic the log jam had been removed. But, as you can see via the photo below, the log jam is still jamming the original Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle trail.

But, what you cannot see in the photo of the log jam is that a new trail has been blazed, around the log jam. 

So, for the first time in a long time I was able to hike the entire Lucy Park Backwoods Jungle. This pleased me greatly.

I can tell I acquired a lot of endorphins today....

Continuing Bad Beto Wichita Falls Times Record News Experience With NO KINGS Protest Info

This morning when I clicked on the link to the Wichita Falls Times Record News to do my regular morning click on the link to AccuWeather to see what Mother Nature has in store for me for the day, I also scanned through the news headlines.

I scanned through the news headlines because I wanted to see if this town's sad excuse for a newspaper had an article about yesterday's large turnout in Hamilton Park for the NO KINGS Protest.

Nope. Nary a word.

I cancelled my online subscription to this sad excuse for a newspaper months ago. At that point in time I took the comment opportunity to comment that among the many reasons I was cancelling, one of the primary reasons was that for months the list of Top Headlines one sees on the Times Record News home page is "Why did Beto O'Rourke speak in Wichita Falls?".

Back when my subscription was still active, enabling me to click on a headline link, doing so on the Why did Beto O'Rourke speak in Wichita Falls? link opened a page on which there was little information, including no answer to that extremely important question asking why Beto spoke in this town.

As you can see, via the screen cap of today's Times Record News, that vital Beto question is still being asked.

Particularly galling is that note, under the Top Headlines, inside a blue lined rectangle, saying, "We're always working to improve your experience. Let us know what you think."

I let them know what I thought about my experience months ago, but I am still waiting for my experience to be improved.

I never see the hard copy version of this town's sad excuse for a newspaper. Is it any better than the online version? Does the hard copy version repeat that Beto headline day after day after month after month, like the online version does?

I would hope not....

My Old Burlington Washington Hometown NO KING Protest Today

As more and more info comes in about today's NO KINGS Protests 2.0 it is looking like this is shaping up to be an historical event of the rare sort.

I do not remember protests, previously, world-wide, in support of America, in a time of America being in dire need of support.

I don't know if America has ever been at this level of dire support need before, of the current sort, except for, maybe, the Civil War, long ago.

The above image I screen capped from Facebook, moments ago. Today's scene in my old hometown of Burlington, Washington.

A small town. Only about 3,000 in population when I was a resident. Currently closer to 10,000. 

Burlingtonians turned out, on both sides of the town's biggest road, now known as Burlington Boulevard, previously known as Highway 99, before Interstate 5 arrived in the 1960s, a short distance to the west.

The Skagit Breaking Facebook post from which I screen capped the above photo was a video. The video was well done and showed how HUGE the turnout was in Burlington. I can share the Facebook post, on Facebook, but not copy the video to this blog post.

I wish today's NO KINGS Protest in Wichita Falls was as well done, and lively, as I am seeing elsewhere in America, and all over the world....

No Kings At Nephew Jason's Anacortes Washington Fidalgo Drive-In

 Just arrived, email from my Favorite Nephew, Jason, subject "No Kings at Fidalgo Drive-In".

Email included a video, which required enabling something called a Google Drive, or some such thing.

I then made the above screen cap from the video.

There was a lot of horn honking in the video, unlike the no horns honking at the Wichita Falls No Kings Protest I briefly attended a couple hours ago. Set in a park, not on a street.

The Fidalgo Drive-In is in Anacortes, with the main drag, the road which the Fidalgo Drive-In is on, called Commerical Avenue, if I am remembering correctly.

A great location for a protest march, unlike having such in a park.

I've also now seen a video of the No Kings Protest in my other favorite Texas town, Fort Worth. It  was/is HUGE.

From what I have seen most of these protests have been in protest march mode. not stationary, like the one in the town I am in.

Including the HUGE protest marches I've seen photo documented in other countries.

The No Kings Protest 2.0 appears to be historically HUGE, world-wide. Being optimistic, and likely naive, maybe this will be the turning point which heads us back to America being normal again, rather than seeming to be run by lunatics from an insane asylum.