Sikes Lake Tesla Cyber Truck Sighting

With this Happy Halloween last day of October being chilled to barely 60 degrees, it was to Sikes Lake I ventured this day before the start of November, for some nature communing.

Upon arrival at the Sikes Lake parking lot, I saw something I had not previously seen, in person, a Tesla Cyber Truck.

Upon seeing this I reacted thinking photos do not do justice to how totally weird this vehicle looks. Why did anyone think this was a good idea?

I looked in the window and saw two rather ordinary bucket seats, a rectangular steering wheel, and a big glass screen in the middle of the dashboard, which looked like a bad idea, way too big with sharp edges, like the vehicle's exterior.

I don't think this vehicle is going to become a big seller.

With no back window I am guessing that big screen in the middle of the dashboard serves as a rear view with a camera providing the image.

I would not like driving a vehicle without a rear window.

Changing the subject back to the weather.

Last night, right before midnight, the predicted thunderstorm arrived, for a short duration, with a slight downpour which left no noticeable precipitation remaining in the form of puddles by dawn's early light.

More precipitation and thunderstorming is on the menu for the next several days. An end to the drought would be nice...

Remembering Bobcat Cove Almost Getting Mauled In The Lotus Pose

Another Microsoft OneDrive Memory from this Day which I actually remember. And this memory did happen in the month of October. Which day in October, I have no idea. As for the year, it was either 1994 or 1995.

The location is Lake Powell.

That is me atop a red sandstone cliff, in the Lotus yoga pose, in a location we came to call Bobcat Cove. The first docking location on a four day houseboat float on Lake Powell. 

This docking location was erroneously named Bobcat Cove. It should have been called Cougar Cove. During the first night on Lake Powell, all the floaters, but me, slept on the roof of the houseboat. I slept inside.

The houseboat's sliding door was left open. In the middle of the night, I awoke to see the glowing eyes of a big cat. I let out a blood curdling scream which had the rooftop sleepers rush off the roof.

I was scorned for the bloodcurdling screaming. And it was suggested I imagined the big cat. Come morning, with sun illumination, cat tracks were clearly visible at the entry to the houseboat. Heartfelt apologies for doubting my veracity were forthcoming.

Here is photo documentation of the cat tracks.

At the point in time when I was nearly mauled by a giant cat I had never seen an actual bobcat. It was not til experiencing Texas that I had actual bobcat encounters. And thus realized bobcats are much smaller than that big cat that came onboard the houseboat.

And so, Bobcat Cove should be renamed Cougar Cove, or Panther Cover, or Mountain Lion Cove...

Rocking & Rolling With The Lake Wichita Wind

The weather forecast for Wichita Falls on this final Tuesday of the 2024 version of October predicted "Winds gusting past 50 mph; very warm with times of clouds and sun; strong winds and dry conditions can lead to an elevated fire risk and blowing dust."

So, what with a strong wind predicted, I thought heading to the Lake Wichita Dam and walking the Circle Trail across the dam, and out onto the Lake Wichita Boardwalk, and floating fishing dock might be fun.

Well, it was more fun than I anticipated. To walk one had to lean into the wind, walking vertical was not possible.

The photo documentation of the floating dock does not do justice to depicting how strong the wind was blowing.

The pimple you see on the horizon, at the far side of the lake, is Mount Wichita. I suspect climbing to the summit of Mount Wichita today would be a bit treacherous.

Just walking out on the Lake Wichita floating fishing dock proved to be a bit treacherous.

Above we are on the dock, wet from splashing waves, me getting splashed a time or two.

I do not recollect being on such a rocking floating venue since years ago on the Port Townsend ferry, from Port Townsend back to Whidbey Island. A big tidal change and strong wind made for a rough ferry crossing, so strong it was borderline impossible to walk.

The rocking and rolling Lake Wichita floating fishing dock was not rocking strong enough to render walking difficult.

As I made my way off the dock, back to the mainland, a couple teenage boys arrived, with fishing poles. Their fishing attempt did not last too long.

I suppose today's strong wind is part of the weather change which is coming, supposedly with rain.

I cannot remember when last I saw a raindrop drip...

Soon To Be Likely Wetter Than Normal In Wichita Falls

Forecast forecasting the possible incoming rain in a couple days.

The area in the darker green apparently is predicted to get the wettest, as in 'LIKELY WETTER THAN NORMAL', including drought-stricken Wichita Falls.

I can not remember when last any rain dripped on my location. I think we have been dry all of October.

This month we had one short bout of fall-like cool weather, followed by the return of summer-like HOT weather.

I am looking forward to being cool way more than I remember any time previous...

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...