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.

Wichita Falls Hamilton Park Rainy No Kings Protest 2.0

By the time I arrived at Hamilton Park for the No Kings Protest the HUGE Hamilton Park parking lot was full.

I did not bring an umbrella with me, as the rain had ceased raining by the time I left my abode. But, rain had again begun raining by the time I reached Hamilton Park.

Not wanting to get rain soaked my No Kings Protest consisted of a couple drive-bys, snapping photos through my window. With the result being I was only able to photo document a little of the protesting crowd.

I do not know why No Kings Protest 2.0 was switched to Hamilton Park from the No Kings Protest 1.0, which took place in downtown Wichita Falls. 

That protest, last July, saw a lot of protesting action in the form of people driving by, honking their horns. Such drive-by horn honking protest action is not possible at the Hamilton Park location.

My arrival was early in today's 2-hour protest time. With the crowd already noticeably, significantly larger than the July downtown protest crowd.

Had the inclement weather not kept some protestors from protesting, I don't know where they would have parked had they opted to brave the rain and occasional lightning strikes.

Wichita Falls Thunderstorming For No Kings Protest 2.0

An hour, or so, after daybreak broke on this third Saturday morning of the 2025 version of October, a violent thunderstorm arrived, along with heavy rain and wind gusts, as you can see via the photo documentation of the view from my kitchen window.

Well, you can sort of see the heavy rain, but not the wind gusts.

When daybreak did break this morning, I looked out my bedroom window and saw extremely dark clouds, with lightning strikes, in the distance. So distant I heard no thunder, at that point in time.

The menacing looking dark clouds were to the south, over the next county in that direction, known as Archer County.

Yesterday I saw no weather forecasts forecasting any storm action.

It is an hour and a half til the start of the Wichita Falls version of No Kings Protest 2.0. 

The weather forecast is currently now forecasting storm action during the protest time frame.

The Wichita Falls version of No Kings Protest 1.0, took place in downtown Wichita Falls and featured a surprising, to me, large crowd. Along with a lot of people driving by showing support via horn honking.

Today's Wichita Falls No Kings Protest 2.0 is taking place less than a mile north of my home location.

In Hamilton Park.

Hamilton Park is accessed via Hamilton Boulevard.

Hamiliton Boulevard is one of the roads in the Wichita Falls area I have long referred to as the Beverly Hill of Wichita Falls. Due to so many giant mansions with massive yards.

I'm thinking my participation in No Kings Protest 2.0 is now weather dependent. I rather enjoyed the previous No Kings Protest, back in July. Today's is predicted to be larger.

We shall see....