Christmastime at the Fort (Part 2)

Thanx to a rare early December ice storm, it's looking more like Christmastime at the Fort. . .

All those LEDs glowing against the ice

From the driveway

The wreath had a light layer of ice on it too, as did all the bricks above the garage doors

Closeup of the lights reflecting in the ornaments hanging from the big tree

Looking towards the glow of the bushes

There's a sidewalk under here somewhere. Sleet/ice sheet was about an inch think in most places.

Bottoms of the bushes were buried

The lights made for some intriuging shadows against the ice

Up against the house, the sleet/ice drift was closer to 6 inches

Mr. Peabody standing knee deep in sleet/ice

Icebound Commute Home

Four hours earlier, I was in Philly where it was dry and 50 degrees. Get back home to find it's 26 and everything is covered with an inch of ice. Something doesn't sound right with that.

Getting out of the Remote North Parking lot ended up being the easy part as what normally takes 45 min to get between the airport and north to Denton/Fort Marcinko -- took every bit of 3 1/2 hours. Roads went from slick to rough/rutted/ice holed with no warning. Never saw any evidence that anybody had thrown down sand or salt. And never went more than a couple of miles without seeing (at least) one car in the ditch or a spun-out big-rig. Nearly fishtailed off at least a dozen times myself.

Good times

DFW Remote North parking lot was completely iced over

And walking up to the car -- this was the exact point when I realized how much this was really gonna suck. My ice scraper is in the trunk, but the ice has frozen it shut. . .

About 1/4 inch of ice built up on the rear window. Took about 10 minutes to scrape off this much with my handy dandy emergency window breaker tool.

Accumulation was much heavier on the northern facing side of the car

And for some reason, even more so on the northwest side as it kept me from being able to get my driverside door open. Was able to get in from the passengerside (thankfully).

Yea, a little too much for the defogger to handle

Parking lot lights through the driverside door window

Obligatory foot on the ice shot

An hour later, finally had a hole scrapped out in the front window ice

The Remote North bus drivers should be getting quadruple pay tonight

Christmastime at the Fort

Got into the sprit a little early this year. . . Only 28 days to go. . .

Looking at the house from the sidewalk

Last year, only had the flood lights, multi color strings, and a few red lights leading up to Mr. Peabody. Everything else is new for the 2013 season.

From a little farther down the sidewalk

Several thousand LEDs seem to give the front yard a nice warm glow on a cold night

Really happy with how the front tree turned out, but didn't have enough warm white strings to finish it out. That'll be next year's addition to the display.

Closeup from the street

From the driveway

Wreath over the garage is new for this year as well

As is the 18 foot of garland and white lights around the front door. Also changed out the multi color string from the door wreath to match.

Reflections in the storm door

Mr. Peabody still standing guard

Looking out towards the street from the front door

Also put the Christmas tree up in the front room where it can also be seen from the street.

Jordan Park Trail Hike

Spent a few hours at Lake Ray Roberts State Park exploring the "off the beaten path" Jordan Park Trail.

Walked 3.68 miles up the Jordan Park Trail and back, starting at Lantana Lodge

Heading south down the trail would (eventually) end up back at the Elm Fork Trail, the Lake Ray Roberts dam, the Isle du Bois Unit of the State Park, and the Greenbelt Trail

Hot day and a very sandy trail made it a slow go

The woods are thick and (I'm guessing) are probably hiding more than a few critters who just sit back and watching all the park visitors who wander by

But as this was the middle of the afternoon on a hot day, the shade was a welcome sight

A side trail branched out to the lake, probably so the horseback riders could care to their thirsty horses. This stretch of the shoreline was somewhat remote with very few signs of human activity. (Other than a handful of garbage that appeared to have washed ashore).

Panoramic view of the shoreline. Probably due to the isolation of the area, I think this was the clearest water I've ever seen at Lake Ray Roberts. Very little sediment in floating about. Ended up walking out about 50 feet where it was perhaps 2 feet deep and could still see my feet on the bottom. Doesn't sound that good. But very rare for North Texas Lakes.

This stretch also oddly didn't have that "fishy" smell usually common to North Texas lakes

Looking northeast up the red dirt shoreline

Couple of years of Texas drought has put a serious dent in the Lake. Easy to tell where it would be if at 'normal' levels. The circling vultures seemed to add to the perception of desolation

A long dead oak stands along the receded shoreline

More out in the water. All predate the flooding of the Lake back in the early '80s

Little farther up the shoreline, water erosion has washed away the sand and soil exposing the natural rocks. A herd of six deer (not shown) darted off from the trees behind us (also not shown) as soon as we cleared this stretch. I figure we were within 50 feet of them at one point and had no idea they were there.

Natural grasses have taken over the exposed lakebed

Mayflies were all over the shoreline. But for whatever reason, this stretch was swarming with them.

Getting hot and running low on drinking water. Time to turn around and head back