Sunrise, Moonset

Donna and I continue to be lazy. We just don't enjoy getting out and about too much when it is 100+ degrees. Add to that the extremely dry conditions we are currently experiencing in the Concho Valley, and it is a bit depressing. And on top of that, it seems the wind wants to blow 25 mph day after day.

So, we tend to stay home more than we want.

But we do get out some.

Yesterday, we saw the latest installment of the Jurassic movies. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is now making the rounds of movie theaters across the country. As with all of its predecessors, there is plenty of nonstop action. I won't go into details. If you have liked the previous 4 Jurassic movies, you'll enjoy this one.

I continue my walking. I get out early each morning and try to get in 5+ miles 5 or 6 days each week. My walks take about 1.5 hours, and even though I want to be lazy and just stay home sometimes, I find myself missing the walks when I don't take them. There are about 20 or more folks in our neighborhood that walk regularly, and I enjoy seeing them each day. Most of them only do a mile or so, but there are a few who do 3 to 5 miles. And of course, there are health benefits to walking, including lower cholesterol numbers, improved heart functions, and just overall well being.

This morning, the full moon was just setting in the west as I came out the door shortly before 6. After dodging the paper carrier who seems to be on a mission to run over me each day, I snapped the shot below, then started my walk. About an hour or so later, I was rewarded with the next photo of the sun rising in the east.

The moon, lower left, at 5:45 or so this morning. I like the contrast with the street lamp at upper right.

About 20 or 30 minutes, I snapped this shot of the moon surrounded by 3 street lamps. The moon is the second from the right. Notice the bench at bottom of street lamp on right.

And about 30 minutes later, I caught this shot of the sun rising between 2 pine trees. We have benches such as the one in this photo and the photo above located all around the neighborhood. Old people out walking often have to stop and rest frequently.

Cabin Fever

It doesn't take long for Donna and me to get restless. As a rule, we try to take some kind of trip every month. Our trips may be for only 2 or 3 nights, and they may be to places fairly close, but as long as we change things up, we stay happy. However, it has now been about 2 months since our last trip and we are beginning to get cabin fever.

Actually, I'm more a creature of routine than Donna. I can do the same thing day after day without getting too bored. Donna is much more restless than I. When she gets that look in her eye, I know its time to plan a trip or my life is about to become miserable.

She has that look now.

I don't know how, but we've allowed things to get in the way of our travels. We've even had to cancel a trip or two. That's not good.

So, lately our days are spent walking, visiting the local farmer's market, and taking an occasional drive around town. Yeah, we've seen a movie or two, been to a concert or similar performance, and have eaten at our favorite places around town. But its time to do something different. And we would really like to get someplace where it is a bit cooler, and it would be great to see some of that wet stuff we've heard falls from the skies from time to time.

If we don't do something soon, I'm afraid powder keg Donna will explode.

I'll leave you with some recent pictures taken around our little neighborhood.

Normally, we don't see turkeys in our neighborhood during the summer, but they have made themselves known here lately. I don't know where they normally stay in the summer, but the drought may be forcing them to stay close to water sources here in the subdivision.

Recently, we had a number of cumulus clouds in the sky overhead. All of the pictures below were taken of different areas of the sky within a minute or two of each other. We never tire of watching the sky out here. It changes constantly. Both of us grew up in East Texas, a land where the sky is not visible because of all the trees. This is a nice change.

Love that beautiful blue sky with the scattered cotton balls.

Looking south, the clouds appear to multiply and fill the sky.

I think these are technically called stratocumulus clouds. Notice how they seem to be thicker.

And I had to include another picture of a skunk. Although I hate that these little rascals have invaded our subdivision, I have to admit that they are rather pretty creatures.

Lorrie Morgan

Donna and I attended the Lorrie Morgan concert this past Saturday night. We enjoyed the performance.

The show started promptly with about a 40 to 45 minute set by Jesse Keith Whitley, son of Lorrie Morgan and Keith Whitley. If you follow country music, you'll know that Keith Whitley is something of a country music legend, having recorded very few songs in his brief career but earning several hits. He died as the result of alcohol poisoning in 1989.

Lorrie Morgan is the daughter of George Morgan, a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He has the distinct privilege of being the last person to sing on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium before the Grand Ole Opry moved to its new location. He then was the first person to perform on stage of the new Grand Ole Opry House.

So, Jesse Keith Whitley has quite a bit of musical legacy coming his way from his father and grandfather. He played several songs over his solo set.

But the real show began when Lorrie Morgan appeared on stage. Morgan has enjoyed a string of hits over the years, and she played most during her performance in Angelo. Her set began about 9:00 and ran nonstop until about 10:30 or so. Her voice is still strong and rock solid, and she is supported by 5 talented musicians: a keyboardist, lead guitar, drummer, acoustic rhythm guitar, and bass guitar. Her son appeared on stage for 2 or 3 songs during Morgan's set.

Morgan on stage with her band. The white spotlight seems to wash her out.

I zoomed in for this closeup of Morgan, but again, she is washed out by the spotlight. It doesn't help, I guess, that she is very fair skinned and her hair is very blonde.

Doing Nearly Nothing

Ah, the slow and lazy days of summer are upon us. We don't do much during the summer except try to stay cool, especially when the daily temps approach 100, and sometimes exceed that. We don't even like to travel much during summer unless it is to cooler climes, like the mountains.

We've just about completed all of our medical appointments. Everything looks pretty good considering our ages. Donna has a final appointment Monday, then she has a couple of other appointments approaching, just routine updates.

Tonight, we go to a Lorrie Morgan concert at the San Angelo Performing Arts Campus. It should be a fun night. This past Thursday, we attended a dinner at the clubhouse in our subdivision and enjoyed music by the Divas, a local group of ladies who have attained a solid following in the community. They describe themselves as "a collaboration of solo artists whose sum is greater than its parts!" It was fun to visit with our neighbors, eat some good food, and enjoy the music of these lovely ladies.

Aside from that, we've not been doing much. We both continue to walk quite a bit. Donna has increased her mileage and is now doing 6 or more miles almost daily. I still do a paltry 5 to 6 miles, but I walk more frequently than the old woman. However, I can't keep pace with her. Those short legs are a blur. Around the community, she is known as "Flash". The other day, she passed an old man and her draft knocked him down. Luckily, I was there to help him up.

We seem to be having more animals coming into the subdivision. I suppose it is a result of the drought conditions. We are bordered by an FM highway to our east and a US highway to our south. The other sides of our subdivision border ranch land. I guess animals creep in to Rio Concho West for water, the soft green grass, and other reasons. We are accustomed to sharing our space with turkeys and deer, but the ring tail cats and other critters are a bit new for us. I am alarmed by the number of skunks we have roaming about. I see at least one skunk on almost every walk. I shared my picture of a possum in a recent post. On a recent walk, I came across a snake. It was still fairly dark, but I saw a shape in a driveway. I put my flashlight on it and saw a snake of perhaps 2 feet. It was too dark for me to ID it, and I'm not good with snakes anyway. I've killed 2 rattlers in our subdivision before -- one in my yard and another for an older man on his front porch. So, this is not that unusual. Still, it's a might unsettling.

I'll leave you with my poor pictures of my recent snake encounter.

This is more or less what I saw in the dark as I approached the snake. You can see my shadow at left in the dim glow of a nearby street light.

I held my flashlight in my mouth to get this partial shot of the snake.

So, if you don't hear from me again, you'll know the savage animals here at RCW have cornered me and put me to rest.

Keeping Appointments

We're about halfway through the two weeks of medical visits we had scheduled. So far, I've come through looking pretty fit, but the old woman is having to make a few extra visits. Yeah, her life of debauchery is catching up with her at long last. I think we can fix her, though.

Both of us are ready to take a trip some where. We haven't been anywhere in about a month and a half now; that's a bit long for us.

It continues to be hot and dry out here. The grass is drying out around our house. If the 100+ degree heat isn't enough to dry it out, those hot, blistering winds surely are. But that's life in West Texas.

We continue to walk early in the morning. The critters are really taking over out here. This morning, I had just started up our street when a ring tail cat crossed in front of me and darted between some houses. A little later, I saw several deer grazing along the edge of our subdivision, and a skunk was doing its daily patrol along some houses near the entrance. The skunks are a daily sight now, and that bothers me because of their susceptibility to rabies. I suppose the dry conditions are causing the animals to come in where there is some soft grass to graze and some puddles of water from the sprinkler systems. I've even seen some jack rabbits bounding about the place lately.

I'll leave you with 2 grainy pictures of critters. The quality is poor because I took the shots with my phone camera, and the hour is still early and the light not good.

Stay cool!

This possum made himself at home at someone's back door. 

Skunk patrol

We're Keeping Cool

The heat wave continues out here. We did have a slight reprieve on Sunday and Monday when the highs were only in the mid-90s. Otherwise, we've pretty much stayed with triple digit temps, including a reading of 107 one day.

The heat is certainly taking its toll on the grass and plants. It's taking its toll on us, too. We are not going out and sitting on our patio very much. The heat is really oppressive right now. We'll go out during the afternoon to water the plants on our patio and to see what activity is going on in the neighborhood, but we don't stay out long. We usually go back out right before bedtime, when the evening has cooled things off. Even the early mornings are hot, with night lows sometimes hovering around the 80s. I much prefer walking in the morning when it is 65 or so.

We did get out to San Angelo State Park early one morning, around 6:15 or so. We did our regular 5 mile route out there, and it was pleasant enough. Fortunately, there was a cloud cover, so the sun never really emerged to cook us. We were finished with our walk by 8:00.

To change course a bit here . . . .

I've always been intrigued by how light plays upon natural features. I've posted such pictures over the years. The mountainous desert terrain is one of the best places to observe this. Depending on the time of day and the angle and amount of sunlight available, the same place can take on quite different looks.

For example, note the picture below I snapped of the Colorado River in Laughlin, NV, about 3 years ago. I love how the setting sun lights up the top of the Arizona mountains, while the rest of the landscape is bathed in shade.

The sun sets on the Colorado River in Laughlin, NV.

A few entries ago, I shared some shots of the full moon rising early so that the rooftops of homes were still bathed in sunlight. The other night some clouds were moving through to our south. We didn't get any rain from the movements, but I did enjoy the play of light and dark upon the clouds. Here are some of those pictures.

This view looks southeast, so the sun was behind me, probably just barely above the western horizon.

I zoomed in for this shot of the clouds only.

This shot is from our walk in the park early in the morning. There is a cloud cover above, and the sun has just begun peaking above the horizon in the east. You can see a bit of the lake in the center.

A Couple of Busy Weeks

As a retired guy, I enjoy my freedom. I hate when something horns in on my schedule. After all, I have a lot of nothing to do, and I don't want anything to interrupt my quality loafing time.

As a result, the next two weeks really have me upset. We have lots of medical appointments upcoming. We try to schedule everything at the same time so that we can be done with everything. That way, it is easier to schedule trips and other fun things.

We start the week on Monday with lab work. Later that same day, Donna sees one of her specialists for a test. Donna has another appointment on Wednesday, and we both see our family doctor on Friday. The following Wednesday I see my rheumatologist. We finish the following Monday when Donna has her final appointment. We are then more or less finished with doctors for another 6 months with one or two exceptions.

We seem to be doing well as regards health. Donna especially is doing fine. She's kind of ageless. We see our family doctor together, and he always compliments Donna on the fine shape she is in. Then he turns to me and asks if I have all my affairs in order and if I've made peace with my Maker.

We have some other events coming up soon as well, such as a Lorrie Morgan concert at the San Angelo Performing Arts Campus and a nice dinner at the clubhouse. With hot summer weather on us now, we are thinking about making a run to the mountains to cool off.

I'll leave you with a few pictures I took on recent walks. The quality is not all that good because of the early morning light. Also, I forget to take my real camera when I walk, so I end up using my phone camera instead; I find that it just doesn't zoom as well as my regular camera.

I like this contrast picture. It shows the moon setting in the west in the early morning light. It's still fairly dark out, as evidenced by the street lamp being on. The full moon this month has been beautiful! I also like the glow on the tree from the street light.

I caught this pair of stinkers (extreme left and extreme right) about 6:30 AM a couple of days ago. We really have a skunk infestation here.

Here's another shot of the skunks I took once I got past them. Notice how close they are to houses.

After lunch on Thursday, we drove through Spring Creek Park on Lake Nasworthy and spotted these deer grazing in the edge of the timber.

I don't know what this plant is, but I love the rich vibrant color. It is growing beside a home on my walking route.