Sometimes I Think We Live in a Zoo

Although Donna and I both suffer restless foot syndrome and are always looking at the greener grass on the other side of the fence, I'm really pretty happy living at Rio Concho West. It's a relatively quiet place, full of some very good and friendly people. One of the things I love most about this place is the wildlife.

If you've read much of my blog, then you've seen the pictures of the animals spotted running about our little bit of paradise. This morning, I really had an interesting walk; I just wish I had taken my real camera with me rather than just my phone camera. The zoom on my Samsung just really doesn't bring things into focus as I would like. Now, I'll be the first to admit that most of the problem is probably due to the one snapping the pics, but my real camera does a better job for a photography challenged person such as myself.

For quite a while now, I've spotted some of our crazy turkeys roosting on power lines just up the street, but it was usually too dark to get a good photo. This morning, my timing was good, and I caught several of the goofy birds perched atop the lines behind a neighbor's house.

Yep, those are turkeys perched atop those lines behind a patriotic neighbor's house.

Word around the zoo -- er, neighborhood, I mean -- is that we have some javelinas roaming the territory. Now, to be honest, I really don't know the difference between a peccary (javelina) and a feral hog, and I doubt many folks do, even if they profess that they do. So it may be that we just have some feral hogs scooting about the neighborhood. Donna had seen a small group of 3 a couple of weeks ago, and Dave, our walking associate, has seen some as well. Well, this morning, I saw 3 of the rascals just a couple of houses down from the roosting turkeys. I snapped 3 photos, but only 1 turned out well enough to post. Heck, in 1 picture, I only caught a tree. So much for failing eyes.

Javelina or hog? This fellow is rather small, so it may be the former.

Not long after that, I came across several deer between some houses, but they were too far away to get a decent picture. And about a mile later, I came across 2 rogue turkeys trying to break into a house.

Help! Turkeys are at the door.

In the past, I've shown pictures of deer, ring tail cats, skunks, a possum, and even a snake. It surely does look like we live in some type of zoo or animal park. Makes life interesting for people like Donna and me who enjoy watching wildlife.

I'll leave you with a picture of the moon setting just after full sunrise this morning.

Moon over Rio Concho West about 8:00 AM today.

Life is good . . .

Autumn Walk in the Park

During our long rainy spell, we were unable to get out much. Now that the rains have moved on, I've resumed my walks, mostly in the neighborhood. But Tuesday afternoon, Donna and I went out to San Angelo State Park for a 5 mile walk.

It was an overcast day, perfect for walking. Donna wore a light jacket, which she shed halfway into the walk, and I wore long sleeves, which I eventually rolled up.

As we approached the entrance gate, we saw a large number of vehicles in a parking area just off the road. At the gate, we learned this was a geology class from ASU (Angelo State University) that was visiting a couple of areas in the park. It's great that the university is taking advantage of this wonderful resource available to them.

I just love this open country, with its rugged scenery, buttes, and hills. 

We parked next to the playground in the Red Arroyo Campground area and took off on our regular walk, which is highlighted in yellow below.

Our route takes us up and down 2 or 3 good hills, past 2 campgrounds, and near the lake. It's a good 5 mile walk.

I enjoy walking at the park, especially during the week when there aren't many people there. We can enjoy the solitude of the place just minutes from our home. Below are numerous pictures I snapped, showing some of the color still in the park.

I'm not an expert on prickly pear cactus by any means, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I think these purple projections are often called the fruit of the prickly pear. They -- and all parts of the prickly pear, as I understand -- are edible.

This plant was next to the prickly pear above, and it had these little berries on it. I've no idea what they are.

I think this is some sort of rabbit brush. It was everywhere, but had a nice bright color.

I've no idea what this white flowering plant is, but it is quite common in the park. Notice the rabbit brush to the right.

These purple colored spears are common, but they are losing their color and leaves. Again, note the rabbit brush in the left background.

We scared a white tailed deer near the end of our walk, and we saw a large number of scissor tail flycatchers throughout the park. I love the salmon color on their bellies, and they have a beautiful little face.

This little rascal seemed to be posing as it stared right at me while I snapped the photo.

This picture does a better job of showing the markings and color.

It certainly is nice to be able to get outside again.

Weather Update

The rain has slowed some. It is early Saturday as I write this, and we've only received slightly more than 1 inch or rain since Thursday. In my last entry ("Where's an Ark When You Need One"), I indicated that we had received 8 inches of rain since this time last Saturday. So, that brings our total to just over 9 inches for that time period, and we do have more rain in the forecast for the days ahead. Now that amount is roughly half of our average annual rainfall, and we've received that in a single week. That's a pretty good indication of how saturated things are here. And places to the southeast of us (Junction, Mason, Llano, etc) have received much more than we have. At least the temperatures have improved, and our high today should be comfortably in the 60s.

Currently, there are rain showers hovering to the south of us along the Interstate 10 corridor, especially around areas that certainly don't need any more rain right now, like Junction, which has flooded twice in the past 2 weeks or so.

Area lake totals are looking very good right now, probably the best I've seen since we've lived here going back to 2011. Our source lake, O.H. Ivie, is at 30.9% capacity, and that should continue to increase in the days to come as the Colorado River around Ballinger has been at flood level. Twin Buttes is at 41.9% right now. It is fed by the Middle Concho and a couple of creeks. Frankly, I'm surprised at its dramatic increase, as I did not realize our watershed to the west had received so much rain. O.C. Fisher at the state park has not fared as well, and it currently sits at only 14.3% capacity. It's major source is the North Concho, which begins to the northwest near Big Spring.

We are very, very grateful for this rainfall, as it means we have enough water to last for a few more years. But I do worry about our farmers. Since this is harvest time for them, they are facing a great challenge.

Where's an Ark When You Need One?

I've never seen this kind of rain in West Texas before.

In the Hill Country, things are worse. There is some serious flooding going on there. Just south of Kingsland, the bridge over the Llano River on FM 2900 was washed away. You can see the story here. And the Max Starcke Dam, which sits on the Colorado River just east of Marble Falls, has seen a bit of damage as well. I don't know how serious it is. Of course, a couple of weeks ago, the South Llano River in Junction flooded, killing 4 people and causing great damage. It flooded again a few days ago. Schools in the area are closed or have delayed openings. 

San Angelo has not seen anything like that. Of course, we are farther west, and our rain totals are not anywhere close to what these other places have received. Still, it is unusual weather for us. Prior to this past weekend, we had received several inches of rain over the previous couple of weeks, so much so that the ground was pretty well saturated. Since Saturday morning, I have seen the following accumulations in my gauge:

• Saturday -- 1.75 inches
• Sunday -- .75 inches
• Monday thru Wednesday morning -- 3.25 inches
• Wednesday morning thru Thursday morning -- 2.25 inches

That is a total of 8 inches over the past 5 days or so, and the rain is still falling. Donna and I had to get out yesterday, and we saw quite a bit of standing water. There are places in Angelo that you always need to avoid, even in light rains, and we avoided these places. But we saw lots of water where we don't normally see water. The low water crossings along the Red Arroyo should always be avoided, even in the lightest rains.

As we were driving to the front gate of our community yesterday, Donna snapped this photo of water pouring between two rows of houses. That is not a creek you see, but a grassy stretch of lawn.

Of course, the good news is that the lakes are filling up. Water will continue to pour downstream to the lakes for quite a few days after all the rain stops, so until then, it is difficult to say just how beneficial these rains are to the area. 1 month ago, Lake O.H. Ivie -- San Angelo's main water source -- was at 14.7% capacity. Today, it is at 20.4%, and that number will continue to grow over the next week or so. And since rain is predicted to continue to fall into the foreseeable future, I'm hoping for good things.

Lake O.C. Fisher -- the lake at the state park -- is now at 13.5%, quite an improvement over the 8.0% a month ago. One month ago, Twin Buttes was at a meager 3.6% capacity, but today it is much healthier at 22.3%. Three months ago, E.V. Spence -- to the north of us outside Robert Lee -- was at 10.7%, but is today at 19.9%. These are all good numbers for area lakes. By the way, my source for this data is Water Data for Texas, which is produced by the Texas Water Development Board.

At the same time, our poor farmers are suffering from the rain. This is the time of year that they are trying to harvest their cotton. That crop -- perhaps more than any other -- really needs some hot and dry weather prior to harvesting, and it doesn't look like they are going to get it this year. They could have a rough time this year.

This Crazy Texas Weather

Sunday afternoon, the temp reached 87 degrees in my neck of the woods. This morning, it was 39 when Donna and I came to life. The high today is expected to be 42. What a difference a day makes.

We've been having lots of rain lately. On Saturday, we received nearly 2 inches of rain in the morning. This morning, it poured for a short time around 6:30, and we expect more as the week progresses.

Yeah, the weather is really making life interesting these days around here, and that is good. I enjoy seeing changes in weather. And although I'm not crazy about cold weather, it does make you appreciate those warm, sunny days. I enjoy nippy weather, the kind that makes you put on a light jacket when you go out for a walk. Cold weather makes for a cozy home, with a good pot of homemade soup simmering on the stove.

We drove around the state park yesterday morning, but it was far too foggy to make out much.

This is the boat ramp near the dam. All you can see is the water line at bottom and then fog. In normal weather, you would be able to see across the lake in a photo like this.

The bison seemed to like this weather, as they were roaming about near the road.

For those of you who have never had a good look at a bison, I give you this fellow, who posed along the fence line.

Not to be outdone, these three jack rabbits were scampering about atop Pulliam Ridge.

I snapped this shot from atop Pulliam Ridge, looking north. The ground below gradually fades away in the fog.

As we came down from Pulliam Ridge, I took this photo of Burkett Trailhead.

On to other things . . .

Donna received a jury summons a few weeks ago. She was to report this morning. I thought that odd. Instead of Donna sitting on a jury, I always thought it should be the other way around -- you know, a jury sitting in judgement of Donna. Really makes you question our legal system, doesn't it? Anyway, I'm glad her panel was cancelled since the rain really poured this morning.

Back in our neighborhood, we saw these turkeys just up the street from our house. 

We had a pleasant dinner at the club last week. Entertainment was provided by a solo member of our local symphony, and she played numerous songs that were winners from the early days of the Grammy awards. Those were some good tunes. At every meal, Donna and I sit at a table with folks we don't know, so we are constantly meeting new folks, and that is fun. I can't figure out why folks only sit at our table once, then never again. I think it probably has something to do with Donna, but I'm not sure. After all, everyone knows what a pleasant and affable people person I am, and I'm also a superb conversationalist. Yeah, it must be Donna.

After eating burgers for lunch at our favorite local Whataburger, Donna and I drove around Spring Creek Park, which lies along the shores of Lake Nasworthy. I snapped the pictures below there. By the way, it was only 40 as we drove around the park, and there was a light mist. Earlier this morning, we received almost an inch of rain. Needless to say, it was wet and cold out there.

The Twin Buttes in the background, with Lake Nasworthy in the foreground. It's difficult to tell in this picture, but the wind was blowing quite hard, and mist/vapor was blowing across the water.

If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can probably see a couple of feet of mist/vapor above the surface of the water. That is one of the Twin Buttes rising above the treeline in the background.

Short Trip to Lubbock

Donna and I just returned from a short 2 night trip to Lubbock. This post may be long, but I'll try to include lots of pictures to break up the monotony of my text. Even with good pictures, my text is still pretty boring.

We left early Tuesday morning, around 7:00 AM. It was raining lightly as we left. Just before leaving, I checked our rain gauge and saw that we had an inch of rain. Areas to our north had received much more. In fact, as we got north of Sterling City, we noticed a great deal of standing water in the fields, most of it trying to work its way to the North Concho River. The headwaters of the North Concho are in the area just south of Big Spring, and the river drains to O.C. Fisher lake at the state park near our home. It was great to see all of this water. Most of the draws crossing the highway had lots of water, especially Cannibal Draw.

We've had some good rains in the past month, some admittedly too good. A few weeks ago, the Dry Devil's River in Sonora flooded and many folks lost their homes. Then a week or so ago, the South Llano River flooded in Junction, killing at least 4 people, I think. There is an RV park, maybe 2, along the South Llano in downtown Junction, and that is where the worst flooding is. We have never stayed in that exact area, preferring instead an RV park on the North Llano about a mile or so to the west and the state park, South Llano River State Park, a few miles south of town.

But, I digress . . .

So, why did we go to Lubbock? If you know us, then you know that Donna and I have itchy feet, and from time to time we have to scratch that itch. We are always toying with the idea of getting another RV and full-timing it, so we wanted to visit Camping World in Lubbock to look at their inventory. And while there, we thought we would look at some houses.

Just 2 years after we married, Donna and I set off for the South Plains, where I took my first full-time teaching job in the late 1970s in the small town of Olton, about 50 miles northwest of Lubbock. We fell in love with the country and the people, and since Lubbock was our big shopping town, we grew to enjoy it as well. I also taught in another small town in the area for several years in the mid 1980s, Wellman, which is located about 50 miles southwest of Lubbock. Our daughter was born in Plainview, about 50 miles due north of Lubbock. So we have some pretty good roots in the Lubbock area.

When we look for a place to live, we consider several things, such as medical services, shopping, dining, entertainment, and location. Lubbock certainly meets many of our criteria. In fact, we did some house shopping there in late autumn 2013, and even made an offer on a house. The buyer declined the offer, and we gave up our search. But we continue to look at the listings there from time to time to see if that perfect home is there.

We started our trip by stopping in at Camping World, located on the south loop near I-27. We've done business with this Camping World before and have a good experience with them, so we felt good about stopping in there. Lately, we've developed something of an interest in Class C motor homes, and Camping World Lubbock has a decent inventory of these RVs. While there, we also looked at travel trailers. Did we find anything we want to buy? No, but we found some we liked. And to be honest, I don't think we are really interested in purchasing an RV, at least, not right now. But we like to keep up to date on the market.

Row of fifth wheel trailers at Camping World

And although we did not actually look at houses -- we just did drive bys -- we did decide on several neighborhoods we would be interested in, and more importantly, we ruled out a bunch of neighborhoods we have no desire to live in.

For now, we are happy to stay where we are. We realize we live in a very special place, and we -- especially me -- are reluctant to give up all the advantages our current community provides.

While in Lubbock, we drove out to Buffalo Springs and Ransom Canyon, two communities east of Lubbock outside the loop. These communities are built around lakes formed on Yellow House Canyon, which is a prong, I believe, of the North Fork of the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River. The area is really beautiful. Unfortunately, Buffalo Springs charges admission -- which I did not want to pay being the cheapskate that I am -- but we were able to drive through Ransom Canyon. We've been to both lakes over the years, and we even skied with friends out there years ago before Courtney came into this world.

Part of the Lake Ransom Canyon community from Canyon View Drive.

This rather well-known structure in architectural circles is called Steel House. Built by Robert Bruno in 1970, it weighs 110 tons and is 2,200 square feet. There is another well-known house in the community, called Rock House, built by Mark Lawson with the aid of Robert Bruno and others. It weighs a massive 460 tons, but we did not see it.

Another view of Robert Bruno's Steel House. Looks rather like a space ship, doesn't it?

View down into Lake Ransom Canyon

We also stopped in Ghandi's Bazaar, an Indian Market on 34th Street to pick up some goodies we can not get in Angelo. While in town, we ate at Fazoli's, which we truly love, and a place called Tikka Shack, which is rather unique, at least for us. I like the concept of this place, and there are different combinations of food you can get. We both decided to have a $7 lunch special. Donna chose spinach masala with lamb, which is curry sauce with spinach,. cumin seeds, ginger and garlic. I opted for southern curry with shrimp, which is a coconut flavored and spicy curry infused with red chili peppers, cilantro, curry leaves, and mustard seeds. Donna had plain traditional naan while I tried the garlic naan. Both of us enjoyed our meals. To be honest, my curry dish did not have as strong of a curry taste as I like, and I preferred Donna's plain naan to my garlic naan. The plain naan was more doughy, and I liked that. We agreed that we will go back next time we are in Lubbock, and we'll slowly work our way through the menu.

Interior of Tikka Shack. Order at the counter.

Donna's Spinach Masala with traditional naan bread and basmati rice

My southern curry with shrimp and garlic naan bread, also served with basmati rice. The curry had a nice bite to it.

After 2 nights, we left Lubbock early on Thursday to return home. We had a dinner at the clubhouse that evening, and we wanted to get back to attend.

On the way home, I took the following pictures of the sun coming up over the plains.

South Plains sunrise on an overcast day

View of the sunrise a few minutes after the above picture

From the small town of Ackerly north to Lubbock, the area is farm country. From Ackerly south to Big Spring and beyond, the oil industry is booming. On the drive up, I noticed a great number of gas flares burning along the road, so on the way home, I tried to get some pictures to share on the blog.

Multiple gas flares along the east side of US 87. I count 7 flares in this single picture.

In case you've never seen a gas flare, here is a close-up of one. Now, I know nothing about such things, but it seems like such a waste to have to burn this gas instead of capturing it, but I'm sure there is a good reason for it. I just hate to see waste of any kind.

We enjoyed our trip to Lubbock, and I'm sure we'll return soon for another visit. Since it is only about 3½ hours away, it is an easy trip for us.

Deer, and the Manor for Lunch

It took Donna and me a while to recover after the exciting -- and exhausting -- afternoon we spent drinking beer and watching the men replace a dead tree in our neighbor's yard across the street (see previous post). But recover we did, and we started looking about for more exciting things to do.

So after lunch at Whataburger -- our local "go to" place for a burger -- we headed out to the lake. We probably drive around the lake each week or so. It's a good way to relax after lunch, and we can usually spot some wildlife. On this day, the deer were everywhere, probably 25 or more scattered about the Spring Creek Park area.

We saw this buck as we entered the park.

This does was a little farther along the road, and about that close to us.

This buck is keeping a watchful eye over his harem.

There is an RV park there, one we've stayed in often in the past, and we enjoy looking at the RVs set up. We still have that desire to buy an RV, sell the house, and take off to parts unknown. And even though the years are piling up, we still might do it just one more time. Not much was happening at the lake. I don't think we saw a single boat on the water in the area where we drove.

On Wednesday, we piled onto the community bus with some of our neighbors and let Selena, our activity director, drive us over to the Manor for lunch. The Manor is the main location for the Rio Concho properties around town, and the dining room is located there. McGowen Catering Service operates out of the Manor, and it provides all of the meals for Rio Concho properties, including most of the birthday dinners in the community where Donna and I live.

It's a pretty good deal for members. Lunch is $6.50 per person, which includes salad, entree(s), sides, deserts, and drinks. There is no tax and no tipping. The food is not the greatest, but there is plenty of it and you can usually find something good. On this trip, I had green salad, cole slaw, pinto beans, California mixed vegetables (kind of a succotash), beef brisket, apple cobbler, and tea. Normally I also have decaf coffee after my meal, but I passed on this day. All in all, it's a good meal for the price.

But we really don't go for the food; instead, we go for the chance to visit with our neighbors. There are some pretty interesting characters that live in our community, and we enjoy listening to their stories. Many are very witty and clever, and we are always entertained. It's a good life.

We got out early Thursday to go to the Farmers' Market, but when we arrived, there were no vendors there. I guess they have closed until next spring. Too bad, for we really enjoy going there and getting farm fresh produce.

The mosquitoes have been out lately, especially at night. This is due to the rains we had 3 or 4 weeks ago. We have more rain forecast for early next week, so I don't see the little rascals fading away soon, at least not until the first hard freeze. But you have to take the bad with the good, and if rain brings mosquitoes, then let it rain.

The weather here is still warm, with daily highs pushing 90. The nights are only cooling off to about 70. Occasionally, a cool front will push through and keep the temps down, but right now we are having something of an Indian Summer, I suppose. I'd like it to cool off a bit more. I rather enjoy jacket weather. Now, I don't want to freeze, but nippy weather invigorates me and makes we want to get out and do something. I'd love to be camping right now.

Exciting Times with the Old Folks

It doesn't take much to entertain Donna and me. The bar is set pretty low. And that's good, because when you are as poor as we are (yeah, Trish, we're still poor), you can't afford much entertainment.

We decided to enjoy a cheap beer on the back patio the other day. We were just relaxing, enjoying the day and minding our own business. Then we noticed a truck and trailer from a local landscaping company turn the corner, and I just knew things were about to get exciting.

The man across the street lost a tree in his side yard -- the side that faces our patio -- last year, and it was replaced. From the beginning, we suspected the tree would not last long because we never saw anyone water the tree. Technically, the subdivision is responsible for all yard work, but many of us do a bit of yard work just because we enjoy it, including watering trees and shrubs. Over time, the tree began losing leaves, and the leaves that remained eventually turned brown. The tree had died.

A couple of months or so ago, we noticed someone from the maintenance department inspecting the tree. They knelt down, did a little digging around the now dead tree, and then we surmised that there must be a soaker spigot there. However, it must have been turned off the entire time the tree was planted there, but then they turned it on. Over the next few weeks, the weeds around the tree greened up and really grew, but the tree remained dead.

The landscaping crew inspecting the dead tree. The new one is lying on the trailer, with the top of the tree at the back of the trailer.

The old tree has been removed and is lying on the ground, with the top of the tree to the left.

The new tree is positioned in the hole.

The finished job.

So yesterday, the landscaping company delivered a new tree to replace the dead one. So Donna and I had a free show. Now our 1 beer turned into 2 beers, and 2 turned into 3, and . . . well, you get the idea. We watched the two-man crew dig up and remove the old tree and replace it with a new one. Like I said, it doesn't take much to entertain us, just a six-pack and a work crew.

Now, if I could only find a bug zapper we'd really have a good time.

Back to Normal

We've been home from our trip almost 2 weeks now, and things have slowly returned to normal. Basically what we do once we get home is start planning our next trip.

We had a wine and cheese social at the clubhouse this past Friday. It was nice to sit around and visit with our neighbors. A couple whom we did not know sat at our table, and it is always nice to meet new people. I don't drink wine, so Donna helped herself to mine. I visited with the powers that be and suggested that if they could have a wine and cheese social, they could also have a beer and nachos fiesta. They said they would take it under advisement, and then told me to get lost.

I've tried to get back into my walking routine. The week away on our trip did not seem to hurt too much, as I immediately started my 5 mile walks again. We did quite a bit of walking on the trip, including the steep hills in Cripple Creek, and that obviously helped. But a few days later, my routine was interrupted again, this time by weather and other items, and I've found it harder to get going this time. The first day I really struggled to get 3.6 miles. The next I did a little over 4, and yesterday morning Donna and I walked together and logged 4.25 miles. As I age, I find that anytime I lay off, I find it more difficult to return to my former mileage. I guess that is normal.

Got my haircut earlier this week. We have a new hair stylist/barber at the clubhouse. I really prefer an old fashioned men's barbershop. I especially like when they use a straight-edged razor to trim around my ears and the nape of my neck. I feel like I have a really clean cut then. It's getting harder and harder to find such barbershops these days. And I have to admit I'm a bit lazy. I can simply take the short walk to our clubhouse to get my haircut now. Even though it is not cut quite as I like it, the convenience wins out. It beats hopping in the car and driving miles around town to another barber.

The weather is delightful these days. We had one day that never got out of the high 60s, though most days are still getting into the mid 80s. With our dry climate, the mornings and evenings are just about ideal right now.

We'll probably start shifting our walks soon to later in the morning and eventually even into the afternoon as the weather cools. In fact, we did take a walk recently at our state park on a foggy morning shortly after 8:00 AM. We did a 5 mile loop, and the fog eventually began to burn away as we neared the end of our walk. At one point, we heard a distressed animal cry. I did not recognize it, but could tell that it was off to our left only a short distance. I then saw something close to the ground and dark brown scurrying about. Then, a few feet to the left of it, I saw 2 wild pigs run off. Not wanting to be caught between an angry sow and what might be an injured baby, I hurried Donna along. I do not know what the commotion was about. Possibly the piglet was attacked by something, perhaps a rattler. Quien sabe?

I took this photo at the start of the walk. This is a playground next to the parking area at the Red Arroyo Camping Area.

This is a photo of the same location, but at the end of our walk. You can see how foggy it was.

This is about the halfway point of our walk, and you can see that the fog has cleared some. The dam and lake are in the background. We jokingly refer to the camping site in the foreground as "Donna's Spot," as she has always wanted to camp in this spot with the lake in the background. It has always been taken when we have camped in the park.

But overall, the weather is great. We are spending a great deal of time on our back porch in our rocking chairs, watching the comings and goings in our little neighborhood. At night, we often see deer nearby, and our eyes follow planes across the sky as they head to or from the local airport. We make plans for future trips and narrow down where we want to go.

It's a hard life.