Around the Neighborhood

We had a good rain Wednesday. It actually started late Tuesday and rained throughout much of the day on Wednesday. In all, I recorded 2 inches at our house, and some other areas of the Concho Valley received even more. This puts our yearly total just short of the average for this time of year. The grass is really greening up and things are looking nice.

Admittedly, our grass needs mowing. Rio Concho West contracts with a lawn maintenance firm. During the mowing season, they usually start early Tuesday and then finish by late Wednesday afternoon. We have more than 300 residences in our community, so it takes a while to mow, trim, and clean up the area. Now, they don't mow every week; they more or less mow when it is needed. During dry spells, for example, they may skip a week, and that's just fine. This time, it hasn't worked out well. The week prior to the rain, they skipped mowing as it just didn't need it. With the rain this week, they were unable to mow. Well, the place needs mowing now. And we have more rain in the forecast for next Tuesday and Wednesday, so they may not be able to mow then. If they skip next week, we may be swallowed up by vegetation. But we are not about to criticize any rain we get out here.

Donna is enjoying puttering around in the yard. She has put some herbs in one of the front beds where we cleared out the shrubs, and she has bought some roses and other plants for another section of the front bed. The ground had dried out enough by yesterday that she was able to get everything in the ground. We still have room for more items, but we aren't hurrying to get it done. At our age, we ain't got much hurry in us.

Temps are almost ideal. Daily highs range from the low 70s to the mid or upper 80s. We'll probably top out in the 90s next week. Nightly lows are usually in the mid 50s. We have really enjoyed getting out on our back patio again. One of the nicest things about this time of year is that we are able to turn off the furnace and save some money. For the past month, we've probably only turned it on briefly for a time or two, usually just long enough to cut the morning chill. We'll probably have to turn the air on before long. I almost turned it on yesterday.

We drove out to the park after the rain to see if the lake has grown. It's hard to tell. The longhorns were out patrolling the perimeter fence on the entry road. Nice to see those legendary animals.

Part of the herd near the park entrance. The black spots in the sky are birds that follow the herd, waiting for them to stir up things.

This poor old fellow has a huge set of horns, but the left side doesn't match the right. Wonder how something like that happens. He was bringing up the rear.

Part of the herd taking a midday break. The western part of San Angelo is slightly visible from center of picture to the right. The area from center to the right is actually the spillway for the OC Fisher lake, but it is difficult to tell that in this picture.

This old fellow appears to be the leader of the herd. He is scanning his kingdom. What a beautiful set of horns he has!

The ocotillo at the club house are blooming nicely. I always enjoy the bright colors our desert plants put out.

Blooming ocotillo at the clubhouse

There are still patches of yellow flowers hanging on. This stand is behind the clubhouse.

We finished the week yesterday by playing a bit of bingo. It was our lucky day. Donna won 3 games and I won one.

I hope all of you are enjoying the spring.