Thanksgiving Cometh

One of my favorite holidays is almost upon us. I look forward to Thanksgiving each year. I love the colors of the holiday and I love the simple message -- give thanks for what you have.

You'd think turkeys would be a bit more discreet at this time of year. But this group just down the street from our house seems to be inviting trouble.

Courtney and her family will drive down for a day or so. Donna has been busy in the kitchen for the past couple of days now, and she will probably be cooking and baking right up to the moment the hungry invaders arrive. She really doesn't know how to do simple. Each year, I urge her to cut back, but each year, she goes overboard. There are some wonderful aromas emanating from the kitchen, but I'm not sure what they are; I'm not allowed in there. I have eaten for days.

Our little neighborhood has been lively the past few days. Families have been coming in for their visits. It's nice to see young folks wandering about the neighborhood. I went for a walk yesterday and met a teenager on his hoverboard making the loop around the complex. I don't think I could have ever kept my balance on one of those things in my younger days.

The weather has been great the past few days. We even hit the low 80s a couple of days. I got out Sunday afternoon and strung up the outside Christmas lights. Although our maintenance department will put up lights for residents if requested, I prefer to do my own work for as long as I am capable. But for those who can't climb up and down that ladder, this is a great service. And it's nice to see so many lights around the neighborhood. We wouldn't have so many lights if this service wasn't available.

The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon when I snapped this picture. Notice the fingernail moon upper-left. I also like that the photo captured the flag just to the right center, just above the house line. That's a rather large flag, and it is about half a mile away at a nearby business.

On my walk around the neighborhood yesterday, I saw a painting crew making its way from house to house. They are painting the eaves on all the houses. The lawn crew was also busy. I'm not quite sure if they are mowing or if they are gathering up the fallen leaves; regardless, things are busy around here. And that is one of the many things I'm thankful for. It's nice to live in a place like this where the entire neighborhood is maintained. It always looks good out here.

Some of the inmates will be gathering at the clubhouse on Thursday. Those that do not want to cook a big meal or do not have family coming gather each year at the clubhouse and share a meal and fellowship. That's a nice option to have available.

I truly hope each and everyone of you has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy time with your family, and remember to think about all the many blessings we enjoy in this country.

Time Flies . . .

It's been another busy week for us. But that's good; we like staying busy and we appreciate having things to do that we enjoy. All of this activity keeps us young at heart even if the rest of our bodies are falling apart.

On Tuesday, we attended an instructional session on using smart phones at the club house. One of the local providers attended in force, and each table ended up with their very own guide. It was truly productive and time well-spent. Later that evening, we returned to the club house for a going-away party for a neighbor just up our street.

Wednesday started early. Donna went to the club house for an 8:00 AM appointment at the hair salon. At noon, the old girl and I went to see Midway, starring Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, and a host of others. It was a good movie, but it could easily have been twice as long. I felt many scenes or episodes were rushed, such as Doolittle's bombing raid. I'd like to go back now and rewatch the original movie starring Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, and that all-star cast. Perhaps I can find it on Netflix. After the movie we enjoyed burgers at Whataburger and then a drive around Lake Nasworthy. It was an overcast day.

Some deer -- mostly bucks -- in front, but look hard and you'll see a line of turkeys below the trees in the left background.

This young buck was standing guard over a doe on the ground. 

We're seeing turkeys everywhere these days. This group of hens was running away from something.

On Thursday, it was my turn to get up early. I was in the barber's chair at 8:30 or so that morning and was home shortly after 9:00. I then went back out and did a bit of shopping and got the car washed. We have a wonderful car wash that sells 5 exterior car washes for $25. Since they throw in a bonus car wash, you actually get 6 washes for $25. The car gets a good pre-wash scrubbing and a thorough wipe down after the wash. That's a good deal! I still like to wash the car myself once or twice each year, just to do a thorough inspection and make sure all of those hard to reach places get cleaned, but the rest of the time I'm happy to let someone else do it these days.

Later that day, Donna and I went to the club house for the monthly birthday dinner. On the menu was turkey and ham along with fruit salad, green beans, mashed potatoes, dressing, giblet gravy, rolls, and pumpkin pie. That's a pretty good meal for $7.50. Entertainment was provided by a local preacher who doubles as a comic. His humor was so corny it truly was funny. Good to have some nice, clean humor for a change. Who needs TV?

The monthly RCW committee meeting scheduled for Friday morning was cancelled, so we just stayed home. That evening, we visited a nearby funeral home for a viewing. One of our neighbors the next street over passed away earlier this week, so we paid our respects. Following that, we went to the Angelo Civic Theater to see A Tuna Christmas. This play by Ed Howard, Joe Sears, and Jaston Williams is set in the "third-smallest town in Texas".  We enjoy all of the Tuna plays. If you've never seen a Tuna production, the cast of characters is usually quite large, usually around 15 or 20 characters in all. And all of those characters are played by 2 men, and that is what causes much of the humor. It's pretty good fun.

We ended the week by playing a bit of bingo on Saturday afternoon at the clubhouse. We always enjoy this time with our neighbors, and we really don't care whether or not we win. The treats are always good and the fellowship warm.

Fall Photos from Rio Concho West

I love the fall; it is without a doubt my favorite time of year. Since returning from our trip, Donna and I have had several nice days where we could work in the yard and then sit on our patio, enjoying the soft breezes and lazy days.

I thought I'd share some photos with you.

As I've noted before in my blog, we are fortunate to have a number of animals in our area. We are blessed with quite a few beautiful deer, and we have numerous turkeys that seem to think they own the place. We have some other critters as well, some welcome and some not, but the turkeys and deer are my favorites.

The turkeys seem to be growing bolder, and they do not seem to be as skittish as they were when we first moved here. A few mornings ago, Donna spotted a large group moving through our back yard. I snapped the following photos through the window. The first picture is framed by the slats of our blinds.

There are 11 turkeys in our yard, and an additional 5 across the street in another yard.

I zoomed in on these 2 hens for a good, clear shot.

To show you just how bold these rascals are becoming, here is a shot Donna took a few days ago.

This is the house across the street from ours. Notice the turkeys roaming the roof. I count 6.

Every year, there are a couple of trees down the street that really show good color. Admittedly, we don't have a lot of fall color in this part of the state, so what little we have, we cherish.

Pretty color in someone's back yard near our neighborhood church.

Tree on the side of someone's house.

When we returned from our recent trip, Donna and I both noticed the good color of the bur oak in our front yard. We just couldn't remember it being as pretty the past 3 years. I snapped several pictures of it over the next few days. I'm glad I did, as the leaves are now all gone due mainly to heavy winds the past couple of days.

Bur oak in our front yard. I snapped this upon our return, before any of the leaves began falling. Note how leaf free the yard is.

Frontal view of our bur oak.

Close up of bur oak that shows the yellow color a bit better.

You can see the leaves on the ground in this picture. The color had pretty well faded, and the leaves were beginning to fall fast. In another day, all of the leaves would be gone.

I love the sunrises and sunsets in the west. There is a narrow window of time to really catch the beautiful color of a great sunrise/sunset, and I usually miss that window. The pictures below were all taken one morning over a short period of time. The color looks different in some photos either because I zoomed in or because of time passing.

Light was just beginning to break on the eastern horizon. Notice the clouds.

This picture was snapped just a few seconds later, but I had zoomed in a bit (note size of trees in left half of picture). As a result, this picture looks to have a bit more orange tint.

Just a short time later, I zoomed in even more and focused on the sky. More orange tint in this picture as a result.

This is the last picture I snapped. I zoomed out to capture everything, including the vapor trail of a plane from upper right slanting diagonally down left.

As with most of Texas, we were hit by a frigid cold front yesterday. When we awoke, the temp was in the mid to high 60s. By noon, we were down to about 45. By dark, the temp had fallen to 35. There has been little moisture, though, so no ice or snow. That north wind really makes the wind chill bitter. Hope you are snug and warm wherever you are.

A Long Trip for This Old Man

Donna and I just got back home yesterday from a long trip to Laughlin, Nevada. This was the first time we have driven to Laughlin since we spent the winter of 2015-16 there in our travel trailer. I also think this will be the last time we drive out there. It is a round-trip of over 2,000 miles, and it really takes a lot out of me to drive that far. Even peppy Donna was tired from the trip. If we go to Laughlin again, it will probably be on a junket from our local airport.

Colorado River in Laughlin at night outside Aquarius Casino.

We decided to break the trip into shorter, more manageable segments. On the way out there, we decided to spend our first night in Ruidoso, New Mexico. We had some free play coming from the Inn of the Mountain Gods casino there, and we wanted to play that through. The approach to Ruidoso was beautiful. Starting at Riverside, which is about 25 miles east of Ruidoso, the road starts winding through the foothills, roughly following the Hondo River. The trees were turning, and the leaves were various hues of yellow and gold. That night, the temp got down to the mid-20s, but it was dry and pleasant. We do like Ruidoso.

The next day, we drove down the western slope and across the White Sands to the Organ Mountains. Then we eased around Las Cruces, picking up Interstate 10 on the south side. We headed west across the Rio Grande. About 35 miles west of the river, things started to turn bad. In the distance, we noticed a black column of smoke appear. Pretty soon, traffic started backing up and we eventually came to a complete standstill. We remained that way for a long, long time. Seems two trucks collided. You can read one report of the incident here.

Our view for more than 2 hours near accident sight on I-10 east of Deming, NM

Eventually, we were able to resume our trip, finally reaching our hotel on the north side of Tucson late in the day. I was pretty beat by this time. The next day, we hoped things would be better. We made our way north, then split west on Interstate 8 to take the Phoenix bypass at Gila Bend. This has always been one of my favorite stretches of the trip, because the saguaros are really pretty in this area.

Saguaros on a hill next to a rest area on Interstate 8 somewhere east of Gila Bend

We decided to take I-10 west and work our way up through Parker, AZ, then up to Needles, CA. We like this country, and we enjoy seeing it. But the low speed limits and two-lane roads make travel slow. When we finally reached Laughlin, we were beat.

Donna with Saguaros near Salome, AZ

We spent several days gaming at the Aquarius and eating at some of our favorite places.  We did not win, but we had a good time. Of course, we love the river there, and we love watching the mountains that line both sides of the river. Sunsets and sunrises can be beautiful.

Morning dawns in Arizona across the Colorado River from Laughlin.

Casino Blvd in Laughlin

Looking north to the Riverside Casino while standing just outside the Aquarius.

We hoped the return trip would be easier. We decided to reach Lordsburg, NM, on our first day, and that is a long drive of just over 500 miles from Laughlin. We ran into one stretch of construction where only one lane was open, but we did not have to wait too long for our turn. One of my favorite drives in that part of the country is Highway 93 from Phoenix to the Kingman area. Along this route -- dubbed the Joshua Tree Parkway -- are miles and miles of not only Joshua trees, but Saguaros as well.

Traffic was not too bad, even in Tucson, and everything looked up once we reached the east side of Tucson. We spent the night at a nice hotel in Lordsburg, had a nice salad that evening, and felt pretty good about things.

We left early the next morning, because we wanted to reach Inn of the Mountain Gods by mid-morning in order to play some more free play through the machines there. From Lordsburg to Las Cruces, traffic was light. We made it through the Las Cruces morning rush-hour traffic easily enough and began climbing San Augustine Pass through the Organ Mountains. At the very top of the pass, traffic was backed up. It seems there was a missile test scheduled for 9:00 AM. There is a large parking area at the top of the pass, and all traffic was routed into that area and parked. We walked around snapping pictures and stretching our legs. As 9:00 rolled around, an announcement was made that the test had been delayed. We waited a while longer, then we were allowed to continue our travels. I guess the test was completely cancelled. So, another delay of 1½ hours.

Traffic being brought to a stop atop San Augustine Pass just east of Las Cruces.

The flats just east of San Augustine Pass. The missile test should have been in this direction somewhere.

Donna atop San Augustine Pass with the Organ Mountains in the background.

We made it to the casino and had a nice break there. We played through our free play and a little more before continuing our trip. We made it to Roswell later that afternoon. We enjoyed a late lunch at Los Cerritos near our hotel. Donna had the taco plate while I enjoyed their wonderful cheese enchiladas. We enjoyed everything about the meal, including the chips and salsa. Good food.

Donna's taco plate at Los Cerritos on North Main in Roswell.

My cheese enchiladas at Los Cerritos.

The last day of the trip, we only had 300 miles to go. We were ready to get home. After breakfast at the hotel, we headed east. Skies were overcast. About an hour east of Roswell, we ran into heavy fog and had to slow down to about 45 mph. Then it began to rain. For the next half hour or 45 minutes, we remained in the fog. About the Texas line, the fog cleared, though it continued to rain off and on until we reached Big Spring.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this entry, this was a long trip, and one we probably won't make again. Traffic along I-10 was very heavy, with lots and lots of trucks. I just don't enjoy driving in heavy traffic, and I avoid large cities like Phoenix and El Paso whenever possible. This causes our route to be a bit longer.

It was really good to get back to our warm, comfortable home; right now, we have no plans for another trip. I think when we go somewhere again, it will be for a shorter time and to someplace much closer to home.