Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone!

There once was a time when Halloween was a holiday focusing on children. The little ones would dress up in their ghoulish costumes and roam the streets begging for candy. A few errant miscreants would take part in some unwanted pranks here and there, but for the most part, there wasn't much to this holiday.

That's certainly not the case today. Adults have hijacked this holiday and made it all about themselves. And perhaps that is part of the problem we have today -- adults no longer behave like adults.

But I don't want to go down that road at this time . . . . .

No reason for this picture other than I like to post pictures of turkeys. This guy and his friends were high-stepping down the street in front of our house yesterday afternoon. 

We currently seem to have two groups of turkeys in our neighborhood. One is a large flock numbering about 11. The other is a group of 4, which Donna and I call "The Gang of Four". The three above are part of the Gang of Four; the leader was farther down the street. I thought a picture of turkeys was appropriate for my previous discussion of adults.

That was a nice little cold spell we had. As expected, it began moving through the area early Monday and was moving out by Wednesday afternoon. I like a guest who doesn't overstay its welcome. But from early Monday to mid-afternoon Wednesday, we did have some cold, dreary, wintry weather. 

We did get a bit of moisture. The streets and sidewalks more or less stayed wet for about 48 hours or so. I'm not sure how much moisture we received, but it may have been just over half an inch. We could certainly have used more.

Snow on the roof of a neighbor's house. You can see a little wintry mix on the ground, as well, but it was really not cold enough to stick there.

We woke to snow on the rooftops Tuesday morning, There was a little snow/ice mixture in the grass as well, but not enough to cover the lawns. It really didn't get cold enough to allow things to freeze on the ground. 

Snow on another rooftop, and a little wintry mix that was able to stick in our yard.

We're back to normal now. I was able to walk late in the afternoon on both Wednesday and Thursday. It was still a bit chilly both days, but the sun was out. The worst part was the wind. It was blowing nearly 20 mph both days. By Friday, I was walking in short sleeves again. Yep, yesterday was beautiful.

It's nice to have such variety in your weather. I'm not a big fan of cold weather, but I do enjoy cool weather. And when we do have cold weather, I like for it to move on through in a couple of days. And that is exactly what this cold front did. Now we are looking at highs in the upper 60s and lower 70s for the next week or so, though the nights are chilly.

The community newsletters for November 1 were ready for distribution, so Donna and I made our route early Friday afternoon. After that, we just continued walking around the neighborhood.

Rain gauge with snow in it.

My heart surely does go out to the people in southern Louisiana. Those poor folks have now been hit with 5 big storms this year, all while dealing with COVID. And folks out in California are still battling wildfires. They and others across the country -- mainly in the west -- have really suffered this year. And some folks whine and cry about being asked to wear a mask. There's that adult thing again I mentioned earlier. But I said I wasn't going to get started on that . . . .

And speaking of COVID, our numbers continue to go up. I believe the positivity rate in our county at this time is now 15.9%. A vaccine can't come fast enough.

I'll leave you with our latest puzzle. Normally, we work on puzzles with 1,000 pieces, but some neighbors shared the 500-piece puzzle below with us. After that really hard puzzle I posted in the previous entry that contained such irregular pieces, it was nice to put a normal puzzle together.

"Days to Remember"

Remember to set your clocks back . . .

Cold Front Moving Through

The cold front began moving through sometime before I crawled out of my warm bed this morning. Yesterday, we were in the upper 80s; this morning when I awoke, we were at 42. It will probably get a little colder today. As I write this at 8:02 AM Monday morning, it is 21 degrees in Amarillo.

The roads are damp, but it isn't really raining -- yet. It's more like a thick mist out there. This cold and wet weather will continue until sometime Wednesday. After that, we climb back into the 60s and lower 70s for highs while the lows will be in the 40s. 

I guess summer time is finally over.

Sunday was a busy day for us. Donna took down her hummingbird feeders and cleaned them thoroughly for storage. We haven't seen any hummers for a while. I pulled up the poles and stored them. Donna cleaned up her plants on the front patio. I'm sure there will be more to do out there after the first freeze. She also harvested the last of her basil. I moved outdoor plants into the empty side of our garage where they will spend the winter. 

Donna prepped the stew meat yesterday, and she's in the kitchen now getting that going. I'm looking forward to a bowl of her soup. It is one of my favorite meals. It is true comfort food when the weather is nasty and cold.

We watched a couple of interesting movies last week. The Promise was released in 2016 and The Ottomon Lieutenant was released a short time later. Both films have much in common: they are set during World War I, they involve the Ottoman Empire, and both involve a love triangle.

What I enjoyed most about the movies was their handling of the Armenian Genocide. While The Ottoman Lieutenant dealt with it minimally, The Promise dealt extensively with it. The movie industry is not known for adhering to facts or reality, but at least movies such as these do arouse an interest in learning more about one of the darker chapters of human history. If you've not seen either of these movies, you can find them on Netflix or Amazon Prime.

Our latest puzzle is called "Charleston". This one gave the old woman and me considerable trouble. The pieces were so irregular that it was difficult to find pieces we needed. One piece might be large and shaped like the legendary gerrymander, while a piece that fit into it might be a fourth its size and a very different shape. 

But we persisted and finally got the rascal all put together. Really, I rather enjoyed the challenge. 

"Charleston"

PSS

It is now 8:23 AM. The temperature has dropped to 39 degrees and the rain is coming down in earnest now. Time to bundle up. Guess I can turn the A/C off now.

Stay safe and warm out there.

Cold Front Moving Towards Us

We may get our first truly wintry cold blast early next week. Right now, our local weather folks are calling for a high of 52 degrees on Monday and a high on Tuesday of only 32. Those temps follow a high of 88 on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday also bring an 80% chance of rain, and that looks great. Is snow possible?

Now, things can change between now (Wednesday) and then, but I'm hoping for the rain. I don't care for really cold temps, but Donna is planning to put on a pot of homemade beef soup for the cold front, and I'm really looking forward to that. Beef soup is one of my favorite meals. What a snug, cozy image that brings to mind for me.

Donna and I have a new job. We are the newest deliverers of the community newsletter, which comes out on the 1st and 15th of each month. It's really pretty simple, The activity director at the clubhouse gives us a call when the newsletters are ready, we pick them up, then walk the route of about 30 residences putting the newsletters on the clips beside the front door of each residence.

Looks like we are continuing to get sucked into community life around here more and more all the time. We may have to move.

I was nearing the end of my walk this morning just after the sun had fully risen. I began to hear turkeys but I couldn't locate them. Then, when I reached a break in the trees, I spotted them. Those rascals were roosting on a house down the street from us. I bet some of you did not know turkeys would roost on house tops. We do see them quite often around here roosting on high lines and on house tops, so this isn't that unusual. They do make themselves at home. Guess they don't realize just how close to Thanksgiving the calendar currently is.

Turkeys on the roof of a neighbor's house.

 

Close-up of turkeys on a roof.

Some good restaurant news for San Angelo. I've mentioned before that Napoli's has been our favorite local restaurant for the past couple of years. Of course, with the pandemic, we've not been there. Earlier in the year sometime -- or was it late last year? -- Zentner's Daughter had closed. That was a nice restaurant with nice facilities. At the time, there were rumors that Napoli's was moving into the old Zentner's place. Sure enough, they have now moved in and are serving up some good food. We are really looking forward to a nice meal there once we feel it is safe.

Our COVID numbers are still on the increase -- at least, the average daily case rate is. So, we continue to be careful. We use curbside most of the time for groceries, though we do go into Walmart and Sam's Wholesale during senior times. We drive through for fast food from time to time. And we do whatever else requires our attention, such as voting and doctor visits. We have all of our annual visits coming up in early December, so I do hope things have calmed down some by then. 

Today, I leave you with a quote. We are big PBS/Create TV viewers in this household. We especially like the cooking and travel shows. One travel show we watch regularly is Travelscope featuring Joseph Rosendo. At the end of each episode, he closes the show with a quote from Mark Twain (Innocents Abroad/Roughing It):

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."

Although Rosendo only uses the part quoted above, the entire quote reads:

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."

I think he's on to something. I know Donna and I are ready to get out and travel some more.

A Change in the Weather

It's been pretty quiet in our parts the past few days.

After hitting the triple digit mark twice a few days ago (isn't October just too late for that where we live?), things have cooled off a bit. The daily highs are now in the 70s or 80s, with nightly lows usually in the 50s or so. That's pretty good weather. Yesterday, the wind really blew, making it feel cooler than what it actually was.

We're keeping close to home, though we still walk regularly. Once or twice, we've even shifted to walking late in the afternoon, though we still prefer walking in the early morning. As it gets cooler, we will change when we walk, and we will probably venture out to the state park more as well as a few other places around town. Variety is nice, you know.

We visited our PCP office on Monday for our annual flu shots. In the past, we've just gotten our shots at our local pharmacy at Market Street, but with things as they are today, we thought it might be better to go to our PCP. This way, we could be sure of getting the exact type of flu shot that our systems require at this time in our lives. And, if something were to happen to us, this information would be in the hospital network. In the past when we've visited our PCP in December, they've always asked if we've had our flu shots. Now they won't need to ask any more. And if we should find ourselves in a situation where we can't respond, all they have to do is look at our in-network information. Donna behaved herself pretty well. She only bit the nurse twice this time. They refused to give her a lollipop, though.

Early voting started on Tuesday. With COVID like it is, we really would have liked to just mail in our ballots. But with the political climate as it is, we just weren't sure that was a smart idea; we do want our votes to be counted. So, after monitoring the situation for a couple of days, we piled in the car and ventured to our local voting place. It took about 1 hour -- give or take a few minutes -- to complete the process. We started on the sidewalk in front of the Edd B Keyes Building in downtown San Angelo. It took about 10 to 15 minutes to get inside. Once inside, the line went directly down one hall, took a 90 degree turn to the left and down another hall, then did a U-turn back to the voting room. Lines and indicators marked off 6 feet intervals.

Once inside the voting room, I noticed that voters were required to use a stylus to access a screen when checking in. Fortunately, disposable gloves were available just inside the door, so Donna and I grabbed one each and slipped them on our right hands. Once our turn arrived, we provided our voter card and ID and completed the check-in process by making appropriate selections on the screen and then signing. Since we chose electronic ballots, we were directed to the voting machines, given our access codes, and then began completing the ballot. A few minutes later, we were back out in the fresh air.

For the most part, social distancing was maintained, though some folks did crowd together from time to time. Masks were required; in fact, I saw a sign indicating zero tolerance. However, we saw one man with no mask. Perhaps he had a medical condition. Whatever his situation, he was visiting with the couple ahead of him and he was doing 90% of the talking, and rather loudly at that. You know, if you aren't going to wear a mask, you should at least keep your mouth closed. Another couple was in the line a little behind us. When we got in the line outside, they were not wearing masks, but once we got inside, they put them on. 

All in all, though, it wasn't a bad experience other than standing in line for that long. Since Donna behaved herself for the most part, on our way home we drove through Schlotzsky's for sandwiches. Donna loves the vegetarian sandwich there while I enjoy the ham and cheese. I've loved those sandwiches since the first one I ate while in college so many years ago. I think Donna enjoys them more than I do.

Near the end of the summer, our new COVID cases had dropped nicely, even dipping into the single digits a time or two. A week or so after Labor Day, though, they began rising slowly. Now we seem to be topping out at over 30 a day, and the number of those admitted to the hospital has more than doubled in the past week.

Well, we obviously do not have any discipline. Partying and socializing and ignoring the guidelines is more important than making the sacrifices needed to protect our loved ones, friends, and country. So, at this point, it looks like the only thing that can save us is an effective and approved vaccine.

As always, be safe, be smart, and be considerate of others.

Biding our Time

We've done nothing unique the past few days. Hopefully, today (Sunday) is the last day of really high heat for the year. Yesterday pushed the high 90s, and today is expected to do the same. On our walk this morning, neither Donna nor I needed a jacket. We should drop about 10 degrees or so throughout the next few days. Personally, I'd like to see some cooler temps. We'll see.

Donna did some mighty tasty cooking this week. She made a few Middle Eastern/Mediterranean dishes: stuffed grape leaves (meatless), hummus, dhal, and one or two other things. When we lived in the Middle East during the 1980s, Donna was quick to learn how to cook various cuisines. As a result, from time to time we enjoy things like chicken curry, kofta, baba ghanoush, tandoori chicken, and various other exotic dishes. I do enjoy those meals.

Usually when we have such food, we just mix various cultures. We may have something from a Lebanese menu, something from a Greek menu, and then something else from an Indian menu. Donna may even throw in something she has just made up on a whim. But it is always very tasty. I'm a lucky chubby fellow.

Donna's stuffed grape leaves.

Some very yummy hummus.

We are scheduled to get our flu shots tomorrow. I'll feel a bit more comfortable once we get this hurdle behind us. I do hope we get an effective and approved vaccine for COVID in the very near future. Positive cases of COVID in our area have risen slightly in the past week or 10 days, but not what I would call significantly at this time. Now tomorrow, we may blow the roof off the numbers, but right now our daily totals are in the 25 to 35 range. Personally, I think that is too high and would be lower if people would do as the experts advise, but at least this number is well below the highs we saw in the summer.

Our latest puzzle -- "Cafe" -- was also the easiest we've put together. Clear lines and colors as well as well defined detail made it easy.

For some reason, the turkeys are coming back through in the evening. One of the turkeys had been limping noticeably on its left leg, but is no longer doing so. Glad things are looking up for it. Last night I spotted one of those little ringtail cats down the emergency exit road just south of our house. Those little rascals are stalking me, I believe, just waiting to catch me off guard. 

The "Gang of 4" moving through our back yard.

As always, be smart and keep safe.

The Porcupine Hunters

Miss Donna and I went to our nearby state park again this morning for another walk. This one was for 4.91 miles.

But the best part of the walk, at least for me, occurred within the first quarter mile or so. 

As we were ambling slowly along trying to loosen our legs up before Miss Donna shifted into high gear -- which she usually does and then leaves me behind -- I heard a rustling just off the road to our right. I quickly turned and spotted a good sized brown ball with spikes moving about in the brush. I quickly got my camera and began shooting.

I guess this butterball porcupine was afraid of us for he headed for a tree and began climbing. He didn't waste much time and he was soon about 10 feet up the tree. Below are the shots I captured as we watched. The first 4 pictures are zoomed in, but the last is not.

As soon as he spotted us, he headed for a tree.

In no time at all, he was about eye level.

This chubby rascal hasn't missed many meals, has he?

He's almost where he wants to be.

He's now snug and safe from Miss Donna, who likes her porcupine medium rare. Since this photo is not zoomed, it shows just how close we were to the little fellow.

Immediately after this, several deer crossed the road in front of us, but I couldn't get a good picture. About a half mile farther down the road, we saw several white tails -- and basically only the white tails -- disappear into some heavy brush. 

I love a good walk in the park.

New Month and a New Moon

Boy, the weather has been great around here lately. Now, we haven't had any rain since our big downfall several weeks ago -- and we could always use some -- but the temps have been truly delightful.

When I start my walk in the morning, it is light jacket weather. A couple of mornings, I've even had to bundle a bit and use my winter cap to cover my ears. But after walking for a mile or so, I usually warm up. 

We have really enjoyed sitting out in the evenings. We usually hit the back porch about 7:00. Within 15 minutes or so, a herd of deer usually scampers across the new emergency road to our south. They are always fun to watch. For quite a while, we had turkeys visiting us regularly, even arrogantly strolling through the yard while we sat and talked to them. But they have been MIA the last few evenings. Was it something we said? 

I hope you've had a chance to see the beautiful moon. Each night, it rises just a little later. The good news, though, is that it hangs around in the early morning just a little longer. For the last two mornings, it has shone on me for my entire walk. It just hangs up there in the western sky, like a giant orb.

Moon rising above a neighbor's house to the east.

Morning moon setting in the west, waiting for me to start my walk.

We're slowing down on putting puzzles together. Donna seems to be losing some interest. I really rely on her to tackle the difficult parts of a puzzle. She pulls out her hammer and utility knife and can really make progress on a puzzle when the going gets tough. Donna don't play!

"Island Time", our latest puzzle masterpiece.

As always, be smart and stay safe. We hope to see you on the other side.