Ending the Blog

I started this blog just over 11 years ago. My first entry on February 11, 2011, contained the following paragraph:

"My wife, Donna, and I retired January 31, 2011. We hope to do quite a bit of traveling during our 'golden years', and this blog will allow us to share our travels with our family and friends."

I then went on to briefly mention our travel trailer and tow vehicle. We intended to do a lot of RV traveling during retirement, and we did. But we sold our last travel trailer in late 2016; and although I'd love to full-time in our RV just once more for a couple of years or so, I really don't think that will happen. The costs for RVs and tow vehicles have sky rocketed during the pandemic, just as many other things have. 

In fact, in the two years since the pandemic began, we have traveled very little, so there just really hasn't been much to write about. It seems that all I write about these days is the weather, our crazy neighborhood turkeys, and the deer that visit us from time to time. My original intent with the blog, as indicated by the quote above, was for our friends and families to have a way to keep up with our whereabouts as we traveled. It was fun to make those entries on places like Arches National Park in Utah and Palo Duro Canyon. We were doing so much in those days that I often posted something every day. 

Our traveling days, though, are behind us for the most part. We still want to travel, but the constant ups and downs of the pandemic get in the way. And so many things cost so much more today. Although we still find hotels for a decent price, dining costs have certainly risen since the pandemic began. And just about everything to run a household has risen in price, from groceries to utilities to insurance. So even when/if the pandemic fades, we probably won't travel as much as we used to.

After we sold our last trailer, we continued to travel quite a bit. We tried to take at least one trip every month, even if it was just for an overnight stay somewhere. That certainly is not possible now. But we will still continue to travel several times a year unless something unforeseen arises. 

Such infrequent adventures are not worth maintaining a blog for. And to be honest, I've grown tired of keeping this thing going. I think if I did have something interesting to relate, I might keep at it a bit longer. But after 1008 blog entries, I'm ready to close the thing down.

I never like to say never. Who knows, we might just sell our house one more time, move into an RV, and take off for one more great adventure. If that happens, I'll probably revive the blog.

I'll leave the blog live for a while. If we do something worthwhile from time to time, I might write about it, but I don't want to feel the need to make an entry when nothing exciting has happened. At some point, though, I'll probably remove the blog entirely. I like to tidy things up once something is complete. I've always wondered what happens to all those online sites that are no longer maintained. For example, I know of at least 2 Facebook accounts still active even though the people are no longer with us. Who goes in and closes them out? Is there a time of inactivity set that leads to removing the account?

Thank you for spending some time with us. Hopefully, we'll see you on down the road somewhere.

Getting the New Year Started

The end of one year and the start of the next is a busy time for me. 

At the end of each year, I take a good look at my budget and make all the necessary adjustments. And this year, there are quite a few. With rising prices in just about every area -- from dining out to groceries and nearly everything else -- I had to really work some magic with my numbers this year. Looks like we'll be having lots of Ramen noodles from the bag this year. But I think I have everything sorted out now.

I also do some end of year financial reports for us so that we know what kind of progress -- if any -- we are making. Being retired is sort of like running a marathon. Just as in a long distance race, do you have enough resources to make it until your life's race is over? That's the big question. When you live on a fixed income, it really helps to be on top of everything and get as much mileage as you can in all areas.

I also use the end of year as a time to change security information. Hackers are everywhere these days, so I do everything I can to keep things safe. I use strong passwords and update them frequently.

I also make the rounds and replace batteries in all of our detectors in the house. I keep the batteries I pull out; after all, most of them are still good for a while. I can then use them in less vital devices as needed. But for something that could potentially save our lives, I make sure I have good batteries in them.

And then there are taxes to get ready for. I prepare a large file folder to put everything in, and I list all the forms I expect to receive. I've already received the first one. The IRS never sleeps.

December was an overly warm month, but January has been about normal, I suppose. I had gotten a bit spoiled with the comfortable temps we were having. Now I seem to be cold all the time. I've started walking in the early afternoons now, but I can't wait to return to an early morning schedule. That walk first thing in the morning gives me an energy boost for the rest of the day. I like that it now gets light earlier each day, and it stays light longer each evening.

The wind began blowing hard early on Friday. It blew hard all day, so hard I decided against a walk. It's no fun taking 3 steps forward and being blown 2 steps back. Normally the wind dies down in the evening, but not on Friday. The garage doors rattled all night. Then the wind blew all day Saturday. And I'm not talking gentle breezes here. Fortunately, the winds seem to have abated this morning. I'd like to get out this afternoon.

I'll leave you with a few pictures. One evening early in the week, I looked out the back patio window and saw a number of turkeys in our back yard. If you've been reading the blog, you know this is a common sight. If you stay outside much in our area, you'll see wildlife every single day; it's one of the things we love about living here.

On this particular day, there was one rather aggressive tom following another turkey. I know practically nothing about turkey culture, but I assume this is simply a maneuver to assert one's dominance. This tom would puff out his feathers, sometimes including his tail feathers, and other times, he would simply follow another turkey step for step. These goofballs are really entertaining. Yeah, a six-pack and a group of turkeys gets you a lot of entertainment out here.

This was my first sighting of the turkeys through the slats of my window. The aggressive tom is in the center with his tail feathers fanned out.

The aggressive tom is now in the center with his feathers puffed a bit.

Now the old trouble maker is bringing up his tail feathers and swelling up a bit.

Now the old sorehead is asserting his dominance and herding a few of his inferiors.

I looked out one day as the morning sun put some good light into our little oak tree out back. It really brought out the rust color of the leaves. I was surprised with the good color in the leaves in mid-January as well as with the number of leaves still on the tree.

Our little tree is holding on to its rust-colored leaves.

And finally, what would one of my entries be without a sunrise photo?

The sun is still just below the horizon in this photo.

New Years 2022

Happy New Year to all of you. I hope this year brings you joy and happiness, and I hope we see improvement on the COVID front in 2022 as well.

I'm always happy to get the holidays behind us. Now, please don't misunderstand me; I enjoy the Christmas season. I enjoy the music, the decorations, the smells -- everything. But I'm kind of a routine guy, so I'm always happy to get back to normal. And those kids need to get back in school so that places aren't so crowded when I venture out. Those little rascals cramp my style. I was like that in pre-COVID days, and I'm even more like that now.

We had a really unusual December. Our local meteorologist has reported that for the month of December, we have tied or broken 8 records for high temperatures, and we have seen above average temps for 26 of the 31 days this month. Wow! Our warmest day was December 26 when we reached a high of 86 degrees. 

The meteorologist also showed a graph indicating that this has been the warmest December on record. For the month, our average temperature was 60.1 degrees. That is a differential of 11.6 degrees above normal. The next highest average temp for the month of December occurred in 1970, and it was 54.6 degrees. That's a considerable jump. After that, December of 1977 showed an average temp of 52.2, as did the years 1933 and 1922.

In addition to the heat, it has also been a dry month. We only received 0.03 inch of rain for the entire month. We are in a drought stage at this time, and that is never good around here. I worry about our farmers. Right now, they could probably use some healthy rain on their winter wheat crops.

We've certainly had some unusual weather this year, starting with the "Big Freeze" back in February, when we had considerable snow fall and below freezing temps for about a week. I'd like to see things normalize, but I'm not holding my breath. 

Despite that, I must admit I've enjoyed the warm temps. I've been able to resume my walking routine in the morning rather than later in the day, and I do enjoy that. I really enjoy see the sun come up in West Texas. The colors can really be beautiful.

Sunrise through the leafless mesquites and the house tops.

I'll close with a couple of pictures I snapped a day or two ago when we drove out to Lake Nasworthy and Spring Creek Park. The first is of a romantic buck. This handsome young Romeo is following his lady love, who has already disappeared into the brush. As we approached him, Romeo had stopped at the edge of the road and was watching us. I pulled to a stop to give him the right of way and waved him across. He then slowly sauntered across. I believe this is the same scamp we saw a few weeks ago who was pursing another young beauty a bit farther down the road. He certainly has romance on his mind.

Romeo in slow pursuit of a doe. He's a cool customer and can't be hurried.

The picture below is of Spring Creek as it works its way towards the Middle Concho River and Lake Nasworthy. A boat is tied up, and a butte rises above the horizon right above the boat. Its counterpart is just to the right, but is barely visible through the trees. It is these two buttes that give the upstream lake its name, Twin Buttes Lake.

Spring Creek and one of the Twin Buttes

Happy New Year everyone!