Good Eats -- The Grill, San Angelo, Texas

We stopped in at The Grill earlier this week. Food at The Grill is described as "eclectic southwest style cuisine". That's an appropriate description.

Located at 5769 Sherwood Way near Sam's Wholesale, The Grill is locally owned and operated. The place is a bit on the noisy side, but I'm probably a bit more sensitive to noise than many people. It is also a bit dark inside, and Donna and I both had trouble seeing the menu.

But the food is good.

I ordered the marinated steak tacos. Lightly marinated and mesquite grilled cuts of sirloin are presented on small corn tortillas, with charred pasilla sauce. Although I enjoyed the tacos, my favorite part of the meal was the black beans and white rice. The dish was also served with a scoop of guacamole.

Donna enjoyed the Mexico City Enchiladas, which consist of fresh roasted chicken, jack cheese, and 
enchilada sauce. As with my dish, her enchiladas were served with guacamole and black beans and rice.

The Grill is a bit pricy. Our two dishes, with tip, cost almost $30, which is a bit steep, I think, for lunch. But the food was good and we look forward to visiting The Grill again and trying something new.

House Update

Our house is almost ready. Our builder contacted us yesterday to set up some dates. We will do the walk-through of the house on June 18, then close on June 21. We will start moving in on June 22. Furniture and appliances we have recently purchased will be delivered on June 22.

On our last visit to the house, the topsoil had been spread in both the front and back yards in preparation for planting the grass. The carpet had been put in place, and the gutters had been installed. Everything looks good.

For those of you who correspond with me via email, I will probably be offline for several days following the closing.

Life at Spring Creek RV Park

One of my favorite works by Mark Twain is a memoir entitled Life on the Mississippi. This piece recounts Twain's days on the river as a steamboat pilot before the Civil War as well as his travels on the river following the war. I find the description of navigating the ever-changing river fascinating, but one of my favorite parts of the work is the description of a sleepy river town that occurs in one of the early chapters.

The description begins by showing the sleepy river town in its usual state. Everything is slow and there is little excitement. Then the whistle of an approaching steamboat is heard, and the town springs to life. While the steamboat approaches the dock and while it is docked, the villiage becomes an ant's nest of activity. The arrival of the steamboat is the very essence of life for the little town. Then, as the steamboat pulls away to continue its trip either up or down the river, the town returns to its normal, sleepy state, awaiting the arrival of the next steamboat.

Spring Creek Marina and RV Park reminds me greatly of this scene from Life on the Mississippi. We've been here over three weeks now, so we are beginning to see the rhythym of this place.

During the week, all is quiet. The employees go about their tasks of mowing the grass, watering grassy areas, cleaning and making repairs to cabins, trimming brush and trees as needed, and doing whatever else needs to be done. Late Thursday, some of the weekend crowd begins to arrive. Then, Friday afternoon around 2:00 or so, the steamboat begins to dock and the weekend crowd comes aboard. Children ride bicyles throughout the park, people are walking this way and that -- some going to fish, some going to their boats, some just walking for pleasure -- loud music blares from car and boat stereos, and auto traffic through the park is almost constant.

Then Sunday arrives. A few early birds pull out early with their RVs, though most wait until late morning or early afternoon. By nightfall, the park is quiet again, and awaits the arrival of the next steamboat.

We've come to enjoy the weekdays here and the slow rhythm of the park. That is when we do all our fishing or walking or other outdoor activities. Then, while the steamboat is docked, we stay pretty much inside or find things in town to do.

Good Eats -- CC's Smokehouse, Nacogdoches, Texas

Donna and I were passing through Nacogdoches last week, and I was in the mood for a hamburger. We decided to stop at CC's Smokehouse, located at 2709 Westward Drive on the loop. I had stopped there once before with a couple of colleagues from work and had enjoyed a good hamburger then. The test of a really good hamburger place is getting a good burger a second time. I did.

Burgers at the Smokehouse are ½ pound. I'm not a big meat eater, though, so the size is not what I like about these burgers. What makes these burgers good is how they are put together.

I like a burger where the meat is slightly charred on the outside.

I like buns to be heated on a flat grill.

I like all the ingredients to be pile on neatly, not just thrown on. We've all had those burgers where you get 3 pickles, but all of them are stacked together instead of being spread around so that you eat all of them in one bite, or 2 slices of tomato are stacked on top of one another. At the Smokehouse, the burger is built with ingredients distributed appropriately so that you get a bite of everything in every bite.

If you happen to be on the loop in Nacogdoches, give the Smokehouse a try.

Life in a Trailer

Prior to our current experience, the longest we had stayed in our trailer was about 10 days. We've been in here now for almost 3 weeks, and we expect to stay another 3 to 4 weeks in the trailer while waiting for our house to be completed.

So, how are we doing?

For a couple of old geezers, Donna and I are pretty flexible. That's good, because there are lots of adjustments to make when living in a trailer.

The refrigerator is about one-third the size of our regular fridge, so we have to plan our purchases more carefully. We do this by purchasing smaller quantities and making more trips to the store. Our overall storage space, of course, is greatly reduced, so we are unable to go to Sam's Wholesale, for example, and purchase items as we normally would.

And then there is the human space. Our combined living, kitchen, and dining area in the trailer is about the size of an average bedroom. Our bedroom is even smaller. And the shower . . . Well, let's just say I miss the shower in my old home.

All in all, though, we do fine. Probably the biggest problem, at least for me, is boredom. I feel that we are in sort of a transition period. If we were on vacation and visiting interesting locations, then we'd be going out to museums, hiking, or doing other sight-seeing activities. However, now we are grounded in one spot, just waiting for all the dominoes to fall in place. Donna goes fishing almost every day -- sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. She loves fishing. I work on genealogy projects I'm involved in. We watch a little television, and we both read quite a bit. We try to keep healthy by walking. We have developed a 3 mile route we walk several times a week, and we ride our bicycles as well.

I spend a little time on a regular basis maintaining the trailer. I try to keep all slides, steps, and other related items lubricated, for example. I monitor all tanks (grey water, black water, propane, etc.) and empty or refill as appropriate. I clean out all external hutches from time to time and re-pack them to get more efficient use out of them. I try to stay busy.

But at the end of the day, I'm looking forward to moving into our new home and getting to work in the yard and building my new garden. Life in a trailer is good for a while, but there is no place like a solid home.

One Down, One to Go

We closed on our house in Kilgore yesterday.

For the past several weeks, we tried to set up a closing for the house. The buyer had not turned in all paperwork promptly, and that resulted in several delays. The closing finally occurred at 3:00 PM on Friday. That meant Donna and I had a long drive back to San Angelo. We arrived here last night about 11:15 PM.

It's nice to have that behind us, though, despite the late night drive home.

Now we can focus on finishing our new home in San Angelo. Our next task is to measure rooms and windows and start finding blinds that will cover the windows.

Richard Proenneke

In some recent posts, I've touched upon living a simpler, more natural life. Again, I want to emphasize that I don't intend to live a primitive lifestyle. As I have said before, I enjoy my creature comforts. Still, I do think there are some things to be learned from a simpler lifestyle.

A few years ago, I caught a broadcast on KERA (PBS) about Richard Proenneke.  The film really caught my attention, and I went out later and purchased a related book, Alone in the Wilderness.

Dick Proenneke was quite a man. In 1968, he moved to Alaska to an area called Twin Lakes. He constructed a cabin using only hand tools, such as an axe and other basic tools: no backhoes, no chainsaws, no electric drill, just hand powered tools. Dick even made many of his tools himself.

Dick's cabin measured 11' by 14'. It had a gravel floor, windows, a dutch door, a fireplace, and a moss covered waterproof roof. He had to build all his own furniture, too -- chairs, tables, desk and his bunk. He also built a cache to store his food out of the reach of the animals.

Dick Proenneke building his cabin

Again, I'm a bit too spoiled to live like this, but I admire someone who is so in tune with his environment that he knows exactly what he needs. And Dick's lifestyle drives home the fact that we really don't need all the material possessions most of us have to lead a satisfying life.

And have we lost the satisfaction of doing work using our own bare hands? One of my favorite moments is sitting on my patio looking over my freshly mowed lawn and taking satisfaction in the fact that I did the work.

So, as I move from one home to another, I evaluate every item we possess -- do we need it or not?

What would Dick Proenneke do?