Water Conservation

Although we've had good rain so far in 2012 for the San Angelo area, the lakes we depend on for water have not been replenished. In fact, our main water source, O.H. Ivie Reservoir about 60 miles to our east, is only at 16% capacity with about 90,000 acre feet. To make matters worse, we share that water source with other area communities, including Midland, Texas.

Water has become one of our most precious commodities. I hate to see it wasted.

How many times have you driven through a neighborhood during a rain storm only to see the sprinkler system at a house watering the lawn? The problem, of course, is that many -- probably most -- people set their sprinkler systems and then forget about them; this is especially true, I think, with businesses. Another example of this is when an area has enjoyed good rains recently, as Angelo did a few weeks back; then, a couple of days after the rains stop, you see sprinklers watering lawns. If you've enjoyed an inch or more of rain, your lawn probably does not need watering for a week or more, depending on the temperature, wind, and other conditions. Again, this is a result of sprinklers being set and forgotten about.

Another form of wasting water on lawns is the time of day when we water our lawns. All watering really should be done early in the morning, probably before 9:00 AM. When lawns are watered during the heat of the day, some of that water is lost to evaporation. Many people prefer watering in the evening; the problem with watering at the end of the day is that the lawn stays wet overnight, and this could encourage disease, especially if your nights get cool.

Watering when it is windy also wastes water. I always cringe when I see water from sprinklers being carried away by the wind. In windy places like West Texas, more water can be carried away than eventually reaches the ground.

I keep my sprinkler system set, but turned off. When my lawn needs watering, I turn the system on the night before. I also watch weather forecasts; if rain is predicted, I keep my sprinklers turned off. After all, I'd much rather have good rain water with its high nitrogen content on my grass rather than city water. At this time, San Angelo and the surrounding area have a chance of rain for the next 2 or 3 days. My sprinkler system is off and will remain off until all chance of rain has passed. Then, if my lawn needs watering -- and it probably will -- I'll turn them on one night so that they run early the next morning.

Newer sprinkler systems have a rain sensor that can detect when it is raining and shut your sprinkler system off. My sprinkler system has this. Still, what if you had a good rain at 6:00 AM and your sprinkler system is set to go off 2 hours later? Again, you're watering a lawn that doesn't need watering.


Another thing I do when watering is try to prevent runoff. Standard practice is to turn on a sprinkler system and let it run for a set time. The problem with this is that after a while, water begins to puddle and runoff into the street. The ground needs more water, but since the water is coming so fast at one time, the ground cannot absorb all of it and this runoff occurs. Fortunately, on my sprinkler system, I'm able to set multiple run times. So, I have my sprinkler system water for a very short time -- about 8 minutes or so -- at 5:00 AM and then for the same amount of time again at 6:00 AM. Overall, I may use the same amount of water as someone else, but more of my water is being absorbed by the ground and is being used more fully.

There are lots of things we can do to conserve water and use it more wisely.

Good Eats: Panera Bread

One of Donna's favorite places to eat when visiting Conroe is Panera Bread. I'm not crazy about the place because it's so busy. During rush time, it's often hard to find a clean table. But I have to admit the food there is good.

Panera Bread serves for the most part coffee, salads, sandwiches, and soups. What I like about the place is the online menu. The menu provides nutritional information, and you can figure out exactly what you want before you go. Donna and I have been watching our weight lately, so we're counting calories. The "Nutrition Calculator" on the Panera site allows you to specify exactly what you want to eat. For example, I knew that I wanted a salad for lunch that day, so I pulled up the list of salads available. The one that caught my eye was Thai Chopped Chicken, but when I ran the data on it, I saw it was 470 calories, and that is a lot for a salad. I'm trying to stay below 1500 calories a day, and I really like it when I stay under 1000 (I've lost over 15 pounds so far), so that many calories for a salad seemed a bit much.

The neat feature on the calculator, though, shows the individual calorie count for each item in the salad. I reviewed it and saw that crispy wonton strips added 130 calories. Well, I figured I could sacrifice those strips without sacrificing taste, and that would reduce the total calorie count to a manageable 340 calories. Now we're talking!

And the salad was good! It had that alive flavor I was looking for. The chicken slices were beautiful, and the Low Fat Thai Chili Vinaigrette combined with the Thai Style Peanut Sauce created a rich tasting meal. I loved it. I can't wait to return.


And salads at Panera are served in real bowls with real utensils. I get so tired of plastic.


So, Panera is the place for me whether I'm watching my weight or not.

Good Eats: Smokey Mo's BBQ

On a recent visit to Conroe, I was craving barbeque. Although Donna is not a big BBQ fan, there are some items on most BBQ menus that she enjoys, so it didn't take a lot of arm twisting to persuade her to join me.

I wanted to try Smokey Mo's, a place I had never visited before. There is a location at Interstate 45 and Teas Nursery Road (FM 3083) on the northern edge of Conroe, and we stopped in there.

Smokey Mo's is an Austin-based chain; actually, the original restaurant is located in Cedar Park. There are currently 11 locations, and all are in the Austin/San Antonio area except for 1 in Willis and 1 in Conroe.

I enjoyed my meal. I ordered the brisket/sausage combo with sides of pinto beans and cole slaw. The brisket was good meat and fell apart on my plate. The sausage was the Central Texas German style, with a touch of heat, but certainly not overbearing. It is my favorite type if sausage. Both sides were tasty. Donna ordered half a chicken, and the meat was juicy and tasty. A condiments bar provided onions, jalapenos, and pickle slices.

Best of all, prices were reasonable. My combo was $8.95 while Donna's chicken plate was $7.95.

The place is certainly on my radar now, and I'll stop in again.

Omega Farms

Donna's family lives in Conroe, so we recently visited the area for a few days. While there, we stayed at Omega Farms, an RV park located just outside of Willis, Texas, and a few minutes north of Conroe.

The park has some nice sites, but it also has many undesirable spots. Unfortunately, we were assigned a pull-thru spot somewhere in the middle. We had no shade, no table, no fire ring, and very little space on the side of the trailer where our awning is located.

Tight spots in the center area where the pull-thru sites are located. There wasn't even enough room to fully extend the awning, and not enough room to comfortably sit outside.

Although the park is surrounded by large trees, the center areas are nearly void of any shade. If you go, get a site around the perimeter of the park. Interior roads and sites are gravel, so there is a little dust. Residents do a good job of keeping speeds down, though.

Again, there are shady spots with tables and fire rings in the park -- we just didn't get one. There is also no cable TV, and the WiFi is very slow and is not secured.

Omega Farms RV Park

The laundry room was located near us. 3 small private bathrooms -- each with toilet, sink, and shower -- are also located in the same building as the laundry facilities.

Laundry room and bath house. 2 washers, 2 dryers, and 3 private bathrooms. Facilities are good, but probably the poorest maintained of any parks we've stayed in recently.

Donna did enjoy fishing in the private pond on the property, and she managed to catch several fish including a couple of large bass and some catfish, as well as numerous perch.

The pond. Donna enjoyed fishing here, and caught more fish than she has caught in a long, long time. It is well-stocked.

We probably won't return to Omega Farms. It's a decent place, especially if your stay is brief, but it does not provide the type of setting we prefer.

Lake Whitney State Park

I really don't like pulling a trailer; about 5 or 6 hours a day is about all I care to do. So on a recent long trip, we decided to break the trip up by stopping early one day at Lake Whitney State Park.

Lake Whitney State Park is located just west of Whitney, Texas, which is about 30 miles or so north of Waco. Lake Whitney, covering 37 square miles, was formed in 1951 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a dam on the Brazos River.

Since we were just stopping for one night, we did not even unhook the trailer. We did as little as possible to make things comfortable for the night. After getting set up, we then took a walk around the loop road, which is probably about 3 miles.

The park is pretty, and is covered by live oak, blackjack oak, and post oak. We saw numerous deer on our walk, and we were also visited by 2 deer who approached our camp site. We even had a snake cross the road in front of us.

The park offers various recreational opportunities, including boating, swimming, fishing, and hiking.

Below are some pictures we took while on our walk.

Our campsite. Even though we did not unhitch the trailer from the truck, we did hook up water and electricity and raise the antennae. We wanted to make an early start next morning.

Star View campground for tent campers

Shelters, with a bit of the lake visible in the background between the oaks

Wildflowers in an open prairie area

Trail Head to the hiking trail

View of the lake from the boat ramp. The boat ramp is located on a feeder creek, not the main body of the lake.

San Angelo Nature Center

Another stop while our daughter and her family were visiting was the San Angelo Nature Center, located on Lake Nasworthy.

The Nature Center is something of a cross between a mini museum and a mini zoo. It is a wonderful place for smaller children to learn about nature. The wonderful staff there bring out all sorts of animals and allow the children to touch and pet them.

Most of the exhibits deal with small animals that live in the western part of Texas, so its a good place to go when you want to identify a local critter.

Those are some pretty good sized snakes. At top is a boa; at bottom is a python. The brave man next to the cage is my fearless son-in-law, Michael.

Wall-O-Snakes. These are harmless (left) and venomous (right) snakes of the Concho Valley

Donna found a small turtle

Exterior of the Nature Center, with a bit of Lake Nasworthy showing in the right background

Fort Concho

Recently, our daughter and her family spent the weekend with us. We spent Saturday visiting a couple of sites around San Angelo, starting with Fort Concho.

Fort Concho was established on the south bank of the North Concho River in 1867. Like other military posts in this part of Texas, it was created to protect settlers and immigrants as the frontier pushed ever farther west. In 1889, the fort was abandoned as the Indian threat no longer existed.

Today, Fort Concho is a National Historic Landmark. It is an active place, with numerous events taking place there throughout the year. The day we were there, for example, the Texas Mesquite Association was holding an arts festival in 2 or 3 buildings of the fort, so we were able to browse their goodies as well.

Fort Concho is an integral part of the history of San Angelo. It was a leading factor in the establishment of numerous business on the north bank of the river, an area now consisting of downtown San Angelo, including historic Concho Avenue. Downtown San Angelo is a wonderful place to park your car and just wander around. There are wonderful and interesting shops and numerous places to eat.

One of the best ways to learn about what life at Fort Concho was like is by reading a novel by Elmer Kelton, a noted author I've mentioned more than once in this blog. His novel The Wolf and the Buffalo deals with old Fort Concho, the rowdy town of Santa Angela across the river, the "buffalo soldiers" of the post, and the Comanches they encountered in the settling of the west. It is a great story, and shows with historical accuracy what life was like on the Texas frontier.

Any trip to San Angelo would be incomplete without a stop at Fort Concho.

Officers' Row

Uniform display in the Visitor Center

Hospital

Post headquarters in center, with quartermasters' quarters and commissary to the left

Enlisted men's barracks

The Museum of Telephony is located in one of the officer's quarters.

Some of the beautiful mesquite items on display at the Texas Mesquite Association's art festival