Blessed Rain

We've been blessed with evenly spaced rains here in San Angelo for the past 2 months or so. 2 nights ago, we received another ½ inch at our house on the southwest side of the city. That brings our total thus far this year to 7.72 inches, which is still behind our normal average of 9.8 inches. Lake O.H. Ivie, San Angelo's primary source of water, is currently at 18% capacity, or 102,090 acre feet. Since rains a couple of nights ago were quite heavy to our north and northwest, we should get more water in our area lakes, but it will take a few days for all of that to register.

We are restricted to watering our yards only once per week at this time. So far, that has not been a problem for me as the rains have been spaced apart nicely. In fact, I've not watered my yard in more than 2 weeks, and I do not intend to turn my sprinkler on again until the middle of next week. And if we get a little more rain between now and then, I'll continue to leave the sprinkler system off.

I posted some pictures of my yard in 2 previous entries: "Instant Yard" and "Blooming Yucca". Go back and take a look at the pictures -- in that order -- and then compare them to pictures I took earlier this morning (below). You'll see the grass has come along nicely. I'm really pleased with the grass selection I made (Celebration Bermuda). It is supposed to be both drought tolerant and shade tolerant, and so far I'd say it has performed well. Yes, we've had rains, but not abundant rains. Normally, we get only .2 or .3 inches of rain. Since I've been trying to establish the yard, I'm really pleased.

Grass is a rich green, thanks to the nitrogen in the rain we've had, with a few lighter areas here and there. Pepper, tomato, and cucumber plants line the bed next to the house.

Same area as in the picture above, but from the opposite end.

Donna's raised beds. Zucchini on the left, okra and squash in the middle, and basil on the right. Donna has grown basil successfully for years. When she harvests it, she makes pesto, which she freezes in bags to store in the freezer. We then eat this yummy treat all year long. Store bought pesto can not compare to Donna's.

The Kids and Other Things

Our daughter and her crew came down for a weekend visit. They live about 2 hours north of here in a small community, and they enjoy coming to the "big city" from time to time to eat out and go shopping. Our daughter is in about the 8th month of her pregnancy, and she's just about ready to bingo.

We had planned to attend a San Angelo Colts ballgame Friday night after they arrived, but believe it or not, it rained off and on much of Friday. Our grandson, Xander (short for Alexander), was a bit disappointed but took it in stride. His folks left yesterday (Sunday), but he is staying with us for a few extra days. We will take him to a ballgame Tuesday night.

Early Saturday, Courtney (daughter) rose early to discover a damp carpet in her room. She could hear a hissing sound in the wall. The bedroom she and Michael (son-in-law) were in shares a wall with the guest bathroom, so we checked that out, but there was no water anywhere in there. We eventually called our builder, Tony Jones, and he was at our door before 8:00 that morning. After locating his plumber, they eventually found a pin hole leak in a a fitting inside the wall spraying a stream directly at the wall in the guest bedroom. To me, it looked like a manufacturing defect in the fitting, since the tiny hole was actually in the metal part. I was grateful to Tony for getting on this right away and getting it fixed, as we were worried we might have to turn the water off for a long period of time. We've been extremely happy with Tony; he is very customer oriented and stands behind his work.

While overseas, Donna learned to cook numerous Mediterranean dishes, and for Father's Day, she made kofta kebabs, saffron rice, hummus, and baba ghanoush, with a few other side dishes. Even though Michael has never been abroad, he has learned to love the foreign dishes that both Donna and Courtney cook up. Xander more or less tolerates these dishes as he is something of a picky eater, but he's still rather young. We're sure he'll broaden his food horizons as he grows. He's kind of a meat and potatoes guy right now.

So Xander will stay with us until he wears us out this week, then we'll deliver the little monster to his mother near the end of the week. After that, we'll spend several days recuperating.

Big Brother Comes Knocking

Yeah, Big Brother has been here. No, not the feds, but my older brother, Larry. He and his wife, Nancy,  came out for a visit last weekend. That was a real treat. We rarely have visits from family or old friends out here. Most of our family members live in the eastern part of the state or other places, so when we have guests, it is a real pleasure.

We enjoyed the visit tremendously, and we really enjoyed the opportunity to show them around San Angelo. We're very proud of our town and we like to show it off. We took them out to Lake Nasworthy where we spotted countless deer, a few turkeys, and numerous squirrels, including 1 or two black squirrels. We also spent some time driving them through San Angelo State Park. We were unable to spot any of the park's buffalo heard, but while stretching our legs on Pulliam Point, a young fox ran very near us. There is also a small prairie dog town fork in that section of the park, and we spotted several of those little critters sporting around.

We also took them by Angelo State University, through the lovely Santa Rita neighborhood (older homes that have been lovingly maintained and restored), along the North Concho River in downtown Angelo, and we visited a few stores downtown, notably Eggemeyer's General Store and Concho Confetti Antique Mall. While the gang was strolling through these stores, I slipped off to my favorite bookstore in the world, the Cactus Book Shop, which has the best collection of Elmer Kelton books in the world. It also has a ton of other books on the American West, which is one of my greatest interests.

Eggemeyer's General Store on Concho Street in downtown San Angelo

Concho Confetti Mall on Concho Street in downtown San Angelo. The old Cactus Hotel is in the background.

The rest of the time, we just visited and ate . . . and ate . . . and ate. Donna made a cheesecake. She hadn't made one of these in years and years, but she hasn't lost her touch. It's worth putting up with my brother if I can get a Donna cheesecake out of the deal. And Larry brought 2 boxes of old family pictures and documents which he had recently come across, so he and I spent time working our way through those.

We had a good time, and look forward to our next visit. Maybe some other family can find San Angelo on the map and work their way out here. We're pretty good hosts.

Good Reads: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

I recently wrote about the three longest hiking trails in the continental U.S. Of the three, I'm most familiar with the Appalachian Trail simply because I've read a number of accounts by people who have hiked -- or attempted to hike -- that trail. I'm going back through my library now re-reading some of those, and the very first one I picked up was A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Bryson.

Some of you may know Bill Bryson from his other works, such as The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America, Notes from a Small Island (which was adapted for television), and In a Sunburned Country. I enjoy reading Bryson's works. His logical, common sense approach to life is filled with subtle humor, and sometimes I even catch myself laughing aloud while envisioning a scene from his books.

In A Walk in the Woods, Bryson decides to hike the Appalachian Trail soon after he and his family move to a small town in New Hampshire where the trail passes near his home. He is joined in his adventure by Steven Katz, the source of much of the humor in this book. The two begin their journey in Georgia during an extremely cold spell one March. As they hike north, the author recounts their journey but also provides glimpses of life along the trail. In essence, he rediscovers America as the title suggests.

If you've never hiked and are considering doing so, this is a good read. Of course, there is a great deal of difference between backpacking long distances over long periods of time as Bryson and Katz do on the Appalachian Trail and taking shorter day hikes and then returning to a comfortable bed each night as I do. But if you like hiking or are curious about it, this is an interesting read. And all along the trail, you get informative detours by the author on various subjects, such as acid rain, history of a region, and humorous insights into regional life. It's a very easy read and very entertaining. I highly recommend it.

The Big 3 Hiking Trails of the Continental U.S.A.

It's obvious that I enjoy hiking. I've always enjoyed walking in the woods. I've probably hiked at least some portion of the best hiking trails in Texas with 1 or 2 exceptions (the Lone Star Trail and the Trail Between the Lakes come to mind). But I really regret that I've never hiked any portion of the big 3 trails in the continental U.S.

The Appalachian Trail is the oldest of the 3 big trails. Almost 2,200 miles long, it passes through 14 states from Maine to Georgia. Although the idea for the trail was conceived about 1920, it was not really completed until 1937. At the time, the idea was to provide a trail that people could hop on and off for a few days of hiking. It was inconceivable to the early planners that anyone would ever hike the trail from start to finish, but Earl Shaffer did just that in 1951. Today, somewhere between 2 and 3 million people hike at least a portion of the trail each year, and more than 500 or so complete a "thru-hike" each year (an uninterrupted hike from start to finish). It's a rigorous undertaking that requires from 4 to 6 months for most people.

The Appalachian Trail is no longer the longest trail in the country. It has been surpassed in length by both the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail.

The Pacific Crest Trail stretches about 2,650 miles from Canada to Mexico, passing through only 3 states: Washington, Oregon, and California. The Continental Divide Trail is the longest of the 3 big trails, measuring about 3,100 miles. It's route traverses Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Although I've never hiked any of these trails, I've read a number of stories of people who have. From my reading, I believe it is probably much more difficult to hike the two western trails than the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail passes through more populated areas, sometimes even passing through towns or very near towns. This is convenient for resupplying, resting up in a hotel, and eating at local restaurants. It is more difficult to resupply on the western trails, thus requiring much more planning and often coordination with others. The western trails also encounter larger elevation differences. The Appalachian Trail offers its own challenges, though, such as unpredictable weather conditions in the White Mountains of New England.

Flying Wild Alaska

Donna and I subscribe to Netflix. It's really a great deal. For $8.65 a month, we get unlimited streaming access to a vast number of movies, TV shows, and other videos.

I don't normally like "reality" type shows. Most seem to appeal to people who like to watch confrontations or bizarre behavior or toothless hillbillies. But we found a type of reality show recently that we really enjoyed watching. It is Flying Wild Alaska, which originally aired 23 episodes over 2 years on the Discovery Channel.

The show follows the Tweto family and their bush pilot airline that is based in Unalakleet, Alaska. The airline, ERA Alaska, is the largest regional airline in Alaska and operates hubs in Barlow, Nome, and Bethel, among other locales. The airline provides passenger service as well as cargo transport over most of western and northern Alaska. They also haul hunters, mountain climbers, and other outdoor enthusiasts to remote locales in the Alaskan bush.

We really like the show. In addition to the obvious emphasis on flying, many episodes included a great deal regarding life in Alaska, from the Iditarod race to whale hunting to local festivals. The local cuisine figured in many episodes as well.

But the show was really about the airline. If you had asked me a year ago what I thought the most difficult aspect of flying in Alaska is, I would have answered that it would be the cold. However, after watching the series, the main problem is the wind, especially when landing or taking off.

Now that we have sold our RV and our travels are more limited, watching this show allowed us to have the travel experience while staying at home. If you have an interest in Alaska or flying, I highly recommend this series.

Garages

A basic definition of garage is "a shelter or repair shop for automotive vehicles." 

Donna and I have always enjoyed having a garage, and we've always used our garages as a place to shelter our automotive vehicles. I like having our vehicles securely stored to protect them against violent weather and from mischievous imps who roam the night. I also like being able to go from my vehicle to my house without getting wet during rainy weather or being exposed to the cold during winter. I guess I'm getting soft. In fact, when we were looking for a house recently, one of the features we felt most strongly about was to have a rear-entry garage. We think it gives a neighborhood a cleaner appearance.

I walk our neighborhood quite a bit, both on the streets and in the alleys. I try to do about 3 miles every other day or so. During my walks, I notice quite a bit. I'm surprised at the number of people who actually leave their garage doors up, even during the night (sometimes I walk before 6:00 AM).

I'm amazed at the number of people who do not use their garages as shelters for their vehicles. I find that many or our neighbors park their cars along the curb in front of their homes rather than use their garages. Some do so because modern families often have more than 2 cars -- 1 for Mom, 1 for Dad, and 1 or more for the children. 

But many park their cars in places other than their garage because there is no room in the garage. 

Many garages are just crammed full of boxes, old workout equipment, lawn care machinery, and all other types of odds and ends. Usually there is space enough for 1 car to fit inside, but no more. Sometimes the garage is neat and orderly, not crammed, but the space is used to store an ATV or other recreational toy. From time to time, the space is used as a workshop.

And what does this say about our culture? I think our concept of home has changed over the years. A home was once seen as an investment, and care was taken to maintain that investment. Things were stored appropriately, lawns were maintained, the house was maintained. Often today, when you see the home with a garage stuffed with boxes and other things, you'll probably see a house where the yard is not maintained and the house is not maintained. The value of a home has changed. 

It seems today that our emphasis, our value, is placed on interests outside the home. More and more families own boats, RVs, ATVs, and other "toys". Where once the American family spent weekends tending to their homes and yards, today they spend their time at lakes, on ATV tracks, or following other pursuits? 

I know that the older I get, the less time I'm willing to spend working around the house. I'll take an outing in an RV anytime over an afternoon mowing the grass. But to each his own.