Color at RCW

The recent rains have been a true blessing in our area. As I said in a previous post, the rains haven't been plentiful enough to really improve our lake levels, but they have kept the grass in lawns and pastures growing and they have helped the area farmers.

On my walks about the neighborhood, there has been some pretty good color lately, especially with the purple sage. I think I enjoy the purple sage more than any other plant in the desert. As a boy, I read Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage (and I've read it several times since), and fell in love with the descriptions of the desert and the horses running through the purple sage. When sage is in its height of color, the purple is so vivid. My experience has been that if you regularly trim the plant, the blooms are even thicker and richer. But my pictures of purple sage in bloom never seem to capture the deep richness of the purple. And people seem to disagree about when sage blooms. Some folks argue that the sage predicts rain, and blooms just before the rain falls. I find that the blooms follow the rain. Whatever, it is a beautiful plant when in bloom.

Below are some pictures I snapped during my walks in RCW in the last few days. Some of the pictures were taken just as the sun was coming up, so the light was not at its best for picture taking. Still, I believe it will show some of the color of the desert plants around RCW.

I spotted these deer between 2 houses across the street from ours. Notice the purple sage on right. Behind our development is ranch land.

This is taken just to the right of the previous picture. You can see the same purple sage at far left. I love the color along this house. I can not name all the plants in this picture, but the purple, orange, and yellow hues blend nicely, I think.

These two houses also have some nice blends. 

Several desert plants in this photo, including the Mexican bird of paradise (orange flowers). This is the same plant as in other pictures. It is quite popular, colorful, and easy to care for. It is not to be confused with the bird of paradise.

There are a number of desert plants with yellow flowers, and I get them confused, so I won't venture a guess as to what these are. Notice the sage to the left. RCW has a mix of yards. Some are low maintenance (rock yards) while others do have grass. We are considering removing the grass in our front lawn and replacing with rock, but keeping the grass in our back.

Here are some sage plants lining the back of a house. Again, pictures do not do justice to the rich purple.

Here is another house with some beautiful sage.

These sage plants are just across the street from us, so we are able to enjoy their beauty throughout the day. These are regularly trimmed as opposed to those in the preceding pictures.

There is quite a variety of desert plants in this picture.

What a beautiful sunrise. This picture was taken near the entrance to our development.

I don't have the camera for taking night pictures, but I did want to share this shot of the moon Donna and I saw last night. It was a beautiful orange color, much like a harvest moon. The light spot near bottom center is the top of a street light.

A Pretty Good Week at RCW

It's been a pretty good week at our home in Rio Concho West. Donna and I have been pretty lazy and haven't done much other than eat and relax.

On the evening of July 4th, a storm blew in from the north. It wasn't as violent as our previous storm (see "Stormy Weather") a week or two earlier, but it had some force. We had 60+ mph winds. There was no real damage in our area, at least not like the previous storm. The good news is that we had some good rain from this storm. I recorded an inch of rain. For the year, we are only an inch under the average for this time of year, so we aren't doing badly. The grass is green and lush for early in July. The rain we've gotten hasn't been enough to restore our lakes, but it has kept everything alive.

One of our favorite grocery stores, Lowe's, has changed its name to Food King. We have 2 of these stores in town, and over the years they run some of the best sales in town, especially on canned goods and vegetables. We are eagerly awaiting the opening of a new H.E.B. store. We like H.E.B. and we buy most of our meat there. But I like many of the H.E.B. store products as well. The current store is at a busy intersection a few miles from our house, but the new store is only a half mile from the entrance to our housing area. That will be nice. We also have a Super Mercado as well as 5 Walmarts (3 super centers and 2 neighborhood markets). Last but certainly not least, we have Market Street, formerly Albertson's. Market Street is part of the United chain, based in Lubbock. And if I'm not mistaken, United is a subsidiary of Albertson's. Market Street is probably the nicest grocery, though it's prices are usually not as competitive as H.E.B. and Walmart.

There is a lot of road construction around the new H.E.B. store as well as along the north loop between Sherwood Way and North Bryant. As a result, we tend to avoid those areas when we get out.

We tried a couple of different restaurants this week. Neither establishment has a web site.

First up, we went to What Da Pho, a Vietnamese restaurant. We ate there once right after it opened about a year or so ago. Donna really liked her meal at that time, though I didn't particularly care for the pho I ordered. This time we both ordered pho ga, which is similar to chicken noodle soup. Pho ga uses rice noddles. The soup is served with a large platter of basil leaves, bean sprouts, peppers, and lime. You add these to the soup as you eat. We both enjoyed the meal. The restaurant is rather small, but that makes it quaint. We intend to go back. Service was excellent.

On our second restaurant outing, we ventured to a recently opened place called Cajun Creations. Donna ordered a grilled shrimp plate, which consisted of 5 shrimp, cole slaw, hush puppies, and dirty rice. I opted for the shrimp po boy, and requested grilled shrimp rather than fried shrimp. They were happy to accommodate me. I also enjoyed the same sides as Donna. The food and service was good, and we will certainly go back. They have daily lunch specials at a fair price. Like What Da Pho, Cajun Creations is a small establishment.

Other than a few shopping trips to our local farmers' market and grocery stores, that is about all we've done this week.

New Header

You may have noticed the new header above. The old picture was no longer relevant, so it was time to say goodbye to it. The former picture, shown below, was taken in June 2015 at South Llano River State Park, and showed our travel trailer resting in site 58. If you look carefully, you can see one of us sitting under the picnic table cover to the left; you can click the picture to enlarge it.

Site 58 at South Llano River State Park, June 2015

But since we no longer have the trailer, I thought it was time to replace that picture. The new header was taken by my brother Larry when he and his wife Nancy came out for a visit in June 2014. Larry, Nancy, Donna, and I had driven up to Big Spring to meet our daughter Courtney and her band of wild Neanderthals for lunch. Before meeting them, we visited Big Spring State Park, which occupies a high spot on the southern edge of the city.

That picture of our camp at South Llano brings back good memories. I do miss camping when the weather is good and there are things to do. But I'm glad we no longer have the trailer. I was reading a story in our local paper yesterday regarding the violent storm we had a week ago. The story contained several pictures of overturned RVs at San Angelo State Park. The damage was pretty bad. I am so thankful we never ran into anything that bad. You can see some of the pictures on the website of our local paper, the San Angelo Standard Times.

RCW Anniversary

Time has a way of slipping away, doesn't it. Although Donna mentioned something recently regarding this, I sort of let our 1 year anniversary at Rio Concho West get by me somehow. Yep, we've lived out here for just over a year now.

It's been a good year at RCW. Life is easy here. It's nice not to have to worry about things. During the recent storm, for example, there was no worry about clean up; after all, that is what RCW does. If damage had been done to our home, it would have been the responsibility of RCW to make repairs. Indeed, the crew has been busy this week cleaning up debris, cutting fallen trees, and making other repairs. The place is just about back in order now.

We really enjoy our home, and we are very comfortable in it. It's one of those homes that just seems to fit our lifestyle. The kitchen is light and spacious, as is the den/living area. We enjoy the big windows in our den that allow us to look out onto the street towards the clubhouse. Throughout the day, we can see our neighbors taking walks, riding around in their golf carts, and going to and from the clubhouse. It's a peaceful, relaxing environment with a strong small community feel about it.

We feel very fortunate to live here. I'm so happy that Donna investigated this place. I don't know of another place of this quality for the money.

A Short Trip and 4 Restaurants

On our shortened trip to East Texas last week, we were able to squeeze in 4 restaurants. 3 were old favorites and one was a new one for us.

The first leg of our trip was to my hometown of Fairfield, Texas. Travelers on I-45 have been stopping at Sam's Original Restaurant for years, and most of them stop for the buffet. If you've ever seen it, you'll know why. It's arguably one of the best buffets you'll find in a small town. But I've never had the buffet there. They did not start the buffet until after I graduated from high school, and anytime I came home, my mind was on one thing, the BBQ. Now, Sam's BBQ may not be the best BBQ in Texas, but it is consistently good. I've said before that my favorite BBQ is what is served up in the Central Texas meat markets, such as in Luling and Lockhart. But Sam's BBQ never disappoints. The brisket is always trimmed so that on the brisket plate, you never have any fat, which you often get in the meat markets. The last time I ate in Lockhart, my brisket order was probably one-eight to one-fourth fat. Now, I realize fat adds flavor, but I don't want to eat the fat. The Sam's BBQ comes with 2 sides, dill pickles, and a thick slab of onion, as well as your choice of bread. I like the mini bread loaf, which is the traditional serving. I always order the potato salad as one side. Normally I opt for the pinto beans as the other side, but this time I got cobbler as a side, and it was great and generous. Sam's is also known for homemade pies. Sam has been dead for a number of years, but the restaurant is still family operated by his son, Ponte. Next time I go, I'll order the same thing.

Our second stop was another old favorite, Little Mexico in Palestine, Texas. I started eating at Little Mexico when I was in junior high. At that time, the restaurant was a very small café in a shop across from the courthouse downtown. But as its reputation and popularity grew, it moved to a bigger location. For the last 20 years or so, I've felt that it just wasn't as good as in the old days, but it was still very good Tex Mex. On this trip, I felt that the quality had slipped a bit more while the prices had risen a bit too much. I ordered the Matador Plate, my old standard, which comes with 2 enchiladas (cheese for me), a tortilla chip covered with chili con queso, beans, rice, and a wonderful taco. Now, I still think their tacos are great, but the enchiladas just didn't have the flavor they once had; I feel the ones I get in San Angelo are actually superior. Now don't get me wrong; the food at Little Mexico is still very good, but it just doesn't measure up to my memory, and that may well be my memory's fault. But as we drove away, I told Donna that I did not feel the need to return, especially considering the price.

Our next stop was a place we've been eating for 10 or 15 years, Athena's Greek and Lebanese Grill in Shreveport, LA. This turned out to be another minor disappointment, for 2 reasons. First, the new location on the Shreveport Barksdale Highway was closed. On our last visit, we ate the buffet there and enjoyed it. Not only was it a buffet, but it was considerably closer to the casino we frequent. But that location was closed on this trip. The original location on Line Avenue (at least, original for us) was still open, so we went there. Donna ordered the gyro salad while I had the gyro plate. The meat was definitely different this time, and we both noticed it. We didn't care for it as much. The salad, the hummus, and other items were fine, but the gyro is what we really look forward to, and it just didn't please us. Again, as we drove away, we discussed whether to return. We may give Yeero! Yeero! another try. We used to eat here frequently until we discovered Athena's.

Our last eatery was in nearby Early, Texas (Brownwood). In all our years of passing through Brownwood, we've usually just stopped for fast food (Chicken Express or Schlotzsky's, for example) with the exception of a few stops at Underwoods. But we've noticed the Prima Pasta for several years now and had been wanting to try it. Donna suggested we stop there this trip, and I'm glad she did. It was quite good. Donna had spaghetti with mushrooms while I had baked ziti. Both were good. The sauce on Donna's spaghetti was rich and thick, not watery, and the cheese blend on my ziti was delicious. The salad was good, as was the bread. And since we ordered off the lunch menu, our price was reasonable, the least expensive of the 4 restaurants discussed in this entry. We will definitely stop here again.

Restaurants change over time; our tastes change over time. I'm glad that I still enjoy Sam's, and I'm glad we found a new restaurant, especially one not too far away. Since we pass through Brownwood/Early frequently, we'll be stopping in from time to time.

Stormy Weather

In my last post, I mentioned that we cut our trip to East Texas short because of bad weather in the form of Tropical Storm Cindy. Little did I know that by coming back home, we were going from the frying pan into the fire.

Our local weather forecast predicted a 30% chance of rain coming with a cool front. Yesterday, our high topped at 109 degrees, setting a record held since 1969. So, we were looking forward to a cooling trend.

Around 7:00 PM or so, we noticed the wind picking up, along with a light rain. We looked outside and were greeted by the smell of rain on a hot summer day. Then the wind increased, as did the rain. I was working on the computer, and Donna was watching a movie on Netflix. Normally, when the weather turns bad, Donna starts shutting things down, so I was a bit surprised that the TV was still on. Then the wind really picked up, and the rain began splattering with some velocity, and she began turning things off. Just before she turned off the TV, though, we caught a local weather alert, which indicated winds had reached 80 to 85 mph in the area, mainly north of here, I think.

The power then went off for several minutes, but came back on shortly. A few minutes later, the power shut down again, this time for much longer. We gathered our emergency items: flashlights, battery powered radio, candles, etc. We glanced outside and saw the north wind bending over all the trees. Our neighbor's flag, which we watch regularly for wind direction, was whipping boldly. The flag pole-- which extends above the neighbor's roof -- would soon snap at the base like a match stick.

Our power stayed off until 10:30 or so. The house was getting somewhat warm compared to the 72 degrees it was now outside. I was able to go out on our back patio once the rain eased and cool off out there and watch the most fabulous lightning show to the east I've ever seen. Streaks of lightning would fill the eastern sky, reaching in all directions. It was magnificent.

Finally the wind eased, and the rain ended. After the power returned, we crawled into bed and had a good sleep. For more info on the storm, complete with pictures, go to San Angelo Live.

This morning, we took a drive around Rio Concho West and I snapped the shots below. We sustained no noticeable damage at our house, so we feel very fortunate. I cannot tell you how much rain we received, though, for the wind blew the rain gauge away. I retrieved it from the yard this morning and remounted it.

Our neighbor's flag pole, which I mentioned above.

Debris covered the streets in the old section of our development.

This tree just split. It fell between 2 houses. I do not know if either house was damaged.

Another split tree, similar to the one above.

I'm not even going to venture a guess as to how this golf cart ended up between these 2 rows of houses. Several residents have golf carts, but they keep them in their driveways or garages. Notice the downed limbs.

Another split tree, this one at our club house, The Oak Tree Club. It looks as if the tip of the tree just brushed the building on its way down.

Luckily, this ripped tree fell into the street rather than on the house.

Down by the nearby Walmart, this sign for a medical care center was damaged, but crews were already repairing it.

The wind is still blowing today and skies are overcast, but nothing is on the radar at the moment. We do have a 30% chance of rain right now, increasing to 50% tonight. We'll see.

Best Laid Plans

Donna and I had planned a trip home this week, but we cut it short because of Tropical Storm Cindy.

On Monday, we headed to my hometown of Fairfield, about 65 miles east of Waco. We spent much of the day in rain, some of it heavy. We really didn't expect that much rain.

It was nice to see my hometown, though. There were places in the area I had not seen in a long time and I wanted to see them again. With each passing year, the distance between San Angelo and Fairfield seems to get greater, and the trips are harder to make.

We visited the cemetery at Shiloh, where my father, mother, paternal grandparents, my father's younger sister, and a cousin rest. Shiloh is an old community just south of Mexia along highway 39. Then we drove to Kirvin, about 10 miles west of Fairfield. I drove by my grandmother's old home there, then out to Woodland Cemetery, where my maternal grandparents rest along with my mother's older brother. There are other family members that are also buried there.

Then it was on to Fairfield, where we ate and spent the night. The next day, we drove to Shreveport, and this is where our plans began to change. We were scheduled to spend 3 nights at the Horseshoe Casino, then head down to Conroe, Donna's home town, just north of Houston.

I guess we just don't keep up with the news anymore. Wednesday morning, I rose early as I normally do at Casinos and went downstairs to play a while and enjoy a cup of coffee. When Donna came down later that morning, she surprised me by saying that we would leave Thursday morning as a tropical storm was coming through. Since Conroe is near the coast, it often gets pretty heavy rain from such storms, and we just really didn't want to deal with that. And come to find out, some of the heaviest rain was predicted for the Lufkin area, and we would be passing through Lufkin to get to Conroe.

So, we cancelled our visit and decided to leave that evening to beat the rain. We drove west as far as Corsicana to spend the night, then made a leisurely drive home Thursday.

We'll reschedule our Conroe visit at another time. Besides, we really weren't ready for the humidity in East Texas, so we may wait for some cool fall weather before venturing that way again.