Some Rain, Some Deer, and a Memory

It was late when I rolled out of bed yesterday morning, at least for me. I am usually up before the sun. No, that isn't true. I'm ALWAYS up before the sun. But yesterday, I opened my eyes at 6:52 AM and I saw light coming through the window. What got into me?

I quickly rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, and threw on my walking clothes. Just a few houses down, I spotted 2 bucks and a few does working the brush behind some neighbors' houses.

The bucks are centered in the picture, but if you look carefully, you can see a doe behind the orange flowers as well.

I got my 5+ miles in and returned home. After my shower, I did some work on the computer, then it was time for lunch. I wrote an item about a week ago concerning the places we ate on our recent trip. I enjoy eating out, especially tasty, exotic food. But my favorite place to eat is home. Donna is a truly good cook, and she recently made some kafta (Lebanese beef kababs) and all the trimmings. Boy, was it good. I really made a pig of myself. Thanks for fattening me up, Donna. She must be getting me ready for the slaughter.

Last night, we spent quite a while on our back patio. The skies had been overcast much of the day, but we could tell a storm was moving in from the south. Sure enough, a nice and easy rain began to fall. We set our plants in the yard to catch some of that precious nitrogen rich rain, and we collected some rain water as well. We were able to water everything and even store some of the water. This morning, I checked our gauge and was pleased to see just over half an inch. That is good for us. As I write this, it is still overcast, and I am hopeful we will get some more rain.

Look at these beautiful clouds in the northeast above our club house. They are reflecting the setting sun.

These are the clouds moving in from the south that brought the moisture. Thanks!

Just a hair over half an inch.

This morning, I set out on my morning walk. I love walking. Usually, I spend the time sorting through my thoughts, making plans for the future and perhaps reliving past adventures. This morning, my thoughts were about my father. He died exactly 10 years ago this morning, and I still miss him. I followed around after him as a child; as an adult, I followed in his footsteps and became an educator, as he was. But I never measured up to him. Thanks for being such a great role model, Dad.

I hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable Labor Day. Donna and I had lunch at one of our favorite local places, Rosas. As is our custom, afterwards we drove out to the lake. Despite the overcast conditions, there were quite a few people along the shores and numerous boats on the water. People seemed to be enjoying the fishing on this unusually cool day. Tomorrow, they will have to return to work or the classroom, but Donna and I won't. We're retired, you know.

Transition Time

We've finally made it to September, the transition month. Since June, the weather around here has been rather predictable -- hot and dry. The temps have hovered daily near the century mark, and we've had at least a month of days in excess of 100 degrees. In that same time, we've had very little rain.

I snapped this photo of some healthy looking ocotillo early one morning at our club house.

But with the arrival of September, things start to change a bit. The first half of the month will remain hot and dry for the most part, but by the end of the month, autumn will begin to tease us. Thus begins my favorite time of the year. The kids are back in school, temperatures begin to gradually fall, a few rains will move in, and autumn colors will begin to appear, peaking in late November or early September.

One of our neighbors certainly does like yellow flowering plants.

I love how vibrant and rich this purple sage is.

It looks like we are starting the month off with a good weather forecast. On Labor Day, temps will drop about 10 degrees, and we have a 30% or 40% chance of rain in the Concho Valley much of next week.

This neighbor has a nice mix of colors in her yard.

This is my favorite time of year to travel, as well, and I really miss having an RV during the fall months. I miss camping in one of our state parks as the mornings and evenings begin to cool. It's a great time to hike, build a camp fire, and watch the wildlife. Maybe I can talk Donna into buying me another RV.

Deer spotted on a recent drive through Spring Creek Park

Although the days are still summer warm, Donna and I have both felt just a bit of difference in the early mornings during our walks. There is a freshness there these days that has been missing since May or June. I look forward to it cooling more so that we can return to taking walks in San Angelo State Park. Because of the heat, we tend to walk in our neighborhood early; in fact, we are usually finished with our walks before the park even opens its gates. But once the morning temps drop another 10 or 15 degrees, we may postpone our morning walks until 8:00 AM so that we can enjoy the peacefulness of the state park. It's nice out there, and only 2 miles or so from our house.

Notice the rich color of this sage in front of one of the restrooms at the state park.

Good Eats on the Trip

One of the things we really enjoy on trips is finding good places to eat. We especially try to find places to eat food that we cannot find in San Angelo.

For years, we've enjoyed good Greek/Lebanese food in Shreveport at Athena's Greek and Lebanese Grill. I've written about this place several times before. However, the last couple of times we have eaten here, we were disappointed. Oh, it wasn't necessarily bad, but it simply wasn't up to its usual standard. We sensed that a change in ownership had occurred. We decided to give the place another try on this trip, but we were again disappointed. I really think we are convinced that it isn't going to return to its previous quality. On our next trip to the boats, we will probably go to Yeero-Yeero on Youree Drive. This was a favorite stop of ours for years while we lived and worked in the Kilgore/Longview area of East Texas, but when we discovered Athena, we found the menu there to be more to our liking. But Yeero is actually closer to the boats, so it will be more convenient. It specializes in Greek food. We look forward to renewing our taste buds with the food at this place.

On our trip to the boats in earlier this year, we visited a Bossier City staple, Ralph and Kacoo's, which is just down the street from the 'Shoe. I wrote about our meal there -- complete with pictures -- in an article entitled "Play Time at the 'Shoe" in January of this year. We really enjoyed our meal then, and we vowed to put it on our list of stops while in S/BC. So, on this latest trip, we made a return visit; again, we were not a bit disappointed. Everything about this place is good. We started with iced tea, and it was very good, not like the watery stuff served at so many places. We could actually taste the rich tea flavor. We were then served a nice basket of bread and hush puppies. This was really the only negative part of the meal, as I was not crazy about the hush puppies. Oh, they were quite good, and Donna easily put away a few dozen, but I thought they were a bit over cooked. The sour dough bread was wonderful, though.

Butter, tarter sauce, hush puppies, and sour dough bread. YUM!

Donna loves raw oysters, so she ordered half a dozen. I made the mistake of blinking when they were served, for they were suddenly gone. I guess the party girl liked them.

Raw oysters on the half shell for the party girl. She really enjoyed them.

Then our main courses were delivered. Donna went a bit light, choosing a wedge salad. I was tempted for I enjoy a good wedge salad as well. But we were in a place known for seafood, so I opted for something more fitting. I love a good po-boy sandwich, so I ordered a po-boy with boiled shrimp. Both of us really enjoyed this meal.

Donna's wedge salad.

My shrimp po-boy with red beans, white rice, and smoked sausage.

Yeah, we'll be visiting this place again!

Our next interesting meal was at a Lebanese restaurant in, of all places, Marksville, where we were staying and playing at the Paragon Casino. Habibi's Lebanese Cuisine is tucked away on a side street just north of the casino. We were surprised to find such a place in a small town, but these folks know what they are doing. The food looked so good that when we were served, I began eating before taking a picture. So, the picture below does not do true justice to the beautiful presentation.

For an appetizer, we ordered zaatar. During our days in Saudi Arabia, the zaatar there was served on thin baked bread, but the zaatar at Habibi's was on small, puffy, soft bread. It was quite good, and I would certainly order it again.

This is a stock picture from the Habibi Facebook page, but this is exactly what the zaatar looked like that we enjoyed. When the zaatar was served, I couldn't wait to dig in, and I forgot to take a picture.

For our main course, we both ordered the gyro plate, with hummus, rice, and salad. The gyro was, of course, topped with tzatziki sauce and red onions. This was the same meal we had a few days earlier at Athena in Shreveport, but the quality was much better at Habibi's. All in all, I found Habibi's to be the best part of our trip to Marksville.

Gyro plate with hummus, rice, and salad.

We ate at other places on the trip, but these were the ones that stood out. It's always nice to get away and enjoy something different, something a bit exotic.

Cheers!

Paragon Casino

Our final destination on our recent trip was Paragon Casino in Marksville, LA. For specific info on this casino, you can also consult the American Casino Guide.

I had been curious about this casino for many years, and the VPFree Video Poker page indicated that the casino had decent video poker at the quarter level. However, the last update of that info was about 2 years ago, so I was a bit skeptical as most casinos have been downgrading their video poker pay tables in recent years. I really was not hopeful that we would find such good games. Also, while playing video poker at the 'Shoe, we struck up an acquaintance with another retired couple, who also had been in education, and they warned us about how smoky the casino was. So, as we drove to Paragon, I was not that enthusiastic.

Front of Paragon Casino

Hotel at Paragon

Upon arrival, we parked in the garage, which is our habit. We prefer parking in a garage to protect our car from the elements. As we approached the automatic doors of the south entrance, anytime they slid open, we could smell a strong smoke odor emanate from the casino. Well, our Horseshoe friends were correct about that.

After joining the player's club, we headed to registration to get our room. Check in was relatively easy. One elevator was not working, but that was not really an issue, even though it was never repaired during our 2-night stay. I wonder how long it had been out of order prior to our arrival, and is it still out of order?

Hotel lobby tries to recreate the environment of this part of Louisiana. Pretty nice!

This shot reminds me a little of Sam's Town in Vegas.

Residents of the faux swamp in the hotel lobby.

The room was adequate, at best. The sliding door on the shower did not want to slide, the water in the tub was difficult to turn off, and there was very little pressure in the shower. I could nitpick all the little things wrong with the room, but I would be here all day, so I won't. We've certainly stayed in worse rooms during our 41 years of marriage, but we expect better from the casinos we frequent. We also noticed debris strewn about the halls, and I watched as hotel personnel passed by frequently without picking any of it up. There was one water bottle on the floor outside a neighboring room. I could have picked it up, but I wanted to see how long it would stay there. It remained there for over 24 hours.

The casino was a bit messy, too, mostly as a result of smokers who feel entitled to dump ashes on machines. The far south end of the casino does have a small non-smoking area, and we played there awhile. However, most of the machines there that we were interested in did not work properly. For example, most had keys that would stick, but many had monitors with visual issues.  In fact, this was a problem throughout the entire casino. In the course of our 2-night stay, if I found a machine that worked well, I tended to stay with it a long time.

Video poker area of the casino. I wonder why no one is playing? Pay tables are poor!

Area with slot machines in the casino. Again, even the slots were not being played much during our stay.

Here are the table games. Guess what? Hardly anyone here, either.

And how about their games? Were there any of the 99.54% VP games I was interested in? Nope, those were long gone. I saw no good games with a return of 98% or above for low rollers. I only checked the dollar or higher level on a couple of machines, and saw nothing there I could recommend.

We ate only 1 meal at the casino, and that was shortly after our arrival. We ate at Roxy's Diner, and neither of us was impressed with the quality of the food or the service. Cleanliness was also lacking there. On our first morning at the casino, we walked next door to the McDonald's for breakfast. For lunch on the second day, we went to a local restaurant which I will report about later.

We did drive through the RV park. There does seem to be shuttle service from the RV park to the casino. In fact, as we were walking back from McDonald's, the shuttle driver offered us a ride, which we declined. I do not know what the rates at the RV park are, but it looks like a very pleasant place. Occupancy was very low, though; I would estimate that only 10% or fewer of the sites were occupied. There are also some cabins.

Section of the RV park. Where are the RVs? Well, I see some way in the back. The sites look nice, so why is it so empty?

Another view of the almost empty park. Along the back you can see a row of cabins.

Cabins along the perimeter of the RV park.

So, we are done with Paragon. "Been there, done that!" as they say. It did afford us an opportunity to see some of Louisiana we are not familiar with, but there is no incentive to return. Now, if they had good video poker, I would gladly return and play and put up with the other shortcomings, but I doubt that will ever happen.

Natchitoches, LA

We left the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City last Wednesday and headed south on I-49 to Marksville for a 2 night stay at the Paragon Casino. About halfway, we turned off the interstate for a visit to Natchitoches. For those of you who are not familiar with this town, it is pronounced, oddly enough, Nak-i-tish.

Natchitoches is an old town. I find its history fascinating, especially the time when it served as a jumping off place for immigrants coming to Texas. In fact, El Camino Real starts on the banks of the Red River in the Natchitoches area and runs from there through East Texas on to San Antonio and beyond.

Home to Northwestern State University, a lovely campus on the southern edge of town, most of old Natchitoches lies along the Cane River. There are numerous shops, B&Bs, and restaurants in the historic district. We spent a little time walking the streets and admiring the beauty of the river.

Below are a few photos.

Some of the shops along Front Street. You can see just a bit of the Cane River on far left.

As with San Antonio, the river is a level below the business district.

Looking north along the Cane River

Looking south along the river

You can see from this photo the wonderful job the city has done developing the river front.

And of course, I have to include at least one photo of the original party girl.

One final photo of Front Street taken from the river.

Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City, LA

I've posted about the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City before, so I'll not say too much here lest I end up repeating myself.

We spent Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights at the 'Shoe. Over the years, the 'Shoe has probably been our favorite casino in the Shreveport/Bossier City (SBC) area. At times, we may find another casino with games we enjoy playing, but that usually lasts for only a year to two and then we end up returning to the 'Shoe. Since Donna and I play video poker, we try to find the games with the best pay schedules, and these change frequently. To be honest, there are few -- if any -- good games in the SBC area, especially for low rollers like us.

The 'Shoe is part of the Total Rewards player's club, and we like the way they do things. As a rule, I find the employees at TR casinos to be better trained and more service oriented. Rooms are generally clean and well maintained, and upgrades are regularly scheduled. On the casino floor, service is respectful and polite. And little things make a difference. I can rely on the staff at the 'Shoe to keep the cold beer coming and the machines in good working order.

What I don't like about the 'Shoe is that it is somewhat isolated, so you either eat at one of the eateries in the casino/hotel or you hop in your car for a trip somewhere else. The restaurants in the 'Shoe are a bit steep, even their Burger Bar. There is a new Jasmine Noodle Bar in the foyer. We looked at the menu there and kept walking. We would pay twice at Jasmine what we pay for the same food at our local Vietnamese restaurant, and I simply can't do that. So, we tend to go off-site for food, and I don't mind that, because there are some good restaurants not too far away.

We did spend one morning visiting 2 other casinos, Sam's Town and Eldorado. For 3 or 4 years, Eldorado was our main casino, but they have butchered the video poker inventory at that place, and their service has declined miserably. We walked through the casino this time to see if anything had changed, and it hadn't -- in fact, if anything, it has gotten worse -- so we walked right back out and next door to Sam's Town. In Vegas, we play extensively at Sam's Town, so we are partial to the Boyd casinos. Sam's Town in Shreveport does have a fairly good progressive jackpot deuces wild game at quarter level (known in the business as "LV Airport" or "Illinois Deuces"), and we did play it for a while.

We had heard that Margaritaville was becoming the most popular casino in the area, so we drove over there one morning to check the games in their inventory. It is a nice land-based casino, no doubt about that, but the VP inventory was abysmal, so we walked right back out the door. We then went next door and strolled about the Louisiana Boardwalk, an outlet mall on the east side of the Red River in Bossier City. I found some pants and shirts at the Hagar store there. I find they carry odd inseam sizes (odd as in odd numbers; I wear 31 length), and these are really hard to find in regular clothing stores.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the Boardwalk and the area along the river.

Donna standing along the Red River in the Louisiana Boardwalk. Across the river is Sam's Town casino.

Again, Sam's Town on the right with the Eldorado casino on the left. At far left is the western end of the Texas Street bridge over the Red River.

Photo taken from Louisiana Boardwalk shows Bass Outdoor World in center and the Margaritaville Casino hotel in background. Steps on right lead to Joe's Crab Shack.

Side street of Louisiana Boardwalk looking across the river to downtown Shreveport.

Bass shop has an alligator moat in front. Here are a couple of the citizens.

Our Recent Trip

I'm beat. Donna and I just returned from a 6 night trip to East Texas and Louisiana. Over the next week or so, I'll post some reports of the different places we went -- along with pictures, of course -- but for now I'll just give you a general overview of the entire trip.

We left early last Sunday (Aug 12) and headed east to Bossier City and the Horseshoe Casino. From Goldthwaite on east, we ran into numerous storms, some with very heavy rain.

We spent the next 3 nights at the 'Shoe and really had an enjoyable time. Donna lost a wee bit, and I actually came out a few dollars ahead. Since our room was comped, we felt good about the whole thing. We had some nice meals while there, but I'll write about those in another entry.

From Bossier City, we headed south to the Paragon Casino in Marksville, LA, which is about 30 miles southeast of Alexandria. We had never been to this casino, so this part of the trip was all new to us. We had passed through some of this country about 10 years ago, but we didn't stop anywhere.

After 2 nights at the Paragon, we began our journey home. We made it only as far as Hillsboro before giving out, and spent the night there.

Upon returning home, we discovered our refrigerator had gone out, causing us to lose quite a bit of food, not to mention a mess to clean. Fortunately, that is the fridge that our HOA is responsible for. They will probably replace it as I doubt it can be fixed. We have our own personal fridge which we keep in the laundry room, so we are using it for now.

I do not know how much rain we received in Angelo during our absence, but I know some rain did fall. Upon looking at the lake level for O.H. Ivie Reservoir, I do not see that it has improved significantly. Unless my source is wrong, I guess rain didn't fall in the right places to drain into the lake. But it is raining as I write this, though not much. But any rain out here is good rain, so I'm thankful for what we get.

This was our first trip in several months, and it was good to get away. Of course, it is always good to get back home. Donna, however, is ready to go again right now!