Colors of Spring

It's finally warmed up; perhaps the last of the cold is now behind us until the fall months appear. In a month or two, I'll be wishing for cooler weather. I suppose it's human nature to always want what you don't have.

People in the neighborhood are pretty active now that the weather is so pleasant, and many are working in their yards. We have a crew that comes around each week to mow, but many of us like to putter about some in our yards, especially in flower beds and such. Our beds are now just about done, thanks mostly to Donna. I've not helped her much, and I'm a bit ashamed of myself, though I don't seem to be losing any sleep over this issue. But it's fun to watch the old girl work and sweat in the sun.

We now have good color in our front beds. We have some red yuccas, a yellow bell (esperanza), 2 or 3 rose bushes, marigolds, and various herbs and such. When they mature a bit, I'll share some pictures. In our side bed, Donna planted tomatoes and peppers. Hopefully, they'll all do well.

We've been admiring the growth in the oak tree in our back yard. I dug through my files and found the picture below, which I took shortly after we moved in back in June 2016.

Oak tree in our back yard, taken in August 2016.

Now, compare it to this picture which I took just a day or two ago.

It's a bit fuller, a bit taller. 

The tree grows about a foot or so each year. Our back patio faces east, so we normally don't sit out in the morning because the sun just bathes the entire patio. Soon, we hope we'll get some shade from the tree. For now, we enjoy our patio in the morning on overcast days or after lunch on sunny days.

In closing, I'll leave you with a few pictures I snapped as we drove through our neighborhood recently.

The yellow flowers refuse to die. We've had them for over a month now. This is from an empty field on the eastern perimeter of the property.

This is an ocotillo standing guard outside the clubhouse.

This is the yard of one of our friends who lives just down the street from us. That is a Mexican bird of paradise on the left. We have several in the neighborhood, and I really like them. The yucca is in full bloom in the center of the picture. Between these two plants is another ocotillo, but this one does not have the red blooms like the ones at the clubhouse.

These are red yuccas in the yard of our neighbor across the street. Donna planted 2 of these in our beds, but it will be some time before they reach this level of maturity.

And I'll leave you with the picture below of a yucca in bloom. We came out of a business the other day and came face to face with this beauty. I love those milky white blooms. It has always been one of my favorite desert plants.

Yucca in bloom.

More Stormy Weather

Another round of storms passed through our area Monday night and Tuesday morning.

We were expecting more severe weather. First, we had a wind advisory posted from about noon Monday to early Tuesday morning. As I understand, a wind advisory is posted when there are sustained winds of 31 to 39 mph. We attained that. Donna and I sat out Monday afternoon and watched butterflies and birds flying into the face of the wind and getting pushed back. The poor little guys must have really worn themselves out flying into the face of that strong wind out of the south.

As evening came on, the winds eased some. All in all, we lucked out again. This time, the most severe part of the storms passed us to the north. Daughter Courtney and her family had more severe weather this time than we did. I don't really know the extent of it, but Court sent us the picture below of a good sized hail stone. She indicated that grandson Xander had some hail damage to his car.

Ping-pong sized hail stone

I believe there was flooding in that area, including Midland. We only received about a quarter inch of rain in Angelo, though. But that brings our total for the month of May to just over 5 inches, which is about double what we normally get for the month.

In the storm this past Saturday morning, we did have a couple of tornadoes touch down in the San Angelo area. Most of the damage was in what is known as the Bradford area in the north part of town. The Boys Ranch just west of town had extensive damage as well; in fact, I believe every building on their property suffered some type of roof damage. But no serious injuries were reported in town that I know of. Some areas of town were without power from Saturday morning to either late Monday or early Tuesday.

We received about 3½ inches of rain on Saturday after all was said and done. As you might expect, that has increased lake levels even more than I reported a week or two ago. Lake OH Ivie is now at 67.3% capacity, up from its previous 61.6%. Twin Buttes is now at 73.6% capacity, up from 71.8. Since most of the rain from early Tuesday morning was to our north over the Colorado River watershed, I expect Ivie to increase even more over the next day or so.

Trees in the area were heavily damaged. As you drive down residential streets, there are piles of branches and other storm debris at the curb of many, many homes. Lots of cleanup is going on. Donna and I and the other inmates of Rio Concho West were very fortunate as I know of absolutely no damage in our community, not even a downed tree limb.

A Rude Awakening

I was awakened by the soft patter of rain on our rooftop about 4:45 this morning. I'm a fairly light sleeper most of the time, so I do hear things that are not normal.

I lay in bed for a while, listening to the sound of the gentle rain, then got up and went to the window to look out. I noticed our neighbor's dining room light on. That's normal. Monte gets up early many mornings as well.

I decided to return to bed and try to get more sleep. At bed time last night, there were tornado reports to our west, out near Bakersfield towards Ft. Stockton, and this was hanging in the back of my mind. Soon, the gentle pitter patter changed to something a little louder, and I was fearful of hail. About that time, a warning blasted on my phone. It indicated that a tornado had been spotted at Tankersley, which is only about 10 miles west of our home along US 67. So, I roused Donna from her deep sleep, and cautioned her to get dressed and put on solid shoes. I turned on the television to a local station, and then we sat and watched what our local meteorologists had to say.

The stormed moved right through San Angelo about 5:25 this morning. We had 80+ mph winds, but no real hail to my knowledge. We lost power about 5:45, and it remained off for about 2 hours. Otherwise, we escaped rather nicely. I emptied the rain gauge about 7:00, and it had just over 2 inches of rain.

After the power returned, another round of rain came, but I don't know how much we got this time. I guess I did not put the gauge back on securely when I replaced it after emptying it earlier, for when I went to check it, the gauge was gone. I'm sure we had at least another inch.

As the day rolls along, I'm sure I'll learn more about damage around the city. For now, all is well, though we are still in a flash flood watch.

Glad we aren't in an RV right now!

And the Good Rain Just Keeps Falling

I was coming home from running errands the other morning when I was greeted by this sight at Sherwood Way and Loop 306.

Turbine blade in transport

You can click on the image to enlarge it some. That is a large blade from a wind turbine being carted down the highway. When I spotted it, it had been heading east on US 67 and was turning north on our local loop. You can see the reddish truck cab far right. The blade extends well into the intersection, somewhere below the traffic signals. There was another truck behind it pulling an identical load. I probably had to wait about 10 minutes or so for both trucks to inch through the intersection. Wow! Those folks can really drive those trucks. As someone who has towed long trailers, I admire anyone who can maneuver a long rig through tight spots.

We've received more rain. This past Wednesday morning, I recorded more than 1.5 inches at my house, but the local airport reported more than 2.5 inches. The Mertzon area to our west reported more than 5 inches, and Menard to the southeast reported a similar amount. Then a day or two later, we received an additional half inch. We are now about an inch above our average for this time of year.

For most of us out here, that is good news. With the ground saturated from previous rains, much of this water is going into our reservoirs, and that benefits a lot of people in the area. I do worry about our farmers, though. I know they want to get seed in the ground, and heavy rains can either delay this or wash away or rot seed that is already planted.

In my last entry, I shared the chart below, which showed the status of our area lakes at that time.

Lake data for May 5, 2019. Source: Water Data for Texas

Now, here are the levels as of this morning.

Lake levels as of May 12, 2019

For some reason, O.C. Fisher doesn't collect as much water, and I'm not sure why that is. Nasworthy is a constant level lake, and it is downstream of Twin Buttes. I recall reading once that the city tries to keep that lake at about 90% capacity. Water from all the lakes above eventually flow downstream to O. H. Ivie, which is our primary source of water. It also supplies water to other municipalities in the area, such as Midland.

A cool front moved through Friday. Our high that day was 57. With the strong wind, it felt like 45 or so. BRRRR! I thought winter was over. We even turned our furnace back on. It is warming again, though, and we should now be able to turn the furnace off until next fall.

Donna has just about completed her front beds. I'm going to let her plants settle in a bit, then I'll snap some photos and post. It's nice to see some color other than green in those beds.

And to all of you mothers out there, happy Mother's Day!

More Good Rain

We received almost another inch of rain this week. What a blessing for us!

As recently as this past August (2018), our main resource lake, O. H. Ivie, was at a mere 14% of its capacity. Since that time, we have had some timely rains that have really improved our lake levels. Below is a chart of the lake levels as of this morning (May 5, 2019).

Source: Water Data for Texas

As you can see, we've jumped from 14% in August to a current 58.9%. We have slight chances of rain for almost everyday of this upcoming week. These levels are the healthiest we've seen since we returned to the area in 2011. It's comforting to have such healthy levels, as a long term drought can set in at any time.

Temperatures have been pleasant, mainly because of the overcast days. The nights are warming, though. Donna continues to work in the yard; admittedly, I'm not helping much. I just can't seem to get interested.

Right now, the old girl is off to Lake Nasworthy on a fishing expedition. The fish had better beware.

We tend to lead pretty boring lives these days. As a result, I haven't much to write about. Hopefully, we'll hit the road soon and then I'll have something to post.

Around the Neighborhood

We had a good rain Wednesday. It actually started late Tuesday and rained throughout much of the day on Wednesday. In all, I recorded 2 inches at our house, and some other areas of the Concho Valley received even more. This puts our yearly total just short of the average for this time of year. The grass is really greening up and things are looking nice.

Admittedly, our grass needs mowing. Rio Concho West contracts with a lawn maintenance firm. During the mowing season, they usually start early Tuesday and then finish by late Wednesday afternoon. We have more than 300 residences in our community, so it takes a while to mow, trim, and clean up the area. Now, they don't mow every week; they more or less mow when it is needed. During dry spells, for example, they may skip a week, and that's just fine. This time, it hasn't worked out well. The week prior to the rain, they skipped mowing as it just didn't need it. With the rain this week, they were unable to mow. Well, the place needs mowing now. And we have more rain in the forecast for next Tuesday and Wednesday, so they may not be able to mow then. If they skip next week, we may be swallowed up by vegetation. But we are not about to criticize any rain we get out here.

Donna is enjoying puttering around in the yard. She has put some herbs in one of the front beds where we cleared out the shrubs, and she has bought some roses and other plants for another section of the front bed. The ground had dried out enough by yesterday that she was able to get everything in the ground. We still have room for more items, but we aren't hurrying to get it done. At our age, we ain't got much hurry in us.

Temps are almost ideal. Daily highs range from the low 70s to the mid or upper 80s. We'll probably top out in the 90s next week. Nightly lows are usually in the mid 50s. We have really enjoyed getting out on our back patio again. One of the nicest things about this time of year is that we are able to turn off the furnace and save some money. For the past month, we've probably only turned it on briefly for a time or two, usually just long enough to cut the morning chill. We'll probably have to turn the air on before long. I almost turned it on yesterday.

We drove out to the park after the rain to see if the lake has grown. It's hard to tell. The longhorns were out patrolling the perimeter fence on the entry road. Nice to see those legendary animals.

Part of the herd near the park entrance. The black spots in the sky are birds that follow the herd, waiting for them to stir up things.

This poor old fellow has a huge set of horns, but the left side doesn't match the right. Wonder how something like that happens. He was bringing up the rear.

Part of the herd taking a midday break. The western part of San Angelo is slightly visible from center of picture to the right. The area from center to the right is actually the spillway for the OC Fisher lake, but it is difficult to tell that in this picture.

This old fellow appears to be the leader of the herd. He is scanning his kingdom. What a beautiful set of horns he has!

The ocotillo at the club house are blooming nicely. I always enjoy the bright colors our desert plants put out.

Blooming ocotillo at the clubhouse

There are still patches of yellow flowers hanging on. This stand is behind the clubhouse.

We finished the week yesterday by playing a bit of bingo. It was our lucky day. Donna won 3 games and I won one.

I hope all of you are enjoying the spring.

After a Long Winter

It's been a long winter for Donna and me. It really hasn't been that long or that hard, as winters in this part of Texas are relatively mild. But we've not been able -- or willing -- to spend much time outside. As we age, we simply don't like the cold. Donna has always been cold-natured, and I find myself becoming more so. You know what they say about couples who have been married for a long time -- how they tend to become like one another. Guess that's true for me and the old woman as well.

But the past few weeks have been nice, and we've enjoyed sitting outside again each day. Temps have generally been comfortable during the day, even occasionally downright hot, and night time lows have been relatively mild. We even had an inch of rain about a week ago, though we are still well below our seasonal average. I am afraid we are in the early stages of a new drought. We'll see.

I've enjoyed watching life return outside. Trees have put on their new leaves, flowers are blooming everywhere, and people in our community are enjoying being outside. It's a great time before the heat of summer arrives.

I've really enjoyed watching the tree in our back yard come back to life. Below are a set of images taken over a period of about one month showing its rebirth.

Our oak tree as it is just beginning to put out new growth sometime in March.

Here is that same tree a week or so later.

And here is that same tree a week or two later, with all of its leaves. I included this picture to also show the blowing wind. On this particular day, the wind blew a steady 30 mph or so all day; the gusts were noticeably higher. Notice the smaller tree lower right.

I assume these are young acorns forming on our tree. They almost look like green grapes. Our front bur oak is also putting out a new crop of acorns.

As you turn off the highway into our community, there is a 5 acre tract of land that looks like normal pasture for most of the year. But for the past couple of weeks, it has been a beautiful sea of yellow. Below are some pictures I snapped of that tract. The color has peaked and the flowers are now beginning to fade, but the entire community has really enjoyed the color. Folks have even been turning off the highway to take pictures. No words are needed; the pictures speak for themselves.

At least once a week, Donna and I take a drive somewhere after eating lunch out. Often we go to one of the parks bordering Lake Nasworthy, but sometimes we go out to Twin Buttes or the state park. Below are some pictures from some of our drives.

This little girl posed nicely for us as we drove past at Spring Creek Park on Lake Nasworthy.

Some of her friends were loafing nearby.

And these two gals completely ignored us.

More yellow flowers. These were at Twin Buttes. The lake is visible in the distant background.

We are still working on the beds around the house, especially in the front. Donna has done most of the work. Yesterday she planted a few herbs. As soon as she is finished, I'll post some pics.

Happy Easter!