Fall Photos from Rio Concho West

I love the fall; it is without a doubt my favorite time of year. Since returning from our trip, Donna and I have had several nice days where we could work in the yard and then sit on our patio, enjoying the soft breezes and lazy days.

I thought I'd share some photos with you.

As I've noted before in my blog, we are fortunate to have a number of animals in our area. We are blessed with quite a few beautiful deer, and we have numerous turkeys that seem to think they own the place. We have some other critters as well, some welcome and some not, but the turkeys and deer are my favorites.

The turkeys seem to be growing bolder, and they do not seem to be as skittish as they were when we first moved here. A few mornings ago, Donna spotted a large group moving through our back yard. I snapped the following photos through the window. The first picture is framed by the slats of our blinds.

There are 11 turkeys in our yard, and an additional 5 across the street in another yard.

I zoomed in on these 2 hens for a good, clear shot.

To show you just how bold these rascals are becoming, here is a shot Donna took a few days ago.

This is the house across the street from ours. Notice the turkeys roaming the roof. I count 6.

Every year, there are a couple of trees down the street that really show good color. Admittedly, we don't have a lot of fall color in this part of the state, so what little we have, we cherish.

Pretty color in someone's back yard near our neighborhood church.

Tree on the side of someone's house.

When we returned from our recent trip, Donna and I both noticed the good color of the bur oak in our front yard. We just couldn't remember it being as pretty the past 3 years. I snapped several pictures of it over the next few days. I'm glad I did, as the leaves are now all gone due mainly to heavy winds the past couple of days.

Bur oak in our front yard. I snapped this upon our return, before any of the leaves began falling. Note how leaf free the yard is.

Frontal view of our bur oak.

Close up of bur oak that shows the yellow color a bit better.

You can see the leaves on the ground in this picture. The color had pretty well faded, and the leaves were beginning to fall fast. In another day, all of the leaves would be gone.

I love the sunrises and sunsets in the west. There is a narrow window of time to really catch the beautiful color of a great sunrise/sunset, and I usually miss that window. The pictures below were all taken one morning over a short period of time. The color looks different in some photos either because I zoomed in or because of time passing.

Light was just beginning to break on the eastern horizon. Notice the clouds.

This picture was snapped just a few seconds later, but I had zoomed in a bit (note size of trees in left half of picture). As a result, this picture looks to have a bit more orange tint.

Just a short time later, I zoomed in even more and focused on the sky. More orange tint in this picture as a result.

This is the last picture I snapped. I zoomed out to capture everything, including the vapor trail of a plane from upper right slanting diagonally down left.

As with most of Texas, we were hit by a frigid cold front yesterday. When we awoke, the temp was in the mid to high 60s. By noon, we were down to about 45. By dark, the temp had fallen to 35. There has been little moisture, though, so no ice or snow. That north wind really makes the wind chill bitter. Hope you are snug and warm wherever you are.

A Long Trip for This Old Man

Donna and I just got back home yesterday from a long trip to Laughlin, Nevada. This was the first time we have driven to Laughlin since we spent the winter of 2015-16 there in our travel trailer. I also think this will be the last time we drive out there. It is a round-trip of over 2,000 miles, and it really takes a lot out of me to drive that far. Even peppy Donna was tired from the trip. If we go to Laughlin again, it will probably be on a junket from our local airport.

Colorado River in Laughlin at night outside Aquarius Casino.

We decided to break the trip into shorter, more manageable segments. On the way out there, we decided to spend our first night in Ruidoso, New Mexico. We had some free play coming from the Inn of the Mountain Gods casino there, and we wanted to play that through. The approach to Ruidoso was beautiful. Starting at Riverside, which is about 25 miles east of Ruidoso, the road starts winding through the foothills, roughly following the Hondo River. The trees were turning, and the leaves were various hues of yellow and gold. That night, the temp got down to the mid-20s, but it was dry and pleasant. We do like Ruidoso.

The next day, we drove down the western slope and across the White Sands to the Organ Mountains. Then we eased around Las Cruces, picking up Interstate 10 on the south side. We headed west across the Rio Grande. About 35 miles west of the river, things started to turn bad. In the distance, we noticed a black column of smoke appear. Pretty soon, traffic started backing up and we eventually came to a complete standstill. We remained that way for a long, long time. Seems two trucks collided. You can read one report of the incident here.

Our view for more than 2 hours near accident sight on I-10 east of Deming, NM

Eventually, we were able to resume our trip, finally reaching our hotel on the north side of Tucson late in the day. I was pretty beat by this time. The next day, we hoped things would be better. We made our way north, then split west on Interstate 8 to take the Phoenix bypass at Gila Bend. This has always been one of my favorite stretches of the trip, because the saguaros are really pretty in this area.

Saguaros on a hill next to a rest area on Interstate 8 somewhere east of Gila Bend

We decided to take I-10 west and work our way up through Parker, AZ, then up to Needles, CA. We like this country, and we enjoy seeing it. But the low speed limits and two-lane roads make travel slow. When we finally reached Laughlin, we were beat.

Donna with Saguaros near Salome, AZ

We spent several days gaming at the Aquarius and eating at some of our favorite places.  We did not win, but we had a good time. Of course, we love the river there, and we love watching the mountains that line both sides of the river. Sunsets and sunrises can be beautiful.

Morning dawns in Arizona across the Colorado River from Laughlin.

Casino Blvd in Laughlin

Looking north to the Riverside Casino while standing just outside the Aquarius.

We hoped the return trip would be easier. We decided to reach Lordsburg, NM, on our first day, and that is a long drive of just over 500 miles from Laughlin. We ran into one stretch of construction where only one lane was open, but we did not have to wait too long for our turn. One of my favorite drives in that part of the country is Highway 93 from Phoenix to the Kingman area. Along this route -- dubbed the Joshua Tree Parkway -- are miles and miles of not only Joshua trees, but Saguaros as well.

Traffic was not too bad, even in Tucson, and everything looked up once we reached the east side of Tucson. We spent the night at a nice hotel in Lordsburg, had a nice salad that evening, and felt pretty good about things.

We left early the next morning, because we wanted to reach Inn of the Mountain Gods by mid-morning in order to play some more free play through the machines there. From Lordsburg to Las Cruces, traffic was light. We made it through the Las Cruces morning rush-hour traffic easily enough and began climbing San Augustine Pass through the Organ Mountains. At the very top of the pass, traffic was backed up. It seems there was a missile test scheduled for 9:00 AM. There is a large parking area at the top of the pass, and all traffic was routed into that area and parked. We walked around snapping pictures and stretching our legs. As 9:00 rolled around, an announcement was made that the test had been delayed. We waited a while longer, then we were allowed to continue our travels. I guess the test was completely cancelled. So, another delay of 1½ hours.

Traffic being brought to a stop atop San Augustine Pass just east of Las Cruces.

The flats just east of San Augustine Pass. The missile test should have been in this direction somewhere.

Donna atop San Augustine Pass with the Organ Mountains in the background.

We made it to the casino and had a nice break there. We played through our free play and a little more before continuing our trip. We made it to Roswell later that afternoon. We enjoyed a late lunch at Los Cerritos near our hotel. Donna had the taco plate while I enjoyed their wonderful cheese enchiladas. We enjoyed everything about the meal, including the chips and salsa. Good food.

Donna's taco plate at Los Cerritos on North Main in Roswell.

My cheese enchiladas at Los Cerritos.

The last day of the trip, we only had 300 miles to go. We were ready to get home. After breakfast at the hotel, we headed east. Skies were overcast. About an hour east of Roswell, we ran into heavy fog and had to slow down to about 45 mph. Then it began to rain. For the next half hour or 45 minutes, we remained in the fog. About the Texas line, the fog cleared, though it continued to rain off and on until we reached Big Spring.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this entry, this was a long trip, and one we probably won't make again. Traffic along I-10 was very heavy, with lots and lots of trucks. I just don't enjoy driving in heavy traffic, and I avoid large cities like Phoenix and El Paso whenever possible. This causes our route to be a bit longer.

It was really good to get back to our warm, comfortable home; right now, we have no plans for another trip. I think when we go somewhere again, it will be for a shorter time and to someplace much closer to home.

Busy Week for Old People

We've continued to stay busy following little Jensen's visit.

Initially, we simply spent a couple of days returning to normal and recuperating. On Monday, we rose early and went to the gym for our regular workout. On Tuesday, I washed the car, filled it with gasoline, then Donna and I did a bit of grocery shopping at our nearby H.E.B. That evening, we walked over to the clubhouse for out annual resident hamburger supper. The employees of Rio Concho West host us each year with an evening of home made hamburgers and some bingo with some good prizes. Donna won a $40 gift card and a bag full of chocolate candy, which I promptly confiscated. I don't want the old girl to get chubby on me, you know. I do my best to protect her from temptation.

On Wednesday, I got the day started early by visiting my local barber. I have to keep well-groomed for the old woman, or she'll trade me in on a better model. After my return home, we did a bit of shopping at our nearby Walmart, and ran into an old colleague from Ozona in the process. We always enjoy seeing folks from that little town southwest of here where we lived and worked for 8 years. We then had a nice lunch out. That afternoon, we went to the clubhouse to have our picture taken for the RCW directory. The wind blew hard all day long. Old geezers out for their morning walks were being blown all over the streets of our little community. Walkers, canes, and false teeth were scattered all over the place. I think I even saw a few small dogs lodged in tree tops. The horror!

We woke to pleasant temps on Thursday, but we knew a cold front was blowing our way. As late as 9:00 AM, it was still holding at 69 degrees. However, the skies were already dark, serving as an omen of the norther coming our way. Donna put on a pot of home made potato soup. That's some good eating on a wintry day. By the time the soup was ready for lunch, the temp had already dropped substantially. It really wasn't an ideal day for the root beer float gathering over at the clubhouse, but we braved the cold and rain. By dark, the temp had fallen about 25 degrees.

It warmed some on Friday, but the wind blew hard most of the day. We stayed inside for the most part. However, we did scurry about late in the day and move all our outdoor potted plants into the garage. The local meteorologist said overnight lows could be near freezing, so we didn't want to take any chances. Since we only have one car but a 2-car garage, we put the plants in the empty garage. On pretty days during the winter, we can open that door and let the plants get some light and fresh air.

It only got down to the mid-30s Friday night/Saturday morning. That's not too bad. We played our normal bingo Saturday afternoon. The sessions start at 2:00 sharp and usually run until about 4:00 or so. However, Donna and I like to go early to visit. The same folks seem to come each week, but occasionally we get a new face here or there. Neither Donna nor I won this week, though everyone else at our table won a game. Folks bring snacks for the games, and they were excellent on this day. Good times!

This morning (Monday), I ran some errands, then we picked up a neighbor who is celebrating her birthday and took her to lunch at Zentner's Daughter. Donna and I don't go to Zentner's often, and I don't know why we don't. We always enjoy our meals there, and the specials menu is excellent, arguably the best in town. The Zentner line of restaurants in West Texas is legendary, and this location in particular offers an old charm sadly lacking in restaurants today. Many folks don't care for the garlic seasoning that flavors Zentner steaks, but I enjoy it. I'm going to make it a point to eat there more often from now onward. On this particular visit, our guest happened to be old friends with the Zentners, and we were delighted to meet Betty Zentner Sheffield on this visit. She's a delightful lady.

It's a cold and wintry day today. It is now early afternoon, and the temp is still hovering in the upper 40s. It has misted off and on much of the day, and the skies are grey, making it appear to be colder than it really is. Rain should move through tomorrow, perhaps lingering into Wednesday. I hope so, for this country could use a good drenching.

Pre-Halloween Visit from a Real Spook

The old woman and I have been rather busy of late. Normally Donna has quite a bit of energy and pep, but she is even showing a few signs of slowing down these days. She usually runs circles around me, so it's nice to see that she is human, too.

We started the week by getting our annual flu shots. It's always good to get those behind us. On Wednesday, we hopped on the RCW geezer bus for a trip to our local Outback Steakhouse for lunch. We always enjoy those trips. They are great opportunities to visit with our neighbors here at RCW.

Daughter Courtney and son-in-law Michael were taking an anniversary trip to the Hill Country, and on the way through town, they dropped off youngest son Jensen for a short stay. Since the older boys are in school, they stayed home and were watched over by Michael's family. We tried to keep young Jensen entertained, and that is what really wore us out. While here, we took him to the Sierra Vista United Methodist Church pumpkin patch, where we picked up a couple of pumpkins for decoration and took numerous photos around the patch. That afternoon, we drove out to San Angelo State Park and got a distant glimpse of the bison herd; they were really in too much brush to get a good view, though. We did have a good time at the playground out there.

On Friday, we took Jensen to the San Angelo Nature Center at Lake Nasworthy. The center has small animals, most of which are native to this area. We then drove out to Horseshoe Bend at Spring Creek Park and fished for a while. It was quite windy, though, so the fishing wasn't that good. Court and Michael came back through just before noon on Saturday and took the little spook off our hands, then Donna and I basically collapsed.

Below are some pictures we took while young Jensen was visiting us.

King Jensen atop his mountain of hay bales at the pumpkin patch.

A couple of rubes at the pumpkin patch

Jensen with some of the pumpkins for sale.

Farmer Jensen getting ready to plow his fields.

Jensen enjoying the slide at the state park playground.

A couple of real swingers

Cowgirl Donna on her trusty steed.

Jensen admiring a white squirrel at the Nature Center.

Jensen and his Gammaw at the Nature Center.

Good collection of venomous and non-venomous snakes from the Concho Valley.

That's a mighty big turtle.

There are 2 bobcats at the nature center; this one was quite active roaming about its cage.

The fish at Lake Nasworthy were scared this day.

A boy and his gammaw fishing for their supper. They went hungry this night.

Short Trip to the Boats

Donna and I spent a few days early last week in Bossier City, LA, at the Horseshoe Casino. Not much to write about, as we've posted entries about such trips so many times in the past.

On our way over, we detoured through a couple of Army Corp of Engineer parks on Lake Whitney. We always enjoy scouting out possible camping locations just in case we ever decide to get another RV. On the west side of Lake Whitney on Texas 22 -- just before crossing the dam -- we pulled into Soldiers Bluff Park. However, there really isn't anything there for RVs, so we crossed the dam and then pulled into Lofers Bend Park. This is a fairly nice little park, with campsites providing good views of the lake. I did not see full hookups, but there appear to be plenty of water and electric sites. We stopped so that I could take a few pics of the lake.

This is a panoramic view of the west shore of Lake Whitney just north of the dam.

Lake Whitney dam, which serves as the roadway for Highway 22.

I don't know what this castle-like structure is, but you can also see it at the left of the top picture above. Notice the limestone cliffs, which line much of the western shore in this area.

Another shot of the limestone cliffs. The house at far left gives some perspective as to the height of the cliffs.

We only made it as far as Tyler the first day, so we enjoyed some pretty good Mexican food at Papacitas on South Broadway and then retired to our room. We are learning to travel at a more leisurely pace, and that is difficult for me. In the past, I always woke up early and ready to jump in the car and take off. Now we take our time, have leisurely breakfasts, and usually don't get on the road until 9:00 or so. We also don't travel as far each day, but we seem to be enjoying the trips more.

We decided to stay off I-20 on the second day of our trip and headed east through Henderson and Carthage. It was a bit chilly, and it had rained some during the night. We got into several areas of light rain as we headed east. Just east of Carthage on US 79 I pulled in to the Jim Reeves Memorial. I had seen the place numerous times in the past, but had never taken the time to stop. It's a nice little memorial. If you are a fan, the link above is rather informative.

Approach to the memorial crosses a guitar-shaped section of sidewalk.

Close up of the guitar section of the sidewalk.

Close up of the memorial.

The second day at the Horseshoe, we made a brief visit across the river to Shreveport and stopped in at the Eldorado and Sam's Town. We always check these casinos, hoping they have added some good games. As usual, though, nothing much has changed. The good days of video poker are fading fast. When we recrossed the river, we stopped in at the Louisiana Boardwalk. We both wanted some shoes and Donna was looking for some perfume as well. The old girl managed to find a nice pair of shoes, but that is all we got. It was still a bit cool as we walked around the Boardwalk.

Besides the small bit of shopping and gambling, we had some nice meals. When we first arrived in Shreveport, we stopped in at Carrabba's Italian Grill. Our meal was nice enough, but for my tastes, I'd just as soon go to Olive Garden or our very own local Napoli's in San Angelo. I found their prices to be high as well in comparison to other Italian places we visit. But the food was very decent, and we left satisfied. Of course, we had to visit Ralph and Kacoo's, our normal stop in Bossier City for good Cajun style food. I like everything about this place, and their lunch menu is outstanding. Our final meal in the area was the buffet at the 'Shoe, where Donna ate her weight in boiled shrimp and mussels. My favorite dish there is the bread pudding. Wow!

Believe it or not, my favorite meal of the entire trip was at Chicken Express in Brownwood on our way home. I just enjoy good simple food at a good price. I'm much more satisfied when I know I'm paying a fair price and getting my money's worth.

As always, it was good to get back home.

Autumn Has Arrived

Donna and I have been gone for several days; I'll post more about that in a few days. In our absence, autumn made a short appearance and has returned again this morning.

We left last Sunday. As I understand, a brief and semi cool spell snuck in that night. This morning, though, autumn really moved into the area, but its stay will be very brief. I am writing this at 9:49 on October 11. It is currently 43 degrees and very overcast. Rain began falling just before 6:00 this morning, and so far we've had slightly more than half an inch; that's a good amount for us.

Unfortunately, temperatures will be back into the 90s soon, perhaps as early as Sunday. I'm not fond of truly cold weather, but I do like a nip in the air. Regardless, we'll enjoy this brief respite from the heat while we can.

I always like to include a picture in my entries. This one has nothing to do with what is written above, but I like it. I took it last Saturday at our weekly bingo session. The Halloween decorations are up. This is the main room of our clubhouse. If you look carefully -- those of you who know us personally -- you can see Donna in the left side of the picture, sitting at our regular table.

Bingo at the Oak Tree Clubhouse

Will Autumn Ever Arrive?

It still feels like summer out here. Daily highs continue to reach well into the 90s, but we have had a few cloudy days. There is a small chance of rain each day as well, but never more than a 20% chance. We have not had any rainfall at all. Our entire area is now in the "Extreme" drought designated area.

I wish we could get some rain, but I do love our beautiful skies with their cotton ball clouds.

I don't know what is going on with the hummingbirds, but those little rascals are active. For the past few days, we've seen no fewer than 6 hummers each time we sit on the back patio, and those little fellows are buzzing and darting about everywhere. They've even come zooming between Donna and me on a couple of occasions. Well, we need to enjoy them while we can because they won't be here much longer.

The bur oak tree in our front yard is simply loaded with huge acorns. Each year, we gather them and strew them about the back yard to attract the deer. They come into the yard during the night and have a feast. This year, it looks as though the squirrels have discovered our acorn crop. There is a pile of acorn debris in the front yard at the base of the tree, as if a squirrel sits in the nook and enjoys his meal with remains falling below. If you've never seen an acorn from a bur oak, they are quite large. In an entry posted almost a year ago, I provided a picture to demonstrate how much larger they are than regular acorns. See "Those Are Some Big Acorns" if you are interested.

A partial limb from our bur oak, with several acorns visible.

Average size bur oak acorns with my hand as a point of comparison for size.

Donna and I went to the movies the other day. We saw the newest Brad Pitt movie, Ad Astra. It's an enjoyable movie, but I felt there were some gaps in places. It sort of reminded me of a space age version of Apocalypse Now. Pitt plays a character who parallels the Martin Sheen character in the earlier movie. He sets out to find his father (played by Tommy Lee Jones), an astronaut who has gone rogue -- like Martin Brando went rogue in the earlier movie --  and is hanging around Neptune causing problems. The movie shows an interesting view of what future space travel may well be like. It's a movie worth watching if you enjoy sci-fi movies.

During a recent drive through Spring Creek Park at Lake Nasworthy, we noticed these turkeys.

Close up of turkeys from above picture

Black squirrel near turkeys. These little rascals are all over the park. Many are much darker. 

After the movie, we went to Red Lobster for their shrimp fest. I tried to keep up with Donna, but when she ordered her third helping of shrimp, I had to throw in the towel. I simply don't know where the little thing puts all that food, but she puts it somewhere. I was a bit embarrassed when folks started taking pictures and videos of her.