Back to Normal

Things are gradually returning to normal following the holidays. I, for one, am glad. It's nice to have these little breaks of one sort or another, but I'm always happy to get back to normal. I'm really glad that area schools resumed their classes this week. Get those little rascals back in the classroom where they belong so they don't get in my way in the restaurants, grocery stores, and movie theaters!

Donna and I made an overnight trip to nearby Midland. We lived there about 20 years ago for 5 years, and it was an enjoyable time for us. It was the first larger city we had lived in, and there was so much to do. We loved the restaurants, civic theater, shopping, and other things to do there. Son-in-law Michael started a new job about a year or so ago just to the west of Midland. As soon as grandson Xander graduates from high school (spring 2021), the kids will move to Midland. They have already started plans to build a home there.

Boyhood home of President George W. Bush in Midland

For some reason, the old woman and I think we probably need to be near the kids as we grow older. We think that will make things easier on all concerned. So, we have been looking at housing in the Midland area for the past year or so. Well, I guess we're just too poor; things haven't changed much for us in all these years, Trish. Housing prices there are very high compared to where we currently live. That's what happens in a boom area. I think we have finally given up on finding anything affordable there. Besides, the town has just changed so much since we left in 2002. Traffic is bad, and the personality of the town has changed greatly. We really didn't enjoy our visit there, and I don't think we would enjoy living there again. Perhaps Tom Wolfe was right -- you can't go home again.

Weather is fairly mild right now. Temps during the day are consistently climbing into the 60s, which makes for some great walking weather. Nights are chilly, of course, usually hovering around the freezing mark.

We have in the midst of a somewhat busy week. In addition to routine things like hair cuts and stuff, Donna has 2 medical appointments, just routine stuff. This afternoon, the good folks from Bilbrey Tours will make their annual visit to San Angelo. Each year, they make a stop in town to tell us what trips they have planned for the year. Hopefully, they will have some trips we are interested in.

Early morning traffic jam in Rio Concho West.

Donna and I, along with 2 other couples, are hosting the birthday dinner at the clubhouse tomorrow night. That really sounds like more work than what it actually is. Each month, different folks host the birthday dinners. We serve drinks as folks come in, check them in at the food line, and greet them at the door. It's really all about community fellowship. This will be our second time to host in the 3½ years we've been here.

I hope all of you are off to a great 2020!

Bad Santa

Well, Bad Santa did not bring me the camera I asked for. So, I'll have to continue to punish you folks with bad pictures. Even though that fat rascal doesn't bring me gifts I ask for, he does a great job of drinking my milk and eating my cookies and fudge.

Otherwise, we had a good Christmas. The kids came Christmas Eve morning and stayed about 24 hours or so. We enjoyed one of Donna's great meals (ham, baked beans, potato salad, etc.), and enjoyed the fellowship.

Now it is time for life to return to normal. Next week, schools will resume. I like that. And Donna and I need to start planning some trips. We've been talking about some; we just haven't set any dates or made any definite plans.

We were fortunate to receive a half-inch of rain Saturday morning. That is always a blessing for us. But the rain brought the cold. I was still able to get out yesterday afternoon and take down our outdoor Christmas lights, and Donna cleaned up most items inside. Yep, getting back to normal.

I'll wish all of you a Happy New Year. I wish you all the best for the new year. May each and everyone of you realize your hopes and goals.

I'll leave you now with some bad pictures, compliments of Bad Santa.

Sunset, Christmas Eve.

The turkeys have been out in force now that Thanksgiving and Christmas have passed. These were in my neighbor's yard a day or two ago.

This bunch was across the street at the same time as those above were next door. Enjoy the next 11 months or so, turkeys!

Merry Christmas 2019

Merry Christmas to all of you. Remember this is the season of good will to all. It is a time of giving, a time for being grateful for all the many blessings we enjoy.

I wish joy and happiness for all of you.

'Twas the Week Before Christmas

We're counting down to Christmas here. The kids will come down, but we don't know when or for how long. All we know is that they will come down and they will be hungry. 'Nuff said.

It's been a bit cold this week. a few nights have gotten down to the lower 20s, and that is cold for us. The days have not warmed as much as we like; partially, that is due to cold winds that seem to always blow. Yep, it's been pretty chilly out there. But next week looks good. We should have plenty of sun and daily highs in the 70s. Not exactly typical Christmas weather, but it surely is nice for getting out and doing a bit of walking and yard work.

We got out Wednesday night to view the lights. We have done this every year that I can remember, no matter where we have lived. Since retiring to San Angelo in 2011, we have made it a point each year to follow the Christmas Tour of Lights, which takes a route along the Concho River and through downtown San Angelo. If any of you ever visit San Angelo during the holiday season, I urge you to make a point of seeing the lights. It really is a unique display as the lights are set up along the south bank of the Concho River while the road winds along the north bank. The reflection of the lights in the water is lovely. It's like seeing 2 display of lights, with one upside down from the other. We also add in a few other areas around town we have learned about, especially the Santa Rita residential section.

We had our beloved front bur oak tree trimmed. The lower branches were attacking the crew who mows our yard, and they were trying to poke our eyes out as well whenever we walked around the front yard. The guys really trimmed it back, and it will take a few years for it to fill out, but it has a nice shape to it now. Our acorn crop will be greatly affected for a few years, though.

Today is the official start of winter, which means it is also the shortest day of the year as regards daylight. So, beginning tomorrow, the daylight hours start getting a tad longer each day. For me, the next 2 months are the coldest of the year.

I worked in the yard a bit this week. We have lots of leaves, and I've tried to keep them in check. However, with our winds, leaves from other yards quickly blow in to replace what I rake up. Donna cleaned up the beds in the front and side a bit, so everything looks pretty good right now. The older section of RCW is where the leaves really pile up, and our crew has to work almost daily to keep things looking good down there.

No pictures this week. I'm waiting until Santa brings me that new camera with powerful zoom. I know he won't let me down. So, once it arrives, I'll start snapping pictures again. We hope to take a short trip sometime in January, and that will give me a good opportunity to try out that new camera.

Some Cold, Some Rain, and a Beautiful Moon

It's been another good week here at Rio Concho West, where life is slow and easy for geezers like us.

Beautiful sunrise earlier in the week.

Last Sunday was beautiful, so Donna and I took the opportunity to take a walk at nearby San Angelo State Park. We mainly stayed on paved park roads and just enjoyed a walk free from traffic and city sounds. We always enjoy walking through the campgrounds and seeing the various RVs out there. We miss the RV lifestyle and often think we may have one more full-time venture left in us, but those moments are fewer and fewer for we are so comfortable in our home. But there's always a chance . . .

Monday was warm but overcast. Late in the day, a front blew through, dropping temperatures. Rain began falling after dark and continued until almost dawn Tuesday. We received just over an inch of rain. Our high on Monday was in the mid 70s, but the high on Tuesday was about 30 or 35 degrees lower. Parts of the Concho Valley received a wintry mix, but we only had rain, and we were very grateful for it.

Donna played cards at the clubhouse on Tuesday, then I joined her mid-afternoon for a come-and-go social honoring the staff of Rio Concho West. Our folks work hard for us, and we do appreciate what they do. It's nice to have an opportunity to let them know how much we appreciate their efforts.

A beautiful full moon appeared Wednesday evening. I snapped a few shots. I wish I had a better camera with a more powerful zoom lens. Perhaps Santa will bring me one this year. I rather doubt it, as I'm told I've been something of a trouble-maker this year, so I won't hold my breath.

Moon above the eastern horizon Wednesday evening.

Rising moon as seen through our oak tree.

Moon just over neighbors' houses on the other side of the clubhouse.

Thursday night, we had our monthly birthday dinner at the clubhouse to honor all those who enjoyed another birthday this month. This is always a good time to visit with our neighbors over a good meal and a little entertainment.

We saw two movies this week. The first was A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. This was really a good movie based on a real experience in the life of Fred Rogers. It's nice to be able to go to a movie and not have to put up with the vulgar language that Hollywood seems to think is necessary in movies these days. As usual, Tom Hanks did a great job, but every once in a while, his inner Forest Gump came through.

Our second movie was Jumanji: The Next Level. We enjoyed this movie as well, but were a bit disappointed with the unnecessary use of language, especially the GD term.

Christmas is approaching, and Donna is getting in holiday mode. She made lots of sausage balls this past week. They were mighty good. She took a batch to bingo yesterday, and they were gone by the break. I wonder what she'll make this week.

Medical Week is Done

It's been a long week for the old woman and me. We've spent almost the entire week making our doctors richer. We just finished our last visit, though, so now we can return to playing. We don't have to return to any of these doctors for another year unless something new turns up. Looks like old Donna and I are in pretty good shape. We do have some lab work our primary physician wants us to do, but this is just routine for our age.

I've stated before how pleased I am with our medical facilities and personnel here in San Angelo. There are two main hospitals, and I think both are really good. We use Shannon, which is the larger of the two. We have urgent care clinics only 3 to 5 minutes from our home, and other medical facilities are located in that area as well. The hospital and main clinics are located downtown, which is about 15 or so minutes from our home, depending on time of day.

Our primary care physician that we really liked grew tired of us about 2 years ago and fled to another state. We have that effect on people. His replacement is a young lady, and I think we like her even more. Now, I'm a modest type of guy, so I've had to readjust my mind set a little, but our doctor really takes good care of us. It's hard for old codgers like me to make these adjustments, but the rewards are usually good when we do.

But "Hell Week" is now behind us. Later today, we are going to the movies to celebrate. We are going to catch Knives Out with a great cast led by Daniel Craig, Jaime Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Christopher Plummer, and many more. I'm led to believe by the previews that it is a tongue-in-cheek sort of who-dun-it. We'll see. Afterwards, we'll grab a meal, something cheap and low calorie. One thing we've learned from our visits is that we need to lose a little weight and we need to get some counts down. That means smarter eating and more exercise. We can do that.

Tomorrow is bingo day. I had a good week last Saturday. I won 4 of the 12 games we played. We play mainly for fun, but we do have some small prizes. The prize for most games is a set of 5 US postage stamps, but some games award $5 or $10. Last week I won a total of $15 and 3 sets of stamps. I've been receiving death threats all week; seems that there are some sore losers out here. There are some pretty hostile old geezers that live here.

The weather has been great all week. Our daily highs have been mostly in the 70s, but yesterday reached 84 or 85. The wind has blown most days, though. You can't have everything.

Donna has been busy with her Christmas shopping, and I think she is almost done. She has been wrapping presents the last couple of days. We'll get out next week and start shopping for the goodies we'll be eating during the holidays. I think we've decided on a menu of ham with baked beans and potato salad. Sounds yummy to me!

As I often do, I'll leave you with some pictures I've taken during my walks. Rio Concho West has been around for about 30 or more years now. It has slowly grown over the years. In fact, we have some pads ready where a couple of new houses will soon be built. The older section has the best trees in the community, as they have had time to mature. This section is along a street called Stagecoach Trail. The following pictures were all taken along the older homes in this section.

Stagecoach Trail, looking southwest. Homes along this stretch are smaller, and most residences have low maintenance yards, such as rock. Benches like the one on left are located along all streets in our community, and the older neighborhoods have parking areas such as the one on left.

A bit farther down Stagecoach, a little color appears in the trees. Most of these residences have low maintenance yards.

This tree's color is rusty, and is quickly fading away. It is a nice contrast to the green tree behind it.

Top of this tree is turning quickly, with many leaves already dead. Lower part still has some yellow and green leaves. I'm going to miss the colors of fall. Almost all are gone now.

This close-up shows the colors many of the trees have right now. There are numerous dead leaves mixed in with some green to yellow colors.

Thanksgiving in Our Rear View Mirror

I hope all of you had a good Thanksgiving. We did. To be honest, though, I'm glad to put it behind us. I love the holiday season, but I also love getting back to normal. I've always been a person of routine, and if I get out of my routine for too long, I get a bit restless and uncomfortable. So, I'm back on routine until Christmas.

Lovely fall tree on Pinto Path, near the entrance to our subdivision.

Same tree as above, but from the other side.

So now the kids are all back in school, businesses are open at regular hours again, and all is good for a few weeks. The kids came down Thanksgiving morning in time for a big meal. Later that evening, Courtney and husband Michael braved the crowds and went out for a couple of hours of shopping. They survived and even found some good deals.

Gammaw and her boys. Jensen on the left is naturally photogenic. Camden on the right was a bit upset, as older brother Xander had just disciplined him by taking away one of his toys that was being abused.

We are slowly getting back into our routine, but Donna is doing quite a bit of Christmas shopping. There's not much to do as we don't exchange gifts with anyone other than the kids, so she should be near the bottom of her list by now. At least, I hope she is. Those credit card receipts are piling up!

We had lab work done last week, so for the remainder of this week we will be visiting doctors every day. We have tried to schedule our visits to coincide during one week each year. That makes things a lot easier. Also, should we ever decide to RV it again, then we just have to return to San Angelo one week each year.

We hope to get out to see a movie or two later this week, and I've been wanting to get down to the local bowling alley for a game. But downtown San Angelo this time of year is a fun place to be, and we should probably plan to spend a few hours walking those streets soon.