Getting Back to Normal

I'm always happy to get past the holiday season. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy the period from Halloween through the start of a new year. I enjoy the first cool days after a long hot summer; I enjoy the colors of fall; I enjoy the songs and decorations and smells of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But I'm a creature who likes routines, so I always enjoy getting back to normal. Of course, during our current time, normal is not what it once was. But we can hope that things will get better. Miss Donna and I are looking forward to getting our second shot in a couple of weeks or so. That is another start to return to normal for us. I hope our provider has sufficient doses available; some areas are reporting shortages. 

The snow stayed on the ground a bit longer than I expected. It was still here Wednesday afternoon when I set off on my first walk in several days. The day was warming to the low 60s or so and the sun was shining, but some snow was able to hang around, especially in the shady areas on the north sides of buildings and trees and bushes. 

It was good to get back outside. I enjoy a good snow, but I like for it to disappear quickly so that things can get back to normal. I enjoyed some interesting animal sightings on that walk. I had only gone about a quarter of a mile north to the top of the hill on our street. Suddenly, I detected the unmistakable aroma of skunk. I began looking around to see if I could spot the little bugger snooping around. Suddenly, I picked up some movement between two houses. 

At first, I thought it was a fox. But when I moved the pictures to my computer and enlarged them, I was a bit puzzled. Perhaps the little critter was a ring tail cat. I took the pictures with my phone, and the zoom on my phone cameras just isn't very powerful. So, the pictures below are somewhat blurred. I rather believe it was a fox, though, as ring tail cats are more nocturnal, and my walk occurred about 2:00 PM.

The little fellow was really working this area with nose to the ground. I suspect he smelled the skunk as well.

The tail extending in a downward slope in this picture began to make me wonder if it might be a ring tail cat. I need a better phone camera and better old man eyes, I guess.

I also came across two groups of the obnoxious turkeys that terrorize the residents of my neighborhood. Their pictures are below.

Small group of turkeys near a resident's house.

This group of terrorist turkeys was near the entrance to our complex. There is a turkey behind the tree on right with his tail feathers up. Hard to see these in the shadows. In the background is the construction site of the new medical facility nearing completion.

Have you noticed how it is staying light later in the evening? Yep, the days are getting longer. Spring will be here before long, I suppose.

We have a front moving into the area tonight. Starting tomorrow (Tuesday) we will have a chance of precipitation every day until next Tuesday or so. I really don't expect much, but will be grateful for any moisture that falls. Our area farmers and ranchers can use all the help they can get.

I was able to get outside one day after a walk and do a bit of easy work. I cleaned off the front patio. Because of the short wall around our patio, everything that blows up there (mostly leaves) seems to stay and pile up. I raked some leaves in both the front and back yards as well. I always enjoy doing things in the yard; it makes me wish I still had a real yard to take care of . . . . sometimes.

Stay safe out there.

Another Snow

We had another winter storm move through, and this one left much more snow behind than the previous one last week.

It began snowing sometime between 2 AM and 4 AM Sunday morning. By the time I crawled out of bed for good, we had a pretty good snow cover on the ground.

It was still dark when I stepped outside to snap this photo. You can see a solid snow cover, as well as light snow falling.

It would snow off and on throughout the daylight hours Sunday, sometimes heavy and sometimes light. The temperature never fell below freezing, though, so much of the snow did not stick, especially on the streets and driveways. I was surprised by how much actually stayed on the ground.

Temps did fall below freezing Sunday night/Monday morning, so we still had plenty of snow on Monday. As I write this about 2:00 PM Monday, the roads in front and in back of our house are more or less clear, but a solid blanket of snow still covers the ground and roof tops. Since we've had essentially no sun, the snow has not melted much.

I'm not good at judging this, but I would estimate we received about 3 inches of snow. I had .7 inch of moisture in my rain gauge. Our farmers must be smiling right now.

This is what I saw in front of our house when full light emerged Sunday morning.

Sometimes, the snow fell heavy and in larger flakes. This almost looks like a blizzard.

This was the scene along the street in back of our house.

Looking out back towards our clubhouse.

I zoomed in on the tree in our front yard for this shot to show the blowing snow.

In late afternoon, the sun tried to come out for a few minutes. Note the small snow pile up on the north side of the base of this tree.

Those dadgum turkeys messed up my pristine snow!!! I'm gonna get those rascals.

This is what it looks like today (Monday). Still a lot of snow in yards, but the streets are pretty clear.

Onward

I'm a bit late in wishing all of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR for 2021. How time flies! 

I wanted to share some snow pictures with you. We just don't get that much snow in San Angelo. Now, daughter Courtney and her crew about 80 miles northwest as the crow flies seem to get a lot more. I guess the I-20 corridor is more or less the dividing line. As you move north from there up through Lubbock and the Panhandle, snow is much more common. Court said she got close to a foot of snow (if I remember correctly, which I often don't). We only had an inch or so in Angelo. I'm not complaining, though, because altogether we received right at an inch of moisture in my rain gauge. I'll take it! 

Light snow falling

Street in front of our house.

Normally, I take down Christmas lights on New Year's Day. However, on this New Year's, it was cold and wet, so I waited until Sunday (Jan 3) to take down the lights. First, I took a short walk, only 2.33 miles. When I returned home, I pulled out the ladder and got busy. Gosh, it is so much easier to take those lights down than to put them up. The day was sunny and the wind was pretty gentle, so it was a good day to get this done. Wow, going up and down that ladder gets harder and harder on these old legs. I'm thankful I can still do it, though. The holidays are now officially in our rear-view mirror! 

These turkeys were moving through the yard recently, and I happened to catch a shot while one had his tail feathers up.

This old boy was strutting his stuff through our yard late yesterday.

I came across these turkeys while on my walk yesterday. The one on the roof was really talking up a storm. I guess he was trying to get his buddies on the ground to join him on the roof. As soon as I passed, he swooped down to the ground.

Here is a close-up of the mouthy turkey on the roof.

Donna and I are on the road to normal. On Monday morning (Jan 4), we took the first of our 2 shots of the Moderna vaccine. We will go back in one month to get the second shot. I've seen the news where people have been waiting overnight in line in Texas and Florida; I'm so thankful to live in the community where we live. Everything was done for us. We just drove over to the clubhouse, got in line, sat down at the next available table, then the nurses came to us. We were there all of 40 minutes or so. The shot was very easy, much less painful than the flu shot or the recent pneumonia shot I received. After the shot, we were directed to a waiting area for a short amount of time to ensure there were no nasty after-affects. A day later, I can report that I suffered no after-affects at all, but Donna's arm hurt quite a bit for a couple of days.

Our new washer arrived this past Saturday. I have to give credit to Best Buy; they really did a good job. First, I received not one, but two calls the day before delivery reminding me of the upcoming delivery. I also received an email that day. Then, on the day of delivery, my phone notified me of an email. It was Best Buy, telling me they were on the way. No sooner had I opened the email than my phone rang. The delivery person told me he was on his way and should be there in 6 minutes. True to his word, he pulled up about that time. He and his partner unloaded the washer, removed it from its box, brought it in, hooked it up, tested it, and ran a test cycle for us. They loaded up the old washer, then road away into the sunset. Good service!

Donna got busy and began washing. It took her a couple of days to catch up on all the dirty laundry that had piled up. It's nice to have a washing machine again.

So, life in our household is getting back to normal in several ways. I hope all of you can see some light at the end of the tunnel as well.

As always, be smart and be safe.

Post Christmas Blues

Another Christmas has come and gone. After all the hype and buildup before the holiday, it's always something of a let down afterwards. Usually, Donna and I look forward to the days after Christmas and New Years, for the children head back to the classroom and it's time for us to travel again.

But there's no travel for us this year.

Besides, we have things to take care of here.

Our GE washer stopped the other day. After numerous calls to the manufacturer and their service reps, we grew frustrated and decided to just go with a local repair place. Besides, our local businesses need our support. The technician arrived promptly on the scheduled day. It didn't take him long to determine the problem. Basically, the area underneath the drum had simply deteriorated and was literally crumbling. He could replace it, he said, but with the cost of the parts and the labor, it would probably be just as cost effective to purchase a new washer. We were very happy with the service tech. He represents Angelo's Best Appliance Repair, and I would use him again should the need arise.

After the technician left, Donna and I went out to get a new washer. We had sort of expected we would need to do this, so we had already done some research. We definitely knew we did not want another GE washer, as we felt we did not get our money's worth from that machine. After talking to our daughter and the tech (Courtney tends to be telling us what to do more and more these days, and that is probably a good thing), we decided on a Whirlpool or LG. We stopped at Lowe's first, but found nothing there to our liking. Next we went to Home Depot. We found 2 machines there. Our favorite was on back order and could not be delivered before the end of January. Well, that wouldn't work; we need that washer ASAP. Our second choice there could be delivered on January 5 -- and that is a good time -- but the model really wasn't what Miss Donna wanted.

So, on to Best Buy. There we found exactly what Donna wanted, and it could be delivered on January 2. So, now we are waiting for it to be delivered and installed. We found that pricing for identical machines at all 3 vendors was very similar, about a dollar apart more or less. So, as regards price, it really didn't matter which vendor we made the purchase from. I can't wait for the new washer to arrive so I can put on some clean clothes.

The weather has been pretty nice lately. Now, when I say nice, I mean warm. Unfortunately, the wind almost always blows out here, and that can make a nice day sort of not so nice. But we have had at least one day of calm breezes. A winter storm is in the area as I write this. It moved in early Wednesday morning dropping temperatures and bringing some much needed moisture. We have a good chance at some wintry precipitation as well. But as I write this on Thursday morning, we've only had rain. There is some ice forming in the trees and other elevated places, but with the temp hovering just above freezing, roads are still in good shape. I'm thankful for the moisture we've received, and hope we get more. Just wish we didn't have to put up with wintry conditions while doing so, but that's just part of it. Nice to be retired and not have to worry about getting out in this stuff.

With the construction going on at the entrance to our subdivision, I had not been walking in that area. But due to the long weekend just past, there was no work going on and I meandered on down there again. Just off the road I discovered the skunk in the picture below. I don't know how long he had been dead, but there really wasn't much left of him.

Dead skunk near construction site. Notice the ground; it is so dry out here right now.

Courtney and family gave us a couple of new puzzles (called mystery puzzles) at Christmas. They look interesting, so we hurriedly completed the traditional puzzle we were working on so we could get busy on the new ones. A mystery puzzle is a bit different from a traditional puzzle. First, you have to read the story that accompanies the puzzle. Then you can begin assembling the puzzle. The problem is that you are not provided with a picture of the puzzle, so you have little idea what it will look like; instead, you must use clues from the story to put the pieces together. The one we are currently working on is Alfred Hitchcock, A Mystery Jigsaw Puzzle. It is 1,000 pieces, and involves a murder/missing person case that you must solve. We are still working on it, but Donna seems to enjoy it more than traditional puzzles.

This is one puzzle we recently completed, "The Rocket Diner"

"Fun Lovin' Silly Folks" is another puzzle we recently completed.

The staff at the clubhouse are working on our behalf to get some COVID vaccine out here. We've submitted the forms, and folks from Shannon Hospital will be out here January 4 to administer the first dose. We should get the second dose about 3 weeks later. So, by the end of January, Donna and I -- as well as many of our Rio Concho West neighbors -- should be in good shape. I'm grateful for RCW for looking out for us.

We had a nice sunrise a few days ago. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

The first picture I snapped. I like the clouds.

As the sun got a bit higher, it really lit the sky.

I apologize for the quality of this photo; my camera is just not very good for this type of shot, and Santa refuses to bring me a better camera. These are ducks roughly in V formation heading to either Lake Nasworthy or Twin Buttes Lake late in the day. I saw about a dozen flocks in a matter of half an hour as I sat out in 70 degree weather before the wintry norther blew in.

Here's another flock, a bit closer and considerably smaller than the previous one.

And to close, I'll leave you with this shot of the moon rising shortly before sundown. 

Merry Christmas, 2020

Christmas is such a special time of year, even during a pandemic. I know that Christmas this year is a challenge for many people, but a little sacrifice and doing without makes us stronger and more appreciative.

Courtney and her family are not visiting this year. So yesterday afternoon, we spent some video time with them and had our Christmas. The "littles," as Courtney and Mike call their two youngest sons, opened their presents, and we were able to watch from afar. Xander is halfway through his senior year, but we still remember the Christmases we spent with him as a little guy.

There are better Christmases ahead -- we know that. We are happy to wait until we can spend them together safely.

We hope that you and yours have had a wonderful Christmas, whether together or alone. 

Turkeys and Bikers

Things are rather boring in our neck of the woods. 

We continue to monitor the ongoing COVID numbers, and we patiently await our turn to receive the vaccine. I don't quite know how this process will work, so I watch the website for the local hospital hoping to find some useful information there. So far, they can only report that when they learn anything, it will be posted.

The weather has been a bit colder than usual, and the wind has been awful. If you walk in weather like this, you spend most of your time chasing your hat down the street rather than having an enjoyable walk. 

A group of local bikers, led by Santa himself, passed through our little subdivision recently. They made 2 passes along our streets. I did not count how many were in the procession, but there were quite a few, probably between 30 and 40.

The jolly old elf spreading cheer from his motorcycle.

Biker parade coming down the street.

And the turkeys continue to roam the yards, causing mayhem wherever they go. They have become regular features in our backyard just off our patio. A year or two ago, we seldom saw them in our yard; now they come through several times a week and linger. They are entertaining.

Some of the turkeys grazing around our little oak tree.

Some of them spotted me and stopped to give me a "lookin' at."

We'll have a video chat with Courtney and her gang on Christmas Eve. Donna is making potato salad, baked beans, and ham for the meal. I'm really looking forward to that.

My hair is getting a bit shaggy, so it's time for another haircut. However, after my last experience, I'm a bit concerned about Donna cutting my hair. She hasn't been in a good mood lately, so I could come away from this experience bald. I need all of you out there to pray for me -- and my hair!

Our latest puzzle is "Summertime." After the last puzzle, this one was a pleasure to complete. It had lots of varied colors, making it rather easy. And once complete, it rewarded us with a relaxing picture. I'd like to be drifting around that little lake in that canoe.

"Summertime"

You folks stay safe out there!

More Christmas, 2020

It's been a festive Christmas week for us.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we spent one evening viewing Christmas lights around town. A day or two earlier, I spent one afternoon and walked 2.78 miles delivering Christmas cards to our neighbors in our little community. Each year, we expand our list and it takes a little longer to deliver the cards.

On Friday, the Rio Concho West (RCW) version of Santa Claus visited all residents. In true West Texas fashion, Santa gathered his merry elves on a trailer and drove through the streets of our neighborhood, passing out a little holiday cheer. We've been pretty careful about social distancing here, so we have not been able to socialize as we usually do. It was good to see the RCW staff.

RCW elves making deliveries while Santa enjoys a ride on a trailer.

Santa and his entourage

Notice Santa's recliner on the trailer

On Saturday night, Donna and I visited San Angelo State Park just a couple of miles down the road from us for "Holly Days in the Park." The park started this event a few years ago, I believe. Park staff decorate and bring out special guests, like Santa and Smokey Bear. Overnight guests in the park are encouraged to decorate their RVs so visitors can drive through. 

Decorated campsite at San Angelo State Park

We were surprised at how many people ventured to the park for this event. The event began at 6:00 PM, and we arrived about 6:05. There was probably a line of 10 to 15 cars ahead of us, and several were behind us. The number grew as the night wore on. Most of the campsites were occupied, and almost all of them were decorated in some fashion. I was unable to get any good pictures with my cheap little camera. The lone picture above is somewhat representative of the night, though. 

I've been a bit remiss taking pictures of autumn color in the neighborhood. Now, you have to understand that this is West Texas, and there are very few native trees in the area other than those clustered along the rivers and the fast multiplying mesquite that seems to pop up everywhere.  But there is a bit of color here and there. I know that one tree that is always pretty about half a mile up our street has already lost its color, so I missed that opportunity. Below are a handful of pictures with a little color.

This is probably my favorite picture from a yard near the entrance to our subdivision. It has a variety of hues: light green, burnt orange, rust, etc.

I rather like this shot of the contrasting colors of these two well-shaped trees. Had I taken this picture a week earlier, the tree on the right would probably have had some bright red color.

Here are two more trees with some color contrast.

Finally, the puzzle we have just completed was a difficult one. Since pieces were uniform in size and shape, it was very challenging to put the blue sky together. As a final insult, a piece was missing (lower right in grassy area).

"Old Farm Indiana"

I wish all of you a safe and merry holiday season. May there be vaccine soon in a clinic or pharmacy near you.