Questionable Water and Cold Weather

It's cold outside -- very, very cold. Right now (Sunday morning just after 8:00), it is 19 degrees, and this will be our high for the day. Tonight, the temps will drop to single digits.

Ice has been in our trees for days. Grass is nice and crunchy. It's cold out there.

We've not had anything above freezing since last Wednesday. I don't think we've seen the sun since then, either. And it will stay like this today, tomorrow, and through much of Tuesday. However, I hope to see temps rise to the mid-30s on Tuesday, and we may even get some sun. But it will be Wednesday before we return to anything approaching normal.

Deer coming out of the draw across the street from us this morning.

But the weather is not the only unusual event to happen around here lately.

Turkeys with some of their feathers puffed up to help keep warm.

Starting last Monday evening, the city put out a "Do Not Use" water advisory. Now, this is different from your normal "boil before using" advisory that usually occurs. In this case, we were advised to not use the water at all except for flushing toilets or watering landscapes. That means no bathing, no washing clothes, and certainly no human consumption.

Turkey roosting on the handrail of the steps at our neighbor's house across the street.

A strange smell coming from the water was reported by a number of citizens in a neighborhood in the northeastern part of the city. Local officials were able to determine that this was not a bacterial contamination, thus boiling would not do any good. It was soon reported that this was a chemical problem. I immediately thought of the city near Tampa Bay, Florida, that had reported their water system being hacked.

Notice how the feathers of the turkey in front are somewhat ruffled.

So, for the next day, we followed the warnings. Fortunately, we had a good supply of bottled water on hand, plus we had some jerry cans of regular water stored. We started this practice years ago while in East Texas because we were getting hit by so many storms, many of which would shut down the water supply. So, we have 4 jerry cans (2 five-gallon and 2 six-gallon cans), and for several years I'd fill those. Every 6 months or so, I would empty the water, using it to water trees and other outdoor plants so as not to waste it, then refilling with fresh water. In the last few years, I had become negligent, though, and had stopped this practice. Fortunately, the brains of this outfit had taken it upon herself to recently fill 2 of the smaller jerry cans with water, so we had 10 gallons of water as well as what we had in bottled water.

Our latest puzzle, "Mr. Wiggins' Whirligigs"

Fortunately, about 24 hours after the advisory was issued, certain parts of the city were released from the warning, and that included our area. As I write this, results of testing performed by TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) reported the presence of benzene and other chemicals at high levels, but only in samples taken from the originating neighborhood. However, these chemicals have been determined to be below the maximum level (if I understand this correctly). Tests are still being performed.

At this time, all areas of the city have been released to use water as usual except for the neighborhood where the advisory originated. Ramifications for this advisory were far reaching. Schools and other organizations in the "Do Not Use" areas were closed, and all eating establishments in those areas were closed. 

These are interesting times we live in.

Halfway Through Winter

We're about halfway through winter now. I always like when seasons change, so I'm looking forward to some warmer weather.

I'm not complaining, though. Sure, we've had a bit of snow this winter, and we've had some really chilly days. But overall, it has been rather mild. In fact, the past week or more has seen daily highs in the 60s or higher, and very few freezes at night. I know winter is still here, though, and it looks like another cold spell is coming our way. The local forecast this morning showed that on Sunday (Feb. 14) we would have an overnight low of 3 and a high of 12 degrees. Now, that forecast will probably change over the next few days, but it looks like we are going to have a real wintry blast. Let's hope we have no moisture then.

I like being outside, though, so I like my days to be 65 or higher. I like to walk, putter about the yard, or just sit on the back patio and watch the world go by.

Several days ago, Donna and I loaded all of our recyclables in the back of our RAV4 and headed to the recycling center. We usually go about once a month. Our recycling items seem to be changing. We have very little aluminum these days -- I guess Donna has finally reduced her beer consumption -- but we have much more #1 and #2 plastics than before. Most of the #2 plastics are milk jugs; I'm a big milk drinker. We also have a number of tin cans. As a result of the pandemic and Amazon orders we have placed, we have also had quite a bit of cardboard to recycle. 

Our tax records have been pouring in. I'm gathering them and will take them to our accountant sometime in March. I'm always happy to get that event in my rear-view mirror. 

Our latest puzzle is "Venice". This is actually a picture of the box; the picture I snapped of the finished puzzle just didn't come out well.

 

We Got Our Second Shot

Well, Donna and I have now had our second shot of the Moderna vaccine. According to a recent article in the AARP Bulletin ("How to Beat COVID This Year"), it takes about 28 days for the Moderna vaccine to achieve maximum effective levels, so we should be in good shape early in March. By the way, the same article indicates that the Pfizer vaccine reaches maximum effective levels in 21 days. You might also be interested to know that the Pfizer vaccine is 52% effective after the first shot in 21 days. The article did not give a time for the Moderna vaccine, but one recent newscast I saw indicated it may be as much as 80% or so. Impressive! Of course, both vaccines have a 95% effective rate when maximum levels are reached. We feel pretty good about that.

Turkeys in the backyard. The two next to the tree were doing some sort of little dance. One was following the other around in circles. I suspect some sort of bullying is going on here. I'll need to consult with Donna; she's in charge of bullying in our family.

So, will we resume a normal lifestyle in early March? Absolutely NOT!

We will continue to take all precautions. We will still use online grocery shopping/curbside pickup. We will not dine in at any local restaurants. We will continue to wear our masks whenever we may be in a place where we encounter anyone. In short, we will continue doing as we have been for the past year.

Going in circles in some sort of ritual.

The vaccine at this time will give us a huge sigh of relief, and we will certainly have more confidence. But until numbers of active COVID cases are greatly reduced, we will continue living as we have been. We need to see a high degree of what the experts call "herd immunity" before we consider a return to anything approaching a normal lifestyle. With the new strains of COVID that are more contagious -- though not necessarily more lethal -- circulating about, we still need to exercise caution. Donna and I are both old -- especially Donna -- and both of us have a few underlying conditions that could make us more vulnerable, so we need to remain vigilant.

But I will feel more comfortable in some situations. For example, our car is due its annual inspection and regularly maintenance in March. I suspect I may need to get a new set of tires as well. I've been dreading that because of the virus, but now I'm a bit more relaxed about it. I'll probably still find a remote spot somewhere outside the dealership to sit and read a book, but I'll feel more confident about interacting with everyone there, and about having someone else get into the car and drive it around.

Another beautiful sunrise.

I am happy to report that our daughter Courtney, her very patient and matrimonially-abused husband Michael, and our oldest grandson Xander were able to get their first Pfizer shot recently. So by this time, they should have more than 50% immunity. They will get the second shot very soon. Our younger grandsons are too young to receive shots at this time. Considering that Michael has worked throughout this pandemic, it is amazing that he has not come down with anything. I'm proud of how they have conducted themselves for the past year, especially when several people who live around them have tested positive for the virus.

Just by shifting the camera a little to the left and zooming in a bit from the picture above, I got a different color.

It looks like vaccinations are picking up out there. I hope all of you have had your shots or will soon have them. Let's all do what we can to get back on track and return to normal. Until then, stay safe out there.

Sunlight reflecting off the bottom of clouds.

10 Great Years

Donna and I retired from our jobs on January 31, 2011. We've really had a great 10 years since then. 

I was never one who loved work. I really only worked to make a living. I probably should have married a rich heiress, but Donna came along instead and led me astray. I would not wake in the morning raring to get to my job. Oh, there were things about my work I'd get excited about, sure, but I always had my eye on retirement. I worked hard, put in long hours, and was very dedicated, but I was never as passionate as some people are. I always had outside interests, like camping and hiking, that I would rather be doing.

A beautiful San Angelo sunrise. I never tire of them.

As a teacher, I knew I'd never make much money. But I believed that education makes a difference, and I wanted to do something useful in my life. I watched my father, who was a career educator, and decided to follow his lead. And education was a good career for me -- it felt right, it felt natural. And although I never made much money, it did give me lots of benefits.

I've been able to live all over Texas as a result of my career. We've met lots of great folks and experienced life in small towns all over the state. We even were able to work overseas for a few years. Living in a foreign environment helped shape our attitudes and made us more open-minded and more accepting of those who are not like us -- something we could all use a little more of today.

But in the 10 years since we've retired, we've had a ball. We've taken lots of trips in the 2 travel trailers we owned. One trip lasted 8 months, while another lasted 6 months. There have been many shorter trips as well, lasting anywhere from a few days to a month or two. We've seen a lot of the USA, especially the southwest corner of our country, an area that we love so much. 

We no longer have an RV, and the pandemic has really put an end to our travel for now, but we think we still have many years of roaming the country. Once we can put this pandemic behind us, we will be ready to get back out on the road.

But the last 10 years have really been fun. I wish I could go back and do it all over again.

This is our latest puzzle. Normally, we do 1000 piece puzzles, but we have pretty much gone through all of those at the club house. This one was 1500 pieces. It challenged us because we had to pile pieces up when we started because the table is not large enough to accommodate all of the pieces spread out. Gradually, we whittled the piles down, though, and I enjoyed the challenge.

Those Crazy Turkeys

We've had about 5 or 6 straight days of rain. That sounds like it would really produce a lot of moisture, but in total it has amounted to less than an inch. For the most part, we've had fog and drizzle, with an occasional light shower. Still, with the overcast skies, almost all of the moisture has gone into the ground, where it is needed, especially by our farmers and ranchers. I do hope they have a good year in 2021. They certainly are vital.

Donna and I are looking forward to getting our second and final Moderna shot in about a week. However, if you've been keeping up with the news, then you know that vaccine distribution has been very unreliable in many places. But I have confidence in our local hospital system, Shannon. They will send a crew out to RCW to administer our shots. If anyone is going to get this thing right, I believe they will. Now, in a week, I may write an entry expressing my disappointment at not receiving the vaccine, but I hope not.

We continue to stay home for the most part. We still get out and walk when the weather allows. I'm getting a bit tired of just walking around my neighborhood, though, so I may venture out to the state park or other local trail soon; I may even do a real hike out at the state park when things dry out. It's always nice to get away from the roads and houses from time to time.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of some of my favorite subjects.

I went out yesterday morning and noticed these misfits sitting on the hand rail of the steps at my neighbors' house.

I always like to include a shot of turkey butts when I can.

And these hooligans were exploring the roof of my neighbor's house across the street.

This fellow is doing a bit of grooming.

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.