Getting the New Year Started

The end of one year and the start of the next is a busy time for me. 

At the end of each year, I take a good look at my budget and make all the necessary adjustments. And this year, there are quite a few. With rising prices in just about every area -- from dining out to groceries and nearly everything else -- I had to really work some magic with my numbers this year. Looks like we'll be having lots of Ramen noodles from the bag this year. But I think I have everything sorted out now.

I also do some end of year financial reports for us so that we know what kind of progress -- if any -- we are making. Being retired is sort of like running a marathon. Just as in a long distance race, do you have enough resources to make it until your life's race is over? That's the big question. When you live on a fixed income, it really helps to be on top of everything and get as much mileage as you can in all areas.

I also use the end of year as a time to change security information. Hackers are everywhere these days, so I do everything I can to keep things safe. I use strong passwords and update them frequently.

I also make the rounds and replace batteries in all of our detectors in the house. I keep the batteries I pull out; after all, most of them are still good for a while. I can then use them in less vital devices as needed. But for something that could potentially save our lives, I make sure I have good batteries in them.

And then there are taxes to get ready for. I prepare a large file folder to put everything in, and I list all the forms I expect to receive. I've already received the first one. The IRS never sleeps.

December was an overly warm month, but January has been about normal, I suppose. I had gotten a bit spoiled with the comfortable temps we were having. Now I seem to be cold all the time. I've started walking in the early afternoons now, but I can't wait to return to an early morning schedule. That walk first thing in the morning gives me an energy boost for the rest of the day. I like that it now gets light earlier each day, and it stays light longer each evening.

The wind began blowing hard early on Friday. It blew hard all day, so hard I decided against a walk. It's no fun taking 3 steps forward and being blown 2 steps back. Normally the wind dies down in the evening, but not on Friday. The garage doors rattled all night. Then the wind blew all day Saturday. And I'm not talking gentle breezes here. Fortunately, the winds seem to have abated this morning. I'd like to get out this afternoon.

I'll leave you with a few pictures. One evening early in the week, I looked out the back patio window and saw a number of turkeys in our back yard. If you've been reading the blog, you know this is a common sight. If you stay outside much in our area, you'll see wildlife every single day; it's one of the things we love about living here.

On this particular day, there was one rather aggressive tom following another turkey. I know practically nothing about turkey culture, but I assume this is simply a maneuver to assert one's dominance. This tom would puff out his feathers, sometimes including his tail feathers, and other times, he would simply follow another turkey step for step. These goofballs are really entertaining. Yeah, a six-pack and a group of turkeys gets you a lot of entertainment out here.

This was my first sighting of the turkeys through the slats of my window. The aggressive tom is in the center with his tail feathers fanned out.

The aggressive tom is now in the center with his feathers puffed a bit.

Now the old trouble maker is bringing up his tail feathers and swelling up a bit.

Now the old sorehead is asserting his dominance and herding a few of his inferiors.

I looked out one day as the morning sun put some good light into our little oak tree out back. It really brought out the rust color of the leaves. I was surprised with the good color in the leaves in mid-January as well as with the number of leaves still on the tree.

Our little tree is holding on to its rust-colored leaves.

And finally, what would one of my entries be without a sunrise photo?

The sun is still just below the horizon in this photo.

New Years 2022

Happy New Year to all of you. I hope this year brings you joy and happiness, and I hope we see improvement on the COVID front in 2022 as well.

I'm always happy to get the holidays behind us. Now, please don't misunderstand me; I enjoy the Christmas season. I enjoy the music, the decorations, the smells -- everything. But I'm kind of a routine guy, so I'm always happy to get back to normal. And those kids need to get back in school so that places aren't so crowded when I venture out. Those little rascals cramp my style. I was like that in pre-COVID days, and I'm even more like that now.

We had a really unusual December. Our local meteorologist has reported that for the month of December, we have tied or broken 8 records for high temperatures, and we have seen above average temps for 26 of the 31 days this month. Wow! Our warmest day was December 26 when we reached a high of 86 degrees. 

The meteorologist also showed a graph indicating that this has been the warmest December on record. For the month, our average temperature was 60.1 degrees. That is a differential of 11.6 degrees above normal. The next highest average temp for the month of December occurred in 1970, and it was 54.6 degrees. That's a considerable jump. After that, December of 1977 showed an average temp of 52.2, as did the years 1933 and 1922.

In addition to the heat, it has also been a dry month. We only received 0.03 inch of rain for the entire month. We are in a drought stage at this time, and that is never good around here. I worry about our farmers. Right now, they could probably use some healthy rain on their winter wheat crops.

We've certainly had some unusual weather this year, starting with the "Big Freeze" back in February, when we had considerable snow fall and below freezing temps for about a week. I'd like to see things normalize, but I'm not holding my breath. 

Despite that, I must admit I've enjoyed the warm temps. I've been able to resume my walking routine in the morning rather than later in the day, and I do enjoy that. I really enjoy see the sun come up in West Texas. The colors can really be beautiful.

Sunrise through the leafless mesquites and the house tops.

I'll close with a couple of pictures I snapped a day or two ago when we drove out to Lake Nasworthy and Spring Creek Park. The first is of a romantic buck. This handsome young Romeo is following his lady love, who has already disappeared into the brush. As we approached him, Romeo had stopped at the edge of the road and was watching us. I pulled to a stop to give him the right of way and waved him across. He then slowly sauntered across. I believe this is the same scamp we saw a few weeks ago who was pursing another young beauty a bit farther down the road. He certainly has romance on his mind.

Romeo in slow pursuit of a doe. He's a cool customer and can't be hurried.

The picture below is of Spring Creek as it works its way towards the Middle Concho River and Lake Nasworthy. A boat is tied up, and a butte rises above the horizon right above the boat. Its counterpart is just to the right, but is barely visible through the trees. It is these two buttes that give the upstream lake its name, Twin Buttes Lake.

Spring Creek and one of the Twin Buttes

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas 2021

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas, and that you are able to share it with those you love most in life. If you are traveling, I hope that you have safe journeys.

We celebrated Christmas a week early. We drove to windy Odessa last Saturday and did the Christmas thing with Courtney and her crew. We have to share them with other folks, so we scheduled that time with them. Now the old woman and I are taking it easy and planning a simple lunch for the day.

Spiderman visited us during our Christmas celebration.

Everyone had a good time.

The weather for the entire month of December has been unusual. We have set several records for all-time high temperatures this month, and we still have a week to go. It has also been unusually dry, so we are in a heightened drought stage.

Nothing Happening Here

It's been more than 2 weeks since my last post. That tells you all you need to know about the exciting times of Donna and Keith. Yep, nothin' much happening here.

A recent sunrise in our neck of the woods.

After our Thanksgiving visit with the kids, we decided to live dangerously. We had some discounted rooms at Inn of the Mountain Gods in Ruidoso, so we decided to take them up on that offer. It really was a pretty pleasant experience.

The casino has placed plastic plexiglass barriers between all of the machines in the casino. I like that. The best thing, though, is that the entire facility -- casino, restaurants, hotel, etc. -- is now smoke free. Ahh, clean air. One of the best things about gambling in Cripple Creek, Colorado, is that all businesses there are smoke free. That's one reason we like going there as often as possible. Now we can add Inn of the Mountain Gods to that small but growing list of casino destinations that has a smoke-free environment.

We continued to practice caution in our behavior on the trip. We wore our masks everywhere we went unless we were eating or drinking something. Wearing masks really isn't difficult for us, and we consider it a very small price to pay for staying healthy and protecting those we care about. We also thoroughly sanitized our room upon arrival. Like many hotels these days, the casino does not perform daily cleaning of rooms for guests who are staying multiple days, and that is fine with us. We're pretty low maintenance, anyway. Best of all, though, it keeps people out of our room once we have sanitized to suit our needs.

We didn't win, but we enjoyed some good plays. I'm sure we will be heading back soon, especially if some better offers arrive in the mail. Donna and I play video poker almost exclusively in casinos. Every once in a while, Miss Donna will sneak off and put a few dollars in regular slot machines, and I might slip off and play a little electronic blackjack, but we prefer video poker. We came across a new-to-us version of video poker called Triple Chance Poker. It consists of 3 lines. The bottom line is standard video poker. The upper two lines are stud poker, but have various multipliers that appear quite a bit. I've not yet evaluated this new game, but I will before we go back. The pay table for the Jacks or Better version at quarter level was 99.54%, while the Deuces Wild was 99.73%. 

Last week was medical week for us. We try to schedule most of our medical visits for a single week rather than spreading them out. So last week, we had our labs done, met with our PCP for our annual wellness visit, spent some time with our dermatologist while she told us how old and ugly we are, and I visited my rheumatologist who expressed great surprise that I was still able to get around. Our labs were better than they had been in the last 5 years or so. I guess we might stick around for a little longer.

Looks like we will be traveling to daughter Courtney's home this weekend for an early Christmas. Donna and I (mainly Donna) will prepare a nice Christmas spread to take along, as we did at Thanksgiving. I'm basically a disaster in the kitchen, but I do a fairly good job of peeling, dicing, and other mundane tasks, which Donna is happy to assign to me. I guess you could say I'm her sous chef, but since there's just the two of us, that really is a gross overstatement.

We bought a nice ham a couple of days ago, so we'll prepare it along with some potato salad, baked beans, a couple of pies, lime jello salad, and a few other items that are traditional with us. I really like this meal much better than our Thanksgiving meal as I'm not too fond of turkey. For many years, I would smoke a turkey at Thanksgiving, and I did enjoy that. I'd crank up the smoker the night before and then put the turkey on just before midnight and let it smoke until noon the next day. But I stopped that practice 4 or 5 years ago. That is really the only way I enjoy turkey.

So now I look forward to our Christmas ham and all the sides. We're really looking forward to just seeing the kids, especially Xander. Now that he's a college man, he doesn't have a lot of spare time. He works part-time at a store in the Odessa mall, so most of his time is split between school and work. We just don't see him too much anymore.

In case I don't post another entry between now and Christmas, let me wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy 2022. Let's hope and pray there are better times ahead.

We bought a couple of planters 2 or 3 years ago and have not used them for much. Recently, though, I planted some garlic in one of them, and you can see how well it is doing. I'll harvest sometime in the spring. Now I need to find a use for the other planter -- perhaps some radishes. I love fresh radishes in a salad.

Thanksgiving 2021

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. We certainly did. We did the 2 hour and 15 minute drive to Odessa to spend the day with the kids. In typical West Texas fashion, we fought 20 mph winds up and back. But it was nice to get out on the road again, and it was great to spend a holiday with family again. I especially enjoyed visiting with eldest grandson, Xander. He's a college man now, and working some on the side, so we don't get to see him often anymore. 

The kids are having a good time in their home. They really enjoy city living after spending several years in a very small town. I like towns the size of Odessa, San Angelo, and Midland. They have everything you need, but they aren't so big that they overwhelm you. 

We're finally getting some fall color here, but when you don't have many trees, you don't get a whole lot of color. Still, I am thankful for what we do have. I enjoy the various seasons of the year. and autumn has always been my favorite season, hands down. Below are some shots taken around the neighborhood on a recent walk.

Rust colored oak

Pretty good range of reddish colors in this tree.

Three trees along the street, each with a different tint.

I was almost home on my latest walk when I came across several turkeys in a neighbor's yard. There was one big old tom with his feathers out. He was strutting and puffing his way among his companions, and doing a bit of bullying. I don't know what he was trying to accomplish as I know practically nothing about turkey culture. I snapped a picture or two as he strutted around the edge of the group. Suddenly, there was a commotion. I don't know if the turkeys suddenly realized I was nearby or if something else bothered them. I rather think there was an aggressive action from this tom that set things off. 

Regardless, those turkeys began to scatter like there was a fox in the henhouse. The tom flew off to the south, and some of the other turkeys flew in the opposite direction. Most of them, though, flew onto the nearest roof. I tried to capture these actions in the pictures below.

Here are the turkeys when I first spotted them. You can see the aggressive tom at left in the driveway. He has his tail feathers fanned out.

I snapped a couple of more pictures like the one above, and then the commotion started. In this picture, you can see the aggressive tom in flight at far left of the picture. At least one turkey is heading for a roof, but most are running away to the right (north).

This is the aggressive tom, flying away to the south. Note the clouds in the background, by the way. More on them later.

In this shot, at least 3 turkeys have made it atop one roof, while another at the bottom of the picture attempts liftoff.

This is a neighboring rooftop, with 2 turkeys already walking the roof. Note the turkey about to land at left, with another in flight at top of window on right.

This final picture of what I am calling "The Great Turkey Incident of 2021" shows at least 8 turkeys secure on a roof. Glad they survived.

The next two pictures are of the sky at the time of "The Great Turkey Incident of 2021". Some of the clouds have a pastel look, almost as if they were painted on the sky. Donna and I both love watching the sky out here, Donna more than me, probably. Donna's vivid imagination allows her to see all sorts of things in the clouds, especially after she's had a few drinks. While we were returning from Odessa Thanksgiving day, Donna kept peering into the sky. Suddenly, she said, "There's a turkey in the sky with his feathers spread out!" I have trouble seeing all the shapes that Donna does; I just don't have a good imagination, I suppose. And I don't partake nearly as much. Perhaps I should.

Interesting sky, don't you think?

Close up of the sky shown above. That center area really looks as if it was brushed on.

And finally, how about a peaceful shot of some birds in formation heading south.

Ragged V formation heading south.

Return of the "Littles"

The "Littles" enjoyed staying with me so much that they requested a return trip to visit their old grandpa. This time, we kept them for 3 nights. They didn't have all the school work to do this trip, so we were able to spend more time entertaining them.

They are getting pretty easy to take care of. They are old enough now that they can entertain themselves to a large degree. But we did take them fishing again, though no one caught anything. It was really windy that day, and I suppose that had something to do with it. We took them to a neighborhood park a couple of days so they could work off some energy. They enjoyed playing on the playground equipment, riding their skateboards around, and just being boys. We'll be seeing them again in a few days when we spend Thanksgiving with them.

Granma and her boys trying to snag our supper from the Concho River near downtown.

I always have enjoyed watching monkeys in a zoo.

Partners in crime enjoying the shady swings.

They really enjoyed riding their skateboards on the smooth tennis court.

One of the things I enjoy most about autumn is when the leaves change colors. But this year, we haven't seen much color. There are a few trees in our neighborhood that I normally enjoy watching, but they just haven't really displayed any true fall colors yet. Leaves are falling all over the place, but the color just isn't there.

Now, San Angelo is not known for its fall colors, but we do have some. Temps have been warmer this autumn, though, and I guess that has affected things. Even when oaks change color, it's really more of a rust color, almost a dead leaf color. We've driven out to Spring Creek Park on Lake Nasworthy a couple of times, and some of the pecan trees there have yellowed rather nicely. I miss very little of East Texas, but I do miss some of the colors in the fall and the spring.

This is pretty typical of the oak trees this year. One branch in this mature tree has turned a rust color, and that's about it.

Here's another oak with just a couple of branches showing any color.

Here's a pecan tree from Spring Creek Park, with a few others in the background. 

This is our neighbor's tree. I don't know what kind it is, but when the morning sun hits it, it can be rather pretty.

And what would a blog entry be without a picture of some goofy old turkeys?

Turkeys on the roof of our neighbor's house. They like to roost in high places at night. I snapped this shot as I was going out for an early morning walk.

This shot is of a rising full moon a couple of nights ago. What a beautiful color!

We Keep the "Littles"

We've had good fun this past week.

On Monday, Courtney and Michael passed through town and dropped the "Littles" off for a stay. They call their youngest two sons the "Littles" I guess because of the age gap between them and Xander. Court and Michael were off to Fredericksburg to celebrate their anniversary. I'm not sure how many years they've been married, but the years are starting to add up. That Michael is a glutton for punishment!

So, we kept the little guys for a couple of days. The boys are home schooled, so much of their time with us was taken up with school work. We spent several hours each day with various studies, especially math and language arts. The lads are coming along nicely, I think.

On their first day with us, we were able to take them fishing for a while. We opted for the Concho River downtown. Cam pulled in a couple of small fish, but Jensen wasn't able to snag one. They did enjoy eating his bait, though.

Gammaw and her boys

Cam landing his whale.

I'm glad we got them outside when we did, because the weather turned a bit colder and wetter the next couple of days. 

Court and Michael had a nice time in Fredericksburg. I think they enjoy that place almost as much as Donna and I do. On their return trip, they stayed in rain all the way to Angelo. All told, I think we got about an inch that morning. My weather gauge recently broke when some heavy winds toppled it, so I need to replace it. Until then, I'll rely on local weather reports.

In addition to the turkey pictures above, I've posted some more below. Cheers!

Turkeys in our backyard