The Living Is Easy

It's been almost 2 months since we moved into our new home at Rio Concho West (RCW), and we are really enjoying ourselves. We do love our house. The floor plan suits us. In the last week or so, we've enjoyed some good rain, and a side benefit of the rain has been cooler temperatures. We've been able to spend a lot of time on our back patio, and we really enjoy our time there. Donna and I agree that moving to RCW is one of the best things we have ever done.

We've been here just under 2 months, but already we've been visited by our daughter and her destruction crew twice. The first time, only our daughter and her 3 boys came. The second time, our son-in-law also came, as the family stopped in for 2 nights on their way to a family vacation in San Antonio. And this past weekend, my brother and his wife spent a couple of nights with us. So, we've been fairly busy entertaining.

We've also been trying to get into the rhythm of living in our community. Quite a lot goes on out here, and we've been trying to immerse ourselves gradually. In the past couple of weeks or so, for example, we've had the chance to do numerous things. The conductor of the San Angelo Symphony spent an hour at our Oak Tree Club recently detailing the upcoming season, including the guest artists who will be performing. He finished his presentation by playing a variety of tunes on the piano. It was a very pleasant way to spend an hour one morning.

Last Thursday night, we attended our monthly dinner, which had a luau theme. Each month, the community sponsors a dinner, normally with entertainment of some sort. It's a wonderful opportunity to meet people. We've attended two of these dinners so far, and each time we sit at a table for six with different folks. We're gradually getting to know our neighbors.

Earlier today, our entertainment director loaded a crew of us on one of our buses and took us to an eatery downtown that recently opened, the Twisted Root. This is a small chain with most locations in Texas. Donna and I enjoyed the food, but the place is a bit loud for me. We enjoyed the bus ride there and back. It's fun riding the bus with neighbors and new friends. These folks like to have a good time.

Next week, we have an afternoon watermelon feast at the Oak Tree Club, and Donna and I will certainly be there for that. There's nothing like a good melon on a hot summer day.

We also have reservations for an upcoming play at our local Angelo Civic Theater. The play, Into the Woods, is based on the James Lapine book and has music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim. It should be good. RCW does take a bus to the theater, but Donna and I decided to go on a different night, so we'll be going by ourselves to this event.

Personally, I've undertaken a reading project. I am working my way through the Hercule Poirot books (Agatha Christie) in a chronological order based upon when they occurred, not when they were written. Donna and I have watched the Masterpiece series over the years (on Netflix) starring David Suchet and absolutely loved it. I have read several of the novels over the years, but now I want to read them in order and study the character development of not only Poirot, but also other major characters, such as Captain Hastings. It should be fun.

And we are planning trips in our travel trailer. We have now made reservations for 2 upcoming trips, starting in September. Up to now, we've declined to travel because we've enjoyed being in our new home and also because it has simply been too hot. But cooler weather is approaching, and we are getting our travel plans in order. So keep reading to see where we go.

Life is good at RCW.

I've Not Been Posting

For those who follow the blog, it's obvious that I'm not posting very much. Quite frankly, Donna and I have not been doing very much. We're just trying to settle in to a routine in our new home and become fully settled. Nothing much exciting about that, so nothing much to report.

We've bought season tickets to our local community theater, Angelo Civic Theater. We'll attend 6 performances this year, and we'll see some pretty interesting plays. You can click here to see what shows are appearing this season. I'm most excited about watching Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe in October. I did my thesis on Edward Albee, so I have a natural interest in this play. Albee's female characters are extremely interesting and fully developed.

We're also simply settling into our community, and with each passing day, we enjoy Rio Concho West (RCW) more. I wish we had moved here years ago. We attended an orientation meeting a couple of weeks ago and came away even more excited. What I like best about the place is how peaceful and calm it is. Each time we return from shopping around town, we marvel at the island of serenity that is Rio Concho West. Outside the property, traffic is a bit hectic and fast, but once you enter our property, the speed limit drops to 20 and all is calm. There is only one way in and out of RCW, so there is no through traffic at all. That is great.

I've read a great deal about people hiking the long trails of the United States (see "The Big 3 Hiking Trails of the Continental U.S.A." in June 2013). Many people who do long hikes over several weeks or months make the same observation. They spend so much time out on the trails that when they return to "civilization" they experience a type of culture shock, especially as regards traffic. After spend long periods seeing very few people, no buildings other than shelters or small country stores or farms, and virtually no traffic, they become accustomed to a slower pace of life. For them, traffic moves along at just a few miles per hour, somewhere between 3 and 5 mph for most hikers. Upon entering a town, they are shocked by traffic moving at speeds of 30 mph or greater.

We can sort of relate now that we live at RCW. We spend most of our time in our little community, where people exercise daily by walking the streets. Posted speed limits are 20 mph for the entire property, and there is often more foot traffic than auto traffic. And for traveling within the community, many folks rely on golf carts or bicycles. So when we leave RCW, we experience just a little shock. It takes a few minutes for me to adjust to a faster rate of travel and a greater volume of traffic. It's always nice to pull back in to RCW from our little excursions out. We can slow down again and move at a more comfortable pace.

We do have some trips planned, but not until the fall. Right now, we are simply waiting out the heat of the summer and trying to get settled.

Staying Healthy . . . I Hope

During our recent 6 month tour in our trailer, I got a bit lazy. Although I tried to walk as much as possible, there were many places we stayed where there simply wasn't a good or safe place to walk. We also ate out much more than we normally do. As a result, I put on a few pounds.

As I've aged, I've learned that good health really boils down to two things: diet and exercise. I've also learned that both must be done regularly.

Now that we are settled, I've gotten back into a solid exercise routine. Three days each week -- usually Monday, Wednesday, and Friday -- I walk. Our new neighborhood is ideal for walking. We live in a secluded community with only one way in or out. Once in the community, we have several streets, and if you take what I call the perimeter loop, you have a 1.5 mile loop. Right now, I'm walking 3 loops for a total of 4.5 miles on my walking days. I average about 17 minutes per mile, which is roughly 3.5 miles per hour.

On alternate days -- Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday -- I ride my bicycle. This is a bit new to me. My legs definitely are not in bicycle shape. It takes a different set of muscles to ride as opposed to walking. Although our community is on fairly level ground, we do have some high ground which creates a slow but noticeable slope when you are riding. As I go up that slope, my legs burn quite a bit. And the wind -- which really has been blowing hard lately -- makes a noticeable difference when you are biking. I've noticed that even when I'm on level ground, the wind blowing into my face slows me down considerably and makes my legs work harder. When I first started, I was only able to do a couple of miles on my bike, but now I'm up to 5 miles. Those first few attempts almost crippled me. After one of those rides, my legs were like rubber, and I really didn't even want to walk. My goal is to get my legs in good enough shape that I can bike the O. C. Fisher dam, which is a length of just over 7 miles, one way. Since I'll have to make a round-trip ride, that is a total of just over 14 miles. That's not far if you are a young bicyclist, but for an overweight old man, that is a pretty good ride. But I'll get it done.

In addition to exercising regularly, we are now eating more meals at home. We still eat out twice a week, but most of the time we stay home. We eat a salad almost daily, and we're starting to watch our calorie intake much more closely, something I stopped doing early during our trip. As a result, the pounds are starting to slide off. I gained close to 15 pounds during our trip, so I need to get that amount back off as quickly as possible. Then I need to lose a few more pounds on top of that.

A lot of people don't like routines or schedules, but they have always worked for me. I'm glad to be back on a regular exercise schedule and to be eating healthier food.

Today's bicycle day. Time to go burn my leg muscles.

Rio Concho West Independence Day Parade

We're pretty well settled in our new home, and just in time for the community July 4th parade. Now, keep in mind ours is a small community, but we have a pretty nice little parade. The procession made 2 loops through the neighborhood, and everyone seemed to have a good time. Below are some pictures from our little celebration.

The Honor Guard led off the parade, followed by local EMTs and fire department.

You can't have a patriotic parade without Boy Scouts.

I'm not sure of the significance of the stagecoach, but it was about to turn onto Stage Coach Trail.

There were several refurbished older cars.

And since we are an active retirement community, there were lots of golf carts in the parade.

Someone did a nice job fixing up this truck.

This old panel wagon was nicely restored.

Yeah, a simple parade, but one showing off the community's patriotism. I think I'm going to enjoy living here.

We Ain't Homeless No More

We closed on Monday. We moved on Tuesday. We had everything connected and working by Wednesday afternoon. And Donna and I are both exhausted.

It's great to be in our new home. Although we still have much to unpack and put in order, we are now settled and comfortable. But this move was, by far, the most difficult we've ever experienced.

The move itself went very smoothly. The closing was on time. The movers arrived exactly when they said they would, and they had us in our new home in a very short time. New items were delivered when they were scheduled. Everything went like clockwork. It was, perhaps, the best organized and most efficient move we've ever made.

But the old woman and I are not spring chickens anymore. The physical act of moving furniture and boxes really took its toll this time. It has also been quite hot here in San Angelo the past several days, and the humidity levels have been higher than normal. I find myself getting dehydrated much more quickly than I used to. In fact, even our recent 4 mile walks have been affecting both of us. We have been walking later in the morning when the heat and humidity have started rising. Now that we are settled in an area that is safe for walking, I'll start doing my walks as soon as it gets light and before the heat sets in.

It's so nice to be out of the trailer. I pulled it over to the house Tuesday afternoon to unload. Later that evening, we took it to our new covered parking area just down the street here in our new community. It will be convenient to have it stored where we live.

Now the real work begins. Time to notify all our providers -- insurance companies and so forth -- with our new address. It's not hard, especially in this age of technology, but it is tedious and takes time.

I've enjoyed traveling in our trailer. Our trip out west -- to Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico -- was fun, and we really enjoyed ourselves, but it is good to finally be home again.

It's Been Quient

If you read the blog regularly, you've noticed that I've not been posting much lately. That's because we haven't been doing much lately. As a rule, I only post when something has happened.

Actually, we have been pretty busy, but we haven't been doing anything worth reading about. Currently, we are parked at the KOA in San Angelo. We've been here about 3 weeks now. We've been busy getting things ready to move into our new home at Rio Concho West (RCW). We are set to close on Monday, June 20, and we will actually move in the following day.

We've been watching as upgrades to the house have been done. Upgrades to the bathrooms -- new counter tops and tile in bathtubs and shower -- came first. Then the new counter and back splash in the kitchen was done. The new light fixtures and faucets were then installed. Last week, the entire house was painted. Currently, new flooring (tile and carpet) are being installed. Other little jobs have been performed also, such as replacing the fan on the patio, installing a new fan in the kitchen, and things of this sort. We should be ready to go by the close date.

Donna and I have been busy making some new purchases. When we moved out of our old house, we donated our antique washer and dryer units to Goodwill, so we needed to get a new set. We also gave away an old bedroom suite to our daughter, so we've replaced that with a new king size bedroom group. I've also been contacting all the utilities to get service set up.

So, although I've had nothing of note to write about since we have not been traveling much lately, we have been busy. And one of the best things is that we have been assigned a covered parking space for our travel trailer at RCW. Now our trailer will be protected from those violent West Texas storms that we've endured for the past month or so.

And the Years Roll By

On May 26, 1977, Donna and I stood before a minister in the Methodist Church of Conroe, Texas, and said our vows. After 39 years, I'm still putting up with the old woman. She's mighty lucky to find me; I don't know of anyone else who could put up with her this long.

We don't celebrate things too much anymore. One day is pretty much like another now. But I did take the old woman out to H.E.B. yesterday so she could buy some food to cook for me. They were having a good sale on beef ribs, so we bought a large package as well as some other things we were hungry for. I then had to take Donna to another grocery store so she could buy some wine. Upon checking out, the clerk asked if I was stocking up; I replied that I was simply trying to keep the old woman sedated. Sometimes life is easier that way.

We then went to the movies and saw Money Monster with George Clooney and Julia Roberts. We enjoyed the movie. It wasted little time getting into the action, and the plot was intricate and interesting. I do wish the movie industry would refrain from using extremely vulgar language to such an extreme, though. I simply see no purpose in it. It seemed like the "F word" was in every sentence. I don't enjoy that.

After the movie, we went to Cheddar's for a late lunch. We both ordered sirloin steaks, and they were good cuts of meat cooked exactly to order. I was happy. The baked potato was just right, and the red beans and rice was also quite good.

It was a good day. I wonder how many more we will have. If we don't get out of this trailer soon, we may not make it to our 40th anniversary.