Recycle Day

Boy, did we have fun today. It was recycling day.

Donna and I have been recycling for years and years. We've always checked out the recycling possibilities where we live and have done our best to recycle everything we could. We are fortunate that San Angelo has a wonderful recycling center called S.A.F.E. (San Angelo Friends of the Environment). We began using S.A.F.E. when we lived in nearby Ozona in the 1990s.

Today, much of the city has curbside service for recycling. In our last home here, we were able to use that service. However, our current home is not served by city trash collection; that service is provided by Rio Concho West, and they do not recycle. So, about once each month, we load up the car and haul a load of recyclable goods to S.A.F.E.

There is no telling how much of our trash has been kept out of landfills over the years as a result of our recycling efforts, but I think it is considerable. We no longer produce much garbage. Our crew picks up garbage on Mondays and Thursdays, and we usually have only a very small bag, and sometimes not even that because of our recycling efforts. Most of our waste goes to our recycling bins.

Right now, most of our recyclable waste is probably newspaper or cardboard. It's really amazing how much cardboard is used in packaging out there. Consider all the things you use in your house that contains cardboard in some way: toothpaste boxes, bath soap boxes, rolls from toilet paper and paper towels, cereal boxes, waffle boxes, cracker boxes, and the list goes on and on.

Below are some pictures from our recycling effort today.

We keep these 4 bins in our garage. From left to right, they contain tin cans, aluminum cans, #1 plastic, and #2 plastic. We use very little aluminum, but the plastic bins fill up usually. We also accumulate quite a bit of tin.

These are the recyclable items we keep inside. They are newspapers, cardboard, glass items and egg cartons in the same bin, and numerous plastic wraps or bags in white bag.

And here are all our recyclable goods for about one month. They fairly fill up the entire back end of our SUV, and the back seat is in down position. So each month, this is how much space we save in our landfill. Now, if everyone did this . . . 

No, these are not all of Donna's wine and beer bottles. Seriously, this is the glass bin at S.A.F.E. Quite a load, isn't it.

This is the part of S.A.F.E. where plastics, tin, and aluminum are collected. The tall blue machines under the cover compress plastic into bales.

These are the bins where newspapers, glass, and similar items are collected. The bin at front left is the glass bin shown two pictures above.

These are some of the old appliances and other items that will be taken away.

Oil and similar items are collected in the dome structures at left center in picture.

I think we are very fortunate to have a facility like S.A.F.E. here in San Angelo.

Come . . . Take a Walk with Me

I love walking. Anyone who has read my blog much knows that. I thought you might like to join me. Here is a photo essay from a recent walk on a mostly overcast fall day. I was able to catch some pictures with trees changing color, and I caught a bit of wildlife. Right now, I can almost guarantee I'll see turkeys on any walk I take in our neighborhood. And I've been fortunate to see quite a few deer lately, even in the middle of the day.

So, sit back and join me for a walk around my neighborhood.

This picture is a bit grainy. I caught this doe just a few houses from home, and I really didn't expect to see her. 

Here's some pretty good color about half a mile down the street from our house.

This is James. He takes care of all our landscaping needs. He's busy trimming and taking care of fallen leaves this time of year.

I love our wide, clean streets. This is the newer section of our community, so the trees are not yet mature.

Here's an older section of Rio Concho. The trees are more mature here and provide greater shade. The street is a bit narrower, and the houses are a bit smaller.

And here are some of those turkeys I guaranteed you. They don't come down in our area; they prefer to stay in the older sections where there are more trees and more acorns.

Here's another flock of turkeys I caught as the sun was trying to break out of the clouds. These guys really make themselves at home, don't they? They're fun to watch.

Happy Thanksgiving 2017

I love Thanksgiving. I love that it comes in autumn, when leaves are falling and the weather is changing. From Halloween to Christmas is really my favorite time of the year.

But most of all -- especially as the years continue to pile on -- I love Thanksgiving for what it is, a time to be thankful. I think we tend to forget that these days.

My father had a simple prayer he would say to bless our meals. I've used it time and time over the years. Sometimes I recite it as Dad said it, and sometimes I incorporate it into longer prayers. But in its simplicity is the beauty of it.

"Father give us thankful hearts for these and all our many blessings."

All of us need to be more thankful, mainly for just the little things in life. And we are blessed in this country, despite the divergent views and political climate that has permeated our land for the past 20 years or more. Yes, we have problems, but we have so much more that is good.

So, I wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving and holiday season.

Lost Maples State Natural Area

When we left New Braunfels, we decided to detour through Lost Maples State Natural Area, one of our favorite parks in the Texas state park system. We've hiked all the trails in this park over the years, and we've camped there in our RV. It's a beautiful park. If you time it just right, you can see some wonderful color, a result of the maple trees for which the park is named. Unfortunately, we've never been able to time it just right, and we missed again this year. The color probably peaked about 2 weeks before our trip.

Still, it was a beautiful drive through some wonderful country.

We left New Braunfels early, probably about 6:00 AM. We stopped for a light breakfast on the western edge of town at McDonald's. We then hopped on Texas 46, which I detailed to some degree in my previous post. For the next 65 miles or so -- through Bulverde and Boerne and finally Bandera -- the traffic was heavy on a 2-lane highway. At Bandera, though, we finally lost most of the traffic as we continued west on Texas 16 to Medina before turning west on FM 337. This stretch was probably the most scenic of the day. There are some beautiful ranches along the West Prong of the Medina River. However, the fog was heavy this day, so views from the higher elevations were severely limited.

We stopped at a pull-out near the highest point on Highway 337 for this picture. The fog was pretty heavy, so visibility is very restricted.

The route we took from New Braunfels to San Angelo, with a detour through Lost Maples.

At Vanderpool, we turned north on Highway 187 for the remaining 5 miles to the park entrance. I inquired about color at the ranger station, and was told that most color was gone. Well, we'll just have to try again next year, I suppose.

We did venture down to the picnic area for the following pictures. There were quite a few people in the park on this cool, damp day. Most were setting off for hikes into the back country. Donna and I have done every inch of the trails, so we decided to just forego another hike unless we had a reward of some good color. We made a quick drive through the camping area. It was probably about 75% or so full, but this was early on a Friday morning. I'm sure it would fill up later in the day for the weekend.

Although there is very little color remaining, the parking lot in the day use area was about half full. By noon, it would probably be about maxed out. The fog was still hanging around.

Here's a small tree with some color. Notice the canyon wall in the background.

A little more color set against the backdrop of the limestone canyon wall.

Scattered color, but very little. We'll get the timing down one of these days.

Here are a couple of trees in the campground with a bit of color.

We then left the park and continued north on Highway 187 for 14 miles to Texas 39, which we followed west for 9 miles to US 83. From there, we headed north 46 miles to I-10, which we stayed on for just a mile or so before exiting for Junction. On the east side of Junction, we stopped at a scenic overlook for the pictures below.

Donna overlooking the city of Junction and the Llano River Valley. Junction has long been a favorite place of ours.

Here's a zoomed in shot of Junction. The bridge crosses the South Llano River, which joins -- or junctions (hence the name of the town) -- with the North Llano River just to the right. The tall signs along top of picture are along Interstate 10, which roughly follows the course of the North Llano River west to the area around the small community of Roosevelt and beyond.

From Junction to San Angelo is a fairly short drive. From the southern Concho County line south of Eden to San Angelo is 4-lane highway, so it was a relaxed way to end our trip.

If you are interested in Lost Maples State Natural Area, below are links to other blog entries I've written over the past few years.

• Lost Maples State Natural Area (SNA) [July 2015]
• Hike Report: Lost Maples SNA [July 2015]
• Lost Maples SNA, Part 1 [March 2012]
• Lost Maples SNA, Part 2 [March 2012]

New Braunfels

As I said in my previous post, Donna and I spent a couple of nights in New Braunfels after visiting her aunt in Crockett. I've always liked New Braunfels. For one, I've always been intrigued by the German experience in Texas. I can't imagine the culture shock these intrepid souls must have experienced when they arrived here in the mid-19th century. Not only did they persevere, they created some wonderful frontier settlements. They had a true eye for land, too, as they settled some of the more beautiful country in the state. New Braunfels straddles not only the Guadalupe River but also the Comal River. It is truly a beautiful natural setting.

There are numerous old buildings throughout the historic town, many reflecting the craftsmanship of the Germans who settled here. The downtown area is very vibrant, with many shops, restaurants, and pubs/biergartens that attract visitors. Our favorite watering holes are the Phoenix Saloon and Krause's Café and Biergarten. We sampled many brews at both places, and enjoyed a bowl of Texas chile at the Phoenix. All was quite good.

The Phoenix Saloon in downtown New Braunfels. This is the main stage.

This is a medium bowl of the "double shot" chile at the Phoenix. Those are habanero peppers on top. There are several nice chunks of sirloin tucked away in the bowl. 

The biergarten at Krause's. The bottom row behind the bar are beer taps. Yep, they have quite a selection. I think Donna sampled them all.

Donna working on her first brew at Krause's. I won't show the picture of her taken later.

We spent one morning at the outlet malls in nearby San Marcos. I enjoy the outlet malls because they usually have a clothing shop where I can buy pants in odd sizes. I find the best length for me is 31, and few retail clothing stores stock pants in odd number sizes. So when I'm near an outlet mall, I stop at a Haggar store to purchase a few pairs. I got lucky this time and found a good sale with slacks at $24.99 each. Donna has her items she always looks for at outlet malls as well, so we both came home with some goodies.

The Main Plaza in downtown New Braunfels at night.

Seguin Avenue, just off the Main Plaza. There is an oyster bar, a Mexican restaurant, and some other eateries along here.

We stopped in at Rudy's Bar-B-Q for lunch one day. We had never eaten at a Rudy's before, so we were anxious to try their meats. We sampled their brisket, sausage, and baby back ribs. We found the sausage to be too dry. The ribs were fine, but nothing special. We did enjoy the brisket, though. Next time we visit a Rudy's, we'll stick with the brisket; it was quite good.

We enjoyed our time in New Braunfels. To be honest, though, the place is just too busy. It's an ant bed of activity. That whole country is like that, though. Too many people live in that area. The natural beauty of the area is being overtaxed and destroyed. We left early Friday morning to come home. We headed west on Texas 46 to Boerne. It was heavy traffic the entire way. Why are so many cars on the road? Doesn't anyone work where they live or live where they work anymore?

From Boerne, we continued west on Texas 46 towards Lost Maples State Park, which I'll write about in my next entry. For now, I just want to say that the heavy traffic continued to Bandera. West of Bandera, traffic began to ease. The entire distance from New Braunfels to Bandera, I always had at least one car in front of me and at least one car behind me -- usually many, many more. This old West Texas boy is not used to that kind of traffic. I'm used to open spaces.

Putting on the Miles

We continue to put the miles on our worn out old bodies.

I took the RAV4 in for its 10,000 mile service this past Monday. We bought the car in April. So we're putting about 1,400 miles a month on it. That's not bad considering we've made 2 trips to Colorado, 1 to Shreveport, and several to East Texas. I think the long trips are over now; at least, I hope they are. I prefer shorter trips and shorter stays. I hope we begin concentrating on trips closer to home to interesting places.

On Tuesday, we loaded up and headed to East Texas once again. The purpose of our trip this time was to visit the only surviving sibling of Donna's birth-mother. She resides in an assisted living facility in Crockett.

On Tuesday, we took our time. Our plan was to spend the night in Fairfield (my home town), then make the short drive to Crockett the next morning. Along the way to Fairfield, we stopped at Shanks Cemetery near where my mother was born and raised. My great grandfather rests in that cemetery. I wanted to get a picture of his marker. Next to him lies one of his 3 sons. It's a nice, quiet little cemetery away from towns and major highways, the kind of place to spend eternity.

We rose early Wednesday and made our way to Crockett. We spent nearly 3 hours with Donna's aunt, looking at old family pictures and discussing family. It was nearly noon when Donna and I left. We had decided to return by way of New Braunfels, where we would spend 2 nights. I'll tell more about that part of the trip in another post.

I continue to work in genealogy fields. I related previously about my failed attempt to locate some graves in Fairmont Cemetery. I wasn't ready to give up. I went to Find a Grave and got a list of requests from people looking for pictures of grave markers for Belvedere Memorial Park Cemetery, which is only 3 or 4 miles from our home. 6 requests were listed, and Donna and I were able to locate 4 of the markers. We felt pretty good about our efforts. We'll continue to do this. I find this to be a pretty rewarding undertaking. Not only does it help someone, it gives Donna and me the chance to get some fresh air and exercise. And we find cemeteries to be interesting places.

The weather has continued to be warm in San Angelo and over much of Texas. I believe the our local weatherman said that we have set 7 new high temperature readings in the last 17 days. That's not good. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to take walks in my shorts during November, but I worry about our local water situation. Warm weather means greater evaporation from area lakes. Combined with the fact that we are just not getting the rain we need, we could be seeing some difficult times next summer.

It's nice to be home again. Donna has started her preparations for Thanksgiving dinner. The kids are all coming down, so this will be a lively place. I may have to leave. And Donna doesn't do anything half way. We'll have way more food than an army could devour. I always try to get Donna to do less, but she just doesn't have the ability. I won't complain, though, cause the old girl can cook. I love her dressing; I've never had better. I look forward to my chess pie. No one else is allowed to eat any of my chess pie. It's my chess pie, and I don't share food. Those little monsters better stay away from my chess pie.

Night at the Theater: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Donna and I attended a performance at Angelo Civic Theater Friday night. I was a bit cautious about this particular play, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. Not everyone likes Shakespeare. I enjoy reading the tragedies and histories of Shakespeare, but watching a performance is yet another thing.

But we truly enjoyed the play. It parodies 37 plays by Shakespeare in 97 minutes, and uses only 3 actors, who play themselves rather than single characters in the plays. They often talk directly to the audience, and there is some audience participation as well. Numerous references to modern culture appear throughout the play, and the characters often discuss how to best present a play. For example, they stumble at first as to how to deal with Othello, whose central character is a Moor. Since all three actors are Caucasian, they finally decide to rap the play.

The performance begins with a lengthy presentation of Romeo and Juliet. They then quickly rush through numerous plays and end the performance with an equally lengthy presentation of Hamlet. They close the play by repeating their interpretation of Hamlet much more quickly. To top things off, they close by repeating their quick interpretation of Hamlet in reverse.

All three actors did a very good job. This is a physically challenging play for an actor. I'm sure all three of them were exhausted by the end of their performance. I thought the play itself was clever and witty. It's as if the actors were making the play up as they progressed through the evening.

The only flaw of the night was the loud-mouthed audience member behind us who had exceedingly loud, exaggerated laughs. I recognized the "gentleman" as one of the regular performers in many Civic Theater plays. At first I thought he might be a "plant" in the audience to help along any audience participation. After a while, I realized that he was simply obnoxious.