Busy Week for Old People

We've continued to stay busy following little Jensen's visit.

Initially, we simply spent a couple of days returning to normal and recuperating. On Monday, we rose early and went to the gym for our regular workout. On Tuesday, I washed the car, filled it with gasoline, then Donna and I did a bit of grocery shopping at our nearby H.E.B. That evening, we walked over to the clubhouse for out annual resident hamburger supper. The employees of Rio Concho West host us each year with an evening of home made hamburgers and some bingo with some good prizes. Donna won a $40 gift card and a bag full of chocolate candy, which I promptly confiscated. I don't want the old girl to get chubby on me, you know. I do my best to protect her from temptation.

On Wednesday, I got the day started early by visiting my local barber. I have to keep well-groomed for the old woman, or she'll trade me in on a better model. After my return home, we did a bit of shopping at our nearby Walmart, and ran into an old colleague from Ozona in the process. We always enjoy seeing folks from that little town southwest of here where we lived and worked for 8 years. We then had a nice lunch out. That afternoon, we went to the clubhouse to have our picture taken for the RCW directory. The wind blew hard all day long. Old geezers out for their morning walks were being blown all over the streets of our little community. Walkers, canes, and false teeth were scattered all over the place. I think I even saw a few small dogs lodged in tree tops. The horror!

We woke to pleasant temps on Thursday, but we knew a cold front was blowing our way. As late as 9:00 AM, it was still holding at 69 degrees. However, the skies were already dark, serving as an omen of the norther coming our way. Donna put on a pot of home made potato soup. That's some good eating on a wintry day. By the time the soup was ready for lunch, the temp had already dropped substantially. It really wasn't an ideal day for the root beer float gathering over at the clubhouse, but we braved the cold and rain. By dark, the temp had fallen about 25 degrees.

It warmed some on Friday, but the wind blew hard most of the day. We stayed inside for the most part. However, we did scurry about late in the day and move all our outdoor potted plants into the garage. The local meteorologist said overnight lows could be near freezing, so we didn't want to take any chances. Since we only have one car but a 2-car garage, we put the plants in the empty garage. On pretty days during the winter, we can open that door and let the plants get some light and fresh air.

It only got down to the mid-30s Friday night/Saturday morning. That's not too bad. We played our normal bingo Saturday afternoon. The sessions start at 2:00 sharp and usually run until about 4:00 or so. However, Donna and I like to go early to visit. The same folks seem to come each week, but occasionally we get a new face here or there. Neither Donna nor I won this week, though everyone else at our table won a game. Folks bring snacks for the games, and they were excellent on this day. Good times!

This morning (Monday), I ran some errands, then we picked up a neighbor who is celebrating her birthday and took her to lunch at Zentner's Daughter. Donna and I don't go to Zentner's often, and I don't know why we don't. We always enjoy our meals there, and the specials menu is excellent, arguably the best in town. The Zentner line of restaurants in West Texas is legendary, and this location in particular offers an old charm sadly lacking in restaurants today. Many folks don't care for the garlic seasoning that flavors Zentner steaks, but I enjoy it. I'm going to make it a point to eat there more often from now onward. On this particular visit, our guest happened to be old friends with the Zentners, and we were delighted to meet Betty Zentner Sheffield on this visit. She's a delightful lady.

It's a cold and wintry day today. It is now early afternoon, and the temp is still hovering in the upper 40s. It has misted off and on much of the day, and the skies are grey, making it appear to be colder than it really is. Rain should move through tomorrow, perhaps lingering into Wednesday. I hope so, for this country could use a good drenching.

Pre-Halloween Visit from a Real Spook

The old woman and I have been rather busy of late. Normally Donna has quite a bit of energy and pep, but she is even showing a few signs of slowing down these days. She usually runs circles around me, so it's nice to see that she is human, too.

We started the week by getting our annual flu shots. It's always good to get those behind us. On Wednesday, we hopped on the RCW geezer bus for a trip to our local Outback Steakhouse for lunch. We always enjoy those trips. They are great opportunities to visit with our neighbors here at RCW.

Daughter Courtney and son-in-law Michael were taking an anniversary trip to the Hill Country, and on the way through town, they dropped off youngest son Jensen for a short stay. Since the older boys are in school, they stayed home and were watched over by Michael's family. We tried to keep young Jensen entertained, and that is what really wore us out. While here, we took him to the Sierra Vista United Methodist Church pumpkin patch, where we picked up a couple of pumpkins for decoration and took numerous photos around the patch. That afternoon, we drove out to San Angelo State Park and got a distant glimpse of the bison herd; they were really in too much brush to get a good view, though. We did have a good time at the playground out there.

On Friday, we took Jensen to the San Angelo Nature Center at Lake Nasworthy. The center has small animals, most of which are native to this area. We then drove out to Horseshoe Bend at Spring Creek Park and fished for a while. It was quite windy, though, so the fishing wasn't that good. Court and Michael came back through just before noon on Saturday and took the little spook off our hands, then Donna and I basically collapsed.

Below are some pictures we took while young Jensen was visiting us.

King Jensen atop his mountain of hay bales at the pumpkin patch.

A couple of rubes at the pumpkin patch

Jensen with some of the pumpkins for sale.

Farmer Jensen getting ready to plow his fields.

Jensen enjoying the slide at the state park playground.

A couple of real swingers

Cowgirl Donna on her trusty steed.

Jensen admiring a white squirrel at the Nature Center.

Jensen and his Gammaw at the Nature Center.

Good collection of venomous and non-venomous snakes from the Concho Valley.

That's a mighty big turtle.

There are 2 bobcats at the nature center; this one was quite active roaming about its cage.

The fish at Lake Nasworthy were scared this day.

A boy and his gammaw fishing for their supper. They went hungry this night.

Short Trip to the Boats

Donna and I spent a few days early last week in Bossier City, LA, at the Horseshoe Casino. Not much to write about, as we've posted entries about such trips so many times in the past.

On our way over, we detoured through a couple of Army Corp of Engineer parks on Lake Whitney. We always enjoy scouting out possible camping locations just in case we ever decide to get another RV. On the west side of Lake Whitney on Texas 22 -- just before crossing the dam -- we pulled into Soldiers Bluff Park. However, there really isn't anything there for RVs, so we crossed the dam and then pulled into Lofers Bend Park. This is a fairly nice little park, with campsites providing good views of the lake. I did not see full hookups, but there appear to be plenty of water and electric sites. We stopped so that I could take a few pics of the lake.

This is a panoramic view of the west shore of Lake Whitney just north of the dam.

Lake Whitney dam, which serves as the roadway for Highway 22.

I don't know what this castle-like structure is, but you can also see it at the left of the top picture above. Notice the limestone cliffs, which line much of the western shore in this area.

Another shot of the limestone cliffs. The house at far left gives some perspective as to the height of the cliffs.

We only made it as far as Tyler the first day, so we enjoyed some pretty good Mexican food at Papacitas on South Broadway and then retired to our room. We are learning to travel at a more leisurely pace, and that is difficult for me. In the past, I always woke up early and ready to jump in the car and take off. Now we take our time, have leisurely breakfasts, and usually don't get on the road until 9:00 or so. We also don't travel as far each day, but we seem to be enjoying the trips more.

We decided to stay off I-20 on the second day of our trip and headed east through Henderson and Carthage. It was a bit chilly, and it had rained some during the night. We got into several areas of light rain as we headed east. Just east of Carthage on US 79 I pulled in to the Jim Reeves Memorial. I had seen the place numerous times in the past, but had never taken the time to stop. It's a nice little memorial. If you are a fan, the link above is rather informative.

Approach to the memorial crosses a guitar-shaped section of sidewalk.

Close up of the guitar section of the sidewalk.

Close up of the memorial.

The second day at the Horseshoe, we made a brief visit across the river to Shreveport and stopped in at the Eldorado and Sam's Town. We always check these casinos, hoping they have added some good games. As usual, though, nothing much has changed. The good days of video poker are fading fast. When we recrossed the river, we stopped in at the Louisiana Boardwalk. We both wanted some shoes and Donna was looking for some perfume as well. The old girl managed to find a nice pair of shoes, but that is all we got. It was still a bit cool as we walked around the Boardwalk.

Besides the small bit of shopping and gambling, we had some nice meals. When we first arrived in Shreveport, we stopped in at Carrabba's Italian Grill. Our meal was nice enough, but for my tastes, I'd just as soon go to Olive Garden or our very own local Napoli's in San Angelo. I found their prices to be high as well in comparison to other Italian places we visit. But the food was very decent, and we left satisfied. Of course, we had to visit Ralph and Kacoo's, our normal stop in Bossier City for good Cajun style food. I like everything about this place, and their lunch menu is outstanding. Our final meal in the area was the buffet at the 'Shoe, where Donna ate her weight in boiled shrimp and mussels. My favorite dish there is the bread pudding. Wow!

Believe it or not, my favorite meal of the entire trip was at Chicken Express in Brownwood on our way home. I just enjoy good simple food at a good price. I'm much more satisfied when I know I'm paying a fair price and getting my money's worth.

As always, it was good to get back home.

Autumn Has Arrived

Donna and I have been gone for several days; I'll post more about that in a few days. In our absence, autumn made a short appearance and has returned again this morning.

We left last Sunday. As I understand, a brief and semi cool spell snuck in that night. This morning, though, autumn really moved into the area, but its stay will be very brief. I am writing this at 9:49 on October 11. It is currently 43 degrees and very overcast. Rain began falling just before 6:00 this morning, and so far we've had slightly more than half an inch; that's a good amount for us.

Unfortunately, temperatures will be back into the 90s soon, perhaps as early as Sunday. I'm not fond of truly cold weather, but I do like a nip in the air. Regardless, we'll enjoy this brief respite from the heat while we can.

I always like to include a picture in my entries. This one has nothing to do with what is written above, but I like it. I took it last Saturday at our weekly bingo session. The Halloween decorations are up. This is the main room of our clubhouse. If you look carefully -- those of you who know us personally -- you can see Donna in the left side of the picture, sitting at our regular table.

Bingo at the Oak Tree Clubhouse

Will Autumn Ever Arrive?

It still feels like summer out here. Daily highs continue to reach well into the 90s, but we have had a few cloudy days. There is a small chance of rain each day as well, but never more than a 20% chance. We have not had any rainfall at all. Our entire area is now in the "Extreme" drought designated area.

I wish we could get some rain, but I do love our beautiful skies with their cotton ball clouds.

I don't know what is going on with the hummingbirds, but those little rascals are active. For the past few days, we've seen no fewer than 6 hummers each time we sit on the back patio, and those little fellows are buzzing and darting about everywhere. They've even come zooming between Donna and me on a couple of occasions. Well, we need to enjoy them while we can because they won't be here much longer.

The bur oak tree in our front yard is simply loaded with huge acorns. Each year, we gather them and strew them about the back yard to attract the deer. They come into the yard during the night and have a feast. This year, it looks as though the squirrels have discovered our acorn crop. There is a pile of acorn debris in the front yard at the base of the tree, as if a squirrel sits in the nook and enjoys his meal with remains falling below. If you've never seen an acorn from a bur oak, they are quite large. In an entry posted almost a year ago, I provided a picture to demonstrate how much larger they are than regular acorns. See "Those Are Some Big Acorns" if you are interested.

A partial limb from our bur oak, with several acorns visible.

Average size bur oak acorns with my hand as a point of comparison for size.

Donna and I went to the movies the other day. We saw the newest Brad Pitt movie, Ad Astra. It's an enjoyable movie, but I felt there were some gaps in places. It sort of reminded me of a space age version of Apocalypse Now. Pitt plays a character who parallels the Martin Sheen character in the earlier movie. He sets out to find his father (played by Tommy Lee Jones), an astronaut who has gone rogue -- like Martin Brando went rogue in the earlier movie --  and is hanging around Neptune causing problems. The movie shows an interesting view of what future space travel may well be like. It's a movie worth watching if you enjoy sci-fi movies.

During a recent drive through Spring Creek Park at Lake Nasworthy, we noticed these turkeys.

Close up of turkeys from above picture

Black squirrel near turkeys. These little rascals are all over the park. Many are much darker. 

After the movie, we went to Red Lobster for their shrimp fest. I tried to keep up with Donna, but when she ordered her third helping of shrimp, I had to throw in the towel. I simply don't know where the little thing puts all that food, but she puts it somewhere. I was a bit embarrassed when folks started taking pictures and videos of her.

A Short Trip

You know how restless Donna and I can be. We needed to get out of town for a few days, so we put together a short little 2 night trip.

The center piece of our trip was a visit to see some of Donna's family. On Monday, we made a leisurely trip over to Georgetown, where we spent the night. For some time now I have been curious about Sun City by Del Webb, an "active retirement" community just outside of Georgetown. So we made a run through that community, but quickly ruled it out as someplace we would like to live. To be honest, I don't think I want to live within 100 miles of Austin, and that is a shame. At one time, the Austin area was our favorite area of the state. But that country has been ruined by simply too many people moving there.

But I digress . . .

As we circled around the 2 car accident blocking Williams Drive and headed into Georgetown, we made our way to Plaka Greek Cafe. We really enjoy Mediterranean cuisine and were hoping this place would be good. We were fairly happy with our meal. The gyro was pretty good, and we enjoyed the Greek style meatball, which we had never had before. There was plenty of food; I was unable to clean my plate. But we also agreed that we have experienced better Greek food on many occasions. Would we go back? Probably.

On Tuesday, we visited Donna's family in the general area. We had a good visit, a very good lunch, and then said our goodbyes. We headed south from there. Donna wanted to do some shopping at the outlet malls in San Marcos. We checked into a hotel near the malls, then spent the evening shopping. Donna really enjoys the Vanity Fair outlet store, while I always pick up slacks at the Haggar store.

On Wednesday, we took our time coming home. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, then headed west, eager to get away from the heavily populated Austin area. Since we had the entire day for a 200 mile trip, we decided to take things slow and easy. We picked up FM 32 west of San Marcos, which we followed to Blanco. Along the way, we stopped at a roadside park and enjoyed the view from atop the Devil's Backbone, a limestone ridge that runs through the area.

View north from overlook along Devil's Backbone. People have taken to decorating the chain link fence with trinkets for some reason. There is a legend that the Devil's Backbone is haunted. Perhaps this is why.

At Blanco, we headed west on FM 1623 and followed the Blanco River through some lovely country. Where 1623 turns sharply north, we continued west on FM 1888. Eventually, the highway turns northwest, pulling away from the river. We then took FM 1376 north, then detoured briefly through downtown Luckenback where I snapped a few pictures.

The Blanco River. Photo taken from low water crossing over Crabapple Road just off FM 1888.

Old Engel family house near downtown Luckenback

Downtown Luckenback

Downtown Luckenback

Old post office, the heart of Luckenback

We stopped for gas and coffee in Fredericksburg, vowing that we had to return soon. It has been a while since we've been there. This old German town is home to some of our favorite watering holes, and they are calling to us. Well, they're calling to Donna, and I just like to follow the old girl around. That's what I do -- try to keep up with Miss Donna.

From Fredericksburg, we head north on US 87 to Mason. Just north of town, we turned west on Texas 29 and made our way to Menard. We detoured through the downtown area, then took the low water crossing over the San Saba River. From Menard, we headed north to Eden, then west to San Angelo and home.

San Saba River as it runs east about a block or so north of downtown Menard. The headwaters of the San Saba are about 25 or so miles west of here. That is the US 83 bridge in the background.

Old growth pecan trees along San Saba.

It was good to get away, if only for 2 nights. So, now it is back to the maps and planning for the next trip.

Still Hot and Dry

I had hoped with the approach of the official start date of autumn that the heat would begin to fade away and a few rains would appear. That has not happened so far. We have even had some more triple digit temperatures recently, and every day has been above 95. The nights are not even cooling off. Pastures are brown with the lack of rainfall. It's a bit depressing, to say the least.

Then there's the upper Texas Gulf coast. Tropical depression Imelda (or however it is classified when you read this) has certainly been a strange one. It more or less just appeared out of nowhere it seems. And then, unlike normal tropical storms with high winds, this is mostly just heavy rain. Those poor folks were just about to get over Harvey when this thing moved in. I wish we could relieve them of some of their rain; it would certainly help all of us out. If I lived in that area, I think I would seriously consider a move inland some place.

Not much is going on with Donna and Keith these days. The old woman has added a new game day over at the club house, so now she is going 3 or 4 days each week. It certainly is peaceful around the house when she is gone. This week, she spent an afternoon fishing, so I got a bonus day of peace and quiet.

For right now, there just isn't anything else worth mentioning. We basically are just waiting for cooler weather to come along so we can make a trip somewhere.