We've Got Water!

As I mentioned in my previous post, we lost water Tuesday night (2-16-21). It finally came back on yesterday (Sunday) morning about 11:00 AM.  It was a challenging 5 or so days.

The city has what it calls an "upper plane" and a "lower plane". Unfortunately for us -- at least in this situation -- we are in the upper plane. Even though all water leaks in the city had been repaired, we were still having difficulty getting enough pressure into the system so that water could be pumped to the upper plane. To do this, citizens were asked to reduced water usage so that pressure could be restored. 

For a few days, it seemed like we would take 2 steps forward and 1 step back. At one point, it appeared we were even taking 1 step forward and 2 steps back, as folks in the lower plane seemed to be using very large amounts of water. One day city officials even stated that current water usage equaled what we normally see at peak usage during the summer.

Eventually, pressure did build and the water did return. Donna and I continue to be very conservative with both power and water usage. But then, we are pretty conservative as a rule as regards such things.

So now, we are getting back to normal, whatever that is these days. We still must boil water for now until all testing is complete. Perhaps by Wednesday the boil notice will be lifted. We're just thankful to have water. We even took navy showers last night. I can't tell you how good that felt.

The good news is that the weather has warmed. All snow has melted around here, though scattered bulldozed mounds may remain in parking lots and other places throughout the city. The wind is blowing hard today. I even went out for a walk yesterday afternoon. It always feels so good to get back out after being cooped up for a long period.

Daughter Courtney and her crew survived the storm well. They had fewer problems than we did. I don't think they ever lost power or water, though they are currently being asked to use water sparingly. 

Below are two pictures I took of some turkeys on our last really cold day. There are two turkeys in each picture roosting on high lines across the street, but they are different pairs. One pair is facing the camera, while the second pair is facing away. They seem to be impersonating vultures. I'm glad they survived the freeze. This morning just after first light, I spotted a group of them trespassing in my front yard. Yeah, we're getting back to turkey normal.

 

When It Rains, It Pours

The saga continues . . . 

In my last post, I described the "Do Not Use" water restrictions that we had experienced as well as the first 3 or 4 days of the current cold spell. At that time, the temperature had not risen above the freezing mark for several days, but the worst was still ahead of us.

So, where are we now.

It's almost a week after the cold front began, and we still haven't seen a reading above freezing. 

This past Sunday, it began to snow. Basically, once it started, it didn't stop until late in the day. At this time, I do not know what our snow totals were, but we did get several inches, much more than both of our previous snows combined.

Eagle-Eye Donna spotted this woodpecker on the oak tree out front while working at her kitchen sink just as the snow was getting started.

Now, my memory is not what it once was, so forgive any errors I make. But in looking back at texts I shared with my brother and my daughter and the time stamps on them, here is what I can relate.

This was after the snow had been falling for a while. This is the view from the front door across the street.

It was cold Sunday night/Monday morning. At 8:24 AM, it was -1 degree here. Our power had gone out about 4:00 earlier that morning, so it was beginning to get cold in the house. About 10:15 that morning, our power returned. We were able to warm the house, get some hot coffee, then have a hot meal. However, just before 1:00 PM, the power went back off. About 3:30 PM, the power returned, but only for half an hour or so. 

You can see the stop sign and street sign, but can you see the road?

This is the view towards the clubhouse. Again, there is a street out there; a street lamp is visible in the very center of the picture.

This is looking due east from our back door across a street to a neighbor's house. Where is that street?

Our power would then remain off until about 11:30 Tuesday morning. That's a little more than 19 hours without power. But we feel fortunate as some folks have gone much longer. And in all that time, the interior temperature never dropped below 50. Yeah, we sat around in layered clothing with gloves on doing our best impersonations of Bernie Sanders at a Presidential inauguration, but it could have been worse.

This was taken just after dark. The street light had just come on. The street is still pristine. Old people don't like to drive on icy/snowy roads.

This is the scene we woke to early Monday. Ruts in the street are visible now; our security patrol likes driving in snow. I guess he spent the entire night slipping and sliding around our community.

You can clearly see tracks in the snow in this picture.

Late Tuesday afternoon, perhaps around 4 or so (no texts to reference here for exact times), we were notified of a "boil water" notice for the entire city. This was a result of breaks in water mains throughout the city. Well, we could certainly live with that since we had now been enjoying power for several hours. Then an hour or so later, we were notified that our area of the city would lose water completely as a result of the ruptured mains. So, around 8:30 or so, we lost all water and are still without it.

The snow drifted on our front patio rather nicely. It's about a foot deep here; more along the wall.

When we awoke this morning (Wednesday), we still had no water; however, we did have power -- until about 8:00 AM. Fortunately, the power only remained off for about 5 hours, and we now have electricity again. We look forward to getting entirely back to normal, but we are doing fine at this time.

I hate being inconvenienced like this, especially at this stage of our lives. But I always think about how fortunate we truly are. People all over the world suffer so much more and do without so many of the essentials of life. Even in the U.S., I think about all the folks who suffer through tornadoes, tropical storms of all sorts, massive wildfires, flooding and other disasters and are forced to do without for long periods of time, much longer than what we are enduring here.

I'll end here. It is now Wednesday about 2:00, so no telling what lies ahead. We expect more freezing weather tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night. It will finally start warming Friday, and the weekend should actually be pretty nice. I'm rather confident this will mean we have power, but the water issue continues to bother me. I have no idea how long the mains will take to repair.

Various auto tracks through the snow on the street behind our house. You can see that there is some depth to the snow, and none of the pavement is visible at this point, despite the traffic.

Drift of snow hanging on the south eave of our neighbor's house. Snow came from the north.

Turkeys in the snow. These guys get around. They roosted the next night on highlines behind this location.

Water frozen as it comes out of the downspout.

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.