Words I never thought I would hear out of the Woman's mouth!

The Woman loves the ocean. She will go out of her way, quite a bit actually, to be able to stroll on a beach, or watch a sunset over the water. I can’t blame her for her total fanaticism, but yesterday I heard words I never thought I would hear.

We still have a month on the Island, Colectiva nosed into the bay with a private patio to watch sunsets. Sadly, the daily temperatures here have routinely been half of normal. Instead of norms in the 60’s, our daily highs have routinely been in the 30’s. And we just experienced our second hard freeze for this winter, something we are told has never happened before.

Trapped in Colectiva by the cold we’ve gone a bit stir crazy. Yesterday having enough, I suggested to the Woman that we head out and find a couple of more obscure geocaches. So, we headed out to score some not too far away on the mainland. What we encountered when we got to ground zero was a frozen wonderland! Icicles were hanging from the bottom of highway signs. The tree the cache was hidden in was completely covered in ice, filling in all the gaps in the uneven bark. Unbelievable!

Each morning on the news, the weather forecasters beg with the Winter Texans not to pack up and leave, but its hard not to at least think about it with the temps in the Southwest being near normal. The Woman confided in me that for the first time in her life, she was seriously considering cutting her beach time short and heading West. We will see what happens.

Talk to you soon!

The Woman really did good work!

The Woman had worked hard to get us reservations at the KOA in South Padre Island. When she first called, they were booked and had no room for us. Later, they had part of the time, but not all of it, so she took what she could. Later she called and was able to book a couple different sites to cover the time, but we would have to move in-between. Later she got one month in a site that allowed us to nose Colectiva into a view of the bay and the sunsets. Later she got the other two months in a similar site when someone cancelled. She kept on top of it all the time, and it paid off!

Now we know why it was so hard. The KOA is large, but the Cameron County Park next door has maybe 2 or 3 times the sites. Today we were wakened by local police activity with lights flashing, generators and flood lights, and lots of commotion. We didn’t know what was up. We later learned that each year they hold a lottery in mid-January for the sites in the County Park. Hundreds of people show up, get a number, and essentially wait all day to see if their number is called, and they are lucky enough to score a site for a year from now. Sheesh!

Good work Woman!

Talk to you soon!

The Woman continues to amuse me

I have always told the Woman that my life with her is bliss. Not only do I love her, and not only does she make my life a dream, but she always amuses me. What is better than a wonderful life with a smile to boot. This last one will make me smile for a very, very, very long time.

The Woman decided that there was too much sugar and calorie count in the all-natural cranberry juice she loves. She decided if she got some no-calorie carbonated water, and added it to her juice, she would get some bonus carbonation and cut the calories in half.

So, she grabbed the carbonated water from her carton of various bottles. She opened the twist top, and added it to her cranberry juice. When she sipped it, the smile on her face was huge! She said “I had no idea it would taste this good. I will definitely do this from now on!”

So that was the routine from then on. When she emptied the bottle, she looked at it closer to make sure she would get the same product when she went to the grocery store. The look on her face stunned me. She said “No wonder it tasted so good. This isn’t carbonated water, this is Moscato!” Moscato for those who don’t know is essentially a super sweet desert white wine. The ring of my laughter still bounces around inside Colectiva.

It turns out that she had put the carbonated water she bought in her wine box, and grabbed the wrong bottle by mistake. Because it was a cheap Moscato it had a screw top cap, so that didn’t tip her off. Sadly, when she actually tried the cranberry juice with the carbonated water, it wasn’t nearly as good. However, she tells me she is sticking with it.

Talk to you soon!

Our first real Texas RVer!

We have been RVing to different parts of Texas for over 10 years and never really spotted a true Texas RVer. We have been nestled in South Padre Island surrounded by more than a hundred motorhomes, fifth wheels and trailers for a month and a half and we still hadn’t spotted a true Texas RVer. Finally, yesterday, a true Texas RVer arrived. Remember the Alamo!

Talk to you soon!

Birding in strange locations

We keep seeing new birds. We don’t know if they are slowly changing as winter begins to end in the Gulf or if we are just getting lucky. But to see the Tamaulipas Crow we had to venture to what I don’t exactly consider a lucky space. Living almost exclusively in Mexico, it only reaches the very southern tip of Texas in the winter. To see it here, we had to visit the Brownsville Landfill, and mention the code words “We’re here to see the crow” to the guard at the scales.

There were other birds here as well, but were not recommending it as a first-choice birding location. You have to dodge equipment at work, and the aroma leaves much to be desired. However, we did get a special bonus above and beyond the Tamaulipas Crow. Several Crested Caracara appeared to also enjoy whatever it is that draws the crows to this interesting location.

We’re pretty sure we saw a Grey Hawk. In our almost daily visits somewhere we spotted some American White Pelicans. We’ve spotted Blue Winged Teal, and at least one Least Grebe. At the SPI Birding Center yesterday we finally spotted a Snowy Egret. We had been looking for one each time we visited, and finally were rewarded.

We also found a new bird – new to us – that we probably saw before but thought they were a sea gull. The Black Skimmer has a distinctive bright orange ring around where its beak attaches to its head. When hunting for lunch, it dives down hovering over the water, dipping its bill in the water and skimming for fish. I can only imagine that is where its name originated. What fun they are to watch!

Who knows what we will see tomorrow!

Talk to you soon!

Our first Armadillo!

We decided to hit the Laguna Atacosta National Wildlife Refuge. Only about a half hour drive up the Western Coast of Laguna Madre, the body of water between the Padre Islands and the mainland of Texas, we knew it would be worth the drive.

We had been led to believe that we could bird, see wildlife, hike and bike. With the exception of the biking part (the Woman doesn’t have thorn resistant inner tubes on her bike, which are essential in Texas if you bike off road and don’t want to walk back from a flat due to massive burrs) we got it all. We weren’t able to score either the unique antelope, the deer with horns like moose, or an ocelot, but we did manage to scare up a number of deer.

We saw a lot of birds as we hiked around the Refuge. But our big surprise was when we stumbled on the Armadillo rummaging through the decaying tree branches by the side of the trail. This is the first Armadillo we’ve ever seen outside of a zoo, or dead on the side of the road. He was literally only inches from us, but our presence and the noise we made seemed to have no effect on him. He just ignored us and kept nuzzling in the debris. I guess that is how you get when your armor plated!

Talk to you soon!

Turtle release

We learned while we visited the Turtle Rescue Center that there was going to be a turtle release back into the wild in January. The release was going to be in the Isla Blanca County Park at the Southern tip of the island. Luckily the Park is almost next door to the KOA where we are staying, so we could just bike over there and avoid the entrance charge for motor vehicles.

If you remember me posting a picture of the snow flurries we had back in December, well apparently that dip in temperatures is not well tolerated by Kemps Ripley Sea Turtles. What happens is they become “cold stunned” and lose control of their limbs. Many washed up on shores at South Padre Island, and the dedicated folk at the Turtle Rescue Center went out and gathered them up. They put them in large tank where they could stabilize, and made sure they did not become desensitized to human contact.

After the sea turtles warmed up and regained their senses, the folk at the Rescue Center set out to release them in the wild. We were quite surprised at the number of turtles affected. As we watched, a dozen Texas DNR trucks pulled up to unload a dozen turtles that would take 5 or 6 people to lift – huge! The placed them in the water gently, and the grateful sea turtles swam off.

After that, literally dozens of smaller turtles were carried down to the waters edge. The turtles ranged in size from ones you could almost hold in your hand to several that were one to two feet long. Again, we watched as they were gently placed in the water. They wasted no time in skedaddling out of there and returning to their life in the wild.

All in all, it was quite a spectacle. Check that off the bucket list!

Talk to you soon!