Fri Feb 26

Howdy,Today we took a trip to Palacios on Matagorda Bay Their were many many shrimp boats with one coming in as we looked around a campground there.

bird in a protected area.

I think this is a stork bracing itself in the wind. It is powerful windy today as always here in Texas.

more shore life on the beach in the town of Matagorda.

The pier out into the Gulf of Mexico in Matagorda. It looks like an incoming storm but nothing ever happened with it . Maybe it blew off to Houston.It got to 73 over here today.
We managed to pick up many more shells here but no sand dollars on this beach.

Sorry to hear about all the snow you guys are getting blasted with back home. It sure can't be that much fun!
well bye for now --hope you have a great weekend-it snuck up really fast. Dee and Ron.

Wed. Feb 24

Howdy everybody. Well here is the century plant 2 days after the other pic. It looks like it may bloom very soon.We won't see it as were on the road again tomorrow morning, but everyone here in the park will certainly enjoy it.
We are heading to Edna which is just north of Victoria and a bit south of Houston,not many miles as we are not in any hurry.It was a beautiful sunny day today after yesterday's mess. It was in the low 40's with high winds and rain all day. No one even ventured out from their rv's at all.We went out for dinner to King's Inn for jumbo shrimp and fries tonight- a treat before leaving the area.It is a great place to eat seafood of any kind!Bye for now -take care- hopefully we have internet at our new digs Dee and Ron

Mom Feb 22

Hi everybody, How are you doing?As you can see its really sunny here today and no humidity like yesterday. This is a century plant that is out the back of our rv. It appears to be almost blooming. we will take another pic tomorrow or the next day so you can see how much it has grown overnight. This is Ron,s metal locating find for today--$1.37 and two pieces of fishing tackle.It was from the playground over in the park.

Oh and here's one of our favorite summertime jobs .Everybody was busy busy busy today on their lawns, before the rotten weather comes tomorrow!

I'll close for now--hope y'all have a great night Dee and Ron

Fri Feb 19

Hi everybody, Yesterday was nice and sunny so we took advantage of it and did a long bike ride. Along the way were many birds that were also enjoying the sun.
Today was a rainy day all along the coast so went in land a bit to check out Corpus Christi St. Park.It is very large and the lake itself was down 9 or 10 feet. not may campers were there.

Took a picnic lunch and ate along the shore of the lake.The washrooms were even more disappointing than Falcon S.P.The state must have cut back the funding big time!

On the way home we stopped at Wal mart and got a roasted chicken. Voila --dinner in mins.Thats about it for today. Hope y'all have a great weekend Dee and Ron

Wed Feb 17

Hi everybody .This is the USS Lexington Museum on the Bay.It is was known as the Blue ghost. This is looking down the flight deck as you enter on to it. There are quite a few of the war planes on display here. It is in the middle of repair from lots of rust damage .

This was one of the gun sections on the sides of ship.The stairways were very steep, narrow and hard to walk down when moving from one floor to the next.

This is the hangar deck with many WWIIaircraft display.We watched an I-max film on the flying manoevers of a pilot in training . That was up close and noisy!

This was on the bridge ,sitting in captains chair looking out on the flight deck in the direction that planes would be leaving.It was a really impressive afternoon with many more pics the ship.If you notice off in the distance at the top of pic is the bridge over to Padre Island and the inner coastal waterway.

By the way on the way here from Kingsville is the flatest land you ever saw. It is farm fields and it almost seems like a mirage in the distance .You can see for miles and miles. I'm sure in a couple of months its a different picture when all the crops have started to grow.

A prickly pear cactus in bloom here at the park. They're all over the place in bloom this month.

Not so many birds here yet though. We've been told its too cold yet 'they're still south!Well bye for now,hope you enjoyed our tour. Take care---Happy Birthday to our grandson Trent today.

Love Gramma & Grampa

Tues Feb 16

Hi everybody,greetings from the Texas State Aquarium. Today we visited the auarium in Corpus Christie. What a great morning that was. So much to see and all the kids on a school bus trip had a blast too.This is a Harris Hawk up close and personal. The trainers had it flying to perches all over the stands.

This is a cat from the country of Panama. I'm not sure of spelling but it sounded like quati.It can jump 6ft in the air for its prey!

Everyone loved this display of sharks and huge groupers in there also.

Ron has over 100 pics from today so we can only send a few of the best.

One of the dolphins with its trainer during the 1/2 hr show.

An alligator just soaking up the sun.You wouldn't hardly know its real but it WAS!

Dolphins greeting the crowd at the beginning of the show. The kids loved it.They could actually touch the sting rays in a tank on display.

The stars of the show and their trainers.

Eagles. raptors ,turtles,otters,snakes, moon jellyfish,all kinds of exotic fish,sting rayswere just some of the sights here today.

After lunch we headed over to the USS Lexington air craft carrier a couple of blocks away. Tomorrow we can do pics from that as we have quite a few.

Glad to see we have 2 new followers--my bro Gary and sister in law Mickey. Welcome!

Thats about it for today -Take care all Dee and Ron

Sun Feb 14, Happy Valentines Day!

Hi everybody, Well today we went for a drive to Padre Island. You first have to drive through Corpus Christi and then the town itself. it is an inner coastal island in the Gulf of Mexico.This shot is down the beach on which we had already driven approx. 10 miles.It is included in the Padre Island National Seaside Park.There is a camping section on the beach just before this one that allows you to camp overnight for 14 consecutive days.
We listened to a park person give a story on all the shells to be found on the beach. They do allow you to pick up any dead shells you find.(some national parks do not let you take even sand from them,eg white sand from Alamagordo nat pk. in NM.)So in the picture Ron took ,is all our shells.
We didn't spend alot of time getting them and with the tides coming in and out you would have lots to choose from every day.
The diamond back rattler and the mississaga rattler are 2 of the snakes to watchout for in the dune area.
We could have driven many more miles down the beach but it was time to head back home.
It got to 73 deg. today and sunnnnnny!yea! bye for now Dee and Ron

Sat Feb 13

Hi everybody,We made it t0 the King Ranch today which consists of almost one million acres.There are historic tours and nature tours. We did the birding-nature which lasted almost 5 hrs.There were many different species of birds-lots of sand hill cranes,the golden fronted woodpecker in the above picture at a feeder,caracaras,vermillion flycatchers,great kiskadee,lots of green jays (at the feeder)and sparrows. This green heron perched on a dead branch waiting for lunch.There were many varieties of ducks and a greater yellow leg.

This is a fire ant hill we disturbed(and then ran back!)You don't want to mess with these guys.

White-tailed deer ,javelinas ,wild turkeys ,alligators and a coyote were also out in many areas of the ranch.There are 60,000 cattle spread out and 300 quarter horses in a different area than where we were. So as you can imagine it takes quite a few cowboys and ranch hands who happen to live on the farm ,to make it all work and be tour ready.

They had there own lakes and a gas well.We only were on a very small portion of the land in and around a couple of lakes and through some open pasture fields(now that was a treat).

It was a sunny day and perfect for our tour. Bye for now --take care Dee and Ron

Fri, Feb 12

Hi everybody,Well it turned out pretty nice today.It got to 59 and sunny.It seems they have had a rough winter here too with tons of rain and cold weather. Everybody here was enjoying the sun today but still bundled up with scarves and hats.We went for a short ride today and spotted these pelicans out in the waters of the bay. These snow geese were in a nearby field by the thousands.It was very windy today so maybe they were laying low.

Hundreds of sandhill cranes in another field. It looked like an airport runway they were coming in so fast.

Tomorrow we go to King's ranch for the birding tour. can hardly wait!Well that's all for today.

Have a Happy Valentines day tomorrow, Bye for noe Dee and Ron

Thurs Feb 11

Hi everybody, We arrived at Seawind rv park today just in time for a small rainstorm. Its a bit windy and about 52 outside. Its supposed to get sunny tomorrow--we'll keep our fingers crossed.We are in a bay so its quite protected from the gulf winds directly.
This is Tom yesterday looking down the Rio grande river on our bird tour.At the top of the picture is the banks of Mexico--what town I'm not sure. These are pelicans looking in river for a quick meal. One of them actually got a fish as we watched.

Back at the bird watching spot.The food mixture on tray is peanut butter, lard and cormeal slapped on the rustic feeder. The birds go CRAZY for it!

By the way 2 cougars were spotted at Falcon Lake while we were there this week by a camper.The javelinas were enough for me!

This is another shot of river-Mexico to the left and USA to the right, pretty close wouldn't you say.
I think we will have a good time at this park as there are lots of tours to keep us busy and free internet that is very speedy.It will help me to keep up a more regular blog than i have been in the last couple of weeks.Its the nature of state parks i guess.Hope Ya'll have a great night.Talk to you later- Dee and Ron

Wed Feb 10

Hi everybody,Yesterday we went to a bird sanctuary nearby.There were hundreds of birds there. Here are 2 green jays and an oriole at one of the many rustic feeders. The volunteer lady at the site had been there for a few months and thats all she did was mention the names of birds as they flew into the feeding area.Its was so cool. This is a greater kiskadee. There were lots of birders that were really much keener on the names of them all.This is a great birding spot in the south of Texas .

One of many old Spanish buildings in the town of Roma(our library site today) and the beginning of the birding tour.It is on the banks of the Rio Grande which is not very wide in this area. Mexico is just across the way.

Gale,Sissy and myself on the nature trail in Falcon S.P.It was 3.1 miles long. She has had some javelinas in her campsite this week.The weather yesterdaywas really great. sunny and 73.It has turned a bit cooler today as everyone has a jacket or sweater on.

Tomorrow were on the road again heading northeast to Kingsville. (to our canadian followers- yup there's one here too.The park is a county one in a tiny bay on the coast and we had good reviews from our friends Marge and Ray.
Our friends Mary and Tom and Gale are headed west tomorrow too. We sure will miss them and all the good times we had.

Well that's about all for today. Hope y'all have a great day. Ron and Dee

Mon. Feb 8

Hi everybody, Its been awhile hasn't it. We are now at Falcon State Park, the temp is 74 and life is good!This is a dam on the reservoir on Falcon Lake.The lake itself is approx. 28 miles long and includes the town of Zapata ( where we are today at the library)
There are lots and lots of birds here ,with green jays and orioles coming to any of the feeders that people happen to put out. There are also lots of javelinas here that run in packs of five .One campsite had 11 of them there. We will be at the park until Thurs. Feb 11. then maybe off to Corpus Christie.

one of many birds here.

This is our lunch stop on the way here with Gale and Sissy. It was a great sunny spot to have a break and 72 degrees at noon.Well thats about it for now. hope you have a great day! from Dee and Ron

Feb 2 2010

Hi eveybody. Another rainy day in Texas. Ron got this shot of a flock of turkeys in the park yesterday. There were a couple of toms to escort all the ladies around.

This is one of five javelinas I spotted on my walk. I had to run and get Ron so he could get his pic of them.Oh boy -they are big! We are in the library today to set up our reservations for Falcon state park on Fri. It is south of here and on a bigger lake and hopefully a lot warmer. Its also in the Rio Grande valley .
We had a nice surprise this morning- Marge and Ray popped down from Parkview for a visit. The weather has been not that great there either.Marge even brought this wonderful dessert for all of us. Yummy.Their going to try and come to Falcon also next week. In spite of the weather we are having a great time. Addios from Dee & Ron.

Sun Jan 31

Hi everybody.It started out this morning as a cloudy 34deg but by noon it had gotten up to 43deg yahoo! We went birdwatching with Tom and Mary. Probably walked 6 miles or so all on a grassy path. We had a great time AND got to see a very rare bird called a Northern Jacana that only is seen in Mexico. (cant imagine why it would ever leave the warm weather down there!)
This was a blue heron showing off.There are a few Vermillion Flycatcher's here also .They are a small red tufted bird with a black mask on.

This is one of many Caracara birds that are at the park. They are the size of our turkey buzzards but not as ugly.
There are also a number of white pelicans out in the lake.

Blue heron strutting around .

Harris hawk on our walk .As you can tell this park is a bird watchers paradise . It is raining here again today (Monday) but is supposed to clear by Fri morning.

This park is 11 miles from Three Rivers (texas). Its a town of 1800 people and a Valero oil refinery right along side of the Frio River.Approx. 85 miles due south of San Antonio.

Today we are doing the washeteria thing and the library,a few groceries and were good to go!

I hope everyone is doing ok and were thinking of y'all. bye for now Dee & Ron

One of the many deer that are outside our door every morning.no feeding them tho.