Birds of the Bay

Sunday, December 13, 2009

During our boat trip to watch the Tower Implosion, I could not resist taking a few pictures of the birds.  Several of our winter visitors, the white pelicans were flying around the area.  It is always a treat to watch for them at this time of the year.  We see more in January, I was surprised at the number today.

From Birds of the Bay

See a few more of the pictures at the link below the above shot.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

The Leaning Tower of OTSPI

The Ocean Tower of SPI or as we call it The Leaning Tower of OTSPI came down today and we were there.  My friend Bob took us on his boat across the Laguna Madre to a spot near the Convention Center and the tower.  The demolition company had scheduled to implode the tower this morning at 9 AM.  It went off right on time and seemed to have done exactly what they wanted it to do.

From Leaning Tower of OTSPI

You can see an album of pictures taken by Walldog and Bob here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Joy Hansen 1947-2009

Tuesday November 30, 2009 through Friday December 4, 2009

We traveled by motor home to Splendora Texas to attend the funeral of Wilma's nephew Gaylord's wife.  She died Saturday November 28, 2009 after a long battle with cancer.  The funeral was in Cleveland, Texas December 3, 2009 with burial in the Blue Branch Cemetery at Pitkin, Louisiana.

Walldog, Willie, and Jake

Thanksgiving 2009

Thursday November 26, 2009 Thanksgiving

We invited our Winter Texan friends Ralph and Barb from Oklahoma to join us for Thanksgiving Day.  We had our meal at noon, which we Southerners call dinner.  If we served it in the evening, we would call it supper except when it is really big and then it becomes dinner even though we serve it at supper time.  Herb grilled a big Salmon fillet and sauteed green beans.  Wilma fixed a really nice salad and HEB supplied the pecan pie and Blue Bell homemade ice cream.

Lloyd and Herb examined and took pictures of a Hibiscus tree that has yellow and red flowers.  That is red flowers and yellow flowers.

After dinner and a suitable rest period, Ralph and Barb told us about an orchard at Los Fresnos that had u-pick tangerines and oranges.  We called and they said they would be open for us to pick all we wanted.  A five gallon bucket of tangerines was $7.00 and a five gallon bucket of oranges was $4.00.



From my motorcycle days:
So many roads....
So little time.....

So many balls.......
So little time............




What a beautiful place in which we are most fortunate to be able to live

Thank You God!

South Padre Island World Birding Center

Wednesday November 25, 2009

My sister Jenny and her husband Lloyd came to visit us for a few days Thanksgiving week.  One of our touristy thing to do was visit the new South Padre Island World Birding Center.  Lloyd and Jenny are avid birders, so they were excited to see the many new birds for them that make this area home.  The recently opened birding center still has some maturing to do around the elevated walkways leading to the Laguna Madre Bay.  The wildlife is starting to occupy this area and I am sure it will only get better as time goes by.  I have posted a couple of pictures here, but you can see more here.  SPI World Birding Center.

Birds were flying everywhere

Many fish were spotted in the canals dug along the walks








Monarch Butterflys were located near the convention center

An overview from the lookout tower at the birding center building.





Walldog and Willie, Jake stayed home

On Your Mark

November 19, 2009
We went to Port Aransas on Thursday to visit some friends.  They
invited us to stay the night on their boat.  Happy hour was on the upper deck fly bridge and dinner was at a local cafe that did not take credit cards.  We scraped together enough money to pay and leave a tip.  After settling in for the night aboard the boat, the rain started.  Several inches fell in just a few hours.  Lucky we were already afloat.  Sadly we left our friends and their beautiful boat and returned to Port Isabel Friday.