Random Photos - Happy New Year!

Hi all, Dianne here.   These photos didn't really fit into our last few blogs, so here are some random photos for a pretty new year!


One of the things I hated most about living up north was how everything was either brown or gray five months out of the year (gray skies, brown vegetation).  It was pretty after a new fluffy snow, but even the snow turned ugly after a few days.

No problem like that here in South Texas!   These are some shots of flowers Roger and I took walking Bandido on the bike trail leading to the state park next door.

We've had some gray, drizzly days recently, but that just means more flowers.

Now I understand why they call this part of Texas the "Texas Tropics"!  This is a flower from my Mexican olive tree.  The butterflies love them.

In fact, all of the plantings in our neighborhood and the surrounding Bentsen Palm development were chosen to attract butterflies and birds.

That philosophy of "Living in Harmony with Nature" is one reason Roger and I knew we'd found the right place for us.

This one's a little blurry, but I love the look anyway.  Someday I'll get a better camera with a good zoom lens.

The small yellow flower in one of the above photos  blooms on huge Esperanza shrubs that tower over us as we walk along.


Here's another shot to brighten a gloomy winter day:

This is a rare black-vented oriole which hangs out mainly at the state park next door, but occasionally pops over to get a snack at my feeders.   Again, I need a better camera!  Here's a link to an article written last year about this rare bird, with better photos.  We all assume this is the same bird that visited our area last winter, since it is so rare.


Rare Bird Sighting

The pet photo of the day shows Bandido and Charlie enjoying a beautiful afternoon outside.   Don't worry, bird lovers, Charlie can't reach the rare oriole!

Days of the Grackles

Great-Tailed Grackles

Roger here...  How to start?  Our time in south Texas is filled with activity, but the pace is slow.  Does that make any sense?  This post will give a taste of some of the things that keep us busy.  Dianne will start with an explanation of the opening pictures.


Dianne here:  I've loved great-tailed grackles since I first saw them in Coffeyville, Kansas in 2009.  They make the most amazing whistles and crackling noises.  They love my bird seed, but they're too large to roost on the feeder. 

Golden-Fronted Woodpecker

 They congregate on the ground below, looking up at the feeder and waiting for the resident woodpecker (who is a very picky eater) to come and push the small seeds out to get at the peanuts.  Now that the green jays are frequenting my feeder, they help out the grackles, too.

Mockingbird

We also still enjoy the gang of mockingbirds who hang out and mainly come for a drink. 

Green Jay

 I've had a couple of exciting additions lately, though:

  

Inca Doves 

Roger again....  I had a unique experience the other day while riding my bike at Bentsen Rio Grande State Park.  I ride several miles in the park three or four times a week.  During those rides, I have occasionally seen bobcats.  Typically, they are trotting along the road or doing one of those lion-like (I'm in charge) kind of saunters.  As soon as they see me, they bound into the brush.  


It always gives me a thrill to see them, but the interaction last week was the best.  As I turned a corner, I saw a large bobcat walking along the side of the road.  I was approaching him/her from behind.  For some bizarre reason, he did not hear me coming.  I continued approaching, trying to make as little noise as possible.  He did not see me until I was right (within three feet) next to him.  At that point, instead of running, he froze and stared at me.  


We stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity, but was actually only an instant.  I will never forget those eyes.  I rolled past him about 20 feet and braked the bike.  He remained frozen for about a minute before his eventual leap into the brush.  Something I will never forget.


It all happened too quickly for me to get a picture.  It would have been difficult to get the camera out while riding the bike, and if I had tried, the movement would probably have shortened the encounter.  However, Dianne looked up a link that will take you to a photo of a bobcat that one of our neighbors, John Rosford (a professional photographer), took at our state park.  It will give you a sense of what I saw:  http://www.rosford.com/mammalia/felidae/lruf.html  Might even be the same cat!

 This was really one of Dianne's activities, but I was the guy with the camera.  We have been intending to repaint the wooden Adirondack chairs that we have on our back patio for a couple of years now.  They were originally bright red, but over the years they faded to a dark pink.  Dianne was inspired the other day, and located the red paint that we purchased last year for this purpose.  (I am not allowed to touch a paint brush.)  The photo above contrasts the new paint job with the old.  Here is Dianne, hard at work.

We dragged the chairs to the front of the coach house to be painted.  When we were finished, we liked how they looked in the front, AND the front has the only shade in the middle of the day.  Sooo.... We decided to leave them there and order new chairs for the back area.  

The new chairs arrived yesterday.  They are sturdy, heavy, and made of polywood (recycled plastic) so they should last a long time.  It was my job to assemble them.  I had some trouble finding the correct phillips screwdriver to use with the provided screws.  I wanted to use the phillips bit on my electric drill, but the box of bits is lost somewhere in the recesses of our storage room.  Finding them would be far more of a project than struggling with a hand-held screw driver.  
(See why??!!  I'd say we're making the most out of our little storage closet! -- D.)

After a longer than necessary time, struggling with the screwdriver and the screws, the chairs were assembled.  We like the way they look.  (They are comfortable, too --  D.)

Roger here again...  Remember the bit about Dianne painting the chairs and me not being allowed to touch a paint brush?   Well....  Dianne had her very own painting incident.   Since it was nearing wine-thirty and Dianne was working so hard, and because I felt like I should be doing something useful, I brought her a glass of wine.  Guess what happened!  After a few sips of wine,  Dianne dipped the red paint brush into the red wine glass instead of the paint can :-)!!!!!!  What a hoot!

This is not too exciting, but it is something we enjoy.  Every day, the half-mile walk to the dog park involves passing a farmer's field.  Brahman cattle are often grazing in the field.  Before coming here, most of the Indiana cattle that we saw were hereford or black angus.  There are all kinds of cattle in Texas, including longhorns, but the Brahmans are unique.  Evidently, they are well suited for the extremely hot summers here.  Lots of loose skin that allows heat to dissipate.  We love the floppy ears and the hump.  We love watching them graze in the field, just across the fence from the dogs in the dog park, who do not faze them at all.

The dog park here does not have a nice pond like the one in Fishers, IN, but it does have a doggie tub for hot days.  After endless trips retrieving a tennis ball, Bandido heads for the tub, drops the ball in the water and enjoys a good soak.

Soon after, he digs in the water.  Much better than digging in our yard.

Dianne here...  Activity is picking up at the neighborhood dog park.  

A group of us have set up twice-weekly "play dates," which are fun for the adults as well.  As they say, a tired dog is a good dog, so we do our best to wear them out.

Click, Bandido, & Pepper

Pretty Katie

Lady

Roger again...  In addition to dog park get-togethers, there are many social opportunities here at Retama.  Here are a few events that we have attended during the past two weeks: 

  Dianne and I enjoyed homemade bierocks, German potato salad, cole slaw, and beer at Retama's Oktoberfest party.  

I attended a couple of the men's breakfasts at Chuey's, a local Mexican restaurant (I crave the Mexican omelets). 

 We have enjoyed sampling new beers a few times with our friends, Jim and Sue, while Bandido plays with their whippets, Gabe and Click. 

We are also attending a weekly butterfly walk the month of November with neighbors John and Audrey, who are naturalists and very knowledgeable guides -- D.

Oh, and Retama has a men's organization called the Lumbermen.  From time to time the group gets together to discuss lumber (that is what we tell our wives).  Evidently, the first meeting took place in a local establishment after a trip to a lumber yard.  Since that time, the group thought it would be safer to meet at someone's house.  I was invited to my first meeting this week.  A riveting discussion of 2X4s ensued.

Dianne...  I'm enjoying water aerobics twice a week.  This Thursday morning it was too cold, so instead Bandido and I took a 5 mile walk to the hawk tower in the state park and back.  He wore his backpack and carried my binoculars and his water. Here he is at the top of the hawk tower on a very windy morning:  

The pet picture of the day shows Bandido's method of telling us it is time to go to the dog park.

If that doesn't make us smile and reach for the leash, he has been known to get "verbal" as shown in this 30-second video snippet:

Birding, Exercising, Hanging Out -- It's Good to be Home!

Green Jays

Hi all -- Dianne here.  We've settled back in at Retama Village, and both of us have restarted exercise routines (still trying to work off the midwestern pounds we gained this summer).  

We take turns, one of us taking Bandido for a long power walk or to the dog park for playtime, and the other can get up and out the door before the heat of the day sets in, and ride bikes, swim laps, or go to the fitness center here at Retama.  Both of us enjoy riding our bikes next door to and through Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park (we get in free with our neighborhood pass).  Roger here....  on the days that Dianne bikes, upon her return, I head to either the fitness center or the pool.  Today was a pool day.  I reached my goal of swimming a mile.  Yippeee.

The state park is especially nice for biking, because there is no vehicle traffic, other than the park rangers.  R: Also, the roads are laid out in concentric circles, so it is easy to keep track of the miles while enjoying the ever-changing scenery.  

Here's my bike this morning, ready to take off for some exercise and birding:

My birding friends (unless they live here) can only drool at the recent sightings below:

Golden-Fronted Woodpecker

I didn't see all of these birds, but in addition to the green jays in the opening photo, I did see an Altamira Oriole, a road runner, and these birds at one of the bird blinds along the route:

Plain Chachalaca

2 Great Kiskadees

The chachalacas and green jays were sparring

over rights to the seed feeder --

But the green jays won out (as shown in the opening photo).  On Roger's bike ride yesterday, he was lucky to see some wood storks and a 
green kingfisher at the hawk tower.  There are usually serious birders staked out at the 
hawk tower with telescopic lenses, and they
 are
 always happy to share their knowledge and
 point out unusual birds to us novices.  Roger 
also saw a bobcat.  I saw lots and lots of
 javelina scat, but no actual sightings.  They
 were all over the place at the park the first
 winter we were 
here, but after the park flooded during the 
spring of 2010 hurricane, they are just re-establishing themselves again.

Our little spot at Retama, being right next door, also has golden-fronted woodpeckers, kiskadees, and other occasional exotics.  I'm still partial to my gang of mockingbirds that 
stop by for a drink now and then.

We also got some good clean exercise by 
washing the thousands of miles of grime off 
our motor home the other day.  I'll let Roger elaborate:

The picture above looks like yet another 
picture of our back pergola area, but its not! 
  It is actually a picture of the newly-cleaned 
side of our motor home.  Pay attention, and 
you can see the graphics of the motor home.

Saturday was wash the motor home day.  I got
 out of bed, and with dogged determination vowed that the task that we had been putting 
off for a week would be accomplished on that day.  No excuses and/or rationalizations would
 be accepted --- 


-  It's too hot!
-  We would have to skip exercise for the day.
-  We'll have to move all the furniture.
-  I'm too tired today.
-  It might be cooler tomorrow.
-  It might rain later in the week and rinse off 
    the grime -- yeah right! 
-  It will get dirty again anyway.
-  I don't want to get wet.
-  Bandido will be bored.
-  Dianne doesn't like to sweat.
-  Yada, yada, yada.


 I took the dog for a walk and assembled all 
the cleaning supplies while Dianne went on a shortened bike ride.  As soon as Dianne 
returned, the fun began.  


I hosed down each section, starting with the
 roof.  (Those colorful Texas birds tend to 
make nasty messes on the roof.)  (Scissor-tail flycatchers are beautiful birds, but I can tell you for certain that their poop is just as unsightly as the grackles --  D.)  


 I then scrubbed with soapy water, then 
scrubbed again with a wet brush attached to 
the hose.  Dianne followed by re-hosing the
 clean surface with soft water, using a squeegee
 to 
wipe off the water, then going over the surface one more time with a microfiber cloth. 
 Bandido hid under the outdoor furniture to 
avoid getting wet.  Dianne and I actually
 enjoyed being soaked.  The hot day did not
 seem nearly so hot.  It took several hours,
 but
 the results were worth it. 

Ah!!!!!!!!  The sense of accomplishment!  
Time to sit in the shade with a good book
 and several glasses of ice water.


The pet picture of the day is an older one of Bandido at the dog park with one of his toys. 
 I think that particular toy survived about a
 week before all of the outer surface 
mysteriously 
came off.  He loves plush squeaky toys, but 
has become an expert at disembowling them within 10 minutes, so now he has to make do with the indestructible types. -- D.

    

Port Lavaca and Home to Retama

Hi all, Dianne here.  Well, we're back at our winter home, Retama Village, in Mission, Texas.  First, though, I'll chronicle our short stay at Lighthouse Beach RV Park in Port Lavaca on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Lighthouse Beach RV park is a municipal-run park right on the bay.  We enjoyed full hookups and a view of the bay for $29/night.  The sites are close together, but we were lucky in that the sites on either side remained empty during our stay.

Most of our time was spent either enjoying the view and tropical breeze at our site or walking the 2,200-foot-long boardwalk over the marsh and viewing the shore birds.  Egrets, small blue heron, willet, roseate spoonbill, ibis -- these are just a few of the interesting birds that we saw during our walks.  Bandido enjoyed the boardwalk until it ventured out over open water and he could see the water through the cracks; then he didn't like it at all!

There is a small beach area at the park.  We didn't use it, because dogs are not allowed on the beach.  

Here's a final sunset shot from Port Lavaca, bringing this summer's travels to an end.  We've been on the road for five months; it's time now to settle in and save our pennies for next summer's adventures.

We were anxious to finally get home to our winter spot.  We pulled into Retama Village around 3:00 p.m. last Monday and made our way down Mallard Drive to our tiny little home.  It was still all buttoned down for the winter, with Reflectix in the windows and all of our outdoor furnishings stacked inside.  (This is necessary in case of hurricane winds; even the garbage can is supposed to be stored inside in our absence.)


We had only been home an hour or so, when down the street came our friends Jim and Sue (who we met up with in Duluth this summer), bringing us each a cold beer and a chew-bone for Bandido!  What a nice welcome!   They've been back a couple of weeks, getting their newly-purchased home furnished and settling in.  


Most folks have not returned yet, but several have arrived even since we came in on Monday.  It's fun to renew acquaintances, and we look forward to lots of fun times this season.


Bandido is very happy to be able to chase balls and run free at the dog park.  He will enjoy it even more when his pals arrive from up north.  He has already renewed his friendship with Gabe and Click, Jim and Sue's whippets.


If I sound a little tired, it's because we've spent all week moving our things back outside, buying new plants for our containers, cleaning, and doing the loads and loads of laundry that I saved up, waiting to use my own washer and dryer -- no more laundromats for me until next summer!

Here are a few photos of our place now that we've settled back in:


BEFORE:

AFTER:

This year we can just enjoy our place and not have construction going on, as we did all last winter.  Our only chore this year is to repaint our faded Adirondack chairs a brighter red; they've pretty much faded to pink, as shown in the above photo.


We moved my antique metal comfy/bouncy chairs to the side area in order to take advantage of the afternoon shade.  It's still really hot here (mid-90s), but with the constant breeze and low humidity, it's actually very pleasant so long as you stay in the shade.

We probably won't be updating the blog quite as often while we're holed up here for the winter, but we'll keep you posted on our Retama winter fun as things occur.

The pet photo of the day shows Bandido and Charlie laying on the bed in Port Lavaca, keeping vigil out the open window at night.  (See why we keep a sheet on top of the bedspread?  It's Charlie's favorite spot, especially when that window is open.)