Today We Got Some Exercise

It was 43F (6C) this morning and mostly sunny with no wind. Gordon walked with me for a while and we saw these pearl guinea hens.

I walked almost to the end of Lone Star Rd and found these beautiful horses.

I think I told the dappled one below on my way past that she was a pretty girl because on my way back he showed me in no uncertain terms that he was a boy horse without question!! I didn't take a picture. You'll have to use your imagination.

I also found these tracks which could have been dog tracks but then again….

The picture below is from our walk on the trail at Goose Island State Park. It was very pretty there with lots of live oak trees.

We didn’t see any wildlife or birds on the trail but it was a nice walk. On the mudflats we saw a great blue heron, an egret and a couple of roseates.

The two pictures below are of me and the live oak trees.



This beautiful old live oak is also at Goose Island State Park along the road but it also happens to be where the trail ends.
While we were walking on the mud flats we came across this majestic blue heron. He let me get really close to him and then...

he decided I was too close so he took off squawking all the way.

After that we went into Rockport where there is an area called Demonstration Gardens. We didn’t walk the whole area, maybe later. We did see some white ibis, a couple of egrets and a kingfisher. There are also supposed to be butterflies (too cold today) and hummingbirds but we didn’t see any of those either.

This is a bamboo tree at the Demonstration Gardens.

And here's the kingfisher.

I’ve recently heard that to remain heart healthy you’re supposed to walk 10,000 steps per day so I bought a pedometer and so far today, I’ve walked 11,937 steps since I got up this morning. I don’t think I walk that many every day though so I’ll have to start making a point of it.

End of the Week

After I finished posting my blog yesterday, we decided to head out for sunset since the sun had actually come out. We headed over to the Bayside area but didn’t have much luck with birds. There were some egrets and we did see a flock of spoonbills but they were too far away. We saw one immature spoonbill that was closeby but that was about it. The sunset wasn’t great as all the clouds had gone away but the moonrise was beautiful (photo below)!

It was 46F (8C) this morning and mostly cloudy. I did my walk on Lone Star and Farmers Circle again but only saw the horse.

This morning I went out to get a few things. I’ve started replacing our cheapie dishes with Corelle. I bought four plates last week so got two more today and six bowls. We needed something that would work in the microwave. I got plain white so if I need to add to them, it won’t be a problem. I bought them singly rather than buying the package of four place settings as I didn’t want the mugs. All I really needed was dinner plates and bowls. After that I drove to the other side of Rockport to Dollar General. I hadn’t been there yet and got a few things, then back to Family Dollar – nothing there and on to HEB where I picked up the groceries I needed.

Gordon went out to take some photos when I returned but didn’t find any to take, then out again at sunset. I stayed at home this time.

Not a very exciting day!

I took this photo last evening in Bayside. I guess Kinky didn't get voted in as governor!

Nice to See Some Sun

Pelican at the mud flats

White pelicans against dark sky and water

It was 47F (8C) and cloudy this morning. I got up late again as I heard it raining around 7:00 a.m. so decided to stay in bed. I walked along Lone Star and Farmers Circle but didn’t see a donkey or the long-horned steer or the horse. As I approached the pond across the road from the RV entrance, a Great Blue Heron flew off. I hadn’t seen wading birds there so wasn’t really even looking for them. I thought the pond was too deep. Guess I was wrong!

Gordon received his new lens via UPS this afternoon so we went to Goose Island State Park to see if we could find any birds. There wasn’t much in the park. We stopped by the bridge that crosses Copano Bay/Aransas Bay and took some photos there of pelicans, shore birds and a lone heron. While we were on the mud flats by the bridge the sun came out for the first time since Sunday. Sure is nice to see it again!

When the sun came out, it warmed up and we reached a high of 61F (16C) which is nice after a high yesterday of 49F (9C).

Potluck and End of Month Expenses

A little bit of greenery

This morning was 49F (9C) and cloudy but no mist or rain. I set out to walk the back streets of Fulton. There wasn’t a lot to see. I found a couple of RV parks, one really small and the other fairly large but a lot of trees so probably wouldn’t suit our satellite situation. Two Great Egrets flew in along Tenth Street and one landed so that I could get a photo but that was about it. I walked for longer this morning, about 45 minutes.

It wasn’t a very nice day, Gordon went out to get his hair cut and I stayed inside and read. Our potluck started at 4:30 p.m. It was well attended and we had lots of food, definitely better than the last one. We sat with a couple from Michigan and the couple on the other side of Gordon was from Guelph, Ontario. Shirley and George from Michigan have been coming to this park for six years. Now we just have to digest all the food!

Here are our expenses for this month:

January Expenses

Campground - $413.61- includes electric for Marina Beach and Fulton Oaks

Groceries/Wine/ Spirits - $504.33 – we eat too much

Laundry - $33.77

Entertainment/Parking/Restaurants - $55.28

Truck Fuel - $129.67

Propane – $37.85

Repairs RV/Truck - $0.00

Internet/TV/Cell/Insurance/Computer - $389.76

Medical/Dental - $0.00

Gifts - $25.67

Misc - $1204.01 – includes my new camera and Gordon’s new lens

Total - $2,793.95

Our total is high for this month due to our recent purchases of a new camera for me and a new lens for Gordon’s camera.

Cloudy and Cool

This morning was cloudy, misty and 51F (11C). Gordon decided to come with me for a ways this morning as just up Lone Star there is a small ranch and yesterday there was a Texas longhorn and a donkey in the field and he wanted to get a photo. Sure enough, they were out but the Texas longhorn was standing with his butt toward the street and they don’t seem to move much. I continued on my walk, went down the court again and there was a horse laying under some trees so I got some photos with my new camera. Then I walked back to see if the Texas longhorn had moved. He hadn’t, but the burro walked over to the fence to see me so I took some photos. I didn’t want to take my new camera out in the misty weather but if I don’t, I might not get to use it often with the weather we’ve been having!

The donkey and the Texas longhorn in the background

The horse

After reading some of my book and taking a nap (I didn’t sleep all that well last night), I went out to Walmart to pick up a few things, the main one being the new case for my camera. I took my camera with me to be sure it was a good fit and it seems to work well.

When I got back, I set to making my Calico Beans for tomorrow’s potluck. They are always better if they are made a day ahead.

Today was cloudy but very little rain, highs in the mid 50’s (13-15C).

I've Got a New Camera!

And here it is!

It was 46F and partly cloudy this morning. I walked around the park and then on Lone Star and Farmer Circle which is a little court just off Lone Star. All I saw of interest was a Texas long horn and a donkey at a little ranch down the road.

This morning I started researching a new camera on line and decided that I liked the Sony DSC-W100 so we headed for Corpus Christi. On the way we stopped at Camper Clinic regarding our microwave and found out that Dometic will ship a new one to them for installation but we have to pay the labour. Not a bad deal, I guess. They will call when the microwave comes in – about 3 days.

Back to my camera, Radio Shack was supposed to have one at a better price than anyone else but of course none were in stock. He offered to order it but that meant I would have to go back and in the meantime wouldn’t have a camera. We stopped to have lunch at the food court at the Padre Staples Mall and then went across the street to best buy where we found one – it cost $50 more and they would only match Radio Shack’s price if they had them in stock. Oh well, I tried! Of course then I needed a memory card so many dollars later we headed for home.

I stopped on the way at WalMart and picked up a few groceries as I need to make my Calico Beans for the potluck on Wednesday and we needed a few other staples.

When we got home I went to the office to sign us up for the potluck and to get some new books from the book exchange library. While there I met a man from Ohio and we chatted a bit. He’s from the Coshocton area where our son-in-law’s parents live but he didn’t know them.

On return to the RV, I started getting my new camera ready for business, getting the warranty done online, getting the battery charged etc. The salesman gave me a general run through of the camera operation and it looks much more straightforward than my old P-10 but I have a fairly thick manual to read so I’d better get at it!

Our Sunday Birding Tour

This morning was bright and sunny with a bit of wind and 43F (6C). I decided to stay out of the muck this morning and instead headed east on Lone Star Street. There is a side street called ‘Sandra’ so I walked down Sandra Street. When I checked the MLS listings the other day (something I usually do in a new area), there were two houses for sale on this street in the range of $66,000. The houses on the street are very close together and a bit on the ‘seedy’ side. I had a nice walk, just me and my radio.

After breakfast we decided to head out to Bayside which is on the west side of Copano Bay. We were told by the couple that gave the slide presentation on bird identification that this is the place to see Roseate Spoonbills and indeed it is! We saw quite a few in different spots and they are very interesting to watch. Their heads go back and forth in the water and they are spooning out whatever they can find to eat. We drove through Bayside as far as Refugio. I have to say neither Bayside nor Refugio have a lot going for them. We took a different route on the way back and saw a few Sandhill Cranes as well as a huge flock of Snow Geese.

The Roseate Spoonbills and other birds

A Great Egret showing off his reflection

Three Sandhill Cranes in a field along the road

A flock of Snow Geese with two Sandhill Cranes in the foreground

When we got back we grabbed a quick lunch and then headed north to see Port Lavaca. People beside us at Goose Island State Park had stayed at a campground there backing on the water so we wanted to check it out. There isn’t much to Port Lavaca but we wouldn’t mind spending a week there sometime. Neither of us took any photos there.

It was a beautiful day though cooler than yesterday the temperature reached 60F (16F).

My Sony P-10 is not reliable at all now. I took three photos with it this morning but had to do a lot of fiddling around to get them so I used Gordon’s back-up camera, a little Minolta which he used before he got the Canon. I find it too heavy for my purposes so on our way home we stopped at WalMart and I looked at another little Sony. It’s thinner than the one I have and 6 megapixels instead of 5 but the same optical zoom. I’m thinking about it!