A Pictoral of Goose Island State Park & Area

I left the RV this morning at 7:45 a.m. and was gone an hour! I feel like I'm back on my desert walks last winter. It was 37F (3C) with a bit of a wind from the north so I dressed accordingly. At least the sun was bright. I hadn't walked far when I heard a Northern Cardinal and there he was up at the top of a tree by the washroom. I took a few photos, continued on and there was another one. I saw my share of cardinals on this walk.


I continued on my way toward the forested area and walked almost the whole way around Lantana Loop. The loop has RV sites around it's perimeter as well as some cross streets. If you can get on the perimeter it's more private.

Along Lantana Loop

One of the larger sites - no idea why they put this little van there

One of the cross streets with RV sites

Turks Cap Trail

Sites along the loop - these are more private than those on the cross streets

The other end of Turks Cap Trail

One of the sites along the loop

Big tree within the park itself

Walking along the loop

Sites on another cross street



There were lots of little birds around this morning and some of them even let me take photos. When I got near the picnic area (photo posted yesterday), I looked off to my left and there were three deer. They were farther away than yesterday's were but still a beautiful site.

More deer





Walking back toward Aransas Bay


Dump station


Rec Hall


Picnic area along the water


Frog pond

Housing area adjacent to the park with inland waterway


Here you go right to go to the sites along Aransas Bay where we were two years ago and go straight and then left to where we are now

Walking along Stinky Beach and boy was it stinky when the wind changed this afternoon


Behind the RVs


I sat outside for a while first with a jacket and blanket but when the sun got hot it did so in a hurry. When you're out of the wind, the sun can be really hot!

After lunch, Gordon decided we should go for a ride around the area so we went to St. Charles Bay which is just around the corner from the park. There were tons of birds there but mostly ducks and coots with an egret, a spoonbill, and a heron thrown in for good measure. There were also lots of little shore birds. We also dropped into the RV park, Hidden Oaks which was new two years ago when we were here and now he's pretty much full.

We first drove down to where we parked two years ago


Some birds in St. Charles Bay

Kestrel on the wire


These old live oaks trees have huge branches

This is the big tree advertised as being part of Goose Island State Park but it's actually outside the park proper

Sandhill cranes across from St. Charles Bay

Roseate spoonbill in St. Charles Bay - we've never seen a roseate in the bay before

Little blue heron (I think) catches his lunch in St. Charles Bay

Copse of live oaks

Back in Goose Island SP at the bird feeders we saw lots of male cardinals and this female having her lunch

Pelican on the light standard probably watching for fishing boats to come in




When we came back to the state park, we drove around the forested area and stopped at the little bird area they have set up with feeders and a birdbath. There were a lot of cardinals and other miscellaneous little birds around as well as a lot of squirrels.

That done, we came home and I went up to the campground showers then sat outside to dry my hair and read for a while.

Back in my lawnchair

Today was a gorgeous sunny day with a high of around 65F (18C).

A Birthday and A Day at Goose Island

Happy Birthday Ellie! It's my understanding that this young lady is turning 60 today. I can't believe it!

I've had a couple of questions in my comments lately:

Question 1 - Did you have to reserve it (site at Goose Island) or was it just available at the time of check in?
Answer - We reserved when we took our road trip to Rockport a couple of weeks ago. They had no sites available for people who just dropped in. There were some dry camping in the parking lot but they had to turn others away.

Question 2 - What is your site number? Nice views!
We're in site 4 but all of the sites on the water have a view of Aransas Bay.

Re: Nortel

Something I found out from my friend, Nancy who worked at Nortel for years. Nortel is self-funded in the benefits that are offered. They pay the bulk of the cost and pay an insurance company to administer the plans. So it's not a matter of 'if' my benefits will be discontinued, it's more a matter of 'when'. Guess I'd better start shopping for insurance myself!

My Day

I was up before 8 a.m. and had a great walk this morning. It was 44F (7C) with dappled cloud. I walked over to the treed area. Goose Island State Park has two camping areas, the ones we're on that back onto the Bay and the treed area where the sites are amongst the beautiful old live oaks. It's a nice area too but those big old trees don't leave much room for a satellite signal so I just walk over there.

Sun dappled skies



On my way over I encountered these beautiful deer. They're curious creatures.

A little head peeking out at me

A curious one

The picnic area in the park



Instead of walking back on the road, I cut across the mowed area. I don't think it's really considered a trail but I used it anyway. It wasn't easy walking though so probably won't do it again even though it's something of a shortcut.

My shortcut


I took my camera with me this morning even though it's a pain to carry it when you're running but I expected to see things I'd want to photograph and I was right! I was out for about 45 minutes and could have been out longer but my back was starting to tell me it was time to get home.

Looking toward the pier this morning



After breakfast I went into Rockport to get some groceries. I first went to HEB and then to Walmart. Neither of the stores here can hold a candle to the one in Port Lavaca. I asked at HEB about gluten free products and they had no clue.

When I got back, I put the groceries away and lay down for a nap. Don't know why I was so tired.

Gordon called Mustang Island State Park today and we're booked in for two weeks there beginning February 11th.

Our high reached 62F and we had both cloud and sun. There was also a big fire happening north of us when we got back. I don't know if it was another prescribed burn at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge or not but it made for an interesting sky.

A smokey sky


And another gorgeous sunset

Goodbye Powderhorn, Hello Goose Island!

This morning it was only 35F (2C) and the wind was coming from the north so I again cut short my walk. Before leaving we did a bird run and even with the north wind we saw at least one of most of the regular birds and even our sandhill cranes down the street were out this morning. We also saw a cardinal and both Storm and Pyro came over to say goodbye. It's unusual for Storm to come to visit at all.

Pyro hanging around to say goodbye

One last photo of our little harbour



Coming back from my walk Delmer was just leaving the RV park to go home after his morning visit to the park and he wished us safe travels and thanked us for staying. They are such nice folks! I also went to the office and paid the electric bill $62.00 for 28 days) and said goodbye to Ginger.

Goose Island State Park is only about 45 minutes south from where we've spent most of this winter but it's still south! Since Texas State Parks have a 2 p.m. vacate rule, we weren't in a hurry to leave and pulled out at 11:30 a.m. - 46F (8C). The sun had come out by then contrary to what the weather forecasters had predicted, we didn't have rain this morning although it did rain some overnight. We arrived about 12:30 p.m., got checked in and paid for our two weeks. It's $20/day here (U.S. Funds). We don't have a sewer connection here so instead of conserving electric, we'll be conserving water! We got our water site so Gordon is happy. Here are some photos of our view.

Along the way

We're here!


We were mostly set up in about an hour today but it took some extra time to set up the satellites. After set up, Gordon headed down to the pier to take some photos and I went the opposite direction to the boat ramp area and the rec hall. It had warmed up to 62F (17C) so it was quite a bit warmer than forecast, thankfully.

Our site


View from our rear picture window


Close up of the pier taken from our backyard

Enjoying the day

The sun sparkles on the water

Our end of the park

On the other side of Stinky Beach


Tonight will be uneventful, I put some turkey cutlets in the oven, baked potatoes and corn and then some TV and maybe even a sunset!

Sunset taken from our side living room window

Trip to Houston and 25 Random Things About Me

Today was warm, low 69F (21C), high 81F (27C) but that won't last. A cold front should come through tonight. It looked like rain when I started out this morning so I just did the side streets. But it didn't rain and the sun came out.

Around noon Gordon called the Apple store in Houston. They said the new computers weren't in yet but was assured that they had the older ones for the same price. These are the same as I have. So we got in the truck and headed to Sugarland which is a suburb of Houston, 2 hours away and found the Apple store without a problem.

Looks like a burn going on Matagorda Island


Looks like a new railroad is going in along the route from Victoria to Houston


We were served by a nice guy named Alpha who checked and said that they didn't have any of the old model that we were assured they had on the phone. I could see Gordon was about to blow. He told Alpha that we had been assured they had the old model in stock so Alpha went to the back room to check for himself and after a few minutes he came back with the new model, straight off the truck! Lucky for Alpha as Gordon was not going to take this lightly!

One more stop at Whole Foods and we were home by 5:30 p.m. where I prepared breakfast for dinner.

Sunrays on our way home



Now to another subject.....

I was tagged by my friend, Linda on Facebook to give 25 random things about myself but due to bandwidth limitations, I don't upload any of the extra programs that Facebook provides so I decided to fulfill the 'tag' on my blog so here goes.

25 Random Things

1. I lived on a farm for the 1st 17 years of my life.

2. I went to a one room school for my 8 grades of elementary education and had the same teacher for those 8 years.

3. I am usually quiet and shy and am not much of a talker. I can’t make small talk!

4. I never really learned to swim properly but can keep myself up in an emergency (I hope).

5. I never had any children of my own but have 6 grandchildren thanks to my husband’s two children.

6. I took piano lessons when I was about 6 yrs old for 2 years.

7. I’ve been to England but no other country abroad.

8. We’ve been on several Caribbean cruises so have seen most of the islands.

9. Since 2004 my husband and I have been traveling full time in our fifth wheel and have been all over Canada and the U.S. Unfortunately due to the weather ‘all over’ basically constitutes the western and southern parts of the U.S., and some of the eastern states. We’ve been across Canada but not to the Northwest Territories.

10. I worked for 38 years before retiring.

11. I love Facebook and wish we had the bandwidth so I could try out some of the extras that they provide.

12. I have a niece and nephew of which I am very proud.

13. I love domesticated animals and hate to see them hurt.

14. I was born in early September and am pretty much a typical Virgo.

15. I need to sleep at least 8 hours every night.

16. I love to read.

17. I’m sort of crafty and enjoy painting sometimes and jewelry making.

18. I enjoy walking with some running sprints every day.

19. I enjoy birds but don’t consider myself a bird watcher.

20. I like to sit outside in nice weather and just enjoy the day.

21. I spend a lot of time on the computer. I have a daily blog which I haven’t missed writing in over three years (except for one night I was in the hospital).

22. I have a few TV shows that I don’t miss or if I do, I’m not a happy camper!

23. I enjoy being out in nature.

24. I don’t like to dress up and am not a party person.

25. I have never had an operation to remove any body organs.

OK, now I tag Dee to provide 25 Random Things about herself.

Some Problems Resolved, Others Not

It warmed up overnight and was almost 60F (16C) at 7:30 a.m. but still cloudy. I had one sunny break on my walk. I cut my walk a bit short today as we had tentative plans however they didn't work out, maybe tomorrow.

Below are the sucky problems and their status
Sucky problem#1 - computer - will probably be resolved in the next few days.

Sucky problem#2 - refrigerator recall - we called our dealer this morning and this was done when we were in in September.

Sucky problem#3 - Nortel - I emailed one of the guys I worked with that retired from Nortel when our group was sold to Breconridge and he told me that some retirees have joined in a class action lawsuit and sent me the information. Now I have to decide if I want to join it since the only thing I have with Nortel is the benefits having taken my pension money in a lump sum when I left.

Sucky problem#4 - eye tick - this seems to have gone away today.

The day turned out warm 77F (25C), mostly sunny and very windy. This morning we went out for a bird run. Here are a few photos.

Marsh grass against dark sky

Birds in the Bird Sanctuary



Oyster boats on Matagorda Bay

Kestrel on the post on our way home

This afternoon I did laundry in preparation for leaving for Goose Island State Park on Wednesday. Other than that I read and had a nap this afternoon.

Today pretty much sucked....

but not all of it - I had a nice long walk/run. It was cloudy all day 47F (8C) when I walked this morning and got up to 56F (13C).

Things started going wrong mid day when Gordon's computer died. He did various things to it and got it up long enough to back up all his photos that hadn't already been backed up but was backing up email when it died again so little by little he's coaxing it to come back to life so he can finish the backup. Now, what do we do? Buy a computer here and pay the Canadian exchange rate which is about .25 cents or so on the dollar by the time it goes through the credit card company or try to share my computer with the PC desktop as backup until we get home. #1 reason for the day to suck.

Next it was an email from my sister telling us that we got anothe refrigerator recall notice. Is it the one we had fixed in September or another one. We'll have to call our dealer in the morning. #2 reason for the day to suck.

Also in my sister's email she indicated that Nortel (where I retired from and who is funding our extended health care) has filed bankruptcy, their pension plan is underfunded and some pensioners did not get their cheques this month. Does that mean that our extended health care won't be paid? Not sure how to find that out but I guess we're considered unsecured creditors. #3 reason for the day to suck.

Then my eye has a tick in it since all that has happened and is driving me nuts. #4 reason for the day to suck.

For now we're doing okay and I expect things will fall into place one way or another.

Here are some photos I took on a walk around the park this afternoon.

A fine pelican specimen
Athena waking up from her nap in the straw

Another pelican with marsh grass in front