More Clouds Today

This morning Gordon decided today that it was too boring to walk around here so we drove to Rockport Beach. He headed to the harbor to take photos and I headed down the beach to walk. It was cold – 49F (9C) but I was dressed for it. I walked along the beach side for a ways then walked on the Bay side. It was quite a good walk. There weren’t a lot of birds out but I did see a heron and all kinds of gulls and terns and a few oyster catchers. The photo is of Rockport Beach.

This afternoon I headed over to Walmart to pick up a few things then drove back along Fulton Beach Road. There were a lot of waves crashing against the shore but it didn’t seem that windy.

Our high today was 57F (14C) and it was cloudy all day again. The only good thing about the temperature is that it’s only 23F (-5C) in Ottawa.

When I got back I went for another walk around the park but that’s about it for today!

Another Cloudy Day

This morning was 47F and cloudy again. Gordon joined me on my walk so we walked toward the Lone Star dead end. He walked as far as the horses and took pictures while I continued. The only photo I took today was of a cardinal in a tree just outside the park which you will see here. Yesterday when we were out we got him a pedometer too. By the way, last week I averaged 9540 steps per day. They recommend that you keep track by week rather than by day. So I think I did pretty well.

There was a garage sale in the park today to benefit cancer. I had donated my old dishes. It seemed like it was well attended.

I started to read this morning laying on the couch and fell asleep early this afternoon and slept all afternoon. Neither of us slept very well last night so I was really tired. When I got up we both went for a walk around the park.

Not much happened today! For some reason it felt like Sunday to both of us.

A Very Gray Day!

This morning was only 56F (13C) and our high only got to 59F (15C). It was very cloudy all day. I had my morning walk around the neighborhood out Lone Star and south on Tenth and back. I sure miss the scenic walks I had at Goose Island and Mustang Island State Parks. Also Port Aransas was pretty scenic.

I’m running out of room on my hard drive on my computer. I still have the photos that I took at the beginning of our RV Odyssey on it so today we went in search of an external hard drive. Gordon has been backing up my photos on DVD but they aren’t easily accessible for me. We wound up at Radio Shack in Aransas Pass where I got a 200 GB for $99.99. Amazing! I remember when I got my first computer, a little Mac SE. I got a 80 MB hard drive when I went to visit Gordon in Dayton for $600+ U.S. and that was a good deal. This would have been in 1989. Now I have to get the files transferred.

So while we were in a spending mood, I also got a back up photo card for my camera and a card reader. Toys, toys, toys!

On our way back we stopped at Palm Harbor RV Park and Ancient Oaks campground (a former KOA) and had a look around. We’ve gotten spoiled here the sites are so large. Palm Harbor was dumpy but was right on the water. Ancient Oaks was better but not up to the standards that we have here for less money. They do have a pool and a hot tub that we don’t have here (but we don’t usually use them anyway) and it’s closer to the water but not that much closer.

Then we stopped at downtown Rockport and walked around a bit and I made a hair appointment for Monday.

Also today we made an appointment at Camping Clinic to take the RV in for the new microwave next Thursday and a truck appointment for its service for next Friday. Whew! Too busy!

Black-Bellied Whistling Duck we saw at Ancient Oaks RV Park pond

Colorful rocking chairs in front of a store in downtown Rockport

Housework

Just for comparison, here's the stamp that I refer to at the end of this blog.

It was 64F (18C) and cloudy this morning for my walk around the neighboring streets. We had some glimpses of sun during the day but they were few.

This morning I got the vacuuming done and the floors washed and prepared the laundry to get that taken care of. After showers and lunch, I got the laundry done.

As I didn’t have my 10,000 steps yesterday due to our cruise, I decided to go for another walk late this afternoon as the sun had come out and it was beautiful. We reached a high today of 73F (23C) although it was fairly humid compared to what we’ve had for a long while.

I didn’t take any photos today so I’m borrowing one of the flying whooping cranes that Gordon took yesterday. It’s such a beautiful photo! This particular photo reminds me a lot of a stamp that my Dad had. I think it was a 5 cent. He had cancellations of the stamp from every post office in Canada at the time and I remember that he sold the album (I think in 1968) and took a trip to England.

Whooping Crane Tour

Last night I slept with the window open and no electric heater for the first time in ages! This morning when I woke up it was 58F (14C) and quite foggy but sunny for my walk around the neighborhood area.

Yesterday we had made reservations to go on one of the Whooping Crane Tours out of Fulton. We left Fulton Harbor on The Skimmer under Captain Tommy Moore at 1 p.m. Captain Tommy knows his birds. We saw several families of whooping cranes, saw some flying and then got really close to a couple of young whooping cranes. It was an excellent tour, well worth the money. We were out for 3 ½ hours. We saw lots of birds but most were too far away for my camera.

Gordon and I with the Whooping Cranes in the background

Cormorants drying their wings on the breakwater in the harbor

When we returned to harbor the oyster fishermen had returned and were unloading their catches. Lots and lots of oysters!

It was mostly cloudy for our tour but the sun came out on the way back and made for some nice photos of the fishing fleet.

Some of the fishing fleet

Unloading oysters

More Places to Go

These are the black pigs (javelina??)

Today was a really nice sunny day with no wind and 55F (13C) when I got up this morning. I walked around the area starting out going east on Lone Star for a change. I saw a great egret walking right along the road on Tenth Street and a cardinal in the tree just as I was entering the park.

After breakfast and shower, I headed over to WalMart to pick up a few things then came home for lunch.

This is the part of the sign I wanted

This is the complete sign

After lunch we headed north to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge hoping to spend some time there. We were there two years ago but I had a really bad back then and wasn’t able to walk very far. However, it was not to be. They were doing a prescribed burn so we couldn’t go very far into the park. We stopped to see the alligator behind a fence and then started on a trail but it was very muddy so we came back and drove as far as we could into the park. We took some photos of the burn and then left and headed for Refugio where I wanted to take a photo of a sign I had seen. On the way there we saw all kinds of deer and quite a few sandhill cranes. We took our sign photos, looked around Refugio again, then drove on.

At one spot, we pulled off the road going toward a fishing pier and saw two black wild pigs (could have been hjavelina, hard to tell). We drove back via Bayside and took some photos as we were close to sunset. We did a bit of back and forth from Rockport back to the sunset spot. We got home just at twilight – very tired!

Our high today got to be 72F (22C) and it was sunny and beautiful all day!

Seeing Some of the Area

This morning was nice and sunny and 53F (12C) and I did my usual walk along Lone Star and then around the RV park.

It is so sad to hear that 18 one year old whooping cranes were killed in the tornado that hit Florida last week. All 18 had flown with an ultra light plane from Wisconsin in the Fall. To read the story click here.

Late this morning we went out and stopped at the Chamber of Commerce in Rockport to get information on birding spots. Then we started out for one of them, Aransas Woods. It turned out to be a dud for birds. All we saw was one great egret far in the distance. We did however walk about ½ mile through supposed trails with grass and bushes and wet spots so we didn’t stay long. We then took FM1069 which is the road we sometimes take to Bayside and where we’ve seen sandhill cranes before. The birding hot spots map showed some roads that run off of FM1069 and the first one we took we did see sandhill cranes, but only three of them. We took another road and saw some other birds but most of them too far especially for my camera.

Photo taken at Aransas Woods

On our way back we stopped at Camping Clinic and they received our microwave today but can’t put it in until later this week. He’s supposed to call us.

We took the Beach Road part of the way back and saw lots more birds especially at Little Bay which is within the city limits. We stopped at Fulton Mansion as well which was the home of the man that the town of Fulton (where we are now) is named after but it’s closed on Monday and Tuesday. So our final stop was at a little fruit market along the highway where I got some oranges. Prices of oranges in my opinion is way too high. They are cheaper at home! HEB wanted $1.99/lb for naval oranges last week so I didn’t buy any. The guy at the fruit market told me navals were out of season but there were still a few in the bin so I bought a few and the price was much better. It cost me $1.34 for 4 oranges. Now we’ll see how they taste.

Looks like a bird convention!

Fulton Mansion

Sandra on the grounds of Fulton Mansion - note my new hat

Our high today was 66F (19C) but after a sunny morning and early afternoon it got cloudy during the later afternoon however there was a sunset that Gordon took some photos of at the bridge at Copano Bay.

A Slow Relaxing Sunday

I didn’t feel well during the night so got up and came out to the couch and eventually fell asleep. When I woke up I didn’t feel like walking so stayed on the couch and read, did puzzles, watched TV etc. It was really too bad as today is the nicest day we’ve had for some time. The high reached 65F (18C). Around 3:00 p.m. I decided to go for my walk so I walked to where the pavement ends on Lone Star then came back and walked around the campground and sat for a while on the swing at the pond enjoying the day.

This pond is right across the road from the entrance to our RV park

We went out for sunset tonight and ended up near Bayside as that’s the best place to get a sunset over Copano Bay. Even though it was still 63F (17C), I was glad I had brought my wind jacket as once the sun goes down it turns cold.

Tonight's sunset

We won’t be watching the Super Bowl tonight but I expect there are a lot of people who will!

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!

Rain, Sun and Chores

It poured very early this morning so that by the time I went out for my walk the place looked like a lake as you can see from the photos. It was quite a bit warmer at 55F (13C) but still cloudy and spitting rain. I decided to wear my duck boots thank goodness. At one point I got stuck in the sandy muck so keep that it sucked one of my boots off and my socks and pants got all muddy. I would have been really pissed if it had been my sneakers. Lucky today is laundry day!

Before I went for my walk I prepared a roast of beef for the crockpot with potatoes and carrots.

The last couple of days my camera has been acting up on me. I turn it on and the lens goes and in and out a few times but nothing happens and I have to turn it off and on again sometimes several times to get it to work. Not looking good for the Sony P10!

This morning I had to wash my duck boots inside and out to get the muck out of them, then set them outside to dry. Thank goodness the sun came out and stayed out for the afternoon . After that I got the laundry ready.

My older sister called and we had a chat just after noon, then I got the laundry done. I sat outside in my chair and read for a while when I was waiting for the laundry to dry and after the laundry was done.

When I was out I noticed that there’s a potluck here on Wednesday so I guess we’ll sign up for that.

Our high today reached about 67F (19C). It turned out to be a nice day!

Busy, busy

It was sunny when I got up and 43F (6C) but quickly clouded over in preparation for some rain later in the day. I walked along Lone Star Street where the campground is located until it turned into a one lane trail and then came back. I didn’t take my camera this morning, just my radio which was nice for a change. I concentrated on walking instead of what was surrounding me.

We have great wifi here so I’ve added photos to my Yahoo site today. They are the same ones that I’ve been posting on my blog though. To see them click here.

Today was a busy day. Our microwave has had a problem so the first thing I did today was try to find new light bulbs for it. It takes two 30w 125v appliance bulbs. I went to 2 RV places, 1 grocery, Walmart and Ace Hardware and all I could find was 25w 125v appliance bulbs. So I had lunch at McDonalds – my Asian salad, went to HEB and Walmart for groceries then came home.

When I got home I called our RV Dealer in Stittsville and was given the phone #’s for Glendale (the manufacturer of our RV) and Dometic (the manufacturer of the microwave). I called both but Dometic told me it would have to go to a dealer (one of the ones that I stopped at today). So first we went to Ace Hardware and replaced the bulbs to see if that would solve the problem, it didn’t, still no light so then we went to the RV dealer to get things in motion there. By that time Dometic was closed for the day so they are to call tomorrow and let us know the results. We can’t find a way to get the microwave out of its present location. It’s got to be screwed in somehow but sure can’t find out how so will probably have to pack up and take the whole RV in. Always something!

Other than that, today wasn’t too bad although mostly cloudy. I didn’t look but the high was probably around 60F (16C) as it’s 56F (13C) now (at 5:30 p.m.).

No photos today – too busy!

Moving Day

Rockport Beach

Our site at Fulton Oaks RV Park

I got my wish. Today was bright and sunny although still cold. I can’t give an accurate temperature as the thermometer was in the sun. So I got to go for my walk. For being a nice day I didn’t see that much, a couple of cardinals and blue herons in the distance.

Today was move day although we only moved 7.9 miles from Goose Island State Park to Fulton Oaks RV Park. We have a nice spot here at Fulton Oaks. It’s on a corner so it’s a really big lot and we also have free wifi with a very strong signal so that’s a great backup for downloading stuff. The only drawback is we’re on a flight path for the municipal airport and there seems to be lots of little planes flying around. We’ll get used to that though. We were moved and set up by 1:00 p.m.

Gordon decided that since he’d worked so hard he deserved a tostada from Taco Bell for lunch so we went there, then took a drive around the water area in town. There weren’t the usual number of birds in the spots where we’re used to seeing them. They must be still hiding from the rain and cold.

It turned into a beautiful sunny day with blue skies and a high of 63F (17C). Sure glad we stayed the extra day at Goose Island. Moving yesterday in the rain would not have been fun! More rain is forecast for tomorrow and Saturday. YUK!

It’s a Freakin’ Monsoon!

It just poured rain all night long and even though I waited till 9:00 a.m. to get up hoping that it would stop, it didn’t so for the second day in a row, no walk. I’m starting to feel like a lump! It was only 42F (5.5C) this morning and the high might, again I say might have reached 43F (6C). It continued to rain all day without stopping.

Today we did nothing. Luckily even with all the rain the internet satellite only went out sporadically and never for long.

Not a very exciting day!

So, okay, enough already with the lousy weather!!!

Cold, Wet and Windy

It was only 43F (6C) this morning and it was pouring rain and windy. I stayed in bed till nearly 9:00 a.m. hoping that the rain would stop so I could walk, but it didn’t stop so I didn’t go.

This morning we checked out some sites in the wooded area of Goose Island State Park and identified a few sites that would probably work for our internet and TV satellites however you can’t reserve a particular site so we decided to look outside the state park. On our way into town there was a sign for an RV park so we went to have a look at Fulton Oaks RV Park as we had never seen this park before. We decided we liked it, they had one spot left that is on a corner and pretty big and we could rent it for a month so we took it and we will move there on Thursday. We will have to drive to the water but it’s not far and it looks like there is lots of place to walk around the park. The streets around there are dead ends too so that is another walking option.

It didn’t stop raining for very long today but at some points it wasn’t raining very hard. I still didn’t get my walk in though. The high today was 44F (7C) so the furnace is running again.

While we were in town we had lunch, I picked up a sub at Subway and Gordon had a southwest steak bowl and we just ate in the truck by the water then stopped at H.E.B. to pick up a few grocery items on our way back.

I did take a couple of photos at the duck pond at our new park but they weren’t in focus so you don’t get any photos today!

More Cold Weather

Today was another cold day. It was 49F (9C), cloudy and windy when I got up and went for my walk but it only got to 50F (10C) as a high. While I was out, there were a few sprinkles of rain but not enough to get wet. We had one fleeting moment or so of sun.

We didn’t do anything today except sit around the RV, read, computer stuff, puzzles and that sort of thing. We kept the heater running but had to turn the furnace back on.

The park is filling up again. Lots of people left last week when it turned so cold, now they’re returning so we have neighbours on both sides of us again. Still haven’t made a decision as to what we’re doing when we have to move on Thursday.

I took the photo of the sun rays on my morning walk.

Getting Things Done

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After the birding slide show last night I decided to take my binoculars instead of my radio on my morning walk. It was 49F (9C) and cloudy. We had some rain during the night and it looked like we might get more but I was lucky and didn't get wet. I didn’t see a lot of birds, a few cardinals and what I thought was a blue heron but could be a tri coloured heron or a reddish egret. It’s hard to tell since I only saw his body.

Around noon we hitched up to go and dump our tanks. Break down, dump and set up again took about two hours. After we got set up I vacuumed the RV and had a nice hot shower.

In this area if it’s not sand that’s being tracked into the RV it’s crushed oyster shells. At Goose Island State Park there are crushed oyster shells all over the place and the area where we are camped is covered with them so we’re always tracking them in even though I put a brush at the door to brush off the soles of our shoes. It just can’t be helped.

Late this afternoon we took a drive to the Fourth Street Pond as that is supposed to be a good place for birds but we were too early. Apparently flocks of birds come in around 5:00 p.m. but there’s no place to park so we drove around the area and did see a new bird. It looked black with a curved bill like an ibis but we have yet to identify it but from the bird book it looks like an immature white faced ibis.

On our way out of the park there are some houses just outside the gates. As we were driving past I saw a flash of blue and thought they were peacocks so we backed up and indeed they were – a male and a female. I expect they are tame as they didn’t seem to be afraid.

We did get some sun this afternoon and were able to be outside without coats. I think our high was 61F (16C).