Merry Christmas Everyone!

Gordon and I went out around noon to get our Christmas photos taken. We do this every year and post it on our blogs as our Christmas card. So, Merry Christmas everyone!

This morning was very humid. It was 84% humidity inside the RV. As the day progressed the wind picked up. We had sun and cloud off and on all day. I think our high today was about 71F (22C) but there's supposed to be a cold front coming in for the next couple of days. Anyway, we're enjoying the weather we've been having.



Here's a aerial photo that Gordon took of the campground a couple of weeks ago.

I put in a load of laundry this afternoon as well as some of our baseball caps. Two of them unfortunately bit the dust and now I need to replace my denim Florida hat that I bought our first year on the road for $4.95. Oh well, other hats and more places! When I was walking back from doing the laundry I met the lady that we sat with at the Thanksgiving potluck. Her husband is 90 years old and is blind and nearly deaf so she enjoys getting out and walking around and talking to people. She's a really cheerful sort and we talked for about 1/2 hour.

At 5:30 p.m. we went over the the rec hall for our shrimp dinner that the campground was putting on. It was soooo good. We had boiled fresh shrimp, pork roast, cabbage salad, corn on the cob and baked potatoes. I am absolutely stuffed! I've never been at a campground where they feed you so much and free!

The end of another beautiful day on the Texas Gulf Coast!

Just Another Day!

Today was mostly cloudy and 71F (22C). With the weather that's happening up north, I can't complain about some cloud.

I did my usual walk and on my way I dropped my grapes off at the rec hall. Lots of people are dropping goodies off. After lunch I went back and had a banana nut bar. It was yummy!

This morning I sat outside and read and listened to the breeze blow through the palm trees. This afternoon we drove over along Matagorda Bay just for something to do.

Little blue heron

Fishermen on Matagorda Bay

Roseate spoonbills

In flight

Some sort of palm


When we came back we stopped at the rec hall and were invited to a shrimp dinner tomorrow night. We don't have to bring anything. You sure don't go hungry around here!

A Little Diversion From the Usual

I woke up to more fog but warmer temperatures. It was 60F (16C) at 8:15 a.m. Gordon said the fog was really thick when he went out for sunrise.

After my morning exercise and breakfast, I went out for a walk around the campground to take some photos and to see if the mail was in yet. The owner, Delmar, had asked me if Gordon wanted to go out in the boat this morning but he was taking a nap and by the time he got up the wind had picked up so it wasn't a good day.

This is where I do my morning stretches.

Our RV is the first one on the left

This egret was trying to keep out of the wind


They're building a new pier here at the campground

Picnic structures along Matagorda Bay. We took the scenic way into town.


Instead we traveled north of Port Lavaca to the Formosa-Tejano Wetlands. We saw a few geese but they took off and one heron but he was too far away. We see more birds in our little area than we saw there.

A sign at the wetlands - we didn't see any of either


Part of the wetlands

These cows were across the road from the wetlands and very curious about us

A pretty scene that we saw on the way home


On the way back, we stopped at HEB so I could pick up more nectarines. They had them yesterday and even though they were 3.99/lb I had to buy more.

I had some stale bread around so we stopped as well at the Little Chocolate Bayou park to feed the ducks and geese. They didn't seem terribly interested. I've never seen that before. They must be fed elsewhere and weren't terribly hungry.

Feeding the ducks and geese


Has anyone ever been in an RV park where the owner gave them a wrapped Christmas gift? We got one today from Delmar and Bobbie. We're keeping it to open at Christmas. That is so nice of them!

I've been having a lot of problems with my reflux disease for the past couple of weeks. I've been eating a lot of grapes and now I find out that grapes are probably not good if you have reflux. Now what do I do with all the grapes?

Although it was mostly cloudy with some sunny breaks and windy today we reached 80F (27C)!

A Day in Port Lavaca

Today was warmer - 61F (16C) but cloudy and very foggy over the water as you will see from some photos I took today.

This is a pelican on the rail in the water, note you can't see much behind the pelican due to the fog.


After my morning walk/run and breakfast, I piddled around, had a shower and got ready to go into Port Lavaca for groceries and water. I took my time getting that done and managed to spend about four hours in town. I picked up the fluorescent light bulbs we had ordered last week at Ace Hardware, looked around Family Dollar and Bealls but didn't buy anything. I got some groceries at HEB and find that a lot of their prices are better than Walmart. Then off to Walmart to get what I didn't at HEB including water. I like Culligan water so go to Walmart if possible for that.

On my way home, I stopped at the pier in Port Lavaca to take a photo to show how foggy it was over the water and also stopped along Matagorda Bay.

This cute little bird was scurrying along the pier in town

The pier with fog over the water

These terns have really pretty polka dot tails

A loon on Matagorda Bay

Now I can relax and enjoy the nice weather that's supposed to be here tomorrow.

Brrrrrrr......

It was coooold today! This is the coldest day we've had since we arrived here. The highest temperature we saw today was 40F (5C). The warm up is supposed to start tomorrow and it looks to be fairly warm for the foreseeable future although these two cold days weren't in the forecast a few days ago so who knows! Certainly not the weathermen.

After layering up this morning and going out for my exercise, I spent all morning on the internet or playing Majongh, then moved to the couch this afternoon to read and be warm under my electric throw, had a nap and that took up the afternoon.

I put together a turkey meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner.

Today's photo is yesterday morning's sunrise taken by Gordon.

Back to Cold Weather!

We've slept with the windows in the bedroom open for the last two nights. Today that will come to an end. Our high today was 63F (17C) when I got up and around 9:30 a.m. the winds changed and started coming from the north again. It was cloudy and a bit foggy over the water as I went out for my exercise. Just as I was coming back three sandhill cranes flew over the campground. They are easy to identify because they're so large but also because of their distinctive trilling sound that they make. I haven't been carrying my camera on my morning walks and they were probably too high in the sky anyway but it sure was nice to see them. Every once in a while I see a couple of roseate spoonbills fly over as well. They are always herons, egrets and pelicans around.

Sandhill cranes



The temperature dropped 13 degrees in about 1/2 hour this morning so time to put away the short sleeves and get out the sweatshirts again!

Today is my sister's 65th birthday. They're in Las Vegas this week so I called her at her hotel to wish her a Happy Birthday! They're having a good time but they're forecasting snow there. Snow in Las Vegas? Anyway, Happy Birthday Betty! Photo taken this summer at the cottage.

This afternoon I spent laying on the couch, reading. I finished one book and started another one today. Around 4 p.m. Gordon and I went out for a little walk. The pole sitter (pelican) was sitting on his favourite pole in the bay, there was a little grebe swimming around and a snowy egret on one of the docks. While we were standig there, the sandhill cranes flew over again. The owner came out of the rec hall and said that they live a few doors up from us. Guess that's why they're around so often!

Pole sitter


Pole sitter about to take flight


Just to let you know, Jenny, we're blaming this latest cold snap on you since you said on Facebook you were sending your rotten weather south!

Another Day at Home

It was warmer today with a high of about 75F (24C). Other than that it was mostly cloudy. It was 66F (19C) when I got up around 8:15 a.m. but the wind has been relentless all day just calming down a bit around sunset.

I sat outside for a while this morning in the wind to let my hair dry before getting out the curling iron.

I accomplished a little more today than yesterday in that I got the laundry done. Because the laundry room only has two washers and two dryers it takes longer so I spent three hours there today. I like to have all my clothes clean at once so it took three loads. I should have stripped the bed to make it an even four loads but didn't have that much energy. There was also someone there when I arrived so had to wait for washers and dryers as well but not it's done for the next couple of weeks.

When I got back I was tired, so lay down in bed to read and had a nap.

I'm borrowing a photo from Gordon today as I didn't take any. This one is 'sunrise at Matagorda Bay' which is just a couple of miles from where we're camped.

A Day Spent at the RV

It was already 62F (17C) when I got up at about 8:20 a.m. It was cloudy with sunny periods all day but very windy again.

I sat outside on the deck for a while this morning but it was too windy so I moved my chair behind the RV and read there for a while.

This afternoon I moved inside to the couch and read but wound up napping for most of the afternoon so not a very exciting day, I'm afraid!

We did walk down to the pier for sunset, here's proof!

This snowy egret was doing some hunting for food in the wind.


Not a beautiful sunset, but not bad!

To Port Lavaca

Today turned into a beautiful clear, sunny day with a high of about 68F (20C). I did all my usual morning stuff and spent quite a bit of time playing Majhong. Sure glad I found that game on my computer!

We had an early lunch and then went into Port Lavaca. On the way we took some bird pictures. We also stopped at Chocolate Bayou Park. I've been noticing this park as we've driven in to town but never saw the entrance so today we found it and drove through. There were a lot of geese and ducks around.

A flock of sandhill cranes


The ducks and geese at Chocolate Bayou Park


One of the main reasons for going in to town today was that we needed to fuel up which we did at Walmart at 2.15.9, the best price we've seen this winter for sure! We stopped at Ace Hardware and found our fluorescent bulbs for the RV at $3.89 each. They only had one but they're ordering more in for us and we can pick them up next week. That's a pretty good price. Walmart wanted $6.89. We also looked at new towel rings as ours is coming apart.

The on to Walmart where we got the aforementioned fuel and I went in to pick up what I needed. We both looked at appliance bulbs but we're going to check Ace's price on them before we buy one and also at towel rings. We got a cheap one there so we'll see how it works out. Gordon went and sat in Subway and had a coffee while I shopped then I picked him up there and we came home, stopping along the way again for more bird pictures.

A flurry of snow geese



Here is one of the necklaces that I made the other day with the center bead wrapped.


Not much new going on but it's nice to see the warm weather back again!

A Day at Home and a Late Afternoon Drive

It was so cosy under my electric blanket this morning that I had to drag myself out of bed at about 8:30 a.m. However, the sun was shining brightly and it was 38F (3C). Since it was sunny, I didn't have to put on as many clothes but still a bit windy. It sure is nice to see the bright sun. I had a nice walk, did my stretches down by the water all the time under watch of a great egret that was hiding down by the shoreline out of the wind. On my way back to the RV, I met Storm, one of the campground cats who was looking for some attention.

After breakfast I looked out the window and saw Pyro sitting in the sun on top of the canoe next door. Gordon got a photo of him sitting there but as soon as I came out he thought he was going to get some attention so over he came to see me.

I spent most of the dat on the internet. Then I looked at the games that came with my computer which I'd never done before and found that it has Mahjongh so spent a lot of the afternoon playing that.

Around 4 p.m. Gordon decided he wanted to go out and see where the smoke was coming from that's been around most of the day. We drove and drove and wound up at Seadrift. It looks like it must have been a prescribed burn at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge which is across San Antonio Bay from Seadrift.

Just as we were leaving the RV park, Storm came running over to see us.


The smoke


From there we drove to a bridge which is near Port O'Connor. There were some roseate spoonbills there but they were pretty far away for my camera so I took some photos of the bridge and the moon.



Back to the RV in time to warm up stew for dinner. Our high today was 63F (17C) so the temperature is going back up again. Not too soon for me!

A Cold and Generally Miserable Day!

From our beautiful warm wind out of the south yesterday to the cold, bitter wind from the north today, our temperature dropped almost 40 degrees from yesterday to today. Our high today was 44F (7C) compared to 81F (27C) yesterday. It was very windy last night and overnight and it knocked the TV satellite dish out overnight. It also rained overnight and a bit this morning but it didn't rain during the day at all. I was able to get out for my walk although I could hardly walk against the wind.

I spent the day on the internet, reading and making some necklaces. I tried out my new crimp tool and I'm not impressed. I think I'll take it back. The side cutters are got are very handy though, I'll keep them. So I did a bit of bead wrapping today that I hadn't been able to do without wire cutters. I'm afraid I'm not very creative in that respect, pretty basic.

I also had a nice chat on Facebook with my friend, Cheryl that I met when working at Nortel. It was great to chat with her! They also have a fifth wheel and her husband would love to fulltime but Cheryl isn't ready to give up her house just yet.

I'll make some cornbread to go with out stew for our dinner tonight and other than that we're just trying to keep warm until Friday when it warms up again.

Today's photo is one Gordon took today of the brown pelican diving for fish. They are really funny to watch. They come in like a kamikaze and dive straight down into the water.

Downtown Port Lavaca

It was cloudy and warm when I got up this morning. It was supposed to rain overnight but it didn't. Sure enough as soon as I got up it started to sprinkle. I thought that it wasn't bad so put on my rain gear and headed out. Soon it was coming down pretty well. My rain gear is not waterproof, it's water resistant so I came back inside and did my floor exercises.

We saw these brown geese (I think) on the way in to Port Lavaca

Later this morning the rain stopped and the sun came out so we got in the truck and went in to photograph downtown Port Lavaca. Most of downtown is vacant but there is a block where there are stores that are open. So we took some photos, did some driving around, north to Port Comfort but there isn't much there other than Alcoa Aluminum and Formosa Plastics. You'd think this would be an up and coming area with those plants here but you can see the economic downturn although I can't say how long the stores have been closed. Might be 20 years!

Downtown Port Lavaca







In one of the stores I saw these beer holders - cute - SLUTS

The downtown kitty - maybe one of the SLUTS?


Pretty orange hibiscus


The downtown pier


Driving over the Lavaca Bay Causeway on the way to Point Comfort.

We got back around 1 p.m. and it was so nice - 81F (27C) I sat outside for a couple of hours and finished another book. I got an email from my sister in Ottawa, they had about 8 inches of snow last night which is turning to freezing rain then back to snow and on top of that they're having a bus strike that starts at midnight tonight so they're in for some fun times! Makes the cold front coming through here tomorrow not look so bad!

Jenny and Speedy wanted a photo of my toes dressed for Christmas so your wish is my command!

Since it's going to be cold, decided to make stew but I substituted ground turkey for hamburg. Guess we'll have it for dinner since I don't have anything else out. It has cooled down a bit from today.