Steve and Judy's travel blog

Off in the distance

2012-03-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend.

There at the edge of the lake.

Two big white birds. I can’t quite make them out with my binoculars. White Pelicans? No. The heads and necks on these birds aren’t white. I need to get a little closer.

Snow geese? No. A little closer?

Wood Storks? No. What else could be that big and that color? Something else strange about these birds. They haven’t moved.

It’s a long walk there through the mud at the edge of the lake, but it has to be done.

Along the way I find Least Sandpipers

and Snowy Plovers.

I think about the name of this place while I walk. La Sal del Rey. That means “the King’s salt”. This is a Salt lake! As I walk with the prevailing winds to the other side of the lake, the one that takes all the splashes, I see that anything along the edge is salt-encrusted.

I walk all the way there. Those big white birds on the other side of the lake?

Stumps sticking out of the water. Salt encrusted wood stumps.

Mystery birds solved.

We're having a dry spell

2012-03-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

It’s a nightmare. The humidity is lower than the temperature!

You just can’t imagine.

March

2012-03-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

It’s Harvest time here.

The cabbage is ready.

The corn isn’t quite as high as an elephant’s eye, but it is certainly up and growing.

Becky's visit

2012-03-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

We had to let her go back to her family today. In the meantime, we got visiting, walking, birding, snaking…

…a 5 foot Texas Rat Snake.

Bobcatting…

We didn’t see the bobcat, but we heard it moaning in the brush next to us. Sometimes we see bobcat tracks here.

We got to introduce Becky to friends and friends to her.

It was probably a relaxing visit for her, but we stayed up talking way too late every night, so she and we each surely need to catch up on some sleep.

Close encounters with.

2012-03-03T20:36:00.000-07:00

Green-winged Teal

Northern Shoveler.

Curve-billed Thrasher.

Black-bellied Whistling Duck.

And a Red-tailed Hawk.

Madagascar palms

2012-03-02T22:19:00.000-07:00

The left one looks like it might still be alive.

The jury is still out on the right one.

Happy Leap Day!

2012-02-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

…and a particularly good Leap Day it is for us. Daughter Becky arrived for a visit.

Dinner

2012-02-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

What more can I say?

A few weeks ago.

2012-02-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

We paid less than $3 per gallon for gasoline.

Go figure.

February

2012-02-26T18:28:00.001-07:00

The mockingbird in the tree outside our door has found his voice after a quiet winter.

The ground is getting some color.

The Huisache trees are in full bloom.

The sandhill cranes are circling in search of thermals.

I don’t think it’s time for the cranes to migrate north yet. Maybe it just feels good to soar.

Grandson Alex

2012-02-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

You remember Alex, the 8 year-old. He got to go to a gymnastics meet at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Those must be regulation height rings. How did they even get him up that high? Did they throw him up there?

He did well, and the team got 3^rd place out of 32 teams!

Mardi Gras

2012-02-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Has come and gone.

Fat Tuesday, there was a parade. There were decorated golf carts, decorated people, bicycles, baton twirlers, a Grand Marshal, cheering spectators, and beads. The guy at the end might have had a broom and a shovel.

But that’s all over now. Today there was a parade for the Olympics. (We celebrate the Olympics *every* year.) There were decorated golf carts, decorated people, bicycles, baton twirlers, a Grand Marshal, and cheering spectators. The guy at the end might have had a broom and a shovel.

Life at Sandpipers.

The doctor told me

2012-02-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

…that I could not be a natural carnivore because early humans only ate fruits and nuts.

“And anything they could chase down and kill with a stick,” I added helpfully.

“No, not until after the flood.” She explained in her charming Jamaican accent. “Until then, it was forbidden to eat an animal.”

“Oh no! You’re advising me based on the bible?”

“And what else would I base it on?” she asked. (I love that accent.)

I suggested logic and common sense; (the best I could do on short notice).

“Oh. Well then.” She said, and considerately continued the interview with no further religious references.

Texas. It’s a whole ‘nother place.

Another house guest

2012-02-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

Willow:

She fits right in. She can come back any time.

Mini-me

2012-02-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

We sent out the picture of Petey and his mini-me Eddie.

Here is another mini-me picture.

Son-in-law Brian with our youngest grandkid Austin, at Matt and Lindsay’s wedding.

Cisterns

2012-02-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

Another player has joined the game. A person who says he knows what he’s talking about. Karen Mulholland’s Brother Ken. Thank you Karen for referring our question to him.

Apparently the standpipes are not so much for shock absorption from changes in flow rate as they are vents to let out trapped air. Ken says:

“They are called "standpipes" and are all over California also. They are used primarily as air vents. Concrete lines are very sensitive to being damaged from large air bubbles that get compressed ahead of a surge of water, even at low pressure (gravity fed). The pipeline can literally explode from the force. The shock force created by a moving mass of water compressing a large bubble (as in an empty pipeline that is not totally open on the end or maybe has a low spot somewhere that is filled with water and acts as a blockage) can be enormous. The vents have to be tall enough to accept the pressure needed to maintain the desired flow. For example, a desired line pressure of 10 psi would require a standpipe 28 feet high! Put 11 psi into a pipeline with a shorter standpipe, and it will run over, so they are not very efficient in that regard. They also may contain one or more valves. Sometimes there are multiple valves, and the standpipe is used as a distribution point for multiple independent pipelines.”

This explanation has an air of authority to it. It even sounds right. I’m buying it. That is now my story and I’m sticking to it.

Thank you Ken.

Future I-69 Corridor

2012-02-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

That’s what the signs say. Future I-69 Corridor. We see them on the highway north of here. There are two main north-south highways out of South Texas. The puzzling part is that we see the signs on both of the roads north. How can an interstate highway be two places at once? Have they just not made up their minds yet?

I had to look it up. Interstate-69 is being built across the U.S. as a trade-route from Canada to Mexico. From the Canada border at Port Huron, Michigan south to the Mexico border in Texas. The strange thing it does in South Texas is to split into three different roads serving three different border crossings at Laredo, Pharr and Brownsville. Three different roads that are all Interstate-69!

Who knew?

Looking up

2012-02-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

Standing. Looking up through binoculars. Focused on that little bird high in the tree. Shuffling about to get a better view; not taking my eyes off it. I can’t quite get it. Don’t know which kind of bird it is yet. I realize I’m stamping my right foot. Still trying to get the bird. My right foot burns. I’m wearing sandals.

I give up on the bird and look down at my foot. Nothing unusual. It still stings. I put down my binoculars, take off my sunglasses, put on my reading glasses, bend over and take a close look at my burning foot. Tiny tiny little ants. While I was looking up, not where my feet were, I apparently spent some time standing on a fire-ant hill.

A can Off in my back pocket. I spray bug repellant on my foot. The ants leave. My foot still burns. It will for a few days. I go back after the bird.

We can see the air

2012-02-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

Temperature in the mid 70s. 98% humidity. We look across the field into the mist.

After dehydrating for all those years of Colorado high dry weather, our skin feels soo good now. We’ve rehydrated.

It rained

2012-02-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

It rained off and on for a week. Finally. But in the process, some of the carpet in the coach got wet. In Colorado, that would be no problem. Just open of the doors and windows and everything would be dry in a day. But here, open up the doors and windows to 98% humidity outside, and nothing happens inside. There is nowhere for the moisture to go.

So what we do is close up all the doors and windows, turn on the air conditioners, and set the temperature low. In the process of chilling the air, the air conditioners suck moisture out and drain it to the outside. That takes a little longer.

Eddie is gone

2012-02-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

Jeff and Carol came back yesterday to reclaim him.

Before they left, we got Eddie and Petey together one more time. Petey lives here in the park. He’s a Bernese Mountain Dog. He’s kind of big.

Eddie, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, not so big.

Put them together…

Eddie is Petey’s mini-me.

Cisterns

2012-02-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

Still trying to figure them out.

They’re everywhere here. They won’t leave me alone.

You buy your share of water from the Water District. The Water District controls when each system gets water from the canals. When your turn comes up, the water comes on.

If you put water into a system faster than your pipes can take it, vertical cisterns could absorb some of the excess. They couldn’t hold all of it, they’re not big enough to be for water storage, but they could serve as shock absorbers. You could accept water at a higher flow-rate than your pipes could handle and any excess would be stored vertically, ready to be returned at the appropriate time by gravity. If it’s a gravity-fed system, a standpipe higher than the water source would neutralize any overage.

I don’t know if I’m on the right track, but I’m polishing the concept nonetheless. In the meantime, if someone actually knows irrigation systems, feel free to jump in and help me out here.

Life away from Sandpipers

2012-02-11T18:31:00.000-07:00

We logged a few miles at the Mission Nature Park.

We have to give Eddie back in a couple days. We’re trying to make sure he doesn’t want to go.

We did it!

2012-02-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

We got the right bed.

Natural latex (from trees) foam. No petroleum. No glue. Non-woven organic cotton cover. It’s soft. It supports. It breathes.

It’s heavy. The top mattress alone weighs 100 pounds, but that shouldn’t be a factor now that we’ve got it dragged into place.

Life is good. Sleep is good.

Life at Sandpipers

2012-02-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

We love our Golf Cart rides.

13th jump

2012-02-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

This is not how it looked when I jumped, way back then…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFQc7VRJowk&feature=youtu.be

Night-herons

2012-02-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

We get Black-crowned night herons all the time.

Sometimes we get trees full of them.

But yellow-crowned Night Herons. That’s different.

We don’t get nearly so many of them.

Joe

2012-02-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

He rode up on his bicycle. I said “Hey”.

He said “Hey; how you doing?”

I said “Fine”.

He rode on.

Fifteen minutes later, maybe twenty, he was dead on the floor of the pool shower. Heart attack.

Not a close friend to us; a friendly acquaintance. We saw him every day. Always a kind word. A close friend to many here.

Sorry he’s gone.

Superbowl Sunday

2012-02-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

48 degrees. Wind. Rain off and on. I should go birding.

There has been a Northern-beardless Tyrannulet reported at Roselawn Cemetery in McAllen. I found the pack of chipping sparrows the Tyrannulet has been hanging out with. I found a Blue-headed Vireo, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a Hermit Thrush, an Orange-crowned Warbler, a Pine Warbler - a new year-bird, and Yellow-rumped Warblers, but no Tyrannulet. A nice walk though.

Sunday afternoon. We liked the Hyundai Vampire commercial the best.

Eddie doesn’t understand the dog-door at all. Annie and Henry run over to the wall and disappear. Suddenly two dogs that look just like them appear outside on the deck. Eddie can see them through the sliding glass door. He has to growl and bark. Then, from the wall, Annie and Henry are suddenly back inside again. Life is a mystery.

Saturday morning

2012-02-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

21 degrees. Still snowing. I don’t know how much more of this Colorado snow we can take. We have our coffee on the deck.

Drove 80 miles to Riviera to meet Jeff and Carol at noon. We met them halfway between here and Gulf Waters in Port Aransas. They passed off Eddie (the King Charles Spaniel) to us. He’s going to stay with us for a week while they go on a trip. We’ll have doggie camp at Annie and Henry’s while they’re gone.

On our way north to get Eddie, we drove into a weather front headed south. The temperature, *our* temperature this time, dropped 20 degrees in just a few minutes. That’s supposed to be our new weather pattern for the next week. Finally. Cooler weather and some rain.

Drove back to Edinburg. Saw a few birds on the way. Fields of Sandhill Cranes. Snow geese.

Tomorrow; The Superbowl!

Actually, we’re pretty much done with football for the year, but we’ll be sure to tune in to the Superbowl for the commercials.

Snow Day!

2012-02-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

Friday. 71 degrees at 7am here. I go to work in the morning, but you have to remember my commute. Sure, it’s a digital commute, but still, think about the other end of it.

Judy watches 9 News Denver weather on the iPad while we’re on the deck having coffee. 28 degrees and snowing. Heavy accumulation. Forecast to continue all day. Schools and businesses closed. You wouldn’t want me to go to work in conditions like that would you?

It snowed all day. Maybe it will let up tomorrow.

Urban birding

2012-02-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

The car needs an oil change. I need a walk. There are birds. Time for some multi-tasking.

I drive to the shop in Edinburg and drop off the car. I walk through a mix of commercial, residential, and agricultural property, punctuated by irrigation canals. It is overcast, foggy, misty, with a light rain off and on. It is not cold though. It’s T-shirt weather.

I walk for an hour and a half, 4 ½ miles, and see 23 species of birds:

Blue-winged Teal 4

Northern Shoveler 5

Least Grebe 1

Pied-billed Grebe 1

Neotropic Cormorant 7

Great Blue Heron 1

Great Egret 4

Snowy Egret 1

Roseate Spoonbill 2

American Kestrel 1

American Coot 2

Rock Pigeon 8

Eurasian Collared-Dove 6

Mourning Dove 3

Golden-fronted Woodpecker 1

Great Kiskadee 3

Loggerhead Shrike 1

Northern Mockingbird 8

Curve-billed Thrasher 2

European Starling 6

Pyrrhuloxia 2

Great-tailed Grackle 35

House Sparrow 50

I buy back the car and head home. Missions accomplished.

Not an overwhelming amount of birds; like at a wildlife refuge, but it wasn’t all House Sparrows either. Some pretty good birds for a neighborhood.

Judy

2012-02-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

Got some upholstery work done:

Happy Birthday

2012-01-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

Annie.

12 years old today.

We’re wearing the shaggy look this week.

Looking back, here is her baby picture; the picture we got before we got her.

I've been wondering

2012-01-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

If three wheeled ATVs are outlawed because they are too dangerous, how is it that three wheeled motorcycles are safe enough to ride down the road at highway speeds?

Isn't it ironic

2012-01-29T20:23:00.000-07:00

All our lives, as kids, Dad sold trailers so we could live in a nice house. We didn’t live in a trailer, we lived in a house. All the brothers grew up to live in nice houses, not trailers.

Now, as we get older, two of the four brothers live in trailers, and another of us, Tom, is about to. That leaves Brother Bill, the lone exception. He still has a stick house (but he is currently spending winters in a motorized trailer, his motorhome).

Osprey

2012-01-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

In the forest.

And a scary scary scary Peregrine!

I'm not a superstitious guy

2012-01-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

But when I found out I was on the manifest for my *13^th jump* I was concerned…

It was 1965. I was in the Army. I had been on the island of Okinawa in the South China Sea, for a year. I had heard that after a year, a person could take a Leave (vacation from the Army), and hitchhike on Air Force airplanes all the way back to the United States. It sounded crazy, but on the chance the rumor could be true, I submitted a request and to my amazement, it got approved! A 30 day leave back to the “World”. All I needed was for nothing to go wrong between that moment, and when my leave started in a few weeks, but suddenly I had to make one more jump! By this time we had been reduced to “pay” jumps. We had to jump at least once every three months to keep our active status and get that extra $50 a month jump pay. I hadn’t jumped for months. I felt a sense of dread. If I got injured in a jump, I wouldn’t be able to take that leave.

Jump School consists of three weeks of physical and mental torture. There are practice falls, platform jumps to the ground, then tower jumps into the air in parachute harnesses hooked to a cable. All the different parts of parachuting are covered in the first 2 weeks. In the 3rd week, we got to make real jumps out of real airplanes. We only made 5 jumps in Jump School, but every move is choreographed. Practicing for 3 weeks nonstop, with every other thought driven out of your head, makes all the moves automatic. It goes like this: Ride around in a crowded hot airplane with all your gear on with the side doors of the airplane open. When the Jumpmaster demands, Stand up. Hook up. Check the guy in front of you. Do the airborne shuffle toward the rear of the airplane. Turn at the door. Place each hand on the outside of the airplane. Launch. Nice and straight. Feet together. Arms in tight hugging the reserve chute mounted on your belly. That’s it. No variation. No room for error. By the book. When the ground approaches, hit it with both feet together to protect your ankles. Do the Parachute Landing Fall: feet, hips, shoulders.

That was then. Now however, it had been over a year since Jump School. Plenty of time to improvise; to come up with our own variations. We were no longer used to doing it the “right” way. When the jump command came, we stood up, hooked up, checked the guy in front of us, then started toward the door. Everything went just fine up to this point. But now, instead of just charging for the door like we’d been doing for the last year, just to make sure nothing went wrong, I decided to go back to the basics. I’d do the Airborne Shuffle, outside foot first, catch up with the inside foot, then forward with the outside foot again. Problem is, they had left some loading equipment on the floor of the airplane. I shuffled the outside foot (the right foot in this case) forward, then caught up the left foot (which was on a section of rollers used to move boxes). It took all my concentration to keep from falling. I was being pushed from behind. The whole line rushed to the door. I kept my concentration on my feet. I kept my concentration on my feet so much in fact, that I missed the door. I went Airborne Shuffling right by it and found myself staring straight into the face of the Jumpmaster while the guys behind me were turning left and heading out the door.

Well, you never want to be left on the airplane after everyone else has gone out. You never want to be in the airplane when it lands. You never want to have to deal with an angry Jumpmaster. I grabbed the backside of the door with my left hand, waited for one more guy to go out the door behind me, and threw myself out the door sideways.

Did I mention that protocol requires one hand on each side of the door and a straight jump out to keep all your equipment in order? I learned why we do that as I went spinning out the door.

After falling for a count of 4 seconds, the static line opens the chute for you with a thump. The next thing you do is look up to make sure the chute deployed properly; that there are no malfunctions. At the count of 4 seconds, my chute opened with a thump. I reached up to grab the risers and check the chute, but I couldn’t. I was still spinning from going out the door sideways. The risers were spun together so tight they were wound all the way down to my neck. It was physically impossible to look up. All I could do is look down, watch the ground spin, and try to judge if I was falling a normal speed or at some accelerated speed. I had passing visions of parachutists on both sides of me so I judged that I was falling at a normal rate. I spun till I stopped. Spun back the other way until I stopped, and so on. When the spinning finally finished, I got to look up and check the chute, and it was just fine. All that remained was to get to the ground.

When you’re 1,250 feet up and the chute is open, there is not a great sense of motion. Falling is a leisurely enterprise. Time seems to stand still. At treetop level however, time makes up for what it lacked before. Prepare to land. Not much time. Let’s see. My last jump I had executed a perfect standing landing; the badge of honor. Feet apart, hit the ground, bend the knees, and hold it without falling over. Can’t risk that. Drifting backwards. Better try to do it right this time. How does that Parachute Landing Fall work again? Oh yeah. I’ve got it. Feet. Yes. Ass. No that doesn’t feel right. Head. Ouch. I’m sure that wasn’t it at all. Glad I had a helmet on.

Took a deep breath. Stood up. Looked around. I Made it. Hot and sweaty. Relieved. I packed up my gear and carried it off the field to the waiting transportation truck. I survived the jump. The good news: I got to take my Leave and go home for 30 days. The bad news: At the end of 30 days I had to go back.

They're doing it again

2012-01-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

The Australian Open. Men play best of five. Women play best of three. Women can’t play five sets? What’s up with that? The weaker sex?

Meanwhile

2012-01-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend’s edition of Conner’s News

Conner’s News 1-22-12

The Conner museum will be an ant museum.

It will be opening soon.

A cruise ship sank.

This weekend is the stock show.

The End of the Road Trip

2012-01-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

We’re back at Sandpipers. Judy had an afternoon doctor’s appointment in McAllen today. We did that, went to 10^th and Dove and got the Green Parakeets and Mitred Parakeets, got some Chinese food, and came home.

Our campsite at Falcon yesterday. That’s Barb and Henry over on the right, Judy in the middle, Huck on the left. Me, I’m the empty chair.

The State Park lets us put up as many bird feeders as we want.

Monday

2012-01-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

The weather was grungy; cold and wet, but the birding was bright. We popped over to Salineno before work. It’s only 7 miles away. In the cool mist, we got the Brown Jay.

The Brown Jay rarely visits the United States. The last time we saw it was in 2005. Good to get that for a year-bird.

Then I got to thinking about Zapata County and our seedeater efforts. So far we’ve recorded the second most number of species in that county. We’re only 4 birds behind number one. I thought: 4 birds? We could go back and get 5. Then we’d be number 1. But then I thought a little more about it and realized having the most birds in Zapata County may not be a badge of courage and honor. It might just demonstrate that it has taken us longer to find the seedeater than it has taken anybody else. Okay. Nevermind the Zapata County bird count. Until the next time we get an opportunity to go search for the seedeater again anyway.

Road Trip!

2012-01-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

We’re at Falcon State Park. Drove up here yesterday in the coach, all of two hours away from our place at Sandpipers. Came to make a home base closer to the White-collared Seedeater and the Brown Jay. There is only one place in North America where the seedeater is being reported and another place where the Brown Jay is being reported, and they’re both within reach. We’ve seen them each before, but we thought we’d go get them for our year-list.

Today’s was a valiant effort. Up early, I stood security watch against the howling hunting coyote pack while Judy emptied the dogs in the dark. We were gone in time to arrive 30 miles north at the park in Zapata by dawn. We stayed there and monitored the seedeater spot for six hours. We saw a lot of birds, enough to move us to number 2 for most birds recorded on ebird in Zapata County so far this year, but we didn’t get the seedeater.

Seedeaters or not, this is a nice place to be. Maybe we’ll get a Scaled Quail in our campsite tomorrow morning.

Sandpipers

2012-01-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

Got the shed cleaned up and organized.

The sound of a quiet walk

2012-01-20T21:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEXVPe7W89c

If you happen to be walking with five hundred black-bellied whistling ducks, a few black-necked stilts, green-wing teal, ruddy ducks, and northern shovelers.

Don't you hate it when.

2012-01-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

You get caught with your eyes closed when someone takes your picture? The poor unfortunate Canvasback. He’s just not that photogenic. He can’t seem to take a picture without blinking at just the wrong moment.

Really, he has nice red eyes.

But over and over, he blinks just as the shutter snaps.

You won’t catch the Ring-necked duck in an unflattering blink.

It's official

2012-01-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

I’m an old guy.

Today, I got my first Social Security payment. Social Security is no longer a check in the mail; the payment went straight to our checking account by direct deposit.

Now we’re living on the government dole. (except for that part where I’m still working)

Out on a walk

2012-01-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

This nice little female Green Kingfisher flew in to the brush right next to me.

That was really cool. It’s not a common bird and there aren’t very many places in the U.S. to even see it. The Green Kingfisher is the smallest of the three kingfishers in North America. It’s less than 9” long. That’s smaller than a meadowlark!

The male looks like this:

Monte Cristo Tract

2012-01-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

National Wildlife Refuge.

An interesting little Hobbit House off in the brush.

I don’t know who made it.

But they did a nice job.

Close Encounters

2012-01-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

Of the coyote kind.

I believe he was looking at what he thought was lunch.

The two dogs looking back at him from the car window.

I kept the motor running.

Football

2012-01-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

Well, the Patriots *could* have had an off day.

Conner's News

2012-01-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

Is back.

I’ll do the closed captions:

Conner’s News 01-13-2012

I cut my hair for Locks of Love.

The Broncos are in the playoffs.

North Korea’s Leader died of a heart attack.

The Conner Museum will be opening soon.

The Stock Show is in Denver.

It will be windy this weekend.

The floor registers

2012-01-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

Look plain.

So we found some nicer ones.

Ebird

2012-01-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

I put bird sightings into ebird. It keeps track of what we’ve seen. Life list, year list, state list, county lists. I can check our status any time. Ebird has a new feature this year. It will send a “Needs List” email each day telling me what birds have been seen in our county of interest, that we haven’t seen yet.

In the fall, it was a simple list. One bird, sometimes two or three in the county that we hadn’t seen yet in 2011. Now that our year lists have all started over, the daily list of birds we haven’t seen yet looks more like this:

- American Wigeon (1 report)

- Canvasback (6 reports)

- Hooded Merganser (1 report)

- Cattle Egret (2 reports)

- Green Heron (1 report)

- Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (3 reports)

- White Ibis (3 reports)

- Roseate Spoonbill (2 reports)

- Cooper's Hawk (6 reports)

- Gray Hawk (3 reports)

- Peregrine Falcon (2 reports)

- American Avocet (4 reports)

- Solitary Sandpiper (1 report)

- Long-billed Curlew (1 report)

- Stilt Sandpiper (3 reports)

- Forster's Tern (2 reports)

- Green Parakeet (1 report)

- Barn Owl (2 reports)

- Eastern Screech-Owl (2 reports)

- Great Horned Owl (2 reports)

- Common Pauraque (3 reports)

- Ruby-throated Hummingbird (7 reports)

- Black-chinned Hummingbird (1 report)

- Broad-tailed Hummingbird (1 report)

- Rufous Hummingbird (4 reports)

- Green Kingfisher (2 reports)

- Black Phoebe (1 report)

- Tree Swallow (5 reports)

- Cave Swallow (5 reports)

- Verdin (4 reports)

- Carolina Wren (3 reports)

- Marsh Wren (1 report)

- Eastern Bluebird (4 reports)

- American Robin (1 report)

- Sprague's Pipit (2 reports)

- Cedar Waxwing (1 report)

- Ovenbird (7 reports)

- Tropical Parula (1 report)

- Pine Warbler (6 reports)

- Golden-crowned Warbler (2 reports)

- Field Sparrow (3 reports)

- Western Tanager (1 report)

- Crimson-collared Grosbeak (2 reports)

- Black-headed Grosbeak (4 reports)

- Orchard Oriole (4 reports)

- Lesser Goldfinch (2 reports)

- American Goldfinch (9 reports)

These are all sightings in Hidalgo County yesterday, of birds we haven’t seen yet this year. Tantalizing. Here I am, back at work, and all these other people are out birding. My vocation is getting in the way of my avocation.

The good news is that we have already gotten 110 birds in the county. Can’t get the rest all at once. We’ll get them over time.

We’ll report back.

Taking a walk

2012-01-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

Have you ever walked into those giant aviaries they have in zoos? They’re in San Diego and Omaha; probably a lot of other zoos as well. You walk through an environment that feels natural; plants, water, open air, but the whole thing is surrounded by netting and screens. You’re surrounded by birds because they can’t get away.

As a teenager I raised pigeons. I kept them in a big cage, but the best part about it was I could let them out. They would fly around, then come back. The homing pigeons could even be taken to work by dad, 20 miles away, and let loose. They would find their way home.

Well, taking a walk here is like having a walk through a giant aviary except there are no walls, no netting, no screens.

Yet we’re surrounded by birds. The bird population here is almost as dense as in an aviary at the zoo. They come and go as they please, and the selection changes every day. The coolest aviary ever.

Madagascar Palms

2012-01-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

Judy got some Madagascar Palms to frame the doorway to the shed.

Fine looking specimens.

But we’ve had a couple cold nights since then. The spiky little palms didn’t like the cold much.

*All* the leaves fell off one of them.

We don’t know if the leaves will come back or not. Guess we’ll find out in the spring.

How about those Broncos!!!

2012-01-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

Did everyone see that Broncos/Steelers playoff game? What an effort by Tebow, tricking everyone into thinking he couldn’t pass the ball, then unleashing touchdown passes on Sunday. It took him three weeks of throwing the ball into the dirt to set up this one game. A master stategist!

...and

2012-01-08T19:43:00.000-07:00

We mounted the toilet paper holder way up on the wall by the light switch, out of Henry’s reach. (but still just within Judy’s reach.)

Saturday

2012-01-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

A honey-do day. Towel racks. Robe hooks. Pictures. 85 degrees out. A trip to Lowe’s. A walk around the Lake. A little football.

Here is a Golden-fronted Woodpecker.

They’re golden in the back too.

Altamira Oriole.

And a scary scary scary Coopers Hawk!

Greater Roadrunner

2012-01-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

We got them at Falcon State Park last Monday.

Always a fun bird to watch.

Meanwhile, loving the weekend forecast!

A little sun. A little rain. And always warm.

Thursday

2012-01-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

We got Judy’s left knee and right ankle checked out by the Ortho today. Probable meniscus problem with the knee. Maybe an achilles thing going on with the ankle. They’ve been slowing her down a little. She got a steroid shot in the knee to reduce the inflammation. MRIs on both next week. Stay tuned.

Orioles

2012-01-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

Orioles are generally just in North America in the summer. They’re migrants. We get them in migration, but some orioles we get in the winter too.

Altamira

Audubon’s (with an Altamira)

Hooded

Black-vented

A walk at Frontera Audubon last week

2012-01-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

Disturbed a few roosting Turkey Vultures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GV5ZIZblUM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEL-in5C5SE&feature=related

Birding

2012-01-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

We finished 2011 with a bird count of 384 species. Not a bad count, but not quite as many as 2010 when we got 397 birds. For perspective, our friend Jon McIntyre finished 2011 with 435 birds and he never left Texas! (But then, he’s a trained professional.) Our count might have been a little higher, but we *did* have abbreviated summer travels.

We got a good start on this year. We had a quiet morning watching it rain, then headed out just before lunch when the weather cleared up. We hit the fields to the north for Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese, then headed south for Estero Llano State Park, the International Butterfly Park, and Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park. Got 69 birds for the day, not a giant number, but got a lot of *really* good birds. 450 Snow Geese. Chachalacas, Least Grebes, White-tailed Kites, White-tipped Doves, Clay-colored Thrushes, Altamira Orioles. And right at the end of the day, we stumbled completely dumb-luck into a Black-vented Oriole! How cool is that to start out the year with a Black-vented Oriole?

Check it out:

American White Pelican

Long-billed Dowitcher

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Ringed Kingfisher

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Black-crested Titmouse

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Clay-colored Thrush

Northern Mockingbird

Curve-billed Thrasher

Orange-crowned Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Tomorrow we’re headed out to a different place to bird: Falcon State Park. Different habitat. Different birds.

Two good days of birding to get our 2012 list off to a good start, then I’ll settle back down to work.

Honest.

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T23:17:00.000-07:00

Everybody!

Ta Daa!

2011-12-30T19:57:00.000-07:00

A desk for Judy.

And Sandhill Cranes coming in for a landing.

Nice to finish up the year with a string of 80 degree days.

Some assembly required.

2011-12-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

We bought Judy a little desk. Now all we have to do is put it together.

117 pieces. No, I can’t send you a picture of the completed product. Yet.

I had help from the pets, but the effort completely wore Henry out.

Annie collapsed from exhaustion in the other room!

We went for the easy victory and started off with the chair. That only had 26 pieces.

Football

2011-12-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

The Broncos sucked this year. Then Tebow came in as quarterback and they won a bunch of games in an unorthodox way. It was exciting.

Now they’ve lost a couple of games in a row, and it’s still exciting…….at least up to the point where the game gets totally out of hand. (We’ve been vomiting up Kool-aid in the second quarter of each game.) So, the Broncos might go to the playoffs, or they might not, but it will be exciting for part of any remaining games anyway.

It’s an interesting challenge Denver is going to face this next offseason. They have a traditional team except for the quarterback. Do they build a different kind of team with a different kind of playbook around an unconventional quarterback, or do they scrap the unconventional quarterback for a more conventional approach next year?

American Avocet

2011-12-27T21:18:00.000-07:00

This is what my pictures of feeding American Avocets look like.

And this.

Sometimes I almost get the picture I want.

And finally:

Monday after Christmas

2011-12-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

Monday after Christmas

Decided to use this holiday day to add a life-bird to my list. A White-winged Scoter has been hanging out on a Resaca in San Benito for several weeks, but I haven’t got to it yet. An hour and a half to get there. Hundreds of ducks to sort through. Three hours looking. No Scoter. Drove home. A six hour effort altogether. Arrived home to learn that the San Benito White-winged Scoter was found dead this morning…

Oops. Oh well. It was a nice drive through the country. I got lots of other birds including Snow Geese, Greater White-fronted Geese, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Wood Ducks, Canvasbacks, Anhingas, White-tailed Kites, a Red-shouldered Hawk, a Caspian Tern, a Ringed Kingfisher, and Tropical Kingbirds.

Not a bad day.

Here is an American Kestrel and a White-tailed Kite:

It's a Merry Skype Christmas

2011-12-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

Judy and I traveled the country without leaving our living room. We watched the kids open their presents at Becky’s house and hung out in the aftermath for a while. Wrapping paper everywhere. The night before, Bad Santa visited their house and knocked over the Christmas Tree. No explanation, they just heard a crash, got up to look, and found the Christmas Tree on its side. So Becky, Brian, Taylor and Tony were up at 2 o’clock in the morning cleaning up the mess and rewrapping wet presents. It all worked out in time for a joyous morning but there were some naps needed in the afternoon.

Then we moved on to Matt’s house. Alex got a giant Lego Death Star. Austin got an EZ Bake oven. We could almost smell the red velvet cupcakes cooking. After, we got moved back for the longer view from one end of the room so we could watch them play games on the floor and fly the RC helicopter that shoots rockets. We only got hit by a rocket once.

Christmas is a favorite fun holiday for us and it’s so nice we could be that close to the kids yet still be here. We’re embracing our digital world. The cloudy rainy weather broke and we got a 60 degree sunny Christmas. For our gift exchange, we decided that I bought Judy the house earlier in the year and she bought me the deck this fall, and so just left it at that this year.

A big Christmas Dinner sponsored by the Park. They provided the facility, all the settings, and the roast beef and smoked sausage. We broke up into tables for 12. Judy made creamy cauliflower casserole with bacon and cheddar, mashed potatoes and gravy for our table. I made a gallon of ice cream. By that time we were all so full there was enough to share with the rest of the tables.

It’s good to eat that early in the day so we could have that many hours left to digest.

Merry Christmas everybody.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T22:48:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas Eve everybody.

Cisterns

2011-12-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

We see these giant cement cisterns here.

Sometimes they’re abandoned and hard to notice.

Sometimes they’re still active like this one. The dark part is from water leaking.

We know they have to do with agriculture. This entire valley is irrigated. From Colorado, we’re familiar with pivot sprinklers, ditches, gates and headgates, but we can’t quite figure out what the cisterns do.

The taller ones are called standpipes, and they help regulate the flow of water, but we still don’t know just how having a tall standpipe helps regulate the flow. Irrigation systems that are pressurized by pumps have to have valves to regulate the flow, would a valve have to be elevated in a standpipe?

Some of them are probably for gravity flow systems and the height of the standpipe relates to the height of the water source, but still, how does the height of the pipe contribute?

Gizmo

2011-12-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

Henry’s best buddy at Sandpipers.

Gizmo has an energy level above and beyond even Henry.

Can you spot the.

2011-12-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

Long-billed Thrasher?

Yesterday's birds

2011-12-20T19:20:00.000-07:00

Wading Birds:

Great Blue Heron

Little Blue Heron

Tricolored Heron

Great Egret

Reddish Egret

Here is the Reddish Egret again, cloaking; a hunting technique.

Snowy Egret

Happy Birthday

2011-12-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

To me.

Took the day off from work, so we could day-trip to South Padre Island. Walked on the wandering boardwalks over the salt marsh at the Convention Center. Saw a lot of birds. It was warm and windy, but the wind didn’t matter. It was 80 degrees.

On the way home, we walked some forest trails at a spot in Harlingen for a contrast in habitats. We were all set to treat ourselves to grilled filet mignon and lobster tail for dinner, then reconsidered. We decided to be a little easier on our stomachs today and defer the big meal maybe to tomorrow.

Judy was nice to me *all* day, just like she was supposed to be. It was a good day.

Nature

2011-12-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

Henry is fascinated by it.

He doesn’t care about the television when we’re watching it. It makes no difference if we’re watching Football, Survivor Island, or Cops. He doesn’t care unless we turn to a Nature program. Then he is engaged.

A year ago we took this video of him watching the bird migration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnCChNGKOJw

This week, we watched a program about radioactive wolves. A team revisited Chernobyl 30 years after the entire area was evacuated. Wildlife abounds now in the abandoned overgrown cities even though there is still a severe radiation hazard for humans. It looks like a futuristic apocalyptic movie set. Hundreds of wolves run wild through the forest that is reclaiming the city streets. When the wolves come onscreen, Henry gets agitated. He talks with them when they howl.

He got more engaged when we watched a program on mountain lions. Talking, growling, and barking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn2JMfXjP_c

Every time a big cat came on screen, he just couldn’t help himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdr76f9aIqQ

We couldn’t hear the narrative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZnL3apyskM

Finally, we had to make him leave the room so we could finish the program.

Saturday

2011-12-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

Perhaps we were suffering a sleep-deficit.

Woke up at 7:30 this morning, having gotten 9 hours of sleep. Felt good about that. Nothing on the agenda for today. Let the dogs out. Got them up on the bed and when they settled down we all fell back to sleep……….for another 4 hours! The first person we saw outside today we had to say Good *Afternoon* to.

Meanwhile, Grandson Alex had his 2^nd gymnastics meet. This time he got blue ribbons in every event and placed second overall in his age group. He wants to go to the Olympics.

Drone

2011-12-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

We have a drone on the ground in Iran? We have drones that are so sophisticated they’re a generation ahead of everybody else? They’re so advanced that we can’t afford for them to fall into the wrong hands or we’ll lose our technology edge? The mission of these drones is to fly over the people whose hands we don’t want them to fall into, and there is not a button we can push to blow one up if things go wrong? There is not a failsafe to protect the technology if we lose control, like making it so the drone will blow up or melt down if we *don’t* push a button?

They thought of that on Mission Impossible 40 years ago!

Skin graft update

2011-12-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

They cut a roughly round hole of skin out of my nose to remove the skin cancer; the basal cell carcinoma. Then, for the skin graft, they cut a slice of skin from just in front of my ear, cut a roughly round plug of skin out of that, and used it to fill the hole they made in my nose.

As the hole in my nose healed, the skin graft didn’t “take”. The new skin didn’t connect with the old skin and become part of my face. What the skin graft did do, is function as a scaffold, holding everything in place while new skin grew up from underneath.

I skipped sending the gruesome intermediate photos and descriptions, but overall, it did seem like a big deal. There is still some healing going on inside, but the external result: some scars and stitch marks, but a face essentially still intact.

Same process for Judy. Same result.

Four

2011-12-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

For the price of one.

Merry Christmas.

Gorillas

2011-12-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

I like zoos but I don’t like the gorilla exhibits. When I’m at the zoo, I have to go see the gorillas, but they always give me the creeps. It’s the eyes. The eyes speak to me. They say “Why am I in here and you’re out there?” I can’t look at those eyes and think they’re any different from mine.

Football

2011-12-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

Our football viewing is limited. There are always the network national games to choose from, but we always want to watch the Broncos. The networks don’t always show the Broncos. (I know there is an expensive football package on Direct TV, but we don’t have Direct TV, we have Dish Network.)

But we have options. First we check ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox on the house television. If our game isn’t there, we haven’t exhausted our options. We go to the bus. We get our satellite TV there, just like in the house, but there are two wrinkles. First, we have the air-antenna, in case there is something being broadcast locally that’s not on the dish. Second, the channels work differently in the motorhome than they do in the house. We get all the local network channels, but only when we’re in South Texas. They’re “spot beam” channels. When we’re outside their range, we don’t get them.

But there’s an “app” for that. We subscribe to a different service that gives us the network channels when we’re away from South Texas. (We also get them when we’re *in* South Texas.) There are two feeds: east coast and west coast. The west-coast feed didn’t help this week, but New York chose to show the Chicago/Denver game. That set us up for an afternoon picnic in the coach on a cool rainy day, heaters blowing, cheering our favorite team.

The Broncos did their usual-this-year routine; pretending they sucked at football until there were only two minutes to go in the game, trailing 10 to 0. The Bears cooperated completely by going into a prevent defense which allowed the Broncos to march down the field for a touchdown. The Bears recovered the “surprise” onside kick, but then did a bonehead move to preserve enough time on the clock, after they went 3 and out, for the Broncos to get within range for a long field goal to tie the game and send it into overtime.

The Bears had the ball in field goal range during overtime, but kept running plays until a Bronco punched out the ball and Denver recovered. Another long field goal, and Denver wins. Again.

After a 1 and 4 start, the Broncos are now alone in first place in their division. 5 fourth-quarter or overtime comebacks. 6 wins in a row. 7 out of the last 8 since Tebow became the starter. Wow, when you watch him play, he doesn’t really seem that good. He just…

What’s that? Kool-aide? For me? Yes, I think I’d like some. Yum. May I have some more please? Thank you.

Tebow Time! Go Broncos! Go Tebow!

It's not right

2011-12-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

Henry is such a scruffy little guy when he hasn’t been groomed.

Then, when he does get groomed, he looks way too pretty for a boy.

It’s just not right.

Paradise Pond

2011-12-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

Paradise Pond is a seasonal pond. When there is enough rain and groundwater, it’s wet.

Lately it has been more like Paradise Prairie though; dry and overgrown with grass 6 feet high, due to the drought.

It rained a little while we were in Port Aransas, but not enough to change Paradise back into a Pond again yet. In time it will.

That's us in 10 years

2011-12-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

We find ourselves saying that a lot lately; looking at a couple somewhere and saying “That’s us in 10 years”. Sometimes now, we also give it a second thought and have to amend the comment and say “Wait a minute. That *is* us. They’re our age.”

We were reminded of this foible by the “old-guy” joke sent to us by our friend John:

I pointed to two old drunks sitting across the bar from us and told my friend Tim,

"That's us in 10 years."

He said, "That's a mirror, dip-shit."

Thanks John.

Happy Birthday

2011-12-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

Judy.

You know the drill. I get to be nice to her all day. (Oops, I mean I *have* to be nice to her all day.) We spent most of the day together; did all the errands together. We stopped for lunch at a Mexican food joint by the side of the road we’ve been meaning to stop at. (I don’t think it would qualify to call it a “restaurant”). We fought our way though the menu and ordered, even though the menu wasn’t written down anywhere and was delivered entirely verbally and in Spanish with no English clues. Our server was very patient with us. It was a lovely lunch and we almost got what we thought we ordered.

The house is now decorated with Christmas lights (Judy did most of that part, but I helped with anything heavy or high).

Just a few more hours and we can go back to the way things usually are.

Snoopy's

2011-12-07T21:18:00.000-07:00

Got our fish and chips fix. It was cold, so no dinner on the deck. We stayed warm by the fire.

A great fireplace. An old ship’s boiler cut apart, hung with chains, and vented out through the ceiling.

Check out the floor mount.

They like their classic outboard motors there.

They remind me of the old Mercury and Neptune outboards Dad had at Lake Wohlford. As I recall, the Mercury had a cover, but the Neptune had the open top so you could wrap the start pull rope around the wheel. Maybe something like this. The older brothers might remember better. They might have been old enough to actually drive the boat (if Dad would let them).

We drove south from the cold wind on the beach and have returned to Sandpipers. Tomorrow’s forecast high here is in the seventies.

Birding Center gator

2011-12-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

They say there is a gator in the pond at the Birding Center.

They say it’s big.

Really big.

Most people never see it though. He doesn’t show himself very often.

We saw him Sunday, looking right at us. Then moving our direction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHfviKQYALw&feature=related

We backed off a little.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HrnoWEeRxg

He swam right under the boardwalk at our feet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtN_PV9AlUM

And ended up with his nose sticking out the other side.

He’s big. 10 feet? 12 feet?

It was a great Gator moment.

Ducks suck

2011-12-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

These ducks, for example:

They’re on the pond in front of our coach. Obviously, they’re Redhead Ducks. Their heads are kind of red. Males look like this, (even though they’re not in our pond right now):

The ones in the first photo are duller, so they must be females.

But wait. There are white scallops behind the bills. Nonbreeding Female Scaup and Ringneck Ducks have that white scallop behind the bill; like this file photo:

Redhead Ducks don’t, so theses ducks must be Lesser Scaup or Ringneck Ducks.

Ringneck Ducks have a very pointed head, so it can’t be them. These must be female Lesser Scaup. Their heads are kind of red and they have white on their face behind the bill.

But wait another minute. Lesser Scaup heads aren’t as pointed as a Ringneck Duck, but they still have a sharp spot on the back of the head. These ducks don’t, their heads are round, so they must be Redhead Ducks.

If only they didn’t all have that white on the face. None of the books show white on Redhead Duck faces. I wonder if Scaup and Redhead Ducks ever interbreed.

They’re right out front of the coach. We have the bird book in our hand. How hard could it be?

Yeah. Ducks definitely suck.

Speaking of Snipe Hunts

2011-12-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

I took Judy on her first Grunion Hunt fifty years ago in Southern California. We went to the beach late at night and walked along the shore. Waves washed in, receded, in again. Nothing but the unchanging rhythm of the waves. Then, from one wave, with no warning, the sand was covered with glistening flashing silver. Thousands of silverside baitfish, burrowing with their tails into the semi-fluid wave-washed sand. The females come ashore at (almost) predictable times in spring and summer, during the full moon or new moon, at high tide, to lay their eggs as high up in the sand as they can. The males join them to fertilize the eggs and they all wash back into the ocean on the next wave. The spawning lasts about four hours on four consecutive days, then they’re gone. A couple weeks later, the egg hatch corresponds to another high tide and out swims another generation of Grunion.

It’s fun to go on a Grunion Hunt, not to catch them with your hands, which is the only legal way to take them, but just to watch. It’s an amazing life-cycle, but Judy was even more amazed. “What’s that?” she exclaimed. I told her the wriggling mass on the beach were Grunion. “Grunion? I didn’t know there was really any such thing as Grunion!” She said.

She was humoring me. She thought we were on another Snipe Hunt. She thought a Grunion Hunt was just another excuse to go out on the beach in the dark and make out.