Up to the Usual in Texas: Birds, Fishing, Rocks, and Friends

We are adjusting to the usual routine while wintering in Texas.  In other words, we are birding, fishing, playing in the lapidary shop, and of course spending time with our friends. Of course the schedule varies as the weather on the Coastal bend of Texas is windy!

One of the things we did was to purchase two new kayaks. Then we had to outfit them with anchor rigging, and fishing supplies. We also use them for birding as the two activities always overlap. The wading birds especially tend to ignore their low profile and quiet approach.

Trying to go fishing we headed out to Copano Bay. The winds were blowing at a steady twenty miles per hour and so we didn’t buy any bait. It was a good decision as the waves were too strong and the had churned the water into a murky soup. Changing our plans, we went to look for whoopers and we are glad to say we got some good views of a family group!

While the parents and chick were resting a long way from us, we were still able to capture and crop some images. The adults were easy to spot, they are five feet tall, but the chick still had some brown and so blended in with the reeds. They were also on the edge of a large flock of sand hill cranes.

Every Monday we head to Corpus to work in the rock shop. That used to mean lots of time sawing rocks but now that we have a rock saw in Wyoming we have time to work on special projects. The projects this winter are learning how to work Indonesian blue amber and making cabochons from our Ethiopian Wello opals.

I am trying to keep my dental work up to date and I did make an appointment with a dentist in Corpus, but there seems to be a communication problems with our Idaho Falls Dentist. Rescheduling my appointment, we went over to visit our lapidary mentor. He’s ninety-two and has given up on working stone as his eyesight just isn’t good enough.

Still he showed us his cane that he made from a tree in his front yard. He added a nice touch by decorating the cane with a few Montana star sapphires. They are ones he mined near Dillon Montana, and then sawed, ground, and shaped. He also showed us another cane he made from the same holly tree and decorated with Texas fossilized palm wood.

Another advantage to stopping here are the numerous oyster bars. There is quite a fleet that heads out every day, and nearby is one of their harbors. Every Tuesday and Wednesday the Oyster bar has a weekly special, fresh oysters on the half shell, and the price is only five and a half dollars per dozen.

Our happy hour group heads down there every other week to enjoy the great oysters and live music Renita actually ate a raw oyster and pretended to enjoy it. I of course didn’t have any problem eating the rest of them. They are really good here but nothing beats the sweet and fat oysters of Grand Isle,( at least before the Deep Water Horizon).

So today we are heading out to eat breakfast before loading the kayaks. The wind is forecast to be light and so we are hoping for fresh fish for dinner. However, I do have lots of cornbread mix stored in our pantry. Clear skies